Chapter 145: Mountain and Marsh

"Heading west..." Lu Yao pondered for a moment, and his expression changed. "No good, we cannot let them rendezvous with Pei Xinyu." Otherwise, he would be the one in a passive position. "Did they bring horses?" "No, there's no room on the boats."

On the backs of crocodiles, he reckoned the horses wouldn't dare to board anyway.

"Go to Desheng Town immediately and order everyone to be on high alert! Wu Shaoyi is taking the waterway because he wants to get ahead of us, but without horses, they cannot travel quickly. Within a radius of sixty li, only Desheng Town has horses!"

The red falcon flapped its wings and flew off. A subordinate approached and asked Lu Yao, "General, what should we do now?"

"What else can we do? Speed up!" Lu Yao sneered. "We must drag Pei Xinyu into the fray and cut off his connection with Wu Shaoyi. Hmm, there should be six or seven hundred brothers in Desheng Town by now. As long as they stay alert, they have nothing to fear from his two hundred-plus men!"

Having campaigned for many years, he was a man of decisive action and immediately figured out the current strategy. That was to unite with Pei Xinyu as quickly as possible to wipe out the government troops, while simultaneously pinning Wu Shaoyi and his men down in Desheng Town, severing their contact with Pei Xinyu.

Once the government troops were eliminated, he would have time to deliberate with Pei Xinyu, and only then would he send men to deal with Wu Shaoyi.

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After the government troop column arrived at Langming Cave, they followed the guide's directions, turned into a side path, and headed toward Qianteng Town.

Seeing no pursuers in front or behind, everyone let out a long sigh of relief.

He Chunhua chose to head west to exploit a time difference, taking advantage of the window while Pei Xinyu was driving away the ambushers at Shaozi Rock to lead the hundreds of soldiers and civilians to Langming Cave and turn into this side path.

In this way, they avoided an awkward head-on collision with the returning mountain bandits.

Overall, the first phase of the objective was successfully completed.

Next, they had to flee toward Qianteng Town at top speed.

Zeng Feixiong glanced at He Chunhua, secretly thinking that the Prefect had suffered the greatest loss. The eldest young master was usually cynical, but he hadn't expected him to die like a hero in the end.

He Chunhua's tightly furrowed brows had not relaxed since a moment ago, and he was asking the guide, "How much further to Qianteng Town?"

"Within fifteen li. The road ahead was repaired two years ago; it's flat, easy to travel, and wide."

No sooner had he finished speaking than a burst of red smoke exploded in the eastern sky.

That was the signal released by the scouts who had climbed the mountain peak: the pursuers were coming!

So fast? Everyone was surprised. The mountain roads were full of twists and turns; were the bandits risking their lives drifting to catch up?

Before He Chunhua could issue instructions, red smoke actually rose in the western sky as well.

This meant that Pei Xinyu's team had also turned back.

This was truly a case of it never rains but it pours.

He Chunhua was unsure how Pei Xinyu would react upon reaching Langming Cave—would he continue forward to engage Lu Yao, or turn toward the side path to pursue the government troops? He could not gamble the lives of the hundreds of people in his army on such uncertainty.

Mo Zhejingxuan approached and whispered, "My lord, we are moving too slowly. If we abandon the dead weight, our speed can increase by at least thirty percent."

The so-called dead weight, of course, referred to the County Magistrate villagers. How could human legs be faster than horse-drawn carriages? Especially since they were dragging their families along.

The mountain road was narrow, and the civilians occupied half of it, so the speed of the government troops was naturally dragged down.

They were now only fifteen units of distance away from Qianteng Town—a life-or-death fifteen units of distance! Every step closer was a blessing.

He Yue's eyes were still red, but he retorted at this moment, "The mountain road is narrow, and both sides are mixed together. If we abandon the villagers to move forward, they will inevitably wail and block our path, which might instead drag the carriage column down even further."

