Han official!

Chapter 171 Interception
The sound of bronze drums in the middle of the night, wrapped in broken snow, hit the city of Chang'an.

Mang Tong used his scabbard to push away the ice spikes on the back eaves of the princess's mansion.

This knight, who once drank horse urine with Guo Jie on the top of Suiyang City, stared at the newly painted Vermillion Bird pattern on the door, his Adam's apple rolling violently.

The bronze axe that had been used to rob him of his life ten years ago was now causing burning pain on his back.

The Chonghuangrou's gauze handkerchief suddenly brushed against the back of his neck. The official, wrapped in a coarse linen coat, had stove ash in the corners of his eyes. The copper bell on the ring-handled sword hilt rang muffledly like a secret signal: "Brother Mang, it's time to replace your sword tassel."

Mang Tong was silent as iron, and the old linen wrapped around the hilt of his sword was shedding icy fragments. It was the hem of Guo Jie's undershirt that he had torn off when he was bandaging his wound.

The pine torches in the basement cast wavering shadows.

Anguo Shaoji squatted on a straw mat, carving a wooden tablet with a bronze knife. "Young Master, the tassel on your sword is quite neat. Could it be that Mr. Guo cut it for you with the same knife he used to behead Dou's lackeys?"

The veins on the back of the sixteen-year-old disciple Su Jia's hand bulged as he gripped the sword, and his brows and eyes were frozen in a frost beneath his hemp cloth cap. "Today's business is to discuss the agricultural community sacrifice."

The lacquer table suddenly shook, and Yan Yi held up the pottery inkstone that was about to fall over.

This gentleman, who was famous for "not stepping on the threshold when walking", tied the collar of his clothes more strictly than the "Nine Chapters of Laws".

When the ink circle on the map symbolizing Yan's farm was blurred by blood, the wooden hairpin in his hair suddenly burst.

"Look, everyone." Wei Guang held up the elm wood talisman. Twelve mahogany figurines were arranged in the shape of stars on the linen cloth. "The tracks of the 200 dan of millet that disappeared from Taicang last month match the tracks of the oxcarts at the Dou family's villa."

He traced the carvings on the back of the puppet with his fingertips. "Dou's servants own three hundred hectares of private farmland in Chenliu, yet they use the iron-clad wooden wheels of the Shaofu Supervisor."

The sound of iron swords colliding with clay pots came from behind the screen.

The hem of Guo Jie's brown robe swept across the torch, casting a tall shadow on the map.

He threw out a bloody coin and said, "The three-zhu coins privately minted by Dou Ying's followers in Hedong have flowed into the various counties in Guanzhong last month."

Mang Tong's pupils suddenly contracted.

When they robbed illegal salt dealers, Guo Jie also used this method to eject coins.

An Guo Shaoji suddenly sneered, sharpening the tip of his knife to pry open the map's inner layer. "Mr. Guo, why don't you just say you want to fight the Dou family?"

He deliberately showed the polished butcher knife at his waist, "We filthy people in the market love to see the nobles fight each other."

Chong Huangrou suddenly placed her ring-handled knife at his throat. "Official Anguo, be careful with your words. The 'Big Who' of the Imperial Court loves to gossip about those who talk too much."

As the blade passed, half a piece of worn hemp cloth fell off, revealing the tattoo on the back of An Guo Shao Ji's neck.

That is a stigma that he can never wash away.

"The sharp teeth of a vicious tiger are not found in the mountains or forests."

Guo Jie dipped the brush in the blood of the animal and drew a line across the map, leaving bloodstains on the linen.

Wei Guang held up the elm wood token and said, "The official salt stolen from Hedong County in exchange for private money has emptied more than just the Taicang warehouse. The fifty dan of millet seeds to be offered for tomorrow's community sacrifice must be transported using iron-covered carts from the Dou family's private fields."

As he said this, his eyes glanced towards the Weiyang Palace.

The location of Empress Dowager Dou's Changle Palace is secretly depicted there.

Yan Yi suddenly coughed violently, and ink spots splashed on his shirt.

This gentleman, who built his life on the Analects, now used his blood-stained fingers to trace the lines on the map: "The agricultural community should follow the system of the village head, with the appointment of farmers, warehousemen, and granaries."

The tip of Chong Huangrou's knife suddenly pierced the wooden tablet in front of him. "Mr. Yan, why don't you teach me how to measure the Dou family's private land using the Land Law?"

As the blade flipped, half a privately minted coin slipped out of the hidden groove in the handle.

That was the evidence he had taken from Dou's followers last night.

Mang Tong's scabbard fell heavily to the ground.

The rainy night ten years ago was reflected in the ranger's cloudy eyes.

When Guo Jie carried him out of Suiyang City, the wound on his lower back, which was pierced by the jailer's spear, was now bleeding faintly under his brown robe.

"Three guillotines hang over your necks." Guo Jie slipped five mahogany talismans from his sleeves. "One: The Dou family is illegally minting and ruining the market. Two: The powerful are encroaching on public land. Three:..."

He opened the bottom layer of the map and found that the map of the secret passage in the north tower of Weiyang Palace was facing the direction of the Crown Prince's Palace.

An Guo Shaoji suddenly hummed a folk song and carved a dogfighting pattern on a wooden talisman with a knife. "Mr. Guo's Farmers' Society sounds boring. It's better to call it the Hunting Dog Society."

Before he could finish his words, Mang Tong's sword tip had already picked up his leather belt.

The Ranger, who had been silent for ten years, finally broke through: "Be careful with your words."

When the sound of bronze drums penetrated the basement, Yan Yi was writing "Tian Lu" with a broken hairpin dipped in blood.

This Taixue student who strictly abided by the Zhou rituals suddenly recited "July". When he read "Na Yu Ling Yin", the ink marks and blood stains on his inner garment merged into the paths of fields.

Su Jia said solemnly, "If one day Master breaks his oath." The hemp rope tassel on the hilt trembled, "I will emulate Yu Rang's determination to lacquer his body and swallow charcoal."

