Nanming Engineer

Chapter 273 Princess Changping
After the imperial decree was read out, the taste of the banquet changed a little. All the officials in the seat were whispering to each other and discussing with the people around them.

Wang Yingxiong and Wang Huan returned to their seats after thanking them for their kindness, and stopped talking. Wang Huan concentrated on eating, except for occasionally glancing at the graceful dancers in the field, he just focused on the dishes in front of him, chewing slowly. Pharynx, regard the officials in the audience as nothing.

However, Wang Yingxiong has many friends in the court and has a wide range of contacts. There is an endless stream of people who come forward to congratulate him. Talking about drinking, talking nonsense, making noise endlessly, his face turned red after a while, and he showed his drunken state.

Emperor Yongli, who was on the high platform, had a gloomy look on his face. After having a few perfunctory drinks with a few close ministers and bachelors, he stayed for a while to watch the singing and dancing, and then excused himself from feeling unwell.

As soon as the emperor left, the banquet couldn't go on. The crowd dispersed in droves and sedan chairs. Wang Yingxiong and Wang Huan joined Li Dingguo and the others and went to the gate of the palace, intending to leave Shuiyue Palace together. .

Unexpectedly, as soon as he walked to the imperial road and before he left the door, a young eunuch in palace uniform stopped Wang Yingxiong respectfully, whispered something in his ear, Wang Yingxiong's expression changed drastically immediately, and he hurriedly signaled Wang Huan and others to wait , he followed the little eunuch, and hurriedly moved to the shadow of a tree in the distance, there was no light, and it was so dark that he couldn't see clearly. A few black shadows stood in the shadow of the tree, but they couldn't tell who they were.

Wang Yingxiong went over, merged into the darkness, talked to the shadow who had been there for a long time, and hurried back without delay, urging Wang Huan and others to follow quickly.

Wang Huan and the others felt even more strange. As they were walking, they couldn't help but look back, and saw those shadows standing under the tree without moving. He kept a watching posture like a few stones.

After galloping the horse for a certain distance, there was no one around, so Wang Yingxiong slowed down, approached Wang Huan, and whispered nervously to Wang Huan: "Wang Zongbing, oh no, Lord Wang, do you know who is keeping the old man behind?" ?”

Without squinting, Wang Huan reined in the horse and replied calmly: "I don't know, please enlighten me, Lord Wang."

Wang Yingxiong looked left and right, and then lowered his voice and stretched his neck, "It's Wang Kun, the eunuch in charge of the supervisor of ceremonies! The emperor's number one confidant, he told this old man..."

"Stay here!" Wang Huan shouted in a low voice, his face as solemn as water: "This is not a place to talk, let's go back to the barracks first!"

"Back to the barracks?" Wang Yingxiong said in astonishment: "The imperial court has prepared a post house for us, which is comfortable and luxurious, so there is no need to go back to the barracks, right?"

Wang Huan looked at him with a smile but not a smile, shook his head and said: "The post house is comfortable, but when we get up tomorrow morning, we are afraid that you and I will die in it."

Wang Yingxiong's expression changed again, he was as pale as paper with fright, and said in a trembling voice: "That's not the case, is it? After all, this is the emperor's feet, a forbidden area in the capital, they don't dare to mess around!"

Wang Huan put away his teasing smile, looked at Wang Yingxiong seriously, and said solemnly: "Governor Wang, when did you see that the cabinet ministers dared to openly fight against the emperor? The emperor employs people close to him, and he doesn't use the imperial guards but the royal guards? Tonight Hundreds of officials gathered, but Li Yuanyin, the commander of the imperial guards, is missing. Where is he? You and I are promoted, but the cabinet doesn't know, and the emperor issued a decree to announce this. Together, with Governor Wang's shrewdness, can't you see it?"

What he said was extremely serious, and there was an unquestionable certainty, Wang Yingxiong's face turned paler when he heard it, and he said hesitantly: "Could it be, could it be that Li Yuanyin is going to kill us in Zhaoqing City? But where are we in the way?" Why bother to make enemies? Although my Wang is a civil servant, he is also a military governor. The Li family is not afraid of our revenge? Besides, I sent a lot of money to his Li family. It’s not worth it in terms of money.”

