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Wen Caiting accompanied the man in the direction of the middle section. They were walking and talking at the same time. Xu Ziling had no time to eavesdrop, he slipped through the window into the room, and immediately launched his search operation. A moment later he was positive that there was indeed an underground storehouse down below, only he had not been able to find the entrance yet.

His mind flashing at the speed of light, his gaze fell on a group of three wooden cabinets, as tall as an average man, leaning against the south wall of the room. He was about to come over to investigate when he heard footsteps and voices outside the door.

Xu Ziling knew that because his mind was focused on searching for the entrance, he became careless. Fortunately, there was a screened area on the corner nearby for the occupant of the room to relieve himself, hence he hastily hid inside.

An unfamiliar male voice spoke outside the screen, “Everything went well with Qing’er Xiaojie?”

Wen Caiting replied, “According to your Xu Shu [uncle], Qing’er’s progress is better than his expectation, Shengchun shouldn’t be worried.”

Unexpectedly it was Chi Shengchun who came back, the man surnamed Xu was not here. Xu Ziling relaxed at once, thinking that even if he was found out, he could still easily charge his way out.

Wen Caiting added, “I thought you won’t be back at least until the third night watch [23:00 – 01:00]?

Chi Shengchun said, “I just received some important information, I have to trouble Wen Zhanglao [elder] to transmit it to Luoyang, to let them make adequate preparation.”

Xu Ziling slightly shivered inwardly. He finally knew for sure that the demonic school has joined hands to help Wang Shichong to deal with the Li Clan’s main forces, and that if Chi Shengchun was really Xiang Gui’s eldest son, then the Xiang Family must have a close relationship with Mie Qing Dao.

Chi Shengchun continued, “This time the Li Clan is making an all-out effort. Following Li Shimin in the punitive expedition to the east to Luoyang are seven Zongguan [general manager] and twenty-five high-ranking military officers, their military strength exceeds a hundred thousand men. It is said that it was dragging for so long, because they are setting up water and land transit centers along the Hua River and the Yellow River, to guarantee the military supply at the front line. However, the fall of Liyang has given Li Yuan a lot of headache, he is straining hard to dispatch the troops.”

“How is Li Yuan going to deal with it?” Wen Caiting asked.

Chi Shengchun said, “I hear Li Yuan is considering sending Liu Shirang to lead the troops into Tumen. If Dou Jiande makes any move, he will rush to attack the Xia Army’s Mingzhou in order to restrain Dou Jiande.”

Laughing coldly, Wen Caiting said, “Dou Jiande’s Hebei Army is a powerful fighting force; how could the insignificant Liu Shirang restrain him?”

Chi Shengchun said, “That is only an interim step, the important key comes from Li Jiancheng volunteering to lead the army to go up north to defend Pubei, to consolidate the northern battlefront. Clearly it is to stop the Tujue from going down south. Li Yuan already agreed to his request, he even sent Zongguan Duan Decao to march and enter Yanzhou to defend it, to guard against Liang Shidou. This is beyond our initial expectation, it will have great impact on our plan.”

After a short pause, he went on, “It must be because he had no alternative that Li Jiancheng must convince Li Yuan that he is drawing a clear dividing line with the Tujue, while also want to prove to the high-ranking military officers and the cabinet ministers of the House of Tang that he does have military talent. I will tell other details to Zhanglao later, I now have to deal with Wang Bodang.”

It was only then did Xu Ziling understand the reason Chi Shengchun returning earlier to this bedroom to talk to Wen Caiting; it was simply because Wang Bodang was in the inner hall of the front section, waiting for him. Needless to say, Wang Bodang wanted to use Chi Shengchun’s relationship with Li Yuanji to ask him to persuade Yuanji to support the conspiracy of Li Mi finding an excuse to leave Chang’an.

The cabinet door was pulled open, and then there was the rustling noise of someone changing his clothes. This was perhaps Chi Shengchun’s excuse to go to the inner room, which was to change his clothes.

Laughing tenderly, Wen Caiting said, “You have a very good physique!”

Any normal man would know that her praise carried a provocative overtone.

Obviously Chi Shengchun had no interest in her; changing the subject, he said, “Wang Bodang said that Li Mi wanted this very moment to use up his somewhat limited power to persuade his old generals who surrendered to the Zheng to rebel against the Zheng and realign their allegiance to the Tang. Does Zhanglao believe it?”

“Only ghosts will believe him,” Wen Caiting replied.

While heading out, Chi Shengchun asked, “Any news about Xu Ziling?”

