Book 12 Chapter 13 – Past Events Like Fleeting Smoke
Wang Shichong, in full military attire, stood on the bow.
Kou Zhong and a group of high-ranking military officers stood behind him.
Luoyang’s outer city wall was already in sight, the atmosphere was solemn and respectful.
Four navy ships joined the procession, making the fleet look even more spectacular.
Wang Shichong was in great spirit, apparently he was in a very good mood. Beckoning Kou Zhong to come over, he asked, “Has Kou Xiao Xiong been to Luoyang?”
“This will be my first visit,” Kou Zhong respectfully replied.
Wang Shichong laughed aloud; he proudly said, “The Luo River underneath us divides the Capital City into two sections, the north and the south. The Imperial Palace and the Imperial City are located on the northwest part of the City. The streets, squares, and marketplaces are scattered around the southern and eastern parts of the City.”
“Can our fleet sail directly into the City?” Kou Zhong asked.
Immensely proud of himself, Wang Shichong replied, “Not only we can sail directly into the City, we can go anywhere we like. In terms of convenience in water and land transport inside and outside, no place under the heavens can match the Eastern Capital. Other than the Luo River running through it, there are Chan River on the east, Gu River on the west, Jin River Canal on the north, and to the south, it goes through Jin Canal, through Ji Canal, Yi River, Cao Canal, Dao Canal, back to Jin Canal, Danshui Canal, and great streets and small alleys criss-crossing the entire city. Carts and boats interlink that nothing is more convenient than this.”
The water gate has already risen, the fleet pushed deep into the City along the Luo River.
The view suddenly changed into a bustling scene of the city; Kou Zhong forgot to breathe, his tiger-eyes were wide open.
Wang Shichong whispered in Kou Zhong’s ear, “If you help me destroying Li Mi on the east, and subduing Chang’an to the west, I will make you King of Luoyang. This city then will become your territory, plus Xiao Ni will be your queen!”
Recovering his composure, Kou Zhong took a deep breath and said, “Thank you very much Sheng Shang [Your Holiness, a term used by a subject to address the Emperor] for your dragon kindness!” As soon as he finished speaking, he was amused inwardly.
However, he also knew that he must not pretend in giving out flattery, because Wang Shichong might change his view toward Kou Zhong at any time.
Hearing the two-character appellation ‘Sheng Shang’, Wang Shichong laughed aloud. And then lowering his voice, he said, “Rumor has it that you two know the secret of the ‘Duke Yang’s Treasure’; is it true?”
Kou Zhong cursed in his heart, but on the surface he maintained a deferential expression. Also lowering his voice, he said, “We only have a bit of clues, but whether we can really find it or not, it remains to be seen.”
“Is the treasure in Luoyang?” Wang Shichong probed further.
Kou Zhong pretended to be stunned. “Shangshu is really formidable!” he exclaimed.
Letting out a cold snort, Wang Shichong said, “When the new capital was being built a few years ago, Yang Su was actively involved in it; hiding the treasure here is the most logical thing.”
Kou Zhong was delighted inwardly, thinking that it would be best if you think that way.
Suddenly he saw the fleet was sailing toward the Big Bridge spanning across the River. Aghast, he shouted, “We are going to hit the bridge!”
Although Wang Shichong and his generals tried hard not to laugh, but it was very hard.
While Kou Zhong was still at a loss, the middle of the big bridge opened up, both sides rose upwards, revealing enough space that the fleet was able to sail through in single file unhindered.
Wang Shichong turned toward Kou Zhong, who was still dumbstruck, unable to conceal his amazement, and said, “This is our Central Earth’s first drawbridge, designed by the world’s renowned master craftsman, Lu Miaozi. I am not surprised that Kou Xiao Xiong has never seen anything like this.”
Pointing to the right bank ahead, he said, “That is the Imperial Palace. We’ll go directly to see Yang Dong, I want to know what kind of trick he is going to play.”
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Stunned, Xu Ziling asked, “Li Dage is married?”
Li Jing’s old face blushed; he said, “It’s been a while! When Su Mei and I fled to the north that time, I was fortunate to come across her and obtained her benevolence by having my severed tendon fixed; otherwise your Li Dage would become a cripple.”
In that moment Xu Ziling understood the whole thing.
Because of Li Jing’s ‘change of affection, shift of love’, in her grief Susu was forced to leave Li Jing, and was no longer willing to mention him.
Li Jing was puzzled, “How come Ziling’s countenance became so unsightly?”
Xu Ziling’s countenance turned cold; he spoke word-by-word, “From this day onward, we are no longer brothers. Li Jing, please leave!”
Li Jing was severely shaken, “What exactly is going on?” he asked.
Xu Ziling coldly said, “You should be well aware of what’s going on. In vain Su Jie loved you with all her heart. You fell in love with someone else and abandoned her. I have nothing else to say to you.” Finished speaking he turned around and walked away.
“Xiao Ling!” Li Jing shouted.
Unleashing his qinggong, in an instant Xu Ziling left the river bank area and disappeared into the stream of people on a side street.
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The grand, imposing eastern imperial palace was located at the extremity of the Luo River inside the city, northwest of Waiguocheng.
The imperial palace was divided into two sections: the Huangcheng [imperial city], and the Gongcheng [palace city]. The Imperial City was protected from all sides by Palace City on the east, south, and west, three sides, shaped like a letter U [orig. character凹 – ao], while its north side was separated from the Palace City by the city wall.
