The First Volume of Qinghe County

  The matter of the birthday celebration has long been known to all, and everyone is in a state of panic. This courtesy must be paid year after year, but the journey is really not very peaceful. Therefore, Zhu Zhi County was also very cautious. Fortunately, a hero who can subdue tigers, Wu Song, appeared. Zhu Zhi County saw that Wu Song was capable and could close his eyes to subdue fierce tigers, so he considered Wu Song as a trusted person after just a few days. Only then did he arrange for Wu Song to handle this extremely difficult task.

  Wu Song also had his own plan and discussed it with Zhu Biao, not bringing any followers, but instead changing into ordinary clothes, traveling alone to avoid drawing attention.

  Although it was already the third month of spring, the sky was gloomy as if it could drip water, and the dampness pierced through his clothes. Wu Song stopped in his tracks, tightened his clothing, and listened to the movements behind him: "Those five cowards from the tavern have been following me for two or three days now. They're hesitant and not good men, but never mind. Today I'll give them an opportunity, so they won't have to follow my ass every day, damn it!"

  At that time, Wu Song indeed heard the rustling of clothes and footsteps behind him, and when he was about ten steps away from himself, he stopped.

  Wu Song's eyes scanned the area and saw a small path branching off to the side of the official road, which led into a small grove of trees: "This bird forest is not bad, let's go here."

  "I'm telling you, Second Brother, we've been following him for three days now, when are we going to make our move?" One of the men trailing behind Wu Song complained in a low voice: "The higher-ups are still waiting for news."

  "What's the hurry?" Another older one also lowered his voice: "This guy has been walking on the official road for three days, and with so many cars coming and going, how can we make a move? We need to wait for an opportunity."

  "Wait a minute, our Five Tigers' reputation has been dragged through the mud. We finally got a job and it's so troublesome!" Another person on the side also complained.

  "Shh!" One of them, seemingly the leader, made a hand gesture: "Second brother, look at that guy going down, if things go wrong, he might go to the small woods in front to relieve himself. This is an opportunity, let's do it."

  "Grandma's, my hands are itching." The last one picked up a gleaming wooden knife and said indignantly.

  Wu Song seemed completely unaware of the five men behind him and strode straight into the small forest.

  "Up!" The second brother made a gesture, and the five of them, each holding their weapons, rushed straight into the small forest.

  They had not expected that as soon as they entered the small woods, a person emerged from behind a tree in front of them. He was wearing a bamboo hat and holding a staff, leaning lazily against the trunk of the tree. It wasn't Wu Song, so who could it be?

  Under the bamboo hat, Wu Song scanned the five men with a glance and saw that they had all drawn their weapons. He burst out laughing: "You five scoundrels dare to come and tease me? Tell me, which mountain are you mixed up with?"

  The first man, with a scar on his face, saw Wu Song and didn't panic. He shouted loudly: "Halt! You, surnamed Wu, have a big nerve! Seeing us five brothers, you still don't quickly hand over your money! We are under Chao Gai, the Heavenly King of Liangshan Marsh, specializing in robbing the rich to help the poor!"

  "Five brothers? The old master of Liangshan Marsh has also heard of them, each one is a good fellow, what kind of coward is this? Moreover, this place is hundreds of miles away from Liangshan Marsh, these birds!" Wu Song thought to himself: "The old master rushing on the road doesn't make much sense, might as well play a trick on them first."

  "Wu Song wishes to know the good fellow's name!"

  "Bring it on!" A burly man beside him drew his waist knife and shouted, "My brothers' names are enough to scare the pants off you!"

  The leader waved his hand: "Wu Song! We also respect you as a man, anyway, we'll let you know that you can't escape this small forest today!"

  Wu Song's mouth curled up in a cold smile, and he cupped his hands: "Please speak!"

  "Grandfather is Flying Tiger Zhao Jinrong!" The leader shouted loudly, shaking his cheek muscles.

  "Down the mountain, Hu Tang Xu!" The second brother coughed and said loudly.

  "Sit down, Liu Heizi the tiger!" Another man with a lewd face shouted in a shrill voice.

  "Block the road, Xu Jinyi!" Another man shook his hand with a machete and said viciously.

