(There's one more chapter in the afternoon and one more in the evening. It's not that I'm splitting it up on purpose. The earlier I upload it, the earlier I can read it. Moreover, each chapter will definitely have at least four to five thousand words. PS: A lot of foreshadowing, but in the end, it will become a magnificent and magnificent battle.)
After Hsu Fengnian arrived at Huaiyang Pass, Xu Weixiong went south to return to Mount Qingliang the next day. The remaining Hsu Fengnian also began to live in seclusion, not interfering in the affairs of the Protectorate. Qi Dangguo, who was stationed on the Qingyuan front line, would occasionally ride his horse over to relieve Hsu Fengnian's boredom. The two would often leave the pass together under the banner of hunting. They would bring several hundred elite cavalry to approach Hutou City and watch the flames and smoke of battle from a distance. If they encountered a small group of Beimang horses, they would be treated as an appetizer for Qi Dangguo's White Feather Guards, who were the most skilled in cavalry and archery in the Beiliang Frontier Army. The Protectorate naturally didn't dare to raise any objections to this. They only secretly scattered many crossbowmen on white horses outside the pass to guard against any accidents.
On this day, it was the spring equinox. Thunder roared, wheat sprouted, and the sun rose a total of forty-two thousand li. Hsu Fengnian rode out alone in the early morning. In order not to burden the Protectorate and the crossbowmen, he didn't go north to Hutou City. Instead, he leisurely headed east to Fuling City. One of the fifty or so crossbowmen on guard duty didn't dare to disturb the King of Beiliang's relaxation. However, probably because he wanted to personally witness the elegance of Hsu Fengnian, one of the Four Great Grandmasters of the world, the commander of the archery team also put in some thought. He allowed the fifty or so riders under his command to have the opportunity to move to within two hundred paces of Hsu Fengnian. However, after that, they had to quickly retreat, otherwise they would be dealt with according to military law. Hsu Fengnian didn't know whether to laugh or cry, but he just pretended that he didn't see anything. Hsu Fengnian looked up at the clear sky and suddenly laughed. When he was young, he didn't understand why a cloudless sky was considered good weather. He always felt that the clouds floating in the sky were beautiful, especially the fiery clouds. When he was young, in the prison-like Dantong Pass, he would be happy for several days every time he saw the clouds. Together with the little beggar who he only knew was Zhao Zhu a long time later, the two children could watch the clouds for hours without feeling bored. Ever since they parted, Hsu Fengnian was always worried that the little beggar wouldn't be able to find food and that he might starve or freeze to death on the street one day. He didn't expect to reunite with the little beggar many years later at the Spring God Lake. All these years, the little beggar had been living well. However, the little beggar had suddenly become His Royal Highness, the Lord of Southern Jiang.
Hsu Fengnian suddenly stopped his horse and turned his head to the south. In the distance, four riders were heading north. When they saw Hsu Fengnian's figure, they spurred their horses and headed straight for him. Before they arrived, the commander of the crossbowmen on the white horse came to Hsu Fengnian's side first. He got off his horse and saluted respectfully, "Your Highness, the four riders should be Jianghu people who were selected by the Fish-dragon Gang to join the army at the border. Do you want me to stop them?"
Hsu Fengnian shook his head and said, "No, you can retreat to Huaiyang Pass first."
The commander of the archery team accepted the order without hesitation. Although they were sent by the Protectorate, it was obvious who was the most powerful person in Beiliang and who the 300,000 border soldiers should listen to. Moreover, who was the prince? Did he really need crossbowmen to protect him? However, after the sturdy commander mounted his horse, he said shyly for the first time, "Your Highness, if I may be so bold as to say, we've all heard about what happened outside Gourd Mouth in Youzhou. If there's a chance in the future, all of the crossbowmen in Liangzhou would like to fight side by side with Your Highness!"
Hsu Fengnian smiled and nodded. The commander of the archery team patted his horse and left excitedly. He was someone who had spoken to the King of Beiliang. If he went back and told the Commandant and those bastards, wouldn't they be jealous? After galloping for several hundred steps, the commander of the archery team looked back. Looking at the figure of the man and his horse, he thought, our prince is really the most romantic person in the world. He's also so amiable and approachable. If he were in the Central Plains, how many young girls would die for him? The commander of the archery team immediately felt indignant. Although he had heard that Mount Qingliang already had two potential princesses who had not yet been officially married and had good reputations, it was still too few.
