The Great Qin Empire---Qin Li

Nearly a hundred miles east of Anlu County, it has left the Jianghan Plain and entered the remnants of Dabie Mountain and Tongbai Mountain. In this rugged hilly area with low terrain, there are countless elms, pines and birches scattered around. They stand quietly like silent sentinels, and their barks are like old and rough armor, covered with green mosses like copper rust.

Shrubs and flowers grow in disorder on the ground. Some unknown small flowers grow everywhere, exuding a faint fragrance, attracting groups of insects. Little squirrels squat on branches, holding plump pine nuts and chewing them non-stop. In the air sprinkled with the afterglow of the sunset, there is a crisp bird song from time to time...

Everything is so peaceful and quiet, until a thin man appears!

He jumped out from behind a huge dead tree that fell, stepped heavily on the fallen leaves and branches, making a crackling sound, breaking the peace!

Birds flew away in panic, insects scattered, and even the little squirrel dropped its pine cone and retreated into the tree hole.

After the thin man ran past, everything seemed to have returned to calm. Just as the squirrel was trying to stick its head out, another person ran over!

It was a red-capped pavilion chief holding a crossbow, and it was Hei Fu!

There was no close fighting, and no conversation. After Hei Fu abandoned his horse and went up the mountain, he chased Ao all the way in the woods, playing a game of hunting and escaping.

He stared at the front, and Ao's figure was just 20 or 30 steps in front of him. Sometimes he disappeared, and sometimes he suddenly appeared, sometimes he was invisible. This man was very good at escaping, and he kept hiding behind the tree trunks, so that the crossbow in Hei Fu's hand could never hit him.

Hei Fu was initially worried about Ao's counterattack, but although he was carrying a bow, he didn't seem to have any arrows...

They climbed a gentle slope and went down the other side. Hei Fu's legs slowed down and accelerated with the terrain. The ground was full of tree roots and stones. The cloth shoes were too thin, and the soles of his feet were hurt. He heard that some local Pu Yue people in Nanjun could walk barefoot in the mountains as if they were walking on flat ground. How did they do it?

The forest in front was getting denser and denser, and there were more and more obstacles. Heifu could only let the branches whip his cheeks. A branch hooked the red hat and left it on it, like a conspicuous flag. Heifu didn't care to take it.

The pursuit of the two lasted for nearly a moment. Just when Heifu was accidentally stopped by a startled elk, he paused for a moment and thought he had lost Ao's trace again. After turning a corner, he suddenly found Ao who was trying to climb a big banyan tree by pulling the root...

Did he want to hide on the banyan tree and let Heifu continue to run forward foolishly? Unfortunately, he was a little slow.

Hei Fu was overjoyed and immediately drew his sword and pressed forward - he had already shot all his crossbow arrows during the chase...

The banyan tree grew on the top of this mound, and behind it was a deep ditch. If he fell into it, at least one leg would be broken. Ao seemed to find that he had no way to retreat, so he had to turn his head, take out the short knife in his mouth, cross it across his chest, and calmly watch Hei Fu's every move.

There were no tentative words. Both sides knew what kind of opponent they were facing and must not be distracted.

After a few breaths, Hei Fu was the first to swing his sword forward and collided with Ao's knife!

Clang!

The sound of metal and iron scared away more small animals, and also made Hei Fu realize that Ao was not very strong, but his body movements were extremely flexible. His knife was short and did not have an advantage in close combat, so when fighting with Hei Fu, he did not seek to actively attack, but kept dodging and retreating.

Hei Fu took advantage of the length of his two-foot sword, stabbing left and right, blocking Ao's possibility of escape, and forcing him to retreat under the banyan tree...

Ao seemed to be defeated, and soon leaned against the banyan tree, panting. Hei Fu immediately raised his sword and stabbed him fiercely!

Unexpectedly, at the critical moment, Ao blocked Hei Fu's sword with a knife, and his body suddenly fell to the side, grabbing an inconspicuous banyan vine with his hand! Just a sudden pull!

Hei Fu felt that something was tightly strangled on his legs, and then a strong force came, pulling him up and falling to the ground!

Just when Hei Fu was stunned by the fall, Ao continued to pull the tough vine root. Although he was not tall, he was very strong. Hei Fu actually put his feet on it and hung upside down! Hanging on the banyan branch!

…

"I've been hunting geese all day, but today I've been caught by a goose!"

At this moment, this is the sentence that Heifu can think of to describe his situation.

He is now two feet above the ground, upside down, with a noose made of banyan tree roots tied to his right ankle, which is now tied into a knot.