  "Ghost-faced tiger Tseng Kuo!" The last person had several large birthmarks on his face, almost covering his eyes.

  "We are the Five Tiger Generals! We rob the rich to help the poor! We eliminate the cruel and bring peace to the good! We carry out justice on behalf of Heaven!" Their voices echoed through the clouds, startling the old crows in the trees.

  "Caw! Caw! Caw!" The old crow cawed as it flew away, seemingly mocking these five obvious dimwits.

  Wu Song glanced at the five men and sneered, "The Five Tiger Generals? Very good, very good. Are you really from Liangshan? Don't try to bluff me! I know everyone on Liangshan, top to bottom. How come I've never heard of any of you?"

  Wu Song had only heard of the names of several people from Liangshan, and had also met Song Jiang at Chai Jin's and Chai Da's official residence in Cangzhou Haiguan, but if he said that everyone knew each other, it was naturally intentional to entertain these five tiger generals. The few pieces of material in front of him could be called good men from Liangshan, who would believe it?

  The five tigers opposite Wu Song heard this and became visibly tense, exchanging nervous glances. It was Flying Tiger Zhao Jinrong who stamped his foot: "Wu Song! We've also heard of your great name. At this moment, it's one against five - even if you're made of iron, how many nails can you withstand? Be sensible and hand over the money that Zhu gave you. We'll spare your life!"

  The other four men also held weapons and threatened Wu Song.

  Wu Song laughed and said, "You claim to be the Five Tiger Generals, since you've heard of my master's great name, don't you know that he killed a fierce tiger with his bare hands on Jingyang Ridge? What about you five cowards?"

  "How dare you!" Liu Laizi, the fierce tiger on the ground, shouted in a shrill voice, took off his bow and arrow from his back, drew his bow and aimed at Wu Song: "You're good, Wu Song! You don't drink the toast, now you'll have to drink the penalty wine! Let's see who's faster, your fists or my bow!"

  He has a wooden sword and a waist knife on him, swaggering through the streets is one thing, but he's also carrying a bow and arrow, looks like he's not your average thug.

  Wu Song knew that these five men had been following him for three days, and they all had weapons on them, but he didn't expect that they also had a bow and arrow. It turned out that Liu the Black Tiger had wrapped the bow and arrow in cloth and carried it on his back, which Wu Song hadn't noticed.

  If there were ten or twenty archers, Wu Song would have been in a bit of trouble and had to retreat far away. But now that his opponent was alone with a bow, Wu Song didn't take him seriously.

  "Hand over your money and you'll have a way out!" shouted Xia Shanhu Tang Xu.

  Wu Song flipped his eyes and said, "I'll give you a lesson!" He held the whistle rod horizontally in his hand, and with both hands simultaneously exerting force on the whistle rod, which was made of a whole piece of white wax wood with excellent elasticity. Wu Song's strength was great, and instantly the whistle rod bent into a crescent shape!

  Liu Hei Zi opposite was still unclear what was going on, Wu Song's hand relaxed, and the whistle rod suddenly popped out, spinning horizontally without stopping, rushing towards Liu Hei Zi's face! At the same time, Wu Song let out a loud shout, and with his body close to the ground, he rushed towards Road Tiger Xu Jin Yi!

  He who strikes first wins, he who strikes last loses! Wu Song has been in the martial arts world for a long time, and whenever he makes a move, it's always with all his might!

  Liu Heizi was shocked, he leaned back and shouted: "Take action! Take..." His left hand loosened, the arrow lost its target and flew off somewhere. Liu Heizi only felt a surge of great force coming, his bow was first knocked flying by the club, followed by a burning sensation on his face. It was just that he had leaned back too late, the club hit him squarely, instantly Liu Heizi's face turned blue and his mouth swelled up, he was hit by the club and fell backwards!

  These few moves were like lightning, and before the four people could react, Liu Heizi had already fallen to the ground!

  Big Flying Tiger Zhao Jinrong let out a loud roar, and Down Mountain Tiger Tang Xu each held a waist knife, ferociously pouncing towards Wu Song; on this side, Road-blocking Tiger Xu Jinyi saw Wu Song charging towards him, his hand holding the wooden knife stabbing forward, if Wu Song didn't stop, that wooden knife would surely strike him; Ghost-faced Tiger Zeng Ke held an iron whip, striking towards Wu Song!

