Tang Dynasty Bandits

Chapter 197 Return to camp
Zhu Wen tied Luo Yixian to a carriage and took her back to Fuzhou.

When it was time for Wang Shenzhi to return home, he bid farewell to Zhu Wen with his entourage, and took with him the goods he had purchased in Fujian, and returned to Huaibei.

When Zhu Wen returned to the Luoyan Capital camp with Luo Yixian, Huo Cun immediately ran to find Tian Jun, shouting, "The boss has brought back another great beauty..."

Tian Jun's expression changed instinctively.

When Zhu Wen brought Lan Suting and Tian Jun back, Duan Hongyan jokingly exclaimed that he was keeping a mistress in a golden house.

Now it was Tian Jun's turn to feel uncomfortable.

Zhu Wen had no time to pay attention to the women's thoughts when he arrived, because Zhu Cun told him with a serious expression that something big had happened to the group while Zhu Wen was away.

Just as his heart was at ease, Zhu Wen saw his second brother patting him on the shoulder nonchalantly: "It's alright, your second brother has already taken care of everything, hahahahaha..."

Zhu Wen immediately frowned and pretended to curse, "You damned second brother, you scared me half to death!"

He threw a punch, neither too hard nor too soft, which landed on Zhu Cun's shoulder.

Only after hearing Zhu Cunxu's account did Zhu Wen realize what had happened.

The Liu family of Cuiyan Sect is a branch of the Liu clan of Hedong. During the Battle of Dabie Mountain South, Liu Mengyan, the head of Cuiyan Sect, was called upon by Commander Yan to ambush the Cao army and was killed by Li Tangbin of Shangrang's troops.

The sect's headquarters was located on a precipice deep in the Wuyi Mountains, a place with rugged mountain paths that made it easy to defend and difficult to attack. Taking advantage of this, the Cuiyan Sect dispatched a large number of assassins to ambush and kill soldiers of the rebel army in and around Fuzhou City.

Most of the people in Cuiyanmen were women. Some of them pretended to be "Tofu Beauty" or "Pork Beauty" in front of the store, while others directly sold wine at the counter and invited customers behind closed doors. Whenever they encountered a man with an accent from another place, they would treat him as a bandit and trick him into the house. In the midst of the romantic atmosphere, with a flick of his slender hand, the man's head would roll away silently.

This tactic caused widespread panic in the Fuzhou area, and Huang Chao was furious.

The main altar of the Cuiyan Sect in Wuyi Mountain was difficult to attack, but Huang Chao calculated that since they were launching sabotage operations in Fuzhou, they must have a transit station in the mountains near Fuzhou.

They ordered a meticulous investigation, sacrificing several capable spies, before discovering a fortified mountain, carved into the Cuiqi Mountain southwest of Fuzhou. The mountain was filled with rooms, densely packed like a honeycomb. More than half of the elite members of the Cuiyan Sect were stationed there.

Huang Chao immediately gathered his elite troops and launched an attack on the mountain, intending to wipe out all these corrupt officials in one fell swoop.

The Cuiyan Gate had set up rolling logs and boulders outside the cave, and there were also traps such as crossbows and pitfalls inside. Relying on these traps, the gate was heavily fortified, making it easy to defend and difficult to attack.

However, even江湖 (jianghu, a term referring to the martial arts world) people are no match for the armored and armed warriors of the rebel army in a hard-fought battle. After a fierce and protracted war, the cave was completely captured by the rebel warriors. All the men were executed, and the women became spoils of war for the rebel army.

In addition, the mountain fortress was full of treasures. In order to compete for gold, silk and beautiful women, Shang Rang's subordinates and Zhu Wen's Luoyandu troops actually started arguing and fighting. In the end, they turned to face each other with their swords drawn, and more than ten people died on both sides.

In the chaos, Zhu Zhen was also caught off guard and smashed to the ground by Li Tangbin, the vanguard of Shang Rang's troops, who spat out blood.

Li Tangbin's sneak attacks with his hammer were extremely powerful. Back then, Liu Mengyan, the leader of the Cuiyan Sect, was hit on the head by Li Tangbin's hammer during a fierce battle, which knocked her unconscious and led to her capture and death.

In an instant, the soldiers of Luoyan were filled with righteous indignation, clamoring to kill Li Tangbin to avenge their defeat.

At the critical moment, Zhu Cun arrived. He first calmed his own soldiers down, then pretended to apologize to Li Tangbin. When Li Tangbin lowered his guard, Zhu Cun suddenly seized him, whipped him ten times in public, and killed two of Li Tangbin's personal guards before releasing him.

