The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 1219 - 1197: Entering the City (Happy Birthday to "Butterfly Loves Flowers")

Chapter 1219: Chapter 1197: Entering the City (Happy Birthday to "Butterfly Loves Flowers")

Captain Song composed his emotions and then pretended to be anxious as he shouted: "Open the gate quickly, the Prince of Yizhou has urgent military intelligence!"

The soldiers guarding the gate became flustered, and looking down from above, they finally noticed that the people below were dressed in the armor of Great Jin, hesitating for a moment, "The Prince of Yizhou? What military intelligence could Yizhou possibly have?"

"I don’t know, go and inform the Colonel."

The Colonel had just squinted his eyes; ever since he returned from the governor’s residence in the late evening, he had been in a bad mood, and now being woken up, his face grew even uglier.

The soldiers were anxious, but hearing the continuously urgent knocking, they could only bow their heads and say: "Sir, a military troop has arrived outside, roughly eight or nine hundred men, claiming there is urgent military intelligence from the Prince of Yizhou and demanding us to open the gate."

The Colonel’s expression changed, and he immediately got up, "The Prince of Yizhou?"

"Yes," the young soldier asked nervously, "Should we open it or not? How can they from Yizhou have jurisdiction over us in Maozhou?"

The Colonel slapped him on the head saying: "The administrative center of Jiannan is in Yizhou, do you think Yizhou can’t manage Maozhou?"

He gritted his teeth and said: "Go open the gate!"

"But, Sir, the gates should not be opened deep at night except for urgent court military intelligence, and this is the Prince of Yizhou, not the military governor."

True, for Maozhou, a military governor had more authority than the Prince of Yizhou, Maozhou was not the fiefdom of the Prince of Yizhou, and logically, he had no jurisdiction here.

"Why so much nonsense, if I tell you to open it, just open it." While talking, the Colonel had already grabbed his armor to put on; he also had not expected the people of the Prince of Yizhou to arrive so soon, thinking it would be at least tomorrow.

Although very apprehensive, but since he was already on the boat, even if he wanted to get off now, he would only drown rather than getting ashore.

The Colonel led people to open the gate.

Captain Song, who was constantly urging, was about to give up when the gate was surprisingly opened.

It was indeed a small gate, but it was enough for horses to enter.

He paused for a moment and then glanced at his subordinate beside him.

The subordinate, quick-witted, immediately turned his horse around to find Yang Heshu.

Yang Heshu also blinked; he didn’t expect that the people on the city gate tower let them in without thorough questioning.

He looked down at the clothes on his body, waved his hand allowing the subordinate with the troops to enter first, while he dismounted and gave his horse to a soldier, blending in among the soldiers.

As the army moved forward, Captain Song then led his men into the city gate, his right hand unconsciously resting on his sword.

The Colonel stood by the small gate and frowned looking at Captain Song, somewhat suspicious, "Why are you wearing the armor of the western army?"

Captain Song recalled the earlier admonition of Yang Heshu, and without a change in expression, said: "These were the Prince’s orders; perhaps later we will need this outfit to shout open more gates."

The Colonel suddenly realized and showed understanding.

He glanced at the orderly soldiers walking in and sighed, asking, "How many people are in this group?"

Captain Song unflinchingly replied: "A thousand, is everything alright in the city?"

"Rest easy, with Governor Zhang here, there will be no chaos. When is the Prince coming?"

Captain Song replied: "The Prince is weary from the journey, letting us take the vanguard, he will only arrive tomorrow, hence we entered the city overnight."

The Colonel suddenly asked, "I haven’t met you before, what’s your surname?"

Captain Song’s brow twitched, but still maintaining his composure, replied: "My surname is Song, and I haven’t met the Colonel either; why, have you met all the colonels under the Prince’s command?"

"Not really, but why didn’t Commanding Officer Zhao who usually contacts us come?"

Captain Song swallowed hard, Lord Yang had not instructed him on how to respond to this.

