Volume 1 Chushan Bandits Chapter 12 Nothing
Xu Huaixian helped Lu Xiong drive the carriage to take Wang Bing and his grandson back to the inn to stay.
Before Xu Wujiang left for Biyang with the official letter, he came over and stuffed a crossbow into his hand, saying, "Take off this leather armor when I come back. Don't worry about Xu Sihu coming to ask for it. I've told him - remember to put it on at night and don't take it off. It will be uncomfortable, but it won't be a problem for two days! You must keep this crossbow by your side when you sleep. Be smart and don't sleep like a dead pig like before."
Seeing that Xu Wujiang was also speculating about the assassin, Xu Huai thought that Deng Gui's arrangement was problematic, so he pretended to be confused and asked, "What's wrong?"
"Maybe I'm just overthinking. It's nothing serious, but it won't hurt if you're careful." Xu Wujiang didn't think Xu Huai could understand something too subtle, so he didn't say too much. He just gave a few simple but serious instructions and left without saying hello to Wang Bin and Lu Xiong.
There was still some time before dark, so Xu Huai found an excuse to run out of the inn to inquire about the news.
In addition to Xu Wujiang and two others rushing to Biyang to report the news, Deng Gui also sent out three teams of patrol soldiers in the name of searching the mountain.
After Xu Xin'an found the doctor, he was also assigned to the mountain search patrol team and sent out of the military camp. In the next three to five days, there were less than thirty soldiers left in the military camp.
Xu Huai racked his brains but couldn't guess that the assassin was actually scared away by them. How could he feel at ease at this time?
Seeing Lu Xiong approaching with a thoughtful look on his face, Xu Huai asked, "Looking at the situation, the assassins hope that we return to the military camp.
Will they force their way in these two days?"
Although there were still three old soldiers in the post house, they were originally menial soldiers and were old and weak. If an assassin really broke in, Xu Huai suspected that they would pretend to be deaf and dumb and would not come out. He thought that if Deng Gui deliberately delayed and did not come to the rescue, he and Lu Xiong would have to fight it out.
"They wanted to alert the enemy, but it's still a little strange," Lu Xiong said, unable to fully explain his doubts. "They chased us from behind yesterday, and they obviously didn't expect us to get help here, so they retreated first. Even if they wanted to give an explanation to Cai Ying and didn't want to give up, they shouldn't have rushed into the military camp so hastily, right?!"
At this time, a "creaking" sound was heard, and it was Wang Bing who walked out of the house. He was pale and a little exhausted .
Lu Xiong asked Wang Bing with some concern: "Sir, could Deng Gui have been bribed by the assassin?"
"Deng Gui is a patrol inspector who passed the military examination. It is not easy for a military man to do this. Unless someone like Cai Ying makes a promise in person, he cannot be bribed." Wang Bing shook his head and did not think that Deng Gui could be bribed. "From the perspective of time, Deng Gui may be bribed in the future, but he is not likely to be bribed at the moment."
"So, Deng Gui did all these things probably because he believed that the assassin wanted to alert us and wait for us to retreat to the military camp before taking action. He didn't want to offend Cai Ying, but also wanted to avoid becoming a scapegoat as much as possible, so he could only make such arrangements," Lu Xiong sighed, "This Deng Langjun is not simple!"
"..." Wang Bing sighed and said, "I'm sorry to have caused trouble for you two."
"What are you talking about, Lord Wang? Catching thieves is a military reward." Seeing that Wang Bing also believed that there was little possibility that Deng Gui was bribed by the assassin, Xu Huai did not feel too worried and said to Wang Bing with a smile.
The Dai Viet Dynasty controlled the military with civil officials. Deng Gui was a military candidate and had been serving as an inspector in various places for many years. People like Xu Wujiang had no achievements and it would be extremely difficult for them to cross the line between military officers and military clerks in their lifetime.
However, the Dai Viet Dynasty was quite generous in its rewards in terms of money and food.
If they can really capture and kill the most vicious bandits, ordinary soldiers can also get more than ten or twenty taels of silver - obviously, if they can really kill the assassins in the military camp, they will be treated as bandits and horse thieves in all aspects.
Xu Huai handed the crossbow to Lu Xiong again and said, "Master Lu, take this crossbow. We will prepare it in case the bandits break into the military camp in the next two days."
Apart from his extraordinary strength, his boxing, kicking, sword, spear, bow and crossbow, and riding skills were mediocre. It was impossible for him to have a radical improvement in a short period of time. This crossbow was much more useful in Lu Xiong's hands than in his.
If there were only three or five assassins, and if Lu Xiong could shoot and kill one of them in the first place, their chances of winning would actually be quite high.
Lu Xiong took the crossbow and said to Wang Bing, "Sir, you should go back to your room and rest. Xu Huai and I will take turns guarding tonight. We are not afraid that they will dare to break in."
…
…
Xu Huai was prepared for the assassins to break into the military camp. The posthouse was responsible for food and lodging, but if there were any small matters, he would send the postmen to handle them as much as possible. He did not leave Wang Bing's side for five days in a row, mainly to seek martial arts lessons from Lu Xiong to pass the time.
