15 Chapter 015
◎Will not show timidity◎
At midnight, the clouds and fog dissipated, and the cold moonlight enveloped the capital city inside and outside.
Xie Mingzhuo rode through the city gate on horseback, with Xie Mingshuo and Jiang Qing following him. In front was the Jinyiwei commander Yang Yunkai leading the troops to clear the way, and behind him followed dozens of Jinyiwei cavalrymen.
The sound of horse hooves startled the people on both sides of the gate. A curious person pushed open the window and saw the Jinyiwei robes and the embroidered spring swords on their waists in the moonlight. Before he could react, he had already closed the window.
The Jinyiwei went out late at night, it was so scary!
As we passed the cluster of houses, the grass and trees on both sides of the road gradually grew lusher, with a few workshops nestled among them, casting ghostly and dark shadows in the moonlight. The birds that roosted started up and flapped their wings to fly away from their nests.
When they were two miles away, Xie Mingshuo suddenly reined in his horse, closed his eyes and listened carefully.
The official road was silent late at night, and my hearing was infinitely amplified, with the rustling of leaves in the wind, the chirping of young birds, and...
"Rong An, there's someone ahead."
The "five senses enhanced" cheat is particularly useful in a quiet environment.
Xie Mingzhuo ordered the Jinyiwei to stay put and asked, "How many?"
"At least thirty." Xie Mingshuo gripped the reins tightly, "They're heading towards the pig farm."
At this hour, dozens of people were traveling on the official road, which was unusual in itself. Even someone as sharp-eyed as Xie Mingshuo could intuitively tell that their target was the pig farm.
Xie Mingzhuo decisively ordered: "Everyone, move quickly."
At the Nanxiaguan pig farm, ten palace guards were left behind to guard the craftsmen, and a doctor was invited from Beishangguan according to the princess's instructions.
The most seriously ill man was one who was in a coma due to a high fever. After Xie Mingzhuo and others left, he was carried into an abandoned pigsty by his coworkers. He kept covering his forehead with a cloth soaked in cold water until a doctor arrived before his brain burned out.
The doctor took the patient's pulse and gave him some medicine, and the high fever was relieved.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief and finally had the energy to line up and treat their whip wounds.
More than forty men took medicine on an empty stomach and went into the pigsty to rest under the arrangement of the palace guards.
Most of the pig houses were built with wood, surrounded by a wooden fence half a person's height, which was windy on all sides. The thatched roof had several holes in it. Lying on the mud, you could see the stars in the night sky.
The palace guards were on duty outside the pigsty, and the craftsmen were huddled together, facing each other, occasionally whispering to each other.
One of them lay on his side in the corner, facing the fence, with his back to the other craftsmen. He plucked a few green leaves of grass and silently moved his fingers. After a while, a cute little straw tiger squatted in his palm.
"Hey." The craftsman behind him nudged with his elbow and lowered his voice, "Brother Dajiang, did we really see the princess today?"
Wei Dajiang ignored him.
"Brother Dajiang, say something."
Wei Dajiang was annoyed and said "hmm".
"Hey, did you see what the princess looks like?"
"without."
"Me neither." The man clicked his tongue. "I didn't even dare to look up. I don't know what the princess looks like."
Wei Dajiang: “…”
"I heard from the guards that it was the princess who asked them to find a doctor for us. The princess is such a kind person."
Wei Dajiang: “…”
"Why aren't you talking again?"
The man hit him on the back again, hitting the whip wound. The pain made him furious and he couldn't help but blurt out: "A little favor bought you off? We have ended up like this today, isn't it..."
The man behind him covered his mouth and said nervously, "Stop talking. Are you going to die?"
Wei Dajiang's body suddenly stiffened, and he suddenly tried to pry his hands apart.
"Don't say anything that could get you killed." The man was reluctant to let go, and said with lingering fear, "Think about your sister-in-law and nephew, they're still waiting for you back home."
Wei Dajiang continued to pry his hands apart, even harder than before.
"Brother Dajiang, please listen to my advice--" The voice stopped abruptly when Wei Dajiang suddenly turned over and suppressed him.
Wei Dajiang looked serious and raised his index finger towards him. After the other party understood and calmed down, he lay down on the ground again with his ear close to the ground.
After a moment, he raised his head and made a gesture.
The moonlight was as bright as a silver thread, illuminating the pigsty. Several craftsmen who had not yet closed their eyes saw the signal he gave.
They suddenly sat up, ignoring the injuries on their backs, and all gathered around Wei Dajiang.
"Brother Wei, you have good ears. I trust you." Someone pointed at the palace guards outside the pigpen. "But they may not be so."
Someone else said, "Even if Brother Wei heard someone approaching, it might not be an enemy. It could just be a nearby villager or a caravan traveling at night."
Wei Dajiang knew that what he said made sense, but his intuition was always good. The uneasiness in his heart became more and more obvious as the footsteps approached.
The noise woke up the other craftsmen, and they all gathered around. Some of them were not familiar with Wei Dajiang and did not know that he had extraordinary hearing. After hearing this, they sneered and went back to sleep. Some people were extremely convinced of Wei Dajiang's ability and felt uneasy when they heard this.
