Sha Po Lang

Chang Geng swallowed, his voice was tight, cautiously asking, “Yifu, can you lie on my lap?”

Bandit leader Jing Xu was following the ‘Southern Frontier soldier’ who had come to inform him to save Fu Zhi Cheng and the situation, but after a while, this experienced old bandit discovered one problem — the one leading the way seemed to be bringing them to a place the bandits often used for ‘knocking the bell’.

There were often such places in the southwestern mountains. The terrain was extremely complex, with mazes that were borne from nature, and except for the local snakes, no other could be able to make out the directions. There were countless dens underground. If the people inside were to set up an ambush, they could reach the level of unparalleled.

Mountain bandits generally would first try to trick people into such areas, then block off the escape and rob them. This kind of place was ideal for carrying it out. It was specially designed to deal with some famous cargo escorting crew or groups from the pugilist world, referring to in their slang as ‘knocking the bell’.

Although Jing Xu was in a rush, his mind remained clear. Nearing the destination, he was shocked to realize that this place was a ‘bell top’. With a layer of cold sweat on his back, he immediately stopped his footsteps and questioned the ‘Southern Army soldier’. However, in just a few words, there had already been countless loopholes. The ‘soldier’ wanted to attack, but after being restrained by the bandits, he had drunk poison to committed suicide.

There was a burst of suspicion in Jing Xu’s heart, he immediately ordered his men to turn around. On the way, he encountered two brothers from his camp, their body drenched in blood – only then did he know that his lair had been overturned. When they hurriedly rushed back, there was only the wreckage of broken rubbles and burnt corpses everywhere.

Ten years of acc.u.mulation, destroyed overnight.

“Big brother!” A bandit ran over and grabbed Jing Xu’s arm. “Secret pa.s.sage, don’t panic, we still have the secret pa.s.sage!”

There were many mountains in the southwest, most of the mountain bandits learned to build many dens, together with many secret pa.s.sages in the mountains, allowing them to flee underground.

If the enemy pressed in on their mountain, they could pretend to fight back, then escape into the thousands of secret pa.s.sages. Even the Black Eagle in the sky could not catch an underground rat.

When the others heard this, their eyes lit up.

But Jing Xu was swaying and shaking, his expression in a daze, no trace of happiness could be found.

He watched as his underlings went to search the secret pa.s.sages with joy and hope – he knew that the secret pa.s.sage was now useless.

If the other party intended only to kill people, then most of those on the mountain could escape along the secret pa.s.sage. In any case, they could not shake the foundation of the lair, but they had actually burned the mountain instead.

Even Kuai Lan Tu did not know what it was that he had burned down.

Jing Xu stood motionlessly for a long time. Not far from him, there was a sudden burst of a sharp cry. He could hear the person who went to search for the secret road shouting in despair: “The secret pa.s.sage had collapsed!”

Jing Xu closed his eyes — sure enough.

In this ordinary secret chamber under the mountain, what was stored not real gold and silver like in Xing Zi Lin, but Ziliujin.

The imperial court’s Ziliujin distribution to the local garrison was incredibly limited, even the Black Iron Camp camp was no different than the rest, let alone the South Frontier garrison, but Fu Zhi Cheng certainly had his own way. Kuai Lan Tu received a secret report and learned that Fu Zhi Cheng and Jing Xu had a very close relationship — but he did not know that in truth, Jing Xu was the ‘clerk’ who smuggled Ziliujin for Fu Zhi Cheng.

The mountain bandits’ business was robbing, doing whatever that could be beneficial to them. Jing Xu came in contact with the black market for Fu Zhi Cheng and smuggled the Ziliujin, it was impossible for him not to profit off of this, but he believed that he was not a greedy man, only keeping one part for himself each time. Fu Zhi Cheng was aware of this and had always been silently accepting.

