Chapter 9: The Brocade Guard
In front of the lush forest, the soldiers were as if they were facing a great enemy. Shen Chongming was shocked, could it be that there are mountain bandits lurking in the mountains ahead?
Thinking of this, Shen Chongming hurriedly urged the donkey to speed up. The usual tactic for ambushing enemies was to cut off the head and tail, and if there were really mountain bandits, then he, who was walking at the end, would definitely be the first to suffer! "Hee-yah!" With a shout of command, the rough-haired donkey began to trot with its four legs.
Song Qingyang, however, did not notice anything unusual. Since he put his luggage on the saddle again after re-embarking on the road, the problem of the tight crotch was completely solved. At this moment, riding on horseback and leisurely admiring the scenery along the way had a unique charm.
A loud whooshing sound of an arrow, Song Qingyang's horse let out a loud whinny and stood up straight, while Song Qingyang, completely unguarded, let out a miserable cry as he fell off the horse, stirring up a cloud of dust. Next, sparse arrows rained down one after another, enveloping the entire carriage team within.
At this time, Shen Chongming had already walked to the center of the team. When a miserable cry came from Song Qingyang, he knew that his guess was not wrong. With a loud noise, he rolled down the donkey's buttocks and crawled under the carriage with a rolling motion. Although his body shape was awkward, his speed made the soldiers who were responsible for taking care of him stare in amazement. This man doesn't look like a bookworm at all.
"Kill!" The chaotic shouts rose, and more than 200 mountain bandits in tattered clothes suddenly emerged from the slopes on both sides, wielding big knives and hoes and charging down the slope.
Lord Liu, standing with a sword in hand, showed no fear at all. He let out a loud shout and took the initiative to charge forward, while the rest of the soldiers followed him with loud shouts.
Shen Chongming, who was hiding under the car, finally experienced the ferocity of cold weapon combat. The phrase "blood splattering everywhere" really came from this kind of situation!
The battle was fierce, and although the mountain bandits' martial arts and military strength were not as good as those of the government army, they relied on their ferocity to fight against the government army with equal strength, once reaching a stalemate.
"Ah!" A shrill and mournful cry rose from behind, Shen Chongming turned his head to look, and immediately felt a dry heave. A steel knife was stuck in the bandit's neck, the man hadn't died yet, his body twitching convulsively, blood foam gushing out of his mouth in waves, what's more frightening was that the two eyes were staring at him with an unblinking gaze!
The battle situation is gradually becoming clear, the bandits' ferocity and bravery are slowly dissipating. These government troops are unexpectedly so formidable, they don't seem like ordinary soldiers from the local garrison at all! Seeing that nearly half of their men have been lost, while the government troops have hardly any casualties!
"Wind tight, withdraw!" The classic command was shouted out, the one-eyed bandit chief didn't care about his subordinates being entangled by the government troops, and turned around to run.
But just as he ran out a couple of steps, the bandit chief was stunned to see over ten robust men wearing flying fish costumes and holding embroidered spring knives block his way with cold smiles.
"Brocade, brocade clothes guard?!" The one-eyed bandit leader was shocked and lost his color.
The originally chaotic battlefield fell into an eerie silence. "The Brocade Guards are here, anyone who dares to resist will be beheaded without discussion!" The leading Brocade Guard shouted loudly, with an extraordinary aura, and the mountain bandits hastily threw down their weapons and knelt on the ground, trembling with fear. The bandit leader looked around, then also threw away his weapon and began to beg for mercy, crying and wailing.
The Jin Yiwei's notorious reputation spread far and wide, and their cruel laws made people turn pale at the mere mention of them. A strong man nine feet tall could go in and come out a dwarf, which was already considered a blessing. So when someone reported that they were from the Jin Yiwei, nearly a hundred mountain bandits immediately wilted. Death is not scary; what's scary is living a life worse than death!
"Your humble servant pays respects to the great Sir Liu!" The mountain bandits were rounded up and guarded, while a group of brocade-clad guards walked straight up to Sir Liu's face and saluted respectfully. "No need for formalities, my brothers," Sir Liu said with a hearty wave of his hand.
