Aoyama

Chapter 255 Expert advice
Old Wu was walking in front between the low houses on the dirt road in his grey cloth shirt, while Chen Ji was following behind with his bamboo hat pulled down.

Old Wu was very alert. After walking two streets, he would find an empty alley and wait for a while. He would lower his head and continue on his way only after he was sure that no one was following him.

At this time, the long bell in Guyuan City rang again. All the pedestrians on the street stopped and looked in the direction of the bell.

The bell sounds in Guyuan are different from those in temples.

The heavy sound of the bell broke through the morning mist, as if dark clouds were rolling down from overhead, making it hard to breathe.

Everyone was waiting for the bell to stop, but it never stopped.

Only after thirty-six knocks were made did the remaining sound roll toward the edge of the city.

A passerby whispered, "Thirty-six long bells, curfew begins tonight, no alcohol allowed."

"Guyuan hasn't had a curfew in eight years."

Old Wu stood in a daze on the street for a long time until he saw border soldiers patrolling towards him. He came to his senses, slipped into a street antique shop, and pretended to pick up a bronze ware to examine it.

After the border soldiers passed by, he left the shop and resumed his journey.

Chen Ji watched from afar at the corner of the street, thinking to himself that what Old Wu did was indeed contrary to the border army's conduct, and even his colleagues could not recognize him.

He followed Old Wu for a few more streets, turned a corner, and suddenly lost sight of him.

People on the street were lining up to get porridge, but Old Wu was not in the queue. The long street was visible to the end, but the other person seemed to have disappeared from the face of the earth.

Chen Ji's eyes turned and scanned the signboards of the shops.

and many more.

His gaze paused: on the plaque of a street shop, there were four large gold-plated characters "Yang's Leather Goods" written on it.

Chen Ji stopped a passerby, handed him two copper coins and asked, "Excuse me, is this Luoshifang Duohun Street?"

The passerby looked at him in surprise and put the copper coin into his sleeve: "Yes, what's the matter?"

"It's okay," Chen Ji let go of the passerby and let him go.

He stared at the gold-plated plaque with a heavy heart. Xiaowu once said that the shop assistant at the glass shop in Nanluofang and the owner of Yangji Leather Goods in Duohun Street, Luoshifang were all spies of the Jing Dynasty.

Chen Ji slowly retreated, hid in the crowd and queued up to get porridge, then slowly approached Yang's Leather Goods.

He glanced from under the brim of his hat and saw Old Wu standing in front of the counter, talking in a low voice with the shopkeeper.

From Chen Ji's angle, he could only see the back of Old Wu in a grey cloth shirt and the shopkeeper with a frown on his face. The two seemed to be arguing about something.

At this moment, the old man in the queue behind Chen Ji patted him on the shoulder and kindly reminded him: "Young man, why didn't you bring a bowl? The soldiers said that you have to bring your own bowl to get porridge. If you don't bring a bowl, you won't get any porridge."

Chen Ji thought to himself, it’s bad!

He suddenly turned around to look at the main hall of Yang's Fur Shop, and saw Old Wu running to the backyard of the shop without looking back.

There is no sloppiness at all.

Chen Ji rushed towards Yang's Fur Shop. The shopkeeper pulled out a short knife from under the counter, jumped out of the counter and stabbed him fiercely.

The next moment, Chen Ji took off his hat and threw it towards the shopkeeper. The hat spun rapidly in the air like a scimitar out of its sheath.

The bamboo hat flew closer and closer, blocking the view between the shopkeeper and Chen Ji.

The shopkeeper subconsciously raised his hand to wave away the hat. As the hat shattered into pieces, Chen Ji had already come close and struck him between the base of his hand and the radius.

The shopkeeper felt his wrist go numb, forcing him to loosen his hand involuntarily.

The dagger fell to the ground and was caught steadily by a thin hand in mid-air, nailing it between the third and fourth ribs in his chest and abdomen.

All in one go, without any pause.

The shopkeeper gasped and uttered a "ho ho" sound, then slowly sat down on the ground leaning against the counter. He turned his head in disbelief, but Chen Ji didn't even look at him and had already chased to the backyard.

