Jinting Han people

Chapter 144: Surrender (5k)

Tonight's conversation was truly full of twists and turns. Liu Xian's sudden visit to the Longmen thieves was unbelievable enough in itself, but the twists and turns of this conversation also caught everyone present off guard.

First it was a visit, then an inquiry into government affairs, then it changed to a call for amnesty, and finally it became a showdown between the county magistrate and the bandit leader. Each of these things seems unbelievable when you talk about them, but they actually happened.

Liu Xian himself stood over eight feet tall, a stout figure for his time. However, due to his extensive reading, he possessed a tranquil and unpretentious demeanor, often mistaking him for a hermit, overlooking the fact that he was also a skilled warrior.

Therefore, when Liu Xian proposed a head-on duel with Sun Xi, everyone present was astonished. Needless to say, the bandits, who relied on their military prowess and looked down on the county officials, naturally believed that the county magistrate was a pampered scholar who was powerless.

Lü Quyang, Xue Xing, and the others accompanying him were also unfamiliar with Liu Xian. In their daily encounters, Liu Xian had never demonstrated his swordsmanship. They only knew that he would set aside an hour each day to strengthen his body, but they had no idea that he was a man who would fight with all his might.

But Liu Xian was exactly that kind of person. Even though his right hand had only just healed and was far from returning to its normal state before the fracture, he still longed to fight.

Thinking back to that life-or-death battle with the giant six months ago, and the thrilling escapes he'd endured, Liu Xian no longer felt much fear, but rather regret. He'd been the loser in that life-or-death battle. Even though he'd survived, a loss was a loss.

Liu Xian had always believed that one should rise again from where one failed. However, with the giant's death, he had no one to challenge, which left him with a certain regret.

But these are all things of the past. Now that he has come to Xiayang, he actually doesn't want to use this method to persuade surrender.

But he also deeply understood that different groups accepted different words. When facing the bandits, relying solely on official authority and sincerity would likely not be enough to win their trust. Only military force would be acceptable, just like how Zhuge Liang subdued Meng Huo.

However, Zhuge Liang conquered Meng Huo through a large army and a battle, but Liu Xian now has nothing. He can only use his swordsmanship to persuade others, even though he uses a left-handed sword.

For Sun Xi, this duel was also unexpected. Reflecting on their meeting that night, he realized that Liu Xian had caught him off guard. He hadn't rejected the county magistrate directly, putting him in a passive position. So, when Liu Xian proposed a duel, he simply couldn't refuse.

If he refused, his subordinates would easily see him as showing fear and weakness, something the bandits would absolutely not accept. Even if nothing happened on the surface, as long as Liu Xian was secretly recruiting, it wouldn't take long for the Longmen bandits to fall apart.

So Sun Xi had no choice but to accept it.

There is no need to be picky about the location for the horse thieves' fight. They can just do it in the lobby of the Longmenshan Camp. They don't pay too much attention to safety. Both of them are not wearing armor and each holds his own weapon. There is no specific condition for winning or losing. It is up to both sides to decide.

Sun Xi used his usual ring-handled sword, which was originally the sword of a member of the Dong family, and he stole it to use. The sword was hard and had a sharp blade. It was made a hundred years ago when Xiayang still had an iron official.

The ring-handled sword differed from the broad-bladed broadswords of later times. Its blade was slender, straight, and long, reaching over three feet in length. Its external differences from the Han sword lay primarily in the presence of a back, a blade stem, and a ring-handled blade. In practice, its use was not much different from the Han sword, and it could still be used for stabbing. Therefore, at this time, people still used to refer to the two swords together.

The Zhaowu Sword used by Liu Xian was a typical four-sided Han sword, four feet and three inches (1.1 meters) long and less than two inches wide. It was beautifully decorated and inscribed with inscriptions. Traditionally, such a precious sword was usually used as a ceremonial object, as damage was difficult to repair. However, this sword, used by the renowned general Duan Yu, was crafted from the finest refined iron of the time, making it both strong and flexible. It remained Liu Xian's irreplaceable weapon.

As the crowd dispersed, the tables in the hall were moved away, and the place suddenly seemed spacious and peaceful. The people around them watched nervously as the two men stood in the middle of the field, each holding a weapon, staring at each other.

Liu Xian held the sword in his left hand and stopped ten steps away from Sun Xi. He then nodded to Sun Xi and said, "Chief Sun, please give me your guidance."

Sun Xi, observing Liu Xian's sword-holding posture, also had a serious expression on his face. He had originally held Liu Xian in contempt, but now, seeing Liu Xian's posture, he understood that he was a master swordsman with a long history of training. He no longer dared to look down on him. He slowly stood with his sword in hand, bowed solemnly, and said, "Swords have no eyes. Please be careful, my lord."