He paused for a moment, and the colonel looked at him suspiciously. Captain Song knew that he had already lost the initiative, and any reply now would seem like he was guilty.

Meanwhile, just over half of the 900 people had entered, as the gate was small and only allowed three people to pass through at a time.

Just as the atmosphere was becoming tense, a person dressed in the attire of a low-ranking soldier stepped forward and whispered softly, "Replying to this lord, Commanding Officer Zhao was promoted to Major General right before we set off, and is currently serving by the Prince’s side."

Captain Song recognized the voice as Yang Heshu’s, and with a start, he immediately snapped back to his senses and frowned at him, saying: "Why the unnecessary talk?"

The low-ranking soldier immediately lowered his head and said no more.

The colonel understood then; it seemed there was a discord between Captain Song and Commanding Officer Zhao. Now that Commanding Officer Zhao had been promoted and he, instead, was dispatched on such an unpleasant task overnight, it was normal for him to be displeased. He simply smiled and remained silent.

The troops gradually entered the city, and Yang Heshu tugged at his ill-fitting low-ranking soldier’s uniform and, while the colonel was not paying attention, whispered to Captain Song: "Leave two hundred-men officers with you, and let them take you to the Governor’s mansion. Once we capture the governor’s mansion, control the city gates immediately."

Captain Song realized what was expected, and the command was his now; after all, he was much better at warfare than Yang Heshu.

He had Yang Heshu follow closely behind him; there was no choice, this person must be kept safe, otherwise, even if he captured Maozhou City, during the time of awarding honors, he would have no merits, only demerits.

The group arrived at the Governor’s mansion smoothly. With the colonel leading, they didn’t exert much effort and quickly took control of the mansion.

Yang Heshu did not enter, but stood under the protection of a group of soldiers at the entrance of the Governor’s mansion, listening to the cry of killing inside, while those escaping from the mansion were either shot dead by the chaotic arrows from the soldiers outside or hacked to death by swords.

Yang Heshu felt uncomfortable and frowned slightly at the sight of the bloody mess, feeling a bit nauseous; he knew his old issue had resurfaced.

No matter how many people were inside, there couldn’t be hundreds. Thus, Captain Song quickly quelled the chaos with overwhelming force, soon had the battleground cleaned up, and then invited Yang Heshu inside.

The Governor of Maozhou, surnamed Zhang, was not dead, but he looked haggard, wearing only his undergarments. His expression somewhat dazed, he stared as Captain Song escorted a low-ranking soldier inside.

Then he cracked a miserable smile, "Yang Heshu?"

Yang Heshu stood in front of him, nodded, and looked at him somberly, "Lord Zhang."

Laughing out loud, tears rolled as Governor Zhang coughed, "Lord Zhang? I recall in the earlier years in the capital city, you used to call me Uncle."

Adapting easily, Yang Heshu replied, "Uncle Zhang."

Governor Zhang looked intently at Yang Heshu.

Yang Heshu did not avoid his gaze, saying, "Uncle, how did you end up like this?"

But Governor Zhang said, "This matter has nothing to do with my family; they know nothing. Please let them go."

He continued, "You and my son were classmates."

Yang Heshu then sighed, "Uncle Zhang, this is not something I can decide. Moreover, knowing this, why did you engage in such matters?"

Governor Zhang, turning pale, remained silent.

Yang Heshu no longer engaged in reminiscing and turned to Captain Song, saying: "Dispatch soldiers to take control of the other three gates."

Unable to restrain himself, Governor Zhang began to laugh loudly, "How many troops have you brought that you can guard all four gates at once?"

Yang Heshu calmly replied, "Your garrison troops are outside the city. As long as we control the gates, they cannot break through."

"But the Prince of Yizhou’s army will soon come to support."

"They won’t," Yang Heshu, looking down at him, said, "They probably can’t even get out of the mountain pass."

Upon hearing this, Governor Zhang’s face drastically changed, feeling a bone-chilling cold as he realized that they had already discovered the location where troops were stationed.