I am Emperor Shizu of Song

Chapter 43: The Master Doesn’t Understand the Manager’s Words, This Young Master Also Knows Some Swordsmanship

Hearing the sound of weapons clashing coming from the vegetable garden, the two men immediately became alert and did not dare to rush over for fear of exposing their whereabouts.

If someone finds out, it will be very inconvenient in the future.

Zhao Zicheng quickly scanned the surroundings. The direction they had come from was the vegetable garden gate and a section of adobe wall. But the wall was short; a few dozen steps to the left and right was the fence, allowing him to peer inside without being seen by anyone inside.

He gave Yang Zhi a look, and Yang Zhi immediately understood. The two of them crouched down and walked around slightly, hiding behind the fence and peeping.

Just like those people who aim at the gaps between people in the chicken game.

Of course, before going around, Zhao Zicheng tied the horse in a relatively secluded place nearby to prevent the horse from exposing himself.

Squatting to the edge of the fence, Yang Zhi only took a glance inside and immediately cried out in pain: "Why is it Brother Wang? Oh no! He is no match for that monk! My lord, Brother Wang and I have been friends for many years..."

Yang Zhi was at a loss for a moment. It turned out that the person fighting with Lu Da inside was none other than Wang Zhishi, the colleague Yang Zhi met at Daxiangguo Temple yesterday.

In addition to the royal envoy, there were a dozen or so soldiers who were just there for show. They should all be his subordinates, but those people had no fighting power at all.

Several were already lying there wailing, and some were unclear whether they were truly dead or just pretending to be dead. At most, only three or four were still trying to build momentum for the commander's raid, but they didn't dare to actually attack or charge, and at most they just tried to distract Lu Da.

Naruda was waving his iron staff so hard that Wang Zhishi, holding a long-handled broadsword, was caught off guard and could no longer resist.

It seemed like the trajectory of all these people had been altered by the butterfly effect. Lu Da didn't receive the notice from the ruffians to evacuate in time, but instead engaged directly with the people from the Palace Marshal's Mansion who came to investigate him.

It was already late yesterday, and Zhao Zi said they couldn't leave the city. As soon as the city gate opened today, they came here through the Suanzao Gate. So since it became like this, we can't blame them for the delay - after all, the royal system prevented them from leaving the city last night, but they arrived a step earlier this morning.

After hearing Yang Zhi's complaint, Zhao Zicheng was briefly confused.

Real politics is not a game, and it is definitely not like playing Romance of the Three Kingdoms, where "because the newly recruited general has a force value of 95, the official position he is given should be higher than that of the old buddy who has followed you for more than ten years but has a force value of only 90. As for the old buddy who feels unfair, you can reward him with a few hundred taels of gold, and his loyalty will be restored."

If you do this in real life, you will be deserted by everyone and no one will work for you. Your fate will be even worse than Lu Bu's.

Zhao Zicheng also knew that Lu Da's martial arts skills should be higher than Yang Zhi's, but Yang Zhi had followed him for several months and worked hard with all his heart. He must not follow the bad behavior of Emperor Wu of Han, "Your Majesty uses people like piling up firewood, and the latecomers are superior."

"What should we do? We definitely can't let Yang Zhi help that monk fight his own old brother. Besides, even without Yang Zhi's help, the King's Envoy probably won't be able to hold on for much longer..."

In Water Margin, this Wang Zhishi was quite loyal to Yang Zhi. After Yang Zhi was imprisoned by Gao Qiu, he begged Wang Zhishi to rescue him and allow him to spend his money freely.

In the end, Wang Zhishi did rescue him. Although Yang Zhi had spent all his money and had to sell his sword, it was already very good that he was willing to accept the trust and get the job done under such circumstances.

Given the political environment at the end of the Song Dynasty, other colleagues might simply watch you in prison with no one to cry out for help, and then divide the money you entrusted to them. After all, a single prisoner has no ability to resist.

