Wei Xiaobao's Three Kingdoms Adventure

Chapter 21 Men's Stuff
After Lu Zhi learned from Wei Xiaobao that Guangzong County was in urgent need of food and fodder, he asked about the defense situation in the city.

Wei Xiaobao relayed everything Zhang Liang had told him before he set out to Lu Zhi.

Lu Zhi arranged for Wei Xiaobao to rest in a separate military tent, unattended and without attendants. Lying on the soft camp bed, Wei Xiaobao thought of Tang Qin in the prison car and fell asleep with a satisfied look on his face.

The next morning, Wei Xiaobao, having rested himself well, was extremely bored and decided to go out to inquire about the eunuchs' news. After leaving the tent, Wei Xiaobao discovered that there wasn't even a single guard outside. He walked around the tent a few times, but the soldiers passing by seemed to ignore him.

Wei Xiaobao was curious about what kind of marks Zhang Liang had left in Lu Zhi's military camp, so he pretended to wander around, paying attention to any suspicious places in the camp.

The reason why Wei Xiaobao could move freely in the military camp was that Lu Zhi had issued a secret order long ago, not interfering with his behavior in the military camp, but secretly sending people to monitor him and record where he went, who he met, and what he said every day.

However, what was recorded in the surveillance report was nothing more than Wei Xiaobao picking up and moving stones, and even the ridiculous act of digging up horse manure.

Wei Xiaobao endured this for three days. During this time, Lu Zhi interrogated Tang Qin, who confirmed Wei Xiaobao's story about Zhang Liang's raids on the camp and the city's defenses. He also learned that Shuang'er, Wei Xiaobao's companion, was being held captive by Zhang Liang in Guangzong County. As for the incident involving the stabbing of Lu Zhi, Tang Qin knew his life would be in jeopardy if he confessed, so he kept it to himself. As for Wei Xiaobao's reasons for defecting to the Yellow Turbans and the availability of food and fodder in the city, these were all fabricated by Wei Xiaobao, and Tang Qin naturally had no idea.

Tang Qin's confession and his men's surveillance of Wei Xiaobao made Lu Zhi trust Wei Xiaobao even more.

This is Wei Xiaobao's ability to lie. He always mixes truth with lies. The more wary and suspicious the other party is of him, the more he will believe him after verifying the truth. As for those lies, of course, there is no way to verify them. It all depends on Wei Xiaobao's words to determine what is black and what is white.

Wei Xiaobao searched the barracks for three days but found no clues. He returned to his tent and lay on his bed, muttering to himself, "When Chen Bai received the secret letter, the eunuch should have already left Luoyang. How come I've been here for several days, and they haven't arrived yet? Zhang Liang said he would leave a secret signal to contact the eunuch. I've been around the barracks several times these past three days, but I haven't found any clues. Will the eunuch see the secret signal Zhang Liang left when he arrives? Could it be that Zhang Liang didn't leave a secret signal at all, and wants to use Lu Zhi's knife to chop off my head, Wei Xiaobao, so that he doesn't have to worry about me reporting him for instigating Tang Zhou's rebellion?"

The more Wei Xiaobao spoke, the more anxious he became. Suddenly, he remembered the horses in the stable. He made up his mind and said to himself, "I can't waste time like this any longer. I'm going to steal a horse tonight and escape. I'll rush into Guangzong County and rescue Shuang'er."

He then remembered that his dagger had been confiscated by Lu Zhi, and gritted his teeth and said, "Forget it, just consider it my gift to him as his disciple. After all, compared to a precious dagger, my good wife Shuang'er is more important."

Although Wei Xiaobao was clever, he was just an uneducated gangster who never thought carefully and rigorously about anything he did. At this moment, he had already thought about escaping, and his mood instantly became better. He didn't care whether he could successfully escape from the military camp or whether he could break into the well-defended Guangzong County, nor did he consider how to explain after seeing Zhang Liang.

Since he was in a good mood, Wei Xiaobao, lying on the bed, felt sleepy and closed his eyes and fell asleep.

It was not until someone outside the tent came with a message that Wei Xiaobao, who was awakened, realized that it was already night.

Wei Xiaobao thought to himself, "Thank goodness you woke me up, otherwise I would have slept until dawn and wasted another day. I'll remember your appearance later, so that when I lead the Yellow Turban Army to slaughter you without a single soldier left, I can be kind enough to spare your life."

Wei Xiaobao said, "Come in."

The guard entered the tent, saluted respectfully, and said, "Lord Zuo Feng, the military supervisor sent by the court, has arrived. Lord Lu invites you to accompany him for dinner." Wei Xiaobao cursed inwardly, "I'm about to escape, and you're asking me to go out for a meal. It's a pity that I don't have the knockout drug the imperial guard gave me. Otherwise, I could have drugged you all and made it easier for me to escape. Where did this Lord Zuo come from? Didn't he want a eunuch?"

Wei Xiaobao heard from Chen Bai that Xiao Huangmen was a eunuch, but he thought that the Eastern Han Dynasty was the same as the Qing Dynasty, and eunuchs could not hold official positions. However, he did not know that eunuchs in the Eastern Han Dynasty could not only hold official positions, but could even control military power.

Wei Xiaobao cursed in his heart and followed the guards to the central military tent.

The banquet had already been arranged in the tent. Lu Zhi sat in the seat of honor, with two people sitting on his left. They were not very old, with fair complexions and no beards.

After receiving the money, Wei Xiaobao exchanged some polite words with Lu Zhi and walked straight to the empty seat on the right.

Lu Zhi stood up and said, "Master Zuo, this is my disciple Wei Xiaobao. It is my contribution that we were able to capture the Yellow Turban spies this time. Xiaobao, this is Master Zuo Feng."

Wei Xiaobao looked across and saw that Zuo Feng, whom Lu Zhi had mentioned, was about the same age as himself, only about seventeen or eighteen years old. He was kneeling behind a table and his figure could not be seen, but his small face was fair and tender and very handsome.

Wei Xiaobao nodded and thought to himself, "You are so young yet you have become such a high-ranking official. Even old Lu Zhi is so polite to you. But I think you are just like Zheng Keshuang, a gigolo. I hate gigolos the most in my life. Could it be that you are the empress dowager's grandson like Zheng Keshuang, so you can become a high-ranking official? That's not right. Aren't all emperors at that time surnamed Liu? Oh, I know. It must be that the empress liked you, a gigolo, and you cheated on the emperor, so she made you a high-ranking official."

Wei Xiaobao was angry that Zuo Feng's sudden arrival disrupted his escape plan. He was perfunctory to him for the sake of face, but he was disgusted with him in his heart.

Zuo Feng saw that Wei Xiaobao was so neglectful to him, but he couldn't get angry because Lu Zhi was present.

Wei Xiaobao sat down on the ground with his legs apart, his crotch facing Zuo Feng.

The man next to Zuo Feng suddenly stood up and said, "Sir Wei, just because you've made military achievements, do you have the right to be so rude to us?"

Lu Zhi was the leader of the scholar-official faction in the court and had long been dissatisfied with the eunuch group. When he saw Wei Xiaobao sitting like this, although he felt it was very indecent, he did not want to speak to stop him. Instead, he was secretly happy in his heart.

Among all the people present, Wei Xiaobao was the only one who didn't realize what was wrong with his sitting posture. Noticing that the other person's eyes and gestures seemed to be hinting at his crotch, he said, "It's something every man has. Why are you staring at mine?"

A casual remark by Wei Xiaobao almost brought him death.

(End of this chapter)