Chapter 72: Black Ice and Ebony

  This morning, after finishing breakfast, Xu Huan led Gan Ning, Zhou Tai, Jiang Qin and Pan Zhang into the Front General's mansion. Although they had met Long Fei in Xiangyang a few times, they were still slightly surprised to see him dressed so elegantly. Gan Ning, being the first, hastily bowed down. Long Fei hurriedly helped him up: "General Gan, no need for such courtesy, we can dispense with these formalities here! Come, take a seat!"

  "Haha, that's great! I hate all the bowing and kneeling. We can just walk together as brothers, don't you think?"

  "Right! Brother Zhou is right, from today on, we are all brothers!"

  Gan Ning wanted to say something, but hesitated. Everyone was clear in their minds that Gan Ning and the others had come to Chang'an to seek a way out. Having been ostracized by Huang Zu, if Long Fei couldn't offer him satisfactory terms, it was certain that Gan Ning would look for another opportunity. So, before Gan Ning could speak, Long Fei spoke first.

  "Come here, sorry to trouble you all!" Long Fei smiled slightly, and Gan Ning's four men immediately perked up their ears and listened carefully. Long Fei continued: "From today on, Brother Gan will first serve as a school lieutenant, Brothers Zhou, Jiang, and Pan will be under Lieutenant Gan's command as lieutenants, and the people who came with you will stay together for now, serving as foot soldiers. In the future, when there is an opportunity, Lieutenant Gan can become our naval commander!"

  Zhou Tai was overjoyed. At Huang Zu's place, Gan Ning was just a Duwei, and they didn't even have official positions. Unexpectedly, as soon as they arrived in Chang'an, not only did Gan Ning get promoted, but he himself also managed to snag an official position: "Big brother, haha, now we're all officials, hahaha..."

  Gan Ning furrowed his brow: "General, dismissing a county lieutenant requires court approval, this..."

  "Elder brother Gan, rest assured, I will go to the Emperor to ask for instructions right away. This afternoon, I will send them to the military camp. The few of you can wait with peace of mind!"

  Gan Ning is a thoughtful person, and in fact, they arrived in Chang'an much earlier than when they came to the front general's mansion to find someone. He wanted to see what kind of person Long Fei was. The people of Chang'an didn't know, but those from Luoyang were very clear about it. As for Long Fei's rise to power, it can only be described as "miraculous". However, the people did not hate Long Fei like they hated Dong Zhuo, although Long Fei was also one of Dong Zhuo's henchmen. But Long Fei, following Jia Xu's plan, had his wife Wang Yun occasionally distribute some grain, which, although not much, still won over many hearts. Especially when he confiscated the homes of officials like Yuan Wei and others, it made the people feel more affectionate towards Long Fei.

  Gan Ning was a minor official, had been **, knew the hardships of the common people. Now that the world is in chaos and refugees are everywhere, he also understood that Long Fei's actions were aimed at winning people's hearts. However, other officials did not do so. Gan Ning was not foolish, when he met Long Fei in Xiangyang, he had already sensed the extraordinary aura about him, which was why he decided to come to Chang'an.

  Jiang Qin and others finished speaking, cupped their hands and said: "General, now we have only a few hundred brothers under our command. According to the rank of Colonel, elder brother should have ten thousand people. General, can you allow us to recruit soldiers from among the refugees ourselves?"

  Long Fei nodded. This Jiang Qin was indeed calm and collected, smiling as he said: "Alright! All the expenses for recruiting soldiers will be borne by my general's manor, you just focus on recruiting, but absolutely do not exaggerate or falsify reports of grain and provisions!"

  Gan Ning hastily paid his respects: "Thank you, General!"

