Translator: Foxs' Wuxia
Xu Ziling knocked the ring-shaped door knocker of the courtyard house, he said with a sigh, “Han Xiong, please open the door, it’s Xu Ziling.”
Urgent steps were heard, the gate was opened, revealing Han Zenan’s flustered countenance. “Not good!” he said, “I am afraid we have been discovered, these past two days there were strangers moving back and forth outside the house.”
Xu Ziling stepped aside, he pointed to the two big men lying flat by Yin Xianhe’s feet, and asked, “Are these two of them?”
Han Zenan looked in astonishment, Yin Xianhe bent down his tall body and his two hands separately grabbed the two men’s hair and pulled them to face Han Zenan.
Han Zenan trembled, he said, “I have never seen these two men.”
Xu Ziling’s heart sank, he spoke to Yin Xianhe, “I have to trouble Yin Xiong to hide them inside the courtyard.” And then he stepped across the threshold to enter the courtyard, and walked over toward the door to the house, accompanied by Han Zenan; he said, “We left as soon as we could, fortunately, we came in time.”
Han Zenan said, “We were originally planning on leaving town by taking advantage of the dark, with Xu Xiong’s help, my wife will feel much better!”
Bai Xiaochang opened the door to welcome them, the tip of her brows showed delight, Xiao Jie’er has grown quite a lot, leaning on his mother’s side, he looked curiously at Xu Ziling, he also stole a glance at Yin Xianhe dragging the two men to a corner of the outer courtyard, but he did not show the slightest look of fear.
Xu Ziling noticed that on the table inside the hall, there were three bundles, two big and one small, he knew that they had already packed for the trip. Scooping up Xiao Jie’er, he said with a laugh, “Last time I did not see you, how’s Xiao Jie’er?”
Xiao Jie’er affectionately threw his arms around his neck, and excitedly said, “Are you that Gong Shushu [uncle] that has changed? Die and Niang said that with Shushu around, we don’t have to be afraid the bad guys might bully us. Are those two bad guys outside caught by Shushu?”
Xu Ziling affectionately stroked his little head, he turned to Han Zenan and Bai Xiaochang and said, “There is a carriage waiting outside the city, we go immediately.”
Han Zenan and Bai Xiaochang cast their gaze toward Yin Xianhe, who appeared behind the door.
Xu Ziling said, “This gentleman is Yin Xiaoji’s brother, Sao Furen [madame sister-in-law], please describe Xiaoji’s appearance and distinctive feature.”
Bai Xiaochang muttered to herself irresolutely for half a day, and then she said, “The most profound impression was that Xiaoji’s left arm has light red birthmark the size of a finger, also a pair of big and bright eyes!”
Yin Xianhe already had tears streaming down his face, his voice trembling, he said, “She really is Xiaoji! It is really her!”
Xu Ziling said, “Let’s talk further after we leave the city, the enemy does not dare to make their move, only because they have misgivings toward Sao Furen’s martial art skill. Just now we made our move to subdue the men they sent to watch you, I am afraid we already beat the grass to scare the snake, therefore, we must leave immediately.”
Xu Ziling carried Xiao Jie’er, while Yin Xianhe, one person, handled the two big bundles. Along with Han Zenan, husband and wife, they hurriedly left. When they turned to the main street leading to the north of the city, immediately they felt the atmosphere was different. It was in the afternoon, the street ought to be crowded with people, yet unexpectedly they did not see any pedestrians.
Yin Xianhe moved closer to Xu Ziling and said, “It seems rather bad!”
Han Zenan on the other side was terrified, he said, “Shall we try the city gate on the other side?”
Xu Ziling replied, “The other city gate should not be any different. The other side obviously has martial art masters presiding over the general situation from behind the scene, and Badong City’s defending general obviously breathe through the same nostril with the opponent.”
Bai Xiaochang was calmer than Han Zenan, she spoke softly, “Badong City’s Taishou [governor of a province] is called Zhang Wan, everybody knows that he takes bribes and bends the law. His only skill is to pat Du Fuwei’s horse butts.”
Xu Ziling handed over Xiao Jie’er to Bai Xiaochang, he said with a laugh, “That will do! We are still going out of town via the north gate, let’s see who’s going to stop us.”
