Chapter 559 Chapter 8 Return to Middle-Earth

Da Zhi and Kou Zhong came to the other side of the bay. The lights of Xiaolongquan were like hazy lights and shadows, full of water, and the coastal area was entangled by drizzle. The two sat down on a pile of rocks, facing the sea. Da Zhi said softly: "It's another moment before dawn, time flies by like this ruthlessly ignoring everything, Xiufang and everyone will play the mourning song at the funeral of Baizi Pavilion tomorrow morning, and leave Longquan immediately. The first stop is Koryo, Fu Cailin will receive her personally, I heard that Gai Suwen also invited her as a guest, and Lie Xia has arranged for her to sail northward."

Kou Zhong was startled and said: "So, Lie Xia should still be nearby." Dazhi sighed: "So what if it's nearby? Can I kill him in front of Xiufang? You asked me to investigate Xu Kaishan's matter. He and his men were there the night before you killed Fu Nanda. Leaving in a hurry, according to the direction, it should not be returning to Shanhaiguan, but with his cunning, he may be suspicious." Kou Zhong said, "Where's your brother Du?" Da Dazhi said: "He and Hu Yanjin went to see Da Khan together to explain what happened recently. On the surface, Da Khan was very polite to them, but only Da Khan knew what was going on in his heart. It's so strange, Da Khan is behind everyone. They all expressed their appreciation for you, and they also promised to help you defeat Li Shimin."

Kou Zhong frowned and said: "That is definitely not a good thing for Zhongtu. It shows that he will use my name in the future to unite with various tribes of the grassland to invade the Central Plains. Sigh! I shouldn't talk about this with you, right? " Da Zhi nodded with a wry smile, and said, "You really shouldn't say it. In the hatred between countries, there is no place for personal friendship. As for Ma Ji, there is no news yet." Kou Zhong pondered for a while, then said in a low voice: "I have a very abrupt question, what kind of seat does Shang Xiufang occupy in Brother Ke's heart?"

Dazhi shook his head and said, "I don't know how to answer you? Before meeting Xiufang and everyone, women were just embellishments in my life, making my life more attractive. But I never believed in eternal love. It is a conclusion drawn from experience. No matter how obsessed you are with her at the beginning, even hard to extricate yourself, but the enthusiasm will fade and disappear one day, and you don’t even want to face her anymore, and she can no longer bring you excitement Feelings. For a man, the truly eternal thing is to establish achievements, insist on achieving a certain lofty ideal and goal, and don’t take life and death seriously.”

Kou Zhong said dejectedly: "Then just pretend I never asked you this question!" Dazhi was surprised and said: "What are you thinking in your heart? What is the weight of Xiufang and everyone in your heart? Strictly speaking: we are not only destined to be mortal enemies, but also rivals in love. But I have no enemy for you." It feels, at least for now." Kou Zhong stood up unsteadily, showing a heavy heart, and sighed: "Will a so-called man who is dedicated to making contributions miss the best things in his life? It's almost dawn! I'm going back on the boat, and I hope that when we meet again, Everyone is still interested in drinking and chatting!"

Three huge ships with extremely deep drafts, carrying sheepskins, treasure chests, weapons and bows, marched side by side in the calm sea. During the ten-day journey, Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling's time slipped away quickly amid falcon taming and chatting and laughing.The moving natural beauty of the sea and the charming mountains and rivers along the coast deeply attracted them. The important task of steering the boat was the responsibility of soldiers who were familiar with the wind and waves sent by Tuli. I don't know if there was too much bloodshed during the trip to the prairie, and the two never talked about martial arts, but when Shanhaiguan was in sight, they had to face the impending reality as if they were gradually waking up from a dream.

Kou Zhong carried the little falcon, fed it meat, and came to Song Shidao, Xu Ziling and Ou Liangcai who were chatting at the bow of the boat. With a slight flick of his wrist, the little falcon soared into the sky and flew towards the sea level. Ou Liangcai exclaimed in admiration: "We have seen hunters relying on hawks to hunt in Pingyao, but they are far from the understanding of this hawk! Look! Its fur is gray and black with golden yellow in it, and it shines brightly under the sunlight. How mighty!" Song Shidao nodded in agreement, and said: "The hunters in Lingnan also raise eagles, but the quality is far from this eagle. Do you want to change the name for it?"