Hearing his great name being mentioned, Xu Ziling hurriedly roused his spirit to listen attentively.

Wen Caiting walked him off outside the door, she said, “After he and Kou Zhong parted company, we lost his track. Our guess is that he is going to Bashu to look for Shi Qingxuan.”

The voices went farther and farther away.

Xu Ziling cried inwardly, ‘If I don’t leave now, what am I waiting for?’ and flashed out of the screen and slipped out of the window.

In one breath, while he was still in the air, as well as after he touched the ground, Kou Zhong, with momentum like a rainbow, consecutively sent more than a dozen saber strikes without the least bit of hatchet and chisel traces, to hack the ‘Ziwu Sword’ Zuo Youxian, who ranked among the Eight Major Martial Art Masters of the Demonic Way; not only each strike carried ample power, the angle was strange and crafty, completely without any flaw and gap in between that would enable the enemy to counterattack, before Rong Fengxiang, Pi Shouxuan and Jing Zhaoning were able to pounce over to help, attacking Zuo Youxian that he was struggling hard to cope, and was forced to retreat step by step.

But Kou Zhong was well aware that Zuo Youxian, this kind of elder-level martial art master of the demonic school, had prolonged qi and meridians, even without anybody intervening or disrupting, killing him was not easy at all, hence he decided to quit while he was ahead. Fast as lightning he shifted sideways to meet Jing Zhaoning, whose blood and qi had not recovered, hacked him down that both the person and the umbrella staggered back and fell down. And then he converted retreat to advance, to enter the gap between the charging forward Pi Shouxuan and Rong Fengxiang. With a spin of his body, he brought the Moon in the Well flying in a circle, striking the two men’s long sword one after another.

First, he ingeniously absorbed part of Pi Shouxuan’s true qi, and then using the discharging power he deflected him away, and when he was chopping Rong Fengxiang’s sword, with all his strength he released his power to meet the attack head-on.

‘Dang!’

The vortex of energy, like seawater breaching the dike, like flash flood breaking out the mountain – was rushing forth to attack Rong Fengxiang. It was as if the latter was taking Kou Zhong and Pi Shouxuan’s combined strike head-on, so how could he withstand it? Letting out a muffled grunt, he tumbled backward.

‘Cha! Cha! Cha!’

Just before Zuo Youxian’s Ziwu Sword came to attack, Kou Zhong consecutively sent three saber strikes, brimming with desperate overtone, so that Pi Shouxuan could only block extremely strenuously, and had to hurriedly get away.

Up to this point of the hard fighting, Zuo Youxian, Rong Fengxiang’s side not only completely revised their view on Kou Zhong, they even started to be frightened by him. Because right from the start the initiative has always been in Kou Zhong’s hands, not only they were unable to form besieging momentum, Kou Zhong was leading them by the nose. From the six men, after one died and one was injured, they were still in the disadvantageous position.

Kou Zhong laughed aloud, his feet moved in strange footwork, suddenly he was already on Zuo Youxian’s left side, so that Rong Fengxiang, who was on Zuo Youxian’s other side and was still retreating back, was unable to coordinate his position to surround the enemy.

The Moon in the Well seemed to be sweeping toward Zuo Youxian at random. Zuo Youxian’s resolution had already been snatched away by his more than a dozen saber strikes just now, this saber strike from Kou Zhong appeared to be nothing formidable, but combined with his shrinking range of motion to become only one cun, plus with mystery within a mystery bufa [footwork] and shenfa [body motion in martial arts], it clearly posed a serious threat to him. Unexpectedly he did not dare to parry and swiftly retreated instead.

Kou Zhong’s saber momentum did not change, with a spin of his body he moved toward Pi Shouxuan, who had not steadied his footing, the Moon in the Well swiped toward his neck, ingenious as if made by heaven, exquisite and brilliant that not one in ten thousand words could describe.

Pi Shouxuan had never imagined that Kou Zhong’s saber attacking Zuo Youxian could change direction to slash toward himself, naturally he did not dare to block, and flew backward to evade instead.

All of a sudden, three formidable opponents surrounding him were attacked by him that they scattered in all directions to run away.

This moment, the sound of people shouting and the crackling noise of blazing fire were boiling outside. Naturally Kou Zhong could guess that Linglong Jiao was helping him by lighting fire everywhere around the Rong Mansion. Rong Fengxiang and the others, none did not have his countenance changed.

