Book 8 Chapter 8 – Brilliant Scheme to Break the Enemy
Kou Zhong was about to move, but Xu Ziling pulled him back. While he was baffled, Xu Ziling pressed his mouth on Kou Zhong’s ear and said, “Zhong Shao, you must not forget that we are now contending over the world, not trying to show off our bravery. We need to talk about strategy.”
Kou Zhong was stunned. “What brilliant scheme are you thinking?” he asked.
Xu Ziling replied in low voice, “Do you remember the battleship we took on our way from Jiujiang to Baling? The bow is equipped with pointed iron. If we drive it fast enough, I guarantee we can hit this gigantic and stiff ship squarely in the middle and break it into two.”
Greatly delighted, Kou Zhong said, “You, this kid, are actually more aggressive than I am, yet you normally pretend to be Taoist teacher who don’t care about fame and fortune. Hee! Don’t you feel that tonight you are so not normal?”
“Cut it out!” Xu Ziling snapped at him.
The two boys woke Bu Tianzhi, who remained on the [Jukun Bang] ship, up. Having understood the situation clearly, he excitedly said, “Let me dispatch someone to notify General Xiang immediately. If we can capture Zhu Mei, it would be like severing one of Zhu Can’s arms.”
Kou Zhong hurriedly said, “The enemy is saving their oil by not lighting any lamp, plus they must have set up sentries onshore to send them warning. If you are going out with magnificent army with thousands of men and horses, the enemy would have to be bird-brained if they do not immediately run away. Fu Bangzhu [Deputy Gang Leader] must act according to our plan. You are in charge of driving our ship into theirs, we will be in charge of going underwater to capture the enemy. This is called cooperation and division of work. Do you understand?”
Xu Ziling also asked, “Is Zhu Mei formidable?”
While nodding his head to acknowledge Kou Zhong’s instruction, Bu Tianzhi answered Xu Ziling’s question, “Zhu Mei is like having Zhu Can’s brains but with beauty like flower, and poison like serpent and scorpion. I don’t know how many heroes have met their tragic end under her ‘floating cloud’ sleeves.”
Kou Zhong laughed and said, “Good thing that under water no floating cloud sleeves can be used; let us see how beautiful and how fierce she really is.”
Bu Tianzhi suddenly sighed and said, “Not only two Gongzi’s action is beyond expectation, the method you come up with is even more amazing, like opening up the sky. Tianzhi received benefits from your instruction!”
He summoned his men at once and had them quietly raise the anchor and set sail upstream.
The warship slowly turned around. On the deck stood more than a hundred Jukun Bang warriors, each one skillful in using bow and arrow, ready to meet the enemy head-on. Twelve sets of catapult were also at the ready, poised for action.
Ever since the two boys succeeded in killing Ren Shaoming, the Jukun Bang people honored them as gods. This moment they were serving under the two boys’ command, their morale was like rainbow, everybody was in high spirit.
Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling, with bow in their hands, stood on the bridge, giving direction to the target’s position. Bu Tianzhi continuously giving instructions, the ship was slowly accelerating.
The river was quiet, the only audible noise was the waves lapping against the shore, a gentle reminder of nature’s perpetual motion. The moon already moved away from its zenith in the sky, the river reflected its light, creating patterns of light and darkness.
There were hundreds of ships and boats, big and small, on the river that night, not one was aware of the impending battle.
When they were about two hundred zhang away from their target, the giant ship, which cast its anchor, alone, at the outskirt of the harbor, the warship turned toward the bend on the opposite bank, preparing to increase its momentum.
Kou Zhong said to Xu Ziling, “To contend for hegemony over the world, we must line up talents. Otherwise, even though we have this brilliant scheme, we won’t be able to execute it.”
Xu Ziling looked at the fully opened sail, but did not say anything.
Kou Zhong could not help asking, “Xiao Ling, why are you so proactive tonight?”
Xu Ziling turned his gaze toward the giant ship right ahead, he said in heavy voice, “You are my best brother in the world, since I already promised to help you acquire the ‘Duke Yang Treasure’, how would it work if I am not being proactive?”
Kou Zhong felt his heart suddenly grew warm; he was unable to speak.
