Book 50 Chapter 4 – Feet Deep in the Mud

Translator: Foxs' Wuxia

Kou Zhong put the money purse on the table, producing a loud ‘Bang!’ He sat down and said with a laugh, “I won this bag of gold by gambling my little life; Chi Shengchun had his men trying to kill me on the way in order to frame Guanzhong Jian Pai, but I pretended to take the wrong route so that he could not carry out his scheme. His Niang’s! This man is really intolerable, a dagger hidden within a smile.”

“Who is Furong Ye seeing outside?” he added.

Xu Ziling’s gaze fell onto the money purse, he replied, “It’s Hu Fo, in company with his daughter, coming to bid Furong Ye farewell, naturally it’s in order to get a part of the cup of flying money business soup. After I said hello, I made an excuse of being tired and came in to rest. Ay! The charming eyes that Hu Xiaoxian cast toward Xiao Jun made him confused and disoriented, it made me worry.”

Muttering to himself irresolutely for half a day, Kou Zhong asked, “Have you seen Wanwan?”

Shaking his head, Xu Ziling said, “Why don’t you go and talk to her?”

Kou Zhong spoke heavily, “How about tomorrow night?”

Xu Ziling took a breath, “It’s decided then,” he said.

Her pretty eyes tightly closed, Wanwan sat cross-legged on Kou Zhong’s bed. It was only when Kou Zhong was sitting down on the bedside that she opened her beautiful eyes, saying, “When are you coming back?”

“Tomorrow!” Kou Zhong replied, “Wan Dajie, I wonder if you could answer one question from me first: what exactly is the relationship between the Xiang Family and the demonic school?”

Wanwan’s jade countenance remained tranquil, she spoke indifferently, “What does it have to do with killing Shi Zhixuan?”

“Because Shi Zhixuan wants to deal with Chi Shengchun,” Kou Zhong replied.

Wanwan was silent for half a day; she sighed and said, “The one Shi Zhixuan wants to deal really is not Chi Shengchun, but Zhao Deyan. Currently, the one with most power within the demonic school to contend for the Sheng Zun Baozuo [lit. holy/sacred venerable treasured seat (throne)] is Zhao Deyan. You ought to know that Xieli had already sent his men to Chang’an to speak with Li Yuan, guaranteeing that they would definitely not get involved in Li Shimin attacking Luoyang; without Zhao Deyan in the background instigating it, how could Xieli act this favorably?”

“Unexpectedly there is such matter!” Kou Zhong said, “In that case, why do you still have to hide from the Xiang Family? Even if in the future the one unifying the holy school is Wan Dajie, the Xiang Family can’t possibly vow loyalty and devotion to you anyway.”

Wanwan smiled and said, “Shaoshuai, do you know that Xiang Gui was originally my Yin Gui Pai people?”

And the she spoke indifferently, “Strictly speaking, Xiang Gui is our tool to make money, Baling Bang is just a signboard to conceal his true identity. Humph! Xiang Gui, this man loves to curry favor the most. Seeing Zhao Deyan has the Tujue people’s support behind his back, he has the cheek to treat us with outward devotion but inner opposition, while working for Zhao Deyan in the dark. There will come a day that I will make him regret his conduct and deeds. That’s all I can say. Are we going to make our move tomorrow night?”

Under the illumination of the dim, hazy sky of the dusk, Xu Ziling and Kou Zhong, wearing wetsuit, sneaked into the Wei River flowing northwest of the City of Chang’an, following the boat carrying Song Shidao and the others sailing with the current to the east, into the Yellow River. When they were leaving the Pass, someone else impersonated the Taihang Shuang Jie, so that they did not reveal any flaw at all.

By the time the two boys came ashore, night was coming closer to the mother earth. The City of Chang’an was resplendent in lantern lights, bringing out the grand, magnificent sight of one of the three famous metropolis under the heavens.

The two crouched behind a pile of rocks in the shallow river by the shore, waiting patiently for Li Mi’s fleet. Outside the Pass, there were two paths to take: via the water or on land. Naturally the waterway was more convenient and quicker. From the Yong’an Canal dock on the northwest of the city, via the Wei River entering the Great River, within two days they would be able to cross the border of the Pass.

Kou Zhong sighed and said, “Li Mi and his men are divided on three boats. If Li Mi did not hide Shen Meiren in his boat, it would give us an awful headache. The other problem is that basically we don’t even know they hide her in which ship.”

