Chapter 50 First Mission Item

  With Xu Shu's arrival, the usually quiet West Garden quickly became lively. Everyone was puzzled and curious about why Long Fei had brought back a beggar, so they all came to take a look. In the middle of the main hall, Long Fei looked at Xu Shu who was tied up with five flowers and laughed: "Mr. Xu, this is you jumping into the net yourself!"

  Xu Shou calmed down instead: "Dragon Lord has a good eye, I've been hiding for so many years and no one has ever known my identity. I didn't expect to be recognized by Dragon Lord at a glance, impressive!"

  "No need to be so polite, if you're not going to continue hiding in Nanyang, what brings you to Luoyang?"

  Xu Shou looked around and stopped talking. No matter how Long Fei asked, Xu Shou remained silent. Long Fei understood Xu Shou's thoughts, chased everyone else out, personally closed the door, and untied Xu Shou's bonds. He offered tea and said, "Now you can speak, sir. It's just us two here, please speak freely."

  Xu Shou looked around a few times, making sure no one was coming, before lowering his voice: "Zuo Shouzhang..."

  As soon as he heard the three words "Zuo Shu Zhang", Long Fei's blood rushed to his forehead. Zou Zhu was a man of Hei Bing, which could be understood, but the Zou family had been wealthy and noble for generations, and their property in Xuzhou was among the best. Unexpectedly, Xu Shu, such a wise and intelligent person, was also a man of Hei Bing! The strength of Hei Bing can be guessed with one's toes!

  "Wait!" Long Fei hastily interrupted: "What did you just say? What Left Chancellor?"

  Xu Shou smiled and pulled out a white dragon token from his bosom. The two men exchanged a glance, Long Fei examined it carefully, and indeed it was the white dragon token, looking at Xu Shou with an incredulous gaze. Xu Shou smiled slightly: "The Emperor has given orders, from now on I will stay by your side, if Left Chancellor has any matters that need to be communicated to the Emperor, I can convey them!"

  Long Fei rubbed his face hard, trying to keep himself awake, and shook his head: "Are you really from Hei Bing?"

  "Yes!" Xu Shu nodded: "Xu Shu, the black ice Zhuque Hall Gong Dafu, listens to the command of the Left Shangshu!"

  Long Fei felt somewhat depressed, but his mind was always working, and he had a faintly strange feeling. Xu Shu was after all Sima Hui's beloved disciple; could it be that this Hei Bing had some connection with Sima Hui? Thinking about the situation in the Three Kingdoms, Cao Cao controlled the Emperor to command the vassals, Sun Quan relied on his father and brother's remaining prestige to shake Jiangdong, while Liu Bei had nothing. If not for the help of those people from Nanyang, he would be nothing. Could it be...?

  Long Fei suppressed his curiosity and let out a sigh: "Forget it! Since Mo Zhu said someone would tell me about Hei Bing, I suppose it's Mr. Xu?"

  Xu Shou nodded: "Under the orders of the superior, assisting Zuo Shou Zhang, it is natural to inform him about some things in Hei Bing! As for the origin of Hei Bing, Zuo Shou Zhang should already know, so I won't elaborate, just talk about the current situation of Hei Bing!"

  The Black Ice originated from the Black Ice Platform of the Qin State, and by the early Han Dynasty, part of the Black Ice Platform was reorganized by Chen Ping to become Liu Bang's Wumu Cliff. The remaining Black Ice personnel hid among the people in various identities, some engaging in commerce, others in farming, or entering the imperial court as officials. Over four hundred years, they continued to multiply and grow, transforming from a situation where they almost perished to becoming deeply rooted and influential, able to sway the trend of the imperial court.

  After hundreds of years of struggle, the successive masters of Hei Bing have continuously summarized lessons from their failures and reorganized Hei Bing. Today's Hei Bing is divided into four factions: Qing Long, Bai Hu, Zhu Que, and Xuan Wu. Each faction has a different number of people and does not contact each other, only responsible to the master, who allocates tasks from the middle. Take the Zhu Que faction that Long Fei participated in, for example, even the faction leader himself doesn't know how many people are in it.

