Volume 1 Chushan Bandits Chapter 7 Body Like a Dragon and Spear Like a Python
Xu Wujiang wanted to learn from Deng Gui to avoid Wang Bing and his servant. Of course, Xu Huai also hid in the yard in the afternoon, thinking about something.
Compared with the assassination of Wang Bing, what really shocked him was the short paragraph of text similar to historical records that suddenly flashed in his mind, and it was actually verified in front of Yingzizui Cliff today.
After regaining his sanity, he certainly didn't want to continue staying in Huaiyuan Town to eat and wait for death as a fool in the eyes of Xu Xin'an and others, but in this world, where could he go and what could he do?
"Squeaky!"
Xu Huai was squatting on the porch in the front yard "acting stupidly" when he heard a noise and the gate of the yard was pushed open from the outside. He looked up and saw Wang Bing, with his gray hair and a thin face, and his granddaughter Wang Xuan, who seemed a little uneasy, looking in.
Xu Huai stood there in a daze, unable to figure out what Wang Bin meant by suddenly running over here.
"Is Xu Jieji at home?" Wang Bing asked.
"Uncle Seventeen has gone to the parade ground. What does Mr. Wang want to see Uncle Seventeen about?" Xu Huai stared at Wang Bing and his grandson in confusion, but there was no sign of the "coachman".
"Is Madam Xu here?" Wang Bing asked.
"Ah?" Xu Huai looked at Wang Bing in surprise, thinking that the barriers between men and women in this world are not very strict, but it doesn't seem appropriate for an old man like you to suddenly come to Su Di, right?
"Xu Huai, who's looking for me?"
Di Niang came over from the backyard. She had never seen Wang Bing before. She looked at Wang Bing and his grandson hesitantly and asked,
"Who is this old man?"
"I, Wang Bin, greet Madam Xu," Wang Bin bowed slightly and said to the girl behind him, "Xuan'er, talk to Madam Xu yourself."
"Ah, it's Mr. Wang!" Su Di bowed and asked, "I wonder if the young lady has anything to ask Miss Di?"
Wang Xuan walked in with a beautiful face as if she was drunk. When she passed by Xu Huai, she wanted to bury her head in her chest, which made Xu Huai even more confused.
Wang Xuan walked to the corridor and whispered something to Su Di. Her voice was as soft as a mosquito's buzz. Xu Huai vaguely heard "blood" and was startled. He asked hurriedly, "Is Miss Wang injured?"
"You fool, you have such sharp ears, why don't you become a thief?" Su Di glared at him and drove him away, "Get lost, you have nothing to do, just sit in the front yard with Mr. Wang!"
After Su Di finished speaking, he took the girl Wang Xuan to the backyard.
"Xuan'er is not even thirteen years old, but she has grown up - I was caught off guard, and there are no young women in the post station, so I can only come to Madam Xu for help..." Wang Bing stood in the yard and explained briefly to Xu Huai.
Xu Huai finally understood what was going on and could only give a couple of dry laughs to ease the awkwardness.
Wang Bing didn't want to implicate too many innocent people, but as long as there was some hope, he wouldn't just sit there and wait for death.
At this moment, he wanted to know who the "eldest brother" that Xu Huai mentioned at the Yingzizui Cliff was. He stared at Xu Huai and asked, "Xu Jieji didn't seem to know in advance that I would encounter an assassin on the way?"
After Wang Bing turned sixty, his body couldn't help but become a little hunched. In recent years, he became thinner and thinner, which made him look small, making Xu Huai look even more robust.
It was cold at the time and everyone was still wearing thick coats, but Xu Huai's arms gave the feeling of bulging muscles, but his face was fair and handsome.
Even if they had not met in front of Yingzizui Cliff, when Wang Bing saw Xu Huai at this time, it would be hard for him to believe that he was the "fool" in the eyes of Xu Wujiang, Xu Xin'an and others!
Of course, he didn't think there was any need to deceive Xu Wujiang, Xu Xin'an and others.
What exactly is going on?
"Uncle Seventeen is unaware of this," Xu Huai saw the doubts in Wang Bing's eyes and whispered, "I was also entrusted by someone to stay at Yingzizui these days to remind Mr. Wang, but I didn't expect the assassin to arrive so quickly..."
