A Clash of Gods - Chapter 108
Chapter 108 Uncle
Yang Ning walked out of the valley and went smoothly all the way. The carriages outside the valley couldn’t be seen, so he knew that the demon girl had gone away with Big Devil and Little Devil.
It appeared that the demon girl feared Tang Nuo, and she didn’t dare to stay after burning her house.
He didn’t know where he was or if he was still in Jiangling. He walked aimlessly in the darkness and finally came to a main road.
Yang Ning couldn’t tell the direction, so he didn’t hurry to walk. He found a forest and slept at night. At dawn the next day, he found a village and asked about his location, to find that he had left Jiangling. Fortunately, he had some sliver with him, so he hired a donkey cart in the neighborhood and reached Jiangling after one day and night.
The Gu family was an aristocratic family in Jiangling, and it was easy to find. Their mansion was in Qinghe City, which was more than 50 kilometers away from Jingzhou City. After two days, the donkey cart finally came to Qinghe City. Yang Ning paid the driver double for it and they entered the city. He was just worried that Gu Qinghan hadn’t come back.
The Gu family was famous in Jiangling and it was easy to find their mansion. When he reached the gate of the mansion, it was at dusk. The gate was open, and Yang Ning didn’t hesitate to come over. A servant at the gate stopped him at once and rolled his eyes. “Why do you break in? Why don’t you raise your head and see where it is.”
“I want to see Lord Gu.” Yang Ning didn’t know who the family master was and thought it was always right to look for the lord.
The servant replied immediately, “His Lordship is going to do something important and won’t see anybody for now.”
Yang Ning asked with a frown, “Is the third lady in the mansion of the Marquis of Honor your lady?”
The servant swelled out his chest in an instant. “Everybody knows that. What does it have to do with you?”
Yang Ning asked with concern, “The third lady has returned to the mansion? I have something and want to see her urgently.”
The servant looked Yang Ning up and down and felt it laughable. “Can you see the third lady if you want to? She is busy and doesn’t have time to see you.”
Yang Ning asked joyfully, “So the third lady really came back?” He sighed with relief and added, “I am Qi Ning. You report to…”
Before Yang Ning finished his words, the servant’s expression changed. “Qi…You are…Ah…!” He turned around and ran into the mansion without demur. In a short while, there was an uproar in the mansion, and then a group of people came out. The one in the front was Gu Qinghan.
“Ning, is it Ning?” Gu Qinghan shouted in panic and tears fell along her cheeks.
Yang Ning walked forward quickly and saw that Gu Qinghan with tears all over was in safety, so he was relieved and stated happily, “Aunt, you are here. It’s great.”
Gu Qinghan walked to him, and Yang Ning was excited, reaching out his arms to hug her, but suddenly he realized that there were a group of people, so he felt awkward. He spread his arms and couldn’t put them down. Then he hugged a person next to him. That was a man in his thirties, and he looked like Gu Qinghan.
That man was stunned to be hugged by Yang Ning, but soon he looked happy and also hugged back. “Your Excellency, we were worried about you all the time these days. You finally arrived.”
Yang Ning loosened his arms quickly and looked at Gu Qinghan, to see her shed tears but with a happy smile. She was so beautiful. Then he asked, “Aunt, I said I would come to see you soon. You don’t believe me?”
That man expressed, “Your Excellency, nobody knows how many times my sister has cried. I sent people to Xia Mountain but didn’t find you. You are lucky and God helps you. I knew that you would be fine. We are prepared. As soon as you give the order, we can set out.”
“You are prepared?” Yang Ning was stunned.
The man responded, “I have transferred all the strong men guarding the mansion of the Gu family, and there are more than one hundred people. For this action, I have prepared more than one hundred horses and the flags. Your Excellency, do you think we should bring the flag of Marquis of Honor or of the Chu State?” He waved his hand. “Bring them up.”
Two people came from behind instantly with a flag in each man’s hand, with one embroidered with a red word “Chu”, and the other with a word “Qi”.
Seeing that, Yang Ning was at a loss whether to cry or to laugh. That man was still excited. “Your Excellency, you can lead the main force behind us. I will lead ten men as the vanguard and go to the old house of the Qi family first.”
“Big brother, you…” Gu Qinghan was also embarrassed. “His Excellency has his plan. You don’t need to…”
The man declared heroically, “Sister, there are traitors in the Qi family now, and they are traitors to the country. Our family and the Qi family are related by marriage, so we should stand up and volunteer to help.”
Yang Ning finally knew that this man was Gu Qinghan’s elder brother. Gu Qinghan was also clear that Yang Ning didn’t know that man, so she introduced, “This is your uncle, Gu Wenzhang.”
Wenzhang (article)? Was he good at writing articles?
Yang Ning had to salute him. “Uncle, nice to meet you!”
“Your Excellency, don’t need to care about the courtesy. Our action is more important. When do you think we should set out?” Gu Wenzhang was excited. “It’s getting dark. I think we should go immediately and attack at night.” He took out something from his sleeve and opened it. “This is a map drawn by somebody as I ordered. Will you make arrangements with me first?”
