Chapter 323 Come as you please, leave as you please

At 11 p.m., there were no pedestrians on the street.

The Zhang family’s carriage wobbled out of Zhengyang Gate. Zhang Zheng in the carriage looked at Chen Ji, and couldn’t understand when Chen Ji had a grudge against He Ji. “Chen Ji, why are you messing with He Ji?”

Chen Ji was leaning against the carriage with his eyes closed, and he opened his eyes when he heard the words: “Training.”

Zhang Xia glanced at Chen Ji and asked, “Is this really a military training?”

Chen Ji insisted, “It’s just training. We created a formation that needs to be tested with real weapons. If colleagues don’t dare to kill each other in competition, they will never be able to practice anything real. Once we master this formation…”

Xiaoman leaned closer and whispered to Zhang Xia, “Second sister, is the young master really going to train his troops?”

“It’s fake,” Zhang Xia said lightly, “When have you ever seen him explain so much to others? The more he explains, the more empty he feels inside, and the more fake his excuses become.”

Xiaoman said “oh”.

In another carriage, the Yulin soldiers looked at their masked colleagues, looked at each other, and couldn’t help laughing out loud.

Someone pointed at Duo Bao and said, “You have small eyes to begin with, and you look even more shifty with the mask on. You look like you’re going to steal a dog.”

Duobao asked impatiently, “How good can you be?”

Pao Ge was sitting in the carriage and asked tentatively, “Who are you?”

Duobao was about to answer: “We are…”

Li Xuan coughed and said, “Aren’t you ashamed? Have you forgotten what I told you when you left? You must not reveal your identity no matter what. If outsiders knew our identities, I’m afraid we would become the laughing stock of the capital.”

It would be shameful for the imperial guards to fight with sticks, no matter whether they win or lose.

Pao Ge and Er Dao were confused by what they heard and could not determine the identities of these masked men for a moment… How did fighting with He Ji with sticks have anything to do with being embarrassed or not?

At this time, the carriage left Zhengyang Gate, turned east, and slowly stopped in a secluded alley.

The Yulin soldiers jumped off the car with their weapons in hand. When only Brother Pao and Erdao were left on the car, Erdao whispered, “Brother, they only have so many people, how can they set up a stick?”

Brother Pao was more open-minded than yesterday: “We have come this far, how can we turn back? Maybe there are some officials among them to support us! With so many people accompanying us, what is there to be afraid of? Brother Pao must drink the wine from the Eight Great Hutongs.”

On the other side, Chen Ji was about to get off the car, but Zhang Xia held down the hard bow in the car: “This is not Guyuan. Using a bow and crossbow privately at the foot of the imperial city is a crime of treason. Remember, don’t wear armor and don’t use a bow and crossbow. Also, don’t cause too many deaths. If too many people die, this matter can’t be covered up.”

Chen Ji put down his crossbow and asked: “How many people can die at most?”

Zhang Xia thought for a moment and said, “If there are less than five, we can keep it secret. If there are more than five, we can’t keep it secret. Also, don’t reveal the identities of so many officials. If too many officials show up at once, things will get out of hand.”

Chen Ji responded: “I understand.”

After everyone in the car got out, Zhang Xia held him back and said seriously, “The Zhang family will get 50% of the business here.”

Chen Ji was slightly startled: “Have you guessed what I’m going to do?”

Zhang Xia speculated, “You made a lot of money by buying and selling information in Guyuan, but when you came back, almost all of it was gone, but your cultivation level has greatly improved. If I were to guess, your cultivation path must be very expensive, so you have to find a way to make money. In this outer city, there are not many ways to make quick money, and there are only one or two related to Hutchison.”

Chen Ji smiled and said, “Let’s go.”

Zhang Xia sat in the carriage, watching Chen Ji jump off the carriage, and suddenly asked, “My Zhang family only provided a few carriages and took half of them. Don’t you want to ask why?”

Chen Ji turned his back to her and waved his hand: “You must have your reasons, no need to ask so many questions.”

Zhang Xia sat in the car and thought for a moment, then jumped out and climbed to the highest restaurant nearby, overlooking the Eight Great Hutongs.

……

……

In the deep alleys of the Eight Great Hutongs, there is Shitou Hutong.

