Chapter 7: Interception

  Warm reminder: Please log in to your starting account first, and cast your precious recommendation votes. Every vote and every click is the greatest support and encouragement for the author!

  －－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－

  "Commander Pei, I'm leaving a group of people with you. Take these corpses and their personal belongings and weapons back to Yangzhou. Commander Yang, follow me with the others. The ones who killed them may not be far away. Let's go meet them and see which gods are on our side."

  Pei Li heard this arrangement, and at this time he didn't care that Sima Dequ actually had no right to assign him. He slightly nodded his head, now he didn't want to stay any longer, just wanting to return to Yangzhou immediately.

  Leaving behind Pei Li and eleven others, Yang Wei took the lead, riding his tall black warhorse to scout ahead in the forest, with Sima Deqian following closely behind, and forty Wangfu guards bringing up the rear.

  The dusk gradually sank, the sky hung low, and slowly turned into a dark leaden grey before sinking into darkness.

  A few stars were sparsely suspended in the sky, and then a half-moon also rose, which made things much more convenient for them.

  "We should hurry up!" said Sima Dekao, at this time the moon had almost risen to its peak.

  "After rushing for a day, perhaps we should rest first. The horses and men are exhausted, everyone will be unable to bear it." Yang Wei proposed.

  Yang Wei's horse stopped and then he dismounted.

  "How did it stop?" Sima Dekao was dissatisfied with Yang Wei's arbitrary actions, although the two had been comrades-in-arms for many years. At present, he was the Grand General, and Yang Wei was a general, so he should listen to his orders.

  "Something's not quite right!" Yang Wei gazed into the distance with a serious expression and muttered.

  Simen Deqiu also stopped his horse, he believed in Yang Wei's feeling. In the beginning, outside the Great Wall, they fought side by side countless times, relying on mutual trust.

  He listened carefully, but only heard the rustling of leaves in the wind. Nevertheless, he waved his hand and let everyone behind him dismount. Then, he drew out his horizontal knife, which was not a treasured sword forged by Master Yuwen himself, but also an imperial sword from the Imperial Armory Temple, bestowed upon him by the Emperor during his time as a palace guard. The moonlight reflected off the bright blade, shining with a dazzling light.

  The guards of the Jin Wang Fu were all carefully selected, each one a brave warrior. At this time, they quickly dismounted, drew their swords, strung their bows and took up a fighting stance.

  "Who's there!" Yang Wei shouted in a low voice.

  But in response, there was only the rustling of leaves and the cries of a distant night owl taking flight from the treetops.

  Just when everyone thought it was just a false alarm, Yang Wei suddenly caught sight of a white figure darting through the woods. He turned his head and saw a white shadow in the darkness before it vanished again.

  The wind blew more and more fiercely, and the leaves were blown rustling loudly.

  With the sound of the wind, countless cracking sounds suddenly came from all directions in the forest. Yang Wei and Sima Deqian almost simultaneously took a cold breath, "Enemy attack!" The two men shouted loudly while almost simultaneously raising their shields and swinging their swords.

  With one hand holding a shield and the other holding a sword, Sima Dezhao bravely charged forward into the rain of arrows.

  "Who dares to fight me!" He raised his sword above his head, with a tone of provocation. Facing the enemy's ambush, he did not retreat, but instead bravely charged forward like he did on the grasslands years ago.

  After a few rounds of arrow rain, it did not cause much harm to this group of fierce palace guards. The 40 guards, led by the two, charged forward.

  That white figure appeared again, this time Yang Wei saw clearly that it was a young woman wearing a white leather armor and a white gauze veil. Yang Wei saw the eyes exposed under the veil, which were a pair of cold and profound eyes, making people feel like they were a burning ice. The woman gave off a sense of danger, her gaze fixed on the sword in her hand, which was a jade-decorated giant sword, but at this moment, it was held in the hands of a cold-blooded woman.

  It was a deep-seated hatred.

  One by one, figures emerged from behind the trees. Some wore white leather armor like that woman, while others wore black leather armor. Upon closer inspection, those wearing white leather armor were all young women like her, with white veils covering their faces and leather armor clinging to their bodies. Those wearing black clothes, on the other hand, were all robust men, exuding a fierce aura as if they had just crawled out of a pile of dead bodies.

  Their numbers exceeded those of the guards. Yang Wei wielded his sword and attacked, two men rushed near, their swords clashed, producing a metallic ringing sound, sharp and clear.

  Simen Deguang also fought with a tall man, and the rest of the guards found their opponents. For a time, the forest was filled with the sound of clashing steel, ringing out continuously, and shouts that did not stop.

