Chapter Thirty-Four: Ambushed by Bandits

  "Sir, in my opinion, there is still room for maneuver. We are envoys of the Song Dynasty, and these bandits appear to be Han people as well. If we reveal our identities, they may not dare to harm us!" Zhou Ping said in a low voice.

  "This——" Han Xiaoqu still did not agree. Zhou Ping stepped forward, seeing his concerns clearly, and whispered: "This matter can be handled by a small person like me, Master, you can wait here, if I don't come back, you can escape on horseback!"

  "It can only be so!" Han Xiaoqu nodded, and then he stretched out his hand to grab Zhou Ping's arm, saying in a deep voice: "If I can escape this time, I will treat you and Liang Yu as my own sons and nephews. If I break my promise, after I die, I, Han Xiaoqu, will not be allowed to enter the Han family ancestral temple!"

  "Thank you, sir!" Zhou Ping hastily bowed his hands in gratitude: "It's just that I'm an ignorant little man who doesn't know the rules of etiquette, and I'm afraid those people won't believe me. I hope to borrow your official robe for a moment, and let Wen Cheng follow me on another trip!"

  Now Han Xiaoqi would agree to any condition as long as he didn't have to take risks himself. He nodded and said, "That's great!"

  After a few minutes, Zhou Ping and Wen Cheng each rode a horse towards the small hill where the thieves were. When they were still ten or so steps away from the hill, Zhou Ping jumped off his horse and bowed to the approaching thieves, saying: "Please inform your leader that an envoy of the Great Song is here!"

  Under the lead of the thieves, Zhou Ping led Wen Cheng's horse up the mountain slope. He carefully observed the thieves around him, a group of people with only a few wearing intact clothes, while most were wrapped in various pieces of cloth, leather or other easily obtainable materials. Their skin was purple under the cold wind. These poor people were scrambling to pull off clothes and shoes from the dead bodies of the Liao army, seemingly not minding that they were still warm. Some were killing injured war horses and cutting their corpses into blocks for food. The air was filled with the smell of blood and other stimulating aromas. As Zhou Ping led Wen Cheng's horse through them, many stopped what they were doing, looking up in surprise at Wen Cheng wearing a black hat, deep blue official robes and a jade belt, as if seeing a god. Zhou Ping tried to keep his composure, when an old man with white hair suddenly fell to the ground, crying loudly while kowtowing to Wen Cheng on horseback, shouting: "I never thought I'd see the dignity of a Han official again today, I can die without regret!"

  "Old fellow, please get up!" Wen Cheng turned over and dismounted his horse, helping the old man to his feet with both hands. His eyes swept across the surrounding thieves, who instinctively lowered their heads and knelt down.

  "It seems that I have made the right bet! I haven't misjudged this person!" Zhou Ping let out a sigh of relief as he glanced at Wen Cheng on horseback, thinking to himself that this old official's appearance was quite impressive. With his three short mustaches and fair skin, his face looked refined and dignified. Wearing that official robe, if Zhou hadn't known beforehand, he would have really thought that the other person was indeed the one in charge of the imperial seal, the Zhongshu Province's chief officer responsible for managing the emperor's daily life.

  "Where is the angel of Song?" Along with the thick voice, a tall and sturdy black man walked quickly from the crowd, his clothes still stained with blood that had not yet dried, it was unknown whether it was his own or that of the Liao soldiers he had killed. Seeing that he was still seven or eight steps away from Zhou Ping and Wen Cheng, he cupped his hands and bowed: "I am Zhang Guan Yu, I pay my respects to the two angels!" He didn't know how to distinguish between Zhou Ping and Wen Cheng's attire, so he simply treated them both as envoys.

  "Zhang Guan Yu, what a big tone you have! The emotions of Zhang and Guan, the two sworn enemies of ten thousand people, are all added together." Zhou Ping heard this and couldn't help but think to himself. However, he also knew that bandit leaders like this one usually used nicknames instead of their real names to avoid implicating their families. As the saying goes, "There's no mistake in having a wrong name, but there's no mistake in having a wrong nickname." Since this person dared to use this name, they must be exceptionally brave. Just now, he saw him intentionally feign weakness, luring the Liao army cavalry into attacking, and then using a clever plan to almost wipe out fifty of their riders. He wasn't just a reckless hero. Zhou Ping thought it was best not to underestimate him and reveal any weaknesses. Thinking this, Zhou Ping stepped aside and bowed his hands, saying: "Chief Zhang, this is the great envoy of the Song Dynasty, Lord Han. I'm just a humble guard for the delegation."

  Wen Cheng bowed to Zhang Guan Yu and said: "This official has received the emperor's edict, sent as an envoy to Liao State. Brave warrior, can you make way for this official to complete the emperor's mission?"

  Guan Yu obviously didn't adapt to this kind of elegant dialogue, he wiped his sweaty right hand on his buttocks and laughed: "That's natural, that's natural, we are all Han people, how could we offend the heavenly messenger? Get out of the way for the heavenly messenger!"

  The thieves hurriedly made way, and Wen and Zhou were about to leave when Guan Yu suddenly stepped forward, knelt down in front of Wen Cheng, and kowtowed repeatedly: "We are all Han people, the Liao people are lawless. In Liaodong, they fought against the Jin people, one defeat after another, and then in Youyan, they recklessly recruited soldiers, grain, and strong men. We had no way out, so we rebelled to survive. Sir is a heavenly person, with wisdom and strategy far surpassing ours. Please point out a way for us to live!"