However, until Xu Wujiang returned from Biyang upon receiving instructions from the prefect Chen Shi and others, the military camp and even Huaiyuan Town were peaceful and the assassin did not even appear.
At this time, the soldiers who were sent out to search the mountains for bandits also returned one after another.
Xu Huai guessed that their previous judgment might be wrong, but he couldn't figure out what was going on.
During these five days, he reviewed the Fu Mang Fist and sword and spear techniques he had learned in the past, and his life was fulfilling. He also listened to many interesting stories about the court told by Wang Bing, and understood more about the intricate relationship between Dai Viet's Political Affairs Hall, Privy Council, Censorate, and the Three Departments, Six Ministries, and Six Institutions than before.
Of course, since it involves court secrets, Wang Bing did not say why he offended Cai Ying and was demoted to Tangzhou, nor why Cai Ying sent assassins to hunt him down.
In addition to worrying about the assassin outside, the girl Wang Xuan is also undergoing a very important transformation in her life.
This was an extremely disturbing thing for a girl under the age of thirteen. She hid in the house and rarely showed up for the past five days.
It was dusk when Xu Wujiang rushed back to the military camp with the letter from the prefect Chen Shi.
The setting sun hung above the mountain ridge like a huge duck egg yolk.
Deng Gui was talking to Wang Bing and the postmaster Cheng Yi in the front yard of the posthouse.
Xu Wujiang was in the front yard of the posthouse, reporting on the many things he had done in Biyang in the past few days:
"The prefect, Mr. Chen, thought that Mr. Wang was not feeling well and the road from Huaiyuan to Biyang was rough, so he discussed with Cheng Lunying and other officials and decided to let Mr. Wang stay in the Huaiyuan military camp. He also ordered the patrol inspection to take good care of Mr. Wang and prevent the bandits from harassing him again, otherwise he would be punished without mercy..."
Deng Gui read the official letter from the prefect Chen Shi and handed it to Wang Bing, saying, "Since Mr. Chen has made such an arrangement, please stay at Huaiyuan Military Camp to recuperate."
Deng Gui did not say what arrangements would be made afterwards. He stepped out of the inn and kicked a piece of broken brick out. Xu Huai was standing next to the stone lions in the front yard of the inn and saw the baby-fist-sized brick kicked out by Deng Gui shattered into pieces at the base of the opposite wall.
Although the blue bricks used for building walls and paving the ground in the military camp were of poor quality and were rather brittle, the power contained in Deng Gui's kick still frightened him.
Although Deng Gui usually indulges in alcohol and women, his background as a martial arts candidate should not be underestimated.
Of course, from this action, Xu Huai could better see Deng Gui's inner unhappiness.
That’s right. Chen Shi, Cheng Lunying and others all think that Wang Bing is a hot potato , but doesn’t Deng Gui feel that it’s too hot to leave Wang Bing in Huaiyuan?
Before, Deng Gui was unwilling to offend Cai Ying, and even deliberately created opportunities for the assassin to attack. If Wang Bing had been assassinated before, someone in the court would have stood up for Wang Bing and would not have targeted him. Therefore, even if he was charged with the crime of "not calming down when encountering bandits", the consequences would not have been too serious.
Now Chen Shi has clearly put the responsibility of protecting Wang Bing on him. No matter what happens to Wang Bing at this time, no matter how complicated the factional struggles in the court are, no matter how many people will be involved in the end, he will be the first to be beaten to death.
How could Deng Gui be happy in the current situation?
To be honest, the reactions of Chen Shi, Cheng Lunying and other officials in Biyang City did not surprise Xu Huai, but the assassin had not even appeared in the past five days , which really puzzled him.
"You stay here." Xu Wujiang could also see Deng Gui's unhappiness. Seeing that Deng Gui did not give any instructions for the follow-up arrangements, he asked Xu Huai to continue to stay with Wang Bing while he went out to catch up with Deng Gui.
"It seems that no matter where I stay, I will be a trouble." Wang Bing smiled self-deprecatingly at Cheng Yi.
"Sir, you worry too much. I am eager to stay with you and ask you more questions..." Cheng Yi said.
Cheng Yi was extremely talented when he was young and he ranked among the top in the provincial examinations. However, he took part in several imperial examinations in Bian Jing but failed to become a Jinshi. He gave up the idea of taking the imperial examinations when he was nearly forty years old and used his connections to get the post of Huaiyuan Postmaster.
From then on, he became depressed and became fond of things in the pot. Although he was only in his early forties, he looked like a little old man.
However, from a personal point of view, Cheng Yi admired Wang Bing's character, and even took people like Wang Bing as a role model for self-improvement. He was happy that Wang Bing could stay in the Huaiyuan military camp at this time, and did not feel it was troublesome or dangerous at all.
In the past five days, apart from Deng Gui's daily routine visits, no one else came to see Wang Bing. Cheng Yi was always by Wang Bing's side to ask for advice on poetry, books and articles.
Those strange memories may not involve these. Xu Huai found that he was not very familiar with the poetry, books and articles of the time. Cheng Yi accompanied Wang Bing to play chess and discuss poetry and books, but he was more willing to ask Lu Xiong for advice on martial arts.
