Book 11 - Chapter 1 – Troubles Inside and Outside (1/2)
Book 6 Chapter 12 – The Debut of the Wing
Under the star-filled-sky ocean, four boats slowly sailed in a fleet
After another round of wine, Gao Zhandaothe case, who does Kou Ye think will have the greatest chance to sit on the throne?”
Kou Zhong turned to Xu Ziling and said, “Why don’t Xu Ye tell us?”
Xu Ziling shook his head and said, “Our Kou Ye can tell itre sneered and said, “You, this kid, are the best in deriding er eyes, he said word by word slowly, “Whoever can seize Guanzhong will become the emperor, ruler of the new dynasty”
And then, as if his thoughts andering far away, he said, “Those who desire to obtain the world but don’t understand the tis, are like the blind who rides a horse in the night overlooking an abyss Chang’an is located at the Guanzhong Plain [in Shaanxi, valley of the River Wei] It is situated south of Wei River, north of Qinling Mountain Range, fertile land that spans thousand li, surrounded by a range of hills Since ancient tiic location for both transportation and military matters Zhou, Qin, and Han have all made it their capital, they constantly built and expanded it The present Chang’an has been built by Yang Jian as a new city Not only its scale is the apex in the world, it also opens wide the connecting canal drawing Wei River flowing to the east to Tongguan and enters Yellow River Speaking of transportation, Luoyang is perhaps superior to soive a serious look at the latter In the past Qin shi+huang was able to unify the six directions, sweeping and wiping out the outstanding heroes, the reason is suht characters: ‘fertile land people flourish, danger can be guard against’ [di wo ren fu, you xian ke shou]”
Niu Fengyi slapped the table and sighed, “Reyi’sStates period [475-221 BC] History unceasingly repeats itself; this is the best exahed and said, “Cohting over the world, the present situation is a hundred times, a thousand tiree that the Li Clan has the greatest opportunity to beco?”
Kou Zhong shot a glance toward Xu Ziling before saying indifferently, “If I, Kou Zhong, did not exist, then that would be the case”
By this time Gao Zhandao and the others were already in coht; they busily asked hireatly aroused; he said, “The Li Clan has three big problems, which are not easy to resolve: in the first place, they used to be Sui officials, and co, be it people or object, associated with Sui Dynasty is difficult to accept Secondly, the Li Clan is a fa the time where people’s mind is in rebellion mode, this has become a burden instead Thirdly, their heir apparent is Li Jiancheng and not Li shi+ in the future”
Niu Fengyi agreed, “Kou Ye has a brilliant insight Although Li Jiancheng’s martial art skill is superior to his father, and has the reputation as the number one martial art master of the Li Clan, he is unlike Li shi+iance to, his popularity is far too inferior Currently he is the Tang’s Heir Apparent, but he is highly questionable”
Kou Zhong’s eyes shot a chilling light, but his tone was surprisingly calain, word-by-word he said slowly, “At the moment the Li Caln is barely able to stand fir The calamity within their bosom is precisely the territory they occupy is Western Qin’s Li Gui and Xue Ju, two large forces, the so-called ‘Western Qin is settled Guanzhong is cal is chaotic’; plus Qin and Liang are situation on higher ground to the west of Longshan Mountain Range, their tiger-eyes are staring at Guanzhong The longer the Li Clan is unable to pacify the Western Qin, they cannot be considered as truly in control over Chang’an, Even o on to pacify the world”
And then he slapped the table so hard that the soup and meat dishes splashed, bowls and cups shook “Whoever can drive the Li Clan away and occupy Guanzhong will be able to rule the world,” he said solemnly
Zha Jie scratched his head, “But I heard that on the way to attack Guanzhong, the Li Clan absorbed a great nuions, as well as recruited able-bodied th reaches 300,000Chang’an is easier said than done Didn’t Xue Ju have just suffered a crushi+ng defeat?”
Kou Zhong leaned back on his chair, stretched himself, and said, “The finesse of an army is not in its nu early on Don’t forget that I still have the ‘Duke of Yang Treasure Trove’!”
Gao Zhandao and the others were e suddenly felt uncoive Zaixia for taking ht” Without waiting for any response he sier-eyes flashed a sad look
Xu Ziling stood quietly by the , silently gazing at the brightquetly pushed the door and entered He came behind him and said softly, “Are you unhappy that I touched ‘Duke of Yang Treasure Trove’?”
