Chapter 90

At this time, it was a good time of clear autumn weather. When General He Kuntai led his troops out of the camp in the morning, there was still a gentle breeze and bright sunshine. However, as soon as he stepped into the horse field, a dark cloud appeared out of nowhere. General He Kuntai's eyelids suddenly twitched, feeling an inexplicable sense of anxiety.

"General?"

"It's nothing, let's go." He Kuntai waved his hand, thinking that he might be too tired recently.

After all, his troops surrounded the Feng Manor, and the horse field was lush with green grass, seemingly impossible for anyone to tamper with the horses.

Because the herd of horses ran a bit far, Yuan Ke looked into the distance at the scattered horses on the grass and felt that the number seemed a bit small?

Embarrassed, Xie Yuan gave a dry laugh and said, "I guess they ran too far. I'll have someone herd them back."

He was about to use the excuse of instructing the servants to leave with General Wei, but unexpectedly, He Kuntai stopped him: "No need to trouble Young Master Xie, we'll do it ourselves."

As he finished speaking, some eager young generals volunteered, saying they hadn't herded horses in a long time and wanted to give it a try.

"Indeed, General, let us do it ourselves?"

These young generals were eager to show off in front of the commander. So, when someone spoke up, many others responded.

He Kuntai didn't stop them and just raised his hand to let them go.

Xie Yuan awkwardly instructed the "servants" to prepare saddles and horse ropes for them, but he was extremely anxious. They had only gathered about a hundred horses, worried that He Kuntai and the others would notice something wrong, they only tied up around ten sturdy ones near the horse field, and let the rest roam freely.

With so few horses, once these generals approached, they would surely notice something was amiss.

As the leading young general pushed away the slow "servant" and was about to saddle up, a faint ripple suddenly sounded in the air. Before they could react, a tall and burly confidant beside He Kuntai fell silently to the ground.

"What's going on?"

"Why did Hu Laoba suddenly fall?"

"Hu Laoba, Hu Laoba…"

The group of people was puzzled. Hu Laoba was a powerful warrior in their army, and he was known for his toughness, as if being stabbed would not affect him. But now, why did he suddenly lose consciousness?

Yuan Ke crouched down and pinched Hu Laoba's philtrum, finding no response. He then checked his breath and found that he had already stopped breathing!

"He's dead."

"How could it be!" Everyone exclaimed. These were all their own people around them.

Moreover, Xie Yuan hadn't served the tea yet, and poisoning was impossible.

"Look, there's blood." Someone with sharp eyes reminded, and then everyone quickly turned Hu Laoba over, only to find a burst of blood on his back, soaking his clothes and the grass.

"Who dares to act under our noses!"

"Xie Young Master, do you have anything to say?"

The crowd was furious, all looking towards the unfamiliar Xie Yuan and the horse dealers.

Xie Yuan trembled his lips and said, "G-Gentlemen, it's not our fault. We've been standing here the whole time and haven't approached at all!"

He was already scared, and now he didn't need to pretend anymore, revealing his true colors.

Mr. Huang was even more terrified, his face turned pale, and he stammered, "Y-yes, he died among you!"

What a heaven-sent opportunity! Wei Zhenyuan and Wei Ling praised Mr. Huang in their hearts while speaking loudly in their rough Rong language, claiming their innocence.

The scene was in chaos.

Just at this moment, the second bullet whistled by and harvested the life of the second person. It happened that this unlucky person was Chai Gaozhan.

He probably never thought that for the sake of the small favor from the "horse dealers," he would end up losing his own life.

But he deserved it too. From the beginning, he had been eliminating dissidents and colluding with the Rong people to harm loyal and righteous warriors. It was likely that he was among those who persuaded He Kuntai to cooperate with the Rong people.

"Captain Chai!"

The people were now completely panicked, drawing their knives and looking around, but not forgetting to surround General He Kuntai at the center.

"Who's playing tricks, come out!"

"Looking for death, seeking trouble from Yan Wang's head? Don't want to live, huh? Once I catch that person, I'll skin him alive, break his bones, and scatter his ashes!"

Someone else gave an order: "Quick, ride the horses and look everywhere, don't leave out trees or grass pits!"

"Yes!"

Xie Yuan and the others were also surrounded by soldiers with long halberds. If anyone made a move, they would be immediately pierced with a hole.

Mr. Huang cried with a mournful face, grabbed Xie Yuan's sleeve, and hid behind him, repeatedly complaining, "Young Master Xie , I'm innocent. Quickly tell them it's not my fault!"

Xie Yuan: You might be innocent, but we're not!

He desperately pulled at his sleeve, and at the same time, used his eyes to ask General Wei next to him what to do.