The middle-aged man who led people to search for Pao Ge yesterday was sitting on a bench with his back straight, his hands folded in his sleeves and his eyes closed. If you look closely, you can see that he seems to be sitting, but his buttocks are hanging in the air and not touching the bench.

The troupe behind them was singing Dingxi Mountain. When they came to the part where the general returns home in glory after a hundred battles, the middle-aged man shook his head slightly, as if he was listening to the show.

The lines of the martial artist can be heard from the troupe. Outside the troupe wall, the middle-aged man closes his eyes and moves his lips: “For twenty years, I have been buried at the foot of Dingxi Mountain. Until now, I am hesitant to retire after my success. I left home as a young man, riding a silver spear and a white horse, laughing in the spring breeze. Now I come back and bow at the steps, knocking at the door with my broken armor, but I don’t see any old friends.”

The middle-aged man didn’t know how many times he had listened to it, but he recited it word for word without making any mistake.

A man with a staff hurriedly walked under the red lantern and came to the middle-aged man: “Master Qian, we haven’t found Brother Pao yet. It seems he has hidden underground.”

Mr. Qian opened his eyes and asked: “Did the Cao Gang receive the money?”

The stick responded, “I took it. But the Cao Gang said that no one escaped by water yesterday, but people from the Sanshan Society came in from outside. The Cao Gang reminded us that a big shot from the Sanshan Society returned to Beijing recently, so we should be careful.”

Master Qian said calmly, “The Cao Gang is used to stirring up trouble. The Sanshan Society has exposed many of their dirty deeds, and they hold a grudge against them, so they try to sow discord with the Sanshan Society whenever they see someone. The military leaders of the Sanshan Society are not interested in business. They have their own things to do. We should not get involved, and we should not provoke them.”

He said, “Don’t worry, we are very polite to Mr. Qi.”

At this moment, a man with a stick came running over: “Mr. Qian!”

Mr. Qian turned around and looked: “Found it?”

The stick panted and said, “Found it, found it!”

Mr. Qian slowly stood up and smoothed the wrinkles on his gown: “Where did you find it?”

The stick replied, “In Lishamao Hutong.”

Mr. Qian paused as he stroked his long gown. “He dares to come back?”

“Yes, he said he would come to set up the stick again today!”

Mr. Qian picked up his clothes and turned to leave: “He is quite a character. I am afraid he will find that he can’t escape and wants to die standing.”

Uncle Qian walked in front, and the bandits gathered behind him from the alleys. A customer looked down from the second floor and saw dense crowds of bandits pouring under the red lanterns.

When they arrived at Lishamao Hutong, Pao Ge and Erdao were standing alone at the entrance of the hutong, which was already crowded with people holding sticks. In the small buildings on both sides of the hutong, customers and women had no time to care about their business and opened the small windows to look out.

Seeing Mr. Qian coming, the sticks made way for him.

Master Qian came closer, looked Pao Ge up and down, narrowed his eyes and asked: “Do you still want to stand up?”

Brother Pao laughed: “Since we have come to this prosperous capital and seen the world, there is no reason for us to leave in disgrace. I must use this stick.”

Mr. Qian seemed to have some emotion: “Brother Pao was born at the wrong time. If you had come to the capital earlier, you might have been the most important person in the storytellers’ stories, and your name would have been mentioned in the capital’s fighting industry. If that were the case, I might still be working under you.”

Brother Pao smiled and said, “It’s not too late for Master Qian to come to me to pay his respects now. If you do, you will be the first one to pay your respects.”

Master Qian seemed to have heard a joke: “If you can really stand firm at the foot of this imperial city, why can’t I bring Xingyi Sect to work for you? But it’s too early to talk about this now, you have to survive first.”

The brother took off his short black jacket and threw it casually at his feet.

He took a deep breath and said, “Come on, life and death are determined by fate, and wealth and honor are determined by God!”

Master Qian said calmly, “Go ahead.”

The cudgels rushed out from Mr. Qian, carrying iron bars and axes, and rushed towards the Pao brothers. In the narrow alley, the onlookers upstairs saw the cudgels passing through rows of red lanterns, getting closer and closer to the Pao brothers. A woman whispered behind the window: “It’s a pity that he died like this.”