After these words were spoken, the fight officially began.

Because the fight was not formal, no one gave the order. After each side made a sword gesture, they looked at each other coldly.

Sun Xi adopted a common mid-sword stance, not intending to attack first. Even though he considered himself sufficiently respectful of Liu Xian, he still subconsciously believed he was stronger. So he watched Liu Xian quietly, intending to let him make the first move, and then strike back.

However, what he did not expect was that Liu Xian actually used the left-handed sword-holding style. In this style of holding the sword, the left arm rotates inward, the palm faces backward to hold the hilt, and the palm is placed against the sword guard, so that the flat surface of the sword is against the forearm and hangs down behind the left arm.

This sword-holding method is also a preemptive strike, as it conceals one's own sword path, but it also leaves the center of the body wide open, leaving only the ability to evade the opponent's attacks through footwork. Generally speaking, this method of holding the sword is only used when one believes the opponent is weaker than oneself.

This made Sun Xi feel both amused and confused, and he thought: This young man is so arrogant!

Since he is unwilling to take action, I will teach him a lesson.

Sun Xi approached slowly with a ring-handled sword in hand, while Liu Xian still walked with a sword on his back, slowly circling around him, his eyes calm and indifferent, as if he didn't take Sun Xi seriously at all.

Sun Xi hesitated for a moment, but he still trusted his own strength and didn't believe he would lose to a young man. He immediately slid forward and pounced. He thrust his sword straight at Liu Xian's face, his speed as fast as lightning and his momentum as fierce as a tiger. But when he reached Liu Xian, he paused without warning.

He was confident that Liu Xian could not withstand this attack, but at the same time he did not want to kill Liu Xian, so he thought of showing mercy, making some feints to test Liu Xian's ability, and then getting away with it.

But to his surprise, the move that he thought was sure to win seemed extremely slow in Liu Xian's eyes. He still did not draw his sword, but just took a triangular step to the side and passed Sun Xi's field of vision very naturally. The sword in his hand did not change at all, and Sun Xi's plan came to nothing.

The failure of the tactical plan made Sun Xi feel a little frustrated, but he was also a veteran of battles. Since he could not trick Liu Xian's sword momentum, he did not take advantage of the momentum to rush forward. Instead, he took a triangle step and tried to turn behind Liu Xian at a faster speed, and use the ring-handled knife to cut Liu Xian's left hand holding the sword from the side.

This was still a merciful move. If one truly intended to kill, one should attack the opponent's least prepared side. Liu Xian was fully aware of this, and he thought: If I don't show off my skills, the opponent might still underestimate me. So, I might as well go for it.

So this time he didn't dodge, but instead counterattacked with his backhand. Sun Xi was delighted to see this, and immediately increased the strength of his wrist, trying to knock the Zhaowu Sword out of Liu Xian's hand with this blow.

However, to his surprise, Liu Xian's sword seemed to have a spirit. With just a shake of his hand, the Zhaowu sword held upside down drew an arc in his palm, and Liu Xian instantly changed to a spiral-grip sword-holding style.

Liu Xian was not going to fight with Sun Xi. He was determined to shock Sun Xi with one strike, so the sword tip flew into the knife light like a silver swallow, but there was no collision sound. Instead, it seemed as if it had no power of its own and rotated in the air with the blade.

Sun Xi was shocked by this. This was a very difficult and famous sword twist in swordsmanship. The swordsman had to completely discern the opponent's sword movement, then insert the blade into the opponent's sword movement. Using the intersection of the sword and the blade as the point of force, the sword could directly change the direction of the opponent's attack through wrist strength, thus transforming the slash into a simple twist.

The tangle technique appears simple: simply two people twisting their wrists and twisting their swords together. However, it's actually incredibly difficult to control. Both the ring-handled sword and the Han sword have long, slender blades, making it difficult to control the center of gravity. This makes mastering the technique incredibly challenging, and it's difficult to exert the proper force when striking. Consequently, this technique was gradually phased out in favor of broad, curved broadswords.

But correspondingly, if one really practices to the level of unity between man and sword, and uses the sword as easily as fingers and arms, the upper limit of this kind of sword is very high. Liu Xian used the twisting sword simply to use his proficiency in swordsmanship to disrupt Sun Xi's control over the blade, and finally seize the initiative to attack.

Although Sun Xi had sparred with many people, this was the first time he had seen such swordsmanship. His first reaction was to draw his sword back, but every time he took a step back, Liu Xian took a step forward, and every time he took a step forward, Liu Xian took another step back, and they couldn't separate.

