Chapter 156: Settlement of Matters
If it weren't for Lu Sen, the Five Rats would probably still be playing hide-and-seek with Zhan Zhao in the capital.
However, with the addition of Lu Sen as a variable, the entire world no longer develops in the original direction.
Bai Yuting still harbors a strange hostility towards Zhan Zhao, but now his vision of life has broadened a lot, and his focus is not entirely on Zhan Zhao.
For example... he is now very, very interested in Lu Sen's plan to attack the Penglai Sect in the East China Sea.
Therefore, when I received Lu Sen's commission, I really put my utmost effort into carrying it out.
A month later, rumors began to spread in the martial arts world that Master Lu was planning to attack Penglai in the East China Sea.
At the beginning, his fellow martial artists were skeptical. After all, Lu Sen had always lived in seclusion and liked to stay at home. He would not pay much attention to anyone who said bad things about him.
Moreover, Penglai in the East China Sea had done a lot of things under the banner of Master Lu before, but there was no reaction from him.
Now that such news has suddenly come out, its credibility is naturally not high.
However, regardless of its credibility, the news gradually spread, and it was said that the first people to pass on the news were the Five Rats.
The Five Rats have a good reputation, and according to rumors, their relationship with Master Lu seems to be pretty good.
This adds credibility to the rumor.
And it was under such circumstances that Lu Sen appeared in the Hangzhou Mansion and met Lu Huiqing face to face.
"Nice to meet you again, Master Lu."
Lu Huiqing stood up and bowed to Lu Sen before sitting down. After all, before Lu Sen left the capital, he was a fourth-rank civil servant and a direct scholar of Tianzhang Pavilion.
Although Lu Sen handed back his official uniform and resigned, the court did not revoke Lu Sen's identity and official position.
"It's been a long time since we last met." Lu Sen smiled and looked at the young man opposite for a while, and said, "In just over a year, Brother Lu has risen from the position of Chief Clerk to the position of acting governor of Hangzhou. He is really a meteoric rise, which is enviable."
If other people praised him like this, Lu Huiqing would definitely be a little proud. But when Lu Sen said this, he didn't dare to accept it.
"No, no, Master Lu, please don't make fun of me." He waved his hands repeatedly. When he heard Lu Sen call him "Brother Lu", he knew that Lu Sen was visiting in a private capacity, so he didn't exchange any official rhetoric: "Is there anything important for Master Lu to visit this time?"
"I want to give you a big gift." Lu Sen chuckled and said, "Have you heard about the recent news about Penglai in the East China Sea?"
Hearing this, Lu Huiqing, who was still very young and even a little immature, suddenly showed some excitement on his face: "About Master Lu's plan to attack the Penglai Sect of the East China Sea? Is this really the news that Master Lu released?"
Lu Sen nodded.
Lu Huiqing looked happier, but soon his face turned serious: "This is not a good idea. After all, Master Lu, you only have the power to control the monks and Taoists in the world, and you don't have the power to mobilize troops."
"I don't have it, but Brother Lu does." Lu Sen smiled and said, "Those thieves from Penglai in the East China Sea often come to coastal towns to cause trouble. I'm sure Brother Lu must be very troubled."
It's more than annoying, it's disgusting.
The thieves from the Penglai faction in the East China Sea often acted as pirates, burning, killing and looting in coastal towns. Otherwise, with the terrain of Penglai Island being mostly rocks and mountains, and no land to grow crops, how could it possibly feed thousands of people?
Lu Huiqing also organized a small-scale naval attack, but was defeated and almost wiped out.
In fact, Lu Huiqing and Wang Anshi were somewhat similar. In terms of domestic affairs, both of them were geniuses, but in terms of military affairs, their abilities were somewhat lacking.
He is also extremely arrogant and likes to act on his own.
Fortunately, Lu Huiqing is only the 'temporary governor' now, which means he is in a temporary position and not a full-time official. He dare not do anything too excessive. Otherwise, with his proud character, if he fails, he will definitely organize a second and third navy to attack Penglai Island.
Lu Huiqing closed his eyes and thought for a while, then asked, "If I don't cooperate with Master Lu, will anything else happen?"
"Maybe one day the people on Penglai Island will disappear on their own." Lu Sen smiled slightly.
To be honest, although sea transportation was well developed during the Northern Song Dynasty, the official navy's control over coastal areas was not very high.
Pirates were also rampant during the Ming Dynasty, but not as exaggerated as in the middle and late Ming Dynasty.
This was mainly because the Northern Song Dynasty court had little interest in overseas affairs.
Lu Huiqing understood what Lu Sen meant.
Whether he helps or not, Lu Sen has decided to take over Penglai Island in the East China Sea. However, since Lu Sen does not have the power to mobilize troops, he comes to him for cooperation, which can be regarded as a credit to himself.