  The white-clad woman's sword was extremely swift, and Yang Wei's one move of blocking was not enough, his abdomen had already been pierced by a sword.

  "Where is Ji Yao, where is Yi Feng!"

  The woman in white didn't take advantage of the situation and kill him, but instead suddenly asked him a strange and inexplicable question.

  Yang Wei let out a loud roar, one hand grasping the sword in his abdomen and pulling it out, the other hand tightly gripping his own sword, using all his strength to swing wildly.

  "Speak out, Ji Yao, Yifeng's downfall, and I'll give you a quick death!" The woman in white blocked his fierce attack and asked again.

  "I don't know what you're talking about, but you dare to ambush the Jin king's guards? This is a dead end!" Yang Wei gritted his teeth and shouted angrily. At this time, he was terrified in his heart, as he had never seen such a fierce woman before. Although she looked slender, her swordsmanship was extraordinary, far surpassing his own. At this point, he already believed that these people were the ones who killed those eighteen black-clad men, but he didn't know what their background was.

  The prestige of the Jin Wang Fu did not intimidate the woman, her sword was swift and deadly, he quickly added a few more wounds to his body, already struggling to stand, on the verge of dying under her sword.

  At this time, a horn sounded suddenly in the forest, followed by the sound of horseshoes galloping. Yang Wei was overjoyed, this was the liaison call of the Wangfu guards.

  The group of black and white ambushers, who had the upper hand on the field, heard the bugle call and the sound of horse hooves, and immediately responded with several whistling sounds. They then retreated in a flurry, coming quickly and retreating even faster.

  Beside him, Sima Yi's voice, filled with exhaustion, rang out, "Do not pursue!"

  A moment later, in the mountain forest, except for a group of wounded imperial guards, there was no one else under the trees.

  The moon slowly emerges from the dark sky, stays on the treetops, and drips down a little bit of fragmented silver.

  Simen Deguang lay under a tree several feet away, with fresh blood gushing out of the wound on his leg. His face was deathly pale. Yang Wei dragged his injured body to Simen's side and leaned against the tree behind him. The two men looked at each other with bitter smiles, thinking back to their adventures in the vast grasslands beyond the Great Wall, where they had weathered countless storms, yet never imagined that they would ultimately capsize in this small ditch in Jiangnan.

  The sound of horse hooves like a storm finally approached, and the one riding at the front was unexpectedly Pei Li, which surprised both Sima and Yang Wei.

  It's not just Pei Li who came, all ten of them who stayed behind have arrived, and there are hundreds of guards following behind.

  "How did you get here?"

  "The King of Jin saw that you two had been out for several days without returning, so he sent us to look for you. We happened to meet Commander Pei on the way. Luckily we arrived in time, but what exactly happened? Who was it that dared to ambush the guards of the King of Jin's mansion?" General Yuwen Gai asked in surprise upon seeing the miserable state of the two men.

  "Some were caught off guard and beaten. These people are skilled, with over a hundred of them, all tough guys." Sima Deguang pressed his hand against the wound on his leg, weakly replying, "The black-clad man that King Jin ordered us to investigate earlier seems to have been killed by them."

  Yang Wei added on the side, "The person who just fought with me was a young woman, about twenty years old, with excellent swordsmanship. She kept asking me a question earlier, wanting me to reveal the whereabouts of Ji Ya and Yi Feng."

  "Ji Yao, Yi Feng? Are you certain?" Yu Wen Gai asked in puzzlement.

  "She asked twice, if not for her persistence, I'm afraid I would have fallen under her sword earlier." Yang Wei still felt a lingering fear. If he really died at the hands of a woman's sword, it would be a great shame and humiliation.

  "Yifeng, Jiyao, who are these people? Has anyone heard of them?"

  Everyone present shook their heads in ignorance, except for Pei Li, who was in the dark. However, when he heard the two words "Yi Feng", his face suddenly changed. But he quickly calmed down and also shook his head, saying that he had never heard of it. Yet, in his heart, a fierce turmoil had already begun to stir up. Yi Feng, how could it be Yi Feng?!

  －－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－

  PS: During the Sui Wendi era, the basic organization of the military was generally 50 people in a team, 100 people in a brigade, and 200 people in a division. The corresponding military commanders were Dudu, Shuai Dudu, and Da Dudu. In addition to being the lowest-ranking officers in the Fubing system, these three Dudus were also the lowest three ranks of Sui Xun Guan (Sui honorary officials).

  After Emperor Yang Guang ascended to the throne, in the third year of the Great Enterprise, he changed the three military titles of Du Dū, Shuai Dū and Da Dū to Duì Zhèng, Lǚ Shuài and Xiào Wèi. He also merged the scattered ranks and honorary officials, replacing the three dū.