For someone familiar with the forest, such a small trap can be set in a short time. Heifu suddenly realized that Ao chose this place to fight in order to trick him into a trap?

Heifu turned his head and found that his sword had fallen to the side, out of reach. But don't panic, he still has a knife inserted in the foot of his leggings, which is Heifu's last hope of getting out...

"Heifu Pavilion Master, don't move."

But Ao was also approaching Heifu cautiously, and the broken bow had been drawn, with a crossbow arrow that Heifu shot at him, which Ao picked up from the ground.

Hei Fu had to temporarily give up the action of touching the knife, spread his hands, looked at Ao and said: "Are you going to kill me?"

Ao had a thin face, a small moustache under his chin, and was about twenty years old. Hei Fu did not expect that he was so young.

He kept a five-step distance cautiously: "To be honest with you, if I don't kill him, I'm afraid that after you get away, you will continue to hunt me down. By then, I'm afraid I won't be so lucky."

Hei Fu didn't want to beg for mercy, and sighed: "Then do it."

He didn't expect that his time-travel career would end so quickly. Being a policeman is indeed a high-risk profession. He should have been a bit scared just now. If this person ran away, he would run away. At most, he would be punished. Why chase him so closely?

Ao smiled again: "But even I have to admire the reputation of Heifu Pavilion Chief. If he is killed, there will be one less warrior in the world. Isn't it a pity?"

"So I won't hide it from Pavilion Chief. I am still hesitating whether to kill him or not."

"You are a strange person."

Heifu looked at Ao: "Whether you kill him or not, can you answer three questions for me first?"

Ao seemed to know Heifu's plan very well, but still nodded and said: "You can ask as long as you want."

"First of all, who are you?"

"I am just a small scholar who escaped from Chu State, a mediocre farmer who makes a living in Qin State."

"Hahaha, Ao, don't pretend at this time."

Heifu thought it was funny: "I have heard a saying that a talented person in the world is like an iron spike in a bag, its sharpness is immediately visible! With your ability, how could you become a fugitive? How could you be unknown in Qin for more than a year?"

It is true that a "Dragon Slaying Sword" like Han Xin, which can only be used to slaughter the world, is likely to be in a state of poverty in daily life.

But Ao is different. This person has extremely fast strategies, martial arts, and adaptability. If ordinary people have such talents, they can do well in Chu and Qin. Ao must have some special reason to hide himself among the ordinary farmers and not attract the attention of others until the necessary time, then he showed himself and shocked the whole county.

"You have carefully planned the murder case, and you have been ahead of the government in every step. The tactics you used are vaguely based on military tactics, and you have led half of the Qin officials in Anlu County by the nose. In the end, you even used yourself as bait to lure us to chase you. How could such a wise and brave person be a poor farmer with no food or clothing?" Hei Fu stared at the most difficult opponent he had seen since he came to this era and said: "If I am not mistaken, Ao. You are probably a trained Chu spy with a mission!" ... Ao pulled the bowstring in his hand tightly, and then relaxed it. He exclaimed: "The captain is indeed a capable official who has solved many major cases since taking office. Not only did he track me down step by step, but he was also able to guess my identity. I really admire him! Yes, I am the Chu spy who was ordered to sneak into Anlu County. I have been hiding my identity for more than a year. Now that the matter I want to find out has been found out, I naturally have to return to the country to report!"

"It is true!"

Hei Fu felt the blood rushing to his head and clenched his fists tightly.

"Second question, with your ability, you can escape quietly at any time. Why did you wait until now and take the other farmers with you? You even used yourself as bait to buy time for the six people who couldn't ride horses. Who are they? Are they also spies from Chu?"

When mentioning this, Ao's face was a little gloomy: "The captain guessed wrong. They are just ordinary people who can't survive in Chu."

"At the beginning, I mixed in with these Chu refugees and crossed the river to hide my identity. After coming to Qin, everyone found that there was no good life as rumored. There was not much difference between being in Qin or Chu. As a person whose country was destroyed, it was so difficult to be treated equally in a foreign country. So everyone regretted it and wanted to escape back to Chu. Although it was not much better there, it was at least their hometown and they had relatives."

"It's not difficult for me to leave alone, but if I leave them alone and get caught, we'll all be imprisoned. I didn't want to burden others, so I wanted to bribe the prison guard to forge a certificate for us, but he changed his mind halfway through..."

This is the cause of the whole case.