Just as Zhao Zicheng's mind was racing, the situation in the courtyard changed rapidly. The royal envoy could no longer resist. After blocking the blow with his broadsword, he staggered and fell to the ground.

When Yang Zhi saw that his brothers could not hold on any longer, he got hot-headed and rushed out without paying any attention to the young master's orders.

Zhao Zicheng saw that it was impossible for him to hide, so he gritted his teeth and made a decisive move, shouting, "Don't even think about hurting anyone, you bastard! Where are you running to?"

Lu Da was chasing with his Zen staff. Seeing Yang Zhi jump out, he turned the Zen staff in the air and hit Yang Zhi on the head.

Yang Zhi did not dare to take it head-on, so he raised his spear with all his might and swung it sideways, using the agility of the spear to deflect the staff and smash it to the ground. Then he used the head of the spear to temporarily press the staff to the ground and used the butt of the spear to sweep at Lu Da.

Lu Da's martial arts were by no means inferior to Yang Zhi's, but he had just fought with more than a dozen people. Even though he had the upper hand, he had consumed a lot of physical strength. Many of his moves were too bold and his sense of proportion was not as perfect as before.

Furthermore, he had a preconceived notion that the royal envoy was no more than that. Just a passing officer, what strength could he possibly possess? Could he possibly be stronger than the real leader? Therefore, he underestimated the enemy with his first move, using an old technique. After being pushed back, the heavy staff sank half a foot into the soil of the vegetable field, and he was unable to pull it out in a hurry.

But Lu Da was a man of great combat experience. He saw Yang Zhi's spear head blocking the shovel head of his staff, locking the staff to the ground and using only the butt of the spear to sweep him. Lu Da desperately resisted the spear, blocking it with his left elbow, and the spear rod hit him hard on the elbow with a "crack".

Lu Da endured the pain of being hit hard by the spear barrel, and took the opportunity to grab the end of the spear with his right hand, holding it tightly, and the two of them started to fight over the weapon.

This scene was just like Xu Chu fighting Ma Chao naked. After being forced to abandon their heavy weapons, the two men wrestled for spears.

"You thief! You actually know the Yang family's spear skills. I underestimated you!" Lu Da gritted his teeth, his face ferocious, and said with difficulty.

Yang Zhi was wrestling with him and had no energy left to speak.

Although Yang Zhi was also a master, in terms of absolute strength, he was obviously inferior to Lu Da's natural supernatural power. After the two fought hard for a few breaths, veins bulged on his forehead.

At this time, Zhao Zicheng had also opened the gate and entered the yard.

It just so happened that the royal envoy who had just fallen to the ground was overjoyed to see his brother coming down from the sky to help. After he recovered, he picked up his machete and took advantage of the two men's wrestling to strike him from behind.

Zhao Zicheng saw this and shouted for help: "That scoundrel has been locked up by Yang Zhishi. Quickly go around and stab him from behind!"

Wang Zhishi was stunned, thinking, do you, a layman passing by, need to yell at me? We were already planning to do this!

Lu Da was a man of rough but subtle mind. Just when Yang Zhi jumped over, he noticed that there was a young man who looked like a scholar behind Yang Zhi. He was openly insulting him to give him courage, but his words reminded him: if you can't win, you can run away.

But at that time he felt that the other party was not to be feared at all, so he didn't listen at all and chose to confront him head-on.

He hadn't expected the green-faced man in front of him to be so ferocious and even know the Yang family spear technique. And the defeated general behind him who had just fallen to the ground was trying to launch a sneak attack. How could he dare to be so arrogant?

At that moment, Lu Da unleashed all his potential, roared with all his might, and just like Xu Chu did when he fought Ma Chao, he twisted Yang Zhi's spear with all his might, breaking it with a snap.

Yang Zhi took the half of the spear with the head in his hand, while Lu Da only got the tail of the spear. Then he held it in one hand like a short stick, turned around and swept it with his left hand like a mace.

