(All rights reserved. Reproduction is prohibited!) First published in Adventurer's Paradise.ezla.com.tw)
It was late at night, but she couldn't sleep. The military conference table was covered with sealed military replies, the air was filled with a damp smell, and the candlelight swayed in the wind, making people worry even more. A man in front of the table looked lonely. He was still wearing his armor as he opened several military replies that had just been sent to him. It was obvious that the situation here was not optimistic.
On the second day of the first lunar month, Huangfu's army and Zhang Bao's army faced each other at the southern foot of Duizhou. They had been tricked several times during their three confrontations. Now, there were only about 20,000 soldiers left, and the casualties were difficult to estimate. However, Zhang Bao's army had increased from 50,000 to 80,000 with the help of reinforcements from the suburbs. Marshal Lu, please send troops to help...
On the ninth day of December, Zhu Jun's army and Zhang Liang faced each other in the west of Qingzhou. As Zhang Liang's army exceeded 100,000, General Zhu knew that he was no match for them, so he did not move. However, the enemy's strength was increasing day by day. In order to prevent it from getting out of hand, he requested Marshal Lu to send troops to help…
Lu Zhi sat in front of the table, reading the military documents. His eyebrows were furrowed because the situation in northern Hebei was not optimistic. Zhang Jiao was indeed worthy of leading nearly a million followers in the Central Plains. Lu Zhi, who was proud of his military strategy, had never gained the upper hand in several battles. Coupled with the urgent situation in various places, he might be wiped out if he was not careful. On the other hand, the Yellow Turban bandits had won many battles, and their numbers were increasing. As the commander of the three armies, how could Lu Zhi not be worried?
Just as Lu Zhi was about to die, a loud noise suddenly rose outside the tent and spread throughout the camp. Lu Zhi's heart trembled. He thought it was a night attack by the Yellow Turban bandits. He hurriedly took out a long knife from the side of the tent and wanted to go out to investigate.
"Report!"
"Come in! Yes! What happened outside?”
Lu Zhi walked to the tent and wanted to look out.
"The scouts reported that Teacher Zhang Daxian sent tens of thousands of troops to attack at night. The general army couldn't hold them off. The deputy general sent me to inform the marshal and ask him to retreat south as soon as possible.”
"Nonsense! Military orders are like mountains. Without my orders, Lulin would not have been able to withdraw his troops…Although this valley is noisy, it's probably just a bluff. Send my order to call Lulin over…Eh? Teacher Zhang Daxian? You are not a soldier of my army! Who exactly are you?"
Lu Lin was Lu Zhi's nephew. This time, Lu Zhi was ordered to lead the army to the north to attack the Yellow Turban bandits. In order to support Lu Lin, he was appointed as the deputy general, hoping that this battle would give him a good chance of promotion.
For some reason, Lu Zhi felt that this person's whereabouts were very strange. As he shouted, he had already slashed his long knife horizontally at the soldier's neck. The soldier snorted coldly and lowered his head to dodge, his figure swaying as he retreated out of the commander's tent.
At this moment, Lu Zhi felt that there was something fishy about the matter. He hurriedly brandished his knife to protect his entire body and followed him out of the commander's tent. As soon as he left the commander's tent, he realized that the guards patrolling the night had all laid on the ground, not knowing if they were dead or alive.
"Marshal Lu is indeed not simple. My brother's disguise technique can be considered an expert, but he was still seen through by Marshal Lu. "In this case, we'll have to spend some time to deal with Marshal Lu! But how did Marshal Lu know that he wasn't a soldier of your camp?”
Lu Zhi looked in the direction of the voice. There were already several men standing opposite him, not afraid that he was in the restricted area of the Han army camp. The man in the long robe who spoke was like a loud bell, and he leisurely placed his hands behind his back.
"Humph! Looks like you guys are the pawns of that horned man. It was easy to tell if that person was in disguise. This person had called Zhang Jiao 'Great Virtuous Teacher Zhang' the moment he entered the commander's tent. This Zhang Jiao is the leader of the rebels. How can our soldiers call him by his title? They must call him the traitor. With these details alone, it would be useless no matter how good his disguise was.”
The man looked at the soldier and said,""Hey! It's rare that Marshal Lu is willing to give you some pointers. This will benefit you greatly in the future. Hurry up and thank him!”
