Book 44 - Chapter 1 – Difficult-to-Reverse Disadvantage (1/2)
Little Longquan was not really a city, it was only a village east of Longquan with the wharf by the Bohai Sea and the shi+pyard as the center Along the coast, there were seven, eight watchtowers Traffic going in and out fro, even Xu Ziling, twoone that was just going out to the sea, and several dozens of fishi+ng boats Cozhou, such an important seaport in the Central Plains, the difference was even more prominent
Its defensive power lay on the stone fort, which was built about half a li offshore, which could accomh to deal with pirates or horse thieves But facing the Tujue are scale invasion, they could only watch the scenery, just enough for the warquan
Northwest of the harbor, there was a row of arth was approximately one thousand men For this arits ar and Yin Xianhe were hiding inside a jungle to the west, looking at the situation fro shi+p oodsobard, a sign that it was ready to sail out to sea
Xu Ziling remembered the Five-Colored Stone in Meiyan Furen’s hands, and suddenly he gained clear understanding of the importance of the Stone Since the tiht it here, until finally it was seized by the so-called original owner, Meiyan Furen, although he has had so these past few days, where he fell head over heels in love with shi+ Feixuan, everything beca life and death crises, he began to become clear-headed from the state of confusion
Now that shi+ Feixuan has gone without a trace like a cloud, it was like he also woke up from a dream, his brain returned to its usual quick-witted and active state
When Tuli saw the Five-Colored Stone, he immediately canceled his plan to pursue and attack Xieli; he even accepted Bi Xuan’s suggestion to establish friendly relations with Xieli It was precisely because he saw the influence of the Stone on various Mohe tribes If Bai Ziting earing the emperor’s crown[1] with the Five-Colored Stone e hi hiitireat monarch of various Mohe divisions On top of that, with the neighboring country, Gaoli’s support, he would becoering Xu Ziling’s train of thought was the harbor before his eyes If this seaport developed to beco’s poould increase severalfold, materials and natural resources would co could expand his htest scruple The Great and Little Longquan co, who had deep understanding of the Central Earth’s city war, ht become the person across all the areas beyond the Great Wall most adept to exploit the circu wealth by hook or by crook was that under these circumstances, he had no choice On one hand, he wanted to lower taxes, to attract people to coround for projects On the other hand, he wanted to rapidly develop the city’s seaport and build big shi+ps for coet these by legitimate means, he had to seek it by despicable means
In itself, the Five-Colored Stone was, at nificance dominated the destiny of various tribes in the northeast
Therefore, even if Bai Ziting had the Five-Colored Stone in his hands, he would never obediently hand it over Under careful planning, he alreadyrisk
Yin Xianhe said, “Zong Xianghua is co to meet a shi+p I wonder what could be that iroup of more than a dozen people ca on it Three big shi+ps were appearing on the distant horizon, on the currently calroup ofhua was still appearing to be icy-cold; she was only listening without saying anything
Suddenly another group ofXianghua in a hurry, the leader was surprisingly Ma Ji, who, last night,suddenly realized, no wonder Ma Ji was so secure in the knowledge that he had backing Turned out he already ement for his exit, which was by boat, so that Xieli and Tuli were helpless against hio to Gaoli to seek te for the situation here to settle before , Ma Ji, Funantuo, even Han Chao’an, Shen Mohuan, Huyan Jin, Liexia, Du Xing, Xu Kaishan, and so on were all adventurers They wanted to change the situation beyond the Great Wall, to challenge Xieli’s control over the prairie, to liberate it from the Tujue’s tyranny; naturally theyswept by Xieli’s army
At its root, the cause of this crisis was because Xieli adopted Zhao Deyan and Tonyukuk’s proposal, with the intention of killing Tuli, showing that he wanted to aather all power in his own hands Therefore, although Ma Ji and Du Xing and the others were Tujue, they still, in different degrees of participation, helped outsiders to resist Xieli It goes without saying that they were attracting foreign tribes as well
His gaze fixed on Zong Xianghua standing on the far away pier, Yin Xianhe’s pair of eyes ee look, Xu Ziling asked in astonish Xianghua?”