Xu Ziling reached out and put his hand on Kou Zhong’s shoulder, he said gently, “It is also for Su Jie’s sake. Those people have a mole inside Xiang kid’s mansion, naturally they are very clear about Su Jie’s relationship with us. If they could not do anything to us, maybe they would try to get Su Jie into their hands. Therefore, we must capture one or two leaders from the opposite party alive, hand them over to Xiang kid, let him force confession by torture, uncover the mole within, and only then will Su Jie’s safety be guaranteed.”
The warship picked up speed, fast like a runaway horse it rode the waves straight toward the flank of the giant ship.
Only this moment did the enemy find out something was amiss; alarm went off, human shadows flickered everywhere. But it was too late to change their fate. It was as if the sacred state of tranquility was suddenly shattered.
“Attack!” Bu Tianzhi thundered.
Like thunderstorm huge rocks, arrows and darts rained onto the enemy’s warship, battle cry shook the River.
Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling also shot their arrows. Wood pieces flew, the sail mast broke. Amidst the miserable cry of the enemies hit by the arrows, there was a loud ‘Boom!’ as like a mad bull the pointy iron figurehead of Jukun Bang warship rammed into the weakest part on the starboard side of the enemy’s ship.
The sound of the ship splitting and the wood snapping rang continuously, the enemy’s ship leaned toward the opposite side and spun around.
Their own warship also shook suddenly and leaned sideways. After a burst of ear-piercing grinding noise, the warship rubbed itself along the bow of the enemy’s ship. The warship was pushed outward and thus recovered its balance.
Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling soared into the air, traversing the empty space between the two ships, toward a large gaping hole on the hull of the enemy’s ship, which, by this time, was still spinning slowly around.
The enemy was thrown into chaos; the lantern lost its light, nobody knew how many people were thrown into the water that night.
Other people on the ships and boats all around were awakened by the noise, so that there were commotions everywhere.
By the time Kou Zhong landed onto the other side’s bridge, the giant ship already started to tilt and sink down. The enemy simply did not have any heart to fight, one after another they slipped down into the water to escape. The pandemonium was like the coming of the doomsday.
In this extreme confusion, he saw two graceful figures breaking out of the window and cast themselves into the river. Their movement was agile, fast and nimble.
Kou Zhong laughed aloud and ran after them.
On the other side, Xu Ziling landed on the bow. Like a tiger entering a flock of sheep he attacked like crazy, those who tried to block him were completely routed.
By this time, due to the hull was tilting sideways, the deck has also sloped down, so that whoever got hit were rolling down the slope, straight into the river below, battered and completely exhausted.
Suddenly there was a loud shout behind him, coming from above going down, coupled with a gust of wind.
Xu Ziling was in the height of the fighting spirit; without even looking, after throwing down an enemy, his palm struck backhandedly.
‘Bang!’
Xu Ziling was jolted by the impact that he nearly fell down the slope, but the enemy was also severely shaken that he staggered back and nearly fell down.
Taking advantage of this slight intermission, the rest of the enemies scrambled away to run for their lives.
This moment Bu Tianzhi’s warship already made a U-turn and rained down arrows onto the enemies still floating on the river.
After taking a sharp intake of a mouthful of true qi, Xu Ziling turned around to see the enemy face-to-face. With astonishment he found out that it was none other than the Second Chief of the Dajiang Hui, the ‘Tiger Lord’ Pei Yan, with whom he has had a predestined affinity to meet once.
Pei Yan’s pair of vicious eyes flickered continuously; apparently because he had tested Xu Ziling’s extremely strong power, fear was starting to creep into his heart, and so he continuously withdrew toward the top of the slope.
The giant ship has sunken down more than half. Other than they, there was no other enemy on the deck.
Xu Ziling slowly pressed forward, using the edge of his palms like sabers, he sent out his true power by hacking from a distance, putting the opponent under his control. Laughing calmly, he said, “Er Dangjia, you want to run away too?”
Pei Yan swung his broadsword. “Pei!” he spat while halted his step, and then shouted harshly, “It won’t be too late to leave after killing you, this kid.”
Lightning fast Xu Ziling slid sideways, and sent out a punch over the empty air. Pei Yan roared and nearly tumbled down.
