Li Zhang

In the 18th year of Emperor Jing's Anping period, when the autumn harvest was approaching, the Yellow River Basin suffered continuous torrential rains. Not only did the autumn grain fail to harvest, but the torrential rain caused the river to surge and burst its dikes. Tens of thousands of houses and grain fields were destroyed and displaced.The imperial court urgently allocated relief food and resettled the victims, under the supervision of the great prince Sima Liao, and supervised by the censors of the counties.In the spring of the following year, refugees from the three counties fled to Yingchuan County one after another. The villages they passed were all looted, and they gradually gathered into an army and began to attack the cities in the counties and counties. The leader was captured, and on the execution ground, he cursed at the court for disregarding the disaster situation and not caring about the people's livelihood, so he was killed at the neck.

In the next three years, natural disasters continued in the three counties, and people's livelihood was very difficult.The imperial court was worried about the resurgence of riots, and disaster relief has not stopped.In the 21st year of Anping, the Second Prince Sima Yao went to Hanoi County to investigate water conservancy on behalf of Tian Xunshou. After returning to Beijing, rumors began to spread in the city that the prince embezzled disaster relief funds.Emperor Jing was furious, and after inquiring Sima Liao privately to no avail, he sent Sima Yi in the early 22nd year of Anping to replace Tianxunhun in the name of Chaku.Sima Yi, the romantic prince, walks slowly with the appearance of an imperial envoy, and what he does is still singing and dancing, but in the end, the status quo of false inventory reporting, messy accounts, and a large amount of disaster relief funds not in place are exposed, and he is on the way when leaving Huai County After being chased and killed by several top killers, almost all the guards he brought were lost, and he was also poisoned, so he fled back to the capital in embarrassment.

After Sima Yi returned to Beijing, Sima Liao went to visit with a guilty conscience, but he couldn't find out what he had found out and to what extent.Sima Liao began to feel a real sense of crisis.

Sima Liao's foundation is superficial, and he is quite arrogant. Most of the people who support him are old and corrupt officials, who blindly flatter him on the grounds that he has no heir to establish a leader, but there is no real useful talent.Supervising disaster relief matters was Sima Liao's first assignment with real power, which made him a little more ambitious.In fact, he just wanted to win over some people, and wanted to add a few more real colors to his grand plan, but someone took advantage of his loopholes.He solicited everywhere and spent a lot of money, so he had to embezzle the disaster relief funds.

In a panic, Sima Liao killed all the middle- and lower-level officials involved in the incident in the three counties on the charge of embezzlement and breaking the law. The looming disaster.

Unexpectedly, the resolute action made Emperor Jing even more furious. Not only did he refuse to see him again, but he also ordered Sima Yi, who had recovered from his injury not long ago, to go to investigate in person.Just when Sima Liao was in despair, the Marquis of Jing'an sent five black-clothed dead men out of concern.Sima Liao, who had no way out, was determined to die.So Sima Yi, who only brought ten guards and walked lightly, was stopped firmly at Qifengkou near Gong County.

Li Zhang faced the real murderous intent for the first time, and couldn't control his heart.Although Sima Yi, who was protected in the middle, was mentally prepared, the situation in front of him still made him feel chills.He peeked at Li Zhang, seeing that he was more nervous than himself, and couldn't help deeply regretting that he had believed Mu Yan's promise, but the smile on his face remained undiminished.

He swished open the folding fan in his hand, and asked leisurely, "Is the eldest brother so impatient?"

No one answered.

The masked man in black approached step by step with killing intent all over his body. There were still countless arrows in the surrounding forest, glowing coldly in the gloomy sky.

At the beginning of the accident, the accompanying guards had already set out to surround Sima Yi and Li Zhang in the center. As the man in black approached step by step, they only focused more on it.