Just before this, Jing Xu just sent the latest batch of Ziliujin to the army of the Southern Frontier. In the secret room under the mountain, there was only just a surplus of 10% of the Ziliujin, who would have known that it would become a life-claiming talisman, for after igniting, it had exploded in the secret pa.s.sage in the mountain, annihilating and wiping out the entire lair.

Was this a coincidence? This could be a coincidence?

Jing Xu remembered a long time ago, someone had told him: ‘the righteousness are well versed in morals, the wickedness are well versed in profit – those who gathered due to profit, will be scattered by profit’.

He and Fu Zhi Cheng were gathered together for profit, now that this matter had been uncovered, Fu Zhi Cheng, of course, could also easily abandon him. Bandits were plentiful on these mountains, get rid of one Jing Xu, he could still raise countless of others to replace him.

Someone ran up to him and said in a choked up voice: “Big brother, let’s dig up the secret pa.s.sage, maybe there are still some survivors left.”

Jing Xu stood there with indifference, shaking his head.

“Big brother!”

The sounds of crying broke out from all sides, Jing Xu suddenly shouted: “Enough!”

All the surviving bandits stood on the scorched surface of the ground and looked at him.

“Follow me.” The eyes of Jing Xu gradually become red, like a beast that was ready to bite someone. He pressed his voice low through his teeth. “If Fu Zhi Cheng is not benevolent, don’t blame me for being unjust — after these many years, does he truly think I do not have any ways to deal with him?”

“The Southern Frontier has many mountains and many hideouts. These mountains’ bandits had formed a system, they do not act independently. As far as we know, there are three big bandit leaders.”

In Xing Zi Lin, Chang Geng took out a leather map. It had been tattered from being flipped through many times, he pointed out for Gu Yun. The marks on it were extremely complicated, from the terrain, the climate, what type of road, what type of horses could be used to travel on them, so on and so forth.

Such a drawing, Gu Yun had seen it before in Jiangnan. This was undoubtedly the pen of the Lin Yuan Pavilion. He looked at Chang Geng thoughtfully under the oil lamp, he did not respond, indicating for him to continue.

Gu Yun let three thousand Black Iron Camp soldiers mix in with the caravans returning home from the north. Using smoke as a signal, they had secretly made their way through at night and swooped in from the sky when the guards of Kuai Lan Tu had surrounded Fu Zhi Cheng, more than twenty killers of the sky controlled the situation of dogs biting other dogs. They were divided into two ways, the tens thousands of Southern army troops stationed at the foot of the mountain were separated into several sections.

Their commander had been captured, the Black Iron Camp had also arrived in person. The Southern Frontier garrison, although having many soldiers, resembled a group of sheep who could not resist, submitting to Gu Yun as a result.

When a commander did not lead his troops with the intention to kill but to feel more courageous, then no matter what kind of tiger or wolf were behind them, they would become nothing more than sheep.

However, this chaos in Xing Zi Lin was not even finished, yet Chang Geng had brought another news.

Chang Geng: “The forces of these three leaders divided the Southern Frontier into three territories. They are normally at peace, each of them restrained their own underlings, all were more or less connected with the troops stationed in the south. The most special one is the priest Jing Xu from the north.”

Shen Yi asked: “Why is this person special, is he the most powerful? Or is he the closest to Fu Zhi Cheng?”

Chang Geng: “Because he smuggled Ziliujin for General Fu.”

Gu Yun narrowed his eyes and looked up: “How did you know this? In the end, what are you doing in the southwest this time?”

Four years ago, when Liao Ran led him to Jiangnan, Gu Yun already had a speculation. The Lin Yuan Pavilion was in the vast pugilist world, it was impossible to fully monitor the exchanges of the court’s officials. The reason why they could find traces of the Eastern Sea disaster, it was through tracking the Ziliujin black market.

Chang Geng smiled a little, he seemed to be reluctant to say more and only replied: “People from the pugilist world have their own methods, yifu does not have to worry.”

