Volume 3: Dragon and Snake Movement Chapter 345: Tired...
The lunch was a feast that was unique in this era - although there were not so many delicacies from land and sea, after all, several things were not available these days. Zhu Ying felt that the previous incident could barely be regarded as an after-meal exercise.
However, she was very disappointed with Zhu Er for not letting Lao Xianyu lead her by the nose, but he was actually dragged away and used as a target. She dragged him to her eldest brother's room and lectured him for a long time. It was not until Zhu Er pointed to the sky and swore that he would guard against it and find a loophole to let Lao Xianyu suffer that she clapped her hands and walked out of her eldest brother's room.
As soon as she arrived at the gate, she saw Zhu Hong coming towards her. Before she could speak, Zhu Hong hurriedly said, "Miss, something happened. The eldest master and his friends are back! But the eldest master is covered in blood..."
Before Zhu Hong could finish his words, Zhu Ying, with a changed expression, rushed out quickly. When she arrived at the front yard of the county government office, she saw bloodstains all over Zhu Tingfang's clothes and even on her face. Even though she was not a timid lady, she was so frightened that she could hardly move. It was not until she heard Zhang Shou's voice from behind that she suddenly realized what was happening.
"A Liu said there was an accident ahead. When I heard that Brother Zhu was covered in blood, I thought I had heard it wrong!" Zhang Shou, who also rushed out, saw the scene from afar. Seeing that Zhu Ying seemed to be stunned, he immediately grabbed her hand without hesitation and ran towards Zhu Tingfang with her. When the distance gradually shortened, he suddenly woke up and calmed down immediately.
If he was really covered in wounds, he would definitely not be able to come back standing, he would definitely come back lying down...
Zhu Ying's reaction was not just a little slower than Zhang Shou's. It was not until Zhang Shou dragged her to a stop in front of Zhu Tingfang and asked where the blood came from that she finally woke up. If big brother had lost so much blood, how could he still stand here like this?
Zhu Tingfang first glanced at Zhang Shou and Zhu Ying's still clasped hands, and thought of his sister's shocked and angry look just now, but was dragged over by Zhang Shou. He was silent for a moment, and then said: "Someone first tricked me into leaving, and then let a group of thugs and ruffians gather a group of ignorant people to cause trouble in front of the county government. Since I noticed the flaw, I naturally went straight to Huanglong."
Zhu Ying's eyebrows immediately raised: "Who is asking this... I just want to know what happened to the blood on your body, big brother?"
"Oh, most of it is other people's blood." Zhu Tingfang said nonchalantly, "I just have some minor skin injuries, it's nothing serious."
Zhu Ying couldn't get anything out of Zhu Tingfang, so she glared at Zhu Yi. Under the gaze of the young lady, Zhu Yi could only helplessly say: "The eldest son's injuries were indeed not serious. Both injuries were caused by the chaos, but the situation before was indeed very dangerous. The eldest son only brought two people to raid a private house in the east city of Cangzhou, where the instigator behind the scenes was hiding. But it was a trap."
Zhang Shou could sense the meaning of the word "trap" alone. However, only three people went straight to Huanglong... He didn't believe that Zhu Tingfang would be so reckless! Even if a person had experienced the most dangerous and desperate situations and was used to taking risks, he would never be so blindly confident.
Zhu Tingfang saw Zhu Er rushing out from inside. He was almost dumbfounded when he saw him covered in blood. He smiled and said, "Knowing there are tigers in the mountains, I went there. I did it because I had no other choice. This time is not as dangerous as the time when I went to war with my father. How could I use myself as bait without being fully prepared?"
"It was just to make people think there was an opportunity. The eldest prince's aide probably got the news that I returned to the capital with serious injuries from somewhere, so he thought I was an easy target. He gathered a dozen assassins, and in the end, they were all killed."
"All dead?" Zhang Shou couldn't help but be very surprised, "Not a single one is alive?"
"Why do we need a living person?" Zhu Tingfang raised his eyebrows and said in a cold voice, "In the end, it was found that they were the last few members of the team left by the eldest prince, or they were sent by the queen. It's just adding another crime to the already proven charges against some people. Besides, living people can talk nonsense, but dead people can't. I can say whatever I want."
