The wounded soldiers who had originally wanted to go with him were all deflated by his shout. But there were still some subordinates who were not afraid of Shen Mingjiang's dark face, saying: "That despicable third brother sent two thousand men to surround and annihilate us. In order to facilitate our operation, our main force is not here. Right now, we only have about a hundred old and disabled soldiers. If we don't bring them all and then run into them head-on, wouldn't we have no chance of winning?"
Shen Mingjiang said impatiently, "It's not like bringing you along guarantees victory. Let's avoid sending a few to their deaths. I'll find a way to bypass the Tibetan encirclement and send messages out."
The battle with Tibet was truly humiliating and frustrating. When he discovered that his son had lost his memory and was being used by the third prince, he led his personal guards all the way to the Tibetan border.
However, he had a large number of men with him, and if he were to openly enter Tibetan territory, it might provoke a conflict between the two countries. Therefore, he left his main force at the border to await reinforcements, while he himself, along with about a hundred personal guards, disguised himself as a merchant and infiltrated Tibetan territory to investigate his son's whereabouts.
The more he investigated, the angrier he became. When he discovered that his son, who had lost his memory, was being used by the third prince to do shady things for him, he could no longer suppress his anger. He sneaked into the royal court and seized an opportunity to capture Shen Xiuyi.
Although the son had lost his memory, his treacherous and cunning nature remained. He was convinced that as long as he captured the person and explained the situation, he could bring him back. However, Shen Xiuyi was suspicious and didn't trust anyone, so he secretly escaped while his men were off guard.
Not long after, the royal court discovered their presence.
Shen Mingjiang only wanted to bring his son back and did not want to clash with the Tibetan royal family, so he had been actively avoiding them. However, this time the Tibetan royal family was relentless and pursued them relentlessly.
Left with no other choice, Shen Mingjiang led his men to hide in Ximen Mountain for a while, but they ended up falling right into the trap set by the third prince of Tibet.
After forcing them into Ximen Mountain, the Third Prince used gunpowder to blast off the horizontal stone at the top of the entrance to Ximen Mountain. He then sent three thousand soldiers to guard all the exits and two thousand elite soldiers to enter the mountain to surround and intercept them, intending to trap them to death in the mountain.
Shen Mingjiang only realized that it was all the Third Prince's scheme after he discovered that the horizontal stone had been blown up and the entrance had been blocked. Moreover, the Third Prince began to surround and intercept them after Shen Xiuyi escaped.
He simply couldn't believe that after losing her memory, Shen Xiuyi had completely lost her judgment and even betrayed her own father. He could only hold his breath and try to find a way to break through.
Especially those personal guards who followed him into Tibet—not to mention that searching for Shen Xiuyi was his family matter and had nothing to do with them—their predicament was, to some extent, due to Shen Xiuyi's machinations.
Therefore, Shen Mingjiang would rather risk his own life than let them sacrifice themselves in vain.
Unwilling to waste any more breath on them, Shen Mingjiang led about twenty uninjured men and quietly followed behind the Bai's group.
Shen Mingjiang lurked in the shadows, his teeth itching with rage as he watched the Bai on horseback.
They were discovered so suddenly that they had to leave the royal court in a hurry to conceal their identities. They only had one weapon with them and enough rations for one or two days.
They were later trapped in the mountains and pursued for more than half a month. They lacked food and clothing, their weapons were dulled, and they could only obtain medicinal materials from the mountains to treat their injuries.
Fortunately, there were still wild animals in the mountains at this time of year; otherwise, these people would probably have starved to death instead of dying at the hands of the Tibetans.
Later, Shen Mingjiang got fed up with the pursuit and led his men to confront the Tibetan soldiers who were chasing him several times. He managed to seize some weapons and food by risking injury.
The group that caused the most injuries to Shen Mingjiang's men was the Bai's team. The Bai was a prominent figure in Tibet, and he was eager to use Shen Mingjiang to curry favor. For the past two weeks, he had been diligently pursuing and intercepting Shen Mingjiang.
All of this is a source of great frustration for Shen Mingjiang. He feels an urge to fight Baiyi whenever he sees him, but he simply doesn't have enough men. If he had even a hundred or so, he would dare to confront Baiyi head-on and avoid being chased like a stray dog.
"Where are they going?" Shen Mingjiang asked in a low voice, his expression puzzled.
"Their direction was very purposeful, and it didn't seem like they were retreating. It was more like they were heading towards something."
Shen Mingjiang clicked his tongue and chuckled, "This old bastard is so eager to take credit with me. How could he possibly pass up a ready-made achievement and go somewhere else? Unless there's an even greater opportunity there."
"But that doesn't make sense either. Who else would come to this godforsaken mountain village besides us?"
He kept a close watch and pondered the situation, but couldn't figure out the reason. Instead, the Bai's group suddenly stopped.
Shen Mingjiang and his group were too far away to see what was happening ahead, but they heard a loud bang in front of them, followed by the sound of a retreat horn.
"What happened?"
Shen Mingjiang didn't care whether he would be discovered or not. He quickly climbed up the cliff next to him and looked around. He chuckled and said, "Someone is lying in ambush on this old guy."
—Only, water carrying mud and dust rolled down the cliff, and the loud noise was the sound of the surging water breaking through the barrier.
After the Bai family was drenched by the powerful current, although he immediately ordered a retreat after realizing what was happening, the turbid mud carrying grass, trees and stones rushed down with great force, and in just a short time, half of the people collapsed.
The Bai, unable to see the people hiding above, assumed he was simply unlucky to have been caught in a mudslide.
But Shen Mingjiang, standing high up, could see far and clearly that the highest waterfall had been forcibly blocked by trees, changing its course so that it rushed straight towards where the Bai had been.
The people on the other side also had excellent timing, arriving at the perfect moment with the mudslide, which scattered the Bai's group into pieces.
Shen Mingjiang hissed, pondering whether the person opposite him was friend or foe.
Such treacherous and cunning methods suited him perfectly. Currently, he was used to head-on confrontations on the battlefield, where he would be stronger if the enemy was stronger. However, after being surrounded and intercepted by the unscrupulous third brother for half a month, he felt that there was no need to be so particular on the battlefield. Treachery and cunning were not important; as long as the enemy suffered a setback, that was enough.
While he was pondering this, Xue Shen on the other side had already led his men in a swift retreat.
He and his guards went to great lengths to ensure the "flood" would hit just right. Fortunately, their efforts paid off, as the sudden "flood" wiped out half of the Bai's men.
There are three more traps along the way. If Bai falls into two of them, he will be fish on Xue Shen's chopping board.
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