"Wow, this is incredible." Shen Chongming, who had crawled out of the thoroughfare, looked around in awe. He had heard of the great name of the Brocade Guard in later generations, and after coming here, he had also thought about seeing them with his own eyes to see if they were really superhuman, how they were so legendary. Today, I was lucky enough to see them, and I was immediately overwhelmed by their powerful aura, just a dozen or so people, without even taking action, just reporting their names, and nearly a hundred fierce bandits were scared into kneeling down and begging for mercy, this is too incredible!
"Cough, cough, Jin Yi Wei?!" Song Qingyang's dusty face was full of surprise. This guy had good luck, being thrown to the ground by a startled horse, and before he could even catch his breath, he fainted, no different from a dead man. He actually fooled the mountain bandits who were passing by him, and in the chaotic battlefield, except for being trampled on a few times and getting some minor injuries, nothing happened to him.
But the sudden appearance of the Brocade Guards really shocked him, these ruthless killers were a terrible nightmare for all the people of the Ming Dynasty, no one wanted to have anything to do with them, afraid of being accused of rebellion and having their family exterminated, he didn't expect to run into them here, if they took a dislike to him and decided to silence him, wouldn't his life be over?
Song Qingyang had the heart to escape, but looking at his horse lying on the ground and struggling for breath, he could only give up. Relying solely on his own two legs, he feared that he would be exhausted to death before reaching Hangzhou.
"Little brother, aren't you scared to death? Hehe." Liu Daren walked straight up to Shen Chongming's pale face and smiled.
"No, there aren't." Shen Chongming stuttered in reply. This was naturally a lie; in his two lifetimes, except for the time he himself had died, he hadn't seen so many dead people before - over a hundred corpses lay there with blood flowing everywhere, how could he not be afraid?
"Hehe, as long as you're not scared to death. Alright, let's hurry along, once we reach Hangzhou, we'll take a boat to the capital." Lord Liu also knew he was speaking nonsense, but there's no use comforting him on this matter, after all, one gets used to it after seeing more of it, didn't he himself come up like that too?
They finally arrived in Hangzhou, and Shen Chongming and Song Qingyang also figured out Liu's identity. It turned out that he was not a military general at all, but rather Liu Shouyou, the thousand-household of the Embroidered Uniform Guard who came to Shaoxing on official business.
A group of mountain bandits had been occupying the mountains for a long time, and merchants who came and went were repeatedly robbed. Unfortunately, the military strength of the guards was too low, and several times they surrounded and annihilated them but returned without success. This made the provincial governor, who was eager to climb higher, very passive. Just in time, he heard that the Brocade Guard was returning to the capital and specially asked them to send troops to suppress the bandits. As for how many benefits were promised, it was not known to outsiders. Anyway, suppressing bandits was a trivial matter for the Brocade Guard, and this extra income was easily obtained.
Arriving in Hangzhou, Song Qingyang had originally thought of pulling Shen Chongming away from the Brocade Guard to head north. Unexpectedly, Shen Chongming flatly refused. Although the reputation of the Brocade Guard was not good, Liu Qianhu seemed like a decent person. Moreover, as a commoner, they wouldn't bother to deal with him. Following them on their journey north, safety wasn't even an issue to consider.
Song Qingyang thought about it and didn't dare to travel alone, as soon as he left Shaoxing, he encountered mountain bandits, who knows how many more would be encountered on the thousand-mile journey, it's really not necessary to take this risk, gritting his teeth, he also boarded the official ship with Liu Qianhu.
All along the way without a word, following the Grand Canal northward directly to Tongzhou, the capital city is right in front of us.
The majestic city wall is a hundred times more magnificent than the city wall scenic spots of later generations, making Shen Chongming look at it with his mouth open in amazement, occasionally letting out an exclamation.
The rustic behavior of the country bumpkin made Song Qingyang very disgusted, and being with such people was really humiliating to his own identity.
"Haha, little brother, this capital city is quite big." Liu Shouyou was a martial artist, and in his eyes, the capital city was just a bit intimidatingly large, without any other feelings.