"It was also because I didn't handle it carefully enough. I didn't expect that Heifu Pavilion Chief would participate in the investigation. After the incident was exposed, not only did I implicate everyone, but also Shi Jun who trusted me. I knew that I couldn't save Shi Jun, so I could only rely on my own strength to give the Chu people who were traveling with me more opportunities to escape, and also make me feel less guilty. Someone who could ride a horse insisted on coming with me, but unfortunately died. I only hope that the other six people can arrive at Yunmengze smoothly."

Now, Heifu was even more puzzled: "Ao, you are really a weirdo. You were ruthless when you killed the prison gate and the hunter's wife, but when you burned the stables, you spared the lives of the stable officials and others, and even didn't burn the oxen, which seemed soft-hearted..."

"Moreover, as a Chu spy, you should have completed your mission first and ignored everything else, but you repeatedly took risks to save the Chu refugees and leave together. If you ask me, you are really a Chu spy who adds unnecessary details everywhere, which is confusing."

"The Pavilion Chief also knows the allusion of adding unnecessary details to the Chu State."

Ao was a little proud when Heifu pointed out his weakness: "The Chu people always act like this, they do what they should and don't do what they shouldn't."

"Heifu Pavilion Master, you should understand this. I heard that you cruelly brought more than a hundred people in Blind Mountain to justice, but in order to help an innocent public official, you gave him 4,000 coins for free. Isn't this also soft-hearted? It seems that you are also a person who adds unnecessary details!"

Heifu was stunned and said self-deprecatingly: "That's right, I have also done many contradictory things."

At this time, Ao seemed to have figured something out, and his expression relaxed: "Heifu Pavilion Chief, I have thought it through, and I will not kill you. First, my mother's family is the descendant of the Ruo'ao clan who moved eastward. You caught the tomb robber who robbed Dou Xin's tomb. The Ruo'ao clan owes you a favor, and I will repay it for them. Secondly, there are not many real scholars in this world. Without you, wouldn't it be more boring? Thirdly, although I am a Chu spy, you and I live in different countries and serve different masters, but killing you is not in my mission."

"Are you related to the Ruo'ao clan?" Heifu never thought that there was such a relationship, but he said hard: "You won't avenge the captured Shi?"

"The Pavilion Chief is just fulfilling the duties of a Qin official. I am sorry to Shi Jun and have implicated him. If I want to take revenge, I should commit suicide to apologize." Ao is very clear.

Heifu laughed: "Then I really have to thank you for not killing me. It's just that, Ao, you did something superfluous. You are really not a qualified Chu spy..."

"The captain is right to reprimand me. I am not qualified to be a spy."

Heifu deliberately said some useful and useless things to Ao. He was not idle either. He kept adjusting his body, turning his body to Ao's eyes so that he could not see the movement of his other hand. He took the opportunity when Ao was relaxed and quietly touched the knife on the foot...

Because he never put his life on the mercy of the enemy!

Two inches, one inch, the fingertips touched the iron ring of the handle, touched it!

Heifu was happy in his heart, but just when he finally grasped the handle and slowly pulled it out, the bowstring suddenly sounded!

"Bang!"

Ao, who was still smiling and talking about the reasons for not killing Heifu, shot the arrow without hesitation.

"It's over!"

Hei Fu's pupils suddenly contracted due to fear, and then he felt a sharp pain in his left calf!

Ao's archery skills were much better than Hei Fu's. An arrow penetrated into the leg flesh!

Heifu felt pain, and the knife in his hand fell again, falling into the pile of leaves. He struggled and cursed: "Ao, Chu Shi wants to break his promise?"

Ao had no arrows in his hand, so he put away his bow and smiled: "Heifu Pavilion Master, I don't intend to break my promise, but I will cripple your leg. Now you are injured, cover your wound well to stop the bleeding after you come down, and don't continue to chase me."

He looked up at the setting sun: "I also know your plan, deliberately delaying time so that your companions can arrive. This is not a good place to chat, Qin and Chu will fight soon, and you and I may meet again on the battlefield! By then, we will greet each other with weapons, and say goodbye!"

As he said this, Ao slowly retreated, and when he was more than ten steps away, he turned around and ran.

"Hey!"

Hei Fu didn't care about the blood on his leg. He shouted at Ao: "Is your real name Ao? Tell me your real name. I don't want to call you the wrong name when we meet on the battlefield in the future!"

"Yes, Ao, it's just my pseudonym."

He didn't even look back. He ran and roared among the trees in the sunset.

"Tingzhang, remember this. The one who spared your life today is Zhongli Mei from Chu!"

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