Chapter 4: Intimidating the Six Thieves

The eunuch hurriedly arrived beside Gao Qiu with several people, took a quick look, and his face twitched: "Gao the Attendant, who injured you like this? The Prince Duan still asked me to find you to play cuju; today we have an appointment with the president of the Yuanshe, and we truly need you to show your skills."

Gao Qiu had been unconscious from pain for a while and had just woken up; hearing the voice, he struggled to open his eyes, and seeing the eunuch in his daze, tears immediately poured down like rain: "Grand Steward, Grand Steward, avenge me..."

Seeing his wretched state, the eunuch's expression was also grim: "What exactly happened? I will settle this for you; even if I cannot settle it, the Prince Duan is still here!"

"Grand Steward, my, my legs have been broken by someone; they said I can never play cuju again and need not serve the Prince!"

"What?" The eunuch was stunned by the words, carefully examined his legs, and his face immediately darkened: "Who had the audacity to do this?"

Lying on the ground and unable to rise, Gao Qiu could not see far away and struggled to raise his hand, pointing blindly: "It was a burly man like a black bear; the master was a young scholar in white clothes; there were four or five people..."

Hearing him speak vaguely, the eunuch frowned and was about to search, when Su Da shouted from over there: "Stop looking; that rascal was beaten by me; what will you, a hairless one, do about it?"

"You?" Hearing this, the eunuch flew into a rage and was about to act, but seeing the Kaifeng Prefecture soldiers standing fearfully nearby, he said: "What are you all doing? Why not arrest the murderer, allowing him to flaunt his power here and escape the law?"

The fat soldier smiled apologetically: "It is not that I disregard the law; these few are actually directors of the Imperial City Bureau; how would I dare to move to arrest them..."

"Imperial City Bureau?" The eunuch looked at Su Da with suspicion, then glanced at Yu Er beside him; he did not recognize them. Although he was also from the palace, the palace city was divided into inner and outer sections, the Imperial City Bureau was stationed outside, and there were many personnel; how could he know them all?

"They are indeed directors of the Imperial City Bureau; I have seen their credentials." The fat soldier's eyes flickered, and he breathed a sigh of relief in his heart; as long as the Prince Duan's man was here, both sides were hard to provoke; now that they had met, let them solve it themselves; this pot could finally be thrown off.

"Imperial City Bureau... even the Imperial City Bureau cannot do this!" The eunuch suddenly spoke coldly: "This is the Prince Duan's attendant; the Prince Duan is looking for him to do something; what audacity does your Imperial City Bureau have to break his legs?"

Su Da pouted: "It is already done; what will you do? This Gao Qiu played cuju in the busy market, oppressed the innocent, and even spoke insolently; not killing him was already showing restraint and giving the Prince Duan face."

"Good, good, you have great audacity!" The eunuch was furious, stepped forward, and pointed at Su Da: "How can your Imperial City Bureau interfere with the people of the Wang Fu? You even dare to mention the Prince; I think you are tired of living!"

Su Da scratched his head, and Yu Er said with a smile: "Even the Prince Duan would not condone his attendant behaving like this, would he? Isn't this tarnishing the Prince's reputation? If the Prince sees this, he might just order someone to beat him to death with a warning stick."

"Fool!" Hearing this, the eunuch trembled all over with anger: "I think you are impersonating the Imperial City Bureau; come, seize these thieves for me, dead or alive!"

As soon as his words fell, the several guards accompanying him immediately rushed forward.

"Who dares!" Su Da shouted in a rough voice, holding up the token forward: "Hairless one, look at what this is; you dare to attack people of the Imperial City Bureau; how many guts do you have!"

The eunuch stared at the token, his face dark as water; suddenly, his two long eyebrows shot up: "Even the Imperial City Bureau cannot arbitrarily move against the Prince Duan's attendant; even if Gao Qiu has committed some crime, it is not for your Imperial City Bureau to interfere; acting so recklessly, daring to beat the Prince Duan's people, is disrespect to the Prince Duan, insolence to the Prince Duan, and resentment towards the royal family; do you perhaps want to rebel!"

