across the Quartet

broken chapter one

In the ninth year of Han Wang'an, Qin's army set out from Nanyang to attack Xinzheng.

I'm afraid that both the Qin people and the Korean people already knew exactly in their hearts: this battle is the last.

After the Qin State sent troops to accept Nanyang in September last year, grain, fodder, livestock, and ordnance were continuously transported from the country to fill the warehouses in Nanyang. Its intention has long been self-evident.In contrast, Xinzheng's preparations are extremely inadequate.Although the moats and walls were deepened and arrows were replenished, the farmers in the suburbs fled one after another, and large tracts of fields were abandoned and barren, and the capital became an isolated island.The morale of the defenders of the Royal City was extremely low, and fear hung over the barracks like a black cloud, as if water would be squeezed out at any time.

Just after the beginning of spring, [-] Qin soldiers stationed in Nanyang under the leadership of Nei Shi Yingteng calmly surrounded the isolated city.All kinds of heavy siege equipment, such as ladders, throwing chariots, bed crossbows, and rushing chariots, rumbled to the bank of the Shuangji River.Amid the deafening drumbeats, waves of guns and boulders slammed into the city like torrential raindrops.Among them, the largest bed crossbow, the winch, requires the cooperation of seven well-trained soldiers to turn, but once fired, it can shoot seven arrows at a time, and each arrow can fly hundreds of steps. can penetrate.The corpses of people and animals killed by arrows can be seen everywhere in the streets of Xinzheng, and even people hiding under roof tiles cannot escape.

At first, there were sparse archers shooting arrows and throwing torches on the city wall. As the casualties of the Han army became more and more serious, panic and abandonment gradually prevailed.The commanding voice was getting weaker and weaker.As long as one man drops his weapon, a hundred will follow him.Generals desert their soldiers, and soldiers desert their walls.For some reason, a fire broke out in the cellar southeast of Xinzheng, and many adjacent houses were also affected by the fire. The billowing black smoke made it almost impossible to breathe; although many of the first Qin warriors who jumped on the city wall were killed The smoke and fire smoked them down, but most of the unidentifiable corpses swallowed by the flames were Koreans in the city.

The whole king was filled with the smell of fresh blood, iron, and smoke.

Han Wangan sat on the couch in the deep palace and shivered.Accompanied by several confidential courtiers, he originally planned to write some memorials to plead with the King of Qin, and thought hard about some cities that could be ceded.However, a huge boulder fell from the sky and hit the warrior standing a few feet away from him, and the mud-like flesh and blood gradually overflowed from the crack between the rock and the floor tiles; thick black arrows firmly nailed the fleeing palace man to the bright red ground. On the column, the splashed blood stained the silk under his pen; finally, after witnessing all this, he gave up his last dignity as the king of a country.

In the 17th year of Qin Wangzheng, Xinzheng was surrounded.The abolished king An Kai of Han surrendered, and Han died.

"Are all the children of the Han clan here?"

Yingteng paced slowly in the main hall of Hanwang Palace.His Highness knelt down several rows of brightly dressed people, surrounded by dozens of halberd-wielding warriors, old and young, men and women, all pale and worried.A few hours ago, they were all the most noble people in the country.

"Everything is here..."

The former king of Han replied tremblingly.He was at the front of this group of people. Because of old age and frailty, he didn't need to kneel, and there were two people supporting him.

Ying Teng smiled meaningfully, "If I remember correctly, the number doesn't seem right."

Han An immediately changed his words: "That's right, the widow... The criminal minister and the sons and daughters of the concubine are not here, and they can't be found anywhere in the palace."

"Oh, which two?"

"The son is Han Cheng, the third son of the guilty minister, and the daughter is..."

"You don't need to mention the girl." Ying Teng waved his hand to interrupt him, "Han Cheng, is it Mr. Hengyang? I heard that Mr. Hengyang is very popular in South Korea, and he is the most popular person to be the next prince. This son left the city privately. , as the king of a country, you don’t know? Could it be that you have surrendered the King of Qin here today, and tomorrow he will proclaim himself king in another place?!”