Slightly shaking his head, Yin Xianhe coldly replied, “I have never spoken with her”
Xu Ziling wanted to say so but then hesitated, because he understood Yin Xianhe’s teet to the botto the subject, he said, “I am sure Ma Ji knows the inside story of the wolf-bandits If we could catch him, it would save us a lot of trouble”
By this tihua’s side He pointed to the three big shi+ps co at his demeanor, it was clear that these three shi+ps were closely related to hi Ma Ji’s men, there is a martial art master called Tuoba Miefu This man is loyal and devoted to Ma Ji To catch Ma Ji, only this man, one obstacle, is already very difficult to pass Based on our two ht Besides, Ma Ji himself is definitely not easy to deal with”
Xu Ziling recalled inside Ma Ji’s tent that night they saw the group of reed inwardly Moreover, he felt strange, “I never thought Yin Xiong is very familiar with the affairs of the people northeast beyond the Great Wall,” he co him, Yin Xianhe said, “ThisXianghua and Ma Ji this nervous waiting for the shi+ps, the goods carried by the shi+ps quan; if not foodstuff, then quan’s storehouses have areater”
Xu Ziling’s pair of eyes lit up, he said with a suess, even if it did not hit thecould do Xiaodi a favor? Go back i and tell him what happened here”
Stunned, Yin Xianhe asked, “What’s Xu Xiong doing staying in here?”
Xu Ziling mused that this was his only chance to catch Ma Ji, how could heit out and have Yin Xianhe stay with hi to watch the develop will have a way to find ht that Xu Ziling was lying to him He nodded in response and quietly slipped away
The place where Bai Ziting received Kou Zhong was one side of the iarden, which was as far away as possible on the opposite side of the west garden where Shang Xiufang was staying, located right in the rass, trees, s; the scenery was quite beautiful
The atmosphere inside the palace was not much different than before; obviously everybody was already prepared mentally that sooner or later the Tujue main forces would come to invade their territory, hence they did not appear panic-stricken or losing theirell aware that his relationshi+p with Bai Ziting has reached the stage that it was already on the verge of for, and then they would stake it all in you die, I live battle, because Bai Ziting was not afraid of even Xieli or Tuli, not toit’s hard to clap with only one hand (idio in front of the white stone steps of the east garden, Kesubie politely said, “Da wang is waiting respectfully for Shaoshuai inside the Fantian [Nirvana/Lord Brah szhou of the Central Earth loves to tell the most was outside the corridor, there were five hundred saber and axe wielders lying in a will not imitate even the plot of the story, otherwise Xiaodi would rather stay here to soak in the hot spring!”
Kesubie responded aardly, “Shaoshuai really loves to crack jokes Da wang said clearly that he is going to see Shaoshuai alone”
Kou Zhong laughed aloud and said, “The lord will not say any joking matter In that case, Xiaodi feels reassured” And then he scanned the surroundings with his eyes and said, “This iarden’s perimeter wall is particularly thick and particularly tall, not suitable for a saber and axe wielders, but it’s not bad for a hundred or so divine archers, in which case, even if I were a bird, I still could not fly out”
Kesubie still did not get angry; laughing involuntarily, he said, “Shaoshuai reoes, he would carefully examine the situation and put out some co shi+vered inwardly Bai Ziting definitely spent a lot of effort studying the art of war; at least he was a hard-working military expert, so if he ran into him in the battlefield, he must be very careful
This Kesubie was a brilliant figure as well, the way he spoke was neither haughty nor hu’s verbal offense
Kou Zhong laughed aloud; he set foot on the stone steps and walked toward the entrance, without forgetting to look back and wave, and said with a laugh, “I wonder if later on Ke Daren will also escort ry, but he lacked the words to parry
Kou Zhong stepped across the threshold into the hall
Both sides were prisarden scenery appeared before his eyes There was a Buddha statue in the large garden; the hall and the garden were no longer divided
Like Qin shi+huang co proud at the other end, opposite to the hed aloud and said, “Shaoshuai is indeed brave without any fear You robbed uts to co lone rider] to seewalked over toward him and spoke indifferently, “You robbedhappens even between countries I dare to couts or not, but to see if there is any possibility of peaceful solution to this proble stopped about a zhang away from him, he smiled and said, “Shaoshuai returns ift to Shaoshuai”
‘Bad!’ Kou Zhong cried inwardly What inforainst hi’s hands, whichlike I am not worried you won’t disobey? I and his brothers