Volume 5: Fellow Traveler Chapter 857: Moving Like Thunder
Lutai Horse Posthouse is located on the main road heading south from Shanhaiwei, and is the only way to go south from Liaoshan. However, during the New Year, Liaodong is freezing cold, so naturally there will be no one on the road, and no one from the south will go north from this official road, so this official road, which used to be frequented by many officials and candidates, is now deserted, and the posthouse should be quiet as well.
But now, this horse post was guarded by layers of defense, as if facing a great enemy. The original postmaster and postmen had long been driven to the most remote courtyard and placed under house arrest, and they themselves wanted to pretend to be quails, begging for mercy and hoping that the soldiers outside would forget about them.
Who could have thought that receiving a group of envoys from the north in such a cold weather would turn out to be... a group of rebels who were holding the second prince hostage?
Now, a group of rebels took the second prince and occupied the best house. The soldiers from the capital, who were called the Ruiqi Battalion and the lieutenant general of Shanhai Road, set up camp nearby. They were obviously preparing for a war! If a fight really broke out, would they still be alive?
In the outer tents, the Shanhai Guards were under the Shanhai Guards, and the Ruiqi Battalion was under the Ruiqi Battalion. However, the commanders of both sides handed over the command to the eunuch in the tent at the corner. Even though he was just the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Concubine Wan'an Palace, and his position was not legitimate, everyone knew that this former eunuch was the emperor's confidant.
At this time, if we don't throw the responsibility to this person, do we still have to let them take the responsibility? What a joke, they claim that the second prince is being held hostage. If that's true, and they attack and kill or injure people, do they still want to keep their heads on their necks?
So, at this moment, the Lieutenant General of Shanhai Road quietly came to the tent of the commander-in-chief of the Ruiqi Battalion and sighed from the bottom of his heart, saying that there was no reason why he did not capture the man on the spot when he was in Shanhaiwei - of course, he didn't know the second prince at all, and he would not be able to recognize him even if he knew him when he was mixed in with them.
The commander-in-chief had to comfort his colleagues who were not related to him at all. After all, they were all tied to the same rope. As they were sighing, they suddenly heard a noise outside. After looking at each other, they jumped up instantly. Sure enough, a voice came from the door the next moment: "General, Eunuch Chu is here."
They had known that Chu Kuan was coming, and the two veterans, who were considered first-class military commanders in the eyes of their subordinates, stood straight. Unlike the civil officials who often showed undisguised disgust when seeing eunuchs, they had no scruples about groveling in front of the other party, especially when the other party could help them shoulder most of the responsibility.
Chu Kuan was certainly not a picky person, and he had no interest in making small talk. He came in and stood there directly, then said word by word: "The Emperor's order."
The lieutenant general of Shanhai Road and the commander of Ruiqi Battalion almost subconsciously held their breath. If it weren't for the fact that this dynasty didn't have the habit of kneeling at every turn, they would have kneeled down to obey the order. But even so, when they heard the second half of Chu Kuan's words clearly, they couldn't help but feel their knees weaken, and they almost fell to the ground.
"Attack immediately and do not hesitate, regardless of casualties."
Seeing Chu Kuan's face was stiff when he said this, showing no emotion, the Shanhai Road lieutenant general could only bite the bullet and say, "When Eunuch Chu brought Cheng Dushuai here before, there was an imperial decree to capture him immediately, but it was not because the Second Prince was involved that we had to be cautious, so we had to..."
Before he could finish his words, Chu Kuan sneered and said, "The emperor's words about not caring about the casualties include the second prince. You don't need to say more. Since the emperor has made it clear, even if there is an uproar in the court and the people are talking about it, I will bear all the responsibilities. You two are just listening to me!"
Seeing Chu Kuan leave after he finished speaking, the Lieutenant General of Shanhai Road and the Commander of Ruiqi Battalion looked at each other, and finally couldn't help but wipe the sweat from their foreheads at the same time, who knew whether it was caused by heat or fear, and then made up their minds to follow him out. At this time, it was useless to think that the emperor only gave an oral order, and Chu Kuan's so-called responsibility was just talk.