"Brother, although you have been recuperating for several months, your health is still far from good. There were more than a dozen assassins and you were only three people. How did you deal with them?" Zhu Ying finally came to his senses and stopped worrying about the living and the dead. He asked angrily, "You can't tell me that in the desperate situation, you suddenly showed your divine power and killed all those assassins in a crushing manner?"
Zhang Shou was immediately ashamed. He seemed to have mentioned this story of displaying divine power in desperate situations when he was telling stories to Zhu Ying while enjoying the cool breeze in Rongshui Village... Yes, that's right, he told her the story of the Saint Seiya Xiaoqiang who exploded his microcosm in desperate situations.
Seeing that Zhu Tingfang didn't say anything, he didn't want Zhu Ying to continue questioning him in public, so he quickly waved to Zhu Er and said, "Come and help me, help my brother back to the house. We have to bandage and apply medicine immediately!"
Zhu Er was immediately shocked and ran over to help Zhu Tingfang. He was prepared to be scolded by his elder brother, but Zhu Tingfang was so obedient. He was terrified, thinking that his elder brother was covered in bruises like the last time he returned to Beijing. However, he and Zhang Shou supported Zhu Tingfang on the way, but Zhu Tingfang walked briskly.
He doesn't look like he's injured at all... Of course, last time my brother was seriously injured, but he went home as if nothing had happened!
What Zhu Er didn't expect was that after walking out for a while, he looked back and saw Zhu Ying standing there blankly without following him. He felt uneasy and asked in a low voice, "Is Yingying really angry?"
"I know her temper. She gets angry quickly and goes away quickly. She will be fine in a while." Zhu Tingfang didn't even turn his head, but when he saw Zhang Shou nodding with a smile, he couldn't help but feel a little unhappy. "Zhang Shou, I don't need you here. Just go and accompany Yingying."
"If I'm not with you now, Yingying will blame me later." Zhang Shou rejected Zhu Tingfang's words without thinking, but said calmly, "I was just thinking that I went to Cangzhou with Du Heng and the two hundred sharp cavalry battalion. Together with the one hundred people who were originally here, there are a total of three hundred people. These days they are either guarding Jiang Qi and other families, or stationed in the palace."
He paused, then continued, "So, whenever Yingying, my second brother and I go out, we either bring a dozen guards with us, or we have people like Ah Liu who can fight a hundred with one. Since my eldest brother admitted that you lured the snake out of its hole this time, could it be that your people did go to the fire scene, but you transferred Du Heng's people to rush directly into the trap?"
"good."
Zhu Tingfang readily admitted, "I asked Zhu Yi to deliver a message, telling Du Heng to decide for himself whether to come or not. If he doesn't come, I will die, and I will definitely not blame him."
Didn't this force Du Heng to come? Poor Commander Du!
Zhang Shou saw Zhu Erchao looking at him, and couldn't help but smile: "Commander Du has been stuck in the palace for so long, and now he has to deal with such a matter as soon as he comes out. Will he have any complaints?"
"Complaints are inevitable. After seeing that I said not to spare any life, he still killed them all one by one. He was shocked and angry and came to argue. After the eldest prince's frightened aide kept shouting that he was following the Queen's order to kill the treacherous villain, his face darkened and he killed the guy with a single blow. Then he said that I had done a good job in killing him before."
Zhang Shou saw Zhu Tingfang speaking as if nothing had happened. He didn't see the corpses everywhere, so he didn't take it to heart. He immediately laughed and said, "Yingying told me before that it would be better to let Du Heng escort the eldest prince back to the capital first. Yingying claimed that she came with the emperor's order, and she told the eldest prince to get out of here and go back to the capital."
Zhu Tingfang was slightly stunned. He turned his head and saw Zhu Er nodding his head desperately to indicate that what Zhang Shou said was true. He couldn't help but feel a headache.
"She didn't say that outright in front of Du Heng, did she?"
Seeing Zhang Shou shaking his head, he breathed a sigh of relief, and then said seriously: "Although Du Heng is a bit stubborn and selfish, he is generally a capable person. If you really treat him as the head of the guards and send the eldest prince back, it would be too much of an underestimation and a waste of precious manpower. I also agree to send the eldest prince back, but he doesn't need to do it."
At this point, Zhu Tingfang said nonchalantly: "If the eldest prince returns to the capital, send fifty elite cavalry battalions to accompany him, and then Uncle Hua will follow secretly to protect him, that's enough."
