Chapter 239: Killing to Silence

Chen Ji ordered the Yu Lin Army to follow up, while he himself spurred Zaozao, like an arrow from a bow, hurtling into the dark night.

However, the Yu Lin Army did not move.

In the night under Kule Street, the torches in the hands of the Yu Lin Army swayed unsteadily in the cold wind. They cast their gazes towards Li Xuan and the Crown Prince, awaiting orders.

Qi Shenluo stood in place, holding the reins, and said impatiently, "This brat has no merit or official position. By what authority does he order my Yu Lin Army around on such a cold day? What if we come up empty-handed again?" Li Xuan glared at him and said, "Speak less if you have no brain. Did you forget how your sister instructed you before coming to Gusu?" Qi Shenluo said aggrievedly, "Sister-in-law..." Li Xuan suddenly became angry. "Shut up!" He raised his head to look at the Crown Prince sitting on the horse, cupped his fist, and said, "Your Highness, that border army earlier deliberately led us the wrong way, which already proves Chen Ji is correct.

The urgent matter is to find the Jing Dynasty thieves. We cannot delay any longer..." Before Li Xuan could finish speaking, the Crown Prince had already turned his horse and chased after Chen Ji, saying, "Yu Lin Army, listen to my order! Follow me to execute the Jing Dynasty spies!"

"Yes!" The Yu Lin Army raised their torches, flipped onto their horses, and with heavy hoofbeats, charged towards Shache Street, like a flowing river of flames.

At this moment, Chen Ji, carrying the captured young man, loudly asked, "Which way to the next intersection?" The young man was so battered by the wind that he could barely open his eyes. After shouting, he barely discerned the direction and replied, "Military sir, to the north!" Chen Ji's face was solemn. Earlier, he had suspected that Old Wu was a Jing Dynasty spy, and now the border army armored soldier further confirmed the suspicion.

He couldn't help but ponder in his heart: How many spies have infiltrated the border army? Besides poisoning the wells, what other plans do these spies have? Most importantly, has Vice Commander Zhou been instigated by the Jing Dynasty? Could this be the confidence of the Jing Dynasty Tian Ce Army in their surprise attack on Gusu? For a time, he only felt that Gusu city was covered in layers of fog, and he was only barely able to see one or two-tenths of it.

However, just at this moment, Chen Ji saw a familiar figure ahead, remarkably the same border army armored soldier who had been the guide earlier! The other man had somehow seized a horse and was galloping with his head down.

Chen Ji immediately threw the young man in his hand onto a straw stack by the roadside and accelerated to chase after the border army armored soldier.

The border army armored soldier heard the sound of horse hooves behind him and turned back to peek. When he saw the surging Zaozao and Chen Ji, he secretly thought it was not good.

He drew the plain knife from his waist. As his horse passed a wine shop, he chopped a knife towards the wooden pole holding the wine banner.

Wood chips flew in the air, and the wine banner behind the border army armored soldier slanted down, blocking Chen Ji's path.

The Crown Prince saw the situation and loudly reminded Chen Ji from behind, "Be careful!" In an instant, he saw Zaozao exert force to leap, actually carrying Chen Ji flying over the falling wine banner! With a boom, the wine banner behind Chen Ji smashed down heavily, stirring up dust on the dirt road.

The Crown Prince's eyes lit up. He urged his horse through the pervasive smoke and dust, just seeing Chen Ji's body leaning on Zaozao's back, the distance to the border army armored soldier getting closer and closer.

Gradually, there was only the distance of one body left between Chen Ji and the border army armored soldier. But that border army armored soldier was no longer thinking about how to shake off Chen Ji; instead, he lifted the plain knife horizontally towards his neck, wanting to commit suicide! Chen Ji was startled in his heart, "A dead soldier!" He had no time to think more. He took his feet out of the stirrups, lightly leaped to squat on the saddle, and then leaped again vertically towards the border army armored soldier.

In mid-air, he reached out to grab the wrist of the border army armored soldier holding the knife. Twisting, he fell to the ground with the other, rolling several circles, their cheeks, hair, and clothes stained with mottled yellow soil.

After the border army armored soldier stopped rolling, he still wanted to pick up his fallen plain knife, but Chen Ji was already faster than him. He counter-twisted his arm and pressed him firmly onto the ground.

Chen Ji solemnly asked, "How many more spies does the Jing Dynasty have in the border army?" The border army armored soldier, with half his face pressed against the ground, sneered, "You motherfucker are the Jing Dynasty spy!" Chen Ji was suddenly full of doubt. "Then why did you help the Jing Dynasty spy escape? Why did you cooperate with the Jing Dynasty and poison the well water in Gusu city?" The border army armored soldier tightly closed his mouth and said nothing more.

