Chapter 63: Forcing Open the City Gate and Escaping with One's Life

  Hua Tuo was traveling around the world practicing medicine, and a few days ago he happened to arrive in this place. There is a house here that belongs to his good friend. Although his friend no longer lives here, he had previously told Hua Tuo that if he ever came to this place, he must come to stay, and even gave him the key back then.

  Hua Tuo settled down and was preparing to stay for several more days, while the thief-like man with beady eyes that Ma Chao had seen earlier became Hua Tuo's first patient. The thief-like man with beady eyes somehow had a lot of abscesses on his body, which had appeared just in the past few days before Hua Tuo arrived.

  The result was that the doctor looked at it and didn't have any effect, just when this kid was about to give up hope, he met Hua Tuo, and as a result, his hand healed the disease, making this kid excited almost kneeling on the ground calling ancestors. So when Ma Chao asked him who the best doctor in the city was for treating external injuries, in his eyes there was no one else except Mr. Hua.

  Ma Chao and Chui An also stayed at Hua Tuo's place, as Hua Tuo had a good impression of the young Ma Chao, so he invited him to stay together, and Ma Chao naturally didn't decline.

  The old man on the couch was still unconscious, but Ma Chao was not as worried as before. With Hua Tuo around, the old man would naturally be fine. The divine doctor said it was nothing serious, so of course there was nothing to worry about.

  Ma Chao was just thinking about something, and before he made a decision, he saw Hua Tuo feeding the old man medicine in person. He felt that he had indeed become insignificant, so Ma Chao knew what to do next.

  "Master Yuan Hua, how can you always trouble yourself with such trivial matters? From now on, let me handle such things!"

  Who would have thought that Hua Tuo waved his hand and said, "Meng Qi's words are wrong, there is no need to bother or not. Today I am very leisurely, these things must be done in person, if busy, even if I have the heart, I will have no power!"

  Hua Tuo was absolutely a doctor who took responsibility for his patients, and his words and actions deeply moved Ma Chao. As for what he said about his style name, it was mentioned by Ma Chao in their previous conversation.

  "Master Yuan Hua, I have something to ask of you!"

  "It doesn't matter what Meng Qi says!"

  Ma Chao then took out from his bundle the book on astrology and medicine left him by Niu Hua.

  "Please accept this book, Mr Yuan Hua!"

  Ma Chao respectfully handed the book to Hua Tuo, who took a look and found that Ma Chao was asking him to accept the book he had sent. He flipped through it and saw that the front part of the astrological divination was nothing special, which he didn't study. However, the medical techniques and prescriptions in the back were attractive to Hua Tuo.

  After reading for a while, Hua Tuo sighed: "I didn't expect that this book would have so many lost prescriptions! I don't know, Meng Qi, how did you get this book?"

  "This book was written by a deceased person, but I can never see that person again!"

  Hua Tuo heard this and thought it was a relic left behind by an old friend, but he didn't know who it belonged to.

  "Meng Qi gave me such a precious book, how dare I accept it?"

  "Why did Mr. Yuan say such a thing? The book is with me, at most it's just a keepsake. But in your hands, it can save people's lives. Moreover, I still have another book written by my deceased friend."

  Hua Tuo nodded, "However, Meng Qi, I appreciate your kindness, but I still cannot accept it. How about this, you lend me the book and after I copy it down, I will return it to you?"

  Ma Chao suddenly remembered something when he heard the words, before that he was only thinking about whether to send books or not, and actually threw such a big thing behind his mind.

  "Mr. Yuanhua mentioned copying books, which actually made me think of a way!"

  Ma Chao then shamelessly plagiarized Bi Sheng's movable type printing technique in front of Hua Tuo, who listened with repeated praise.

  "Excellent, truly excellent! I didn't expect Meng Qi to be so ingenious and come up with such a brilliant plan!"

  Listening to Hua Tuo's praise, Ma Chao also felt embarrassed. He had been busy and hadn't remembered the movable-type printing technique for a long time, but now he finally recalled it. However, today was already very late, so this matter could only be dealt with tomorrow.

  On the second day, Ma Chao went to find craftsmen to make movable type. To say that he also racked his brains, there were too many characters to be made, and this thing had to be kept secret as much as possible, it couldn't be leaked out. So Ma Chao found dozens of craftsmen separately, letting each person only make a few dozen movable type, he ran continuously for six or seven days before arranging all the work.

  During this time, the injured old man also woke up and was extremely grateful to Ma Chao and Hua Tuo.

  "May I ask the venerable elder's surname and given name?" Ma Chao asked.

  "I don't dare, I don't dare. In response to your question, sir, this humble old man is a native of Taiyuan County in Shanxi Province, with the surname Zang and the given name Jie, styled Zi Xiu. He is now fifty-one years old and serves as the jailer of this county."