After a brief confrontation, the man in black attacked with all his might.Li Zhang, who was still slightly trembling with nervousness just now, turned around halfway against Sima Yi, tapped the tip of the sword in his hand, and swirled, split and closed.The nine guards surrounding Sima Yi immediately formed groups of three and three, inserting each other's horns between the five people, attacking and defending each other echoing each other, always surrounding Sima Yi in the middle without leaving any gaps.

The men in black are not chaotic, and their tacit and skillful cooperation is still aggressive under the pressure of the formation. The ever-increasing internal pressure makes the guards with lesser skills unable to keep up with the operation of the formation. Constraints and dangers are everywhere, and people are gradually injured, making it even more stretched.Seeing this, Li Zhang stepped quickly to the edge of the formation, holding the long sword obliquely in his hand, and sending the weakest breath into his sword, fighting hard to catch it.Hearing a bang, Li Zhang's body swayed violently, and the aura around him was suddenly like a deflated skin, breaking through the tighter and tighter stalemate.The guards suddenly felt that the mountain of pressure was withdrawn, and the offensive in their hands surged instantly along with the momentum, injuring the two men in black in one fell swoop.

The eyes of the remaining three men in black flickered, and at the same time they attacked Li Zhang who was pale and stood still.Li Zhang backed up, and when he raised his sword to block, he quickly flattened and pressed his left hand, and when he raised his hand again, he had already pinched the sword formula, while the guards changed their formation at the same time, four forwards and five rears, together with Li Zhang trapped the man in black up the center.The man in black knows that the situation is not good, and his subordinates don't spare any effort. Ruhong's offensive goes straight to Li Zhang, and they are likely to die together.Li Zhang struggled to dodge, but firmly stepped on the position of the eye of the formation. Although he used the formation circle to take away most of the attack power from several unavoidable weapon intersections, it still shocked his heart with pain, and a mouthful of blood was about to flow out. not out.

After a while, the two sides in the formation had advanced and retreated several times. The man in black failed to kill Li Zhang in one fell swoop, and the deliberate abandonment of defense made them both injured.When Li Zhang's pressure decreased slightly, the formation contracted. The man in black resisted stubbornly, and even the other two men in black who were seriously injured rushed into the formation, disrupting the five-man formation on the periphery for a while.The three people in the inner circle pressed their palms against each other, and their palms overlapped and hit Li Zhang directly.Li Zhang was standing in front of Sima Yi at this time, if he shifted his position with force, it would definitely hurt Sima Yi behind him, so he had no choice but to face him with his sword.

The turbulent pressure hit like a huge wave, Li Zhang's mother's tears flashed in his heart, he sighed, and closed his eyes.Unexpectedly, a surge of internal force suddenly surged into the vest, and it resisted the pressure in front of him along the long sword in his hand.The long sword trembled unbearably under the two pressures, and then broke.Li Zhang kept leaning forward, and the leading man in black moved his left hand, and instantly handed out the dagger.Li Zhang watched the sharp blade stab at his heart, but he couldn't avoid it at all. The hand behind him suddenly pulled hard, but because it was too close, Li Zhang was only pulled a few points away, and the short knife pierced Li Zhang. Chapter right chest.At the same time, the guards next to the men in black had advanced their swords, piercing through their bodies.

Before Li Zhang fell down, Zhang Yu stretched out his arms to hug him, he tried his best to raise his head, and saw that the guards of the palace had been replaced all around him, so he fell limply in Zhang Yu's arms.

Li Zhang woke up in the swaying car. He wanted to get up but his whole body was weak, and his chest hurt like it was splitting open, so he didn't dare to move any more.He raised his hand to knock on the car wall, and sure enough Zhang Yu poked his head in from the car window.

"Are you awake? Want a drink?"

Li Zhang shook his head slightly: "Where are you?"

"We are about to enter Xiuwu County."

"Who else is hurt?"

"Liu Xiuji and Zhong will be seriously injured, but Chen Pingyuan is fine."

Li Zhang gave a soft "hmm" and closed his eyes.

