across the Quartet

Horizontal Chapter Three

The various plans arranged by Wei Zhuang in Xinzheng, at least up to the stage of Mianjun, seem to be very smooth.When Han Wang'an was the prince, he was very close to Wei's family, and Prince An also liked Wei Zhuang, a very clever little nephew. He also dare not say a word for the Wei family.It's hard to say if Han An felt any guilt towards the Wei family, at least when he saw Wei Zhuang crying and worshiping on the ground, his eyes were red, his lips trembled, and he seemed very emotional; With the help of Han Xi and others, the scene where Zhao Wu sees Duke Jin mourning was well executed, the two uncles and nephews hugged each other and wept for it.

Immediately afterwards, Wei Zhuang accused Han Yu'an and others of the crime of colluding with foreign countries and framing the Wei family.Although the king of Han had already favored him in his heart at this time, Han Yu'an was a veteran of the royal family after all. He had a strong tree in South Korea and had many party members. If one of them was not handled properly, it would easily cause dissatisfaction among the elders of the family, and even cause riots; therefore, he was very hesitant.At this time, the senior doctor Duan Cheng stepped forward and said fiercely that this kind of traitorous scum must be eradicated as soon as possible, and his family will be wiped out with a thunderbolt, lest they get the news and flee abroad with the help of the envoys of the Qin State, attracting attention. Qin soldiers came to attack—although the strength of all countries in the world at that time was morality, and there was no need for excuses for attacking cities, but South Korea has been making unremitting efforts to attract disasters abroad for many years, hoping that Qin will focus on In terms of other affairs, whether it is the Zhao State, the Zhou royal family, or the construction of water canals, in short, everything is good—only in the cracks can we survive. of.When Han Wangan was told this, his attitude finally became tough, and he ordered General Deng Armada to lead a surprise attack and surrounded Han Yu'an's mansion that night.

The once familiar scene repeated itself after just three years.That night, a fire broke out in Da Sikou's mansion, and the sound of wailing spread throughout the fields.The defenders of the royal city successfully searched the mansion for secret documents between Han Yu'an and the envoy of Qin. In addition, there were also a lot of gold of unknown origin, armor and weapons hidden in private possession, and various crimes were self-evident.The body of "Han Yu'an" who had been encoffined was dragged out and "beheaded" again, the Yiqi clan; the [-] dead men who resisted were executed on the spot.As for the real Han Yu'an who is still alive according to Wei Zhuang's judgment, no one seems to know where he went.However, a few days later, Huo Mei discovered that there was an extra container with a unique shape in the house. Looking closely, it was a human skull. The holes in the eye sockets were sealed with silver, and the outside was coated with a thin layer of lacquer.

At the end of the matter here, Wei Zhuang was recommended as the censor because of his meritorious service, and he was in charge of inspecting all officials; but Wei Zhuang repeatedly declined, saying that he had no merit to stand up for himself, and he was ignorant of political affairs, so he would rather be a halberd-bearer of His Royal Highness, guarding the King of Han all day long .This kind of childlike heart made Han Wang sigh, and he became closer to him.