"Why don't we tell them that it's not a bad thing to be more vigilant," someone suggested.
"Who's going?"
Everyone was silent.
Who would dare to take the initiative to talk nonsense to those palace guards?
If you don't seek death, you will be beaten.
Wei Dajiang became increasingly anxious. His intuition had saved him many times, and he couldn't just sit there and wait for death.
He suddenly stood up and walked out of the pigsty.
"Stop!" the guard on duty shouted, "What are you doing?!"
Wei Dajiang licked his cracked lips, clenched his fists, and walked towards the guard step by step, stopping only when the other party was about to draw his sword.
The two were only a few feet apart.
The guard gripped the hilt of his knife tightly and asked sternly, "What do you want to do?"
"Captain, I was just lying down to rest when I vaguely heard someone approaching in the distance. I'm feeling uneasy, fearing something might have happened..."
"Where is that in the distance?" the guard interrupted him.
Wei Dajiang gritted his teeth and said, "One mile away."
One mile was his estimate in the pigsty. When he left the pigsty, he was questioned by the guards he didn't trust, which delayed him. The group of people might have already approached the pigsty.
It is always better to be prepared than to be unprepared. He knew the guards would not believe him, but he had to say it.
He and his fellow workers were unarmed, only the guards had knives.
The guard squinted at him, his contempt evident. "I think you're deliberately trying to confuse people. Are you trying to escape? Get back!"
"Can……"
"Are you deaf?" The guard slowly drew his sword, "Why don't you get out of here—"
An arrow pierced through the night sky and shot towards the guard who was speaking harshly. The guard did not notice it and his right hand was still holding the hilt of the sword. The half-drawn sword reflected a cold light in the moonlight.
In a flash, Wei Dajiang didn't have time to speak before he pounced on the guard to the ground like a swift cheetah.
Before the guard could react, he heard a cry of pain from his colleague ten steps away. His mind suddenly cleared up and he found that an arrow had grazed his head and was stuck a few inches away.
Wei Dajiang, who saved his life, rolled to his feet and pulled him hard to find a dismantled wooden board as a cover to avoid another arrow.
The guard panicked and asked, "Who shot the arrow?"
Wei Dajiang no longer cared about him. Several screams were heard from the pigsty. The craftsmen were in chaos and fled out of the fence in a panic. Several of them were injured on the way.
Arrows rained down like rain, and every few breaths, one could hear someone screaming. Such screams provided the killers hiding in the dark with the exact location, allowing them to reap more lives.
The pig farm consisted of a few abandoned pig houses and was surrounded by bushes and trees, leaving them with nowhere to hide.
Wei Dajiang was extremely anxious. He grabbed the guard's collar and asked, "Where is the bow and arrow?!"
There were also archers among the palace guards. Among the ten guards left by Xie Mingzhuo, there happened to be an archer, but the situation was chaotic and he could not be found for a while.
The guard reacted and blew a whistle.
Unfortunately, after the whistle sounded, the archer did not respond. Perhaps he had already fallen from a hidden arrow during the enemy's surprise attack.
"I remember now," the guard pointed to the back of the pigsty, "he said he had a stomachache and went to the toilet in the back."
Wei Dajiang took a deep breath, handed the wooden board to him, and braved the whistling arrows. He listened to the sound and determined the position, flexibly avoided the fatal arrows, and secretly sneaked behind the pig house.
Sure enough, a guard fell to the ground with an arrow piercing his chest. Before he died, his left hand was still holding up his trousers, and his right hand reached for the longbow that he had put aside when he went to the toilet.
Wei Dajiang had no time to feel sorry for him. He dodged the bamboo arrow flying from a distance, picked up the bow and arrow, and shot it back in the direction of the arrow. A faint scream of pain was heard.
Hit it!
He held his breath, pressed tightly against the tree trunk behind him, listened carefully to the movements around him, and stared at the dark woods with his sharp eyes.
The forest was dense, and the layers of branches and leaves blocked the moonlight. It was pitch black inside, and it was difficult to tell with the naked eye where those people were hiding.
Arrows rained down from all directions, leaving no chance for the craftsmen in the pig farm to survive.
Thirty killers hid in the woods and wantonly surrounded the pigsty, like evil spirits seeking revenge, constantly reaping lives.
These "craftsmen" have become fish on the chopping board, without any ability to resist and can only allow themselves to be slaughtered.
Wei Dajiang held the longbow in his hand, biting his teeth until they almost bled.
Who are these people? Why kill them?!
Screams came one after another from inside and outside the pigsty, the smell of blood gradually filled the air, and the silver moon in the sky seemed to be stained with a layer of blood.
Raging anger surged in Wei Dajiang's heart.
Fuck the court!
Fuck the military households!
Go to hell!
Fuck the Yizhan!
Even if I die tonight, I will take a few people with me.
There were only twenty arrows in his quiver. He was not a sharpshooter, but his archery skills were considered above average in the army.
