across the Quartet

Horizontal Chapter One

Han Wangan five years.Xinzheng.

This is a luxurious wine shop close to the inner city of the palace. The location is very superior. Sitting at the window facing the street on the second floor, one can have a panoramic view of the important officials entering and leaving the court.

For more than 30 years since King Huanhui, South Korea was in dire straits under the coercion of Western Qin. Cutting off five cities today and dedicating ten cities tomorrow has reached the point of life and death.Xinzheng has lost its prosperity and pride as a capital city of a country, business travel is not good, lifeless, and some of the remaining shops are also in dismal business; only the wine shop named "Luming Pavilion" here, because of the relationship with the important officials of the court, the business is only good. Barely make it through.

On this day, the restaurant received a guest who spent a lot of money.

This distinguished guest booked an elegant room on the second floor, which was separated by screens on three sides, and one side was by the window, leaving only a narrow gap for passing vegetables in and out.He looks very young, but he has also reached the age for the crowning ceremony, but he has frost-like white hair loose, tied in front of his forehead with a gold ribbon; On closer inspection, it turned out to be a precious onyx cloth produced in the past in the Lu State, and the cuffs were woven with elegant dark patterns of running water.Of course, just looking at his attire, he was just an ordinary nobleman.Only this son's eating appearance made all the shop assistants startled from ear to ear.

The guests put together four long tables to form a table, and put two meat and two vegetables on it.The meat one is a half-slice of whole roasted lamb, which occupies most of the table, and a tripod of neatly cut honey-colored square meat; the vegetarian one is a large plate of green bean sprouts, and a cup of fragrant and tangy weed cabbage bamboo shoot soup .In addition, there is a stack of dough cakes piled up on the case.The store thought that this person was going to have a big feast for the guests, but he didn't expect him to sit down and start eating big pieces. He ate very quickly but without losing elegance, and swept away the four dishes like a storm.

There were four guys running up and down to serve him; after carrying the wine and meat, they all huddled together at the corner of the stairs and babbled.

"Oh my god, is this still human..."

"Shhh - are you looking for death! Look at that sword, you know that this person is definitely not an ordinary person -"

Sure enough, there was a sword stuck in the guest's waist, about two feet seven inches long, four fingers wide, with a rhinoceros leather scabbard, and a golden inscription pattern engraved on the hilt; Look closely to discover its value.Looking at it, one of the buddies accidentally became absorbed in it, raised his head inadvertently, and met the guest's eyes.

The color of the guest's eyeballs is very light, hardly resembling a Central Plains person; the light gray pupils have a strange color, like the streamer of light that flashes across the edge of a sword when it is unsheathed.

Being stared at by such a pair of eyes, the boy's back stiffened for some reason—he didn't dare to move his body.

The guest suddenly smiled casually, and threw something in the air; none of the four waiters dared to pick it up, and let the thing hit the floor with a bang—it turned out to be a piece of gold the size of a fingernail.

"Add Erjiao plum wine, and a pot of beef tendon; stew it a bit more rotten."

The four guys ran away in a swarm as if they had received an amnesty.The one who was stared at earlier realized that he was covered in cold sweat, and his feet were so weak that he could hardly go downstairs.

The guests held the wine vessels, strolled leisurely to the window, and leaned on the railing to look into the distance.At the end of this street is the inner city of the palace.It was almost noon now, and there were only a few pedestrians on the street.

Suddenly, there was a line of yellow dust billowing at the end of the street; the yelling of the coachman, the sound of whipping, and the neighing of horses gradually became audible.

The meeting is over.

Inferior officials rode light chariots with one horse and one royal, and high-ranking ministers passed the streets in style in carts driven by two or four horses abreast; Comfortable, often sitting on a chariot carried by six or eight people; although the speed is slow, the coachmen of other officials have to drive their own carriages into the alleys to avoid them.

On the first floor of Luming Pavilion, there is a counter made of ash wood three feet into the store; seven or eight large pottery pots are lined up on the stage, and the mouths of the pots are tied tightly with thick cloth; even so, there is still a strong smell of alcohol Fragrant.

A young man dressed as a high-flyer was leaning on the cabinet and chatting with the shopkeeper.He casually inserted an iron sword in his waist, dressed in an unruly manner, with a pleasing smile on his face; however, the sleeve on his right side was empty, and he turned out to be a one-armed man.

"Old man, I just heard someone say that you have stood here for more than ten years, just looking at the carriages and horses, and there are none of these high-ranking officials passing by that you can't recognize, but is that so?"

The shopkeeper looked up with three points of complacency and seven points of disdain, "You don't believe it?"

The one-armed swordsman remained unmoved, and continued to smile and say, "I'm new to Xinzheng, how about the shopkeeper open my eyes? For example, who are the four solid-colored black horses pulling?"

"That's General Han Shen in Wangcheng. Apart from his General's Mansion, where else is there such a good horse in South Korea."