“I am not worried about that,” Xu Ziling said, “Li Mi is harboring ulterior motives, he certainly would take Shen Luoyan by his side, so as to avoid the unexpected. If you were Li Mi, how would you distribute your men into the three ships?”

Muttering to himself irresolutely, Kou Zhong said, “If it were me, I would put all the combat ready personnel into one ship, provision and the military supplies on the other ships, so that I would have the power to deal with contingency.”

Xu Ziling nodded and said, “Li Mi is a commander-in-chief who can go on long campaign and is accustomed to battles, his way of thinking should be virtually the same as yours. Therefore, the most lightweight, portable, and nimble is precisely our target.”

Kou Zhong sighed and said, “I really don’t understand Li Mi; there’s a saying a monk cannot walk away from the temple [or ‘a leaving monk cannot leave the temple’; from Baike.Baidu: a metaphor, meaning although one wants to get out of the chaff for the time being, he cannot escape completely]. Even if he could arrive safely outside the Pass, his own family and the relatives of the troops under his command still remain in Chang’an. If he rebelled against the Tang and established his independence, wouldn’t he extend the disaster to his close relatives?”

Xu Ziling said, “Hence the reason he wanted to rely on Yang WenGan. My guess is that most of his men are kept inside a drum, they don’t know the real purpose of Li Mi’s trip this time. Otherwise, how could they be willing to abandon their wives and children to accompany him taking this risk?”

Kou Zhong nodded and said, “That was the reason behind Li Mi using thousand ways, a hundred plans to obtain Li Yuan’s permission. In the first place, he wanted his men to follow him going out of the Pass with a peace of mind, next, he wanted his family to also have a chance to slip away. Otherwise, with Li Mi and Wang Bodang’s skill, it should be easy to slip away.”

The sky gradually darkened, the curtain of the night was rolled out, the moon and the stars were starting to appear in the sky.

Frowning, Kou Zhong said, “Something is not quite right; how come we have not seen the trace of Li Mi’s fleet?”

Xu Ziling was about to respond, suddenly the sound of hoof beats was coming from the shore. The two looked in shock, Li Jing was spurring his horse to gallop along the cliff, he even brought along two empty rides.

In their heart the two knew that the turn of events was not too encouraging; hastily they leaped out from the rocky beach where they had been hiding and flew up to meet him.

Seeing them, Li Jing said, “Quickly get on the horse! Come with me!”

The two flew onto the horses and followed close behind Li Jing.

Li Jing urged the horse to speed along toward the east; he shouted, “Li Mi changed from the waterway to take land route at the last moment; he left the city half a sichen ago. Fortunately, I have been keeping an eye on them.”

The two boys cried inwardly, ‘Shame!’ Were it not for Li Jing could not stop worrying, they would have lost and Shen Luoyan would have been done for.

Li Jing said, “Li Mi guessed that Huangshang wanted to kill him.”

Kou Zhong said, “Most probably after Shen Luoyan laid out the pros and cons, Li Mi came to his senses. His Niang’s! He knew very well that if he obstinately clinging to his course like this, he would bring harm to his own affectionate and true former subordinates. Is Li Mi really a human?”

Xu Ziling rode ahead to get close to Li Jing and asked, “Does Li Dage know the route Li Mi is taking?”

Li Jing replied, “If he wants to avoid the pursuing troops, Li Mi must use the forest as a cover, the most ideal is the Maozi Lin [lit. hat/cap forest] thirty li southeast of Chang’an. This forest’s range covers over a hundred li of hills and plains. With Li Mi’s experience in marching the army, he must know various ways to break away from the pursuing troops; furthermore, he could choose different points to get out of the forest.”

Hearing that, Kou Zhong’s scalp went numb, he said, “What do we do? They could have traveled the whole thirty li in half a sichen. Li Mi should be in the forest by now, how are we going to find him?”

Li Jing led them rushing toward a high elevation on the mountainous region, “Don’t worry!” he said, “Hongfu [red brush] and I split up and work separately, she is following closely behind their troops.”

The three no longer spoke, they spurred their horses at full speed, very soon they reached the high elevation on the mountainous region, down below they saw a vast, glossy jungle and river course. Extending to four sides, eight directions was the flat plain, as far as the eye could see. Chang’an became like a dot of starlight in the darkness of the sky, far away northwest of the plain.

Drawing out a mouthful of cold air, Kou Zhong said, “My fear is that Li Yuan will intercept him before he enters the forest.”

