Lord Xu used to be like everyone else. Before he came here, he had an irrational trust in the Marquis of Stability, who represented the Black Iron Battalion. It was as if as long as Gu Yun was around, he would be able to go to any dangerous place. Even if the sky fell, he would be there to support it … Of course, this trust was now shattered.
Deputy Inspector Xu's white face was ashen. He still held on to the last glimmer of hope and asked, "Marshal … Could it be that this crossing of the river was also your intention?"
"How is that possible?" Gu Yun looked at him inexplicably, "Sigh, I already told Duke Feng Han that this thing is definitely not reliable. The Black Eagle can fly fast because it can rely on people to control it in the sky. He made such a big thing. It's fine if it's calm, but if it encounters a little storm, it will have to rest. Isn't it sending food to the enemy on the battlefield? Look, it really has rested."
Ge Chen vomited violently. With tears in his eyes, he said, "This official … will, will definitely tell Duke Feng Han when I go back."
Xu Ling's courage was about to burst. He couldn't be as optimistic as Ge Lingshu. He felt that he might not be able to go back.
Fortunately, there was still someone who could speak. Changgeng turned his head and smiled at Deputy Inspector Xu, "Don't listen to him. He's just scaring you. This place is flat and there are no garrison tents as far as the eye can see. This means that the enemy's vanguard is not nearby at all. Tonight, there is a thunderstorm, and the sound of explosions and thunder are mixed together. He has already calculated that it won't attract a large number of enemy troops. At most, it will be vigilant patrolling soldiers who will come to take a look."
Gu Yun had a smirk on his face.
Xu Ling looked at Prince Yan with tears in his eyes. Without mentioning anything else, he was completely in awe of Yan Wang's magnanimity and courage in the face of danger. He immediately said sincerely, "Your Highness is wise."
"What wise?" Changgeng waved his hand, "I've been fooled by him since I was young. I already have experience."
Xu Ling, "…"
He didn't know why, but he felt that there was a strange intimacy in Yan Wang's words when he mentioned Gu Yun.
It didn't feel good to lie in ambush in the heavy rain at night. Fortunately, the western patrolling soldiers came quickly. In a moment, someone was cursing and speaking in a foreign language................. The ground trembled slightly..........................
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................................................ four.........................
"I don't know." Gu Yun shook her head. "Let's kill them first. Do you think anyone can understand their gibberish?"
. As soon as he finished speaking, everyone's eyes focused on Yan Wang. Changgeng and the twenty or so bodyguards looked at each other for a moment, "Why are you all looking at me?"
Ge Chen was shocked, "Your Highness doesn't know how to speak a foreign language?"
Changgeng was puzzled, "… I know a few words of Suzhou slang, but when did I know how to speak a foreign language?"
It turned out that over the past year, everyone felt that he was unpredictable, or that he was scheming, or simply that he was a capable person. They always thought that no matter what he encountered, he would have a solution. He should know a little of everything.
At this moment, Deputy Xu suddenly said, "I actually know a little."
The gazes that had been staring at Yan Wang shifted collectively, including Yan Wang himself.
Xu Ling coughed dryly, but did not show any fear. He said, "I won't hide it from Your Highness. In the past, when Your Highness and Marshal Gu were guarding the gates of the capital, hundreds of officials followed the Emperor to the gates. I also joined them. I felt that a scholar was useless, but I didn't know the six arts. I wanted to go into battle, but I didn't have the strength to kill the enemy. So I decided to learn that foreign language. If I can't wear steel armor in the future, if I can follow the generals as an errand boy and learn how to speak, then my seven feet body won't be in vain."
His last sentence was almost sonorous. In fact, in this group, other than Deputy Xu, they were all either Jianghu veterans or Xuan Tie Black Crows. They were crafty, cunning, and extremely fast. They would risk their lives and kill people. Along the way, they were full of thrills. If it were anyone else, they would have collapsed long ago. It was hard for a weak scholar like Lord Xu to bear the burden with his heart for the people.
