Chapter 95 The war begins

Green trees reflected on the windows, birds chirped, and the windows of the Hall of Mental Cultivation were all open.

The wind blew through the open window opposite, causing Emperor Yongchang’s silk gown to flutter backwards.

There were three test papers on the imperial desk where he was standing, all weighed down with jade paperweights, and the names on the edges of the papers had been torn off.

Looking closely, it was Bai Hongzhi’s test paper.

At this time, Dai Quan hurried in and whispered a few words in Emperor Yongchang’s ear.

Emperor Yongchang turned around and asked: “Is this true?”

Dai Quan: “Your Majesty, that is exactly what happened. It was an informant that I placed there who reported this to me.”

Emperor Yongchang paced back and forth, saying as he walked: “What do you think he sent these people out of the capital for?”

Dai Quan stepped forward and whispered, “These people are martial arts masters that Xia Shouzhong has collected from the public for the emperor in the past two years. They must be doing something shady, such as assassination.”

After a pause, he said, “Your Majesty, this is an opportunity.”

Emperor Yongchang stopped and said nothing.

Dai Quan secretly glanced at Emperor Yongchang, observing his reaction.

Emperor Yongchang sighed, “Forget it this time. Kill these people to make him alert and restrain himself. If he still doesn’t understand my painstaking efforts and still intends to go against me, then I will purge all the people around him.”

Dai Quan sighed inwardly and replied, “Yes. We need to find a powerful person for this matter. The Imperial Guards and the Northern Pacification Office are prone to leaking information, but the Imperial Household Department is good at gathering information and assassinating people.”

Emperor Yongchang: “Li Hu?”

Dai Quan: “Yes.”

Emperor Yongchang: “Okay! Immediately draft a secret decree for Li Hu and have him do it!”

Suddenly, there was a sound of footsteps outside, and the eunuch on duty at the Meridian Gate rushed in like a gust of wind, raised the military newspaper in his hand, and said breathlessly: “Da, Datong.”

Dai Quan strode over, snatched the military newspaper, and walked back to Emperor Yongchang.

Emperor Yongchang snatched the military report, tore open the seal and read it, his face suddenly became serious.

Dai Quan was startled and stared at Emperor Yongchang with his eyes open.

Emperor Yongchang’s expression became uglier as he looked at the military report. Then, he slammed the report shut and said, “The Mongols attacked Datong. The two armies fought at Yanghekou. Datong’s guards were defeated. The Datong general led the remnants to flee back to Datong Town.”

Dai Quan was shocked: “How is it possible?!”

“It’s the Jurchens. You can take a look too.” Emperor Yongchang handed over the military report. Dai Quan quickly bowed and took it with both hands to read it.

Emperor Yongchang paced back and forth, saying as he walked: “If I am not mistaken, this is the strategy of the Duke of Shan to encircle and annihilate the main force of the Yik Zhao League. First, they pretended to be defeated and then retreated, then lured the main cavalry of the Datong Guard to break away from the infantry formation, and then divided and surrounded them, and finally the Jurchen cavalry launched a surprise attack from the flank.”

Dai Quan quickly glanced over and found that it was true.

Emperor Yongchang walked to the window, looked into the distance, and said worriedly: “I am worried that the Fifth Army Camp will be attacked by the Jurchen cavalry.”

Dai Quan was shocked when he heard this. Without the vanguard battalion, the cavalry of the Fifth Army Battalion were too scattered. If they were attacked by the main Jurchen cavalry, the vanguard army would definitely suffer a great loss!

Emperor Yongchang: “Decree that the three thousand troops immediately march north to support the Fifth Army Camp.”

After working hard for most of the night, Li Hu did not go to bed until the end of the Yin hour and was now having breakfast in the back tent.

Wang Daniu walked in with a personal soldier, who was holding a bundle.

Li Hu finished the food in his bowl, picked up the bowl of soup, and drank it down. Then he stood up and asked the guard, “Did your uncle ask you to come?”

The guard said: “General, Uncle San said that this is the change of clothes that Miss Lin prepared for you.”