Completely eradicating Han Yu'an's party seems to have achieved rapid results, but in fact the whole plan was very careful and meticulous, and it took a lot of effort and foreshadowing.Before returning to Xinzheng, Wei Zhuang started to get the support of the most powerful and land-feuded families with foreign surnames in Korea, such as the Xia family, the Duan family and the Chen family; It also has the most weight when speaking.He visited the fiefs of each family with the gold and silver treasures taken out of the Guigu cave, and eloquently persuaded them to bring down Han Yu'an's party together.Except for Xia's ambiguous attitude, the other two families have clearly expressed their support for Wei's——Wei Zhuang knows very well that apart from the heavy etiquette and sharp rhetoric, the reason why they are really tempted is these two The fiefs of the family are directly adjacent to Han Yu'an's ancestral fief; if Han Yu'an's party is punished, it will be a great opportunity for Duan and Chen to annex the land and expand their strength. How can they let it go for nothing?Later, when Wei Zhuang saw the doctor Duan Cheng working so hard in front of the King of Han, he knew that their Duan family had a particularly strong appetite. Sure enough, once Han Yu'an fell, Duan Cheng tried every means to expand the Duan family's fief to the north by more than [-] miles.The Chen family also got more than ten miles of hilly forest land.The suzerain of the Xia family was jealous of the other two's profits, and had no excuse to divide the land, so he attacked Duan Cheng, Chen Yang and others for seeking personal gain, and proposed that Han Shangqing's land should still belong to the royal family.Wei Zhuang originally wanted to get involved in the old Wei family fief near Yangzhai that was once privately swallowed by Han Yu'an. Seeing these senior and important ministers vying for each other in the court hall, he thought about it and decided not to mention it.

The quarrel at the court meeting on this day was particularly fierce. Da Sima Xiayan, Duan and Chen both used the most vicious words to slander each other. Han Wang felt a headache when he heard it, but he suffered from not being able to suppress the power of the three parties——finally a quarrel Parted unhappy.Wei Zhuang excused himself, followed Duan Cheng out, and scolded Xia Shi for being rude and shameless.

"Xiafu, this old man, I wish I could kill him and eat him raw!"

Wei Zhuang Weiwei nodded, suddenly smiled secretly, and said: "If the doctor really thinks about it, it's actually not difficult."

Duan Cheng looked at him in amazement, and said in a low voice, "I know that Weizi's swordsmanship is superb, but after all, this moment is also that moment; Weizi's status is different from the past, and I'm afraid he won't be as easy to win as he was when he dealt with old thief Han——"

Wei Zhuang laughed for a while, "Who is the doctor now? How could he be so reckless..." Suddenly he whispered in his ear, "I don't know if the doctor has heard of gathering and scattering quicksand?"

"quicksand?"

"I heard that it is the most expensive, ruthless, and most invisible assassin group in the world. No one in the Seven Kingdoms knows their origins; they only know that they never miss, and no one can find out the mastermind afterwards."

Duan Cheng was heartbroken when he heard it.Although it was popular among the dignitaries of various countries at that time to keep private swords and treat knights favorably for their own use, and when necessary to cut off dissidents by means of assassination and other low-level methods; A clever, loyal and reliable master who will never confess the mastermind; this kind of talent is also rare among assassins.If you only spend a little money, you can buy such a caring and reliable killer who can completely disown the relationship afterwards, it is really a bargain!

He barely concealed the urgency on his face, pretending to be leisurely and asked: "Then where did Wei Zi know about these people?"

"When Zhuang was cultivating in Yunmeng Mountain, he once saved an unknown swordsman. This man left me three barbed thorns as a thank you, and told me that if I need one, I can take one and enshrine it in Houji Temple in the south of Xinzheng City. Later, Zhuang Duofang inquired and found out that this was actually a way for people in Quicksand to contact their employers."

"Then Weizi has tried it himself..."

Wei Zhuang raised the corners of his lips lightly, and said in a low voice: "I have two pieces of terrestris left here. If the doctor is interested, Zhuang will order someone to send one to the house tonight; as for whether to use it or not, it's up to the doctor." the meaning of."

The two whispered for a while, then saluted each other and left.The setting sun followed their elongated shadows across the road, and a short figure loomed out of the shadows under the pillars, frowning, looking thoughtful.

"quicksand……"

"Master Shentu, eavesdropping is not a good habit."

Zhang Liang turned around abruptly, and found that Wei Zhuang who had clearly walked to the palace from in front of him just now suddenly appeared behind him, with an expression of watching a play with his arms folded.

"Brother Wei just said that, it's very interesting." He didn't have the fear and guilt of being caught, but still greeted him with a smile, "However, the important affairs of the country are entrusted to a group of unknown people. Is it inappropriate?"