Wang Huan sneered, and said bluntly: "Compared with money, rights are of course more important. Governor Wang should understand that the Shizhu Silver Mine has a good reputation. If you take your seat, and you and I are removed, the Silver Mine will of course be in danger." It will change hands, and the little silver you gave is more important than the silver mine, you can tell when you think about it."

He glanced at Wang Yingxiong, and said: "Also, Governor Wang's secret concert, he thought that only the emperor knew about it, but he didn't know that the city of Zhaoqing had already been like a sieve, setting countless eyes and ears of the Li family. Even I know, don't the Li family father and son know?"

This last sentence made Wang Yingxiong's face turn from white to blue, from awe to fear, his face turned pale, and he almost fell off his horse. Luckily, Liu Yun followed him, stretched out his hand, and stabilized him. Don't forget to joke: "Sit tight, Governor Wang!"

Wang Yingxiong had no time to think about it, and murmured to Wang Hua and explained: "This, this, my lord, the old man has no other intentions, this, this..."

Wang Huan waved his sleeves and said coldly: "Governor Wang, don't worry about it. If I were in your position, I would do the same thing. It's just that Wang is blind. I didn't expect that Mr. Wang is a loyal person. It's rare." .”

Wang Yingxiong didn't know how to answer immediately, he wanted to straighten his back and be impassioned, but then remembered that he had received so much gold and silver from Wang Huan, how could he be tough?Only faltering, unable to understand a word for a long time.

Wang Huan sneered and said, "There are also people from me in the court guards. Governor Wang will make a small report in the future. Please inform Wang so that someone can take care of him. What do you think Governor Wang wants?"

Wang Yingxiong repeatedly said yes, and bent his waist into a shrimp while riding on the horse.

While discussing in low voices, the group of people drove their horses forward. From Shuiyue Palace to Kuizhou Military Camp, there is an official road along the Zhaoqing city wall. It is as bright as day, even if the ancients were night-blind, they could travel at night.

Just when Wang Yingxiong was in embarrassment, a Kuizhou soldier who was running ahead to open the way suddenly reined in his horse, drew his knife out of its sheath, pointed his bright long knife obliquely ahead, and shouted: "Who is in front? How dare you block the way of the officers and soldiers! "

This loud shout was a warning, giving time for Wang Huan and others who followed behind him to be alert. This time, Wang Huan brought his own hundred guards to the banquet, and Ma Wannian stayed in the camp. Li Dingguo and Liu Yuner will accompany them.

Hearing this shout, the well-trained guards responded immediately. Thirty of the more than 100 riders rushed forward, the horizontal team blocked the front, the rear team also protected the rear, and the remaining forty riders Twenty each, protecting Wang Huan and Wang Yingxiong.

Li Dingguo shouted to Liu Yun: "Stay with your lord!" He drew his sword and rode his horse forward, and followed the thirty cavalry in a row. The sound was followed by a scream, and the Kuizhou soldiers who sounded the warning had already been shot to death.

Is there a bird system?
A thought flashed in Li Dingguo's mind, and he immediately shouted loudly: "Assassins have bird orders! Charge forward with the shield! Kill them before they reload their bombs!"

The Kuizhou soldiers reached down with one hand, took off the round shield hanging there from the side of the saddle, held the shield with their left hand and raised the knife with the right, curled up their whole body and hid it behind the horse's neck, slammed the horse's belly with both legs, and the healthy horse had four hooves under its crotch. Flying around, he rushed toward the dozens of black shadows that were scurrying out from the grass on the roadside and lining the official road more than [-] steps ahead.

The black shadow was very impressive. Seeing that the opponent hadn't been scattered by the bird commander, he immediately dispersed. At the same time, someone shook his hand, and several tripping ropes suddenly tightened, like poisonous snakes spit out their letters, and bared their fangs at the Kuizhou cavalry. Oncoming.

