Chapter 89: Experts’ Battle
Chapter 89: Experts’ Battle (Part )
In the morning, Yang Liang, the King of Han, was practicing with his spear on the deck. He was tall and strong, full of strength, and he used the spear to appear and disappear like a ghost.
Yang Liang was a martial arts expert, he was a seventh-rank master. He was stabbed that day because he was not in the right state of mind, which gave the female assassin a chance to seize the opportunity.
In fact, this was also due to Yang Liang's carelessness. He originally had a ninth-grade master by his side, but this time when he left the capital, he was accompanied by an eighth-grade master, Changsun Sheng. So he did not bring the ninth-grade master with him and left him in Chang'an to protect his wife and children.
Unexpectedly, Changsun Sheng went back early, which created a defense loophole for Yang Liang. He immediately sent an eagle letter to Chang'an, ordering his ninth-rank guards to rush to Jiangdu.
The prince seized the opportunity during this short period of loophole, which lasted only a few days.
Yang Liang didn't dare to be careless anymore, and his only three seventh-rank guards followed him all the time.
At this time, a subordinate brought Liu Ying, the chief steward of the Xiao Mansion, onto the ship, and the guards immediately went up to interrogate him.
Liu Ying knelt with his head down not far away, his heart filled with fear and anxiety.
The subordinate handed a letter to Yang Liang, who recognized it at a glance as the handwriting of his second brother, Prince of Jin Yang Guang.
He then handed the letter to his trusted aide Pei Wen'an, "Sir, take a look!"
Yang Liang also sat down at the table and started eating breakfast.
Pei Wen'an looked at it for a moment, shook his head and said, "This letter is forged, it can't be more than three days!"
Yang Liang frowned, "How did you know that, sir?"
"Your Highness, although the handwriting is very similar, it is indeed a master's handwriting, and the letter paper is also old, but the ink has not penetrated into the paper, but floats on the surface. It can be seen at a glance that this letter was written no more than three days ago. In addition, the strokes of several words are different. I suspect that they are intentional flaws."
Yang Liang turned his head and glared at Butler Liu, who was almost paralyzed by fear. He swung the meat cleaver in his hand, and with a flash of cold light, "Puff!" The meat cleaver had pierced Butler Liu's forehead deeply.
Butler Liu let out a muffled cry and fell to the ground on his back, his eyes wide open, and he died with his eyes open.
Pei Wen'an was stunned. He didn't expect Yang Liang to be so cruel. Killing someone was as easy as crushing an ant.
He sighed in his heart, stood up and said, "Since Your Highness has killed the Xiao Mansion's housekeeper, then let his grandson go!"
Yang Liang said coldly: "I don't care about this matter, sir, please deal with it!"
Pei Wen'an quickly told the guards to carry the body away and dispose of it, and then ordered them to release the child.
Pei Wen'an walked back and said, "Actually, I haven't finished yet!"
"What else do you want to say, sir?"
Pei Wen'an spread out the letter and said with a smile: "The contents of this letter should be true. I will add another sentence in it, 'If I had known that I would be imprisoned today, I should have stayed in Jiangnan and never returned!' This sentence alone is enough to prevent the King of Jin from turning over forever."
Yang Liang's eyes gradually brightened up, "And then?"
"Then find a few old letters from the King of Jin, send them to Luoyang along with this letter, and spend a lot of money to ask Zhang Qianhe to forge another one. With Zhang Qianhe's help, I believe that even Yang Guang himself will not be able to tell the real from the fake."
"But the real letter is in Xiao Cong's hands! He saw through us and gave us a fake letter."
Pei Wen'an smiled slightly, "That's the problem. I know Xiao Cong. He is a timid and cautious person. Your Highness killed his butler, which means we have seen through his forgery. Then he will definitely burn the real letter. In this way, the letter in our hands will become the real letter.
Once the emperor interrogates the King of Jin, he will certainly not dare to deny that he wrote the letter. He will definitely admit it. Anyway, he thinks there is nothing wrong with his letter and he cares about his son!
But the King of Jin never dreamed that there would be one more sentence in this letter. "
"Great idea!"
Yang Liang slammed the table and said, "Xiao Cong burned the real letter, so our letter became the real letter. King Jin can't deny it. I will arrange for people to go to Luoyang as soon as possible. If Zhang Qianhe dares not to give me the letter, I will kill his whole family!"
Pei Wen'an said calmly, "To be absolutely sure, His Highness will send another expert to the Xiao Mansion study to steal the letter today and continue to put pressure on him, so that he will have to burn the real letter."
..........
At noon, Xiao Xia had just returned from practicing martial arts outside the city and was sitting in a restaurant eating lunch.
At this time, Xiao Zhurong walked over quickly and whispered in Xiao Xia's ear: "The master is looking for you, follow me!"
Xiao Xia finished the last two bites of rice, wiped his mouth, and followed Xiao Zhurong to the small room behind the food store.
The head of the family, Xiao Cong, is indeed here.
"Master, what happened?"
Xiao Cong winked at Xiao Zhurong, who dodged and went out to keep watch outside.
Xiao Cong sighed and said, "The county government found the body of Steward Liu, with a knife piercing his forehead. I guess the King of Han has discovered that the letter was fake."
