Yang Jian and Wu Erlang

  Now Gao Qiu has not yet made a name for himself, and Huizong is just an idle prince. Both of them are currently out of favor, so it's a good time to go and rely on them. Wu Song bid farewell to Bai Yulian and set off for the capital, and the two girls packed him some food and dry rations. Bai Yulian said: "When you get to the prosperous city of Beijing, don't get caught up in the brothels and pleasure quarters. Remember that back in Qinghe County, your concubines are eagerly waiting for your return."

  Wu Song was deeply moved. With a wife like this, what more could he ask for? Bai Yulian took charge of the household, and he felt at ease. This girl was born to be a mistress, Pan Liu'er had no hope in this lifetime.

  Wu Song left Qinghe County and stepped onto the official road, then quickened his pace to head south. His footsteps were swift, his physical strength astonishing, and as he ran, even horsemen rushing along the road were left far behind. After traveling thirty or fifty li, a large army came into view ahead, with thousands of cavalry at its forefront, clad in iron armor and wielding long spears, surrounding a massive banner that bore the image of a qilin and the character "zhong".

  Behind the cavalry were tens of thousands of infantry, with neat military formations, stretching for nearly ten miles. People on the road saw them and hastily hid to one side, looking up at them in awe, saying: "It turns out that it's the great army of General Xiao Zhongyue, I wonder if they're going to attack Western Xia?" Only after the army had passed did the people on the road dare to come out. But Wu Song didn't care about any of this, his speed not decreasing in the slightest as he charged forward.

  The cavalry in front saw him and were on guard, how could they let him rush into the army? At this moment, more than a dozen horses galloped out, took down their long guns, and shouted from afar: "Halt!"

  Wu Song didn't stop for a moment, and rushed straight over. The more than ten knights no longer hesitated, formed a long snake array, and charged on horseback. When they rushed to the front, more than a dozen war horses suddenly let out a loud whinny, fell softly to the ground, and threw those knights out.

  Wu Song burst out laughing and ran past the cavalrymen. He had a special physique, and since childhood, any horse that saw him would be frightened and go weak in the legs, so he wasn't afraid of these horses either. Several officers among the cavalry cheered: "What a fine warrior!"

  The cheers returned to the cheers, but they couldn't let him rush alone into the army. The cavalry immediately stabilized their horses, set up a formation, and waited for him to come over and capture him. Unexpectedly, Wu Song rushed forward, all the war horses were unsteady on their feet, and they all fell to the ground. Instantly, the cavalry was in great chaos and disarray.

  One of the tall and sturdy officers shouted loudly, his voice like thunder, holding up a crescent-shaped spear, and chased after Wu Song with big strides. General Zhou Tong was also thrown off his horse, and several officers hurried to help him up, saying: "Don't worry, sir, Lu Zhishen has already gone after him."

  "All I fear is that Lu Da won't be able to catch up with him." Zhong Shidao didn't get angry, and mounted his war horse again. "There are actually such extraordinary people in the folk, if they can be used by me, why worry about not being able to break through the Western Xia Kingdom's cavalry?" He glanced at a tall and majestic general beside him and said: "Can General Yang catch up with that person?"

  Yang Gong was about thirty years old, with a pale face and no beard. Although he looked extremely robust, he was a eunuch. Upon hearing this, he let out a shrill laugh and said: "Sir, you're joking! If our family can't catch up to him, then the true energy I've been practicing for over a decade is useless!" His figure flashed, and he had already fallen dozens of feet away, heading straight towards Wu Song.

  After Yang Jianjun had gone far, a general beside him looked strange and said in a low voice: "Sir, His Majesty ordered us to conquer Western Xia, but appointed Yang Zongguan from the Duanwang Mansion as the supervisor, what is the intention?"

  Zong Shi Dao sighed, and remained silent. Since the Taizu Emperor, the court had been uneasy about the military, although the Shenzong Emperor listened to Wang Anshi's words and abolished the garrison system, but control over the military was not weakened at all. Sending eunuchs as supervisors became a regular practice. These eunuchs were directly responsible to the emperor, arrogant and often interfered with military affairs, no general wanted such people in their army.

  Zhongyi Dao sighed, just then Lu Da came running back with the crescent moon spade on his shoulder, hanging his head in dejection and said: "That fellow has such quick legs, I couldn't catch up to him. And that dead eunuch, between his two legs there isn't even an egg, yet he can run as fast as a donkey!"

  Zong Shidao glared at him, and Lu Da hastily smiled and said: "Sir, don't be annoyed. I took advantage of this eunuch's trip to the toilet to sneak a peek, and indeed there was nothing."

  The monk was so frightened that he almost died, but pretended not to have heard. He said that Wu Song rushed forward recklessly, breaking through the army, and just wanted to find a place to rest his feet. Suddenly, a white-faced man appeared behind him, chasing after him with a speed like a ghost, shouting from afar: "You, don't run away! Do you know Yang Jia of the Eastern Capital?"

  Wu Song was startled, Yang Jia? Could it be that Erlang Shen Yang Jia? Impossible, this white-faced man doesn't look like Erlang Shen Yang Jia at all, besides, he doesn't have a third eye on his forehead. Wu Song only then woke up to the fact that this Yang Jia was not the same person as Erlang Shen, but rather a treacherous official, a eunuch, who was on par with Cai Jing and Gao Qiu, and had yet to make a name for himself.