  "And how did you end up like this?" Ma Chao continued to ask.

  "Alas, it's hard to put into words!" Zang Jie then told Ma Chao about his past.

  As a prison officer, Zang Jie was still a decent person and had not done anything shameful. However, several years ago, the governor of Mount Tai had asked him to frame the head of a small local family in Huaxian County, arrest him and secretly execute him after he was imprisoned. Naturally, Zang Jie did not agree, and from then on, the governor harbored resentment towards him.

  This year, the head of that small family mysteriously died, and all the evidence pointed to Zang Jie. Zang Jie was arrested and tortured in prison, but was later rescued by his own son. However, he had already suffered serious injuries and eventually fell into a coma.

  After saying this, Zang Jie asked: "I wonder where Quan Zi is now?"

  Ma Chao didn't know how to answer. But after thinking for a moment, he told the truth to Zang Jie. Zang Jie's face was filled with pain upon hearing this, "It's all my fault! I thought that at 36 years old, I would have such a son. I told him not to bother me, but he didn't listen, and now he has implicated our friends!"

  "Don't be too heartbroken, I think they must have been caught by the government and taken back. I'll find a way to rescue them!" Ma Chao said so, since it's an injustice, of course, we should all go to rescue them!

  "But still don't know their names?"

  "As for the favor you asked, one of them is my son, Zang Ba, and the other is his good friend, Sun Guan. If you can save them, I, an old man, will repay your kindness even if I have to be a cow or a horse in my next life!"

  Zang Ba and Sun Guan, seem to have heard of them, it's just that Ma Chao is unfamiliar with the two.

  "You don't have to keep calling me Master, it's not like I'm some kind of saint! Our family teacher often said that saving people in distress is something we should do as a matter of course, no need for such courtesy. Just call me Meng Qi!" Ma Chao recalled the teachings of his teacher Yan Zhong, which he had never dared to forget.

  "Meng Qi'en, Meng Qi, although Canine Son Zang Ba is not talented, he is still a straightforward person. En, no, if you can save him, I will let him follow you around to repay the great kindness!"

  Ma Chao saw Zang Jie like this, and it was really pitiful for parents all over the world.

  "Don't say that, I'll definitely save you, but let's not mention gratitude. Your son is fine, and his friend is loyal, that's enough!"

  Ma Chao heard this and Zang Ba also did not say anything more.

  "You can't exert yourself too much at your age now, just rest well. If there's anything, just call me and Fu Da!"

  Save people to the end, send Buddha to the west. Ma Chao had promised Zang Ba that he would definitely save his father's life, so naturally he had to take good care of his father, or else he would lose faith in others. Zang Jie nodded, with grateful eyes.

  After several more days, Ma Chao finally printed out the medical book left by Nan Hua using movable type printing. He was indeed very careful, and he did all the printing himself. The quality wasn't worth mentioning, but it was still readable.

  He gave the book to Hua Tuo, and Hua Tuo was overjoyed. Although Ma Chao's printing skills were not good, it didn't affect his ability to read it. As for the matter of movable type printing, he didn't even ask about it. Although he thought that if movable type printing were to be passed down to future generations, it would bring great benefits to the people, but since Ma Chao had invented it, naturally it was up to Ma Chao to decide what to do with it, and Hua Tuo wouldn't interfere.

  Ma Chao felt that Hua Tuo was doing this, he must have his own thoughts. Young people are always good to have ideas. The movable type printing technique has come to an end, and Zang Jie can already move around, the wounds on his body have recovered well, and with a divine doctor by his side, it's only a matter of time before he recovers from his injuries. He is still worried about Zang Ba and others.

  These two days, Ma Chao had already found out that Zang Ba and Sun Guan were locked up in prison, but he didn't know why they hadn't been killed yet. However, the rumors these days have been very tight, after all, the officials are not fools, and when a prisoner is rescued, they naturally go to rescue them at the first time. So it's likely that they escaped back to Huaxian City, but unfortunately, the officials who went to catch people didn't even have time to see Ma Chao's appearance clearly, and the prisoners were rescued.

  He only remembered that it was a young man, riding a white horse, and judging by the speed and power, it must have been a precious horse. The whole city went to search, but it's impossible, Hua County is not a small city, they would have to search for how long. The only clue was the pharmacy, they found the pharmacy where Ma Chao bought medicine, and the apprentice also had some impression of Ma Chao, because Ma Chao bought more than 40 kinds of medicinal materials at once.