Wei Zhenyuan signaled him to remain calm, then suddenly widened his eyes, as if remembering something, and loudly shouted at He Kuntai and the others, "It's divine retribution, surely it's divine retribution, they are all getting punished!"

"What? Divine retribution?!"

"The heavens are angry, let's leave this place!" Wei Ling and the others immediately chimed in, shouting in agreement, clamoring to leave.

At this point, no one cared whether their Rong language was accurate or not. Even those who understood Rong language had changed their expressions.

Ancient people were more or less superstitious, and with people dying continuously on the scene, almost half of the generals surrounding He Kuntai had already died. Unable to find the cause, these dead people suddenly burst into a shower of blood and then fell dead.

A sense of panic pervaded the scene, and this kind of atmosphere was the most contagious. Although many of them were seasoned veterans who had seen their share of slaughter and bloodshed, real, immediate killing with weapons was different from this death, which seemed like a plague.

In addition to the panic caused by the group of foreign horse dealers, some of the soldiers present were trembling so much that they could hardly hold their weapons.

"Shut up, what divine retribution? I walk righteously and sit uprightly, what's there to fear about divine retribution! These foreign people are up to something, kill them…" General He Kuntai's command was cut off as a blood spot exploded on his forehead.

The splattering blood and brain matter shocked Yuan Ke, who was standing nearby, splashing his face and leaving him with a horrified and stunned expression.

"General!"

A few moments later, another explosion of brain matter occurred, this time it was one of He Kuntai's men. Wei Zhenyuan and his group took advantage of the chaos, seized weapons, and killed some stubborn soldiers. Then they removed their disguises, revealing their true identities.

At this moment, the Wei family's soldiers who had secretly infiltrated the Courtyard also gathered around.

Initially, He Kuntai's men had the advantage in numbers, but when they saw Wei Zhenyuan and the soldiers wearing the Wei family's armor, they were dumbfounded, thinking their ghosts had returned.

"Wei, Wei… General Wei!"

Wei Zhenyuan took the opportunity to speak loudly, "He Kuntai, this old traitor, colluded with the Rong people, committed many injustices, and has incurred divine retribution! If any of you wish to surrender, I, General, will forgive past offenses!"

With many of He Kuntai's trusted subordinates dead, and Wei Zhenyuan's group taking advantage of the situation to kill more, the soldiers looked at each other, and soon some of them voluntarily put down their weapons.

Once one person did, others followed suit, and the sound of weapons falling to the ground continued.

It worked!

Wei Ling wiped the blood off his face and quickly found a messenger to send back the message. They would take advantage of this momentum to capture the main camp!

On the rooftop of the Courtyard, in a hidden corner, Cheng Duo put away his gun. He changed into the armor of a Wei family soldier and said to Yong Ge, "After we leave, you follow Xie Yuan to Twenty-Li Slope and wait for me."

This had been discussed earlier. Yong Ge nodded, holding back his worries as he said, "I'll wait for you to come back."

At this moment, he only regretted that his martial skills were not good enough. Although he had never abandoned his archery skills, he had not learned for long enough. Cheng Ge and his father were worried that he would panic on the battlefield, so they didn't allow him to participate in everything.

Seeing his wife's eyes reddening from suppressing her emotions, Cheng Duo pulled his head close and kissed his forehead deeply. "Don't worry, we'll be fine."

"Mm."

After Wei Zhenyuan and his group left, Xie Yuan dragged Mr. Huang, who looked like a dead dog, and found Yong Ge. "They're all gone, let's go back quickly."

Although General Wei left some soldiers to guard the Feng Manor, the horse farm had just experienced a fierce battle, and the blood on the ground hadn't dried yet. Xie Yuan felt uneasy.

The Xie family had a small courtyard specifically for refuge, located inside Twenty-Li Slope City. Normally, only an elderly couple lived there, and no one else knew it belonged to the Xie family.

His father must have already taken the Xie family there, and he was worried about An Ge, so he had to go back and check on him.

Xie Yuan found the makeshift donkey cart they had prepared in advance. This cart didn't even have a canvas cover, and there were several swill buckets placed in the back compartment. The cart was filthy and smelled of rotten food.

Taking out some tattered clothes from behind the swill buckets, Xie Yuan handed them to Mr. Huang saying, "Please change into these, Mr. Huang."

Yong Ge didn't need to change clothes and quickly moved aside when he saw the situation.

At this moment, Mr. Huang finally realized that he had fallen into Xie Yuan's trap!

With a mournful expression, he received the clothes, "Young Master Xie, you've caused me so much trouble this time!"

"How can you say that, Mr. Huang? I just helped you get close to General Wei. In the future, you'll have to thank me."

Mr. Huang's mind grumbled: "Is it gratitude or revenge?"

