Chapter 140 Who is that skilled young man?
"Kill!" Several charging soldiers took the lead in rushing towards the bandits, and the others immediately followed.
Everyone fought the bandits with the determination to die, and the situation actually improved. The soldiers noticed this and fought more bravely. It would be better to drag the bandits to be buried with them than to die in a cowardly way.
In the early stage, more than half of the soldiers were killed. Although they fought back now and the number of their people and the bandits was equal, the bandits were extremely cruel. The bandits suffered no good consequences, and the soldiers did not gain any benefits either.
The battle was extremely brutal. The air in the mountains was filled with the smell of blood, the ground beneath our feet was stained red with blood, and countless corpses lay on the ground, making it impossible to tell who was friend or foe.
Just as the soldiers were fighting with the determination to die together with the bandits, the sound of weapons breaking through the air suddenly came from the sky, and several bandits fell down at the same time, with a flying knife stuck in their necks.
Before everyone could react, a masked man in white clothes landed in front of the two armies and attacked again with lightning speed. Several bandits who didn't react fell one after another.
The way these people died was the same, they were stabbed in the vitals by flying knives.
The man was very good at martial arts, and everyone only felt a white shadow flash before their eyes. In an instant, the bandits were killed in front of the battle.
Although the bandits were dead, there were only a hundred or so soldiers left alive. The surviving soldiers stood dumbfounded in the sea of blood and corpses, and the man in white killed all the bandits and left, not giving the soldiers a chance to ask about his identity.
"Sir Li, who was that young man with such great skills just now?" A soldier looked at the deputy general who was still a little frightened.
Lieutenant General Li looked at the flying knife on the neck of the slain bandit, also at a loss: "I have been in the army for three years, and I have never heard of such a skilled person in the army."
I don't know where this person came from, but he was able to fight against a hundred bandits by himself.
Lieutenant General Li covered his abdomen, which was stabbed with a bloody hole, and hastily wrapped it with gauze. While sustaining his injury, he directed his soldiers to clean up the battlefield.
"I wonder if these bandits have colluded with others. We should not stay here for long. Clean up the place quickly and bury... the body of the Prince of Dingbei and send it back to the capital."
Although the campaign against bandits was a victory, more than 2,000 lives were lost. It is no exaggeration to say that it was a tragic victory.
While other soldiers were cleaning up the battlefield, Lieutenant General Li first sent someone back to the capital to pass on the message, asking His Majesty to send someone to support Kou Cheng so that the battlefield could be cleaned up as soon as possible and the wounded could be escorted back to the capital.
The victory in suppressing the bandits was something to be happy about, but when the emperor learned that the casualties among the soldiers were as high as more than 2,900, he almost fainted on the spot in the court.
The battle situation was so tragic that the emperor was bound to hold the leading soldiers accountable. He would not have known until he asked. Once he asked, he found out that Qin Zhuoyan not only died in the battle, but was also the first to die.
"My Lord! Kou Cheng... Kou Cheng!" Upon learning the news about Kou Cheng, the staff in the Marquis' Mansion immediately came to the mansion to pass on the message.
The Marquis of Dingbei had great prestige in the army in his past, so even though the Marquisate is in decline now, there are still people following him.
"Win or lose?" Marquis Dingbei used scissors to take care of the potted pine and cypress plants he had raised for many years, taking great care of them.
After Tan Zhuoyan went to Koucheng, Marquis Dingbei and his wife were rarely of one mind, and they lived and ate together these days.
The marquis's wife was doing needlework in the house. When she heard someone outside talking about Kou Cheng, she came out to listen.
"We have won." The staff looked at the Dingbei Marquis and his wife, who were actually quite old, with a complicated expression.
Marquis Dingbei heard something strange in his staff's tone and asked in confusion, "What do you mean by victory is victory?"
"Just now, news came back to the palace from Koucheng. Although the battle against the bandits in Koucheng was a victory, it was a tragic victory. Among the three thousand soldiers, more than 2,900 were killed or wounded. The Crown Prince also died in battle."
"Click", the aide's words fell into the air, and the scissors in the Marquis's hand accidentally cut off a well-grown branch, and the originally lush pine and cypress potted plants became much more desolate.
Marquis Dingbei suddenly felt a buzzing in his ears, and behind him he heard the maid's mournful cries.
"Madam! Cheer up! Someone! Go get the doctor!"
The marquis' wife fainted due to the shock and only woke up after a doctor gave her acupuncture.
No matter how difficult the Marquis's Mansion was in the past, the Marquis's wife was always vigorous and resolute in managing the household and never got discouraged.
After learning of her son's death, the Marquis's wife lay on the bed, her face pale and lifeless. If it weren't for the tears she was shedding and the rise and fall of her chest due to breathing, she would have looked like a dead person.
"I don't believe it. Yan'er is quite skilled, how could he die in battle? This is the first time he has been assigned to a battle. Before he left for the battle, he came to me and said that he would definitely be able to bring back honor to the Marquis' Mansion."
As the Marquis spoke, tears fell down her cheeks. She only had this one child, and she didn't expect to have to see him die in her middle age.
It would be fine if her son had been on the battlefield for a long time and died at the hands of swords and knives, but it was his first time going to the battlefield. How could he die on his first mission? How could the Marquis' wife accept this?
In Mrs. Hou's opinion, Tan Zhuoyan's life should be one of glory and fame.
Marquis Dingbei sat on the edge of the bed holding his wife's hand. Not only his wife, but as a father, wasn't he also devastated by the news of his son's death?
The couple shed tears silently for a long time. The Marquis's wife held the Marquis's hand tightly and said, "My Lord, I think there must be something fishy about Yan'er's death. I don't believe that he died so carelessly."
Marquis Dingbei had the same idea. Although the bandits in Koucheng were troublesome, they were not to this extent.
Almost all the soldiers who went to suppress the bandits died. The Dingbei Marquis and his wife didn't know about others, but their child, whose skills were considered a gifted gift from heaven, how could he die like this?
"Your Majesty has already sent people to help the soldiers of Koucheng clean up the battlefield. Yan'er's... body will be sent back to the Marquis' Mansion soon. We will then ask the coroner to perform an autopsy. This matter must be investigated."
Marquis Dingbei ordered someone to invite the most prestigious coroner in the capital, and after Tan Zhuoyan's body was sent back to the marquis's mansion, he immediately asked the coroner to perform an autopsy.
In order to find out the truth about her son's death, Mrs. Hou came despite her sick body to wait for the coroner's results.
But the coroner checked repeatedly and carefully examined Qin Zhuoyan's body. The cause of Qin Zhuoyan's death was a fatal wound on her heart, and there were also injuries from being knocked off the horse. Apart from that, there was nothing wrong.
The injuries on Tan Zhuoyan's body were all caused by fighting, and there was no other problem. There was no sign of poisoning on his body, and his skin color, blood, and mouth were all normal.
"Sir, are you sure there are no other problems? Or is there something you missed?" Mrs. Hou was unwilling to believe it.
The coroner knew that it would be hard for them to believe that their only legitimate son had not died a violent death. Although he had checked several times, he still patiently explained: "In reply to your Majesty and Madam, I have even checked the top of your head, and there is indeed nothing abnormal."
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