Book 11 Chapter 7 - Witnessing Injustice Along the Way
There was a chaos on the city of Xiangyang's side river bank, there were even three, four boats moored on the pier on fire, sending a lot of smoke and fire debris into the originally clear, cloudless night sky. The dozen or so bamboo and wood sheds on the dock did not escape the fire; they were ablaze, sending out crackling noises.
Bitter cries and shouts shook the heavens. Under the light of the blazing fire, several thousands of refugees and traveling merchants outside the city gate were running like wolves, rushing like rats; nobody could see clearly which ones were the perpetrators and which ones were the victims.
Rushing to the deck, Xu Ziling and Kou Zhong could only stare blankly at the scene unfolding before their eyes; they both thought that perhaps even ten Ning Daoqis would not be able to control the present chaos.
His countenance changed, Chen Laiman said, "Must be horse thieves coming to loot money and goods; we must weigh anchor and set sail immediately.”
His men acknowledged the order and moved out.
Kou Zhong turned to Xu Ziling and said, "Shushu [uncle]! We still need to come into the city to visit our family!”
Xu Ziling actually forgot his identity; suddenly hearing someone calling him ‘uncle', he nearly burst out laughing. Fighting hard to control himself, he nodded and said, "Yixin is right. Mr. Chen, please inform Madam, we are leaving!”
Sha Fu, who was standing on the other side, anxiously said, "We have not given gentlemen your due rewards!”
Kou Zhong reached out to pat his shoulder; giggling, he said, "Luckily Sha Guanjia [Housekeeper] reminded us. To tell you the truth, we have always been known for our chivalry, oftentimes we forgot to ask for the rewards due us. Ha! Guanjia really understands people!”
Regaining his composure, Chen Laiman said, "Gentlemen, please wait here for a moment.” Immediately he disappeared into the cabin.
Looking at the shadow of people running around on the opposite bank, Xu Ziling was overwhelmed with a powerless and helpless feeling.
No matter how superior he trained his martial art skill, under the chaos before his eyes, he knew that there was nothing he could do. Only when the world [tianxia] was unified would government decree be able to be implemented accurately, and then everything could be kept in track.
Should he help Kou Zhong reaching his goal?
He was sure that Kou Zhong would be a good emperor who loves the common people as his own children; he could not possibly turn into another Yang Guang.
Meanwhile, accompanied by Chen Laiman, the young madam came on deck and walked gracefully over toward the two boys. Bowing down, she said, "Since two Gentlemen have important matter to attend to, Bisu understood that it is difficult to urge you to stay. If in the future you have a chance to come to Luoyang, please come to the Sha Mansion at Shihu [stone lake] Street in the south side of the city. Bisu will definitely receive you wholeheartedly.”
Xu Ziling's eyes met with her limpid eyes; some kind of hard-to-describe feeling flitted across his heart. It was not a feeling between a man and a woman. Because the young madam's eyes were pure and faultless, only it revealed a heartfelt childish admiration and gratitude, so much so that there was an eagerness to get his protection and thirst for an older generation doting on her.
After suppressing the surge of bizarre feeling in his heart, Xu Ziling spoke casually, "Shao Furen is too polite. Supposing we go to Luoyang, we will definitely come to your precious abode to pay our respect to Shao Furen.”
When the young madam's eyes met his, her fragrant heart was shaken as well. She had never seen an old man with a pair of eyes like Xu Ziling's. Not that the opposite party's eyes were bright and sharp, neither were they deep and unfathomable, rather, there was a profound, attractive intelligence and affection in them, making her heart yearning to be dependent on him as her elder generation with a subtle child-like admiration.
Shocked, she immediately hang down her small cicada head; offering the heavy-looking purse in her hand, she said, "Such a meager compensation is inadequate to express Bisu's gratitude, would Mister please accept it?”
Kou Zhong's eyes lit up; he nudged Xu Ziling.
Xu Ziling cursed in his heart; reaching out, he took the purse. When his fingertips touched the young madam's delicate hand, although he already exercised strict control over his own emotion, he could not stop his heart from being shaken.
When the young madam had her hands touched by his fingertips, she felt a burst of fiery feeling spread out all over her tender body. It was a feeling she had never even imagined before. Her entire body trembled, she nearly cried out.
Kou Zhong pulled Xu Ziling away abruptly. The two of them expressed their thanks, and soared away immediately. They first landed on a boat in the middle of the river, before sweeping away toward the opposite bank, and disappeared into the dancing shadows beyond the blazing fire.
A strange feeling like she had just lost something welled up in the young madam's heart; it was the first time that she encountered such strange people as they were.
These two men's, one old the other young, appearance left nothing to be desired, yet in the young madam's eyes, they were the great benefactor who saved her beloved child's life. Moreover, the longer she came in contact with them, the more she felt their good and honest, frank and sincere character, that they were real chivalrous heroes who were hidden deep without showing off.
