Chapter 136: The Apprehension of Jia Zhong
Translator: DragonRider
“They regard him as a legendary war hero worth worshipping,” explained Ling Zhang in a resigned tone of voice. “This morning, I had some men stop them from doing that. Dai Cheng is still in Tanyang. This kind of doings of the residents would never escape the notice of Dai Cheng. If news of it reaches the emperor’s ears, there would almost definitely be some extra trouble.”
He had been left powerless to comment on the deeds of those residents.
This time, Xie Shi understood. He said, “This kind of things are not without precedents, which is why the Marshal almost always keeps his identity secret to others to avoid attracting any attention, unless he’s in the border area or the capital city.”
“Do you have any ideas?”
Xie Shi thought for a while and then said, “Maybe you can try distracting the attention of those residents. It won’t be long before the Marshal returns to the capital city.”
‘Distracting the attention of those residents?’ Ling Zhang started pondering over it.
“Hey, everybody, that Jia Zhong of Jia family was caught and escorted back. Let’s go and see!” somebody on the roadside suddenly yelled.
This news immediately drew the attention of a lot of residents. Ling Zhang also instantly looked in that direction.
“At the west city gate. They have already entered the city!”
‘They’ve entered the city?’ Ling Zhang reined in his horse.
“Childe Ling, should we go and take a look?” asked Xie Shi.
Ling Zhang twisted his head around, flicked a glance at the horse-drawn carriages behind him and thought for a while before answering, “Let’s go back home first.”
‘Grandfather and others are not going to be happy to see that guy. Today is the day of their return. They deserve a good mood. Since Jia Zhong has already been apprehended, he’s definitely going to be held in custody in the Prefecture Yamen. Grandfather can see him at any time,’ thought Ling Zhang.
However, as chance would have it, they had just walked out of the street near the north city gate when they encountered the escorts that had entered the city through the west city gate.
The procession of escort was very long. Surprisingly, apart from Yamen runners dispatched by the Prefecture Yamen, there were also garrison from that town. Ling Zhang could tell with half an eye that those garrison were the ones who had helped with the hunt for Jia Zhong after receiving the message of Yuwen Tong.
“Is that Jia Zhong? They caught him?” Ling Xingzhong opened the curtain of the carriage, looked in that direction and saw that there seemed to be someone in a white prison uniform sitting in the prison wagon. Judging by the figure of that man, he believed him to be Jia Zhong.
“They are passing by in a while. Let’s wait and see,” replied Ling Zhang.
Since they had already encountered the escorts, Ling Zhang decided that they might as well take a look and find out.
The team of escort was getting closer. The man in the prison wagon was sitting still with his head down. The Yamen runners leading the way at the head of the procession recognized people of Ling family and raised their hands to signal those behind them to halt. The head constable in charge of the escort task walked up to Ling Zhang and made a bow with hands folded in front, saying, “Childe Ling.”
“Head Constable Li.” Ling Zhang also briefly folded his hands in front as a gesture of courtesy. “Thank you for all the efforts you’ve put into this task.”
“You’re too courteous. Jia Zhong committed unforgivably evil deeds. It’s my duty to bring him back to face justice,” responded Head Constable Li. Then he looked at the horse-drawn carriage and asked, “This is…”
“My grandfather.”
Ling Xingzhong opened the carriage curtain to look out the window.
Head Constable Li paid his respect to Ling Xingzhong and said, “Okay, then. If you’ll excuse us, we have to resume escorting Jia Zhong to the prison.”
“Of course. Please go ahead, Head Constable Li,” replied Ling Zhang.
Head Constable Li gave a smile and then raised his hand to gesture the procession to progress.
A man dressed like a deputy commander flicked a curious glance at Ling Zhang and nodded when his eyes met Ling Zhang’s.
Ling Zhang also politely gave a bob of his head.
The Prison wagon slowly approached. When it reached the front of people of Ling family, Jia Zhong was still silently sitting unmoved, his head down.
Ling Zhang was somewhat surprised. Under no circumstances would the Jia Zhong he knew stay indifferent in the knowledge that people of Ling family were present.
“Wait a moment.”
Head Constable Li instructed his men to stop. “What’s the matter, Childe Ling?”
