Chapter 305: Intercept and Kill

March 29th.

Baiyang City.

Aside from the prefectural capital, Datong Prefecture has three cities in total: Xingcheng, Mingqi City, and Baiyang City.

Among them, Baiyang City is located at the southernmost tip of Datong Prefecture, making it the city closest to the border.

Starting the day before yesterday, people from the Qingyuan City Management Company have been arriving in Baiyang City in secret.

These individuals were all previously transferred by Li Fei from Xingcheng to the Datong prefectural capital, including eleven Body-Breaking realm martial artists, two Martial Masters, and over fifty elite gunmen.

They are here to receive a shipment.

There is no direct train from Baiyang City to Xingcheng, so the goods must be transported by truck over a long distance, requiring an escort along the way.

In a residential courtyard, two Martial Masters from the Qingyuan City Management Company have gathered their men for a meeting.

"In one hour, everyone head to the freight station in the north of the city."

A lead Martial Master said.

"Will Ghost Master be coming this time?"

Someone asked.

"That is not a question you should be asking."

The lead Martial Master glared at the person.

"But... what if the 'Beast King' really sends people to intercept us? With just us, I'm afraid we won't be able to stop them, right?"

Another person couldn't help but say.

"Our operation this time is completely covert, and the sellers are cooperating with us to create a diversion to mislead the 'Beast King,' so there definitely won't be any problems."

The leader encouraged everyone, "Alright, everyone disperse."

Soon, the people in the courtyard scattered to contact their squad members, preparing to assemble at the north freight station in an hour.

Compared to the tension and anxiety of the men below, the two lead Martial Masters looked relaxed and full of confidence.

After the people in the courtyard dispersed, a figure on the roof of a nearby building went downstairs, entered a room, picked up the receiver, and made a call:

"They might be starting their move over there; everyone get ready."

One hour later, at the freight station in the north of Baiyang City.

All the people from the Qingyuan City Management Company arrived near the freight station.

Because arrangements had been made at the freight station in advance, they all entered smoothly, and the gunmen brought their firearms inside as well.

Not long after the Qingyuan City Management Company personnel entered the freight station, a group of people arrived in the vicinity.

These were the men of the 'Beast King' Yu Longqing!

Even after the Qingyuan City Management Company and Luo Yifu from the provincial capital cooperated to create so many diversions, they were eventually discovered by Yu Longqing, who sent men to track them all the way to Baiyang City.

"Wait until the convoy leaves the city before making a move."

The leader of the 'Beast King's' side gave the order.

Making a move directly inside the city would cause too much of a stir and quickly draw the intervention of the Inspection Academy and the Stop-Gong Academy, so they had to wait until the convoy left the city to carry out the interception.

But this wait lasted for over two hours.

"Damn it, why are these people so slow? Why haven't they come out yet!"

The leader on the 'Beast King's' side was already very impatient.

Meanwhile, inside the freight station.

All the people from the Qingyuan City Management Company were resting in the lounge on the second floor.

"Aren't we supposed to be transporting goods? What are we waiting for?"

Many people had this question in their minds.

But since the leaders above didn't say anything, they didn't dare to ask too much.

In the lounge, the two lead Martial Masters sat together chatting:

"It's been confirmed, the 'Beast King's' men have indeed followed us here."

"Ghost Master is truly brilliant."

"I originally thought this mission would be very dangerous, but I didn't expect it to be the easiest one instead."

"Haha, we followed the right person."

The two Martial Masters looked relaxed.

On the surface, their group was here to receive goods, and Luo Yifu had indeed sent a shipment over, doing so in secret and with great discretion.

But in reality, the shipment Luo Yifu sent was not beast feed, and these Qingyuan City Management Company personnel who had secretly rushed to Baiyang City were only pretending to receive goods.

Of course, only the two leaders knew that this operation was a sham.

To receive the goods successfully, Li Fei had set up two layers of diversions.

The first layer was the normal cover-up, and the second layer was the fake pickup here in Baiyang City.

Even if Yu Longqing saw through the first layer and sent people to Baiyang City, they were destined to intercept nothing.

Gushi Town, this is a small town at the northernmost tip of Datong Prefecture.

Due to its geographical location, it is a transit hub, and many supplies transported to Datong Prefecture from the outside pass through here.

Refueling, lodging, and dining... these are the main businesses of Gushi Town.

The town's streets are wider than those in many cities, with heavy trucks driving through the center of the road.

Besides that, there are many horse-drawn carriages, donkey carts, and manual pushcarts on the streets.

With the start of the Mingxin Reform, the Great Lan Dynasty gradually adopted automotive and rail transport, but goods were only shipped to major cities, while other villages and towns still relied on human and animal labor to transport supplies.