Wei Zhuang laughed and said: "The quicksand is not the general grass and grass. If Master Shentu doesn't believe it, just watch it coldly and you will know."

"Speaking of which, Liang has heard a little about the bandits that are raging in South Korea, but he has never heard of the name Quicksand..."

"You'll hear about it soon."

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Wei Zhuang returned to Huo Mei's farm that night and called everyone to gather in the courtyard.

"From tomorrow onwards, Wu Jiu, Wu Shi, and Wu Shuang will each choose [-] lieutenants, be prepared for all secret operations, and follow my orders at any time. Remember, your names are 'Ju Scatter Quick Sand'."

The torches shone on confused faces, but almost no one made a sound.It turned out that most of the servants in the manor were disabled, and most of them were dumb.When Huo Mei first bought this farm, she planned to go to the people's market on the border of Han and Chu to buy some servants and come back to help take care of it. Burn red coals to create a scene of "dumb slaves".Although these dumb slaves are physically disabled, they are especially needed by some high-ranking and wealthy families to do shady activities, so the price is twice as high as that of a complete slave.Hearing the miserable cries of those women, Huo Mei was suddenly touched with compassion, so she used Huo Mei to lure the two trafficker leaders to kill each other, and took advantage of the chaos to lead a group of slaves to escape.

She had thought that Wei Zhuang would be displeased by such an accidental move, but she didn't want Wei Zhuang to praise her for this worthless business, and followed suit, leading her into several black markets where slaves were traded privately. The sellers were killed and a large number of people were taken away.Although the forces behind these human traffickers are strong, no clues can be found in this case, and they can only be treated as slaves fleeing collectively.Wei Zhuang also pretended to burn many alchemy books recording slave status, and let the escaped slaves decide whether to stay or not; No matter where they fled, they would be recognized by people, so except for a very few people who fled into the barren mountains, most of them followed Wei Zhuang to Xinzheng wholeheartedly.

Although the fugitive slaves were loyal to Wei Zhuang, it was a pity that most of them were illiterate and dumb, and some of them couldn't even understand Wei Zhuang's official language; it often made him feel dizzy, thinking that Xuan Hu was smarter than them.Even the few capable people and strangers whom he tried his best to recruit everywhere made him deeply difficult to communicate with, and he often felt a kind of loneliness like spring and white snow.

The name Wujiu was given by Wei Zhuang as a coquette; when it comes to his original name "One-armed Owl" Xi Chong, almost everyone in the Jianghu knows him.This man is a well-known ranger, also known as a robber, sometimes killing people and stealing money, sometimes giving away money, not distinguishing between good and evil, acting as he pleases, and a martial idiot.Back then when Wei Zhuang came out of Ghost Valley with a box of treasures, he was targeted by this short-sighted guy. He wanted to make a good fortune - the result can be imagined.However, after only fighting once, Xi Chong became deeply infatuated with the exquisiteness of vertical and horizontal swordsmanship; Wei Zhuang felt that this man's martial arts was acceptable and his personality was also right, so they hit it off and they returned to Korea together.It was only later that Wei Zhuang discovered that he was a reckless man after all, not that he had no brains at all, but he just didn't like to use them very much; he did things simply and rudely, regardless of the consequences.Every time I tell him something, I always think about it carefully in advance, and all the details are arranged without any omission.Even so, Wu Jiu is currently one of Wei Zhuang's best subordinates, because he at least knows a lot of Korean characters and can send messages by letter.

