The ace special forces who dominated the Sui Dynasty's late period

  "What do you want to do!" Xu Tingfu took a step forward, staring fiercely at Liu Ziqiu. His 1.6-meter-tall stature just reached Liu Ziqiu's shoulder, but his tone was extremely arrogant.

  Li Jing whispered: "Younger brother..."

  "You two cowards, get away from me!" Liu Ziqiu gave Li Jing a signal with his eyes and strode towards Xu Tingfu, clenching his fists tightly, his joints cracking loudly as he shouted, "Let her go!"

  The guests in the restaurant admired Wang Guizhi's beauty, including nobles and brave warriors, but they all feared Xu Tingfu's identity and did not dare to make a move.

  Liu Ziqiu, although he hated evil like an enemy, was not a reckless and impulsive person. When entering the city, he carefully observed the terrain and found that the city wall of Luoyang's suburbs was built in a very strange way, not only low and short, but also intermittent. It is unknown whether it was due to the hasty construction of the eastern capital at the beginning, or lack of funds, or Yang Guang simply did not care about the safety of officials and civilians living in the suburbs.

  No matter what, such a city wall is nothing to Liu Ziqiu. Now that the sky has darkened, there are only about ten followers around Xu Tingfu, and most of them are unarmed inner guards. Liu Ziqiu is confident that he can knock them all down within seven moves and then retreat with Wang Guizhi unharmed.

  The only thing that worried Liu Ziqiu was that doing so might implicate Li Jing and Han Shizhi, so he first spoke out in anger to rebuke the Li brothers, thus drawing a clear boundary.

  "You, don't be reckless!" For the past two years, Xu Tingfu had been swindling people under Yang Guang's name and had accumulated a considerable amount of wealth. There was no need for him to take risks and clash head-on with Liu Ziqiu, a "desperate fugitive".

  He turned his eyes and suddenly said to the attendant behind him, "Bring it over quickly!"

  The attendants were still bewildered, but Xu Tingfu had already snatched the package from his arms and thrown it in front of Wang Xiaoting, saying: "Look, this is the reward given by the Emperor, you won't be treated unfairly!"

  Wang Xiaoting opened it and saw that it was all silver, with a total of over 500 taels. He immediately smiled and said, "My daughter, you can rest assured and go now."

  Under the sky, nothing is not the king's land, and all the people on the land are not the king's subjects. This was Yang Guang's creed, everything in the world belonged to him, and he never knew how to take care of his people. He built the Grand Canal, constructed the Eastern Capital, and mobilized millions of laborers. Now, selecting beautiful women, let alone those who were already married, if he fancied them, they had to enter the palace obediently, without even a single coin as compensation, where did the five hundred taels come from? The silver in this package was actually extorted by Xu Tingfu from a neighboring family.

  Since ancient times, the palace has been full of resentful women. Who would be willing to send their own daughter into the palace, only to be separated from her flesh and blood? Yang Guang's selection of concubines became a great opportunity for people like Xu Tingfang to get rich.

  Liu Ziqiu could only watch helplessly as Wang Guizhi was escorted out by two eunuchs. Her father had already agreed, and he couldn't possibly kidnap a civilian girl.

  Xu Tingfu shot Liu Ziqiu a venomous glance and then gave Wang Xiaoting a cold laugh before striding away.

  Han Shiye bowed his hands and said to Liu Ziqiu, "Brother, well done! He should have been beaten up earlier, only then can I vent the hatred in my heart!"

  Liu Ziqiu shook his head, but walked to the smiling Wang Xiaoting and said: "Uncle, hurry up and pack your bags, go far away. The disaster is not far!"

  Wang Xiaoting couldn't bear to part with this shop, and looked at Liu Ziqiu with disdain, saying: "Hmph, as long as Guizhi makes a name for herself, I'll be a member of the royal family in the future, who will dare to mess with me!"

  "Brother, let's not talk about it anymore, let's go. It's not suitable for us to stay here for long."

  The poor must have a hateful place, Liu Ziqiu looked at Wang Xiaoting with pity and walked out the door before Li Jing, deliberately keeping distance from them. However, he heard the yellow-faced youth at the next table asking someone: "Uncle, what is the emperor's selection of showgirls all about?"

  "Another lovesick youngster." Li Jing sighed and followed Liu Ziqiu, saying: "Younger brother, come home with me."

  Liu Ziqiu had not yet found a place to settle down, so he also didn't pretend, and in a soft voice that only Li Jing could hear, said: "Big brother goes first, I can keep up."

  Li Jing was a clever man and naturally understood Liu Ziqiu's meaning, so he said loudly: "Since our paths are different, let's go our separate ways, brother! Take care of yourself!"

  Han Shiyan was unclear and hastily said: "Brother, you..."

  "Less nonsense, let's go!"

  Liu Ziqiu and his men had just left when a cavalry unit rushed over, with the leader riding a yellow horse, holding a long spear, shouting loudly: "Surround them!"

  A frail middle-aged scholar happened to come out drunk, but recognized the person and hurriedly asked: "General Qin, where are you going?"

  The general with the surname Qin saw this person, hastily jumped off his horse, cupped his hands and said: "It's actually Lord Yu. Qin has been ordered by the great general to come and capture the rebel!"

  Yu Daren shook his head and said: "The general has arrived too late, the thief is long gone!"

