knife

Chapter 303 Zhang Bing and Wu Ding

After eating a meal meticulously prepared by Li Dachui and drinking two cups of health-preserving wine specially made for him by Fu Qingzhu, Old Master Yu lay comfortably on the bed and soon began to snore loudly.

Li Dachui tucked the blanket around the old man before walking out the door with Old Wang.

"He hasn't gone to bed this early in years!" Old Wang said with emotion. "He always goes to bed very late and gets up very early. Come to think of it, this is the first time in almost a year that I've heard him snore! He's sure to sleep very well this time."

“A person like the teacher is the face of a dynasty in times of peace, and even more so in times of war, he is the object of everyone’s scramble. If they can’t get him, and they don’t want the teacher to speak up for others, they might just take action against him.” Li Dachui said, “The teacher is over eighty years old, how can he withstand such torment? So we must get rid of him and take him to a safe place to live out his remaining years.”

Old Wang nodded: "Let him get his health back in order so he can handle a long journey, then he can leave! Hearing you say that, Chang'an definitely won't be peaceful for long, it's bound to be in chaos, right?"

“This is inevitable!” Li Dachui said, “If Luoyang can no longer provide aid to Chang’an, how will Chang’an survive? These more than a million people are a symbol of prosperity during peaceful times, but in times of war, they are just a million mouths to feed. Once they have nothing to eat, Uncle Wang, what do you think will happen?”

Old Wang shuddered and fell silent.

“I boiled the medicine I brought with the soup for the teacher to drink. The older the old man gets, the more stubborn he becomes. He keeps boasting about how healthy he is. But when it comes to actually drinking the medicine, he doesn’t want to!” Li Dachui said.

"Don't worry about that. Your teacher is always very careless. As long as he doesn't say it's medicine, he can eat it no matter how bad it tastes!" Old Wang laughed. "Aren't you going to stay here for a few days? Keep him company? He doesn't say it, but he really cares about you, his last disciple."

"No, I'm very busy!" Li Dachui laughed. "I still have to arrange things for the teacher's trip to the border region. I'll come to pay my respects to the teacher once everything is ready."

Old Wang nodded.

Li Dachui pushed open the door a crack and looked at Old Master Yu lying on the bed. He was sleeping soundly with a smile on his face. The tabby cat was curled up beside the pillow, and the calico cat was lying on his right hand, snoring rhythmically along with the old man's snores.

Have a peaceful time!

The gates of Chang'an have been closed.

The moonlight appeared and disappeared intermittently, making Chang'an City sometimes blurry and sometimes clear, like a giant beast lying on the wilderness, silently revealing its majesty and power.

Having never been ravaged by war for hundreds of years, how long can he remain as peaceful as he is now?
At the Zhang family residence, Wu De suddenly stood up, walked to the window, opened it, and then a look of surprise appeared on his face.

He sensed someone was coming.

However, only one was detected.

He thought it was Li Dachui.

When he opened the window, he saw two people instead.

Li Dachui and Fang Xiaomao.

The person he had sensed earlier was Fang Xiaomao, and his gaze fell on Li Dachui.

Then his pupils contracted slightly, and his heart skipped a beat.

He couldn't even sense Li Dachui's presence.

This shows what?
For Wu De, who had already reached the ninth rank, the answer was clear.

He stared at Li Dachui in horror.

"Young Master!" Zhang Qingyun bowed respectfully, but unlike a typical woman, she did not bow as a subordinate would to her superior.

Li Dachui smiled and nodded at her, "Thank you for your hard work!"

Then he turned to Wu De, patted him on the shoulder and said, "What's wrong? It's only been less than two years since we parted, and you don't recognize me anymore?"

"Innate?" Wu De asked with some difficulty.

"Just lucky!" Li Dachui said, "Don't ask me why, and don't ask me how I did it. It all seems to have fallen into place naturally. Wu De, the era of great contention has arrived, a time when heroes emerge in great numbers. Who knows, maybe one day you'll be able to reach my level!"

Wu De shook his head and said, "I dare not even think about it!"

Zhang Qingyun was not knowledgeable about martial arts, but he knew that those with innate abilities were extremely rare. The reason why Tai'an City was able to withstand Linghu Ye's pressure outside the pass and stand out from the crowd, ultimately cultivating a figure like Li Dachui, was because the city lord, Zhou Zhi, was an innate master. Now, their leader, Li Dachui, had also become an innate master, which was naturally a great joy for the entire organization.

"Congratulations, young master!" Zhang Qingyun said sincerely.

"Sit down and let's talk. We're all family. Let's congratulate each other and not be formal!" Li Dachui pulled over a chair and sat down first. "You all know about what happened in Luoyang, right?"

“I know some of it!” Zhang Qingyun nodded and said, “But I don’t know the specifics. The deaths of Kou Zhong and Yang Jian have caused a huge uproar in Chang’an. Many court officials are strongly advocating for the purge of the Hong and Yang families!”

