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Song Que replied indifferently, “This person Li Shimin, I have been paying attention to him for a long time!”

Kou Zhong recalled Feng Deyi, he nodded and said, “Fazhu once said that apart from Xiaozi [this kid], the person whom you admire the most is him.”

Song Que was silent for half a day, he spoke heavily, “If I flatly rejected your proposal just now, what do you think the situation of the world be like?”

Kou Zhong cheerfully said, “Fortunately, that is not the case. If that happens, I have no choice but to continue the military expedition to the north, Shimin Xiong would be slaughtered by the combined hands of his father and brothers, immediately afterwards, Xieli’s main forces will go down south, and the north will fall into all-split-up-and-in-pieces situation.”

Song Que slowly shook his head and said, “Li Shimin would not be that useless. He will use Luoyang as his base of operations to establish his power. Relying on his prestige, political power and military accomplishments, there will be a day that he will unify the north and drive away the Tujue. Li Shimin has one strong point that you cannot match, which is the patience to persevere to the end. If you are unable to capture Luoyang in a spurt of energy, you will lose the last battle because of this. Therefore, if I disagree with you, whether you can succeed or not, you only have fifty-fifty chance. This hasn’t taken your inner demon into account.”

Smiling wryly, Kou Zhong said, “Fazhu insight is very accurate. If I did not get Fazhu’s nod of approval, I could only force myself to continue fighting. But one would know his own family’s affairs, I will no longer be as unhindered as I was in the past, putting my heart and soul into the battle for hegemony over the world, and Ziling will not understand me.”

Song Que slowly turned around, he stared fixedly at him, and said calmly, “Tell me honestly, you are willing to risk offending me like this, coming to ask me, how much is that for Yuzhi?”

Shaken, Kou Zhong hung his head down and said, “At least fifty-percent, the other fifty-percent is for Ziling, other things are not important. I am confident that I can overcome everything, I am practically not afraid of the allied armies from beyond the Great Wall, I am not afraid of Li Shimin either. I have the confidence to destroy Li Shimin before he could firmly establish the foot of his troop disposition and fly his banner on a solitary tree [idiom: to stand out, to develop one’s own school]. No one in the world can stop me, because I have successfully mastered the saber technique of two persons facing off against each other that Fazhu taught and integrated them into military strategy of the magnificent army with thousands of men and horses striving for victory on the battlefield.”

Song Que threw his head back in long laughter, he cheerfully said, “After all, Kou Zhong is Kou Zhong. You finally succeeded in building the confidence of certain victory on the battlefield. The rare thing is that you are completely without ambition for fame and position and power. Yuzhi ought to be proud of you, and I, Song Que, also have a qualified successor to carry on my undertaking.”

Remembering Song Shidao, Kou Zhong hurriedly said, “Of course Fazhu has a qualified successor to carry on your undertaking. ErGe is at the Flying Horse Ranch appraising the Ranch’s collections for Shang Changzhu, in the near future, he might also propose marriage to Shang Changzhu. As long as Fazhu approves, he will be able to conclude the marriage pledge.”

The divine light in Song Que’s pair of eyes suddenly flared out, he spoke in heavy voice, “Unexpectedly there is such thing?”

“This matter is absolutely true,” Kou Zhong replied, “They fell in love at first sight in Chang’an. However, due to the limited situation, the relationship could not develop further. Now that all obstacles no longer exist, it will naturally be where water flows, a canal is formed [idiom: a matter of course]. Ha! Fazhu didn’t know how much effort Ziling and I spent on this matter, so that lovers can become husband and wife.”

Song Que’s mighty body trembled slightly, he nodded and said, “Shidao finally got back on the right path. In this matter, you and Ziling have done very well.”

And then he took out a bamboo tube sealed with fire-lacquer and handed it to Kou Zhong, saying, “Send this letter to Fan Qinghui on my behalf. As for how to help Li Shimin ascending to the imperial throne, you have full authority to make decisions. I must be free of distractions to heal my injury with all my strength, I cannot participate in your affairs. Go! Li Shimin is an ideal choice, Qinghui can’t possible misjudge him, and I, Song Que will not misjudge him either.”

The three people gathered in Xu Ziling’s cabin on the ship, their mood was very different.

