166. Visor
The setting sun sank into the earth, and the fiery clouds on the horizon burned like flames in the sky, eventually going out bit by bit.
Chen Ji was wearing a conical hat and standing next to the dim sum shop outside Cuiyun Lane. He pretended to pick out dim sum while carefully looking around the lane out of the corner of his eyes.
The Chen residence's housekeeper was standing at the door, shouting, "Hurry, hurry, get that box onto the carriage! The Liu family's troops might be arriving at any moment, so we must not let them get away with it!"
Two servants were carrying a large box out of the house. When crossing the threshold, one of them accidentally tripped and the box fell to the ground, spilling all the gold and silver jewelry. Among them, a "phoenix crown and blue flowered headdress" was particularly eye-catching.
The housekeeper's face changed, and he rushed forward, cursing, to pick up the valuables and put them back into the box: "You guys are going to die! You can't even pay for the damage with your life!"
Chen Ji counted out twelve copper coins from his sleeve and handed them to the owner of the dim sum shop. While chewing the golden fried dough twist in the paper bag, he looked at the alley with an expressionless face.
At this time, the sound of heavy horse hooves came from afar.
Chen Ji turned around and saw that it was Zhang Xia riding Zaozao and galloping towards him, turning into Cuiyun Lane like thunder.
Zhang Xia stopped his horse in front of the Chen Mansion and looked at the housekeeper and others curiously: "What are you doing?"
The housekeeper said awkwardly, "I heard there was a war in the city. We quickly packed up our belongings and moved somewhere else to avoid being harmed by the soldiers."
Zhang Xia sat on Zaozao's saddle and raised an eyebrow. "Now that Lord Chen and my father are under house arrest in the government office, you're not trying to rescue them, but are packing up your belongings first?!"
The Chen family's housekeeper said with a bitter face, "Miss Zhang, you're joking. How can we, weak servants, save people? The best we can do is to keep the valuables for the master."
Zhang Xia snorted coldly: "Whatever you want!"
After saying this, she rode her horse to the gate of Zhang's house in Cuiyun Lane, handed the reins to the servant, and hurried in.
There were originally twelve houses in the entire alley. Later, Zhang Zhuo and Chen Liqin came to Los Angeles and bought other houses one after another and connected them. Gradually, only four officials and nobles were left.
Chen Ji, unable to find the golden pig and unable to leave Luocheng, came to Zhang Zhuo to discuss countermeasures. Unexpectedly, the Liu family acted even faster, placing Zhang Zhuo and Chen Liqin under house arrest in the government office.
He turned around and wanted to leave, but saw a large number of cavalry rushing towards the end of the long street.
This group of cavalry was completely different from the previous elephant-armored infantry. Everyone wore heavy black armor and an iron helmet, with white tassels on their heads fluttering in the wind. Under the helmet, a black lacquer mask covered their faces. They looked inexplicably fierce and domineering.
The tiger-armored cavalry raised by the Liu family.
Chen Ji stood there without moving. He saw this team of cavalrymen holding their spears upside down and riding their horses into Cuiyun Lane, driving away the idlers unscrupulously.
A servant stood in front of the horse with his arms outstretched: "What are you doing? This is the residence of the Luocheng Tongzhi, you can't do whatever you want!"
A cavalryman in tiger armor rode forward and, without warning, pierced the servant with his spear, then stepped over the corpse. The steward was so frightened that he quickly hid to the side.
The leader of the cavalry halted his horse in front of the Chen residence, not even glancing at the gold and silver. A cold voice rang out from beneath his visor: "Search! Take away all the families of Zhang Zhuo and Chen Liqin, and leave them alive!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the Tiger Armored Cavalry split into two teams, one team rushed into Zhang's Mansion and the other team rushed into Chen's Mansion.
Chen Ji hesitated for a moment, threw down the fried dough twist in his hand and turned away.
He came to the alley outside the backyard of Zhang's house and looked up at the gray tiles and white walls of Zhang's house that were two people tall.
He jumped up and kicked the wall on the other side, and relied on the reaction force to lightly flip over the high wall of Zhang Mansion.
In the yard, screams and wails were heard one after another. Servants, maids, concubines, and relatives fled in all directions, and the place was in chaos.
Chen Ji crouched down behind the rockery and observed quietly. He saw a fiery red figure being chased by a cavalryman and rushed into the back house.
Chen Ji closed his eyes and thought for a moment, and when he opened his eyes again, he had already sneaked over under the cover of night.
…
…
In the backyard, Zhang Xia was running for her life while looking back in panic. The black-armored warrior behind her was wearing heavy armor, but he ran faster than her.
She had no choice but to hide in a covered building in a panic.
Zhang Xia turned around and closed the door, then pulled an eight-immortals table from the house and propped it against the door.
Before she could even catch her breath, the black-armored warrior outside slammed the door down. With a loud bang, the door flew open, and Zhang Xia was knocked to the ground by the falling table!
She looked up in horror, only to see the black-armored warrior standing solemnly outside the door. Moonlight streamed into the room, and she could only see a dark silhouette opposite, tall, burly, and terrifying.
Zhang Xia feigned composure and said, "According to Article 1 of Volume 18 of the Daning Code, anyone conspiring for rebellion, regardless of whether they are the ringleader or an accomplice, shall be executed by lingchi! Grandfathers and sons, fathers and sons, brothers, and even uncles and cousins of different surnames shall all be beheaded!"
The black-armored warrior ignored him, his expression hidden from view as he stepped over the threshold with his spear held upside down, approaching step by step.