He used the tree trunk as a cover, carefully hiding his body, and under the endless rain of arrows, he relied on his excellent hearing to shoot a cold arrow from time to time.
It is impossible to hit the target with every arrow, but if one out of three arrows hits the opponent, it is already a profit.
If he were given more time and more arrows, he might be able to injure more enemies.
This way we can delay time and wait for reinforcements to arrive.
Wei Dajiang couldn't help but pinch his thigh, secretly cursing himself for being crazy for still expecting so-called reinforcements.
The imperial court does not treat them as human beings, and these inexplicably appearing killers are also ruthlessly harvesting their lives. Where will the reinforcements come from?
When he shot the other person just now, his nerves were so tense that he didn't even notice that his teeth had cut his cheek flesh. Now his mouth was full of blood foam.
The smell of blood sobered him up a little.
There are only eight arrows left in my hand. If I give him a little more time, if I give him a little more time...
Unfortunately, he could already hear the approaching footsteps.
The enemy in the dark is not a fool. He shot twelve arrows in succession and injured several people. There must be an archer hiding here.
Wei Dajiang has nowhere to escape.
He hid behind a tree trunk half as thick as a man, trying his best to suppress his low panting, and grinned silently.
He didn't even understand what death meant. His life was simply a joke.
I wonder if after his death, the court would give his wife and children some compensation because of his innocent death, to ensure that they can get through the difficult times.
He didn't believe it in his heart, but when he was dying, he was still willing to pray to God, even if there was only a slight possibility?
The footsteps were several feet away.
Wei Dajiang closed his eyes.
He caught the sound of an arrow breaking through the air in the distance, coming straight from behind him.
This archer was an excellent archer with a steady hand. If he had not been born with keen hearing, he would have died from his arrow.
He slightly tilted his body, trying to dodge the arrow, but suddenly heard the sound of the arrow entering the flesh.
He wasn't the one who got hurt!
As the arrow was shot, more and more bowstrings were drawn, emitting a buzzing vibration towards the killer in the dark.
The screams coming from the woods were endless.
The group walked steadily and surrounded the entire pig farm tightly.
Fire suddenly broke out.
Wei Dajiang opened his eyes wide in disbelief. It was reinforcements!
He stood up subconsciously, and a knife was suddenly swung out from the side and placed on his neck, cold and piercing.
The person's voice was cold: "Who is it?"
Wei Dajiang recognized the style of this knife; it was the Embroidered Spring Knife, unique to the Embroidered Uniform Guard.
He was startled, swallowed his saliva, and replied: "I am Wei Dajiang, a craftsman who came to build a pig house."
He was shirtless and had messy hair, completely different from the killer who had been arrested in the dark. He must be the craftsman here.
But the body of a palace archer lay just a few feet away, so he couldn't fully believe it.
The Embroidered Spring Knife was still on his neck, and the man ordered, "Go to the front yard."
Wei Dajiang took a step forward consciously.
He never thought that the Jinyiwei were Bodhisattvas who saved people from suffering, but just now, it was indeed the Jinyiwei who saved his life.
The Jinyiwei cavalry held torches, lighting up the pigsty as bright as day.
Yang Yunkai ordered his men to kidnap the killer and conduct a carpet search of the surrounding dense forests. Seeing that there was no longer any danger, he went to invite Xie Mingzhuo in person.
When the Jinyiwei surrounded the killer, Xie Mingzhuo stopped by the official road with his horse, and Jiang Qing guarded him on both sides.
Xie Mingshuo followed the Jinyiwei into the woods and used his excellent hearing to help the Jinyiwei find the killer's hiding place.
It was also because of his joining that the Jinyiwei were able to eliminate the enemies in the dark at an astonishing speed without any escape.
"Princess, there are more than a dozen dead or injured in the pigsty. The situation is tragic and I am afraid it will be an eyesore for you." Yang Yunkai advised respectfully.
Xie Mingshuo, who came later, also said, "Rong'an, why don't you wait a while before going?"
He used to be a reporter and had seen many bloody scenes, so he had a certain psychological endurance.
Xie Mingzhuo said firmly, "No need."
She was not afraid of seeing blood. She had personally experienced scenes that were even bloodier and more tragic than this, and had even killed people with her own hands.
Once when she was on a business trip abroad, an armed conflict broke out in the local area. The rebels broke into the hotel where she was staying late at night, killing any men they saw and robbing any women they saw.
Fortunately, she had practiced martial arts since she was a child, and she took the rebel's gun when he broke into the room while he was not paying attention. In order to protect herself, she had to send him to the west.
The devastation inside and outside the hotel is beyond words.
After returning home, she suffered from nightmares for half a month and received psychological intervention before she gradually returned to normal life.
After this incident, whenever she saw a bloody scene again, although she felt suffocated as if she were sympathizing with her fellow humans, she was able to accept it with a normal expression.
She didn't tell her parents or brother, and no one else knew about it except her and her psychiatrist.
No matter how bloody and cruel the pig farm is, she will not show any fear.
【Author’s words】
Send 100 red envelopes~
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