Chapter 12: Reputation Precedes Him

  The man was still outside the door, and his voice had already come in. Someone outside ordered people to take care of Long Fei's group of white horses. Before the words fell, a large group of Han army soldiers with weapons in hand rushed into the small inn. A sharp-mouthed monkey-faced guy pointed at Long Fei and others: "It's them, sir! The white horse outside is theirs!"

  "Hmph!" A man dressed in the Doubei military uniform snorted: "You bunch of damned spies, how dare you steal General Gongsun's white horse? Are you tired of living? Come with me quietly to receive your punishment, or else suffer physical torture."

  Zhao Yun and Ta Leng immediately became vigilant, slowly reaching for their weapons. Wang Qian, however, pulled Wang Wei to sit down, eating while watching Long Fei's joke. Zhang Shi Ping and Su Shuang immediately understood. No wonder Long Fei advised them not to bring these white horses back to Youzhou. With Gong Sun Zan's petty nature, this matter could be big or small.

  Long Fei ignored the officer and winked at Zhang Shi-ping, clearly implying: "See? I told you so!" The sharp-mouthed, monkey-faced man, seeing Long Fei's impertinence, shouted at him: "Hey! The military officer is asking you questions! Just looking at you two, you're not good people, daring to steal General Gong Sun's horse, how disgusting!"

  "Cut the crap!" Dou Bo glared at the man and shouted to his soldiers, "Take them all away, every last one of them!"

  "Hold on!" Long Fei raised his right hand, blocking the soldier who was about to rush up, and looked at Dou Bo: "What makes you say these horses are Gong Sun Zan's? Just because of this man's words? Then I'd say he's framing him!"

  "Rubbish!" The sharp-mouthed, monkey-faced man grew agitated: "A few days ago General Gong Sun's horse was stolen, and today you people are driving horses into Yanmen. What a coincidence! It can't be anyone else, it must be them! Sir, they're definitely the ones! Have them arrested immediately!"

  Du Wei pushed aside the guy blocking his way, glared at him fiercely: "Get out of here, I'll handle this myself, no need for you to point fingers." Looking at Long Fei with a cold smile: "You little brat, don't be arrogant, military horses all have marks, one look and it's clear whether they're genuine or not. You just wait!" After saying that, he turned around and walked out the door.

  Long Fei and the others in the store all followed him out. They saw that the governor had circled around the white horse group several times, looking up and down, left and right, and even lifted the hooves of several war horses to examine them clearly. However, nothing was found. The governor was somewhat perplexed.

  He didn't know that Gongsun Zan was a horse enthusiast, especially fond of white horses. Such purebred and snow-white horses were even more unbearable to brand with marks. Only the bells on each warhorse were engraved with Gongsun Zan's mark. With Zhao Yun as an insider, those bells with marks were removed before entering the pass. So they didn't find anything.

  Long Fei looked at Dou Wei's anxious appearance and smiled: "Sir, have you found it? If not, then it can't be proven that this is Gongsun Zan's horse. In that case, he has falsely accused him?" Long Fei pointed to the sharp-mouthed, monkey-faced guy. As soon as he entered the door, he recognized that this little guy was the first one who came to buy a horse from him when he entered the city, but Long Fei didn't sell it to him.

  Du Bo hummed and gave up searching, looking at Long Fei: "It's not General Gong Sun's horse, where did it come from? So many white horses are either stolen or robbed. Cut the nonsense, take down these thieves for me!"

  "Oh dear! Sir, you must speak reasonably! I am a legitimate businessman, buying horses from beyond the border for our great Han dynasty. How did I become a bandit?! Dragon Flying glanced around at the onlookers: "Everyone, take a look, isn't this slander? Our great Han army doesn't protect its own citizens, instead they cause trouble. I risked my life to buy warhorses from beyond the border for our Han army's sake. Not only did you not pay me, but you also want to seize my horses. Is there still justice and law in this world?"

  What kind of person is Long Fei? Relying on the masses, mobilizing the masses is something he understands from the bone. After his agitation, the surrounding civilians whispered to each other. Faced with this situation, Du Bo had to think carefully before making things difficult for Long Fei again. Turning around and looking at the pointing fingers of the crowd, he shouted: "Shut up, you bastards! I am the guardian of Yanmen, I am the law here, whoever dares to speak out of turn, I will chop him off immediately!"

  Hua Tuo slowly moved to Long Fei's side, and with a bow to Du Bo, said: "This military officer, I, Hua Tuo, can vouch for this young brother that these horses were indeed purchased by us from outside the border, not stolen from General Gong Sun. Please, sir, have mercy and let us go!"

  Hua Tuo's great name had long been spread throughout the land, and even in this remote place, many people knew of him. Hua Tuo stood up to vouch for him, and the common people were even more convinced by Long Fei's lies. Some people began to take Long Fei's side, and gradually, the number of noisy protesters grew. Dōu Bó's intimidation lost its effect, and his subordinates advised Dōu Bó not to act impulsively.