  Each hall is further divided into five departments according to the Five Elements of gold, wood, water, fire and earth. The Gold Department is responsible for managing finances, including expenses for tea houses, inns, and wine shops, as well as the price of killing people; the Wood Department is responsible for manufacturing organs and maintaining and building new structures; the Water Department is in charge of transmitting messages within the hall, gathering intelligence, and has the most personnel. Any event that occurs in the world that is related to them cannot escape the attention of the Water Department; the Fire Department, also known as the Action Department, executes orders to kill people, assassinate targets, and has a wealth of talent with various assassination techniques, including disguise, hypnosis, stabbing, poisoning, and other actions. The last department, the Earth Department, is actually the hall's think tank, responsible for formulating assassination plans, developing the hall, and dealing with traitors and spies.

  The four halls are in charge of the east, west, south and north directions. The Vermilion Bird Division is in charge of the south, from Luoyang all the way to the border of the Great Han Dynasty. To the east is Jiangling, and to the west, it extends to Shu Prefecture, all under the jurisdiction of the Vermilion Bird Hall. In addition, the General Altar has left and right protectors, one elder each among the four great elders, as well as thirty-six Heavenly Canopies and seventy-two Earthly Fiends, none of whom are not wise and far-sighted with refined martial arts skills. Any one of them is a great talent.

  "Where is the General?" Long Fei asked.

  Xu Shou smiled: "There's no need for this Left Vice Director to know, you just need to know that you are the Left Vice Director of Zhuque Hall Fire Department!"

  "Fire department? I'm the kind of guy who charges in and kills people?"

  "It can't be said like that! For Hei Bing, everyone is willing to sacrifice their lives and shed hot blood, as long as we can achieve our great wish of several hundred years, even if it means death!"

  "What is his grand ambition? To unify the world and overthrow the Han Dynasty?"

  Xu Shou shook his head: "We, the Black Ice, were born in Great Qin, with the conquest of the world as our duty. Whoever is unfavorable to us Qin people will be killed without pardon!"

  "Qin people? Are you referring to the people of Guanzhong?"

  Xu Shou nodded: "After Liu Bang became emperor, he dominated the Guanzhong region, but he was worried that the old Qin people would be unfavorable to him. He continuously suppressed and relocated them, moving all the people of Guanzhong out and resettling them in several places. He appointed his own sons as kings, hoping to eliminate the killing spirit of the old Qin people! But he never thought that by doing so, not only did he fail to eliminate the old Qin people, but also gave us an opportunity to instigate the Seven Kingdoms Rebellion, which almost destroyed the Han Dynasty! Later, Wang Mang was used by us to destroy Western Han. Now we want to destroy Eastern Han and re-establish the great Qin Empire!"

  "The Great Qin Empire? You really dare to think!" Long Fei sneered, he knew that after the fall of the Han Dynasty came the Three Kingdoms, and from then on there was no longer a country called Qin.

  Xu Shouyue became more and more excited: "The old Qin people will not be destroyed, we must succeed! Zhang Jiao, the left protector of the law, has exchanged his life for the turmoil of the Han Dynasty. It won't take long before the world is in chaos, and that's our chance! You are also a Qin person, don't you want to revive the heroic spirit of Qin?"

  "You all know this! Awesome!"

  Xu Shou smiled: "As long as we want to know, there's nothing we don't know!" As he spoke, he pulled out a silk handkerchief from his bosom and handed it to Long Fei with both hands: "Left Commander, this is the master's order, I hope you can execute it as soon as possible!"

  Open it and take a look, it's those winding seal characters again. I looked at them for half a day and didn't recognize any of them, so I had to ask Xushu for help: "You read it to me, I don't know these characters!"