  What kind of hero is Wu Song? He's not afraid of those few!

  Xu Jinyi only felt a shock in his hand, and it turned out that Wu Song had dodged the wooden sword by shifting his body to one side, and then pressed down on the hilt with his hand. Wu Song's divine strength was too great this time, and Xu Jinyi couldn't hold on, so the wooden sword was easily taken away by Wu Song!

  Wu Song didn't even lift his body, and with one swing of the wooden sword in his hand, Ghost-Faced Tiger Zhen Qiao only felt a pain in his chest, and the wooden sword had already pierced through his chest!

  Wu Song slowly got up, wiped his waist, and with one swing of the wooden sword in his hand, a large amount of fresh blood spurted out from the ghost-faced tiger Zeng Qian's body. Seeing that he couldn't survive, Wu Song didn't even look at him and swung his sword again, throwing Zeng Qian's corpse away, which happened to block the path of Zhao Jinrong and Tang Xu.

  Wu Song smiled at Xujingyi, who was stunned and speechless, and his huge fist flew out, heavily smashing onto Xujingyi's face, knocking him to the ground with a thud, unable to get up for a while.

  Flying Tiger Zhao Jinyong and Downhill Tiger Tang Xu saw that in the blink of an eye, one of the Five Tigers' generals was dead and two were knocked down. Only then did they realize that Wu Song was not to be trifled with, and any idea of robbing him on the road disappeared. They didn't even want their weapons anymore, throwing away their waist knives and fleeing in unison!

  Wu Song shouted, "Where are you going!" and rushed up with his wooden sword in three or four strides. First, he knocked Flying Tiger Zhao Jinrong to the ground. Seeing that Tang Xu had escaped far away, Wu Song raised his wooden sword, took aim, and threw it in one motion. The wooden sword flew like a poisonous snake out of its hole, instantly catching up with Downhill Tiger Tang Xu, entering from his back and exiting from his chest, ending his life on the spot.

  Wu Song sneered, "What five tiger generals! Not even as good as five old mice!" He bent down to pick up the waist knife on the ground and stabbed Xu Jin-yi, who was struggling on the ground, several times. Turning his head around, he grabbed Liu Hei-zi, who was about to get up and escape, by the hair and shouted, "You scoundrel, tell me the truth! Where did you few come from? I'll spare your life!"

  Liu Heizi's mouth was severely swollen, and with great difficulty, he managed to open his mouth. First, he spat out a few broken teeth with blood, then replied unclearly: "The five of us are idle gangsters from Tokyo. A few days ago, Tang Xu said he had taken on a job and gave us a portrait of the head of Wu Du. We've been waiting here specifically for the head of Wu Du to come, so we can rob that Zhu guy's money."

  Wu Song thought to himself: "The old master accepted Zhu's entrustment, but how come the person hasn't arrived in Dongjing yet, and the news has already arrived first? This matter is somewhat suspicious, there must be some hidden truth. This guy even has the old master's portrait, it's not a joke, I need to ask more questions!"

  "Where did Tang Xu take this job from? Who will you meet when you go back?" Wu Song asked sternly.

  "Good fellow!" Liu Heizi spat out another mouthful of blood: "This was all arranged by Tang Xu, except for him and the boss, we didn't know..."

  "What's the point of keeping you then?!"

  "Good fellow, spare my life! I have an 80-year-old mother at home..." Liu Heizi had only spoken half of his words when he saw Wu Song's knife rushing towards him, and quickly changed his tone to: "Hero! Poor me is still a virgin..."

  Wu Song didn't care about these things, and with a few swift knife strikes, Liu Hei Zi was instantly killed.

  Wu Song carelessly discarded Liu Black Son's corpse, looked around at the scattered corpses, put on his waist knife again, and searched for his own horn from the grass. After thinking for a moment, he left the small forest and continued heading in the direction of Dongjing.

  "Caw... caw... caw..." A dozen or so old crows descended from the sky, competing with each other to peck at the corpses of the Five Tiger Generals.

  Wu Song walked for a long time before another person emerged from behind a tree, in his early twenties, with a goose feather knife at his waist. He furrowed his brow and rubbed his head, sighing: "This is trouble..."