Martial Arts World Assassin

Chapter 392: Four Sides Come to Surrender
Shi Feixuan did not wait too long in Shanhaiguan.

Just two days later, Jing Kang, the leader of the Saimo Gang, brought a Hu woman, brought news about Huang Sixi, and rushed to Yishenglong to inform Zhai Jiao.

This Hu woman was none other than the beautiful lady of the Yiwu tribe.

Back then, at Jingbo Lake outside Longquan Prefecture, Bohai Lord Bai Ziting, State Master Fu Nanda, Beima Gang leader Xu Kaishan and Overlord Du Xing, who controlled the trade routes between Liaodong and Central Plains, all died on an island in the lake.

Only 'Sai Mo Gang Leader' Jing Kang, 'Dirty Hands' Ma Ji and his daughter Mei Yan Madam survived by chance, and all three of them joined Huang Sixi's army.

Jing Kang was the leader of a gang in Northern Xinjiang, with its headquarters in Shanhaiguan. He had an army of soldiers under his command. Huang Sixi ordered Jing Kang to return to Shanhaiguan, incorporate the forces of the original three gangs and one faction, and then station them inside the pass to handle trade matters between the north and the south.

Jing Kang's duty was to guard Shanhaiguan and distribute the goods shipped from Liaodong to various parts of China.

Where did these goods come from? They were mainly spoils of war from Huang Sixi's attack on Goguryeo, and were managed by "Dirty Hands" Ma Ji.

Maji used to be a dealer for Bai Ziting and he has extensive experience in handling spoils of war.

Since the clothing customs and cultural systems in Goguryeo were all copied from the Sui Dynasty, the people generally engaged in farming. Apart from the necessary gold, silver and food for Huang Sixi's march, Ma Ji only kept the remaining silk, porcelain and iron tools, which were of little value in China.

Maji transported all these items to various tribes in Liaodong, traded them for cattle, sheep, medicinal herbs, furs and other popular goods in China, and then sent them to Shanhaiguan and handed them over to Jing Kang for sale.

The Yiwu tribe, to which Lady Meiyan belonged, obtained Huang Sixi's permission and occupied the fertile territory that originally belonged to the Bohai Kingdom, and became the new noble of Liaodong.

The beautiful lady ordered her people to build dozens of fortresses on the thousand-mile plain between Bohai Kingdom and Shanhaiguan to facilitate cargo transportation.

The beautiful lady herself personally took action to escort the cargo and frequently traveled between Shanhaiguan and Liaodong.

Half a year passed in a flash.

The beautiful lady met Huang Sixi in March, which was the month when Emperor Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty was murdered.

At this time, more than four months had passed since Huang Sixi killed Bai Ziting and Fu Nanda at Jingbo Lake.

It is currently July, the summer season.

The climate in the north is not hot.

The beautiful lady was wearing an elegant Han robe with sleeves reaching her wrists. She had her hair neatly combed into a bun, a style of a Han woman, and a delicate jade hairpin inserted into her hair. If it weren't for her angular features, anyone would have thought she was a noble lady from a wealthy family in China.

Due to Lady Meiyan's unique status of being able to meet Huang Sixi at any time, the chiefs of the Liaodong tribes who followed Huang Sixi believed that she had received the favor of the True Dragon Khan, and therefore all respected her.

She now constantly enjoys the excitement and joy of being highly praised by the Liaodong tribes, and is even more proud of the hope of having a place beside the True Dragon Khan in the future.

However, whenever she came to Shanhaiguan and met Huang Sixi's former Han Chinese subordinates, she would restrain her pride, become humble and polite, and never dared to act arrogantly again.

She followed Jing Kang to the lobby of Yishenglong. When she saw Zhai Jiao, she was attracted by Shi Feixuan beside Zhai Jiao. Her eyes lit up immediately and she asked hurriedly, "Is this lady the Khan's most beloved Xianxian..."

"she is not!"

Zhai Jiao interrupted, "My master is still in Jiangnan. This is the master fairy of Cihang Jingzhai. She wants to tell my good brother something important! You should quickly reveal my good brother's whereabouts. When will my good brother return to Shanhaiguan?"

Zhai Jiao had no good feelings towards the beautiful lady because she felt that the Hu woman was only fit to be a slave.

