Volume 1 Chushan Bandits Chapter 73: New Bandits
"Old Seventeen is still a man of honor!"
Xu Wuliang was quite satisfied with the group of people sent by Xu Wujiang. Xu Wukun was still arranging their food and lodging. He led the three people towards the fence.
Xiema Mountain is also short of manpower now. Xu Huai initially expected Xu Wujiang to pick a dozen old, weak, sick and disabled people for him to use. Unexpectedly, the twenty people sent over were quite good. Even though five or six of them had some disabilities, it did not hinder their work.
Among the three people brought by Xu Wuliang, Xu Huai saw that one of them was about the same age as him, and was shrinking behind Xu Wukun timidly; the old man standing with the young man looked to be nearly sixty years old, with gray hair and a face wrinkled by the hardships of life; the other middle-aged man had a disabled foot, and he walked over with difficulty while dragging his limp leg, but his expression was somewhat excited.
"Who are they?" Xu Huai asked puzzledly.
"Han Qi, please go ahead and meet the Third Master and Xu Huai."
Xu Wuliang pulled the young man forward and said to Liu Qiong'er and Xu Huai,
"Old Man Han is an old blacksmith in Shangliu Village. In his early years, he worked in Geji Blacksmith Shop. He learned the craft from your Aunt Ying's grandfather and has been in contact with him over the years. He and Han Qi were not originally bandits from Xiema Mountain. It was Pan Chenghu who lost Xiema Mountain and occupied Shangliu Village, and arrested Old Man Han for repairing weapons and armors. In fact, he was implicated by us. Han Qi is a simple-minded guy. He followed several young and impoverished young men in Shangliu Village and was instigated by Pan Chenghu's men. He killed several rich boys who bullied them in Shangliu Village as a token of his loyalty. After escaping from Shangliu Village, he dared not go back..."
"That's great! If you can't go back to Shangliuzhai, you can settle down in Jinshagou - the conditions are a bit difficult now, but you can live a decent life with Uncle Wu Liang!"
Liu Qiong'er glanced and saw Xu Huai clinging to the chest-high fence without saying a word. She took over Xu Wuliang's conversation and spoke happily.
Liu Qiong'er is in Yuehonglou and has the best understanding of human nature.
She knew that for Old Man Han and Han Qi, the grandparents and grandchildren, they had owed a blood debt in Shangliu Village and could not go back. Xu Wuliang was their last resort. As long as they believed that they would not suffer any loss by following Xu Wuliang, it would be easiest for them to become his direct confidants.
"The people sent here, and a few of them were recruited by Pan Chenghu after he took over Liuzhai. They don't have much blood on their hands and are easier to control. That's why Uncle Seventeen specially sent them here. Now that you recognize them, it's even better." Xu Xin'an talked to Liu Qiong'er and Xu Huai about the people sent here this time, and pointed to the young man hiding behind Xu Wuliang and said, "This Han Qi is a bit stubborn. I beat him up on the way—"
Xu Xin'an pouted at Han Qi and asked, "Hey, you don't hate me in your heart, do you?"
Han Qi turned his head away without even looking at Xu Xin'an.
Xu Xin'an curled his lips, ignoring the resentment in Han Qi's heart.
He was also a man of his age, and he knew that he would be beaten by others, so he must have some resentment in his heart, but he didn't care. He said to Liu Qiong'er and Xu Huai in front of the fence: "This kid is a little stubborn and arrogant, and he still doesn't accept me in his heart, but his boxing skills are still worth seeing. Third Village Master, Xu Huai, you can keep him by your side."
"Is this guy really that capable? I want to see how many of my moves he can take."
Seeing Han Qi's eyes full of dissatisfaction, Xu Huai took off the straight-backed long sword from his waist, stuck it into the mud, and kicked a long stick at Han Qi, saying in a muffled voice,
"If you can take three of my moves, I'll give you this knife."
"Your back injury hasn't healed yet?" Xu Xin'an asked.
"My waist and arm muscles are injured, but I can still use 50% of my strength..."