  When Dou Bo was about to leave, he glared at Long Fei fiercely: "You little devil, remember that you will fall into my hands sooner or later, and I'll make you swallow your words!" Long Fei smiled slightly and stretched out his right hand in a farewell gesture. As he watched Dou Bo walk away while scolding the troublemaker, Long Fei nodded at Hua Tuo and gave him a thumbs up.

  When they returned to the inn, Zhang Shipei and Su Shuang had not left yet. Long Fei glanced at them: "Have you thought it through? Since you already know the origin of these horses, do you still want to buy?"

  Zhang Shiping nodded: "Little brother has already said it clearly in front of so many people, since it's not General Gong Sun's horse, why can't we buy it? As for the price, let's go with what little brother said, how about 1,000 coins?"

  "You two want to find trouble for Liu Bei, I won't stop you. To be honest, I don't like him either. Once it's sold, all sales are final!" Long Fei said, sitting back in his original seat and taking a few sips from his wine cup. The wine of the Han Dynasty was not as strong as modern-day wine, so for someone like Long Fei who was used to drinking Wuliangye or Jian Nan Chun, this wine was just like water.

  "Alright, our deal is settled then!" Zhang Shiping said with a smile, pulling out a pouch of money: "I counted them earlier, there are 23 white horses outside, each worth 1,000 coins, totaling 23,000 coins. This is 30,000 coins, the remaining amount will be considered as my treat for you and your friends to have a drink together. From now on, we're friends! If you have any more high-quality horses in the future, come find us in Youzhou, and you can name the price!"

  Zhang Shiping put a bag of money on Long Fei's table, bowed and walked out the door. Long Fei hurriedly stopped him, opened the bag and counted out seven thousand dollars, handed it back to Zhang Shiping, lowered his head and drank by himself: "I don't like owing others favors, business is business, brothers are clear about accounts, one thousand dollars is just one thousand dollars, I won't take an extra cent!" Wang Qiang rolled her eyes at Long Fei, a rare smile appeared on her face, she pulled the bag of money to herself and put it in her pocket. Long Fei shook his head and sighed, this woman was indeed a money lover, but also a good housekeeper.

  With money in hand, the conversation among them became more lively. They started talking about selling horses and went on to discuss the purpose of Wang Jian and Wang Wei's trip to Luoyang. When they reached this topic, even Wang Wei, who loved to talk, glanced at Wang Jian and lowered his head without making a sound. No matter how Long Fei tried to probe them, the two refused to say anything. When they left Yumen, it was already noon on the second day, and the gatekeeper was none other than Du Bo, who had wanted to capture them yesterday.

  As soon as Long Fei appeared, the man's eyes were not right, and with a wave of his hand, several soldiers rushed forward to block this group of people. Du Bo Pi smiled insincerely at them, swaying back and forth as he walked to the front of the horse carriage: "The prefecture has an order, recently the Xianbei people have been active in this area, no one is allowed to enter the pass! I think you'd better go back!"

  Wang Wei looked down and pointed to the civilians lining up to enter the pass beside him, asking Du Bo: "Why can those people do it?"

  Du Bo laughed: "They are all Han people, what about you? Who can guarantee that they are not Xianbei spies? Look at the big one, he is obviously a Xianbei person. And that lame one, with such short hair, Han people don't have this kind of appearance, just looking at them and you know they're no good!"

  "You're obviously making things difficult!" Wang Wei said with some anger.

  "You think you can do anything to me? This is my territory, I'm in charge here!"

  At this moment, Zhang Shipei and Su Shuang drove the group of white horses to the front of the pass. Dubei didn't care about Long Fei's gang, stretched out his hand and stopped Zhang Shipei and Su Shuang as well. Several people were talking on that side, a bit far away, couldn't hear clearly. After saying a few words, Zhang Shipei looked over at Long Fei's side several times, took out a black bag from his bosom, smiled and handed it to Dubei's hand. Dubei weighed it in his hand, quickly put it into his bosom, waved his hand at the soldiers who were blocking Long Fei: "Come over, let them pass!"

  Long Fei and a few others saw it clearly. Leaning on the carriage, he muttered to himself: "From ancient times to the present, this money is really good stuff, not only can it make ghosts push mills, but also make mills push ghosts!"

  Smoothly out of the city, Long Fei and a few others did not leave, but waited outside for Zhang Shi Ping and Su Shuang. Not long after, the two and that group of white horses also passed through smoothly. Long Fei personally got off his horse, smiled slightly at Zhang Shi Ping and Su Shuang, and following the Han people's etiquette, cupped his hands: "Earlier I gave that guy how much, you and I each take half! I am a person who absolutely does not take advantage of others!"

  "Haha!" Zhang Shiping laughed and said: "It's just a small matter, little brother doesn't need to worry about it. I've already said that you and I will be friends. If in the future little brother has any business, come find me in Youzhou, we'll definitely help each other out. Farewell!"

  "Hee-haw, hee-haw..." A loud neigh echoed. A white horse in the herd was extremely restless, constantly struggling, as if wanting to break free from its reins. Zhang Shipei's several grooms kept waving their whips, trying to calm down the horse. But the horse seemed to get more and more ferocious, kicking its hind legs violently, opening its mouth to bite, causing the entire herd to be on the verge of chaos.