Chapter 39: Downfall Searching for Pei Yan

  "Little Lord!"

  "Magistrate Chen!"

  Chang Ying had already pulled out the arrows from his body. For a brave warrior like him who had been fighting on the border for years, being shot by arrows was nothing unusual. He was physically strong and used his shirt to stop the bleeding.

  These martial artists are quite rough and tumble, Ma Lie was able to escape at that time just like anyone else.

  "Little Lord!" Chang Ying's large hands didn't stop squeezing the abdomens of the three people.

  "Cough, cough, cough..." The first one to wake up was Chen Yunsheng, who coughed out a few mouthfuls of water.

  The dizziness came one after another, he didn't look as strong as usual, although he woke up but still lay weak on the ground.

  Chang Ying was overjoyed at the sight and hastily continued to press down on Xiao Qi's and Tang Guan's abdomens.

  "Cough..." The two of them almost simultaneously let out a cough and slowly came to.

  Tang Guan was extremely disheveled at this time. Originally, he still had old wounds on his body, and now that he had caught a chill, his complexion turned deathly pale.

  On the other side, Ma Lie saw the three people turn around and also walked over, Chang Ying stared at him nervously.

  "Are you awake?"

  The eagle remained silent, subconsciously shielding the three people behind him, his leg muscles tensing quietly.

  "Hey, Chang Ying you're still the same as ever, no improvement at all"

  Chang Ying was taken aback by his words and stared at Ma Lie's face, saying: "You've become uglier"

  "Ugly? Haha!" Ma Lie laughed, and the two of them, one a bandit and the other an official, chatted like old friends who hadn't seen each other in years.

  Tang Guanmu vaguely listened to the conversation between the two, his eyes lifelessly gazing at Ma Lie.

  "What... how is it you?" Tang Guan was suddenly shocked, thinking he was seeing things, but Ma Lie's ferocious yet familiar face appeared in front of him again, and Tang Guan couldn't help but lose his composure.

  "Do you know each other?" Chang Ying's eyelid twitched as he asked.

  Ma Lie looked at Tang Guan, who was half dead and half alive, shook his head and said: "This kid is a bit strange"

  Chang Ying was even more surprised when he heard this and thought of Tang Guan who had been imprisoned before, so he immediately asked: "Aren't you in prison?"

  "Prison? Haha, Chang Ying, you're really getting more and more muddled with age. People like us either die directly or... hehe."

  Ma Lie's voice suddenly stopped, and he looked at Chang Ying with a mocking expression.

  Chang Ying furrowed his brow, for in his youth he had competed with this fierce bandit in the martial arts, and at that time he was also a famous strongman in Chang'an, who had learned the authentic Eagle Claw technique. In his younger years, he was proud and arrogant, and couldn't help but be reckless.

  It wasn't until he met Ma Lie that he knew what true martial arts were. This man's scariness was something he had only seen once in his life, and could only be glimpsed in the stories of old.

  Xiao Qi recovered his breathing, but he was worse than Tang Guan. He only heard intermittent sounds and fainted again.

  Tang Guan's eyes gradually lost their focus, he had suffered more severe torture in prison before, but this was his first time being waterboarded, and it was a miracle that anyone could survive.

  "Finally... finally..." Chen Yunsheng slowly regained consciousness and spoke up.

  Yu Shi, Shu Xia Zai" Chang Ying immediately stepped forward and helped Chen Yunsheng up.

  Chen Yunsheng took a clear look at Ma Lie's appearance and was slightly startled. "This... who is this strong man?"

  Chang Ying didn't answer him, staring fixedly at Ma Lie.

  "Old official, you've done a decent job as the county magistrate. Take this." Ma Lie said as he pulled out a document from his bosom and tossed it in front of Chen Yunsheng.

  Having said that, he turned around and was about to leave, "When that kid wakes up, tell him the one who saved him is called Ma Lie!"

  "Ma! Ma Lie!" Chen Yunsheng's eyes widened instantly, staring at Ma Lie's back, but Ma Lie walked into the dense forest without looking back.

  Chen Yunsheng slowly calmed down after a long time, and Chang Ying saw Ma Lie walking far away, but still didn't dare to withdraw his gaze.

  "Could it be him, the usual attendant?"

  "Unknown" Chang Ying shook his head, he was also confused, and suddenly a Ma Lie appeared halfway, which was really unexpected.

  "Yu Shi, wait a minute, I'll go take a look." Chang Ying gently put down Chen Yunsheng and walked towards the dense forest.

  A pungent smell of blood suddenly wafted into the forest, and even a seasoned veteran like Xiao Ying was slightly startled, taking a step back to investigate.

  The ground was littered with corpse after corpse of masked people, some of whom were even dismembered.

  "Hiss..." Chang Ying took a deep breath of cool air. If all these were killed by Ma Lie alone, it was truly unbelievable.

  At a glance, there were at least 180 corpses in sight. Chang Ying picked up a strong bow from the ground again.

  "It's indeed the lacquer of the Zhechong Prefecture!" Chang Ying gazed at the strong bow and muttered to himself, "Indeed, the Zhechong Prefecture is a prefecture with an army. There are six prefectures on the Jiangnan Road, but I don't know which one this belongs to. The distinguishing mark on top has been scraped off."

