The Truth of 2002

  Peng Jingrong and Peng Jingwei, two sisters on horseback, occasionally turned their heads to look back, witnessing the bloody slaughter inside the city gate. A familiar figure was nailed in the city gate, not taking a step back or turning his head, but continuously wielding his sword, and even from such a distance, they could see that the city gate was being blocked by piles of corpses, gradually sealing off half of the gate.

  I don't know how long that person can hold on, this may be the last time I see him, and also the last time I see the iron factory where we've lived for over a decade. My sisters are thinking the same thing. The sky is vast and wide, with northern winds mixed with snowflakes blowing fiercely in our faces. Father's life or death is uncertain, the foundation of decades destroyed overnight, so many good brothers turned against each other, so many familiar faces brutally killed by swords. Yesterday was still a joyful New Year's Eve, but today everything has become so tragic, so terrifying, and so unacceptable. From now on, we'll be fugitives wandering the world... The world is vast, where can we find a place to settle? Just a hundred miles ahead is the border of our sworn enemy, Qingguo...

  A slight tremor, then gradually becoming more intense, one of the guards fell to the ground, listened with his ear sideways, and shouted that something was wrong. There were large cavalry troops in front, which frightened Peng Jingrong's face pale. The cavalry coming from the north, could it be the Qing country's iron riding ring horse?

  The Qing dynasty's linked cavalry is very sharp, with five war horses tied together and carrying long spears forward. Wherever they go, they are invincible. The Ming dynasty's border military cavalry is no match for the Qing dynasty. Every time there is a cavalry battle, they suffer greatly. Fortunately, the iron factory's carton guns have played a powerful role, otherwise they would be at a disadvantage. Now that the Qing dynasty has launched a surprise attack on New Year's Day, the iron factory will definitely be the first to bear the brunt. I wonder where the Forbidden Army is on the border defense?

  The ground began to shake, and the crowd was suspicious and dared not move forward. Suddenly, they saw a large group of people wearing tattered clothes and holding miscellaneous weapons running towards them from the opposite side.

  They are slaves, the slaves have revolted! A guard shouted. It was strange that the revolting slaves did not run away but instead ran back and forth. Soon their question got an answer.

  Cavalrymen, cavalrymen everywhere, emerging from the horizon.

  A long bugle call, a muffled drumbeat, banners that block out the sun, yes, it's the Qing Empire's elite cavalry, the linked horses are in front, behind them are mounted archers and swordsmen, further back are infantrymen carrying siege engines, the army stretches for miles, slowly closing in, on both flanks are lightly armed scouts galloping back and forth at high speed, with heavy troops in front and a strong city behind, there's no retreat, no escape.

  A large group of slaves fled in a hurry, running past the horses and men of this small squad, with no one paying attention to them. Many of the slaves had arrow wounds, apparently having suffered greatly at the hands of the Qing army just now.

  In front of wolves, behind tigers, what to do is good. Peng Jingrong was anxious and turned around in circles, the war horse also became restless and neighed incessantly.

  The northern gate of the iron factory was piled up with half a city gate's worth of corpses, and no one dared to go collect them. This slightly affected the performance of the crossbow carts' power, as the crossbow arrows pierced through the corpses and actually opened up a path. Then, following the rapid pedaling of the crossbowmen, the arrows shot towards Liu Ziguang at a combat speed of sixty shots per minute. Ten crossbow carts concentrated their fire, and even if Liu Ziguang had nine lives, he couldn't help but feel intimidated, pulling his foot back and retreating out of the city gate. He dodged to the side, and the thick crossbow arrows whizzed out from the city gate, flying far before being embedded in the ground, planting a dense field of iron crops hundreds of feet away from the north gate.

  Liu Ziguang secretly called out to be careful, this unnecessary hard fight was indeed not worth it, and the government soldiers had already climbed up the city wall, using ropes to hang down and form an infantry team to chase after the young ladies.

  Liu Ziguang rushed northward, and the eldest sister and the slave troops were all in that direction. His speed was not inferior to a good horse, and soon he met the fleeing slave troops head-on.