Wuxie's real name is Gongsun Jing, and his father, Gongsun Wu, was a grain guard officer in South Korea; when the Qin army attacked Ye last year, Xia Wei, the city lord general, abandoned the city and fled. However, Xia Wei is Xia Wei's fourth son, standing behind him The entire Xia family, after being investigated by the higher-ups, blamed the failure on "lack of food and grass and incompetence in defense". Gongsun Wu was convicted and killed, and his wife was used as an official slave.On the first day the whole family was taken into custody, Gongsun Wu's wife committed suicide because of the humiliation; Gongsun Jing ran out with his mother's body on his back.In order to repay his kindness, he changed his name and changed his surname to live in the farm, and he was sent by Wei Zhuang; however, since his parents died tragically, his personality became very gloomy, he practiced spear and sword skills hard in the corner of the yard all day long, and seldom talked to others.Wei Zhuang originally thought that Wu Shirt was a general after all, so he should have a bit of culture, but later he found out weakly that he was not as literate as Xi Chong, who was a thief.

"My mother said that it is enough for a boy to know how to write his own name!" He also said plausibly.

"Don't you really want to be like your father? To be a leading general, you need to know a little bit about the art of war." Wei Zhuang said persuasively.

"My mother said that reading too much art of war will make people stupid; there used to be a general named Zhao in the State of Zhao who read too much art of war and died in a defeat."

"...Your mother knows too much."

The origin of Wushuang is even more mysterious.He is a barbarian presented to the King of Han by a small lord in the south. It is said that he was captured from the deep forest.The Han royal family has always loved fighting beasts, so they found many beasts and locked them together with the barbarian to see how they fight.As a result, the barbarian really tore apart a wild bear and two jackals with his bare hands, and the blood of the beast was splashed everywhere, scaring the surrounding princes and nobles into a panic—screaming that they wanted to shoot the monster to death with arrows.

Wei Zhuang stood in front of King Han loyally, and was sprayed with blood; he suppressed his anger, and jumped into the arena directly——Han Wangan felt his eyes go dark, and when he opened his eyes, he saw the ghostly barbarian kneeling in front of Wei Zhuang. In front of Zhuang, it seemed that an invisible force was pressing down on his shoulders so deeply that he couldn't even lift his head.Then Wei Zhuang turned around to salute, the dripping blood on his face did not detract from his handsomeness at all.

"My lord, my nephew is willing to give this person to my little nephew."

"Zhuanger, you... what do you want this monster to do?!"

"Although this man frightened our king, his crime is unforgivable; but just imagine if our army confronts the enemy on the battlefield, using him as the vanguard will surely break the enemy's heart and strengthen our army's prestige."

"Also... makes sense..." King Han agreed hesitantly.He also very kindly asked for a pair of special neck shackles and handcuffs to be prepared for the barbarian, and he put them in an iron cage and gave them to Wei Zhuang.When King Han's people left, Wei Zhuang smashed the iron cage with a sword, cut off the shackles, and supported the barbarian's hand and said affectionately: "I have never heard of insulting a man like this! A strong man is willing to work with Zhuang to understand the Lord in the future. Do you want to help the country?"

The Manzi looked at him, and suddenly started dancing with his hands and feet, making some inhuman sounds.Wei Zhuang wanted to remove the brass lock on his neck, but he showed great reluctance, as if he liked the lock very much.

——Wei Zhuang began to feel that he was too stupid for not forgetting to buy people's hearts all the time.

Wugui, Wuxie, and Wushuang, these three together make up Wei Zhuang's most powerful team.In addition, Huo Mei is smart, loyal and resourceful, but it is a pity that she has lost all her martial arts skills, and she is a woman who has become a mother—even Wei Zhuang, he is too embarrassed to let her do rough and heavy work, so he can only plan in his heart the never-forgotten Huo Meiju.

That night, the breeze came slowly, the moon was bright and the stars were sparse; when Wei Zhuang said the name of "gathering and scattering quicksand", which will become famous and powerful in the future, although he felt that his heart was like a spring, his mind was like a wind, surrounding him. A group of people just stared at him with blinking eyes, and Wushuang tilted his head inexplicably.

"Quicksand is a thing that is born in response to the situation. It gathers into a trap that must be killed, and disperses into an invisible dust. What is the word 'potential'? Potential is like flowing water, created by thousands of people, followed by thousands of people, not just one person It can be changed. If you go against the trend, you will perish.”