Gu Yun raised his hand to stop him, his expression darkened: “You should know what kind of crime is smuggling Ziliujin — getting captured would mean death. The Ziliujin black markets are full of those who risk their lives, the righteous do not stand under a wall that is about to collapse, do you understand?”

Shen Yi who was standing on the side was immensely embarra.s.sed as he heard this, almost wanting to blush in Marshal Gu’s stead. Using such righteous words when teaching others, as if that the smuggling of Ziliujin did not have anything to do with him!

Chang Geng did not fight with him, nor did he get angry. He only looked at him with a smile, his face was clearly expressing: “I already knew of this little matter of yours, there are outsiders here, it was not convenient to speak of it out loud.”

Gu Yu was first startled, then he immediately realized: “What? This little b.a.s.t.a.r.d even investigated me?”

Chang Geng held down Gu Yun’s hand: “Yifu, don’t be angry, listen to me first.”

Chang Geng put his palm on the back of Gu Yun’s hand. His hand was warm, the joints were well-defined, grasping with the gentle strength of holding a hatchling, letting go as soon as he held it. No one knew why, but it felt rather strange.

Gu Yun suddenly felt a bit awkward. Between friends and brothers, if having a close enough relationship, they would hug, jokingly hold hands, and even a kiss was not a problem. Military commanders did not pay much attention to trivial courtesy, this was especially true for the soldiers in the army, but this gesture of Chang Geng... was a bit too ‘intimate’, Gu Yun unconsciously retracted his fingers, momentarily forgetting what he wanted to say.

Chang Geng’s face was unchanging: “Ge Chen used a wooden bird to send a letter to me just now, saying that Jing Xu’s mountain had been burned.”

Gu Yun: “... Ge Chen?”

Chang Geng: “It is Ge Ban Xiao.”

Gu Yan glanced at Sun Jiao. Since Kuai Lan Tu lost his life and Fu Zhi Cheng got arrested, Master Sun had become a fragile and poor little bird. Except for trembling, there was nothing else he could do. Gu Yun had to find people to watch over him.

This matter was easy to understand as soon as one thought about it.

Fu Zhi Cheng was soon aware of Gu Yun’s whereabouts. If he truly wanted to brush off his relationship with the bandits, why would he decide to act in this critical moment? Was it not the same as proving himself guilty before even being accused?

Recalling Sun Jiao’s moronic display of ‘I have been colluding with Inspector Kuai’ from the beginning to the end, it was all clear at a glance – in order for the Ministry of War to forcefully promote the Drumming Order, and for Kuai Lan Tu to remove Fu Zhi Cheng, they had joined forces with each other, fabricated a conflict between Fu Zhi Cheng and the bandits, let them fight among themselves in front of the Marquis. When that time came, even if Gu Yun wished to protect Fu Zhi Cheng, there was already no other way for him to reverse the tide.

The inhumane action of setting fire to the mountains was undoubtedly the work of Kuai Lan Tu.

However, it was impossible for Kuai Lan Tu to have known the true relationship between Jing Xu and Fu Zhi Cheng. Otherwise, he would not set fire to burn the mountain, because even if there were clear pieces of evidence of Fu Zhi Cheng’s collusion with the bandits, this crime may not be enough to put the Southern Frontier’s commander and governor to his death.

If Kuai Lan Tu knew that Fu Zhi Cheng smuggled Ziliujin through Jing Xu, he absolutely would not destroy the evidence for them — the smuggling of Ziliujin was considered to be the same as rebellion, even killing ten Fu Zhi Chengs was not enough.

“The Ziliujin black market has three sources,” said Chang Geng. “The first is from the officials’ storage. Although the regulation is strict, there are always rats who are willing to take risks for profit. They steal from the officials stock, mix in various impurities, then spread them out. The second is from the ‘black gold merchants’, these are those who are desperate enough to travel outside the country to look for the Ziliujin mine, risking their lives digging them up; the third is from overseas, the reason why we came to check this line especially is because the ultimate source of Ziliujin is from the Southern Sea.”