……

……

Old Wu climbed onto the roof and jumped up and down between the bungalows.

He turned around and looked behind him. Although there was no one behind him, he did not dare to stop. He could sense that the person chasing him was very close.

very close.

Old Wu turned around again to check and saw a figure flash by in the alley behind him.

He leaped from the rooftop to an alley.

The next moment, he saw a figure flashing in the alley below. Oh no!
"Come down!"

Chen Ji stepped on the wall to gain leverage and pushed hard to leap into the air.

Old Wu twisted his body in mid-air and kicked Chen Ji in the head. Chen Ji raised his arm and used his elbow to block the kick. He then grabbed Old Wu's calf and fell to the ground with him.

With a thud, the two men fell heavily to the ground, raising a cloud of dust.

A flash of knife light flashed in the dust, and Old Wu pulled out a short knife from his boots and stabbed at Chen Ji who was holding his leg. Chen Ji turned his cheek to avoid the blade, released Old Wu's calf with both hands, grabbed his wrist and twisted it behind his back, pressed it to the ground, and pressed Old Wu's cheek into the dust.

Chen Ji looked around the alley silently, making sure no one was attracted by the fighting, then he leaned over and asked, "Are you doing this to avenge Prince Jing?"

Old Wu gasped, "I don't understand what you are saying."

Chen Ji slowed down his voice and said, "I have a close relationship with Prince Zhu Yunxi of Prince Jing's Mansion. I was able to become Mr. Wang's direct disciple thanks to Prince Jing's recommendation. If you want to avenge Prince Jing, I can help you."

Old Wu raised his head and spat out the dirt he had eaten mixed with saliva on the ground, and said firmly: "Revenge for Prince Jing? I haven't even seen Prince Jing, how can I avenge him? Boy, don't lie to me. Now that I'm in your hands, you can kill me or chop me up as you please."

Chen Ji thought for a moment, then slowly let go of Lao Wu's hands and sat against the wall: "The cotton handcuffs that your border troops distributed before the New Year were exchanged with me."

Old Wu asked in confusion: "What do you mean by using you in exchange?"

Chen Ji explained: "The Chen family made a deal with Prince Jing. As long as Prince Jing is willing to recommend me to Mr. Wang, they will allocate this money to the border army."

Old Wu supported himself with his hands and sat up, and stopped running: "Are you willing to avenge Prince Jing?"

Chen Ji did not respond to this question, but suddenly asked: "Now that you have burned the granary, what are you going to do next?"

Old Wu rubbed his wrist and sneered, "Boy, do you really think that I will tell you the plan with just a few words from you? I didn't run away because I knew I couldn't escape, but that doesn't mean I believe your lies."

Chen Ji said calmly: "You colluded with Jing Dynasty to besiege Guyuan City. Do you want to lead Jing Dynasty into the pass and destroy Ning Dynasty? But if you do this, many people will die because of you."

Old Wu sneered and said, "What does it have to do with me? When have they ever cared about our lives? Who has ever calculated how many people have survived because of us over the years?"

As he spoke, Old Wu moved his body and leaned against the earthen wall opposite Chen Ji, looking up and saying, "I joined the frontier army in the sixth year of Jianing. I was first a foot soldier and then a scout. I fought seven battles and finally got a set of rattan armor to wear. I was a little disgusted at the time. Old Zhou promised me that he would give me a set of iron armor when I was promoted to lieutenant general. But after I was promoted to lieutenant general, I found out that Zhou was a liar. There were only two sets of iron armor left in the whole Guyuan, one for him and one for General Hu."

Chen Ji didn't know why Lao Wu said all this. Was he trying to delay time and wait for reinforcements, or did he have other plans?
Old Wu changed into a comfortable posture and continued, "When a stone of grain was collected from Yuzhou and Jiangnan and returned to the court, only 90% of it remained. It was transported to Guyuan via Luocheng, Yuncheng, Weinan, Tongchuan, and Qingyang. Along the way, officials and merchants colluded and replaced the new rice and wheat with millet, wheat, and corn that had been stored for many years. By the time it came to us, the grain had grown mold. If it weren't for the advice of an expert in the border army, who turned this border military town into a place for merchants to come and go, our border army soldiers wouldn't know what to eat."