He also knew that with the swords so tightly entangled, if he rashly drew his blade, he would likely leave a huge gap, allowing Liu Xian to stab him. So in this situation, whether he wanted to or not, he could only follow Liu Xian in the back-and-forth tangle of swords.

This time, he completely fell into Liu Xian's rhythm. His left wrist twisted faster and faster. Through the blade, he could almost clearly feel that the opponent's strength had begun to disperse and could hardly keep up with his rhythm. If he sped up even a little bit, he might be able to twist the opponent's ring-handled sword away. But Liu Xian just slowed down at this moment, reducing the speed of twisting the sword. Sun Xi breathed a sigh of relief. After gradually grasping the hilt of the sword, he finally pulled the ring-handled sword out of his hand. After taking several steps back, he finally stood up and regrouped.

Liu Xian did not pursue him. He drew the Zhaowu sword in his hand across an arc again, then returned to his previous close-fitting grip and looked at Sun Xi leisurely.

At this time, everyone present saw that in the competition between the two, Sun Xi was the first to move and Liu Xian was the last to move, but it was Liu Xian who mastered the entire rhythm. This showed that the new county magistrate's swordsmanship had reached an extremely high level, and Sun Xi could not be compared with him at all.

Xue Xing was born into the Xue family in Hedong, so he naturally had martial arts training. When he saw Liu Xian's swordsmanship, he certainly understood the mystery of it. For example, this sword-twisting move, if his swordsmanship was not three levels higher than his opponent's, he would never be able to use it.

This made him feel like drinking fine wine, and he couldn't help but sigh to his companions: "The county lord's swordsmanship is almost divine. Even if you look across the world, there are no more than ten people who can beat him."

When the horse thieves on the side heard this, they also talked a lot, but no one refuted it. Obviously, they had never seen such a level of swordsmanship, so they could only accept this conclusion.

Although Sun Xi, who was in the arena, had no idea what was being said outside, he could guess what was going on. After taking a breath, he sighed to Liu Xian, "If we talk about martial arts, I'm afraid I've already lost to the county lord."

Liu Xian asked, "Oh, is Chief Sun planning to admit defeat?"

"Of course not!" Sun Xi laughed and said, "Didn't I say before that when we're horse thieves, courage is our top priority, so I'll have to fight!"

After saying that, he took a long breath, held the ring-handled sword in both hands, raised the tip of the sword above his head, and made a standard chopping start.

Liu Xian did not dare to be negligent. He knew that Sun Xi had held back before, but now, the other party was ready to fight to the death.

With a loud shout, Sun Xi pounced again. This time, his movements did not stop at all, and he slashed at Liu Xian like thunder.

Although Liu Xian's swordsmanship was superb, his right hand was powerless at this moment, so he could only rely on his left hand to block Sun Xi's slashing blows, which was undoubtedly extremely strenuous. So he retreated while using the Zhaowu Sword to continuously block the opponent's attacks.

Sun Xi's bloodlust was truly aroused at this moment. No matter how Liu Xian countered with his swordsmanship, he ignored him. Once his blade was blocked by the opponent, he immediately withdrew his ring-handled sword and launched a second slash without stopping. It was like a wave rushing in. Even if it hit a dam, there would be successors to continue the attack, beating the dam to the point of collapse.

This was the state he only reached when he was in a frenzy during a life-or-death duel. He didn't care who his opponent was, nor did he care if he would get hurt. He only wanted to use every blow to shatter the obstacles before him. In previous clashes between bandits, he had earned a reputation for brutality thanks to this reckless fighting style.

In Liu Xian's opinion, this sword technique was truly deadly. He chopped down continuously from above, though with minimal variation—either a direct slash at the neck or a direct chop at the crown of the head—the opponent's unwavering will allowed him to hold the sword with incredible stability, and his speed was incredibly fast, leaving him with little room for maneuver. He could only counter with blow after blow, then use his footwork to absorb the force.

This wasn't the way to go. If he kept fighting like this, he wouldn't be able to stop. If he accidentally injured or even killed the enemy, even if he won and gained their surrender, they would probably be resentful and wouldn't obey his orders.

Liu Xian had planned to completely subdue the Longmen horse bandits from the beginning. Even when he was fighting for his life, he did not give up this idea.

Liu Xian had no choice but to take the risk. He quickly made up his mind, deliberately slowed down his pace, and slightly reduced the force of the knife he had blocked, giving Sun Xi a flaw in the middle of the door.