Gu Yun sat up straight: “Are you sure?”

Chang Geng nodded silently.

Shen Yi’s expression had also become grave.

They all knew that the Southern Sea did not produce Ziliujin.

Ziliujin from overseas flowing into the big black market – were directly traded with the foreigners. It was a fixed line, with a fixed group of people. They would not be transported from someone else’s location due to the risk being too high.

If someone truly was using the Southern Sea as a cover, to control the southwest Ziliujin black market from across the distance – those behind it who took such big risk, hiding away so deep, their objective certainly was not just buying and selling Ziliujin.

Chang Geng: “The Southern Sea is not in China, we also have limited ability. We had sent people to the Southern Sea several times, they had all returned in vain. This is one thing, there was also the priest Jing Xu who has yet to make his appearance. Yifu, I think that when a savage bandit had been exposed to Ziliujin, he would never think of finding the farming puppets to do fieldworks on the mountain.”

After listening, Gu Yun was quiet for a moment, then he stood up and blew a long whistle. A Black Eagle quietly descended from the sky and landed in front of him.

Gu Yun’s brow was slightly crunched up, he then gave out three orders in the blink of an eye.

“Two teams of Black Eagle scouts take this map, investigate the territories of the three major bandit leaders of the Southern Frontier, we must first capture the leaders!”

“Imprison the defensive troops of the Inspector, thoroughly find out who had drawn out this plan for Kuai Lan Tu and let him use this method to provoke Fu Zhi Cheng and the bandits.”

“Interrogate Fu Zhi Cheng, Ji Ping, you go.”

Everyone took their leave as they received their orders. After Gu Yun finished, he could not help but narrow his eyes. Even Shen Yi hadn’t noticed something was wrong, yet Chang Geng had already pulled him: “Yifu, isn’t it... Did you bring your medicine? It will get brighter soon, let’s take a break first?”

Shen Yi was only able to came back to reality as he heard the word ‘medicine’. At the same time, he had a strange feeling inside. Chang Geng’s eyes seemed to be glued to Gu Yun, detecting even his slightest of movement.

Gu Yun wanted to deny by habit.

Chang Geng spoke first: “I still have not tried out the acupuncture method that Miss Chen showed me last time. This matter may not be finished yet. I am afraid there could be more developments, yifu please let me try.”

Gu Yun now remembered that Chang Geng had already known, trying to hide any further was only useless. He left behind a sentence, “I will go rest in the back for a while” then silently followed him.

Chang Geng’s bag carried a set of silver needles, some common medicines, broken pieces of silver, and a few books — Gu Yun had soon discovered that this child might appear sharp and well-dressed, but in truth, he only had with him two sets of elegant articles of clothing to change into.

Gu Yun could not comprehend, when Chang Geng was a child, even taking him out to the market required every trick he had. In the end, for what reason must he insist on leaving the capital, living the days of wandering and tasting hardships?

It could be a fresh experience for a month and two, would it still be fresh even after four years?

Chang Geng had performed acupuncture for many people before, but at this time, facing Gu Yun alone, he could not help himself from tensing up irrationally. He hadn’t felt this way even when he followed Miss Chen to learn acupuncture for the first time and performing it on himself. He unconsciously repeatedly washed his hands over and over, almost washing away the skin, until Gu Yun could not wait anymore, urging him: “Miss Chen had been teaching you this long, did she only teach you how to wash your hands?”

Chang Geng swallowed, his voice was tight, cautiously asking, “Yifu, can you lie on my lap?”

Gu Yun did not think there was anything wrong with it, after all, this was not a lady’s legs, there was nothing to be afraid of. But he had really wanted to ask ‘could you actually do this?’ — but he was afraid his words would increase the pressure for the half-hearted doctor Chang Geng. Swallowing his question down in the end, he just thought generously: “What is there to fear, I could not die anyway.”