Deep down in his heart, he had an impulse to stay out of it, but his reason told him that there was no benefit in being involved in such things. Standing in front of Wang Bing, Xu Huai could only speak vaguely.
Wang Bing saw that Xu Huai's eyes were very clear, and was sure that everything that happened today was not an illusion, and whispered:
"I originally planned to borrow the road from Cai Ying and go to Tangzhou via Fangchengkou, but Lu Xiong was worried about something and temporarily changed the route to Tongbai Mountain Road. Otherwise, we might not even reach Yingzhou and would be intercepted by assassins..."
Wang Bing said this to mean that he guessed the assassin should have chased them from Bian Jing. If he had not chased them in the wrong direction, he would not have been able to catch up to Huaiyuan Town.
Xu Huai didn't know what to do next, so he said, "If there is any new news, I will go to Mr. Wang."
"Mr. Wang, do you have something to ask Xu?"
Xu Wujiang got a message from someone saying that Wang Bing had come to visit him. He hurried back from the training ground and saw Wang Bing and Xu Huai standing in the front yard. He asked Xu Huai,
"Why do you let Mr. Wang stand in the yard?"
"Don't bother Brother Xu - Xuan'er has grown up and I was caught off guard, so I had no choice but to come to your wife for help." Wang Bin bowed.
"Then congratulations, Mr. Wang." It is always worth congratulating a girl's growth, Xu Wujiang bowed to Wang Bing and said.
Xu Wujiang guessed that the encounter with bandits was not a simple matter, so he would not bother to get to the bottom of it. He just stood in the front yard and greeted Wang Bing. After a while, Di Niang came out from the inner room, holding the blushing Wang Xuan's hand.
Wang Xuan was still holding a small brocade bag in her hand, but she didn't know what women's items were in it. She didn't even have the courage to look up at Xu Huai and Xu Wujiang. She grabbed her grandfather Wang Bin's sleeve and ran away.
…
…
It was almost dark when Xu Xin'an rushed back from the Hedong market. He heard that several horse teams would be carrying goods to Biyang County the next day, and he had already made an appointment with one team to go with them.
Xu Huai returned to the house with Xu Wujiang and Xu Xin'an. Di Niang took out a pottery jar and said to him, "I just made some chicken soup. Send it to Miss Wang!"
"I'll go and see you off." Xu Xin'an was itching to take on this task.
Xu Wujiang slapped him on the back of the head and cursed, "You stupid donkey who's moaning for sex, why don't you take a piss and look at yourself. Let Xu Huai take it, and you stay here!" He then said to Di Niang, "You should worry about finding wives for these two boys. If they follow Xu Sihu's example and run to Yuehonglou as soon as they have a little money, should I break their legs or break their legs!"
The earthenware jar was filled with boiling chicken soup, the bottom of which was burnt black. Xu Huai tied the soup into a bag with straw rope, held it in his hand and walked towards the inn.
There are inns in the streets of Hedong, but the post station is usually deserted as there are no officials passing through.
At this time, no one knew where the postmaster Cheng Yi and several postmen had gone. There was no one in the front yard of the government office, so Xu Huai went straight to find Wang Bin.
The outermost wall of the post station was quite tall, and the walls between the inner courtyards were all chest-high rammed earth walls. Xu Huai walked around the post station's official office and saw from afar that the "coachman" Lu Xiong was playing with a long spear in his hand.
When they were at Yingzizui, Xu Huai saw Lu Xiong holding a straight-backed long sword across his knees, but he did not expect that he was carrying a spear with him. He guessed that the situation was urgent and he did not have time to take out the spear hidden in the carriage.
After watching for a while, Xu Huai realized that the spear used by Lu Xiong was the Fu Mang Spear that most members of the Xu family knew.
He heard from Xu Wujiang that the Fumang Spear, along with the sword moves, fists and kicks practiced by the tribesmen, were all brought back to Tongbai Mountain from the army by his father Xu Wuxuan and others in his early years and spread across the country.
Seeing that Lu Xiong also used the same spear technique, Xu Huai wondered if he had ever served in the military?
As he looked further, Xu Huai could see that the Fu Mang Spear in Lu Xiong's hand was different from the ones in Uncle Seventeen's and the others'.
