Chapter 58: The Battle of Sunset (Part 2)

  Yang Shuangfeng paced back and forth, asking in a low voice: "Who is familiar with the situation in Baoying Prefecture? Which place has the most solid terrain? Most conducive to defense?"

  Yang Jirui hugged six Tuhu rifles and a bag full of ammunition, probing: "If I'm not mistaken, the government office of Mu Shunying should be pretty good. The stone walls on all four sides are very high, and they have been consciously reinforced. There is also a clock tower near the main gate, which can overlook the surrounding situation."

  Yang Shuangfeng nodded, looked at everyone and said firmly: "Since that's the case, we'll go to the prefecture yamen immediately. She Yan, you lead the way and leave first, try to collect as many weapons as possible on the road. Meng Di, Du Ge, you two lead the artillery brothers to leave from the south gate, don't delay on the road, the faster the better..."

  Montieu and Dugour both looked gloomy and said nothing.

  Yang Shuangfeng picked up a Türgesh rifle and followed Yang Jirui, who was in charge of ammunition supply, to the door. He waved his hand, and Xie Yan immediately led the palace guards to the front. The scattered slaves from earlier looked on curiously, but were soon trampled by the palace guards after Xie Yan gave the order. They were all beaten to death on the street, filling the air with a bloody stench and creating a bloodbath. Nearby residents who happened to be passing by saw the two groups of slaves fighting and were frightened, stumbling and fleeing in panic.

  Yang Shuang looked at the horizon, the sun seemed to be burning blood, illuminating the city that was about to fall into blood and fire with an extraordinary brilliance. He felt a pang in his heart and couldn't help but slow down his pace. Yang Ji Rui said: "Feng, what are you thinking?"

  Yang Shuang said heavily: "I'm thinking, the empire is now in a period of internal and external troubles. The enemies outside are eyeing us covetously, and internally it's also fraught with difficulties, can't afford to be stirred up again. This premeditated riot by the Red Refining Sect may become the last straw that crushes the camel. At that time, the empire will have to deal with external enemies on one hand, and eliminate internal unrest on the other, fearing that if not careful, it will collapse and disintegrate..."

  Yang Ji Rui said coldly: "This is exactly the ending I most want to see."

  Yang Shuangfen fell silent for a moment, weakly shaking her head and said with a bitter tone: "This may be good news for the Yang family, but for our empire, it's not necessarily..."

  Yang Ji Rui faintly interrupted his speech, slowly saying: "Feng, haven't you ever heard of the principle of breaking and then establishing? The current imperial court politics has become terminally ill and cannot be saved. No matter how hard you try, it can only be treating the symptoms but not the root cause. Only by completely breaking it down and rebuilding from scratch is there a possibility of standing tall again on the Yilan continent. This was already realized by someone 100 years ago."

  Yang Shuangfen was shocked and exclaimed: "Are you saying that we should overthrow the current imperial court and establish a new one?"

  Yang Ji Rui expressionlessly said: "What's wrong with that?"

  Yang Shuangfeng wanted to speak but stopped, his face changing from cloudy to sunny, suddenly he inadvertently saw Montieu and Dugor leading those artillery officers silently following closely behind, hastily stopping in his tracks, anxiously saying: "Hey, what are you following me for?"

  Monty's face was gloomy, and he said stiffly: "Fengling, we can't execute your order. Walking south is fleeing. The people of the Huolie Bird Division have never fled in the face of the enemy. Besides, your situation is very dangerous, and we can't abandon you. If you die, we'll be depressed even if we're alive..."

  Dugol also said with a look of discontent: "Fengling, how can you order your troops to retreat? You really are not a qualified leader!"

  Yang Shuangfen couldn't help but let out a long sigh, and then remembered Yang Jirui's words. With a multitude of thoughts in her mind, she could only say helplessly: "Alright, follow me, we'll advance and retreat together, but you all have to take care of yourselves."

  The yamen of the prefecture is not far from Haoyun Lai Inn. After a while, Yang Shuangfeng found that the bell tower was in sight, and it was indeed the only high point in the city, but they still had to bypass several streets to reach it. There were many refugees fleeing on the road, and Yang Shuangfeng had to order She Yan and others to clear the way, so as to let those refugees evacuate as soon as possible, resulting in an even slower advance speed.

  Suddenly, a cold voice came from the front: "Kill! Kill them all!" He hurried over and saw Yu Huan-yu surrounded by a group of bodyguards, confronting hundreds of tattered slaves. Tang Bing-na stood beside her, but there was a wound on her back that had been torn open, with blood constantly seeping out. However, the eyes of those slaves were fixed on the goods in the Donghai Hall carriage, refusing to leave no matter what, and more and more people gathered. There were almost a hundred guards around Yu Huan-yu, but now there were less than twenty left, struggling desperately, even Yu Huan-yu herself had to pick up a slender curved knife as a defensive weapon.