The royal envoy did not expect that the monk suddenly escaped again. He originally wanted to hit the monk from the top with a club, directly hitting the other party's head and shoulders, knocking him unconscious so that he could take him back to report. After all, the order given to him by the Palace Marshal's Office did not tell him to kill anyone.

But the opponent suddenly lowered his body, turned around and swept, leaving Wang Zhi with an open goal. He had no time to defend the lower road and was hit on the leg by Lu Da's magical stick, which immediately broke a part of his leg bone. He fell to the ground and screamed.

Lu Da succeeded in his attack, but he was also hit on the back by Yang Zhi's half-broken spear. Yang Zhi was so excited about killing that he couldn't stop, and he didn't mean to hurt him.

Lu Da didn't care about that anymore. He roared like a tiger and rushed towards the gate, not even picking up the staff that had been thrown on the ground. The staff was too heavy and would be useless when breaking out. So he just used the half of the gun barrel as a short stick.

The two soldiers blocking the way were unable to dodge and were knocked to the ground by his club. The other soldiers did not dare to chase him anymore.

Some clever soldiers complained anxiously: "Who opened the gate? Didn't the commander just tell us not to open the gate? And you let us climb over the wall to get in?"

Zhao Zi said he ignored these strange words. As a scholar, he should go through the door. How could he climb over the fence like those "vulgar people"? It was too indecent.

No matter how much he said, he was right. Besides, he and Yang Zhi were not hired thugs, but just volunteered to help out when he saw injustice.

Seeing that the two soldiers who were blocking the way were knocked to the ground before they could dodge, Zhao Zicheng certainly would not stop them. He just dodged out of the gate in advance and waited for Lu Da to rush past before he pretended to shout and chase him.

"Brother Yang, chase him quickly! We can't let this villain get away!" Zhao Zicheng immediately ordered Yang Zhi.

Yang Zhi also understood what he meant and took the half-broken spear to chase after him. However, when he passed by Zhao Zicheng, he couldn't help but ask, "What about you, sir?"

Zhao Zi said: "My martial arts are so poor, how dare you chase me if you don't? I'll see how badly the royal envoy is injured, and then I'll come. I'm here." As soon as these words were said, Yang Zhi abandoned his injured and broken-legged buddy to chase the thief. His character setting was very reasonable, and it was enough to cover up all the flaws afterwards.

Zhao Zicheng was more eloquent than Yang Zhi, so he took the opportunity to say some words to plug the leak while bandaging Wang Zhi's wound.

As soon as Yang Zhigang left, Zhao Zicheng simply treated Wang Zhishi's wound for a few seconds. He was not professional and was not as good as an ordinary soldier, so Wang Zhishi soon felt pain and thanked him for his kindness and asked the soldiers to come.

Zhao Zi said he had nothing to do, so he continued to ramble on as a sour Confucian: "What's wrong with you? No one's dead, right?"

The Royal Envoy grimaced as the soldiers straightened his broken leg. He replied, "Thank you for your concern, young master. The monk didn't kill anyone. He's a fugitive wanted by the Palace Marshal's Office. We're lucky you and Yang Zhi were passing by today, but I don't know how you got here."

Zhao Zi said: "It was you who mentioned to him yesterday at Daxiangguo Temple that you had an errand. He heard that this monk had some martial arts skills and was worried about you.

I had just arrived in Bianliang and had never been outside Suanzao Gate. When I heard him say that, I urged him to come and take a look. Even if there was nothing wrong, I would have thought of it as a sightseeing trip. I didn't expect to encounter such bad luck!

"Never mind, I've never bandaged anyone's wound before. If you think I was too harsh, I won't make matters worse. I'll go and watch Brother Yang chase the thief."

The royal envoy wanted to warn him to be careful, but the pain was too much to speak. Furthermore, Zhao Zicheng's voice had just disrupted his sneak attack, and he had also arrogantly opened the gate, disrupting things twice. So, without a word, he let Zhao Zicheng leave.