"The cypress trees at the tomorrow's festival will bear witness to the oath."

Guo Jie placed the peach wood talisman on the location of Dou's private land.

Wei Guang was wiping the elm wood talisman, An Guo Shao Ji was finishing the last cut on the desk, and Chong Huang Rou's copper bell was shaking off the blood scabs on the coins.

When Mang Tong cut his palm and smeared the blood on the peach wood talisman, the ranger's palm pressed on Guo Jie's shoulder, just as they did when they broke into Suiyang Prison together ten years ago.

As the morning mist drifted into the basement, the cypress trees in front of the community moved without wind.

Guo Jie stared at his disciple's receding back, and the old scar on his lower back suddenly burst. It was the arrow wound left by killing a tyrant last year, and it was now staining his brown robe into a dark ochre.

In the corner of the basement, the picture of dog fighting carved by An Guo Shaoji glowed in the morning light, like the fallen ears of wheat in Dou's private field.

When the aroma of millet from the community sacrifice mixed with the smell of freshly turned earth drifted into the basement, Guo Jie was wiping his two ring-handled swords with linen.

The cloud pattern on the blade flickered under the pine torch, reflecting the taut bowstring of Wei Guang in the armory.

The cow tendon string of the ten-stone hard bow has been replaced with jujube wood silk, and it makes almost no sound when it is fully pulled.

"The Dou family's private farm in Chenliu uses a specially made iron plow by the Supervisor of the Imperial Household." Wei Guang pressed the elm wood token, the end of which was engraved with the armory's fish scale pattern, onto the ceramic map. "The three hundred old crossbows brought into the armory last night have been converted into plowshares."

Mang Tong's iron hammer suddenly smashed against the pottery jar, and the corn wine splashed onto Yan Yi's two-foot sword.

This tenth-generation grandson of Yan Hui never leaves his sword, but the paint on the scabbard is as mottled as the handle of an old farmer's hoe.

"Changing a crossbow into a plow is tantamount to deceiving the king." Yan Yi wiped the sword with a hemp cloth, and the rope tied at the collar of his clothes was not tangled at all.

The secret door of the basement suddenly opened, and Chong Huangrou came in carrying two pickled dog legs.

The son of the Qucheng Marquis family wore the coarse linen of a street vendor, but wore a tortoiseshell comb in his hair. "The jailer at the East Market said the third steward of the Dou family bought twenty saddles last night."

He threw half a millet cake to Anguo Shaoji and said, "The widow you were with saw some ironware in the cellar while she was washing clothes at Dou's villa."

An Guo Shao Ji swallowed the millet cake with corn wine, and the deerskin bag around his waist jingled.

It contained sachets from the maids of various mansions. "The widow said that Dou's horseshoes were half a finger wider than the official ones, and they ran well."

He was suddenly pressed against the throat by Su Jia's halberd, the tip of which was still stained with hay from the stable.

"Let's get down to business." Su Jia's thin collarbone was exposed under his leather armor, but he rode his halberd as steadily as an old soldier.

Guo Jie's ring-handled sword suddenly split the pottery jar, and the corn wine spread out the outline of Guanzhong on the map. "Tomorrow is the community festival, and twelve ox carts carrying plows and hoes will be out of the armory." The tip of the sword pointed at the Chenliu position. "Replace the plowshare with a crossbow arm. It will only take half an incense stick."

Mang Tong pulled out an elm wood tablet from his pocket, engraved with the number of acres of land. "The boundary stone of the Dou family's private land is buried three feet deep and covered with rammed earth." He drew a trench pattern on the ground with an iron mallet. "Digging out the boundary stone to replace the crossbow trigger is faster than beheading."

"No!" Yan Yi suddenly swung his two-foot sword across the blueprint. "According to the Land Law, anyone who moves the boundaries of a field without permission should be branded and sentenced to hard labor in the city!"

The Chonghuangrou sword sheath gently pressed against Yan Yi's wrist. "Mr. Yan, do you know what is buried under the boundary stone of the Dou family's private land?"

The tortoise-shell comb traced across the map. "Thirty-seven children died of starvation in Weinan last year."

The basement suddenly became silent.

Wei Guang's bowstring vibrated like a buzzing sound, An Guo Shaoji's deerskin bag stopped making noises, and a drop of wine was condensed on the tip of Su Jia's halberd, about to fall.

Guo Jie's second ring-handled sword slowly unsheathed, and the blade reflected Yan Yi's trembling pupils.

"Tomorrow at 3:45 am, under the cypress tree on the east side of the Altar of Grain and Earth." The muffled sound of two swords sheathing cut off all arguments. "The ox carts carrying the plows and hoes will leave the armory at 1:00 am and must return before 9:00 pm."

At the hour of Yin, dew was still condensing on the cypress leaves, and twelve ox carts had already rolled over the ridges of the fields in the eastern suburbs of Chang'an.

Guo Jie wrapped the two ring-handled swords in hemp cloth and wrapped the handles with the five-colored silk used for spring festivals.

The hemp rope on the shaft cut deeply into his shoulders.

The appearance of this old farmer was created by Chong Huangrou himself, but hidden in his coarse linen clothes was the bronze seal of the Prince's doctor.

"Dou's cavalry left Chenliu Gate at three quarters past morning." Wei Guang lowered his bamboo hat, the mulberry wood bow arm of the ten-stone bow was hidden in the bundle of plows, and the bowstring was mixed with the hemp rope and had a bluish-white color.

The straw sandals on his feet were stained with the red mud unique to the armory's floor tiles, while the soles of his boots were covered with a layer of yellow mud made from millet paste.

When Mang Tong's iron hammer smashed the last boundary stone, the morning light was climbing up the burial mound of the altar of land and grain.

The ranger's coarse cloth shorts were stained with grass, but the wooden handle of the iron mace was gleaming with tung oil. "Thirty-seven."

He lifted the straw mat under the rammed earth, revealing small coffins arranged like a military formation.

The crossbow in the coffin glowed with a cold light, and the crossbow arm was branded with the fish scale pattern of the Shaofu Supervisor.

