Counterattack

  Coming out of General Youwu's mansion, Zhen Ming went to a Chinese medicine shop and bought over a dozen medicinal herbs.

  He took the medicine and locked himself in the refining room of the equipment department, not coming out for two days and two nights. All that could be heard was the sound of hammering and forging coming from the refining room from time to time. The people in the equipment department were curious about what he was doing inside.

  Two days later, exhausted but with an excited face, Zhen Mingshu took off the pig-nosed mask on his face and tidied up his clothes, hired a horse-drawn carriage, and left the smelting house of the Armory.

  The person in charge of the equipment was finally able to see the situation in the house, and in between, the refining room was a mess, with a strong smell of Chinese medicine lingering in the air. Just one sniff made people feel dizzy, and next to the furnace was a special pot used for decocting medicine, with the medicinal materials inside already burnt dry.

  On the table was a pile of glassware and some peculiarly shaped glass instruments, in which were placed small bottles of black **. The oil lamp boiled the ** in the test tube, making a bubbling sound, and white vapor rose up in waves, after passing through a section of cooled test tube, into a ball of white cotton for absorption...

  After a dozen or so complicated processes, what comes out of the other end of the glass container is a small amount of white powder that has been filtered and dried.

  In the container holding this white powder, there are also two slender steel needles of unique shape.

  These days, Zhen Mingsu has been designing and manufacturing many strange and unusual blades for the You Wuwei Fu, and has also improved several methods of alloy smelting, making the properties of the alloys more prominent. This is already a well-known fact among the craftsmen in the Equipment Department, who can only admire and be perplexed by Zhen Mingsu's design and manufacturing abilities.

  As usual, they were in a fog and fumbled around in the smelting room, trying to figure out what Zhen Mingxu had been messing with for the past two days. In the past, they could always get some information from the clues, but this time, they got nothing.

  One of them curiously picked up a small steel needle from the tableware, examined it carefully, and found that there were fine spiral grooves on the needle, which showed that it was finely made. It's not easy to make such a steel needle, at least half an hour is needed. These craftsmen are all masters, they can see that there is a mystery in the fine spiral groove on this steel needle at a glance. After careful observation, white powder can be found attached to it.

  "Could it be some kind of potent poison?" someone reminded.

  The person holding the needle was startled and his hand shook, causing the steel needle to accidentally prick his finger...

  Before long, this person suddenly rolled his eyes white and fell down with a thud.

  At this time, several miles away from the west gate of Luoyang City, a loud roar echoed through the streets: "Song Jinkang, get out!"

  ……

  Luoyang has been abuzz with a big piece of news these past few days.

  In the largest teahouse in Luoyang, people were packed like sardines. Several hundred people sat around the storytelling stage on the first floor, cracking melon seeds and drinking tea while listening to the storyteller speak with great enthusiasm about the events that had transpired.

  The old storyteller was an elderly man, with a mouth that flowed like a river and spoke without stopping: "This is something I personally witnessed when I passed by the gate of the Song Mansion. I heard this thunderous roar of anger, saw the commotion at the gate, surrounded by people, went forward to take a look, and found out it was a thin and weak man standing in front of the Song Mansion's gate, challenging the master of the Song Mansion. After asking around, I found out that it was all because of a woman."

  "What woman?"

  "Speaking of this woman, I'm sure many of you have heard of her. She is none other than Zhang Shi, the most famous tofu seller in Luoyang. Those who have seen her know that she is a stunning beauty, unparalleled in the world. As the poem goes: 'A hundred flowers bloom to reveal her skin and bones, her jade-like spirit gathers divine energy, her soft voice and gentle words are sweet as honey, one frown or smile can evoke sympathy, her lips lightly exhale the fragrance of orchids, her slender figure reflects a celestial beauty... In all of Luoyang City, only the Peony Fairy of the Hundred Flowers Tower can compare to her!"

  Someone below the stage laughed and interrupted him, asking: "Old man, isn't that an exaggeration?"

  "It's not an exaggeration at all, if you saw her in person, you would know that these poems can't even begin to describe her beauty and elegance. Since ancient times, heroes have loved beautiful women, and for her, these two men are willing to risk their lives. If I were a few decades younger, I might also be willing to risk my life for her."

  Everyone burst out laughing.

  The old storyteller continued: "These two men, one was willing to provoke the Mining and Salt gangs for her sake, resulting in being jointly pursued and killed by both gangs. The unfortunate life of Zhen Mingxiu, who had recently returned to Luoyang alive and kicking, opened up Zhang's Sweetheart Workshop. And the other was the legitimate husband of Doufu Xishi Zhang, the first martial arts champion of the Sui Dynasty, Song Jingang."

  "This Song Jingang, when he led the army to attack Liaodong under the emperor's order that year, all the soldiers and generals were defeated, and everyone thought he had already died on the battlefield in Liaodong, but unexpectedly he was still alive."

  "Think about it, if you were in his shoes, your wife whom you haven't seen for many years is fancied by another man, would you be willing to hand her over to him and let yourself wear a green hat?"

  "Nonsense! Of course not."

  "It's true, this Song Jingang, the proud and arrogant number one martial artist of the Great Sui Dynasty, would not agree to it. However, it seems that he had anticipated the bitter fate that was to come. When he went to the Song residence to issue a challenge, he calmly pulled out a contract from his pocket, which turned out to be a deed selling his wife into prostitution, with his father's signature and seal on it. Song Jingang was taken aback, losing all sense of direction. His father had sold his daughter-in-law, and as the son, he couldn't publicly go back on the deal. If the other party were to report this to the authorities, his old father would be in trouble, and at his age, he might not survive the punishment. As a son, he couldn't just ignore it, that would be unfilial. What do you think?"

  The Storyteller stopped here and took a sip of tea.

  "Old chap, stop breaking it up into segments and just tell us quickly! What happened next?"

  The crowd was grumbling when a little boy carrying a plate for donations came out from behind the storyteller and walked up to each person, saying: "Gentlemen, my old man has been talking non-stop and his mouth is dry. He's just trying to get some money for tea and food. If you're enjoying yourselves, please give us enough to buy a meal, and the next part of the story will be even more wonderful. My old man bows to you gentlemen."

  The crowd of onlookers tossed a few copper coins into the plate, and the storyteller, feeling that he had secured his meal for the day, cleared his throat with renewed enthusiasm.

  "It's not just the sale contract, but also a letter of appointment from many years ago, with the seal of the Ministry of War on it, proving that Song Jingang was indeed the champion of martial arts back then, and the vanguard general appointed by the emperor to conquer the east. As soon as this document came out, Song Jingang's face turned green."