Chapter 365: Duke Yansheng, We

"The Duke Yansheng has left."

After a moment of silence, Zhang Weixian slowly continued.

Hearing Zhang Weixian's words, Xu Guangqi was startled and set down the brush in his hand.

Though Zhang Weixian had not picked up the previous thread, making this remark seem abrupt, Xu Guangqi knew it was not abrupt at all.

"Perhaps His Majesty is waiting for this," Xu Guangqi said slowly.

Zhang Weixian said nothing — one must not speak ill of the Emperor behind his back. But in his heart he too knew that His Majesty was indeed waiting, and perhaps felt it was not yet enough.

This worried Zhang Weixian somewhat. His Majesty's killing intent seemed to be growing heavier by the day. That was hardly a good thing for a minister — who knew when it might reach out and touch oneself?

After a long silence, Zhang Weixian raised his head and looked at Xu Guangqi. "Grand Secretary Xu, should we not urge His Majesty to return to the capital?"

Having said this, Zhang Weixian fixed a burning gaze upon Xu Guangqi.

After a long silence, Xu Guangqi finally gave his answer. "That must wait until the matter is concluded."

While the two of them were deliberating, Xu Xianchun sat on his horse with an extremely grim expression.

Glancing at the subordinate riding beside him, Xu Xianchun said with a dark face, "Are you certain?"

"Certain." The subordinate replied with a dark face of his own. "They have been following us for two days now."

"What about the men sent out to deliver word? Any reply?" Xu Xianchun pressed, watching his subordinate.

"No word has come back yet," the subordinate said hastily.

Xu Xianchun said no more.

He knew the matter had become troublesome. Since leaving Jining, everything had in fact gone very smoothly. The Kong family had been most cooperative and had caused no trouble at all.

Though he and Kong Yinzhi had their history, he had originally assumed that Kong Yinzhi would surely do something upon seeing him and would never get along with him so easily. But to Xu Xianchun's surprise, Kong Yinzhi had done nothing at all, getting along with him perfectly well, as if the past had never happened, and treating him with unusual warmth.

At that moment, what Xu Xianchun felt was not joy or delight, but a bone-piercing cold.

Having just been through certain things, Xu Xianchun felt this all the more keenly.

Clearly Kong Yinzhi was not doing this to befriend him, but to protect himself. Having lost the shelter of his identity as Duke Yansheng, Kong Yinzhi seemed to have slipped all at once into a different state of being. Some losses bring great pain; and once the halo of status is gone, one naturally comes to fear many things.

Thinking of this, Xu Xianchun let out a sigh.

He had thought the matter settled — after all, if Kong Yinzhi made no trouble, there would be no other problems. Who could have imagined that something like this would happen now?

Someone was following him — or rather, following his party.

His men had discovered these followers two days ago. Upon closer investigation, they found the number of these people was by no means small. From the current situation, it was unclear what they intended to do — possibly they were escorting Kong Yinzhi, ready to come out and protect him should Xu Xianchun try anything against him.

This made Xu Xianchun rather agitated.

If these were death-sworn retainers raised by the Kong family, there could be trouble. What he intended to do to Kong Yinzhi absolutely could not be discovered by anyone. If it were discovered, he was finished.

Under such circumstances, it was impossible for Xu Xianchun not to be stirred up.

He had sent men out to make secret contact, but to this day no word had returned. Clearly those men would not be coming back, which gave Xu Xianchun a rather bad feeling.

"Tell everyone to prepare. If anything unexpected happens, be ready to withdraw at any moment." Xu Xianchun gritted his teeth.

If things truly were as he feared, Xu Xianchun would choose to flee at the first opportunity. He would absolutely not stay here to be buried alongside the rest.

To Xu Xianchun, his own life mattered more. Dying here was not worth it.

The subordinate said hastily, "Yes, sir."

Just at that moment, people suddenly burst out from both sides of the road, and more charged up from ahead.

These people held blades in their hands and lunged straight at Xu Xianchun and his men.

Not far away, others were drawing bows and loosing arrows.

But from their bows and arrows, one could tell these people were probably ordinary hunters. Their bows were likely common street goods or even self-made, a far cry from the standard-issue military bows. From their dress, they appeared to be nothing more than common folk.

Yet these people wore ferocious expressions, held blades in their hands, wore no armor, and seemed to have something bound across their chests and backs — simple protection of some sort.

Xu Xianchun's first impression of these people was bandits, but the thought flashed through his mind and vanished in an instant.

First, there could be no bandits in this place; second, bandits would not attack him. Bandits wanted money, not to risk their lives against people for no reason. Though most of those around him were Embroidered Uniform Guard, he also had quite a few escort soldiers — nearly a hundred men in all.

Under such circumstances, no bandits would dare to intercept him, for the losses would be severe. Even if they robbed him, they would gain little, and afterwards they would suffer brutal retaliation.