"Who's in the cart next to the green horse-drawn horse?"

"Well, it should be Zhang Liang, the son of the old prime minister Zhang Ping. This one is amazing. I heard that he is a famous child prodigy in Xinzheng. He was recommended as the next Shentu at the age of 13—"

"In the past, Gan Luo worshiped at the age of 13 and became a student at the age of 13. It's not so unusual. By the way, what about the light gauze chariot carried by the eight people behind?"

"That one is the royal family's senior official, the chief minister, Han Yu'an."

As soon as the words fell, there was a sudden change.A two-eared dendrobium dropped from the sky, and hit the knee of one of the eight porters carrying the chariot for the chief minister impartially—the porter happened to be the one leading the way at the front, and his legs bent in pain. , Kneeling directly on the ground; the entire chariot suddenly tilted forward, and the person sitting in the chariot staggered and almost fell out of the gauze.

Almost at the same time, a black robe flew past the chariot like a hovering owl.No one could see exactly what was going on.Most people only remember the flash of an arc, and the cold light reflected from the blade pierced their eyelids like needlepoints; the next moment, a snow-white head rolled away far away.The headless body stayed in the air for a long time before it fell down with a bang. Red blood arrows shot out of the cavity one after another, splashing on the faces of the stunned bearers, guards, and passers-by—but there was no time to wipe them off.

A figure with white hair and black clothes lightly landed on the ground.The meandering red color merged into a pool of blood under his feet, reflecting a shadow of a dangling black robe; just like a picture scroll of the most poignant, cruel and tragic.

The extreme speed and fierceness of this sword, and the extreme slowness and silence of the crowd formed a huge and breath-taking contrast. It is no wonder that all the people present were in a trance, as if they were in a big dream.

The man in black chuckled, and put his sword back into its sheath; unexpectedly he walked away just like that.

No one dares to stop.

Moments later, the streets were boiling.Screams, roars, and the sound of weapons unsheathing were heard endlessly; in less than half a day, the entire Xinzheng City was covered with reward notices, and the defenders of Wangcheng searched for suspects from house to house, causing the whole city to be thrown into chaos.

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About thirty miles west of Xinzheng City, there is a fertile valley and a comfortable farm.It was getting late, and a few smokes were coming out from the roofs of the farmers, and the cattle being led back to the pen sometimes let out a long bark.On the higher ground stood a stone house with three entrances and three exits, surrounded by a wall of gravel, which was as strong as a fortress; it seemed out of place with the other brick and mud houses on the farm.

The sun was setting on the western mountain, and suddenly a rider came from the east; the knight was dressed in black, with a magnificent white horse on his lap, which was very conspicuous in the dimly lit field.

In the blink of an eye, one person and one horse arrived in front of the stone wall.The knight didn't bend down to get off the horse, but jumped up, with the toe of his boot lightly tapped on the horse's back, he flew directly over the fence and into the courtyard.The white horse, which had nothing to do, trotted freely in place, and after a while, a hand suddenly stretched out from the door, took the bridle and dragged it into the courtyard.

The black-clothed knight walked around the screen wall, threw his whip to a servant who came out after hearing the sound, and strode towards the back hall with his head held high.A beautiful woman in red rushed out from inside, stopped after two steps, bowed her knees and saluted, "Huo Mei welcomes young master."

The black-clothed knight supported her with one hand, and said with a smile, "Aunt Mei, I said earlier that there is no need for these empty courtesy between us."

The woman in red didn't refuse either, she straightened up, with a worried and anxious look on her face, "The young master told me to wait, did something go wrong—is there any injury?"

The knight laughed and said, "If I do it myself, what can I do wrong? Aunt Mei, you are really worrying."

The black knight was none other than Wei Zhuang who left Guigu alone after half a year.

During the conversation, the two had entered the inner room.Wei Zhuang took off his boots, leaned casually on the couch, tapped his knuckles on a plan on the side, and said, "Is there anything to eat? I'm hungry."

"Dinner is not ready yet, but there is porridge for lunch."

"First fill a cup."

Huo Mei stretched out her hand to summon two silent maids, gave them some instructions, and sent them off.Then he turned his head and asked again, "Is the young master's actions today going well?"

"It's just killing an old man, what's so difficult." Wei Zhuang yawned, "I did other things after that, and it was too late."

"However," Huo Mei worriedly served the porridge and said, "I heard that Han Yu'an is a treacherous and cunning thief, and he exchanged news with Qin Guo's network. I'm afraid he knew about the fact that the young master is still alive. We are in the city The buried secret message spread the news that this person paid a lot of money to buy a group of dead guards a year ago, and prepared a double who looks exactly like him, I'm afraid—"

"Afraid of what?" The corner of Wei Zhuang's mouth hooked slightly, showing a sneaky sneer. "That's right, the one I killed today is a substitute."

