Aoyama

Chapter 283 Second Rank Official
Wind and thunder surged as the shopkeeper fought with the captain.

Yuan Zhen, surrounded by hundreds of soldiers from the Imperial Guard, quietly watched the two people interacting with each other. His eyes were as dull as if he was watching two crickets butting each other, without any interest.

He sat on his horse and said in a dull tone: "You and Li Shen have fought before, and you never won. Who gave you the courage to assassinate me?"

The shopkeeper had no time to answer.

He tried to get close to Yuan Zhen again and again, but was blocked by the captain Li Shen again and again.

Originally he was only seven steps away from Yuan Zhen, but after a few breaths of fighting, he was ten steps away from Yuan Zhen.

As he retreated, layer upon layer of soldiers from the Royal Guards filled the ten-step gap, like closing a door.

Yuan Zhen recalled slowly, "Back then, you were captured alive when you were a scout. I spared your life because I valued your talent. At that time, I knew you were only pretending to surrender, because you were so calm when your face was tattooed, as if you had prepared for it long ago. You probably don't know that even the most cowardly person will shed tears of humiliation when their face is tattooed, but you didn't."

Yuan Zhen suddenly sighed and said, "At first I kept you here just to see what Qing Wentao was up to, so I could use his tricks against him. But not long after, he died at the hands of your own people in the Southern Dynasty. After his death, you got drunk every day in Fengsheng Prefecture without hiding anything. I thought of your loyalty and wanted to win you over. I thought that as long as time went on, you could be used by me."

"Later, you did a lot for me and killed a lot of people. I sent you back to Guyuan to lie dormant, and you really gave me a lot of useful information. Over the years, I promoted you to centurion and thousand-man captain, thinking that you would really submit to me, but I didn't expect that you would be as stubborn as Guyuan."

"I am too conceited."

At this time, the shopkeeper was fighting with the captain, and was gradually losing the upper hand. Chen Ji watched silently, with no ripples on his face.

Yuan Zhen was too lazy to look at it anymore, so he waved his hand and said casually, "Take it."

In the Guards Camp, an officer disguised as an ordinary guard suddenly drew the machete from his waist and jumped off his horse.

The knife went straight forward at an extremely fast speed, slashing towards the shopkeeper's head.

But just as the knife was about to fall, the shopkeeper's figure was ghostly and he barely avoided the blade, allowing the blade to chop down along his back and hit the shadow under his feet.

What was strange was that in the dust stirred up by the blade, a black shadow squirmed like thick smoke, and in an instant it transformed into a flying snake with six legs and four wings. It flapped its wings and flew into the night sky, and then swooped towards Yuan Zhen.

The captain was shocked: "Fei Yi, it's the Mandala Seal!"

Chen Ji was surprised when he heard this, and subconsciously turned his gaze to Xiaoman, but Xiaoman looked calm, as if he had already known it.

When Fei Yi dived, the centurion wanted to return to defend, but the shopkeeper held his arm tightly under his armpit; the guard officer wanted to return to defend, but the shopkeeper held the blade tightly and did not let go even when his palm was cut.

The guard threw away his sword, but it was too late.

The six-legged, four-winged Feiyi came in front of Yuan Zhen and opened his bloody mouth.

Another person in the guard camp suddenly drew his sword, but Yuan Zhen sneered, "No need."

The ferocious six-legged, four-winged flying snake swooped down, and the huge wings formed by the condensation of black smoke covered the sky and almost completely enveloped Yuan Zhen. But something strange happened, and the moment Fei Yi touched Yuan Zhen, he turned into a handful of light smoke and dissipated, as if it was just an illusion.

Disappeared.

The shopkeeper stood there in shock, muttering, "How could it be?"

Yuan Zhen sat motionless on the saddle and laughed loudly: "I am a second-rank official of the Jing Dynasty, with the dynasty's luck on me. How can such a small trick hurt me!"

Chen Ji's pupils contracted. He remembered that the commander of Jiefanwei, Lin Chaoqing, had once said to Yunyang and Jiaotu, "I am a fourth-rank official in Daning. Don't bring shame to others with such trivial tricks."

It turns out that being an official of two dynasties can really ward off all evil!

Isn’t this also a way to become an official?
While thinking, the guard pressed his palm on the shopkeeper's chest, only to see the armor on the shopkeeper's back and chest shattered at the same time, and the armor pieces flew everywhere. He spat out a mouthful of blood and fell heavily to the ground.

The shopkeeper struggled to get up and said fiercely: "No, even a second-rank official should be injured..."

Before he finished speaking, the shopkeeper watched Yuan Zhen take out an imperial edict from his sleeve and said casually: "Second rank is not enough, a handwritten imperial edict from His Majesty will be enough."

The shopkeeper sat back on the ground dejectedly: "So that's how it is."

Yuan Zhen put away the imperial edict and stared at the shopkeeper who was sitting on the ground: "You betrayed the crown prince of a country just to get a chance to get close to me. But you also know that you can't kill me at the distance just now... Since you choose to endure, why don't you continue to endure?"

The shopkeeper sat on the ground without saying a word.

