Meanwhile, forty miles outside the capital, two armies officially went to war: one led by General Yang, and the other by Zhang Xiantao's brother.
More than a month ago, Zhang Shitao led 100,000 troops to the capital to provide support, but unexpectedly, he was ambushed by several martial arts practitioners on the way. The opponents were ruthless and attacked from the shadows. Moreover, they were highly skilled in martial arts, and Zhang Shitao suffered a great loss.
Caught off guard, they lost over a thousand soldiers in one go, causing widespread panic throughout the army.
Moreover, those eccentric gangsters were known for their nighttime ambushes and their methods of killing were horrifying. At first, Zhang Shitao couldn't even figure out how many people were on the other side. He only knew that after the soldiers in the army were dragged away, they were quickly reduced to skeletons and thrown back.
Otherwise, they would become a dried-up corpse, or be chopped into countless small pieces and thrown in front of the soldiers. Every method of killing was unlike that of a normal person; it was too brutal and bloody. Even the soldiers who were used to seeing corpses and bones on the battlefield were terrified and their livers and gallbladders were about to burst.
In the end, it was Zhang Shitao, the commander, who was the first to calm down. He knew that he could not handle these ruthless and vicious masters. Masters should be dealt with by other masters. Wasn't the prince consort a master among masters? The people around him were all highly skilled.
So he wrote a letter to the eldest princess, requesting her assistance.
After receiving the letter, the princess immediately asked Zhu Lin to make arrangements. Zhu Lin then sent several of his senior brothers to the palace. Zhu Chumo had to stay in the palace to treat the emperor and empress and could not leave, so he sent Zhao Mingyue along. Although Zhao Mingyue's skills were not as good as Zhu Lin's, she was still a rare expert.
Moreover, he was skilled in using poisons and grew up in swamps and forests, adapting to all kinds of harsh environments, making him perfectly suited to deal with those few villains from the martial arts world who ambushed the Zhang family's army.
Those ruthless and eccentric men were indeed difficult to deal with; even Zhu Qiuyu and his companions couldn't subdue them in a short time.
However, once they figured out the number of the other side, there were four of them, who were said to be brothers. These four practiced extremely vicious kung fu, and they all wanted to capture living people to use as training materials.
It is said that these four people also enjoy eating people, and each of them has their own preferences: the eldest enjoys drinking human blood, the second enjoys eating human hearts, the third enjoys eating human tongues, and the fourth enjoys eating human fingers.
These four people were more ferocious than wild beasts, and their habits were disgusting and outrageous.
When Zhu Qiuyu and the others arrived, Zhang Shitao's army had already suffered over three thousand casualties at the hands of the four men, demonstrating just how terrifying these four inhuman creatures were.
Zhu Qiuyu, Zhu Xichen, Zhu Yueran, and Zhao Mingyue made up four people. Four experts faced off against four villains, and the battle ended in a draw several times. Neither side gained an advantage, and both suffered injuries of varying degrees.
"Those three men in white are from Immortal Mist Island, as General Yang mentioned? And who is that other young man with strange kung fu skills? Damn it, I've never suffered such a loss before." The eccentric leader had disheveled hair and a chilling bluish-green face. If he weren't still alive and talking, he would look no different from a dead man.
The second eccentric had his hair tied up and was wearing a dark red robe. His eyes gleamed green, and he didn't look like a human being, but more like a mindless wild beast. He liked to growl from time to time. He pressed his injured arm and said in a sinister tone, "My arm was almost chopped off by that guy with the folding fan."
"My head was almost chopped off. I swear I won't rest until I get my revenge!" The third brother grinned, furiously touching the top of his head, where a patch of flesh had been chopped off by Zhu Yueran.
Only the fourth brother was unharmed, but he didn't gain any advantage either, and he was in a very sorry state. A faint red light flashed in his eyes. "I thought that this army of 100,000 would become our meal, but I didn't expect that the other side also has experts. Our good days are probably coming to an end."
"Why don't we run away? If this continues, we might even lose our lives." The third brother was the least timid of the four, and he wanted to run away as soon as he was frustrated.
"I'm afraid we have no choice in the matter. Those men were sent by the imperial court. Now that they've discovered the existence of the four of us brothers, they certainly won't let us leave. They'll probably do everything in their power to kill us," the eccentric leader analyzed in a deep voice.
Although the four brothers became neither human nor ghost after obtaining the secret manual for practicing evil arts at the age of thirteen, and are now over forty years old, having spent more than thirty years causing harm to people everywhere, they have never felt that they have done anything wrong.
However inhuman they may be, they knew that what the four brothers had done was despicable and intolerable to the world. In the eyes of outsiders, the four brothers were demons, worse than beasts.
The court did not discover that they were causing harm to people everywhere, so things were peaceful. But now that the world is gradually becoming more peaceful, there are not so many refugees for them to harm. Otherwise, they would not have come to such a place near the capital to intercept this army of 100,000.
If it were just the soldiers in the army, they wouldn't be afraid with their skills. But now the imperial court has sent experts whose skills are comparable to theirs, or even slightly stronger, to deal with them, which is a very bad situation.
“Leaving isn’t a solution either. Now that the people have settled down and every household has been registered, the government keeps a population record. If too many people go missing from any village or prefecture, it will be discovered soon, and then people will be sent to investigate.” The second strange man spoke with a solemn expression.
"Let's not talk about what will happen in the future. Let's think of a way to get through this crisis. If we can escape, we might have a chance to survive for a few more years. But I'm afraid those four won't give us a chance to escape." The eccentric leader interrupted his brothers' useless nonsense in a gruff voice.
...
After several defeats, the four monsters racked their brains to escape, but Zhu Qiuyu and his companions pursued them relentlessly. The two sides fought back and forth for nearly a month, and in the end, the four monsters were defeated and scattered.
To prevent the four from escaping and causing harm to the people, Zhu Qiuyu and the other three had no choice but to split up and chase after them.
With neither General Yang nor Zhang Shitao having any capable or extraordinary individuals to assist them, and having just heard the news of the emperor's death, both sides could no longer restrain themselves and immediately went to war.
General Yang has 200,000 troops, while Zhang Shitao only has 100,000. The latter has half the number of troops and has almost no chance of winning. However, a few days ago, Zhao Shui suddenly came out of the city to assist in the attack.
Zhao Shui was skilled at making miasma and also produced a lot of antidotes. General Yang had an extra 100,000 men, so he used the miasma to help Zhang Shitao win the battle.
Zhao Shui was very unhappy about the battle. Damn it, why couldn't these people just calm down? They had to keep fighting and causing his son to resign from his official post and still not have a moment of peace. He was even dragged into helping with the war.
We can't not help, since our in-laws are generals and their brothers-in-law are fighting in the war. We can't just stand by and do nothing. Can we really not help even if we can?
He wanted to quickly poison those who rebelled. He didn't care who wanted to be emperor; he just wanted to live a peaceful life with his son, daughter-in-law, and grandson.
With Zhao Shui's miasma aiding them, Zhang Shitao's army quickly gained the upper hand and, barring any unforeseen circumstances, would soon win the battle.
...
The palace and the entire capital were covered with white cloth and white lanterns. From officials to commoners, everyone had to wear mourning clothes and all entertainment was prohibited.
However, unlike previous emperors who required their people to observe a three-year mourning period, Emperor Taikang only required them to observe a three-month mourning period.
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