Although the Hu warriors in Shanhaiguan were spreading rumors that the beautiful lady was the woman of Zhenlong Khan, Zhai Jiao didn't believe it at all. Because a few months ago, she was helping Li Jing and Hong Fu manage the territory in Dali City, and suddenly received a letter from Huang Sixi, asking her to rush to Shanhaiguan to find Jing Kang and deal with business matters together.

Zhai Jiao had lived in Shanhaiguan for several months. During this period, she went to Goguryeo to meet Huang Sixi in person. From beginning to end, she never heard Huang Sixi talk about the beautiful lady. This Hu woman was just a Hu subordinate who was tamed by Huang Sixi in Liaodong.

Although Huang Sixi led an army of tens of thousands of Liaodong Hu soldiers to attack Goguryeo, he did not trust these Hu soldiers, otherwise he would not have transferred Zhai Jiao to Shanhaiguan.

Accompanying Zhai Jiao were Tu Shufang, Xuan Yong and thousands of veteran Wagang soldiers. These soldiers were all scattered along the long freight line from Shanhaiguan to Bohai Kingdom to prevent the beautiful lady and the Yiwu tribe from embezzling the spoils Huang Sixi had obtained from Goguryeo.

Zhai Jiao knew that Huang Sixi's trust in her student far exceeded that in Madam Meiyan, so she was not too polite to Madam Meiyan.

Madam Meiyan didn't mind Zhai Jiao's blunt tone at all and laughed, "His Majesty the Khan has already moved his troops back. His Majesty's Dragon Subduing Army should have passed Liucheng County by now and will reach Shanhaiguan in half a day at most!"

While the beautiful lady was speaking, she was still sizing up Shi Feixuan, thinking that this Han woman's beauty could rival that of Shi Qingxuan and Shang Xiufang, whom she had met before.

She couldn't help but sigh inwardly, there are so many beauties in Middle-earth.

She felt that her beauty was already good enough, but compared with Shi Qingxuan, Shang Xiufang, and Shi Feixuan in front of her, she couldn't feel confident at all.

She was even more curious about what kind of peerless beauty the lady Kankan, who was often mentioned by Zhai Jiao, had that could attract the love of a peerless hero like Zhenlong Khan?

Zhai Jiao couldn't guess what she was thinking. When she heard that Huang Sixi would arrive at Shanhaiguan in half a day, she immediately ordered Tu Shufang beside her: "Go and inform Uncle Shan and the others, and ask them to rush to the pass to meet up. We should go and wait for Brother Haohan in advance!"

Tu Shufang was mature and prudent. He smiled and asked, "Recently, all the heroes from all over the country have sent envoys to meet the Dragon Subduing Lord. Should we invite them as well?"

"Okay! Call everyone!"

Zhai Jiao waved her fat hand and said, "These envoys came here to join our hero brother, so they should welcome our hero brother back in triumph! Ha, that unlucky emperor Yang Guang conquered Goguryeo three times, suffered heavy casualties, and was unable to do anything to Goguryeo!
As a result, the hero brother took action and directly killed the Goguryeo king. Even the entire Gao royal family was slaughtered by the hero brother in blood, in order to commemorate the Sui army captives who were slaughtered by Goguryeo that year! Uncle Tu, should we hold another grand welcoming ceremony? "

What she was talking about was a sad story.

Since the founding of the Sui Dynasty, Goguryeo has repeatedly invaded the border until it annexed most of Liaodong territory.

In order to eliminate this threat from the northern border, Yang Guang sent troops to Liaodong three times, mobilizing as many as one million civilians. However, he was defeated by Goguryeo and countless Sui soldiers were captured. Many prisoners were still ruthlessly killed by Goguryeo after they surrendered.

During this expedition to Goguryeo, Huang Sixi used a surprise attack on the Goguryeo royal city, directly beheaded the Goguryeo king Gao Jianwu, and ordered the killing of the Gao royal family to avenge the Sui army captives who died in the past.

But Huang Sixi did this not because he hated Goguryeo, he had two purposes.

First, it was to stir up hatred between the Mohe tribe and the people of Goguryeo. The troops that followed Huang Sixi to attack Goguryeo were basically from the seven Mohe tribes in Liaodong. After entering Goguryeo, these seven troops burned, killed, looted and committed all kinds of evil. In the future, Goguryeo and Mohe would never reconcile, so letting them fight each other in Liaodong was in line with the strategy of stabilizing the Liaodong border.

The second purpose was to recruit a loyal Han army. When Yang Guang launched three expeditions to Goguryeo, many Han soldiers were captured and became slaves, and were stranded in Goguryeo.