What happened was that because Xu Ziling suddenly changed position, plus his punch came from an unbelievably ingenious angle, it immediately hit Pei Yan’s right shoulder. Not only the pain penetrated his bones and marrows, he even nearly lost his grip on his saber. Actually, he was not this useless, it’s just that he was not in the mood to fight, and was already intimidated by Xu Ziling, and thus Xu Ziling was able to exploit this weakness.
At this moment his desire to escape was growing, but while he was about to slip backward, like a ghost or demon Xu Ziling suddenly came to his right side. Helplessly he roared while turning the saber into his left hand, and then he counterattacked with everything he had.
Xu Ziling chose to take a ‘floating’ tactic; no matter how Pei Yan dodged, he was always able to force him to block with all his strength, jolting his left hand that it turned numb, and was incapable of carrying out even fifty percent of his usual strength.
Under this constant barrage, before long Pei Yan’s left arm was hit by Xu Ziling’s finger, his broadsword fell off.
Scared out of his wits, Pei Yan unleashed his ‘pressing down on the box/chest’s bottom’, he deliberately rolled down the slope, while his legs swept swiftly; it was extremely vicious.
Xu Ziling let out a long laugh, his fists punched together. When he was about to subdue the enemy in one stroke, a burst of an extremely sharp wind shot from his left side.
By the time Xu Ziling realized suddenly that the enemy has been hiding behind the cabin door, the enemy’s sword has already enveloped the space to his left, the sword qi pervaded the air.
In that split second, Xu Ziling already determined that the attacker’s power was at least two notches above Pei Yan’s. If he did not go all-out to deal with him, most likely he would suffer a heavy loss. Therefore, without any choice he abandoned Pei Yan, turned around and waved his hand to parry the enemy’s sword.
‘Bang!’
Palm and sword collided.
Xu Ziling was shaken that his blood and qi bubbled up within him, and he was forced to slide two steps sideways to neutralize it.
The attacker borrowed the reaction force from the impact to fly away, and landed on the tilting sail mast.
Chapter 8, Part 2
Pei Yan had just reached the edge of the sloping deck; he had not entered the water yet.
The attacker was covered in black clothes; he was lanky and handsome, with extremely heavy make-up on his face. Letting out a long laugh, he said, “This time let’s consider you win. But there will come a day when I, Bai Wenyuan, will repay you nicely.”
With a somersault he entered the river.
His voice was sometimes low and muffled, sometimes shrill and overbearing; he was the person who spoke in the cabin.
By this time the water has reached the bottom of Xu Ziling’s foot, the giant ship was finally sinking.
Under water, Kou Zhong was chasing the two women for nearly a li. When he was about four zhang away from them, the two women split up to the left and right to escape.
In the dark water, Kou Zhong selected one of them and exerted his strength to give chase.
From the opponent’s beautiful diving and swimming style, he was quite sure that this mermaid was indeed You Qiuyan, particularly her sleek bald head; it was something that no one else would be able to impersonate.
Kou Zhong has fought face-to-face with her many times. In terms of underwater skill, he definitely could not match her, an underwater expert. However, in terms of internal strength and punching and kicking, he was far superior to her; hence he did not have any concern that she would fly out of the hollow of his palm.
Ahead, You Qiuyan seemed to lose strength, she started to slow down. Kou Zhong was amused inwardly, knowing that she was going to either release secret projectiles or throw a net; pretending not to know anything, he increased his speed instead, while at the same time his hand grabbed the whip around his waist, ready to give her a surprise shock.
Three zhang, two zhang, one zhang, You Qiuyan suddenly turned around, the net was thrown over his head.
Kou Zhong swiftly dove down, his right hand lightly groped his waist, the whip lashed out like sea serpent to coil itself around You Qiuyan; his left hand reached out toward the edge of the net, and transmitted his true strength via the net.
You Qiuyan’s tender body was jolted, while the whip wound around her slender jade leg, sealing off her acupoints.
Succeeded in capturing his target, Kou Zhong brought her rising to the surface.
Upstream, the River was still shaking with shouts and yells; obviously the hunt and arrest game was still growing strong.