The wind and rain were gloomy, and there was a scholar between heaven and earth.
Even Gu Yun rubbed his chin. He was too embarrassed to tease him anymore.
"I'll have to trouble Lord Xu later." Gu Yun's playful eyes darkened, and there seemed to be a cold steel light in his eyes. "They're here!"
As he said this, a group of western patrol soldiers wearing light armor walked in front of him. One of them walked out of the crowd and circled around the fire and wreckage that the rain hadn't extinguished for a long time. He mumbled something.
Xu Ling whispered, "He said, 'It's raining so heavily. There shouldn't be a fire for no reason. There are no outsiders in this area. What happened?'"
What did he mean by 'there are no outsiders in this area'?
Gu Yun tilted his head just now. Another western soldier picked up a piece of burnt wreckage from the ground. He held it in his hand and flipped it for a moment. Suddenly, he jumped three feet high and said something again.
Xu Ling hurriedly said, "He said, 'There's the logo of the Daliang military factory on it. A Daliang spy has sneaked in.' Commander Gu, they're starting to get nervous. Have we been discovered?"
Wood could be burnt, but stone and iron couldn't. It seemed that the logo of the Lingshu Temple was recognized.
Xu Ling said, "Commander Gu, I'm afraid that these barbarians will send a warning signal …"
Gu Yun pressed one hand on the wind-cutting blade at his waist and tilted his head to look at Changgeng. Changgeng calmly took out a clairvoyant lens that could be clipped to the bridge of his nose. His fingers gently wiped the water droplets on the lens and slightly plucked the bowstring, as if he was checking if it was damp. Then, under Xu Ling's dumbfounded gaze, he slowly pulled the bowstring.
Gu Yun waved his hand, and more than twenty Black Iron Battalion guards quickly passed through the weeds.
A western patrolling soldier untied a horn-shaped trombone from his waist and took a deep breath. Just as he was about to put it to his mouth to sound a warning, an iron arrow suddenly pierced through the air and accurately pierced his left ear. On the spot, the man's head turned into a rotten red and white watermelon.
Brain matter sprayed all over his companion's body. The next moment, a few black shadows suddenly appeared and pounced in front of the western soldiers who couldn't react in time. The wind-cutting blade made a fine sound in the air one after another. In the blink of an eye, a few heads fell to the ground. The remaining one who didn't have time to dismount raised his hands in fear and horror as he looked at the killers who suddenly emerged from the weeds.
Only then did Xu Ling let out a sigh of relief and finished his sentence in a daze, "… Call for accomplices."
Gu Yun patted his shoulder and replied sincerely, "We can't call for accomplices now. Strip him, tie him up and take him away. We can't stay here for long. Let's retreat first!"
Two Xuan Tie guards heard this and seized the western soldier. They stripped him of his armor and searched his body like peeling garlic. Then, they tied the western soldier who looked like a white chicken into a lump of pork waiting to be slaughtered. They stuffed his mouth and took him away.
"I saw a small village over there. Let's borrow a place to interrogate him." Changgeng said as he walked, "Generally, in this kind of riverside area, those who can run away during the war have all run away. I'm afraid that only some old, weak, sick and disabled people are left in their homes. When we meet the people later, we can ask the local people about the situation in the fallen land. However, we still have to ask Lord Xu to go first. The brothers of the Black Iron Battalion are always murderous even when they don't talk or move. Don't let them scare the people."
Xu Ling hurriedly said, "Yes, this official obeys."
As he spoke, he stole a glance at Chang Geng. The Wild Goose King had already been drenched by the rain. A strand of hair fell from his temples, dripping with water. He was clearly walking in the middle of a muddy pond in the desolate wilderness. The expression on his face seemed to remain unchanged, as if he did not care at all. On his back, he carried the bowstring that was earth-shattering as soon as it was drawn.