  When they retreated from the Da Ying camp, nearly a thousand people had been lost to fire and arrows, four thousand escaped into the city, now only over two thousand are left, with many more wounded by arrows.

  Zha Mu rode up on a fine Qing warhorse, with two quivers of arrows hanging from the saddle. As soon as he saw Liu Zi Guang, he shouted: "What bad luck! Not far out of the city gate and we ran into a Qing scouting party! We wiped out that small group of scouts, but were caught by the Qing vanguard. Over a thousand brothers died on the spot. But we didn't let them off easy either - at least we took down several hundred of their men. However, the Chain Cavalry is coming now... how can our infantry possibly hold against cavalry? How's the battle going in the city? It doesn't look good. I just saw your two companions escaping earlier."

  Liu Ziguang was at a loss whether to laugh or cry and said: "The government army has entered the city, the big sisters have fallen, now there is no way to retreat either forward or backward."

  "In any case, I'd rather die a free man than be captured again." Antony said, holding up the captured Qing curved blade.

  "Falling into the hands of the iron factory is death. Falling into the hands of the Qing people is even more miserable, all will be buried alive." said a slave familiar with the Qing.

  "It's over, brothers can't be born in the same year, month and day, but to die together on the same day is also a blessing. Today we will fight to the death together under the Iron Factory City of Li Guo!" Zamu shouted sorrowfully.

  The slaves, infected with the frenzy, brandished their weapons and shouted: "Fight to the death! Fight to the death!" Having barely escaped with their lives, they found themselves in a desperate situation. The cries of more than 2,000 people who had steeled themselves for death shook heaven and earth. A large flock of crows was startled into flight, flying towards the snowy sky.

  Song Qingfeng followed behind Peng Jingrong, seeing the dense and powerful Qing army, his mouth slightly raised, saying: "Peng big sister, Yu Hualong colluded with the officials and soldiers to rebel against the factory, this matter is now irreversible. Now we can only rely on the power of the Qing army to restore the Peng family's rule in the iron factory. As the saying goes, those who know the current situation are heroes. The Qing king is brave and powerful, and he has an old relationship with me. If I go over and say a few words to the Qing general, I'm sure I can persuade him to help you recover the iron factory."

  Peng Jingrong stared at Song Qingfeng for a long time and said, "You are a Qing national." Song Qingfeng smiled proudly: "Which country I am from is not important, what's important is the world, being able to make the world stop fighting is my lifelong dream."

  "In order to stop the war, you want to bring in the Qing army to attack the Ming dynasty? I'm afraid you're not just a simple Wudang young hero, are you?" The big sister asked sarcastically.

  Song Qingfeng smiled again: "Wudang taught me martial arts, and the Qing Dynasty gave me a future. Indeed, my true identity is the fourth-grade Zhangjing of the Military Machinery Bureau of the Qing Dynasty, and I was awarded the yellow horse jacket by Your Majesty. This time, entering the iron factory, one is for the great cause of the southern expedition, and the other is also for you, Jingrui. No matter what, my admiration for you is true, and I will definitely help you take back the iron factory. Believe me, Jingrui." The sincere words moved even Song Qingfeng himself.

  "Damn it! You're not even a hero, I think you're only worthy of being called a dog thief! Is my sister's name something you can call out casually? You despicable Qing country scoundrel! Look at the arrow!" The furious Second Miss didn't wait for her sister to respond and started scolding, grabbing the revolver and about to shoot, but was pushed by Yang Meng beside her. The iron arrow shot into the sky. Peng Jingwei glared at Yang Meng "What, are you also a Qing country spy?"

  Yang Meng cried and said with a sad face: "Second Miss, things have come to this point, I think we should follow Mr. Song's words, the little ones don't want to die yet." Lu Gaozhi and several other guards who were familiar with Song Qingfeng also expressed their willingness to follow Song Qingfeng in surrendering to the Qing dynasty.

  Yu Xiaolong is still following the team, and Second Miss has long since stopped holding him hostage. In fact, it was Yu Xiaolong's own idea to be held hostage in the first place. Now he looks at the two sisters with concern, not daring to interrupt.

