Martial Arts World Assassin

Chapter 394 He's Jade
After discussing the trip to Liaodong with Shan Xiongxin, Qin Qiong, Luo Shixin and Pei Xingyan, Huang Sixi turned to the right side of the triumphal platform built for him by Tu Shufang.

There stood three envoys, one was Liang Shuo, the military advisor under the King of Daliang in Hexi, and the other was Lin Yaoshi, the younger brother of Lin Shihong, the Emperor of Chu in Jiangxi.

The last one is Gao Xianya, a general under Dou Jiande of Hebei.

After listening to Zhai Jiao's introduction, Huang Sixi first asked Gao Xianya: "Why did Dou Longtou send General Gao here?"

Gao Xianya smiled and said, "True Dragon Khan, you are so powerful in Liaodong. In recent months, you have seized countless cattle, sheep, medicinal herbs, and furs and transported them back to Shanhaiguan. Most of them were bought by Hebei merchants. It just so happens that these merchants have connections with my lord, King Changle!"

King of Changle was the title Dou Jiande gave himself.

Gao Xianya added: "These merchants once complained to King Changle that when the caravan passed through Gao Kaidao's territory, they were extorted and exploited!"

Gao Xianya is lying with her eyes wide open.

Maybe Gao Kaidao, who dared to extort Dou Jiande's caravan in the past, does not have the courage to do so now, because Gao Kaidao's territory is adjacent to Huang Sixi, and he needs to unite with Dou Jiande to protect himself. How could he offend Dou Jiande?

The reason why Gao Xianya said this was entirely to distance herself from Gao Kaidao and then deepen her relationship with Huang Sixi.

Gao Xianya continued, "My lord, the King of Changle, sympathizes with the merchants' difficulties, so he built a batch of ships in the East China Sea, so that merchants can go directly to Shanhaiguan by sea in the future, and they don't have to deal with Gao Kaidao anymore. When the ships are built, the King of Changle will lead the merchants to inspect the ships together!

During this period, a merchant suggested that why not sail directly to Liaodong and load the goods in Liaodong, which would certainly speed up the freight delivery. However, the King of Changle could not make the decision on this matter himself, and he had to get the approval of the True Dragon Khan. So the King of Changle sent me to meet the True Dragon Khan and explain the matter to him in person! "

Dou Jiande's sphere of influence not only included Hebei, but also occupied parts of Shandong, and the demand for goods from Liaodong was very high.

At the same time, Dou Jiande also controlled a fleet and had the conditions to expand maritime trade.

This actually fits exactly what Huang Sixi wants. Even if Dou Jiande doesn't bring it up now, Huang Sixi will instruct Zhai Jiao to build docks and shipyards along the coast of Shanhaiguan.

Huang Sixi agreed immediately: "This is a good thing that will benefit the people. Go back and tell Dou Longtou that his fleet can go directly to Liaodong. I will send people to build a dock in Liaodong to store the goods you need!"

Gao Xianya was very excited when she received Huang Sixi's confirmation. Huang Sixi did not put forward any conditions and directly gave the Hebei businessman the green light. He could give Dou Jiande a satisfactory explanation after returning.

He then mentioned the second thing Dou Jiande had instructed him to do.

He lowered his voice and said to Huang Sixi, "Gao Kaidao has evil ambitions. Not long ago, he even invited Prince Changle to send troops to attack Shanhaiguan together and seize the foundation of the True Dragon Khan. However, Prince Changle sternly refused!
But Gao Kaidao is still determined to do something, and he went to Luoyang, the eastern capital, to lobby the Li clan! The King of Changle asked me to pass on a message to the True Dragon Khan, saying that Gao Kaidao might join forces with the Li clan to launch a surprise attack on Shanhaiguan, so please be on guard, True Dragon Khan!"

The person who first gave Gao Kaidao the bad idea and asked him to go to Luoyang to form an alliance with the Li family was Dou Jiande.

But why did Dou Jiande turn the tables and throw all the dirty water on Gao Kaidao? The reason was that Dou Jiande was forced by the situation.

Gao Kaidao did contact the Li clan some time ago, but the Li clan has no time to care about anything else now. Currently, the Li clan's army is divided into two routes. One route is led by Li Jiancheng, who is incorporating the original territory of Wagangzhai in the Central Plains and hunting down Li Mi's remnants.

The other route was led by Li Shimin, who was busy attacking the capital. No one could get away and no one could send troops north to help Gao Kaidao attack Shanhaiguan.