"The guilty minister dare not!" Han An exclaimed, almost tearing up in fright, "The guilty minister really does not know the whereabouts of my son. However, no one has come in and out of the city gate in recent days, so he must still be hiding In Xinzheng City. This son has become more and more ambitious in recent years, and he has made friends with many powerful rangers in private. I am afraid that he even set the fire in the east of the city. The criminals really have nothing to do with him..."

Ying Teng fell silent.An old man in the crowd suddenly said: "...There is one more person."

"Oh?" Nei Shi's eyes turned to him, "Isn't this Prime Minister Han Xi? You said, there is another person, who is it?"

Han Xidun said first, "There is another son of the Korean royal family who is not here. It is the king's nephew, the chief of the palace guard, Wei Zhuang."

"Wei, Zhuang." Ying Teng pronounced the name word by word, "But Wei Zhuang, the thief who betrayed his faith and secretly linked up with Zhao State during the Battle of Zhangshui? Is this person still alive??" He asked Turning abruptly to Han An, he said displeasedly, "Your Majesty keeps saying that he is willing to be a minister of King Qin, but he doesn't get rid of those who threaten Qin. How can you make King Qin believe in your sincerity?"

Han An's eyes were evasive and he said: "The minister is guilty! Although Wei Zhuang is a distant relative of the royal family, he has a weak blood relationship with the Korean clan. He is just a guard commander, not an important person, so the guilty minister ignored it..."

Han Xi said: "Wei Zhuang and Hengyang Jun have always had a deep personal relationship. This man is superb in martial arts, the city is extremely deep, and his party members are all over South Korea. If Young Master Cheng plans to escape from Xinzheng, he must rely on Wei Zhuang's guards to succeed."

Ying Teng sneered, and said to the left and right: "Pass my general order to search the whereabouts of the two in the whole city of Xinzheng. Those who provide clues will be rewarded with a hundred guan. Those who know the knowledge and do not report to others, abandon the market."

Just as the messenger went down, another subordinate rushed in and made a military salute:

"There was a Korean cavalry team and several carriages, killed dozens of our army, broke through the northeast gate and escaped—"

"What?!" Ying Teng suddenly changed his expression, "Have you seen clearly who he is?"

"I heard from people on the street that it is Mr. Hengyang's chariot—"

"It sure is him!"

"Neishi calm down." A young lieutenant on the left said, "After our army entered the city, most of them were stationed in the Palace of the Han Palace. Only a few hundred soldiers were scattered on the main roads of Xinzheng to monitor and patrol to maintain order. A chariot that had been prepared for a long time rushed out, so it was naturally caught off guard. However, the private soldiers of Gongzi Cheng had not undergone real drills and were useless; the speed of the horse-drawn cart could not keep up with the speed of the cavalry charge. The final general please call [-] Qi, we will bring back the heads of Young Master Cheng and Wei Zhuang before nightfall!"

"I'll give you 500 people, each with two fast horses and the best clothes." Ying Teng nodded and said, "Regardless of life or death, these two people must not be let go. Especially Young Master Cheng has a special status. If the Korean Supporting the new king, we can't explain to the king."

"I will figure it out in the end."

The young lieutenant immediately gathered his elite troops, and in less than half a moment, more than [-] people rode out of the Northeast Gate like lightning.He ordered experienced scouts to search the messy ruts on the ground, judged the direction of Hengyang Jun's escape, and decisively turned to the east to pursue.

Less than half an hour after chasing out of the city, the scouts found that the road was covered with large pieces of barbed wire, blocking the way of the cavalry.The young captain sneered and said, "It's a small plan. Send a few people to cut down the branches, clean the road, and continue to chase."

"promise!"

The sun gradually slanted, and the 500 people ran along the path for several miles, and arrived at a slightly sunken grassland.The horse running in the front didn't pay attention, and the horse stumbled and threw the knight off.

