Commotion erupted beneath the city wall as the sound of approaching hoofbeats drew near. The north wind whipped violently at the remaining banners atop the tower.
The embrace was brief as if Xie Zheng had only pulled her into his arms to disperse the momentum from lifting her.
Before Fan Changyu could recover her senses, Xie Zheng had already released her, leaving behind an ice-cold command: “Stay on the tower. Don’t go down.”
After giving these instructions, he gripped his long-handled blade and grabbed a rope fitted with a grappling hook, gliding down the tower like a swooping falcon.
Fan Changyu scrambled up and leaned against the battlement to look down, only to see him pursuing Sui Yuanqing with a blade in hand.
Many of the rebellious farmers were sentries planted by Sui Yuanqing. These men, dressed as ordinary peasants, darted through the crowd creating chaos. With thousands packed together and people constantly rushing about, the throng became impenetrable, hindering Xie Zheng’s pursuit.
Standing atop the tower, Fan Changyu had a clear view of Sui Yuanqing’s movements. She shouted to Xie Zheng, pointing: “That bastard is running southwest!”
Hearing Fan Changyu’s guidance, Xie Zheng leaped across the shoulders of the tightly packed farmers, pursuing Sui Yuanqing toward the southwest.
The assassins hidden among the farmers swarmed forward to intercept Xie Zheng. He forced back several with his blade, but some assassins, taking advantage of their peasant disguises, pretended to be farmers and shouted: “The one in the blue demon mask is killing people!”
“We’re not the ones who just stormed the tower! Why is he swinging his blade at us?”
Some confused farmers, seeing Xie Zheng fighting with men in peasant clothes, believed he was killing ordinary civilians. Enraged, they took up their tools and joined in surrounding him.
While Xie Zheng could fight ruthlessly against the assassins, he had to hold back against the deceived farmers. This delay allowed Sui Yuanqing’s guards to escort him to the edge of the crowd.
The two men locked eyes across the mass of people, with Sui Yuanqing flashing a provocative smile.
Behind the blue demon mask, Xie Zheng’s eyes turned glacial.
Watching from the tower as Sui Yuanqing escaped through such underhanded means, Fan Changyu angrily struck the battlement with her fist.
The already crumbling wall shed another small chunk at her blow.
Fan Changyu froze, looking from the wall still shedding debris to her hand, then glancing at the dumbfounded Constable Wang and County Magistrate. She quickly backed away several steps from the wall.
She absolutely couldn’t get involved in paying for repairs!
Outside the city gate, General He Jingyuan had already blocked the only official road with his main force. Seeing the chaos among the villagers gathered outside the city, he couldn’t immediately grasp the situation.
Noticing soldiers in Ji Prefecture military uniforms mixed among the crowd, his aged eyelids drooped slightly. “Why are Ji Prefecture troops here?”
He ordered his guard: “Signal the Ji Prefecture soldiers in the crowd to come forward.”
The battlefield was too loud for shouting; all attacks and retreats relied on flag signals.
Following General He’s command, the guard quickly took out two small flags and signaled to the Ji Prefecture soldiers who had reached the crowd’s edge. However, upon seeing the signals, instead of approaching, they rapidly fled in the opposite direction.
The guard looked to General He: “General, what should we…”
He Jingyuan commanded gravely: “Those are not our Ji Prefecture soldiers. They may be part of the unnumbered force that Wen Chang went to suppress. Capture them!”
A young commander promptly led several dozen mounted soldiers to pursue Sui Yuanqing’s fleeing group.
The assassins in the crowd continued manipulating the farmers to block the pursuing soldiers while shouting: “The imperial troops are killing people!”
“The officials don’t value our lives at all!”
“This corrupt dynasty deserves to fall!”
Some assassins took advantage of the chaos to kill several soldiers pursuing Sui Yuanqing. The remaining soldiers, believing common people had killed their comrades, furiously began striking at the civilians blocking their path without discrimination.
Seeing the imperial troops attacking indiscriminately, some civilians fearfully retreated deeper into the crowd, while others, enraged, charged at the soldiers with their hoes and rakes.
General He’s brow furrowed deeply as he watched the two groups descend into chaos.
Another of his commanders came forward, grinding his teeth in frustration: “Sir, let me lead a thousand men to suppress these rebels and support Commander Hu!”
As He Jingyuan contemplated this, a black-clad figure suddenly emerged from the crowd. The man carried a curved blade, was tall and graceful, and wore a blue demon mask. In a rough voice, he addressed He Jingyuan: “Those fleeing in Ji Prefecture uniforms are Sui Yuanqing, second son of the King of Changxin. His men are disguised as rebels within the crowd to incite trouble.”
