Chapter 428: The Dagger Revealed
Chapter 428: The Dagger Revealed (5k)
The bright winter sun seemed to have become dim at this moment.
Behind the execution platform, Zhao Duan squinted his eyes and clearly saw figures suddenly standing on top of the buildings in the distance.
Bow and arrow.
With the sound of "swoosh, swoosh" of arrows breaking through the air, a rain of arrows shot towards the chests of the executioners standing in a row on the execution ground.
"Om-"
The arrow in mid-air suddenly hit an invisible "air wall" outside the execution ground, causing ripples in the space like water.
One by one, the arrows lost their kinetic energy and fell softly to the ground.
Gongshu Tianyuan, who was sitting behind Zhao Duan and dozing with his eyes closed, had a talisman slowly burning out at his fingertips, turning into ashes in the blink of an eye.
There's a gleam of light in the little eyes!
"Traitors! Kill the traitors!" Luan Cheng came to his senses at this time, stood up suddenly, his crimson official robe shaking, and he shouted loudly.
His pupils dilated as he clearly saw that after the first round of arrow rain fell, groups of martial artists flew down from the roofs of the buildings.
Each of them wore a bamboo hat and held a sword. They swooped down like hawks and headed straight for Lu Zhengchun and the others.
"bass!!!"
The large group of government troops responsible for enforcing martial law in the surrounding areas had not yet taken any action when the sound of swords being unsheathed resounded throughout the surroundings.
Zhang Han, the chief of the Peony Hall, knelt and jumped up, the seven-foot sword in his hand gleaming, and he shouted:
"Block the scaffold!"
The man has already gone towards those gangsters.
Deputy General Yuan Ji and several strong men under his command also attacked at the same time, killing several rebels in the air.
Hou Renmeng and a large group of Jinyi reacted quickly, pounced on the ring like wolves, and surrounded Lu Zhengchun and other prisoners.
——Although he was going to be killed, beheading according to the law was one thing, and stabbing him in the back while the chaos was another.
"Wu Ling, do it!"
At the same time, among the crowd of onlookers who were thrown into chaos by the sudden battle, a bearded leader looked at Wu Ling beside him and whispered:
"The attention of the court's lackeys has been drawn away. Go and kidnap Alliance Leader Lu. I will cover for you!"
Wu Ling looked at Zhao Duan who was sitting on the podium with a little hesitation, feeling anxious.
He received the task of robbing the execution ground at short notice, so he had no time to react. He wanted to inform Zhao Duan, but was stared at closely by several other masters of the rebel party beside him.
I don't know what to do at all.
"Wu Ling? What are you hesitating about?" The bearded leader held the dagger in his sleeve and suddenly stared at him with his eyes flashing with brilliance.
Wu Ling gritted his teeth and said, "Okay!"
He clasped his hands together and a shadow of a drama god suddenly appeared in his pupils. His clothes quickly changed into colorful ancient costumes, with a row of flags inserted behind his neck and two long feathers extending from his head and hanging down backwards.
He reached behind him with his right hand and a spear with a red tassel appeared.
"Rescue Alliance Leader Lu!"
"Kill the dog officer!"
"People from harm!"
at the same time.
At the same time, members of the Kuangfu Society who were hiding in ambush in all directions of the crowd of onlookers shouted slogans, pulled out weapons hidden in carrying poles, vegetable baskets, and cotton-padded clothes, and attacked the nearest government troops.
This premeditated raid immediately frightened the people even more. They shouted in fear and became a chaotic mess.
The large number of officers and soldiers around were unable to organize effective actions for a while in the face of the frantic and chaotic population. They could only draw their swords, shout loudly, ordering the people to stay where they were, and block everyone's escape route.
Haitang's beautiful eyes flickered, she stepped out with her long legs, and she touched her waist with her jade hand. In an instant, silver flying knives whizzed out.
"puff!"
"puff!"
"puff!"
The necks of three rebel members in the crowd were instantly cut off by flying knives. They opened their eyes wide, covered their necks, and staggered to the ground.
"Quit the riot!" Haitang shouted, flying knives flew around her as she charged towards the crowd.
At the same time, a group of Jinyi followed her and left the ring to control those people in the martial arts world.
The defense of the execution ground was suddenly empty. A gust of cold wind blew by, and three figures suddenly and obscurely jumped out from the crowd under the cover of the chaos created by the crowd, and rushed towards the execution platform like the shadow of a poisonous snake.
The bearded man and another middle-aged woman stood on the left and right, seemingly protecting Wu Ling and attracting the attention of the remaining Jinyi men, but in fact they also sandwiched Wu Ling in the middle to be alert to his unusual movements.
Wu Ling had not received any orders from Zhao Duan for a long time, so he could only grit his teeth and shake his spear. Suddenly, the sound of gongs and drums rang out in the air.