Only then did the knights of the State of Qin discover that many horse pits of different depths had been dug in this depression, and some of them had pickets arranged inside.The large and small holes are covered with branches and weeds, and it is difficult to find them without a close look.

"It's a waste of time. I think they've wasted more time laying these traps than it took us to get through this depression."

The captain said contemptuously.He sent several people to explore the road again, and used tree branches to mark the general area where the horse traps were distributed; the cavalry was divided into two wings, bypassed these areas from the side, and continued to chase forward.

Out of the depression, there is a sparse apricot forest; scouts report that there are logs, rocks, and carriages blocking the road ahead.

"Abandoned the carriage?" The lieutenant pondered, "It seems that some of Mr. Hengyang's subordinates know the art of tracking. They didn't know what method they used to find that we were approaching, so they desperately wanted to increase their speed."

"So what should we do to catch up?"

"It's enough to move a few pieces of wood and rocks to leave a gap of □□ feet wide. The cavalry will pass in a line, and there must be no mistakes!"

"As ordered!"

Sure enough, everyone in this cavalry was elite, and their efficiency was extremely high. They quickly cleared the obstacles, and the team slid out of the gap like a long snake.Just when everyone was full of fighting spirit and rode their horses forward towards the direction where the new moon was faintly rising, suddenly there was the sound of breaking through the sky and the loud sound of people turning their backs on their backs.

"There is an ambush!!!"

Someone in the team yelled.One after another sharp guns were shot from behind the cavalry. Although the number was not too many, the men and horses they shot brought up a lot of dust when they fell to the ground, making it impossible to judge the strength of the troops who plotted against them. how many.

"Carriage! It's those carriages!" The young lieutenant cut off several feathered arrows flying past him with a sword, and roared, "There are people in the carriage!!"

"My lord!" A centurion behind him shouted, "Let's go back and kill all the thieves!"

"—No." The captain tightened his grip on the reins and calmed down, "How many people can be hidden in just a few carriages? It's all to delay their master's escape. Now the first priority is to get the heads of young masters Cheng and Wei Zhuang, don't pay attention to these people who are like chariots." He turned to the subordinate who had just spoken, and ordered: "Qiu Yuan, you Take 100 of your men to eliminate these rebels, and the rest follow me! Don't slow down!!"

"As ordered!"

The centurion and the school lieutenant divided into two groups, and continued to advance eastward all the way, turning the horse's head all the way to rush to the road.At this moment, the number of arrows shot from the carriage seems to be gradually decreasing.Qiu Yuan guessed that the enemy's arrows were about to be used up, so he couldn't help but be overjoyed, he waved his sword and shouted: "Spearmen lead the charge, overturn the carriage!!"

The well-trained knights and horses immediately moved out of the way, and the spearmen who were originally in the front and middle of the team rushed out; seeing that the shining spear points were about to stab the ambush soldiers in the carriage, including people and vehicles, to death. Right across the road, suddenly, a piercing bamboo whistle sounded from the carriage.

Is this... what signal is it sending?

The centurion was slightly taken aback.He had no time to think about it, he could only lead his men to continue charging.The spear that stabbed into the carriage brought back blood and screams, and a few people jumped out of the carriage in time to fight back with iron axes and long swords; Not enough of a threat.As the sound of the bamboo flute gradually died down, someone accidentally felt a feeling—the ground under their feet seemed to be trembling slightly.

The cavalry of the Qin State, who were on a massacre, finally discovered that there were many ghostly shadows for no reason in the depression full of pits they had passed through.

Where do these people come from?The woods and the grassland were all surveyed by the scouts when they passed by before, and there was absolutely no ambush.Could it be...

"Trapped into a horse pit!" Qiu Yuan clenched the hilt of his sword tightly.What a group of cunning thieves, they crawled out of the ground! !Those dug traps must have done some tricks, not to delay the speed of the cavalry, but to create hiding places for people!

