Chen Ji commanded the Feather Forest Army to keep up, while he urged Zaozao forward, plunging into the dark night like an arrow leaving the bowstring.
However, the Feather Forest Army didn't move.
In Kule Street under the night sky, the torches in the hands of the Feather Forest Army soldiers flickered unsteadily in the cold wind. They cast their gazes toward Li Xuan and the Crown Prince, waiting for orders.
Qi Zhenzhuo held his reins and stood in place, saying in a foul mood, "This brat has no official honors and no official position, what right does he have to issue orders to my Feather Forest Army? It's so cold today, what if we make another wasted trip?"
Li Xuan glared at him. "If you don't have a brain, speak less. Before coming to Guyuan, did you forget how your sister instructed you?"
Qi Zhenzhuo said feeling wronged, "Brother-in-law..."
Li Xuan flew into a sudden rage. "Shut up!"
He looked up at the Crown Prince sitting on his horse and cupped his fists, "Your Highness, that Border Army soldier intentionally leading us down the wrong path just now has already proven that Chen Ji is right. The most urgent matter is to find the Jing Dynasty rebels; we cannot delay any longer... Your Highness?"
Before Li Xuan could finish his words, the Crown Prince had already turned his horse to chase after Chen Ji. "Feather Forest Army, hear my command: follow me to execute the Jing Dynasty spies."
"Yes!" The Feather Forest Army soldiers raised their torches and mounted their horses. Treading with heavy hoofbeats, they charged toward Shache Street like a flowing river of silver fire.
At this very moment, holding the young man he had abducted, Chen Ji asked loudly, "Which way at the next intersection?"
The young man was blown by the wind to the point where he could barely open his eyes. After struggling to identify the direction, he shouted, "Military lord, go north!"
Chen Ji's expression was grave. He had suspected earlier that Old Wu was a Jing Dynasty spy, and now the Border Army armored soldier had solidly confirmed his suspicions.
He couldn't help but ponder in his heart: How many more spies had infiltrated the Border Army? Besides poisoning the well water, what other plans did these spies have?
Most importantly, had Deputy Regional Commander Zhou been turned by the Jing Dynasty? Could the Jing Dynasty Heavenly Strategy Army's confidence in launching a surprise attack on Guyuan stem from this?
At this moment, he felt as if Guyuan city was cloaked in layers of dense fog, and he had only just caught a glimpse of one or two tenths of it.
However, right at this time, Chen Ji saw a familiar figure ahead. It was impressively the Border Army armored soldier who had led the way just now!
The other party had snatched a horse from somewhere and was currently rushing forward with his head down. Chen Ji immediately tossed the young man in his hand onto a straw stack by the roadside and accelerated to chase the Border Army armored soldier.
Hearing the sound of hoofbeats coming from behind, the Border Army armored soldier looked back. When he saw Zaozao and Chen Ji surging toward him, his heart cried out 'Oh no'.
He drew a long-handled broadsword from his waist. As his horse passed by a tavern, he slashed his blade at the wine banner hanging from a wooden pole.
Amidst flying wood splinters, the wine banner fell diagonally behind the Border Army armored soldier, blocking Chen Ji's path.
Seeing this, the Crown Prince shouted loudly behind Chen Ji to warn him, "Careful!"
In a flash, Zaozao exerted her strength and leaped up, actually carrying Chen Ji to soar right over the falling wine banner!
With a crash, the wine banner slammed heavily behind Chen Ji, kicking up dust on the dirt road.
The Crown Prince's eyes lit up. As he spurred his horse through the filling dust and smoke, he saw Chen Ji's body crouching low on Zaozao's back, getting closer and closer to that Border Army armored soldier.
Gradually, only a single horse's length remained between Chen Ji and the Border Army armored soldier. But that armored soldier surprisingly stopped thinking about how to shake off Chen Ji; instead, he raised his long-handled broadsword and slid it across his neck, wanting to commit suicide!
Chen Ji 's heart jumped in surprise. A death warrior!
Without time to overthink, his feet left the stirrups, he lightly leaped to crouch on the saddle, and with another leap, he pounced toward the Border Army armored soldier.
In mid-air, he reached out and grabbed the wrist belonging to the hand the Border Army armored soldier was using to hold the broadsword. Twisting the other party, they crashed into the ground together, rolling for several revolutions. Their cheeks, hair, and clothing were all stained with mottled yellow dirt.
After the Border Army armored soldier stopped rolling, he still wanted to pick up his dropped long-handled broadsword, but Chen Ji beat him to it. Reversely twisting his arm, Chen Ji pinned him firmly to the ground.
Chen Ji asked in a grave voice, "How many more spies does the Jing Dynasty have in the Border Army?"
With half his face pressed against the ground, the Border Army armored soldier sneered coldly, "You are the fucking Jing Dynasty spy!"
Chen Ji was suddenly puzzled. "Then why did you help the Jing Dynasty spy escape? Why collude with the Jing Dynasty from the inside to pollute Guyuan city's well water?"