Yang Guang's last expedition against Goguryeo was four years ago, and the Han soldiers captured were generally only in their twenties.

After conquering the Goguryeo royal court, the first thing Huang Sixi did was to release the Han prisoners and form the Dragon Subduing Army. This army is also Huang Sixi's current loyal subordinates.

Tu Shufang knew that Huang Sixi was leading the Dragon Subduing Army back to Shanhaiguan, so he took charge and said, "I will go and arrange the triumphal ceremony right away!"

When Jing Kang heard the word "ceremony", he immediately followed Tu Shufang and said, "Jing will help Master Tu!"

Tu Shufang and Jing Kang left the lobby first.

Zhai Jiao looked at the two people's backs, and after regaining her composure, she waved to Madam Meiyan and Shi Feixuan, "Let's go wait outside the pass too!"

The three women then left Yishenglong together, went out of Shanhaiguan, and waited for Huang Sixi to return.

As Tu Shufang and Jing Kang organized civilians to build a high platform under the Guanbei city wall, batches of Wagang generals and envoys of rebel forces from all over China also came to gather one after another.

These people all knew that Zhai Jiao was Huang Sixi's eldest disciple, and they all wanted to come over and get close to Zhai Jiao. However, when they saw the beautiful lady and Shi Feixuan beside Zhai Jiao, they were discouraged.

They felt that stunning beauties like Madam Meiyan and Shi Feixuan were very likely to have an intimate relationship with Huang Sixi. If they rashly approached them to meet, they were worried about offending the people around Huang Sixi, so they did not dare to get close and chose to keep their distance.

Seeing that they all looked brave and strong, like generals who had experienced many battles, the beautiful lady asked Zhai Jiao about their identities.

Zhai Jiao had nothing to do, so she introduced them to Madam Meiyan and Shi Feixuan: "They are actually two groups of people. The group on the left is full of former generals of Wagang. The most famous ones are Shan Xiongxin, Qin Qiong, Luo Shixin, and Pei Xingyan. They are all rushing to Shanhaiguan to join my hero brother!"

Lady Meiyan often lived outside the Great Wall and had little understanding of the situation in the Central Plains. She only praised them, saying, "These four men all look brave and valiant. If they could serve under the Khan, they would be able to show their talents!"

When Shi Feixuan heard the names of the four people, she asked curiously, "Not long ago, Yu Wenzhi led the imperial army back from Jiangdu and engaged in a fierce battle with the Wagang Army led by Li Mi. These four people are all powerful generals under Li Mi. How come they all came to Shanhaiguan? Has Li Mi been defeated?"

Shi Feixuan rushed to Shanhaiguan from Dali City in northern Shanxi. She was not aware of the latest war situation in the Central Plains.

After Yang Guang was murdered by Yu Wenzhi in Jiangdu in March, Yu Wenzhi took advantage of the situation to take over the military power of Jiangdu, commanded more than 100,000 imperial guards, and took Yang Guang's children and concubines hostage, marching north in a mighty force, trying to return to his hometown in Guanzhong.

As a result, when Yu Wenzhi led his troops to the territory of Wagangzhai, a fierce conflict broke out between him and Li Mi.

At this time, the Li clan had already conquered the eastern capital Luoyang and occupied the important area of Jingluo. When the news of Yang Guang's murder reached Jingluo, the leader of the Li clan, Li Yuan, immediately forced Yang Tong, the King of Yue who remained in Luoyang, to issue an edict to abdicate.

Li Yuan ascended the throne last month and named the country Tang, established the Wude reign, and made Luoyang the capital. At the same time, he divided the country into two routes, one led by his second son Li Shimin, and stationed troops in Tongguan.

The other route was led by the eldest son Li Jiancheng, who stationed troops behind Li Mi.

Li Mi was threatened by the Li clan's army from behind and attacked by Yu Wenzhi's army from the front. In order to prevent being attacked from both sides, Li Mi pledged allegiance to Li Yuan so that he could concentrate his forces to deal with Yu Wenzhi.

Who would have thought that when Li Mi and Yu Wenzhi were both killed in the battle, Li Jiancheng suddenly led his troops into the battlefield, defeated Li Mi and Yu Wenzhi in one fell swoop, and stole the final victory.

