When those men saw a team of troops with glinting blades, they warily drew their weapons from their waists.
In the darkness, Han Fen squinted his eyes slightly in the starlight and exclaimed in surprise:
"Eh? Xiuchun knives?"
"Jinyiwei?"
Those men glanced at each other and asked hesitantly, "Who are you..."
Han Fen said to Ning Shi and the others, "Put away your knives!"
He shouted to the men opposite, "We are the family members of His Highness the Prince of Yan!"
People of Song Yinghuai, the Prince of Yan!
The four men opposite showed relieved expressions. They quickly put away their Xiuchun knives and rushed forward.
Zuo Yezi, the leader, urged, "Let's go first! There are a large number of water bandits attacking Lingbi City outside. We managed to escape from the city while taking advantage of the chaos. There are pursuers behind us!"
Water bandits?!
Han Fen and the others' faces changed drastically. Without time to ask for details, they ordered everyone to turn their horses around.
"Go! Go back!"
Caiyu and Qingqing were sitting in the carriage. They couldn't hear clearly and only vaguely knew that the other party were a few Jinyiwei. So they lifted the curtain in the bumpy carriage and asked:
"Brother Han, what's going on? Why are we going back?"
Han Fen rode his horse closer to the carriage and hurriedly explained, "We met a few Jinyiwei who escaped from Lingbi. They said that suddenly a group of water bandits came and were attacking Lingbi City. When they escaped, they were discovered by the water bandits. There are pursuers behind them, and we don't know how many there are."
Caiyu and Qingqing's faces both changed.
Water bandits were no joke.
Along the way, they had heard countless stories about the brutality of water bandits.
The male villagers would be wiped out, and the women would be raped and then killed.
No one would survive.
A look of panic flashed across Qingqing's eyes. "What should we do? Where can we escape to?"
It was thirty li to the last city, Peixian!
Caiyu bit her lips tightly in a hurry and forced herself to calm down. She glanced at the Jinyiwei who were sharing horses with others and carefully asked:
"Are you sure they are Jinyiwei?"
Han Fen nodded. "I'm sure. Their waist tags are real."
Then the news must be true!
Caiyu asked again, "Are you really not sure how many people are attacking the city behind?"
Attacking a city!
Caiyu was not a delicate young lady hiding in the boudoir who would be easily alarmed.
How many people were needed to attack a city?
Lingbi was not a small city. There were four or five hundred city defense soldiers stationed there.
Those water bandits couldn't even make a good living on the water. Were they tired of living and wanted to go ashore and confront the court?
Han Fen looked at Caiyu's shrewd appearance with a headache.
He originally didn't want to scare these two women, but he wasn't the prince and couldn't hide it!
Well, even if he were the prince, he couldn't hide it from Caiyu's shrewdness. Otherwise, the prince would have caught Sheng Jiangli last time.
"Zuo Yezi said there are thousands of people behind. When they were discovered, they didn't take a close look at how many people were chasing them..." Han Fen pondered for a moment. "Probably, there are dozens of them."
"However," Han Fen said anxiously, "Miss Caiyu, you mustn't be careless. Not only are there more of them than us, but more importantly, they have firelocks!"
Firelocks!
Caiyu gasped again.
This was going to be troublesome.
Han Fen and the others were all highly skilled in martial arts. With more than a dozen of them plus these four Jinyiwei, they weren't without a chance of defeating dozens of water bandits. But if the other side had firelocks, it would be extremely difficult to deal with.
Caiyu made a prompt decision. "Let's go south! When Qingqing and I were in the dense forest six li away to relieve ourselves, we saw a hunting lodge there. It's better for us to hide and defend there than to be chased all the way on the plain."
In an open area, it was the most favorable place for firelocks to be effective.
The dense forest was a natural shield against firelocks. With the cover of the trees and the obstruction of the hunting lodge, with Han Fen and their martial arts, they might be able to protect themselves.
Moreover, since there was a hunting lodge, there must be traps prepared by hunters around.
This was also something she could rely on.
Han Fen immediately called out to everyone, "Retreat to the dense forest in the south!"
The group rushed on their way in a hurry.
