Aoyama

Chapter 264 Dedicating the City
Chen Ji clasped his fists and asked, "I wonder what General Hu wants from me?"

The border soldier shook his head and said, "Master Chen, you don't need to ask me. I am just following orders and I don't know anything."

Chen Ji thought: "What if I don't go?"

The soldier put his hand on the hilt of his sword and said, "The general has told me to do this, and I will do my best regardless of the reason. If you don't want to go, I will have to tie you up and take you."

Chen Wenzong stepped forward, his face grim: "Guyuan is not a lawless place, you want to kidnap people for no reason?"

The border soldier said grimly: "You will know if you try it."

Zhang Xia looked at Li Xuan and said, "Sir Li, Chen Ji is the Right Guard of the Eastern Palace. If he is taken away like this, it will be embarrassing for Your Highness. Will the Yulin Army just sit there and do nothing?"

Li Xuan said calmly, "Miss Zhang Er, you are too serious. My Yulin Army will certainly not sit idly by."

Upon hearing this, the border soldiers sneered and said, "Come here, take Young Master Chen away!"

With a hiss, dozens of frontier soldiers outside the door drew their swords and cut open the door curtain, allowing the cold wind to pour into the main hall of the inn. They confronted the Yulin Army with their machetes in hand, and actually forced them back three steps with their ferocious rage.

Li Xuan shouted angrily: "Draw your swords, protect the right guard!"

The two sides were about to fight. Li Xuan said angrily, "I think you border troops are just looking for trouble. You are looking for a reason to break up with the Yulin Army!"

The wind was freezing cold and everyone's palms were sweating. If a fight really broke out with the border troops today, there would be no place for the Yulin Army in Guyuan.

In the stalemate, Chen Ji suddenly smiled and said, "What are you doing? Don't get upset over such a small matter. I'll go there."

Li Xuan hurriedly said, "No, the border troops have bad intentions. Maybe they want revenge because you ruined their plan before!"

Chen Ji turned around and looked at Li Xuan: "Don't worry, Lord Li, I have my own plan."

After that, he placed Wuyun in Zhang Xia's arms and whispered, "Stay in the room and don't go anywhere. Close the doors and windows."

Zhang Xia hummed: "Don't worry."

Chen Ji led Zaozao out of the inn surrounded by border soldiers, and more than ten border soldiers held him hostage. Zaozao was snorting restlessly, and he could only stroke its back to comfort it.

Chen Ji looked at the soldiers on both sides and thought secretly: He and Hu Junxian had only met twice. The first time was when the other party was looking down from a high position on the city wall, and the second time was when they were on the verge of a showdown on Shache Street.

They have nothing to do with each other, but I don’t know why the other party is looking for me?
Did he want to capture me to avenge Old Wu? Or did Hu Junxian know that I had grain and wanted to take it away?

Several thoughts flashed through Chen Ji's mind at once, and he rejected them one by one.

As soon as they turned out of Qiuci Street, the border soldier smiled gently and said, "Mr. Chen, I apologize for my words that offended you just now. I hope you don't mind."

Chen Ji was puzzled: "What are you guys doing..."

The Border Army soldier explained, "Before I came here, my general said that there is a gap between the Yulin Army and the Border Army, and asked us not to show our closeness to you in front of the Yulin Army and the Crown Prince, otherwise it would be difficult for you to stay with the Crown Prince."

Chen Ji was slightly startled: "Why did General Hu come to see me?"

The border soldier shook his head: "I really don't know about this."

Guyuan was in a mess at that time, and the door panels of the shops on the street were removed and scattered on the streets.

The shop was in a mess. The owner, his wife, children, and shop assistants were packing things with dejected faces. Some people just sat in the shop and cried bitterly.

Every few meters on the street, there were messy corpses lying on the ground, and their blood mixed with the yellow soil had frozen into ice.

The soldiers on the border seemed to be accustomed to it. They rode their horses over the corpses without even a second glance.

Everything withered.

When the soldiers saw Chen Ji looking around, they smiled and said, "Young Master Chen was born in a prosperous place, so he may not have seen such a rough scene. In the 25th year of Jianing, the Tiance Army of the Jing Dynasty besieged Guyuan for two months. It was really tragic at that time. The elm trees on the street were peeled and ground into flour, and the elm leaves were picked clean. It was common for people to eat their children or concubines."

Another soldier said: "One of the authentic delicacies of Guyuan is elm noodles with spicy oil and elm leaves. Merchants from other places who pass by here always say they want to try it, but they can't even swallow it. Now the elm bark is still there in the city, which means that people are not starving yet."

Chen Ji looked at the border soldier beside him and saw that his cheeks were sunken and his eyes were calm.

At this time, a cry for help was heard in the distance. The leading border soldier winked at his subordinates beside him, and five border soldiers immediately drew their swords and rushed towards the source of the cry.

A moment later, the man's wailing and begging for mercy were heard. The five border soldiers returned, swearing, wiping their swords with their sleeves, and sheathing them.

A border soldier complained: "It's only been two days and the city has become so chaotic. A grown man climbed over the wall to bully the orphans and widows next door. He's courting death!"

Chen Ji said: "Perhaps it would be better to send someone to guard the street."