Changgeng inadvertently raised his head and happened to meet Xu Ling's gaze. He asked pleasantly, "What does Lord Xu want to say to me?"
Xu Ling's expression changed a few times. In the end, he swallowed the words that were about to rush into his mouth and only politely shook his head.
The group of people walked into the small village and saw that it was like a ghost village. It was quiet. Except for the sound of the wind and rain and their respective footsteps, there was no movement at all. The dilapidated wooden doors were half open and half closed. The weeds in the courtyard grew to half the height of the wall. Everywhere they looked, there were broken tiles and decayed tiles. A child's pea green dudou was hanging in front of the door. Mud and water dripped everywhere, and it had already become a piece of ragged cloth.
The most spacious place in the village was the ancestral hall. The courtyard could be seen from afar and could be used as a place for outsiders to rest.
Ge Chen took out a stick the size of a small fire. After unscrewing the lid, a faint light shot out from inside. The roof tiles of the ancestral hall were no longer complete. It was raining heavily outside and drizzling inside. The tables and chairs in the room were either toppled or broken. There were only a few pieces of ragged cloth left in the corner. They were printed with the plain prints of Jiangnan and vaguely showed the prosperity of osmanthus in the third autumn.
Xu Ling looked around the inside and outside of the ancestral hall and asked, "There doesn't seem to be anyone here. Marshal Gu, could it be that all the locals have run away?"
Gu Yun also frowned slightly. He called for a few personal guards to search around and bent down to pick up the printed cloth in the corner.
"The last time I went to Jiangnan, it was spring and the flowers were in full bloom." Gu Yun said, "The flowers were splendid and the warm wind was blowing. Even the rebels were not in a hurry. They got some merchant ships filled with incense to secretly transport the purple gold …"
Before he finished speaking, a personal guard quickly rushed in. "Marshal, quickly take a look. Behind the ancestral hall … in the backyard, there is …"
Gu Yun raised his eyebrows. "What is it?"
The personal guard's expression flickered for a moment. He avoided Gu Yun's gaze and said with difficulty, "… the villagers."
The small village in Jiangnan was winding and graceful. There was a small river in the village, and the houses on both sides of the river flowed along it. There was no distinction between north and south, east and west. Now, they were all dilapidated. Half of the four "Loyalty, Filial Piety, and Righteousness" stone tablets at the entrance of the ancestral hall had been broken. The broken stone rolled into the pile of weeds. Xu Ling didn't know what he kicked. He looked down and almost jumped up — it was a piece of a dead person's skeleton.
Xu Ling, "This … this …"
While they were talking, Yan Wang had already taken the lead to enter the backyard of the ancestral hall. He saw that the ancestral tablets were scattered everywhere in the courtyard. The ruins of the collapsed gods and Buddhas were covered in dust. On the black stone slabs, countless corpses with their heads separated from their bodies were neatly arranged. Men, women, old, and young were all connected. The black eye sockets of the white bones were already covered with spider webs.
Xu Ling gasped and unconsciously grabbed the door frame.
"This place is accessible in all directions," Changgeng was silent for a long time before he said in a low voice, "There are open seas and canals in the north and south, and official roads in the east and west lead to the south and sea. In the past, there was an endless stream of people coming and going. There are many plains here. If the foreign race forcibly occupied this place for a long time, it will be difficult to continue. It will be easy for our people to sneak in.
Xu Ling asked blankly, "What do you mean by 'thoroughly'?"
"Send out heavy-armored soldiers to slaughter the village," Chang Geng said in a low voice. "Draw a circle and gather all the people in the circle together. Clean them up and don't let any living people in. Then, we just need to send people to guard the entrances of the roads. This way, the incident of thousands of Black Iron Battalion sneaking into the Southwest under the guise of traveling merchants won't happen again. Now I finally understand why there were only a few patrolling soldiers."
