Chapter 47 Breakthrough If he hadn't witnessed it with his own eyes, he wouldn't believe it at all...
If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, he would never have believed that these two county magistrates, who were considered excellent officials in every aspect of the annual performance evaluations—good officials in the eyes of the people, the emperor, and even Zhao Linzhang himself—were actually oppressive and cruel to the people!
What he thought was a prosperous and glorious era now seems like nothing more than self-deception!
Shen Yunrong naturally believed in Liu Hu and Xiao Zheng's skills, but the thought of using the lives of acquaintances as bait still made her uneasy.
Why did they kill Brother Tie Niu?
"The monk said he didn't know when he hid near the temple last night, and only sneaked in because he was so hungry at noon today. Tell me, if he wasn't afraid of being caught, why would Shen Tieniu hide in secret? Why didn't he just ask the temple for help?"
"You mean, you mean this place, the monks here?" Shen Yunrong's heart was pounding. She pressed her hand to her chest. This was a sacred Buddhist site, a place for saving all sentient beings.
"Now we're just waiting for you to fall into our trap!" Zhao Linzhang looked out of the room and saw some of the ginkgo leaves, already yellow, swaying on the branches.
"These people, these people are terrifying!" Shen Yunrong felt a chill run down her spine; some people treat human lives like dirt.
Xiao Zheng returned quickly and whispered a few words in Zhao Linzhang's ear.
Visibly, Zhao Linzhang clenched his fists and asked angrily, "How many of us are there in total?"
"Your Highness, there are eighteen guards accompanying you! There are also seventy or eighty people on the ship."
"It was my miscalculation! Take Tie Niu with you and get back to the ship immediately!" Zhao Linzhang grabbed Shen Yunrong and rushed out.
Pulled off balance, Shen Yunrong asked in surprise, "Your Highness, has something happened?"
“These miners are colluding with the government and Ci’an Temple. Just in case, we should retreat first!” Birds die for food, and people die for wealth. They outnumber us and are powerful. If we really push them too far, I'm afraid they won’t be able to leave Ci’an County.
Just as Zhao Linzhang had predicted, a group of men in black surrounded them as soon as they reached the foot of the mountain.
"How dare you! Do you even know who I am?" Zhao Linzhang had never seen such audacity in his entire life.
"What does it matter if I know or not? I'm going to die anyway. But with a dignified prince by my side on the road to the underworld, it's worth dying for!"
The leader, dressed in black, had his face covered, but a scar on his left cheek that almost pierced his left eye was still visible. He laughed arrogantly, and the scar trembled along with him.
"Plotting against the royal family is punishable by the extermination of nine generations of your family! You're not afraid of death, yet you want to drag your family down with you?" Zhao Linzhang estimated that there were about twenty or thirty men in black, and there was a dense forest near the foot of the mountain where countless others were lying in ambush.
They only brought a dozen or so guards, a few women, and a child. They could fight their way out, but he was afraid of hurting the women and child, so he couldn't take that risk.
"If you can come up the mountain to make a living, then all the brothers are homeless bachelors. Enough talk, give me your lives!" Scarface could tell that he was trying to stall for time. They had already figured out that there were more than twenty of them, including the women. Now that he had fifty or sixty brothers with him, he was not afraid that he could not kill them.
Before Zhao Linzhang could use both kindness and force, a blade flashed before their eyes. Xiao Zheng shouted, "Protect the Prince!"
The well-trained guards immediately surrounded Zhao Linzhang and the women and children.
Amidst the flashing swords and the shadows of gunfire, Shen Yunrong and her wet nurse held the child tightly, their faces turning pale with fright.
Most of the men in black were refugees, no match for the guards. Xiao Zheng and Liu Hu each took on three men, and quickly killed most of them.
Seeing the situation was dire, Scarface shouted, "Retreat! Archers, prepare!" Fortunately, he had a backup plan: it was either you or me today.