These thoughts flashed through his mind like lightning.However, it was too late.Those ambush soldiers with grass blades and mud on their bodies rushed over at an unimaginable speed, and all of them were masters with extraordinary skills.The one running in the front is clearly a savage from the Southern Man. It is twice the height and three times the width of ordinary people, with a huge copper lock hanging around its neck. While running, it screams loudly, like an old man haunting the mountains. Bear general.He casually grabbed the necks of the two cavalrymen beside him, and slammed the two heads in the middle. Suddenly, their brains split apart, and both of them hung down limply.Someone wanted to attack with a spear from behind, but he held the spear under his side. With a slight twist of his body, he threw out the Qin soldier in heavy armor with his weapon, and hit him on the horse. the other two; all three of them fell to the ground and lost their breath at the same time.The savage's appearance was so frightening, and his methods so cruel, that even these battle-tested veterans were scared out of their wits.

The rest of the ambush soldiers were all dressed in black, armed with swords, whips and axes, dodging between the horses and cavalry, striking fiercely.In a short while, almost half of Qin's soldiers were murdered.Qiu Yuan did not retreat, and shouted loudly: "Soldier! Quickly break through, and send a message to the captain who is heading east!"

"I don't think it's necessary."

The breath of the speaker was very close to him, and the voice was beautiful and low, as if every word was blown into his ears.

Qiu Yuan was startled suddenly, he desperately wanted to turn around, but only saw a head of snow-white long hair in a daze.

Why can't I move my body?

why i can't see his face

The ends of the hair, the arms, the cloak, the boots... His vision slipped away bit by bit, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't see that face.

The centurion's head fell heavily to the ground and rolled into the mud.Before he died, he finally figured out one thing.

——It turns out that the real fast sword can make people not even feel the moment when the body and head are separated.

Honglian stared at Wei Zhuang in the battlefield.She couldn't see the shark's teeth in his hand, only saw a red light slithering along with the movement of his arm, as nimble as a snake and as gorgeous as rouge.Wherever they went, countless Qin soldiers were chopped into two pieces even with their iron armor, and the gushing pus and blood spread layer after layer on the ground.

"Monster! Monster!!" Someone shouted.Then their voices stopped abruptly.

The fresh smell from the shop made her want to throw up.But she fought back.The chain sword in his hand spun a sharp spiral, tightly strangled the neck of a cavalryman who was trying to escape, and pulled him off his horse.

This is a gift she got from Wei Zhuang before leaving.

This time the fleeing Koreans were divided into three groups.Young Master Cheng, his family members and a few of the most skilled guards did not flee to the east of Xinzheng with most of the people, but left the city through a secret tunnel with the treasures obtained from the treasury, and fled to the west of Xinzheng. The tombs of the southern and successive Korean royal families are hidden.The remaining two roads, one is the private soldiers of Prince Cheng, with about a hundred people, and the other is the quicksand under Wei Zhuang, with only a few dozen people. The two roads run parallel, forcibly breaking through the northeast gate, attracting Qin's chasing soldiers. All attention.Later, on the way to escape, Wei Zhuang insisted on staying at the rear of the palace and let the disciples of Young Master Cheng escape first.The people of Quicksand prepared those roadblocks and pits just to give the people of Qin an impression that Young Master Cheng was in a hurry to run for his life, and those who remained were pawns sacrificed by him.As for who sacrificed whom, and who was whose abandoned son, I am afraid that only Wei Zhuang knows.

Before setting off, Wei Zhuang originally wanted Honglian and Young Master Cheng to go together, after all, that was the safest way.But Honglian is willing to ask again and again, willing to walk with everyone in Quicksand.

"Sister Lian, don't be self-willed." Young Master Cheng put on the appearance of an elder brother admonishing his younger sister, and persuaded: "Brother Wei is not going to visit the mountains and rivers, he and his righteous men are all for South Korea Hope, risking the danger of dying to help us escape."

