Chapter 6 Awakening from Hibernation (Part 2)

  Nothing was seen, nothing was asked, just when the road sees injustice! If it were six months ago, someone would have given Wang Xun this kind of idea, and he would have been slapped to the ground by him! What, pretending to be stupid? Who is King Xiaohouye? All over the world, except for the one who lives in the Taiji Palace and doesn't dare to provoke, whether or not to give face depends on the mood! How can you do such a foolish thing of hiding your head and showing your tail?!

  After experiencing the ups and downs of Yuwen's imprisonment, Wang Chun had a brand new understanding of himself. There is always another mountain higher than the one you're on, and in this capital city, there are many people that the Wang family cannot afford to offend, not just the Emperor in the Taiji Palace. Other officials, generals, ministers, and attendants are also best left unprovoked.

  He turned back to the kind-hearted person who had given him advice and smiled, then slowly turned around, cupped his hands together in a salute: "Thanks for the reminder, little brother. It's better to let the authorities handle these bandits!"

  "Yes, in broad daylight, a few barbarians from the Western Regions actually dared to commit murder under the feet of the Emperor. Does this mean that our Great Tang Dynasty has no laws?" The onlooker who suggested the plan nodded his head, putting on an air of being easily taught.

  At this time, the other travelers who had escaped to the wilderness to avoid disaster slowly returned. Some didn't even look and hurriedly continued on their journey. More people, however, immediately forgot their fear and gathered around Wang Xun, whispering to each other about ten or more steps away from him.

  "Who's little brother is this? He really has skills! One against three and he actually won!"

  "How was I supposed to know? Look at his clothes, they seem like something only the Emperor's Imperial Guard can wear!"

  "Even if it's the Imperial Guard, taking a life must be answered with one's own life! After all, our Great Tang is a place where there are laws!"

  "Keep your voice down, he's going to frame you!"

  The annoying chatter of the crowd irritated Wang Jun, who suddenly turned his head and shouted loudly, "Shut up, all of you! Get back, otherwise I'll say you're all my accomplices!"

  "Hey!" The crowd scattered like startled flies, but soon stopped not far away and continued to sneak a peek. King Xun was so angry that he had no choice but to grab the horizontal knife of the last assassin and draw a circle around the still-alive guy, indicating that unrelated people should not enter casually. Then he put down the knife and smiled at the kind-hearted passerby who had just given him an idea, "I'm afraid I need to find a few more people to come over and help out. Otherwise, it'll be chaotic here in a while!"

  "You can't go!" The kind-hearted passerby shook his head with a smile, "If you leave now, it will only get more chaotic. It'll give the authorities the impression that you're fleeing after committing murder, and it'll be even harder to turn things around later on!"

  "What to do?" Wang Xuan was somewhat embarrassed. The number of people on the official road was increasing, and according to convention, whenever there were fights, brawls, or homicide cases, the yamen runners would not rush over for a while. And between the two corpses and one injured person, there was a great distance, if someone took advantage of it to take something from the corpse, or secretly put something on it. The trouble he was about to face was getting bigger and bigger.

  "I don't have a good solution either, at most I can just help you keep an eye on things here!" The kind-hearted passerby thought for a moment and continued to say: "But I suggest that it's best if you find a few more witnesses, otherwise the government will find it hard to believe your one-sided words!"

  "Witness?" Wang Xuan was stunned again, looked around and the crowd of onlookers scattered once more. Apparently, everyone had heard about the suggestion to find a witness, and no one wanted to get involved with the authorities for no reason.

  It's better to have one less thing. The officials always hope that the common people will be like this, so it can't be blamed on the guests for not having a sense of justice. Turning his gaze back to the face of the only passerby who was willing to help him, Wang Xuan only then noticed that this person's age was actually about the same as his own. With a very pleasant-looking face, he had slender eyebrows and bright eyes, a straight nose and a square mouth, and when he smiled, his face was filled with sunshine.

  "It's not far from the barracks here, and since you're wearing a military uniform, shouldn't you have some comrades?" Seeing Wang Xuan turn his gaze back to himself, the sunny youth smiled slightly and reminded him in a low voice.

  "Right!" Wang Xuan excitedly patted his head, "You help me keep watch, go ride a horse to find...... Never mind, never mind, I'll just keep watch myself, trouble you to go to the White Horse Fortress military camp, find a lieutenant named Zhou Xiao Feng. Just say that Wang Xuan encountered an assassin, let him hurry and bring a few people over! This is my token, hand it over to you, when you get to the entrance, flash it, and someone will take you in!"