Chong Huangrou's scabbard suddenly pressed against Mang Tong's lower back.

The son of the Qucheng Marquis family was wrapped in a peddler's coarse linen coat, but the tortoiseshell comb in his hair gleamed coldly: "Three hundred paces southeast, Dou's horsemen are counting the sacrificial animals."

His two-foot-long sword slid into the earth alongside the coffin, the jade pendant on the tassel tucked into the cracks in the rammed earth. "Su Jia's halberd is hidden in the pile of firewood west of the altar."

When the community drum first sounded, An Guo Shaoji walked into the field carrying a ceramic jar of pickled plums.

The frivolous official's deerskin bag jingled, filled with sachets from the maids of various mansions.

He kicked aside a pile of horse manure. "It's made of crocodile skin from South Vietnam."

Half of the talisman fell out of the deerskin bag, fitting perfectly into the gap of the elm talisman on Wei Guang's waist.

Yan Yi's two-foot sword suddenly pierced the ground.

The hempen robe of this tenth-generation descendant of Yan Hui was splattered with mud, but the hemp rope wrapped around the hilt of his sword remained perfectly untangled: "The Law of Stables and Gardens states that those who privately keep more than ten horses will be punished."

Before he finished speaking, a horse neighing suddenly came from the southeast.

Five green horses trampled through the morning mist, and the people on the saddles were all wearing the red-edged long robes of Dou's followers.

"Sacrificial blood!" Guo Jie shouted, and cut the neck of the ox pulling the cart with his two knives.

Hot blood splattered on the coffin, covering up the iron smell of the crossbow.

Wei Guang's bowstring was instantly tightened, and the mulberry wood fibers hummed in the morning breeze.

Mang Tong's iron hammer smashed into the second sacrificial animal, and the dull sound of the cow's skull breaking startled the birds.

When Dou's horse slave's leather boots sank into the bloody mud, Su Jia's halberd had already picked up his leather hat and sent it flying.

The young official's thin shoulders were tightly bound by his leather armor, and a half piece of blood-stained hemp cloth hung on the barb of his halberd.

"Towards Fengshui!" The Chonghuangrou's scabbard hit the horse's buttocks, and the green horse ran towards the river bank in pain.

An Guo Shaoji's deerskin bag threw out quicklime, which blinded the pursuers.

Guo Jie's two swords were crossed and placed at the throat of the last horse slave. The cloud pattern on the back of the sword reflected the word "private" tattooed on the other person's face.

Wei Guang's bowstring tangled in his neck, the tendons digging into his flesh. "Tell me! Which post road did Dou Ying's private railway take?"

"Ba Ling. Ba Ling Post." Blood foam seeped from the gaps between the horse slave's teeth. "On the first day of every month, there is a secret compartment under the carriage."

Mang Tong's iron hammer suddenly smashed his knee, and the sound of bone breaking was mixed with the sound of the community drum and no one noticed it.

Yan Yi's two-foot sword lifted the collar of the slave's clothes, revealing the tattoo of the word "bing" on his left shoulder.

This is irrefutable evidence of private accumulation of troops.

Smoke drifted from the direction of the East Market Prison. An Guo Shao Ji hummed a folk song as he put a hemp rope around the prisoner's neck. The knot was the "ghost buckle" commonly used in the Supreme Court.

When the burial soil of the community sacrifice was reburied, the thirty-seven small coffins had been replaced with pottery jars filled with old crossbows.

Guo Jie threw the blood-stained five-colored silk into the fire, and the muffled sound of the two swords being sheathed was drowned out by the prayers.

Chong Huangrou's tortoise shell comb brushed across the edge of the altar, leaving three shallow marks on the bluestone.

When the last wisp of smoke dissipated over the Altar of Land and Grain, the twelve ox carts had already returned to the armory.

The indentation left by the shaft was half an inch deep, and the rut was mixed with blood, mud, and iron filings.

The sundial at the flag pavilion in the East Market pointed to the hour of Si. At the moment when the jailer pressed the copper branding iron on the chest of the death row soldier, the locust tree on the Baling Post Road was shedding its first new leaf of the spring.

As the beeswax on the bronze sparrow lampstand melted into blood beads, Chen Ajiao's jade fingers were stroking the teeth of the rhinoceros horn comb.

The animal heads on the corners of the Pepper Room reflected in the bronze mirror were distorted in the candlelight, as if mocking the golden seal of the queen that had been hanging vacant for a year.

The chirping of cicadas could be heard outside the window, but it could not drown out the rustling sound of the iron filings on Dong Yan's clothes rubbing against the green jade mat.

The male favorite of Princess Guantao was kneeling behind seven layers of ice silk gauze. Under the waist belt with a cascade of acacia patterns on his dark-colored robe was the bronze key to the Ba Ling private workshop.

"How does my face compare to that of Wei, who was born as a riding slave?" Chen Ajiao suddenly broke three teeth of the comb, and the sound of the breaking startled the copper bells under the eaves.

Dong Yan knelt half a step, his eyes and eyebrows beneath the mutton-fat jade crown shimmering with an enchanting soft light in the candlelight: "Your Majesty is the sun and the moon, and that Wei family is nothing but rotten grass and fireflies."

He slipped a scroll of silk painting from his sleeve. Wei Zifu's bulging belly glared like a tumor on the plain silk. "In three days, this lowly servant will return to Pingyang to worship her ancestors. I have prepared three hundred rangers on the Baling Post Road."

The bronze mirror shone coldly, and Chen Ajiao's two-foot sword was already against Dong Yan's throat.

Under the collar, which was cut by the sword, was revealed the tattoo mark of a prisoner on death row at a private foundry. It was branded by her own order a few years ago.

At that time, this boy was a horse slave in Princess Guantao's mansion.

"Do you think Jianzhang Supervisor Wei Qing is dead?"

The sword blade drew a blood line, and blood beads slid down the cheek of Wei Zifu in the silk painting and formed blood scabs on Wei's bulging abdomen.