Zhang Yu patted the car window: "Don't you ask who saved you!"

"Who else can there be besides Commander Mu..."

"Tsk! Later, it was naturally Commander Mu, but at the beginning it was the prince!"

Li Zhang nodded: "Of course the prince has practiced martial arts." After speaking, he was stunned, and opened his eyes to look at Zhang Yu.

Zhang Yu sighed softly, and said with a little fear: "My lord lost his center of gravity at the time. He pulled you away forcefully and fell to the ground with him. If Commander Mu hadn't rescued him in time, the consequences would have been hard to say!"

Li Zhang was stunned for a while, knowing that Zhang Yu was not joking, he became a little confused for a while.

After Zhang Yu retreated, Li Zhang opened his eyes and thought about the battle, remembering the first life-and-death battle he experienced, he couldn't help but feel scared, even the smell of blood on his body made him sick.He wanted to vomit but couldn't move, he tried his best to suppress the acid water in his throat, he was sweating all over, his eyes were full of tears, he didn't have the energy to think about Sima Yi anymore.

As soon as the car stopped, Li Zhang vomited on the side of the road with Zhang Yu's support.At first Zhang Yu thought that Li Zhang had been poisoned, so his face turned pale with fright, but when Li Zhang finished speaking weakly, he was left helplessly dumbfounded, not at all trying to make fun of it.Sima Yi, who was in the distance, happened to look back and frowned in displeasure. After listening to Mu Yan's report, he said flatly, "This king intends to transfer Li Zhang back to his side as a servant."

Mu Yan was stunned for a moment: "Now? The great prince still has his followers..."

"Don't tell me that the guard camp is no longer possible without him!" Sima Yi retorted coldly, stopped and stared at Mu Yan.

Mu Yan looked at Sima Yi strangely, not knowing where his anger came from: "Li Zhang is indeed the best commander of the Ninth Division in the current battalion!"

Sima Yi puffed up, but couldn't refute.In fact, he himself didn't understand why he was angry, but when he thought of Li Zhang he saw just now, he couldn't help getting angry, getting angry!She was obviously strong enough to hold up the battle before, but why did she look like a poor and weak woman again in the blink of an eye? !What a nuisance!

Naturally, Li Zhang didn't know what Sima Yi was thinking. When he was lying in the car, he just wanted to vomit cleanly, but he still felt uncomfortable after he vomited.After all, he is a son of an official family who has never seen a bloody fight. He didn't get down in fright at that time, but because of the instinct he trained in the guard camp, he knew that there was no way out but to fight with all his might.But in the end, the blood and flesh of the man in black was right in front of his eyes, which really made him feel sick when he thought about it.

Zhang Yu kept supporting Li Zhang with a good temper. Seeing that he was still frowning and swallowing forcefully after vomiting, he untied the water bag and gave him a few sips.

"Actually... just get used to it."

Li Zhang raised his watery eyes: "Are they really killers?"

"Ah."

Li Zhang stopped talking.He understands the truth, and that's why he didn't live up to Commander Mu's entrustment.He leaned on Zhang Yu and walked towards the residence, thanking him softly.After Sima Yi left in the distance, Mu Yan walked towards them.

"Commander Mu." Li Zhang and Zhang Yu stood still and were about to salute when Mu Yan stopped them.

"There is no need to be too polite." Mu Yan looked at Li Zhang's pale and weak appearance, and felt a little uncomfortable in his heart: "Although there was no serious injury, there was still a lot of blood, and you were also injured when you were fighting internally before. The abdomen will be more congested. Zhang Yu, take care of him, and I will go to heal him at night."

After Mu Yan finished speaking, he left on his own. Zhang Yu looked at Li Zhang and said with a smile, "I thought it was really the same as I was back then. It turned out that I was injured."

Li Zhang bowed his head and remained silent until he entered the room and lay down, then asked Zhang Yu softly, "Is this why they made fun of you?"

