Ten Capitals, Nine Observations, Eight Poles, Seven Yuans, Six Divisions, Five Elders Compete for Da

"let me see!"

With a thought in Jiang Chen's mind, his body teleported accordingly.

In a blink of an eye, he landed next to Yumen Pass, on the top of Wanren Mountain, about two hundred feet high, which is the remaining vein of Qilian Mountain.

Climb high and look far!

Jiang Chen instinctively stood on tiptoe and looked around, but he never caught sight of Liu Chuanzhi, so he couldn't help but secretly frowned:
"In Yumen Pass, there are only more than a thousand infantry, a hundred cavalry, and one lieutenant. There is no trace of any Marquis-level powerhouse. Has it arrived yet, or..."

The sound stopped abruptly.

Jiang Chen's eyes flickered slightly, staring at the city wall to the west.

Several halberd-wielding soldiers gathered near the urn city, paddling water and chatting. From the changes in the shape of their lips, it seemed that there was the word rain.

"Could it be..."

Jiang Chen jumped up, quickly approached the city wall, and then secretly urged his blood to hide his breath quickly.

soon.

He quietly climbed up the ancient city wall and eavesdropped on the conversations of many soldiers.

"Have you heard? When Lao Ba was patrolling the south of the city, he found another family whose death was exactly the same as the case a few days ago."

"Yeah, it's really miserable. It's like being dragged into the water for three days and three nights. My whole body is swollen, like floating corpses."

"In these years, water ghosts can go ashore to pull people?"

In the gossip of many soldiers, Jiang Chen gradually got a glimpse of the whole situation.

This matter still needs to start from the "Twenty-nine of the first lunar month", or in other words, the "rain" in the 24 solar terms.

In this remote and desolate border town, the spring rain should be as expensive as oil, but unfortunately, from the twenty-ninth day of the first lunar month, the rain has come a bit too much, which is too abnormal.

One drop, two drops, three or four drops, five, six, seven, eight or ninety drops, thousands of drops, countless drops, almost raised the water line of the nearby Shule River by more than half a foot.

At first, the defenders of Yumen Pass were quite happy. With more water, the farmers could grow some food locally and brew more wine.

The Han Dynasty chose this place and established Yumen Pass for a reason. Inside the pass, there is sufficient rainfall, the fields are suitable for farming, and there is even a Shule River for support.

But outside the customs, the precipitation is getting scarcer and the Shule River is cut off, which is not suitable for the survival of farming peoples. If we use high school geography to explain it, it is:

"The [-]mm annual isoprecipitation line!"

Therefore, in the eyes of the people here, spring rain is as expensive as oil, and the more the better.

But soon-

The scary thing happened quietly!

At night, in the western part of the city, the watchman walked leisurely with his face full while shouting "the sky is dry and the things are dry, be careful of the fire and candles".

As a result, he staggered and fell a dog eating shit. He lifted the lantern to look, but was horrified to find that it was a swollen corpse.

"Ah ah ah ah ah!"

With a scream, the whole city was shocked.

If it is an ordinary way of death, maybe there will be no big disturbances. After all, in this world, only soldiers and officials have human rights.

but--

The death status of the owner of this corpse is extremely bizarre. It seems that after being drowned in the water for many days, the corpse floated to the surface due to its internal decay and inflation.

After being identified by Wu, this is a floating corpse, with the breath of a water ghost lingering on his body, it is very likely that he became a scapegoat after falling into the water.

Water ghosts are a kind of underwater ghosts, referring to those evil ghosts who accidentally die in water, or commit suicide in rivers, lakes and seas, and cannot be reincarnated.

They wander in the bottom of the water secretly, luring or directly pulling the living people into the water and drowning, as its scapegoat, and then they can be reincarnated.

but--

This is the fucking city!
If the water ghost could go ashore, how terrifying would it be?
Neighbors in the neighborhood all said that this person had never left the city, had been doing small business in the Guansai, and had never been to nearby lakes and rivers.

The government failed to find out the real culprit for a while, and after hastily perfunctory the family members, there was no further news. In the early morning of the next day, Wu Da and Wu San, who sold cooking cakes on the street, also died strangely, reduced to two swollen corpses.

Then four, eight, sixteen...

Today, it has been six days, and a total of 31 people have been killed. If there is no accident, the total number of deaths will increase to 63 people tonight.

Therefore, the whole city panicked, more and more people fled, and the Yumen Gate Guards were also forced to dispatch to patrol around, trying to find out the source of the "water ghost".

"Doubling..."

Jiang Chen squinted his eyes and calculated in his mind. In about five or six days, the Qingzhou Army would arrive in the Shule River Basin.

So--

The total death toll will increase dramatically to 47!
"Is this a water ghost?"

"How does it look like a development offline?"

The corner of Jiang Chen's mouth twitched, and he immediately stared at the entire pass city and the waters outside the pass with his heavenly eyes, his face could not help showing a trace of weirdness.

Not even half a water ghost!

Neither the well nor the watershed within a radius of twenty miles have seen any traces of ghosts. Where did they go?

"I always feel that this matter may have something to do with Liu Chuanzhi..."

Jiang Chen frowned in thought, secretly said:
"He has the source of the flood in his hands, so it's impossible. Every night, he secretly releases those water ghosts, drags more people into the water, and then waits until dawn to collect them all into the source of the flood. In this way, no trace of ghosts can be found. , it is reasonable."

Think about this.

Jiang Chen changed his clothes, strode into Yumen Pass, found an inn, and ate some delicious food while waiting for the water ghost to show up.

Xiaoer scratched his head and said:

"There is only the last table left in this inn. If you don't mind, how about sharing a table with the two guest officers who just arrived over there? In addition, if you need to stay in the inn, you can also contact the villain."