Xu Ziling shook his head, “No!” he said, “I have no such thought Niang told us the location of the treasure, clearly she wanted us to go get it I’ too soon, if another day you can’t find the treasure, you won’t be able to honor your co said, “That’s why I wanted you to help me One lifetime two brothers; you have to help me find the treasure noturned around to ’s passionate expression in his eyes; all kinds of past events flashed through his mind His heart softened and he said, “So what do you have in hted; he said, “Over the last several years that kid Gao Zhandao has ae quantity of weapons, boats and wealth If we can train them well, they can become our disciples army With them as our troupe members, we cansalt Other than killing Li Mi’s prestige, our reputation will also soar Along the e can recruit soldiers and buy horses, and tie good relationshi+p with heroes all over the world The best part of our plan is that we do not occupy certain territory, on’t declare ourselves king, and only e Hey! What do you think?”
Xu Ziling s too far ahead,” he said, “AtTreasure’, and then I ithdraw and leave you”
Kou Zhong hugged hiood brother,” he said, “We are going to organize Shuanglong Bang [double-dragon gang] Leaving no stone unturned, we infiltrate all ence first, while continuously buying the people’s heart Once the uprising begins, we know exactly who our opponents are”
Knitted his brows, Xu Ziling said, “Gao Zhandao and the others are used to be pirates, will they be willing to listen to your cohed aloud, and then lowering his voice, he said, “They have just koed and offered oing to their pirate nest; after establishi+ng good control over their power and organizing and training them, we can be on our way i his chest he said, “Trust hout-the-world elite troops, a teau and the others that they will cry for their Niang Oh! But you have to help hed and said, “I should have known that you would ‘beat the snake following the stick’ [see Book 3 Chapter 3] But after obtaining the treasure, you must not use any other trick tohand and said, “One word and it’s settled!”
Xu Ziling also reached out to grab his hand tightly
Looking at Kou Zhong’s tiger-eyes glea welled up in Xu Ziling’s heart: he had a faint feeling that in this troubled tie his hand, who could control rains with a turn of his hand, has suddenly e was established quietly without the knowledge of any Jianghu people
Kou Zhong de the more than two hundredothers; everybody illing to look up to hied to blend Li Jing’s ‘bloody Battle Ten-Style’, Tu Shufang’s ‘Meridian-Severing Technique’, plus the , into a new set of ‘Divine Dragon Eight-Strike’, which he then passed on to Gao Zhandao, Niu Fengyi, Zha Jie, threele-handedly developed a sieneral idea was that there were two Gang Leaders; naturally Xu Ziling could not hold any other office, but the fact was that virtually all poas in Kou Zhong’s hands Under the Gang Leader, there was oneprotectors, and then three Hall Masters overseeing three inner halls: internal affairs, finance, and training, which were under Gao Zhandao, Niu Fengyi and Zha Jie, respectively The three outer halls were in charge of war, intelligence and provisions
Each hall had a hall e of day-to-day hall affairs to soree Except for the three inner hallfor suitable virtuous candidates
In the water fort of Changshu [county, Suzhou, Jiangsu], Kou Zhong was busy day and night; he personally drafted a proposal of the Gang Bylaws After he was done, Gao Zhandao and the others could not think of a single character to change; as a result, they ad to train his reat popularity, plus everybody could see that his pair of hands was superior to any weapon, hence he was extrehage
Twoand Kou Zhong were studying the changes and variations in troop fore nu area heard the news, and since they ad as volunteers for the uprising
Kou Zhong pondered for half a day before saying, “Please tactfully decline them all Currently our condition is not stable yet, there are still a lot of things not on track; if we suddenly expand, we ”
Gao Zhandao accepted the order and left
Kou Zhong laughed aloud and said, “Xiao Ling! When we are victorious in battle we can expand”
Xu Ziling nodded and said, “The rumor has leaked This bunch of peoplethat we did not fall into his trap, these next couple of days he may send his men to attack us Let me send our spies to scout the enezhu”
Kou Zhong doubled over in laughter, “Kid, don’t tease zhu or Emperor are just appellation people use, between us, brothers, there is no such thing”
Xu Ziling laughed aloud and left without further ado
Chapter 12 - Part 2
After Xu Ziling returned that night, Shuanglong Bang’s several highest echelons gathered in thesaid, “It is just as Kou Bangzhu thought, Shen Faxing deployed approximately two-thousand hold, esti”
It was only now that Gao Zhandao and the others found out what happened But looking at Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling’s ‘we have everything under control’ expression, they beca their palh
Kou Zhong said, “This tiht a beautiful battle We are not looking to annihilate the enemies, we only hope to meet the enemy head-on, inflict heavy losses, and behead the cos one by one, proceed with previously developed plan
“So which plan are we going to do?” Niu Fengyi asked
Kou Zhong replied, “Ifthis opportunity to settle old debt, therefore, they must have come with the enemy as well, if not, they must have taken the water route to attack us froo”
Turning to Xu Ziling, he said, “I’ll give you Han Gaitian”
Xu Ziling shtly and said, “In that case I’ll hide alone in Haisha Bang’s flagshi+p, and become maritime assassin one time”