  Yang Shuangfeng raised the Tukhachevskii rifle in his hand, and with one shot, he blew open the head of a strong slave who was charging at the front. The exploding brain matter splattered onto the remaining slaves. Yang Shuangfeng quickly threw away the empty gun and took another rifle from Yang Jirui's hand, which was loaded with good ammunition. With a flick of his wrist, he fired again, blowing open the head of another ferocious slave. However, the headless body continued to move forward, holding a steel knife, before finally falling to the ground with a loud thud after a while. The Tukhachevskii rifle had a range of less than 100 meters, but its steel-core bullets were as thick as a thumb. At such close range, its killing power was terrifying. Yang Shuangfeng alternated between six Tukhachevskii rifles, firing over ten shots in a row, blowing the heads off more than ten slaves. The remaining slaves, although ferocious, had no choice but to stop their formation and scatter in all directions to find obstacles to hide behind.

  Yang Shuangfeng held up his rifle and shouted loudly: "I am Rear Admiral Yang Shuangfeng, I have led the troops to Baoying Prefecture! I order you to lay down your arms immediately, otherwise kill without mercy!"

  The remaining slaves suddenly became restless, and someone whispered: "Don't believe him, he's just a small group of people, where is the army?"

  Yang Songfen shouted sternly, "I warn you again, you can choose to put down your weapons and surrender immediately, or leave here and leave Baoying Prefecture immediately. Otherwise, the only thing waiting for you is a dead end!" As his voice fell, another three or four shots rang out, and several slaves who were clearly visible as leaders fell to the ground with their brains splattered, while the rest of the slaves scattered in all directions with a loud noise.

  Yu Huanjuan let out a sigh of relief, dropped the slender curved knife in her hand, and almost collapsed to the ground, leaning against the horse carriage. A faint white smile appeared on her exhausted face as she said weakly: "Yang Suofeng, if you had come any later, we would have been done for."

  Yang Shuangfeng looked around cautiously and said in surprise: "What's going on? Where are the people beside you? Weren't there many people beside you?"

  Yu Huan-yu was panting with difficulty, her full chest rising and falling rapidly, and she said weakly: "I didn't expect this slave rebellion to be so severe, it's a big deal that we lost Jingzhou. In the past, there were also frequent rebellions among slaves in Baojing Prefecture, but they were all quickly suppressed, and we had already become accustomed to them. This time, I don't know how it happened, it seemed like someone carefully organized and planned it, tens of thousands of slaves launched a riot at the same time. The guards were caught off guard and were completely defeated. Unfortunately, I was visiting the guards at that time and was surrounded by slaves, and I went through countless hardships to escape."

  Yang Shuang said with a gloomy face: "This time the slave uprising was planned by Mu Zi Xun of the Red Refining Sect."

  Yu Huan Yuan was shocked and immediately said bitterly: "So that's how it is, no wonder..."

  Yang Shuang looked at the items on the horse carriage and beckoned to She Yan and others behind him, saying: "There are many weapons on the horse carriage. You quickly equip them. Move all the equipment and medicine to the prefecture yamen, our survival depends on them!"

  She Yan and others had already seen the weapons and medicine on the horse-drawn carriage, and they were eager to move. At this moment, they heard his order, regardless of three or seven or twenty-one, and rushed up. The horse-drawn carriage was fully equipped with eagle-angle longbows and long swords, but there was no armor at all.

  Yang Shuangfeng only then remembered that the owner of those items was not himself, and couldn't help but say apologetically: "Yu boss, sorry about this, I'll use your things for now, and I'll return them to you when I have the chance."

  Yu Huanwan smiled wryly, while helping Tang Bingya treat her wound, and weakly said: "No need to return it, if we can get through today's difficulties, consider this thing a gift from me..."

  Suddenly, Yang Shuang seemed to have caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of her eye and suddenly left her, sprinting forward a few steps before quickly returning and grabbing Yang Ji Rui, with both of them charging forward together. Yu Huan Yun and the others looked up in shock, only to see on the street ahead a disheveled girl holding a blood-stained long sword, dragging along a stumbling youth as they desperately fled, with a group of crazed slaves hot on their heels - it was none other than Shan Ya Xuan and Mi Qi Er.

  Shi Yan waved his hand and shouted in a deep voice: "Archers, prepare!" The palace warriors immediately formed three rows, waiting solemnly.

  Yang Shuangfeng heard the sound and turned his head to look, only to see that those palace guards had already thrown away the table legs in their hands, replaced with uniform steel long swords and eagle angle longbows, which were all taken out from the horse carriage. And Montyue and others were even more exaggerated, they actually unloaded many strange parts from the horse carriage, and were assembling three field artillery pieces.

  Even if life and death were just a moment away, Yang Shuangfeng couldn't help but ask: "Yu boss, are these things you want to transport to the Minnis area? And there's even a field cannon?"

  Yu Huan's lips puckered as she nodded slightly.

  Yang Shuangfeng was both shocked and delighted, suddenly hearing Shan Ya's painful moan, hurriedly turned around, just in time to see a slave's bow and arrow hit Shan Ya's calf. She stumbled and ran a few steps, finally unable to support herself, fell to the ground. Yang Shuangfeng calmly fired several shots, putting down all the slaves who were chasing her from behind, but the rest of them still pursued relentlessly, just about to catch up with Shan Ya, when Shi Yan gave an order, more than 100 eagle-shaped longbows shot out together, a rain of arrows passed by, instantly sweeping away a large group of slaves. The remaining people, although unwilling, had no choice but to temporarily retreat and find a place to hide.