"What?!" Huo Mei exclaimed in shock, "Then, young master, why—"

"Why would you take the risk of killing people in the city when you know it's not him?" Wei Zhuang stirred the hot porridge with a spoon, his face was blurred by the steam. "The moment he rolled out of the gauze tent, I saw that this person was just a fake; Han Yu'an made friends with his father in martial arts, and his skill was not inferior to my father; even if he was attacked suddenly, he would never be so embarrassed. But It was because I knew it was a fake that I would strike on the spot. If it was the old thief himself, how could I let him die so easily."

"...The subordinate is still unknown."

Wei Zhuang put down the spoon for now, and smiled, "Aunt Mei, do you know what is the best way to fool your enemy?"

"This--"

"The best way is to be deceived by your enemy first, let him underestimate you and despise you, thinking that everything is under his control. If you want to deal with a person, there is nothing more favorable than this After the court meeting, Han Yuan slipped away by himself first, and let his stand-in saunter through the market in a chariot, making it clear that it was a trap; but now I want to jump into this trap, like a fish with a fragrant bait. In this way, the old thief will He will think that I, Wei Zhuang, are nothing more than that; moreover, he will also think that I think I have avenged my vengeance by slaying my enemy, and will not think that he is still alive, so he himself is safe, so he relaxes his vigilance. is one of them.

"Dealing with Han Yuan is only the first step of our plan. To realize the whole plan, we need the support of other Korean nobles and veterans. None of those people is an old fox who has been struggling in the officialdom for many years. If I behave too shrewdly , they will be wary of me from the very beginning. Only if I behave like a reckless, impulsive and reckless warrior, will they be of value to them; You want to form an alliance with me, thinking that you can use me as a sharp sword. This is the second."

Huo Mei was suddenly enlightened when she heard this, and in addition to being in awe, she also felt a little bit of secret regret.

With the scheming of the young master, if he was born in another country's clan, he must not be inferior to the "Four Young Masters" who called the clouds and rain; but he was born in South Korea, where internal and external troubles are precarious, like being trapped in an unfathomable puddle. In the quagmire, every step you take, you are facing the danger of extinction.

Wei Zhuang glanced at her, as if he saw something, but what he said was: "Wu Yu, we're almost there."

Huo Mei was taken aback.She waited for another half a quarter before finally hearing the sound of horseshoes from far to near, she couldn't help blurting out: "The young master's hearing is really good!"

Wei Zhuang smiled half-meaningly and half-sarcastically, and patted the top of Xuebai's head: "There must be some benefit to practicing this unlucky kung fu of the Ghost Valley School."

Huo Mei bit her lower lip, showing an unbearable expression.At this time, a short maid stepped forward and raised the wooden case above her head respectfully—the table was full of water, wine and dishes, and the weight was not light; outsiders would never think that it looked so slender A thin woman can also have such strength.

Huo Mei took the chopping board and placed each one in front of Wei Zhuang, "This is today's dinner, a pair of roasted black chickens, buckwheat pancakes, and black buffalo bone soup."

"Aunt Mei, with regards to hair, it won't work to complement the shape with the shape..."

"Young master, don't give up! Yesterday, didn't you grow a black hair yesterday!"

"...It's gray."

Having said that, a gray-clothed swordsman suddenly appeared outside the door; he walked up to Wei Zhuang in a few steps, and pretended to bow his hands in salute—the reason why he said he was pretending was because he only had one hand at all.

"No blame has seen the master."

This one turned out to be the one-armed man who appeared in Luming Pavilion during the day.

Wei Zhuang didn't care about his hippie smile, he just said, "Is it done?"

"It's done. However, the city is full of defenders of the royal city, as well as the minister's soldiers and spies from all walks of life. There are too many spying eyes. The subordinates think that the master should stay in the village for a few days—"

"You don't need to worry about that."

"However, Master's sword attack in the morning was really wonderful." The one-armed man continued, with a look of excitement on his face, "Xi Wujiu has seen many famous swordsmen in this life, but Master only relied on that sword. , and they are like clouds and mud. Master's vertical and horizontal swordsmanship is truly unparalleled in the world—"

"Under Heaven, Wushuang..." Wei Zhuang chewed these four words, and suddenly a figure in white with a long sword flashed in front of him, walking away and away.

The two subordinates didn't know why his face became so ugly in an instant, they could only look at each other.But Wei Zhuang suddenly picked up the cold porridge and drank it down.

"Aunt Mei, who made this porridge?"

"...It was made by my subordinates." Huo Mei became nervous for no reason when she heard his serious tone.

"Next time, I will cook it with chicken broth."

"..."

Fortunately, at this moment, a loud cry of a baby broke the awkward silence.Huo Mei moved her lotus steps lightly as if she had received an amnesty, and said, "Lin'er has woken up. Forgive me for taking my leave first."