Imperial City city wall was a double-wall. The north side was triple-wall, and thus increasing its defense capabilities.
East and west inside of Imperial City were four side streets, which intersected the three streets going north and south, with the main street in the middle being the axis, where the government buildings, city hall, military headquarters, and so on were located along the side streets on either side of the main street, like the stars cupping themselves around the moon [idiom from Analects], on the left and right, not far from, the imperial palace.
Palace City was Yang Dong, the child emperor’s residence and the reception hall where he received the ministers.
North of Palace City were two walled cities Yaoyi [lit. glorious rites] and Yuanbi [lit. round rampart], so that Palace City was heavily surrounded and so the defense was much tighter than Jiangdu.
The fleet was slowly docking on the pier outside Imperial City. Wang Shichong laughed and said, “Since Li Mi did not know that you and Shuni have gotten away, the news should not have reached Luoyang yet; so now Yang Dong is going to be caught off-guard. Perhaps until now he does not even know that I, Wang Shichong, am back.”
“This is called ‘defeating the slow by speed’,” Kou Zhong said, “As long as we can control Yang Dong, the Dugu Clan will lose their strongest backing. At that time, whether we want to kill or cut [referring to cutting off the flesh as punishment], it will not be up to them to decide.”
Wang Shichong said, “Although Dugu Feng’s martial art skill is very high, he is still unworthy to make me lose sleep. But that old granny You Chuhong is indeed no small matter. Although the number of martial art masters under my banner is as numerous as a cloud, I am afraid none will be able to stop her. If she managed to escape the net and fled, the catastrophe will be great indeed.”
Astonished, Kou Zhong asked, “Why didn’t Shangshu mention Dugu Feng?” [Translator’s note: I know this could be confusing. The first Dugu Feng was ‘peak/summit’; he was Dugu Clan’s leader (see Book 2 Chapter 12 for first mention of this man). The second Dugu Feng was ‘phoenix’, the girl who came across Hou Xibai in Book 9 Chapter 2.]
Wang Shichong was taken aback, “Why would I want to mention her?”
Kou Zhong knew situation was worse than he originally thought; he spoke heavily, “My friend Ba Fenghan has had confrontation with Dugu Feng [phoenix], he was nearly unable to escape alive. Reportedly her martial art skill has surpassed Dugu Feng’s [peak]; it is second only to You Chuhong. How could Shangshu not know anything about this?”
Wang Shichong has personally witnessed Ba Fenghan’s extremely strong skill at Pengcheng; hearing Kou Zhong, his countenance changed. “If this is really the case,” he said, “Perhaps Dugu Clan still has other strengths hidden for an opportunity to plot against me.”
Kou Zhong nodded. “That must be the case,” he said, “We must be careful, otherwise, one slip and the loss will be heavy.”
The ship was anchored; Wang Shichong led his entourage stepping down the plank.
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With head down, Xu Ziling scurried along the street; halfway down, his mood calmed down somewhat. Especially with the street was lined on both sides with trees, providing him with ample shaded; the sky was blue, the cloud white, it was a love spring sunshine. Thereupon he strived to set aside the matter of regret that could not be undone between Li Jing and Susu, and put his mind on the buildings in the City of Luoyang.
Since leaving the Flying Horse Ranch, he was using his spare time to fetch Lu Miaozi’s book he left behind and browsed it to study. Having a considerable interest in building construction, this moment he was able to look around with expert eyes at this carefully planned city layout, which conformed to the terrain of the land, creating a capital that was famous throughout the world.
Xu Ziling’s mood turned to be more cheerful as he wandered the side streets and alleys. No matter where he went, the streets and alleys intersect each other in checked pattern like a chessboard, with the houses evenly distributed in perfect order.
A group of children was playing in a vacant lot, innocent laughter filled the air, making him reminiscing his childhood he spent with Kou Zhong in the City of Yangzhou. It seemed like the two of them had never played like this, every day was filled with the struggle to have enough food and warm clothes, as well as dealing with bullies.
While he was lost in his thought, he heard the sound of wind behind him.
Quickly turning around, he saw that it was Dou Jiande’s top general, Liu Heita.
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As Wang Shichong was stepping on the dock, a middle-aged general met him up. After saluting, he said, “Everything is in order, Shangshu, please set your heart at ease.”
This man was quite tall; he was probably a cun or so shorter than Kou Zhong. His face was long like a horse’s, and he wore a goatee, but his eyes were shining; evidently he was a martial art master in internal and external skills.
Wang Shichong introduced Kou Zhong to him, “This is General Lang Feng. In my absence, Luoyang’s affair is in his and General Song Mengqiu’s hands.”
Kou Zhong suddenly understood that this man was Wang Shichong’s trusted aide.
At the same time he shivered inwardly.
Just by looking at the calm situation before his eyes, he knew that Wang Shichong has already transmitted his order via a special channel of communication, instructing Lang Feng and Song Mengqiu to secretly mobilize their troops to gain control over Imperial City.
Therefore, although when he first heard the news Wang Shichong appeared to be helpless, the fact was that an old fox would remain an old fox. After calming down, he exposed his true color: shrewd, ruthless, and formidable.
Lang Feng said, “Shangshu Daren, please!”
Wang Shichong smiled calmly, and took the lead to stroll toward the gate leading into Imperial City