When that person heard this, he cupped his fists and bowed to Lu Zhi with ill intentions."Thank you for your guidance, Marshal Lu. Marquis Hua Shang will remember it in his heart!”
"Humph! Traitors and thieves who are pretending to be crazy, watch how I, Lu Zhi, deal with you!”
Knowing the situation, Lu Zhi swung his long saber with his right hand and swung it at the crowd. The saber qi formed made a sizzling sound and was quite imposing. One must know that Lu Zhi's nickname was "Sky-Turning Eagle", so he naturally had extraordinary attainments in his fingers. Although he did not use his famous claw technique to fight his enemies, his strength was still not to be underestimated.
"Let me do it!"
Everyone first dispersed and dodged Lu Zhi's saber force. A swordsman with a goatee beside the long-robed man shouted for everyone to retreat. Then, he held a sword in his left hand and formed a sword gesture in his right hand as he fought with Lu Zhi. The fierce battle of the night began.
"Xiaoqing, the break time is over. Why haven't you come to the training field to challenge Uncle Wang to a sword skill competition?"”
A slightly reproachful tone sounded from behind the child. Xiao Qing, who was originally happily playing with a multi-colored cat, quickly stood up straight in front of the man who spoke.
The man was about forty years old. His gray hair gave him a sense of intelligence and calmness. His well-defined facial features, coupled with his ink-black eyebrows and his tall eagle nose, which was rarely seen in the Central Plains, made him look even more imposing. Seeing that the child was just standing in front of him, he said again,"Quickly pack up and bring your sword to the martial arts field. Uncle Wang was persuaded by Father to agree to teach you swordsmanship. Thinking back to hundreds of years ago, the Wang family's swordsmanship was so prestigious that others could not learn it even if they wanted to!”
Xiaoqing had delicate features, bright eyes, and white teeth. She was very beautiful. She was over ten years old, and her black eyes were watery as she looked at the man and said reluctantly,"That's Father's wishful thinking. If Uncle Wang's family heirloom sword technique was truly so impressive, how could he have so easily imparted it to Xiaoqing? Moreover, if the Eight Forms of Furious Sword was truly the pinnacle of martial arts, Uncle Wang's ancestor, the founder of Furious Sword, and the descendant of Wang Jian, Wang Chong, would not have been beheaded by the genius swordsman Liu Bang in just a few moves. I feel that it's true that Father is keeping a trump card and is unwilling to teach our Bai family's ultimate technique, the Nine Demon Slash, to Xiao Qing…Otherwise, why would he want Xiaoqing to learn an outsider's martial arts?”
"Shut up!"
The more the man listened, the angrier he became. He slapped Xiaoqing's entire left cheek with his palm. Although this slap didn't use any inner strength, how could a child withstand an adult's palm strike? Bai Qing's left cheek immediately swelled up and blood started to flow from the corner of her mouth. She originally thought that the man would dotingly pull Bai Qing into his embrace when he saw this. However, he seemed to hesitate for a moment before forcefully stopping the impulse in his heart. After which, he said in a deep voice,"How could the Bai family have a descendant like you who doesn't know where to drink water from? Did you forget what I told you about that despicable Liu? He actually insulted the descendants of our Qin Dynasty's retainers and praised that Liu Gou who cheated the world.”
Bai Qing, whose face was swollen, didn't wail like a child because of this. She showed a painful expression as she stroked her face and retorted: "That's true. You lords always say 'wash the Liu family in blood and revive Great Qin,' but have you really done anything? Didn't that Liu guy live to the end of his life and was a child who had been passed down for dozens of generations? He even had the glory of 'Guangwu's revival' for so long. Why didn't he see you old people who boasted go and take the emperor's head off together?”
Originally, when the man saw Bai Qing's swollen face, his anger had mostly dissipated. However, after hearing Bai Qing's words, his anger flared up once more, and he roared,"What are you talking about, little girl?”
As he roared, he raised his right palm once again, wanting to slap Bai Qing's face. He originally thought that Bai Qing would dodge in fear, but he didn't expect her to just stand there with a determined look on her face, waiting for the man's palm to land.
The man was even more furious when he saw this. Not only was he determined to teach his only daughter a lesson, but he also unconsciously used 20% of his strength.
If this palm landed, Bai Qing would definitely lose a few teeth. And just as the man's palm was about to touch Bai Qing's swollen left cheek, a warm sword energy struck the man's palm, knocking it away.