Zhao Linzhang thought to himself, "This is bad!" He turned around and shielded his wife and children behind him, kicking up the fallen swords on the ground to deflect the rain of arrows shooting out from the dense forest.
No matter how powerful the guards were, some were still no match for the stray arrows. Several screams were heard, and three or four guards fell to the ground.
"Your Highness, I'll cover you, you must leave quickly!" Xiao Zheng saw the critical situation and knew he couldn't wait to die.
"Liu Hu, clear the way! Protect the Prince, I'll cover the rear!"
"Yes!" Liu Hu swept away several flying arrows, cut down a few masked men who rushed up, and fought his way out.
Without hesitation, Zhao Linzhang protected Shen Yunrong and the child in the wet nurse's arms, and rushed out quickly.
Shen Yunrong felt like her hands and feet weren't her own. She only had one thought left: she couldn't hold Zhao Linzhang back. Even though her embroidered shoes were worn out, she gritted her teeth and kept going. Soon, the wet nurse couldn't run anymore. Seeing this, Liu Hu took the child and said, "Your Highness, the people behind us must catch up quickly. We can't stop!"
Zhao Linzhang had a cut somewhere on his body, and his moon-white casual clothes were stained with several red marks through them.
"Where is Sister Jiang?" Shen Yunrong suddenly realized that Jiang Xinyan was missing, and she exclaimed in surprise.
She was just here a moment ago. Zhao Linzhang frowned and held her tightly, saying, "Let's go back to the ship first!"
This group is determined to take his life. Their fearlessness suggests they already have a way out after killing them. I wonder what their conspiracy is.
Shen Yunrong knew that this was not the time to act out of kindness; the lives of her husband and children were more important.
Panting, Jiang Xinyan pulled her nanny along as they caught up: "Your Highness, I'm sorry, nanny is old and slow!"
Jiang Xinyan, who had never practiced martial arts, felt a chill run down her spine. A sharp whooshing sound came from behind her, and she knew she had to dodge. Her limbs were stiff as if they were nailed to the ground, and cold sweat dripped from her forehead. She was afraid that she would stay here forever today.
She closed her eyes in despair. A sharp clang of weapons clashing rang out, and an arrow was cleaved in two and fell at her feet.
Her eyes widened suddenly. Zhao Linzhang, holding a long sword, stood in front of her, coldly uttering, "Hurry up and follow!"
After a harrowing journey, they finally arrived at the ferry, where guards were already waiting to meet them.
The ship was about to set sail when Xiao Zheng and the remaining guards arrived just in time.
Xiao Zheng was hit in the chest and thigh by arrows. Zhao Linzhang hurriedly called for the accompanying doctor. Fortunately, the arrows did not hit any vital organs.
Seeing that there were only seven or eight guards left, Zhao Linzhang clenched his fists tightly. What a magistrate Cixi! He aided and abetted the wicked and even dared to plot to murder the prince.
"Bring me paper and pen!" He's not Zhao if he doesn't wipe them all out.
Zhao Linzhang quickly scribbled on a piece of paper and handed it to Liu Hu: "Send a message to the Emperor by carrier pigeon!"
By the time the masked man arrived at the ferry, the boat had already sailed away. The scarred man was slapped hard across the face by the man in front of him: "What a terrible idea you came up with! Killing Prince Zhuang and then impersonating him to go to your fiefdom! Now that he's escaped, this place will soon be razed to the ground by the Emperor's army!"
"My lord, I had no idea that the Prince Zhuang's men were so skilled. That guard was shot in the chest but still managed to kill several of our brothers!"
"Fate, it's all fate. I've lived my whole life on thin ice, and now I've been ruined by a fool. Let's disperse, everyone disperse, and run for your lives!" The man revealed his face; he was none other than Wu Jinguang, the magistrate of Cixi County.
Upon hearing this, the masked men removed their masks, and some of them turned out to be bald monks.