Gao Kaidao can only rely on his own troops.

With Gao Kaidao's abilities, even if Huang Sixi did not return to Shanhaiguan, the warrior group formed by Zhai Jiao and Jing Kang alone could stop Gao Kaidao at the pass.

Dou Jiande was worried that Gao Kaidao would do more harm than good. If Gao Kaidao revealed their conspiracy to Huang Sixi after his defeat, Dou Jiande would be retaliated by Huang Sixi.

So Dou Jiande sent Gao Xianya to Shanhaiguan to visit Zhai Jiao and inquire about Huang Sixi's location in Liaodong. Then he went to Liaodong to first clear his relationship with Gao Kaidao to Huang Sixi.

Unexpectedly, Huang Sixi came back early before Gao Xianya came out.

This also saved Gao Xianya the trouble, as he only had to explain to Huang Sixi in person.

Huang Sixi listened to his explanation and politely replied: "I already know about this matter. Thank you for Dou Longtou's kindness! Is there anything else Dou Longtou wants you to tell me?"

"No, no!"

Gao Xianya shook her hands repeatedly.

After hearing this, Huang Sixi nodded at him and turned to walk towards Liang Shuo, the envoy of the King of Daliang in Hexi.

Liang Shuo was very humble, he knelt down and kowtowed to Huang Sixi, then he came straight to the point and said: "Last year, the reason why Li Gui, the Prince of Liang, led his troops to establish himself in the Hexi counties was because he had no choice, it was definitely not the Prince of Liang's original intention!

At that time, Xue Ju was causing chaos in Jincheng, specifically attacking the Sui court. If the King of Liang did not establish himself as king, he would surely be invaded by Xue Ju. In order to protect everyone from being robbed by Xue Ju, the King of Liang had no choice but to establish himself as king!

Huang Sixi listened quietly and waited for Liang Shuo to finish talking about the situation in Hexi.

He asked Liang Shuo calmly: "What purpose did Li Gui want to achieve by sending you to see me?"

"Don't dare!"

Liang Shuo quickly kowtowed and replied respectfully: "Now that Yang Guang is dead and the Sui Dynasty is destroyed, the world needs a new master. The King of Liang is willing to give up his title and serve you, the True Dragon Khan, as his master. He will also hand over the Hexi counties to Xu Shiji, a general under the Khan's command!"

Since Xu Shiji was transferred to the border by Huang Sixi at the end of last year, he has set up camp in Shuofang, northern Shaanxi, which is adjacent to the Hexi counties of Liang Wang Li Gui.

When Huang Sixi left Dali City in the spring of this year and went to Liaodong to look for Shi Qingxuan and the evil emperor's relics, Tuyuhun, far away in the Western Regions, suddenly sent troops to attack the Hexi counties for some unknown reason.

King Li Gui of Liang suffered defeat after defeat and lost one third of his territory in just a few months.

After Xu Shiji received this information, he immediately led his troops westward and also occupied one-third of Li Gui's territory.

Li Gui is being attacked from both sides and is now at his wits' end and on the verge of despair.

Originally, Li Gui had the Turks to the north and Xue Ju to the south, but the Turks were defeated by Huang Sixi and fled thousands of miles away. They had long been out of Li Gui's sphere of influence and could not be relied upon at all.

Xue Ju's orthodox troops and the Li clan jointly attacked the Song clan in Guanzhong, and the battle became more intense. He was also unable to spare time to support Li Gui.

Now Li Gui had only one way left, which was to surrender: either to Tuyuhun or to Xu Shiji.

The Hexi counties where Li Gui was located were inhabited by a large number of Western ethnic minorities such as Tiele, Turks, and Sogdians, and most of the troops under his command were also composed of ethnic minorities. They demanded that Li Gui surrender to Tuyuhun.

Liang Shuo was a Han Chinese who had always been hostile to the Western Regions. He took the initiative to ask Li Gui to send him to Xu Shiji to negotiate surrender.

As a result, when Liang Shuo met Xu Shiji, he was turned down.

Xu Shiji looked down on Liang Shuo and his group of bumpkins from Hexi, and said bluntly: "The Hexi counties were my old territory during the Han Wu period. I must take them back. You don't have to surrender to me. I will personally go to Tuyuhun to recover the lost territory!"

Xu Shiji felt that Li Gui was not trustworthy. After all, he was a member of a local vassal state. Li Gui would not give up power unless he was in dire straits. Xu Shiji suspected that Liang Shuo was pretending to surrender, so he did not treat Liang Shuo with courtesy.