  He then took off his own waist badge and handed it over directly.

  "Aren't you afraid I'll run away with it?" The sunny youth joked with a smile, then leaped onto his horse. "You're Wang Xun, right? I'm Yan Jiming! Remember, before I come back, you'd better not leave with the bailiff!"

  "Little brother will definitely follow Brother Qi Ming's instructions!" Infected by the sunshine on his face, Wang Xun cupped his hands and shouted towards Yan Qi Ming's back.

  There was a clever ghost who helped, and the following things, he dealt with more calmly than before. Before long, the nearby village head Liu brought several strong-bodied villagers to hurry over, seeing that one side was wearing the flying dragon guard's armor, and didn't rush to escape after something happened. On the other hand, they all had black scarves covering their faces, hiding their heads and showing their tails. First, they determined that Wang Xun was definitely in the right. To avoid misunderstandings, he first kept the villagers at a distance, then approached with empty hands, bowing his fists from a dozen steps away: "I am Liu, the village head of this area, dare to ask sir, is there anywhere you need help?"

  "Thanks for your trouble, Old Liu!" Wang Xuan couldn't get what he wanted and hastily bowed deeply to return the courtesy as a junior, "Please find someone to take care of the body and don't let idle people touch it. These masked men suddenly appeared and tried to attack a horse carriage with crossbows, I happened to see the injustice and had no choice but to intervene!"

  "It should be managed, it should be managed!" Old Liu immediately accepted his words completely when he saw that Wang You was not only well-behaved in appearance but also polite in his gestures. "A sneaky guy like him is definitely not a good person. Our village hasn't had a murder case for decades. Alas, how despicable! He didn't even choose a decent place to die!"

  Cursing as he went, he tottered away, leading the villagers who had come with him to guard the two assassins' corpses in the distance.

  After a moment, the official road suddenly transmitted a hurried horseshoe sound. More than 100 attendants, holding long knives and iron clubs, came over with a fierce momentum. While galloping at full speed, they shouted to encourage themselves, "Where is he? Where is he? Don't run away, culprit! Onlookers, get out of the way!"

  Upon hearing this, the onlookers dispersed with a loud commotion. The leader of the group, who resembled a captain, rushed forward several steps and suddenly pulled the reins of his horse fifty paces away from Wang Xun, pointing the tip of his knife at him. "Brothers, take him down for me! Let's bring him back to the county yamen first!"

  "Yes!" More than a hundred bailiffs encouraged each other, but no one dared to be the first to rush forward.

  "Arrest me?" Seeing the ill intentions of the group, Wang Jun suddenly stood up and aimed his crossbow at the leader of the captors. "You blind thing, take a look at this!"

  "Ah yeah~!" After all, it's the Imperial City Yamen mixed rice to eat, experience is different from other places. Hearing Wang Xun's reminder, all runners, helpers, regardless of position high or low, formal and private employment, inside and outside the establishment, simultaneously shrunk their necks and hid their heads. "Hold on, don't be impulsive, there are words, good words to say!"

  "Who's the leader, step forward!" Knowing that if he were to enter the yamen in a muddle, even with a hundred mouths on his body, he wouldn't be able to explain himself clearly. Wang Xun held the crossbow horizontally, moving it back and forth towards the crowd of attendants. The dark and ominous arrowhead pointed at one direction, and the people in that direction immediately retreated a large distance.

  The leader of the captors, who had never suffered such humiliation before, shrank his body into the crowd while loudly threatening, "You little brat, armed arrest, crime is treason. What you're holding in your hand is......"

  "Take a closer look at my clothes!" Having had experience dealing with Sun Renyu, the big catcher, Wang Xun knew that he couldn't give these guys a good face. Only by suppressing them with his momentum could he avoid being extorted and blackmailed by them.

  "The...!" The team leader, the captain, secretly cursed. Just now, he received a reminder from someone and only then did he know that the guys who went out to handle things today were unlucky and messed up something that was originally easy to do. He had planned to take advantage of his identity as the captain of Chang'an County to first capture the foolish young man who ruined his own family's good things, and then slowly think of a way to turn white into black and black into white. But he didn't expect the other side to be an officer from the Fei Long Imperial Guard, holding in his hand the forbidden evidence that his own people had secretly obtained from the military!

  Under the watchful eyes of everyone, he wanted to deny that he didn't recognize the armor on the other person's body, but it was impossible. However, once the case is handled in a fair and impartial manner, the hole behind may not be able to be blocked by him alone. Not to mention him, even the head of Chang'an County couldn't block it if he put himself in. Just as he was hesitating, he suddenly heard someone whispering beside him, "Boss, calm him down first, let me take people to surround and capture them, and then deal with the two corpses over there!"

