Aoyama

Chapter 329 Kill back
The shouts and cries of killing in Li Shamao Hutong were deafening.

Li Xuan seemed to have returned to Guyuan, the place covered with yellow sand, the place that often appeared in his dreams.

In those dreams, Hu Junxian rode his horse again and again, stood in front of him, and asked, "Would you like to serve in my border army?"

But in the dream, Li Xuan never answered.

After returning to Beijing, he put on new shiny silver armor, wore a white pheasant tail on his head, and walked through the streets of Chang'an with great bearing, following the repeated instructions of the officials of the Honglu Temple.

This was the scene he had longed for thousands of times in his youth, but when he really walked through Chang'an Avenue in fine clothes and on horseback, he always felt that something was not right, as if something was missing.

And now, with spear in hand, enemy in front and colleagues at the side.

Right.

Finally it tastes right!

Li Xuan looked at Qi Chenzhuo: "Qi Chenzhuo, clear the way!"

Qi Chenzhuo said excitedly: "Under the order, kill!"

The Yulin Army rushed out of Li Shamao Hutong. Duo Bao swept across with his Iron Wolf Whip, forcing Chen Wenren and others to retreat again and again. Some of the Yulin Army were vomiting the previous moment, and were unable to dodge and were scratched on the face with blood by the Iron Wolf Whip the next moment.

Chen Wenren gritted his teeth, grabbed a spear from his side and prepared to throw it, but someone stopped him: "Sir, you can fight, but you can't kill anyone. If you kill Qi Zhuozhuo, we won't be able to explain to the Qi family."

"Get out of the way, I'll take responsibility if anything happens!" Chen Wenren broke free from the obstruction of others and threw the ball with all his might.

The spear was like thunder. Zhou Chong and Zhou Li held up their long shields and hid their whole bodies behind the thick rattan shields. The spear pierced through the rattan shields, and the tip of the spear was only an inch away from Zhou Chong's eyes, but Zhou Chong stood up again without panic and pressed forward.

The Mandarin Duck Formation has both offensive and defensive capabilities and has almost no flaws.

When Chen Wenren saw the Mandarin Duck Formation beating the sticks just now, he just thought that the sticks were stupid. It was obvious that they could break the formation by doing this, that, and then doing this again.

But when he faced the Mandarin Duck Formation himself, he felt that he was no different from the stick.

As Chen Wenren retreated, he looked at Duo Bao, Li Cen, Zhou Chong, and Zhou Li in front of him. They covered their faces with gray cloth, revealing only a pair of eyes, but there was only calmness and indifference in their eyes, but this look was completely different from those of the Yulin soldiers around him.

Chen Wenren still refused to accept the decision, and immediately shouted angrily, "Are there any brave warriors?"

No one answered.

The Yulin soldiers beside him looked at each other, and some subconsciously took a step back.

Chen Wenren pointed to a Yulin soldier and said, "Lin Yanchu, we will send you into the battle array and disrupt their formation!"

Lin Yanchu hesitated for two breaths and said, "As you wish."

The next moment, two Yulin soldiers made a bridge with their hands, sent Lin Yanchu high into the sky, and pounced into the Mandarin Duck Formation.

At the end of the Mandarin Duck Formation, someone shot a cow tendon slingshot at Lin Yanchu. Lin Yanchu slammed the iron ball away with a spear in the air and fell lightly into the Mandarin Duck Formation.

But after he fell into the formation, he did not disrupt the formation. He just squatted on the ground with his head in his hands, allowing the spears of the Yulin Army to hit him without saying a word.

Chen Ji recognized that the man was the poor boy he had saved from the imperial prison, and immediately stopped the others: "Don't worry about him, keep rushing out!"

Seeing that Lin Yanchu had entered the Mandarin Duck Formation without even a splash of water, Chen Wenren pointed to another person: "Li Guang, you go too!"

The Yulin Army built a bridge with their hands and sent Li Guang in again. However, after Li Guang broke into the Mandarin Duck Formation, he was no different from Lin Yanchu and just took the beating without fighting back.

Chen Wenren's face darkened, and he said to Wang Fang beside him, "You are the only one who can go. You can definitely tear this damn hedgehog formation apart if you go in."

Wang Fang grabbed his wrist and said in a deep voice: "Sir, let's go, we can't win!"

Chen Wenren said angrily, "We have eighty people, and they only have more than thirty. Why can't we win? We have to fight even if we can't win! We keep you here all the time, but now you are backing off when we need you. Remember, the Wang family cannot rule over the Chen family. I'll ask you again, are you going?"

Wang Fang's expression changed several times: "Go."

After saying that, Wang Fang stepped on his colleagues and jumped into the Mandarin Duck Formation. But while he was still in the air, Li Xuan shouted in the Mandarin Duck Formation: "Qi Chenzhuo, stand firm!"

Qi Zhuo tensed his body, Li Xuan held the spear upside down, stepped on his shoulder and leaped towards Wang Fang in the air.

Before the two men came into contact, Wang Fang was already afraid of fighting.

