Chapter 59 Another Beauty

  It is said that a dark moon is the night for murder, and a strong wind is the day for arson. Lü Bu did not dare to come in broad daylight, so he had to wait until nightfall. Unexpectedly, tonight was overcast with thick clouds, and it was pitch black, unable to see five fingers when stretching out one's hand. After lighting several torches, they could barely make out the road. As soon as one foot stepped into the cemetery, a gust of cold wind blew by, causing all the pores on their bodies to tighten up, and goosebumps immediately appeared. The soldiers huddled together, looking around in terror.

  "Aaaaooo!" A wolf howl came from the distant Mangshan Mountain, making it even more terrifying in this dark night. "Hula hula" Several wild birds flew away from the top of the towering cypress trees to a distant place. Everyone was startled involuntarily.

  "General! Which one shall we take first?" Hou Cheng asked timidly.

  Lü Bu widened his eyes to look around, the originally dark sky was blocked by the dense cypress and pine trees, making it even harder to see anything. He thought for a moment: "Which one is more hidden?"

  "The tomb of Emperor Guangwu is the most hidden!"

  "Let's start with him, go!" Lü Bu led the way, and the others followed in a hurry. The higher they climbed, the narrower the road became, and the weeds on both sides grew thicker, and the trees were more lush. The imperial mausoleum was simply a cemetery, and few people came here except for the annual sacrifice, and basically no one else came at other times. In order to make things easier, Dong Zhuo deliberately withdrew all the soldiers guarding the imperial mausoleum, so there was no one in this garden.

  "Who! Come out!" A soldier behind the troops suddenly shouted loudly. Everyone quickly turned their heads, and in the distance, a pale blue flame flickered unsteadily, swaying from side to side. Several timid soldiers saw this and were already chattering with fear, hastily hiding behind others. The blue flames drew closer and closer, swaying slowly as they approached. Suddenly, another one appeared on the left, and also on the right, more and more of them. These ghostly fires slowly closed in on them.

  "What's going on here?!" Cao Xing was already speechless.

  "What's so scary about it? It's just a ghost fire, isn't it? Watch me put them out!" Lü Bu drew his treasured sword and rushed towards the flames. With a wave of his sleeve, the flames were indeed extinguished. Just as everyone was rejoicing, they felt something behind them. As soon as they turned around, a white-clad figure with disheveled hair suddenly flashed by. The evening wind blew through its hair, revealing the fresh blood on its forehead.

  "Ah......!" The two soldiers shouted and threw down the things in their hands, turning around to run. Just a few steps away, behind a cypress tree, a head with only half of its face exposed appeared, and the corner of its mouth was still smiling. "Yah!" A sharp cry, and one of them sat on the ground with a thud: "Ghost......!"

  "Hahaha……" A burst of woman's silvery laughter came from afar. The laughter was so sharp that it was absolutely not something a human could produce. Everyone's hair stood on end, feeling their scalp numb and legs weak. Waves of foul odor pierced into their noses. Only after tracing back did they discover that several guys had lost control of their bowels and urinated in their own pants.

  "What kind of evil spirit is this, daring to cause trouble here? Don't you know that this is the imperial mausoleum?" Lu Bu shouted loudly with his treasured sword in hand.

  No one answered him. Cao Xing's teeth chattered, and he looked around in terror: "Wen Hou, this...this...I've heard that when each emperor is buried, many concubines are buried with him. Could it be the vengeful spirits of those concubines?"

  "Yes! Let's go! We can come back during the day!" said Hou Cheng.

  "Nonsense! If the dead were really that terrifying, why didn't they rise up to avenge themselves on the battlefield?" Lü Bu glared at his two subordinates. The two hastily lowered their heads. Turning back to look again, the dozens of soldiers who had been brought along had already run off without exception. Cao Xing and Hou Cheng exchanged a glance: "Wenhou, this place is eerie, they've all run away, leaving just the three of us, there's no way to deal with it!"

  Lü Bu thought for a moment and then angrily said: "A bunch of cowards! Just you wait and see how I'll deal with them when I get back!"

  Watching Lü Bu and his torches slowly disappear into the distance, Long Fei jumped down from the big tree, whistled, and people jumped out from the grass thicket, behind the trees, and the eaves of the temple. Long Fei said: "They ran away with just a few tricks, how timid! We'll stop here for tonight, and it's been hard on everyone these past few days. As long as someone comes, we'll scare them off according to my plan. If this works out, I'll treat you all to drinks!"

  For several days, strange things happened one after another in the imperial mausoleum. This matter quickly spread throughout Luoyang City, and of course, Lü Bu's theft of the imperial mausoleum was also brought up by people through their associations and suspicions. They came to a conclusion that this was the former emperor of the Great Han using this method to protect himself. Naturally, these things were also transmitted into Dong Zhuo's ears, and he had no choice but to order Lü Bu to give up the imperial mausoleum and choose the graves of rich merchants or high officials to dig up instead.

  Lü Bu's side wasn't going smoothly, but Long Fei's side was proceeding like a raging fire. With Wang Wei's ghostly spirit, even if those wealthy merchants hid their property in the most secretive places, he could still dig them out. What hidden passages, secret compartments, and concealed doors couldn't escape Wang Wei's discerning eye; with just one glance, he would immediately know what mechanisms were at play.

