Volume 3: Dragon and Snake Movement Chapter 321 Good Sword, Don’t Be Stingy
Seeing this unexpected scene, Du Heng's eyes suddenly split open. If this person died, in a blink of an eye, those old adults who were already very dissatisfied with him would make up a story that he had forced the person to death because of a slip of the tongue! Even if this guy was guilty, he would get into trouble. But even if he was very close to this person, he was unable to jump off his horse to stop him.
At the critical moment, he heard a loud shout. The shout was like thunder in his ears, and even with his martial arts and concentration, he couldn't help but be distracted.
Compared to Du Heng, the others were even worse off. The middle-aged man who was the first to be hit felt his ears buzzing and his head exploded. He hesitated and the dagger paused for a long time when it was about to touch his chest. When he came to his senses, a black shadow had already rushed over at high speed. The next moment, he only heard a ding sound. When he looked down, he was immediately horrified.
The dagger in his hand was left with only a bare handle!
Ah Liu looked at the short sword in his hand with great satisfaction, thinking that he must go to the outer court of the Imperial Household Department to thank Chu Kuan for the sword after returning to Beijing. Although Zhu Ying had dragged him to the storehouse of the Duke of Zhao's mansion to choose weapons several times, he refused every time. Firstly, he didn't want the madman to laugh at him for taking advantage of the Zhu family, and secondly, he remembered what the madman said before, that one should not rely on magic weapons, and anything can be used as a weapon.
But now it seems that it would be nice to have a magical weapon that can cut through iron like mud. When fighting with others, you can also use it to cut other people's weapons for fun!
After Ah Liu cut off the man's weapon, he began to examine the dagger in his hand with great interest. But this scene had a completely different meaning in the eyes of others. Du Heng immediately began to recall the process of Ah Liu's attack and measure the strength of the man. The onlookers were amazed that there was such a terrifying master among the soldiers of the Sharp Cavalry Battalion. As for the middle-aged man who didn't die...
He looked at the bare hilt of the dagger, and his heart was chilled. The little determination to die that he had developed under the coercion and inducement was completely gone! It was not until the shock passed that he realized the serious consequences of not dying. The next moment, his eyes rolled up and he fainted on the ground.
Ah Liu watched the man fall to the ground very calmly, then raised his head to look at Zhang Shou among the soldiers in the rear. However, to the onlookers, he seemed to be looking at the commander Du Heng. Then he asked concisely, "Do you want to wake him up?"
Seeing that Zhang Shou didn't answer, he added: "Pinch the Ren Zhong point, pour well water, prick with iron needles... There are many ways to wake someone up!"
The onlookers were suddenly silent. Pinching the Ren Zhong point is indeed a good way to wake someone up, but pouring well water... this is too simple and crude. As for stabbing with iron needles, isn't this a trick used in the torture room of the government office? This young man is simply a demon. No, just look at the way he easily cut off the dagger just now. He is even more vicious than a demon!
Du Heng knew that Ah Liu was not asking him, so he simply kept silent. He did not want to be known as a cruel person. Then, he heard Zhang Shou's brief order from behind: "Take him!"
Hearing this, Ah Liu didn't ask any more questions and went straight forward to carry the man up. Although he was still young and looked a little frail, based on what he had just done and said, no one would think it was strange that he could easily carry a man who was taller and stronger than him.
Even when Ah Liu calmly walked into the group of cavalrymen, laid the middle-aged man who had attempted suicide and fainted across the saddle like a sack, and then jumped onto the horse's back and sat with his back as straight as a poplar, many people just swallowed their saliva and dared not say a word.
Of course, some people also noticed Zhang Shou, who was standing beside Ah Liu and whose uniform was completely different from those of the officers and soldiers, but no one dared to say a word. However, they couldn't help but wonder about the origins of the only two people in this team of sharp cavalry who did not look like officers and soldiers.
The capital reacted too quickly to the events in Cangzhou, and the people sent were even more swift. Even if there were people in the court, the speed of delivering the news was not as fast as that of Zhu Tingfang, Du Heng and Zhang Shou, so naturally everyone in the city was in a panic.
Being delayed like this, when Du Heng and his party entered the city, they ran into Zhu Yi who had rushed over after hearing the news. When he saw Du Heng and his party, he also discovered Zhang Shou in the team, and his expression became extremely subtle.
Although he was originally following the second son, now that the eldest son has come, he praised the second son but locked him up in a small dark room. Zhu Yi just followed the eldest son's instructions. When the son-in-law knows about this, will he speak up for the second son, or...