Kou Zhong planted a kiss on You Qiuyan’s sweet lips, and said with a giggle, “Would Yan Jie [older sister Yan] like to make out in the River, or do you want to wait until we are ashore before we get intimate?”
After giving him a hard stare, You Qiuyan closed her beautiful eyes tightly. It was the only way she could show her helpless protest.
Kou Zhong embraced her and brought her up to the sandbar; pressing her body underneath his, he smiled and said, “Last time I let you off, thinking that you would feel grateful to me. Turns out the most vicious one toward me is you. Is your honored Bangzhu well?”
You Qiuyan opened up her beautiful eyes; staring at him coldly, she said, “Just kill me!”
Kou Zhong put his mouth on her jade-like sparkling and translucent small ear, and nibbled on her earlobe. “No!” he said, “I am still going to let you go!” And then he proceeded by patting open her arteries and veins acupoint. Springing up, heroically and loftily he said, “Because I like your beauty. The other day your honored Bangzhu wrapped his arm around your small waist, it irritated me so much that I did not know what I wanted to do to him. Ha! But in the end didn’t I manage to hold you and kiss you and touch you?”
You Qiuyan sprang up, her beautiful eyes spun around and around for a while; finally she sighed and said, “Kou Zhong, don’t you regret it. When I have the opportunity, I will definitely not let you off.”
Kou Zhong reached out to stroke her cheek; he laughed indifferently and said, “I know that you actually love me; hence the reason you hated me so much, but you just didn’t realize it! Let’s just wait and see.”
You Qiuyan was unsure whether she was mad at herself for not dodging when he stroked her cheek, or because she could not tell whether in her heart she loved or hated him; ferociously kicking the ground, she turned around and left.
Watching her beautiful back gradually going away, Kou Zhong could not help thinking about the ambiguous relationship between Dong Ming Princess and Xu Ziling, and then he also recalled Li Xiuning. Sighing, he rushed back toward the upper reaches of the River.
The first streak of dawn finally appeared on the eastern horizon.
The Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling-led military operation was a total success, it sent tremors throughout the City of Baling. The enemies captured were more than thirty people, three of which were women, including the maid who went ashore last night. The dead and the wounded were difficult to count because most were underwater and were carried away by the river.
Knowing that there was a mole inside the General Mansion, Xiao Xian and Xiang Yushan were extremely nervous; they launched an investigation immediately.
Yun Yuzhen was a little upset. She blamed the two boys for not informing her before going personally to deal with the enemy; she blamed them even more for not gaining her approval before going into battle, which was quite overstepping her authority.
However, under Kou Zhong’s gentle ministration, very quickly she went from anger to happiness. The two of them were soon laughing and joking as usual.
That evening, Kou Zhong inquired about the investigation concerning the mole. Xiang Yushan’s countenance sank as he said, “She found out about it and already escaped.”
Susu added, “She is one of my personal maids; she has been missing since going out this morning. Ay! I treated her like a sister, unexpectedly she could do such thing.”
With a wry smile Xiang Yushan said, “She has been serving me since her childhood, I can’t believe she has been bought by the enemy.”
Knitting his brows, Xu Ziling asked, “Does she know martial art?”
Stunned, Xiang Yuzhan shook his head.
Kou Zhong sighed and said, “You have been deceived. If my guess is right, the little maid was murdered. The objective is that you will think that there is no more mole in here.”
Susu was severely shaken, “Xiao Mei!” she exclaimed, and burst into tears.
Xu Ziling shot Kou Zhong a reprimanding look. Helping Susu up, he brought her into the inner chamber to console her.
Kou Zhong slapped his forehead, “My bad!” he said remorsefully.
Yun Yuzhen spoke in low voice, “You are so good to Su Jie; others won’t have anything to say.”
Xiang Yushan muttered, “How can we dig this mole out and dismember his body into ten thousand pieces?”
Casting a glance toward the inner chamber, Kou Zhong heaved a deep sigh, and said heavily, “Just by making Su Jie grieving and shedding tears, I won’t let him off. Get that maid who was captured alive for me, I guarantee that I can get the mole’s identity from her.”
The maid was brought into the side pavilion. Kou Zhong waved the other people to get out of the pavilion.