In a tea stall by the road, over a dozen sturdy men were drinking tea.

One of them had hands larger than an average person's, with long, powerful fingers that faintly shimmered with a metallic luster.

His name is Xiang Du, and he has the nickname 'Gold-Breaking Hand' in Xingcheng; he is a member of the Qingyuan Fist Stronghold and a capable subordinate of Shangguan Xiao (see Chapter 86 of Volume 1).

Later, Shangguan Xiao handed the Qingyuan Fist Stronghold over to Li Fei, so Xiang Du began working under Ghost Master.

He brought a group of elites from the Qingyuan Fist Stronghold to Gushi Town this time, and they were truly here to receive goods.

After waiting in the tea stall for over twenty minutes, another convoy drove in from the distance.

This convoy consisted of over twenty heavy trucks.

The people in town were already used to this, as they saw many large trucks every day.

Xiang Du had sharp eyes and could clearly see the license plate of the lead heavy truck from afar, so he made a gesture.

The other dozen or so sturdy men in the tea stall put down their teacups and stopped talking.

The goods had arrived!

Heavy trucks in this era have a maximum load capacity of no more than 5 tons, and the beast feed Li Fei wanted exceeded one hundred tons, so it required over twenty heavy trucks to transport.

A few minutes later, the convoy drove up slowly.

Xiang Du stood up, waved at the side of the road, and then made a gesture.

The convoy began to slow down and eventually pulled over to the side of the road.

Xiang Du led his men over.

Besides the tea stall where he was, many people on both sides of the street stood up and walked toward the convoy together.

These were all people sent by Li Fei.

In addition to the elites from the Qingyuan Fist Stronghold brought by Xiang Du, there were also people from the Stop-Gong Academy.

Shangguan Xiao had only been in charge of the Stop-Gong Academy for half a year and hadn't had time to cultivate many confidants; currently, the only one she could truly trust was the registered Martial Master Cao Mu, who had teamed up with her and Li Fei to deal with Zhang Shan (see Chapter 135 of Volume 1).

This time, Cao Mu brought a small number of trusted confidants and secretly rushed to Gushi Town under the guise of a secret mission.

Besides them, there was a tomboy in the crowd wearing a hat and a brown leather jacket, dressed very much like a man.

It was Zhao Yi.

Li Fei had sent her as well this time.

As a God-Transformation realm mage, she might find it hard to win a one-on-one duel against a Martial Master, but in group combat, she might be more useful than several Martial Masters combined!

In fact, there were only so many roads to transport goods to Xingcheng, and transporting goods from Gushi Town to Xingcheng was one of the options; it was impossible for Yu Longqing not to arrange for people to watch Gushi Town.

Therefore, Li Fei did not expect to keep Yu Longqing in the dark forever; the arrangements in Baiyang City were meant to lure Yu Longqing's main force there. Once the opponent realized it, they wouldn't have time to mobilize manpower both north and south, so they would either have to give up or settle for arranging a small number of people nearby to intercept.

Xiang Du and the others were prepared for this.

They had to guard against the 'Beast King's' men choosing to destroy the goods if they couldn't hijack them.

The convoy stayed on the street for about an hour.

Xiang Du and his men inspected the goods, completed the handover with Luo Yifu's people, and then filled all the vehicles with fuel.

The convoy then set off again, and this time, the vehicles were occupied by Li Fei's people.

Not only that, but eight more cars joined the convoy, with four leading the way and four following at the rear.

Xiang Du sat in the lead car, and Cao Mu sat in the last car.

Zhao Yi sat in the passenger seat of a truck in the middle.

The convoy moved steadily forward and drove out of Gushi Town.

At the convoy's speed, if they didn't stop or rest along the way, they could reach Xingcheng in about eleven hours.

But in reality, things could never go so smoothly.

The lack of smoothness here didn't refer to being intercepted, but rather that the road conditions of this era made it impossible for things to be "smooth sailing."

The Great Lan Dynasty's Cabinet issued the "Road Maintenance Regulations" in the 38th year of Hongguang, which stipulated the width of roadbeds:

National highways were 5 zhang (approx. 17 meters), provincial roads were 3 zhang (approx. 10 meters), and city roads were 2. zhang (approx. 8 meters).

However, in actual implementation, when the central cabinet issued 100, 00 yuan in funding, by the time it reached the local level, there might only be 20, 00 yuan left...

Due to budget shortages, the use of substandard materials, and the withholding of workers' wages, the so-called highways ultimately constructed were generally only 5 to 9 meters wide.

Narrow roads were not the most serious problem; the most serious issue was the road surface material.