He raised the spear and held it horizontally in front of him. Li Xuan poked it into the air and threw Wang Fang backwards.

Qi Chenzhuo shouted, "Okay!"

Li Xuan rushed into the opposing army, sweeping the Yulin Army with a spear in his hand, knocking them down. He came to Chen Wenren like a tidal wave, and the Yulin Army in front of him was split apart like the sea.

Chen Wenren retreated and said in fear: "Wang Fang, stop him!"

Qi Zhuo laughed loudly outside the battle formation: "Even Yuan Zhen's guards couldn't stop my brother-in-law, and you guys want to stop him too? Kill the general and seize the flag!"

As he spoke, Li Xuan had already arrived in front of Chen Wenren and stabbed Chen Wenren in the abdomen with the butt of his spear.

Chen Wenren's eyes suddenly went dark, and then he felt a sharp pain all over his body. He slowly fell to the ground and fainted for a short time. When he woke up again, he saw that the Yulin Army beside him had been completely defeated.

A shadow covered his head. Chen Wenren turned around and saw Qi Zhenzhuo stepping on his face, then stepped past him and continued to charge.

Chen Wenren was about to stand up: "You are looking for death!"

Just when his body was two inches off the ground, Duobao stepped on his chest with a 90-jin iron wolf whisk, pushing him back to the ground. Chen Ji and others stepped on Chen Wenren one after another, even those who were not on their way would turn around and step on him.

When Chen Ji passed by, he stepped hard on Chen Wenren, causing his head to hit the ground and he fainted.

At this time, Qi Chenzhuo no longer needed any instructions. He sheathed his spear and thrust it out without any delay.

……

……

The young man on the upper floor of Chunfeng Courtyard withdrew his gaze from the alley: "This is too boring. The Yulin Army is indeed a dandy army, but they were slaughtered like this. The sons of nobles in my Ning Dynasty are not up to the task. We still have to recruit talents from humble backgrounds."

Zhou Kuang thought for a while and said, "Sir, there are also powerful children among the nobles. Hu Junxian of the Guyuan Border Army, Yang Yang of the Wansui Army, the eldest son of the Qi family, and the eldest son of the second branch of the Chen family are all powerful characters. Once these people become powerful, they have the right time, right place, and right people. They are talented, and have the support of the family resources. They are really not comparable to the children of poor families."

The young man sighed: "But they won't be of any use to me."

There seemed to be a deep meaning hidden in this sentence, and Zhou Kuang did not dare to respond.

The young man smiled and changed the subject: "Do you think there is such a big difference between these Yulin soldiers who have been on the battlefield or not?"

"Master, one old soldier is worth four new soldiers. This is not an exaggeration, but something that all the generals know," Zhou Kuang recalled. "When I went out of Chongli Pass for the first time, my legs were shaking. When I killed the first person, I cut his belly and his intestines flowed all over the floor. I vomited for two hours that day. I dreamed of that pile of intestines at night. I vomited again when I woke up. Before going to the battlefield, all I thought about was making achievements. When I saw so much blood, I was scared. I just wanted to find a place to hide, or lie down with some blood on my face until the battle was over."

The young man asked with great interest: "The man who is the best in the five military camps also gets scared sometimes?" Zhou Kuang sat on a small chair, staring at the small red clay stove in front of him and said self-deprecatingly: "Scared, how can I not be afraid? The ground is covered with blood, heads and severed limbs. Anyone would be scared. Who is born to kill?"

The young man asked, "Did you hide?"

Zhou Kuang laughed: "I want to hide, but there is nowhere to hide. People who have really been to the battlefield will understand one thing: hiding is useless. You can only survive if you are more fierce than the enemy."

Zhou Kuang grinned: "Later, in the winter of the 25th year of Jianing, my hands were almost frozen while I was fighting in the battlefield. I killed an enemy, cut open his stomach, and held his intestines with my hands to keep warm. It was really warm. When I was warming myself, I was seen by a new soldier who rushed to the front. I raised my head and smiled, and he was scared to death."

The young man laughed and cursed: "It's fucking disgusting."

When the young man turned around again, he saw that Chen Ji and others had killed their way through the Yulin Army brought by Chen Wenren and arrived at the entrance of Li Shamao Hutong.

He stood up and stretched. "It's boring. I thought I could see a life-and-death battle, but I didn't expect that not only would I lose two sitting officials, but my opponent would also be so boring."

Zhou Kuang said to the doorman, "Come here, pack up your things and prepare to go back home."

Two men walked in from outside the door, pinched out red charcoal from the stove with their bare hands, and rubbed it out with their hands. They skillfully packed the small stove and tea sets into a box, picked them up and left.

The young man leaned against the window frame, silently watching Chen Ji and others rushing out to kill their way out.

Just as the man got up to go out, he suddenly said, "Wait, don't leave yet, come back, the show isn't over yet!"

Zhou Kuang couldn't help but walk to the window and look out, his pupils suddenly shrank.