The corner of Liang Shuo's mouth twitched: "Is this what the True Dragon Khan meant?"

Xu Shiji spread his hands and said, "Zhenlong Khan has important things to do, why would he care about such a small battle at the border? He has given me full authority over the affairs of Hexi and let me make my own decisions based on the situation!"

Liang Shuo immediately asked: "Where is the True Dragon Khan? I will go to see him in person and ask for his surrender!" Xu Shiji pointed to the east: "The True Dragon Khan is currently cleaning up Goguryeo. You can go to Shanhaiguan, where you will definitely be able to find out the exact location of the True Dragon Khan!"

"Okay, I'll go to Shanhaiguan now!"

So Liang Shuo traveled all the way to Shanhaiguan.

Huang Sixi knew that Liang Shuo was a historical figure. As the Hu people continued to migrate into the Hexi counties and multiplied, Liang Shuo repeatedly advised Li Gui to be on guard, but Li Gui did not take it seriously and instead gradually developed a dislike for Liang Shuo.

Li Gui disliked Liang Shuo, but Huang Sixi admired him greatly.

Border talents like Liang Shuo are exactly what Huang Sixi needs, and they will definitely be the right person to guard the border in the future.

Huang Sixi said, "I have entrusted the affairs of Hexi to Shiji. I will not interfere with Shiji's decision! Whether Li Gui surrenders or not, I will not care. It is all up to Shiji to decide!"

Liang Shuo suddenly felt desperate. He had traveled thousands of miles, only to get such a result?

But Huang Sixi's next sentence made Liang Shuo feel like he had been blessed for a long time and he was overjoyed.

Huang Sixi changed the subject and said, "You went to China despite all the hardships and refused to surrender to the foreign race Tuyuhun. I admire your behavior!
I will send a message to Shiji, asking him to rescue your people from Hexi. You can return to Shiji, and all the old territories in Hexi that he recovers in the future will be handed over to you to govern!"

After hearing these words, Liang Shuo's eyes almost filled with tears, and he kowtowed heavily: "I am honored to receive such courtesy from the True Dragon Khan this time. Liang Shuo is willing to sacrifice his life for him, even if it means death!"

Huang Sixi helped him up and said comfortably: "True Dragon Khan is a title used by foreigners outside the Great Wall. I don't feel anything when I hear it. Just call me Lang Jun. I like it!"

Liang Shuo smiled immediately: "My dear!"

Huang Sixi patted him on the shoulder, asked him to stand aside, and then went to meet the last envoy, Lin Yaoshi, the younger brother of Lin Shihong, the Emperor of Chu State in Jiangxi.

Speaking of which, Huang Sixi and Lin Shihong have had a long-standing relationship.

During the period when Huang Sixi was massacring the Jiangnan Iron Cavalry Society, Lin Shihong happened to send his military advisor Cui Jixiu to visit the Iron Cavalry Society's headquarters, intending to collude with the Iron Cavalry Society to bring disaster to Jiangnan.

When Huang Sixi killed the leader of the Iron Cavalry Society, Ren Shaoming, he also killed his military advisor Cui Jixiu.

For this reason, Lin Shihong also issued a wanted order to the underworld in China to hunt down Huang Sixi.

However, after Huang Sixi assassinated Jianghuai Army leader Du Fuwei and Tiele leader Qu Ao on the Yangtze River, Lin Shihong immediately withdrew the wanted order and never provoked Huang Sixi again.

Huang Sixi glanced at Pharmacist Lin and asked, "Last year, your brother wanted me, but now he sent you to see me. What is his plan?"

Pharmacist Lin put on a trembling posture and said with a trembling voice: "My brother has passed away. No one in my Lin family is willing to inherit the foundation of the Great Chu Kingdom. We have decided to revoke the name of the Great Chu Kingdom and submit to the True Dragon Khan. I hope that the True Dragon Khan will put aside the past grudges and accept us!"

Huang Sixi was surprised: "Lin Shihong is dead? How did he die?"

Pharmacist Lin smiled bitterly, "My brother once studied in the Yinkui Sect of the Demon Sect in his early years. The reason why he was able to establish the Great Chu Kingdom was because of the support of the Demon Sect. Not long ago, the Demon Sect's evil king Shi Zhixuan visited the Chu Kingdom Palace. My brother and his descendants passed away afterwards, and left a will asking us to surrender to the True Dragon Khan. We dare not disobey his orders!"