Of course they could command their troops to disobey Chu Kuan, but given the current situation, they really could not drag it on any longer!
The two men were dressed neatly, and then gathered their soldiers as quickly as possible. When they saw Chu Kuan again, they had changed into tight clothes, but they were not wearing armor. In their hands were two shining swords, one long and one short. At first glance, they seemed plain, but upon closer inspection, they seemed to complement the gradually darkening sky.
In just a moment, a bold idea came to the mind of the Shanhai Road lieutenant general - this kind of weapon is naturally not suitable for use on the battlefield, but if it is used for a strong attack in a place like this, it is simply perfect! No, to be more precise, this thing seems to be more suitable for assassination at night, right?
He hurriedly made two "Pooh" sounds inwardly, forcing himself to quickly get rid of this weird thought. When he stole a glance at the commander of the Sharp Cavalry Battalion next to him, he found that he was calm and composed, as if he was used to it. Little did he know that the commander in his mind, who was well-informed, was also beating a small drum in his heart.
Is Eunuch Chu planning to lead the attack himself? Is he a master? I heard that he protected the Queen Mother during the Jingnan Campaign, so he should be good at martial arts. But it has been so many years, could it be that he has never given up martial arts?
But what is the use of practicing martial arts? Is it really for doing all kinds of secret things? But I don’t think I’ve heard of any ministers dying suddenly in the court, nor have I heard of any confidential documents being stolen from their homes…
If Chu Kuan knew that his appearance at this time would make other people's thinking go astray, then... he would still pretend to know nothing and continue this journey. At this time, he glanced at everyone indifferently, and saw that the Shanhai Road Lieutenant General and the Ruiqi Battalion Commander had expressions of obedience, but he just said a sentence lightly.
"Command before the battle, you guys decide for yourself, I'll go in first."
Seeing that the man rushed forward without saying a word, the two experienced generals were completely dumbfounded. They didn't dare to think too much and hurriedly called everyone to follow. As for the strategy and the order... They had been stationed around this post station for a long time. They had already memorized all the drawings and positions and made plans countless times.
If they hadn't been concerned about the Second Prince, they would have attacked long ago!
The post station's wall was only about five feet high. For ordinary people, it was like a natural moat, but for Chu Kuan, it was just like a small ditch that he could jump over. He landed in the yard , and just as he rushed forward again, the two people who were guarding the wall fell to the ground, holding their throats.
Although the action was extremely fast and light, everyone in the yard knew that their heads were on the waist of their pants, so they reacted very quickly. Just when Chu Kuan showed up and didn't know that the two people under the wall had been killed, a sharp whistle sounded, followed by a commotion in the house, and then arrows of various colors poured out from the windows and doors.
The angle may seem random at first glance, but if you look closely, you will find that it covers all directions of front, back, left and right, almost covering all the ways of human movement without any blind spots.
However, who is Chu Kuan? When he was still a teenager, he once saved the Queen Mother from an assassin. Over the years, he has encountered various unknown crises. Now that he has the long and short swords in his hands, which he has not shown in public for many years, why should he fear any danger?
Whether knocking, picking, chopping, stabbing or cutting, when he calmly broke through the rain of arrows and arrived at the door, the four people who took advantage of the rain of arrows to intercept him had already turned into corpses. Then, he slashed with his right sword, and the thick door curtain fell down, but what followed were tiny dots of cold stars.
The cold star not only covered the area in front of the door, but also covered a large area on the left, right, and top. But the man holding a steel cylinder inside didn't have time to breathe a sigh of relief before he found that the outside was empty and there was no one there. The next moment, he only heard screams coming from the roof.
After killing the two people on the roof with his long and short swords, Chu Kuan did not return to the door and rushed in again, but kicked . After this blow that was like a heavy weight, he fell from the sky with a lot of broken tiles and other things. Those things that should have been obstacles became his means of attack.