The next moment, a group of masked men in gray suddenly rushed in from outside the alley, passed by Pao Ge, and collided head-on with the men with sticks who rushed up.

As soon as the two sides started fighting, the spectators upstairs almost thought that some army had broken in. The formation was tight and the movements were uniform. But the strange thing was that the masked men held their spears upside down and only used the wooden handles at the end of the spears to stab people.

Array.

Qi Chenzhuo was in the front row holding a spear, Zhou Chong and Zhou Li were guarding on the left and right with shields, Duo Bao and Li Cen were holding bamboos, and in the back there were four spearmen and two Yulin soldiers holding tridents as screens, protecting the two wings and the crossbowmen.

Twelve people in total.

The twelve-man formation charged forward in the dark alley, and the extremely long bamboo arrived before the people. The dense branches and thorns made it difficult for the opponent to dodge.

As a thug raised his axe to chop, the bamboo immediately stabbed at him, and the branches swept him so hard that he couldn’t open his eyes. He gritted his teeth and rushed forward with his eyes closed, but the bamboo branches lifted his axe handle high, so he couldn’t chop down for a while.

Qi Chenzhuo hesitated for a moment. Duobao, who was holding the bamboo, kicked him angrily and shouted in a low voice: “What are you standing there for? What did the coach teach you? If you can’t do it, it’s your turn to hold the bamboo!”

“Oh oh,” Qi Zhuozhuo rushed forward and stabbed the opponent’s chest with the tail of the spear, breaking two ribs immediately. The pain was so severe that the opponent couldn’t breathe and fell to the ground screaming in pain.

Another group of soldiers rushed forward, unwilling to believe in the evil, and the Yulin Army used the same trick to knock down two people. This move alone made the soldiers helpless.

After just one encounter, the stickmen were forced to retreat one after another, with an extremely ferocious momentum.

Master Qian narrowed his eyes behind the crowd. How could the thugs in the market fight with such a well-organized group of people? This was clearly an army!

But how could there be an army in the alleys of the city?

He whispered to himself, “Three Mountain Society?”

At this moment, the soldiers of the Yulin Army were silent and rushed forward. The last time they fought against the Jing Dynasty’s Tiance Army, they were too frustrated. Those Tiance Army had experienced hundreds of battles, and every veteran was extremely difficult to deal with. Every move was full of psychological games. Even though they were officers, they were overwhelmed by the Tiance Army.

Now, after the battle between the Yulin Army and the Tiance Army, they returned to the capital and felt a lot more relaxed.

Qi Chenzhuo murmured quietly: “It doesn’t seem that difficult.”

When charging, the stickmen saw that they could not get close to the battle formation, so they threw flying axes from a distance. But as soon as the flying axes flew out of their hands, Zhou Chong and Zhou Lier held long shields and blocked the battle formation, like closing a door.

Clang clang clang, the flying axes were nailed on the shields, and they couldn’t kill at all. In this narrow alley, the mandarin duck formation was like a porcupine covered with thorns and thick skin, rushing around and stabbing anyone it saw.

In just a stick of incense, hundreds of stickmen were pushed out of half the alley by the Mandarin Duck Formation, and there was wailing on the ground… Hutchison had not suffered such a big loss in more than a decade!
Someone with a stick beside Master Qian said urgently, “Master Qian, you have to take action. You have to take action.”

Master Qian silently observed the Mandarin Duck Formation. After a long while, he suddenly said, “You lead fifty people to surround them from the back so that they can’t take care of both ends. I don’t think they are that coordinated.”

He pointed at another person and said, “Gousheng, you lead another fifty people to ambush in the brothel. When they pass by the door, you charge out with the tables and chairs on your shoulders. You must cut them into three parts! Remember, if you succeed, I will reward you with fifty taels of silver, and I will pay for the medicine!”

“Okay, please wait!”

After explaining all this, Mr. Qian slowly retreated, allowing the group of masked men to advance deeper into the alley.

Just as the Yulin Army passed the gate of Yihong Courtyard, the small door of Yihong Courtyard suddenly opened. The soldiers used tables and chairs as shields and charged into the side of the Yuanyang Formation.

This mandarin duck formation was arranged in a long and narrow terrain, with the sides being the weakest point, and Mao Zhu had no time to turn around.