He had prepared to feel needles on his flesh, but Chang Geng was not at all as unskilled as his imagination. The very fine needles pinned on his acupuncture points basically had no sensation. After a while, the familiar headaches arrived again, there was no telling if it was a psychological effect, but Gu Yun truly did feel much better.

Gu Yun relaxed his body, he couldn’t help but ask: “You followed the Lin Yuan Pavilion throughout many hardships, what is it that you hope to achieve?”

If he truly wanted to serve the country, he should be returning to the imperial court to act as a Jun w.a.n.g. Being a prince, for what reason must he follow those life-risking people from the pugilist world to investigate about Ziliujin?

Chang Geng paused, the movements of his wrist did not stop. He skillfully dodged the question: “I have not asked yifu where the poisonous wounds of your eyes and ears come from.”

Gu Yun: “...”

Chang Geng smiled, a.s.suming that he was able to block him off. Unexpectedly, after a moment, Gu Yun suddenly calmly said: “When I was a child, the old Marquis took me to the battlefield in the Northern Frontier, a poisonous arrow of the barbarians had grazed my skin.”

Chang Geng: “...”

Gu Yun: “I’m finished, your turn.”

Gu Yun, this person, no matter whether he was playing the role of a wolf or a righteous being, he was an expert all the same. Speaking a few words with no expression, truth and false entangled, leaving no traces to uncover. Chang Geng could only rely on his intuition, feeling that there must be lies in his words.

“I... I wanted to see for myself,” Chang Geng said. “Master Liao Ran had said to me before, if one’s heart is as vast as heaven and earth, any troubles will become only a small corner. Mountains and rivers, all living things, if one often look at others, then when bowing their head, they could also see themselves. If one has not taken care of a dying patient, one would think that a scratch on the skin was a grave injury. If one has not eaten a mouthful of rocks and sand, one would still think that iron troops and golden spears were a majestic shadow. If one has not tasted poverty, then complaining about the ‘hardships of thousand households’ is nothing more than just lamenting without being ill.”

Gu Yun looked at him.

Gu Yun’s gaze gradually recovered the focus point under the effect of the acupuncture. Chang Geng slightly hid away it at first, then came back to his senses and calmly met his gaze, but he could not look into Gu Yun’s eyes for too long — his chest seemed to have a golden box inside, its heat could never dissipate, scorching hot. His back itched, he unconsciously closed his legs, almost not able to sit still.

Gu Yun suddenly said: “Your teacher’s surname is Zhong, Zhong Xiang, right?”

Chang Geng was surprised.

“A grand general, his horseback archery skills and martial arts were unparalleled. Ten years ago, he had committed a sin due to him opposing the former Emperor, all of the imperial court magistrates and officials had pleaded for him. In the end, he was only dismissed from office and was not imprisoned.

“When the Western Region rebelled, in a panic, the Emperor had thought of welcoming the old veteran back to his position, but could no longer find him. ”

Gu Yun sighed. “As soon as I saw that arrow you shot, I already knew that it was his teaching — no wonder all the people I sent after you ended up being shaken off. Is the old man’s body still tough?”

Chang Geng made a sound in response.

Gu Yun did not say a word for a long moment.

He did not tell Chang Geng — in fact, a long time ago, Zhong Xiang was once his own teacher as well. Lin Yuan Pavilion had introduced Chang Geng to him. Is it a coincidence? Or intentional?

He couldn’t help but look forward to it – the little prince that he had raised from the age of ten, could he now finally grow into being a pillar?

Gu Yun fell asleep during his train of thoughts, vaguely having a feeling as if someone had caressed his face.

When he woke up again, the sky was already bright. He pushed away the thin blanket on his body, not knowing who had placed it on for him. Asking in a low voice: ” What’s the matter?”

The Black Eagle at the door: “Marshal, the three bandits leaders gathered together at night, forming a rebel mob near the river to the south...”

Gu Yun frowned.

“They have ten Baihong arrows, dozens of Heavy Armors. If your subordinate was not mistaken, these mobs even have ‘Eagles’ in their hands.”