After hearing this, Huang Sixi thought that it was Shi Zhixuan who was behind the scenes.

A few months ago, at Jingbo Lake outside Longquan Prefecture, Shi Zhixuan and An Long fled together, and told Huang Sixi through Hou Xibai that Shi Zhixuan and An Long would decide to retire in the future.

However, Shi Zhixuan and An Long were afraid that Huang Sixi would not give up and would hunt them down. After all, Shi Qingxuan had already ascended into heaven and left. Huang Sixi no longer had to consider Shi Qingxuan's face and show mercy to Shi Zhixuan and An Long.

In order to retire in peace, Shi Zhixuan and An Long went to the Great Chu State in Jiangxi and stabbed Lin Shihong and his family to death as a bargaining chip to make peace with Huang Sixi.

Huang Sixi learned the whole story and said to Lin Yaoshi, "You return to Chu first. When I lead my troops to Jiangnan, we can discuss the matter of revoking the name of Chu!"

The current situation in Middle-earth is extremely clear.

After the Song warlords captured the capital, they immediately led their troops south and successively captured Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, and Baling until they were connected with Lingnan and occupied half of the western part of China.

The Li clan occupied the core area of the Central Plains by conquering Wagangzhai.

The south of the Yangtze River was occupied by Xiao Xin of Liang State.

At present, there are only three forces that truly determine the overall situation in China. The first is the Song clan, the second is the Li clan, and the third is Xiao Xin, who came from a southern aristocratic family.

The Song clan was actually also a representative of the southern gentry.

If Huang Sixi can defeat the Li family, then China can be unified again.

Huang Sixi thought of this, and then led the Dragon Subduing Army and marched into Shanhaiguan with everyone.

On that day, Huang Sixi sent Shan Xiongxin, Qin Qiong, Luo Shixin and Pei Xingyan to Zhangshui to join the remnant Wagang army led by Marshal Pei, and ordered Marshal Pei to lead his troops to Shanhaiguan.

At the same time, he ordered three envoys, Liang Shuo from Hexi, Lin Yaoshi from Jiangxi, and Gao Xianya from Hebei, to return to their respective territories to convey Huang Sixi's intentions.

Huang Sixi left the Jianglong Army in Shanhaiguan and rushed to Guanzhong alone to resolve the conflict between the Li and Song clans.

This time when he went south, Huang Sixi only brought Master Feixuan of Cihang Jingzhai with him.

On the way, Huang Sixi asked about how the Heshi Bi was lost.

Shi Feixuan said: "This Heshi Bi was first found by Grandmaster Ning Daoqi, and then given to Cihang Jingzhai for safekeeping. However, there is a power in the Heshi Bi that interferes with the mind. My master is worried that this wall will harm the disciples of Cihang Jingzhai, so he asked me to take the Heshi Bi to Jingnian Zen Temple outside Luoyang!"

Huang Sixi asked, "Your master is worried that the Heshi Bi will harm the disciples of Cihang Jingzhai, but isn't he afraid that the Bi will harm the monks of Jingnian Zen Temple?"

Shi Feixuan replied calmly: "The holy monks of Jingnian Zen Temple specialize in Zen practice. They can ignore the influence of the He's Jade. My master knew that the He's Jade would not affect the holy monks of Jingnian Zen Temple, so he asked me to bring the He's Jade to this temple!"

Huang Sixi nodded: "I see! Then, how was the Heshi Bi stolen?"

Shi Feixuan opened her cherry lips and sighed, "No one would have thought that Grandmaster Ning Daoqi would be recruited by the Li family and willing to work for them, breaking into the Jingnian Zen Temple and snatching the Heshi Bi!"

Huang Sixi pondered for a moment and said slowly, "Ning Daoqi is a foreigner. Why does he suddenly want to work for the Li family?"

Shi Feixuan fixed her beautiful eyes on Huang Sixi and replied, "Because the Li family promised Ning Daoqi that they would make Taoism the state religion. From now on, only Taoism will be respected in the Central Plains!"

Huang Sixi did not feel disgusted after hearing this. He also supported the idea of only respecting native Taoism in China.

However, Ning Daoqi had to commit himself to the Li family because of this, which was a situation that Huang Sixi did not want to see.

Huang Sixi thought: "The Li Clan can adopt Taoism as the state religion, so can I. I can also talk to Ning Daoqi and ask him and his fellow Taoists to leave the Li Clan and withdraw from the struggle among the various forces in the Middle-earth!"

(End of this chapter)