Green Mountain
Chapter 299 - 239, Kill to silence

Chapter 299: 239, Kill to silence

Chen Ji commanded the Yulin Army to follow, while he himself urged Zaozao, breaking into the night like an arrow released from its bow.

However, the Yulin Army did not move.

Under the night sky on Kule Street, the torches in the hands of the Yulin Army flickered uncertainly in the cold wind as they looked towards Li Xuan and the Crown Prince, waiting for orders.

Qi Zhenzhuo, holding the reins, stood still and spoke irritably, "This kid has no titles or official position, what right does he have to command the Yulin Army? In this freezing weather, what if it’s another wasted effort?"

Li Xuan glared at him, "If you’re brainless, talk less; before coming to Guyuan, did you forget how your sister instructed you?"

Qi Zhenzhuo lamented, "Brother-in-law..."

Li Xuan furiously shouted, "Shut up!"

He looked up at the Crown Prince on horseback and bowed, "Your Highness, the border army just deliberately led us astray, which proves Chen Ji is right. The urgent task is to find the Jing Dynasty traitors; we can’t delay further... Your Highness?"

Before Li Xuan finished speaking, the Crown Prince had already spurred his horse to chase after Chen Ji, "Yulin Army, follow me to slay the Jing Dynasty spy."

"Yes!" The Yulin Army mounted their horses with torches, their heavy hooves thundering towards Shache Street like a flowing river of fire.

At this moment, Chen Ji, holding a young man he had captured, shouted loudly, "Which way is the next intersection?"

The young man, nearly unable to open his eyes from the wind, managed to recognize the direction and yelled, "General, to the North!"

Chen Ji’s expression grew solemn; he had suspected Old Wu was a Jing Dynasty spy, and now the suspicions involing the border soldiers solidified further.

He couldn’t help but ponder: How many spies are infiltrated in the border army? Besides poisoning the wells, what other plans do these spies have?

The most critical question was, has Vice General Zhou been subverted by the Jing Dynasty? Could this be the confidence why Jing Dynasty Heavenly Strategy Army launched a surprise attack on Guyuan?

For a moment, he felt Guyuan City enveloped in layers of mist, him having only glimpsed a tiny fraction of the truth.

Just then, Chen Ji saw a familiar figure ahead, it was the border soldier who had led the way!

The soldier had somehow obtained a horse and was charging ahead with his head down. Chen Ji immediately threw the young man on the roadside haystack and sped up to chase the border soldier.

Hearing the hooves behind, the border soldier looked back, and when he saw the approaching Zaozao and Chen Ji, his heart sank.

He pulled out a broadsword from his waist, and as his horse passed a tavern, he chopped at the wooden flagpole of the tavern’s flag.

Amidst flying wood chips, the flag tilted down behind the border soldier, blocking Chen Ji’s path.

Seeing this, the Crown Prince shouted a warning from behind Chen Ji, "Be careful!"

In that instant, Zaozao made a mighty leap, carrying Chen Ji flying over the falling flag!

With a crash, the flag fell heavily behind Chen Ji, stirring up dust on the dirt road.

The Crown Prince’s eyes sparkled as he rode through the dust, seeing Chen Ji close to the border soldier on Zaozao’s back.

Gradually, Chen Ji was just a stride away from the border soldier, but instead of trying to shake off Chen Ji, the soldier raised his broadsword towards his neck, intending to kill himself!

Chen Ji was shocked: Death Soldier!

Without a moment to think, Chen Ji leaped lightly off the stirrups, crouched on the saddle, and then launched himself towards the border soldier.

Midair, he grabbed the wrist of the border soldier’s sword hand, twisting together as they crashed and rolled on the ground several times, smearing their faces, hair, and clothes with mottled yellow earth.

As the border soldier tried to retrieve his dropped broadsword, Chen Ji was quicker, twisting the soldier’s arm and pinning him firmly on the ground.

Chen Ji asked sternly, "How many spies does the Jing Dynasty have in the border army?"

The border soldier, half his face pressed to the ground, sneered, "You’re the damned Jing Dynasty spy!"

Chen Ji suddenly became suspicious, "Then why would you help a Jing Dynasty spy escape? Why collude with the Jing Dynasty to poison Guyuan City’s wells?"