The border soldier looked at him and said, "Mr. Chen, you will know when you climb the city wall. My border soldiers need to guard more important places."

The group entered the frontier army camp. On both sides of the road, there were soldiers sitting on the ground in the open air or sleeping in their armor. There were also soldiers squatting on the side of the road with lifeless eyes, holding a bowl of hot water in their hands and drinking it in small sips.

When Chen Ji got closer, he saw that there were actually a few grains of rice at the bottom of the bowl. This was the rations for the frontier soldiers. When he arrived in front of the city wall, Chen Ji dismounted and followed a frontier soldier up the city wall. His vision suddenly became clear.

Outside the city, however, the mountains and plains were covered with scorched black land. On the horizon, there were endless barracks with smoke rising from cooking fires. Such a magnificent military formation, the traces of which had never been seen even in the movies and TV shows of the previous life, was endless, as if it stretched all the way to the end of the world!

"Young Master Chen, please come this way. The general is still waiting."

The border troops led Chen Ji into the city gate tower, where a huge sand table was placed, with flags of various colors inserted on it. A burly figure stood beside the sand table, holding a bowl in his right hand and drinking water in small sips.

Hu Junxian.

Hearing the footsteps, Hu Junxian turned around and looked at Chen Ji up and down like a beast, his thick beard like a lion's mane.

Chen Ji bowed his head and clasped his fists, saying, "General Hu."

Hu Junxian hummed.

Chen Ji looked up and asked, "I wonder why General Hu summoned me?"

Hu Junxian handed the pottery bowl to his personal soldier and asked casually, "Did you find the Jing Dynasty spy in Shache Street?"

Chen Ji answered truthfully: "Yes."

Hu Junxian asked again: "Did you also kill the owner of Yang's fur goods?"

Chen Ji continued to answer: "Yes."

Hu Junxian was silent for a moment: "What did Old Wu say before he died?"

Chen Ji's heart trembled, but he did not answer.

Hu Junxian said calmly: "Don't worry, I don't mean to cause you any trouble."

Chen Ji thought about it again and again, and said softly: "Before he died, Old Wu said, Guyuan, Guyuan..."

Hu Junxian was slightly startled, and repeated softly: "Guyuan, Guyuan..."

After a long while, he looked up at the night outside the city and said, "I have heard of you before. The day before you arrived in Guyuan, a letter from your teacher Wang Daosheng arrived in Guyuan first. It can be seen that he thinks highly of you."

"Mr. Wang?" Chen Ji knew that he and his companions were following a camel caravan, so their speed could not be as fast as that of a horse delivering a letter. However, he did not expect that Wang Daosheng would specially write a letter for him.

He asked curiously, "What did you write in the letter, sir?"

Hu Junxian said calmly, "He said that you have saved the day many times in Los Angeles, but never took credit for yourself. He praised you with eight words: 'Shining without being dazzling, still waters run deep.'"

Chen Ji said modestly: "I, as a student, do not deserve such praise from you, my teacher."

Hu Junxian walked out of the city gate tower with a solemn look, his hands resting on the mottled parapets: "I saw everything that happened on Shache Street that day, and I believe in Wang Daosheng. Wang Daosheng said that you shouldn't take the path of the imperial examination, but now he has no chance to join the Ministry of War and cannot help you, so he asked me to find a way to keep you in Guyuan... Are you willing?"

"Stay in Guyuan?" Chen Ji was stunned.

Hu Junxian offered his price: "Join my Guyuan Border Army, and you only need to guard the border for 20 years. I will guarantee that you will become the deputy general of Guyuan, and your official rank will be the third rank. How do you think?"

Chen Ji shook his head: "Thank you for your kindness, General, but I am not interested in this."

Hu Junxian hummed and said nothing more.

Chen Ji was puzzled. Since he was interested in recruiting him, shouldn't he say something?

Hu Junxian glanced at his puzzled expression and said expressionlessly, "I recruited you to fulfill Wang Daosheng's entrustment. I didn't continue to recruit you because I was afraid that you would be like us and waste away in this frontier. Who would come to this barren place like a good man? Your teacher has bad intentions, so it's better not to acknowledge him."

Chen Ji: "..."

Just at this moment, the sound of horse hooves was heard in the darkness outside the city.

But as night fell, the torches on the city wall could only illuminate a small area, and it was impossible to see outside. It was not until the Jingchao cavalry came closer that they could see their position with a little light.

The Jing Dynasty cavalry took off the iron-framed bows on their backs and drew their bows and put arrows on them.

Chen Ji shouted in a low voice: "General, be careful!"

With a whoosh, a sharp sound of breaking wind was heard. Hu Junxian turned his head slightly, and the feather arrow actually brushed his cheek and was nailed diagonally on the city gate tower.

A piece of white silk cloth was wrapped around the feather arrow, fluttering in the wind.

Chen Ji looked outside the city again and saw that the Jingchao archer had turned his horse around and galloped back into the night.

A soldier took off the arrow and untied the silk cloth, on which was written in blood: "Open the gates and surrender the city within three days. Otherwise, your bones will cover the fields and the land will be barren for a thousand miles!"

(End of this chapter)