Book 5 - Chapter 9 – Shaking Hands in Agreement (1/2)
Book 5 Chapter 9 – Shaking Hands in Agreeain After hastening on their journey, Kou Zhong and the others, six people, ed to cover more than forty li that day Afraid that Susu would not be able to withstand the cold, plus coincidentally they came across an abandoned manor due to the chaos of war, they all decided to stop for the night, occupying one broken-down roo in circle to warm themselves
Liu Heita took out his provision and fresh water, and politely offered it first to Susu, as sitting between Kou and Xu, two boys His demeanor looked like someone as infatuated or intoxicated by beautiful face, but Susu did not see about the sound of hoof beats against the snowy ground the other night, Kou Zhong asked, “Did Liu Xiong follow our trail last night?”
“You could say that,” Liu Heita replied, “Li Mi’s underlings would do anything, by hook or by crook, to get what they want, no one is willing to abide by Jianghu rules Therefore, we have already guessed that they would not give up on the three of you”
Xu Ziling was staring at the dancing sparks of the firewood; hearing him, he asked, “Then ere those riders? It see Ar replied, “Two gentles were very, very fast, even with Miss Susu on your back, you still covered quite a lot of distance”
Kou Zhong laughed, “Fleeing for our lives, naturally ere running a bit faster than usual”
Zhuge Dewei said, “Tohere are the three of you heading?”
Susu said softly, “We will go back to Yangzhou first, and then make other plans”
Liu Heita knitted his brows, “Yang Guang and Yuwen Huaji are in Jiangdu; if you reveal your track, I am afraid disaster will i replied nonchalantly
Looking at his determined expression, Liu Heita had no choice but to shut his ed the subject, “Your precious army occupies Leshou, which is in the north I wonder if there is any new develope Dewei replied, “The three most sensational news recently are the revival of the Tuyuhun [no Taiyuan in rebellion to the Sui, and Li Mi sent Zu Junyan to pro to the world”
Kou Zhong happily said, “Finally Li Yuan is willing to revolt!” His face showed a very proud look
“Li Yuan can’t be considered anything,” Cui Dong said in disdain, “Unexpectedly he has the audacity to submit himself to the rule of shi+bi Khan of the Tujue people, proirls, jade and silk, obtained froained the ridicule of other people”
Hearing this, Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling looked at each other, co to the latest intelligence we acquired, Li Yuan proclaimed himself as the Great General, appointed Pei Ji as the Chief Historian, Liu Wenjing as the Minister of War, his oldest son Jiancheng, his second son shi+min, and the Commander-in-chief and the Second-in-co”
Giving a cold shoulder, Liu Heita said, “Li Clan is si their chicken before they are hatched, they do not knohat’s in Liu Wuzhou’s e indeed if Liu Wuzhou did not seize that opportunity to attack Taiyuan Moreover, along the route to Guanzhong, there are fierce generals of the Sui, Song Laosheng and Qu Tutong, along with their respective large ar the pass Li Clan’s prospect, nobody dares to be optireatly embarrassed; turned out the real situation out there was this discouraging
Susu did not understand; she asked, “Don’t the Li Clan know that sub the wolf into the sheep pen?”
Liu Heita smiled and said, “They are wolves themselves, so what’s the problem with other wolves? Li Yuan’s wife is a Xianbei woh they are not like Yuwen Clan who are barbarians per se, but they are hardly any better Furthermore, the Li Clan are deeply influenced by barbarian customs, hence they are no different fro recalled during the welco barbarian clothes; they had nothing to say evenfinally asked about the Tuyuhun revival
Liu Heita replied, “Tuyuhun are archene, Fu Yun’s a, from time to tiather infor and Yuwen Shu, two generals to assassinate Fu Yun; they killed thousand of people, captured countless prisoners, but relying on his superior martial art skill, he led his brutal troops to kill their way out of the siege, and ran away to Dangxiang These last couple of years, taking advantage while the Central Plains is in chaos, to send his entire are scale, beco our Central Earth’s roups”
Zhuge Dewei joined the discussion, “Theis that Fu Jun’s son, Fu Qian is a talent of this age; not only his y skill is outstanding, and his a laughed and said, ““They say that when he was born, he already had horned-dragon whiskers, hence since he was young he grew horned-dragon beard Such a preposterous s can think of it”
‘Chi!’ Susu giggled tenderly “A baby with horned-dragon whiskers, his appearanceat her cute and tender expression, and listening to her naiveté, Liu Heita could not help staring blankly at her
Zhuge Deired up frohed and said, “Do you want to listen to the ten charges Li Mi brought to Yang Guang?”
