Book 13 Chapter 1 - Who Is The Wise Ruler?
Liu Heita tapped Xu Ziling's shoulder, and went into a nearby shop selling silk cloth.
The two aging shop attendants did not even step out to greet them, as if they did not see them at all, as the two men proceeded deep into the shop, pulling the bead hanging curtain separating the front and rear sections, passing through the small warehouse filled with bolts of cloth, and stepping out into a courtyard. Turned out there were two other layers of building at the back.
Four men and one woman were congregating at the courtyard, talking. Seeing Liu Heita, they all showed respect as they greeted, "Liu Dage!”
Liu Heita nodded. He led Xu Ziling into the building at the left side of the courtyard.
It was a simple, unadorned, small hall; other than a table, few chairs, and some essentials, there was no other furnishing, not even a cabinet, much less any decorative furnishings.
When the two was seated, Liu Heita laughed aloud and said, "Very good! Unexpectedly I came across you. I don't know how many times I heard evil tidings about you, who would have thought that you are still like a lively dragon and animated tiger. Where did Kou Zhong go?”
"I lost touch with him,” Xu Ziling replied, "But we agreed to meet here.” Finished speaking, he sighed inwardly. Although Liu Heita was a good man, all along he was Dou Jiande's man, so he should not disclose too much to him.
Knitting his brows, Liu Heita said, "I hear Li Mi sent his men to intercept you. Shall I send out my men to look for Kou Zhong?”
Xu Ziling could feel his sincere concern, which gave birth to unbearable guilty conscience in his heart; shaking his head, he said, "He should not have any problem defending himself; in fact, we separated on purpose, with me luring away the pursuing troops, while he is in charge of something else.”
Liu Heita understood.
This moment, the girl that was just chatting with the four men outside came in to serve fragrant tea.
It was only now that Xu Ziling noticed that this girl's profile was rather beautiful, and she exuded a delicate and pretty personality.
Liu Heita laughed and said, "She is Tongtong; her flying blade skill is indeed not bad!” But he did not introduced Xu Ziling to Tongtong.
Tongtong smiled as she shot a couple of curious glances toward Xu Ziling before withdrawing from the room.
Liu Heita was deep in thought for half a day before he finally sighed and said, "Assassinating Ren Shaoming not only propelled your names to the sky, it has also changed the entire situation of the South. Lao Ge [old elder brother] is really proud of you.”
Xu Ziling was afraid Liu Heita would repeat his invitation for them to join his organization, he busily changed the subject, "This time Liu Dage came to Luoyang, I wonder if there is something big going on here?”
After gazing deeply into Xu Ziling's eyes, Liu Heita spoke heavily, "This matter can be big or small. The fact is this is actually a trivial matter, only it is possible that this matter relates to the question of who can really unify the land under the heavens.”
Xu Ziling was confused, "What matter can have that kind of impact?” he wondered.
Liu Heita did not answer; he asked back instead, "This time you came to Luoyang, is it in preparation to go west to enter Guanzhong?”
Xu Ziling understood that Liu Heita was a man with a very good moral standing, but he was definitely not a fool. On the contrary, he was astute and formidable, so it was absolutely not easy to deceive him.
By asking that question, it was tantamount to indirectly asking if he was going to dig out the ‘Duke Yang's Treasure'. If Xu Ziling responded evasively, it would be difficult to get Liu Heita to bare his soul to him later.
During the time where the warlords were setting up independent regimes, even between father and son, brothers and friends, there must be matters that have to be kept secret to some degree for the sake of their respective master.
Just like Li Jing a moment ago, who wanted to tell him something but hesitated; obviously he also had to have some reservations.
Smiling ruefully, Xu Ziling said, "The fact is that we only know that the treasure is somewhere near Guannei [lit. inside the pass; I think this is a place's name, but it could point to the general area inside the Great Wall]; other than that, we know nothing at all. Therefore, this time we are simply going to take our chances.”
Liu Heita's honest and considerate, guileless dark-skinned face revealed a trace of sincere smile; he nodded and said, "What Ziling told me, how could I not believe it? It's just that rumor has it that within the ‘Duke Yang Treasure', other than rare treasure that Yang Su had plundered for many years, there are also tens of thousands of weapons and other items. To haul away these things out of the Li Clan's territory, one must have considerable manpower and physical resources. If you think that I, Liu Heita, am trustworthy, I can give you full support, on the condition that each takes what he needs; you can go your way to become rich and powerful, and I go my way to vie for the world. We get the best of both worlds to everyone's delight and satisfaction.”
After a short pause, he went on, "According to the information I have, the ‘Duke Yang Treasure' has seven layers altogether. Other than the first layer, which has no mechanism or booby-traps, every layer is more dangerous than the previous one. If you know that the man who designed the room to store this treasure was the Number One Master Craftsman in the world, Lu Miaozi, you'd know that to acquire the treasure is not an easy matter at all. As far as I know, that Luocha woman only entered the first layer and promptly sounded out the difficulties and retreated to avoid defeat. Huh? Why do you look so weird?”
Hearing the name ‘Lu Miaozi', naturally Xu Ziling was severely shaken. He began to understand a little bit why when he showed the secret book on mechanism, it strongly reminded him that he would have to rely on this to enter the ‘Duke Yang Treasure-trove'.
But why did Lu Miaozi not teach them directly how to enter the ‘Duke Yang Treasure', which he personally designed?
This is really puzzling.
Liu Heita continued, "Yang Su and Lu Miaozi were close friends; the drawbridge Xing Jin Fu Qiao [xing - star, jin - river crossing (abbreviation for Tianjin), fu qiao - floating/pontoon bridge] was his design. This man's talent in this area is extremely high; I don't think there is any second person to him at the present age.”
Noticing Xu Ziling was frowning hard, he reached out to give him a friendly pat on the shoulder and said, "You don't have to answer me quickly; you may talk to Kou Zhong first. Even if you decided not to cooperate, I, Liu Heita, can't possibly blame you. By the way, Zhuge Dewei is quite knowledgeable at mechanism and building constructions; certainly that would be very helpful in entering the treasure trove.”
Xu Ziling had no choice but to nod in agreement.
Liu Heita stretched out and spoke in a relaxed manner, "To be honest, I really did not want to say those things, because it made me look like those greedy people who covet the treasure. But taking the present conditions into account, I did not have any choice.”
"I understand,” Xu Ziling said, "Liu Dage need not be concerned about it.”
Liu Heita gladly said, "I have mentioned the two gentlemen to King of Xia, King of Xia is also highly appreciative toward the two of you, and he sincerely hopes to see you face to face.”
The King of Xia was Dou Jiande.
Xu Ziling calmly replied, "If there is any opportunity, we would also love to pay our respect. But still, just now Liu Dage mentioned that you have a business here that can be big but can be small as well; what is that all about?”
Liu Heita replied in heavy voice, "It has something to do with the ‘Jade Annulus of the He Clan', which is equally famous with the ‘Duke Yang Treasure'!”
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