Kou Zhong was afraid Linglong Jiao might not be able to bear and come inside to help him. Abruptly stopping his offensive, he stood with the saber across his chest, and said with a laugh, “Let’s end this battle here. If you guys still want to kill me, Kou Zhong, I would be happy to accompany you anytime.”

Finished speaking, he soared straight up, broke through the roof, and evaded the several hundred arrows, which were shot nearly blindly from four sides, eight directions, took a breath midair to shift his form and change direction just like that, and broke the siege and escaped without any trace, leaving only the sound of his long laughter behind.

Xu Ziling was hesitating slightly, before curling his finger to knock the window according to the secret signal that he and Shen Luoyan agreed. It was nearly the third watch of the night [23:00 – 01:00], Li Shiji was in the Jiangjun Fu [generals mansion] at the Buzheng Lane, west side of Chang’an’s Imperial City, separated only by one street, Anhua Avenue. It was the dead of the night, where the bright moon was casting its light from an angle.

Xu Ziling originally wanted to wait for tomorrow to contact Shen Luoyan, but was afraid he might miss the fortunate timing, so he had to come to look for Shen Luoyan following the agreed method.

‘Creak!’

The window was pushed open, revealing Shen Luoyan’s beautiful jade countenance. She had just gotten up from the bed, not wearing any makeup, her hair was in a mess, carrying another kind of free and at ease, casual touching amorous feelings.

“Get in, quick!” Shen Luoyan spoke in low voice.

He had just entered the room, Shen Luoyan already lightly pulled his sleeve, and took him sitting on a chair in the corner of her lady’s chamber. Unexpectedly she was blushing and spoke with a tender laughter, “Is my appearance now very scary?”

Xu Ziling did not dare to look at her body inside her thin clothes, so that all the beautiful lines were completely exposed. A bit embarrassed, he said, “Please forgive me for presumptuously paying a visit, simply because I had just heard an information pertaining to Mi Gong.”

And then he told her about Wang Bodang looking for Chi Shengchun. Listening to him, Shen Luoyan’s eyebrows were deeply furrowed, she said, “How could Mi Gong become this stupid! To move his former subordinates to betray the Zheng and surrender to the Tang, only Wei Zheng [(580-643), Tang politician and historian, notorious as a critic, editor of History of the Sui Dynasty] is more than enough. Didn’t he know that he surrendering to the Tang has already made people disappointed at him thoroughly?”

And then, her eyes flickering, she looked at Xu Ziling up and down and asked, “Why did you go to search around Chi Shengchun’s mansion house?”

Xu Ziling knew he could not conceal it from her, yet he was unwilling to tell her; without any better option, he said with a wry smile, “Can we wait a bit later for that? The matter of vital importance right now is to advise Li Mi to dispel this idea, to stay in Chang’an peacefully, keeping watch over himself, otherwise I am afraid he will never be able to get out farther than Tongguan.”

Distressed, Shen Luoyan said, “To ask Li Yuan to release the tiger back to the mountain is Mi Gong’s delusion. I cannot advise him, let him ask Li Yuan himself, so that Li Yuan can reject his request and be done with it.”

Xu Ziling pondered for a moment, “What if Li Yuan agrees?” he asked heavily.

Slightly startled, Shen Luoyan said, “That means Li Yuan has the intention to kill him.”

This time it was Xu Ziling’s turn to stare blankly. It was quite a while later that he said, “I don’t understand!”

Shen Luoyan sighed and said, “The reason is very simple, Li Yuan would never let Mi Gong return to the base of operations where he started out, because it would place Shiji in some no room to advance or to retreat situation. Since this is the critical moment in the attack on Luoyang, Li Yuan definitely will not allow other variables to appear. Therefore, if Li Yuan agrees to Mi Gong’s request, it would be an insincere approval. Later on he would pry him out, to let him reveal the cloven foot, so that when he kills him, there won’t be anybody in the world dares to accuse Li Yuan of wrongdoing.”

Xu Ziling suddenly saw the light. He nodded and said, “Therefore, the best policy is still to persuade Li Mi to dispel this thought, because once he put it forward, there will be no return.”

Shen Luoyan shook her head dejectedly, “It’s useless,” she spoke in grief, “I advised him not to surrender to the Tang, he refused to listen; and now I advise him not to rebel against the Tang, he won’t listen either.”

And then her pair of eyes emitted an unusually brilliant color, she spoke gently, “Luoyan really appreciates Ziling coming to pass on this information. Ziling need not care about this matter anymore, at the end of the day, Mi Gong is still your and Kou Zhong’s enemy.”

