"Book of Rites of Zhou" says: Xu means Shu, and people from Xuzhou have a soothing and rustic atmosphere.
The land of Xuzhou borders the Yellow Sea in the east, Mount Tai in the north, and the Huaihe River in the south. It governs the three counties of Langye, Donghai, and Linhuai, and the three kingdoms of Chu, Sishui, and Guangling. The north of Xuzhou is mostly plains, while the south is crisscrossed by rivers and lakes.
, prolific in fish, rice, salt and iron.
The heads of the feudal states in Xuzhou all secretly sought peace, so everything in the country was controlled by local wealthy families, such as the Chen family, Zhao family and other aristocratic families. It was not uncommon for several prime ministers to have the same surname.
Half of the territory in Xuzhou could not be controlled by the imperial court. Originally, the governors of various places should compromise with the local wealthy families. However, because the famous fortune teller Xu Shao and Xu Zijiang were born in Langya and created the "Langya List" world-famous, he evaluated Xuzhou as "the land of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon"
", although not a good character, it also inspired many people with lofty ideals in Xuzhou. They would rather be awarded a minor official by the court or simply work as a knight errant than be a disciple of a family that is obviously not a "tiger" or a "dragon".
.
At this time, the governor of Xuzhou was named Zhu Bing. He was originally quite dissatisfied with the Xuzhou aristocratic families. At this time, he took advantage of the imperial court's order to clear out the Taiping Road and summoned the military equipment of all counties and counties in Xuzhou. The name was to seize the Taipingdao.
Expanding power.
Since those aristocratic families did not have the power to deploy officials or military equipment outside the princely state, they could only watch as Zhu Bin placed those chess pieces one by one on the Taiping Road remnant party and removed them all - of course, this was only on the surface.
"Hahaha! Just let them use whatever means they have!" Zhu Bi was nearly fifty years old. He was thin, with sparse beard and hair. He was unable to wear armor. He only dressed up as a scribe, but he liked to speak out bold words with a heroic attitude: "
I'm worried that I won't have the chance to uproot them!"
At this time, the Xuzhou coalition forces stayed in a newly occupied Taipingdao branch on the bank of Surabaya. At least in name, there was no Taipingdao left in Xuzhou. However, they still refused to disband the coalition forces and sent scouts to investigate around. The purpose was not the same.
If you ask, you will find out that he did not pay attention to the admonitions of his generals during the discussion.
Sun Jian was only a county magistrate. Although he had participated in quelling the rebellion in Xiliang, and had governed well and led many troops, there was still no room for him to participate in the deliberations in the presence of military commanders from various counties.
"The governor is too complacent," Sun Jian said to his generals in his military tent: "He seems to be prepared to use force to make those aristocratic families surrender, and the means of dealing with Taiping Road are too simple and crude, which may make the other party
Take risks out of desperation.”
"But the governor at this time is raising troops in the name of the imperial court. If those aristocratic families dare to take action, it will be like treason. Maybe they will finally compromise?" Zu Mao said.
"Haha, do they still dare to find assassins to kill the governor?" Huang Gai said casually.
"..." Everyone present looked at him together.
"Do you really think so?" Seeing that everyone was serious, Huang Gai found it unbelievable: "Think about it, since ancient times, all the famous assassins have been rangers. Although not everyone will be remembered in history, they will definitely not do something that will be infamy for thousands of years.
Will do it."
"But... this is not the case for raising dead soldiers at home." Zu Mao said thoughtfully.
"Xuzhou is near the sea, and there are many Japanese and pirates. These people don't care about the 'smell'." Cheng Pu added.
"However, even if we go to the governor to warn the assassins, we will only be regarded as unfounded worries." Sun Jian shook his head.
"In this case... we can only protect it secretly." Han Dang said.
"..." The generals all turned around again.
"No need to talk about it, I know you are 'ignoring' me again." Han Dang said with an attitude that he was used to.
"No, Lord Yi, we just found that you seem to be the best person to carry out this task." Sun Jian tried to say with a sincere attitude.
————
In the next few days, Zhu Bing assumed the posture of attacking those princely states as always, and even began to extend the camp there, but the assassination that Sun Jian expected did not happen. When he began to wonder whether his prediction was wrong,
Han Dang hurried back quietly and tied up three men in black, who were gagged and wretched in appearance, and were thrown into the tent.
"From the appearance, it can be determined that they are Japanese, but their strength seems to be quite weak." Cheng Pu made a distinction and then said: "If you just hand it over to the governor, I'm afraid they will be laughed at and said that they were caught casually from the sea.
pirate."
"As for asking for information..." Sun Jian looked at everyone present: "Who knows Japanese?"
Everyone looked at each other and shook their heads. Perhaps foreign tribes like the Shanyue barbarians in the south or the Xiongnu Xianbei in the northwest would have specialized scholars or businessmen to study the language. But Dongyi? Only they could learn Chinese.
"My lord, you are so kind," Huang Gai said, approaching with clenched fists: "If you understand Chinese and are willing to explain, just ask. Otherwise, just beat him to death and throw him into the river."
"You can't drink the water of Xuyang and Erzhou directly because of the public's actions." Zu Mao was standing by to make trouble.
