Chapter Eleven: The Innate Fierce General

  It wasn't until much later that Ah Fei finally calmed down, and after a series of analyses and brain supplements, he barely came to a relatively reliable conclusion: as a great general, not only can you fight personally, but also arrange troops and lead the army in battle. Therefore, it is logical that someone like Shi Yi would be unknown in historical records. I remember that in "The Book of Wei", there was once a mention of a Baochu, who was also very fierce, but never held office, so he was only remembered as a model of filial piety with just a few strokes of the brush.

  Of course, there is another possibility that the history has already produced a certain butterfly effect due to Ah Fei's time-travel. It's possible that in other parallel universes, Shi Yi was actually a famous general, but in this universe, if not for Ah Fei's interference, he might have drowned in this sea disaster and remained unknown.

  No matter what, Shi Yi was indeed fierce to the point of being almost absurd. Ah Fei only then understood that his earlier feeling that Shi Yi was very dangerous and wanting to keep a distance from him was actually an animalistic instinctive reaction. However, this Shi Yi was actually quite gentle towards himself, or rather, unexpectedly had a bit of refinement - also right, he not only had a name but also a courtesy name, should not be an ordinary commoner, perhaps also a scholar-official gentleman.

  A Fei made up his mind, for the time being, he would just hold on to General Shi's thigh. To live a peaceful life and go north to Beihai smoothly, he had to stick close to General Shi and ask him to be his free bodyguard.

  He thought a lot, but Shi Yi seemed to have paid little attention to him, only scratching his head lightly, looking slightly regretful: "Should have left one behind to ask where this place is, if there are any villages or towns nearby..."

  On the beach, apart from A Fei and Shi Yi, no one else survived - originally there should have been one more, but unfortunately just a few minutes ago he was stabbed by bandits.

  A Fei and Shi Yi chatted for a while, and they were delighted to talk again. After all, A Fei had served as an attendant in his previous life, and this life he had been a slave for many years. Although other skills were not as good, the ability to cater to people's tastes without being obvious, and to flatter people without being overly flattering, was already at its peak, and it was rare in this world - of course, among Li Linfu, Cai Gongxiang, Yan Ge Lao, and He Zhongtang's glorious deeds, only he had carefully studied them...

  So soon, Shi Yi almost brought this "Yang Gongzi" to a lifelong rare confidant. Ah Fei took the opportunity to ask Shi Yi to be his master and learn martial arts, Shi Yi smiled and pinched his shoulder: "You and I are like old friends, discussing as equals, what's the need for apprenticeship? However, I see that Brother Yang's physique seems to have had poor diet in his youth, with slightly weak tendons and bones..."

  A Fei said, "After eating wild vegetables for over a decade, I'm already quite fortunate to have grown up like this and not be hunchbacked like a dwarf. He casually lied, "Uh, this... Yang Mou was picky about food when he was young."

  It is generally believed that ancient people were shorter than modern people, but this is a misconception. Based on dietary habits and quality issues, the two-tier differentiation of ancient people was more severe, and their average height was indeed lower than that of modern people. Ordinary farmers were usually around 1.5 meters tall, and some even less than 1.4 meters after full development. However, wealthy people who ate better had a higher body shape - Lü Bu was over 2 meters tall, Guan Yu was over 2.7 meters tall, and so on. Of course, these are family sayings, and there are records in historical books. Liu Bei was 1.73 meters tall, Zhuge Liang was nearly 1.8 meters tall, and the most surprising one was Cheng Yu, who was almost 1.95 meters tall!

  As for the rich people that Fei has seen in this world, Xi Yi is nearly 1.7 meters tall, and Xi Xun is already over 1.7 meters. If he doesn't die, it's estimated that he'll still grow taller. As for his own body, it's strange to say, but both his parents are only around 1.4 meters tall, and even the old man Wang next door is just a little taller, at around 1.6 meters. When he first came over, he was only twelve years old and about 1.2 meters tall. After eating half-full meals at Xi's house for a few years, now that he's fifteen years old, he suddenly shot up to over 1.6 meters tall. It's unknown whether it's because of the influence of his soul from past lives or if there's some connection with old man Wang next door...

