Chapter 982: Wind Surge (Part 2)
Southeast of the imperial city.
A scattered team consisting of a mixture of infantry and cavalry was marching in the falling snow.
Shen Lian looked back at the increasingly long queue, and his already anxious mood became even more anxious. He couldn't help but ride his horse to catch up with Sun Shaozong, the leader, and suggested, "Sir, since there is no trace of the hot ball near the imperial city, and there is no sight of the soldiers sent by the palace, it is obvious that it has flown far away. Why don't we abandon these half-hearted patrolmen and chase after them on horseback? It's better than being dragged down by them!"
He had heard the term "hot air balloon" from Sun Shaozong before, but he didn't remember it very clearly, so he called it a hot ball.
Sun Shaozong glanced at him and said, "As the saying goes, 'When faced with a major event, one should remain calm.' You have always been a calm and experienced person. How come you are so impatient?"
Shen Lian was speechless and swallowed his saliva with a bitter smile. He also realized that his emotions were not right, but in this situation, how many people could be as steady as Lord Sun?
He didn't know that after Sun Shaozong withdrew his gaze, he looked into the distance at the sky full of snow, and his heart was so anxious that he could hardly control himself.
Although the snow was not heavy, it was enough to cover up the footprints on the street. The breeze was blowing from the east, west, south or north, so it was extremely difficult to judge the direction of the hot air balloon based on the wind direction.
Plus the falling snow affected visibility...
Perhaps only by sending people to go door to door to ask those people who stay indoors can we confirm the correct direction of pursuit.
But……
Sun Shaozong also turned around and glanced at the patrolmen who were like scattered sand, feeling very embarrassed.
Shen Lian had few personal soldiers to begin with, and when they broke in previously, they were outnumbered, and almost everyone was injured. It would be inappropriate to send them to search along the streets, so he could only use the patrolmen at the back.
But the patrolmen were forced to come here by him. If they were to be dispersed, they would probably run away before they could even find the hot air balloon.
unwise!
If I had known earlier, I should have called some servants to follow me.
After hesitating for a long time, seeing that there was another crossroads ahead, Sun Shaozong gritted his teeth and decided to send out the patrolmen to explore the way - if they couldn't get there before the hot air balloon landed, what use would all these patrolmen be?
"Sir, Lord Sun!"
Just at this moment, several people suddenly came riding horses from the side. The leader wore a brocade robe and jade belt inlaid with gold and silver, and had two eye-catching patches on his shoulder.
"Hong Jiu? Why are you here?"
Recognizing that the man was the beggar guard he had promoted, Sun Shaozong was moved and hurriedly rode his horse to meet him.
When the two sides came together, Hong Jiu hurriedly dismounted, knelt on one knee and said, "I heard that you were implicated in the Crown Prince's case. I felt very uneasy, so I sent a few men to guard near your house."
At this point, he looked at Shen Lian who had caught up with him from behind, and continued: "When Captain Shen broke through the barrier, they all saw it clearly, so..."
"Stop talking nonsense!"
Sun Shaozong interrupted him and asked, "How many people did you bring? Are they just these few?"
"The next hundred or so people will be here soon!"
Hong Jiu puffed out his chest and said proudly, "In addition, I have already sent people to inform the twelve guards of the inner and outer cities that you are going to track down the wanted criminals of the imperial court. You can mobilize thousands of troops within an hour!"
“Okay, okay!”
Sun Shaozong couldn't help but be overjoyed. He really didn't expect that the casual move he made to solve the evil of beggars in the city would have such a reward today!
However, Hong Jiu was just a beggar leader, but he was able to gather thousands of people in the capital in a short time. It was obvious that he had become too powerful to be eliminated - but that was a story for the future. Right now, he only regretted that he had too few people, so how could he complain about having too many?
When the rear guard of the Beggar Gang arrived, Sun Shaozong immediately ordered two beggars and a patrolman to form more than 30 teams, and they went to the southeast of Donghuang City to knock on the doors, asking if any government soldiers had passed by before.
Although the beggars were semi-incorporated by the government and usually had to take on some prevention and control tasks, they were still at the bottom of society in the final analysis and were accustomed to all kinds of contempt. Now that they had the support of Lord Sun and the patrolmen around them, they were naturally very powerful.
Many people specifically went after the wealthy family to cause trouble, causing chaos and confusion.
Meanwhile, more "Beggar Gang disciples" arrived one after another, gradually expanding the search team.
A quarter of an hour later, we got the exact news.
Sun Shaozong immediately led his team in pursuit along the road, stopping and starting all the way. When they reached the vicinity of Lingchunfang in the outer city, a local beggar suddenly came to report that there were four or five hundred Dragon Guards ahead, spreading out to search in all directions.
Sun Shaozong hurriedly ordered his troops to gather and inquire about the matter. He learned that the officers and soldiers were searching everywhere while looking up at the sky. He guessed that it was probably because the falling snow obscured their vision, and the Dragon Guards sent by the palace also lost the hot air balloon.
"Sir, what should we do now?"
