Chapter 111: The Dragon and Tiger Gathering in the Capital (7)

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Chapter 111: The Dragon and Tiger Gathering in the Capital (7)

“You killed someone?” Little Qiao’er asked as she came over.

Yang Huaiyu, Su Mei, and Cao Fang all refused to believe that a child as small as Tie Xinyuan could kill a grown man. Little Qiao’er, however, knew him too well to share their doubts. He knew perfectly well that the boy was capable of killing.

In fact, he had been preparing to do so all along.

“That fellow wanted to kidnap me and sell me. What do you think I should have done?” Tie Xinyuan replied casually as he headed downstairs.

“Oh. Then he was asking for it. Why do you think no one has tried to kidnap me lately?” Ever since Su Mei had taught the group to read *The Tale of the Child Qu Ji*, Little Qiao’er and Little Ling’er had been hoping that some foolhardy trafficker would come along and try to sell them.

“Only a blind man would kidnap someone like you, who has no talent besides eating.”

Hearing Tie Xinyuan slander him so shamelessly merely to show that he stood a level above him, Little Qiao’er laughed until he nearly collapsed. That unlucky boy always managed to encounter the vilest enemies at the safest possible times. Such a talent was not possessed by ordinary men.

Yang Huaiyu clutched the horse’s reins, grinning from ear to ear. The things he had said to Cao Fang earlier had been nothing but useless drivel. He had never intended to seek help in the first place, so this horse had been gained entirely for free.

Tie Xinyuan would not allow Yang Huaiyu to mount at once. Instead, he ordered Yang Huaiyu and Little Qiao’er to remove every piece of armor from the magnificent horse and inspect every inch of its body. If its skin showed no problem, they were to examine the armor. If the armor was also free of anything suspicious, they were to tether the warhorse firmly to a thick wooden post for twelve hours. Only after its bodily fluids had circulated through several complete cycles would Yang Huaiyu be permitted to ride it.

Throughout history, there had been countless cases of fine horses being used to harm people. Tie Xinyuan was therefore quite willing to imagine Cao Fang’s intentions in the most malicious light.

At first, Yang Huaiyu had objected inwardly to Tie Xinyuan’s caution. In his view, Cao Fang was, like himself, descended from a military family. The scions of military houses in the Eastern Capital valued honor and trust above all else—especially among their own kind. If Cao Fang had truly tried to poison him, he would never again have been able to show his face among the capital’s military dandies.

But the warhorse kept swishing its tail and seemed extremely agitated. Little Qiao’er therefore crouched over its hindquarters and examined them inch by inch. Su Mei found the sight deeply displeasing. What was a young man doing sprawled over a mare’s backside? It looked utterly obscene.

With a solemn expression, Little Qiao’er used tweezers to extract a needle as fine as a hair from the horse’s anus. The needle was a full inch and a half long.

It had been painted black and hidden among the horse’s dark hairs. Without an extremely careful inspection, it would have been impossible to detect.

There was not merely one needle in the horse’s anus. Little Qiao’er drew six half-embedded silver needles from its most sensitive region. If the horse’s tail had continued rubbing against them, the six needles would have sealed its bowels. At that point, it would have been strange if the horse had not gone mad.

Yang Huaiyu and Tie Xinyuan exchanged a glance, then looked toward the gate shattered by the horse’s hooves. Together, they drew a sharp breath.

If a powerful warhorse clad from head to hoof in armor had gone berserk in this crowded district, the consequences would have been more than its owner, Yang Huaiyu, could bear.

Seeing this, even Su Mei, who was normally terrified of warhorses, involuntarily approached and joined Little Qiao’er, Little Ling’er, Yang Huaiyu, and Tie Xinyuan in examining the animal inch by inch.

As the silver needles that had tormented the horse nearly to madness were removed one after another, its large, bloodshot eyes gradually returned to their beautiful, sharply defined black-and-white clarity.

When Little Qiao’er pulled three thick silver needles from the horse’s ears, Su Mei’s eyes filled with tears. Stamping her foot furiously, she cried, “How could anyone be so vicious?”

Tie Xinyuan glanced at Yang Huaiyu’s livid face and smiled. “If you mean to harm someone, how can your scheme not be vicious?”

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Remembering Tie Xinyuan’s recent conduct, Little Qiao’er nodded repeatedly. “That is only logical. Once someone has torn off all pretense and decided to harm another, why use a mild scheme when you can simply strike as hard as possible? You have already offended him beyond reconciliation, so whether the method is gentle or vicious makes no difference. Personally, I believe that a true man must never be without venom.”

Su Mei shouted angrily, “I told you to read more, but you refused. Now look at you—the moment you open your mouth, you reveal what an utter ignoramus you are. What do you mean, ‘a true man must never be without venom’?

“The saying is, ‘A narrow measure does not make a gentleman; without measure, one is not a true man.’ The word means breadth of mind, not poison. Remember that, and do not disgrace yourself like this again.”

Little Qiao’er flew into a rage. He picked up one of the silver needles, licked it, then spat on the ground. “They smeared it with a corrosive substance and sealed it beneath wax. The wax has melted now. Tell me, what difference is there between this and poisoning someone?

“Clearly, a true man must never be without venom.”

Tie Xinyuan patted the furious boy on the shoulder. “Whether a great man is venomous or not is beside the point. But the needle you just put in your mouth was pulled from the horse’s backside…”

Little Qiao’er’s face instantly turned green. Su Mei laughed sweetly and leapt away.