Yang Ning thought this uncle liked so much to lead soldiers to battle. The old house of the Qi family was not far from here, and he had even prepared a map.
Gu Qinghan was helpless. “Brother, don’t mess around. Ning…His Excellency has just arrived and hasn’t drunk some water. Can you have a rest first?”
“Right, right. I was brainless.” Gu Wenzhang patted his head. “Servants, give a banquet to welcome His Excellency. We will talk at dinner.”
Yang Ning thought that although Gu Wenzhang looked unreliable, it made sense to set out as soon as possible. Zhao Yuan was dead, but the man who passed himself off as Qi Cheng was still alive, and they didn’t know if he was still in the old house. If they went earlier, they might capture him.
“Uncle, you are right. Speed is most valuable in military affairs.” Yang Ning laughed. “Since you are prepared, it’s better to set out earlier and capture all those traitors.”
Hearing that Yang Ning approved his plan, Gu Wenzhang was happier and clapped. “You deserve to be the heir of Marquis of Honor. You have the spirit of a military family. Somebody, prepare the armor for me. I will go to the battlefield with His Excellency.” Then he asked, “Your Excellency, it’s said that before the soldiers and horses set out, the food should be sent first. If the enemies stay in the old house, and we can’t attack them, it would take a lot of time. Shall we transfer some more men to deliver food for us? I will tell the people in the mansion to prepare some liquor and food for the soldiers.”
“No need, Uncle. We will attack them surprisingly at night, and they are not as powerful as us. It should be easy to defeat them.” Yang Ning held back his laughter. “If we can’t enter it, it will be not late to prepare food then.”
Gu Wenzhang nodded slightly. “Your Excellency, you are right.” Then he told a man behind him, “Steward Xu, we will have a fight tonight, and you need to prepare at home. If we can’t come back in two days, it means that we struggle hard, and you need to tell some people to send food for us. By the way, after we leave, you go to the county government to see the magistrate and ask him to transfer some guards to protect our mansion, in case that somebody attacks the mansion at the back.”
Yang Ning thought this uncle was unrestrained but thoughtful, so he said to Gu Qinghan softly, “Aunt, wait here. We will come back soon.”
“Ning, you must be careful. Those people are from nowhere and can’t be handled easily.” Gu Qinghan’s beautiful eyes were full of worry. “If you can’t make it, go to Jingzhou City to ask the governor to transfer soldiers.”
Gu Wenzhang said with displeasure, “Sister, we have more than one hundred people, and all of them are capable. They often go hunting with me at ordinary times and are good at riding and shooting. Don’t you trust your brother? If we go to Jingzhou City to transfer soldiers now and the spies of those traitors find it, all of them would run away. His Excellency has said that speed is most valuable in military affairs. We can’t delay.”
Gu Qinghan couldn’t help but roll her eyes at Gu Wenzhang. “Even if speed is most valuable in military affairs, you should let His Excellency and the others eat something before going, right?”
Gu Wenzhang laughed. “The emperor won’t dispatch the hungry soldiers. I know that.”
Gu Wenzhang was fully prepared and gathered more than one hundred strong men who guarded the mansion. Moreover, he prepared over one hundred fast horses. Obviously he had been waiting for Yang Ning to come.
After all people had dinner, they didn’t delay. Gu Wenzhang wore his armor and had a copper stick in his hand. All his subordinates had weapons such as iron forks or axes. Since the Chu State was established, it carried out the rules about weapons. The common people couldn’t have private weapons, and even the wealthy families couldn’t hide cutters. Anybody who disobeyed the rule would be punished as they committed the crime of rebellion.
Although the Gu family was wealthy and powerful and had some weapons in secret inevitably, they didn’t dare to take them out in public.
The city gates were closed at night, but since the people from the Gu family came out of the city, nobody dared to stop them. Gu Wenzhang took the lead and came out of the city first. He was quite familiar with the geographical environment, and the more than one hundred men on horseback were aggressive. They rushed to the old house of the Qi family.
The horses ran fast without a stop. At midnight, they were just a few kilometers away from the old house of the Qi family. Gu Wenzhang was in high spirits and stopped the horse, asking Yang Ning, “Your Excellency, the situation of the enemies in the old house is unclear. Shall we send some people to check first? How about I lead some men there to have a look and we take the fire arrow as a signal? As soon as there are fire arrows in the sky, you lead the rest to rush over.”
Yang Ning said, “Uncle, I am more familiar with the house. How about you lead them to wait here and I go with two men to have a look first? You are mature and know well about the military strategy and tactics. It’s better if you lead the army.”
Gu Wenzhang looked serious and thought for a while. Then he nodded. “What you said makes sense. Okay. We will wait here. As soon as there is something wrong there, I will go with them.”
Yang Ning didn’t say more but led two men to the old house. At night, he saw that the old house was bright with lights. They went along the main road, but before they approached it, some people in the front stopped them. All these people were armored, and somebody asked in a deep voice, “Who is coming? Get off the horse’s back.”
Yang Ning asked with a frown, “Who are you?”
One of them responded, “We are the soldiers of the governor in Jingzhou. It’s blocked here and nobody can get close. Anybody who disobeys would be killed.”