  Wu Song saw that he was not harboring good intentions, and hastily drew out his treasured sword. Yang Jiaolong had originally planned to capture him, also wanting to show off in front of Zhongyuan Daoist. Seeing the treasured sword in Wu Song's hand, he too put away his scornful heart, and hastily stopped, shouting in a shrill voice: "You are a man from Nanhai, a spy for Western Xia!"

  Wu Song was furious: "You are the spy of Western Xia, your whole family is the spy of Western Xia!"

  Yang Jian suddenly pulled out a three-inch small flag from somewhere, unfolded it in the wind, and transformed into a person with multiple heights. The inverted triangular black flag surface had a skull head jumping out of the flag, which turned into the size of a millstone in the blink of an eye, with iron teeth clanging and ghostly winds howling. Yang Jian stood in the middle of the dark energy, with the skull head floating in mid-air, surrounding him and moving restlessly. He coldly laughed and said: "Your sword is clearly the Luli Zhuren Sword from the South Sea, with 'Ci Hang' engraved on the front and 'Pu Du' engraved on the back. It's a well-known fact that your South Sea sect supports Western Xia, and the master of South Sea has become the national teacher of Western Xia. How dare you still try to deceive!"

  Wu Song only then realized that Qin was from the South Sea, and hastily put away his sword, saying: "This sword was one I took from a demon I killed, and didn't know it belonged to the South Sea. I just liked its sharpness, so I carried it with me. Just now when I saw you coming with such ferocity, that's why I drew it out."

  Yang Jian hesitated and said: "You really aren't from Nanhai?"

  "It's not natural. I was originally a good citizen of Qinghe County, called Wu Song. In the county, I have a large property. If you don't believe me, you can go to Qinghe County to ask around, and you'll know as soon as you ask."

  Yang Jian put away the big banner, which was three inches in size, and placed it in his sleeve. He took a big step forward, grasped Wu Song's hand, and Wu Song felt a chill run through his body as if something had traveled around inside him. After a moment, it withdrew back into Yang Jian's wrist. Wu Song couldn't help but secretly congratulate himself on not having made a move, or else he would have surely died at the hands of this strange creature.

  Yang Jian hesitated for a moment, shaking his head: "Evil door, evil door. The true energy in your body is scarce, but it's extremely strange, carrying the Buddhist aura and also the demonic aura, could you be a hidden door person too?"

  Wu Song felt strange in his heart, Zhou Tong only mentioned the six major schools to him, namely Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism, Mohism and militarism, but did not mention that there was a hidden school. He said: "May I ask which sect of the hidden school are you from?"

  Yang Jian displeasedly said: "The hidden gate doesn't ask about one's origin, our family didn't ask you, yet you turned around and asked me instead." After a moment, he helplessly said: "Looking at you, you're an honest and straightforward fellow, I don't want to deceive you, our family is from the eunuch gate..."

  Wu Song couldn't help but feel a sense of goodwill towards the eunuch, but after careful consideration, he realized that even if the eunuch hadn't spoken, he would have figured it out eventually. This feeling of goodwill vanished into thin air.

  "Wu brothers, you and I are of the same sect and share a common origin. Our family doesn't want to make things difficult for you, but you have offended Master Dao's great army. Master Dao wants to see you, so follow me."

  Wu Song hesitated for a moment and said, "I want to go to the capital to join Gao Qiu and seek a future, but it's not convenient for me to see Xiao Zhongtang, so I'll trouble you, sir..."

  Yang Jiong said in surprise: "Your cultivation is low, but you have some insight, and you can see that Duan Wang is the true monarch. You must be acting on the orders of Fu Long Ting. That Gao Cu is just a servant who kicks balls in the palace, if you go to him, you will lose your reputation as a hidden door master for nothing, and everyone will look down on you when they hear about it. Although the hidden door is engaged in a humble occupation, it's not convenient to do things that lower one's status. I met you by chance, but I am also from Duan Wang Fu, so I can introduce you to Duan Wang, and when the time comes, there will be people in the court who can support each other."

  Wu Song hastily thanked him, thinking to himself: "I didn't get to cling to Gao Qiu's thigh, but instead I'm clinging to another treacherous minister's thigh... forget it. In a few more years, I'll be just as infamous as Gao Qiu..." Since he couldn't beat this guy, he might as well join forces with him for now and see if there was still a chance to get close to the Emperor.

  Yang Jie and Wu Song returned to the army, with a look of old friends who had known each other for many years. The soldiers saw them and couldn't help but marvel at it. Yang Jie led him to stand in front of General Zong Shi Dao and said: "General, this man is called Wu Song, he's an old friend I haven't seen in many years. He didn't know it was your army and had a bit of a clash with us, please forgive him."

  Zong Shi Dao originally had a higher opinion of Wu Song, but upon learning that he was an old acquaintance of Yang Jia, his expression suddenly turned sour. However, as he really needed Wu Song's skills to defeat the Western Xia cavalry, he reluctantly nodded and said: "Mr. Wu, are you willing to follow the army to conquer Western Xia?"

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  Yang Jie was a notorious eunuch and treacherous official in the late Northern Song Dynasty. He was extremely tall and had a very masculine appearance, which is why Erlang Shen Yang Jie was modeled after him. It's a ridiculously laughable thing that the prototype of the legendary Erlang Shen, who was renowned for his good name, turned out to be a treacherous official and a eunuch, leaving people in tears and laughter.