With Song Que’s support, the way forward was clear and definite, it would only depend on what kind of means and strategies they use to achieve their goals.

Kou Zhong, sitting on the edge of the bed, said, “We must first set up a fast and secret network to make each other aware of the other side’s situation, and thus can cooperate with each other like seamless heavenly clothes.”

Li Shimin nodded in agreement, he said, “There should be no problem in this regard, Pang Yu has always been responsible for the intelligence gathering, as long as he filters his men, replaces them with absolutely loyal and intelligent persons, he can meet Shaoshuai’s requirements.”

Kou Zhong said cheerfully, “I’m not very good at this, but Lu Shu is an expert. Have Pang Yu go see Lu Shu, so they can work out the most feasible and effective method.”

Li Shimin said, “When I get back at Kaifeng, I will immediately send Pang Yu to see Lu Shu.”

After a short pause, he spoke heavily, “Whether you can sneak into Guanzhong secretly is the key to success or failure, let me make arrangements in this aspect.”

Kou Zhong smiled and said, “If we need your, LaoGe’s help, of course we will not be polite. But my current thinking is that it is not suitable for you to get involved in this matter at the moment, so that even if we are discovered, you can still push it one and all away. We will enter Shu via Hanzhong. On the surface, it will be like we are spreading our voice wide [idiom: wide publicity], but there will be real and empty moves within it. The real move is to attack Lin Shihong and Xiao Xian; the empty move is to march into Bashu and Xiangyang respectively, so that people will not be suspicious.”

Xu Ziling reminded him, “If we march into Bashu, but suddenly retreated, someone is bound to be suspicious.”

Li Shimin said, “Ziling, no need to worry, we have had a meeting to study this. We only thought that due to Song Que and Xie Hui’s relationship, the Song Family Army is postponing the attack on Shu.”

Xu Ziling sighed and said, “The thing I’m most worried about is Shi Zhixuan. This person has the wisdom to understand the heaven, his knowledge and experience are not something that Kou Zhong and I can reach, if he is able to catch a glimpse of spider’s thread and horse track [i.e. clues], he may be able to deduce about our alliance, if that happens, the development of the situation will be beyond our control.”

Kou Zhong nodded and said, “Shi Zhixuan indeed gives us headaches, if it were someone else, we could get rid of him first by fair means or foul, but toward Shi Zhixuan, all these methods are useless. Besides, dispatching three thousand elite troops secretly sent into Guanzhong via Hanzhong, we need at least two-month time, during this period of time, our relationship and operation must not see the light.”

Li Shimin said, “Even if as soon as I return to Luoyang Fuhuang summons me back to Chang’an, I can still delay it for ten days to half a month using various excuses.”

Frowning, Kou Zhong said, “You have already delayed one time, this time it won’t be appropriate to repeat the old tricks. Moreover, in the punitive expedition against Liu Dage, your huangxiong [emperor (older) brother] has the full authority to preside over it, there is no reason for your delay. The worst case will be your old Die will charge you with the crime of violating the imperial order, and strip you of your military power. That will be the biggest disaster to our plan, therefore, you must obediently listen to instructions and obey him, so that your old Die will have no way to punish you.”

Li Shimin smiled and said, “I suddenly have the longing for life in the wilderness of Jianghu. Since Fuhuang ascended to the throne and gave me military power, my subordinates only obey my orders, no one dares to speak to me like Shaoshuai. It’s both fresh and a delight to hear.”

Kou Zhong said cheerfully, “Your mood is much better than before!”

Li Shimin spoke sincerely, “Although I might lose two siblings, but I have you, two real brothers to make up for it, we all are exhausting mental and physical efforts with the same goal for the sake of the common people of the world, what is there to regret?”

Xu Ziling stretched out his hand and said heavily, “One day become brothers!”

Kou Zhong and Li Shimin separately extended their hands, three hands clasped together, they spoke together, “We are brothers for life!”

The three men laughed aloud before separating.

Kou Zhong said, “In any case, the day Shimin Xiong enters Chang’an will be the time Ziling and I arrive in Chang’an, so that if something goes wrong, we can protect Shimin Xiong and your family to escape from the treasure house. Naturally I hope that things will not develop to that point, and fortunately, this possibility is negligible. No matter how your honorable Fuhuang dislikes you, in this dangerous time of freezing winter, he will not dare to risk the Great Tang Kingdom all split up and in pieces by putting you to death. He will only advance step by step, and we will counter soldiers with arms, water with an earth weir [idiom]. His Niang’s! I wonder if we could dupe people by passing ourselves off as a figure of authority [idiom] by using Situ Furong’s guise to enter the city?”