Once the crossbowmen were far away, the four riders quickly arrived. When they saw Hsu Fengnian, the leader of the riders was a white-haired but hale and hearty old man. The old man with the sword on his back sized him up and asked with a smile, "Does little brother know where Huaiyang Pass is?"
Xu Fengnian smiled and pointed out the way for the old man. The old man cupped his hands and thanked Xu Fengnian before he introduced himself. He had a heroic spirit of Jianghu. "I'm from Qingsong County in Jiangnan. My Jianghu friends have given me the nickname 'Sky Drum'. May I ask if little brother is like us, someone who has come to the Beiliang border to join the army? "
Hsu Fengnian shook his head and said, "I'm originally from the border army. My father's generation has already settled down in Beiliang."
The old man nodded and said, "I see. I've been rude."
The old man smiled helplessly and said with some self-mockery, "It's not that I'm a chatterbox. It's just that the four of us are unfamiliar with this place. When I heard that the Beimang barbarian army of a million was coming south to knock on the pass, I followed my father and master to Ji Bei when I was young and killed the barbarians beyond the Great Wall. Now, I couldn't hold back my anger and heard that the Fish-dragon Gang, one of the top ten gangs in the world, could recommend us outsiders to the Beiliang Frontier Army. So, I brought three disciples to Beiliang. The Fish-dragon Gang only gave us four temporary travel permits and we suffered a lot on the way north …"
One of the young men with a long sword on his waist said angrily, "Master, when we met the Beiliang Frontier Army, they were confident in their combat power. What's the difference between the way they looked at us and the way they looked at the barbarians?"
Hsu Fengnian's three trips to Jianghu were not in vain. He immediately understood the meaning behind it. It must be that this group of people relied on their martial arts and had a conflict with the Beiliang Frontier Army. Otherwise, they would not have used the prefix "confident in their combat power". Instead, they would have directly pointed out the latter sentence. However, what Hsu Fengnian was curious about was that the Fish-dragon Gang had opened their doors to recruit people from Jianghu. This was originally instructed by Wutongin and Fu Shuifang. However, most of them were low-level masters who were opportunistic and could not survive in Liyang Jianghu, so they fled to Beiliang to find a place to stay. There were only 16 people who were willing to go to Beiliang's border to join the army, and those who had some foundation in martial arts were clearly recorded in the Governor-General's Office. However, this old swordsman, who Hsu Fengnian had never heard of before, was a real master of the realm of Master. This kind of master could easily establish a sect on Liyang Jianghu and become a leader in the martial arts world of a county. It was not difficult for him to go to the capital's Ministry of Justice and get a carp bag to hang around his waist. Hsu Fengnian casually observed the four riders. Other than the Level Two master's gaze, the other three people each had their own merits. The young man with a sword at his waist had an arrogant attitude. He had long heard that Beiliang had many talented disciples. This stranger who appeared at the border of the Great Wall for no reason and was not wearing armor and carrying a sword was most likely one of them. The middle-aged swordsman should be the eldest disciple of the Master of Martial Arts in Jiangnan. He was relatively mature and prudent. He discreetly sized up Hsu Fengnian's hand, trying to find clues that he had once practiced martial arts. He had a lot of experience in Jianghu and did not believe that there would be an ordinary person riding alone in the vicinity when hundreds of thousands of Beimang soldiers were attacking Hutou City. As for the last woman in black who wore a veil hat to cover her face, she was also curiously examining the man in front of her who did not look like a Beiliang. He looked more like a young master from a Jiangnan noble family.
Hsu Fengnian smiled and said, "It doesn't matter what other people think. I just have to be myself. If you really want to talk about things with your eyes, haven't you been looking at us, Beiliang, for twenty years since you left Yang Dynasty? "
The young swordsman probably could barely stand the arrogance of the Beiliang Frontier Army, but he could not stand the arrogance of a Beiliang disciple of the same age. He immediately became angry. "The four of us came to Beiliang in the middle of nowhere to join the army. We came to break through enemy lines and kill the enemy, not to listen to the mocking and ridicule of people like you! If it weren't for the fact that my master and the second guest of Mount Hui, Hong Yu, were close friends … "
The old man's expression was stern. He stopped his disciple from continuing to speak without fear. "Chong He!"
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