Flourishing of the Ming Dynasty Novel - Chapter 56

Chapter 56 General Hu Arrives
Unlike the north, where there was almost no decent road to the Mongols, there was an official road from Guangling County to Datong that was wide enough for the two carriages to face each other. Although it was slightly narrower than the official roads in the Central Plains, it was enough for the Great Ming army to use these roads to transport troops and grain supplies from one place to another at the fastest speed possible.

Because it was the first month and he was at the edge, he didn’t see any pedestrians even during the day. Almost no one could be seen on the entire stretch of the south road, only a thick layer of snow covered it, reflecting a dazzling white light under the sunlight at noon.

Thus, naturally, no one would discover the few men who were hiding in a dense forest twenty miles away from Guangling County. Each of them carried thick-backed sabers on their backs, and each of them held their crossbows, looking solemn and secretive.

This group of people was precisely the people that Xiao Mo had ordered to hide halfway to kill Lu Zhen. The first person was the scout captain Cui Liu, and besides him, there were seven or eight men in the same attire hiding around him. As for the other forty plus people, he had sent them to guard other mountain paths and important places. After all, this was not the only official path from Guang Ling to Datong.

In the harsh cold weather, the whistling north wind could enter the cracks in a person’s bones. Even if he wore thick clothes, it would still be useless. At this moment, the noses of these soldiers had turned red from the cold, and they would occasionally tremble from time to time. After all, they had been waiting here for more than a day and night, and even the Iron Man had a limit.

Today was already the seventh day of the first month. Originally, they should have killed him yesterday, but in the end, the target did not appear at all. The people from the other paths didn’t send any news back, so naturally, Cui Liu didn’t dare to withdraw his troops, so he could only continue to guard this place.

Cui Liu took out a piece of dried bun that was frozen stiff from his pocket and grabbed a handful of snow cubes in front of him. Cui Liu chewed on it with no intention of embarrassing himself. Actually, he had gone through many more difficult days than this. In the past, when he fought against Dazi, he would always hide somewhere for three to five days. Didn’t he still survive?

Just thinking about how he wanted to kill a defenseless grade seven county magistrate this time, he felt that this was too much of a fuss. Of course, Cui Liu would not express this idea, otherwise, the morale of the army would be shaken.

But even so, the patience of these brothers had already reached the verge of exhaustion. Finally, another two hours later, someone arrived in front of him with a cat. “Captain, we’re not going to wait like this. If Lu Zhen doesn’t intend to go to Datong, what should we do?”

“This is Xiao Ba’s general intention. Could it be that he will still use this kind of thing to entertain us?” Cui Liu frowned and ordered.

“Even so …” That person was also Cui Liu’s trusted aide, so he dared to say something in private. “Perhaps even Chief was deceived? I heard that it was from the Zheng Clan. We already had a conflict with them, so maybe they were just entertaining them.”

“Where did you get so many ideas from? Just listen to my orders, or else I’ll go back and make you look good!” Cui Liu, who was already feeling somewhat uncomfortable in his heart, became even more irritated by what he said, so he sank his face and taught him a lesson.

Seeing that he was angry, the man didn’t dare to say anything else. He could only say yes and return to his position.

After a while, the scout suddenly moved as if he had discovered something. Afterwards, everyone else noticed something and looked towards the south. Even Cui Liu was alarmed. He gently moved forward a few steps, then held his breath and looked over.

Unfortunately, because their positions were slightly sunken, they were unable to see what was happening over there immediately. However, they could still hear the movement clearly. It was the movement of a few galloping horses coming towards them. The scene of the horses stepping on the snow, causing snow to fly, seemed to flash into their minds clearly from this voice.

“This is” Everyone was stunned. They were waiting for Lu Zhen who was coming from the north. Why was there someone running from the south at this time?

Just as they were puzzled, the cavalry quickly ran down the slope, finally allowing them to clearly see the appearance of the visitor. Those people were all wearing Ming army uniforms. Their armor was not only bright but also full of spirit. The swords and spears on the saddle and the bows and arrows hanging by the side of the horse shone with a frightening cold light under the sunlight. One could tell that they were all elites of the army.

Just as they approached and paused for a moment, there was even more movement coming from the south, as if countless cavalry were constantly galloping towards them.

“What’s going on? What are their paths? Why is there an army coming towards us at this time?”

“Could it be that we’re going to war with Dazi again?”

The scouts hiding at the side of the road all had doubts on their faces. Many people’s gazes fell on Cui Liu. Unfortunately, he was also looking at the front with a look of surprise and confusion. He was also staring blankly at Cui Liu.

