During the Daoguang period of the Qing Dynasty, a group of bandits emerged in the area of Qulai Mountain in Shandong Province, specializing in looting houses and houses, causing people to panic. Although Zhao Chengcheng, the prefect of Tai'an, sent troops to collect and suppress them many times, the bandits were very cunning. As soon as the officers and army came, they scattered and fled to Qulai Mountain and hid in the deep mountains. As soon as the officers and army left, they divided and gathered, and continued down the mountain to loot. However, this Qulai Mountain is high and dense, and there are many forks. In addition, the mountain is full of fog all year round, and people who are not familiar with the path should not think about entering the mountain.
On this day, Zhao Chengcheng was discussing with his subordinate Zhang Shoubei in the official yamen. He had just received an official document from the governor yamen, ordering him to eliminate the bandits within three months. Of course, Zhao Chengcheng knew the meaning of the official document. If it was not good for the bandits to be suppressed, it would be difficult to save the black veil on his top. But the whereabouts of the bandits were uncertain and they were hidden in the mountains. He and Zhang Shoubei discussed it for a long time, but they were still at a loss. Zhao Chengcheng frowned and paced back and forth with his hands behind his back. Zhang Shoubei said cautiously: "Sir, it is better to post a recruitment list. It is better to make great profits than to be in a hurry."
Recruitment list? Zhao Chengcheng pondered for a while, shook his head and said, "Wouldn't spreading this matter show that I am incompetent?" Zhang Shoubei whispered: "This is also a temporary convenience. Lord, think about it, compared to the future, a little reputation is nothing. Besides, Tai'an Mansion is crouching with tigers and hidden dragons, maybe there are really strange people who can help us defeat the bandits." Zhao Chengjian really couldn't think of any other way, so he had to agree.
Unexpectedly, no one dared to reveal the list after the recruitment list was posted for a few days. When Zhao Chengzheng was anxious and uneasy, a yamen rushed in and said, "My lord, someone has revealed the list and is waiting outside the door." Zhao Chengcheng was suddenly overjoyed and ordered, "Please." After a while, a fortune teller with a bamboo staff walked in unhurriedly, holding a fortune-telling guise in his hand. Zhao Chengjian was blind and disappointed, so he couldn't help but shout angrily: "Who are you? How dare you reveal the list without permission." Blind looked very calm, and said slowly: "Isn't this recruitment list set up for adults to eliminate bandits? I heard people talking about this in the teahouse, and I heard that the reward was rich, so I went to reveal the list." Zhao Jiancheng sneered: "Could it be that you are a sage?" Blind said lightly: "My lord read the book of sages in vain, wouldn't it be impossible to read people's faces, and the sea water should not be measured." Zhao Jiancheng was taken aback, he looked at Blind a few times again, thinking to himself that Blind was really an expert, otherwise how would he dare to reveal it. Zhao Jiancheng hurriedly asked Blind to sit down and asked someone to offer tea.
Blind took a sip of tea and said, "Actually, I don't have any good ideas. When Zhao Chancheng heard this, he laughed heartily. He had invited several guides to visit lair of the bandits in Mount Zulai, but they all returned in vain because the road was difficult to find. Blind was too ignorant. Blind still said calmly, "My lord doesn't believe me, but would you like to make a bet?" Zhao Chancheng became interested: "What kind of bet?" Blind said, "If I can't find the bandits' lair within a month, I will kill Ren Duan at the disposal of the lord. If I find out by chance, I just ask the lord to pay the reward in full. But I have a request, please ask the lord to temporarily withdraw the army, so that I can get something out of it. "Seeing that the blind man was right, Zhao Zhao agreed.
Half a month later, the bandits in Cullai Mountain heard that the official army had withdrawn, and the wind in Tai'an Mansion gradually subsided, thinking that the official government was incompetent, so they gathered together again. The leader of this group of bandits was named Li Bao, who was originally a hunter in Cullai Mountain. Just because he killed people, he fled to Cullai Mountain. In just a few years, he gathered hundreds of deserters and started a robber business. Li Bao hunted in Cullai Mountain all year round, was familiar with the terrain, read some books about Qimen's escape, and set up a trap in the mountain, and outsiders did not want to enter.
On this day, Li Bao invited several leaders to discuss counterfeit products. One of the leaders said, "Big brother, the government hunted him down a while ago, and the brothers were restrained. When will you go down the mountain to do a vote again?" Li Bao nodded and said, "It seems that you have chosen your target." The leader said with a smile: "There is a Wu family village nearby, where Old Wu lives outside the family and has a huge family wealth. It just so happens that tomorrow is his 60th birthday. It will be his 60th birthday, and he will have a wide feast for relatives and friends. There must be a lot of birthday gifts, so the brothers can go and make a lot of money." Li Bao smiled and immediately planned to prepare.
The next day, Li Bao led the bandits with steel knives to blatantly break into Old Wu's house outside Wu. When the guests saw this, they were too scared to move. The bandits loaded all the valuable items into the carriage, and at this time, there was a shout from the outside: "The universe in the hexagram can cut off life and death." Li Bao turned around and saw a fortune teller with a bamboo staff passing by. Li Bao was in a moment of interest and said, "Fortune teller, come here." The fortune teller heard the sound and walked towards Li Bao. Li Bao took a closer look. The fortune teller's eyes were rolled over with white eyes, and he was obviously blind.
