Chapter 26: The Assassin

  Hand the letter to Wang Qian, unfold and take a look. There is no substantial content, just let them wait in the inn, without saying what they are waiting for. It only says that when the time comes, as long as someone brings the Longyun Jade piece, follow him. This meal was eaten with everyone's suspicion, and after hastily finishing, each returned to their room to sleep.

  At midnight, someone gently knocked on Long Fei's door. A voice outside the door shouted: "Long'er, someone is here!"

  Long Fei immediately got up, opened the door and saw that it was indeed the shopkeeper. Just as he was about to follow him, the door of the next room opened and Wang Qiang also came out. It seemed she hadn't fallen asleep either. Long Fei gave her a slight smile. The shopkeeper obviously hadn't expected this and was just about to speak. Long Fei preempted him by saying: "Lead the way!"

  Out of the guest room, rushing to the backyard. In a wing-room in the backyard, a person wearing all black and covering their face with a black cloth stood with their hands behind their back under the dim light. This person was slender, with two eyes emitting cold glows. Seeing Long Fei and Wang Qian enter together, they were taken aback for a moment. Wang Qian took out that piece of jade, and the person also took out an identical one.

  "Tomorrow at noon, there will be a horse carriage at the intersection of Shouyang Street and Qingping Road. After you get on the carriage, someone will send you to your destination!" The voice was cold and emotionless.

  Long Feng said: "Can Your Majesty be in Luoyang?"

  That man glanced at Long Fei: "You shouldn't ask about this matter, alright, you all can go now!"

  Long Fei suddenly appeared in front of the man, one hand grasping his throat and the other pulling off his mask. A handsome face was revealed, this person was about 27 or 28 years old, with a clear brow and bright eyes, if you saw him walking on the street, you would definitely think he was a refined scholar, it's hard to associate such an appearance with an assassin.

  "I'll ask again, is the Emperor in Luoyang?" Long Fei and he stared at each other face to face.

  The shopkeeper was frightened and hastily retreated two steps. Wang Qian blocked his way, holding a dagger to the shopkeeper's waist. Long Fei and the man looked at each other for a few seconds, increasing their grip, the man's face turned red, and he let out a hoarse voice from his throat: "Do you know the consequences of doing this? If..."

  "Are you still not speaking?" Long Fei's eyes revealed a murderous aura: "I'll ask one last time, is the Emperor in Luoyang?"

  "Ah! Ah!" The man whose neck was being pinched exclaimed hastily.

  "Where is it?"

  "Right at Master Wang's residence!"

  Long Fei slowly loosened his grip. The man gasped for air and coughed loudly. Long Fei took a step back: "Give your master a message, tell him that Long Fei is looking for him!" After finishing speaking, he ignored the assassin who was still gasping for air and the stunned shopkeeper, and walked out with Wang Qiang after opening the door.

  The next day, everyone got up early and the shopkeeper had already prepared breakfast. The events of last night had frightened the shop owner so much that he didn't show his face until Long Fei and the others left. Today was New Year's Day, and there were many more people on the streets, with merchants opening their shops early to make some extra money. The thick snow from last night crunched underfoot as they walked.

  A group of people brought their own luggage and asked about Shouyang Street and Qingping Road before heading in that direction. These two streets are not main streets, they are close to the city wall on one side, and very few people come to these places. Sure enough, at the intersection, there was a horse-drawn carriage. The carriage had been stopped for a long time, with a thick layer of snow accumulated on it. The driver was an elderly coachman, dressed in simple clothes, probably hired.

  Long Fei didn't say a word, got down from his own carriage and climbed up onto that other carriage. The coachman also didn't ask any questions, waited until everyone was seated, then with a flick of the whip, the old horse pulling the carriage exerted its thin legs to carefully tread step by step on the snowy ground. From Shouyang Street they came out, turned north and got onto the main road. Because there were many people, the carriage didn't move very fast either. Along the way all sorts of people came and went. Regardless of whether it was adults or children, everyone was wearing their best clothes, moving from one small stall to another.

  "The common people of Luoyang are still quite wealthy! We've rarely seen such a scene on our way here!" Wang Wei, with his northern accent, stuck his head out of the horse carriage and looked around for a long time.

  Che Ba said with a smile: "That's right, although there have been successive disasters and man-made calamities in recent years, this is the capital. If the capital declines, the entire Great Han will also come to an end!"

  "So it seems that Dong Zhuo is not so bad after all! At least he didn't let the people of Luoyang starve to death!"

  "Alas!" The charioteer sighed: "It's a wonder we haven't starved to death yet. These Western Liang soldiers have been wreaking havoc in Luoyang, and one day this city will become a desolate place too!"

  "Will it also become a deserted city? Is there somewhere that has become a deserted city?" King Wei hastily said.

  A patrol team happened to be passing by, the carriage driver hastily shut his mouth and pulled the reins to drive the horse cart to the side of the road, giving way to let the Western Liang patrol soldiers pass first. The arrival of the patrol soldiers made the bustling street suddenly quiet, the cries of peddlers and hawkers came to an abrupt halt, even the children who were running wildly shrank to the side of the road to avoid the patrol soldiers.

  "Ptooey! Ptooey!" The patrol had just passed by, and immediately came the sound of hisses.