The border soldier sealed his lips and said no more.

Chen Ji fell silent for a moment and began searching the man’s clothes for any hidden weapons.

But as he removed the man’s worn bamboo armor, a pair of gray cotton gloves fell from inside.

Picking up the gloves from the ground, Chen Ji could still feel their warmth. The gloves were brand new, seemingly never worn before.

Seeing Chen Ji take the gloves, the border soldier struggled desperately, "Give me back my handcuffs!"

Chen Ji was slightly startled, then realized, ’handcuffs’ was the term for gloves in the North of the Ning Dynasty.

He hadn’t anticipated that merely taking the man’s gloves would cause such an intense struggle.

"Do you hide something inside? Information meant to be passed to Jing Dynasty spies?" Chen Ji inspected the gloves. While pressing the man down with his knee, he searched inside the gloves, finding nothing.

He picked up the broadsword from the ground, cut open the gloves, but found only white, fresh cotton stuffing—no "information."

As he saw his gloves being sliced open, the border soldier burst into a rage, yelling curses, "Dogs of the court, persecuting the loyal and good! One day soon, I will drown you all in a great flood, wiping out all your treacherous kind!"

Chen Ji was thrown into contemplation... Persecuting the loyal and good? Was it about General Wen Tao, who had been persecuted by the Eunuch Party over a decade ago? Why was the border soldier bringing up old matters?

Wait!

He suddenly looked down at the cut gloves in his hand, recalling the bargain made between Prince Jing and Chen Liqin: as long as Prince Jing could persuade Chen Ji to study Confucian texts with Wang Daosheng, the Ministry of Revenue would provide new cotton gloves to the border army.

Back then, Prince Jing used this as moral leverage to force Chen Ji to attend Zhi Xing Academy.

Chen Ji was stunned; could these gloves be the recent batch allocated to the border army by the Ministry of Revenue? And the ’loyal and good’ mentioned by the border soldier, was it actually referring to Prince Jing?!

He lowered his body and asked in a deep voice, "Are you avenging Prince Jing?"

The border soldiers suddenly widened their eyes, then buried their heads in the yellow earth, refusing to say another word.

When Chen Ji was about to inquire further, the Yulin Army had already arrived. Li Xuan signaled the Yulin Army to lift the border soldiers up from the left and right.

One of the Yulin Army swung his fist, hitting the border soldier hard in the abdomen: "Running? Still want to run?"

The border soldier raised his head, spat on the Yulin soldier’s face, and sneered, "Your punches lack strength, dog thief! If you have the guts, kill me now! If you don’t kill me, then take my surname!"

The Yulin soldier, furiously, resorted to fists and kicks.

Chen Ji turned his head away and did not look further, remounting his horse.

The Crown Prince rode up beside him, praising, "Just now, I saw Brother Chen Ji’s actions were clean and decisive, indeed a valiant general."

Chen Ji bowed in salute: "Your Highness flatters me, I am merely doing what needs to be done. This man is tough, and it’s hard to extract anything from him quickly. The priority now is to catch the criminals on Shache Street to prevent them from harming the people of Guyuan."

The Crown Prince nodded: "Let’s go!"

In an instant, they reached the mouth of Shache Street, and Chen Ji stopped his horse.

He looked at the only elm tree on Shache Street, even from more than ten yards away he could still smell a faint foul odor – this was the place!

Li Xuan instructed those around, "Extinguish the torches to prevent igniting the methane."

Chen Ji calmly said, "No need, methane gas needs at least a month to ferment in winter, and they just collected this golden juice today, so there will be no gas."

The Yulin soldiers glanced at him, but still obeyed Li Xuan’s order, extinguishing their torches and proceeding in the moonlight.

Chen Ji did not dismount and stayed by the Crown Prince’s side with Li Xuan and Chen Liqin.

The Crown Prince looked at Chen Ji, "Brother Chen Ji doesn’t plan to take action?"

Chen Ji bowed, "Regarding fighting skills, of course, the Yulin Army’s formation is much more formidable, it’s better not to embarrass myself. Besides, Your Highness has been fearless from the start, like a seasoned young general."