Since Shang Rang did not personally participate in the battle, after the matter was settled, Zhu Cun immediately went to Shang Rang's army camp, stripped off his upper body, carried a bundle of thorns on his back, and went to apologize to Shang Rang and Zhuo Ying.

"I, Zhu Erlang, am a rough man. In a moment of passion, I offended Alliance Leader Shang. If my brother were here, he would never have acted so thoughtlessly. I beg Alliance Leader Shang to whip me with a thorny branch until my skin is torn open, so that the brothers of the Zhenyi Alliance can vent their anger!"

Zhu Cun knelt in the courtyard where Shang Rang and Zhuo Ying lived, his neck stiff, and raised his voice. Shang Rang was currently poisoned and ill, so Zhuo Ying was handling most of the affairs. Zhuo Ying also owed Zhu Wen a favor, and with both of them present, Zhu Cun's request for an audience and his dignified manner made it difficult for Shang Rang to pursue the matter further.

He could only pull out a single bramble branch, gently place it on the ground, offer a few words of comfort to Zhu Cun, and that was the end of the matter.

Huo Cun praised, "The Second Chieftain is rough on the outside but meticulous on the inside, and he handles things very well. Now, even if the Zhenyi Alliance faction has any complaints, they won't be able to find fault with him on the surface!"

He was promoted by Zhu Cun when the Zhu brothers were bandits in Tongshan, Xuzhou, and he was used to calling Zhu Cun "Second Chief".

Zhu Cun just smiled sheepishly and didn't say a word.

Zhu Wen felt a surge of warmth in his heart as he thought about how he was lazy and had long entrusted a lot of administrative affairs to his second brother, Zhu Cun.

Zhu Wen was not ignorant of the intricacies of interpersonal relationships, but he never liked them, finding them too troublesome.

A major reason why Zhu Wen wanted to climb the ranks and gain power was that he hoped to no longer have to abide by many rules that he found troublesome!
The second brother, who appears simple-minded but is actually very thoughtful, has indeed silently shielded him from countless storms over the years in his own way.

A strange thought suddenly popped into Zhu Wen's mind.

What would happen if my second brother were gone?

The thought was so terrifying that it made him tremble slightly. He muttered to himself, "Zhu San'er, what nonsense are you thinking?"

Apart from Zhu Zhen, who was seriously injured by Shang Rang's general Li Tangbin, all the important figures of Luoyan Capital, including Zhu Cun, Huo Cun, Tian Jun, and Lan Suting, who served as the military advisor, came out to welcome the arrival of Luo Yixian.

A set of five-colored drinks was served, the most famous drink in the Tang Dynasty. It was originally created by a Zen master and is said to have some health benefits.

Fu Fang leaves are called green drinks, Xi Xi roots are called red drinks, cheese is called white drinks, plum juice is called black drinks, and cassia bark is called yellow drinks.

The five colors—green, yellow, red, white, and black—are vibrant and appealing, certainly stimulating the appetite. However, its health benefits remain to be seen.

Lan Suting poured Luo Yixian a cup of "Yellow Drink," which exuded a faint fragrance of osmanthus and tea, and said gently, "Jiang Du forced you to come here, I hope Sister Luo won't be too angry. Actually, Jiang Du is a very kind person..."

Luo Yixian coldly said, "A bet is a bet. Since I lost in a one-on-one fight, of course I will work for you for a while."

He then changed the subject: "But there has to be a time limit. Do you expect me to work my life away for the rest of my life?"

Zhu Wen smiled and said, "That's fine. As long as Fairy Luo cures the illness of Alliance Leader Shang of Zhenyi Alliance, and our army stays in Lingnan for two or three years to adapt to the miasma, Fairy's mission will be completed. At that time, wherever you want to go, our army will not stop you."

This time, Zhu Wen's troops and Shang Rang's side had finally formed a grudge. Zhu Wen thought to himself that inviting the Immortal Physician Luo to treat Shang Rang's illness would also do him a favor and ease the conflict between the two factions.

But as the saying goes, "every profession has its own secrets," and Zhu Wen was unaware at this time that he had greatly underestimated the severity of the miasma in Lingnan.

Luo Yixian's expression was aloof, and she nodded slightly.

Tian Jun leaned closer, scrutinizing Luo Yixian's face, which looked as if it had been sculpted from ice and snow. Suddenly, she brought her nose close and sniffed the other's scent.

Tian Jun had a habit of smelling other people's scents. Not long after she met Zhu Wen, she smelled him and commented that Zhu Wen smelled very good.

Zhu Wen thought to himself that Tian Jun went up to smell Luo Yixian, probably because the other party's icy temperament was somewhat similar to Yang Xingmi, whom she had known since childhood.

(End of this chapter)