A number of command flags flew out from behind his neck, transforming into clones that protected his real body, tearing through the defense of the men in brocade clothes, and successfully advancing to the front of Lu Zhengchun.
"Hurry! Hurry!" Lu Zhengchun shouted anxiously with hope in his eyes.
Wow…
A stream of water suddenly appeared in front of him, forcibly blocking Wu Ling. The water flow was suspended in the air, like a river cut off in mid-air.
In the river, Ji Yue, in red clothes and white eyes, was like a swimming fish, slowly standing in front of Wu Ling.
She raised a white finger and poked it gently.
"boom!"
The flower spear that Wu Ling handed over was instantly covered with water vapor, condensed into frost, and then "crackled", shattered into pieces.
A fancy spear was frozen into pieces.
Those clones were also frozen and shattered one by one, falling to the ground and returning to the shape of command flags.
Wu Ling's pupils narrowed, and his body was wrapped by a stream of water. The water condensed into a "cage" and imprisoned him inside.
"what!"
At the same time, a scimitar came out from the side and pierced the middle-aged woman's heart. Lang Shiba turned his wrist expressionlessly.
The powerful energy destroyed the woman's vitality like a rotten wood.
He drew out his bloody scimitar, dropped a corpse, and caught a glimpse of the other bearded man's eyes flashing with a murderous look of certain death. He frowned slightly and his figure flashed.
The scimitar swept past.
"puff!"
"puff!"
With two cuts, the bearded captain's arms were cut off and fell to the ground. The dagger spun with a clang and rolled to the bottom of the execution platform.
Prefect Luan was so shocked that his expression changed drastically and he almost vomited.
Crush!
Wu Ling and his two companions were considered masters in the martial arts world, but faced with the stranglehold of two people in the secular realm, they had no power to resist at all.
The smile on Lu Zhengchun's face froze, he looked at the scene blankly, and suddenly shouted:
"Where are they? Where is Qi Yuchun? Where is Ren Kun? Why are there only a bunch of you useless people?"
Zhao Duan sat steadily on the high platform, frowning slightly, as he saw that the riots around him were being quickly brought under control.
Faced with the well-prepared imperial troops, the rebel group that rescued the execution ground was defeated extremely quickly.
"That's it? That's it?" Magistrate Luan finished retching, his face pale and his expression blank:
"Zhuang Xiaocheng sent people to rob the execution ground, but why did he only send a few people? Doesn't he know that it would be impossible to accomplish anything with just these people?"
At this time, Haitang and Zhang Han also returned and both realized that something was wrong.
Zhang Han suddenly took a few steps to Wu Ling who was trapped in the water cage, and the bearded man whose arms were cut off and whose body was stained with blood as he was stepped on by Lang Shiba.
He glanced at the two of them, put his seven-foot sword against the bearded man's neck, and said coldly:
"Tell me, where are the others? Don't tell me Zhuang Xiaocheng only sent you guys here."
The bearded man knew that he would die soon, but he laughed wildly:
“Hahahaha…you, ahem, you thought…the Grand Tutor would be fooled…do you? No…you’ve been tricked…your men are all here, Fengcheng is empty…hahaha…”
He laughed and coughed up blood, then suddenly his eyes widened and he stared at Zhao Duan on the stage:
"Fake emperor's lackey! Grandpa is leaving first! I'll be waiting for you on the road to the underworld!"
After saying that, he suddenly sat up, and took the initiative to wipe his neck on the seven-foot sword, actually committing suicide!
In the water cage, Wu Ling was stunned and had no idea what was going on. Only then did he realize that the action plan he knew was completely fake.
"Master Zhao, this..." Prefect Luan was shocked and subconsciously looked at Zhao Duan.
Zhao Duan sat calmly in the chair from beginning to end. Even at this moment, he just frowned slightly, as if he was thinking.
"I understand!"
Suddenly, Haitang, the expert in solving cases, exclaimed. Seeing that everyone's attention was drawn to her, she looked solemn and said quickly:
"This is a feint! Zhuang Xiaocheng had no intention of rescuing Lu Zhengchun. We gathered our troops here and set a trap. He knew it was difficult to attack by force, so he simply gave up and sent more troops to other places...
That's right! Taking advantage of the fact that other places in Fengcheng are now empty, they can attack government offices, even granaries, document warehouses, arsenals and other important places..."
Governor Luan's mind buzzed for a moment, but he shook his head and said:
"No way, if Zhuang Xiaocheng intended to do this, why did he send these people here to die? Isn't it meaningless? Is it a waste of the lives of the masters in the society?"