As soon as Zhao Zicheng left, a smart personal soldier came up to Wang Zhishi and expressed similar doubts in his mind.

The royal envoy realized the seriousness of the situation and cursed in a deep voice, "What scholar doesn't gossip? It's normal to grumble while watching someone fight to the death.

"Look at his refined demeanor. Brother Yang seemed to have mentioned yesterday that he was a young man waiting for an official position. How could we afford to offend him? It's normal for such a respectable person to refuse to climb over the fence and insist on going through the gate. Don't get involved in such a trivial matter, otherwise it will be even more troublesome!"

Some of the cunning soldiers looked rather miserable upon hearing this: "If we don't shift the blame onto others, who will share the responsibility if the higher-ups blame us after the thieves escape?"

The king's envoy slapped the man in the face. "Put aside your evil heart, you rotten lung! It's true that you want to share the blame, but can you and I afford to offend such a person? Then we won't be able to share any blame at all, and we'll only bring trouble upon ourselves!"

Even if someone asks about it, I can just say that a colleague saw an injustice and helped us, but we were not as skilled as them and could not stay, so it has nothing to do with them! The rest of you listen up and watch out for each other. If anyone makes a fool of themselves and talks nonsense, they will bring trouble to everyone!

The king knew too well what kind of black-hearted and rotten-lung soldiers under his command were like, and they were always taking credit for others' work. He had to speak harshly like this to scare them, make them watch out for each other, and stop them from talking nonsense.

The soldiers were also convinced and gave up the idea of ​​biting.

……

On the other hand, Yang Zhi was afraid of losing Lu Da, so he kept running on foot to chase him. He didn't even have time to untie his horse, and he also scattered some vegetable leaves he had picked on the ground every hundred steps or so.

Zhao Zi said that he had the vegetable leaves dropped by Yang Zhi to lead the way, so he was not afraid of getting lost. After leaving the vegetable garden, he took his time to untie his good horse and then rode to catch up. So in just half a cup of tea, he caught up with Yang Zhi again, and also caught up with Lu Da, who was dozens of steps ahead of Yang Zhi.

Zhao Zicheng did not rush up to fight. When he passed by Yang Zhi, he reached out to ask for Yang Zhi's family heirloom sword. Then he went around and stopped Lu Da with his sword.

"Lu Da! We had no choice but to act. Although Wang Zhishi served in the Grand Marshal's Mansion, he never harmed anyone. He is Yang Zhi's brother, and Yang Zhi naturally couldn't bear to see you kill him."

Seeing that the enemy's horse was fast, Lu Da would not be able to escape by running, so he simply stopped to catch his breath. At the same time, he picked up the half-broken gun barrel and tightened the sword hanging on his waist.

Back when Lu Da was at Mount Wutai, he had a blacksmith forge a Zen staff and a sword. But in today's battle, he used the blunt end of the Zen staff to strike at his men, never using the sword. He knew the soldiers were merely being sent on assignment; he only needed to injure or stun them so they could break through. There was no need to kill them.

Of course, this doesn't mean that his character is so good. He is more afraid that if more people are killed, he will hunt him down more vigorously. Even if he fails to catch him, it is possible that people close to him will be implicated.

Moreover, when the royal envoy came to find him, he was just monitoring his movements at first. Later, he found something wrong and wanted to run away. The royal envoy jumped out to intercept him, but did not kill him.

Since the other party just wants to arrest someone, and I don’t want the case to escalate and give the authorities an excuse, I must control it.

Otherwise, the Palace Marshal's Office would only send people to arrest him secretly. If someone dies, the forces of Kaifeng Prefecture and the Imperial City Administration would be added.

At this moment, he still didn't want to use his sword. He still had half a gun in his hand. It would be best if he could knock the opponent out with the gun and break through.

