Chapter Thirty-One: Hooked

  A thousand horses galloped by, stirring up sand and dust, just like a long dragon, winding its way forward on the ground.

  At the forefront of the troops, on a white horse sat a middle-aged general in his thirties, refined and elegant, seemingly like a scholar, who was none other than the renowned Li Yan.

  It's been two days since Li Yan was chased out of the capital, and the scene of the bloody battle at the city gate still kept flashing in his mind. Although this battle was not worth mentioning in scale, it was the most tragic battle that Dashun Army had encountered after the Battle of Ningwu Pass, and also the most disproportionate fight.

  Gu Zhenhua and his men suffered less than a hundred casualties, while the Dashun Army had three high-ranking generals injured and over three hundred soldiers killed in battle! This small but elite force left a deep impression on Li Yan. With their advanced tactics, brave and loyal officers, they also took away a large quantity of weapons and gold and silver. The conditions were much better than when Li Zicheng was left with only eighteen riders.

  Li Yan had a premonition that these people were like a full grain of seed, and as long as they had a piece of fertile soil, they would quickly grow into a powerful force strong enough to threaten the Great Shun Army. The threat must be eliminated in its infancy! Li Yan warned himself secretly.

  Just as they were rushing along, the scout ran over and bowed to Li Yan, saying: "General Quan, we found the trail of the horse carriage, and asked the surrounding villagers, they said that on the 19th day at dawn, there was indeed a large team of carriages passing by."

  "Have they figured out their direction yet?"

  "It should be on the Shunyi side."

  "What is 'should', give me an accurate one, dare to be ambiguous again, and I'll cut off your head!"

  "Yes, I'll go right away." The groom hastily replied and quickly spurred his horse to leave.

  Li Yan's mind was also constantly calculating, he originally estimated that he would run to Tongzhou or go directly to Tianjin, which is the closest road to the south.

  But after chasing to Tongzhou, indeed found a number of fugitive nobles, but did not find his target. Li Yan felt something was wrong, hastily changed direction, expanded the search range, and finally found Gu Zhenhua and others.

  Li Yan waved his hand and stopped the troops. He jumped off his war horse, spread out a map under a big tree, and examined it carefully.

  "Good, indeed it is cunning!" Li Yan took a look at Shunyi's position and then looked at Shanhaiguan. Suddenly his eyes lit up and he muttered to himself: "It turns out that you're not thinking of going to Jiangnan, but rather planning to surrender to Wu Sangui in Shanhaiguan!"

  Li Yan suddenly stood up and said to all the soldiers: "Everyone, put in more effort, follow me to pursue them, we absolutely cannot let this group of people get away!"

  The soldiers of the Dashun Army, ignoring their fatigue, followed Li Yan and continued to rush forward. After running for more than ten miles, the wheel tracks on the ground became increasingly clear. Gu Zhenhua's carriage was loaded with firelocks and gold and silver treasures, so the traces left behind were also very obvious, although it had been over a day, they could still be vaguely seen.

  Along the ruts, Li Yan led his men and horses, running for half a day, finally arriving at Xiao Wang Zhuang. From a distance, he saw black smoke, and Li Yan hastily reined in his warhorse.

  "What's going on up ahead?"

  "Reporting back to General, someone set fire and burned down the whole village."

  Li Yan furrowed his brow, and under the accompaniment of his subordinates, arrived in front of the Zhuangzi. Only to see inside flames soaring, black smoke rolling, obviously the arson didn't happen long ago.

  "Go and find someone who's still alive to ask."

  The soldiers acted hastily, and two of them happened to arrive in front of a dilapidated house at the entrance of the village.

  "Brother, what is that?"

  A tall soldier looked to the side with his finger, and saw a huge water vat. Originally it was nothing special, but the lid of the vat couldn't stay still, shaking back and forth and making a "bang bang" sound.

  The two soldiers exchanged a smile and walked up to the water vat with their knives at the ready, one of them suddenly reaching out and flipping open the lid.

  "Who's there? Get out here!"

  A loud shout, two heads, one old and one young, cautiously emerged from the water tank, wearing tattered clothes. As soon as they saw the soldier's shiny steel knife, they burst into tears.

  "General, please don't kill the little old man, we beg of you!"

  The two soldiers smiled slightly: "It's no use talking to us, go see our commander-in-chief."

  Li Yan's face fell as soon as he saw the soldiers dragging over two people. He scolded, "Our Dashun Army only kills corrupt officials and evil tyrants, when have we ever bullied ordinary people? Let them go!"

  After finishing speaking, he said with a smile: "Old man, how did the good village get burned? Can you tell me?"

  "Ah, the soldiers are fierce, there are several hundred of them, all riding in cars and on horseback. They occupied our village yesterday afternoon, and it was they who set the fire."

  Li Yan nodded slightly and looked at the half-grown child again, smiling and asking: "Little brother, is Grandpa right? Have you seen those people?"