"… Because this place is simply a no-man's land." While Chang Geng was speaking, he suddenly launched an attack and kicked the western captive in the stomach. The captive's intestines were hanging by a thread from his angry kick. Unable to scream, the captive could only moan mournfully on the ground like a pig being slaughtered.
Gu Yun took the light from Ge Chen's hand and illuminated a piece of soaked wood. There was a line of words carved by fingernails on it.
A bodyguard asked, "Marshal, what is that?"
Gu Yun's throat moved slightly, "… Only half of the words are written in Hu Chen's Tears of the Remnant People."
There was a skeleton under the large wooden pillar. It had already rotted into a ball, and the white bones were mottled. It was a horrifying sight. Only an index finger that had been gnawed clean by insects and ants was still pointing at the ball of writing.
It was as if it was still asking silently, "Where are the General's Iron Cavalry in the land of fish and rice?"
After being drenched in the rain all night, it was only now that the chill finally seeped out from his bones.
The words "Jiangnan has fallen" also penetrated the paper with an unprecedented force. The entire ancestral hall was dead silent for a moment.
After an unknown period of time, Changgeng gently pushed Gu Yun, "Don't look, Zi Xi. A long night is fraught with dreams. Let's leave here first. It's more important to meet up with Elder Zhong."
Gu Yun's fingertips were tightly clenched. Hearing this, he straightened his back. For some reason, his vision darkened and he staggered half a step before he could stand firm. Changgeng was startled and held his elbow, "What's wrong?"
Gu Yun's chest felt stuffy. A feeling of weakness that he hadn't felt for many years arose spontaneously. For a moment, he blankly felt an indescribable sense of weakness. Ever since he was injured at Xi Guan, regardless of whether he stopped drinking or reducing his medication, he couldn't stop his body from deteriorating day by day. It was as if all the debts he owed in the past had all come to him.
Now, faced with the questioning of a skeleton, he was speechless. There was even a trace of uneasy weakness in his heart. Gu Yun thought, "When can I take back Jiangnan? Can I still … make it in time? "
However, the many doubts and worries in Gu Yun's heart only appeared for a moment before he forcefully suppressed them. At least in the eyes of outsiders, he had returned to normal.
"It's all right," Gu Yun tilted his head and glanced at Changgeng. He pulled his elbow out of Changgeng's palm and said to Xu Ling as if nothing had happened, "Lord Xu, ask that white-haired monkey where their nest is, how many people they have, how many armors they have, and where the steel armors are hidden. If he doesn't answer after asking once, cut off one of his fingers and roast it for him to have a sumptuous meal. "
It was said that many of the western soldiers were bought with money. They didn't have any moral integrity that didn't fear death. Gu Yun didn't even have time to use the many methods to scare him. As soon as the personal guard flashed the wind blade, he confessed everything.
Just as Changgeng said, they cleared the vast plains by the river into a no-man's land. Only one sentry guard was left in each area. Each sentry post only had about ten people, most of whom were cavalry.
"Part of the main force acted as the vanguard to confront General Zhong and the others. Another part …" Xu Ling pursed his lips with difficulty and translated, "… looted everywhere, forcing the captives to work as laborers, miners, and slaves. The looted goods were transported back to their country to shut the mouths of those who wanted the Pope to step down."
At this time, the shower had stopped. The thick clouds had suddenly parted, revealing a thin layer of moonlight. Looking from afar, there was only smoke and desolation everywhere. The plowing puppets were busy in the fields, and the flourishing scene of farmers drinking tea and discussing the country could no longer be seen.
Xu Ling whispered, "I thought that the refugees in Jiangbei were already very poor, but they still have straw shacks to block the rain and two bowls of porridge to receive every day …"
Changgeng said, "It's useless to say more. Let's go. Let that western dog lead the way to their sentry post."
The two personal guards of the Black Iron Battalion immediately responded and lifted the western soldier.
