Traveling the Heavens in Thunderbolt

Chapter 15: Ah Zhu's Death
Just as Murong Fu was laughing, three black shadows rushed out. They were the secret guards sent by Gongye Qian from Liaodong, Deng Baichuan from the Song Dynasty court, and Bao Bu Tong from Jiangnan.

According to the secret guards from Liaodong, Cheng Qian's troops in Liaodong are gathering continuously and are about to be completed.

After years of dumping products through Song, Liao, Western Xia and Dali, Cheng Qian's power in Yizhou had completed the primitive accumulation of industrialization and achieved industrialization, and continuously transported equipment, items and personnel to Liaodong through Yizhou's navy, thus consolidating Cheng Qian's Miao army's rule in Liaodong.

Now, after the reorganization of local tribes and surrendered Liao troops and conscription of local civilians, the Miao army's strength in Liaodong is expected to more than double from 50,000 in two months.

However, Cheng Qian had already reached an agreement with Yelu Chongyuan, the King of the Southern Court, to make him rebel with determination.

According to the agreement, Yelu Chongyuan will lead the Liao army of nearly 600,000 gathered under his command through the war to directly attack the Liao's Shangjing Linhuangfu (now Lindong Town, Chifeng City).

Through the previous battles with the Miao army, Yelu Chongyuan had eliminated dissidents in the 600,000-strong Liao army and had placed his own confidants in each tribal army (the Liao's standing army) for complete control.

As long as the right time is right, they can lead their troops to attack directly. However, as the emperor, Yelu Hongji could only mobilize about 100,000 palace troops (elite troops of the Liao Kingdom, equivalent to the emperor's personal army) and some surrounding Jingzhou troops (security troops of the Liao Kingdom).

After Yelu Chongyuan defeated and captured Yelu Hongji alive, he ascended the throne as the Emperor of the Liao Dynasty.

Cheng Qian's Miao army marched directly south to capture the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, which were left empty due to the continuous withdrawal of troops by Yelu Chongyuan, the King of the Southern Court of the Liao Kingdom.

All this was just the beginning. They took advantage of the Song Dynasty's unpreparedness to capture Yanmen Pass and head straight for the Song Dynasty.

Through the secret guards of the Song Dynasty court, it was learned that the Song Emperor had gradually taken control of the government, began to implement new policies, and in order to solve the problems of the people in the Jiangnan region, he was preparing to take action against the Murong family.

But the Song Emperor never expected that the Murong family's property was continuously loaded onto ships under Bao Butong's escort and transported to Liaodong via the Yizhou navy.

The secret guards from Jiangnan were responsible for reporting this matter.

It turned out that Cheng Qian used Murong Bo to make the Merchant Alliance panic-stricken, and many sects withdrew, just to allow Cheng Qian to more easily recover these industries under the name of protection. This caused the Murong family to suffer financial losses, but the most important equipment and elite talents were all sent to Yizhou by Cheng Qian.

It also allowed the Murong family's power to turn from open to covert, and when chaos broke out in various parts of Jiangnan where people had lost their jobs and did not have sufficient daily necessities.

The Song Emperor will certainly want to use the Murong family's assets to fill the gap. When he officially takes action against the Murong family, he will find that the Murong family's factories, shops, and warehouses are all empty.

By then, if the Murong family's hidden forces in Jiangnan raise their arms again, the Jiangnan region will surely be in chaos, and will no longer be able to provide effective support to the Song Dynasty to fight against Cheng Qian's Miao army.

This is the plan that Cheng Qian has been planning for more than ten years.

Now we have reached the end, and after participating in the Zhenlong chess game, we will ensure that everything goes according to the original work.

Then he joined the generals of the Murong family and headed to Liaodong. Sure enough, within a few months, news reached Cheng Qian one after another.

First, news came from the Beggars' Gang. After passing through the Xingzilin for a while, it was reported that the current leader of the Beggars' Gang, Qiao Feng, who was known as the "Qiao Feng of the North", was actually a Khitan and was expelled from the Beggars' Gang. Then, all the members of the Beggars' Gang were captured by the Yipintang of Western Xia using the Beisu Qingfeng.

