Devouring Evil Martial Arts, Eliminating Demons from All Heavens

Chapter 41: Studying Poetry and Books, Captain Xu

“There will always be a time to ride on the wind and waves, and set sail to cross the vast ocean…”

In a mansion in Yuannan City, the sun shines into the courtyard.

The teacher, wearing a long gown, short hair and a goatee, was holding a thread-bound book in his hand, shaking his head and reading the words on it.

There is also a long table and an armchair in the yard.

A tall, bald man, wearing a shirt and military trousers, sat at the table and learned to write calligraphy.

"Wait!"

He suddenly looked up. His face had prominent brow bones, his eyes were staring at people sideways, and his black stubble stretched from his ears to his chin.

"Read that sentence again!"

The teacher immediately stopped shaking his head and quickly looked back at the page. He said hesitantly, "Ride the wind and waves... there will be a time..."

"Hey! Are you really still studying?!"

Captain Xu threw the brush away, creating a large ink blotch on the white paper. He then placed his hand on the bald head with a sullen look on his face.

"Don't you know that I recently ordered a strict inspection of all the ferries, big and small. I even blocked the small ones and smashed the boats. But you still send people on patrol to track down a serious criminal?"

"I'm just trying to prevent that top criminal from crossing the river, and you're chanting 'Road to the Wind and Waves' here?"

The teacher quickly said, "This is a poem by Li Bai."

Captain Xu's eyebrows almost stood up: "What, Li Bai is right? Even if he is Li Hei Li Huang, he can't mess with me at this time!"

The teacher fell to his knees and shouted, "Captain, you are wise. Although some of the lines in this poem are unpleasant to the ear, the title of this poem is great. It's called 'The Road is Hard'!"

"Oh?"

Captain Xu's expression softened. "The road is difficult, does that mean this road is blocked?"

The teacher smiled and said, "Yes, yes. Not only is the title of this poem unacceptable, but Li Bai was a man of noble character for a while in his youth, but he was never given a high position afterwards."

"In his later years, he was exiled. He finally survived the amnesty, but died before he could even return to Chang'an!"

Captain Xu looked better.

The teacher didn't know who the wanted criminal was. He only knew that he might have been an official and had committed a crime.

But after hearing this, Captain Xu thought of Li Bai as that person and felt indescribably comfortable.

It's a good omen, very auspicious.

"Hahaha, not bad, I'll give you twenty dollars, you can go down now."

The teacher kowtowed in thanks and went down to receive his reward.

When he was about to leave, Adjutant Zhou happened to come in and took a look, and saw the mark on the man's forehead.

"Brother, you don't like these poor scholars who quibble over words, so why do you have to let them hang around in front of you?"

Captain Xu laughed heartily. "Isn't it because the President's telegram mentioned that I should read more?"

Captain Xu had long wanted to establish a relationship with the President, but he could only connect with the President's close relatives.

Until a while ago, the President actually sent a special envoy to visit in person. At that time, Adjutant Zhou was still in the small town.

However, after Adjutant Zhou returned, he also met the special envoy.

We also know that, with the introduction of that special envoy, Captain Xu had exchanged telegrams with the President many times.

The telegram was written by the President himself, with a warm and cordial tone and high expectations.

Captain Xu did not read much, but he usually liked to listen to storytellers telling those novels, claiming that "good men listen to Water Margin, and heroes listen to Romance of the Three Kingdoms", which was enough.

I don’t know how the presidential envoy reported it, but the president actually mentioned this matter.

The story of Wu Xia A Meng from the Three Kingdoms is used to persuade Captain Xu to read more books so that he can be more prestigious and display his talents when he is promoted in the future.

Adjutant Zhou snorted coldly: "In the final analysis, they want to use us as knives, which is similar to what I did in the small town."

"That's different. Those ungrateful people in the small town didn't even know how to come over to you after you expressed your stance, but we came over to the President very smoothly."

Captain Xu chuckled and said, "Don't be afraid of being used. Being used is a good thing. As long as we can seize the opportunity, the more we are used, the more we will get."

"Back then, when we were young, we went to the capital to make our living. If we hadn't seized the opportunity and taken refuge with our adoptive father, helping him with so many things and trying to please him, how would we have had the chance to develop these skills?"

"When I returned to Yizhou, I was able to recruit soldiers and horses, and rely on various means to rise to the position of regiment leader, all thanks to my accumulation in the capital."

When Captain Xu said this, his face looked a little sad.

"I feel sad when I say this. We are sensible enough. Our adoptive father is ignorant of the situation. If he had died a year or two earlier, or if he had made his position clear and been more obedient, we wouldn't have to plan to take action against him."

"Oh, it's all his fault. He caused me to hurt the relationship between father and son."

Adjutant Zhou continued, "It's much harder to get enough benefits from the President than from Eunuch Chen."

"Wealth and honor are achieved through risk. We've already waded through mountains of corpses and seas of fire. What's a few more times?"

Captain Xu's expression calmed down. "But if you want us to contribute, you have to give us enough support. Hasn't that special envoy been trying to contact us recently, saying that more reinforcements are coming?"

Speak of the devil, here comes the guard's announcement at the gate.

Then a middle-aged man in a suit and tie walked in.

He had a square face and was clean-shaven, but it was obvious that he was not young anymore, with deep wrinkles on his forehead and neck. Although he was wearing a suit, he was holding a birdcage covered with red cloth in his hand.

This person is Meng Daizong, the special envoy sent by the President.