"...Twelve lieutenants, so let's start selecting people now, shall we?"

"All in a row tall and short—all in a row tall and short—"

"It's too troublesome. I think they are all about the same. Just pick some tall and strong ones. It's just that there is no shirt to decide the winner. Let's fight again—"

"I'm not free, you can find Wushuang to practice."

Wushuang giggled silly, picked up a stone millstone, and seemed to like the proposal very much.Wugui continued to pursue Wuxie relentlessly, shouting "Look at the move!" He slashed with his sword, but was blocked back by Wuxie with a long stick.

... These beasts know how to fight and kill all day long, and they don't know how to appreciate the wisdom of your leader at all!

Wei Zhuang was so angry that his brain hurt.He felt that he urgently needed to find some more capable people to discuss the big plan.

There is a desolate courtyard in the north of Xinzheng City.There is an inch-thick pile of fallen leaves at the door, and no one cleans them, but there are many birds jumping and pecking among them. They don't fly when they see people coming, but just look up and down with pairs of curious small eyes like black beans.Wei Zhuang looked up at a pear tree sticking out of the courtyard, and put his hands on the door.

A little boy opened the door, looked outside in a trance, shook his head like reciting a book, and chanted: "Young master is sick, and there are no outsiders."

"Tell him that an old friend named Wei is visiting." Wei Zhuang stared at him amusedly.

"Young Master said, no one will be seen."

Wei Zhuang shook his head, suddenly rose from the ground, and lightly swept up the protruding pear tree branch.The boy panicked.

"Guest! What are you going to do, guest—"

"Although the master doesn't want to see guests, if a strongman enters the house through the wall, even if he doesn't want to see him, what can he do—" Wei Zhuang said with a pointed voice.

The courtyard was still silent.However, at the moment when Wei Zhuang jumped from the tree into the courtyard, three sharp weapons pierced the wind, attacking his throat, sea of ​​Qi, and knees at the same time.He hastily rolled up his long sleeves and swept down the first two, raised his knee to avoid the third one, and used his other foot in mid-air to make a half-circle.At this time, the fourth hidden weapon hit the empty door on his side, and the timing and position were all very skillful; Wei Zhuang saw what was coming, and he grabbed the "hidden weapon" in his hand with a palm halfway - —It turned out to be a piece of unwritten bamboo slips.

In the courtyard stood a tall and thin middle-aged man: plainly dressed, with a simple black jade crown on his head, but he had a kind of noble majesty.This person has long and narrow eyebrows, a high nose and thin lips, and his appearance is roughly similar to that of King Han, but there are many fine lines spreading from the corners of his eyebrows and mouth, and his eyes are much more serious.

Wei Zhuang smiled.

"When will Uncle Fei do this?"

"The people in South Korea who want to kill me can go from Xinzheng to Nanyang. If you don't know how to do this, would you still see me today?"

"Since Zhuang has returned from his studies, if anyone in Korea wants to touch Uncle Fei, they must first ask me about the sword in my hand."

"Hmph, attacking and killing with swords is nothing but violent people."

"Extraordinary times do extraordinary things. Today, our country's treasury is not profitable, and the storehouses are empty. There are dangers of conspiracy and collusion with the enemy inside, and there are no divisions to fight to the death and defeat the enemy outside. We need to use extraordinary means to survive in Korea."

"Preserve Han?" Young Master Fei suddenly laughed, "Is anyone still thinking about preserving Han now? The Shangdang blamed it, the fat Zhou retreated from Qin, and the water workers exhausted Qin—these clever tricks can't save Han, Not to mention a mere Han Fei?"

Facing this person, Wei Zhuang only looked more respectful, "——Please teach me Uncle Fei."

Young Master Fei smiled back, gave him a half-pitying, half-sorrowful look, and flicked his sleeves coldly.

"South Korea is hopeless."