"Ah~~!" "Plop, puff!"

The screams were combined with the sound of falling to the ground. The galloping cavalry couldn't see the stumbling rope at all in the night, and they were tripped and fell to the ground one after another. Amid the sad hiss of the horses, the cavalry were thrown to the ground and fell to the ground. It's all over the place.

Li Dingguo reacted quickly. Seeing the cavalry in front of him suddenly fell to the ground, he knew something was wrong, but it was impossible to rein in his horse and turn around. There were charging cavalry at the front and back. Stopping would only mess up the entire cavalry formation, so he had to grit his teeth and charge forward. , Abandoning the shield and throwing the knife, put both hands on the horse's neck, waited until the moment the mount was tripped by the bridle rope, exerted force suddenly, and the whole body flew into the air by inertia, rolling beautifully in the air like a gymnast on a pommel horse, stabilizing It landed nearly ten steps ahead.

As soon as his feet hit the ground, Li Dingguo took advantage of the situation and rolled over. Before he could see what was happening in front of him, he lay on the ground and swept his legs in a circle. When the iron legs hit, there were two screams accompanied by the "scraping" sound of fractures.

In this round of sweeping legs, he just kicked two enemies in the calf, kicking them to the ground. Li Dingguo turned over and stood up, grabbed the long knife in the hand of one of them, and slashed with one hand, precisely on the necks of the two. There were two bloody gashes in between.

These people were all dressed in black. They obviously didn't expect that there would be such a strong man as Li Dingguo, who could take advantage of the situation to fight back when the horse was tripped, and injured two people with his shot. Flying around, he greeted Li Dingguo.

Li Dingguo was surrounded by dozens of people. He was not afraid. He danced the knife in his hand so that the water would not splash into it. He rushed towards wherever there were crowds of people, denying these men in black even a chance to shoot with the bird system.

At the same time, Wang Huan was behind and knew something was wrong when he heard the sound of the birds, so he immediately got off his horse to avoid becoming a living target because of Gao Ju; at the same time, he ordered loudly: "Get off the horse and scatter! Assassins have birds, Spread out to defend the enemy!"

The Kuizhou soldiers immediately obeyed the order, dismounted and hid behind the horse. Sure enough, as soon as they hid, a burst of smoke rose among the haystacks on both sides of the road, and the lead hit the horse with the sound of gunshots, causing blood to flow wildly. , the horse neighed again and again.

Taking advantage of the end of the round of bird control, Liu Yun made a cry, turned over and jumped out, brandishing a long knife, and went straight to the haystack. The guards around Wang Huan left a few people to protect Wang Huan, and the rest Roaring, he followed Liu Yun, the shadows of swords and swords flashing in the moonlight.

There were shouts of killing everywhere, and the sounds of swords piercing flesh and people screaming in front of and behind him. Standing in a small circle of horses, Wang Yingxiong was so frightened that he was out of his wits, fighting with both hands, tightly holding on to Wang Huan beside him. , shouted incoherently: "Who! Who is so bold? Is there any law for the emperor to dare to assassinate the court officials?"

Wang Huan stood with his sword in hand, looking at the battle situation calmly with his eyes. He issued instructions from time to time, ordering his guards to attack in a certain direction, and ordered twenty of the thirty guards at the back to support Li Dingguo in front. The wind appears.

Over the past year or so of fighting, he has cultivated his temperament of not panicking and calmly coping with situations. At this moment, he has seen that the assassins are only a hundred or so, and they all use military standard firearms and weapons. Most likely it was Zhaoqing's local soldiers. The Kuizhou soldiers were not afraid of dealing with these people. Although the incident happened suddenly and there were some losses, but with their extraordinary individual qualities, they will definitely be able to turn the tables.

What made Wang Huan slightly regretful was that he couldn't bring the mountain-destroying crossbow and captive-killing bombs with him to the banquet tonight, otherwise, there would be no need to use the flesh and blood of the soldiers to fight these black-clothed assassins hand-to-hand.