The maid looked to be around twenty, her countenance was quite pretty, albeit a bit pale. But her expression was quite firm, evidently she refused to give in easily.
Kou Zhong say leisurely in an imperial-tutor chair [i.e. armchair]; smiling, he said, “Miss, please sit down!”
The maid shook her head with her lips closed tightly, showing clearly that she refused to talk.
Remaining calm and unfazed, Kou Zhong said, “As long as you agree to answer a few questions, I will immediately let you go, so you can enjoy your youthfulness well.”
The maid could only stare blankly, with a disbelief look on his eyes, but in the end she shook her head.
Knowing that she refused to believe that there was such an easy thing in the world, Kou Zhong laughed and said, “Who did not know that I, Kou Zhong, is a good person? Your master wanted to kill me, not because I did something bad, but because he is greedy of the ‘Duke Yang Treasure’; therefore, your master is the bad person. Ha! This logic is so simple; only idiots fail to understand it.”
Although the little maid did not speak, her face was no longer stretched so tight.
Kou Zhong patted his chest and said, “Let me, this good person, give you guarantee: as long as you agree to answer three questions of mine, I will let you go.”
The little maid’s tender body trembled slightly; hanging her head down, she spoke hoarsely, “If I answer your question, but you accuse me of lying, then …”
Kou Zhong cut her off, “Whether you lie or not, we will both know it. For instance, if you are hesitating, or perhaps you are stammering, then it will be clear that you are making up stories. In that case there is no need for us to continue!”
The little maid bit her lower lip. “Are you really going to ask me only three questions?” she asked.
Kou Zhong spread out his arms, “Of course!” he said, “I am not one who goes back on his word.”
Summoning her courage, the little maid looked up to meet his gaze; with her spirit returning to her pretty eyes, she said, “As long as I do not hesitate, and I am not stammering, then I can go?”
“That is correct,” Kou Zhong assured her, “But if you offend my by telling me lies, I will immediately waste your martial art, and then I’ll sell you to a low-class brothel, so that you’ll have to serve at least ten patrons a day. Do you understand?”
Hearing that, the little maid’s countenance changed greatly.
Actually, Kou Zhong did not even know how to waste anybody’s martial art skill, plus he would not possibly sell her to any pleasure house. It was all nothing but intimidation.
Quite half a day later, the little maid nodded her head in agreement.
Such an easy matter, anybody would find it hard to refuse. Kou Zhong was just feeling her heart, he did not have any concern that she would not fall into his trap.
His tiger-eyes gleamed with cold rays, Kou Zhong looked at the little maid, whose head was hung low, whose heart was trembling with trepidation, and said in heavy voice, “What’s your name?”
The little maid was stunned. “My name is Xiao Qiu,” she replied, while in her heart mused whether such an easy question could be considered the first question.
Slapping the small table next to him, Kou Zhong said, “You passed the first question!”
The little maid’s heart was mad with delight; she spoke gently, “Kou Gongzi, please ask me your second question!”
With the same gentleness, Kou Zhong said, “The second question is, hey! Who is your master?”
“Princess Mei!” the little maid answered quickly.
Kou Zhong was pleased. “Congratulations Miss for passing two questions. After answering the next question, I will personally escort Miss out of the city to reunite with your family. It would be best if you don’t come back to your Princess Mei. Such master with bad reputation, if you stay with her, disaster may come to you anytime. Let this time be a lesson to you.”
The little maid said in low voice, “Gongzi, please ask your question!”
Kou Zhong deliberately stayed silent for half a day. When the little maid grew so nervous that her whole body trembled unnaturally, he suddenly shouted his last question, “Who gave you the letter last night?”
The little maid suddenly opened her mouth, but no word came out.
Kou Zhong thundered menacingly, “You fail!”
Tears flooding out of the little maid’s eyes, she cried out anxiously, “But I don’t know his name!”
Kou Zhong did not give her any chance to think deeply, “How tall is he?” he shouted.
The little maid did not dare to hesitate, she replied, “Half a head taller than me.”
Subsequently Kou Zhong shot her more than a dozen questions in rapid succession. Finally he rose up and said, “I know who he is, I will take Miss out. Please stop crying!”