Chapter 14: Departure from Mount Ze

  Zhao Kan looked at Liang Fangxu and Xue Yue and said, "What do you two think?" Xue Yue replied nonchalantly, "Just go over there and wipe them out. A few hundred rabble aren't even enough to fill the gaps between the teeth of the Imperial Guard."

  Zhao Kun was suddenly speechless and turned his head to look at Liang Fangxu. Liang Fangxu pondered for a moment before saying to Zhao Kun, "Your Highness, is the intelligence that the enemy only has 500 weak and disabled people accurate? We can't entrust our lives to someone else's intelligence organization. Moreover, I've heard that this group of mountain bandits robs from the rich and gives to the poor, and doesn't indiscriminately kill innocent people. If we go to quell them like this, not only will we not get the support of the local people, but they will also provide information about our military movements to the bandits. Furthermore, Yue Ze Mountain is not a steep and precipitous mountain, but it's very difficult to traverse. It's just like Mount Hua, with only one path leading up the mountain. If I were the enemy commander, all I would need to do is pile up huge rocks and logs on the mountain paths, and even if we had ten times as many troops, we still wouldn't be able to get through. This battle lacks the advantages of heaven, earth, and man, and our army has already shown signs of defeat. Please reconsider, Your Highness."

  Zhao Yun nodded in satisfaction, this Liang Fangxu was indeed a veteran of the battlefield, his analysis was very accurate. But Zhao Yun thought that at this time, everything seemed suspicious, why didn't they let the local king of Yue, who had military power, handle this matter? Why would Emperor Huizong of Song want to write a auspicious melody himself and lead the army personally? There must be someone stirring up trouble, this was definitely a conspiracy. But Zhao Yun still didn't know who was targeting him, nor did he know what their plan was. He had to be careful and make plans to safely bring his brothers back from Yue Ze Mountain.

  "Xue Yue ordered you to send someone to investigate the local people, find out how many bandits there are on this mountain, what equipment they have, and the identity of their leader."

  "Roger that."

  Zhaoyong then said to Liang Fangxu, "General Liang ordered you to take 500 men from the Golden Scales Army and disguise them as Imperial Forest Army. On the day of the attack, they will be stationed at the foot of the mountain."

  "Roger."

  Five days later, they attacked Yue Ze.

  Zhao Kun brought the strong blacksmith to the Jinlin School Field's iron house, because the Jinlin army's weapons were not made by themselves, but were regularly delivered by someone, so this house had been abandoned for a long time. When Wang Luoshan learned that Zhao Kun was a noble, he did not have much reaction, and Zhao Kun was also quite surprised.

  Zhuang Han's name was Wang Luoshan, a native of Yīn Shān. From a young age, he learned the art of blacksmithing and his skills were exquisite. Unfortunately, nowadays the military mostly purchases custom-made goods from their own households, and civilians are not fond of weapons either. As a result, Wang Luoshan's business was bleak, with only a few Jianghu people occasionally buying a few pieces to make ends meet. At this moment, seeing the fine iron and ore all over the ground, Wang Luoshan's eyes lit up as he looked around and touched them here and there.

  Zhao Kan took out a piece of paper, on which was drawn a strange thing that Wang Luoshan had never seen before. Zhao Kan said: "This is an iron hook, used to fix it, how many can you hit in five days?"

  "My lord can rest assured, I will definitely exert myself to the utmost."

  Zhao Yan again entrusted someone to purchase a large quantity of wrist-thick hemp rope.

  Xiu'er was also very well-behaved in taking care of Zhao Kuang's daily life, but only did rough work that Zhao Kuang didn't mind letting her do. Later, Zhao Kuang discovered that Xiu'er had a natural talent for accounting, so he taught her Arabic numerals and arithmetic operations. Xiu'er was very intelligent and handled the accounts in an orderly manner, directing the soldiers of the Imperial Guard to do this and that every day, full of spirit.

  Five days later, Zhao Jin arrived at Wang Luoshan's place. A wave of scorching air hit him in the face. He saw Wang Luoshan shirtless, sweating profusely as he hammered away at a red-hot iron sword. Zhao Jin knew not to disturb him and stood quietly on the side.

  After hammering for who-knows-how-many times, Wang Luoshan used iron tongs to hold the iron sword and put it into the water beside him to cool down quickly. Wang Luoshan installed a wooden handle on the iron sword and smiled: "Finally completed."

