Only starlight illuminated the black night. In the Yi-shaped courtyard at the head of Pingrong Road, south of Chengdu, hurried footsteps passed by the side of the young military doctor, the courtyard's owner. Anxious and troubled breaths filled the dilapidated yard.

"Nobody inside…"

"Seems safe around…"

"Keep it down…"

"Come in quickly…"

"This kid really lives alone…"

Suppressed voices rose, hurried yet fragmented. The men entering each held knives and weapons, bearing traces of recent combat. They surveyed the surroundings, observed the area, and once the most urgent matters were confirmed, their gazes turned to the young man who owned the place, among them the Green Forest hero Huang Shan, also known as Huang Jianfei.

A menacing man, a Green Forest bandit known as "Sizhou the Murderous Blade," whose name was Mao Hai, pointed his knife at the young man and asked, "Should we just off him?"

Huang Shan, standing to the side, waved his hand. "Wait, wait, he's a doctor…"

No lamps were lit in the courtyard; only the starlight and moonlight shone down. The men in the yard continued to move, making further observations. The young man, lying flat on the ground where he'd been pushed, wore a cold expression. Ignoring the knife pointed at him, he slowly sat up, glaring at Huang Shan with hostility. Mao Hai, who had initially looked fierce, wasn't sure whether to kill him and hesitantly drew back the knife.

Huang Shan, a burly man with blood and sweat on his body, sat down on a horizontal log beside the courtyard, regulating his breathing. "Brother Long," he said, "don't look at me like that. We're old acquaintances. We had no choice but to come here to hide."

"Old acquaintances? I warned you not to make trouble. What you've done… and you come here…" The young man pointed at him, his hostile gaze sweeping around. Then he realized, "You were tracking me…"

In the dim starlight and moonlight, his voice rose slightly with anger. The men in the yard were no saints either. Mao Hai kicked him, knocking him back to the ground, then stepped on his chest, the knife once again pointed down at him. "You dare act tough here—"

The young man on the ground showed no fear. He strained to sit up, but with his chest pinned down, he only struggled for a moment, then roared fiercely, "This is my house! You dare to kill me, you son of a bitch—"

Mao Hai, his face contorted, was about to strike when a hand reached out from the side. It was Huang Jianfei, the most skilled fighter of the Huang family. "I told you, this little doctor has a temper. That's enough."

Mao Hai, satisfied that the young man had no martial skills, removed his foot from his chest. The young man sat up resentfully. Huang Jianfei pulled him to his feet, brushed the dust off his chest, and then pushed him to the log behind him to sit down. Huang Shan leaned in with a grin, while Huang Jianfei took a tree stump and sat down in front of the young man.

"Brother Long, you're a sensible man. You might be unhappy, but tonight, it's a matter of life and death. There's no reasoning here. If you cooperate and take us in, we'll guarantee your life. If you don't, we'll definitely have to kill you. You stole military supplies in the past and sold medicine to us, violating the Hua Xia Army's regulations. If that gets exposed, you won't escape either. So now…"

Huang Jianfei spread his hands. "One side is certain death, the other is a narrow escape. Even if you sell us out, you'll be punished. The Hua Xia Army's regulations are strict, I know—what's your choice?"

The young man named Long Aotian stared at him fiercely, speechless for a moment.

Huang Jianfei moved the tree stump closer. "I'll give you two other options. First, we have peace tonight. As long as we can get out of the city by dawn, no one will know anything. I have a gold ingot here, ten taels, enough for you to take a risk once."

He paused. "Of course, if you still think it's not worth it, I'll be honest, the Hua Xia Army's regulations are strict, you can't get much. Come with us. Once we're out of the Jianmen Pass, the world is your oyster, and everyone is eager for talent. Brother Long, you're skilled, and you've been in the Hua Xia Army for so many years, you know the ins and outs. I'll take you to see my master. Just the Huang family's money is enough for you to live a life of luxury, how about it? Better than you, a lonely man in Chengdu, taking risks and collecting small change. Either way, as long as you help, this gold ingot is yours."

He looked at Ning Ji, holding out the gold ingot. "Some things can be thought about slowly, whether to help or not, you have to be quick."

The young man's fierce face twitched.