The spearmen on the side and the pick-and-rollers holding tridents tried to stop the stickmen, but there were too many stickmen rushing out, and the Yulin Army had only trained for one day, so they were not proficient in changing formations. For a moment, the stickmen really rushed in, and the situation instantly changed from a one-sided charge to a melee.

Li Xuan, who was holding the line in the back, looked at Chen Ji and asked, “Do you want to help?”

Chen Ji shook his head: “They are officials, they can’t die. It’s not a bad thing to encounter setbacks and variables now. It’s better to learn a lesson now than to lose your life on the battlefield. Now we are only facing the market. If we really encounter the elite of Jing Dynasty, they will have more means to dismantle the formation.”

Li Xuan looked back at the way they came. Dozens of soldiers with sticks were lying on the ground unable to get up, but no one from the Yulin Army was injured so far. The sharpness of the formation was beginning to show.

In the hands of the Yulin Army, the Mandarin Duck Formation is like a sword that has been covered in dust for years. Repeated training is like wiping off the rust and dust on it.

It was by relying on this integrated offensive and defensive formation that the Qi family army killed 300 Japanese soldiers and lost three of their own, creating a myth of battle casualty ratio in the late Ming Dynasty.

Nine battles and nine victories, killing 5,500 enemies.

At this time, shouts and screams came from behind the Yulin Army. A man with a stick led fifty people and rushed over, trying to surround the Yulin Army.

Chen Ji said to Li Xuan: “Retreat! I will lead the way, and you will guard the rear.”

He turned around and rushed towards the surrounding sticks. Li Xuan rushed into the Mandarin Duck Formation to restore order and cleared out the sticks in the formation one by one. The Mandarin Duck Formation changed direction along with Chen Ji and rushed towards the direction they came from.

Just as the shield was turning, Master Qian suddenly picked up an axe from his side and threw it: “You want to leave without leaving any people behind? Is this a place where you can come and go as you please?”

However, when the axe flew towards him, Li Xuan jumped up and kicked the axe handle in mid-air. The axe made a buzzing sound and flew back, faster than when it came.

Mr. Qian tilted his head and the axe whizzed past him and hit the chest of the man holding the stick behind him.

Mr. Qian was startled and turned around suddenly.

Master!

The man holding the stick beside him said anxiously, “Master Qian, they are about to escape!”

But Mr. Qian didn’t dare to chase him rashly for the time being.

In the alley, Chen Ji led the way while Li Xuan blocked the way from behind. In just an incense stick of time, the Yulin Army rushed out from where they came from and headed straight into the darkness of East City.

Li Xuan waited until all his colleagues ran far away before he retreated from the alley while fighting.

Uncle Qian looked at the messy alley and the wailing sticks all over the ground. For a moment, he couldn’t believe that the other party had actually escaped unscathed.

Come and leave as you please.

Master Qian said coldly: “Chase! I don’t believe so many people can hide without a trace!”

They chased the men for several miles and through alleys, but apart from finding a few discarded bamboos, the masked men seemed to have disappeared out of thin air.

During the search, a horse-drawn carriage passed through Zhengyangmen Street. When the carriage met the stick, the driver cursed: “Whose carriage dares to block it? Do you know the rules? Get out of here!”

The sticks took a look at the hollow carvings on the car.

Peacock, a third-rank official!
They quickly retreated to the side of the road and said respectfully, “I didn’t mean to bump into your carriage. Please forgive me, sir.”

The driver cursed and whipped his whip, driving the carriage past the stickmen: “If you do this again, I will arrest you all and send you to the authorities!”

After the carriage drove away in the darkness, the guards breathed a sigh of relief and continued to search for the masked man.

In the carriage that was going away, someone was complaining quietly: “Zhou Chong, you raised your shield too late. A flying axe almost hit me just now!”

“Don’t blame me, you’re not decisive enough every time you thrust your spear, and I’m so anxious that I want to curse you! And you, Duobao, your bamboo stick hit me in the face several times, can you be more careful?”

“Bullshit, it was you who came close to my bamboo, I saved you several times!”

The six carriages were broken into smaller pieces, loaded with complaints and grievances, and drove into the inner city from Chongwenmen, Zhengyangmen and Xuanwumen respectively and disappeared.

(End of this chapter)