Dong Yan's tongue licked the sword's edge, the scent of blood mingling with the scent of agarwood from his clothes. "The knight-errant used a ring-handled sword forged from Huainan iron, and the crossbow trigger is engraved with the seal of the Liang King's engineer."

He pulled out a half-inlaid gold tiger talisman from his bosom. The talisman was still stained with cinnabar from the tiles of Changmen Garden. "Wei Qing is currently investigating horse administration in Yunzhong County. Wait for him to get the news."

Chi Xi suddenly rolled over his fingertips, and Chen Ajiao's armor dug into his shoulder: "I will turn that evil creature into blood!"

The residual heat from the iron stove in the dark room seeped up through the green jade mat, and the sharp spikes of the caltrops in Dong Yan's sleeve pierced his palm.

He looked up at the nine-tailed phoenix hairpin dangling precariously from the queen's hair.

That was the coming-of-age gift bestowed by Emperor Xiaojing himself. The oriental pearl inlaid at the end of the hairpin had been covered in dust for many years.

"I have prepared wolfsbane and thorns." He pressed his lips against the dogwood pattern on the queen's red shoes. "When the carriage overturns, the knight-errant will disguise himself as a refugee."

The words were interrupted by the old eunuch who suddenly broke in, and the footsteps of Princess Guantao could be heard from outside the ice silk gauze.

Chen Ajiao shoved the tiger talisman into Dong Yan's collar and slammed the hilt of her sword against his collarbone. "Go to Ba Ling and quench the crossbow!"

The bronze mirror reflected her distorted face, and the cinnabar on her forehead was stained like blood.

As Dong Yan crawled backward out of the inner room, he heard the crisp sound of jade breaking behind him.

That was the Hetian jade pillow that Wei Zifu presented to the Queen Mother last year.

When the dusk dyed the fish pond in Changmen Garden red, Dong Yan's deerskin boots had already stepped on the iron slag of Baling Private Square.

Twenty newly cast arm-drawn crossbows glowed bluish-gray in the dark room, and the Liang State emblem, which was deliberately made to look old on the crossbow mechanism, was faintly visible in the firelight.

He untied the gold-inlaid belt hook from his waist and threw it to the one-eyed blacksmith: "The arrowhead is mixed with 30% lead, and it must kill the enemy on contact with blood."

The blacksmith picked up the belt hook with his copper tongs and examined it in the light of the fire. The Changle Weiyang pattern on the hook was blurred in the smoke and dust.

"Three hundred knights are asking for an additional two carts of Shu brocade." The blacksmith's one eye glanced at the ox cart carrying iron materials outside the door, the ruts of which were abnormally deep.

Dong Yan grabbed the caltrop and pressed it into the man's palm: "I'll give you three carts of brocade and twenty ventriloquist masters."

Blood from the thorns dripped into the quenching pool. The white mist rising from the hissing sound enveloped his feminine smile. "When the Wei family's jade carriage passes through Eagle's Beak Gorge, I want to hear the howling of wolves."

The night watchman's drum sounded three times, and the secret door of the private quarters suddenly opened.

Princess Guantao's old maid came in with a lacquer tray, on which was a rhinoceros horn cup filled with scarlet wine.

"The princess asked about that batch of Nanyang iron..." The old maid's voice was like a rusty knife scraping across an anvil.

Dong Yan tossed the bloodstained caltrops into the furnace. The flames illuminated the tattoo beneath his collarbone. "Melt them all down and make them into farm tools. Send them to Changmen Garden tomorrow for the flower viewing."

When the sound of bronze drums broke the darkness of night, the half tiger talisman in Dong Yan's sleeve was already covered with iron ash.

He stood on a high place in the private workshop and watched the oxcart carrying iron materials disappear at the end of the post road. The Huainan iron in the secret compartment under the cart glowed faintly in the moonlight.

The lights of Changmen Garden in the distance flickered, just like Chen Ajiao's crazy eyes last night.

In the deeper darkness of the night, An Guo Shaoji's deerskin bag was swaying as he entered Yongxiang with a clanging sound. The frivolous young official was picking up the forbidden jade pendant of the Yongxiang palace maid with his fingertips. The emblem of Princess Guantao's mansion on the pendant was visible and invisible under the palace lanterns.

As dusk dyed the palace walls crimson, An Guo Shaoji, his deerskin bag filled with candied peaches, snaked along the mottled walls of Yongxiang.

The frivolous official's hemp cloth robe was stained with wine, but a bronze token of the Supreme Court was secretly hung around his waist.

I stole it from the drunk jailer last night.

A familiar scent of agarwood wafted from the corner. The jade pendant of Chun'e, the palace maid in Yongxiang, swayed gently in the twilight. The emblem of Princess Guantao's Mansion on the pendant made his pupils shrink slightly.

"My dear sister, this jade pendant is old." Anguo Shaoji lifted Chun'e's forbidden sash with his fingertips, and the candied peach slipped into her sleeve pocket. "I'll bring a piece of Lantian jade tomorrow."

His voice suddenly stopped, and the back of the jade pendant was stained with black and brown spots.

It was quenching iron slag mixed with dried blood.

Chun'e hurriedly pulled back her forbidden steps, and the iron hoe model in the lacquer box fell to the ground with a clang.

That was the "farm tool" Dong Yan had rewarded me this morning. The three-inch-long miniature hoe was engraved with the fish scale pattern of the Shaofu Supervisor.

"Master Dong said that he would send these to Changmen Garden to plant peonies." Her voice trembled, and half of the blood-stained silk cloth was exposed at her sleeves.

It was the fragment of Wei Zifu's portrait that Dong Yan presented to Chen Ajiao three days ago.

The sound of the evening drum pierced the long alley, startling the crows perched under the eaves.

An Guo Shaoji's deerskin bag suddenly tore, and the preserved peaches rolled all over the ground.

He pretended to bend down to pick it up, and the blood-stained piece of silk had already slipped into his boot.

