[nsw-fic] The Legendary Zhuge Liang - VIII

[christos200]

Chapters:

 

The Legendary Zhuge Liang - I

 

The Legendary Zhuge Liang - II

 

The Legendary Zhuge Liang - III

 

The Legendary Zhuge Liang - IV

 

The Legendary Zhuge Liang - V

 

The Legendary Zhuge Liang - VI

 

The Legendary Zhuge Liang - VII

 

I hope that you will enjoy the story. )

 

The Legendary Zhuge Liang - VIII:

 

 

A few miles outside of Gong'an

 

The Taoist Priests Yao Jing and Liao Xiang travel to Gong'an in order to fulfill the task that their Teacher, Abbot Fong Yuen, gave them: to kill Zhuge Liang. In their way to Gong'an, they decide to rest in a inn. The two men enter the inn and sit on a wooden table.

 

"What will you take?" Xiang asks Jing.

 

"Some wine." Jing replies.

 

"Me too. I will go and order the waiter."

 

"No need. He will soon come."

 

"We are in a hurry."

 

Xiang gets up, talks for some while with the waiter and then returns to the table. Soon, the waiter serves them wine. When Jing drinks the wine, he starts feeling dizzy and falls on the ground. The last thing he sees before losing his consciousness is Xiang smiling and laughing.

 

The next morning

 

The next morning, Jing starts regaining his consciousness. But when he wakes up, he is surprised to see that he is lying on a bed naked with a woman sleeping besides him. Jing shouts "What are you doing here?!" to the woman. The woman leaves the room quickly and Xiang comes in.

 

"A Taoist Priest sleeping with a prostitute?" Xiang, with a smile in his face, asks. "What will Teacher and the rest of the world will say? 'The heir to Abbot Fong Yuen lusts after women.' Is this not what they will say?"

 

"You!" Jing, furious, shouts. "You drugged me!"

 

"You are really smart!"

 

Jing quickly puts on his Taoist robe and pulls out his long sword.

 

"I am going to kill you!" Jing threatens.

 

"Well, you can kill me, but this will not solve your problem. Except for me, and other people witnessed what happened last night. And if you kill me, they will reveal everything to Teacher. So, go ahead! Kill me! Kill me and be ruined!"

 

"I will also kill them!"

 

"You do not even know who they are and where they are, how are you going to do that?"

 

"What do you want me to do?" Jing, with tears in his eyes, asks.

 

"I want you to follow my advises, for the greater good of the Great Tao Sect."

 

"Alright."

 

"Do not be so angry! At least, you slept with a very beautiful woman!" Xiang says and starts laughing like a maniac.

 

A few days later, in Gong'an

 

Meanwhile Chan heads towards an inn, in order to buy some wine for his teacher, Beggar So. Chan walks on the streets of Gong'an happy and carefree. He lives the life he wants, away from politics and war. When he enters the inn, which has two floors, he sees a Taoist Priest, Xiang, walking upstairs. He decides to follow him in secret, since he knows that the Great Tao Sect wants Zhuge Liang dead in order to take revenge for the Five Taoist Killers and the two Taoists Chan killed in Red Tiger Village. When Xiang enters his room, Chan goes near the window and overhears the conversation between him and Jing.

 

"He will come in a few hours." Xiang says.

 

"Who?" Jing asks.

 

"The servant of Zhuge Liang that I've told you about. He will poison Zhuge Liang."

 

"But..."

 

"What?"

 

"Would it not be better to kill him by ourselves in order to take revenge for our fallen brothers?"

 

"Well, Teacher said that we should kill Zhuge Liang using any way possible. Poisoning him is the least dangerous and most sure way to kill him."

 

"What if this fails?"

 

"Well, we will think of something else. Do not worry so much."

 

Chan, although not wanting to get involved with politics again, has to help Zhuge Liang. Although he and Zhuge Liang were together only for a short time, they became really good friends. So, Chan cannot just let Zhuge Liang be assassinated. However, he does not know who the traitorous servant is and even if he knew, he would have no proof. Unless, he brings Zhuge Liang to the inn when the Taoists meet the servant. And that's what he is going to do.

 

Zhuge Liang's office

 

Meanwhile, Zhuge Liang (courtesy name: Kongming) and Liu Bei discuss the military situation in Jing Province. Although the Allies had achieved a stunning victory in Red Cliffs, Cao Cao is still far from being defeated. Cao Ren, the younger cousin of Cao Cao and an accomplished General, still holds Jiangling, a large city that it is in a very good strategic position to control the Jing Province. Cao Ren also has 120,000 soldiers compared to the Allied 40,000 soldiers. The fact that Jiangling is a fortified and easily defensible city and that the Allies, in their antagonism for who will take control of the Jing province, do not help each other makes the task of defeating Cao Ren even more difficult.

 

"Master Kongming." Liu Bei says. "Do you remember your Longzhong Plan, which you proposed to me when we first met?"

 

"Of course." Zhuge Liang replies. "Cao Cao controls the North China Plain, which is key to mastery of China. In view of this, a move to occupy Jing and Yi is vital for success. We can then begin a two-pronged attack to conquer the north. One advance would be from Yi in the west, north through the Qin Mountains, which debouches into the Wei River valley and achieving a strategic position in the west from which to dominate the great bend of the Yellow River and the Guanzhong region. The second advance would be from Jing north towards the political center of Luoyang and the surrounding plains. This is the Longzhong Plan and I still believe that it is the best plan to unify China and restore the Han Dynasty."