But after just a quarter of an hour, the men in black couldn't bear it any longer. The people on both sides collapsed first. After most of them were killed, the rest shouted, turned around and ran away, while the men in black in front who were entangled with Li Dingguo and others , Seeing that the general situation is over, Li Dingguo is extremely vigorous again, bathed in blood and still killing the Quartet, he is cowardly, and he fights and retreats, and then runs away, leaving behind a lot of corpses.

The Kuizhou soldiers did not dare to chase after the unexpected. After gathering their forces, Li Dingguo and Liu Yun reported to Wang Huan that in this attack, 26 guards were killed and 40 were injured. The casualty rate actually accounted for more than half. The assassins left behind 56 corpses. After inspection, none of the corpses were marked or marked, so it was impossible to find out who made the surprise attack.

Wang Huan's eyelids twitched a few times. The number of those 26 people who died in battle made his heart tingle. These are all officer seedlings he cultivated with all his heart. How can you not regret death, how can you not regret it?
"Contain the corpses of the guards, wrap the wounded ones up, and take care of them when we go back. As for the corpses of the assassins on the ground, take ten of them as evidence." Wang Huan ordered decisively: "We're leaving now! We can't delay Otherwise, it’s hard to say what’s wrong with it.”

Li Dingguo was wearing a chain mail that was worn inside. Although blood was all over his body, it was the blood of the enemy. He suffered only some skin trauma, which was not serious. He almost fought against dozens of people by himself. After buying time, Wushuang is tough, and he is still no different from ordinary people at this moment. He and Liu Yun agreed to follow orders.

Because most of the mounts were shot to death, the remaining horses Wang Huan sent a few people to ride back to report the news first. The thousand-strong army led by Ma Wannian who came out of the barracks was completely relieved.

After entering the barracks, Li Dingguo and others went to heal their wounds, and Ma Wannian was also busy disposing of the corpses of the soldiers who died in battle.Wang Huan bowed to Wang Yingxiong absent-mindedly, and wanted to send him to rest. He wanted to go to the meeting to discuss with the generals, but Wang Yingxiong stopped him.

The old man approached Wang Huan and whispered, "My lord, what did Wang Kun say before I tell you?"

As Wang Huan walked towards his tent, he frowned and asked, "What can be the matter? The emperor's close minister, the head of internal affairs, he doesn't even know what's going on tonight, so what's the use?"

Wang Yingxiong followed behind him step by step, and said with a bitter face: "This can't be blamed on him, the old man only found out tonight, and now the court is so corrupted that even I and the others dare to move, one can imagine that the emperor is in danger."

Wang Huan smiled lightly, and said sarcastically: "This is mostly thanks to your secret memorial. What is the purpose of attracting foreign towns? Isn't it just to fight against internal troubles? Who is the internal trouble? The Li family Can father and son forgive you and me?"

He shook his head and said, "If I were to do tonight's business instead, your and my life will probably be explained here."

Wang Huan didn't want to say any more, so he stepped faster, and within a few steps he arrived at the door of the tent, and was about to lift the curtain. The guard guarding the door opened his mouth to say something, but was blocked by Wang Yingxiong who was chasing after him. .

Wang Yingxiong hurriedly said: "My lord, my lord, I was abrupt about this matter, but the emperor had intended it, and my secret performance was just to fuel the flames. If my lord doesn't believe me, the prince said that Princess Changping will be going tonight." Go to the camp and meet with the lord personally, and the lord can ask her for proof."

Wang Huan's hand opened the curtain door just in time. Hearing the sound, he couldn't help but pause. His ears listened to Wang Yingxiong's words, but his eyes fixedly looked at the candle-lit tent.

But under the lights, a girl in red and white dress with a graceful figure was facing Wang Huan, looking at the mountain-destroying crossbow hanging on the wall with relish.

The girl is slender, with long hair like a waterfall, tall and pretty, with narrow shoulders and slender waist. Just looking at her back, one can imagine that she must be a beautiful woman, but the fly in the ointment is that her left sleeve is empty. arm man.

(End of this chapter)