The Emperor Reigns Them All

Chapter 196 Heroes Who Were Originally Strangers

They started the conversation at the same time, and both of them felt a little embarrassed. But after all, Zhu Wen was a ruffian before. He had a bold and forthright disposition. Immediately, he stood up while laughing out loud. Li Ye was also a person who came from the earth such that he didn’t have so many scruples, either. So he also stood up to meet him.

By giving a salute to each other, they eliminated the embarrassment between them naturally. Zhu Wen invited Li Ye to sit with them, and Li Ye agreed. After all, talking with each other while sitting on two tables was still too inconvenient.

When Zhu Wen and Li Ye met each other, they liked each other. The first impression was crucial. Both of them felt that there was no dissatisfaction between them.

But Zhu Zhen did not like Li Ye that much. Instead, he thought that the three beauties were very pleasing to the eye. In fact, since Zhu Zhen entered the shed, he had fixed his eyes on Song Jiao and others. Unlike Zhu Wen, who was not interested in delicate little ladies, Zhu Zhen looked them up and down with great interest.

Song Jiao looked up and saw Zhu Zhen whose saliva was going to flow out staring at her. She could not help revealing a seductive and fascinating smile. With a charming voice, she asked him, “Am I beautiful?”

Zhu Zhen had never seen a woman behave like this in front of him. He had gone throughout military expeditions all over the country. Which of those delicate little beauties didn’t scream and escape upon seeing them? It seemed that she took his soul at once, and he repeatedly nodded while smiling ashamedly. “Yes, you are. You are beautiful.”

Unexpectedly, Song Jiao’s look turned cold all of a sudden, and the intention to kill popped up in her eyes. “If you dare look again, I will gouge your eyes out!”

If she were an ordinary woman, her words would not have a deterrent effect on Zhu Zhen and would add her a unique charm instead. Although Zhu Zhen was not in a high position like Zhu Wen. He had seen the world after so many battles throughout the length and breadth of the country so that he had an excellent temperament and matchless courage.

However, at this moment, Song Jiao did not reveal her cultivation or majesty, but only her murderous look and the ice-cold imposing manner she showed suddenly were enough to make others keep their heads down. Zhu Zhen felt as if he had seen a pair of wolf-eyes. Immediately, a surge of coolness rose in his heart. He could not help but take a step back.

After he retreated, Zhu Zhen abruptly turned angry from embarrassment. “In any case, I am a man who is good at killing, and I have survived after killing a great many people. How can I be afraid of a female cultivator?” Thinking of which, he took a step forward with his left hand holding the handle of his saber. He whizzed his saber 10 cm out while staring at Song Jiao. “What did you say?!”

Zhu Zhen started the fight in a violent rage, which was almost an instinctive reaction. As a trusted subordinate of Zhu Wen, he was not a nice fellow to deal with. Whenever he was annoyed and had no intention of fighting for real, he would step forward and whiz his saber to intimidate others. His sudden move was very intimidating.

Of course, if he intended to fight against someone, Zhu Zhen would not pull his saber 10cm out with his left hand. Instead, he would unsheathe his sword across with his right hand.

Originally, Zhu Zhen wanted to reproach her with a few more words to suppress her imposing manner. However, he failed to finish after merely saying one sentence. It was not because someone stopped him, but because Song Jiao looked at him with unparalleled confidence and domineering manner as if she was watching a dead man.

Anyhow, Zhu Zhen was a man who had experienced lots of battles so that he got the basic judgment. She could never fake such an expression in her eyes and the manner she revealed because the strength always matched up with people’s expressions and manners. Her reaction made Zhu Zhen stunned instantly. He had developed a powerful instinct through numerous killings in various battlefields. Thus, he felt a strong sense of crisis as if a master in the military poked a long spear right in eyes.

The palm of Zhu Zhen’s hands broke out in a cold sweat. He no longer dared to make any reckless move and froze on the spot.

Zhu Wen and Li Ye did not have any intention to fight, but their trusted subordinates had already taken the lead to have a conflict. Undoubtedly, Song Jiao won this time. She didn’t even turn a hair when Zhu Wen pulled out his saber. She won by great superiority.