"Sister, do you know what kind of soil to use for planting peonies?" He took Chun'e's cold hand and said, "In my hometown, we use humus soil soaked with wolfsbane roots."

Before he finished speaking, the sound of armor clashing came from the end of Yongxiang, and the black leather hats of the guards were faintly visible in the twilight.

Chun'e pulled her hand back suddenly, and the iron hoe model in the lacquer box hit the palace wall, and a chip appeared on the hoe blade.

The bluish-gray luster at the fracture was clearly Huainan iron mixed with lead.

An Guo Shaoji's pupils suddenly contracted. He remembered the batch of "farm tools" that the armory ordered Wei Guang to inspect three days ago. The patina on the crossbow mechanism was exactly the same as the gap.

"It's three quarters after noon and the keys are about to be locked!" The old eunuch's hoarse voice broke the silence.

An Guo Shao Ji stuffed the last peach preserve between Chun'e's lips, and the millet cake hidden in the deerskin bag was replaced with a bloody piece of silk.

As he ran along the wall, the waterlogged blue bricks of Yongxiang reflected a distorted figure.

Two servants of the Dou family were following behind, their leather boots stained with the red clay unique to Ba Ling.

The night watch drum echoed outside the palace wall, and An Guo Shaoji's deerskin boots waded through the Cangchi underground canal.

The foul-smelling canal water soaked through his hemp clothes, but it could not dispel the bloody smell of the silk in his arms.

As he emerged from the dog hole in the north wall of the armory, half a tile flew towards him in the twilight. This was the signal Guo Jie had agreed upon; the cloud pattern on the tile pointed toward the farmland east of the city.

The smoke from the pine torches was mixed with the smell of rust, and Guo Jie's two swords were sending out sparks on the grindstone.

Wei Guang's ten-stone bow had been replaced with a mulberry wood bowstring, but his quiver was filled with arrows tied with straw.

This is irrefutable evidence to keep him alive.

Mang Tong smashed his iron hammer against the pottery jar. The broken surface of the Huainan iron ingot inside the jar glowed a strange blue-gray. "The arrowhead is mixed with lead, and it will kill you instantly."

"Madam Wei's carriage has passed the Xiuli Camp." Chong Huangrou's sword tip ripped open the map, revealing the cinnabar markings on the Baling Post Road oozing blood. "Dong Yan's three hundred knights are stationed on both wings of Yingzui Gorge, equipped with twenty crossbows."

A jade ring from the Qucheng Marquisate was visible beneath his coarse linen clothes, with the jade pattern concealing the topography of the gorge.

Yan Yi suddenly thrust his two-foot sword across the map: "The Law on Bandits clearly states that anyone who privately mobilizes county troops will be beheaded."

"Master Yan, look at this!" An Guo Shao Ji broke into the room and a blood-stained piece of silk fell onto the table.

Next to the broken portrait of Wei Zifu, Dong Yan's handwriting was still wet: "At three o'clock in the morning, the wolf howled as a signal."

Guo Jie's crossed swords gleamed coldly, the cloud patterns on the blades twisting into ferocious snakes. "Wei Guang led the arsenal's crossbowmen to disguise themselves as a merchant caravan, while Mang Tong led the rangers to intercept and kill them along the mountain paths."

Amidst the ripping sound of his hemp cloth, he revealed the bronze seal of the Prince's Gate Doctor. "Chong Huangrou, capture Dong Yan alive."

The cellar's secret door suddenly flew open, and Su Jia's halberd was dripping with horse blood. "Madam Wei's Jade Chariot is less than ten miles away from Yingzui Gorge!"

The young official's single garment was torn by thorns, and the wound on his arm was stained with the red clay unique to Ba Ling.

Guo Jie tore off the five-colored ribbon at his waist, and the silk burned to ashes in the candlelight: "Action."

The sound of bronze drums at the hour of Hai rolled through Chang'an City. Deep in Yongxiang, Chun'e was swallowing peach preserves in front of a bronze mirror.

The portrait of Wei Zifu that she had patched with snail ink at the missing part of the blood-stained silk piece looked lifelike.

The mirror suddenly reflected Dong Yan's feminine smile. The caltrops at his fingertips pierced her neck and said, "Sister, lend me your blood to help the Queen raise her peonies."

When the night watch drum exploded outside the palace wall, An Guo Shaoji's deerskin boots had already stepped on the gravel of the Baling Post Road.

His deerskin bag contained the maid's black ink box from Yongxiang, and in the secret compartment at the bottom of the box was half a gold-inlaid tiger talisman.

This was something Chun'e stuffed into his sleeve before she died.

The wolf howls of the three hundred knights tore through the night sky, while Wei Zifu's jade carriage was slowly approaching the bend of the canyon, and the evil-repelling pendant hanging on the shaft suddenly glowed with blood.

The spring rain turned the red earth-rammed official road into mud, and twelve ox carts were stuck at the entrance of Yingzui Gorge.

Guo Jie squatted on the shaft of the cart, his two ring-handled swords stuck in the mud. The hemp cloth wrapped around the handles was soaked with water and weighed heavy on his wrists.

Wei Guang's ten-stone bow was stuck in the gap between the carriage boards, and water droplets condensed on the bowstring.

This mulberry wood silk has been soaked in fish glue, so it is not afraid of moisture, but it will take three breaths longer than usual to load the iron arrows.

"Here it comes." Mang Tong pulled the iron hammer out of the mud, and the red soil on the hammer head was falling off.

He stared at the gray sparrow that was startled at the bend of the official road, wiped the cow's belly with his left hand, and covered the wooden handle of the iron hammer with the cow dung on his hand to prevent it from slipping in the melee.

As the sound of horse hooves mixed with the muffled sound of mud rushed into the canyon, Dong Yan's blue horse was crushing puddles.

Today, the male favorite changed into a knight's shorts, and replaced the mutton-fat jade crown with a cowhide hat, but the gold-inlaid belt hook faintly visible under the lapel was still the style of Princess Guantao's mansion.

The three hundred men behind him spread out in a goose formation, with the men in the front row holding iron-clad wooden shields.