He Chunhua remained silent and summoned two sorcerers: "Is the ritual still not successful?"

"It cannot succeed." One of them was covered in sweat, clutching He Chunhua's State Decree in his hand. "There... there is no response." Since just a moment ago, a faint, lingering aura of malice had been swirling around the Prefect, making those facing him feel immense pressure.

Zeng Feixiong immediately pointed out thirty more men and ordered them to rush to the rear of the column to provide support.

Added to the original twenty cavalrymen, these fifty men would be the first barrier should the mountain bandits attack.

He Yue had been keeping an eye on the surroundings and suddenly pointed to the side of the road ahead, "The water cedar forest is here. What massive water cedars!"

Everyone looked up, and sure enough, on the right side of the mountain road was a small patch of water cedar forest. The trees varied in thickness; the thinnest were about the size of a bowl, while the thickest one required about ten people to encircle, and its height was an astonishing fifteen zhang or more!

Combined with their arrow-straight posture, it was a spectacular sight.

He Yue pointed to the tallest one and asked the guide, "Is this the Grandfather Tree?"

The guide shook his head, "Not this one. The Grandfather Tree is a good deal taller than this, and it's not here; it's by the lake near Desheng Town."

The locals called the oldest and most senior ancient tree the Grandfather Tree.

He Yue said sternly to He Chunhua, "Father, since they won't help us, let's ask these water cedars to defend us against the enemy!"

"Water cedars?" He Chunhua's expression shifted. He looked at the water cedar forest, and his tightly furrowed brows relaxed slightly. "A good plan!"

Immediately following this, the Prefect issued an order: cut down the trees to block the road!

Apart from carrying their valuables, most of the men among the fleeing villagers were also armed, as both lives and wealth needed weapons to be protected. Among them were many who carried axes, usually for chopping firewood, but now for self-defense.

Many among the government troops also used axes as weapons.

At the Prefect's command, both officials and civilians threw themselves into the heated tree-felling campaign.

Not only that, He Chunhua instructed them to specifically target the giant trees, the larger the diameter, the better.

Everyone understood that their lives hung by a thread, so no one held back, each using every ounce of strength they had.

Before long, three large trees, one after another, shook their golden-red crowns and crashed to the ground with a long groan.

Everyone cut carefully, ensuring that when they fell, they lay exactly across the center of the mountain road.

With these giant logs blocking the way, the pursuers' horses could not get through at all. The only way was to use manpower to move them aside.

Thinking of this, everyone's drive became even stronger.

As they were cutting the fourth giant tree, a wild wind suddenly swept through the mountain forest, blowing so hard that people couldn't open their eyes.

The sound of the wind was like a roar, echoing in everyone's ears:

"Audacious! An outsider official dares to harm my children!"

The water cedar closest to He Chunhua suddenly swayed with unusual violence, and its crown drooped down unnaturally. Cracks bulged on the surface of the trunk, looking like a human face from afar, though the features were very unclear—purely impressionistic.

Yet everyone could feel its gaze, especially He Chunhua, who bore the brunt of it, forced to face all of its fury.

But he was unusually calm, even brushing the fallen leaves off his shoulder before saying, "Are you the local Mountain and Marsh? I prayed several times with no response, so I had no choice but to resort to this desperate measure!"

In truth, this tree was not the true body of the Mountain and Marsh; it was merely being used to transmit its voice.

The real Mountain and Marsh was still rooted by the side of Desheng Town.

The water cedar was very blunt, "You are not the local parent-official; I have no obligation to respond to your summons!"

As the Earth God of this mountain range, no one ever sought it out, and even the local officials hadn't summoned it for a very, very long time.

Tomorrow (2022.9.1) it goes on sale!

*Cough! * I trouble everyone to provide a minimum monthly ticket and smash it in my face tomorrow.

If—and I mean if, by chance—you have the heart to tip—please don't force yourselves—do it after the first paid chapter is released.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 146 =====