  Wen Cheng saw the situation, hesitated and did not speak. After all, he had not anticipated this situation at all before departure. If it was just a few words of praise, it didn't matter, but what followed was not something that an old official from the Ministry of Rites could interfere with. Hundreds of eyes suddenly focused on Wen Cheng, and the atmosphere became tense.

  "Cough, cough! I'd like to say something, please allow me, sir!" Zhou Ping cleared his throat twice and gave a slight bow to Wen Cheng, who nodded slightly, having been at a loss for words. Zhou Ping turned around and first helped Zhang Guan Yu up from his knees, smiling: "General Zhang, please rise. Lord Han is an official of the Great Song Dynasty's court, and Liao and Song are like brothers." As he spoke, Zhou Ping's voice became lower: "If this were to happen in public, it would be quite embarrassing for my lord!"

  That Guan Yu seemed rough and unrefined, but in reality was a rather meticulous person; otherwise he wouldn't have been able to stand out among the numerous rebellions that rose and fell at that time. He immediately picked up on the underlying meaning of Zhou Ping's words, and hastily laughed: "This humble one is quite foolish, please instruct me, sir! I will certainly repay you heavily in the future!"

  "What nonsense is the chief talking about!" Zhou Ping smiled: "The imperial edict received by Lord Han was to go on a diplomatic mission to Liao State, and he had no authority to appease your noble tribe. However, if the chief has long admired the culture of our heavenly dynasty and wants to submit a memorial to the emperor, I can help deliver it."

  Zhang Guan Yu was suddenly enlightened, and he hastily expressed his gratitude. Zhou Ping immediately took out paper and pen from the carriage and helped him write a letter to surrender to the Song Dynasty. Zhang Guan Yu then drew his knife and cut his right index finger, pressing a bloody fingerprint at the end of the letter. Zhou Ping put away the letter, and Zhang Guan Yu led several subordinates to personally escort Zhou and Wen back to their carriage team, thanking them profusely as they departed.

  "Lord, I have just acted arbitrarily and exchanged with the bandits. Please punish me!" After Zhou Ping finished telling the story on the horse carriage, he handed over the document that Guan Yu had passed to him with both hands and immediately bowed down to Han Xiao.

  "Get up!" Han Xiaoqu took the document and put it aside, laughing: "What crime is there? If you hadn't been with him just now, we would all be in great danger. This document only you and I know about. When we return to Song Dynasty, we'll burn it with one fire. Can that Guan Yu still go to the Eastern Capital to cause trouble for you?"

  "Mr. Han is indeed a man of great vision and wisdom, beyond the reach of ordinary people like us!" Zhou Ping hurriedly flattered him with a few words. He had thought that Han Xiao would keep the document in his hands as a stepping stone for advancement, after all, now that Song Lianjin was attacking Liao, he had already occupied a considerable advantage in the upper echelons of the Northern Song Dynasty. Having a contact channel for a righteous army within the Liao territory would be a very good stepping stone for advancement. But unexpectedly, Han Xiao wanted to burn it away, which was completely beyond Zhou Ping's expectations. He was just thinking of finding an excuse to persuade him when Wen Cheng spoke up in a low voice: "Han Zuo Shi, in my humble opinion, it would be better to keep this document safe. If we were to send troops to conquer Liao, this Guan Yu would be an invaluable dark chess piece!"

  "Blind Chess?" Han Xiao asked.

  "Not bad, can you remember Dong Pang'er?"

  "Dong Pang'er?" Han Xiao's face showed a thoughtful expression, and after a moment, he suddenly laughed: "Could it be that the hero of Yan who subdued the rebels? I've heard that this person is invincible in battle, wise and powerful, and even the Liao army can't control him. Could it be that Zhang Fei has some connection with Dong Pang'er?"

  Wen Cheng smiled slightly: "In the past few years, I have been traveling between Liao and Song, and I heard that among the bandits in Yan, Dong Pang'er is wise, Zhang Guanyu is brave, and the others are not worth mentioning. Today, sir, you effortlessly obtained the memorial to be presented to the court, how could you not keep it safe?"

  "Good, good, Lord Wen has spoken well!" Han Xiaoju heard this and laughed: "If this matter is successful, I will definitely report your two merits to the Emperor and heavily reward you." At this point, he couldn't help but burst out laughing.

  The two finished speaking and got off the carriage. Zhou Ping was about to mount his horse when he heard a sigh behind him. He turned around to see Wen Cheng's eyes staring at him intently, making him feel somewhat uneasy. He smiled and asked, "Lord Wen, is there something on your mind?"

  "Director Zhou!" Wen Chengyu called out to Zhou Ping's official title: "I'm fifty-three this year, and I've been in the government for over thirty years. I know many people, but I can say with a true heart that it's my first time seeing someone like you."

  "Wen Gong, you're overpraising me, I don't know where to put my face!" Zhou Ping hurriedly said humbly, but was immediately interrupted by Wen Cheng: "Don't think that I'm just flattering you, you're clever and resourceful, with intelligence surpassing others. Unfortunately, you haven't read books, if it were a peaceful time, you'd be nothing more than a rich merchant. But now..." Wen Cheng sighed and said: "It's not just a matter of good fortune or bad luck!" He let out a deep sigh, without waiting for Zhou Ping to explain himself, and walked unsteadily towards his own horse carriage. Zhou Ping looked at his desolate back, and couldn't help but also let out a sigh, muttering to himself: "Don't mention you, I don't know whether it's good fortune or bad luck either!"