He just looked up and watched the dust raised by the fighting slowly fall back to dust, ashes return to ashes.

Yuan Zhen asked softly, "The Zhu family doesn't care about Guyuan, and the Zhu family doesn't care about you. Is it worth it to work for the Southern Dynasty?" The shopkeeper coughed up a few mouthfuls of blood foam and said, "I didn't sell my life to the Zhu family, but to Guyuan."

Yuan Zhen was startled, then he looked up and sighed, "Guyuan... I have been dealing with Guyuan all my life, and you have been dealing with me all your life, and we have all wasted our time here. Why bother? Why bother losing our lives for this city?"

The shopkeeper grinned miserably, "I said that I had no chance to kill you during the battle at Quwu Mountain in the 25th year of Jianing, but some people didn't believe me. I said that I was sent by the general, but they didn't believe me either. It seems that as long as you work as a spy for one day, you become a ghost. The enemy doesn't believe you, and your own people don't believe you either. There is no point in living. I don't want to live anymore. I will go to the underworld today and ask the general why he chose me in the first place. He was so biased."

Yuan Zhen was silent for a moment: "Give him my regards... Kill him."

Captain Li Shen came up to the shopkeeper with a spear and stabbed him through the heart.

The shopkeeper did not look at the captain, nor did he lower his head to look at his wound. He silently stared at the city wall in the distance, as if he wanted to engrave the undulating battlements in his mind.

Chen Ji watched in silence as the shopkeeper slowly closed his eyes. The light from the torch was blown by the wind, swaying gently on his face.

He was not familiar with the shopkeeper, and there was no chance for him to become familiar with him.

Yuan Zhen no longer looked at the shopkeeper, turned his horse and continued to walk north. His confidant whispered beside him, "General, the vanguard camp just encountered an elite infantry in Duokufang in the north. I am worried that there is an ambush over there."

Yuan Zhen asked calmly, "Have the scouts from the west returned?"

The confidant said, "We are back. That side is empty. It seems like a path was made clear for us."

Yuan Zhen smiled and said, "What does Hu Junxian want to do by putting on this show? Since he wants to keep me in Guyuan, then he should reveal all his cards. Why is he playing tricks on me?"

The confidant said nothing more.

Yuan Zhen's expression gradually became arrogant: "I don't believe that the hidden soldiers in this city can stop my Jingchao Tianxia Cavalry. Break through the northern defense line and fight our way out from the north gate."

The confidant whispered, "General, during the charge, the people around the Crown Prince of Ning Dynasty might become a burden. Which ones should we take with us and which ones should we leave behind?"

Yuan Zhen turned around and looked at the prince, Chen Liqin, Chen Wenxiao, Zhang Xia, Zhang Zheng...

He suddenly said, "Leave the prince here, and take the rest away. Don't think they are a burden, they are all very useful."

The confidant was startled: "General, why don't you take the prince? Why do you want to keep the prince who you finally got? Among this group of people, he is the most important."

Yuan Zhen laughed loudly: "What can we get from taking away a prince who is treated as an abandoned child? Let's keep him in Ning Dynasty. A prince who has hatred in his heart can be of great use. He must be alive and return to the Ning Dynasty court alive."

After saying this, he whipped his horse and rushed to the north under the protection of the Guards.

Chen Ji was shocked and suspicious. Yuan Zhen's way of thinking was very different from that of ordinary people. He actually let go of the prince who was already in his hands?
He squeezed his horse's belly and mixed in with the Tiance Army's cavalry, and came in front of Chen Liqin and others. The Tiance Army turned over and dismounted, tied up the hands and feet of all the prisoners with ropes, and prepared to take one person with each horse.

Chen Ji looked around at the captives. Which captive should he take? He wanted to save Chen Wenzong, Zhang Xia, Zhang Zheng, and Xiaoman, but he had to save Xiaoman first.

Xiaoman is an official in charge. If there is any chaos later, we can coordinate with him.

But just when Chen Ji was about to take Xiaoman away, he turned around and saw a Tian Ce soldier coming forward and tying Xiaoman's hands and feet with a hemp rope.

Chen Ji frowned and was thinking about what to do when the Tian Ce soldier turned his head to look at Chen Ji and nodded slightly.

Li Xuan.

After Li Xuan took over the bodies of the Tian Ce Army, he actually changed into armor and sneaked in when the shopkeeper was assassinating him.

Chen Ji felt relieved, and calmly came to Zhang Xia, taking the hemp rope from the saddle without saying a word. Zhang Xia kept his mouth shut, letting his hands and feet be bound, and just stared at the person in front of him quietly.

When Chen Ji tied Zhang Xia's hands, he saw that his hands were shaking slightly.

He straightened up and whispered, "Don't be afraid."

After saying this, he lifted Zhang Xia up and laid him across the saddle.

Before leaving, Chen Ji looked back at the shopkeeper who was sitting on the ground, only to see that the other party was tightly grasping a handful of yellow soil, the soil of Guyuan.

He took a deep breath and climbed onto his horse.

The Tian Ce Army's cavalry took away all the prisoners, leaving only the prince alone in the dark night.

(End of this chapter)