If they are unwilling to help, Lu Sen will also deal with those thieves, but he will do it more covertly and will not give others a chance to find him.
Moreover, considering how concerned the imperial court is about Lu Sen now, let alone the bandits on Penglai Island, even if they killed hundreds of thousands of soldiers like Wang Anshi did, nothing would happen.
After weighing the pros and cons, Lu Huiqing smiled and said, "Thank you Master Lu for giving me wealth and honor."
"Sure, sure."
The two looked at each other for a moment, then burst out laughing at the same time.
After dealing with Lu Huiqing, Lu Sen felt much more relaxed.
With official intervention, many things become natural, such as...righteousness and reputation.
Lu Sen has a lot of things to do in the future, and for the time being he doesn’t want his reputation to be ruined or have any flaws.
Then the two of them set a time and plan, chatted for a while, and Lu Sen quietly returned to his cave.
As soon as he got home, Lu Sen sat in the garden and admired the beautiful scenery of flowers in bloom.
Pang Meir was behind him, gently massaging his shoulders.
After enjoying Pang Mei'er's "service" for a while, Lu Sen smiled and said, "Mei'er is so proactive today, is there something you want?"
Pang Mei'er's face turned slightly red. After hesitating for a long time, she lowered her head and said shyly, "Sir, can you help me practice?"
oh!
Lu Sen looked back in surprise. Pang Meir had a bit of psychological cleanliness. She believed that sexual pleasure between men and women was the concrete expression of the love between husband and wife. It was noble and sacred and should not be mixed with other factors.
So at the beginning she was quite resistant to the art of dual cultivation, because she felt that such intimacy between husband and wife would be mixed with other "interest" factors, which would taint her sincere feelings for Lu Sen.
But a few days ago, in order to help Pang Meir open up her meridians so that she could practice magic, Lu Sen half-forced her to practice dual cultivation.
Now it seems that she understands the benefits of the dual cultivation technique!
Lu Sen turned around, held Pang Mei'er's hand and said with a smile: "My wife has something to ask for, and I will satisfy you as your husband."
These words made Pang Meir even more embarrassed.
Compared with Lu Sen's happy life, Zhao Zonghua's life is a bit hard.
Although he had traveled to the Spice Islands on a "treasure ship" and had to sail on the sea and endure strong winds and waves, which sounded very hard, in fact, he was accompanied by many servants of his own, so it was not that hard.
However, now he was tracking Qingyangke alone.
Even with the protection of the hungry treasure given by Lu Sen, it would still be extremely difficult. The Qingyang guest's lightness skills were not very high, but his skills were amazing. What's more outrageous is that his disguise skills were extremely powerful.
Becoming a middle-aged person, a fat person, or an old man are just trivial matters. Once when Zhao Zonghua was tracking the person, he found that the other party had actually made up herself into a peasant woman, with almost no flaws. If it weren't for the tracking talisman, he would have really lost the person.
As the price for his carelessness, he was hit by the other party again, but fortunately he was protected by the jewelry and did not suffer any damage. He just felt a dull pain in his chest for two days.
At this time, Qingyangke was feeling even worse. He was disguising himself as a peddler, pushing a wooden wheelbarrow loaded with coal and heading out of the city.
In fact, as a person being hunted, his mental state is always tense.
Everyone looked much more haggard.
Not only did he have to be on guard against various martial arts masters who might recognize him, but he also had to be on guard against the noble young man who was running over from the south and chasing him.
At first, he could easily play tricks on his opponent, even injuring him slightly, and then he would have about ten days of free time.
But as time passed, this playboy named Zhao became more and more powerful.
Not only is his experience in the martial arts world increasing, but his vigilance has also increased a lot.
In the past, if he could get close enough to the opponent and launch a surprise attack, he would surely be able to seriously injure the opponent and escape.
But the day before yesterday, he disguised himself as a peasant woman and launched a sneak attack, but was discovered by the other party. He then fought back, and although he still slightly injured the other party, he was almost chopped himself. For fear of attracting more martial arts masters, he had to escape and did not dare to fight with them for too long.
Pushing the wheelbarrow, Qingyangke walked out of the city.
This place is Daming Prefecture (Beiping), which is quite close to the Khitan Kingdom. If we walk another three or four hundred miles, we will reach the Liao territory.
Once I arrive in Liao, I think I can finally take a break.
But Qingyangke was somewhat unwilling. As a pure Song person, he didn't want to live in the Liao Kingdom unless the situation was really extremely bad.
Moreover, he originally wanted to go to Tokyo City, but he didn't expect that he would be forced to flee to this place by a playboy.