Xu Huai now thinks highly of himself. He dares not neglect the famous players in Tongbai Mountain, but if he uses more than 50% of his strength on the younger generation who are only considered okay in Xu Xin'an's eyes, he is bullying them.
Xu Huai's left elbow collided with Guo Caoling and was seriously injured. He picked up a long stick with his right hand, tucked the end of the stick under his armpit, pointed it forward diagonally like a horse spear, and said to Han Qi:
"Asking you to take three of my moves is too much for you. How about this, my waist is injured and it is not convenient for me to move too much. Come over and attack me, and see how many moves you can take to force me back a step!"
"You are so stupid..."
The young Han Qi was annoyed by Xu Huai's contemptuous attitude. He opened his mouth to scold him, but then he thought about his situation and couldn't act tough anymore. He held back the word "goods", picked up the long stick, and asked in a muffled voice,
"Are you serious?"
Xu Huai smiled.
The many soldiers who had accompanied Xu Xin'an in escorting troops gathered together to watch the fun.
Xu Huai had only shown his skills in front of Xu Xin'an before. The other soldiers fled and hid in Jinshagou, and then captured Xiema Mountain. They only saw Xu Huai taking the lead and chopping down two remaining bandits during the sneak attack on Xiema Mountain, but what did it matter?
They only heard about Xu Huai's capture of Lu Tang and the killing of the bandits in front of Lutai Village, but they did not see it.
Besides, Xu Huai's massacre in front of Lutai Village was seen as a reckless killing in the eyes of others. When the soldiers heard about it, they only thought that the bandits were too weak and were frightened by Xu Huai's momentum.
At this time, Xu Huai was thinking that Xu Xin'an and others were young and brave and could be used. He also knew that brave young men admired the power of force the most, so he intended to show it off.
Han Qi was a ruthless young man, and was also angry that Xu Huai and Xu Xin'an looked down on him. Seeing Xu Wuliang standing aside without stopping him, he took a deep breath, and used the long stick as a spear. His extremely sharp aura turned into several afterimages, covering Xu Huai's head.
"I have also learned the Fu Mang Spear! But the Fu Mang Spear is a military spear, it doesn't focus on speed, and it doesn't have so many fancy tricks. Who did you learn this spear technique from? You have learned it for nothing!"
Xu Huai held the long stick under his armpit, watching Han Qi rushing over, and did not forget to instruct him,
"If you fight me single-handedly now, you have room to move left and right, but on the battlefield, you can't move left and right, you can only fight head-on with force. How are you going to fight? But now, you attack and I defend. The stick in your hand is not longer than mine, and your arm is even shorter than mine. I don't need to pay attention to your fancy moves. In the end, you still have to force me to retreat half a step to win, and then you need to use the long stick to attack my body - so you will eventually turn the virtual into the real - see, you also know that fancy tricks are useless to me, this move is a real one..."
When Han Qi really tried to attack, Xu Huai swung the long stick in his hand downwards, and then he caught the long stick that Han Qi quickly handed over and swung it outwards, without stopping the instructions he was giving.
"Your stab was quite powerful, but too powerful, leaving no room for error. It's too easy for someone to push it away. I'll give you a chance to try a few more moves. If I knock you down in just three or five moves, it would be too damaging to your self-esteem!"
Liu Qiong'er wanted to roll her eyes at Xu Huai with her beautiful eyes. Your nagging will only hurt people's self-esteem, okay?
Han Qi's several extremely fierce attacks were all easily resolved by Xu Huai, which made him feel extremely uncomfortable. At this time, he had to listen to Xu Huai's nagging, which made him even more restless. He tried his best to force Xu Huai to move away half a step and save some face.
"If you can be calm enough, it will not be difficult to force me to retreat half a step. But now your heart is already distracted and there are too many flaws. There is no need to try again!" The long stick in Xu Huai's hand jumped out from the depths of the grass like a giant python. At the moment the two sticks met, the head of the stick suddenly shook like a python's neck, and knocked the long stick in Han Qi's hand to the ground.
Xu Huai pressed the long stick against Han Qi's chest, not wanting to just knock him to the ground.