Zhang Xia continued trembling, "Anyone who plots rebellion, mothers, daughters, wives, concubines, and sisters will all be sold into slavery at the Jiaofang Bureau! Anyone who knows about this and fails to report it will be caned 100 times and exiled three thousand miles away!"
The black-armored warrior did not stop, and his shadow gradually covered Zhang Xia's face.
However, at this moment, he suddenly discovered that there seemed to be something more in his shadow illuminated by the moonlight...
Looking closely, there seemed to be black shadows slowly wriggling on both sides of his shadow's head, as if two hands were growing out from his head.
No, there's someone behind me!
The black-armored warrior subconsciously wanted to raise his spear and turn around to sweep across, but it was too late.
Chen Ji reached out his hands from behind him, clamped his neck, and twisted it hard. A crisp sound of bones cracking rang out, and the black-armored warrior's body went limp and fell to the ground.
Chen Ji helped the black-armored warrior down to the ground. Zhang Xia, still in shock, lowered his voice and asked, "Chen Ji, why are you here?"
He explained softly, "I came to discuss something with Master Zhang, and I just happened to see the Liu family's private army rushing into the Zhang Mansion."
As he spoke, Chen Ji lifted the black lacquer mask from the corpse's face. Beneath the mask was a young and immature face, probably only twenty-one or twenty-two years old at most.
He stood up, unbuttoned his coat, and took off his clothes one by one, leaving only the white lining inside.
Zhang Xia reacted immediately and helped him strip off the heavy armor on the black-armored warrior, including the helmet, shoulder armor, body armor, breastplate, front armor, arm armor and leg armor, and placed them on the ground one by one.
This Miss Zhang Er has a very smart mind. She understands everything without being told and is decisive and decisive.
She asked with concern, "You want to blend in with them? What if you get caught?"
Chen Ji explained, "Only by infiltrating their ranks can we find a chance to rescue Lord Zhang. He's an important figure, smarter than you and me, and he knows better than you and I how to deal with this mutiny."
He picked up the arm armor and put it on, but the Ning Dynasty armor had a complex structure, and a single arm armor required three straps.
Zhang Xia pursed his lips
Lips, finally mustered up the courage to pick up the body armor: "You put it on wrong, you should put on the body armor first, then the breastplate, front armor, and arm armor... Open your hands, I will help you."
Chen Ji stood there with his arms open.
Under the moonlight, Zhang Xia suppressed his fear and helped him put on the armor pieces one by one with trembling fingers.
As she fastened the straps of her armor, she asked, "Chen Ji, why aren't you afraid?"
Chen Ji said calmly, "I'm afraid too, but fear is useless."
Zhang Xia asked again: "What are your plans after you get in?"
Chen Ji thought for a moment and said, "I don't have a plan. I can only follow them. As for where to go, I can't decide."
Zhang Xia nodded.
The room fell silent, leaving only the sound of armor rubbing against each other.
After a moment, Zhang Xia stepped back and looked at Chen Ji, confirming that everything was correct: "Put it on."
Chen Ji picked up the helmet from the ground and put it on his head: "Stay hidden in this room, don't go out, wait until the Liu family's private army withdraws before leaving. Remember to change clothes before leaving, your clothes are too conspicuous."
After saying this, Zhang Xia watched Chen Ji put on his black lacquer visor, turn around and stride away, spear in hand. She opened her mouth, but nothing came out.
However, before Chen Ji had gone far, he saw a group of black-armored warriors coming towards him from a distance.
As they approached, the leader spoke in a low voice beneath his visor, "What took you so long? Did you find any of Zhang Zhuo's family members in the building behind you?"
Chen Ji silently clenched the spear in his hand and responded in a muffled voice: "No."
The black-armored warrior opposite him fell silent, and the eyes behind the visor seemed to be staring at him closely.
The black-armored warrior looked at Chen Ji, then at the rooftops: "Are you sure?"
"Sure."
The black-armored warrior sneered: "Get out of the way, I'll go take a look."
After saying that, he pushed Chen Ji's shoulder and pushed Chen Ji aside, then he led more than ten black-armored warriors towards the building, the black iron armor clattering.
Chen Ji's eyes gradually turned cold. There was no time to deal with the bodies in the building. If the other party entered the house, they would definitely find the bodies and Zhang Xia inside, and he would also lose the opportunity to infiltrate the Liu family's private army.
Chen Ji silently counted the backs of the black-armored warriors: one, two, three, four... twelve black-armored warriors. He was afraid that he could not kill all of them.
At the critical moment, a sound was heard from the flower bed outside the building, and the tall bushes kept shaking.
At that moment, all the black-armored warriors raised their spears and shouted angrily, "Who? Get out!"
A red figure fled hastily from the flower bed and ran away into the distance.
Chen Ji was stunned. Why did Zhang Xia appear there?
Wait, this girl heard the noise outside the house and wanted to help me divert all the attention of the black-armored warriors.
Chen Ji took a deep breath and followed the black-armored warriors to capture Zhang Xia. They dispersed across the rockery-lined courtyard, surrounding and intercepting him.
Zhang Xia kept looking back while running, and finally ran towards Chen Ji in a panic!
When the two met, Chen Ji grabbed her hands and twisted them behind her back, shouting, "I caught her!"
After that, before the black-armored warriors gathered, he lowered his voice and asked, "Aren't you afraid of death?"
Zhang Xia turned his back to him and lowered his eyes: "You must find a way to save my father, please."
(End of this chapter)
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