  "Alright!" The captain, as if waking from a dream, composed himself and immediately put on a smiling face. "Young brother, young brother, don't be in a hurry, don't be in a hurry. Our Chang'an County government office will not let off a single bad person, nor will we wrong a good person. You, can you first put down the crossbow, and we'll talk things over slowly?"

  "Enroll!" Wang Xuan confirmed that this person was the real master, and directly aimed at his forehead with a crossbow arrow. "Don't talk nonsense, report your name first. You few, don't move randomly. If you want to die, just take a look around me!"

  More than a hundred constables, if they all pounced at the same time, would have turned Wang Xun over long ago. But reason is one thing, and reality is another - no one wants to be the sole target of those icy arrowheads. Under the menacing arrowheads, several constables who had planned to sneak up from behind retreated in disarray, prompting a burst of laughter from the onlookers in the distant fields.

  "Grandma's, you've lost all of our men!" The county catcher was so angry that he rolled his eyes. Helplessly, he retreated a few steps back, trying to avoid the crossbow in Wang Jun's hand while laughing and saying: "I, I am Jia Ji Lin, the county catcher of Chang'an County, little brother, would you please tell me your name? Maybe we can be friends!"

  Wang Xuan smiled slightly and suddenly raised his voice, shouting to the surroundings: "I am Kong Youfang! Today I encountered several masked bandits attacking travelers on the road. Unable to bear it, I drew my sword and killed them. Two are dead, and one seems to still have a bit of breath left!"

  He had already decided that the constables of Chang'an County were not good for him, so he took a deep breath and spoke clearly. The onlookers who were watching from a distance originally hated the constables for recklessly arresting people without distinguishing right from wrong, and now they heard Wang Xun's words and immediately accepted them without any doubt. The timid ones shook their heads secretly, while the bold ones clapped their hands and loudly echoed: "Good, kill him! A guy who covers his face with black cloth in broad daylight is definitely not a good person!"

  Chang'an County's Catcher Jia Ji Lin was both shocked and enraged, wanting to forcefully take down "Kong You Fang" with his men, but also feared that before he could catch the person, he would first suffer a blow to his own throat. The three masked men he recognized, although their skills were somewhat inferior, wouldn't die at the hands of an ordinary passerby. It was clear that this young man named "Kong You Fang" had exceptional martial arts skills, and casually taking down over a dozen of his subordinates would be no problem.

  As he thought of this, sweat beads rolled on his forehead. Handling the matter impartially would not work. Reversing black and white, there was no way to do it. The sun on top of his head rose higher and higher, and more and more people came and went on the official road. Not only did ordinary people stop in their tracks, but several lacquered and copper-plated horse-drawn carriages were also blocked on the road, and the owners of the cars opened the curtains to look out at the two sides facing each other.

  "Head, stealthily use the bow and arrow to finish him off!" The yamen runner who had previously given Jia Zhen a hint spoke up again, throwing out a desperate plan. "Hurry up, before he tears off the mask on the assassin's face!"

  So it was intentional, leaving some room for maneuver. Jia Ji's eyes suddenly flashed with inspiration. As long as the assassin's identity wasn't exposed, there was hope that this matter could be dealt with. Unfortunately, this clever young man had to die. Otherwise, several hundred people in the capital would die.

  Jia Ji Lin secretly retreated his body a few feet back, hiding his head behind the back of his subordinate, making hand gestures to signal several trusted men to prepare their crossbows. Immediately after, he poked out half of his head and shouted loudly: "Put down your crossbow, surrender and I will give you justice! Otherwise, don't blame me for being impolite!"

  He shouted, and with a wave of his hand to the rear, he was about to order someone to give Wang Xuan a thousand arrows through his body. Just at this moment, a sudden burst of thunder rang out in his ear, "Halt! I'd like to see who dares to be rude to my people!"

  "Ah!" Not only was Jia Ji's neighbor startled by the sudden shout, but the other constables were also frightened and loosened their bowstrings, looking up in all directions towards the source of the sound. They saw several Flying Dragon Guards, led by a scar-faced officer, rushing over like wind and lightning. On horseback, each of the Flying Dragon Guards had both arms stretched out to the sides, with each person holding a fully drawn crossbow.

  Taiji Hall, where Li Longji lived as a prince, later became his place for handling state affairs after he became emperor.