As soon as the two words "rebel" came out, the scene immediately fell silent.

Since the founding of the Great Song, these two words were most taboo; this was because Emperor Taizu staged the Chenqiao Mutiny and had the yellow robe placed on him, acting equivalent to rebelling against the Chai clan's Zhou Dynasty; therefore, these two words were not discussed casually above or below in the court, except where there were indeed such military news in various places.

Seeing no one speak, the eunuch took a deep breath, his face showing a look of aggression; he was about to order an attack again when a voice suddenly came faintly from the opposite side.

"Who did you say wants to rebel?"

The voice was not very heavy; at first hearing, it seemed quite gentle, but upon closer inspection, it was like the biting cold wind, the clashing of swords and blades, chilling to the bone.

"Who did I say wants to rebel?" The eunuch felt very uncomfortable; this voice made him feel looked down upon, coldly ignored; he immediately raised his tone: "It is you; I think you want to rebel!"

"Audacious!" Su Da and Yu Er shouted simultaneously.

"Say it again." The voice just heard rang out again; Zhao Ti was seen walking slowly forward from behind with his hands clasped behind his back, his face showing not a single expression.

"Young Master, this eunuch's martial arts seem not low..." Zhou Dong said softly beside him.

Zhao Ti nodded, looked at the red-faced eunuch ahead, and a trace of cold mockery appeared at the corner of his mouth.

The eunuch looked in the direction of the voice, saw Zhao Ti, and was stunned; the young man's white clothes were as bright as snow, his beauty unparalleled, and he was looking at him without blinking.

The eunuch's expression changed several times in an instant, finally turning pale; he shivered greatly, and the next moment, with a "plop" sound, he knelt on the ground: "Yan, Prince Yan..."

Zhao Ti narrowed his slender, good-looking eyes, deep in thought: "Say the words you just spoke to this Prince again."

"This humble slave..." The eunuch kowtowed like pounding garlic, the ground making a "bang bang" sound: "This humble slave Li Yan did not know Prince Yan was here; I spoke nonsense; please, please forgive me, Your Highness..."

Zhao Ti stared at Li Yan; this person was a companion of Prince Duan Zhao Ji in the palace; when Zhao Ji opened his fief, he brought him out; he was also one of the later "Six Thieves."

The Six Thieves of the Northern Song were Cai Jing, Tong Guan, Wang Fu, Liang Shicheng, Zhu Mian, and Li Yan; originally, Gao Qiu should have been one, but when the Jin army crossed the river and Emperor Huizong moved south, Gao Qiu had a quarrel with Tong Guan; at that time, he was also sick; in a fit of anger, he returned to Dongjing; as a result, Emperor Qinzong thought he had defected to support himself, and he actually escaped this eternal infamy.

"Your Highness, this humble slave is guilty; please, Your Highness, in view of the years this humble slave has served Prince Duan, forgive this humble slave..." If it were any other royal family member, Li Yan would not be so humble, at least not speaking with such sorrowful words and kowtowing to beg for forgiveness; but this person in front was different.

In the Great Song, royal titles were not hereditary; this person was the only great-prince title among the current close relatives, the head of all princes; although he did not enter the court, his status was the highest.

Moreover, this person had a reputation for loving martial arts; when in the palace, he liked to wield spears and practice martial arts; he also liked to disguise himself as a commoner, wander the streets, and right wrongs; this was completely different from Prince Duan's elegant, romantic, calligraphy, and painting; his nature was domineering and unrestrained, and his actions were cold and ruthless.

Zhao Ti saw Li Yan kowtowing so hard that the ground made a "bang bang" sound, yet his forehead showed no redness or swelling at all; he sneered: "Li Yan, I heard your Wu Gong is quite good?"

Li Yan quickly said respectfully: "Your Highness, this humble slave did indeed learn some crude skills, but they are all small tricks of the Jianghu; they are not worth mentioning and do not meet Your Highness's eyes."

"Crude skills?" Zhao Ti snorted: "You knocked so many times, yet your forehead is spotless; are you fooling around with this Prince?"

"Ah, this..." Hearing this, Li Yan's body suddenly froze, and cold sweat immediately flowed out.