He Jingyuan thought to himself that this explained everything. Studying the young man before him, he couldn’t help but ask: “May I know who you are, brave warrior?”
Xie Zheng replied coldly: “A mere commoner, unworthy of giving my name before you, sir.”
Even as he spoke, his gaze had already shifted to the young commander who had spoken earlier. “I need to borrow your bow and horse.”
The young commander felt a tug at his collar and found himself pulled from his horse, stumbling several steps before regaining his balance. When he looked up, the masked man had already galloped away.
The commander, indignant, began to shout: “Such insolence…”
Catching He Jingyuan’s eye, he fell silent, hanging his head in shame.
For the stranger to have taken his horse within five paces, leaving him no chance to resist, clearly demonstrated superior skill.
Despite not saying anything accusatory, He Jingyuan watched Xie Zheng’s departing figure with a complex expression before ordering his troops: “Sound the horn and form ranks.”
With the rebels in disarray, they needed to first subdue them to minimize casualties.
The deep bellowing of ox horns filled the air as shield-bearing soldiers formed the front line. They struck their thick shields with their swords while thousands of troops released a thunderous battle cry that seemed to shake the clouds. The display successfully intimidated all the rebels present.
The farmers pointed their tools at the shield-bearing soldiers but their expressions were fearful, unconsciously retreating.
He Jingyuan announced: “I am He Jingyuan, Governor of Ji Prefecture. You are all citizens under my jurisdiction. Why do you rebel?”
Upon hearing who commanded the troops, the civilians, though still holding their farm tools, began murmuring amongst themselves. Their expressions softened, and some even began to weep quietly.
After a moment, someone lowered their tool and knelt, crying out pitifully: “Lord He, you must help us!”
Following the first group’s surrender, others gradually lowered their weapons and knelt as well, their cries filling the air: “We were forced into this with no other choice!”
Even those who remained reluctant realized the situation was hopeless. They knew that farmers who could only swing hoes stood no chance against trained troops. Rebellion was a crime punishable by the execution of nine generations of family members. Better to submit and beg for mercy now, hoping the principle of collective punishment would allow this incident to pass.
Soon, the entire area below the city wall was filled with civilians’ cries – some genuinely pleading their grievances, others feigning remorse to avoid punishment.
Regardless, the uprising had been quelled.
The County Magistrate collapsed on the city wall, gasping for breath. Thinking of his near-death experience, his fleshy face still trembled. He addressed Constable Wang: “Constable Wang, you saved my life. This official will certainly reward you generously.”
Constable Wang, himself covered in wounds, pushed aside a fallen assassin’s body and wiped the blood from a young constable’s face with his sleeve. With reddened eyes, he forced a smile: “It was merely our duty, sir. If you wish to reward us, please provide more compensation to these children’s families.”
Looking at the dead young constable, he continued: “This was Little Five, our youngest constable. He was most filial, with a blind eighty-year-old mother at home. Every month when he received his wages, he would buy meat to make porridge for his mother. That one over there is Da Li – his wife is with child, due in two months. Now the family’s pillar is gone, heaven knows how they’ll manage…”
Constable Wang’s voice caught in his throat, unable to continue. He covered his eyes with his blood-stained hands.
Fan Changyu stared at the fallen constables, her lips pressed tightly together.
Looking down from the city wall, she could no longer see any trace of Xie Zheng or Sui Yuanqing’s group.
When He Jingyuan’s men had given chase, Sui Yuanqing and his guards had fled along their pre-planned route.
While the assassins delayed the pursuit of imperial troops, Mu Shi protected Sui Yuanqing as they fled. He shot a signal arrow into the sky, but their thousand-strong ambush force hidden at the slope failed to come to their aid.
Seeing the pursuers increasing and their assassins largely defeated, Mu Shi prepared to fire a second signal arrow, but Sui Yuanqing stopped him: “Don’t bother.”
He suppressed his anger with a cold smile: “The commander is He Jingyuan, not Wei Xuan. Being a renowned Great Yin general, he’s likely already discovered our ambush force at the slope.”
Mu Shi realized the gravity of their situation, his heart sinking. “This servant will die protecting Your Highness’s return to Chong Prefecture.”
Sui Yuanqing merely laughed dismissively, even slowing his pace as mounted archers pursued them, firing arrows while closing the distance.
Dodging an arrow, Sui Yuanqing caught it mid-flight. As a war horse galloped past, he grabbed its reins and swung himself onto its back.
The shocked rider swung his sword backward, but Sui Yuanqing dodged and drove the arrow into the rider’s throat.
The rider died instantly, and Sui Yuanqing threw the body off.
Mu Shi had also captured another soldier’s horse and caught up. Sui Yuanqing smiled roguishly: “Four legs are indeed faster than two for returning to Chong Prefecture.”