"His Royal Highness Yan Wang!" Xu Ling took a few steps forward and called out to Changgeng, "When can I fight the western dog?"
Changgeng didn't stop walking and answered without turning his head, "If we can smoothly settle down the refugees in Jiangbei, God will not give us face and give us face. We can rest and build up strength for one or two years until the Eighteen Armies run out of ammunition and food. We can then reopen the purple gold channel in Beijiang. I don't believe that we can't deal with this group of western dogs!"
However, right now, the court was in turmoil and it was difficult to move forward. Tens of thousands of refugees were still homeless and destitute. How could they talk about rest and build up strength and unite against the outside world?
Xu Ling took a deep breath and his eyes were red. He caught up with Yan Wang's footsteps and said in a low and hurried voice by his ear, "Your Highness, do you know that your reforms in the court were too big? There have long been people who see you as a thorn in their side … Let's not talk about anything else, but this investigation in the South this time, if that Yang Ronggui really did embezzle and conceal the report, he will definitely receive news in the next few days. If he goes all out, he can exchange all the gold and silver in the manor for fire beacon tickets. He can only say that in order to forcefully push for fire beacon tickets, you used all kinds of unscrupulous methods to give the local officials targets that they can't meet. They are corrupt and have no choice but to bend the law.
What will you do then? "Changgeng smiled faintly and said," If there really is someone who can take over this chaotic situation, recover Jiangnan, and stabilize the four directions, what can I do if I pack my bags and leave? Lord Xu, what I do is not for myself, nor is it for those people to say good things about me. Whoever is willing to participate can participate. I ask myself whether I am worthy of heaven's reasoning and conscience. It doesn't matter if I sleep in the Grand Council in the middle of the night or in the prison. No ancestors will come out to slap me in the face. Other than that … "
He didn't continue speaking. There seemed to be a bitter and mocking smile that flashed across his young and handsome face. Xu Ling seemed to see the loneliness and helplessness that surrounded Yan Wang. His heart shook and his face burned with pain.
The Censorate had been slapped in the face by Yan Wang in public more than once. They had long wished that they could grab hold of some information that could be used against Yan Wang's party.
The Supervision Institute was the gathering place of the "Clear Stream" in the court. They were all like Xu Ling. They were unwilling to climb up to the powerful officials and disdained to wallow in the mire with the merchants who stinked of money. They boasted that they were only loyal to the emperor. They saw Yan Wang's actions as drinking poison to quench thirst. In addition, rumors and slanders were everywhere. They always felt that Yan Wang was a scheming traitor who played the emperor in the palm of his hand.
Xu Ling followed Yan Wang to the south this time. One reason was to investigate and punish the corrupt officials. More importantly, while the aristocratic families and the new nobles were fighting each other, the Clear Stream of the two courts had already planned to join hands to accuse Yan Wang, the initiator of all this. Xu Ling's purpose for coming here was not simple. It was because the Emperor Long An was worried about Yan Wang, Li Min. It was also because the two courts wanted to grab hold of the evidence of Yan Wang's disloyalty.
Someone was working hard for the desolation of Jiangnan and Jiangbei, even if his methods were a bit harsh. Yet they were waiting in the court to accuse him of his mistakes. Who was the one who was bringing disaster to the country and the people?
Xu Ling couldn't help but choke with sobs, "Your Highness …"
Changgeng raised his eyebrows slightly and asked in confusion, "What's wrong with Lord Xu?"
Xu Ling couldn't speak for a moment.
Gu Yun led the way in front without saying a word. Xu Ling, the scholar, thought that he was whispering. In fact, with Gu Yun's hearing ability when he wasn't deaf, he heard every word downwind.
From the corner of his eye, he glanced at his bodyguard who was listening to him with extreme anger. He then glanced at Ge Chen, whose expression was flickering. He more or less knew where the "accident" of accidentally entering the enemy's ranks came from.
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