This is the standard for guarding the Dou family's villa.

"Release!" Wei Guang's roar was mixed with the spring thunder.

Twenty crossbows emerged from the haystacks in the ox carts. The muffled sound of the first round of iron arrows piercing the wooden shields was drowned out by the sound of rain.

Guo Jie's two swords were already unsheathed, and the backs of the swords hit the cow's buttocks. The frightened beast dragged the stuck shaft of the cart and rushed forward, tearing a hole in the rangers' formation.

Dong Yan's sword tip deflected a stray arrow, the barb of the iron arrow scraping off a wisp of sable hair from his hat. "Switch to a lead-tipped arrow!"

His feminine voice pierced the rain curtain, and twenty horn bows were raised from behind the formation, with arrowheads emitting a strange blue-gray color.

This is Nanyang iron mixed with lead, which can be fatal if it abrades the skin.

"Raise the shield!" Wei Guang's elm wooden token was inserted into the mud, and the bottom of the ox cart flipped up, revealing the raw cowhide nailed on the back.

Cowhide soaked in tung oil three times can resist ordinary arrows, but it cannot withstand lead poisoning.

Guo Jie had already rushed into the enemy camp, chopped off the horse's leg with his left sword, and swept the rider's throat with his right sword. Warm blood mixed with cold rain poured into his collar.

Mang Tong's iron hammer hit the second wooden shield, and the iron-clad wood chips flew everywhere. The ranger behind was shocked so much that blood oozed from his mouth and nose.

The ranger brother said nothing, and swept the iron hammer across, hitting people's knees. The injured person who fell to the ground was immediately covered in mud in the mouth and nose.

Wei Guang's second round of crossbow arrows arrived. This time they were light arrows with the shafts wrapped in oil-soaked linen. The fire that could not be extinguished even in the rain started burning behind the enemy formation.

Dong Yan finally panicked.

His black horse was frightened by the fire and was retreating towards the gorge with its hooves raised.

The lead-headed arrow team was thrown into disarray, and several archers were accidentally injured by their own poisoned arrows, rolling on the ground scratching their throats.

Guo Jie's two swords entangled the ring-handled sword of a ranger, and with a flip of his wrist, he broke the opponent's elbow joint. He threw the sword he had taken away, nailing the archer who was loading arrows to the cliff wall.

"Surround that green-covered carriage!" Dong Yan pointed the tip of his sword at the jade carriage in the center of the canyon.

Thirty assassins suddenly took off their outer robes, revealing the rhinoceros skin armor underneath.

This is a treasure from the Shaofujian armory, and the armor should have been archived in the Lanting.

Wei Guang's pupils suddenly shrank, and when the ten-stone bow was fully drawn, his shoulder blades creaked under the heavy burden. The iron arrow broke through the air, piercing through two rhinoceros armors and nailing the third man to the baggage cart.

Guo Jie kicked over a assassin and stabbed his ring-handled knife into the gap in the collar of the rhinoceros armor.

As the blood splattered, he caught a glimpse of the gauze curtains on the jade carriage windows moving slightly.

Wei Zifu's fingers were clasped on the corner of the curtain, her knuckles turning white.

Mang Tong's iron hammer suddenly slipped out of his hand and smashed the left wheel of the jade carriage. The moment the carriage tilted, three lead-tipped arrows brushed past Madam Wei's curtains and penetrated into the carriage wall.

"Closing the net!" Wei Guang finally raised the flag.

Twenty armory servants emerged from behind the vines on the mountain wall, holding oil-soaked hemp ropes in their hands.

This is the noose used to string the crossbow, now formed into a tripwire.

The charging warriors fell one after another, and the rhinoceros armor became a burden in the mud.

Dong Yan's black horse was lassoed by its front hooves, but the male favorite swung his sword to cut off the horse's legs, and the horse rolled into a pile of rocks in a rain of blood.

When the rain gradually subsided, the mud was so thick that I couldn't move my legs.

Guo Jie's double swords had bent their blades, and he was leaning against a broken shaft, gasping for breath.

A strand of Wei Guang's ten-stone bowstring broke, and mulberry wood juice seeped from the cracks in the bow arm.

Half of the three hundred rangers were stuck in the mud and wailing, while the rest had their knees smashed one by one by Mang Tong.

The window of the jade carriage was suddenly opened half a palm's width, and a jade sword was handed out. The gold-inlaid tiger talisman hanging on the sword tassel dazzled Guo Jie's eyes.

"Leave him alive." Wei Zifu's voice was thinner than the spring rain, but it made Guo Jie's two swords stop in mid-air.

In this instant of delay, thick smoke suddenly rose from behind the pile of rocks.

Dong Yan burned the last cart of supplies, and the burnt stench mixed with lead poison filled the canyon.

Thick smoke wrapped in lead poison swirled in the canyon. Guo Jie wiped the blood mud that was stuck to his eyelashes, and the muffled sound of the ground shaking could be heard in his ears.

That was the sound of heavily armored chariots rolling across the official road.

Wei Guang's broken bowstring suddenly straightened. He dipped some mud into the chariot and drew three horizontal lines on it: "The pattern of the charioteers at Hengqiao, three chariots advancing in parallel."

The curtain of the jade carriage suddenly flew up, and Wei Zifu's jade sword slashed the curtain open: "Retreat to the fork in the Fengshui River!"

The gold-inlaid tiger talisman on the sword tassel hit the shaft of the cart, and the sparks it sent up illuminated the carvings on the cliff.

That was the secret sign left by Chong Huang Rou three days ago, pointing to the abandoned canal plank road.

Dong Yan's shrill laugh pierced the smokescreen.

The male favorite had climbed up the eastern cliff at some point, holding a banner stained with horse blood. "Hengqiao Commander! The one sitting in that jade carriage is the maidservant who escaped from the palace!"

A sea of halberd tips appeared behind him, and a whole group of heavily armored infantry pushed iron-clad chariots to block the gorge. The Dou family's Vermillion Bird pattern on the large oars and shields shone with blood after the rain.