  After passing through the main street, the horse carriage continued northward. This area was much quieter than the previous streets, with no small vendors on either side and a cleaner road. The deep courtyards of the large mansions were lined up one after another, and some even had soldiers guarding the entrance. The coachman suddenly became silent, only focusing on driving the carriage. Hua Tuo quietly told Long Fei that this was where the high-ranking officials of the imperial court resided, almost all the senior officials lived here, so they were all large mansions.

  Among these mansions, the carriage turned seven or eight corners and stopped in front of a large black lacquered gate. It should be the back door, not a single person was seen quietly. The coachman jumped down from the carriage, walked to the gate and knocked several times. The gate was opened, and four fully armed guards with long spears and swords at their waists appeared at the gate.

  The charioteer hastily informed the gatekeeper of his purpose. The gatekeeper nodded slightly, ordering the opening of the gate while dispatching someone to report inside. The carriage entered the mansion's courtyard. Before them lay a bamboo forest, with bamboos that were both tall and luxuriant, completely blocking the view inside. Long Fei was searching for a way to observe the situation inside when a pleasant guqin melody reached his ears.

  Following the sound of the piano, the rooftop of a building occasionally appeared above the bamboo forest, which should be a pavilion. It's really sick to play the piano in the pavilion on such a cold winter day. Walking all the way to the end of the bamboo forest, there was a round archway, and two people, an old man and a young man, were standing in front of it. Che Baishi stopped the horse-drawn carriage, and Long Fei got off first.

  The old man hastily cupped his hands: "You can finally welcome the gentlemen, this time our Great Han is saved! We're saved!"

  The old man was about fifty years old, with white hair and a long beard floating on his chest. His face was lined with wrinkles, but he looked spirited and spoke with confidence: "Meng De, hurry up and bring the warriors into the house. I have prepared wine and dishes to welcome you all."

  "Xiang Yu!" The two words immediately attracted Long Fei's attention. A square-shaped face with thick eyebrows and big eyes, a few scattered whiskers dancing in the wind at his chin. He wore a black long gown that fit him perfectly, with tight cuffs and a precious sword hanging from his waist, dressed as a military general. Long Fei looked him up and down: "Cao Cao, Cao Mengde, indeed extraordinary!"

  Cao Cao was startled and thought to himself: These assassins are indeed formidable, they can tell my name just by hearing my words, they really have two brushes. Long Fei turned his face and looked at the old man: "Sir, are you Lord Wang?"

  Cao Cao hastily introduced: "This is Wang Yun, who has just been promoted to Minister of Works!"

  Long Fei's heart suddenly cooled down to half, and indeed it was Wang Yun. This time it was really a narrow escape from disaster. After exchanging names, everyone sat down. Wang Yun was quite pleased. He kept praising Long Fei and the others as righteous people, if they could help heaven and the imperial court eliminate great harm, they would be meritorious officials of the great Han. As for who the target was, not a word was mentioned.

  The banquet continued into the afternoon, with another person joining in, introduced by Cao Cao as Wu Fu, a colonel of the Yue cavalry. Long Fei had some vague impression, but couldn't recall what he did. When everyone was present, they got down to business. Wang Yun waved his hand and dismissed all the servants. As soon as the door closed, Wang Yun burst into tears, not those fake ones, but with sobs and tears streaming down, better than some actors today.

  Wang Yun wept for a long time, with no one to comfort him. He slowly stopped and said: "The heavens are blind! My great Han first had eunuchs causing chaos in the country, leading to widespread discontent among the people. Then there was the disaster of Dong Zhuo. Your Majesty is in a precarious position, it's lamentable that we ministers cannot fulfill our duty as subjects. Every day, we put on a brave face and smile, barely surviving under the butcher's knife of treacherous officials. Alas...!"

  Wang Yun spoke for half a day, like a stand-up comedy show. Cao Cao and Wu Fu both wiped their eyes with their sleeves. But Long Fei listened in confusion: "I say, Wang Sikou, what's the point of talking so much? What's there to sigh about or be sad about? Isn't it just about assassinating Dong Zhuo? Do you have a plan?"

  The crying sound stopped, and Wang Yun, Wu Fu, and Cao Cao looked at each other for a few moments. Wang Yun said: "This time we invited everyone to come is to assassinate Dong Zhuo. We have discussed it and there are two plans that can be used. One is that Mr. Wu hides his sword under his court clothes and waits for the opportunity to strike when he meets Dong Zhuo. The second is that I have a seven-star treasure knife, which can cut through iron like mud. Meng De has already agreed, and he will pretend to present the knife to assassinate Dong Zhuo. You are all experts, do you think it's feasible?"

  Long Fei nodded: "Good plan, good plan. But how will you get close to Dong Zhuo? What if it doesn't work?"

  "If I fail, I'll fight that old scoundrel to the death! What's the worst that could happen? One of us will die!" Wu Fu was a tall and sturdy man with a thick beard, known for his quick temper.

  Cao Cao nodded slightly and said to Wang Yun, "Sir, Long is right. Assassinating Dong Zhuo is not a task that can be accomplished overnight. These past few days I have been going along with Dong Zhuo's intentions, and he has let his guard down against me. Why don't you let me try first?"

  "What a heroic Meng De!" Wang Yun raised his wine cup and toasted Cao Cao, then downed it in one gulp. Long Fei watched all this without saying a word.