  After settling down with Gan Ning and others, Long Fei still had a heart disease, which was not knowing what kind of feud Xu Shu and Guo Jia had. Since Guo Jia came, Xu Shu has been hiding in his own room, except for going to the toilet, he never stepped out of the door. Fortunately, Hua Tuo tied Guo Jia tightly to himself with the excuse of treating his illness, trying various therapies on Guo Jia every day. Guo Jia also had feelings about his own illness and was willing to be treated by Hua Tuo when they met. Since the two men did not meet, there was still room for maneuver in this matter.

  Long Fei pushed open the door of Xu Shu's room with Jia Xiu. Xu Shu was pacing back and forth in the house, and the dishes sent over in the morning were still on the table, not a single one had been eaten. Long Fei opened the door and said straightforwardly: "Alright, no need to be so nervous, Guo Jia is also human!"

  Xu Shou fell to his knees with a thud in front of Long Fei, knocking his head on the ground several times: "I beg of you, please save my mother! I beg of you!"

  This confused Long Fei. Xu Shu and Guo Jia's matter, how did it involve Xu Shu's mother again? Jia Xu hastily helped Xu Shu up: "Whatever you have to say, speak slowly, the lord will not ignore it, speak slowly!"

  Xu Shu looked embarrassed, glancing at Long Fei and then at Jia Xuan. Long Fei knew Xu Shu was a filial son, so he gave Jia Xuan a signal with his eyes. Jia Xuan said: "Speak up, what's the problem with your mother? Tell us, and Master will help you rescue her!"

  Xu Shou clenched his fists tightly, his eyebrows furrowed. After a long while, he gritted his teeth and finally made up his mind: "When it comes to these things, we have to start from the contention between Chu and Han."

  Qin Shi Huang Emperor Ying Zheng was cruel and tyrannical, using Li Si and listening to Zhao Gao, adopting a high-pressure rule over the world. In order to maintain his absolute power, the Black Ice Platform established during the Qin Xiao Gong period flourished in Ying Zheng's hands, almost spreading all over the world, distributed among various professions of the three teachings and nine flows. These people killed without blinking, as long as they felt it was detrimental to the Great Qin Empire, they had the right to behead first and report later. This also became a tool for Zhao Gao and Li Si to manipulate power.

  After the death of the First Emperor, the Second Emperor ascended to the throne. Chen Sheng and Wu Guang rose in revolt, throwing the world into great chaos. Dozens of vassal states fought for control of the Central Plains, until only two remained: Chu and Han. The Han founder Liu Bang was the first to enter Xianyang. Unfortunately, Liu Bang did not realize the importance of Heiyingdai, and merely swept up the gold, silver, and jewels of Xianyang before leaving. When Xiang Yu entered Guanzhong, Fan Zeng immediately ordered that all major government offices in Xianyang be taken over, with Heiyingdai being the most important.

  With the Black Ice Platform, at the beginning of the Chu-Han Contention, Liu Bang repeatedly suffered defeats at the hands of Xiang Yu and had to flee far away to Hanzhong to avoid being killed. After his pain subsided, on Chen Ping's suggestion, he began to build his own intelligence and assassin organization, named Wumuyi, to counterbalance Xiang Yu's Black Ice Platform. The establishment of Wumuyi was very similar to that of the Black Ice Platform, with clear divisions of labor and high efficiency in gathering intelligence and carrying out assassinations. After Fan Zeng's death, the Black Ice Platform was leaderless, and Liu Bang took advantage of this opportunity to force Xiang Yu into a desperate situation at Gaixia. The heroic King of Chu ended up taking his own life by slitting his throat at Wujiang.

  "What does this have to do with you?"

  Xu Shou sighed: "Xiang Yu died in battle, Liu Bang was emperor in Chang'an, everything seemed peaceful and uneventful, but in fact the struggle between Hei Bing Tai and Wu Mu Ya had never stopped, intermittently continuing for hundreds of years!"

  For hundreds of years, Wumengya has adhered to the ancestral teachings of respecting Liu and being loyal to the great Han court. They continuously sent talented and ambitious individuals into the imperial court, doing their best to maintain the orthodoxy of the great Han. When Heibingtai instigated Wang Mang to disrupt the government, Wumengya responded by having Liu Xiu lead an army to counter him. Nowadays, Heibingtai has changed its name to Hei Bing, with its headquarters located in Jingzhou, while Wumengya abolished its own name and went into hiding in Yingchuan.