Han Qi never thought that he couldn't even hold the long stick under Xu Huai, whose left arm was injured. At this time, Xu Xin'an and others were standing aside and watching, all with a look of gloating on their faces. He gritted his teeth, trying hard not to cry.
"Are you not convinced? Whoever can force me to retreat even half a step will get this long-spine straight sword!" Xu Huai looked at the young warriors and said in a bad tone.
Everyone present could see how sophisticated Xu Huai's straight-backed long sword was.
Besides, everyone was puzzled. How could Xu Huai, whom they had been together for two years, be so strong even though he was a little stupid? Why didn’t they notice it before?
At this time, a man came up eagerly and picked up the long stick on the ground.
"You are too hasty in your attack!" Xu Huai swung away the long stick that was coming at him diagonally. The head of the stick swayed like a python's neck and stabbed the man's chest with force like thunder. He knocked the man to the ground with one move and signaled the second person to come forward to challenge.
“The Fumang Spear is different from the spear techniques in the martial arts world. The emphasis is on making light things heavy, and the more you drag your feet, the more you can concentrate the attack on the tip of the stick. The goal is to kill the enemy with one blow; even if that fails, you must use your bravery to keep the enemy out of the door and not give them a chance to get close and kill. The Fumang Spear is a strong and fierce spear - the long stick in your hand does the opposite, and it's like trying to draw a tiger but ending up with a dog. When facing an enemy like you, the Fumang Knife's horizontal slash can knock him down!” Xu Huai bent his elbow and held the long stick backwards, sweeping it horizontally, slashing at the man who was attacking from the side relying on his agility.
The man, along with his stick, was bumped into the long stick that Xu Huai chopped at him, and was forced to turn the roundabout attack into a pure contest of strength. However, he had not even mastered the skill of Fu Mang Spear, and the long stick in his hand had no flexibility or hardness, so the two sticks collided and the other was directly broken in half.
The long stick in Xu Huai's hand was intact, and he said directly: "Switch to the next one!"
“…”
Looking at his six men, one by one, being knocked down by Xu Huai, having their long sticks broken, or being stabbed or hit by Xu Huai in the shoulders, chest, waist and armpits, Xu Xin'an was also shocked that not one of them could last more than three or five moves.
Since these six people who joined the Inspection Office were just ordinary soldiers, they certainly had no mastery of the Fumang Spear, but they could at least be considered skilled in spear and stick.
Xu Xin'an didn't expect them to defeat Xu Huai at all. In the past, Xu Huai's strength was enough to make him incomparable to ordinary soldiers.
However, Xu Huai had a waist injury at the time and was holding the stick with one hand, but no one could force him to retreat even a step. Isn't this too unbelievable?
"Well, I told you to gather six or seven riders, but if you can knock me and Uncle Wu Kun off our horses, you can roam freely in Tongbai Mountain. Did I lie to you?" Xu Huai said, "I don't have a warhorse at the moment. Do you think you can take my shot with all its might?"
Xu Huai still tucked the long stick under his armpit, lowered his body and half-crouched, as if he was riding on a bumpy horse's back. The whole person felt a slight swaying in the next moment, and within a moment all the muscles and bones in his body became active. Xu Huai roared, and channeled the strength he had generated into the long stick, using it as a long spear to pierce a huge rock in front of him.
When the stick and the rock collided, the long stick broke into pieces in an instant, and wood chips flew everywhere like rain; and the half-man-high rock broke into pieces in the rain of wood chips and slowly fell to both sides.
Xu Xin'an looked at the broken rocks in shock.
Using wood to hit a stone and break it is definitely not something that can be done simply by sheer strength. The key is that Xu Huai still has an injury to his lumbar spine, so he can only use 80% of his strength at most!
Only then did he realize that his skills were no longer on the same level as Xu Huai's.
Han Qi and a group of young soldiers also took a deep breath. It was hard to imagine whether they could withstand a single blow from a figure like Xu Huai on the battlefield.
Perhaps only the military formation, encirclement and combined attack tactics can be the right way to restrain such people from running recklessly!
"Ouch! My waist injury seems to have worsened. I used too much force in that piercing!" Xu Huai supported his waist and sat on the fallen half of a rock.