He gripped the spear tightly and said arrogantly, "You scholar, do you think you can stop me? Even if that blue-faced man catches up to me, he's no match for me. Adding you to the mix will make no difference to me!"

Zhao Zi said, "Every word I said is true. If I wanted to keep you, I wouldn't have warned you to run away and not fight anymore, or to be careful of sneak attacks from behind, or to open the gate and come in so openly."

Lu Da was a little confused by the three consecutive questions. He couldn't figure it out for a while, but he vaguely felt that what the other party said seemed to make sense.

But at this moment, Yang Zhi behind him had already caught up with him, panting, holding a half-broken gun tip.

There were less than ten steps between Lu Da and Yang Zhi. Lu Da instinctively felt that he could not allow Zhao Zicheng to delay time, so he subconsciously rushed towards him.

"Young master, be careful!" Yang Zhi was about to catch up, but Lu Da suddenly attacked and tried to break through, so he couldn't help but shout out a warning.

Zhao Zicheng was on horseback, and Lu Da had no long weapon, only a half-broken spear. To attack Zhao Zicheng, he could only swing at his legs, but could not knock him unconscious. Moreover, even if a rider's leg was slightly injured, he could still continue riding and chasing.

Although Lu Da was rough, he was also very cunning. So when he rushed forward, he had already made up his mind to just bend down and break his horse's legs. This way he would not hurt anyone's life and would also prevent the enemy from chasing him.

Lu Da had been in the Western Army for a long time and had fought many battles with the Western Xia cavalry. He knew very well that the greatest advantage of cavalry over infantry was its impact. Only when the cavalry charged would it be difficult for the infantry to engage in close combat.

If the cavalry stood still and lost their speed, they would be no better than the infantry in close combat, and it would only take a few minutes for the nimble infantry to chop off their horse's legs.

This move of his is the result of many years of practical experience. It has become instinctive and does not require any thought. It is purely muscle memory.

Lu Da used a move similar to the Ditang stick. When he rushed forward, he lowered his body, swept out the spear with his right hand to hit the horse's legs, and held the sheathed sword in his left hand to protect his head and face, blocking Zhao Zicheng's possible attack.

His left arm was still shaking from the blow from Yang Zhimeng's spear, but he believed it was more than enough to block a possible counterattack from a scholar.

He had just been hit by a stick on the back, causing his breathing to be uneven and his strength to be somewhat lacking, but he also felt that this was not a big problem.

Zhao Zi said that he was originally trying to reason with the other party, but when he saw that the other party was too flustered to think, he became a little angry.

Especially this BMW of mine. Although the original owner was a treacherous minister and it was given to him by Liang Shicheng, the horse is innocent. Now that it is with me, such a BMW must be protected well.

As soon as Zhao Zicheng pulled the reins, the BMW immediately reared up and instinctively dodged the stick that Lu Da was using to hit its front legs.

At the same time, Zhao Zicheng drew Yang Zhi's precious sword on horseback and swung it directly at Lu Da's left arm ring knife that was blocking him.

He was looking down from above, and with the momentum of his warhorse rising up and smashing down again, man and horse became one.

Combined with three months of diligent martial arts practice, this strike was exceptionally precise. Lu Da hadn't expected a frail scholar to possess such precise swordsmanship. His left arm was injured, leaving him unable to change moves and slow to react, so he could only use his scabbard to block the blow.

With a crisp sound of a dragon's roar, Lu Da's ordinary wrought iron ring knife, along with its leather sheath, was cut off by Yang Zhi's family heirloom sword. Zhao Zicheng's knife was also very measured, and stopped more than half a foot away from Lu Da's shoulder.

Although Lu Da quickly defended himself with the broken spear in his right hand, he was also a man of honor. If the opponent hadn't put away his knife and continued to chop him down, he would have been dead. How could he have the nerve to fight back with the half-broken spear at this moment?

Lu Da sighed deeply, and had to drop his gun and listen to the other party's reasoning.

(End of this chapter)