Yin Xianhe was puzzled, he asked, “Since the enemy has Zhang Wan on their side, why didn’t they make their move early on?”
Xu Ziling said, “This is called family scandal should not be announced publicly. Naturally it would be best to deal with the internal matter of the family with the member of their own family. But now, seeing the situation is critical, while the martial art master of their side is still on the way, they have no choice but to bribe corrupt official to deal with us.”
Yin Xianhe sighed and said, “Just now we were momentarily careless, we missed the other side’s spy.”
Xu Ziling said, “The spy was hiding in the house across the street, I thought it was just a curious neighbor, I did not pay him any attention.”
The city gate was in sight, suddenly shouts arose, the city gate closed, on top of the city wall, archers showed themselves, several hundred Badong ordinary soldiers crowded out of the shops on both sides of the main street, ahead, several dozen city defenders guarding the gate rushed out of the gateway. In an instant, five people, four adults and one child, fell into the siege.
A tall, thin man wearing general uniform stepped out of the crowd ahead, pointing his halberd fingers and shouted, “Not even half a person can leave. This officer is Badong City’s Taishou Zhang Wan. If you are tactful, you will kneel down and will be bound, otherwise, you will be killed without mercy.”
‘Bang!’
Amidst the gradually thinning smoke, the kerosene bullet exploded into fireballs and sparks filling the whole sky, like fireworks, it exploded above the Tang Army soldiers filling the trenches, sprinkling down over their heads and their faces. The Tang soldiers within two zhang diameter, none was lucky enough to escape; they dispersed and ran away in confusion. Some people even rolled around on the ground in an attempt to extinguish their burning clothes.
The gong to sound the retreat arose again, the Tang Army completely withdrew.
Stunned, Kou Zhong and Ba Fenghan looked at each other. The former grabbed his head and said, “Unexpectedly Li Shimin is this quick-witted?”
Ba Fenghan raised his head to look at the sky, he said with a sigh, “Because Li Shimin also knew how to look at weather conditions, he knew that at the latest, there will be either big rain or big snow, therefore, momentarily he is not anxious; furthermore, he is unwilling to let you have the opportunity to practice shooting.”
Kou Zhong stared blankly at the enemy withdrawing far away like a tide, he wanted to say something, but did not know what to say. In his heart, there was not the slightest bit of joy of beating the enemy to retreat with just one arrow, he felt even more that Li Shimin was brilliant and terrifying.
Xu Ziling calmly took a step forward, he smiled and said, “Zhang Taishou, how are you? I am Xu Ziling, wanting to ask Taishou what crime we did, that we unexpectedly toil Taishou’s honored self?”
Hearing the name of Xu Ziling, immediately Zhang Wan’s countenance changed, the Badong city defenders surrounding them, everybody was stunned. Although Du Fuwei already surrendered to the House of Tang, but Du Fuwei’s close relationship with Kou Zhong, Xu Ziling, no one in the Jianghuai Army did not know. If they follow Zhang Wan’s order to attack Xu Ziling, based on Du Fuwei’s character, who could live after this event? Not to mention that even until today, powerful men like Xieli, Li Yuan, Wang Shichong and the others, still no one could do anything toward Xu Ziling and Kou Zhong, these two proud sons of heaven.
Xu Ziling said, “If there’s any offense toward your honorable side, I can personally apologize to your honorable Senior side’s and pay compensation.” The tone of his voice changed, it was so that Zhang Wan would not lose too much face, and to give him the opportunity to step down the stage. He has been mingling in Jianghu since he was little until he grew up, in this aspect, he could be considered a remarkable expert.
Zhang Wan’s countenance changed several times, he spoke heavily, “Is there any way to prove that you are Xu Ziling?”
On the left side among the enemy ranks, someone spoke loudly, “Reporting to Taishou, this gentleman is indeed Xu Gongzi. One time Shuxia saw him and Kou Shaoshuai standing on top of the city wall at Jingling.”
Zhang Wan ferociously glowered at that man, he spoke sternly, “So what if you are Xu Ziling? Our Army already returned to the Great Tang, you, Xu Ziling, are our enemy.”