Stunned, Xu Ziling said, “Situ Furong? Wouldn’t that just give Shi Zhixuan a chance to expose us?”

Li Shimin already knew about this matter from Li Jing early on, hence he was not baffled and not knowing what they were talking about.

Kou Zhong said, “This is precisely the most direct way to test Shi Zhixuan, to see if he would consider it for Qingxuan’s sake, and not uncover us. Also, it could pull a snake from its hole, based on how Shi Zhixuan conduct himself, plus he is being supplanted by the faction headed by Zhao Deyan, he should not act blindly without thinking. If he comes to trouble us, we will change according to the situation to deal with him and come to a big solution. His Niang’s! I, Kou Zhong am really not afraid of him now.”

Muttering to himself irresolutely, Xu Ziling said, “Our relationship with Shi Zhixuan is ambiguous and subtle, but is this risk worth taking? If something happens, many innocent people will be implicated.”

Kou Zhong said, “As long as Qingxuan is willing to come to Chang’an, Shi Zhixuan problem will not exist.”

Smiling wryly, Xu Ziling said, “I don’t want her to be involved in this matter.”

Kou Zhong said, “Then tell Shi Zhixuan that his daughter will come to Chang’an to look for you, that was what Qingxuan said herself, so we are cheating neither old nor young [idiom], ha!”

Xu Ziling said, “Can we hide from Ke Dazhi?”

Kou Zhong replied dejectedly, “That’s impossible. And then there’s Bi Xuan; with his eyesight, he only need one look at us, no matter how we pretend to be in contact with supernatural beings [idiom: engaging in hocus-pocus], it will only be a laughingstock. Ay! We have no choice but to sneak in, hiding by day and come out at night like a mouse, or perhaps simply hide in Shimin Xiong’s bedroom. But that way we can’t protect Shimin Xiong, plus we will be in a completely passive inferior position, which is greatly detrimental to our plan.”

Li Shimin spoke with serious expression, “Two gentlemen should know that usually there is no polo tournaments in Changan in the winter.”

Immediately Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling’s spirit was greatly lifted.

Kou Zhong said, “In that case, as long as we can avoid Ke Dazhi and Bi Xuan, we should be safe and sound.”

Li Shimin was puzzled, “Even if Bi Xuan really comes to Chang’an, your chances of meeting him are slim, but Ke Dazhi is hard to say. Why don’t you assassinate him one step ahead? Once the main problem is solved, all troubles are solved,” he said.

Smiling wryly, Xu Ziling replied, “We can’t do that, because he is a brother who has fought side by side and going through fire and water with us. We even want to ask Shimin Xiong to spare his life.”

Kou Zhong said, “There is still one person who we cannot but to guard against, which is Yang Xuyan. Fortunately, he rarely shows his face in public, so that the chance of running into him is not great. If Shimin Xiong can supply us the information about his movement, we will be very happy to dispose of him. With Ziling and I, perhaps plus Lao Ba, I guarantee that once he enters the game, even if he masters some Bu Si Yin Fa or some kind of pain-in-the-butt Yu Jin Wan Fa Gen Yuan Shi Jing, as well as grows wings, it will still be difficult to fly.”

Li Shimin spoke with determination, “Without taking a bit of risk, how could we achieve great things? As long as we draw up contingency plans to deal with various situations, plus we change according to the situation, we certainly can turn misfortune into blessings. Remember, when did you guys ever have tail wind and flow with the current? Yet you could still create all kinds of illusions in the south to make people think that you are outside the Pass.”

Kou Zhong laughed aloud and said, “Shimin Xiong indeed has enough guts. His granny’s bear, that will be our decision then. From here back to Liangdu, we have plenty of time to get our Zhuge Liang out.”

They heard the sound of footsteps, followed by Song Lu’s voice outside the door, “Xiao Zhong! Yuzhi is here!”