Chen Ji was silent for a moment, then searched the other's body and clothes to prevent any hidden weapons.

But just as he was dismantling the other's worn-out vine armor, a pair of gray cotton gloves dropped from the other's embrace.

When Chen Ji picked up the gloves from the ground, he could still feel the warmth on them.

The cotton gloves were brand new, as if they had never been worn.

The border army armored soldier saw Chen Ji take the gloves and immediately struggled fiercely, "Give me back my gloves!" Chen Ji was slightly startled, then immediately reacted. 'Gloves' is the name for gloves in the northern Ning Dynasty.

He had not expected that simply taking the other's gloves would provoke such an intense struggle.

"Did you hide something inside? Is it the intelligence you want to pass to the Jing Dynasty spies?" Chen Ji examined the gloves. He used his knee to press down on the border army armored soldier and freed a hand to search the inside of the gloves. But there was nothing inside.

He picked up the plain knife from the ground and cut open the gloves, but inside there was only pure white, brand-new cotton wadding. There was fundamentally no "intelligence."

The border army armored soldier saw him cut open the gloves and was suddenly furious beyond measure, breaking into abuse. "Court running dogs, persecuting the loyal and good! One day, you will all see the surging flood, killing all you treacherous officials and your entire families!" Chen Ji fell into contemplation... Was the persecution of the loyal and good referring to General Wen Tao? But General Wen Tao was persecuted by the eunuch faction more than ten years ago. Why was the border army bringing up old scores again? Wait! He suddenly lowered his head to look at the cut-open gloves in his hand and recalled the transaction Jing Wang and Chen Liqin had: As long as Jing Wang could persuade Chen Ji to follow Wang Dao Sheng to study classics, the Ministry of Revenue would then procure a batch of cotton gloves for the border army.

Initially, Jing Wang had used this matter as blackmail, forcing Chen Ji to go to Wang Dao Sheng's Zhixing Academy.

Chen Ji was surprised and uncertain. Could these gloves be the batch just allocated to the border army by the Ministry of Revenue? And the 'loyal and good' the border army armored soldier mentioned in his mouth, actually referred to Jing Wang! He bent his body low and asked in a low voice, "Do you all want to avenge Jing Wang?" The border army armored soldier suddenly widened his eyes, then buried his head in the yellow soil, no longer willing to say another word.

Just as Chen Ji was about to ask again, the Yu Lin Army arrived.

Li Xuan signaled for two members of the Yu Lin Army to lift the border army armored soldier up, one on the left and one on the right.

One of the Yu Lin Army swung his fist and heavily pounded the border army armored soldier's abdomen. "Run, can you still run?" The border army armored soldier lifted his head, spat a mouthful onto the face of the Yu Lin Army soldier, and fiercely said, "Dog thieves! Why are your fists so weak? Have the guts to kill grandpa now! If you don't kill grandpa, then take grandpa's surname!" The Yu Lin Army soldiers, greatly angered, used both fists and feet.

Chen Ji turned his head away and no longer looked, remounting his horse.

The Crown Prince urged his horse to his side and praised, "Just now, I saw Brother Chen Ji's skills were clean and neat, and he does things without dragging his feet. Truly a tiger general."

Chen Ji cupped his fist and saluted. "Crown Prince Your Highness overpraises me. I am merely doing what I should be doing.

This person is a tough nut to crack, and we won't be able to interrogate anything out of him for a while.

The urgent matter is still to first catch the thieves in Shache Street to prevent them from harming the people of Gusu."

The Crown Prince nodded. "Go!"

One li of ground was covered in an instant. Upon arriving at the entrance of Shache Street, Chen Ji stopped his horse.

He looked at the only elm tree on Shache Street and could smell a faint foul odor from over ten zhang away. It's here! Li Xuan instructed the soldiers on his left and right, "Extinguish the torches to prevent igniting the marsh gas."

Chen Ji calmly said, "No need. In winter, fermented marsh gas needs at least a month. They only collected the 'gold juice' today, so there won't be any marsh gas."

The Yu Lin Army soldiers glanced at him but still followed Li Xuan's command, extinguishing their torches and then moving forward in the moonlight.

Chen Ji did not dismount and stayed by the Crown Prince's side with Li Xuan and Chen Liqin.

The Crown Prince looked at Chen Ji. "Brother Chen Ji, are you not planning to take action anymore?" Chen Ji cupped his hand. "In terms of fighting skills, the Yu Lin Army's military formation is of course more formidable. I won't go and make a fool of myself.