Xu Ziling was greatly astonished inwardly, but then he remembered this man colluded with Er Wenhuan and the others, he knew that not only he was bought by Li Jiancheng in secret, he even had some unclean, unquiet relationship with the demonic school people in secret. Thereupon he changed strategy by speaking indifferently, “Your military banner has not changed, how could the surrendering matter be considered a real thing? Now, although Luoyang has been broken, Shao Shuai Army and Great Tang Army’s struggle is flourishing and still in the ascendant [idiom: still growing strong], the Song Family main forces could set sail to the north any moment. Until now, those who have a clear view of things, none does not understand how to protect themselves while watching for changes. If Taishou is still stubborn, no matter where you are on that day, no matter what office duty you are holding, I, Xu Ziling can guarantee that you will not end well, while we can still leave the city peacefully. Taishou wants to try?”
Zhang Wan was put on the spot, he also noticed that all his men were hanging down their weapon, no one had the intention to fight.
Xu Ziling nodded in praise, he said, “Now that’s the right thing to do.” Turning his head toward Han Zenan and the others, he said, “We can leave!”
And then when he turned back to Zhang Wan, the divine light in his pair of eyes flashing, he secretly pinched the Motionless Fundamental Hand Image, and shouted, “Still haven’t open the gate for me?”
Zhang Wan dejectedly issued the order, with creaking noise, the city gate’s suspension bridge was once again lowered down.
The storm rolled up, on the mountain and fields and plain outside the Tian Cheng Gorge, the enemy and us, both sides’ banners, not one was lucky enough to escape being violently brushed off and randomly fluttered by the wind, creating loud flapping noise. The remaining fragments of grass and dried branches that were still burning, mixed with bits of wood charcoal and dirt and dust, rolled straight up into the air, and spiraled down into the ground, the sound and momentum were extremely terrifying.
Under the formidable power of the nature, even army camps continuous for several dozen li, ten thousand horses and a thousand armies, still appeared to be insignificant and helpless.
The Shao Shuai Army inside the mountain stronghold were rapidly moving the logs onto the top of the city wall, yet this moment they could not help but suspending their work in order to avoid being injured by the wind.
Kou Zhong and Ba Fenghan have been watching the situation on Li Shimin’s side from a distance, they saw the newly made carts to fill the trenches, the ramming vehicles, the blocking-arrows vehicles, were being rearranged at the front line, but unlike the previous time where they were arranged in a row of long snake formation, this time they were divided into more than a dozen groups. It could be imagined that the other side would launch a series of attacks, with one fell, the next followed with their mighty power until the gale suddenly arrived. The two men’s eyes turned to Laotianye, to see whether He would be interested in giving them rain or snow.
The wind was rising, the clouds were rolling, clump by clump of heavy black clouds rolled at high speed; watching this, everybody already palpitated and their spirit trembled.
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Suddenly ‘ta!’ a bean-sized raindrop fell on Kou Zhong’s face, icy-cold and bone-chilling.
“My Laotianye!” Kou Zhong groaned.
The wind momentum changed, in a short time it grew powerful, the rolling dust high in the sky poured down to the ground, and then heavy rain, seemingly without any head, without any mind, attacked from four sides, eight directions, their vision of the mother earth became blurry, the mountain and fields seemed to be swaying, trembling and shaking.
“It’s very cold!” Ba Fenghan blurted out.
Kou Zhong made prompt decisions, he ordered Ma Chang on the other side, “All brothers go into the main building to shelter from the rain.”
Aghast, Ma Chang said, “If the enemy brave the rain and come to attack, how are we going to deal with it?”
Kou Zhong said, “If you caught cold from the rain, you will die as well, it does not matter how little or how much. Carry out the order.”
Ma Chang ordered the signalman to sound the bugle horn and raise the alarm, the men inside the mountain stronghold were like being granted an amnesty by the emperor, they flocked into the main building, including the soldiers who were on guard duty on all the towers.
Heavy rain swept across the plain like a wall, wreaking havoc on the mother earth.
Kou Zhong noticed that Ma Chang, Ba Yegang, Bing Yuanzhen, and Wang Xuanshu were still accompanying them on top of the wall, in the rain, he shouted, “You guys immediately go inside to take shelter from the rain, leave the matter here to us.”
Upon self-examination, Ma Chang and the others realized that their power was far below the two men’s, they had no choice but to obey the order and left.