  The wealthy merchants have not been confiscated yet, and next it's the turn of the officials. Long Fei let Jia Xun make a list to guess Dong Zhuo's intention, and divide all officials into three levels according to their official positions. Those who are in the same camp as Dong Zhuo will naturally not be touched, those who are not in harmony with Dong Zhuo but are clean and poor will only make a symbolic gesture, and only those who are both at odds with Dong Zhuo and greedy will be thoroughly investigated.

  Yuan Wei's former subordinates and relatives belonged to the third type of people. Long Fei ordered Dian Wei to lead the team, with Wang Wei coordinating. Everything that could be taken away was taken away, and everything that couldn't be taken away was smashed to pieces. This group of people's homes were also the richest, with countless good things, and in just one short day, only two houses were looted, with all the goods filling ten carts.

  For the second category, Long Fei personally visited their homes. On the first day, he chose Huangfu Song. Huangfu Song was a meritorious general of the Great Han, who had fought against the Yellow Turbans and recovered Xi Liang. He had military achievements and was highly respected in the army for his bravery and strategic mind. The Huangfu family had been officials for generations and were loyal to the Han dynasty. This time, when Dong Zhuo moved the capital, Huangfu Song strongly opposed it and almost got killed. Another point is that Huangfu Song was very clean and honest, a model for all officials.

  He knocked on the door for half a day, but no one answered. Xu Huan was getting anxious and punched the door twice. The old wooden door, which had not been maintained for years, was actually knocked down by his two fists. Two servants who were sweeping the floor in the courtyard were frightened and saw that it was a soldier, so they quickly threw away their brooms and ran away. Long Fei took a glance at the courtyard, compared to other officials' mansions, this one looked shabby. The houses on both sides should have been built for some time, with grass growing on the roofs. However, the courtyard was clean, with several pots of unknown small flowers blooming. A faint sound of a guqin came from the backyard.

  "It's General Long, please come in!" Huang Fu Song said with a smile. Although they had met on the imperial court before, and didn't have any conversation, but Huang Fu Song's character left a deep impression on Long Fei. Take the matter of Yuan Wei for example, many people pleaded for him, while Huang Fu Song disagreed, scolding those people: "These kinds of people who form cliques and pursue personal gains, how dare they be the model for the four generations of three dukes!" It's enough to show that Huang Fu Song is a man of principle.

  While speaking, they walked in. When it came to the purpose of Long Fei's visit, Long Fei used a very clever phrase to gloss over: "The Grand Master sent us to help Lord Huangfu move house!"

  "Where are you moving to?" Huang Fu didn't understand.

  Long Fei smiled: "The scenery of Chang'an is beautiful, the Grand Master has already sent people to rebuild the mansion on that side, everyone just needs to go over!"

  "Hum! Dong Zhuo is actually going to relocate the capital?" Huangfu Song thundered. A few more people emerged from behind the screen in the living room, and Long Fei took a look and recognized them all. Cai Yong and Zhu Jun were so-called celebrities. Upon hearing Huangfu Song's words, they all sighed. Then a pleasant female voice came: "The Eastern Lords have already arrived outside of Tiger Trap Pass, Dong Zhuo has no foundation in Luoyang, how can he be the opponent of those people? Only by returning to Chang'an and relying on his remaining prestige can he better grasp the imperial court's politics. From Dong Zhuo's perspective, this is the best outcome!"

  A beautiful girl emerged from behind the screen. The girl was as lovely as a heavenly maiden, with a white long dress and a beautiful face. Long Fei was stunned. There was only one thought in his mind: if this were my girlfriend, those dead friends of mine would be so jealous! The girl was about seventeen or eighteen years old, speaking softly and gently, her two eyes like clear spring water, revealing the purity in her heart.

  The girl saw Long Fei staring at him intently, and hastily lowered her head to walk beside Cai Yong: "Father, gentlemen, if it's for the continuation of the Great Han, then we can only follow Dong Zhuo to Chang'an. The lords of Guandong are nominally clearing the emperor but in reality they only care about expanding their own power, not putting the court in their eyes at all!"

  Cai Yong's daughter? Could it be Cai Wenji, Cai Yan? Without waiting for Long Fei to ask, Zhu Xu nodded: "The virtuous nephew is right, staying in Luoyang will not help, when Yuan Shao and his gang break in, nothing will be left! It's better to follow them to Chang'an and protect Your Majesty, fulfill our duty as subjects."

  "That's right!" Long Fei stood up: "Originally, I came with another task, which was to send the wealth to Chang'an for you gentlemen, but looking at the house of Huangfu, there is nothing valuable, so let you take care of it yourself! Cai Taifu? Does your precious daughter need our protection?"

  Cai Yong angrily said: "This is none of your concern, my daughter has already been betrothed to the Wei family of Hedong and will be married in a few days. General Long should focus on his own duties!"

  After leaving Huangfu Song's mansion, Long Fei's mind still lingered with the image of Cai Yan. When he arrived at Han's end, the first woman Long Fei saw was Wang Ji, who had now become his own woman. Today, he met Cai Yan again, and in his heart, there was another image of a woman. Apart from these two, there was another woman that Long Fei always remembered, the one he met when he sneaked into Cao's mansion at night, whose name seemed to be Cao Jie. However, since Cao Cao escaped, Cao Jie also disappeared and there has been no news about her until now.

  "Good luck!" Long Fei shouted at Xu Shu: "Immediately send someone to keep an eye on Cai Yan, and report back to me if there's any unusual movement!"

  Xu Shou glanced at Long Fei: "You wouldn't have taken a liking to someone's daughter, would you?"

  "What's it to you? Hurry up and go handle it!"