Xu Ziling shook his head and said, “Looking at his currently down and out circumstances, my hatred to him had already vanished completely early on. We are friends, aren’t we? Junshi must be careful; because Li Mi is offending Li Yuan, Shiji Xiong might be caught in unfavorable situation.”

Shen Luoyan nodded and said, “I know what to do! The one you really need to worry about is Kou Zhong. I hear that the great generals under Wang Shichong’s command, Li Junxian and Luo Shixin already surrendered to the Tang. They, and Shiji, are Mi Gong’s former subordinates who realigned their allegiance to the Tang due to Wei Zheng’s lobbying. If Kou Zhong had a clear view of things, he ought to leave Wang Shichong immediately, turn to the south to grow, otherwise it will be difficult to escape the troops-defeated-the-people-perished situation.”

Hearing that, Xu Ziling’s heart distracted, his thoughts in turmoil, he shook his head without saying anything.

Shen Luoyan also said, “After capturing Liyang, Dou Jiande declared the relocation of his capital to Mingzhou. Within Chang’an’s imperial court, it has spread widely that very soon he is going proclaim himself emperor, in order to counter Wang Shichong’s proclaiming himself emperor. Currently, Luoyang’s only hope is Dou Jiande’s saving army, but Wang Shichong’s ridiculous self-importance has made the foundation of the cooperation between him and Dou Jiande go up in smoke. Kou Zhong wanted to use Wang Shichong and Luoyang to beat back Li Shimin, this is precisely climbing a tree to catch a fish [idiom: to attempt the impossible], there is no possibility of success.”

Xu Ziling wanted to say something but no words came out.

Shen Luoyan spoke indifferently, “Supposing Wang Shichong surrendered to the Tang, what kind of situation do you think your Kou Zhong will be trapped in?”

Shaken, Xu Ziling said, “That is extremely unlikely, right? Otherwise, he would not dare to proclaim himself emperor.”

Slightly shrugging her fragrant shoulders, Shen Luoyan said, “In this era of chaos, nothing is impossible. Who could have predicted in advance that Du Fuwei was willing to surrender? Otherwise, the situation would not have developed into what it is right now.”

Xu Ziling’s heart was distracted, his thoughts in turmoil even more; he said, “Junshi, have a good rest, I want to go back and think quietly about it.”

Kou Zhong returned to the courtyard house where he stayed in Luoyang. Unexpectedly Yang Gongqing and Zhang Zhenzhou were waiting for him, both men had grave expression on their faces.

After seated properly, Zhang Zhenzhou was the first to ask, “Where did Shaoshuai go?”

As if nothing had happened, Kou Zhong replied, “Coming to Luoyang, naturally I had to visit my old friend Rong Fengxiang, while slaughtering Shangguan Long along the way. So what’s the important matter that troubled two gentlemen that instead of going to bed you came over here to accompany me to spend the night?”

Staring blankly, Yang Gongqing asked, “You slaughtered Shangguan Long?”

Kou Zhong laughed and said, “It’s just a small matter of a new branch growing out of a knot. I also met Zong Luohou, my saber strike made him discarding his armor, dragging his dagger-axe; I am afraid he won’t have any countenance left to mingle in Luoyang. Right! What is actually going on?”

Zhang Zhenzhou said, “At dusk, we received information that Li Shimin’s vanguard troops have arrived in Xin’an [county, in Luoyang, Henan].”

Kou Zhong was stunned, “Isn’t Xin’an the city west of Cijian? It ought to belong to Wang Shichong, why did Yang Gong seem to say that the Tang Army could establish their presence in there any moment?”

Yang Gongqing replied with a bitter laugh, “The reason is very simple: because the General and the Deputy General Luo Shixin and Li Junxian in charge of defending the city already led the army and civilian of the whole city to surrender to the Tang. Cijian is in danger of facing a frontal attack.”

Cijian was Luoyang’s west battlefront, just like Hulao was Luoyang’s east battlefront. It should be noted that on the north, Luoyang was leaning against the Mount Mang, which terrain was strategically situated and easy to defend. Then there was the Yellow River. The mountain range and the large river became the natural barrier on the north. River Luo was the Yellow River’s tributary, flowing from the northeast to the east of Luoyang, where it branched into the Luo and Yi, two rivers. After flowing through Luoyang, River Luo turned west, while River Yi flowed to the south.

Shou’an and Yique, respectively, were the most important cities by the Rivers Luo and Yi, south of Luoyang.