"Brother Kuang, although you're angry, don't hurt Shixun's cute wife! Otherwise, his son would be extremely sad because of this!”
Bai Kuang wanted to teach his daughter a lesson, but he was forced back by a sword force. He was about to get angry, but when he saw the person who came, he changed his appearance. He cupped his fists and said,"Sigh... Brother Shixun, I'm sorry for making a fool of myself. This little Qing doesn't know what's good for her and forgets her ancestors. She should be taught a lesson. Otherwise, when she married into the Wang family, she would climb over Qun 'er's head!”
The man called Wang Shixun had a refined appearance and a long beard. He wore a green robe and walked to the soft seat in the hall with Bai Kuang. He stroked his long beard and said,"Children and grandchildren have their own blessings. Brother Kuang, don't worry too much. It's just that this child is not sensible. Don't be too calculative.”
Bai Kuang seemed to admire Wang Shixun very much. He nodded repeatedly and looked at Bai Qing."Hurry up and apologize to Uncle Wang. Otherwise, if Uncle Wang doesn't teach you his ultimate technique later, you'll be the one at a disadvantage!”
Bai Qing seemed to have turned a deaf ear to him. Wang Shixun saw this and wanted to resolve the awkward situation. He did not expect a boy to run into the hall.
The boy's facial features were a little unlucky, but he did not lose the aura of a famous family. He held a small bouquet in his hand and happily walked up to Bai Qing."Xiaoqing, look at how beautiful this bouquet is. Can I give it to you?”
The boy did not seem to notice Bai Qing's swollen left cheek. At this moment, he was so angry that he had nowhere to vent his anger. He found a scapegoat and scolded,"Who wants your flowers! Go away! It hurts!"
The boy who didn't dare to raise his head heard Bai Qing's low moan and mustered up his courage to look at her. Seeing the swollen left cheek of Bai Qing, she seemed to have changed into a different person as she said angrily,""Who is it? Who bullied you? Tell me, Wang Qun…How despicable! Which bastard dared to bully my Xiaoqing!”
This boy was Wang Shixun's youngest son. His surname was Wang Qun and he was twelve years old. He was very doted on by Wang Shixun. Wang Shixun had thought that Wang Qun's arrival would make Bai Qing laugh. Who knew that he was spouting nonsense? He quickly glanced at Bai Kuang and saw that Bai Kuang's expression had darkened. He quickly said,"Qun 'er, what nonsense are you spouting!"
Wang Qun did not know what Wang Shixun was talking about. He immediately continued,"I'm not talking nonsense. Father, look, Bai Qing's face is so swollen, I wonder which bastard…Aiyo!"
Wang Qun was about to continue speaking vulgarities when Wang Shixun slapped him in the air and said solemnly,""Shut up!"
Wang Qun covered his face and didn't dare to continue speaking. At this moment, Bai Qing's eyes flashed with a crafty light as she spoke: "Brother Qun, will you stand up for me if I say it?”
Seeing Bai Qing speaking to him in such a pleasant tone, Wang Qun had already flown away from the lesson he had received from Wang Shixun. He patted his chest and promised,"Little Qing, don't worry. As long as you tell me who bullied you, I will beat him until he kneels and begs for mercy!”
Wang Shixun wanted to stop Wang Qun, but Bai Qing immediately continued,"What if I can't?"
There was nothing he couldn't do to keep the girl he liked with him! Wang Qun suddenly said with an aged heroic spirit: "Then I, Wang Qun, will bark like a dog whenever I see Xiaoqing in the future!”
The two adults couldn't help but shake their heads when they heard this. Bai Qing Zhi's evil plan had succeeded and she said,""Good! I don't want Brother Qun to beat him up and beg for mercy. I just want Brother Qun to give him two slaps!”
"Xiao Qing…"
Bai Kuang was furious when he heard that, and Wang Shixun could not help but sigh at his son's stupidity. "Who is it?" Wang Qun asked hurriedly.”
"Him!"
Wang Qun still couldn't understand. Bai Qing walked out of the hall and pointed at Bai Kuang who was in the hall and said to Wang Qun: "Remember to give him two slaps. Otherwise, he'll have to bark like a dog when he sees me in the future!”
This book comes from：m.funovel.com。