  The general with the surname Qin let out a sound of "oh" and continued to enter in a drunken state. The store was sparse, and indeed only a few people were left, and the lively scene of the past had disappeared. It turned out that these guests had all come for Wang Guizhi. Since Wang Guizhi had already entered the palace, what were they still doing here? They had long since dispersed in a hurry, and even the yellow-faced young man was nowhere to be seen. The few who hadn't left were waiting to settle the bill.

  Wang Xiaoting, who was calculating accounts, suddenly saw a large team of soldiers rushing in and hastily went forward to ask: "General, what's going on..."

  The general with the surname Qin didn't bother with him and waved his hand: "Search me!"

  The troops shouted in unison and rushed into the wine shop, rushing to every corner. Before long, someone flipped out a package from under the counter, which was heavy with silver coins, and excitedly shouted: "Qin Xiao Wei, the stolen goods are all here!"

  Wang Xiaoting's eyes widened in alarm, and he rushed over to grab the bundle, shouting loudly: "General, this isn't loot, this is...this is...my daughter's dowry!"

  "There was a soldier who laughed and said: 'Your daughter must be made of gold to be worth so much money.'"

  There were also soldiers who knew the inside story of this wine shop, and they said: "His daughter is a famous beauty in the Eastern Capital, isn't she made of gold? If sold well, it wouldn't be just this price."

  The troops burst out laughing.

  Wang Xiaoting's face turned bright red, and it was unclear whether she was anxious or embarrassed.

  At this time, Mr. Yu from outside came back and said with a bow: "General Qin, what he said is indeed true."

  Wang Xiaoting recognized that the person was Yu Shinan, the Secretary of the Imperial Secretariat, and hastily said: "Secretary Yu, please put in a good word for me, I'm not lying."

  The general with the surname Qin furrowed his brow, gesturing to the soldiers to loosen their grip on the bundle, but then asked, "Does that bandit have any accomplices?"

  Wang Xiaoting was about to mention Li Jing, but then thought of Han Shiyue and quickly closed his mouth, shaking his head. He was also a well-known young master from a noble family in the Eastern Capital, not someone he could afford to offend.

  "Very well. Qin certain bid farewell!" The general bowed to Yu Shunan, and then said to Wang Xiaoting, "You take care of yourself!"

  Looking at the team of soldiers coming and going in a hurry, Wang Xiaoting was stunned, and it took him a while to come back to his senses. He asked Yu Shinan: "Who are these people?"

  "He is Qin Shubao, the heroic General of the Right Valiant Guard under the command of Commander-in-Chief Li Jing, also a hero!" Yu Shunan glanced at Wang Xiaoting and suddenly sighed, "I'm leaving too, take care. The Emperor will be back in a month."

  Yu Shinan's last sentence made Wang Xiaoting think for half a day without understanding what it meant. He raised his head and saw that there were still several customers in the store, so he immediately stopped caring about him and said repeatedly: "Come on, come on, settle the bill, settle the bill."

  Across from the wine shop, two streets away, there was an inn called "Welcome Guests". It was run by a couple, with the husband's name being Shi Shun and the wife's surname being Wang. The couple didn't have a child until middle age, a daughter named Hui Niang, who was born quite delicate and lovely, like a precious pearl in one's palm. The inn's business was slow, barely enough to make ends meet. Today, there was only one guest at the inn, a young man from the south, who was the same yellow-faced youth that Liu Ziqing had met at Yijiulou.

  That yellow-faced young man came out drunk and rushed to this inn. Before he even knocked on the door, he heard a faint cry coming from inside.

  After a good while, the inn door finally opened, and Wang's wife came out with red eyes, choking: "Guest officer, you're back."

  The young man asked in surprise: "Auntie, what's wrong?"

  He didn't ask, it was fine. As soon as he asked, Wang's family let out a "wow" and burst into tears. Shi Shun heard the sound and ran out of the house, also with a sorrowful face.

  It turned out that earlier, an imperial eunuch had come to the door and informed Huiniang that she was to go to the palace for selection tomorrow. Wang Guizhi was famous for her beauty, and Xu Tingfu had taken the initiative to seek her out and took her away directly. But Huiniang was different, she was because her household registration showed that she was in her prime flower season, so she was informed that she would participate in the selection with others tomorrow.

  With Hui Niang's appearance, passing the initial selection was not a problem, but in the harem with beauties as numerous as clouds, wanting to stand out would be as difficult as ascending to heaven. Her best outcome would be serving as a miscellaneous servant in the palace until she grew old and died alone. The three of them wept bitterly because of this.

  The young man with a yellow face suddenly had an idea and said: "Uncle, auntie, don't worry, I'll go instead of Hui Niang tomorrow!"

  "Little brother, don't joke around."

  The boy with a yellow face didn't say anything, pushed the door and entered the room. In an instant, he came out again. Still wearing the same clothes, but his face had turned as white as snow, his eyebrows relaxed, his eyes sparkling with water, clearly a stunning beauty!

  It turned out that the yellow-faced young man was actually Gao Xiuer in disguise. She arrived in Luoyang a day earlier than Liu Ziqiu and went to Yizilai because there were many people there, making it easier to gather information. Coincidentally, she had the same idea as Liu Ziqiu.

  "Wang was shocked and said: 'This is......'"

  Gao Xiuer smiled and said, "I am a maiden, traveling alone outside, it's not convenient on the road, so I disguised myself as a man. Uncle, Auntie, Hui Niang sister, can I enter the palace like this?"

  "In, in. A girl like that would make a fine daughter-in-law! It's not out of the question at all!" Shi Shun was overjoyed to have found this lifesaver and repeatedly nodded his head, calling out to his daughter, "Hui Niang, come quickly to thank our benefactor!"