As the crowd gathered, the sound of gongs rang out. On the ground where the crowd was watching, a large cage was placed, inside which was a tiger. A white cloth was spread on the ground, upon which were placed many bones and medicinal herbs. Next to it stood a signboard that read "Cures all diseases."
"Don't laugh at the wanderers of the Jianghu, for among them are officials who, driven by greed for fame and fortune, have drifted to the ends of the earth, abandoning poetry and books to study the nine streams of learning, spending their spring and autumn in the five lakes and four seas. They eat without planting grains, and they have oil without growing beans and garlic. When they encounter an official, they don't concern themselves with his taxes, and when they encounter water, they board a boat. It is not that I am being foolish and boastful, but that I can roam freely under the whole sky, traveling east to the sea, west to the rivers, south to the plains, and north to the passes."
A burly man stood in the crowd, loudly reciting a Jianghu rhyme. After finishing, he stepped on a bench beside him, skillfully lifted it up, and caught it with his hand. This man was Li Zhong, the Tiger Slayer.
As Li Zhong took the bench in his hand, three men who were already prepared immediately attacked with long sticks in hand. The burly man used the bench in his hand to defend himself. The surrounding people cheered, and a man on the side was banging a gong to attract more people to watch.
Among the crowd, a tall, burly man dressed in the uniform of a military officer and a young man in white cheered enthusiastically upon seeing this. The two were none other than Lu Zhishen (Lu Da) and Shi Jin (Nine-Tattooed Dragon).
After fighting for a while, seeing that it was nearly over, Li Zhong and the three men with long sticks stopped. They clasped their hands together and said to the surrounding crowd, "The kung fu is over. Fellow villagers, if you have any money, take it out and exchange it for some tiger meat and bones. If you don't have any, cheer us on and give us a round of applause. Our tiger is real, and our tiger-fighting skills come from eating tigers. Eating meat replenishes the body, eating tendons replenishes the energy, and eating bones replenishes the spirit. In short, you are what you eat."
"I bought the medicine; it's good medicine."
"Come on, let's buy some to try."
After Li Zhong finished speaking, he and his companions picked up the already wrapped medicine from the ground and began to sell it to the surrounding crowd.
“Brother, I know this man. He’s my mentor, the one who taught me how to use medicine. His name is Tiger-Slaying General Li Zhong.” Shi Jin (Nine-Tattooed Dragon Shi Jin) said to Lu Da (Lu Zhishen) as he saw Li Zhong start selling medicinal herbs in the crowd.
As the two men talked, Li Zhong approached them with his medicine sales pitch. Shi Jin tossed a small piece of silver into the gong in Li Zhong's hand. Upon seeing this, Li Zhong smiled even more broadly and looked up at Shi Jin.
"Master, do you still recognize me?" Li Zhong asked happily.
"Da Lang." Upon hearing this and recognizing Shi Jin as someone quite familiar, Li Zhong thought for a moment, then called out happily, patting Shi Jin on the shoulder and saying cheerfully, "How did you end up here?"
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"I'll take all your tiger and medicinal herbs." A small gold ingot landed in the gong in Li Zhong's hand. Seeing the gold suddenly fall into the gong, Li Zhong quickly looked up in the direction of the voice. Not only Li Zhong, but everyone around also looked over, wanting to see which official or wealthy person was so generous as to throw away a gold ingot.
Looking around, one could see a dozen or so armored soldiers and generals emerging from the crowd. The leader, dressed in black armor, was a towering figure, easily nine feet tall. His identity was unknown, as even the Grand Coordinator of Weizhou, General Zhong Shidao, walked behind him. Behind him followed two female generals and eight imposing and powerful-looking guards.
"Lu Da, hurry up and greet the General." Upon entering the crowd and seeing Lu Da there, Zhong Shidao immediately called out to him.
"This humble servant greets the Great General and General Zhong." Upon hearing this, Lu Da immediately called out to Wang Han.
"General, the tiger cub, tiger bones, and medicinal herbs combined aren't worth a single ingot of gold," Li Zhong said to Wang Han with a smile.
“Even though you caught the tigers with traps, you still risked your lives to earn this money. It’s worth it. Wrap them all up for me,” Wang Han said, immediately recognizing that the tigers had been caught with traps.
“Yes, whether this tiger was caught in a trap or hunted with skill, it was obtained at great personal risk. Add to that the medicinal herbs and tiger bones, and it's worth a gold ingot,” Lu Da agreed. He felt Wang Han's words made perfect sense.
"Lu Da, who gave you permission to interrupt! Hurry up and apologize to the General." Upon hearing this, Zhong Shidao quickly reprimanded Lu Da. He then said to Wang Han, "General, please don't be offended. Lu Da is just a rough man; he doesn't usually have any bad deeds."
"It's good to be a rough man, no ulterior motives. Straightforward," Wang Han said with a smile. His gaze then fell on Shi Jin, the Nine-Tattooed Dragon, standing beside Lu Da.
"Does this general know me?" Shi Jin felt a little guilty when he saw Wang Han looking at him.
"I don't know you, but I do know you." Upon hearing this, Wang Han said, "Your nickname is Nine-Tattooed Dragon. You are the son of Shi Taigong from Shijiazhuang in Huayin County. You have loved martial arts since you were a child. When Wang Jin, the instructor of the 800,000 Imperial Guards in Tokyo, committed a crime, he fled to Yan'an Prefecture with his elderly mother. When they passed through Shijiazhuang, his mother fell ill, so Wang Jin stayed there and taught you martial arts. You even captured the bandit Chen Da alive. Unfortunately, you have never been involved in agriculture since you were a child. Your mother tried to persuade you to stay, but she was so angry that she died. Zhu Wu and Yang Chun surrendered themselves. You were deeply moved by their loyalty and thus befriended Shaohua Mountain. Later, you even killed government soldiers and became a bandit."
Upon hearing Wang Han recount Shi Jin's deeds, Zhong Shidao immediately pulled Lu Da aside, glared at Lu Da who was about to speak, and the people around them also retreated to the side.
Shi Jin's expression changed, and he immediately gripped the hilt of his sword. Upon hearing Wang Han say that he had neglected agriculture since childhood and that his mother had died of anger after failing to persuade him otherwise, Shi Jin drew his sword and shouted, "You slander me, accusing me of disloyalty and filial impiety! Today I will fight you to the death to prove my innocence!"
"Clang clang clang..." Without the slightest hesitation, Yang Zhi and the others drew their broadswords and stepped forward, pointing directly at Shi Jin. As long as Wang Han gave the order, they would pounce on him and chop Shi Jin to pieces.
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