Chapter 61: The Battle of Sunset (5)

  The warriors of the Imperial City drew out their meter-long fine steel swords, forming a product-shaped triangle with three people on each side, quietly waiting for the enemy's tide to surge over. Yang Shuangfen shrank into the defensive circle formed by She Yan, and the Tuqishi rifle fired steadily and calmly, shooting down one by one the most robust and most aggressive enemies in front of them.

  Two groups of people collided fiercely, sparking a sky full of sparks. Yang Suofeng barely had time to react, and suddenly there were enemies everywhere. Fortunately, their weapons were not good, most of them were just wooden sticks, only a few people had long swords. The palace warriors could barely hold on under the enemy's siege, but once they were exhausted, it was time for death.

  Suddenly, only a loud noise was heard in the ear, and it was the sound of a shell explosion. Yang Shuangfeng couldn't help but turn his head to take a look, and saw that Montyue and others were pushing a light cannon under the protection of twenty or thirty palace guards at the corner of the street. They didn't know when they changed into the Central Army uniform, looking like regular troops had arrived.

  Yang Shuangfeng shouted: "The main force has arrived! The main force has arrived!"

  The exploding shells apparently stunned the slaves, who were like a tide crashing against the shore and unable to advance. Yang Songfen and others took advantage of the opportunity to retreat, and the group retreated in disarray, finally returning to the prefectural government office after a series of thrilling battles. The slaves who chased after them were met with a barrage of fire from the palace guards and two light cannons, and they immediately scattered like birds and beasts. The front of the government office was empty and deserted once again.

  Yang Songfen held a rifle, panting heavily, covering his wound, and ordered a roll call. According to the preliminary statistics, more than 30 palace guards were killed in action, and all the rest were injured.

  At this time, the busiest person was Ziyue, who was the only doctor here. Yu Huaiyuan's carriage had enough medicine, with a wide variety of medicines and sufficient quantities. Under her careful bandaging, the lightly wounded soldiers of the Gongdou army could basically continue to fight, with only over ten people needing to rest on the ground, but without any danger to their lives. Tang Bingna and Shan Yajing's wounds had been treated by her, and both of their complexions had improved a lot. Only Yang Songfeng was still in danger due to Su Xueruo's deep hatred for him, despite having undergone initial surgery and bandaging to stop the bleeding. Natali was like a little elf, flitting about among the many wounded soldiers, comforting them with her gentle warmth and sweet words.

  Yang Shuangfen also noticed Zi Yue at this time. She looked like she was only eighteen or nineteen years old, quite handsome, although there were a few small black moles on her white face that couldn't be removed, but overall she was still very beautiful. Compared to Su Yunruo, of course, it's not comparable, but her exquisite medical skills, simple and approachable makeup, and good demeanor made up for a lot of points.

  For a while, no enemy appeared at the gate of the prefecture, and an unusual calmness appeared. Shi Yan and others felt very strange.

  Yang Shuang said faintly, "I don't know how you feel, but my feeling is that if I were one of those slaves who just broke out of their cage, the first thing I would do is not to fight with the imperial army, but to find a way to survive. Even ants struggle to survive, let alone humans? If no one blocks their path to survival, they absolutely don't want to fight us to the death, unless they have been tightly organized and can't choose their own path. But it's clear that even if the Red Lotus Sect is very capable, it's impossible for them to tightly organize all the slaves in such a short period of time."

  Meng Diyou said with a mixture of doubt and certainty: "So you're saying that no one will attack the provincial government office again?"

  Yang Shuangfeng shook his head and said, "It won't be the case. There will definitely be people coming to attack. They might want to plunder some things from inside or simply occupy the prefecture's mansion to show their complete victory."

  Yang Ji Rui worriedly said: "What if the Red Lotus Sect wants to occupy this place as their base?"

  Yang Shuangfeng shook his head, disagreeing with Yang Jirui's view. He said slowly: "No, I think Mu Zixuan won't stay in Baoying Prefecture for long, if he's not a fool. Take a look at the map and you'll know that Fangchuan Road is between Niluo Divine Capital and Shanhai Pass. Niluo Divine Capital has 300,000 Imperial Guards who can be mobilized at any time, and Shanhai Pass has the Central Army's Shangguan Drip Blood Legion. These two forces can easily form a pincer movement on Fangchuan Road. If Mu Zixuan is tied down in Fangchuan Road, he'll only be waiting for death. So, I can almost imagine that he will definitely head south to Yuanchuan Road at the fastest speed, and then enter Yinchuan Road and Mingchuan Road areas. These two places were the old lairs of the Red Lotus Sect before, their hidden forces should be very strong, they will use this as a base to maneuver with the imperial court."

  Meng Diyu nodded in agreement, saying: "Indeed, the Fangchuan Road is under direct threat from the imperial army and is too close to the Niluo God's Capital. The Red Lotus Sect cannot survive there. They must head south, into the Yin River Road and other places. That has always been their old nest, where they can take root more easily. The Yin River Road is also known as the Silver River, but its original name was Hidden River Road, hidden from view. There are mountains everywhere, with soluble rocks and caves inside. One mountain often has dozens or even hundreds of caves, so it's easy to hide in one and not be found for half a month. It took General Yue a lot of effort to pacify the bandits there years ago, but now it seems like the bandit troubles are going to flare up again."