"Draw the crossbow!" Wei Guang's roar tore through the torn silk.

The only five remaining crossbows were stuck in the cracks of the rocks. The armory servants bit open a pottery jar and dipped the last twenty iron arrows into the mud and water.

Lead poison solidifies when it comes into contact with water, and the arrowhead turns a dead blue.

Mang Tong's iron hammer suddenly slipped out of his hand and smashed the left wheel of the leading chariot. At the moment the iron-clad wooden wheel broke apart, Guo Jie's two swords had already pierced into the eye sockets of the shaft horse.

Hengqiao Ling's leather shield slammed to the ground, and a phalanx of crossbowmen poured out from the gaps between the chariots.

This was a genuine Northern Army standard crossbow, but the copper emblem on the crossbow trigger had been filed off.

"Shoot!" Hundreds of iron arrows pierced through the rain curtain and nailed the wreckage of the ox cart into a hedgehog.

Wei Guang rolled over into the mud, and the ten-stone bow swung out in an arc. The mulberry wood arrows pierced the throats of the three crossbowmen, and the blood lines were stretched into red silk in the rain.

"Protect the car!" Guo Jie kicked half of the car door open, and the rawhide shield barely blocked the second round of arrows.

The jade carriage suddenly tilted to the right, and the hem of Wei Zifu's middle garment swept across the shaft, revealing half of her plain gauze robe.

The phoenix pattern embroidered on the corner of the clothes made Hengqiao Ling's pupils shrink suddenly, and the hand holding the crossbow froze in mid-air.

Dong Yan suddenly thrust the tip of his sword into Hengqiao Ling's lower back: "Shoot! That woman is carrying the seeds of evil in her belly!"

The mutton-fat jade crown had returned to his head at some point, and the mud-spattered gold-inlaid belt hook was stuck between his armor.

When the crossbow array fired again, Guo Jie had already rushed to the front of the array under the cover of a cowhide shield, and his two swords gripped the yoke of the chariot. The veins on his arms bulged like a dragon.

“Crack!”

The crisp sound of broken axles mixed with the neighing of horses, and the first three chariots overturned with a loud bang.

Mang Tong took the opportunity to sweep his iron hammer across, specifically hitting the knees of the heavily armored soldiers.

This was a skill he acquired while serving as a prisoner in Suiyang Prison. He knew that the tanned cowhide at the joints of the armor would become slippery after being soaked in sweat.

Wei Guang's quiver was empty, so he pulled out the bronze seal of the armory and smashed it in the crossbowman's face. The characters "Shaofu Armory" could be clearly seen on the brass seal amidst the bloodstains.

Suddenly, there was a sound of tearing silk coming from the jade carriage. Wei Zifu tore through the curtain and half of her body popped out: "Hengqiao Commander! Do you recognize this thing?"

The red ribbon and golden seal in her palm exploded with golden light in the haze.

That was the seal bestowed upon the lady by the Emperor himself three days ago.

The crossbow array suddenly became stagnant, and the crossbows of several old soldiers had dropped by an inch.

Dong Yan's sword suddenly pierced through Hengqiao Ling's throat: "Anyone who is afraid of fighting in battle will have their entire clan executed!"

In the rain of blood, he grabbed the command flag and waved it wildly, and oil-soaked firewood rolled down from the cliff.

The last rocket streaked across the sky, and flames instantly engulfed the entrance to the plank road.

Guo Jie's double swords suddenly flew out of his hands, cutting off the bridles of the two frightened horses. As soon as the front hooves of the captured war horses stepped onto the plank road, the rotten wooden boards cracked into the abyss.

"Change lanes! Go to Eagle Beak Cliff!" Wei Zifu's jade sword suddenly pierced through the bottom of the car, and the tip of the sword picked out a tattered sheepskin map.

That was a border march map left by her brother Wei Qing.

Mang Tong used an iron hammer to clear the way, Wei Guang held a bronze seal as proof, and the remaining armory servants built a human ladder.

When the last warhorse fell into the abyss, Dong Yan's flag was stuck on the edge of the cliff, and the Vermillion Bird on the flag was stained with blood and turned into a black crow.

Dong Yan's jade crown hung diagonally on the broken halberd, and he laughed wildly as he looked at the empty plank road.

The soldiers guarding Hengqiao were restringing their crossbows. Although the copper emblem on the crossbow trigger had been filed flat, the three-edged arrowhead, a standard of the Northern Army, still shone with a cold light.

"Burn this broken plank road for me"

Before he finished speaking, crows were suddenly startled in the valley to the west, and twenty-seven red ivory flags appeared from the treetops.

That is the sign of the pavilion in Chang'an County.

Su Jia's halberd pushed aside the thorns, and his leather armor was still stained with the red mud of the Ba Ling Post Road.

Behind him, thirty guardsmen each held an iron ruler or wooden tablet, and two hundred guardsmen were wearing hemp cloth shorts mixed with various weapons: there were iron caltrops for catching thieves, copper bell nets for night patrol, and even two guardsmen were carrying copper drums over a meter long.

"The Twelve Pavilions in the West of Chang'an are here!"

The tip of Su Jia's halberd shook off the morning dew, and the sound of bronze drums suddenly exploded.

Thirty horn bows emerged from the treetops.

This is a single-arm crossbow used by guards to catch thieves. The arrow shaft is wrapped in linen soaked in wolf dung. Although it cannot penetrate heavy armor, it can blind people.

There were still bone fragments stuck in the gaps of Guo Jie's double swords, and at this moment he suddenly cut through the vines on the cliff.

The rotten planks of the plank road collapsed, revealing the cowhide ropes that Wei Guang had arranged in advance underneath.

The smell of tung oil from three days ago mixed with the smell of blood rose into the sky.

"put!"

The gongs in the twenty-seven pavilions rang simultaneously.

The guards scattered caltrops into the mud, and the soldiers guarding the bridge carrying wooden shields were immediately thrown into disarray.

