met free Chapter 347 Another Assassination Attack
Chapter 347 Another Assassination Attack
After Liu Ye finished explaining things to Li Fu, he looked back at Shimazu Chiyo and dozens of samurai following behind him and couldn't help but feel a headache. What should he do with these people?
Logically, if these Japanese were truly won over and their loyalty guaranteed, they would be excellent bodyguards. While, technically speaking, Chinese martial arts are far more profound and sophisticated than the simplistic Japanese techniques, the greatest strength of Japanese samurai is their unwavering loyalty to their lord. In times of crisis, they would readily shield their master from harm—a quality that Ming Dynasty martial artists could never match. Although many martial artists throughout history "learned both literary and martial arts to serve the emperor," ultimately it was for their own wealth and power; how could they possibly unhesitatingly shield their lord from harm?
But how could he truly subdue these people? Liu Ye racked his brains for a long time but couldn't come up with a good solution, so he temporarily gave up and decided to ask Li Fei when he had time, as Li Fei was the only one among his subordinates who truly understood Japanese customs and traditions. He boarded the sedan chair that had been prepared beforehand and set off towards Nanyuan. Shimazu Chiyo and her Japanese samurai, along with the guards, followed behind.
Liu Ye ordered the sedan bearers to ride alongside Liang Xiaoming's sedan chair, then lifted the curtain and said to Liang Xiaoming, "Mingzi, we still need to get the transportation between this dock and the city going. Putting aside everything else, transporting goods and supplies from the sea back to the city is a hassle, after all, it's not a short distance, almost ten miles! Besides, I personally strongly dislike sedan chairs, these decadent things that represent the feudal exploiting class enslaving the working people, they're ridiculously slow—couldn't we come up with a public transportation vehicle that can be used for both civilian and commercial purposes?"
Liang Xiaoming thought for a moment and replied, "It's a pity we don't have a steam engine, otherwise we could build a light rail... Or, how about we build a horse-drawn carriage? But you have to get me some horses, otherwise it's just wishful thinking."
"A horse-drawn carriage?" Liu Ye asked curiously. "Do you mean it literally, a horse-drawn carriage that runs on tracks?"
"That's right, it's exactly what it sounds like. Our main streets are all paved with cement now. In this day and age, there are no big trucks or overloading, so the smoothness of the road surface can be guaranteed. So, by embedding rails in the cement and making horse-drawn carriages similar to train carriages, which can be pulled by horses, the public transportation problem you mentioned can be solved."
"Sounds good!" Liu Ye exclaimed, intrigued. This kind of horse-drawn carriage should work on the same principle as the trams in the movies, except one uses animal power and the other electricity. "But Hainan doesn't have horses, where are we going to get them?"
Liang Xiaoming shrugged. "That's the boss's business. I only handle the technical aspects." He then lowered the curtain.
"Since when can employees treat their boss like this? Do they even want to work here anymore?" Liu Ye complained to the sedan chair opposite him, then called over Lin San, "You're from around here, and you've been in Hainan for so long, you should know what's going on in the Guangdong and Guangxi area—if we want to get horses, where do we go?"
Lin San thought for a moment and replied, “General, it depends on what you want to do with the horses. If it’s to build a cavalry, you can buy Mongolian horses in the north; if it’s for your own mount, you can send someone to the Western Regions to buy Ferghana horses, also known as ‘blood-sweating horses’; if it’s for transporting goods, you can choose Yunnan horses nearby…”
"Yunnan horse?" Liu Ye frowned. "Is it a short-legged horse from Yunnan? It sounds kind of pathetic..."
"General, you are wise: Although the Yunnan horse is shorter than the Mongolian horse and cannot sprint as fast as the Mongolian horse, its greatest advantage is its endurance. In Yunnan, they are the ones who carry goods across the mountain roads, and they can travel no matter how rugged the mountain roads are. The ancient Tea Horse Road in Yunnan was paved by these Yunnan horses."
"Is that so? Then I'll have Li Fu send someone to Yunnan to buy some Yunnan horses and try it out." Anyway, a horse-drawn carriage doesn't need speed, it only needs endurance. Short-legged horses are fine, they're better than donkeys.
As they spoke, they arrived at General Street, and Nanyuan Garden was almost there. Looking into the distance, the soldiers and civilians who had stayed behind were waiting at the entrance of Nanyuan Garden, led by Sun Yuanhua. Liu Ye disliked being too ostentatious. Ever since his return from Shandong, he had instructed everyone not to greet them at the dock upon their return from sea voyages. However, welcoming and sending off guests was a tradition in Chinese officialdom, and it was impossible to change this ingrained mindset with just a few words. Therefore, they changed the greeting from the dock to Nanyuan Garden, thus obeying the general's orders while ensuring sufficient courtesy. Liu Ye was well aware of this, but he was too lazy to correct their behavior. Sometimes being too unconventional could confuse his subordinates. Since they wanted to greet him at Nanyuan Garden, he let them be; it was more low-key and subtle than decorating the dock with lanterns and streamers.
Liu Ye didn't wait until the entrance of Nanyuan before getting out of his sedan chair and walking towards Sun Yuanhua and the others. These "high-ranking officials" were waiting for him, and it wouldn't be appropriate to swagger past them and go straight into the mansion. There were some formalities that needed to be followed, and getting out of the sedan chair to greet them would also help to build rapport with his subordinates.
When Sun Yuanhua and the others saw that the general had gotten out of his sedan chair from afar, they quickly went to greet him. They were there to welcome the general, so they couldn't let him come up to them; that would be too impolite.
Lin San and the others were surprised that the general alighted from his sedan chair so suddenly and walked forward, putting them a little behind him. Now, Liu Ye was walking alone, followed by a large group of people. However, thinking they had reached the entrance of the South Garden and that nothing unexpected should happen, Lin San and the others followed slowly, not immediately rushing to protect the surroundings. Shimazu Chiyo, on the other hand, silently followed, staying only a meter away from Liu Ye.
Just as Liu Ye and Sun Yuanhua were only twenty steps apart, two beggar-like men on the side of the street suddenly jumped up, brandishing daggers, and pounced on Liu Ye. One of them shouted, "Traitor, die!"
Liu Ye was caught completely off guard by the assassination attempt at his doorstep. However, having experienced professional assassination attempts before, his reaction was much quicker. Before he could even figure out what was happening, his body instinctively moved backward to dodge.
Everyone was some distance away from Liu Ye, watching helplessly as someone attempted to assassinate him, unable to defend him, and they couldn't help but feel a tightness in their chests.
At that moment, Shimazu Chiyo swiftly caught up, not even drawing her sword. She slipped into the arms of one of the assassins, turned her back to him, and, using his momentum, snatched the dagger from his hand with a speed barely perceptible to the naked eye. With a swift backward thrust, the assassin, propelled forward by inertia, brought his throat face-up, resulting in a close encounter with the dagger—which plunged deep into his throat. This series of fluid movements was precisely the "no-sword takedown" technique that Shimazu Chiyo had demonstrated.