Chen Ji asked calmly, "Who is the master?"

Old Wu smiled but didn't answer. He continued, "You know, we eat hairy corn and wheat every day. What's the point of defending Guyuan?"

Chen Ji asked in confusion: "Since Prince Jing is looking after it, how could the food be replaced quietly?"

Old Wu laughed: "Prince Jing can't do anything to save the situation. Thousands of people have deceived their superiors and subordinates, and he is not a god."

Chen Ji was even more confused: "Aren't the border troops members of the Jin Party? Elder Hu doesn't care? We have to let people live."

Old Wu sneered, "In the eyes of the ministers and ministers, the border troops are just their bargaining chips. Guyuan has not been lost for hundreds of years, so there is no need to worry. Don't they know the situation of the border troops? They are just pretending not to see it."

Chen Ji had not studied history in depth. He only knew that border army problems had always been the catalyst for the demise of dynasties. The problem with the border army was not with the border army, but with the corruption of the system and the crisis of the national treasury.

This has been the case in every dynasty, and the Ning Dynasty would be no exception.

He stared at Old Wu and asked, "So you want to hand Guyuan over to Jing Dynasty?"

Old Wu didn't say anything, and no one knew what he was thinking.

After a long time, he grabbed a handful of soil from the ground and sighed, "But even so, we have to keep guarding. Master Chen, you guessed wrong, all wrong. I advise you not to continue investigating. You can't figure this out. Maybe before you figure it out, the truth will come out."

Chen Ji was stunned. What did this mean?
He thought for a moment and said, "Old Wu, I won't make things difficult for you, but this matter involves a lot of people, so I have to take you away and lock you up first. If you are innocent, I will definitely clear your name."

However, at this moment, Old Wu smiled and said, "As expected of you, you are Mr. Wang's direct disciple, you are kind and righteous!"

At this point, Old Wu suddenly said, "Thank you."

Chen Ji was puzzled: "Thank me for what?"

Old Wu grinned and said, "Thank you for the cotton hand muff. I have never worn such a warm hand muff in my life."

Chen Ji realized that something was wrong. Old Wu said these inexplicable words not to delay time and wait for reinforcements, but because he was determined to die and was just looking for someone to talk to about what he had been holding back for a long time!

Suddenly, a white, blazing flame ignited out of nowhere behind Old Wu. The flame came so suddenly that it completely enveloped him in just a few breaths.

Chen Ji was shocked, he stepped forward and scooped up some dirt to hit Old Wu, but he couldn't put out the fire on his body.

Old Wu gritted his teeth and said, "Don't bother. The man said that the fire can't be put out!"

Who is that person? Where does the fire come from?

Chen Ji felt like his head was about to explode. Before Old Wu died, he asked, "Why did you poison and kill 34 members of the Chen family?"

Old Wu cried out in pain: "I don't have it!"

Chen Ji's pupils contracted: "Then why did you go to Guyuan Posthouse that afternoon?"

Old Wu curled up on the ground because of the fire and struggled to say, "I'll tell the postman to prepare some red snail charcoal for you!"

Chen Ji's pupils contracted. It was impossible for the other party to come up with a reasonable answer when he was dying and in pain.

This answer should be true!
Who is the real culprit behind the poisoning of 34 members of the Chen family?
Ignoring the flames, Chen Ji picked up the dagger that had fallen on the ground and cut open the clothes on Old Wu's back. He saw a talisman written in cinnabar on yellow paper stuck on his back, which had been burned to only a corner.

At this time, Old Wu curled up, his right hand trembling, and with the last bit of his strength, he grabbed a handful of soil from the ground and put it on his forehead: "Guyuan, Guyuan..."

Old Wu lost his voice, and gradually, even his bones were burned to ashes.

Guyuan, Guyuan.

(End of this chapter)