Then, he grabbed the gold ingot. "Aren't you going to close the door? You go in first, I'll bandage you up." He stood up, looked at a knife wound on the other man's body, and frowned. "You need to take care of that."

Huang Jianfei, sitting opposite him, smiled and then stood up. "Don't rush, there are more people."

The little doctor frowned as Huang Jianfei made a gesture. Someone went out the door, and after a moment, people came in one after another. Originally, there were seven people led by Huang Jianfei who had entered the courtyard, but then more than seven people came in, including two or three seriously injured men. The little doctor went over to take a look and frowned. "Quick, help them into the room and put them on the bed. Someone go boil hot water. You… these are gunshot wounds, it's a miracle you're not dead…"

While Huang Jianfei directed his men to cover up the smell of blood and footprints outside, he reported the entire incident to the Huang family head, Huang Nanzhong, who had just arrived. He then turned back and said, "Brother Long, can you handle these injured brothers?"

The little doctor's face was grim, and after a moment of gritted teeth, he said, "This is my courtyard. No one can die without my permission."

His words were heroic. Huang Shan gave him a thumbs up. "Brother Long is awesome… Look, that's my family head over there. If you go out with us this time and perform well tonight, you'll have everything."

"Hmph." The little military doctor, who came from the Hua Xia Army, didn't seem used to flattering someone or performing in front of someone. He snorted coldly and turned to go inside. There were already fourteen people in the courtyard, but then someone else came in from outside. The little doctor looked down and saw fifteen, sixteen, seventeen… Suddenly his face changed. It was a young girl in black supporting an old scholar with a limp. They didn't close the door until the twentieth person had entered.

Huang Shan had been observing his expression all along. Seeing the young man's face change again, he was about to speak when the young man said, "So many people, and more coming? How many more? Do you think this is an inn?"

"That's all," Huang Jianfei said, putting his arm around his shoulder, stopping him from saying more. He laughed. "Brother Long, treat the injuries first. I'll help too, be your assistant. Huang Shan, you go help boil water. And that girl, Miss Qu… Qu Longjun, right? Please come and do some caretaking…"

"My father's foot is sprained…" The young girl in the black dress, named Qu Longjun, was clearly running away in a hurry. She was unadorned but couldn't hide her natural beauty. She said that, but her father, with a worried look on his face, pushed her. She nodded. "Okay, I'll help."

The worried father, named Wen Shoubin, was helped by his daughter to sit on the steps beside the courtyard. "A disaster, it's all over…" He covered his face with his hands and murmured, "It's all over, a disaster…" Huang Nanzhong and another scholar went over to comfort him.

Candles were lit in the rooms, and hot water was boiled in the kitchen. Someone was watching from the dark roof, and someone outside was cleaning up the escape traces, using special powder to cover up the smell of blood. The courtyard became lively, but from a distance, it was still a quiet corner…

*******************

The twentieth day of the seventh month of the first year of Wu Zhenxing, in some later records, would be considered the moment when the Hua Xia Army, as a tight-knit ruling system, first truly greeted the fragmented Wu Dynasty forces of the outside world.

Some aristocratic families and warlord forces that had separated from the Wu Dynasty made their first systematic and large-scale probes against the Hua Xia Army. It was like heroes meeting in the martial world, testing each other's strength, so they could see each other's weight. That night of the seventh month in Chengdu was just like such a test. Although the result of the test was insignificant, the meaning of the test and the greeting still existed—it was the first moment when countless people finally saw the mountain-like outline of the behemoth named Hua Xia.

From the evening of July 20th to the early hours of July 21st, chaos of all sizes occurred. In later generations, countless stories would be generated using this night as a template. The passing of the Jianghu, the tragic songs of ideals, the collisions of grandeur… But if we returned to that time, it was just a series of bloody killings.

In this world, whether it is correct change or wrong change, it must be accompanied by the flow of blood.

At the end of Hai hour on the night of July 20th, Huang Nanzhong decided to shed his own blood.

For him, this night of humiliation was long and agonizing, but after making this decision, he felt relieved in his heart.

In the original plan, they would wait until dawn to act tonight, and the chances of success would be greater no matter what they did. Because the Hua Xia Army was continuously defending, while the attackers were waiting for their opportunity. At the moment when night turned into day, the Hua Xia Army, which had been tense all night, might have flaws.