Yu Wenzhi was born into the Yuwen clan, which had already made many arrangements. His younger brother Yuwen Shiji defected to Li Tang and sent his sister Yuwen into Li Yuan's palace, where she was granted the title of Zhaoyi by Li Yuan. The two clans thus became related by marriage.

After Yu Wenzhi's defeat, he surrendered to Li Tang through Yu Wenshiji.

Li Mi was furious at Li Tang's betrayal, so he led the remaining Wagang troops south to Jiangdu to join Xiao Xin, who founded the Daliang Kingdom. He was followed by former Wagang generals Wang Bodang, Cheng Yaojin, Wei Zheng and others.

The four generals, Shan Xiongxin, Qin Qiong, Luo Shixin and Pei Xingyan, all parted ways with Li Mi and went north to join Zhai Jiao.

It is well known that last year Li Mi had a big fight with Zhai Jiao's father Zhai Rang, and Zhai Rang eventually died at the hands of Li Mi.

The reason why Shan Xiongxin, Qin Qiong, Luo Shixin and Pei Xingyan rushed to join Zhai Jiao was because Shan Xiongxin was the first general to follow Zhai Rang and watched Zhai Jiao grow up.

As for Qin Qiong, Luo Shixin and Pei Xingyan, they were all generals of the Sui Dynasty. They initially followed Zhang Xutuo to wipe out the Wagang Army. After Zhang Xutuo was killed by Li Mi, they had to surrender to Li Mi in order to save their lives.

They had no loyalty to Li Mi, nor did they have any hatred towards Zhai Rang.

When Li Mi was defeated in the war and decided to march south, they discussed together and felt that Li Mi was no longer a powerful person, and that the true dragon emperor who had killed all the barbarians in the northern border was the best person for them to be loyal to. So they came to Shanhaiguan together to visit Zhai Jiao, hoping to connect with Huang Sixi through Zhai Jiao.

Zhai Jiao told Madam Meiyan and Shi Feixuan the details, and then pursed her lips and said, "These four people are not loyal enough to my father, nor to Li Mi. They will join whoever has the greater power!
They must have made an assessment and believed that Brother Haohan has a greater chance of conquering the world than the Li and Song clans, so they came to join Brother Haohan!"

The beautiful lady smiled and said, "There is an old saying in the Middle-earth that a man who knows the times is a hero. Your Majesty the Khan first conquered the Turks, then conquered Bohai and Goguryeo, and ruled the entire Mobei grassland. It is just a matter of time before he conquers the Middle-earth!"

Zhai Jiao said proudly: "Of course, no matter who Brother Haohan fights, he will definitely win the battle. There is no possibility of losing! But Middle-earth does not need to be conquered, that is Brother Haohan's hometown!"

Shi Feixuan remained silent. Her eyes swept over Shan Xiongxin, Qin Qiong, Luo Shixin, and Pei Xingyan, then looked at a group of messengers on the right side of the platform and asked Zhai Jiao about the history.

Zhai Jiao introduced them to Shi Feixuan: "They are Liang Shuo, the military advisor of Li Gui, the King of Daliang who occupied the Hexi Corridor, Lin Yaoshi, the younger brother of Lin Shihong, the King of Chu who occupied the Yuzhang counties in Jiangxi, and Gao Xianya, the favorite general of Uncle Dou Jiande! I don't know the purpose of these major forces!"

When she was chatting with Shi Feixuan here, she suddenly heard a thunderous sound of horse hooves, spreading from far away to near.

Shi Feixuan immediately went forward to take a look, and saw a cavalry force of tens of thousands of people, like a black cloud, pressing towards Shanhaiguan. The momentum was earth-shaking, and the roar of thousands of horses marching in unison could be heard inside and outside Shanhaiguan, shocking everyone and making them panic-stricken and nervous.

Huang Sixi was at the forefront of thousands of cavalrymen. When they approached the wall of Shanhaiguan, he suddenly raised his arm, and the thousands of cavalrymen behind him stopped their horses instantly and stood still in unison.

The ten thousand cavalrymen were completely silent, with only the neighing of horses rising and falling.

Huang Sixi's eyes swept from Zhai Jiao and the others, finally landing on Zhai Jiao's face, and asked, "Where has the Li clan's army attacked in Guanzhong?"

Zhai Jiao immediately ran to Huang Sixi's horse and shouted, "Brother Hero, the Li clan's rebels are quite capable. After they broke through Tongguan, they headed west and have now passed through Fengyi County. They are only thirty to fifty miles away from the capital!"

(End of this chapter)