Li Hu took the bag and said, “Let Uncle San tell Miss Lin that I can’t go back recently.”

Bodyguard: “Yes.” He turned around and strode out.

Wang Daniu has already cleaned the table.

Li Hu put down his bag and said to Wang Daniu, “We must keep a close eye on the Shanguo Mansion. Don’t let anything go wrong. Inform everyone that no one is allowed to enter without my military order.” Wang Daniu: “What if it’s an imperial decree?”

Li Hu glared at him and said, “The imperial edict has come, I will definitely rush over.”

Wang Daniu scratched his head, it seemed to be the case.

At this time, a burst of hurried horse hoof sounds came in, and stopped outside the big tent. Then a personal soldier ran in and reported to Li Hu: “General, there is an order!”

Li Hu didn’t have time to think about it and walked out.

Outside the central army tent, a red-robed eunuch from the Imperial Household Department was standing there holding a box containing the imperial edict.

Behind him, several guards from the Imperial Household Department were guarding a cage covered with black cloth, from which the sound of pigeons could be heard from time to time.

Li Hu walked out quickly.

The eunuch in red spoke: “General Li, this is a secret decree. Please take the imperial edict and read it for yourself.” Then he handed it over with both hands.

Secret decree?

Li Hu took the box in a daze, raised it above his head and bowed to the air, then took the sharp knife handed to him by Wang Daniu, opened the seal, and took out the secret decree from inside.

Li Hu unfolded the secret decree and read it.

The red-robed eunuch approached Li Hu and whispered, “Our ancestors have told us to follow General Li’s arrangements.”

Li Hu finished reading it, thought for a while, and then rolled up the secret decree and said to Wang Daniu: “Gather the scouts under Zhang Cheng and change into plain clothes.” At this point, he felt the temperature and found it was still a bit cold in the morning and evening, and then said: “Wear a loose plain clothes over the cloth armor.”

Wang Daniu: “Yes. I will arrange it right away!”

The red-robed eunuch asked, “May I ask, General Li, how many men are there?”

Li Hu: “Less than fifty people.”

The eunuch in red was relieved. The scouts were all the most elite soldiers, and it would be easy for so many people to hunt down a hundred or so so-called martial arts masters.

Li Hu said to one of his personal soldiers, “Go and get Zhang Cheng.” He then said to the red-robed eunuch, “I will arrange the military affairs in the camp.”

The red-robed eunuch smiled and said, “As you should.”

Li Hu said to another guard, “Please go to the side tent for some tea.”

The personal soldier: “Yes.”

Li Hu looked at the secret decree in his hand, shook his head, and turned back into the big tent.
A stick of incense later, Li Hu and his group of dozens of riders rushed out of the camp like a hurricane and galloped towards the southwest.

The territory of the Dashun Dynasty was indeed too large. In the capital, it was a bright spring day, but here it was thunder and rain after a strong wind.

Heavy rain was pouring down, and dark clouds covered the vast mountains all the way to the distant horizon.

Through the rain curtain that filled the sky and the earth, one could vaguely see that the mountain road was littered with corpses, including old people, women, young men, and children. Several trucks were overturned on the ground, and several large boxes were smashed to pieces. Things were scattered everywhere. Looking closely, they were all opera costumes.

Obviously this is a theatre troupe.

In the rain, a big white horse ran towards the exit of the mountain road, stopped beside several corpses, and snorted continuously.

At this moment, there were continuous flashes of lightning, and soon, a burst of muffled thunder rolled over from the distant sky.

A corpse with a purple headband moved its fingers a few times.

Then there was another bright flash of lightning, followed by a loud thunder, and it seemed to explode on the mountain road!

The corpse suddenly sat up, gasping for breath as if he had a nightmare.

Then he stared blankly at the scene in front of him, and then a trace of pain emerged on his face. It was all because of him that the entire troupe suffered such a tragic death!

Who are they? Why did they dare to kill the imperial messenger?

The pain in his chest brought him back to his senses. He looked at the bag that fell on the ground and realized that it had saved his life.

(End of this chapter)