"You've been deceived, haven't you?"

"Could this imperial edict be fake, and His Majesty be unaware of it?"

Upon hearing this, not only Fu Zheng hesitated, but some of those who heard Xu Shouli's words also looked at each other in bewilderment.

Du Yucheng shouted, "Commander Fu, don't be fooled by his words!"

"Lord Qingdong!" Du Yucheng pointed at Xu Shouli and questioned, "I ask you, you knew that the court ordered Wang Yuluan to lead the arrest of Zhao Huan and his son, so why did you go against the court and let them go?"

Xu Shouli asked doubtfully, "Where are Zhao Huan and his son? I haven't seen them."

Du Yucheng angrily said, "Stop pretending! I know you've betrayed us! You and Zhao Huan and his son are both traitors to the Great Jing!"

Xu Shouli said, "I don't understand what you're talking about."

"You don't need to understand!" Du Yucheng raised his halberd and shouted, "Get out of the way! If you won't arrest them, I will!"

Xu Shouli said, "Jingdong County is behind me; I cannot let you in."

Du Yucheng said, "What right do you have to stop me?"

Xu Shouli pulled on the reins, and his warhorse and he raised their heads high at the same time. He said sternly, "The pirates in Jing County have not yet been wiped out, so your Zhenhai Camp should not be here. My fiefdom is in Qingdong City, Jingdong County, so I will not allow you to bring the flames of war into it!"

Du Yucheng angrily said, "I am acting on the Emperor's orders. Since Marquis Qingdong is blocking my way, then I shall offend you!"

Xu Shouli immediately ordered the cavalry to scatter, and they seemed to have scattered like birds and beasts. However, when Du Yucheng led the Zhenhai Camp to continue advancing, the cavalry that had been scattered rushed back from a distance.

With each such charge, hundreds of Zhenhai Battalion soldiers fell, and hundreds more were killed or wounded. However, if Du Yucheng changed his target to deal with Xu Shouli, Xu Shouli would flee far away, showing no intention of engaging Zhenhai Battalion in a direct confrontation.

The Zhenhai Battalion excels in amphibious warfare and has a knack for dealing with sea pirates, but it struggles against cavalry.

Du Yucheng couldn't come up with a better solution for the time being, so he had no choice but to speed up the pursuit of Zhao Huan and his son despite the continuous casualties. He had made up his mind that as long as he could catch up with Zhao Huan and his son, it would be worth it even if he lost half of his men along the way!

We can get rid of Zhenhai Camp. In any case, with its current strength, Zhenhai Camp is no match for the trap set up by the Southern Zhou and the pirates in Yunjing County.

But Zhao Cheng must die!

Du Yucheng went completely mad, ignoring Fu Zheng's advice and attempts to stop him, and stubbornly followed the Zhao family.

...

When Wang Yuluan arrived in Yanchuan City after pursuing Zhao Huan and his son in Chengdu, a ghostly figure appeared in the prison of the Ministry of Justice in Dongdu.

The jailers couldn't catch a glimpse of the ghostly figure, or even see what it was, before they were knocked to the ground by stones.

Only after all the jailers had fallen did the ghostly figure slow down and slowly walk towards a cell.

He stopped in front of the cell, put on gloves, and then the iron cage in front of him was like tofu in his hands, which he pried open to create a doorway.

"Yan Yilun, come out."

Yan Yilun had been locked up for a long time and looked like a prisoner after that: his hair and beard were disheveled, his eyes were cloudy, and he seemed a bit neurotic. He came closer and looked him over carefully for a while before calling out, "Senior Luo!"

Luo Ying smiled slightly and said, "You still recognize me. Looks like you haven't gone crazy from being locked up."

Yan Yilun crawled out of the doorway and asked, "Why did you come to rescue me personally? Did something happen outside?"

Luo Ying said, "The imperial army has already reached the city gates, and Zhao Huan's family has fled Yanchuan City."

"happy!"

Yan Yilun clapped his hands instinctively, but then realized something was wrong and immediately said, "We can't let Zhao Cheng get away!"

Luo Ying turned around and walked towards the prison exit first, saying, "Let's go, I'll take you to kill someone."

...

Du Yucheng's interception forced Zhao Huan to change direction and head east. As their group entered the middle of Jingdong County and got closer and closer to Jinghai, Du Yucheng continued to pursue them relentlessly, like a group of tireless madmen.

It's unclear how Du Yucheng motivated these soldiers, or whether he used any harsh methods, but in any case, Du Yucheng was successful.

Even Xu Shouli's cavalry were getting tired.

Xu Shouli couldn't stop Du Yucheng, so he could only harass him with guerrilla tactics to slow them down.

Another day passed, and Du Yucheng finally ordered the entire army to rest on the spot, allowing the soldiers to catch their breath.

When Du Yucheng stopped, Zhao Huan and Xu Shouli didn't stop either, as if it was unbelievable that a madman would stop. Only when they realized that Du Yucheng had really stopped did Zhao Huan and Xu Shouli dare to stop as well.

Zhao Cheng said, "This can't go on. Du Yucheng is sticking to us too tightly, and we can't pick up speed at all. I'm afraid we'll be overtaken by Wang Yuluan before we even reach the foot of Lingshan Mountain."

During the journey, Yan Zheng stayed close to Zhao Cheng and said, "Judging from Wang Yuluan's marching speed, it won't be easy for his 30,000 troops to catch up with us."

"Don't forget that Wang Yuluan has five thousand cavalry!"

Zhao Cheng frowned and reminded him, "If I were Wang Yuluan, what's the point of having 30,000 men if we don't need to attack the city? I know perfectly well that the enemy only has 300 soldiers, so I can just take 5,000 cavalry to chase them! Even if I wanted all 30,000 men, I could split them into two groups, take 5,000 cavalry to chase them first, and then the infantry could advance at their own pace."

"Mr. Yan, if you calculate the speed of the cavalry's raid, is Wang Yuluan really that far away from us?"

Yan Zheng began to calculate seriously, his face growing increasingly grim. He said in a hoarse voice, "If Wang Yuluan is as smart as the boss, then he's very close to us."

Zhao Cheng said, "Wang Yuluan is different from his brother. He's not stupid, and he's been tempered in the three counties of New Taipei City. There's no reason he wouldn't think of this. That's why I said that things can't go on like this, and we need to find a way to break the deadlock."

Zhou Nuo picked up the Jingling Bow, stood up and said, "I will lead the guards to assist Xu Shouli."

Zhao Cheng said, "You and the third brother can't move. If you both go to the Marquis's side, how will we defend ourselves when Wang Yuluan comes to kill us?"

Zhou Nuo pouted and said, "Then how do we break this deadlock?"

"I really didn't expect that Du Yucheng would be so persistent. Not only did he pursue relentlessly, but he also managed to make his soldiers just as crazy as him."

Zhao Cheng clenched his fist and said, "To catch the thief, first catch the king!"

Zhao Hu said, "Since you won't let Zhou Nuo and the Third Young Master make a move, then I'll go."

Zhao Cheng shook his head.

“You are stronger than Du Yu in a one-on-one fight, but you can’t kill him in front of thousands of troops.”

Zhao Cheng looked up at Yang Taozhi and said, "Sister, you're the only one who can go."