At this moment, someone in the group who was about to continue pulling on the reins suddenly stopped the horse and turned to look at the roadside. At the same time, the bow and arrow he had placed beside the horse suddenly rose and pointed at the scout who was still hiding there. “Who dares to hide there sneakily?”

They hadn’t expected that Xing Zang, who was waiting for them, would be seen through in an instant. This caused everyone from Cui Liu to be shocked, and they couldn’t even react in a short period of time. At this time, the other ten cavalrymen also quickly turned their heads. All the crossbows pointed at them accurately, “Come out! Otherwise, kill them!”

These people were the scouts and guides of the former army in order to ensure the safety of the large forces behind them. Now that they discovered that there was an ambush on the roadside, they naturally had to be treated with caution. Furthermore, they had just discovered that there was a reflection of sunlight by the roadside. Clearly, the guy hiding there had weapons like swords and spears on his body. Naturally, he had to be more cautious in dealing with this.

Feeling the intense killing intent coming from these people, Cui Liucai suddenly recovered from his shock and hurriedly shouted, “Misunderstanding, we are our own people!” As he spoke, he threw out his saber and bow and arrows. Then, he raised his hand and walked out.

When the others saw that he was beating them up, they obediently followed suit, threw away their weapons, and came out obediently. Although they had always been arrogant and arrogant, they knew the importance of facing such a situation.

Seeing them come out, the few of them immediately didn’t dare to let down their guard. The arrows were pointing at them all the time. As long as they made a slight change, they would shoot them without hesitation. After all, they were people with important missions.

It wasn’t until Cui Liu approached carefully and tossed over a waist token that he had already pulled out. After being caught by the first person to take a look, he exhaled, “Are you the troops stationed in Guang Ling County?”

“Exactly. I said it was one of my own.” Cui Liu hurriedly replied with an apologetic smile.

“You guys don’t stay in the city and guard it properly. Why are you here?” The man narrowed his eyes and looked at them suspiciously.

“Didn’t we … have nothing to do for the New Year? Let’s go outside and find out if there’s any prey, so that we can bring it back for a tooth sacrifice.” After a moment of hesitation, Cui Liu gave such an excuse. Naturally, he didn’t dare to reveal his true purpose.

“Is that so?” The man curled his lips. He did not say that he did not believe it, nor did he say that he did not believe it. Instead, he said, “Wait here while the others continue forward.”

“Ah?” Cui Liu and the others were stunned again. But then, he knew what was going on, Because they had already seen a large flag slowly rising from below, embroidered with the word “Hu”. Judging from the size of the flag, they had already guessed who it represented. Apart from Hu Sui, the Great Harmony general, there was no general surnamed Hu in the entire Shanxi region who was so grand and imposing.

But this time, they were also dumbfounded. Why did Commander Hu suddenly appear here? It was the Lunar New Year, so how could he travel so far to fight against the Great Harmony and come to Guang Ling?

But no matter what, this matter was impossible to be faked. Believe it or not, General Hu had come like this!

@ @ @ @

In the barracks of Guang Ling County, it was still no different from New Year’s Eve. It was still noisy and noisy. There were also many soldiers who were drunk and drunk in their respective tents.

Occasionally, one could even hear curses coming from several tents, where gamblers who had lost money were complaining about their bad luck.

However, Xiao Mo Xiao, who had been enjoying himself with everyone year after year, didn’t seem to be in the mood this time. Although there was wine and meat in front of him, he wasn’t even interested in taking a bite. Instead, he stood up uneasily and paced around his tent from time to time.

It was already the afternoon of the seventh day, but Cui Liu and the others hadn’t sent any news back yet. This was too unreasonable.

Didn’t they just want them to ambush a scholar? Could it be that this fellow really escaped? Xiao Mo could not believe this thought.

Finally, he stopped and shouted outside the tent, “Someone, come.”

QinBing, who was guarding the outside, opened the tent curtain and said, “What orders do you have, General?”

“Go get Li Jia for me. I have something to tell him.” Xiao Mo said.

The QinBing hurriedly promised, then hurried away. But just as Xiao Mo was about to sit back and eat something to calm himself down, the curtain was lifted again. A subordinate rushed in nervously, “General.”

“What’s going on?” Xiao Mo’s heart tightened for no reason. Could it be that the matter had failed, or was there some sort of military intelligence?

“General, Commander Hu suddenly brought his troops to the gate of our city. Right now, the north gate is waiting to enter the city.” The man cupped his fists and reported.

“What are you talking about?” Hearing this, Xiao Mo, who had just sat down, leapt to his feet again …