By this time Kou Zhong and Ba Fenghan were completely drenched, they relied entirely on the true qi within their body to keep warm and resist the rain. Even with their level of power, they still felt that they suffered unspeakable misery.
Kou Zhong raised his hand to wipe away the rain from his face, he spoke with a wry smile, “This time Laotianye is unwilling to help us.”
“They are coming!” Ba Fenghan said.
Amidst the sound of grinding wheels, three groups of enemies separately took three different routes to advance toward the trenches, each group consisted of two thousand men, and more than a hundred Toad Carts to fill the trenches, plus twenty blocking-arrows carts. The ramming vehicles had not yet moved.
Kou Zhong spoke hatefully, “I dare to guarantee that after this, these groups of men will be seriously ill. Li Shimin is really ruthless.”
Ba Fenghan sighed and said, “Being sick is always better than being defeated in battle. This rain won’t stop for a sichen or a sichen and a half, by that time the three trenches will be filled flat. We will have no choice but you and I, two brothers will be in charge of releasing the rolling logs; I hope we can hold out until the rain stops.”
Smiling bitterly, Kou Zhong said, “Laoge, do you have a better idea?”
Lei Jiuzhi and Hou Xibai came to meet them with the carriage, the former blurted out, “What happened? How come the gate suddenly closed, and then it was lowered again?”
“Let’s talk about it later,” Xu Ziling replied, “Where’s Yun Bangzhu?”
Hou Xibai jumped down the carriage, he took Xiao Jie’er from Bai Xiaochang’s hands. This kid was so excited that his little face was red, he blurted out, “Xu Shushu is so awesome, all the bad guys are scared of him.”
Having just recovered from the shock, Han Zenan said, “Fortunately, you came in time, otherwise the situation would be too horrible to contemplate.”
With old age came the wisdom, Lei Jiuzhi was able to guess what roughly happened, he let out a weird laughter and said, “Heaven wants the Xiang Family to perish, naturally it makes proper arrangements.”
Xu Ziling hurriedly spoke to Han Zenan, husband and wife, “It is not suitable to stay here for a long time, we immediately get on the carriage and start our journey.”
Moving to Xu Ziling’s side, Hou Xibai spoke in low voice, “Yun Yuzhen does not want to say anything, you go and talk to her! She is still in the carriage.”
When they discovered that it was Yun Yuzhen in the carriage earlier, Xu Ziling handed her over to Hou Xibai, while he and Yin Xianhe rushed back into Badong City in one breath, hence he did not have any chance to talk with her.
Xu Ziling nodded and said, “Let’s get in the carriage and talk.”
The carriage started to move.
The carriage was spacious, it was divided into the front, middle and back, three rows of seats. Han Zenan husband and wife and their beloved son sat in the front seat, Yin Xianhe sat alone in the middle, while Xu Ziling and the stupefied-looking Yun Yuzhen sat on the last row. Driving the carriage were Lei Jiuzhi and Hou Xibai.
Xu Ziling’s heart grew warm. On the one hand, it was because he was able to save Han Zenan’s family, three persons from the Xiang Family’s evil clutch one step ahead. On the other hand, everybody on the carriage was good friend, who had always worked together in one heart, who treated one another with absolute sincerity. What’s more, Yin Xianhe was finally able to ascertain his little sister’s whereabouts, which made him feel a little bit at ease.
In this kind of mood, he really no longer had the least bit of resentment toward Yun Yuzhen, he only thought that she was a pitiful woman who had met many difficulties in her life. He asked her in low voice, “What actually happened?”
Yun Yuzhen hung down her small cicada head, the tone of her voice tranquil, she spoke softly, “Xiang Yushan betrayed me.”
Xu Ziling did not understand, “Didn’t you part with him?” he asked.
Tears started to roll down from Yun Yuzhen’s pair of beautiful eyes, she raised her sleeve to wipe the corner of her eye, and spoke in distress, “I was already downhearted, I gave the remaining five ships as a present to Xiao Xian, and lived alone in Baling, no longer paying attention to anything. Ten days ago, Xiang Yushan sent his men to look for me, he wanted me to see him in Badong City, saying that there’s an important matter to discuss. As long as I am willing to explain everything clearly, later on we can both go our separate ways. I was not afraid he might deceive me, but when I got to Badong City, I started to realize that I have fallen into Xiang Yushan’s trap, I was ambushed and captured by the Badong city defenders, but I never saw Xiang Yushan.”
