Chapter 43: Used Like a Beast of Burden
Jin Sui shook her head and said:
“Leave him with a dog’s life. This King wants to ask, after his assassination failed, he said I wasn’t Li King. What exactly was he trying to do?”
Han Xing said gently:
“Naturally, he knew he was going to die and deliberately provoked. Why should Your Highness care about the words of an assassin?”
Both in tone and attitude, it was clear that he didn’t believe the assassin’s words at all, and firmly believed she was Li King!
Cheng Yu looked regretfully at the broken wine gourd in his hand and said:
“I wonder how many accomplices the assassin has who entered Yanzhou City? The other four are dead, so we must keep one alive for interrogation.”
After speaking, he stepped forward, squatted down, and pulled off the cloth from the black-clothed man’s face. He then pried open his mouth, fumbled inside with his fingers for a while, and said:
“Your Highness, this is not a professional assassin or death warrior. There is no poison hidden in his teeth.”
After speaking, there was a crisp ‘crack’ sound. Cheng Yu had actually dislocated his temporomandibular joint and even laughed:
“To prevent him from biting his tongue.”
Jin Sui said admiringly, “Assistant Secretary Cheng is indeed thoughtful.”
Han Xing and Hei Hu looked at Cheng Yu with changed expressions. This Assistant Secretary Cheng usually appeared to be a drunkard who only loved to drink.
They never expected that he would kill people as casually as he drank.
Jin Sui took the wound medicine from her space and gave it to Han Xing to treat the injured soldiers outside, while she personally applied medicine to Assistant Secretary Wei.
After tidying up, it was almost dawn.
Jin Sui told Han Xing to drag the four assassin corpses to Yanzhou City for Li Heng, and to do so conspicuously so that the people along the way would see.
Yesterday, these four assassins were sent by Prefect Li. Now that Li King is injured and the soldiers of the Black Feather Camp are injured, what does Prefect Li intend to do?
Han Xing asked in a low voice, “Your Highness, tell me honestly, how much do you intend to extort from Prefect Li?”
Jin Sui laughed:
“Captain Han, you truly understand this King! Currently, I cannot hold onto anything else, so it’s better to ask for more silver to build our border city.”
“I want Ten Thousand Taels! If he doesn’t give it, this King will file an Imperial Petition!”
She also personally wrote a letter to Li Heng, stating that if he didn’t want this matter to escalate, he should pay silver.
The seal used on the letter was the ‘Li, the Boundless King’ that Assistant Secretary Wei had just carved for her.
After Han Xing left, Jin Sui slept for an hour. Upon hearing that the black-clothed man had woken up, she took Hei Hu to see him.
The man was woken by a basin of cold water. The anesthetic had not yet worn off, and his feet were chained. He lay on the ground like a lamb waiting to be slaughtered.
Even then, Hei Hu didn’t let Jin Sui approach. He went over himself and, like lifting a chick, lifted the man up:
“Your Highness is asking questions, answer honestly.”
The man looked up at Jin Sui and still said in a firm tone, “He is not Li King at all.”
Unfortunately, his jaw was dislocated, and he drooled while speaking, making him incoherent. He was only slightly better than Crazy Dave in the Tuntian Army.
Jin Sui smiled and asked, “You are not a Jianghu assassin?”
The man glared fiercely at Jin Sui, turned his head, and did not answer. Hei Hu, angered, grabbed the top of his head with his large palm and twisted his head around:
“Speak!”
Then Hei Hu saw something at his waist, reached out, and pulled it off. It was a token.
Hei Hu handed it to Jin Sui. She saw that it was engraved with the character ‘Du’ on one side and ‘Huo’ on the other.
Jin Sui had no idea which organization it belonged to, but to avoid revealing any flaws.
She deliberately sneered:
“So that’s how it is! I didn’t expect Prince Yu to send you directly to kill this King.”
The man then said:
“Since you know I am from the Commander’s Office, you understand that I have seen Li King.
Who exactly are you? Where is Li King?”
Jin Sui obtained useful information: ‘Du’ referred to the Commander’s Office, and ‘Huo’ was naturally the man’s surname.
She tossed the token to Hei Hu: “Take this to Assistant Secretary Cheng. If Li Heng doesn’t pay the silver, use this evidence to file a complaint in Chang’an.”
“With Commander Huo as a witness, Prince Yu cannot deny it even if he wants to.”
Commander Huo was greatly alarmed and tried to struggle to snatch the token, but Hei Hu pushed him down with a palm.
Jin Sui finally asked him, “Say it again, who am I?”
“You are not Li King at all!”