“I’m sorry to bother you, Head Constable Li, but I’d like to have a quick word with Jia Zhong,” said Ling Zhang.
Head Constable Li had Yamen runners beside the prison wagon make way. Ling Zhang rode up to the wagon and called the name of the man in the prison wagon. “Jia Zhong.”
The man in the wagon made no reaction.
The surprise in him deepening, Ling Zhang knitted his brows and, with an intention to provoke him, said, “Are you longing to see your elder brother in the prison? Has it ever crossed your mind that some day Jia family would end up this way?”
Jia Zhong slightly moved but still didn’t look at Ling Zhang.
“Jia Zhong, Childe Ling asked you a question. Answer it!” A Yamen runner heavily swung his whip at Jia Zhong.
The whip landed on Jia Zhong’s arm. Originally it had been aimed at Jia Zhong’s body, but he parried the blow in time.
Ling Zhang knitted his brows and suddenly asked, “Head Constable Li, would you please open the door of the prison wagon?”
After a brief trance of surprise, Head Constable Li answered in awkwardness, “Childe Ling, if by any chance Jia Zhong escapes…”
“Jia Zhong could use neither his hands nor his shoulders. Where could he possibly flee to? Besides, there are so many people here.”
Eventually, after hesitating in embarrassment for a short while, Head Constable Li agreed and instructed his men, “Open the door of the prison wagon.”
“Please be careful, Childe Ling. He might try to hurt you.”
“I know,” replied Ling Zhang, watching as the door of the prison wagon was opened.
Surprisingly, Jia Zhong remained still in the corner with his head down, as if totally unconcerned about what was going on around him.
Ling Zhang dismounted from his horse, walked up to the prison wagon and looked at Jia Zhong. After carefully sizing him up, he said in a cold tone of voice, “You’re not Jia Zhong. Who are you!”
“What?!” His words dismayed everybody.
“That’s not possible. Is there any chance you are mistaken, Childe Ling? This man is indeed Jia Zhong,” observed Head Constable Li watching Jia Zhong in the wagon after quickly walking over.
“Jia Zhong knows nothing about kung fu, but just now, when the Yamen runner swung the whip at this man, he anticipated the direction of the blow before the whip hit him, slightly moved his body and parried the blow with his arm. Though he did it deftly and the movement was fairly subtle, I saw it distinctly.
On top of that, given Jia Zhong’s constitution, such a long and tiring journey in harsh conditions would definitely have taken a toll on him, and his breathing should have been much heavier than before, but this man’s breathing is light –lighter than that of most people standing here, actually. His constitution is a hundred times stronger than that of Jia Zhong!”
“Identify yourself! Now!”
Instantly, Head Constable Li and his Yamen runners whipped out their sabers and pointed them at the man in the prison wagon.
Others around the wagon took a few steps back and nervously stared at the prison wagon.
Finally, the man sitting in the prison wagon slowly raised his head, and people were greeted by his face which looked exactly the same as that of Jia Zhong.
“Thi–This man is indeed Jia Zhong,” someone said.
“I am. How can you be so sure that I have no kung fu skills? I just never told anybody about it, Childe Ling.”
The man’s voice was almost identical to that of Jia Zhong as well.
But Ling Zhang still snapped, “You are not! If Jia Zhong is to conceal his kung fu and make himself seem like a common person, his internal energy has to reach the peak of perfection. Otherwise, he could never hide it from us for such a long time. And if Jia Zhong’s internal energy is really that good, how did he come to be seized? Who are you exactly? Where is the real Jia Zhong!”
Before Jia Zhong left Tanyang, Yuwen Tong had unblocked Ling Zhang’s meridians, which had greatly enhanced his power of observing. He had seen Jia Zhong before, so of course he remembered how Jia Zhong’s breathing was like.
Besides, this man’s attitude was also suspicious. Jia Zhong would never have reacted in this way. ‘This must be some kind of trick!’
“Moreover, it’s not impossible for one to alter their appearance and voice,” added Ling Zhang.
Having seen what the bodyguard of Yuwen Tong could do with disguise skills, Ling Zhang would never be easily deceived by someone’s appearance and voice.
“Ha-ha. It has never crossed my mind that my disguise would be seen through by a childe in Tanyang. It seems that I was not careful enough.”
