Chapter 4: Wu Fengzi Suddenly Goes Berserk and Injures People, The New Three Kingdoms' Disputes Never End

  Qin Lei and Iron Eagle returned to the entrance, where the guards, seeing the Qin envoy walk away, resumed their haughty demeanor.

  Qin Lei stood in front of the stone bench at the gate, gazing condescendingly at several guards. His right index finger lightly drew a circle on the tip of his nose. The soldiers saw that the rumored weak and timid young master was actually so majestic, they felt uneasy in their hearts. They held their long spears tightly in their arms, staring provocatively at Qin Lei with one face. One of them, whose mouth was not clean, said: "He really is a pretty boy, I wonder if he's a rabbit..."

  Before the word "ba" was out, Qin Lei flew up with one foot and kicked it straight into the person's abdomen. The person let out an "oh" and flew out horizontally, crashing into the gate and causing dust to fall from the eaves.

  Those soldiers never thought that the 'prisoner' they were guarding would dare to fight back, throwing away their long guns and rushing up with a loud shout. Iron Eagle had seen the prince's brutal hand-to-hand combat skills before, so he wasn't worried. With one bear hug, he left two of them behind, and with one exertion of strength, there was a 'crashing' sound as the two soldiers' heads collided and they fainted.

  Qin Lei saw six soldiers rushing up together, and he casually pulled out a door bolt, made a sweeping motion, waiting for the opponent's attack to pause, changing the sweep to a smash, heavily hitting the right clavicle of one of them, making a sound that made people's teeth ache, "Ka Cha" sounded at the same time, and the man hummed without even coming to his senses before fainting.

  Another five took the opportunity to rush up, wanting to hold Qin Lei. Two of them had just thought about stretching out their hands when they felt a tightness on their backs and flew back, only to find that they had been left behind by Iron Eagle.

  Qin Lei dodged to the side, letting the Qi soldier rush past on his left, and crashed into the middle one's arms. Qin Lei let out a loud roar: "Rise!" With a sinking shoulder, he knocked the Qi soldier to the ground at an angle. Borrowing this momentum, Qin Lei rushed behind the two men on either side of him, turned around, and swung his club down hard onto the left man's calf, instantly shattering the bone and tendons, sending him crashing to the ground with a loud thud.

  The last Qi soldier was scared out of his wits, Qin Lei made a gesture to hit him, but Tie Ying rushed up and picked him up like a small chicken, slapping him left and right with more than ten loud slaps, hitting him until his teeth were all loose, his mouth became a bloody gourd before he was ruthlessly flung onto the street, slamming into the ground with a "thud".

  After doing all this, the iron eagle who was still unsatisfied thought he should explain to the lord, and he said embarrassedly to Qin Lei: "It's just that this little brat humiliated my subordinate this morning."

  Qin Lei nodded in understanding. He only pursued results when fighting, often defeating his opponents with a single move, but that didn't mean he didn't appreciate Iron Eagle's pursuit of thrill-seeking combat methods.

  Qin Lei gazed at the Qibing soldiers scattered on the ground, moaning and unconscious, feeling extremely pleased and his mind clearing up. Suddenly, he became flustered and hastily told Tieying: "Quickly go find Lord Li, otherwise we'll be in for a scolding."

  ~~~~~~~~~~

  Although the Proton Mansion is humble in status, it is located in the eastern part of the Upper Capital, where the mansions of officials and nobles are located, with good public security and few pedestrians.

  So the scene of Xiao Zizhong beating the watchdog didn't spread, and the Golden Armor Guard responsible for the eastern city's security quickly arrived. Fortunately, the fight just now was only a momentary effort, and Iron Eagle soon caught up with Lord Li's sedan chair. With one shout of "The prince is being bullied!", he scared Li Guangyuan into hastily turning back, coincidentally running into the Golden Armor Guard searching Xiao Zizhong's residence. Lord Li suddenly became furious, thundering: "If even a single hair on the prince's head is harmed, this alliance will not be signed, and everyone should prepare for war instead."

  A golden-armored general emerged from within, bowing to Li Guang: "This subordinate is in the midst of capturing a criminal, it's his duty, please forgive this for the foreign envoy."

  Li Guangyuan saw that Jin Wu had already walked out of the courtyard, empty-handed, apparently without gaining anything. He felt slightly relieved, narrowed his eyes and said to General Jin Wu in a stern tone: "This matter involves diplomatic relations between the two countries, I will inform your Majesty and the Ministry of Rites, please return..."

  Jin Wu's face turned purple with rage, but as the Golden Guard of the North City, how could he not be aware of the situation? He hesitated for a moment, gritted his teeth and bowed to Li Guangyuan, then turned around and roared: "Withdraw!"