"Of course I know." Hong Lian was too lazy to give him a contemptuous look, but just stared at Wei Zhuang: "I won't drag you down, master said that my fire charm has broken through the third layer, and my The whip technique has also improved a lot, ordinary soldiers are by no means my opponents—"

Wei Zhuang still had that invisible smile on his lips. "Princess, this is really too dangerous. I don't know how many Qin soldiers will be chasing and blocking this way; the battlefield is not a one-man victory or defeat, but a rain of blood, swords and cold arrows. No one has the spare time to protect anyone. People. The princess is of the blood of the royal family, how can she be in danger—”

"I understand, I really understand." Hong Lian's blood surged up, trembling, "I just want to risk my life for myself."

That day, my mother died of illness alone in the Summer Palace.From her illness to her deathbed, her father did not come to visit her once.

Before she died, she smiled and told Honglian: "Don't blame your father. Now that our country is in danger, your father is busy with state affairs and sick from work, you have to be considerate of him."

But Honglian understood in her heart.If the father is really working day and night to preserve Korea, how can she blame him.It's a pity that the king's father is only busy with how to deal with the envoys of Qin, how to cede the land of South Korea, how to convince King Qin of his loyalty, and how to save his life even if the country does not survive.She knew very well that the father didn't care about how his wife and daughter would be reduced after the country was broken, let alone his people.

I heard that after the collapse of the East and West, the emperor's concubines and children were all sent to Xianyang Palace one after another.It seems that it won't be long before South Korea will follow in their footsteps.She didn't want to be a slave of the Qin people, a plaything or a spoil of war in the hands of those civil and military heroes.

Maybe Wei Zhuang is a dangerous person, but in him, Hong Lian can see something completely different from those despondent Korean nobles.His sword, his scheming city, and the arrogance in his eyes made her feel admirable and hopeful.

She tried her best to convey this point with her own eyes, and she didn't know how much Wei Zhuang understood.Maybe, I should try fire charm on him?

Whether he was moved by her persuasion or by illusion, he finally nodded.

"Princess... If you insist, please be careful and don't take any risks." As he spoke, he took out something from behind - a gleaming and wonderful weapon, and held it out with both hands.

"This is the chain sword I ordered them to make specially for the princess. It is heavier than the soft whip, but it also has its advantages. I hope the princess will like it."

The fighting in the hollow and the apricot grove was over.The quicksand left no survivors.Wei Zhuang commanded his men to put several war horses into the carriage, and let Huo Mei, Lin'er, Hong Lian and some injured people sit in it.The rest mounted their horses and took a fork in the road.

To Honglian's surprise, Wei Zhuang didn't ride a horse, but also got into the car, leaned against the car and closed his eyes to rest.Huo Mei took out a silk scarf with a solemn expression, and wiped away the sweat dripping from his forehead for him.

"Where are we... going now?" Honglian lifted the curtain and glanced out of the window, and couldn't help asking.

"A safe place."

"However, those subordinates of my third brother don't know..." Honglian paused, and suddenly realized, "They won't come back."

"Yes." Wei Zhuang replied without opening his eyes. "However, those people should also thank me. At least, I avenged them."

"...Are you feeling unwell?"

Wei Zhuang lazily opened his eyes, and said: "Everything has a price. Just like your father, if our king wants to survive, he has to pay the price of the freedom and dignity of the king of a country. The swordsmanship I practiced , but also at a price."

"My lord, in case you...really have a seizure on the road, what should we do?" Huo Mei asked cautiously.Wei Zhuang took out a brass pipe from his bosom and stuffed it into her palm.

"It will act according to this plan."

At this moment, the remaining troops of the Qin Army rushed out of Xinzheng City for more than [-] li, and finally caught up with the vanguard of the fleeing Koreans; after a fierce battle, they all killed them.Unfortunately, according to the identification of the Han Palace guards they brought, none of the dead was Lord Hengyang.Because it was getting dark, I had to return to the teacher disgruntled.On the way back, they found the bodies of Qiu Yuan and his cavalrymen.Beside them was a huge boulder that could not be moved by manpower, and there seemed to be some writing on it.The captain ordered someone to hold a torch to illuminate it, and saw two lines of seal characters of the Qin people engraved on it:

"Kill one, pay another.

——Liusha Weizhuang”

TBC