Zhutian: My skills are not serious

Chapter 739 Xu Fengnian, I’m here to collect interest
Five days later.

In the backyard of an inn in a small town southeast of Xiangfan City, Xu Xiao's spy in Xiangfan delivered a letter to Xu Fengnian. Yu Youwei stroked Wu Meiniang's fur and leaned over to take a look. Xu Fengnian glanced at her and said nothing. After reading it, he handed the letter to Ning Emei.

"Prince, didn't you say that Lin Qing vowed to destroy Mount Longhu? Going from Xiangfan to Mount Longhu is the shortest and most convenient way by land. Why did he take the Guangling River instead and go by water?"

Li Yufu said smartly, "I know. From Xiangfan to Longhu Mountain, the land route must pass through the former capital of Western Chu, Dahuang City. The death of Zhao Heng and his son has angered the court. Guangling King Zhao Yi will definitely not sit idly by and will mobilize a large army to encircle and suppress them. The terrain near the West Wall is open, and the Fire Kirin has no geographical advantage. It will be different if we take the water route. The naval battle on Chunshen Lake is a precedent. The Qingzhou Navy was defeated by the combination of the Fire Kirin and the Great Eagle. Do the worse equipped river guards along the way dare to stop Lin Qing?"

Ning Emei and Yu Youwei nodded in agreement, but Xu Fengnian suddenly changed his expression: "No, this beast surnamed Lin is going to Huting County."

"Huting County? What is he doing in Huting County?"

Ning Emei thought for a moment and said, "It seems that the eldest lady's husband's family, the Huting Lu family, is in Huting County."

Yu Youwei said: "What do you mean? He went to see your elder sister?"

Xu Fengnian said, "Do you remember the pigeon message Chu Lushan sent a few days ago? The Beiliang soldiers who attacked Laoshan Island were bewitched by some evil magic and all of them became demented. This was probably done by Lin Qing. Given his personality, he would not just fight back, but at least double the damage."

Yu Youwei was shocked and said, "Ah? More than 2,000 people all turned into idiots? How... did he do it?"

Li Yufu had known about this for a long time. His expression remained normal, except for a slight frown. “What I can’t understand is how he happened to appear there when the Beiliang Army attacked Laoshan Island.”

This was also a question that Xu Fengnian could never figure out, because Lin Qing once said that no matter where he ran, he could not escape from his grasp. Was this just a threat? At this point, he thought it was definitely not a threat, but where was the problem?

"Ning Emei, give the order to leave immediately and go to Huting County."

Li Yufu said, "Sir, aren't you waiting for Li Jianxian and Jiang Ni?"

"That's too late."

Ning Emei said, "But didn't the prince's letter say that he had received the imperial edict of hereditary succession and asked you to return to Beiliang as soon as possible?"

"Just do what I ask you to do."

"Sir!"

"After the trip to Huting County is over, Lin Qing will go to Longhu Mountain. I ask you, will you save Huang Man'er or not?"

Ning Emei stopped talking, thought carefully, clasped her fists and left the courtyard, informing the people from the Feng Camp to turn to Huting County.

……

a few days later.

The news that Laoshan Island was taken down by the Beiliang Army in one fell swoop spread widely, which greatly encouraged Li Yang and stabilized the morale of the army and the people, minimizing the negative impact of the half-crippled Qingzhou navy and the death of Zhao Heng and his son. However, the fact that Xu Xiao's adopted son Qi Dangguo was beheaded and all the soldiers who landed on the island became idiots was temporarily concealed. Zhao Chun was happy to see the Beiliang Army weakened and Xu Xiao and Lin Qing fighting to the death, but was afraid that the news of the loss of more than 2,000 people in one breath would spread and affect the morale of the army.

At first, people thought that he would go south to Longhu Mountain by land after leaving Xiangfan, after all, it was widely rumored that he had a feud with Zhao Xituan, the Heavenly Master of Longhu Mountain, and vowed to destroy Longhu Mountain. But he did not do so. Instead, he took a red horse boat robbed by the Xiangfan garrison and traveled along the Guangling River.