Haitang shook her head, looking bitter:
"No, it's not meaningless! He had to send people to rescue in order to rally the members' hearts and minds. So, he sent these people here with the purpose of sending them to die. In this way, as a leader, he would only fail in the rescue and would not lose the hearts of the people!
Moreover, he also needs these people to distract our attention. From the beginning, these people were abandoned by him. "
"Impossible! Impossible!" Hearing this, Lu Zhengchun, who was kneeling on the execution ground, retorted loudly. There was shock in his eyes. He couldn't believe that this speculation was abandoned.
However, no one paid any attention to him at this moment.
As if to confirm the speculation, suddenly, special "flares" were raised one after another in different directions around Fengcheng.
Let out a sharp whistle.
At first there was only one signal, which seemed to be a clarion call for simultaneous action, and then one signal after another rose up in response.
"Oops!"
Luan Cheng was shocked: "Those places are important government offices in the city, and we cannot afford to lose them! If they are destroyed by the rebels, they may even kill people..."
"Split the troops."
Suddenly, Zhao Duan, who had been silent all this time, raised his head, glanced at everyone with an unusually calm look, and said:
"We cannot allow the rebels to cause chaos in the city, otherwise how will the imperial court maintain its dignity? Yuanji, Zhang Han, Haitang, Zhang Jian... each of you will lead a team of soldiers to go to the granary, silver vault, prison and other important places. You may not be able to rescue them in time, but you must minimize the losses and capture and kill the rebels!"
After a pause, he thought about it and added:
"Among the rebels, there are two masters, Qi Yuchun and Ren Kun. Since they are not here, I am afraid they have fled to the government offices... Lang Shiba, Ji Yue, the two of you should follow them to prevent them from surrounding the enemy and attacking the reinforcements, and using their strong men to ambush our people."
"This..." Haitang was quick to sense something was wrong:
"We are all gone, so you..."
Zhao Duan said calmly:
"Today's beheading will take place. Governor Luan and I need to be in charge of the execution. We will use this place as the center to gather intelligence and issue orders to all parties. This is the location of the central military camp. As for our safety, don't worry. We have Brother Gongshu here. Even if we encounter danger, we can always escape."
"But..." Haitang still felt something was wrong, but the situation was urgent and she could only choose to believe him.
Immediately, all officers and soldiers were divided into teams and rushed to the important areas in the city to provide support.
In the blink of an eye, the scene became much emptier, with only a group of county officials left standing around. The common people did not dare to leave and trembled in place.
Zhao Duan first asked Gongshu Tianyuan to seal the captured Wu Ling's cultivation with a soul-suppressing talisman and then tie him up.
Then he smiled and said to the anxious Governor Luan:
"Please sit still, sir."
Then he turned to the executioners and said:
"The execution continues."
Luan Cheng was stunned, surprised that Zhao Shaobao could face such a difficult situation with such calmness and composure, and his demeanor was impressive.
He suddenly felt ashamed: "Luan is many years older than the Young Guardian, but now facing a major event, I am far less able to stand firm than the Young Guardian. I am ashamed. I really don't know how the Young Guardian can have such a state of mind."
Zhao Duan said "Oh" and said as a matter of course:
"Fengcheng is the prefect's territory. Even if there is trouble, it is the prefect who will take the blame. It has nothing to do with me. Naturally, I am calm."
? ?
Luan Cheng stared blankly at the young man beside him with a dull expression, almost unable to believe what he heard.
……
……
Forbidden City Villa.
In the highest pavilion on the cliff.
Zhuang Xiaocheng loosened his clothes and changed into his favorite scholar's robe when he was the Taifu. He sat in the pavilion and played chess alone.
Suddenly, the core member of the Kuangfu Society, called Uncle Wu, came over from a distance and stood with his head bowed respectfully:
"Master, according to your instructions, the captives in the grape manor have been dispersed and mixed into various teams to attack important places in Fengcheng. The few people you named on the list to stay behind have also been brought here."
Zhuang Xiaocheng said "yes" without even looking up, "bring them here."
"Yes."
Uncle Wu walked away, and soon came back with four or five people, and Yunxi was among them.
Everyone bowed and said, "Greetings, Master."
Zhuang Xiaocheng smiled and kindly asked them to sit down around the pavilion, and called Yunxi to his side:
"Yunxi, come and help the teacher make the move."
Whenever Taifu encountered important events and needed to think, he had the habit of playing chess with himself.
As a disciple, Yunxi was very familiar with this. She immediately walked over meekly and knelt down opposite the chessboard.
No matter what position Zhuang Xiaocheng said, she would help pick up the chess pieces from the chess box and put them in the corresponding position.
"Do you know why I called you here?" Zhuang Xiaocheng asked with a smile, looking around at the young faces.
Everyone was at a loss.