Zhu Wen could not remain calm because of the shame. But Zhu Zhen did the impolite thing first. Hence, Zhu Wen certainly would not think that there was anything wrong about Song Jiao’s behavior. “After all, she is a great beauty. As a man, Zhu Zhen kept staring at her right in front Li Ye who was with her. Of course, it was not appropriate.” Seeing Zhu Zhen bring shame on himself, Zhu Wen reproach, “Retreat!”

By taking this opportunity, Zhu Zhen quickly got out of the embarrassing situation. His left hand loosened the saber handle, and he went back to Zhu Wen. At this time, his back was already all cold.

Zhu Wen actually saved him from the embarrassment. Although Song Jiao did not show her cultivation and strength, her ferocious look and deterrent force still made him feel uncomfortable all over. Zhu Zhen almost lost his breath. It was the sharp instinct of a much experienced veteran general toward an expert on the battlefield. If he dashed around madly on the battlefield and went to challenge the real strong expert without this kind of instinct, he would have been dead many times.

Zhu Wen scolded Zhu Zhen. Li Ye also had to show them some respect. So he turned back and said Song Jiao, “Have some tea.”

As a friendly gesture, Li Ye muddled through and ended this thing without due care. He certainly would not scold Song Jiao, who did nothing wrong.

“I didn’t well restrain my subordinate. I hope that you do not mind.” By cupping his hands, Zhu Wen saluted Li Ye as an apology.

“Well, never mind. The desire to look attractive is universal.” Seeing him act so sensible, Li Ye naturally was happy to be respectable and smiled at him.

Zhu Wen noticed that Li Ye was a magnanimous man. Zhu Zhen offended his beauty. Not only didn’t he be angry, but also he said those words with a strong affinity. His good impression of Li Ye abruptly increased a lot. With a much sincerer smile, he asked. “How should I address you, Childe?”

“I’m Li Jing. I don’t know how I should call you?”

Of course, Zhu Wen would not be stupid enough to say his real name. “My name is Zhu Zhen. Zhen means the pearl.”

“Zhu Zhen and the pearl! What a nice name!” Li Ye could not help laughing.

The real Zhu Zhen, who stood behind Zhu Wen, looked at Zhu Wen with hidden bitterness. “You can use my name, of course. After all, you are the general. So I will not say anything about that. But you deliberately emphasized ‘Zhen’ means the pearl. You were clearly teasing me.”

As a matter of fact, Li Ye had heard the name “Zhu Zhen.” Zhu Zhen was a famous high-ranking officer under Zhu Wen’s command. He was not a nobody.

Li Ye and Zhu Wen started to chat.

Li Ye said that he was from the Central Plains. He took this trip only to travel around Jianghu. He also wanted to see if the scene of the battle between two armies was as bloody and passionate as it was described in the poem. Zhu Wen immediately expressed admiration toward him. He also said he envied that Li Ye had such a free and courageous spirit to go around Jianghu with the sword. Then he asked Li Ye what he saw in the Central Plains. Had Li Ye seen any main forces movements? Whether or not had he heard of any news about Commissioner of Pinglu?

Surely Li Ye patted his chest and promised that he had never seen any movements. He had never heard of any news about that, either.

Zhu Wen claimed himself to be a junior colonel under Zhu Wen’s command. This time, he was here to go on a tour of defense inspection. Upon hearing his words, Li Ye first praised the rebels and said that they were really mighty and invincible. Then, he attempted to get the answers to his questions in a roundabout way. Li Ye asked how many military forces Dengzhou had, what their next plan was, whether they had reinforcements or not, and so on.

Likewise, Zhu Wen patted his chest and said that the army was in excellent state. Moreover, many senior generals in the army were coming here quickly from Guanzhong. Later on, they would go south, and so on.

When they were talking barefaced nonsense, both of them looked directly into each other’s eyes with faces that could not be sincerer.

Song Jiao secretly slandered Li Ye that he was more and more shameless now while Zhu Zhen sighed with feeling in his heart. “Zhu Wen can speak more confidently when he lies than when he tells the truth.”

In the end, Zhu Wen and Li Ye thought that they had outwitted each other. Meanwhile, they could not wholly believe the words said by the other.