Li Shimin’s main forces came to the east, the first to bear the brunt would be Cijian, which was the must-be-acquired place to attack Luoyang. If he could capture Cijian, Li Shimin’s main forces could split two ways; one establishing their presence at Mount Mang, to attack the Luo city walls on the south bank of the Yellow River, so much so that they could even advance to the east to attack Hulao, the other marching to Shou’an. After capturing Shou’an, they could attack Yique. Therefore, the survival of Cijian occupied critical place in the entire attack and defense battle for Luoyang; it simply must not fall.

Zhang Zhenzhou lamented, “Xin’an city defense was very tight, plus there is Cijian on the east ready to respond, it should have been as steady as Mount Tai, even if Li Shimin had the ability to capture Xin’an, he would have to pay an enormous price. But now, without wasting a single troop or half a pawn, he put Xin’an inside his bag. Wang Shichong’s counting-one’s-chickens-before-they-are-hatched plan to use Xin’an to hold the Tang Army back went up in smoke, so that he is more wary toward the high-ranking military officers of different surnames.”

Kou Zhong’s only consolation was in knowing that Zhang Zhenzhou has not yet had the intention to surrender to the Tang, otherwise he should be happy for Li Shimin, rather than grieving and lamenting over this matter.

Yang Gongqing said, “Just now Zhenzhou and I discussed it carefully: to beat back Li Shimin, there is only one way.”

Greatly delighted, Kou Zhong said, “I still have not found any way to beat back Li Shimin; tell me quickly.”

Yang Gongqing and Zhang Zhenzhou you look at me I gaze at you, as if they had the mouth but difficult to speak; also, it appeared that they were hoping that the other would speak up first.

Kou Zhong was greatly baffled, but soon afterwards he came to realize something; severely shaken, he said, “You are not thinking of bringing Wang Shichong down, are you?”

Zhang Zhenzhou sighed and said, “Is there a better way?”

Smiling wryly, Yang Gongqing said, “This is the only viable way for now. Wang Shichong appointing men of the same clan, he completely lost the people’s hearts! If Shaoshuai takes his place, you could greatly rouse the heart of the troops; who did not know that Shaoshuai is the greatest minister who has given outstanding service in defeating Li Mi? Furthermore, the only person that Li Shimin is afraid of?”

Knitting his brows, Kou Zhong said, “The problem is that currently important military authority and control over the cities are all in the hands of Wang Shichong’s royal relatives; if Wang Shichong had any unexpected misfortune [orig. three longs two shorts], the entire Zheng Kingdom would be in chaos and the army will collapse, which would only give convenience to Li Shimin.”

Laughing coldly, Zhang Zhenzhou said, “No poison, no great man [idiom: a great man has to be ruthless]; as long as we plan carefully, act fiercely, ruthlessly, and swiftly, by killing all the Wang Clan people in the city in one move, while also sealing off the news from leaking out, we could forge Wang Shichong’s handwriting to issue imperial decree, to take over the other cities one by one, to remove the high-ranking military officers with Wang surname one after another. At that time, why worry that the big plan won’t succeed?”

Because he knew that the demonic school and the Tujue people were fully supporting Wang Shichong, Kou Zhong knew that to bring Wang Shichong down in one move appeared to be easy but was actually difficult. At the same time, he understood even more why Wang Shichong had so much misgivings toward him; most probably it was because he was afraid that this kind of situation would happen.

Yang Gongqing said, “It was not Zhenzhou and I who thought about this matter first. Just now, Libu Shangshu [Director of Board of Rites] Pei Renji, Zuofu Dajiangjun [Left Auxiliary Grand General] Pei Xingyan, and Shangshu Zuocheng [Minister Left Deputy] Yuwen Rutong have jointly come to see me to raise this issue to me, hoping that I could discuss it with Shaoshuai, asking Shaoshuai to undertake the task to assassinate Wang Shichong. It’s just that their objective is to have Yang Tong, who was deposed by Wang Shichong, to ascend the emperor’s throne again. However, it triggered such an idea in my mind, so that after discussing it with Zhenzhou, we both came to the same conclusion that this is definitely not unfeasible.”

Feeling big headache, Kou Zhong said, “Let me think about it first.”

Shaking his head, Zhang Zhenzhou said, “If you want to make your move, we must do it tomorrow, otherwise, if we let Wang Shichong lead the big army to defend Cijian, we will lose this golden opportunity.”

Kou Zhong steeled himself and spoke resolutely, “Very well! You make preparation immediately, tomorrow will be the time of Wang Shichong’s death.”