  Peng Jingrong has been numbed by the continuous twists and turns, abandoned by everyone, and only she and her sister are left to rely on each other. Looking at Song Qingfeng's triumphant appearance, she regretfully wants to hit herself. Needless to say, Liu Ziguo's crime of being a traitor will definitely be washed away, and it seems that Winter Fragrance's affair is also a conspiracy.

  "Was it you who killed Dong Xiang?" Peng Jingrong asked suddenly.

  "For the sake of world peace, sometimes sacrifices need to be made. I will burn paper for Dongxiang every year." A great man does not bother with trivial matters, Song Qingfeng no longer cares about admitting to the fact that he killed Dongxiang.

  "Then Liu Ziguang was also killed by you?" Peng Jingrong continued to ask.

  "I killed him all for you, Jing Rong. I admit I had ulterior motives, but it was all because of love. I think you will forgive me." Song Qingfeng was a straightforward person, but there was one more thing he didn't say - using Liu Ziguo's escape to lure away the captain of the guard, Hu Xianjue. This move, "borrowing a tiger to leave the mountain", easily got rid of one of the powerful generals by the side of the young lady, and she had no choice but to rely on Song Qingfeng. The city had already been infiltrated by many plainclothes Qing scouts. On New Year's morning, Song Qingfeng, disguised as a palace guard instructor, pretended to be entrusted by the young lady to deliver over a dozen jars of poisoned wine to the northern gate guards. After waiting for the poison to take effect, he sneaked back into the palace and ordered his plainclothes scouts to occupy the northern gate, lower the drawbridge, and welcome the Qing army into the city. Unexpectedly, General Ding You did not drink the wine, and with a group of subordinates who had not drunk the poisoned wine, they fought a bloody battle with the scouts, resulting in mutual destruction. This unexpectedly benefited the rebelling slave army, which took the northern gate without any effort.

  The Qing people are not orthodox in the Central Plains, and they have ambitious aspirations, with a mind to drink horses in the Yangtze River and occupy Jiangnan. This time, they carefully designed an iron factory, mobilized a large number of spies and troops, and were determined to succeed. After succeeding, would they still hand over power? It's simply a dream. Song Qingfeng lured him with this, no more than wanting to let himself be bound by his own body. Thinking of being humble to such a treacherous and hypocritical person who is full of words about peace, Peng Jingrong couldn't help but clench the long dagger with a gold-inlaid white jade handle again.

  Song Qingfeng pulled out a white handkerchief from his bosom and waved it several times towards the Qing army's commander flag, the other side also waved a flag in response. Song Qingfeng stretched out his hand to pull Peng Jingrong's horse reins "Let's go over there, Jingrong."

  Peng Jingrong suddenly raised the dagger and stabbed towards Song Qingfeng, but unfortunately, Song Qingfeng reacted quickly and dodged the attack with a sidestep. Peng Jingrong saw that her first strike missed, let out a sorrowful cry, turned the dagger around and stabbed it towards her own throat. Song Qingfeng had anticipated this, flashed his sword and knocked the dagger away, then swiftly pressed on Peng Jingrong's neck acupoint, rendering her immobile instantly.

  Seeing her sister being subdued, Peng Jingwei raised her gun and shot Song Qingfeng again. The rifle was cut off by Yang Meng's knife on the side. Yu Xiaolong was unarmed, looking at Lu Gaozhi who was holding a knife against him coldly, and ultimately did not dare to make a move.

  Song Qingfeng promised the Imperial Guards that after surrendering to the Qing dynasty, each of them would have a future as a hundred-household leader. Originally, they still had some doubts, but coincidentally, they encountered Yu Hualong's rebellion, and suddenly there was no way back, surrendering to the Qing dynasty became the only bright path. The Imperial Guards tied up the Second Miss who was scolding them loudly, and Yu Xiaolong couldn't escape either, for the Qing dynasty, he was still a top-notch hostage, and they all went towards the Qing army's main force.

  Suddenly, a cold voice sounded from behind: "Are you leaving just like that? Gentlemen." Turning back to look, it was the mysterious iron-faced warrior.