"Hmm, great, powerful, who built this?" Shen Chongming was very curious about this question. Without mentioning the details inside the city for now, even the magnificent and majestic outer city wall didn't seem to be something that human power could achieve, considering that there were no cranes or large-scale construction machinery back in those days.
"Nonsense, it's the common people who made it." Song Qingyang said with disdain and walked towards the city gate. Shen Chongming seemed to have not heard him at all and didn't move. Seeing this, Liu Shouyou couldn't help but nod his head. This young man wasn't very old, yet he always gave people a sense of being worldly-wise, perhaps in the future he would achieve great things.
"Little brother, don't look anymore, there will be plenty of opportunities later. Now you're on my turf, so please go and drink, haha." Liu Shouyou said with a pat on Shen Chongming's shoulder.
"Thank you, sir, for your kindness. I'm afraid I've caused you a lot of trouble on this journey. Let me treat you to a drink instead." Shen Chongming said hastily, as he was indeed a great god, and he would need his support if he wanted to do business in the capital city.
Just as Liu Shouyou was about to wave his hand in refusal, a brocade-clad Imperial Guard officer hurried over, bowing and saying: "Lord Liu, the Assistant Governor bids you see him at once."
Liu Shou nodded slightly and turned to Shen Chongming with a smile: "Younger brother, I have official business to attend to, so I'm afraid we can't drink this wine today. Let's reschedule for another day."
"Alright, whenever you're free, just give me a shout, haha." Shen Chongming said with a smile.
Liu Shouyou smiled and nodded, then turned around and entered the city. Shen Chongming looked for another half day before leading the mixed-breed donkey into the city.
Compared to Shaoxing, the capital is even more lively, but Shen Chongming didn't have the mood to fully appreciate this atmosphere now. He still didn't know where the Imperial Academy was, and if he couldn't find it before nightfall, he would end up sleeping on the streets!
Fortunately, it wasn't a mute, asking left and right, Shen Chongming finally found the location of Guozijian, Huaiyin Alley, the beautiful Changxian Street!
The building's appearance is similar to that of Peking University in later generations, with an ancient charm that makes people feel tranquil at a glance. However, the place was deserted, and Shen Chongming, who was leading a coarse-haired donkey, looked around for half a day without seeing anyone. Turning back to look at the slightly disheveled coarse-haired donkey, Shen Chongming felt deeply moved - this donkey had traveled nearly a thousand miles by boat and hadn't gotten seasick or died, which was truly remarkable. He reached out to pat the donkey's head, then turned around and tied it to a locust tree by the side of the road, leading another donkey into the campus - it was really not elegant, but what could you do when your child wasn't a precious steed?
Shen Chongming took his luggage and strode in with a loud whoosh.
The scene inside the campus was vastly different from outside, where white-shirted scholars could be seen everywhere, shaking their heads and reciting books, just like in ancient TV dramas. The difference was that there were too many people shaking their heads in front of him, Shen Chongming took a glance, and within his line of sight alone, there were more than twenty!
Subconsciously touching his neck, Shen Chongming quickened his pace and walked forward, because in front of him was a house with a sign outside: New Student Enrollment Management Office.
Shen Chongming knocked politely on the open door, but unfortunately, the light knocking sound was unable to wake up the big fat man inside who was snoring loudly.
Continuing on for a while, looking at the fat man still snoring loudly, Shen Chongming, who had been traveling laboriously, couldn't help but feel some anger. His eyes rolled around and an idea formed in his mind.
"Brocade Guard is coming!" he shouted, and Shen Chongming turned around and ran.
A loud crash was followed by a scream, but it was just the fat man who had been startled awake and used too much force, crushing the pear wood chair under his buttocks into pieces.
The prestige of the Brocade Guard was indeed intimidating, not only did it scare the fat guy who was sleeping soundly, but also the students from the Imperial Academy outside were all tense and looking around nervously. However, Shen Chongming's footsteps were quick enough that by the time someone noticed him, he was already standing five meters away from the scene of the crime, gaping with his mouth open like everyone else, looking bewildered, and no one could have guessed that he was the perpetrator.