Chapter 248

Ye Guhong was furious at the pier, currently bleeding, and angrily beheaded dozens of foreign monks to retrieve the coffin of Lu’s wife and child on his behalf.

Lu was grateful, but also knew that he had caused a big problem. He quickly sold his property and escaped under an alias.

Before leaving he gave Ye Guhong and his apprentice two fine horses as a gift, and also issued an official document certifying that the horses were permitted for riding by the Yangzhou magistracy for official business.

It is not clear when this document became invalid once Lu fled.

Ye Guhong and his apprentice did not linger in Yangzhou for long. After receiving the horses, they headed north directly, and in ten days or so, they passed through Hongze, crossed the Huai River and the Bian River, and arrived in Shandong.

That year, there was a severe drought in Shanxi and Henan. Refugees from Zhangde Prefecture (the area around Hebi and Anyang) in Henan fled to Shandong to escape the famine. The strong and capable among them joined forces with local strongmen in Shandong, and for a time, bandits sprang up everywhere, and it was not uncommon to see people storming prefectures and cities.

The Yuan court saw that the local officials in Shandong were not doing enough to suppress the rebellion, and in the fifth year of the Zhizheng reign period, they appointed Pu Yan Buhua, the top scholar of the imperial examinations, as the Shandong Xuanwei Shi, with the rank of zongguan (grand secretary) and in charge of military and political affairs in the province.

This person Since taking office, he has been ineffective in several battles, so he asked the veteran general Wang Ying to join him.

Wang Ying was a native of Qingzhou, Shandong, and was born with superhuman strength. He was skilled in using double swords, and back in those days, he fought his way through the underworld, earning the title of 鈥淜ing of Swords鈥�. Later, he joined the army, charging into battle and slaying generals with ease, and was known throughout the country for his bravery.

This person served in the Yuan army for decades, earning countless merits, and rose to the rank of general of Huaiyuan and deputy prefect of Hainan and Hainan Prefecture. Due to old age, he retired to his hometown to enjoy his retirement.

Speaking of this person, he is related to Ye Guhong 鈥�

Back then, the Tartars slaughtered Ye’s village because Ye Yuanwai sent a large sum of money and grain via the Gan River to Zhangzhou to support Li Sheng’s rebellion against the Yuan.

At that time Li Sheng defeated the coalition army of the four provinces, killing Pingzhang Bie Buhua of Zhejiang. The Yuan court had no choice but to recruit Wang Ying to lead the army. That year was the same year that Ye Kuhong joined the Emei Sect. Wang Ying was already 75 years old. He received an imperial decree and led more than ten generals to Zhangzhou. Along the way, he defeated the enemy and won many battles. The rebel forces of Li Sheng of Zhangzhou and Liu Huzai of Chaozhou were all defeated.

Now now, this old Wang Ying is already 85 years old. He was not promoted by Pu Yan Buhua, but in his old age, he once again wielded a pair of swords and killed the heroes of all walks of life in Shandong.

One day, Pu Yan Buhua received a letter, handwritten by Yang Lianzhenjia, the general manager of the Buddhist sect. It said that the head of Emei Mountain, Master Mie Jie, would arrive in Shandong in the near future, and it was also said, 鈥淚 fear that the evil nun wants to do what Monk Peng did.鈥�

Pu Yan If this man is not talented in both literature and martial arts, and if he used to travel around under an alias before passing the imperial examinations and becoming the top scholar, he is very familiar with the affairs of the world. After reading the letter, he thought to himself: Monk Peng is a figure of the Ming Sect. He has travelled from Jiangxi to Henan, stirring up trouble everywhere, determined to overthrow the Yuan dynasty. I heard that the Ming Sect suffered a great loss in Emei Mountain a few years ago, so I’m afraid this nun, Monk Miejie, is determined to compete with the Ming Sect. I’ve heard that Shandong has been unstable recently, so she’s come here especially to stir up trouble!

The more the more he thought, the more logical it seemed. He also thought that if he could use his prestige to subdue the heroes, then the various factions in Shandong that did not submit to each other could be unified, and that would not be a problem for the Yuan court.

So he immediately sent someone to invite Wang Ying to come and see him. Wang Ying, upon learning this, brought his son Wang Hong to the Xuanwei Prefecture Office. The two parties sat down, and Pu Yan Buhua then showed him the letter.

Wang Ying was furious when he read the letter, slammed his hand down on the table, and shouted in a stern voice, 鈥淓vil nun, it’s fine for her to run rampant in western Sichuan, but how dare she show her face in my Shandong? Hmph, the Emei Sect has become quite famous in recent years, and I’d like to meet her to see if she still has any real talent left, like the Guo family of Xiangyang did back in the day!鈥�

His son Wang Hong saw his father get angry and quickly said, 鈥淔ather, why use a sledgehammer to crack a nut? If Zhang the Taoist from Wudang Mountain came down the mountain, your skill would complement his, but a mere Emei nun, my son will bring back her head.鈥�

Wang Hong was over 50 years old, and had inherited his father’s mastery of the sword. He had never met an opponent in his life, and was known in the army as 鈥淟ittle King of the Sword鈥�.