In the distance behind them, there seemed to be faint sounds of fighting.
Caiyu stuck her head out of the carriage and suddenly saw a huge fire rising in the direction of Lingbi City a few li away. Her heart sank.
There really were firearms!
There were also explosive gunpowder!
How could this be the equipment of water bandits?
Caiyu looked ahead. The undulating hills in the distance loomed in the dim starlight, as if foreshadowing an impending storm and making people feel an indescribable sense of suffocation.
The rumbling cannons destroyed a section of the city wall of Lingbi.
Due to the sudden incident, many common people who were preparing to enter Lingbi like Caiyu and the others only discovered that there were water bandits outside the city when they got close to the city perimeter. By the time they found out, it was already too late to turn back. Many common people were beheaded under the knives.
The cries of children, the wails of women, and the shrieks of men were all mixed together.
For a moment, there were broken walls and heaps of withered grass. It was bloody outside Lingbi City, and the air was filled with a strong smell of blood. It was simply a purgatory on earth.
Those who were behind saw that the situation was not good and turned around to flee.
The water bandits didn't have horses and ran after them on foot, laughing arrogantly.
Yan Ming, the magistrate of Lingbi City, was standing on the city wall. Hearing the loud noise made by the common people outside the city slapping the steel plates of the city gate, his face turned ashen.
"Let us in! The water bandits are killing people!"
"Please! My child! Can you let my child in?"
The city - guarding general hesitated. "My lord Yan, should we let these common people into the city?"
Yan Ming's face became even more unpleasant. He roared angrily, "We mustn't open the city gate! Now the water bandits are mixed with the common people. Who can tell who is good and who is evil? If we let them in, what if they harm the common people of our Lingbi?"
"But my lord, the common people outside the city are also the people of Daye!" The general anxiously retorted. "As soldiers of Daye and officials of the court, how can we just watch the common people get hurt? I beg to open the city gate and go out to fight!"
"Ridiculous!" Yan Ming roared so loudly that his beard was trembling. "I've said we mustn't open the city gate! Can't you understand? If we let them in and the water bandits take the opportunity to open the city gate wide, who will be responsible if something happens to Lingbi?"
"My lord, the water bandits are all holding weapons while the common people are unarmed. Can't we tell the difference?"
As soon as Yan Ming's voice fell, a clear and contemptuous voice came from behind him.
Everyone turned their heads in surprise and saw a man in black sitting on one side of the city wall.
His chiseled features were like jade carvings. His charming phoenix eyes seemed to be filled with autumn ripples, and his thin lips were curved in a half - smile.
In such a critical situation, he was actually sitting on the city wall, with one long leg hanging outside the wall and swinging.
"Who... who are you?" Yan Ming was greatly shocked and pointed at Sheng Jiangli incoherently. "Come... come... men! The water bandits... the water bandits... have entered the city..."
Sheng Jiangli smiled. Suddenly, his figure flashed, and in the blink of an eye, he was in front of Yan Ming, pinning an iron hand on Yan Ming's neck!
There was ice in his amorous eyes, and his lips that were smiling slightly opened and closed:
"If I were a water bandit, I'd kill you, the corrupt official, first, then ransack your mansion, and then distribute your dozen or so charming concubines to my brothers..."
Sheng Jiangli was so fast that no one had time to react.
Just as the general drew his sword, he felt a huge force slap on the back of his hand, and the sword went back into the scabbard.
He stared at Sheng Jiangli in stunned silence.
Sheng Jiangli said to the general with a smile, "Relax. Don't draw your sword at your own people at every turn. Anyway, you can't beat me. You might as well stand aside and watch the fun and see how I beat this corrupt official."
The general: " ... No! He is the magistrate of Lingbi, an official appointed by the court..."
Sheng Jiangli interrupted his just speech. "Just tell me if you also wanted to beat him just now!"
The general: ...
Yes, he did.
But he couldn't just say it casually.
The general thought for a second and silently stepped aside.
This man was right. He might as well just watch the fun!
Yan Ming wished he could kneel down and kowtow to the man in front of him.
"Good... good sir, spare my life. What... what do you want to do? Just tell me... I just beg you to spare me... and my family."