  Changying put down the strong bow in his hand, shocked in his heart, and unexpectedly there were courtiers who ambushed halfway, the most confusing thing was that he was finally rescued by the fierce bandit Ma Lie.

  As he stepped out of the dense forest, he found Chen Yunsheng trembling all over, holding the document that Ma Lie had thrown away, recognizing it word by word in the moonlight on the lake.

  "Liu...Liu...you...you..." Chen Yunsheng's face turned red with rage at this moment, and he stuttered incoherently.

  Chang Ying hastily stepped forward and asked: "Your Honor, what's wrong?"

  "Liu Xun has rebelled!"

  "Ah!" Chang Ying was shocked by his words and hastily took over the Chinese book from Chen Yunsheng's hand.

  It turned out that this was the oath written by Liu Xun for Ma Lie, which clearly stated how to hire Ma Lie and what rewards would be given. What made Chang Ying extremely angry and laughable was that there was a sentence on it that read: "Return to the world in peace, and get rid of the chicken head!"

  "What a bold Liu Cishi!" Chang Ying saw this and couldn't help but gasp, this sentence was extremely superficial, yet it was actually quoting the classics, saying that Tang Guan was Tian Hou's little concubine.

  "The imperial historian, the boat has sunk, this place is no longer safe to stay." Chang Ying carefully put away the letter and gently placed it in Chen Yunsheng's bosom.

  "Where are we now?" Chen Yunsheng also caught his breath and asked.

  "Let's take a look around," said Chang Ying, "Jiangdu is not far from here."

  "Is King Li Xù of Jiangdu in charge?"

  "It is"

  At this point, Chen Yunsheng looked at Tang Guan and Xiao Qi who were both unconscious.

  "Constantly attending guard, you are a military man, can you tell me where Commander Pei is currently camping?"

  "Lord Pei?" Chang Ying was taken aback by his words and didn't know what Chen Yunsheng wanted to do.

  "This is a military matter of great importance, and as a low-ranking person, I dare not speak lightly, nor do I know where the old general has set up camp."

  Even if Tang Guan, who knew the history of later generations, was now sober, he would not know where Pei Yan was at present. After that military meeting, Pei Yan, this "non-existent" person in the Tang Dynasty, had his fate altered and actually came to Yangzhou to suppress Xu Jingye.

  According to historical records, he should have been imprisoned long ago. Later generations' evaluations of him are also mixed, with some saying that his political ideas were naive and wavering, while others say that he was an honest official who cared about the people and was a rare loyal minister.

  Later generations of corrupt officials are like those who crossed the river, in Tang Guan's view, Pei Yan was able to become prime minister and dominate the court for over a decade. After his death, his family was confiscated, but nothing was gained. Such people would absolutely not be naive, this is also a suspicious history.

  However, it was a coincidence that his appearance saved Pei Yan from prison disaster, while Tang Guan himself was imprisoned and suffered torture.

  Chen Yunsheng heard this and furrowed his brow.

  "King Jiangdu is also unreliable! I didn't expect this summons to end up like this!" Chen Yusheng sighed heavily in his heart, these Li family princes were all restless after Xu Jingye's rebellion.

  He was actually intimidated by Liu Xun's audacity, and if Li Xu also came up with a "what if", with his dignity as the prince, he feared that they would not be as lucky as they were now.

  "Help me up, Yangzhou Prefecture will definitely know." Chen Yunsheng struggled to get up, his eyes more determined than ever before.

  He hasn't experienced many storms, but he promised his old friend to safely send the two children to Chang'an, and now he can't afford to care about the imperial edict's deadline. He insisted on finding the safest route.

  Pei Yan's regard for Tang Guan is something he is aware of and he absolutely will not harm Tang Guan.

  Changying heard this and couldn't help but say: "Why don't we go ask King Jiangdu for help and borrow a ship, wouldn't that be better?"

  Chen Yunsheng heard this and looked at Chang Ying, sighing in his heart: "A martial artist is after all a martial artist; court affairs are not so simple."

  But he didn't say much and immediately got up with Changying's support.

  Chen Yunsheng exercised his body a bit, felt around, untied the wet package from his bosom, looked at the things inside, and let out a big sigh of relief.

  "It's okay, nothing's wrong"

  Chang Ying saw this and went over there to carry Tang Guan and Xiao Qi. Although he was strong, he was injured at the moment and couldn't hold on.

  Chen Yunsheng took the Tang crown from Chang Ying's arms, and sighed lightly: "Chang Shih-wei, let's go to Yangzhou first. Fortunately, there is still some gold and silver given by my close friends on my body, which can be used to treat your injuries on the way."

  The eagles don't understand their intentions. There are great helpers nearby, but they don't ask for them and instead want to go to those far away places. These literati sometimes do things that seem incomprehensible to others.

  "Let's go" Chen Yunsheng tightened his grip on Tang Guan in his arms, Chang Ying carried Xiao Qi on his back, and they walked out of the dense forest together.