As soon as Dong Yan's chariot turned around, Su Jia's halberd had already pierced the yoke, and the three horses neighed in shock as they pulled the chariot into the caltrop formation.

"Hold up the sign!" Guo Jie suddenly kicked over half of the car door, revealing a symbol painted with horse blood on the back.

It was the mobilization order that was taken from the body of Hengqiao Ling three days ago.

The charging soldiers came to a sudden halt, and the halberds of several old soldiers had already dropped half a foot.

Dong Yan's sword suddenly pierced through the hesitant captain: "That's fake! Give it to me!"

Dong Yan's sword pierced the captain's throat, and blood spurted onto the fake military mobilization order.

The village chief's throat gurgled, and he pointed at the incomplete "horizontal" character on the talisman, splashing a pool of blood and mud when he fell to the ground.

"Crush these bandits for me!" Dong Yan's jade sword cut off the command flag, and the war drums behind him suddenly sounded.

The heavily armored soldiers guarding Hengqiao advanced to the beat of drums, their iron-clad boots crushing the thorns on the ground, and a tortoise-shell formation formed by large oars and shields blocked the entrance to the plank road.

Guo Jie pulled out the ring-handled knife that was inserted into the wooden shield with his backhand, and the blade scraped against the shield surface with a sharp sound.

"Su Jia! Break the formation!"

With a roar, the young official's halberd had already knocked two shields away.

"Raise the rope!" the Weicheng Pavilion Chief shouted.

Twelve iron chains suddenly dropped from the top of the cliff, with stone locks weighing a hundred pounds tied to the ends.

The tortoise-shell formation of the garrison soldiers was smashed to pieces. Guo Jie took the opportunity to break into the formation and entangled the iron halberd of a Du Bo with his two swords.

Amidst the clanging of metal, he bent his knees and smashed his opponent's shin, then threw the iron halberd he had snatched out, piercing through three large oars and shields.

Dong Yan's jade crown swayed on the chariot, and the tip of his sword suddenly pointed to the west: "Turn the crossbow chariot!"

The sights of the ten crossbow carts adjusted their angles simultaneously, and crossbow arrows as thick as a baby's arm tore through the air.

Su Jia suddenly pulled the corpse of the fallen soldier to block in front of him. The dull sound of the armor being pierced made his palms numb.

"Scatter! Move in a serpentine shape!" He wiped the brain matter that splashed on his face and beat out a rapid rhythm with the bronze drum.

The guards suddenly split up into small groups and placed the two-meter-long copper drums horizontally to form a simple shield wall.

The guards at Duling Pavilion took out the iron flying claws used to catch thieves, and twenty of them entangled the crossbow cart winch.

"Pull!" Guo Jie blocked the two garrison soldiers' attacks with his swords and kicked the cliff wall with his boot heels to gain leverage.

The taut cow tendon strings broke one after another under the huge force, and the five crossbow carts were instantly turned into scrap wood.

"Set fire!" Dong Yan's scabbard struck the shaft of the carriage.

Twenty rockets coated in sulfur were fired at the remains of the plank road, and the flames followed the tung oil ropes to form a fire dragon.

Wei Guang suddenly leaped out of the thick smoke, his broken bowstring catching a crossbowman's neck. "Tell me! How many private soldiers does the Dou family still have in Baling?"

The crossbowman bit the poison sac into pieces, and black blood gushed out of his seven orifices.

Su Jia's halberd hooked the burning tung oil rope and swung in an arc across the cliff.

The crescent blade cut off the helmet straps of the two garrison soldiers and lifted the Vermillion Bird flag on Dong Yanling's carriage.

"You brat are looking for death!" A blade suddenly popped out from Dong Yan's jade sword, and the sword inside the sword pierced Su Jia's face.

The young official fell backwards, the sword blade drawing a bloody line on the tip of his nose, and he turned around and smashed the bronze drum against the axle.

“Crack!”

Amid the crisp sound of a broken axle, Guo Jie's two swords had already entangled the spear shafts of Dong Yan's personal guards.

He spun around and exerted force, causing the spear tip to pierce the throat of the spearman. Warm blood sprayed onto the burning tung oil rope, causing bursts of fishy smoke to rise.

"Northwest corner!" Wei Guang's roar came from the rain of arrows. He was leading his men to use the armory's copper seal to pry open the mechanism box of the crossbow cart.

Inside was the record of crossbow manufacturing in the "third year of Jianyuan" archived by the Shaofujian.

Dong Yan's pupils suddenly shrank, and he blew the bone whistle three short and one long notes.

The stone wall on the top of the cliff suddenly opened, and twenty saddled and well-equipped horses rushed out of the mountain path.

This is the Xiongnu warhorse that Princess Guantao obtained through the border market.

"Get on the horse!" He swung his sword to cut off the straps of the jade crown, and the scattered oriental pearls rolled in the firelight.

The royal guards formed a human wall and used their bodies to block the flying claws of the guards.

"Want to leave?" Guo Jie's two swords flew out and cut off the front hooves of three Hu horses.

Su Jia's halberd hooked Dong Yan's cloak, but he cut the brocade with his backhand.

Wei Guang's broken bow caught a frightened horse, and when he jumped onto the horse's back, Dong Yan had already led the remaining troops into the small mountain path.

"Rockfall!" Dong Yan's sword tip cut the rope of the mechanism.

The heavy stone fell down with a loud bang, isolating the pursuers from outside.

Mang Tong's iron hammer smashed against the boulder, only shaking off dust.

From deep within the mountain path came Dong Yan's wild laughter: "Guo Jie! Look at how Empress Dou's peonies are blooming all over Chang'an!"

As the smoke and dust gradually cleared, Su Jia tore off half a piece of brocade from the crack in the stone door.

Guo Jie wiped the blood off his knife and looked at the Vermillion Bird relief on the stone gate. "A thorough investigation of the Hengqiao Garrison."

He kicked away the corpse of the soldier at his feet, and under the iron armor was an inner garment with the word "Huainan" tattooed on it.

(End of this chapter)