Having secured horses, they no longer seemed concerned about the pursuing Ji Prefecture troops.
“Whoosh!”
A white-feathered arrow whistled past Sui Yuanqing’s ear, embedding itself in the frozen ground several yards ahead, its white fletching trembling.
Everyone was startled – had that arrow been aimed at Sui Yuanqing, it would have entered through his back and exited his chest.
Sui Yuanqing stared at the arrow, his arrogant expression fading as he turned to examine the archer.
The official road had been trampled into mud, with thin snow still clinging to the tree branches in the surrounding forest. The blue demon-masked figure stood at the road’s end, his curved blade casually planted in the ground as he held a great bow.
An arrow was already nocked, though he didn’t appear to be aiming carefully. The eyes behind the mask were cold and indifferent.
One glance was enough to drain the color from Sui Yuanqing’s face.
He shouted: “Scatter!”
Though confused, his mounted guards who had captured horses immediately dispersed.
Xie Zheng’s lips curled coldly under his mask. As he released one arrow, another was already nocked to his bowstring.
His movements were incredibly swift, arrows flying like meteor showers. Within moments, he had loosed over a dozen arrows, dropping all of Sui Yuanqing’s guards from their horses.
Watching his guards fall, Sui Yuanqing had no time to worry about the archer behind him. He could only clench his teeth and spur his horse forward, pressing himself as low as possible against the horse’s back.
Xie Zheng’s quiver was empty, but as he gave chase, he passed a fallen rider and retrieved their quiver. With one hand, he drew multiple arrows by their fletching and discarded the empty quiver.
Among Sui Yuanqing’s guards, only Mu Shi remained on horseback behind him. Mu Shi looked back and shouted in horror: “Your Highness, look out!”
Hearing the warning, Sui Yuanqing glanced back and was shocked. The blue demon-masked man had nocked nearly ten arrows in a fan formation on his bow. As he released, the arrows swarmed toward Sui Yuanqing like a plague of locusts.
Sui Yuanqing’s heart pounded – never in his life had he witnessed such extraordinary archery. He wondered who could be behind that blue demon mask.
Forced to turn in his saddle, he struggled to deflect the incoming arrows with his sword. However, when an arrow struck his horse’s leg, the animal whinnied in pain and collapsed, throwing Sui Yuanqing. He rolled several times before coming to a stop.
Though the hoofbeats approached, the masked man no longer rushed forward. Instead, he reined in his horse, advancing unhurriedly with a leisurely air.
Sui Yuanqing’s face turned ashen. This cat-and-mouse game of toying with prey – wasn’t this exactly what he had done to that little maid on the city wall earlier?
What was the relationship between this masked man and that maid?
When he had tried to take the maid, hadn’t she called out this man’s name?
Fearing for Sui Yuanqing’s safety, Mu Shi charged forward with his spear, shouting: “Don’t harm my general!”
Xie Zheng caught the incoming spear shaft, twisted it, and then leveraged it upward, throwing Mu Shi from his horse. Mu Shi’s grip on the spear was so tight that the skin nearly peeled from his palms, forcing him to release it from the pain.
Using the weapon Mu Shi had delivered to him, Xie Zheng sat steadily on his horse and pressed the silver spear to Sui Yuanqing’s throat, his tone carrying a hint of mockery: “Second Prince Sui Yuanqing of Changxin?”
Sui Yuanqing had bitten down so hard that he tasted blood. His temple throbbed, but after a moment, he swallowed this humiliation and laughed heartily: “Indeed, it is I.”
Below this official road flowed the rushing Anger River, its rapid current preventing it from freezing even in the depths of winter.
Sui Yuanqing glanced discreetly at the river, adopting an utterly relaxed posture under Xie Zheng’s spear point: “Who are you? If you mean to take my life, surely you’re not afraid to give your name.”
Xie Zheng remained silent. If military forces captured Sui Yuanqing, they wouldn’t kill him here – using him to negotiate with the King of Changxin on the Chong Prefecture battlefield would be more advantageous.
Sui Yuanqing had asked deliberately, trying to extract information.
Seeing he wouldn’t take the bait, Sui Yuanqing suddenly asked with a lewd smile: “What is that little maid on the city wall to you? Her skin was so fair, and her lips so sweet when I kissed them.”
Xie Zheng’s eyes flashed dangerously cold. This was the moment Sui Yuanqing had been waiting for. He knocked aside the spear at his throat and dove headfirst toward the river.
Xie Zheng reacted instantly, sweeping the spear horizontally to catch Sui Yuanqing’s waist. Sui Yuanqing grunted in pain, but in the next moment, he vanished into the churning river, leaving only a spreading stain of blood on the water’s surface.