Taking Feng Province as an example, only one-quarter of the province's highways had paved surfaces. And even for this one-quarter of paved roads, the materials were generally coal cinder and crushed stone; the remaining highways were almost all dirt roads.

Such roads were rugged and uneven, causing extreme damage to rubber tires. On sunny days, dust filled the air, and on rainy days, they were incredibly muddy; some cars with high chassis could even get stuck.

From Gushi Town to Xingcheng, over eighty percent of the highway along the way was dirt road, with the narrowest sections only 5 meters wide. Once a vehicle encounter occurred, or if a vehicle ahead had a problem, it would definitely cause a traffic jam.

Therefore, from the very beginning, Xiang Du and the others were mentally prepared for traffic jams, but they did not expect it to happen so soon.

The convoy had only been driving for a little over an hour when the road ahead was blocked.

"Go see what the situation is."

In the lead car, Xiang Du instructed one of his subordinates.

The other party was a Body-Breaking Realm martial artist from the Qingyuan Fist Stronghold. Upon hearing this, he immediately got out of the car, carrying a large saber on his back and a pistol at his waist, and ran quickly to the blocked area ahead to check the situation.

A moment later, he ran back to report:

"Brother Xiang, there is a car with a tire stuck in a pothole ahead. I went to help push the car out, but their tire is ruined, and they have run out of spare tires. They want to buy one from us."

Changing tires along the way was a very common occurrence because the roads were indeed too damaging to tires; anyone going on a long-distance trip had to carry several spare tires.

"What is the background of those people? Is there any problem?"

Xiang Du asked.

The person he sent was quick-witted and observant, which was why he had specifically sent this person to check the situation ahead.

"I asked carefully; they are from Xinyang Prefecture and are heading to Datong Prefecture to discuss business. Their accents are indeed from Xinyang Prefecture, and they are all ordinary people, not martial artists."

"What about the other blocked cars?"

Xiang Du continued to ask.

There were about a dozen cars blocked ahead.

"I looked carefully when I passed by; I feel that the people in a few of the cars should be martial artists."

"Fine, sell them a tire."

Xiang Du made a decision immediately.

If they didn't sell the tire, there was no telling how long the jam would last; it was better to resolve this problem early.

Soon, the martial artist left with a spare tire.

"Tell everyone to stay alert."

Xiang Du gave another order.

So, the driver opened the car window, extended his arm, and made a gesture.

After seeing this, the drivers in the cars behind also made the same gesture, and then it was passed down one by one.

This was to remind the people in the cars: stay alert!

Seven or eight minutes later, the martial artist who went to sell the tire came running back.

Seeing this scene, Xiang Du breathed a slight sigh of relief.

Then he saw this martial artist get his head pierced by a bullet as he passed a black car—

Bang!

Xiang Du widened his eyes, immediately pushed open the car door to get out, and shouted loudly:

"Enemy attack—"

At the same time, among the dozen or so cars blocked ahead, people from half of them got out and began firing at the convoy behind with firearms!

Xiang Du decisively charged toward the opponents; his body radiated a dark golden glow, deflecting all the incoming bullets.

This was the Golden Timber Force, condensed from Xin Metal primordial Qi. Xin Metal governs Yin and is beneficial for defense; the Golden Timber Force is one of the forces with excellent defensive capabilities.

Originally, Xiang Du was only a Qi-Transformation early-stage martial master. During the battle when the An Shen Sect invaded Xingcheng, he narrowly escaped death and ultimately turned a misfortune into a blessing, comprehending his state of mind and breaking through his realm.

Therefore, in this team, besides Cao Mu, who was a Qi-Transformation peak-stage force-training martial master, Xiang Du was also a force-training martial master.

Relying on the Golden Timber Force to protect his body, Xiang Du charged forward against the hail of bullets.

Behind him, seven or eight Body-Breaking Realm martial artists from the Qingyuan Fist Stronghold charged forward holding heavy bulletproof shields, while the remaining group of gunmen returned fire.

Xiang Du covered the distance of several dozen meters in the blink of an eye. Before he could charge into the crowd, a figure from the opposite side proactively met him.

Whoosh—

A khaki-colored force struck Xiang Du like a meteor. Xiang Du felt as if he had been hit head-on by a speeding heavy truck; he was knocked off the highway in an instant, fell into the wasteland on the side, and kicked up a cloud of dust.

"Qi-Transformation late-stage?"

Xiang Du looked solemnly at the person who had attacked him; the opponent had just struck him with a punch from a distance.

"Kill—"

Just at this moment, earth-shaking shouts of slaughter came from afar.

Xiang Du turned his head to look and saw over a hundred people appearing on a dirt slope several hundred meters away; these people were launching an attack on the convoy behind!