  "They looted our home's old hen and food, they even beat up my grandfather. My grandfather took me to hide in a water vat, I didn't know what was happening."

  Li Yan asked a few more questions, and seeing that the old man and young boy were telling the truth, he smiled and took out a ten-tael silver ingot from his bosom, saying with a smile: "Old fellow, let's go and capture those thieves and avenge you!"

  The old man took one look at the silver and his eyes lit up, his hands trembling as he took it over, rubbing it against his clothes a few times before wanting to take a bite with his teeth. But when he saw Li Yan staring intently at him, the old man let out a dry laugh and stuffed the silver into his bosom.

  Li Yan didn't notice anything unusual and immediately followed the wheel tracks heading east. As they walked further away, an old man and a young boy looked at each other and couldn't help but burst out laughing.

  "Sixth Grandfather, this bandit leader is really foolish. Can he buy us off with just ten taels of silver?"

  "He's no fool, giving us silver is a deliberate test for the two of us!" He Zhonghou said with a smile.

  "Oh! No wonder Sixth Grandfather pretended as if he had never seen money before. You are indeed cunning and deceitful!"

  "Little rascal, looking for a fight! Is this phrase used on Sixth Grandfather?"

  ……

  "Hurry up and put the explosives on."

  "Be careful, all of you, don't blow it up, or we're all done for!"

  "Say you, use a stone to cover me up, don't let others see through it!"

  Gao Hongtu was directing soldiers to bury explosives in the valley. Wanting to use fewer troops to defeat more, using infantry to defeat cavalry, gunpowder is the best helper. For this battle, Gu Zhenhua brought all the gunpowder he had obtained from the capital, a total of 3,000 catties. This was also a desperate attempt, if he couldn't solve Li Yan, Gu Zhenhua would be in danger too.

  Just as the explosives were almost buried, Tang Zhanxiong also ran back panting, and when he saw Gu Zhenhua, he grinned from ear to ear: "Master, I scattered a lot of things on the road, which are getting more and more valuable. I also placed several broken carts on the road and killed two old horses, pretending to make a hasty escape. I guarantee that Li Yan will take the bait!

  Gu Zhenhua also clenched his fists secretly: "Let the scouts keep a close eye on Li Yan and others, report immediately if there's any situation!"

  ……

  Giddy up! Giddy up! Giddy up!

  After rushing out of Xiaowang Village, Li Yan led the cavalry in a rapid advance on the main road, like a whirlwind.

  "General Quan, look, there's silk!"

  Li Yan took a closer look and indeed there were several wooden chests scattered by the side of the road, all revealing the finest Suzhou brocade satin, which ordinary families couldn't afford to use.

  There's no doubt that this was hastily abandoned, and Li Yan's heart was filled with joy and anger. He quickly ordered his men to continue the pursuit. The Da Shun army also let out a loud cheer, for if they could throw down silk fabrics, it meant that there were even more valuable things in the convoy. If they caught up, everyone would get a share of the spoils, and at the thought of the glittering silver, every man was filled with courage, each one vying to be the first, madly rushing forward without regard for their lives.

  Not far from running out, several boxes appeared on the ground again. This time they were all books, paintings and works of art. Someone picked up a volume at random and handed it to Li Yan's hand. Li Yan took a look, it was indeed Zhao Ji's "Plum Blossom Embroidered Eyes" by Song Huizong. Although Song Huizong was not great as an emperor, his calligraphy and painting were exceptional, especially the flowers and birds, which were priceless.

  Li Yan couldn't help but burst out laughing: "These guys are so scared of us, they even threw away this treasure! Hurry up and chase them, they can't escape!"

  The team chased forward and the harvest was richer, they ran less than ten miles on the road, and there was a damaged horse cart by the side of the road, and a dead horse with a broken leg.

  "General Zhai, there is still a box of silver here!" a cavalryman suddenly exclaimed.

  "Haha, they've even thrown away their silver, they're completely exhausted, catch them for me!"

  The soldiers of the Da Shun Army also rolled up their sleeves and went crazy in pursuit.

  Just as they were chasing, more than 100 meters away in the woods, two people were staring at them. Seeing these cavalrymen recklessly pursuing, the two people showed a triumphant smile.

  "Go and report to the lord."

  These two were crack troops who didn't take a break even at night, they dashed through the bushes, branches scratched their clothes, and bloodstains appeared on their faces, but they didn't care, mounted their war horses, and galloped towards the ambush site.

  Giddy up! Giddy up!

  The war horse in pain spread its four hooves and galloped like the wind, finally arriving at the valley entrance, where Gu Zhenhua was waiting with bated breath.

  "Your Lordship, the vanguard of the Imperial Army will arrive within a quarter of an hour."

  Gu Zhenhua's blood suddenly boiled, and with a wave of his big hand, he shouted: "The whole army listens to the order, prepare for battle!"