However, for the people in the room, those broken bricks and tiles were just annoying, but the vicious hidden weapons mixed in them were a deadly threat. When Chu Kuan landed, there were only six people left standing to face him. The rest were all on the ground, some still wailing, while others were completely motionless.
Chu Kuan knew very well that there might be dead or injured among them, but there was also a high possibility that there were people taking advantage of the situation and waiting to strike him hard when he was not prepared. But even so, he just glanced around and then his eyes fell on the six people who were facing a formidable enemy.
They were seen standing with their backs to the wall. Two of them were in front, holding the pale-faced Second Prince hostage. As for the remaining two, they had their backs to him, alert to any movement of the wall.
Obviously, because he fell from the sky, they were also worried whether the seemingly solid wall would be directly broken by a sledgehammer or something else.
In response, he smiled coldly and then said casually: "The wall behind you is very safe. After all, you chose this place because it is backed by a small earthen slope. Unless you blow up this small earthen slope, it will be impossible to break in through it, right?"
Chu Kuan's calmness immediately angered the man holding the ring-handled sword in the lead. He glared at Chu Kuan fiercely, as if he wanted to swallow him whole, so his voice naturally sounded like a roar.
"Why? All we want is a legitimate title in the Ming Dynasty. The Second Prince is willing to follow us back to China to become the King of China. Why are you still so aggressive and ruthless?"
Seeing the Second Prince's legs trembling like sieves under the control of others, and his lips moving for a long time without being able to utter a complete sentence, Chu Kuan immediately sneered: "King of China? Asking for a title? Haha, someone with the Second Prince's status is indeed very suitable to be taken back to be a puppet..."
This time, the Second Prince, who had just been trembling with fear, finally couldn't help himself. Anger completely overwhelmed fear, especially in front of Chu Kuan, a former royal servant, he couldn't suppress the rage that had been burning in his heart.
"That brat was able to enter the East Palace, and my mother, son and brother ended up like this. I even had to go across the ocean to another country. What else do you want? My father has already announced to everyone in public that his son is dead. Do I want to continue to stay in the Ming Dynasty as a half-human, half-ghost? You stormed in without caring about my life. Aren't you afraid that my father will blame you..."
"The emperor said, don't worry about life or death."
He interrupted the Second Prince slowly. Seeing that both the former son of the emperor and the so-called Haidong Hua guys behind him were pale, he said with a smile, "You have a good idea. You saved the Second Prince and claimed to be from Haidong Hua under the name of Emperor Taizu. According to common sense, the Emperor should give you some face."
"But that's where you're wrong. This pirate's nature is hard to change!"
With this stern shout, he rushed forward instantly, and the two generals who had just broken through the gate and the wall to the door of the house did not dare to watch the excitement anymore. Looking further, this group of so-called envoys were all dealt with by Eunuch Chu. So what were they doing here? Did they come here to join in the ice and snow?
However, the two rushed into the house one after the other, and then they rolled aside for fear of being hit by hidden weapons. When they stood up and waited for the people behind them to rush in to help, they happened to see the second prince falling to the ground, and several people lying around him. They were shocked to realize that in such a short period of time, Eunuch Chu had succeeded in one fell swoop.
Of course, what is even more shocking is that the second prince is in a very bad condition!
Just when they were at a loss, they heard Chu Kuan shouting without turning his head: "Drag all these dead and wounded guys out, hurry up, the second prince has some last words to say!"
When they heard this, the soldiers of both the Mountain and Sea Guards and the Sharp Cavalry Battalion were all terrified. Without any instructions from their commander, the soldiers who had just rushed in almost rushed forward and dragged the people away - of course, they still had their inherent caution, and they had to give the people another slap before dragging them away.
After they all left, Chu Kuan looked at the Second Prince, who was breathing more than breathing in, and asked, "Do you have anything else to say?"