  And the history in front of him, his height is not low, estimated to be around 1.77 or 1.78 meters.

  "Martial arts have reached a certain level, with both acquired skills and innate abilities," Shi Yi comforted him. "I can teach Yang brother a few moves, even if he can't kill enemies on the battlefield, it can still strengthen his muscles and bones, making up for his natural deficiencies. Has Yang brother ever practiced before?"

  A Fei smiled and said: "I've just practiced some fancy boxing moves."

  "What's the use of fancy footwork?" Shi Yi burst out laughing, "This metaphor is quite interesting - but let's first go find a village and figure out where we are exactly."

  The two men each picked up a ring-headed knife to defend themselves, and then headed in the direction of the six bandits' approach, heading inland. Along the way, after various subtle and evasive inquiries, Ah Fei finally learned that this Shi Yi was originally from Qingzhou, Le'an State, and had moved to Liaodong as a young man. This time, he went to Korea to visit friends and took the opportunity to go out to sea, intending to return to his hometown to pay respects to his ancestors. After half a day of questioning, Ah Fei finally basically confirmed that Shi Yi had no connection with the Shi family, not even having seen anyone from the Shi family on the streets before, and only then did he feel a stone lifted off his heart.

  The two of them walked until noon, and finally found a small village. After inquiring, it turned out that this place was located at the southernmost tip of the Liaodong Peninsula, across the sea from Donglai. According to Ah Fei's knowledge from his previous life, they should be near Dalian or Lushun.

  The villagers pointed, from here along the coast to the northeast direction, about half a day's journey, you can reach the county town of Duan, where there is a port and a boat, take a boat to Donglai.

  A Fei took out the copper coins from his bag, counted them carefully, and found that he had 37 ordinary five-cash coins, 10 large Qian coins worth 50 cash each, totaling 537 cash. At this time, the monetary economy was not well developed, especially in remote areas, where people were still accustomed to bartering, so the purchasing power of money was relatively strong. Although there had been continuous natural and man-made disasters in recent years, causing grain prices to double, A Fei remembered that last year, more than half of Youzhou had a poor harvest, with the price of one stone of millet rising to 2,000 cash. Fortunately, this year's price had fallen back somewhat. He estimated that with over 500 cash, they could eat several meals of coarse rice and take a sea voyage, which should be more than enough.

  Of course, there were some extra expenses because the clothes on both of them had been soaked in seawater and torn by the mast and splintered wood, making it impossible for them to see anyone. Afly's bundle still had a set of spare clothes, but Shiy's luggage was completely gone into the ocean. So after arriving at Daoshi County, Afly first spent 40 cents to buy Shiy a relatively clean used short shirt.

  Shi Yi Chao bowed with his fists: "Yang brother's noble deed, one day I will repay it a hundred times!" Ah Fei thought to himself that the money wasn't even his own, he was just borrowing flowers to offer to Buddha, but he humbly said: "You and I have a bond, why must we speak of thanks? Yang Mou is not yet twenty years old, Shi brother should not call me Yang brother again, just call my name."

  "How dare I? From now on, Shi Mou will be called Second Brother."

  The two of them stayed at the pawnshop for another day before finally spending 200 yuan to sneak onto a cargo ship heading to Donglai, sailing with the wind. From here to Huangxian is only about 300 nautical miles, and along the way they will pass by many islands, so theoretically it shouldn't be possible to have another shipwreck accident like last time?