When could she see them again?
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When Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling's feet landed on the ground by the river bank, all around them were people running away without their clothes and belongings, while dead bodies were scattered everywhere; it was an unbearable scene to witness.
Those who were able to escape had already fled; the boats and ships moored at the dock were bogged down by raging flames and thick smoke.
The City of Xiangyang was brightly lit, a clear indication that Qian Duguan was closely monitoring the situation outside the city.
From the wooded area southeast of the city came the sound of battle. After exchanging a glance, the two boys let their feet had free reins as they ran at full speed toward the sound.
Until now, they were still unclear of what had just happened.
A moment later, after they had run for nearly three li, with the torch light of the City of Xiangyang behind them, they heard the sound of battle was getting nearer.
Raising their qi, the two boys ran at full speed and very soon they were through the woods and reached the wilderness outside the forest. Sword qi and flickering saber immediately came into view. It appeared that more than a dozen people were engaged in a fierce battle.
Upon a closer look, they were dumbstruck. Turned out this crowd of about a dozen men was part of a larger group of nearly three hundred Wulin people; they were besieging one person, and that man happened to be Ba Fenghan.
Pulling Xu Ziling back into the forest, Kou Zhong looked outside, blew out a mouthful of cold air and said, "This time Fengshi Han will be toast; why don't I see his confidante, Yu Yi?”
Xu Ziling was bewildered as well; he was even more confused as what the event in front of his eyes had to do with the murder, looting and arson that were happening outside the city just now.
Under the torches that were lifted high, he noticed that the dozen or so men in the wilderness seemed to be from different gangs, societies, schools and sects, who stood in neat rows in all direction, surrounding Ba Fenghan in the middle. They were employing tag-team tactic, by taking turn so that someone would always be in the arena to fight.
Ba Fenghan already had two or three bloodstain on his body; although he looked somewhat tired, his movement was still like a whirlwind, as he freely advanced and retreated among the seven or eight people besieging him. Reflecting the torches' light, the sword in his hand flickered endlessly. Wherever the sword flashed, someone would suffer the consequence.
On the ground there were already more than a dozen dead bodies, which naturally was his handiwork. But the enemy had inexhaustible reinforcement; if he could not break the siege and escape, he would definitely die of exhaustion.
‘Dang! Dang! Dang!'
Ba Fenghan's sword suddenly brightened; brandishing his sword to attack, his momentum increased sharply. He flew around like a tornado; two opponents in grey clothes were thrown high in the air, and the number of terrifying looking dead bodies on the ground was increased by two.
A sweet-sounding female voice said, "Yichun Pai [Yichun is a prefecture level city in Jiangxi] Er Dangjia [second chief], please send out your men!”
Four men immediately jumped out from a group of people: two wielded spears, two wielded axes, in a tight yet meticulous and flexible formation to join the fray, so that Ban Fenghan, who was about to escape, was pushed back into his original spot.
Xu Ziling and Kou Zhong cast their gaze in the direction of the voice, and saw that the person who bossed everybody around was a woman in white with beautiful shoulder length hair, her figure was well proportioned and graceful. Under the blazing torch, her slender eyebrows extended into her temples, her skin as fair as jade, her beautiful countenance as picturesque as a painting; she was extremely good-looking.
Standing next to her were all female warriors, eight young women with awe-inspiring heroic spirit, wearing yellow warrior outfit and swords on their back, protecting her in the middle.
Evidently she was the commander who directed this besiege against Ba Fenghan. Just by looking at the way she maneuvered the troops in timely manner to intercept Ba Fenghan, it was clear that she was a very formidable character.
The woman issued her command again, "Qingjiang Pai, Cangwu Pai, retreat! Jiangnan Hui, Mingyang Bang[1], take their places.”
Most of the people besieging Ba Fenghan withdrew quickly, leaving only those four Yichun Pai martial art masters engaging Ba Fenghan in hard fight, while the other two groups of people entered the arena, attacking Ba Fenghan so that he did not even have any chance to take a breather.
In order to kill the two enemies just now, obviously Ba Fenghan had spent considerable energy; unexpectedly he was unable to break the siege to escape, and thus he was caught in the bitter struggle once again.
"Aiya!”
Ba Fenghan's sword flashed past, sharp ray suddenly disappeared, the Yichun Pai martial art master wielding a spear lost his life.
But the victory was like the ‘night blooming cactus appears only once' [i.e. short-lived]; the new batch of people with sabers and swords moved together, everyone went all-out in disregard of their lives, so that the circle tightened, the space in which Ba Fenghan could move freely was getting smaller. The danger was escalated substantially.
[1] Qingjiang river in Hubei, Cangwu county, Wuzhou, Guangxi, Jiangnan is general area south of Yangtze River, Mingyang means bright sun. Pai - Sect, Hui - society, Bang - gang.