The conversation should have ended here. However, after each of them said pages of nonsense, they liked each other even more. They all regretted that they had not known each other before.

Zhu Wen envied Li Ye, who was free and easy as a cultivator in Jianghu. And Li Ye exclaimed that generals of this era had unparalleled elegant demeanor. When they had the conversation, they started to talk about the general situation of the world.

Li Ye sighed. “They all said that the disturbance of the world was the result of people’s thoughts of rebellion. Well, I don’t agree. I think that the misconduct behaviors of the emperor and the corruption of officials were the reasons for the chaos of the world. When an emperor lost his virtues, he would begin to neglect state affairs. Meanwhile, the emperor would associate with petty people and stay away from worthy officials. Then, the evil governors would rule the state. At that time, officials would fight each other for power and gain, which actively promoted corruption and the misuse of the law. When more and more officials took bribes and bent the law, the social order and law would no longer exist. Under the evil social influence like that, all the officials in the country would only want to extort the hard-won possession of the people. They would make all the efforts to suck up to their leaders. At the same time, they would fawn upon their superiors and insult their subordinates. As a result, they make people’s life even harder. When the people had no way to live, their hatred toward the imperial court would reach to the extreme. At this time, when those rebellious heroes raised their hands and issued a rousing call, the people from all quarters would certainly answer the call.”

Zhu Wen’s eyes suddenly brightened because Li Ye’s words were quite to his taste. Immediately, he gasped in admiration. “Those persons, who said that the disturbance of the world was the result of people’s thoughts of rebellion, imposed the fault of a bad emperor to the common people. However, common people just want to have something to eat and live a stable life. What could be wrong with them? How bad could those people’s hearts be? They say that the people are evil, men are not what they were in times past, and the general moves are getting worse and worse. But these should be the faults of the emperor and the officials. The emperor governs the country, and the officials educated people of a place. They must make people well-educated and propriety-mined. Now that the moral degeneration of the world is getting worse day by day. Is that because the emperor doesn’t run the country well and the officials don’t properly govern the places they are in charge of?”

“Officials nowadays only know to flatter their superiors. With their heads full of their wealth and great future, they completely ignore the people’s demands. They have neither sought benefits for the people and fulfilled people’s barns, nor educated the people and let them know the etiquette. How can such an imperial court talk about where people’s loyalty lay? Now that people become bad and are lack of morals, which is doubtless the imperial court’s fault! How can such an imperial court not die?”

Li Ye saw that Zhu Wen was quite excited. Obviously, these words were from the bottom of his heart. Li Ye agreed with what he had said. Suddenly, they exchanged a glance. A sense of apprehension growing within them. Both of them felt that the other person quite suit their taste.

Li Ye asked, “Why did you join the army, general?”

Zhu Wen said, “At the beginning, I joined the army because I didn’t want to be a mediocre person. Later, when I really joined the army, I joined battles throughout the land. After I experienced many things and met lots of people in various places, I started to find answers to my questions. A bad imperial court will make the people suffer. It’s no big deal for a man to make achievements and become rich. A real man can change the scene of the whole country and let the people feel grateful for what he has done!”

Li Ye felt very touched in his heart. An ordinary officer could not say these words. Anyone who said these words must be a man whose mind was broad to a certain extent and whose ambition must be big enough.

Zhu Wen then asked Li Ye. “Childe, you are in Jianghu, so I guess you must have seen a great deal. I do not know what your opinion is about the main trend in the country today. Qi Empire’s emperor has claimed to rule the empire. Do you think that people from all quarters will acknowledge their allegiances to him?”

Zhu Wen wouldn’t ask people such a question casually. After he talked with Li Ye for such a long time, he had accepted Li Ye in his heart. Therefore, he asked such a question.

Li Ye had already thought about the question, and he knew the historical trend. Hence, he answered without hesitation. “You may not feel happy about my answer. Although Huang Chao has become the emperor, it is not easy for him to rule the world for real. If any insurgent force wants to rule all the land, it should first have an invincible army. Next, it should get a group of scholars who know how to govern the country and manage state affairs. Those military officers unify the whole country, and those civilian officials stabilize it. Not a single one can be omitted. However, two conditions are indispensable. Those rebels now...”