Pu Yan Buhua was gratified to see the arrogance of the two men, and took the opportunity to crack a joke: 鈥淟ittle King of the Sword mentioned Zhang Laodaoshi, and I also think of it. Recently, I heard that Zhang Laodaoshi fought against the three Shaolin monks last year and showed off his ability to ride the clouds and ride the mist.鈥�

Wang Ying was taken aback, and glanced at his son. The father and son both laughed heartily.

Wang Ying stroked his white beard and pointed at Pu Yan Buhua, chuckling, 鈥淐hampion, you have also travelled the rivers and lakes, so how is it that you don’t know the tricks of the con men of the rivers and lakes? The way of martial arts, when practiced to the scale of an old man like me, has reached the pinnacle. As for levitating through the clouds, it must be some kind of trick to blind the eye. It’s just those foolish men and women. How could even you, Champion, fall for it?鈥�

Pu Yan Bu Hua explained: 鈥淭he person who told me about this matter heard it from Xia Shou, the Thunderbolt, himself. Xia Shou saw it with his own eyes, so how could it be false?鈥�

Wang Ying said disdainfully, 鈥淴ia is just a man of empty reputation. He also likes to consort with the rebels. If we catch him in the act, we will destroy his entire family sooner or later.鈥�

He waved his hand again and said, 鈥淎fter the Shandong campaign is over, I will go to Wudang Mountain in person and ask the old Taoist priest to come to the capital to pray for the emperor’s blessings. At that time, if he tries anything funny, I will expose him. We don’t need to pay much attention to him. Just tell me, how many people are there in this nun who can destroy disasters?鈥�

Pu Yan Buhua said, 鈥淚 heard that she only brought one disciple with her, but she is quite famous. Her name is something like 鈥楨mei Golden Boy鈥�.

Wang Ying sneered, 鈥滼ust by her name, she is a pretender. Don’t worry about her. This nun is so bold, she dares come to my hometown to start a wildfire with just one disciple. Since she is relying on the reputation of the head of Emei to cause trouble, I will ruin her reputation. Scholar, you tell the officials of each prefecture and county to go to the rivers and lakes and spread the word that my son, Little Knife King, wants to take her head outside Tai’an City, and then hang a notice in front of the gates of each prefecture and county, just write the eight characters: 鈥淒estroying the nun who caused the disaster, beheaded in Tai’an!鈥�

Pu Yan was overjoyed: 鈥淓xcellent, old general! In this way, if she dares not come, her reputation will be ruined, and no one among the bandits will obey her. If she dares to come, hahaha, the reputation of Little Knife King will surpass that of her, and it will be right in front of our eyes.鈥�

The three men agreed and laughed together.

Within two days, outside the city of Qufu, Master Mie Jie and Ye Guhong were about to enter the city when they suddenly stopped and frowned. 鈥淭he reward notice by the city walls seems to be written in my Dharma name? Guhong, let’s go and take a look.鈥�

The master and disciple walked over and saw that there was a large piece of rice paper, heavily inked, with eight large characters: 鈥淣un Mie Jie, beheaded in Tai’an.鈥�

Below, in small print, it read: 鈥淲ang Hong, the Dagger King, awaits the arrival of the Emei Sect leader at the Hero Building outside Tai’an City.

After reading this, Ye Ku-hong was furious and shouted, 鈥漌hat kind of person is this Wang Hong? How dare he make such a reckless remark? Lonesome Crane, what do you think?鈥�

Ye Guhong’s eyes swept past the sneaky officials and constables in the distance, and he smiled slightly, 鈥淢aster, it must be that we killed the foreign monk in Yangzhou and revealed our tracks. Hey, I deliberately used a single sword to kill someone, but I still couldn’t avoid being recognized by someone with a heart! As for this Wang Hong, he must be the best among the government’s henchmen.鈥�

When she heard this, Mie Jie’s anger subsided a little, and she couldn’t help laughing: 鈥淎 poor nun like me, with a handsome young guy like you, it’s rare to find such an old and young pair in the world of martial arts, and it’s not hard to be guessed.

Ye Guhong laughed: 鈥榃hat old and young? It’s obviously a beautiful young guy.鈥�

Mie Jie laughed loudly, and the other half of her anger also disappeared. She scolded, 鈥漇top talking nonsense! Fine, since you have named and challenged me, if I don’t go, won’t that be a disgrace to Emei?”

He glanced at the notice again and nodded, 鈥楢t least it’s not in the city! Hmph, Hero Building, since it’s outside the city, even if he has thousands of troops lying in wait, with my Heavenly Sword, I can kill them all.鈥�

The two, originally heading towards Liangshan to cross the Yellow River, saw the notice and simply strode off, heading for Mount Tai.