However, news from the city occasionally came. The Hua Xia Army's surprise attacks at the first moment caused heavy losses to the righteous men in the city. In particular, Wang Xiangfo, Xu Yuanzong, and many other righteous men were defeated one by one in the first Chen hour, causing more people in the city to fall into a wait-and-see state.

Although it sounded like it would occasionally cause a riot, and there were also the sounds of gongs and drums catching thieves, Huang Nanzhong understood in his heart that not many people would have the courage or willingness to take action next—at least compared to the previous vast illusion of "action," the actual momentum would probably be insignificant, and it would not be possible to cause a huge burden on the Hua Xia Army.

He had no choice but to act before midnight, and the goal was no longer to cause riots, but to go directly to Mohe Pond and Yingbin Road to attack the core of the Hua Xia Army, where Ning Yi was most likely to appear.

At about the same time, Guan Shanhai in the city finally made a decision with gritted teeth, ordering his subordinate Yan Ying and others to make a desperate attempt.

Neither group reached Yingbin Road, but their attacks coincided with a chaos that broke out beside Mohe Pond. It was the assassin Chen Wei, under the planning of Ren Jingzhu, who was known as the Ghost Strategist, who, with several companions, created a large-scale feint near Mohe Pond, and once broke into the inner circle of Mohe Pond and lit a fire.

Huang Nanzhong and dozens of family soldiers sneaked through two streets, and someone reported this exciting news. They were then discovered, but several groups were encouraged by the news from Ren Jingzhu and began to take action, including the team led by Yan Ying. They engaged in a brief confrontation with a team of twenty Hua Xia Army soldiers. Perceiving their great advantage, Huang Nanzhong and Yan Ying ordered their teams to engage in a bloody battle.

Nearly a hundred elite troops charged towards twenty Hua Xia Army soldiers, followed by chaos.

Gunshots rang out in the dark night, and the sounds of blood and screams continued. Although Huang Nanzhong continued to encourage morale in the crowd, he was dragged back by Huang Jianfei and others. The streets were filled with bloody killings, and some people's heads were exploding. As a scholar, he simply couldn't see the situation clearly in the chaotic crowd from a level perspective, but he was puzzled in his heart: How could they lose? How could it be so fast? But the screams in the crowd were terrifying, and he fell again, and in the end, he could only scatter and flee in the chaos.

When he woke up, there were only twenty or so people beside him, including Yan Ying, Guan Shanhai's subordinate, and some Jianghu people from who knows where. He met up with two wounded men, and after exchanging names, he learned that they were Chen Wei and his younger brother Qin Gang.

Both of them were badly injured. Huang Nanzhong and Yan Ying were moved to tears to meet these two righteous men and vowed to rescue them no matter what. After a discussion, Yan Ying told them about a nearby residence, where a scholar who had recently joined Lord Shan lived. He probably hadn't participated in the rebellion tonight, and without a way, they had no choice but to go there to take refuge.

The group then went to the residence of the scholar named Wen Shoubin. Then Huang family’s servant Ye Zi went out to obliterate traces, only to find it was too late. Two constables had already noticed the abnormality of this residence and were mobilizing troops.

The group dragged Wen Shoubin and his daughter Qu Longjun and quickly ran away. At this time, Huang Nanzhong and Huang Shan remembered that this place was not far from the residence of the Hua Xia Army's little military doctor that they had noticed more than a month ago. That little military doctor was an internal member of the Hua Xia Army, with a clean background, but his hands and feet were not clean. They had leverage over him, and this hidden line was originally intended for critical moments, and this was exactly the critical moment.

The group immediately went there. The place where the little military doctor lived was not in a bustling area, on the contrary, it was very remote. The troublemakers in the city would not come here in the first place, so the number of Hua Xia Army personnel arranged there would definitely not be many. After such a calculation, they grabbed at this place like a life-saving straw. Along the way, Huang Shan, Huang Nanzhong, Yan Ying and others talked about the young man's bad temper, love of money, but good medical skills. Such a person could be won over.

As long as they could treat Chen Wei and Qin Gang, these two righteous men, then one day when they talked about it, the sacrifices of these two groups of people today would not be meaningless—after all, this was an assassin who had once extended his blade to the Hua Xia Army's devil!