But he dared not offend Xie Yuan now and could only reluctantly put on the tattered and smelly clothes, pretending to be a villager collecting swill.

Xie Yuan glanced at him with a meaningful look, "Mr. Huang seems to have been doing well recently?"

Stains could be used to cover up dirt, but Mr. Huang was so fat that his belly protruded. Poor people didn't have such a figure!

Mr. Huang tried to suck in his belly and said with an embarrassed smile, "No, I just ate a little more in the morning, and I'll lose it soon, right?"

He was afraid that Xie Yuan would leave him in this place full of dead people, so no matter how much Xie Yuan despised him, he had to stick to him.

Because neither Xie Yuan nor Mr. Huang knew how to drive a cart, Yong Ge drove the donkey cart. When they entered the city, there were people coming and going on Twenty-Li Slope Street, and it seemed normal.

However, they still entered the city in a low-key manner to avoid drawing any attention.

Xie Yuan left Mr. Huang on the street and had Yong Ge drive the donkey cart around a few more times before sneaking into a small courtyard in the south of the city's slum area.

"Uncle Quan, have my father and the others arrived?" Xie Yuan asked as soon as he saw the stooped old man closing the courtyard door.

"They have, they have. The master, the old master, and the lady are all here," Uncle Quan nodded repeatedly, then led them through the courtyard and entered the backyard through a hidden door.

This courtyard had two sections, and people unfamiliar with the layout would think it was just one courtyard. If someone discovered the backyard, they could still hide, as there was a cellar under the woodshed, providing double protection.

However, the backyard was not very spacious, and with over a dozen members of the Xie family staying inside, it felt a bit crowded. Moreover, Xie's father had suddenly announced the need to take refuge, catching them unprepared. Some people only found out that Xie Yuan had gotten involved with the Wei family soldiers after entering the courtyard.

They all thought Xie Yuan had gone mad. His two aunts and his mother were crying, showing the appearance that the Xie family was doomed.

Xie's grandfather wore a stern expression. Although he hadn't said anything to Xie's father, his severe gaze had already passed over him dozens of times.

Xie's father could only smile wryly. What else could he do? By the time he found out, Xie Yuan was already in a difficult situation. Could he just stop now and expect everything to be fine?

When Xie Yuan entered, his father at the door immediately jumped up. Xie Yuan widened his eyes, as he never knew his father was so agile, usually looking composed and elegant.

"Yuan, how did it go?" Xie's father asked eagerly.

Before Xie Yuan could finish, his mother angrily rushed out and slapped him, "How could you do such a thing? Have you thought about us?"

"Mother—" Xie Yuan tried to speak.

At this moment, his two aunts also came out, wiping their tears and reproaching him, "Xie Yuan, why couldn't you do something else? You actually followed others to rebel!"

"It must be someone intentionally instigating him. Our Xie family is just a merchant, what good would it do to rebel successfully?" His eldest aunt hinted.

Her words reminded Xie's mother, and she immediately turned to glare at Shen Anyue, who had just come out, "It's you—"

Before she could finish, Xie Yuan interrupted her, "Father, He Kuntao and his men are all dead, and the remaining soldiers he brought have surrendered to General Wei. Now, General Wei has taken his men to the main camp, and we only need to wait for good news."

As his words came out, his two aunts were like sparrows with their tongues cut off, their accusations and crying abruptly stopped.

"This young master is the son of General Wei, Yong Ge, and he wants to hide here with us for a few days. Anyue, you have a good relationship with Yong Ge, so let him stay with you?" Xie Yuan continued.

Shen Anyue hadn't spoken yet, but Yong Ge, who saw the situation clearly, took the initiative to step forward and said, "Anyue, I'm bothering you again."

Shen Anyue felt warmth in his heart. Both his husband and Yong Ge were helping him save face, how could he not notice?

He pressed his lips together and said softly, "No trouble." Then he held Yong Ge's hand tightly, silently expressing his gratitude. He asked again, "You and my husband haven't eaten yet, should I wake up Aunt Quan and make some noodles?"

As Xie Yuan heard this, his stomach immediately made a gurgling sound, and his face turned red with embarrassment. He turned to Uncle Quan and said, "Tell Aunt Quan to make some more."

"Alright, Young Master." Uncle Quan took the order and Xie Yuan naturally led the two boys into the main room, ignoring his mother and the others in the courtyard.

Xie's father cast a cold glance at Xie's mother and shook his head with disappointment, "The narrow-mindedness of a woman! I told you to listen less to their instigation, but you didn't believe me. Now, both our son and our distinguished guest have been offended by you!"

Xie's mother: "…"

His two aunts were even more embarrassed, and if they weren't worried about the unsafe situation outside, they would have wanted to cover their faces and escape from there!