Kou Zhong scratched his head and said, "What name should I change?" Xu Ziling stared at the falcon that turned into a black spot in the distance, and said casually: "Didn't you have a call to summon it? Then you need a name, so you don't need to change it." Kou Zhong laughed and said: "Then call it nameless! It's just for our convenience, we can't let that falcon disrespect it. Alas! Where did that boy Yin Xianhe go? Go? I hope nothing happened to him!" Song Shidao calmly analyzed: "A swordsman with a withdrawn temperament like him is more trustworthy than ordinary people. If he refuses to agree, he will definitely keep his promise after agreeing. So something must have happened that prevented him from arriving at the small town before dawn. Longquan."

Xu Ziling had a flash of inspiration, nodded and said: "Second Brother Song's words make sense, and it must be related to Xu Kaishan. Yin Xianhe came to Longquan today to assassinate Xu Kaishan." Kou Zhong worried: "That would be very dangerous, since Xu Kaishan knew that his identity had been exposed, and even had a falling out with Du Xing, he would turn around and attack anyone who threatened him, just like being driven into a poor alley The vicious dog in the house." Song Shidao shook his head and said: "You are a bit exaggerated. In fact, his identity has not been revealed, and he can still be completely dismissed. Xu Kaishan is planning to establish the Northeast Caravan in the Northeast, and he will never give up lightly. He will only temporarily avoid the limelight. The fire situation, we can't just because he stays in Shanhaiguan, so he has a great chance to regain his strength. Under this situation, he will not take action against Yin Xianhe, so as not to reveal his true colors and form an inseparable relationship with us Hate."

Xu Ziling said: "Young commander, be humble and accept the teaching! Brother Song is more understanding of human affairs and worldly than us." Kou Zhong blushed and said: "I just saw that boy Yin couldn't get on the boat in time, so I made such a guess. Alas! If Xu Kaishan hadn't killed him, why did this boy break the appointment? Didn't Young Master Ling make an appointment with him to find the boy? Sister? What could be more important to him than this?" Master Song said: "Yin Xianhe is the kind of person who doesn't want to be favored by others. Although he is willing to make friends with you, he still doesn't want to trouble you, or he thinks that the fate with you is enough, so he deliberately broke the appointment."