Li Jing said, “Hongfu and I have discussed this possibility. If Huangshang really intercepts Li Mi’s troops before they enter the forest, Hongfu will show herself and demand the person from Li Mi, she will expose the fact that he kidnapped Shen Luoyan, then it would be difficult for Huangshang to criminalize Shen Luoyan.”

Xu Ziling exhausted his vision to look around, to see if there was any sign of birds being startled and flew out, yet because the forest region was vast, it was quite difficult to see clearly into the distance. Smiling wryly, he said, “That is a way within no way; Dasao [big/oldest sister-in-law] uncovering Li Mi’s conspiracy, from being ashamed, Li Mi might become angry, he would rise in rebellion, and then the Dugu Family’s people could take advantage of soldiers mutiny and troops rebelling to kill Shen Luoyan.”

Kou Zhong spoke nervously, “How will Dasao inform us of her position?”

It was obvious that Li Jing was heavy-hearted; he spoke heavily, “She knew we would come to this living-high-and-look-down place; in due course, she will use mirror to reflect the moonlight toward this place.”

He had not finished speaking, in the forest about twenty li in the distance appeared a dot of red light, which blinked and immediately disappeared. It happened three times.

The three looked at each other.

Knitting his brows, Kou Zhong said, “That does not seem to be mirror reflection, but the light from a fire.”

Divine light suddenly flashed in Xu Ziling’s mind, “I understand!” he exclaimed in delight, “Very possible that Li Yuan has a mole within Li Mi’s ranks; he is practically unafraid that Li Mi would be able to fly out of the cracks of his fingers.”

Greatly delighted, Kou Zhong said, “It makes sense! If Li Yuan wanted to buy Li Mi’s people, certainly it’s as easy as a hand’s turn.”

Finished speaking, he jumped down the horse and said, “The ambushing troops ought to be outside the forest waiting respectfully for Li Mi. If we could catch up with him before Li Mi leaves the forest, we will have the chance to snatch Shen Meiren back.”

This moment they saw the flicking light again, appearing about five li away from the signal fire a moment ago.

Still seated on horseback, Li Jing was stunned, he said, “That ought to be Hongfu’s mirror.”

Xu Ziling said, “That means Li Mi’s troops are divided into two routes in order to throw off the pursuing troops.”

Kou Zhong analyzed, “The person with qualifications to be bought by Li Yuan must be a trusted aide with deep knowledge of Li Mi’s plan, hence he is able to accurately locate Li Mi’s position in the forest. Li Dage should go to see Saozi [sister-in-law], Ziling and I will go to pursue Li Mi.”

Li Jing was worried for his tender wife; helpless, he had no choice but to agree.

The two removed their wetsuit and put on black hood. They flew at top speed in the pitch-black darkness among the trees, unleashing their shenfa to its limit; finally, about two li before entering the Guandong Plain, they were able to overtake Li Mi’s convoy.

Li Mi’s convoy did not have any carriages, all were light cavalry, travelling in a hurry, nearly three hundred men were rushing in silence, the atmosphere was heavy.

The two boys pounced to the top of an old tree, looking down from the height at the situation of the tail of the convoy. With the help of the dim light of the moon and the stars, with enough power in their eyes, they still were unable to see any trace of Shen Luoyan.

Kou Zhong leaned over and whispered in Xu Ziling’s ear, saying, “We run after them from the side; if we see Shen Meiren, don’t care about his Niang’s, we will immediately make our move to snatch her, then we will successfully accomplish our goal.”

Xu Ziling could not think of a better way, he nodded and said yes.

The two soared from tree to tree, silently catching up with the convoy, straight to the head of the convoy, finally they found what they were looking for, but immediately they groaned inwardly.

Li Mi and Wang Bodang, two riders, were leading in the front. Behind them, riding on a horseback was not a person, but a rectangular wooden box, safety tied to a wooden frame attached to the body of the horse, with a rider leading the horse along.

Li Mi and Wang Bodang were not saving oil lamp; even if Kou and Xu used thunderbolt-falls-short-of-reaching-the-ear technique to pick up and break the rope binding the wooden box, no matter how fast their technique, it would still be difficult to escape the fate of falling into to enemy’s heavy siege. It does not matter if their martial art skill had reached the sky, they would not be able to overcome several hundred warriors, veterans of a hundred battles, led by Li Mi and Wang Bodang.