The Border Army armored soldier tightly shut his mouth and refused to speak any further.
Chen Ji remained silent for a moment, then shifted to searching the other party's clothing to prevent him from hiding sharp weapons.
But right as he stripped away the tattered rattan armor on the other party's body, a pair of gray cotton gloves fell out from within his chest.
When Chen Ji picked up the gloves from the ground, he could still feel the warmth on them. The cotton gloves were brand new, seemingly never worn even once.
Seeing Chen Ji take the gloves, the Border Army armored soldier instantly struggled with all his might and said, "Give my hand muffs back!"
Chen Ji was slightly taken aback and immediately realized that 'hand muffs' was the term for gloves in the northern region of the Ning Dynasty.
He hadn't expected that merely taking away the other party's gloves would actually provoke such a fierce struggle from him.
"Did you hide something inside? Intelligence you want to pass on to the Jing Dynasty spies?" Chen Ji scrutinized the gloves. He used his knee to pin down the Border Army armored soldier and freed his hands to reach into the inner side of the gloves, but there was nothing inside.
He picked up the long-handled broadsword from the ground and sliced open the gloves, but inside there was only snow-white, brand new cotton wadding. There was absolutely no 'intelligence.'
Seeing him slice open the gloves, the Border Army armored soldier suddenly flew into a raging fury and hurled strings of curses, "Running dogs of the royal court, persecutors of the loyal and good! Someday I'll definitely make you experience a monstrous flood and slaughter the entire families of you treacherous sycophants!"
Chen Ji fell into deep thought... Persecuting the loyal and good? Was he talking about General Wentao's matter? But General Wentao being persecuted by the Eunuch Faction was already something from over a decade ago. Why was the Border Army bringing up old matters again now?
Wait!
He suddenly looked down at the sliced-open gloves in his hand, recalling the deal Prince Jing had made with Chen Liqin: As long as Prince Jing could persuade Chen Ji to follow Wang Daosheng to study the Confucian classics, the Ministry of Revenue would purchase a batch of cotton gloves for the Border Army.
Back then, Prince Jing had used this very matter as moral blackmail to force Chen Ji to go to Wang Daosheng's Zhixing Academy.
Chen Ji was alarmed and uncertain. Could these gloves be from the very batch the Ministry of Revenue had just allocated to the Border Army? And the 'loyal and good' that the Border Army armored soldier spoke of actually referred to Prince Jing?!
He crouched low and asked in a grave voice, "Are you seeking revenge for Prince Jing?"
The Border Army armored soldier's eyes widened abruptly, and then he buried his head in the yellow dirt, refusing to say another word no matter what.
Just as Chen Ji prepared to ask again, the Feather Forest Army soldiers had already arrived. Li Xuan signaled the Feather Forest Army soldiers on the left and right to lift the Border Army armored soldier's body.
One of the Feather Forest Army soldiers swung his fist and punched the Border Army armored soldier heavily in the abdomen. "Run? Are you going to run again!"
The Border Army armored soldier raised his head, spat a mouthful of saliva onto the Feather Forest Army soldier's face, and said savagely, "Dog thief, why do your fists have no strength? If you have balls, kill your grandpa right now! If you don't kill your grandpa, you'll take your grandpa's surname!"
The Feather Forest Army soldier flew into a great rage and met him with fists and kicks.
Chen Ji turned his head away, not watching any longer, and remounted his horse.
The Crown Prince rode to his side and praised him, "Just now I saw worthy little brother Chen Ji's moves were clean and crisp, and your actions were not sloppy at all. You truly are a tiger general."
Chen Ji cupped his fists in salute. "His Highness the Crown Prince overly praises me. This subordinate merely did what he ought to do. This person is a tough nut to crack; we won't be able to interrogate anything out of him for a while. The most urgent matter is still capturing the rebels in Shache Street first to prevent them from harming the commoners of Guyuan."
The Crown Prince nodded. "Go!"
The distance of a single Li passed in the blink of an eye. Upon arriving at the intersection of Shache Street, Chen Ji stopped his horse and stood still.
He looked at the only elm tree in Shache Street. Even from more than ten zhang away, he could smell a faint foul stench. This was the place!
Li Xuan commanded his left and right, "Extinguish the torches to avoid igniting biogas."
Chen Ji said calmly, "No need. Fermenting biogas in the winter takes at least a month. This is Golden Juice they just collected today; there won't be any biogas."
The Feather Forest Army soldiers glanced at him, but still obeyed Li Xuan's command, extinguishing their torches before using the moonlight to sneak over.
Chen Ji didn't dismount, remaining beside the Crown Prince along with Li Xuan and Chen Liqin.
The Crown Prince looked at Chen Ji. "Does worthy little brother Chen Ji not plan to take action?"
Chen Ji cupped his hands. "In terms of the ability to slaughter, naturally the Feather Forest Army's military formation is more formidable. I won't go make a fool of myself. On the other hand, the Crown Prince has remained unflinching in the face of danger from beginning to end, like a young general who has experienced many battles."