Sun Xi, now completely absorbed in his actions, instantly recognized this opportunity. Almost instinctively, he slashed with his sword, forcing Liu Xian back. Then, he switched his sword's momentum, switching from a chop to a thrust, and let out another shocking roar:

"what--!"

Sun Xi roared at Liu Xian like a tiger, and the momentum that had been accumulated for a long time erupted like a volcano. After shrinking his body slightly, he suddenly stabbed towards Liu Xian's throat with a resolute posture!

This stab was like a moth flying into a flame, seeking its own destruction. The sharp blade suddenly enlarged rapidly in front of Liu Xian's eyes!
This was the strongest blow the opponent had used after pouring all his energy into it. It also reflected all the insights Sun Xi had gained from fighting for life and death over the past few years. It was so shocking that it went straight to the heart, giving Liu Xian the illusion that there was no escape.

But true bravery does not mean sacrificing one's own life, but the awareness of being willing to fight death even after truly understanding the fear of death!

Liu Xian had already thought of a way to deal with the situation. He no longer simply avoided the enemy, but chose to fight back and attack.

This move was extremely risky. He actually chose to slide forward while suddenly turning sideways, almost completely hiding the Zhaowu sword in his hand. Then he completed a half-flip in the air. This sudden change of direction made the opponent stunned for a moment, and then lost the direction of attack.

It was just this brief moment of distraction that prevented Sun Xi from putting away his knife and changing direction, and Liu Xian almost bumped into him. At this critical moment, Liu Xian took advantage of the opportunity to turn around and unexpectedly used his left elbow as a weapon to hit Sun Xi's chest.

Liu Xian's elbow strike was completed almost in the instant of turning around, and in Sun Xi's eyes, Liu Xian seemed to have suddenly traveled through time and space, his blade missed, and then he appeared directly in front of him.

After a dull thud, Liu Xian landed firmly on his feet. Sun Xi, struck by an elbow, felt a wave of nausea and could not help but slowly fall to his knees, supporting himself with his hands and gasping for breath, as if he were about to vomit.

Xue Xing and the others were overjoyed upon witnessing this scene. After this move, the outcome was clearly decided. Anyone who witnessed this fight would agree that Liu Xian had triumphed decisively. The bandits looked at Liu Xian with awe and admiration. Sun Xi had been a leader for so long, his abilities well known, yet he had been completely defeated by Liu Xian. This inevitably left them in disbelief.

Liu Xian was the first to recover. He looked back at Sun Xi, who was kneeling before him, and couldn't help but sigh inwardly: This is truly a warrior who dares to fight to the death. No wonder the county government had been unable to eliminate him before. If he could subdue him, he would definitely be a great help in his future career!

Ever since his time in the imperial prison, he has made up his mind to try his best to gain the approval of everyone, even his enemies, let alone those he wants to recruit.
But to attract the other party, the first thing to do is to respect the other party.

He walked over, extended his hand to Sun Xi, and said sincerely, "Chief Sun, thank you for your guidance."

After this round of attack, Sun Xi was really exhausted. He looked up at Liu Xian, looked into his bright and calm eyes, lowered his head and thought for a moment, then asked:
"Why didn't you use your right hand the whole time? Do you look down on me?"

Liu Xian shook his head and smiled helplessly:

"Half a year ago, I fought a fierce battle with a strong man and nearly died. In the end, he broke my right arm. I'm still recovering from it. Please forgive me, Chief Sun."

Hearing this answer, Sun Xi let out a long breath, slowly put down the ring-handled sword in his hand, reached out and shook Liu Xian's hand, and said sullenly, "There are always people better than you! I am not as skilled as you, and I am convinced. From now on, I will sell my life to you, the county lord."

This was exactly what Liu Xian had been waiting to hear. He was overjoyed and said with a smile, "What's the point of being willing to sacrifice your life? I asked Chief Sun to come down the mountain because I wanted to restore peace to the people of Xiayang. I mean this, and the sun and the moon can bear witness to my words and my heart!"

Sun Xi stopped mocking her this time, as if he truly believed what she said. He continued, "I heard that the county lord is a young man from Luoyang, so he must be from a famous family. I wonder which heroic family his ancestors were from?"

When this question was asked, everyone present couldn't help but prick up their ears. Except for Xue Xing who was extremely confused, everyone was very curious about the answer.

Liu Xian smiled slowly and said, "My name is Liu Xian, courtesy name Huai Chong. I am from the Liu family of Zhuo Commandery. I was taught by Lord Chen Shou of Anhan and Lord Xiao Ruan of Chenliu. I am the eldest son of Lord Anle and a descendant of Emperor Zhaolie."

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(End of this chapter)