Then there was only one possibility: these people were rebels — members of the Wenxiang sect's uprising.

No sooner had this thought flashed through his mind than those charging at the front began to shout.

"Duke Yansheng, we've come to save you!" These people shouted as they charged forward, their faces seeming quite agitated.

This made Xu Xianchun agitated as well. Could this be heaven's will at work?

So this was what a heaven-sent opportunity felt like?

Indeed, this feeling was truly wonderful.

The people across from him were still shouting, their voices very loud. From their tone and fluency, they had clearly practiced this many times.

"The Son of Heaven is without virtue, persecuting the sage!"

"Duke Yansheng, do not be afraid — we have come to save you!"

"From this day forth, we shall honor Duke Yansheng as our sage, save the multitudes, and spread our doctrine!"

Hearing their shouts, Xu Xianchun was not angered in the least — on the contrary, he felt somewhat excited.

At this very moment, Xu Xianchun's mind raced as he considered what he should do.

His first thought was to fight these people to the death, kill them all, and at the same time quietly do away with the Duke Yansheng. Under such circumstances, he could pin the blame on these people.

But after thinking it over, Xu Xianchun hit upon another approach. Why not simply hand the Duke Yansheng over to them and withdraw with his men? That way, this hot potato would leave his hands.

He had previously wanted to kill using the Wenxiang sect's name, and since he could not find the real thing, he would have had to fake it himself. Now that the real thing had arrived, there seemed to be no need for him to kill anyone.

If he gave Kong Yinzhi to them, things would become interesting.

From these people's shouts, it was clear they wanted to take Kong Yinzhi back to join their rebellion. So would Kong Yinzhi rebel with them or not?

If he refused to join their rebellion, then he would face certain death. At that point, neither he nor His Majesty would bear any responsibility for the matter, and they could even use this incident to suppress the rebels — killing two birds with one stone.

If Kong Yinzhi feared death and joined these people in rebellion, then things would be even more interesting.

A descendant of Confucius, the venerable Duke Yansheng, actually joined the rebels in revolt!

Thinking of all this, Xu Xianchun felt his whole body thrill with excitement.

He glanced at the eager subordinates beside him, then reached out and smacked one on the head, saying, "Get ready. We're pulling out."

"Sir, pulling out?" The subordinate asked, bewildered, then said urgently, "Sir, although they outnumber us, from the looks of things these people are nothing but a rabble. We can kill them all without any problem. This is all merit!"

"We have to protect the Duke Yansheng and the others. How can we fight with so many of them? Tell our men—regroup and withdraw!" Xu Xianchun said with a grim face.

Although Xu Xianchun's position was not what it once was, throughout the Embroidered Uniform Guard, everyone's fear of him had only grown.

Previously they had feared the power Xu Xianchun wielded; now they feared the imperial favor he possessed. Having done something that would cost a man his head, His Majesty had only punished him lightly as a warning.

Such favor was definitely not something an ordinary man could obtain. Although Xu Xianchun had temporarily lost his post, sooner or later he would rise again to greatness. So everyone treated him with even greater respect.

Under such circumstances, Xu Xianchun's orders were naturally carried out without delay.

Everyone quickly regrouped, and the soldiers on the perimeter began returning fire with arrows.

They gradually fell back, putting on the appearance of trying to flee.

Xu Xianchun took the lead, moving at great speed.

Seeing men blocking the way ahead, Xu Xianchun shouted loudly, "Everyone, come to the front! Charge through!"

All the men of the Embroidered Uniform Guard were taken aback, but they instinctively obeyed the order and ran to the front—leaving the rear exposed.

Back there were the hundred-odd members of the Kong family, the entire carriage train abandoned where it stood.

Seeing this, Xu Xianchun nodded with satisfaction and shouted loudly, "Brothers! We are now surrounded on all sides. Only by fighting our way out can we find a path to survival. We've burned our boats and staked everything—the time to fight for our lives has come! Follow me, and charge!"

With those words, Xu Xianchun charged straight at the enemy ahead.

The men of the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the soldiers all followed.

The Kong family tried to follow as well, but the men behind them had already surged forward.

Those blocking Xu Xianchun and his men were just like the ones in front earlier—trying to stop the charge of the Embroidered Uniform Guard and Xu Xianchun's party was simply unrealistic.

After a dozen or so warhorses charged in, they fell into complete chaos, and Xu Xianchun led his men right through them with ease, never giving them a chance to intercept.

After breaking out of the encirclement, Xu Xianchun wore a dejected expression. Looking back at where the Kong family had vanished from sight, he said furiously, "Your Majesty! Your servant has failed you! I did not complete the task you entrusted to me—I am guilty!"

With those words, Xu Xianchun set the blade of his knife against his own shoulder, striking the pose of a man about to slit his own throat.

Clearly, he was preparing to take his own life to atone to His Majesty.