"The emperor is far away, how can you say such a thing, sir? We will kill as many men as that dog emperor sends!" Scarface was reluctant to part with the wealth he had just acquired. They had found the jade mine, but people were often killed while digging it. No matter how much money they offered, no one dared to dig it, so they had to go outside to trick some strong men into digging it.
"You can't even kill a guard of the Prince Zhuang, yet you dare to dream of killing the Emperor's army!" Wu Jinguang was disheveled and looked like a madman.
"That was because I underestimated my opponent today; I certainly won't do that next time!"
"Enough, let's escape for as long as we can! Let's go!" Wu Jinguang shouted. Not only was his official hat in jeopardy, but his head was also about to fall.
Scarface was terrified by the magistrate's madness and stammered, "Then we brothers will take our leave!"
Wu Jinguang looked at the ships that were already small black dots in the distance and smiled bitterly. Success or failure was just a matter of a single thought. How could he have been so bewitched as to want to kill the Prince of Zhuang and then find someone to impersonate him!
After the guards had bandaged their wounds, Shen Tieniu, who was also lucky, was completely unharmed.
"Let's find a boat and send him back to his hometown!" Zhao Linzhang was willing to save him, but he didn't want to take him with him to his fiefdom.
“He has an elderly mother at home, so he has to go back. You won’t let the doctor apply medicine for you. Let me see how badly you are hurt.” Her daughter was frightened today and kept holding her and wouldn’t let the wet nurse hold her. Shen Yunrong finally managed to coax her daughter to sleep and put her in a small cradle in the cabin.
Only then did he hurriedly go to check on Zhao Linzhang's injuries.
"The sword energy has only scratched the surface!" All the cuts on his body combined are not as serious as a single wound on any of the guards.
These people had followed him for several years, and now half of them were gone. Zhao Linzhang felt a sharp pain in his heart, and he vowed to return and avenge them.
"Even superficial wounds need medicine!" Shen Yunrong knew he was feeling bad, so she gently helped him take off his shirt. Just as he said, they were all scrapes and abrasions.
"I'll go get the medicine!" The wounds weren't deep, but there were more than a dozen of them, large and small.
As soon as Shen Yunrong stepped out of the cabin, Jiang Xinyan rushed up to her: "Sister Shen, His Highness, how is His Highness injured?"
"They're just superficial wounds. I'll go get some medicine to apply to Your Highness!"
“Sister, I have some excellent medicine here. If you don’t mind, you can give it to the Prince!” Jiang Xinyan took out a medicine bottle from her bosom.
Without thinking much about it, Shen Yunrong's heart skipped a beat when she saw her daughter's girlish demeanor, and her outstretched hand to take the medicine stopped in mid-air.
“I accept your kindness on behalf of the Prince, but the physician has already prepared medicine for your injury.” Shen Yunrong, who had originally intended to take the medicine bottle, turned and pushed it back.
"Then, sister, you need to get it from me again!" Jiang Xinyan belatedly realized that she had overstepped her bounds, so she lowered her head, bit her lip, and took her leave.
Shen Yunrong watched her departing figure. She was a daughter of an official, well-educated, polite, virtuous, and intelligent.
Now was not the time to concern herself with such things. She hurriedly took the medicine and returned. Zhao Linzhang, still shirtless, sat beside the cradle, lost in thought as he looked at his sleeping daughter.
"I'll apply the medicine for you. Just tell me if it hurts!" Shen Yunrong rarely saw him in such pain, unable to express it.
"Hiss..." The cold medicine stung when applied to the wound, and Zhao Linzhang couldn't help but gasp.
Did I hurt you?
"No, keep going!" Zhao Linzhang said, his eyes red. This little pain was nothing.
Shen Yunrong applied all the medicine to him and gently hugged him from behind.
Zhao Linzhang leaned his head back against her soft chest, without saying a word. A tear slid from his eye and disappeared into his dark hair.
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