Kou Zhong’s entire body shook violently, he sprang up. Noticing Li Shimin and Xu Ziling were staring blankly at him, he stuck out his chest and said, “Affairs of the heart [orig. ‘qing chang’ - emotion/feeling field] is like a battlefield [zhan chang], Xiaodi is going to war, hoping that I don’t have to sacrifice my life for the country!”

Song Yuzhi was dressed in tight warrior outfit, her beautiful hair was tied up into a pair of buns on the top of her head. Underneath she wore riding boots and leggings, with a treasured sword hanging on her back. Evidently she had just rushed back from afar, barely dismounted from her horse and immediately she came to see Kou Zhong.

Seeing her sitting quietly, leaning on the table, with windblown dust look on her face, Kou Zhong felt great pity, he completely forgot about Song Lu retreating quietly. He even forgot about anyone and anything outside of this place. Under her lightly-knitted pretty eyebrows, carrying a bit of cold and detached expression, her beautiful eyes staring fixedly at him, he sat down on the other side of the table.

The two persons’ eyes met.

Suddenly a thousand layers of huge waves surged in Kou Zhong’s heart, as he thought about myriads of things in the past, whether the two of them were in life and death confrontation, or in the decisive battle among magnificent army with thousands of men and horses; any personal fame and position, power, honor or disgrace, even the unending task of establishing and maintain hegemony of unifying the world, in the end, it was still the ‘feeling of the heart’, it could not be one fen [unit of length, approx. 1/3 cm] more, could not be one hao [a hairsbreadth] less, the question was whether it met their needs.

But at this moment, his heart was full to the brim with the jade person [i.e. beautiful woman] before his eyes, who has suffered enough from his torture; everything else became pale in comparison.

Song Yuzhi spoke indifferently, “San Shu [third uncle] refuses to tell me why you came to Lingnan, he insisted that I must ask you personally. At this moment where the wind and the cloud sprang up everywhere [i.e turmoil], Shaoshuai still have time for a separate task?”

‘Thump! Thump! Thump!’ Kou Zhong’s heart was thumping wildly, his whole body was fired up. If he could make the beautiful woman in front of him happy and merry, he had nothing else to ask for in life. At this moment, he was wholeheartedly grateful to Xu Ziling, if not for him coming right at him and beat him on the head [practice in which a novice monk is shouted at or hit with a stick with the purpose of bringing about instant awakening (Buddhism)], he, Kou Zhong would make the Central Earth’s sky and the earth turning upside down, collapsing and falling apart. Now that the goal was clear, he and Li Shimin would work at the same pace to attain the peaceful reunification of the world, while also restoring Song Yuzhi’s love for him, which was the most precious thing in life he has always longed for to obtain.

Song Yuzhi furrowed her eyebrows even deeper, slightly impatient, she said, “Has Shaoshuai turned mute?”

Kou Zhong fought hard to suppress the urge to throw himself forward and pull her tightly into his arms, to sense her trembling fragrant body. His throat dried up, he spoke hoarsely, “Zhizhi was unwilling to see me, I have no choice but to come to Lingnan.”

Song Yuzhi revealed a touching expression of blame, she said with a sneer, “Shaoshuai seems to forget that you bear heavy responsibilities, how could you casually abandon your proper business casually? Aren’t you afraid Die will blame you?”

Kou Zhong took a deep breath and said, “I am coming to Lingnan today to formally propose a marriage to Zhizhi, because the previously decided engagement has already become invalid. Now I, Kou Zhong no longer have any chance to become the lord of the world, I’m just a commoner, whether Zhizhi is willing to give yourself wholly to marry a man of lower social status, it is entirely dependent upon whether Zhizhi is willing to nod or not.”

Song Yuzhi’s pretty face suddenly turned pale, her tender body shook violently, she said, “What are you talking about? Are you insane? Die …”

With upright heart and sincerity, Kou Zhong said, “In my life, there has never been a moment where I know what I’m doing and what I want to get than this moment, and that is to live together with Zhizhi, only envious of mandarin ducks and not being envious of immortals - in relaxed, blissful life. I vowed from now on to put aside all actions to strive for and pursue hegemony, and only do, with all my heart and with all my strength, anything so that Zhizhi may obtain the greatest happiness and joy, to hold your hand, and to grow old together. Today I am like a prodigal son who get back on the right path. It was only not long ago that I started to know where my hometown. There has never been a moment when I better understand Zhizhi’s thinking of ??not wanting Lingnan to be drawn into the world’s chaotic big maelstrom, because I myself am in it, and I deeply felt and experienced all kinds of fearful possibilities of the future.”