But what Zhang Shou did was not the most important thing. He knew that the two hundred people brought by Du Heng were the real reliance of the eldest son. Although the eldest son managed to cheer up the hundred-man team of the Ruiqi Battalion who followed the eldest prince but were stripped of their clothes and weapons and humiliated, God knew whether these guys could be trusted. Therefore, he quickly retracted his gaze and saluted Du Heng respectfully.
"The general has now temporarily requisitioned the Changlu County Office. Please ask General Du to lead his troops to station at the palace."
The temporary palace was not a place that the ministers could occupy. The eldest prince was allowed to live in the palace only after he was granted special permission by the emperor when he left Beijing. Of course, he didn't know that the emperor was afraid that he would casually accept the gifts of houses and manors from the merchants, so he made an exception and allowed him to live there. Therefore, Du Heng's first reaction was that staying in the temporary palace was too presumptuous.
Therefore, he immediately objected: "Stay in the palace? Doesn't this seem inappropriate?"
Zhu Yi glanced at Zhang Shou again, and then said calmly, "The eldest master said that the palace needs to be sorted out and checked to see if there are any missing items. He has already requisitioned several accountants to do the count."
"As for the hundreds of people who had entered the palace, the eldest son recorded their names one by one and asked the neighbors to guarantee that most of them would be released temporarily, but there were still dozens of people left. This also requires enough manpower to guard, and the Sharp Cavalry Battalion is not the only one capable of this task."
At this point, Zhu Yi paused, took another step forward, and said sincerely, "There is still the eldest prince in the palace, like a frightened bird. To be honest, if the 100-man team of the Ruiqi Battalion accompanying the eldest prince had been stationed in the palace, perhaps they would not have hurriedly followed the eldest prince's order to enter the palace, but were collectively knocked down after the eldest prince's reward banquet. Such a bizarre incident would not have happened."
Although he had not been in the Ruiqi Camp for long, Du Heng simply could not believe that a hundred men could not defeat a group of common people who had risen up in rebellion. When he heard this, he immediately realized the truth and became furious.
How stupid was the eldest prince to allow himself to be held hostage? How stupid was he to trick his own guards into coming after being held hostage, and then allow a group of rebels to take him down? Isn't this cutting off one's own arm and wiping out one's own escape route?
In view of the fact that Zhu Tingfang's reason was too convincing, Du Heng finally said with a dark face: "In this case, I will take my men to the temporary palace to station there, so as to protect the eldest prince... However, I am only following the order of General Mingwei, but as soon as I entered Cangzhou, someone stopped me on the road and complained. In order to prevent this from happening again in the future, if there is no order from General Zhu, I will lead my troops to station at the temporary palace and not show up."
"I will report General Du's words immediately."
Du Heng had figured out that he only needed to lead the troops well and not worry about anything else. He was relieved at this moment. He didn't care about Zhu Yi's vague answer and said directly: "I will go to see General Zhu after I have settled the troops. As for Dr. Zhang from the Imperial College who came with me, you can go with me to see General Zhu first."
Send away these two plague gods, master and servant, quickly!
Seeing the soldiers around him following Du Heng away like a tide, Zhang Shou wanted to say, "General Du, you are walking too fast. Do you know where the Cangzhou Palace is? You are walking so fast. Are you planning to ask for directions along the way, or ask a local to be your guide, or march around the city armed, and if you find a place successfully, you can go in. If not, you can continue to march around the city armed?
However, since Du Heng was walking fast, he had no choice but to go straight to Zhu Yi with Ah Liu, who was unconscious and lying on his horse. When the two met, before he could ask any questions, Zhu Yi immediately said, "Son-in-law, this is not the place to talk. Let's go to Changlu County Office right away!"
As soon as he said this, he realized that he had made a huge mistake in his speech. This was in public, and he had inadvertently brought up the name that he was used to when he was in the capital, the Duke of Zhao's Mansion or the Zhao Garden.
Outsiders don't know that Zhang Shou is only the future son-in-law of the Duke of Zhao's mansion...
Zhang Shou didn't notice this at all. Moreover, when Du Heng left, many eyes were focused on him. Even though he was used to such secret observations, he still didn't want to be watched like a monkey. He nodded and said, "Okay, you lead the way, let's go!"
On the way to the county government office with Zhu Yi, Zhang Shou thought to himself that he had no power to deal with the local chaos and the emperor had not given any special instructions before they left. He decided that it would be enough to let Zhu Tingfang deal with it. He was not in a hurry to go to the Changlu County Government Office, so he simply let Zhu Yi lead the way and went to the provincial government office first.