  ~~~~~~~~~~

  Li Guangyuan and Tieying rushed into the courtyard, but saw a mess and no sign of the prince. Just as they were getting anxious, a clear voice came from behind, "Two good-hearted people, are you playing hide-and-seek?"

  The two of them felt a huge weight lift off their shoulders. As they came out, they saw Qin Lei holding a food box in his hand, standing in the courtyard with a warm smile on his face, which was actually... infuriating.

  Qin Lei saw the two men glaring at him, and with a smile, he said to Li Guangyuan: "I just went to buy breakfast for the adults, I'm not familiar with the place, so it took a while, please forgive me."

  Li Guangyuan couldn't help but smile at the sight of this stubborn man. He also smiled and said, "Your humble servant is indeed a bit hungry, thank you for your kindness, Your Excellency." The two men walked into the house hand in hand, while Tieying stood at the door with a smiling face.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~

  In the pavilion in the backyard, Qin Lei sat upright on a stone bench, and the teacup on the stone table had long lost its heat. Tiejing looked at Qin Lei's back like a spear, knowing that the master had really changed, turning over heaven and earth. He let out a gentle breath, an idea floated to his mind, no matter how it changed, it wouldn't be worse than before. Tiejing turned around, quietly guarding his master.

  Li Guangyuan had been gone for a long time, and the information he threw at Qin Lei was still swirling in his mind. Adding to that, the inquiry about Tieying just now, Qin Lei roughly understood his situation:

  Sixteen years ago, when the strongest Qin Emperor Xiangwen passed away, his sons fought for the throne, and the situation was chaotic. The states of Qi and Chu joined forces under the leadership of Zhao Wujiao, the Marquis of Eastern Qi's Hundred Victories, and Zhu Liang, the General of Southern Chu's Pillar State, with a million-strong army attacking Qin. The morale of the Qin army was low, and they were defeated in one battle after another, with more than half of their territory falling into enemy hands, several hundred thousand troops annihilated, and the country on the brink of collapse.

  In a critical moment, the General of the Cavalry of Qin State, Li Hun, and the Right Chancellor, Wen Chengyan, colluded with all officials to support the current Emperor Xizong to ascend to the throne. At the same time, stabilizing the imperial court: ceding nine states, allowing annual tribute, detaining the emperor's son as a hostage, marrying off the emperor's sister to Northern Qi. This finally dissolved the alliance between Qi and Chu, and afterwards the Qin army combined its forces to drive back the great army of Chu, lifting the crisis of the fallen state.

  More than a decade has passed, and time has changed many things: the princess of Qin who was once so close to her family is now deceased, having died several years ago; the upper echelons of Qi are intoxicated with the fragrance of victory, indulging in luxury and extravagance. The common people are suffering unbearably, contradictions are becoming increasingly sharp, and national strength is melting away like ice and snow; while Qin has been nursing its grievances and working hard to reform, with everyone pulling together, it has finally restored its national strength.

  One side weakens, the other gains strength; the situation is clear without needing to be stated. The Qin state needs a war to wash away its past shame.

  As for the crown prince who has already grown up, it seems like no one cares about him.

  These two years, the relationship between Qin and Southern Chu has eased, but turned hostile towards Qi, with hundreds of thousands of troops stationed at Hangu Pass, ready to pounce at any moment. Since that princess left, the only buffer in the relations between the two countries is gone, and friction continues. In this situation, how can the prince, as a hostage, have good days?