A young boy said excitedly:
"Uncle Wu said that today our company has to deal with the lackeys of the imperial court, and he has assigned us all tasks. We are all waiting, but we didn't expect that you wanted to see us. Could it be that you want to give us orders in person?
"Teacher, you can say that we have an irreconcilable feud with the court's lackeys. We would rather die than give up two ounces of Zhao Duan's flesh!"
"Me too!"
"We are all!"
"Master, just tell us what you want us to do!"
Several people seconded the motion.
Zhuang Xiaocheng smiled like a spring breeze and looked at these young and innocent faces with emotion.
These people were carefully selected by him. They not only have sufficient potential and talent, but also have firm beliefs, are reliable enough, and have personally suffered punishment and torture from the court and have deep hatred in their hearts.
"Very good, but I have no orders for you today. Instead, I want you to come with me and witness the death of the thief Zhao."
Zhuang Xiaocheng spoke calmly, and then explained his arrangements for the day to the surprised eyes of the boys and girls.
Yunxi couldn't hide her surprise:
"Teacher, so the people you sent to rescue Alliance Leader Lu today were just a feint? The real purpose is to let other brothers and sisters attack the important places of the imperial court?"
Zhuang Xiaocheng shook his head and said:
"No. The execution ground is the main attack, and the attacks on various places in Fengcheng are feints."
Yunxi was stunned, her pretty and thin face was full of confusion:
"Disciple...I don't understand."
Zhuang Xiaocheng greeted the clear eyes and said with a smile:
"Zhao Duan used Lu Zhengchun to force us to rescue him, but if we attacked the execution ground, not only would we fail to rescue him, but we would also lose the lives of many patriots. So, I deliberately staged a scene to make them think that the execution ground was a feint...
In this case, in order to preserve the important areas in the city, Zhao Duan would have to hastily divide his troops and rush to provide assistance.
No matter how he divides his troops, as long as he divides them, it will inevitably mean that the number of strong men around him will decrease, which will give us Commander Qi and Ren Kun the opportunity to take action."
"Ah," Yun Xi's eyes lit up and she said excitedly:
"So, teacher, your ultimate goal today is to assassinate that lackey!?"
After saying that, she frowned again:
"But if that's the case, wouldn't the brothers and sisters who are responsible for the feint attack in various places in the city be in danger? Will they have to face the encirclement and suppression of the imperial army? And those patriots who went to the execution ground to feint attack before..."
Zhuang Xiaocheng's eyes revealed sorrow and sadness:
"They know that this journey is dangerous, but in order to support the country and eliminate the treacherous... You must remember that in this world, there is no victory that can be achieved without bloodshed.
The false emperor is powerful, and the Zhao thief is vicious. If we want to eradicate this thief, let alone Wu Ling, Yue Bai and others, even I, how can I spare my life? "
But the truth is:
From the very beginning, Zhuang Xiaocheng was prepared to abandon all the members of the Kuangfu Society in the city as "abandoned children".
How cunning is Zhao Duan?
How could they be easily deceived? Only by throwing out huge sums of money and putting so many members on the chessboard can Zhao Duan's vigilance be dispelled and he can be made to believe that this play is real, and then he will adopt the strategy of dividing the troops.
After he finished speaking, the boys and girls around him were moved to tears. Yunxi's eyes were red and she looked sad, but her heart was calm and she even wanted to laugh.
And a little sad.
Once upon a time, she was deceived by the old dog in front of her. Now, she has awakened, but there are still so many brothers and sisters in the society who have been deceived.
Yunxi resisted the urge to kill the old dog, sniffled and said fiercely:
"I just want to cut that thief Zhao into pieces, to relieve the hatred in my heart!"
Zhuang Xiaocheng looked at the girl's eyes with satisfaction, with undisguised hatred that pierced her heart, and raised the corners of his mouth slightly:
"Three or five."
Yunxi picked up a chess piece and placed it on the corresponding position on the chessboard.
The fall of this chess piece means that all the chess pieces belonging to Zhuang Xiaocheng on the entire chessboard are "dead".
It can be said that this is a "suicidal" move.
But what does it matter if there are too many sacrifices? As long as there is a chance to kill with one strike, and block all the "Qi" of the chess piece "Zhao Duan".
It's all worth it.
……
……
Autumn execution ground.
The execution continued, and with a command, the executioner brought down his machete.
"Puff puff……"
More than thirty Taoists, heads rolling down one after another.
Lu Zhengchun was the last one in line. When he saw the shadow of the machete reflected on the ground, the last string in his heart finally broke, and he shouted loudly:
"I know where Zhuang Xiaocheng's lair is! Don't kill him..."
Before he finished speaking, the ground suddenly rose up in the crowd.
In the khaki glow.
Two figures emerged from the ground:
"Zhao thief, give me your life!"
The real assassination happened.
(End of this chapter)