The Crown Prince turned his head to say to Chen Liqin, "Worthy little brother Chen Ji's words are much more pleasing to the ear than those of worthy little brother Wenzong!"
Chen Liqin hurriedly acted humble, "My dog of a son speaks the truth. You inherently possess a noble and precious body, yet you are willing to rush about for the commoners of Guyuan. After this humble official returns to the capital, I will definitely let the people of the world know that they have a good Crown Prince who has the welfare of all living things in his heart."
The Crown Prince laughed heartily. "You father and son have truly praised me to the heavens. Lord Chen, earlier worthy little brother Chen Ji said he has no intention of participating in the imperial examinations. How about letting him come serve at my Zhongcui Palace? If you agree, upon returning to the capital, I will submit a memorial to Royal Father requesting the official position of Right Guardsman for him."
Chen Liqin was stunned for a moment. The Left Guardsman post was currently being concurrently held by Li Xuan, and the Right Guardsman post was still vacant. However, this Right Guardsman was an official position of the Principal Sixth Rank. The Crown Prince actually wanted to grant it to Chen Ji? Even after Chen Wenzong and Chen Wenxiao participated in the imperial examinations and filled a vacancy, they could at most start from the Subordinate Seventh Rank.
However, he hurriedly waved his hands. "No, no, Your Highness, absolutely not."
The Crown Prince was puzzled. "Lord Chen disagrees?"
Chen Liqin hesitated for two seconds and carefully explained, "My dog of a son is unruly by nature and cannot bear such a heavy responsibility. Furthermore, this humble official still hopes he can take the path of the imperial examinations..."
The Crown Prince smiled faintly. "Then we will discuss this at length after returning to the capital."
Chen Ji swept a glance at Chen Liqin without batting an eyelid and didn't speak.
At this time, the Feather Forest Army had already flanked from three routes: the front street, the back alley, and the rooftops. Qi Zhenzhuo slashed open the front door from the street, and the Feather Forest Army swarmed in.
The next moment, someone shouted loudly, "Careful, practitioners!"
The dirt courtyard wall facing the street crashed down, and a Feather Forest Army soldier was actually blasted out from inside, buried under the dirt wall.
Six black-clad individuals with masked faces charged out from the courtyard, forcing the Feather Forest Army back repeatedly.
Li Xuan shouted loudly, "Form ranks!"
The Feather Forest Army quickly set up a military formation, completely surrounding the six black-clad individuals. The clashing sounds of weapons ringing out echoed through Shache Street as the fight became extremely intense.
Facing the military formation, even practitioners were hard-pressed to cope.
The next moment, seeing that the situation was unattainable, the black-clad individuals actually joined hands in pairs. Tossing two companions several zhang away, they abruptly broke free from the Feather Forest Army's military formation.
Those two black-clad individuals had no intention of fleeing. Upon landing, like cheetahs, they aggressively brandished their blades and charged toward the Crown Prince from over twenty zhang away.
Chen Liqin pulled his reins in a panic, wanting to turn his horse around and leave. "Your Highness, go quickly!"
At this critical moment, with a
shing
sound, Chen Ji ignored Chen Liqin, reached out and drew the long sword at the Crown Prince's waist, and spurred his horse to block in front of the Crown Prince.
Right at this moment, the sound of shattering tiles rang out from both sides of Shache Street.
Chen Ji turned his head to look. To his left, a row of Border Army archers impressively appeared on the roof ridge, drawing their bowstrings to the fullest. He looked to the right again, and there was also a row on the right.
Who knows when the archers had arrived, but they drew their bows and fired. A barrage of arrows like rain sealed off all paths of advance and retreat for the two black-clad individuals, turning them into pincushions alive.
The archers drew another arrow from their quivers and fired toward the remaining four black-clad individuals.
Iron-Core Arrows left the bowstrings. The bowstrings vibrated in the air with humming sounds as Li Xuan roared angrily, "Feather Forest Army, dodge!"
The Feather Forest Army soldiers successively retreated, watching helplessly as the black-clad individuals were nailed dead to the ground by the barrage of arrows, leaving not a single one alive.
Alarmed and uncertain, Chen Ji looked up toward the roof ridges. He pulled the reins of the white horse beneath the Crown Prince and protected him while slowly retreating, deeply afraid that these Border Army archers would nock arrows to their bowstrings once more.
These archers arrived too suddenly, as if they had been waiting on the side all along. Moreover, the other party killed far too decisively, just like murdering to silence.
Could it be that the Border Army was going to rebel?!
At this very moment, Shache Street suddenly fell dead silent. Only then did Chen Ji hear the unhurried sound of horse hooves coming from behind, getting closer and closer. He abruptly turned his head back, only to see Hu Junxian and Zhou You slowly approaching.
Hu Junxian's figure was burly and tall. When he approached, it felt as if a mountain range was pressing down, making it hard to breathe.