 

"But how shall we achieve this? Cao Ren is too strong for us to handle while Zhou Yu is gathering tens of thousands of soldiers for a Siege of Jiangling. I fear that Jiangling will fall in the hands of Zhou Yu. Once this happens, we will have no strong position. Gong'an is too small for being a base of operations and is not in a strategic location like Jiangling."

 

"Do not worry. Zhou Yu is afraid of us more than we are of him. He fears that we will wait for him and Cao Ren to destroy each other forces and then steal Jiangling from him. So, he will soon send someone here to see what we are doing. And then, I can begin my plan which shall give you the Jing Province."

 

"Good. Now, I have to leave."

 

"Goodbye, my Lord."

 

As Liu Bei leaves Zhuge Liang's office, a soldier rushes inside, bows before the famous strategist and says "My Lord, a man named Chan wants to see you."

 

Zhuge Liang is delighted to hear news from Chan. He immediately orders the soldier to bring Chan in and cannot hide his happiness. When Chan enters the office, Zhuge Liang gives him a warm welcome.

 

"Chan, my good friend!" Zhuge Liang, smiling, says. "How are you doing?"

 

"I am okay." Chan replies. "But you must come with me quickly!"

 

"Why?"

 

"I was going in an inn to buy some wine and saw some Taoist Priests. I followed them and overheard that soon they are going to meet one of your servants, who has agreed to poison you."

 

"What?!"

 

"Come with me, to see who the servant is."

 

"I am coming!"

 

So, Zhuge Liang and Chan leave for the inn. A few minutes later, they arrive. They sit on a wooden table on the far back of the inn and try to hide themselves. After a few hours, a man comes in the inn and walks upstairs. Zhuge Liang recognizes him: he is one of his servants. So, Chan and Zhuge follow him discreetly and, when he enters the room of the Taoists, they go near the room's window and overhear what they are saying.

 

"Hello." Xiang says to the servant. "Is everything going according to plan?"

 

"Yes." the servant replies. "The fool will soon be dead."

 

Jing feels somewhat weird and does not speak for a while, but he then shouts "someone is overhearing us!"

 

Xiang and Jing pull out their swords and rush out of the room. Once they get out of the room, they see Chan and Zhuge.

 

"Kill them!" Xiang shouts.

 

Xiang tries to slice Chan with his sword, but he dodges again and again the Taoist's attacks. He then uses 'Ku' from the 'Ku Wai Zheng Fung technique'. He jumps on the air, lands behind Xiang and kicks him on the back, causing him to fall on the ground. Chan uses this chance to take Xiang's sword and use it to defend against Jing's sword. Meanwhile, Zhuge Liang runs downstairs, but the servant, who had pulled out a knife, follows him. When both are downstairs, the servant tries to stab Zhuge Liang, but he throws tables and chairs at him. However, the servant continues to try to stab Zhuge Liang, until Zhuge Liang grabs a chair and breaks it on the man's head. The servant's head starts to bleed and he shouts in pain. His head has been broken. A few seconds later, he dies.

 

At the same time, Jing and Chan fight a sword-duel. Jing tries to slice Chan, but he uses his sword to block all of Jing's attack. This continues until Jing gets through Chan's defense and slices his chest. Chan lets his sword fall on the ground. Jing tries to finish off Chan, but he kicks him on the head with a powerful flying kick, causing Jing to also let his sword fall on the ground. Now, both of them will duel with their bare hands.

 

Jing tries to kick Chan and attacks him with his right leg more than twenty times. Jing's kicks are fast and coordinated and they come one after the other. Chan, with great difficulty, manages to dodge almost all kicks and goes on the offensive. He punches his right fist on Jing's head, causing him to vomit blood. He tries to repeat this, but Jing is able to block his attack. Jing then kicks Chan's stomach with his left knee, but Chan pushes him back and then punches his right elbow twice on Jing's head. Jing decides to use the Ying Yang Fist. He punches his right fist on Chan's chest. Chan, at first, is alright but soon he vomits lot of blood and falls on the ground. His internal organs have been damaged. Jing charges on Chan and is ready to kill him, but Chan, who repeats in his mind lines from the Ancient Martial Arts manuals he has learned, uses every energy in him to quickly get up and kick with a very, very powerful back kick Jing on the chest, causing him to be pushed back and spit blood. Jing and Xiang, seeing that they cannot defeat Chan, run away. Once they leave, Chan loses his consciousness.

 

The next morning

 

The next day, in the morning, Chan wakes up and find himself lying on a bed. Zhuge Liang is sitting near him. Seeing that Chan is alright, Zhuge is very delighted.

 

"Chan!" Zhuge Liang shouts. "You have woken up!"

 

"How am I?" Chan, tired and feeling weak, asks.

 

"The doctor said that your internal organs were injured and, normally, you should have died. But, it seems that you have immensely huge internal energy and so you survived. You only need some rest."

 

"It seems that those Ancient Manuals saved my life."

 

Suddenly, a soldier enters inside the room and bows before Zhuge Liang. He then says "My Lord, the Grand Commander of the Southland, Master Gongjin (courtesy name of Zhou Yu), wants to inform you that in a few days Lu Su will pay a visit to you."

 

"Good!" Zhuge Liang, excited, shouts. "Zhou Yu has taken the bait! Now, I will use his hate and fear for me in order to steal Jiangling from him! I will allow Zhou Yu and Cao Ren to destroy each other and that will be the checkmate for both of them!"

[machievelli]

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