  If that other prince named Qin Lei were still around, he would definitely be filled with self-pity and regret. But now it's the 21st century's Qin Lei, an elite instructor from the special forces, all weakness and self-inflicted wounds are beyond him.

  Through analyzing the situation, Qin Lei strongly felt that he might become the focal point of the three kingdoms' game in the next period. Chu State must want him dead, and last night's assassin was very likely to be from Chu State; Qi State should not want him dead, as it would give Qin State a reason to start war; while Qin State's attitude is more ambiguous, although Li Guangyuan nominally came to discuss an alliance and redeem the prince, Li Guangyuan subtly revealed that the big people of Qin State seem to be preparing to abandon him to trigger a war. However, opinions should not be unified, at least Li Guangyuan tends to keep himself safe.

  He cleared his mind and stopped daydreaming, picked up the iced tea and gulped it down, then flung the cup away. A white chrysanthemum bloomed on the red corridor pillar, accompanied by a crisp shattering sound. Qin Lei stood up steadily and walked out of the pavilion in big strides, with Tieying closely following behind him. Qin Lei wouldn't tell Tieying about the intense activity that morning, which had left him with a sore waist and back, and he was just recovering from it.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Li Guangyuan's request to Qin Lei was to pretend to be ill, and Qin Lei agreed. He let Tiewu announce to the outside world that he had been frightened too much, suffered from amnesia and insomnia, with severe mood swings, and even became violent when excited, posing a great danger.

  He himself hid in a small study on the west side, flipping through Li Guangyuan's personally written "New Three Kingdoms", which started from the loss of the nine tripod cauldrons of the Tang Dynasty and was written until now. He had a rigorous academic style, writing straightforwardly, without excessive praise for Qin or derogation of Qi and Chu, but rather objectively describing the history of over 200 years.

  Such a book, placed in any dynasty or country, would not be discussed well. Li Guangyuan also had no intention of making it public. The whole book has more than 600,000 words, all written in elegant and beautiful calligraphy, the preciousness is self-evident. That day, Qin Lei asked Li Guangyuan to buy some history books, unknowingly storing what kind of thoughts, the next day Li Guangyuan sent his own work over.

  Adding the books in the study, Qin Lei knew that this world before Tang was the same as his original world. But the long river of history turned a small bend at Ma Wei Slope, and things afterwards were completely different.

  Xuanzong died, Suzong also died, the world was in great chaos, and Tang perished. After 50 years of warlord infighting, only the current three major countries remained. For 200 years, they have been at war or at peace, and whenever one side gains the upper hand, the other two will tacitly join forces to suppress it. Until today, the three ancient countries still stand, contending with each other...

  ~~~~~~~~~~

  A few days later, the imperial physician of Qi arrived.

  That old man with a shock of white hair examined him carefully, but didn't find anything unusual. Qin Lei's amnesia was real.

  Looking at the old doctor walking away while shaking his head, Qin Lei curled his lips and said to Iron Eagle: "Continue negotiating with them, tell them I'm about to forget how to breathe."

  In the following days, Li Guang came more and more frequently. Sometimes he would play a few rounds of chess with Qin Lei, sometimes they would chat for a bit. He even told Qin Lei about his negotiations in the Eastern Qi imperial court, Qin Lei knew that opportunities were too rare for someone like him who was half a prisoner, so he didn't hold back. With just a few words, he would analyze the complex struggles of the imperial court, making Li's face more and more pleased.

  ?????????????

  One evening after dinner, Qin Lei, feeling his body had basically recovered, pulled up Iron Eagle and arrived at the backyard.

  Tie Ying looked at Qin Lei with a puzzled expression, waiting for him to speak.

  Qin Lei raised his small arm, which was like a reed whip, and beckoned with his palm to Tie Ying: "Let's exchange blows, Iron Brother, please attack with all your might."

  Tie Ying let out a soft "oh" sound, thought for a moment, and said: "It's still better if Your Highness launches the attack."

  Qin Lei knew he was afraid of hurting himself, a small fire burning in his heart, nodded and said, "Alright, Iron Big Brother, please accept my move." As soon as the words fell, he pounced forward, one leg whipping towards Tie Ying's waist.