"Hehe." Fu Yunchen looked at the eagle and said to Mu Run, "This is the female eagle that Grey Grey likes."
Mu Run: "Huh?... Huihui has a girlfriend!"
Fu Yunchen nodded, "Yes, it delivered the message to you late this time because it was lured away by this mother eagle."
"You shameless scoundrel, you're blinded by lust!" Mu Run pulled out a secret flute from around her neck and blew it once.
Soon, we saw Grey Grey coming over with half a snake in its mouth...
Mu Run looked at the approaching Grey Grey, especially the flowery snake in its mouth, and said disdainfully, "It actually lives off a woman!"
"Living off a woman?" Fu Yunchen vaguely understood what she meant. "Hehe, it seems a bit like that." Then he let out a loud whistle.
Grey immediately turned around and flew away again.
Mu Run looked at him in surprise, "You can whistle too?"
Fu Yunchen smiled and said, "It's very simple."
"No, I think it's difficult."
Do you want me to teach you?
A masked man jumped out from behind a roadside rock and shouted at Fu Yunchen and Mu Run, "This mountain belongs to me!"
"This mountain is mine, these trees are mine, if you want to pass, leave your toll." Mu Run finished the robbery for him.
Seeing that Mu Run had answered first, the masked man blinked and asked, "How did you know?"
Mu Run replied, "We are Tiger's friends."
The masked man scratched his head, looking a little embarrassed, and said, "Well, you can go now."
Mu Run stopped the carriage and asked, "How many people have you had along the way? Should I put up a flag or something to let you know that we have already paid the toll?"
"No need, no need, I'm the last one. If we go any further, it'll be Niutou Mountain's territory. You'll have to pay the toll to the brothers on the other side of Niutou Mountain."
"Uh!" Mu Run was a little dumbfounded. "Could this whole journey have been a series of robberies?"
The masked man said, "There's no other way. We live on the border between the Northern Jin and Central Jin dynasties. Both dynasties collect all sorts of taxes and conscript men for military service. The harvests are also poor, so this is the only thing we can do. Once we've scraped together fifty taels of silver, we'll go to Chongyang Prefecture to seek refuge with the Prince of Chongyang."
"That sounds quite difficult. But does seeking refuge with the Prince of Chongyang require silver?" Mu Run glanced at Fu Yunchen and asked the masked man.
The masked man replied, "Yes, it costs ten taels of silver per family. We have five families in total, so we need fifty taels."
"Whose rule is that?" Fu Yunchen asked.
The masked man replied, "It's the government of Chongyang Prefecture. I heard they didn't accept it before, but as more people went there, they started accepting it."
Fu Yunchen asked, "Is the same situation at Niutou Mountain?"
The masked man nodded. "Yes, nobody wants to rob anyone. But we have no choice but to do this in order to get to Chongyang Prefecture."
Mu Run looked at Fu Yunchen and asked, "Is there such a rule?"
Fu Yunchen said, "No."
Mu Run understood, "Those were the ones those officials accepted privately."
Fu Yunchen nodded, "I might not be able to take you on a slow walk."
"Hmm." Mu Run picked up the riding whip. "I didn't want to either."
Before leaving, Mu Run told the masked men to go to Chongyang Prefecture without worry, as there was no such thing as ten taels of silver. If anyone wanted it, they could go to Chongyang Mountain and ask the King of Chongyang for help.
The masked man watched the carriage speed away, then pulled down his mask to reveal a young, thin face. "Who are they?"
As expected, when passing Niutou Mountain, someone tried to rob them, but before they could speak, Mu Run dismissed them with a silver ingot.
The bandit who had received the silver shouted, "If anyone stops us, say you're a friend of Brother Axe."
Mu Run distributed money along the way and arrived in Chongyang Prefecture two days later.
At least there were no more robberies, but now there's an extra roadblock!
---Aside---
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