  Xu Shou was speechless, and after finishing reading it, he placed the handkerchief on the oil lamp and burned it. Watching the handkerchief turn to ashes, he then said to Long Fei: "Sir, His Majesty has an order, hoping that you can kill a person? This person should arrive in Luoyang soon, at which time Sir can suggest to Dong Zhuo to send someone to assassinate him!"

  "Who to kill?"

  "Sun Jian, the Governor of Changsha and Marquis Wu Cheng!"

  "Who is that?" Long Fei was stunned, why would he be asked to assassinate Sun Jian? Did this Sun Jian have a grudge against someone? If it's because of Dong Zhuo's business, then it should start with the Yuan brothers or Cao Cao, as they were the ones who started the trouble. Long Fei asked: "This Sun Jian is just the governor of Changsha, and he's only under Yuan Shu's command, why kill him? Isn't the alliance of lords led by Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu, and Cao Cao?"

  "Grown-ups don't need to ask many questions, just execute! The lord has his own reasons for giving such orders!" Xu Shu explained: "The gold given by Dong Zhuo is only 30,000 taels, while Sun Jian's price after discounting is 25,000 taels. Killing one Sun Jian would be just enough, but not enough to kill Cao Cao or the Yuan brothers!"

  "Then kill Liu Bei and Han Fu! Isn't it just three thousand two?"

  "Dragon Lord, you are just the Left Vice General of the Fire Department and know little about other things. The Emperor must have his own reasons for arranging this, we don't need to suspect anything, just carry out our duties!" Xu Shu's eyes suddenly became sharp, and a killing aura appeared on his body. It was only then that Long Fei remembered that Xu Shu used to be a wandering swordsman and had some martial arts skills.

  "Alright! Then let's kill Sun Jian!" Long Fei thought that this Xu Shu was truly foolishly loyal, not doubting at all a vague and fanciful idea. However, Xu Shu's wisdom was still to be acknowledged; his own subordinates, such as Zhao Yun and Deng Wei, were also great talents, but they were military generals. In matters like these, intelligence and planning were crucial. Killing someone could be done stealthily, but it couldn't be done rashly. He thought of one person, if that person helped him, the chances of success would increase by more than half; perhaps he himself could turn the tables as well. Thinking of this, Long Fei furrowed his brow: "Killing someone is easy to do, but making this assassination plan flawless is somewhat difficult! Sir, can you find me a person?"

  "Who is it?"

  "Hu Lou Guan Hu Lou General Zhang Ji's adjutant, Jia Xiang!" Long Fei looked at Xu Shu without a reaction and continued: "Although he is an adjutant, his wisdom and strategy are far-reaching. If we have his help, the chances of success will increase greatly!"

  "What about Jia Yu and Jia Wen?" Xu Shu asked about Jia Yu's background.

  Long Fei nodded: "It's him! He shouldn't be Hei Bing too, right?"

  "This is not right!" Xushu said: "This person has some wisdom, but as far as I know, this person is sinister and treacherous. Doesn't the master fear that he will be unfavorable to the master?"

  "Don't worry about this, I have my own way!" Long Fei looked at Xu Shu: "Think of a way to get Jia Yu under my control, it will be of great help in killing Sun Jian! The master sent you to help me, he gave me the first task, so I'll give you the first task! Let me see what Black Ice is capable of!"

  Two men stayed in the house all day, from morning till now, without coming out or eating or drinking. Until the sun was setting, Long Fei finally opened the door and swept a glance at the crowd still sitting outside, pointing to Xu Shu beside him: "Everyone, this is Mr. Xu Shu, from now on he will be our brother. Mr. Xu has a mind with a million soldiers, planning and strategizing in his tent, winning victories thousands of miles away. From today on, Mr. Xu will be our military advisor, remember?"

  Everyone looked at Xu Shu without speaking, only Wang Wei smiled slightly. Long Fei beckoned to Wang Wei: "First take Mr. Xu to take a bath and change his clothes, then everyone will come back, I have something to say."