Seeing two idle old gatekeepers in front of the gate, the paint on the gate was mottled and peeling, and there were even moss and dust stains on the two stone lions on the side. It was unknown how long it had been since they had been wiped and cleaned, and the brick walls were in disrepair. Looking inside from the gate, the huge courtyard was deserted and few people walked around. He curiously asked Zhu Yi about it, and got an unexpected answer.
"Cangzhou is a prefecture, not a prefecture. Originally, it only had three counties: Nanpi, Yanshan, and Qingyun, and the prefecture was in Cangzhou City. Changlu was originally just an inspection office, famous for its salt industry. However, in the early years of Emperor Taizu's reign, there was a lot of work to be done, so he had to monopolize salt and iron. But later, military farming was quite effective, and commerce was increasingly developed, so the salt law was changed, and Changlu Inspection Office had less to do."
At this point, Zhu Yi paused, and then continued: "Later, during the reign of Emperor Taizong, for some reason, Changlu County was established as the capital of Cangzhou, but the position of prefect and subordinate officials was rarely established most of the time."
"So the magistrate of Changlu County became an anomaly... Although he was only a seventh-rank magistrate, he was actually equivalent to a fifth-rank prefect. The magistrates of Nanpi, Yanshan, and Qingyun counties were said to be of the same rank, but many matters had to be reported to the court, and then the magistrate of Changlu County would forward them to the court. Therefore, while the Cangzhou government office has fallen into disrepair after years of age, the Changlu County Office is very impressive."
Seeing is believing, and when Zhang Shou dismounted in front of the Changlu County Office, he deeply felt the difference between this place and the Cangzhou Prefecture Office. The eight-character wall of the Changlu County Office was made of neatly-painted blue bricks and mortar joints, which made it look majestic and solemn at first glance. The stone lions in front of the office were shiny and smooth, without even a trace of moss or other colors. The gatekeepers in front of the gate were also bulging with chests and bulging bellies, and had broad shoulders and thick waists.
The two doormen, who seemed to be very arrogant to outsiders, immediately smiled and bowed after seeing Zhu Yi, but they kept glancing at the two people Zhu Yi brought with him - if the person carried by the cold boy at the back was counted, there should be three people. Because the person being carried was facing backwards and their appearance was not clear, their eyes finally shifted to the boy in front.
Although Cangzhou is an important road on the canal and they have seen various outstanding figures traveling from the south to the north, they have never seen such a handsome, elegant, talented, yet gentle and amiable young man like the one before them.
When the man came closer, they did not smell the various incense or even the scent of powder that the local young men usually wore, but only a very faint scent of ink. When they were wondering if this was the latest hobby in the capital, they saw the man actually glanced at them sideways. The two doormen hurriedly lowered their heads and then found that the man had stopped and was standing in front of them.
"A-Liu, show them the person you brought. I think he should be a famous person in Cangzhou City."
After agreeing, Ah Liu put the middle-aged man down from his shoulders, then lifted his arm and raised his chin to let the two men see him clearly. As expected, after just one look, the younger man exclaimed.
"Isn't this Mr. Jiang, the richest man in West City?"
"Oh? The richest man in West City?" Zhang Shou smiled knowingly, then asked curiously, "Is he a landlord with tens of thousands of acres of land, or a wealthy man who runs a bank? Or is he an industrialist who runs some industry or workshop?"
The two servants looked at each other in bewilderment at Zhang Shou's strange classification method. The servant who had spoken quickly had some regrets, but when he saw the cold-hearted young man holding Master Jiang casually take out a bunch of money from his waist bag, he realized that it was a reward, and hurriedly said flatteringly: "Master Jiang has two thousand acres of cotton fields, one hundred spinning machines, fifty looms..."
After thinking hard for a while, he continued, "He is a relative of the Hua family, the richest family in Suzhou. He has shares in two local banks in Cangzhou City. In addition, others say that he has two large sea ships. But Cangzhou is not a big port, and no one has seen those ships, and no one knows whether they are true or not. So he is only the richest man in Xicheng, not the richest man in Cangzhou."
Zhang Shou saw Ah Liu nodded, then clenched his fist, as if he was going to put the copper coins back into the purse. He was immediately in a state of confusion. Of course, he knew Ah Liu very well. During those three years when he had no money and nowhere to spend it, he always saw Ah Liu counting the coins one by one. But when Ah Liu really started teaching Zhu Er martial arts and had a "salary", the young man generously paid money to supplement the family expenses.
So he had to cough and order: "Aliu, give him the money...that's what he deserves." Don't be so stingy!