When Lu Xiong used the spear, his eyes were looking far ahead, but he always kept his attention on the moving tip of the spear. Every movement of the spear, such as slashing, stabbing, and flicking, was not as smooth as that of Uncle Seventeen and the others, which seemed very slow and clumsy, but had a specific rhythm.
Look at Lu Xiong again, he is wading carefully on the ground with slow and small steps, it seems like there are thorns stuck in the ground, which will poke the soles of his feet if he is not careful.
However, as the direction of the gun changed, Lu Xiong's slightly hunched body swelled and shrank like the tide.
In the past, Xu Huai's martial arts training mainly focused on building strength and strengthening muscles and bones. He did not engage in complicated boxing, kicking, sword and spear routines. His riding and archery skills were also average. But after he recovered his consciousness, his eyesight was much better than before.
He could see that Lu Xiong's attainments in the use of the Fumang Spear were actually more advanced than those of his uncle Seventeen and the others. Although Lu Xiong seemed sluggish, he concealed unimaginable strength. Once it erupted, it would be like a landslide or tsunami, destroying the enemy's defense like a rotten wood and taking his life.
Xu Huai thought of the feeling when he first saw Lu Xiong in Yingzi's mouth. It was more vivid at this moment. The spear in Lu Xiong's hand was like a poisonous python hidden deep in the grass. It only seemed dull because there was no strong enemy standing in front of him.
Is this the real Fu Mang Spear?
Lu Xiong had noticed Xu Huai a long time ago, but he waited until he finished using the Fu Mang Spear before stopping.
At this time, Xu Huai came over with a pottery jar in his hand. Lu Xiong said across the low wall, "My style of Fumang Spear is to be like a dragon and the spear like a python. It is a spear posture commonly used in the army. Brother Xu has practiced it before, right?"
"I see Uncle Seventeen and the others use this kind of gun move often. I'm clumsy and can't use it well." Xu Huai said truthfully.
Apart from the fact that Wang Bing had met Xu Huai again in the afternoon , Lu Xiong did not believe that Xu Huai was a fool. However, Xu Huai's posture was somewhat stiff, as if he had gone astray in practicing martial arts.
Lu Xiong didn't understand what was going on, but that didn't stop him from saying a few more words:
"The Fumang Spear doesn't have much subtlety when it comes to it. As a military spear, it's fierce and the main thing it needs to do is to be 'hidden' -"
"Hide?"
Over the past month, Xu Huai has realized that he had been too superficial in his martial arts training and had gone astray, but the principles of martial arts are not something he can figure out on his own.
Lu Xiong explained in a simple and profound way: "There are hundreds or thousands of enemies on the battlefield. There is no room for the use of particularly complex spear moves. If you don't know how to hide, how long can you last even if you have the power of a real dragon? Therefore, in the limited space for maneuver, the essence of the Fumang Spear is to kill the enemy soldiers as efficiently as possible with as little effort as possible. The Fumang Spear emphasizes the word "伏", which can be separated into "人" and "犬". In terms of its original meaning, a person should crawl on the ground like a dog, waiting for an opportunity to act. It is basically "concealment" and "hiding", not "surrender". The Fumang Knife, Fumang Lance and Fumang Fist all have the same origin, and the principles are the same - I see you standing on the Eagle's Mouth Cliff holding a hatchet, you should have learned the Fumang Knife, right?"
“…”
From this discussion, Xu Huai knew that Lu Xiong's attainments in the Fumang Spear were higher than those of his Seventeenth Uncle Xu Wujiang and the others. He did not hesitate and asked directly, "Master Lu, how can I practice the method of concealment?"
Lu Xiong also had many questions in his mind, and said: "The method of hiding the Fumang Spear is contained in the basic boxing posture and standing practice. You should have practiced it before, but I see that your body is stiff, it seems that you have practiced it incorrectly. It's getting late now. If you can come over at night, I will explain it to you in detail..."
"Okay," Xu Huai thought that since he was involved in such a dispute today, it would be fair to accept some benefits. He decided to come over after midnight to listen to Lu Xiong's explanation of the Mang Fu Zhuang Gong. He handed the pottery jar over the low wall and said, "This is the chicken soup that Aunt Seventeen prepared for Miss Wang Xuan..."