Kou Zhong nodded and said: "Listening to Song Er Ge's words, it is really enlightening. Boy Yin can't stand in the corner of the boat forever and ignore others, so he chooses to go on the road alone. Ouch! This trip is so bad, he will definitely throw it alone to find incense It's bad luck for the father and son, Xiaoling, what news did you reveal to him." He winked at Xu Ziling as he spoke. Xu Ziling understood, and said: "I once told him that Chi Shengchun of Chang'an Liufu Casino may be Xianggui's eldest son. This is the only clue to investigate Xiang's family." Song Shidao frowned and said, "The Li family in Chang'an is not friendly to us. Whether we can enter the city is a problem. Even if Chi Shengchun is captured, he may die and refuse to reveal the family's secrets." Kou Zhong immediately hit the snake with the stick, and brought up the old story again: "That's why I asked Second Brother Song for help, your life experience is richer than ours, heh..." He was obviously unable to continue, unable to speak. Song Shidao smiled wryly, "How can I help?" Kou Zhong hurriedly said: "Second Brother Song can help a lot, alas! I can't separate myself, so I only have Xiaoling to deal with Chi Shengchun alone. It's really worrying." Then he clapped his legs and said, "Yes!" Xu Ziling, Song Shidao, and Ou Liangcai all stared at him blankly, not understanding what trick he could come up with. Kou Zhongsha said matter-of-factly: "The most respected person in the casino is the wealthy businessman with a family background, so as long as Song Erge pretends to be this kind of person, Xiaoling will pretend to be a follower, and he can sneak into Chang'an City to get close to Chi Shengchun. Adapt to the situation and see how to set his secrets. Xiaoling has always been poor and indifferent, teaching him to pretend to be a rich man will be full of loopholes, so it must be Song Erge." Only then did Xu Ziling realize that he was talking nonsense, the purpose was to prevent Song Shidao from returning to Xiaogu to accompany the tomb to die.However, his plan is indeed similar to Lei Jiuzhi's original idea, or even more perfect and feasible. Song Shidao couldn't help laughing, and said: "If someone really has a family background and reputation, he can see through his identity at a glance, how can he pretend to be a fake, only the upstarts are unknown, then it must be me, right? " Kou Zhong himself couldn't help laughing and said: "Xiaoling pretends to be an upstart, alas! My mother!" Ou Liangcai said: "If you pretend to be an upstart, I have a suitable candidate for consideration." Song Shidao smiled and said: "Is it Situ Furong who started his business as a pawn, a rich man from Pingyao?" Ou Liangcai nodded happily and said, "It's this person." Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling were stunned, they couldn't imagine how Song Shidao could guess this gentleman out of thousands of upstarts. Song Shidao explained: "First of all, it is because Mr. Ou is from Pingyao, so it is easy to think of him as a fellow countryman; more importantly, Situ Furong is greedy for life and afraid of death, rarely deals with people, and his only hobby is gambling, but it is limited to trust and trust. But it is not easy to pretend to be a nouveau riche. Anyone who runs a casino has a close relationship with a pawn shop, and is familiar with the system and operation of a pawn shop. A few words can tell whether you are an expert. There is another problem with Situ Furong. There are pawnshops all over the world, if there is a pawnshop in Chang'an, we will definitely show our feet, and then we will have to walk around without eating." Ou Liangcai said: "Situ Furong's pawnshops are named after Fu and Rong respectively. For example, the main shop in Pingyao is called Furong, and the others are Fusheng, Fuyong, Rongman, Rongde and so on. Rongda in Chang'an Beiyuan The big bet shop is his branch in Chang'an, and it is also the largest bet shop in Chang'an, and the host, Chen Fu, is my uncle, so he can cover up his identity for everyone." Xu Ziling shook his head and said, "How can this be done? Chi Shengchun has Li Yuanji behind him. If one is not good, it will cause harm to your relatives. How can we be at ease?" Ou Liangcai said solemnly: "Human meat dealers, everyone will be punished if they get it, not to mention that I, Wei Sheng, have great kindness for you, and I believe that you must have a way to hide the truth, so that you will not drag my uncle down." The three of them were all moved, they didn't expect Ou Liangcai to have both loyalty and a sense of justice. Song Shidao frowned and said, "I don't know what your uncle, Mr. Chen will think?" Ou Liangcai smiled and said: "I know what my second uncle is like, so there should be no problem in this regard." Then he lowered his voice and said: "We are people who support King Qin's family. If we can take advantage of this to attack the princelings, we will only be grateful. What is a betting shop? The most fearful thing is that the Xiang family fully supports the princelings to stir up trouble Stirring the rain, that's really bad." The three suddenly realized that if Li Jiancheng was allowed to ascend the throne, all those who had supported Li Shimin would be rejected, so Ou Liangcai was also thinking about his family.Politics is indeed a very complex game. Song Shidao sighed helplessly. Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling looked at him puzzled, but Ou Liangcai continued: "Situ Furong has a powerful assistant who often follows around to appraise the pawned treasures for him. His name is Shen Wenjiang. He is from a declining family. Younger brother, Song Er Ge should be the one for Qiao to pretend to be him or Situ Furong." Kou Xu understood, the former murmured: "This matter is getting more and more interesting, alas, but I can't partake in it. Am I blessed not to enjoy the trouble of asking for trouble?" Wuming circled in the distance and flew back towards them. The pier in the east of Shanhaiguan appeared ahead and finally arrived at the destination. I saw a large ship moored at the pier, about to sail out to sea, Kou Zhong took a look and shouted: "Isn't this the Missy's boat? See it? There are three big characters Yi Shenglong on the flag, which is the big Miss' name." Xu Ziling nodded and said, "The eldest lady came in person!" With Zhai Jiao's character, as long as she can walk, she will definitely meet them in Longquan as soon as possible. The strong wind crushed the top, Wuming landed on Kou Zhong's broad shoulders, and slowly retracted his wings. "boom"! Zhai Jiao slapped the table with her palm, ignoring Song Shidao who just met in the cabin, and cursed: "What did you two do? I want you to kill Han Chao'an, Du Xing and Hu Yanjin, but half of them You can't even kill him, and you boast about being invincible, and in my opinion, you are not worthy of being a cleaning boy. Hmph!" Standing behind her, Ren Jun couldn't help but whispered: "Master Kou and Master Xu never said that they are invincible in the world, and 80,000 sheepskins..." Zhai Jiao said angrily: "Shut up! It's your turn to intervene in this matter. I'm not messing with them, but for their own good, I don't want them not to grow up." Kou Zhong bowed his knees and nodded, "Missy scolded you well, but we are indeed incapable of doing things." Xu Ziling understood Zhai Jiao's character very well, and obediently bowed his head to be taught, not daring to refute half a sentence. Zhai Jiao said angrily: "Of course it makes sense. You two useless boys told me, what should I do now? The person who controls Shanhaiguan is still Du Xing, teach me how to explain to Master Jing? And that Xu Kaishan from the Northern Horse Gang will only ruin my business with Yi Shenglong. Will I still use this line of business in the future?" Song Shidao opened his mouth and said, "Whether the eldest lady can listen to the next point of my humble opinion." Zhai Jiao didn't dare to lose his temper, and said happily: "Young Master Song, please advise, I, Zhai Jiao, am a sensible person!" Song Shidao said: "The situation in Shanhaiguan is extremely delicate, and a balance can be reached under the mutual contention of various forces. In my humble opinion, it is not appropriate to act rashly at this moment, otherwise there will be unpredictable variables. If Gao Kaidao confronts the Turks or the Khitans head-on , the worst will happen. Now that the scourge of wolf robbers has been resolved, Xu Kaishan and Du Xing have fallen out, and everyone knows the relationship between the eldest lady and Xiaozhong and Xiaoling..." Zhai Jiao said disdainfully: "Do I have to rely on these two useless boys?" Song Shidao smiled and said: "Although they are useless, they are Tuli's brothers. If you don't give them face, you have to give Tuli face. So don't worry, Miss, the business of this line will only grow bigger and bigger. " Zhai Jiao's face paled slightly, and she said: "Only think on the bright side! I'm going back to Leshou immediately to send this batch of sheepskins to various places. Will you two come back with me to see Xiao Lingzhong?" Kou Zhong sighed: "We also want to die, but..." Zhai Jiao patted again and said: "If you don't go, you won't go, who cares about you." Then she couldn't help laughing, and then said kindly: "I don't know why I can't help cursing when I see you two boys. Forget it Come see me immediately after finishing the important matters. Remember not to focus on killing people all day long. Only by saving your life can you have a chance to enjoy life. I will send those weapons and arrows to Pengliang for you. Don’t worry! Mile!" He said again: "Take Xiaojun with you! Give me a few more months to train him, and I don't need to ask you if something happens in the future." Ren Jun was overjoyed. How dare Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling say no, they only nodded in agreement. Zhai Jiao told Ren Jun, "Call those Pingyao merchants in and see if there is any ready-made business to talk about." Ren Jun went as ordered. Kou Zhong, Xu Ziling and Song Shidao took the opportunity to slip to the deck to breathe and talk, while Wuming was still circling freely and freely over the pier. Kou Zhongdao: "After breaking up with Missy, shall we first go to Yuyang to deliver the Feiyun Bow to Master Arrow?" Xu Ziling said: "Of course, after that you will go straight to Luoyang, right?" Kou Zhongdao: "I still have to think about it, Xiaojun will be handed over to you to take him to the mill, I don't want him to accompany me to Luoyang to die." Song Shidao said displeased: "How can you be so pessimistic? Luoyang is a stronger military town than Chang'an. Even without your presidency, Kou Zhong, it is still not easy to be captured by Li Shimin." Kou Zhong sighed: "The problem is that Wang Shichong refused to let me command the defense of the city. I just want to be a monk and hit the clock for a day. Let's see how long I can hit the clock!" Song Shidao pondered: "I have a suggestion, if you can say hello to Dou Jiande before arriving in Luoyang, maybe you can turn the whole situation around, and Wang Shichong will be more polite to you." Kou Zhong's tiger eyes lit up immediately.