Li Bao asked casually, "Is your fortune-telling really as good as you said?" Blind said sternly, "If it doesn't work, the guest officer will only ask me." Li Bao chuckled and said, "Well, you can help me do the math." Blind took a step closer and said seriously, "Male left and female right, please stretch out your left palm and wait for me to try the palm print." Li Bao stretched out his left hand, Blind felt it with his hand, and shook his head and said, "The guest official is in good luck, not only does the wealth come from the sky, but also makes the wife happy in the womb, which can be said to be double happiness." Li Bao was stunned when he heard that a new lady he married was indeed pregnant. Seeing that Blind was right, he hurriedly asked, "Do you know if it's a man or a woman?" Blind mused, "You need to touch Madam Ling's palm print to know this." Li Bao eagerly begged his son, and ordered one of his minions: "Send Mr. to the mountain quickly."
The blind man walked very slowly, and the minions led the blind man around the left and right of the Culai Mountain. Every time he reached a dangerous place, the blind man seemed afraid of slipping, and he dared to beat the surrounding soil with a bamboo stick. The two stopped and walked, and it was not until dusk that Li Bao's counterfeit products were entered.
Li Bao invited the madam out. After touching the palm print, the blind man pinched his finger and said, "There is a dragon in the east, and a phoenix in the west, which is the fetus of a dragon and phoenix." When Li Bao heard this, he was overjoyed, but the blind man suddenly sighed: "However, a kind of evil spirit has accumulated in Madam Ling's abdomen, which makes it difficult to save each other." Li Bao broke out in a cold sweat and asked in a panic, "Is there any way to save her?" The blind man said embarrassedly: "I only need to burn a golden talisman to avoid disaster, but unfortunately I didn't take the golden talisman with me when I went out in a hurry." Li Bao immediately said: "This is easy, tomorrow I will send someone to send Mr. down the mountain, but I must ask Mr. to take the trouble to save the child in his womb. A little courtesy is not respectful." As Li Bao waved his hand, a minion came up with a plate of gold and silver jewelry, and the blind man was not polite and wrapped it in a bag.
After going down the mountain, Blind went straight to the government office and said to Zhao Jiancheng, "My lord, if you want to break the bandits, it will be tonight. Your lord quickly gathered his men and ordered the sergeant to cover his eyes with a black cloth, hold the hemp rope in his hand, and let me guide him in front." Although Zhao Jiancheng was puzzled, he and Blind had a word first, so he had to do as Blind wanted.
That night, Li Bao and the bandits held a feast of counterfeit products to celebrate the birth of a dragon and a phoenix for his wife. As they drank in a daze, the army seemed to fall from the sky, and the bandits were stunned, and they were wiped out before they could resist.
Back at the mansion, Zhao Chengcheng invited Blind to thank him and said, "Mr. Li is really a god, and he has only walked the mountain road once, and he remembers it at all." Blind laughed and said, "What kind of god, it is not worth mentioning. I have been blind since I was a child, and I rely on hexagrams to tell my fortune to make a living, and I travel south and north. We blind people can't see the road, so we are very careful every step of the way. Naturally, we pay more attention to the road we walk than ordinary people, otherwise how can we walk through the streets. The so-called practice makes perfect, but the memory is slightly stronger. The mechanisms that Li Bao set up in the mountains are mostly blind tricks. When people with discerning eyes see those dangerous cliffs, they will inevitably be frightened and linger, and this is the only way to the mountain. This is my intention to cover the sergeant's eyes with black cloth and hold the hemp rope in my hand."
It turned out that after Blind revealed the recruitment list, he guessed that Li Bao must have arranged eyeliner in the city to observe every move of the official army. He asked Zhao Qingcheng to withdraw the army to numb Li Bao, and then deliberately stayed in teahouses and restaurants, which were where Li Bao's eyeliner was listening to the news. Sure enough, by chance, he learned from the eyeliner that Li Bao's wife was pregnant, so a clever plan was secretly generated in his mind. Half a month later, Blind expected that the news of the eyeliner had been conveyed, and Li Bao would not be able to hold back when he saw the official army withdraw. Li Bao has always been cautious and would not choose a farther target to start, and only Old Wu could be called a rich family nearby. Blind made up his mind and went to Wujia Village to wander around. That day, Li Bao led people to rob Elder Wu's house. The blind man deliberately passed by the door and brought Li Bao into the hole with hexagrams. Li Bao suspected fraud and took the blind man up the mountain. The blind man used a bamboo stick to measure the ground, smell the smell, listen to the sound, and firmly imprint the road in his mind. He was also afraid that Li Bao would not let him go down the mountain, and made nonsense about the golden talisman to avoid disaster, so Li Bao had to send him down the mountain.
After listening to Blind's account, Zhao Chengcheng suddenly realized that he had not broken his promise, paid the bounty, and built a library for Blind in the city, and hung a plaque with a handwritten "divine calculation" on the door.