Song Yuzhi’s pair of eyes emitted disbelief expression, she bit her lower lip, and hung her cicada head low for quite half a day. She spoke a low voice, “Don’t fool around, Shaoshuai thinks you can still withdraw and retreat now?”

Kou Zhong said, “For Zhizhi, I can do anything. On this warship, besides me, there are Ziling and another person whom Zhizhi won’t be able to guess.”

Stunned, Song Yuzhi looked at him, she could not hide her astonishment. Staring at him, she said, “Unexpectedly you are serious!”

Kou Zhong rose up to his full height, moved to her side, went down on one knee, his left hand pressed on his chest, his right hand grasped the armrest. Fixing his gaze on Song Yuzhi, he said, “It’s about our lifelong happiness, how could I dare to fool around? The person that you cannot guess is the true lord who will unify the world in the future, Ziling and I will do everything we can and strive hard to help him ascend to the imperial throne, because we are convinced that he is the best candidate to be the emperor.”

Song Yuzhi’s lips trembling lightly, she asked, “Who is he?”

Kou Zhong replied slowly, word-by-word, “Li Shimin!”

Song Yuzhi’s tender body shook severely, she said, “How could Die agree?”

Kou Zhong spoke heavily, “We have already obtained the Senior’s full support.”

Song Yuzhi’s tender body trembled again, hot tears gushed out of her pair of eyes, she reached out with her trembling hand to stroke Kou Zhong’s face, she whimpered, “Kou Zhong! Ah! Kou Zhong! You …”

As if he was holding a very precious object, Kou Zhong held up her fragrant and soft jade hands with both hands, lightly kissed the hollow of her palms with his lips, his soul was melting, he said, “My Laotianye, turns out being able to move Zhizhi to forget all my past mistakes is so moving. After the Chang’an affair is concluded, I am going to come back to have bridal chamber and ornamented candles [idiom: wedding festivities] with Zhizhi, ha! Oh!”

With tears of joy hanging on it, Song Yuzhi’s pretty face appeared to blush; feigning anger coquettishly, her manner was so attractive. Hanging her small cicada head, she spat and said, “Have I agreed to marry you?”

Losing what he has just obtained, Kou Zhong looked in despair as Song Yuzhi pulled back her jade hands, but suddenly he was smiling mischievously as he said, “If you, Song Er Xiaojie [Second Miss] does not marry me, may I ask who would have enough guts to marry you? Because it would not work unless he obtained permission from the Moon in the Well in my, Kou Zhong’s hand and the Shao Shuai Army. Besides, the future emperor is a brother who treat one another with absolute sincerity [idiom], and whose gratitude and grudges are intertwined with me, Kou Zhong. Trust me, we will be the best couple in the world.”

Song Yuzhi glowered at him and said, “Look at you! You still have that revolting behavior, love to boast shamelessly.”

Kou Zhong felt every pore on his body, as if they all agree by chance - cheered together; he finally got Song Yuzhi.

He was caught in absolute disappointment over this matter, and was tortured by the having-the-heart-but-not-the-strength painful feeling, but now, what seemed impossible has finally happened, Song Yuzhi has never tried to tease him in such manner.

Blurted out laughing, he said, “That is precisely Xiaozi’s [this kid] unique feature, knowing that you, Er Xiaojie are so tired to the point that you are agitated when everybody bows respectfully with clasped hands in deadly earnest toward you, Xiaozi is doing good to you, otherwise how can I win your fragrant heart? Ay! I have to go! How about I ask Ziling and Qin Wang to come over and say hello to you? Can I introduce you as my fiancée?”

Song Yuzhi suddenly floated up from the chair and flew toward the exit; gracefully she turned her tender body around, her pretty face, with the tears had not dried up yet, revealed a happy and bashful expression, mixed with displeasure and distress, but also joyous, she spoke softly, “Zhizhi do not wish to see anybody, come back alive and see me, don’t try to be brave, attach most importance to the overall situation. You hear me? Kou Shaoshuai!”

Finished speaking, she left like a burst of fragrant breeze.