Inwardly Xu Ziling obtained a flash of understanding. Turned out it was to deal with Yun Yuzhen that the Xiang Family sent their men to Badong, accidentally they found out Han Zenan, husband and wife’s whereabouts. He spoke in astonishment, “Since you no longer paid attention to the things of the world, why is Xiang Yushan still unwilling to let you off?”
Yun Yuzhen replied, “Because I know too many of their secrets, plus I have close relationship with you guys, naturally Xiang Yushan wants to kill people to shut their mouth.”
Xu Ziling said, “It seems to me that their aspiration is not in killing you; even more surprising, why did the Xiang Family want to hand you over to Li Jiancheng’s men?”
Yun Yuzhen was at a loss, “I don’t know,” she replied.
Xu Ziling’s heart was moved, he asked, “How’s your relationship with Haisha Bang?”
Yun Yuzhen sighed and said, “You should know it as clearly as I do. Jukun Bang and Haisha Bang have always been the two cannot exist together due to conflicts of interest, but also because I helped you guys rendering serious blow to them, resulting in the ‘Dragon King’ Han Gaitian suffered serious injury and had to retire. They do not dare to provoke you, Xu Ziling, but they considered me as their number one enemy. If not for Xiao Xian providing protection on me, I am afraid they would already pan-fry my skin and tear open my bones. Living like me, with nothing to look forward to, actually no longer has any meaning, but I have never considered killing myself. Actually, just now, I was handed over like goods from one group of people to another; if not for my acupoint was sealed, I might die for real.”
Xu Ziling understood. Er Wenhuan and the others wanted to give Yun Yuzhen as a big present to Haisha Bang, perhaps it was one of the conditions for the sale of the firearms. In that case, the firearms transaction that he and Hou Xibai witnessed was only part of the deal.
This clue was extremely useful, now he knew that the Xiang Family, Li Jiancheng, and Zhao Deyan were in collusion. They conspired to bring Li Shimin down. If Li Shimin defeated Kou Zhong and returned in triumph back to Chang’an, there was a great likelihood that with just one night of effort, Li Jiancheng and the demonic school’s allied armies would be able to turn the Heavenly Policy Mansion into scorched earth. This is called gaining the initiative by striking first.
Ay!
It did not matter whether it was because of his brotherly love with Kou Zhong, or it was because he was giving thought to all the people under the heavens, he still did not want to see Kou Zhong being wiped out.
There has never been a moment more than this moment that he felt that his decision to help Kou Zhong to strive for the world was the right and proper choice.
Xu Ziling spoke heavily, “Xiang Yushan wanted to hand you over to Haisha Bang, in order to help Li Jiancheng to purchase vicious firearms from Haisha Bang to deal with Li Shimin.”
Yun Yuzhen’s tender body shook severely.
Xu Ziling went on, “Now, everybody in this carriage has one common purpose, which is to pull the Xiang Family by the roots, would Yun Bangzhu be willing to join us to rid the world of evil?”
Yun Yuzhen looked at him in astonishment, a bit hard to say it out loud, she said, “Ziling is still willing to trust me?”
Xu Ziling smiled and said, “Actually, Meiren’er Bangzhu really did not treat us too badly, Kou Zhong and I have never been able to harden our hearts against you, just as you said, we have always had close relationship with each other. Let bygones be bygones, there’s no more problem that can’t be resolved or can’t be trusted.”
The murderous aura in Yun Yuzhen’s pair of eyes flaring greatly, she cast her gaze outside the carriage, and spoke with determination, “He is not benevolent, I won’t be friendly. Xiang Yushan wants me to die, I want him to perish. But would Kou Zhong be willing to accept me?”
“No one knows that kid’s heart better than I do,” Xu Ziling replied, “I can make guarantee here and now.”
Yun Yuzhen reached over to clasp his hand firmly, her pretty face recovered its brilliance, brimming with vitality, no need for her to say anything.
The carriage was speeding in the direction of the Great River ahead.