  "Are you saying that Guo Jia is from Wumu Ya?" Long Fei asked hastily.

  Xu Shou nodded: "Not only is that Guo Jia, I am too!"

  "Are you too?" Long Fei's eyes rolled: "You're a spy?"

  "Spy!" Xu Shu raised his head and let out a long sigh: "Jian means to separate, and die means intelligence! This word is extremely appropriate! Indeed, I am the spy sent by Wumuyan to Heibingtai!"

  After hundreds of years of struggle, Hei Bingtai and Wumuyan have been growing stronger. Today's Hei Bingtai is powerful and widely distributed in all corners of society. The master has never appeared, with four great elders, four great protectors, and dozens of routes under their jurisdiction. In contrast, Wumuyan appears to be sparse in talent. Except for the four longs, it can only barely maintain itself by relying on the descendants of Yingchuan Academy. However, Wumuyan has held great power in the imperial court for many years, which is why it can rival Hei Bingtai.

  Xu Shu, as a chess piece of Wumeng Cliff, deliberately used the excuse of killing people to escape and mixed into Jingzhou. He also took the name of being dissatisfied with Wumeng Cliff and paid homage to the door of Pang De. Over the past decade or so, he gradually gained the trust of Hei Bingtai. During this period, he repeatedly revealed information to Wumeng Cliff, so as not to cause the Great Han Dynasty to end prematurely. For example, the eunuchs killed He Jin, Dong Zhuo entered the capital and other things, were all planned by Hei Bingtai. Xu Shu informed Yingchuan about these matters.

  "Isn't this already done well? Why are they still looking for you?"

  "It all happened during this mission!" Xu Shu sighed again: "The person who contacted you was always someone else, it was I who volunteered to go to Luoyang! Because from Xiangyang to Luoyang will pass through Yingchuan, I wanted to take the opportunity to pick up my mother, but unexpectedly this matter was known by Wumuyan, they thought I had already defected to Heibingtai, so... now they are using my mother as a threat, asking me to go back!" As he spoke, Xu Shu knelt down again and kowtowed to Long Fei, begging him to save his mother.

  "Alright! Get up!" Long Fei coldly snorted: "I hate this kind of person who uses hostages to threaten others, I'll help you with this matter! By the way, can you tell me specifically about Hei Bing's four great elders, four great protectors, and Wu Mu Ya's four leaders?"

  "Thank you, General!" Xu Shu hastily expressed his gratitude: "As long as the general saves my mother, I, Xu Shu, will be willing to be a cow or a horse for him!"

  According to Xu Shou's introduction, Long Fei finally understood that all these things in the world were done by these two underground organizations. Zhang Jiao was also one of the four elders of Hei Bing, and he was ordered to gather tens of thousands of Hei Bing brothers to start a storm that could destroy the Great Han Dynasty. Although the result was not as good as expected, it shook the foundation of the Great Han Dynasty. As long as the world is in chaos, Hei Bing has an opportunity. Letting Long Fei go to Wò Lóng Gǎng was actually a test, if Long Fei could hold up the beam, then Hei Bing might fully support Long Fei's claim to the throne, and let Hei Bing see the light of day again. Unfortunately, Long Fei wasted that opportunity.

  Wu Mu Ya didn't have much concern, they were loyal to the Han Emperor with all their heart. Wherever the Emperor went, they would follow. As long as the Emperor was still around, Wu Mu Ya would be eternally loyal to him. Long Fei suddenly understood, no wonder Cao Cao could get the full support of the people of Yingchuan back then, it was because he had the Emperor in his grasp. Now that Hei Bing Tai wouldn't help himself, should he imitate Cao Cao and use the Emperor to control the other lords?