Yang Huaiyu did not laugh with them. His face was black as the bottom of a cooking pot, and he clenched his fists as he roared, “Shameless to the extreme!”

“You’ll get used to it,” Tie Xinyuan said with a laugh. “Still, this horse really is excellent. Cao Fang said it came from Hezhong, and he should be right. Just look at its height. It is a hundred times better than the warhorses of our Great Song, most of which are scarcely larger than donkeys.”

“How could they be so despicable?” Yang Huaiyu remained unable to let the matter go.

“Those who rely on trickery are usually people of inadequate strength. In other words, only the weak resort to schemes and conspiracies. Before overwhelming power, all such plots are nothing more than the antics of clowns.

“If you are angry, you can beat him openly on the practice grounds. Afterward, you will not even need to explain yourself. The emperor may even think more highly of you. It is an excellent arrangement.”

Yang Huaiyu stroked the warhorse, which had just endured such brutal treatment and now appeared utterly dispirited. He said bitterly, “Once this horse has recovered its strength, we will go settle accounts with Cao Fang together!”

The warhorse seemed to understand him. It turned its great head and licked Yang Huaiyu’s hand, filling him with even greater confidence.

Ever since so many military men had arrived, the martial spirit of the Eastern Capital had flourished.

Before the examinations began, scholars would hold countless literary gatherings and poetry assemblies. At these events, they would do everything in their power to display their talents, hoping to establish their reputations in advance and leave a deep impression on the examiners, who might later show them a little personal favor when marking their papers.

The military examinations were much the same. The only things the candidates could compare were strength and martial skill, so the proceedings seemed somewhat crude and were disliked by the scholars of the Eastern Capital.

When Tie Xinyuan followed Yang Huaiyu to Fan Tower, he finally understood the true position of military men in the Great Song.

He had assumed that the warriors would compete inside Fan Tower’s spacious hall. Instead, they could only gather in a circle around the carriage yard beside the tower and watch two champions fight to the death.

All the windows on Fan Tower’s side facing the yard had been thrown open. Beside them stood foolish scholars waving feather fans in the dead of winter. They drank wine and dallied with courtesans, lowering their heads only when they had enough energy left to glance at the brawny men fighting below.

When they saw the fighters covered in blood, they would even throw handfuls of copper coins down from the tower, as though watching a monkey show.

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“True scholars would never stoop to such behavior. The deeper a person’s learning, the broader his heart becomes. My grandfather would never entertain such thoughts.”

Su Mei had come to Fan Tower with them. Seeing Yang Huaiyu’s grim expression, she hurried to distinguish herself and her family from that great crowd of idiots.

Yang Huaiyu lowered his head and looked at the two men fighting fiercely below. “Look carefully. One of those two is Longchuan, and the other is Liang Shimeng. Both are renowned instructors of spear and staff throughout the Great Song. Either one of them would be a warrior capable of leading an entire army to victory.”

A broad saber and an iron spear collided so many times in an instant that it was impossible to count them. The ringing crashes came one after another, like a rapid barrage of cannon fire.

Only after the flashes of saber and spear had scattered did Tie Xinyuan get a clear look at the two hulking men on the ground.

“The graying one is Liang Shimeng, while the younger man is Longchuan. Their families both make their living operating escort agencies. One travels the Southern Circuit, the other the Shaan-Gan Circuit.

“Liang Shimeng has spent year after year fighting bandits and river pirates along the Southern Circuit. After several decades, the number of brigands who have died beneath his blade is beyond counting. They say that once a shipment bears his escort flag and passes through the ancient Meiling post road, not a single bandit dares touch it—even if the goods are guarded by a three-year-old child.

“As for Longchuan, he made his name in a battle near Lanzhou. His opponents were troops of the Western Xia Capture-Life Army. With his iron spear, he single-handedly slaughtered more than sixty Western Xia soldiers who had disguised themselves as bandits and come to rob the caravan.

“Either of these men is fabulously wealthy. Yet here they are, traveling thousands of miles at another man’s single written invitation, merely to serve as foils in his little military examination…”

Below them, saber light and spear shadows flashed while shouts rang without end. The battle had reached its most critical moment, yet Yang Huaiyu watched without expression, uttering strange words as he did so.

When Liang Shimeng cleaved through a stone hitching post with one stroke, Tie Xinyuan asked, “Could you defeat that man?”

“He could never be my equal,” Yang Huaiyu replied indifferently.

Tie Xinyuan stared at him for a moment. “You think rather highly of yourself.”

“I carry on the glory left by three generations of my ancestors. I take up weapons to protect the state and defend the people. Even when facing the northern barbarians beneath a storm of blades, spears, and arrows, I would never retreat. Even if I were wrapped in my horse’s hide and buried on the battlefield, I would have no regrets.

“Liang Shimeng and Longchuan are merely two merchants concerned with petty profit and survival. Why should I fear them?”

Tie Xinyuan frowned. “You mean that because your family is a military house, neither Liang Shimeng nor Longchuan would dare truly injure you—and that so long as you fight desperately, you are certain to defeat them?”

Yang Huaiyu smiled. “Must you always reduce stirring words to vulgar worldly logic?”

Tie Xinyuan turned and smiled at Su Mei. “Do you understand now? Your future husband is not quite as foolish as you imagined.”

To be continued.