Jin Sui clapped her hands and laughed:
“You really have backbone. Very good. The Tuntian Camp is in need of oxen to pull plows. Since your bones are so hard, go pull a plow for a few days.”
Commander Huo said anxiously, “A scholar can be killed but not insulted…”
Before he could finish speaking, Jin Sui sneered:
“You’re already an assassin, and you still want dignity? Go pull your plow!”
Hei Hu executed the King’s orders most thoroughly. Jin Sui had him personally supervise, treating the man surnamed Huo like an ox and giving him only one vegetarian meal a day.
Jin Sui returned to her room to catch up on sleep, waiting for Han Xing to collect the silver from Li Heng.
She was completely unaware that the matter of her leading over three thousand Border Soldiers Army to surround the Yanzhou City Gate to demand Military Pay from Li Heng had already spread all over the country.
Naturally, it also reached Grandpa Ling and the other two in Huai Prefecture. Grandpa Ling once again heard a storyteller talking about Li King.
However, this time it was spoken very quietly, in private discussions.
After all, Li King had just defeated Jiang Nansheng of Huai Prefecture, and no one in Huai Prefecture dared to speak ill of Li King in public.
But in private, there was much discussion, such as Li King loving his soldiers as his children, treating soldiers well, and not fearing the powerful.
Grandpa Ling once again sighed to Jin An, saying that people’s temperaments change greatly after experiencing major events.
Even royal descendants are no exception. The former Crown Prince was deposed and demoted to Li King, and he seemed like a completely different person.
Looking at everything he had done along the way, each one was astonishing.
An Imperial Prince leading soldiers to surround a city just to demand a few thousand taels of silver in Military Pay.
It was unheard of, unprecedented!
When he noticed that Gu Changxiao’s expression was extremely solemn after hearing this, he immediately pulled Grandpa Ling to discuss:
“We must hurry to Yanzhou City as soon as possible. We cannot delay any longer.”
Grandpa Ling asked again, “Why are you so anxious to go to Yanzhou? Also, how did you determine that my Grandson is in Yanzhou?”
Gu Changxiao had no choice but to say, “Please forgive me for not being able to explain clearly, but please believe me, Daoist, when we reach Yanzhou, I will definitely deliver the Little Taoist safely to you.”
Grandpa Ling sighed:
“Now, this old Daoist can only trust you! This old Daoist has already found a way to leave Huai Prefecture. There is a funeral procession that requires a Taoist priest to perform rituals, and we can just blend in.”
“It’s just that after leaving the city, if we can’t pass the checkpoints towards Yanzhou, this old Daoist will be helpless.”
Gu Changxiao said quickly, “I will find a way then. The most important thing now is to leave the city.”
Two days later, the three of them, using silver and Grandpa Ling’s eloquence, successfully blended into the Taoist group of the funeral procession.
As soon as they left Huai Prefecture City, the three of them found an excuse to leave the procession. Unexpectedly, not far outside the city, they encountered a group of refugees.
What surprised the three even more was that this group of refugees was not fleeing north to escape the plague-ridden Central Plains, but were heading towards the Central Plains.
“Near Luocheng, there are soldiers sent by Li King dispensing medicine, and the medicine is very effective. It has already cured many people.”
“We all have sick family members. We can’t just lie down and wait to die. If we take a risk, maybe we can get some medicine.”
Hearing the crowd chatter, all three were surprised. Didn’t Li King just demand Military Pay in Yanzhou?
When did he send people to Luocheng to dispense medicine? Also, where did he get the Good Medicine to cure the plague?
Just then, someone exclaimed:
“Oh dear, you three Taoist priests, an old one and a young one, aren’t you the people Li King is looking for?”
“I heard Li King is looking for three Taoist priests. As long as there is a clue about the Taoist priests, you can get Good Medicine.”
Grandpa Ling was startled, but his expression did not change. He smiled and said:
“How could we possibly know such an important figure as Li King?”
“What kind of Taoist priests is Li King looking for? Perhaps this old Daoist knows.”
After chatting with these refugees, Grandpa Ling had a guess and whispered to Gu Changxiao and Jin An:
“I suspect the person dispensing medicine in Luocheng is Sui Sui!
She previously found a doctor in town to prescribe a lot of medicine, and perhaps it happened to include medicine for the plague.”
“She must not have been able to find the three of us, so she deliberately spread the word, hoping we would turn back to find her.”
Jin An asked doubtfully, “But why did brother go to Luocheng? We finally escaped from Luocheng.”
Grandpa Ling shook his head and said, “I don’t know about that, but since there is news, we cannot ignore it.”
“Young Master Gu, let’s not go to Yanzhou for now. Let’s go to Luocheng first.”