While they were hesitating, Li Mi and Wang Bodang carried Shen Luoyang out of the dense forest to enter the vast and glossy sparse forest region of the Guandong Plain.

The two boys were crouching on a tree at the edge of the dense forest, sadly without any good plan.

Kou Zhong whispered in Xu Ziling’s ear, “What do we do? If we carry the box, it will be difficult to escape calmly.”

Xu Ziling watched the enemy hurriedly rushing out of the forest; making a prompt decision, he said, “We’ll find a way to sneak into the enemy’s troops first, and then wait for an opportunity to snatch the horse. As long as we can escape back into the forest, we will succeed!”

Kou Zhong agreed, “That’s our decision then!” he said.

The two immediately sprang into action, they leaped across, watching for the last two riders of the enemy’s convoy, and then they pounced down from above. Before the men arrived, they already shot finger wind, accurately sealing the target’s acupoint. Without making any noise the two men fell off the horseback, and the two boys caught the bodies before they left the horse, and lightly lay them down among the luxuriant grass and leaves at the edge of the dense forest, while taking their helmet off in passing.

At the front, the several riders’ mind was on rushing out of the forest as quickly as possible, plus the night was very dark, with quiet operation, they did not know that two of their teammates at the back have been replaced with other people.

Suddenly the sound of hoof beats rose up from behind, immediately provoking the men at the back of the line to look back. The two boys cried, ‘Bad!’ inwardly; they did not expect that behind the back of the line there was another back of the line.

Listening to the sound of the hoof beats, there were more than a dozen riders. Hastily they reined their horses to stop, and stayed still at the edge of the dense forest, momentarily they did not know how to deal with this situation. The only way was to push their helmet even lower, so that it went down almost to their eyes, hoping that in the dark, the enemy could not see clearly.

The more than a dozen riders were rushing along the same route that Li Mi’s troops were taking; surprisingly, they did not even cast a glance toward Xu Ziling and Kou Zhong, who were staying out of their way on the side, they even spurred their horses to get out of the forest. The leader shouted loudly, “Guang Lu Qing [lit. bright, official salary, high ranking official (or subject, if used by the Emperor), respectively. Perhaps Li Mi’s title? But I don’t recall this.], please stop, Huangshang’s imperial edict arrives!”

The two boys could see clearly that the leader was unexpectedly Wei Gonggong; they came to realize that finally Li Yuan was making his move.

Li Mi’s side had not expected that Li Yuan’s men would appear here at this moment, momentarily they panicked, their formation was thrown into confusion. Li Mi’s men put the horse carrying the box in the middle of encirclement; they did not want the incoming riders to see it.

Li Mi and Wang Bodang, with grave expression, urged their horse to turn around to meet the imperial edict.

Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling cried, ‘Lucky!” inwardly, Li Mi’s side’s attention was focused on Wei Gonggong passing on the decree, no one paid them any attention.

One after another Li Mi’s men dispersed to the side to let the incoming riders to pass through. When the two sides came close to each other, they all reined their horse to stop.

Wei Gonggong spoke in his peculiar voice, “Guang Lu Qing Li Mi, receive the imperial decree!”

Li Mi and Wang Bodang exchanged an eye signal; unexpectedly Li Mi did not get down from his horse and kneel to receive the imperial decree, he was still sitting high on the horseback and spoke impatiently, “This time I am going out of the Pass with Huangshang personally gave me permission, why an imperial edict all of a sudden?”

Wei Gonggong said, “Huangshang’s order, Guang Lu Qing Li Mi must return to Chang’an immediately to have an audience (with the emperor).”

Hearing that, everybody on Li Mi’s side looked at each other, the crow and peacock made no sound, the atmosphere was heavy to the extreme.

It was only this moment that Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling realized Li Yuan’s scheme. At this time Li Mi was a bird just out of the cage, how could he be willing to abandon his men and return to Chang’an to accept the fate that was still unclear? The bigger problem was that he captured Shen Luoyan and forced her to accompany them. If this matter was revealed, it did not matter even if Li Mi’s tongue was as splendid as a lotus flower, and he made a hundred statements and ten thousand argument. The entire plot to deal with Li Mi was built link by link, and now Li Mi had his feet deep in the mud, he no longer had any choice.

Li Mi looked up to the starry sky above. While all eyes were at him, he slowly exhaled a mouthful of breath, and said, “I don’t believe this is the decree that Huangshang issued. Wei Gonggong, please go back!”