Li Dachui gloated, "The Yang family of Hongnong has always been stirring up trouble from behind the scenes. This time, Yang Jian came out to scheme against Kou Zhong, thinking that he had it in the bag. Unexpectedly, Yang Jian was defeated in Luoyang, and the Yang family's scheme was exposed to the light of day. I wonder how the Yang family will deal with the court's questioning?"

“That’s easy!” Zhang Qingyun said. “Just abandon Yang Jian and say that what Yang Jian did has nothing to do with the Yang family of Hongnong. In that case, a lot of people will naturally jump out to defend the Yang family.”

"Yang Jian is a master of the Innate Realm!" Fang Xiaomao exclaimed in astonishment, "Just like that, he's been sacrificed?"

“Dead innate masters are worthless!” Zhang Qingyun said, “Hongnong is not far from Chang’an, and they are not prepared to openly rebel. If they really turn against each other, tens of thousands of troops in Chang’an can still pose a huge threat to them. Therefore, we must cut ties. Your brilliant move this time is like a celestial being descending from the heavens, stirring up the waters inside the pass even more!”

“I never said this had anything to do with me!” Li Dachui laughed.

“Young Master has come from Luoyang!” Zhang Qingyun smiled and said, “If you say that these things have nothing to do with you, I don’t believe it at all. You went to Yandu and the Northern Yuan split into three parts, fighting to the death. You came from Luoyang this time, so the situation in Luoyang is naturally your doing!”

"You make me sound like a plague carrier, bringing misfortune wherever I go, right?" Li Dachui laughed.

"But this is a very good thing for us!"

Li Dachui smiled and nodded: "You guessed right, those two people died by my hand. I chopped off Kou Zhong's head and hung it on the Five Phoenix Tower!"

Wu De's expression was somewhat complicated. After all, he had worked under Kou Zhong for decades, and Kou Zhong had treated him quite well.

"How exactly can one kill two Innate Realm masters? It's hard to imagine!"

“If it were someone else, I wouldn’t be able to kill them!” Li Dachui said calmly. “But Kou Zhong, I happen to have a chance. More than twenty years ago, the hidden injury my mother left in his body is the opportunity for me to kill him now. Yang Jian and he were both injured, and I hid on the side, waiting for the right moment to ambush him. Qingyun may not understand these things. Wu De, the martial arts I practice and the martial arts my mother practiced have the same origin.”

Wu De nodded slowly.

"Kou Zhong's death is a great thing for Commander Wu!" Zhang Qingyun sat cross-legged in front of the table, just as he had done in Tai'an City in the past, brewing tea for the group.

Back then, she was just a helpless and lost little girl, but now she is a powerful leader with an important position in the organization.

The state of mind is naturally very different.

"The death of the Grand Chancellor is indeed a huge shock to the Black Ice Guard!" Wu De nodded and said, "Without the Grand Chancellor, the status of the Black Ice Guard has immediately dropped a lot. At least it is no longer possible to sit and discuss matters with the Chief Minister of the Guard. It can only obey orders."

Zhang Qingyun gently pushed the tea towards the group and said, “Deputy Yin He Bing used to focus on paperwork. Although he had some confidants, they were all biased towards internal affairs. On the other hand, our Commander Wu has the Black Ice Guard’s secret agents all over the country. Even if only a small number of these agents are still usable, they are a great supplement to our Zhi Qiu Academy, allowing us to become the largest intelligence organization in the pass. Secondly, the inspection team has been expanding vigorously recently, and the number of people, both overt and covert, has exceeded 10,000.”

"So right now, the most powerful person in the Black Ice Agency is actually Wu De!" Li Dachui said with a smile, looking at Wu De. "Wei Zhengdao must understand this, right?"

“Yes!” Wu De said, “So the deputy magistrate is about to be promoted to the chief magistrate. But I’m still stuck in the same place.”

“Wei Zhengdao is trying to control you! He’s forcing you to cooperate with him,” Li Dachui said. “If He Bing wants to achieve something, he’ll probably reach out to you next. The secret agents under heaven aren’t very useful to him now, and he’ll try to strip you of your command of the inspection team. So your days ahead are probably going to be tough.”

Wu De smiled slightly: "It's not easy, but the Inspection Team isn't something anyone can just take away. It's just that Deputy Yin used to be very good to me, but now he's turning his back on me, which makes me a little uncomfortable!"

“If he wants to get things done, he has to do it this way; it has nothing to do with personal feelings or character!” Li Dachui said. “And if you want to get things done, you will inevitably retaliate, unless you are willing to back down!”

Wu De shook his head: "There's no way out. The only thing they can control me with is money and supplies. But now that I have the young master as my backer, do I need to worry about that little bit of money?"

Li Dachui laughed loudly, pointing at Wu De: "Wu De, you've gone bad. Was it Zhang Qingyun who gave you this idea?"

Wu De glanced awkwardly at Zhang Qingyun: "This has nothing to do with Miss Qingyun. I just simply felt that you, young master, must have a way to solve my predicament!"

“Solving this matter is indeed not difficult!” Li Dachui said, “Zhiqiu Academy can handle part of it, and as for the other part, we’ll go to the Ministry of War of the Imperial Court!”

(End of this chapter)