Chapter 85: The Prince of Chun Meets Disaster

"Qiusheng, how much longer until we reach Yan Commandery?"

On the wide dirt imperial road, a procession was moving along slowly.

At the front of the procession were twenty guards, and at the rear were another twenty guards; in the middle, a man wearing a magnificent brocade robe and possessing a slightly plump physique was none other than the Prince of Chun.

The day after the prisoner-offering ceremony concluded, he had been urged by Zhao Heng to set out.

Although he was unhappy about enduring this hardship, he could not defy an imperial decree.

After eight days of trekking, the further north they went, the more desolate it became.

For the past two days, he had only wanted to arrive at Yancheng early; as the administrative seat of Yan Commandery, it would at least look like something.

"Your Highness, once we pass the village ahead, we will be in Yan Commandery." A young servant in green clothes, riding on horseback alongside the Prince of Chun, pointed into the distance at the village.

It was already the eighth month, and the weather was still scorching hot.

Having traveled all the way from the last post station, the Prince of Chun was already drenched in sweat from the heat.

He was both thirsty and tired.

Wiping away his sweat, he said, "Let's rest at the place ahead."

After traveling a bit further, there was indeed a village bordering the imperial road.

At the entrance to the village, there was a tea stall where five or six people were drinking tea.

"Noble Lady, freshly brewed mung bean tea to relieve the heat, would you like a bowl?"

As the Prince of Chun's party arrived, an old man in the tea stall immediately came up to greet them and ask.

"One bowl for everyone." The Prince of Chun dismounted and told the guards to dismount as well to take a short rest.

"Oh my, meeting a Noble Lady today, I'm surely going to strike it rich." The old man chuckled as he carried the teapot, setting out bowls and pouring tea for the Prince of Chun.

When it was Qiusheng's turn, Qiusheng suddenly clutched his stomach and came before the Prince of Chun, "Your Highness, this servant has a stomachache."

"You have the most trouble." The Prince of Chun gulped down the mung bean tea, gave a nod to signal him to go, and then asked the old man: "How much longer until we reach Yancheng from here?"

"It takes three or four days on foot, but only one day by horse," the old man replied to the Prince of Chun while pouring tea.

Hearing this, the Prince of Chun nodded.

After drinking the tea, he sat on a chair to rest, and the guards also sat together in twos and threes.

A quarter of an hour passed, and the Prince of Chun suddenly felt a wave of intense drowsiness surge up, his eyelids involuntarily closing.

Armory Bureau.

With a "whoosh" sound of air being pierced, a crossbow bolt embedded itself deep into a wooden post.

Opposite the wooden post, Zhao Xu still maintained his shooting posture.

"Haha, truly not bad." Zhao Xu examined the Pulley Crossbow in his hands.

After handing the blueprints to Wang Ying, following several days of research and construction, the first Pulley Crossbow met Zhao Xu's satisfactory requirements.

"Your Highness, this is an ordinary crossbow bolt, which only shoots one inch into the wooden post, while the Pulley Crossbow actually shoots in more than two." Wang Ying pulled out the two crossbow bolts and walked toward Zhao Xu with a smile.

"The most important thing is that Your Highness only used one arm to pull it; there is no need to be like before, where you had to put the crossbow on the ground, step on it, and pull with both arms." Chang Wei was even more excited than Zhao Xu.

As a general, he naturally understood that the army needed multiple types of troops to cooperate in battle, rather than just a single type of Infantry.

Zhao Xu nodded; in terms of range, the crossbow did not lose to the bow and arrow, and in terms of power, it was even superior to the bow and arrow.

In the contemporary era, it is recorded that the Shenbi Crossbow of the Song Dynasty could reach a range of two hundred and forty paces, and since one ancient pace is 1.2 meters, it is equivalent to about two hundred and eighty meters.

The draw weight of this kind of crossbow has three levels: 90 jin, 120 jin, and 150 jin; as for bows and arrows, pulling 120 jin is considered high strength, which shows that a powerful crossbow is harder to pull, and this is the reason for its greater power.

But now, it is different with pulleys installed at both ends of the crossbow, saving at least a quarter of the effort.

That is to say, for a crossbow that originally required 150 jin of draw weight, he now only needs about 90 to pull it.

This can save a massive amount of energy for the crossbowmen.

"Have the crossbow craftsmen produce them as soon as possible." Handing the crossbow to Wang Ying, Zhao Xu instructed.

It was not that the craftsmen took eight days to build one crossbow, but that for these eight days, the craftsmen were constantly adjusting the pulley system.

Only now had they mastered the technique.

Now that the technology was mature, the subsequent manufacturing would be much simpler.

The three were talking excitedly when a guard from the Armory Bureau walked over.