Some people thought that he was afraid of the cavalry of Zhao Yi, the Prince of Guangling in Dahuang City, and did not dare to take the land route, so he chose the water route where no one dared to stop him. Some people exaggeratedly said that he was going to disembark in Tangsong County, which was closest to Tai'an City, and directly attack Tai'an City, the capital of Liyang State, in retaliation for Beiliang Army's stealing action. The entire Jiangnan Road was on high alert, and a large army was deployed in the flat area north of Tangsong County. The troops of Zhao Ying, the Prince of Huainan, advanced westward to Beigu City, forming a pincer attack with the troops of Jiangnan Road, clamping down on the key transportation hub.

Who would have thought that his boat did not stop at Tangsong County, but turned southeast and entered Huting County on Jiangnan Road. The most famous specialty here is not the Xiaogui Cake that the empresses in the palace praised, nor the Wuhei Cake, a gas station for men, but Xu Zhihu, a widow who married to the Lu family of Huting from Beiliang, who had killed three husbands.

When his ship sailed into the dock outside the city, the whole Yangchun City was very nervous. The army did not dare to move, and the servants of the yamen did not dare to move either, until their superiors assured them solemnly that they would only be sent to the dock to maintain order. Only then did a few guys who were greedy for the reward rush to their destination with their weapons.

After sitting on the boat for several days in a row, Zhao Fengya and Lin Xiao were so suffocated that as soon as they got ashore, they ran around the dock that had been cleared by the police like they were having fun. Princess Jing'an and Wang Chudong, who had been favored by Chu Pingsheng, also got off the boat with him. The former had a worldly air, as if her life was like duckweed, drifting with the current, while the latter had experienced the demise of the Wang family and killed Qi Dangguo, the murderer of her father, so her temperament had become much calmer.

Huanggua led Xu Weixiong down to get some fresh air. She was silent with a gloomy face. She thought it was her turn to warm the bed. But when she came out of Xiangfan City, her master either tormented Princess Jing'an, who was teased by the green ants for being plowed and never damaged, or turned over Wang Chudong's sign. She had completely forgotten what he said when they first entered Xiangfan: she would be punished by being a bed warmer. "Play for a while down there, remember to get back to the boat. Don't go too far. Huanggua, Wang Chudong, and Old Xu, follow me into the city."

Wang Chudong actually didn't want to go, but she didn't dare not to go. She turned around to look at Ergou, who was lying on the roof of the Chima boat with his belly exposed to bask in the sun, and then looked at the eagle circling in the sky, occasionally flying across the sky like a startled swan. She could only purse her lips and keep up with her fists.

Huanggua was a guy who loved to watch the fun, so after listening to him, he happily took Xu Weixiong's hand and followed, and the four of them entered the city.

Some shops on both sides of the main street were closed, some were closing, and some were open. The proprietress, who had just woken up, asked her neighbors in confusion what had happened.

Chu Pingsheng was not interested in them. He walked through the streets and went straight to the gate of the largest house in the east of the city, Hu Ting Lu Mansion.

The Lu family is to Huting County what Zhao Heng is to Qingzhou. Even in the whole of Jiangnan, it is still a leading family. During the Song Dynasty, it had eight prime ministers. Even in the Spring and Autumn War, when Xu Xiao helped the Liyang Zhao family to destroy the six kingdoms, a prominent Jiangnan family with a background like the Lu family began to hide its edge and bide its time. They are by no means comparable to the Qing Party of today. What's more, the current head of the Lu family, Lu Daolin, is an official of the Imperial College. Although his rank is not very high, his prestige among the literati in Jiangnan is much higher than those warriors who swing swords on horseback.

The gate of the Lu residence was tightly closed. Huanggua knocked on the door several times but no one answered. She wanted to lie down through the crack of the door to listen for any noise inside, but Old Xu pulled her away and slapped her with his palm. The stone lion weighing hundreds of pounds at the door flew up and smashed the gate of the Lu residence. He kicked again, and another stone lion knocked down the screen wall behind the door. Huanggua was so frightened that her eyes lit up. She had not expected Old Xu to be so strong.