"Woooooo!" The other two captives only cowered because of Huang Gai's huge body. In the end, the Japanese prisoner clearly stretched his body and moaned because he understood the threat.
"Look," Huang Gai said proudly, spreading his hands: "Since there is anyone who is willing to speak, after asking, I will send it to the governor for disposal - at least, I can live for another day and a half."
Upon inquiry, we learned that the assassin who carried out this assassination came from a Japanese sect called "Itto-ryu", which mainly engaged in assassinations, thefts and infiltration. He dared to assassinate the governor of Yizhou because his employer spent too much money.
Therefore, he is just a low-level assassin, and he has no idea who bought the assassin. The only thing that is certain is that Zhu Bing has his employer's insiders. If these assassins never come back, or the informants are sent back to the assassin,
With the news that they are unscathed, their leader will send out stronger assassins until the leader himself takes action.
In this way, Sun Jian was not suitable to hand them over to scare the snake. He had to continue to stay until the leader personally captured and questioned his employer to avoid future troubles. As for what Huang Gai would do with these prisoners in the end, he had no idea.
What's worth caring about.
Therefore, Sun Jian and others began to patrol around the camp, using Han Dang's "being ignored" and Huang Gai's "being hurt by his own people will make him stronger" characteristics to intercept the one-sword-style assassins who were coming one after another.
The weapon used by these Japanese assassins is a strange single-edged arc-shaped narrow knife, which seems to be improved from the straight-backed sword. If the opponent misjudges its trajectory and speed, it will indeed be easily "
"Kill with one strike", which is probably why the genre is called "One Sword".
However, in front of Huang Gai who can directly clamp the blade with his muscles, Zu Mao who is invisible in the bushes, and Han Dang and others who are completely unable to notice, having a second round is already considered powerful. It can be said that it is completely different from the strongest.
This aspect was restrained, which made it much easier for Sun Jian and others to question the assassins who had collapsed due to this.
————
On the banks of the Sishui River, in the woods far away from the Xuzhou coalition camp.
"Saitoichi, what a strange name."
After capturing the last group of assassins here, Sun Jian and others also asked for the name of the leader of the "One Sword Ryu". This was not because these assassins were willing to cooperate in confessing the details, but because they confidently shouted "Saito Ichishikai"
Kill you!" "This guy's muscles can't resist Master Saito's blade!" "The assassin hiding in the bushes can't escape the leader's eyes!"
After confirming that they would only say these few words repeatedly, Sun Jian blocked their mouths again. He was very convinced that although he seemed to have overlooked something or someone, the leader had already lost.
"Whether his surname is Qi or Saito, as long as we catch him, our mission will be over," Huang Gai said, moving his arms: "We have been strictly guarding the wilds for the past few days, but the governor surnamed Zhu started to
A banquet is held in the military camp, huh!"
"Perhaps he is also carrying out some kind of arrogant strategy, but he did not expect that there is a spy around him. If he is allowed to approach a guy with these methods and martial arts that are difficult to guard against, his life will be difficult to save."
The ground kicked out a few thick wooden stakes from the forest: "This seems to be some kind of 'substitution technique' they used? It couldn't be more obvious."
A dark cloud covered the sky, sparse raindrops began to fall, and soon turned into a continuous drizzle, and the sound of water dripping in the forest from all directions.
"Uh, young master, do you want to retreat temporarily?" Huang Gai covered his head with his hands dissatisfied: "This is the bad thing about being close to rivers and seasides."
"No," Sun Jian looked at the captured assassins, their eyes shining with excitement for no apparent reason: "It seems that our target has been found."
choke!
A flash of sword light flashed, and the falling rainwater gathered towards it as if it was attracted, turning into a blade made of water and flying towards Sun Jian - obviously, he had already determined who the leader was.
"Drink!" Huang Gai stood directly in front of it and blocked the water blade with his arm. However, as the prisoners said, Huang Gai, who could have blocked their attack without any injuries, was struck by this
The water blade made a bloody gash on his arm.
Swish--
Two water blades flew out again, heading straight for Zu Mao and Cheng Pu who were hiding in the forest.
"Hey!" "Hmph!" Zu Mao and Cheng Pu each avoided the water blade, but at the same time, a figure in a strange warrior uniform appeared out of thin air from the rain, and the curved long knife in his hand slashed all the way along the path.
The rain hit Sun Jian.
"Choke!" Han Dang, who had been standing beside Sun Jian, stopped the long knife with his iron spear.
Sun Jian and others were mentally prepared, but the assassin leader, who had not noticed Han Dang at all, was obviously very shocked. He missed his sword and wanted to withdraw with his sword.
"Stop him!" Huang Gai, the only one who was truly injured, shouted angrily, but all the generals present were unable to do so due to various reasons.
【嚓——】
As a strange red sword light flashed, the fleeing assassin leader and all the raindrops around him were "fixed" in the air. Then, a gloomy man wearing thick and tight pitch black armor carried the assassin with him.
A very similar jet-black curved knife stepped into the forest glade. When the leader's eyes showed despair, he knocked him unconscious with the back of the knife. He reached out to lift his collar, and then, the "fixed" rain began to fall again.
The black-armored general turned to Sun Jian and said word by word in an unusually hoarse voice: "Zhou Tai, I have seen you, young master."
