Chapter 101: Fighting and Seizing Power

The moonlight quietly sprinkled on the hills and gullies.

The sound of horses’ hooves was rapid and dust was flying. Li Hu and his group of more than 50 riders were galloping on the post road along the river.

“Puff”, a group of birds roosting in the water grass by the river were startled and flew into the sky.

Across the rolling hills, a huge military camp appeared with bright lights.

Li Hu pulled the reins suddenly, and the warhorse raised its front hooves into the air, snorted, and stopped abruptly.

Wang Daniu and others also reined in their horses.

Suddenly, a black shadow jumped out from behind a mound not far away and ran towards Li Hufei.

Wang Daniu and others drew their swords together, and the two bodyguards in front rode forward on their horses.

After a while, the two soldiers led the man over.

He is Xie Jing’s personal soldier.

The man saluted Li Hu and said, “General Li, the situation is getting out of control!”

Li Hu glanced at Wang Daniu.

Wang Daniu understood and asked, “Who controls the main camp gate?”

The man: “In the hands of General Lee’s scouts.”

Li Hu no longer hesitated. He squeezed his legs together and rode his horse straight towards the military camp.

Wang Daniu: “Hurry! Follow me! Follow me!”

The personal soldiers hurriedly rode their horses to catch up.

The man also trotted after him.

In the camp, people shouted, horses neighed, and torches flew.

The Second Prince’s men and the rebel generals in Guanzhong were urgently gathering their troops.

In the rising dust, the flickering torches illuminated the galloping horses and running infantry.

The military camp was shrouded in a murderous atmosphere.

Piles of bonfires lit up half the sky in the central army camp!
There was deathly silence in the camp gate. Dozens of pairs of eyes flashing with ferocity were staring at each other. Dozens of cold and gleaming swords were tightly grasped in everyone’s hands, as if they were ready to fight with the opposite side at any time!

Suddenly, the ground shook slightly.

The troops from Guanzhong appeared from the east end of the central army camp and rushed towards the camp gate.

At this time, a group of troops led by the second prince’s confidant appeared at the west end of the central army camp and welcomed the troops from Guanzhong.

The two teams met outside the camp gate and started fighting.

The two groups that were originally confronting each other also started fighting, with swords flashing and weapons making crisp sounds.

The sound of horse hooves shaking the earth came from the distant night. Everyone was shocked when they heard it. They stopped and formed square formations.

The horse convoy raised a cloud of dust and approached like an overwhelming tidal wave.

There were shouts and gasps, and the cavalrymen pulled the reins one after another, and the horse teams stopped one after another.

The cavalry moved to the sides, making way for Li Hu who was riding on his horse.

Several generals from Guanzhong showed joy on their faces and strode forward to greet them.

Looking at the corpses lying in front of the camp gate, Li Hu’s eyes flashed coldly. He squeezed his legs together, and his horse raised its head and hooves and walked forward.

Just when Li Hu was happy about having avenged his arrow attack, the scout brought him bad news.

The second prince’s chief historian suddenly led several of his confidants back to the camp. At that time, the troops in Guanzhong were changing guards with troops from other prefectures. This made the chief historian realize that something was wrong, and he led his men directly into the central military camp.

Before Xie Jing and others could react, the chief historian struck the drum in front of the central army tent to gather the generals.

Logically speaking, Xie Jing, who had the imperial edict in hand, could deal with the people around the second prince. However, due to various complicated and ambiguous political relationships, the imperial edict only said that the second prince was young and ignorant of the world, and was deceived by people with ulterior motives, and ordered Li Hu to take over the second prince’s command of the army.

The other matters were told to Li Hu by Dai Quan himself and were not written in the imperial edict.

In addition, the chief historians of the Prince’s Palace were all selected and appointed by the emperor himself. Without a clear decree, Xie Jing really couldn’t do anything to him.

Fearing a fight might break out, Li Hu hurried forward as fast as he could, but he was still a step too late.

Several generals in Guanzhong knelt down on one knee in unison: “Greetings, Marshal!”

Holding the title of Minister of War means that an official obtains the title of Minister of War through the method of adding titles, which not only improves the official’s status, but also gives him certain military powers, allowing him to have actual military decision-making and command power.

Li Hu is now the supreme commander of the government troops in northern Shaanxi.

Li Hu nodded immediately, then slowly swept his eyes across the faces of the Second Prince’s confidants and others, finally landing on a familiar-looking general: “Do you know me?”

The general had worked with Li Hu under the command of Duke Shanguo Shi Guangzhu, so he naturally recognized Li Hu.

“See the Marshal!”

The other generals hesitated for a moment, then knelt on one knee and shouted, “Greetings, Marshal!”