The three of them had not walked a few steps into the courtyard when the thick-lipped housekeeper of the Lu Mansion and two guards stopped them: "Who are you? How dare you smash the gate of my house? Do you know where this is?"

Chu Pingsheng smiled: "Who are you?"

"I...I am Lu Dongyang, the housekeeper of the Lu Mansion."

"I don't believe that the government didn't inform you who came to Huting County." Chu Pingsheng said, "You are really brave to ask even though you know the answer. Have you made arrangements for your wife and children in the future?"

Lu Dongyang's face was covered with cold sweat: "The Lu family has no grudges against you in the past or today. Aren't you afraid of being punished by heaven for doing this?"

"Old Xu, look, I haven't even killed anyone yet, and the threat of divine punishment has come."

Chu Pingsheng said, "You want a reason for me to break into the Lu family, don't you? I'll give you a few more reasons. First, the one in my maid's hand is Xu Zhihu's second sister. It's normal for a younger sister to visit her elder sister. Second, I heard that the promiscuous widows in the Lu Mansion are a specialty of Jiangnan. I finally came here, so I have to try something new and see how promiscuous she is. Third, Xu Xiao sent troops to attack Laoshan Island and killed my good subordinates and my father-in-law's family. Do you think I should also kill his family to avenge him? Any of these reasons is enough to support me to break into the Lu family in Hu Ting, isn't it?"

Old Xu said, "Where is Xu Zhihu? If you don't want to die, lead the way."

"This..." Lu Dongyang looked embarrassed.

Chu Pingsheng said, "Don't pretend. Didn't you come here to show me the way? You just want to pretend to be forced to do something and save some face for the Lu family."

Lu Dongyang's face changed drastically. He didn't expect the young man to have such vicious eyes. He was indeed sent by the head of the family's younger brother Lu Xuanlang to lead the lawless devil to Xu Zhihu's residence, but Lu Xuanlang asked him not to lose the reputation of the Lu family, so he wanted to hold on and be tough, and when Lin Qing angrily drew his sword and wanted to kill people, he would step down and take people to find Xu Zhihu.

Old Xu's voice turned cold: "Lead the way!"

Lu Dongyang didn't dare to insist. He made a gesture of invitation, dismissed the two servants, and walked towards the corridor on the right.

Huanggua tugged at Xu Weixiong, who looked complicated, and the bell rang a few times: "Sir, how do you know he is here to lead the way? I thought the people in the Lu Mansion would behave themselves only after a fight."

"Lu Daolin, the head of the Lu family, lives in Tai'an City with his chief butler. The person who manages the old Lu family residence in Huting is his second brother Lu Xuanlang. Lu Daolin forced him to marry the widow Xu Zhihu, who killed her husband. The cuckold who died before they even had sex was Lu Xuanlang's son."

"Now that the rumors of Xu Zhihu cheating on her are spreading like wildfire, do you think Lu Xuanlang will be very upset? He is very dissatisfied, but he dares not offend his elder brother who is the chief priest of the Imperial College and Xu the Cripple of Beiliang. He can only cooperate with his wife to do some small tricks to disgust Xu Zhihu. Guess who will be the happiest person when the government officials shout in the streets that the big devil of the Qingzhou Lin family has come to Huting County?"

Lu Dongyang bent even lower, and couldn't help wiping the sweat off his forehead with his sleeve. Lin Qing said exactly what he said. Lu Xuanlang and his wife hated Xu Zhihu, but what could they do? His elder brother Lu Daolin was the chief priest of the Imperial Academy, the head of the Lu family whose words were final. Xu Zhihu's father was the King of Beiliang, and Lu Xuanlang couldn't afford to offend either of them.

Huanggua said, "Sir, how do you know so much about the Lu family?"

"That's nothing. I also know that Xu Fengnian, who escaped from Xiangfan City before Qi Dangguo led his men to massacre Laoshan Island, knew that we were heading east along the Guangling River. He realized that Xu Zhihu was in trouble, so he ignored his father's orders and brought Li Yufu, Ning Emei, and another expert... He galloped after us. I believe they will arrive at Huting soon."

(End of this chapter)