  At this time, Zhao Yun saw him and immediately saluted: "My lord."

  Zhao Kan helped Wang Luoshan up and said: "Luoshan doesn't have to be like this, I came to take the iron hook, can it be complete?"

  Wang Luoshan smiled and said: "I have already forged dozens of them. When I got bored, I started forging treasured swords at random."

  Zhao Yi ordered the iron hook to be taken away. Zhao Yi had already learned from Xue Yue that this group of mountain bandits had a strength of 2,000 and had some combat effectiveness. Zhao Yi was even more convinced that there was a conspiracy behind this matter, but the imperial edict had been issued and could not be disobeyed.

  Five days later, Liang Fangxu had 500 soldiers of the Golden Scales Army disguise themselves as Imperial Guards and set out first. Half an hour later, Zhao Jie ordered the real Imperial Guards to depart for Yue Ze Mountain.

  Several days later, Zhao Jie led the Imperial Forest Army to the back of Yue Ze Mountain, where he tied a rope around his waist and hung an iron hook on the back of the rope. He took out a thermal imager and scanned it, and indeed found that there were about 2,000 mountain bandits, with most of their forces blocking the mountain pass.

  Zhao Song took out the iron chain for climbing and started to climb the mountain. Xue Yue originally wanted to stop him, but was scared back by Zhao Song's gaze. Zhao Song had already climbed halfway up the mountain, and the soldiers of the Imperial Guard were all sweating for him. However, Zhao Song's bravery in taking the lead also earned the respect of the soldiers. In fact, Zhao Song was very safe, with iron chains protecting him, and he had climbed even higher mountains than this without any problems in his past life.

  Zhao Yin was almost halfway up the mountain when he suddenly heard two people talking. He slightly raised his head and saw two bandits discussing their previous robbery's success. At that moment, one of them seemed to have an urgent need to urinate and walked away, leaving the other bandit placing his knife aside and lazily lying down on a rock for a short rest. Zhao Yin couldn't let go of this opportunity, so he rushed over and stabbed the bandit in the throat with the dagger at his waist, while covering the bandit's mouth with his other hand. The bandit's eyes gradually lost focus and stopped struggling. At that moment, the other bandit who had gone to relieve himself was adjusting his pants as he came out of the bushes, saw Zhao Yin, and widened his eyes in surprise. Zhao Yin quickly took out his crossbow, and with a swift "whooshing" sound, the arrow pierced through the bandit's eyebrow, and the bandit didn't even have time to let out a scream before meeting his maker.

  Zhao Yun shook the rope, and the Imperial Forest Army officers and men rushed up in a swarm.

  On the other side, Wang Wu held the letter in his hand with a calm expression. He didn't want to get involved in the internal conflict of the royal family, nor could he. But if he didn't follow the orders of King Yue, he believed that only death awaited him. The weapon sent by King Yue was still quietly placed in the hall, with the words "Feng Wang" printed on it. Wang Wu himself was also a martial artist by birth, but later mistakenly killed an official's son and became a bandit. If someone among his subordinates bullied the common people, he would take action to kill them first. Therefore, Wang Wu could be considered a loyal and righteous person. He had always been on guard against King Yue, having helped him kill many high-ranking officials and wealthy merchants. His own future was also doomed to end in death. However, when truly facing death, Wang Wu really couldn't put down his son, Wang Xizhen. Otherwise, he wouldn't have brought his son along as a bandit, struggling to survive in the world, perhaps already dying on the battlefield.

  Just then a leader rushed in flustered and said: "Your Majesty, something's gone wrong! The rear mountain has been breached, the young master has been captured."

  "Say it again!" Wang Wu stood up and roared.

  "Few... few... The young master was captured by the government troops." The little leader fell to the ground and trembled as he spoke.

  "Nonsense!!" Wang Wu ignored the little leader, picked up the iron hammer beside him and ran towards the back mountain. The little leader hastily shouted and dozens of bandits followed Wang Wu.

  Zhao Kan led hundreds of Imperial Forest Army soldiers in a fierce charge to the rear mountain of Yue Ze Mountain, where the bandits' supplies were stored. The several bandits guarding this place also turned red-eyed. In the past, government troops had killed ordinary people and framed them as bandits, so they naturally did not get along with the government troops and didn't care that the Imperial Forest Army outnumbered them, drawing their knives and preparing to charge up.