Kou Zhong was delighted, “Please, tell us quickly!” he said
As if he was enue Dewei listed in one breath, “One: patricide Two: incest Three: excessive drinking Four: building palaces and paGodas, extravagant and wasteful Five: exorbitant taxation, crushi+ng coreat walls Seven: sending punitive expedition to Korea, engaging in wars of aggression at will Eight: refusing sound advice, killing the frank scholars Nine: rampant bribery; persons of noble character are out of power, lowly people rise to i back on his oords Ha!”
Xu Ziling shook his head and sighed, “No es against this fatuous ruler Speaking about the deep disaster our country is in, this fellow can be considered unprecedented and never will be duplicated”
Kou Zhong said, “He promoted his own family behind closed doors, sooner or later the i thing is attracting foreign invasion,our country’s territory all split up and in pieces, and the people are in a terrible situation Yang Guang is the greatest sinner”
Liu Heita slapped his thigh and said, “Well spoken In today’s world, with the exception of Duke Jiande, who does not collude with foreign power and helping out each other? Since the two gentlemen already have a our ar wryly, Kou Zhong said, “Liu Xiong seee Dewei said with a laugh, “Jianghu has never been bustling with exciteood fortune has arrived, because outstanding heroes of the younger generation are rising Other than Heita, the ones in the lihan, the two Xiongdi, and one who called hi about sensation, no one surpasses you, two gentlemen”
Susu happily said, “Turns outsmiled wryly and said, “Our most formidable ability is to escape; I couldn’t believe it hasand said, “Kou Xiong is too ood material, how could you have any qualification to escape? Furthermore, not only you were able to snatch the account book frodu’s hands, you also beat Yuwen Wudi, who considers hiance soared into the sky, that he escaped with his tail between his legs; how could we say that you have false reputation?”
Xu Ziling asked, “Just now Mr Zhugethe men! What about the wo’s countenance changed as he hissed, “Souish the fire Cui Dong, who has just darted out to scout, flitted back inside the room, and spoke in heavy voice, “Too late! The enemy has already surrounded us heavily”
“How ht to bereplied in low voice, “It’s hard to see in the dark”
This ynous voice came from the outside, “I am Tuoba Yu, under the order of my master [here, the word is ‘shi+’, as in master-disciple relationshi+p], Bi Xuan, to cozi, Xu Gongzi, two gentle”
Everybody’s countenance changed; they did not expect that the visitor were Tujue , Bi Xuan’s disciple was the one on charge
Liu Heita spoke in low voice, “He does not see in here Who has heard about thisdrew a blank and shook their heads
To stall for ti could tie Susu behind his back, Kou Zhong responded loudly, “We, two brothers are still as lively dragon and ani, thank you very ht, you still have us surrounded like this, afraid that weKou Zhong had no weapon, Cui Dong took out his pair of weapons [orig iron, but it could eneral] and stuffed one into Kou Zhong’s hand
Liu Heita hile cane as his weapon, but inside his overcoat, he hid a long dagger, al
[1] ‘Prince’ iso ith ‘passionate’
Chapter 9, Part 2
Tuoba Yu laughed aloud and said, “Your precious country has a saying, ‘one does not visit a te to visit with an ulterior er brother, referring to self] this time came froentle Life’ The journey was hard, so please two Xiongtai, do not disappoint Xiaodi!”