Shen Lian also came to the same conclusion. He had wasted so much time before, and he was afraid that the hot air balloon had fallen into the hands of the enemy. Now he heard that the other party had lost it, he was suddenly very excited.
Sun Shaozong hesitated for a moment, then immediately gave the order: "Gather all the patrolmen in one place, organize the team - and then pick some strong beggars to follow the team to strengthen the team."
"I understand!"
Then he ordered Hong Jiu: "Find a few smart men and find a way to find out where the leaders of the Dragon Guards are!"
"Don't worry, sir. I'll make the arrangements right away!"
The two men received their orders respectively.
It took another quarter of an hour, and Shen Lian managed to gather a team of more than 300 people - after all, the beggars were mainly the elderly, the weak, women and children.
Fortunately, it was snowing and visibility was relatively low, otherwise it would be obvious at a glance that the people at the back of the team were just filling in the numbers.
At this time, Hong Jiu also received accurate information - mainly that among the five hundred Dragon Guards, there was only one civil servant who was protected.
Following Sun Shaozong's order, the team moved forward again. Because they had to maintain the formation and change the route according to Hong Jiu's information, it took half hour before they encountered the Dragon Guards' team.
The previous few times, the opposing forces were small groups of people who did not dare to confront us. They just shouted a few times from a distance, and quickly withdrew when they received no response.
They walked for nearly a mile and a half before finally running into the enemy's core troops.
Because they had received the report in advance, the other side had gathered about two to three hundred people, led by a civil servant in a blue robe riding on a horse, wrapped in three layers of rice dumplings inside and outside.
"Stop, stop!"
"Which team are you from? Don't you know that the emperor has ordered that the three battalions and one guard must stay where they are and not move without authorization?!"
Several scouts on the opposite side came forward and shouted, but Sun Shaozong ignored them all. It was not until the two sides were not far apart that he raised the giant sword high in his hand.
"Form a formation!"
Shen Lian's personal soldiers on both sides drew their weapons without hesitation, but the patrolmen behind them had different thoughts and were hesitant and scattered. In the end, only half of them raised their weapons.
Fortunately, visibility was low and the other side didn't notice anything unusual for a while. Seeing that our side had already formed a battle array, they also hurriedly prepared for battle.
Sun Shaozong then rode forward a few steps, stretched out his Frostmourne and shouted, "I am Sun Shaozong, the Junior Official of Dali. Which team are you from? Who is the leader? Come forward and answer my question!"
As the saying goes, a person's reputation is like the shadow of a tree. Sun Shaozong has been traveling through time for nearly seven years. He cannot be said to be a powerful figure in China, but he is well-known to all the officials and citizens in the capital.
In particular, he was unrivaled in bravery and had the greatest reputation in the army.
As soon as this appearance came, several suppressed exclamations came from the other side:
"Is it Sun Shiwan?!"
"It was Sun Shiwan in person!"
"How could it be him?!"
When he went to southern Xinjiang to escort the bride last year, Sun Erlang had single-handedly turned the situation in Qianxiang Kingdom around, and took the opportunity to kill part of the coalition forces of Zhenla and other countries - as for the fact that he had saved up a prince for Qianxiang Kingdom, it was not something that outsiders should know.
After returning to Beijing in triumph, he gave himself the nickname "Sun Shiwan", which means that one person can defeat 100,000 soldiers.
But this new nickname always sounded a little awkward to Sun Shaozong.
Stop talking nonsense.
However, after a moment of chaos on the opposite side, a rider suddenly emerged from the crowd. He was not the leading civil servant, but a captain of the Dragon Guard.
The centurion rode forward slowly, looked at the huge sword in Sun Shaozong's hand, swallowed his saliva twice, and then asked loudly: "Lord Sun should be under house arrest awaiting investigation, but why did he come to the outer city to interfere with our military affairs?"
"Ha ha!"
Sun Shaozong sneered twice, then rode his horse a few steps forward and said sternly, "Is this official under house arrest? How can you, a mere centurion, interfere with my decision? Let me ask you, you said that I interfered with your military affairs, but I don't know what military affairs you are doing?!"
"this……"
The captain was already weak, and when Sun Shaozong used his status to pressure him, he became even more panicked. He subconsciously looked back at the civil servant sitting behind him, and seeing that the other party did not respond at all, he had to bite the bullet and said, "We are sent by the emperor. As for the specific military affairs, it is inconvenient to tell the Shaoqing Lord."
"Imperial decree? Where is the imperial edict? Without the imperial edict, where is the eunuch who delivered the edict? They mobilized so many troops from the palace, and ordered the three battalions and one guard not to move rashly. There can't be even a eunuch to supervise the army, right?!"
Faced with Sun Shaozong's series of questions, the captain was so panicked that he was sweating profusely. He didn't know how to respond. He could only look back frequently, hoping that the civil servant in charge could give him some hints.
"Really?"