The Crown Prince turned to Chen Liqin and said, "Brother Chen Ji indeed speaks much more pleasantly than Brother Wenzong!"

Chen Liqin quickly responded humbly, "What my son said is also true, your body is precious, yet you are willing to make efforts for the people of Guyuan. When I return to the capital, I will make sure the world knows they have a Crown Prince who cares deeply for all under heaven."

The Crown Prince laughed loudly, "You two really boast about me to the skies, Mr. Chen, previously Brother Chen Ji mentioned he had no interest in the imperial exams, how about letting him serve in my Zhongcui Palace? If you agree, I will submit a memorial to the Emperor and request an official position as Right Guard for him upon my return."

Chen Liqin was startled, currently, Li Xuan held the position of Left Guard, and the Right Guard position was still vacant. This was a sixth-rank official position, and the Crown Prince wanted to grant it to Chen Ji? Even after Chen Wenzong and Chen Wenxiao passed the imperial examination they started from the seventh rank at most.

However, he quickly waved his hands, "Absolutely not, Your Highness, absolutely not."

The Crown Prince looked puzzled, "Mr. Chen disagrees?"

Chen Liqin hesitated a moment, then cautiously explained, "My son is mischievous by nature and undeserving of such重 responsibility. Also, I hope he can pursue the imperial examination route..."

The Crown Prince smiled, "Then we’ll discuss it more after returning to the capital."

Chen Ji glanced discreetly at Chen Liqin without saying a word.

At this moment, the Yulin Army had surrounded the area from all three routes: front street, rear alley, and rooftops. Qi Zhenzhuo kicked open the main door, and the Yulin Army swarmed inside.

The next moment, a warning was shouted loudly, "Be careful, Executive Officer!"

The wall of the earthen courtyard collapsed thunderously, a Yulin soldier being thrown out from inside and buried under the rubble.

Six cloaked figures came rushing out from the courtyard, forcing the Yulin Army to retreat continuously.

Li Xuan shouted loudly, "Form up!"

In a flash, the Yulin Army quickly formed a formation, encircling the six cloaked figures. Clanging sounds of weapons clashing filled Shache Street, the battle was extremely fierce.

Before the military formation, even the Executive Officer found it challenging to cope.

Suddenly, seeing that their plan was futile, the cloaked figures paired up and threw their companions several meters away, abruptly breaking away from the Yulin Army’s formation.

These two figures did not intend to escape; upon landing, they charged towards the Crown Prince like cheetahs, wielding knives aggressively from about twenty yards away.

Chen Liqin, in panic, tugged at the reins, trying to turn the horse around to flee: "Your Highness, hurry!"

At the crucial moment, with a clanging sound, Chen Ji did not attend to Chen Liqin, but reached out to draw the long sword from the Crown Prince’s waist, rushing forward to guard in front of the Crown Prince.

Just then, the sound of breaking tiles came from both sides of Shache Street.

Chen Ji looked around and saw a row of border army archers appearing on the rooftop to his left, arrows nocked and drawn. He looked to the right and saw another row.

It was unclear when these archers had arrived, but they shot arrows like rain, trapping the two cloaked figures completely, turning them into hedgehogs.

The archers drew another arrow from their quivers and shot at the remaining four cloaked figures.

As the Iron Arrows flew, the bowstrings vibrated in the air with a buzzing sound, and Li Xuan roared, "Yulin Army, scatter!"

The Yulin soldiers hastily dodged, watching the cloaked figures being pinned down by a hail of arrows, leaving none alive.

Chen Ji, bewildered, looked towards the rooftops, he pulled the reins of the Crown Prince’s white horse, guarding and slowly retreating, fearing the border army archers might nock their arrows again.

These archers appeared too suddenly, as if they had been waiting there all along. Moreover, their killing was too decisive, just like silencing someone by killing.

Could it be that the border army is rebelling?!

At this moment, Shache Street suddenly became silent, and only then did Chen Ji hear the slowly approaching hoofbeats coming closer and closer from behind. Turning around, he saw Hu Junxian and Zhou You approaching slowly.

With his tall and burly figure, when Hu Junxian approached, it felt like a mountain looming over, suffocatingly oppressive.