"Master Hua Qi is really here?" Zhu Er looked around subconsciously, as if the guy who had fooled him since childhood would suddenly fall from the sky in the next moment. Seeing that there was no clue at all, he was slightly relieved, but still shouted angrily, "Master Hua Qi is here, why would he watch you, big brother, take risks? He can deal with those assassins by himself!"
"He is half my master, but not my bodyguard. And good steel should be used on the blade. At the last moment, I asked him to come out. Otherwise, at least two of my people and Du Heng's people would have died."
Zhu Tingfang glanced at Zhu Er, who was so frightened that he dared not speak. He then nodded slightly to Zhang Shou and said, "Zhang Shou, you need to talk to Yingying. She has been spoiled by us since she was a child. Although she knows some of the hardships of the people, she inevitably thinks that everything can go smoothly without casualties. Although I only suffered minor injuries today, two people from the Zhaoguo Mansion and the Ruiqi Battalion were seriously injured."
"The other party used a crossbow."
At this moment, not only Zhu Er took a breath of cold air, but Zhang Shou was also awed.
"Is this a fight to the death? Are we going to just kill you?"
He found it difficult to understand what people like the Queen and the eldest prince were thinking - and if it wasn't them, he was really curious about who was the person who could play with the noble mother and son. Seeing that Zhu Tingfang didn't answer, he thought of Zhang Chen, who he had ordered to stay in the room to watch Young Master Jiang, and suddenly his heart moved.
He unconsciously let go of the hand that had just supported Zhu Tingfang.
"Although powerful crossbows are not as powerful as firearms, they are also recorded in books and kept by craftsmen. Moreover, as firearms are becoming more and more popular, powerful crossbows should be becoming less and less. Moreover, with such a powerful weapon, even if we are accompanied by Ah Liu and the guards, we may not be without confidence... So, they were originally targeting you?"
Seeing his brother's yard in front of him, Zhu Er felt a chill on his back and his legs were as if filled with lead. He couldn't move a step. His scalp numbed and he said, "Brother, you just won a battle with Dad before, and you didn't offend anyone! After arriving in Cangzhou, you just dealt with a group of rioters, a group of corrupt officials, and a few wealthy people!"
"When did you offend the Queen and the Crown Prince again?"
If I remember correctly, the ones who offended the Queen, the eldest prince, the second prince and their two sons... seemed to be Zhu Ying and Zhang Shou?
Zhu Tingfang laughed disapprovingly: "How should I know? Maybe it's because I shot an arrow in front of the eldest prince, and I was too lazy to listen to his complaints about rioters and corrupt officials, so I just 'invited' him into the palace and put him under house arrest? Maybe it's because the queen and the eldest prince felt that the people of our Zhu family never took them mother and son seriously?"
"In short, there are thousands of reasons to hate someone, but now that the person is dead, there is no need to dig into the details."
Zhang Shou had already understood everything. It was not that Zhu Tingfang could not rely on the power of the Zhu family to deal with the so-called aide and assassin. The reason why he brought Du Heng along was to have more witnesses, so as to avoid getting into trouble if he committed the crime of killing someone without authorization.
But the purpose of witnessing was only to prepare for a rainy day, so in order to save more trouble, Zhu Tingfang chose to cut the Gordian knot.
He immediately let go of her hand, coughed lightly and said, "That's right, leave this kind of killing and decisiveness to big brother... Yingying seems to be a little stubborn, I'm worried that she will run away in anger, so go and get her here first. Second brother, help big brother go to the room!"
Zhu Tingfang saw Zhu Er was stunned at first, and then his face was full of joy when he watched Zhang Shou go away. He couldn't help but yelled angrily: "Do you have any ambition? He just called you second brother, and you are so proud of it?"
"I'm not like you, big brother. I'm used to being called big brother all the time. Of course I'm very happy that he can call me second brother."
Zhu Er smiled happily, and then said nonchalantly: "As long as Yingying likes him, it's fine. It's useless for us to worry about other things. Besides, I have been his student for such a long time, and I know a little about his temper. As long as you don't go against him and do things sincerely and seriously, he will look at you differently and give you a chance..."
"Hey, big brother, you don't know that when I return to Beijing, I will have made great achievements!"
Looking at his arrogant second brother, Zhu Tingfang just felt tired - where did the person who had the courage to match Zhu Ying up with someone else go?