Afterwards, he was rescued by Qiao Feng (played by Azhu) and his sworn brother Duan Yu (in fact, it was Azhu who mobilized the secret guards to obtain the Beisu Qingfeng and the antidote), and then everything happened just like the original plot.

Qiao Feng's biological father thought that he should jump off the cliff, but Xiao Yuanshan lurked in Shaolin for thirty years, secretly learning its martial arts secrets. After hearing the news that Qiao Feng was expelled from the Beggars' Sect, he transformed into a man in black, and in order to take revenge and find out who the leader was, he killed Qiao Feng's adoptive parents, Qiao Sanhuai and his wife, and his mentor Xuan Ku, which caused the martial arts heroes of the Central Plains to attack Xiao Feng.

Ah Zhu went to Shaolin to steal the "Yi Jin Jing" and was injured by Xuan Ci's "Vajra Palm". Qiao Feng went to Juxianzhuang to find the "Yan Wang Enemy" Xue Muhua to heal his wounds. After fighting with the heroes, he was rescued by the man in black using rope kung fu.

After Ah Zhu recovered from her injury, Cheng Qian sent a secret guard to summon her to return to the Murong family, but Ah Zhu was unwilling to return, so Cheng Qian gave up.

Xiao Feng (officially changed his name) wanted to find the "big villain" who killed his adoptive parents, but was misled by Kang Min, one of Duan Zhengchun's mistresses and the wife of Ma Dayuan, the deputy leader of the Beggar Gang, who pointed out that the murderer was Duan Zhengchun, the "King of Zhennan" of the Dali Kingdom.

When Ah Zhu learned about her life experience, she was worried that Xiao Feng would kill her father Duan Zhengchun, and was even more afraid that Xiao Feng would not be able to defeat the Six Meridians Divine Sword of the Dali Duan Clan. She was willing to disguise herself as Duan Zhengchun on the bluestone bridge and was accidentally killed by Xiao Feng. Before she died, Ah Zhu asked Xiao Feng to take care of her sister A Zi and told him not to be an enemy of Cheng Qian in the future.

After learning the truth from the dying groom, Xiao Feng felt that the Central Plains was no longer the place for him, so he took A Zi to the northern frontier.

After Xiao Feng left, Duan Zhengchun also left Xiaojing Lake with all his romantic debts.

Only a tombstone stood here to tell what happened. At this moment, a figure seemed to come to pay tribute, holding a pot of fine wine in one hand and a wine glass in the other. When the person stood in front of Ah Zhu's tombstone, the sunlight shone on his face through the bamboo forest. It was Cheng Qian.

Cheng Qian poured the wine into the middle cup, sprinkled it in front of Ah Zhu's stele, and said, "This first cup is to celebrate our relationship as master and servant for more than 20 years."

"The second cup is for your assistance to me."

"The third cup is for your filial piety to your biological father."

After toasting three times, Cheng Qian said to the tombstone: "I knew this would happen since you didn't return to the Murong family after the summons that day. Since I came to this world, I am deeply grateful for your care for me over the years, but I am also afraid of your identity. Since I started planning all this, I have never felt at ease with your presence. Although I am happy with your cleverness, it also aroused my murderous intent."

As he spoke, Cheng Qian sat in front of the stele and continued, "Once upon a time, I wanted to kill you several times, but I didn't do it because I took into account the relationship between master and servant. It's because you are different from Yuyan. She can give up the revenge of killing her father and mother for love, but you can die for your biological father. What I planned cannot allow the slightest mistake, but fortunately your loyalty also saved your life. So when I was about to succeed, I let you and Duan Yu leave, hoping to save your life and prevent you from dying in my hands."

Cheng Qian said, looking up and drinking the wine in the jug in his hand. The wine flowed all over his face. When he looked at his face again, he could no longer tell which was wine and which was tears. "But I didn't expect that your loyalty made you want to steal the Yi Jin Jing for me, but it also led you to your death."

(End of this chapter)