Rather, the Crown Prince has faced danger without fear from beginning to end, like a young general experienced in battle."

The Crown Prince turned his head to Chen Liqin and said, "Brother Chen Ji can speak much better than Brother Wen Zong!" Chen Liqin hurriedly said humbly, "My dog son is also speaking the truth. You are originally of noble birth, yet you are willing to work for the people of Gusu. This humble official will inform the world upon returning to the capital that they have a good Crown Prince who cares for the common people."

The Crown Prince laughed heartily. "You father and son are both flattering me to the sky. Minister Chen, earlier Brother Chen Ji said he has no ambition for the imperial examination. Why not let him come to my Zhong Cui Palace to serve? If you agree, I will submit a memorial to the emperor upon returning to the capital and request the official position of Right Si Wei for him."

Chen Liqin was startled. Left Si Wei is currently held concurrently by Li Xuan, and Right Si Wei is still vacant. But this Right Si Wei is a proper sixth-rank official position. The Crown Prince actually wants to promise it to Chen Ji? Even if Chen Wen Zong and Chen Wen Xiao fill the vacancy after the imperial examination, they would at most start from the seventh rank.

However, he hurriedly waved his hand. "Absolutely not, Your Highness. Absolutely not."

The Crown Prince was doubtful. "Minister Chen disagrees?" Chen Liqin hesitated for two breaths, then cautiously explained, "My dog son is stubborn by nature and cannot bear such a heavy responsibility.

Furthermore, this humble official still hopes he can take the imperial examination path..." The Crown Prince smiled. "Then we can discuss it in detail after returning to the capital."

Chen Ji impassively swept a glance at Chen Liqin but did not speak.

At this time, the Yu Lin Army had already surrounded the area from the front street, back alley, and rooftop in three directions. Qi Shenluo split open the main door from the street with a single knife, and the Yu Lin Army swarmed in.

The next moment, someone shouted loudly, "Be careful, sir!" The earth courtyard wall by the street collapsed with a bang, and a Yu Lin Army soldier was actually blasted out from inside, buried under the earth wall.

Six black-clothed men with faces covered charged out from the courtyard, forcing the Yu Lin Army to retreat repeatedly.

Li Xuan shouted loudly, "Form the array!" Only to see the Yu Lin Army quickly form a military array, tightly surrounding the six black-clothed men.

Shache Street rang with the sound of clashing weapons, and the fighting was extremely fierce.

In front of the military array, even the officials were helpless on both sides.

The next moment, the black-clothed men saw that the situation was hopeless. They actually joined hands in pairs, throwing two companions several zhang away, suddenly breaking away from the Yu Lin Army's military array.

Those two black-clothed men did not plan to escape. They landed like leopards, crossing over twenty zhang, and menacingly raised their knives to kill the Crown Prince.

Chen Liqin panicked and pulled the reins, wanting to turn his horse's head to leave. "Your Highness, hurry!" At the critical moment, with a clang, Chen Ji ignored Chen Liqin, reached out to draw the Crown Prince's waist-worn long sword, and urged his horse to block in front of the Crown Prince.

Just at this time, both sides of Shache Street rang with the sound of cracking tile fragments.

Chen Ji turned his head to look. On the left side, a row of border army archers remarkably appeared on the rooftop ridge, bows fully drawn.

He then looked to the right side. There was also a row on the right side.

The archers, who had arrived at some unknown time, drew their bows and shot.

Chaotic arrows rained down, sealing off all retreat paths for the two black-clothed men, shooting them into hedgehogs.

The archers drew another arrow from their quivers and shot towards the remaining four black-clothed men.

Iron bow arrows left the strings, and the bowstrings vibrated in the air with buzzing sounds. Li Xuan roared, "Yu Lin Army, dodge!" The Yu Lin Army soldiers hurriedly dodged, watching with wide eyes as the black-clothed men were nailed to the ground by the chaotic arrows, not a single one left.

Chen Ji looked towards the rooftop ridge with surprise and uncertainty. He pulled the reins of the Crown Prince's white horse, protecting the Crown Prince as they slowly retreated, afraid that these border army archers would draw their bows and arrows again.

These archers came too suddenly, as if they had already been waiting on the side.

Moreover, the other side killed people too decisively, as if to silence them.

Could the border army be planning a rebellion! At this moment, Shache Street suddenly quieted down. Chen Ji then heard slow and steady hoofbeats coming from behind, getting closer and closer.

He suddenly turned back and saw Hu Junxian and Zhou You slowly approaching.

Hu Junxian's body was burly and tall. As he approached, it was as if a mountain range was pressing down, making one feel suffocated.