To be precise, he was originally one of the leaders of the group sent by the President to hunt down Cai Shanjun. However, the pursuit took them overseas and through Jiaozhi, and the pursuers suffered heavy losses. In the end, he was the only one who reached Yizhou, and he managed to contact Captain Xu.

"Brother Xu, Brother Zhou, why haven't you inspected the ferry crossings yet?"

Meng Daizong was very straightforward when he arrived. "Although the small ferry crossings can be destroyed, the large ones are still useful to you. If it is inconvenient to do it yourself, then you must investigate them frequently!"

The river near Yuannan City has very fast currents in many places and is full of reefs and dangerous shoals. Some places seem safe, but once they reach the middle of the river, they will encounter whirlpools that are beyond human control.

To cross the river, unless you rely on those particularly stable large ships, you can only rely on these ferry crossings and take the familiar routes.

Adjutant Zhou smiled and said, "We've deployed hundreds of people to guard each of the major ferry crossings, all led by our trusted confidants. Furthermore, we've also deployed the best men around the special envoy to those locations. There's no way that person will get away with it."

"If something really happens, we can rush over here to help. It's just as convenient. Why do we have to run back and forth all the time?"

Meng Daizong frowned. "According to my estimation, that person should have tried to cross the river a few days ago, but there has been no movement. This makes me uneasy."

"After all, he is Cai Shanjun. We must be extremely careful!"

Captain Xu also said: "Didn't you say that he has been poisoned and can't use his cultivation, and he only has two sick cats left by his side?"

Meng Daizong nodded when he heard this: "That poison is indeed very serious."

"It's a magical concoction made from some of the most poisonous substances in the world, known as the Six-Fatal Pill."

"I used the whiskers of a poisonous snake, the teeth of a scorpion, the claws of a toad, the hair of a centipede, the black heart of a man, and the green needles from a widow's tail."

"Even if he used all his strength, he could only suppress the poison, but there's no way he could recover."

Those poisons sound strange enough, but sometimes when sorcerers make medicine, they don’t use tangible things, but invisible poisons.

That is the real strange poison, the fierce poison, the extremely difficult poison to deal with.

Captain Xu said, "He can't recover, but the people around him should also rest. Maybe he is giving them more time."

"rational."

Meng Daizong laughed. "If that's the case, then he's on the verge of death, his mind is clouded. What can he expect from waiting?"

"And we can wait for real help."

Captain Xu listened, patted his bald head, picked up a brush, and said, "The help we are waiting for is... him?"

As soon as the word "he" came out, Captain Xu shook his wrist and the brush suddenly disappeared.

The red-painted pillars in the corridor were instantly rubbed by the brush, leaving a deep mark.

The person hiding in the shadows behind the pillar clasped his palms together at full speed.

Snapped! !

The brush handle was smashed by his palms, but the soft brush head continued to move forward and hit his forehead.

The man in black stiffened and felt the brush stay on his forehead for a second or two before rolling down.

This is a man dressed in black, wearing a black hood and a black scarf.

Logically speaking, wearing such a black outfit in broad daylight would be too conspicuous.

But this person sneaked in and the guards didn't even notice.

"Good! Good!"

Meng Daizong praised, "Captain Xu has such a strong and upright strength."

It was not the delicate and penetrating force that was poured into the tip of the pen, but the pure and unyielding rigidity that caused the soft tip of the pen to be swept up by the impact force and hit the person's forehead.

Meng Daizong extended his hand and introduced: "This man is one of the reinforcements."

Captain Xu snorted, "It seems they are the same kind of ninja as those you brought with you earlier, but they are more rude than the previous group of men."

When President Yuan Shikai was young, he made his mark on the Korean Island. At that time, he often dealt with the Japanese and recruited a master of the Iga-ryu ninja school to train ninja warriors for him.

By the time he became the president, a large number of Iga ninjas were already secretly serving him.

Meng Daizong hurriedly said, "Don't misunderstand. This person's infiltration is not a demonstration. Back then, these dozens of them were sent by the President to the Grand Commander of Bashu, Liu Zhixiang. Although they have been recruited by us, they also brought a personal letter from Liu Zhixiang!"

The ninja bowed to Captain Xu before handing over the letter.

When Captain Xu read the letter, a smile appeared on his face.

Liu Zhixiang was President Yuan's confidant. Bashu and Yizhou were adjacent to each other, and the fact that this letter was not delivered in the form of a telegram made it seem more intimate.

What was mentioned was no longer just empty promises in the telegram, but real plans.

As long as Cai Shanjun was killed, Liu Zhixiang would immediately mobilize his troops to approach and put pressure on Yizhou, providing real support to Captain Xu and allowing him to grow stronger.

This incident, which might have caused anger and strangulation within Yizhou, was turned into a merit for Yizhou's loyalty to the President.

There are also fence-sitters within Yizhou. When that time really comes, Captain Xu's situation will naturally turn from danger to safety and everything will be very good.

That's what it means to truly gain great wealth from danger!
"Hahaha!"

Regimental Commander Xu couldn't suppress his smile. "In his telegram, the President changed my name to Youjiang. It turns out he really hopes for me and wants to help me establish a territory in the future."

"In that case, how can I not die for the President?"

He laughed out loud and waved his hands.

"Patrol, you must patrol, drive my car out."

"From today until the day Mr. Cai dies, I will patrol the major ferry crossings every day. I won't allow any omissions!"

(End of this chapter)