Xiao Xia was prepared. He took out a letter from his pocket and handed it to Xiao Cong, saying, "If the master of the house finds that the study has been messed up, don't make a fuss about it. Put this letter in the incense burner and burn it immediately."
Xiao Cong took a look at the letter and found that it was also a forgery of a letter from Prince Jin, but the imitation was poor and it was obviously fake at a glance.
"What do you mean?" "This is a letter I forged last night. I guess the other party wants to force the owner to burn the real letter."
"Xiao Qilang, you'd better explain clearly. I'm really confused."
Xiao Xia said calmly: "As long as the real letter is burned, the King of Han can make a fake letter and it will become the real letter, so we will help him. All is fair in war. The master of the family will do as I say, and the King of Han will not harass the master of the family again."
"Then what does it mean that I burned the letter?"
"I guess someone must be watching the master in secret. I'm afraid someone will jump out and snatch the letter if I take it from the secret cabinet, so it's best to take it out directly from my arms and burn it. No matter how high the other party's martial arts skills are, it will be too late."
Xiao Cong was stunned. "Are you saying that someone is secretly monitoring me?"
Xiao Xia nodded.
"Okay! I'll listen to you!"
Xiao Cong put the letter in his arms and left in a hurry.
..........
Xiao Cong hurried back to the mansion. As soon as he entered the courtyard, the tea boy Xier ran over and said, "Master, there's a thief in the study!"
Xiao Cong was stunned. That child was truly a monster!
"Master, what should we do?" Tea Boy asked nervously.
"Don't make any noise, I'll go take a look!"
Xiao Cong was very nervous. He pretended to be angry and rushed into his study.
I looked around the room and saw that everything was in a mess. Books from the bookshelves were thrown all over the floor, and drawers and boxes were opened.
Xiao Cong walked quickly to the incense burner, opened the lid, took out the letter Xiao Xia had given him from his arms, sighed deeply, and threw it into the incense burner. The letter immediately started burning.
Xiao Cong closed the stove lid and turned to go out.
There was a crack in the roof, and a pair of sharp eyes were staring at everything happening in the study.
After Xiao Cong left, a gray figure jumped down from the roof and flashed to the incense burner like a ghost. He opened the lid and found that the letter in the incense burner had been burned, but the shape of the letter was still intact. Although it was burned into black ash, the last line of words on it could still be vaguely recognized.
"I beg you to take good care of Xia'er and save his life. I will repay you handsomely one day. I, Yang Guang, kowtow to you."
The gray figure put down the stove cover, jumped onto the roof, and quickly disappeared.
..........
In the afternoon, on the big ship by the Yangtze River, after listening to the report of the gray shadow man, Yang Liang, the King of Han, stroked his beard and said to Pei Wen'an with a smile: "Sir, you are really smart! You finally forced Xiao Cong to burn the letter."
In fact, messing up the study was just a patch made by Pei Wen'an. He thought that with Xiao Cong's timid and cautious character, he should have burned the letter yesterday and would not have kept it until today.
Pei Wen'an hesitated for a moment and asked, "Have you seen the contents of the letter?"
The gray figure bowed and said, "I opened the furnace cover and took a look. The letter had been burned, but the ash was still intact. I could barely make out the last line of words, 'I beg you to take good care of Xia'er and save his life. I will repay you handsomely one day. I, Yang Guang, kowtow.' I can't see anything else."
"Now you believe it, sir!" Yang Liang said with a smile.
Pei Wen'an nodded, "That's right. I think Xiao Cong still had a glimmer of hope that we would be deceived. Unexpectedly, the butler died, and he knew that the fake letter was discovered by us. In addition, His Highness sent someone to steal the letter, so he finally couldn't bear the pressure and had to burn the letter."
Yang Liang stretched out his palm and squeezed it hard in the air, saying with a smug look on his face: "Prince Jin can't escape from my palm after all!"
………….
At night, dark clouds obscured the stars and the moonlight. The night was very dark, and a stick of incense was lit in the corner of the east courtyard.
At the other end of the long and narrow east courtyard, Xiao Xia drew his bow, pulled the bow to its full length, and shot an arrow at Xiangtou, who was eighty steps away.
The arrow grazed the incense stick and got stuck in the wall.
Xiao Moke's archery skills were written one year before he surrendered to the Sui Dynasty. It is very different from the bows used by other famous generals. Xiao Moke talks about how to find the feeling of the bow and arrow throughout the article.
Once you find the feel for the bow and arrow, all other archery techniques are just trifles.
Most novices would be confused, but Xiao Xia, who was in the barrier-breaking state, knew what Xiao Moke wrote. Xiao Xia's flying needles and flying knives had been practiced to perfection. He did not need to practice accuracy, he just needed to practice a feeling.
This is the feeling of the bow and arrow in Xiao Moke's secret book, and then the feeling of flying needles, flying knives and bows and arrows are integrated into one.
Just like when he practiced with weapons, he was actually integrating various weapons with the Tan Style Thirteen Swords.
Xiao Xia has been practicing archery these past two days, trying to find the feeling of the bow and arrow that Xiao Moke repeatedly emphasized in his secret book.
The best way to find them as recorded in the secret book is to use the night-shooting incense head fire.
(End of this chapter)