……

……

In the alley, the Yulin Army charged outwards with their backs to each other, blocked in front and pursued from behind.

Everyone was breathing heavily, and they felt that the weapons in their hands were getting heavier, and their feet were getting heavier. More and more sticks rushed out from the yard of the brothel, trying to break the connection between the head and tail of the Mandarin Duck Formation.

It's like a tide that hits you again and again, never stopping.

But without Chen Wenren, the Yulin troops blocking the road were no longer willing to fight, and were defeated. Wang Fang led the Yulin troops to fight and retreat, refusing to admit defeat in one go just to save some face for himself.

As Qi Chenzhuo was killing people, he stabbed another person down. He found that there was no one in front of him, only an empty alley entrance.

Qi Chenzhuo looked back blankly: "Master, there is no one ahead."

Chen Ji was also stunned. He turned around and looked behind him. There were only Yulin soldiers wailing and screaming. Wang Fang climbed the wall and slipped to the back. He carried Chen Wenren on his back and left without caring about what to do with the other Yulin soldiers in the alley.

Duo Bao leaned on the iron wolf whisk and panted heavily: "Killed it all?"

"Killed through."

The Yulin Army rushed out of Lishamao Hutong, and their vision suddenly opened up. The cool breeze of the night blew away some of the dryness and heat.

The stickmen of Heji stopped at the entrance of the alley, as if they were unwilling to chase out of the alley. Further ahead was Zhengyangmen Street, the central axis official road, where the Five City Army patrolled at night.

Duobao stood not far from the entrance of the alley, leaning on his iron wolf whisk and laughing: "Keep chasing!"

The gangsters in the alley pointed their axes at him and yelled, "Come back if you dare!"

Amidst the shouting and cursing, the crowd was panting outside the alley, their masks and clothes soaked with sweat.

Everyone was very tired, but when the Yulin soldiers looked at each other, they saw joy in each other's eyes.

Someone whispered, "I haven't felt so happy in a long time."

Someone else said, "We shouldn't stay in the Yulin Army and be treated like monkeys. We should go to the Wansui Army, the Shenji Camp, the Wujun Camp, and the Guyuan Border Army."

Someone said proudly: "When the rich and powerful are fighting cocks at Zhangtai, we should go against them and march north!"

"What's wrong with you?" Li Xuan slapped the man on the back of his head and poured cold water on him. "You beat up a few street thugs and a few playboys, and now you think you're good enough? You're still shouting so loudly, aren't you ashamed? Get out of here!"

Duobao dragged the iron wolf whisk and turned to look at Li Xuan: "Sir, do you want to go back to Guyuan?"

Li Xuan was silent for a moment: "No. Stop talking nonsense. Tomorrow, everyone should write me a summary of their experience and experience, summarizing the gains and losses of today's formation. We still have a lot of room for improvement."

As soon as he finished speaking, everyone heard the sound of a spear hitting the ground. They turned around and saw Chen Ji standing behind them with a piercing look in his eyes: "I'm not leaving."

Li Xuan raised his eyebrows: "Hmm?"

Chen Ji pointed at the stick in the alley and said, "Kill them back!"

Duo Bao, Qi Chenzhuo and others were stunned.

Why are we going to fight back after we finally managed to escape?

Chen Ji pointed at the sticks and said, "They are just a bunch of chickens and dogs. Kill them back."

Qi hesitated and said, "Master, there are many of them."

Chen Ji smiled and said, "What's wrong with having a lot of people? You're the only one who says discouraging words! Everyone looks down on you, but you're the least motivated. You've just seen that there aren't that many difficult things in this world. It just depends on whether you dare or not."

Li Xuan persuaded, "It's not easy to get out today. Let's study the flaws and shortcomings of the formation tomorrow, and it won't be too late to come back."

Chen Ji patted Li Xuan on the shoulder and said, "Tomorrow and tomorrow, how many tomorrows are there? Lord Li, take off the shackles. The shackles on your body are probably as heavy as three thousand pounds."

After saying that, he turned around and shouted to the second floor of Li Shamao Hutong: "Who has a sword upstairs? Lend me some!"

The young man upstairs laughed loudly and said, "I'll lend it to you. Come on, give him a sword!"

With a clang, someone in the house drew a sword from its sheath, threw it across the air, and with a clang, it hit Chen Ji in front of him.

Chen Ji drew his sword, turned around and handed it to Li Xuan: "Here, use your best weapon."

Li Xuan took the sword silently.

Chen Ji looked at the stick in Li Shamao Hutong and said, "By the way, how did the Guyuan border troops shout slogans? Does anyone remember the whole thing?"

Duo Bao raised the iron wolf spear in his hand again and said in a deep voice: "Put on armor! Hold the halberd! Guard the border!"

Li Xuan whispered to himself: "Enemy, head, drink blood..."

Chen Ji shook his hands, and the spear in his hand made a terrifying sound: "Kill!"

The Yulin Army reorganized their formation and charged back towards Li Shamao Hutong.

(End of this chapter)