"Your Highness, outside the Armory Bureau, the gate guard says he has an urgent matter to see you," the guard said.

"The gate guard?" Zhao Xu frowned.

The gate guard is the officer guarding the city gate, but generally speaking, the gate guard would basically never come to see him directly.

Exchanging a glance with Chang Wei, the two arrived at the entrance of the Armory Bureau.

They saw the gate guard bringing two soldiers, and the soldiers were watching a young man who looked like a servant.

"Your Highness Yan Wang, this servant Qiusheng is a house slave of the Prince of Chun. Please save him, Your Highness; the Prince of Chun, he... he has been captured by bandits!" The young man cried and shouted.

"Prince of Chun?" Zhao Xu was a bit confused.

He knew this person; he was the youngest brother of Zhao Heng in the Imperial Capital.

Because he liked to eat, drink, and have fun, his personality was very compatible with Zhao Heng's, and the two had a pretty good relationship.

However, this imperial uncle of his had lived in Jingshi for a long time and almost never went on long journeys.

Now that a servant had suddenly run to him saying the Prince of Chun had been captured, he was naturally speechless.

But after the confusion, he immediately calmed down.

"What evidence do you have to prove that you are the Prince of Chun's servant?" Zhao Xu asked.

Because of the isolation of information in ancient times, some bold and reckless people would dare to impersonate imperial relatives to cheat their way into free food and drink.

He naturally could not be anything but careful.

Qiusheng took off the parcel on his body, "Your Highness, please look."

"An Imperial Edict?" Zhao Xu was greatly startled; this was something he could not possibly fail to recognize.

However, to be safe, he still took a look at it.

The content inside was Zhao Heng ordering him to cooperate with Prince Chun in procuring military supplies.

Putting away the Imperial Edict, Zhao Xu frowned; it seemed this matter was not fake.

"Where was Prince Chun kidnapped?" Zhao Xu asked.

If Prince Chun were to perish on his territory, Zhao Heng would certainly hold him accountable.

For an old prince to be finished off by bandits on the territory of a minor prince, the Imperial Clan would lose all face.

"Right in Yuanyang County, at Muyu Cun," Qiusheng said while crying.

"Who the hell has such guts?" Chang Wei also realized the gravity of the situation.

However, he cast a sidelong glance at Qiusheng and asked suspiciously, "Prince Chun was kidnapped, so why weren't you captured?"

"This one had a stomachache at the time and went to the riverside to relieve myself. I saw someone with a blade behind me in the reflection of the river water, so I jumped into the river right then. After coming out of the water, I snuck back to the tea shop and discovered a gang of bandits was in the middle of kidnapping His Highness," Qiusheng hurriedly explained.

Chang Wei looked at Zhao Xu, "Your Highness, we cannot rashly mobilize the army at this time. We should send out scouts to inquire locally; otherwise, if we startle the bandits, I fear they might kill him."

Zhao Xu's thoughts were much the same as Chang Wei's; bandits usually only kidnap people for money, so rashly moving a large army was inappropriate.

First, he would have Xu Ke and the others go ahead to inquire.

Then, he would have soldiers disguise themselves as a merchant caravan to head to that location and act according to the situation.

Thinking of this, he immediately returned to the Prince's Mansion to make arrangements and ordered someone to settle Qiusheng in.

In a dim and damp room, Prince Chun was on the verge of tears.

At this moment, a blade was placed against his neck, and opposite him, three vicious bandits were glaring at him fiercely.

"You're a prince? I'm the King of Heaven himself." The bandit patted Prince Chun's face, "Write quickly, tell your family to send one hundred thousand taels of Silver here, or else we'll kill you."

"I, I really am a prince," Prince Chun shouted.

He regretted it deeply now; when traveling to Yan Commandery, for the sake of convenience and pleasure on the road, he and his guards had all traveled in plain clothes.

And the items that could prove his identity were all in Qiusheng's hands.

This gang of bandits only took him for a wealthy merchant and wanted to extort money.

"I'll write, I'll write." A bright idea flashed through Prince Chun's mind, and he picked up a brush to write a name, "You send someone to the merchant firm to ask about this name, and there will definitely be someone who gives you Silver."

The leading bandit looked at it and nodded, "Sure enough, it's a wealthy merchant going to Yancheng."

Having said that, he took the slip of paper out of the woodshed and called over a man to go to Yancheng.

"Hehe, the First Chieftain is wise after all. We finally waited for a big spender. Once we finish this job, we can head south and live happily for a lifetime," one bandit said.

The man called the First Chieftain laughed triumphantly twice.

If Zhang Kang were here, he would certainly recognize that this person was none other than the missing Song Ya.