Zhang Yu didn't expect Li Zhang to be so direct, he was stunned for a moment, and then said: "I can't kill a killer, I'm not as good as you."

Li Zhang instinctively wanted to refute, remembering that he was in charge of commanding the formation's offense and defense, his face turned pale for a while, and he said helplessly, "I didn't think about it either..."

"Thinking about something? Kill someone? Then throw away the sword and stretch your neck and kneel down!"

Sima Yi's cold and stern voice suddenly sounded outside the door, startling both Zhang Yu and Li Zhang.

Zhang Yu hurriedly bowed and saluted, and carefully defended Li Zhang: "Your Majesty has clearly observed that Li Zhang has not softened, otherwise the result of the battle would not have been like this."

Sima Yi's complexion was uncertain, he waved Zhang Yu back, and sat down on the chair himself.Li Zhang unconsciously tensed up, full of apprehension.

Sima Yi sneered: "Are you so afraid of me?"

Li Zhang didn't know how to answer, so he didn't make a sound.

The sky is getting darker, and everything in front of me is getting chaotic, blurring all the edges and corners.

Sima Yi sat quietly in the shadow, the evil fire in his heart gradually subsided in the dark, watching Li Zhang who was still restless on the bed was no longer angry.He suddenly felt like sighing, and couldn't tell what he was feeling about the trouble he had brought back.

Sima Yi said slowly, "Yesterday, you surprised me."

"My lord..."

When Sima Yi heard Li Zhang's dull tone, his forehead started to hurt again, and he waved his hand and interrupted: "You are very obedient, that's good! Then, don't shrink back and hesitate in the future! You're not a woman, so show yourself to someone else!"

Li Zhang's face became a little paler again, and the drooping eyelashes covered a circle of thick shadows, and he no longer tried to explain.

Sima Yi waited for a while but did not wait for Li Zhang to make a sound, and finally couldn't help but shook his sleeves and left angrily.

Li Zhang finally breathed a sigh of relief, looking at the dark night outside the house, he didn't know what to do to stop angering the third prince.

I'm afraid it will never be possible.

After all, I can't compare to my cousin.

After dinner, Mu Yan came to heal Li Zhang according to the appointment.Li Zhang was stuck in his mind, so he couldn't help but asked Mu Yan: "Commander Mu, am I a qualified bodyguard?"

"What? You performed very well yesterday!"

"But, I don't want to kill people..." Li Zhang's voice dropped.

"On the line of life and death, do you think you have a choice? Yesterday, apart from the five men in black, there were three teams of archers and swordsmen in the surrounding woods. It is very difficult to get out of the body. Do you still think you have a choice?"

Mu Yan has regarded Li Zhang as his apprentice since he started teaching him Jiufan, and cared a lot for this clever and stubborn young man. Knowing that he came from a family of literati and blood is rare, he was more tolerant and enlightened him slowly.

Hearing this, Li Zhang no longer persisted. He had never thought about this issue before. All the concepts came from his mother. The mother who believed in Buddhism and Wuzheng naturally did not like bloody killings, but it was not his personality to kill without fighting. Loosened a lot.

"My subordinate understands."

Mu Yan smiled generously: "You are still young, and you have just entered Jiufanzhen, so you will be injured like this. Did you gain anything from the battle yesterday?"

Li Zhang had already gone back to the details of the match at that time. Seeing Mu Yan asking at this time, he expressed his thoughts and questions as before. There is no more depression and entanglement before.At this time, he sculpted his eyebrows and stretched his eyes, his eyes were bright, he considered carefully when he meditated, he was bold and fearless when he argued, and he swept away his sickness during the day, faintly revealing his confidence and high spirits.

Mu Yan watched Li Zhang gradually enter the realm with satisfaction, and was also happy in his heart.He is a master of the master and joins the emperor's family. He has always wanted to find a successor but failed, and now his wish has finally been fulfilled, and he no longer feels guilty about his master.