Wei Gonggong laughed aloud and said, “Mi Gong, you have guts; you have the cheek to go against Huangshang’s imperial decree. Ay! Those people are sneaky, I wonder if there’s something that can’t be exposed to the light?”

Li Mi’s countenance sank, he said, “Remembering our acquaintance, it will be best if Wei Gonggong turn around and leave; otherwise, don’t blame Li Mi for not remembering old affection.”

Unexpectedly Wei Gonggong did not get angry. Laughing involuntarily, he said, “I, Wei Gonggong, have served Yang Jian since I was eighteen, no one has ever dared to speak like that to me. My utmost admiration! My utmost admiration!”

Suddenly he leaped from the horseback; letting out a sharp whistle, he pounced toward Li Mi. The sleeves of Li Mi and Wang Bodang’s clothes immediately fluttered, their horses leaped. Just by looking at his momentum, it was clear that this chief of the palace eunuchs of the Tang Palace’s qigong has already reached the realm of great heights.

One after another everybody drew his weapon. Suddenly there was bright fire coming from ahead, but even though they looked, they could not see clearly how many men and horses were coming, rushing out of the sparse forest ahead. At the same time, the sound of hoof beats sprang up everywhere from inside the dense forest. Li Mi’s side suddenly became trapped inside the inferior situation with the wolves ahead and the tigers behind.

‘Bang! Bang!’ The sound was unending, Wei Gonggong’s two sleeves danced in the wind, he struck down from high up in the air; even with Li Mi and Wang Bodang’s ability, this moment they could only stake everything to fight back, unable to get away.

Seeing no time to lose, Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling urged their horses to gallop swiftly toward where Shen Luoyan was.

The situation was chaotic to the extreme. Thousands of Tang soldiers, filling the field, all over the forest – came to attack from both sides. On Li Mi’s side, their leader was occupied, plus they were not in the mood to zealously continue fighting, one after another they scattered in all directions, they dispersed without even fighting.

Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling’s target was clear; seeing that the group of Li Mi’s men with the horse carrying the box was trying to escape to the north, they hurriedly urged their mounts to pursue swiftly.

This moment the Tang soldiers, like a tidal wave, drown Li Mi’s men. The group of more than a dozen riders with the horse carrying the box was intercepted by the Tang soldiers, a tangled battle ensued.

Another group of more than a dozen Tang soldiers was charging toward Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling. Kou Zhong was in a very fine mood, he laughed aloud, pulled the Moon in the Well from his back, and brandished the saber. The closest Tang soldier brandished his saber to block. ‘Dang!’ Kou Zhong’s heavy technique shook him and jolted him off the horse.

Throwing himself into the battlefield, Kou Zhong was like a dragon coming back to the sea; from head to foot, he was full of energy; however, because of his status as an outsider, plus the Tang soldiers were not coming for him, plus he was not a person who loved to kill, his saber strike was lenient; he only struck the enemy down his horse and left it at that.

Xu Ziling pulled the cavalry sword that was hanging on the horseback. Launching a backhand move, he used the flat of the blade to knock two men, who were blocking in front of him – down from the horseback. Following closely behind Kou Zhong, he took advantage while the enemy had not completed their besieging momentum, to catch up with the horse carrying the box, which was jumping around in panic.

Xu Ziling continuously knocking down several enemies before he could grab the rein of the horse carrying the box. Kou Zhong rushed to his side and called out, “Trouble’s coming!”

Even though he was very busy, Xu Ziling turned around to take a glance, and was shocked. Unexpectedly You Chuhong and Dugu Feng [phoenix] were spurring their horses to rush over; by this time they were only about a dozen of zhang away from them.

Xu Ziling hastily pulled the horse carrying the box in the opposite direction to flee into the wilderness, while Kou Zhong was staying behind to stop the enemy.

Obviously Dugu Feng neither recognized nor imagined that the ones taking away the horse carrying the box would be the two of them. She shouted tenderly, “Where do you think you are going?”

If there was no horse carrying the box, relying on their ‘man-and-horse-as-one’ technique, even if the opposite side was riding Gaochang Ferghana horse [lit. treasured horse with sweats of blood], they could forget of ever catching up with the two boys.

However, this moment they were chasing closer and closer, the distance between the two sides was constantly diminishing. The five horses gradually went far away from the battlefield where the battle cry shook the heavens; the high-speed chase on the prairie was in full swing.

You Chuhong shouted harshly, she leaped off the horseback and pounced down from the sky.

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