  The two of them sat side by side on the ship's rail, chatting and talking. Shi Yi occasionally mentioned that he was an old acquaintance with the governor of Donglai, and when the time came, they could go to the governor to ask for some autumn wind, and gather some travel expenses. Ah Fei lowered his head and pondered for a moment, soon they would arrive in Qingzhou, Donglai and Beihai were adjacent counties, don't underestimate the networking ability between scholars, it's better to clarify some things beforehand.

  He suddenly knelt down and bowed deeply to Shi Yi: "Younger brother has a bitter intention, and has been hiding something from Brother Shi, please forgive him."

  Shi Yi was taken aback and hastily reached out to support him: "Why must you be so stubborn? Please speak your mind."

  Aflying rubbed his eyes and said in a pretended sorrowful tone: "To be frank with you, Brother Shih, my surname is not Yang, and Yang Kuo-yueh is also an assumed name. My family is from Korea, my surname is Huan, my given name is Hung-fu, and my style name is Chung-pou...

  He mixed true and false words, claiming that he had offended the governor Zhang Qi. Governor Zhang sent soldiers to raid his family's house, and Shi Yi was killed. He himself, namely Shi Xun, escaped alone and wanted to go north to rely on relatives. Previously, because he was in the territory of Lelang, he was afraid of being recognized by people and reported to the governor, so he fabricated a fake name - "Having already left Lelang, I met Brother Shi, but still used a fake name to face him, which is my fault."

  As he spoke, he slightly tilted his head to carefully observe the expression on Shi Yi's face. What he feared most at this moment was that Shi Yi would look puzzled and ask him, "I also know Xi Xun, but you don't resemble him." Fortunately, such an expression never appeared, so there was no need for further questioning. However, Shi Yi's complexion became increasingly strange, with a hint of surprise and a dash of embarrassment.

  After he had almost finished speaking, clearing his throat, Shi Yi suddenly shrank back and fell to the ground with a loud thud.

  "What's the meaning of this, Brother Shi?"

  Shi Yi lifted his head, with a face full of guilt, and replied: "I'm changing... Ah no, Hong Fu is truly an honest gentleman, which makes me ashamed. I dare not deceive you, in fact Shi Yi is also a pseudonym. My foolish brother fled to Liaodong to avoid disaster, so I didn't dare reveal my true name to others. Although we haven't known each other for long, our hearts are connected like old friends. If I still don't tell you my true name, I'm not human!"

  "What's your surname?"

  "A certain person with a compound surname of Tai Shi had a single given name Ci, which was written in grass script as Zi Yi."

  I'm going! Ah Fei almost fell out of the boat head over heels.

  How could I be so stupid? Seeing the opponent's astonishing skills, I only thought of Zhang Fei, Dian Wei, and Xu Chu, but why didn't I think of this fierce general?! This is a super fierce man who single-handedly broke through the siege, rescued Kong Rong in Beihai, exchanged his helmet for a halberd, and fought against Sun Ce at Shenting! If Eastern Wu were to say who's the best fighter, he could be ranked top three! Ah, Taishi Ziyi - Shi Yi, Shi Yi, surname and courtesy name, it was already obvious from these two words, how could I have been so muddle-headed and not think of it?!

  "You, you, you..." He almost shouted "You're the one who fought a draw with Donglai Taishi Xiaowang!"

  Tai Shi Zi thought he was angry because he didn't reveal his true name, so he bowed his head again and apologized repeatedly, saying: "It's not that Brother Shi is angry, it's just that I have my own difficulties."

  A Fei finally stabilized his emotions, looking up and down at the first celebrity he had seen in this world. He looked left and right, making Tai Shi Ci's heart feel hairy - "Hong Fu... brother, what is this..."

  "Oh, it's nothing, just a bit excited." Ah Fei took a deep breath and sat back down cross-legged before asking Tai Shi Zai: "I don't know what troubles you have, brother Tai, why did you end up drifting to Liaodong?"

  Tai Shi's experience is more than 10,000 times more magnificent than Ah Fei's, no, it should be compared to Shi Xun's.