The Second Prince’s confidants changed their expressions.

Li Hu said loudly: “The chief historian of the Second Prince’s Palace wants to commit treason, so I am in charge of the army. All soldiers, listen up! Anyone who dares to disobey my orders will be killed immediately!”

There was a thunderous response of “yes”, followed by a loud “clatter” of iron, and thousands of soldiers knelt on one knee in unison. The expressions of the second prince’s confidants changed drastically.

Li Hu raised his hand.

The scouts rushed forward, swords drawn, and formed a circle, surrounding several of the Second Prince’s confidants in the center.

The leader sighed and threw his sword to the ground.

The others threw their weapons on the ground.

Looking at the second prince’s confidants being dragged away, Li Hu turned his gaze to the officers and soldiers who were dragged in: “You have all made military achievements, so I will pardon your crimes, and those who died will be compensated as if they died in battle.”

Everyone knelt down together: “Thank you, Marshal, for not killing us!”

Li Hu: “Even though I can spare your life sentence, I cannot forgive you for your crimes! Each of you will be beaten with twenty military sticks!”

Everyone kowtowed in unison: “Yes.” They all stood up and returned to their respective camps.

Li Hu looked at the soldiers in Guanzhong again and said: “The officers above the rank of Qianzong will be awarded military merit once, and the rest will receive half a year’s salary. The injured will receive another half a year’s salary for medicine, and the dead will each receive an additional 300 taels of compensation.”

The soldiers in Guanzhong became excited and said, “Thank you, Marshal, for your grace!” and were about to kneel down.

Li Hu waved his hand: “Everyone, get up.”

The generals and soldiers in Guanzhong said: “Yes.”

Li Hu: “Come on, follow me to meet the chief official who made the emperor smash the tea bowl.” As he said this, he rode his horse into the central military camp.

Such a big commotion had already alarmed the people who were confronting each other in the central army tent.

Inside the central army tent, the chief historian and the generals under the second prince stood on the left.

Xie Jing and other generals stood on the right.

Some generals also stood by the door with their heads lowered.

The sounds of horse hooves and footsteps were getting closer and closer. The hands of the generals under the second prince, which were tightly gripping their swords, softened, and they sheathed their swords silently one by one.

“Drop your weapons and step aside!” Wang Daniu’s voice came from outside the big tent.

Then there was the sound of weapons being thrown to the ground.

The chief historian and several of his close associates stood there in a daze, looking deathly pale.

Suddenly, Xie Jing and those generals knelt down on one knee.

Li Hu walked in and sat down in front of the table in the middle. Then he placed the jade seal he had taken from the second prince on the table, with the imperial edict next to it.

Except for the chief historian, everyone else knelt down.

“Where is His Highness?” the Chief Historian suddenly asked.

“Rest.” Li Hu replied lightly.

“Rest? I’m afraid you’ve locked him up?”

“Don’t worry about this. Just think more about yourself.”

Before he could finish his words, a noise came from outside the door: “What are you doing? What are you doing?”

Wang Daniu, with a knife slung over his shoulder, strode in and knelt before Li Hu: “General, all those civil servants have been captured.”

Li Hu: “Cut it off.” He then pulled out a command arrow and threw it down with a bang.

Wang Daniu picked up the command arrow, clasped his hands and bowed: “Yes!” He strode out.

Everyone looked awe-inspiring.

Li Hu looked at the chief historian and said, “The emperor is so gracious that he will not implicate your family members.” He then drew out a command arrow and threw it in front of him.

The chief official’s legs went weak and he knelt down.

The faces of the people behind him were as pale as paper, and several generals looked at Li Hu with frightened eyes.

Li Hu closed his eyes. There was nothing he could do. The emperor wanted their heads.

The chief official came to his senses and knelt down tremblingly, saying, “Your Majesty, I thank you for your grace!” He untied the sword from his waist and staggered out.

The second prince’s confidants and generals all kowtowed and said, “Your Majesty, we thank you for your grace!” They took off their swords and knives and followed him out.

A personal soldier picked up the command arrow and walked out.

After a moment of silence, Li Hu spoke: “Everyone, get up.”

Xie Jing and the generals: “Yes!” They all stood up and stood on both sides.

Li Hu stood up and said, “No need to be polite. Two things. One is intelligence, and the other is mobilizing the army. Thank you Jing!”

Xie Jing: “Yes!”

Li Hu: “From now on, all the scouts will be under your command. I want to know the situation around Yulin before dusk tomorrow.”

Xie Jing: “Yes.”

Li Hu continued: “After daybreak, call back all the soldiers and prepare to support Yulin.”

(End of this chapter)