  "Halt." A voice that was not loud came from behind the mountain bandits.

  Young Master?

  A weak scholar walked up to the Imperial Forest Army and said: "We surrender, hoping that Your Excellency can spare our lives."

  The young scholar in front of him had a hint of illness, but his eyes were deep and profound, with an extraordinary aura.

  Zhao Kan was hesitating on how to persuade Wang Wu to put down his weapons when the scholar said, "Your Excellency is still in a precarious situation at this time. If you do not take care of yourself, you will surely die here."

  "How dare you!" Xue Yue saw the weak scholar speaking to Zhao Yan without revealing anything, and after finishing his words, he drew out his knife. A group of mountain bandits immediately protected the scholar behind them.

  The bookish man didn't mind, walked to Zhao Jiong's front and said: "Later I can first solve the matter of my father Wang Wu surrendering for you, sir. Now let me explain to you why it is a crisis all around."

  Zhao Yan made a bow to Shu Sheng and said: "Please, sir, instruct me."

  The scholar didn't mind the angry gaze of the Imperial Forest Army and calmly accepted Zhao Yan's courtesy, saying in a calm tone: "Even if you eliminate us now, do you think you can escape the siege of the 5,000 Forbidden Troops at the foot of the mountain? Even if you eliminate us, as long as someone accuses you of colluding with King Feng to rebel, you will also be unable to escape death. You don't have to doubt it, the military equipment sent by the King of Yue is still lying in the hall, not moving at all."

  Zhaoyi had already determined that this plan was set by the King of Yue, thinking of removing himself and eliminating the hidden danger of Shan, cutting off the rich king who did not agree with him. It can be said to be a move that kills three birds with one stone, indeed it is a vicious plot.

  "It's actually the adults who should be concerned about those five hundred fake Imperial Guardsmen at the foot of the mountain, or else they'll fall into the hands of the 5,000 ambushing Forbidden Troops and regret it later."

  "Please instruct me, sir." Zhao Yan said with another bow.

  "It's actually quite simple. Just pretend to be in a difficult situation for a while, and if the adults believe it, can I be allowed to take command?" Wang Xizhen said with an unfathomable expression.

  "Alright, but you must stay by my side and not leave." Zhao Yan said.

  "This is natural."

  Zhao Kan made a beckoning gesture, and Wang Xichen walked to Xue Yue's side and said: "General, would you please climb down from the mountain wall and inform the 500 soldiers below that when they see three thick columns of smoke rising from the top of the mountain, they should launch an attack upwards."

  "You! What right do you have to give orders? Moreover, if it's your trickery, our soldiers will definitely suffer heavy casualties." Xue Yue said disdainfully.

  "If you don't listen to me, it will naturally lead to the destruction of the entire army. Moreover, if others go to pass on orders, they will probably think that we are setting a trap. General, please prioritize the overall situation."

  Xue Yue looked at Zhao Jian, the latter nodded, Xue Yue had no choice but to climb down the rope from the back mountain stone wall again.

  Wang Xi Zhen said to Zhao Yan: "After the general's soldiers have climbed the mountain, they will immediately turn back to prevent the enemy's Imperial Army from launching a strong attack. The general can then lead several thousand mountain bandits down the mountain and claim that they have been pacified. In this way, it would be impossible for the five thousand Imperial soldiers to kill two thousand people in a short period of time, and we will all be able to survive. If the general wants to be more ruthless, he can suddenly rush out and capture the enemy's commander, seizing all their weapons and equipment. Wouldn't that be wonderful?"

  Zhao Song was very interested in this pale-faced scholar, and when he heard this, he couldn't help but burst out laughing. The crisis in front of him was suddenly resolved, and it turned out that Wang Xichen wasn't a simple person after all.

  Liang Fangxu was pacing back and forth anxiously in his tent, vaguely sensing that there were thousands of troops nearby, but he didn't know whether they were friend or foe, nor had he received any news from Zhao Yan. He and Zhao Yan were now in the same boat, sharing the same fate, so even if Liang wanted to surrender to someone else, no one would dare to use him again. That's why Zhao Yan was very important to him. Just then, Xue Yue rushed into the tent, first draining Liang Fangxu's tea and saying, "Liang uncle has made a move."