Sun Shaozong was just testing the waters at first, but when he saw that the other party couldn't produce any evidence, he immediately took advantage of the situation and said, "Since this is the case, I can't just sit back and watch. Either you stop disturbing the people and ask the palace to issue a formal decree, or you accept the supervision of my officers and soldiers and let them assist you!"
“This…this…”
The centurion's face turned pale, and he didn't even look back. He turned his horse's head and looked at the civil servant for help. Although the civil servant looked a little anxious, he still refused to come out and answer.
Sun Shaozong did not give them time to continue communicating. After waiting for a while and seeing no response from the other side, he immediately gave an order without question: "In my opinion, there is no need to disturb His Majesty anymore. Just let the two families live together - even if His Majesty blames you in the future, I will bear the responsibility alone!"
As he spoke, he moved Frostmourne forward .
Shen Lian immediately shouted loudly: "Forward, forward!"
The personal soldiers on both sides urged their horses forward without hesitation. Although the patrol officers behind were extremely reluctant, they had no choice but to follow the crowd of more than 200 beggars who did not know the situation and were clamoring excitedly to move forward.
As the two sides were getting closer and closer, the Dragon Guards on the opposite side began to stir. The civil servants among them could no longer bear it and suddenly screamed, "Stop them, stop them quickly!"
Upon hearing this, many of the Dragon Guards in the front row subconsciously raised their weapons, and those in the back row followed suit.
Shen Lian and his personal soldiers were fine, but how could the patrolmen behind them be willing to lose their lives in such a confused manner?
At that moment, they all tried their best to squeeze back, and even though they couldn't retreat, they refused to move forward even a single step.
Seeing this, Sun Shaozong's eyes turned fierce, and he shouted: "Who dares to stop us?!"
As he said this, he urged his horse to gallop out into the battle.
When the enemy on the opposite side was about to break out, he turned his horse's head and rushed towards the left section of the courtyard wall. Facing everyone's puzzled looks, he suddenly swept out the Frostmourne in his hand.
Boom!
There was a loud bang, and a heavy sword weighing over a hundred pounds hit the courtyard wall, causing bricks and tiles to fly everywhere and smoke and dust to rise. When the dust settled, the courtyard wall had collapsed by more than ten feet!
In front of the ruins, Sun Shaozong held his sword horizontally and sneered, "You have neither the imperial edict nor the military supervisory eunuchs, and now you are trying to evade me and even point your swords at me. Are you an official or a thief?"
"If you are an official, then you should accept my supervision and not disturb the people. If you are a thief, then don't blame me for killing you with my sword!"
He held the sword horizontally and tried. After a while, he saw the opponents trembling and whispering to each other, but no one dared to step forward, so he moved Frostmourne forward again.
This time the team moved forward slowly. The Dragon Guards looked at each other, but they could no longer muster the courage they had just now.
In fact, many of them had vaguely guessed that this was probably a "deal" to confiscate the property and exterminate the entire family, but after all, it was not made clear by the higher-ups, so they inevitably had some hope in their hearts, and therefore lacked the determination to fight to the death.
If Sun Shaozong had made it clear that he was coming to quell the rebellion, it might have aroused their bloodiness, but Sun Shaozong kept saying that he was just supervising from the side.
In addition, Sun Shiwan was so famous that everyone felt that if a fight really broke out, they had no chance of winning, so naturally no one dared to be the first to take action.
Seeing that the two sides were connected, the civil servant on the opposite side could not help but shout a few times, but unfortunately it was all useless.
Even when he wanted to retreat, some Dragon Guards intentionally or unintentionally blocked his way, forcing him to face Sun Shaozong directly.
"Ha ha!"
Sun Shaozong, surrounded by Shen Lian and others, came to the civil servant. When he saw the man's appearance clearly, he couldn't help laughing.
It turned out that this person was Li Tong, the Chief Clerk of Prince Zhongshun’s Palace!
Normally speaking, it was not his turn to make the decision regarding the team sent by the palace, but this kind of thing happened nonetheless.
This has almost confirmed that there have been changes in the palace!
“You…you…”
Li Tong looked at Sun Shaozong dejectedly. He wanted to say some harsh words, but when he saw the huge sword like a door panel in Sun Shaozong's hand, his tongue immediately softened.
He lowered his head and stammered, not knowing what to do next, when he suddenly heard someone shouting from both sides:
"Behind their team, behind them are all civilians!"
"What common people? They are just a bunch of beggars!"
"There are only a few dozen capable of fighting!"
Li Tong looked up in surprise. There were about three hundred people around him, and nearly two hundred more were scattered nearby. If Sun Shaozong only had a few dozen people around him, he might be able to resist.
In fact, if he knew that the only ones who were really capable and willing to fight were the six or seven personal soldiers in front of him, he would probably regret it even more.
"how?"
Sun Shaozong mentioned Frostmourne, looked at Li Tong and the officers around him with contempt, and said with a sneer, "Are you regretting it now?"
The eyes of those people all fell on Frostmourne, and the weight of over a hundred pounds seemed to press down on their shoulders along their line of sight, making them all shorten by half a head at the same time.