The “Jia Zhong” inside the prison wagon suddenly let out two ghoulish laughs and made these remarks. His voice had changed drastically.
“Watch out, Childe Ling!” Xie Shi, who had been standing behind Ling Zhang all along, suddenly yelled. With that, he smacked his hand down on to the saddle, took a flying leap forward and exchanged a palm strike with the “Jia Zhong” who had abruptly sprung out of the prison wagon swishing towards Ling Zhang head-on!
Surprisingly, after exchanging this palm strike, both of them landed on to the ground and uncontrollably took a couple of steps backward.
“Who are you that can parry my palm strike?!” Finally, face of that “Jia Zhong” changed.
Xie Shi also had a rather grave expression. “Childe Ling, this guy is no common kung fu practitioner. Go and get help. I’ll keep him busy and buy you some time.”
Ling Zhang nodded. After thinking for a while, he instructed Wang Dashan, “Elder Brother Wang, form up and join hands with Guard Xie.”
“Yes, Young Master!” replied Wang Dashan, waves of thrill running through him.
Ling Zhang had taught them the second and the third arrays of the Trap-and-kill Formation these days. They had developed a high level proficiency and had been looking forward to sparring with any of the bodyguards of Yuwen Tong. This occasion happened to be a golden opportunity for them.
“Brothers, form up!”
With a string of concentrated footsteps, the twelve security guards immediately ringed both Jia Zhong and Xie Shi.
“Liuzi, go back to get help,” Ling Zhang instructed Yang Liuzi.
Yang Liuzi gave a bob of his head and immediately rode away.
After being surrounded, the impersonated Jia Zhong sneered, “You are just a bunch of fledglings. You think you stand a chance of stopping me with your average kung fu skills?”
Xie Shi, calm and collected, didn’t bother talking with that impersonated Jia Zhong. He directly launched an attack.
The two men instantly fell into a tangled fight. There were several occasions when the impostor was within an inch of getting out of the encirclement ring but, surprisingly, was forced back.
The impostor was astonished. “This can’t be happening!”
“Humph. This is so happening. Your kung fu is nothing compared with that of Marshal Yuwen,” Qiu Bing observed sarcastically, holding his weapon.
“What?” Before the impostor could make a response, Xie Shi threw a palm strike at his head, leaving him no choice but to immediately somersault backwards.
“Letting yourself be distracted is going to get yourself killed,” commented Xie Shi flintily.
Trapped in the formation and reduced to passively defending against Xie Shi’s attack, totally powerless to get out of the ring of encirclement, the impersonated Jia Zhong was sweating buckets with anxiety.
Ling Zhang’s face was colder than that of anybody. Since Jia Zhong had been at large for such a long time, he had always known that something was not right. And now, things did go awry. He wondered exactly how Jia Zhong had managed to have this kung fu expert come to his help.
“Head Constable Li, where did you seize this man?” Ling Zhang asked Head Constable Li.
Sweat was trickling down the forehead of Head Constable Li, who could only imagine how heavy a toll this mistake would take on his career prospects. On hearing Ling Zhang’s question, he hurriedly wiped the sweat off his face and replied, “I caught him in the courier station in that town. At that time, Jia Zhong had already gathered the corpse of Jia Yuanling into a coffin, planning to transport it back to Tanyang. When we arrived, they had not received any messages from Tanyang yet and were unaware of what had happened in Tanyang, so we apprehended this man without any trouble. It has never crossed my mind that…”
He was too concerned to finish his sentence.
A piercing look fell across Ling Zhang’s eyes. If he had failed to see through this impersonated Jia Zhong and he was sent into the prison, there would have been unimaginable consequences, since Jia Yin and some other members of Jia family were still in there under custody.
Given the excellent kung fu and disguise skills of this old man, his intention was, without doubt, to enter the prison and rescue those people!
In other words, no matter how Jia Zhong had convinced this old man to help him, his purpose was definitely to rescue Jia Yin and the others.
‘Is there any chance Jia Zhong is hiding somewhere nearby and watching at this moment?’
Ling Zhang immediately looked around, carefully sizing up everybody on the scene. All of a sudden, his gaze rested on someone among the crowd.