With this plan settled, the group first let Huang Jianfei and others lead the way. Some sang red faces and some sang white faces, and it didn't matter how many benefits they promised. In this way, it wasn't long before Huang Jianfei lived up to expectations and persuaded the little doctor to join their side. He had only used ten taels of the promised twenty taels of gold.

The group successively entered the quiet courtyard. Chen Wei and others were carried into the room, and the little doctor began to treat them. Huang Nanzhong also arranged for Huang Jianfei and others to watch by the side, making sure that the little doctor didn't do anything wrong and kill people. Outside the house in the courtyard, the group sat down one after another. After a while, Huang Shan came out to pour the bloody water and confirmed to Huang Nanzhong that the little doctor's medical skills were indeed superb, and he seemed to be doing his best to save people. Huang Nanzhong's mood finally calmed down.

Only Wen Shoubin had prepared for a long time. He had come to Chengdu this time and finally connected with Guan Shanhai, preparing to slowly plan and wait for the situation in Chengdu to ease before finding a way to send Qu Longjun into the upper echelons of the Hua Xia Army. Who knew that before he even started, he was already doomed. Being involved in such a thing this time, whether he could leave Chengdu alive was probably a question. For a time, he sighed and lamented incessantly.

Huang Nanzhong went over to persuade him, "This time, as long as we leave the southwest, Brother Wen's losses today, I will take full responsibility. Alas, to tell the truth, if the situation were not special, we wouldn't have implicated Brother Wen. The two assassins in the room are righteous men. Tonight, there were many chaos, but only they almost succeeded in assassinating the devil. I really can't bear to let these righteous men escape in the city without a place to go…"

Then Yan Ying also came to persuade him, saying that Lord Shan would definitely remember his losses today in the future and there would be rewards. Only then did Wen Shoubin stop sighing and lamenting. Then Yan Ying chatted with Wen Shoubin about his daughter Qu Longjun—he was Guan Shanhai's confidant, had some martial arts skills, and was also a literati, so Guan Shanhai arranged for him to manage the family soldiers. That day when Guan Shanhai first met Qu Longjun, he was a member of the entourage, and had already seen her appearance and talent, and his heart was moved, but Wen Shoubin said he was going to use the woman as a spy, so he couldn't express too much meaning. At this time, Wen Shoubin and Qu Longjun could only run away, and the spy could obviously not be done, so some words could only be vaguely expressed at this time…

Wen Shoubin was worried and could only nod and make vague promises that if they could leave, he would definitely arrange for his daughter to spend some time with him.

In the distance of the city, there were more riots, and this temporary area became quiet. The danger had left them for a short time.

In the room, the highly skilled little military doctor was cursing while treating the injuries, and had already scolded Huang Jianfei, Qu Longjun and other helpers like pig heads, but the injuries of the wounded were given the best treatment in a short time with his skillful methods.

At a certain moment, a wounded person woke up from his coma, suddenly reached out his hand, grabbed the strange figure in front of him, and his other hand seemed to want to pick up a weapon to defend himself. The little military doctor was dragged down, and Qu Longjun next to him was startled and wanted to reach out to help, but was waved off by the little military doctor with a bad temper.

The wounded blinked his eyes, and the little military doctor in front of him showed a reassuring smile: "It's okay, your injury is under control, rest first, you are safe…" He gently patted the wounded's hand, and repeated, "Safe."

"Sa, Safe?"

The wounded was at a loss for a moment, and then finally saw the relatively familiar Huang Jianfei in front of him. Huang Jianfei nodded, and then he felt relieved: "Safe…"

"Safe," the little military doctor said with a reassuring smile, putting the other person's hand back on the quilt. Eight or nine candles were lit in the room, and thick sheets were hung on the windows. Under the eaves outside, someone briefly closed their eyes and began to rest. At this moment, this originally dilapidated courtyard seemed to be the safest pure land. They wouldn't find a safer place in the city…

"Hehe…"

After bandaging a wounded man, Qu Longjun seemed to see the little military doctor with a very bad temper secretly smiling with his fingers bent…

It seemed like he was calculating how many people he had saved.

Although this little military doctor liked to swear, his heart was still very kind.

…She thought.