  Yang Ji Rui sighed, gazing deeply at the setting sun and said regretfully: "The Chi Lian Sect has launched a riot again, which will inevitably cause serious chaos in the imperial court's internal politics. The empire was already on shaky ground, now with another deadly blow from within, the days of the empire's existence may be numbered. Everyone should think about their future."

  Mondieu and Dugour were both heavy-hearted and unwilling to say more.

  Yang Shuang's heart was also heavy, feeling a bit sour and astringent, as if there was something in his chest that he couldn't quite put into words. Yang Ji Rui's words were clearly meant for him to hear, but his inner self temporarily refused to accept them. He wandered aimlessly on the empty ground, glancing at Su Yun Feng, who had already fallen fast asleep under Zi Yue's care, and Cai Bing Xia and others were also sleeping soundly against the wall. After experiencing excessive fright, their common reaction was to sleep heavily.

  Natalie tiptoed up to his side and whispered: "Master, how are you feeling?"

  Yang Shuangfen furrowed her brow and smiled wryly, saying lightly: "Of course it won't be very good."

  Natalie said in a low voice, "We Gypsies have a good therapeutic method that comes from martial arts. As long as you follow the incantation and run it, you can quickly treat injuries. I'll teach it to you to practice, how about it?"

  Yang Shuangfen smiled and said: "I think it's more realistic to take medicine or have surgery."

  Natalie said expectantly: "You try it first! Maybe the effect will be beyond your expectations!"

  Yang Shuangfeng said disbelievingly: "Is that so? Then tell me!"

  Natalie immediately taught him a mnemonic, which was the sacred Sun Yang Gong passed down by You Ruo Zi Luan, the master of Xiang Xue Hai. However, no matter how hard Yang Shuang Feng tried to comprehend it, and no matter how detailed Natalie's explanation was, even personally demonstrating it, there was no progress whatsoever. Yang Shuang Feng's body didn't react at all. A faint cold sweat appeared on Natalie's forehead, and her eyes took on a strange look.

  Yang Shuang said in surprise: "Don't worry, I won't die! Just need to rest well for ten days or half a month and that's it."

  Natalie looked at him with a strange expression and muttered: "Your body is really weird... why can't you practice martial arts?"

  Yang Shuangfeng smiled faintly and said indifferently, "If you can't cultivate, then so be it. Anyway, martial arts are already lagging behind the times, and its basic function of defeating enemies will become weaker and weaker. In the future, people will mainly use firearms and machinery to fight. Perhaps a hundred or two hundred years later, it will only be used for physical exercise."

  Natalie said: "No... there are many people with high martial arts skills, they are very formidable..."

  Yang Shuang said disapprovingly, "No matter how powerful the martial arts are, they can't compare to guns and cannons. No matter how fast you are, you can't outrun a bullet; no matter how strong your destructive power is, it can't match that of a cannon shell. Even if you practice martial arts for ten or twenty years, or even hundreds of years, in the end, you still can't dodge a single bullet? Wasn't Watanabe's martial arts skills good enough? Didn't the Seven-Colored Dazzling Execution Squad have good martial arts skills too? In the end, didn't they all die from a hail of bullets?"

  Natalie was extremely disappointed and said sorrowfully: "But this way, you'll be in great danger. What if there's an assassin? You won't even have a chance to fire your gun."

  Yang Shuang Feng stood up calmly and said slowly: "Life and death are destined, wealth and nobility are in heaven, let everything go with the natural order."

  As he saw Ziyue finally getting less busy, he slowly walked closer to her, wanting to ask something, but was too embarrassed to ask. Su Yunfeng's face was a bit pale, but not that kind of extremely weak pale, it seemed that her body should be fine, however, for some reason, he couldn't put his heart at ease without Ziyue's personal confirmation.

  "How is she?" Yang Shuangfeng wanted to speak several times, but after hesitating many times, he finally plucked up the courage to ask Zi Yue about Su Qing's physical condition. Thinking of the harm caused to her that night, he felt deeply guilty again.

  Zi Yue glanced at him with a mixture of disdain and disgust.

  Yang Shuang said in a low voice, "Zi Yue, I know it was my fault and I did something wrong to her. But there's another side to this story. I really care about her and don't want her to get hurt."

  Zi Yue glanced at him sideways, feeling that his expression was indeed sincere. She hesitated for a moment before blushing and speaking in a low voice: "You're too rough, it's her first time, how could you possibly want to do it four times... she'll need at least half a month to recover... don't stimulate her, and for now, don't see her, wait until she calms down slowly."

  Yang Shuang said dejectedly: "Alright, I'm counting on you to take care of her."

  Zi Yue nodded and quickly walked away.

  Xie Yan suddenly shouted loudly: "Maple Leaf, the enemy is coming! And also prepared an ancient catapult."

  Yang Suofeng hastily climbed up the bell tower, raised his head and looked around. Indeed, he saw that at the end of the street, about a thousand slaves were crowded together in disarray, holding various weapons in their hands, and some people even held table legs and furniture to make up for the temporary shortage. Among them, a core group of people were operating an ancient catapult, while others were transporting millstones from residential buildings, incredibly intending to use the millstones as weapons.

  Yang Shuangfeng couldn't imagine the specific scene of a millstone falling from mid-air, but he also knew it must be quite terrifying. He hastily asked, "Can our cannons reach it?"

  Mondieu said: "Okay."

  Yang Shuang said anxiously: "Then what are you standing there for? Fire the cannon! This kind of thing, we might be able to gain the upper hand by striking last!"

  Monty said expressionlessly: "Look at those people next to the catapult..."