  Ma Chao didn't know where to live, so the officer searched again near the pharmacy, but still found nothing. Was Ma Chao an idiot? Of course not. He had deliberately gone to a pharmacy far away from Hua Tuo's residence to buy medicine. As for who could recognize Ma Chao and knew where he was, there was only one person with a thief-like appearance. He had also heard about the matter and thought that the people they were looking for were the two gentlemen he met that day.

  But he was timid since childhood, thinking that those two big men dared to rob even the repeat offenders, what's his own life worth? Especially when he thought of that fierce and sinister-looking person, he became afraid. And the most important point is because of Hua Tuo, although he looks like a thief, but he also knows how to repay kindness. Hua Tuo saved his life, if he were to betray those two men, then Hua Tuo would also be implicated, so he didn't go to report to the authorities.

  While the official errand couldn't find anyone, he ordered the city guards to strictly check everyone who entered and exited. The checks were extremely strict every day, but Ma Chao didn't care about these at all. He had never been afraid of this before. Even if there were thousands of troops blocking their way ahead now, he still had confidence that he could rush out with Cui An protecting Zang Jie.

  Ma Chao now had a plan and he said to Hua Tuo: "Mr. Yuanhua, you can leave the city tomorrow, Fu Da and I are going to take action!"

  He had told Hua Tuo about his plan to raid the prison beforehand, so Hua Tuo was aware of this.

  "Alright, Mengqi, take care of yourselves!"

  "Take care of yourself, Mr. Yuanhua!"

  The next day, Hua Tuo left early. By noon, Ma Chao and Zang Jie had agreed on a location, a narrow alley not far from the city gate. Zang Jie had been wanted by the authorities for some time, with his portrait posted at the city gate, making it impossible for him to get through. Ma Chao was also wanted, but his portrait didn't look much like him. Since no one knew Ma Chao's real name, he was referred to as "Unknown".

  After the agreement, Ma Chao and Cui An began their action. The two came to the county's large prison, Ma Chao didn't dare to walk in crowded places, fearing being recognized, so he walked in less populated areas, fortunately no one noticed him.

  He and Cui An dismounted their horses in the distance, slowly approaching the great prison. Ma Chao was carrying his Snow Drinking Sword, while his bundle was placed on the horse's back, and Cui An was empty-handed.

  "In a little while, don't hurt anyone, just knock them out."

  Ma Chao once again exhorted Cui An, after all the guarding jailers were also human beings, just doing this line of work, so there was no way out. Injustice has a head, debt has an owner, and those who should die are not them.

  When they approached the great prison guards, they were discovered.

  "Take action!" This was Ma Chao's signal to Cui An.

  "Who is it that dares..."

  The guard hadn't finished speaking when he was knocked unconscious by Ma Chao's Frost Blade. The other one was also punched out by Cui An, but the guard's words had already alarmed the other jailers and guards in the prison.

  Ma Chao opened the large prison gate and rushed in with Cui An. After entering the prison, they beat anyone they saw into unconsciousness, while Ma Chao shouted, "Zang Ba, Sun Guan, where are you?"

  The result was no response at first, Ma Chao shouted again, and this time there was a response.

  "I, I am here." Zang Ba said this with all his might.

  Ma Chao found him by the sound, in front of the prison cells of Zang Ba and Sun Guan, he used force to break the lock. At this time, all the jailers in the prison had been knocked unconscious by Ma Chao and Cui An, only to see that Zang Ba and Sun Guan's bodies were covered with bloodstains, apparently they had suffered severe torture.

  "Fuda, carry Sun Guan on your back, let's hurry!"

  Ma Chao finished speaking and turned around to leave with Zhang Fei on his back. Cui An was not far behind, carrying Sun Guan as he closely followed Ma Chao.

  More jailers and guards came into the prison to entangle with Ma Chao and his men, but they were not enough to look at. After they left the main gate of the prison, the two helped the rescued two onto their horses, then pulled the reins and galloped away.

  In a secluded alley, Ma Chao pulled up Zhang Fei again. Seeing that his son was still safe and sound, he couldn't help but burst into tears, "Hold on to me, let's rush the city gate! This is not the time to cry!"

  After listening to Ma Chao's words, Zang Jie also stopped crying. As for Ma Chao's treasured horse White Lion, also known as the Night Jade Lion, it was no problem at all to carry three people on its back, and its speed remained unchanged.

  The guards at the city gate had already recognized them and shouted, "Quickly close the city gate, don't let the prisoners escape!"

  Unfortunately, it was already too late. Ma Chao and Chui An's White Lion Black Cloud cavalry charged out of Hua County one after another. The defending generals shouted: "Quickly shoot arrows to kill them! Shoot for me!"

  As a result, none of the dozen or so arrows hit Ma Chao and his men, while the city gate, which had been bustling with activity just moments before, was now left with only the defending general stamping his foot and sighing in dismay.