He left the city and headed north, where he saw many carriages and horses carrying large amounts of goods coming and going.
Although the relationship between Khitan and the Song Dynasty was not very good, it had not yet reached the point of war, especially since the two sides had signed trade terms, so the level of commercial activity in the north was actually quite high.
Of course, it can't be compared with sea transportation.
The Qingyang guests took the official road, so there were people along the way, and even at regular intervals, there were small stalls selling food.
After walking for a while, Qingyangke quietly threw away the wheelbarrow in a deserted place, walked lightly to a roadside stall, found a seat and sat down, and said in a northern accent: "Shopkeeper, give me some soup to quench my thirst."
"Sir, do you want yellow wine or rice wine?"
"Yellow Bar."
"Okay, then how about we serve you a bowl of plum wine?"
"OK."
The plum wine made with rice wine tasted really good. Qingyangke finished it in two sips and ordered some food. Then he saw three gangsters wearing bamboo hats coming from behind.
They came to the stall, glanced at everyone, and also looked at Qingyangke for a while.
But Qingyangke looked calm, so they turned their gaze away.
After the store owner served them some food and wine, the three gangsters began to communicate.
"Third Senior Brother, where did that Qingyang guest go?"
"It should be a while since we left Beiping City."
"Damn, he's really fast. We chased him all the way from Suzhou to here, eating wind and drinking sand all the way, and we didn't even see a single person's shadow."
"I heard that Qingyangke's disguise skills are very high, so we have to be careful along the way."
"of course."
"But his disguise skills are so amazing, how come a fool like him can know where he is?"
Hearing this, Qingyangke's eyelids twitched.
In fact, he also wanted to know why those people chased him again even though he had clearly shaken off the pursuers and even changed two or three identities.
He estimated that this matter was closely related to Master Lu and that nobleman's son, but guesses were just guesses after all, and he wanted a definite answer.
So, the three of them started discussing again.
"I heard that Master Lu also sent out a good tracker who could sense the location of the immortal weapon stolen by Qingyang Guest. That's why he was able to track down Qingyang Guest."
it is as expected!
There was no extra expression on Qingyangke's face, but he was extremely angry in his heart.
He really wanted to take the thing out of the flesh and blood on his back, but he didn't dare... and he was unwilling to do so.
This thing was not stolen by himself, but it is not necessarily possible that there was a traitor in Master Lu's family who secretly sewed the thing onto his body.
If that's the case, he must find a way to take this thing away.
He also wants to get involved with the Great Dao Immortal.
Of course... he had also considered the possibility that Master Lu was using him to achieve some purpose, but he didn't think it was likely.
A kind of greed made him hypnotize himself and deceive his subconscious instincts, gradually ignoring and then neglecting this possibility.
"I heard that the Northern Hero Ouyang Chun is here too."
"Hiss, isn't he investigating the matter of Hongchou? Why is he here to join in the fun with Qingyangke?"
"How big of a problem could Hongchou be? He easily solved it. He is now heading towards Beiping. I heard that he intends to help Master Lu find the magic weapon to repay Master Lu's kindness."
"That's right. Without Master Lu's bottle of Jade Bee Nectar, he wouldn't be able to reach his current strength."
Everyone in the martial arts world knows by now that the prize for the martial arts conference three years ago was originally just a sword that could cut through iron like mud, but it was later stolen. Royal Cat Zhan Zhao went to ask Master Lu for help, and only then did he get a bottle of honey as the prize for becoming the leader of the martial arts world.
When Qingyangke heard that Ouyang Chun was coming, his mood became even worse.
Who is Ouyang Chun?
It is generally acknowledged that he is the strongest among the younger generation.
Moreover, he is the leader of the martial arts world. Now he is rushing here with his men to meet up with the guy who can track him!
Damn, my heart trembles just thinking about it.
We can't waste any more time. We must leave the Song Dynasty as soon as possible and go north to the Liao Kingdom.
After thinking this, Qingyangke stood up, put a few copper coins on the table, and said in a simple and honest voice: "Shopkeeper, check out."
Then he pretended to be a little drunk and staggered away.
The three gangsters glanced at him, but didn't notice anything unusual , so they continued drinking.
Less than half an hour after Qingyangke left, Zhao Zonghua also arrived here. He took out the tracking talisman and found that the two were quite close. He estimated that if he chased them for another half a day, he would be able to find them.
So he was not in a hurry. He sat down and prepared to eat something before catching up. After all, only when his stomach was full would he have the strength to fight.
Just when he was about to finish his meal, a blue-eyed man with a beard, led by three men in tight clothes, came into the stall and sat down.
Zhao Zonghua's eyes met the man's.
"Alliance Leader Ouyang?"
"Zhao Xiaolang?"