"it is good."

Jiang Chen didn't plan to stay, so he patted the dust off his body, sat down casually, and after chatting with each other, he was surprised to find that the two guests at this table were actually relatives of "Wang Fengzai", the official of the [-]th Battalion. Possesses a hobby of "controversy".

Called: Wang Shi, Wang Qi.

Jiang Chen wanted to inquire about the "water ghost murder case", so he asked the two of them casually: "The city is so chaotic, I heard that there is a water ghost?"

however.

The two are obviously ordinary people, but they habitually substitute themselves into strong people, completely forgetting those innocent people who died, and said happily:

"Chaos is a ladder to ascend!"

From their point of view, the murder of water ghosts in Yumenguan is a good thing for them who are eager to join the army.

If the defenders suffer heavy damage, it is very likely that the difficulty of enlisting soldiers will be reduced. Then, the opportunity for the pair of brothers has come.

The corners of Jiang Chen's mouth rose slightly, and seeing that the two belonged to young people who were not deeply involved in the world, he gave up asking questions and worked in silence.

He casually picked up a pair of chopsticks "little green dragon with a broken body and broken bones", that is, slapped cucumbers, and after tasting it carefully, he sighed in his heart:

"Lowering requirements is not necessarily a good thing."

Take Qingzhou Army as an example.

In the battle of conquering Loulan, 7000 people died in the battle, so the requirements for the Qingyang ceremony were greatly reduced in the later conscription.

Many of them, like Xiao Wu, took life-burning drugs in advance and burned six to nine years of life before barely knocking down the dead.

Even so, there are also some crooked melons and cracked dates, whose strength is too low, even if they take medicine, they are still eaten and killed by those dead soldiers, and their deaths are bleak.

The strict conscription standards are originally intended to select good seedlings who can "knock down two dead soldiers without taking life-burning drugs".

Wang Shi learned a lot of martial arts knowledge from Laoliangtai, and said:
"Soldier level is the cornerstone of martial arts. It can make the muscles of the whole body strong and full, and the response is sensitive. It can shoot a strong bow weighing [-] kilograms, and it is not easy to get sick. If the body has never suffered from hidden injuries, it can often live to death."

"But to put it bluntly, it is to double the strength and physique before promotion. Therefore, when selecting soldiers, always choose the best from the best. After all, the better the foundation, the stronger the strength!"

Wang Qi added:

"Scholar rank, the energy and blood are further multiplied, and the best among them can even have the strength of a thousand catties, and can defeat four or five soldiers with bare hands."

"The most important thing is that although the lifespan cannot be extended, after death, it is not ordinary. I heard that after the death of ordinary people, if the soul cannot be reincarnated, it will dissipate soon."

"But those who are strong in the rank of scholars, [Scholars must be ambitious, have a long way to go], have firm spiritual beliefs, and can often live a second life in the underworld!"

"If a living person can be sacrificed, it will not be a problem for the soul to live for a hundred years."

In the Qingzhou soldier stage, the three major abilities of "vegetation regeneration body", "planting" and "flying leaf continuous cutting" are often awakened;
Qingzhou fighters only increase the ability of the fighter's faith. Most of the spiritual power is used to transform the soul and increase the lifespan after death.

Of course, the power of a fighter's belief is also very exaggerated. If the belief is strong, when the fighting spirit is high, it can even increase a thousand catties of blood.

The strength can carry the tripod!

Folk storytellers also like to unfold stories at this level.

There is no other reason, it is convenient to explode and become stronger in the battle, so that the audience's blood boils and they applaud.

Er Wang prides himself on being very tall, and they all think that they are martial arts wizards. They only need to enlist in the army for a few months, and they can quickly shine.

"Eh?"

Jiang Chen's ears moved slightly, and when he realized that the two stunned men had mentioned him, he couldn't help but put down the bowl and chopsticks.

Wang Shi was amazed, and said in an exaggerated tone:

"I heard from the Hu merchant who came back from the Western Regions, that Qingzhou fighting general named Jiang Chen, with the strength of one person, destroyed the country of Loulan, and the general rank, is it really that powerful?"

"There are four or five hundred generals in all kinds of martial arts in Kyushu. Doesn't it mean that five hundred small countries can be destroyed?"

Wang Qi smiled:
"No way, it's just the school lieutenant surnamed Jiang. Although he is a general, he is comparable to Marquis Wu."

"I heard that he once fought against the eighth general of Loulan, and beat those Xiyi generals to pieces!"

talking.

Envious eyes filled the eyes of the two, and they also wanted to join the Qingzhou Army. They both aspired to become a hero like Jiang Chen who said, "Don't move, and the country will be destroyed if you move."

The setting sun fell to the horizon and night fell. The two young people surnamed Wang looked flustered and hurriedly prepared to enter the guest room on the second floor.

Jiang Chen raised the corner of his mouth and joked:

"Chaos is a ladder that goes up, two brothers, how do you go up the stairs?"

The two young men blushed and argued:
"You came to the inn, didn't you also come to hide from the water ghost?"

Xiaoer from a distance rushed over, showing a flattering smile, and strongly recommended:
"Guest officer, there are a few warriors living in this store, and there is no way for mere water ghosts to invade. One upper room, only 50 taels is enough."

50 two?
Can this buy three acres of good irrigated land?

Jiang Chen was amazed in his heart, pressed the knife and smiled:

"too expensive."

Wang Shi and Wang Qi couldn't help showing contemptuous smiles, and when they were about to open their mouths to ridicule, they were surprised to find that Jiang Chen went out laughing up to the sky, into the deep night...