Chapter 52 - Confrontation
As Lui Kedi and Ma Liang led a group of hundred bloody red armor calvaries and slowly entered Little Meng City, depressing clatters resounded throughout the area.
Lu Chengfeng looked closely at the rides of these soldiers. In next second, his expression became awful. These rides looked like the combination of big dogs and horses. They had a muscular chest and hind legs, and a pair of slim but powerful front feet, showing that they were capable of using incredible explosive force for a short distance charge. These animals had horns on their head and their skin was covered with scales. Their toes had razor sharp claws and their fangs looked like short daggers.
“Crocotta beast. The distinctive ride of the first Heavenly battalion of the Yulin Army in the Capital of the Lu Kingdom. Each of these Crocottas has the combat strength of a mid-level practitioner.” Lu Chengfeng lowered his voice and spoke softly, “Lord Puyang is only related to the Lu Kingdom through his wife. What allowed him to manoeuvre this Yulin army?”
“His wife is related to the Lu Kingdom?” When Wu Qi heard the name of Yulin Army, he knew this was going to be a lot of trouble.
“The wife of Lord Puyang is Princess Yingchuan of the Lu Kingdom, the youngest daughter of the king.” Lu Chengfeng replied. He continued, hastily saying, “The youngest sister of Lord Puyang was married to Lu Buhuan. He is the younger brother of the Lu Kingdom’s King. He is in charge of the Lu Kingdom’s guards.”
Lu Chengfeng clapped on his lap, gnashing his teeth and said, “How dare Lu Buhuan maneuver the Yulin army without permission. He really has a lot of nerves!”
Wu Qi didn’t have too much interest in how Lu Buhuan maneuvered the Yulin army without permission, but he did take notice in the complicated relationship of Lord Puyang’s family. Lord Puyang had married with the youngest daughter of the King of the Lu Kingdom, and his sister was married to his wife’s uncle. Therefore, how was he going to address his own son? This was all really confusing. The marriage between these influential families was just a mess.
With a stern and overbearing atmosphere, Luo Kedi and his men, and their a hundred and two rides, entered Little Meng City. The City Gate was closed immediately. Within the low tower of the City Gate, with the guidance of Wu Qi, the craftsmen of Little Meng City had secretly built a few ballista. Now, each of these ballista had their strings pulled to the maximum, and pure steel bolts, which were the size of spears, were aiming right at Luo Kedi and his men.
Wu Qi and Lu Chengfeng quickly came down from the City Wall. When they arrived in front of Luo Kedi, Lu Chengfeng bowed toward him and said, “General Luo, Chengfeng welcomes you to Little Meng City!”
Riding on his Crocotta, Luo Kedi overlooked Lu Chengfeng and, without showing any emotion on his face, he shook his head and said, “I am a Brigadier General. A mayor should address me in the way one addresses a superior. You and I don’t have any personal relationship, so addressing yourself to me as ‘Chengfeng’ is not appropriate.”
Luo Kedi’s words were like his expression, stern and unfriendly. Lu Chengfeng’s expression quickly changed, turning into a similarly cold and indifferent expression, and he bowed one more time and said, “Your subordinate was being rude. Brigadier General, your subordinate, the acting Mayor of Little Meng City, Lu Chengfeng, welcomes you!”
Luo Kedi raised up his whip and pounded forcefully on Lu Chengfeng’s shoulder. Then he sneered and said, “I’m flattered. Welcome or not, we’ll know later. Where is our Marquis? Bring me to him now. Also, where are Liu Zhong and all the other useless fools?”
The pure steel handle of the whip had made Lu Chengfeng’s shoulder feel pain. He took a step back and, in a deep voice, said, “Please follow me. The body of Marquis has been well preserved by your subordinate. As for Liu Zhong and all other personal guards of Marquis. They were killed by the barbarians during the siege.”
All of a sudden, Ma Liang jumped into the conversation and asked, “All the personal guards of the Marquis were killed?”
Wu Qi took a step forward and answered solemnly, “That’s right. The barbarians had broken through the City Wall and Liu Zhong leads all the personal guards and said he wanted to get revenge for the Marquis. They all dashed into a group of barbarians and, as a result, were all slaughtered by the barbarians.”
Ma Liang snapped, “Not a single survivor?”
Wu Qi breathed out a sorrowful sigh and said, “The Marquis had a group of loyal men working for him. When they heard the news about the Marquis’s death, all of them swore to follow in his footstep. therefore, none of them made it.”
Ma Liang suddenly burst out in a laugh, “I see, it is a worthy death for them. But I never expect that an old fool like Liu Zhong would have the courage to do such a thing. I thought an old fool like that would only cherish his own life, and wouldn’t have the courage to die with his master.”
Wu Qi was laughing as he looked at Ma Liang and said, “That’s the reason why we shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, and we also can’t judge a person from the impressions he gives. Old Liu Zhong gave up his life for his honor. This is an example we should all learn from. Lord Puyang was, indeed is a worthy man, as all his subordinates were overbearing and loyal. There is no better example that could be set, other than this!”
Luo Kedi’s lips twitched. He almost couldn’t hold himself and wished to kill Wu Qi with his whip. On the other side, Ma Liang was also clenching his fist tightly. He too wished he could crush Wu Qi’s skull with the whip. Lu Chengfeng placed his hand on his back and pinched hard on his waist. Only then he was able to hold back the violent laugh that was rising in his mind.
No better example could be set other than this? What a good description.
No one had anything more to say, and they remained in silence until they finally arrived at the Mayor’s Mansion. Along the way, with his eagle-like vision, Luo Kedi glanced through every single street and small alley, looking at those newly built tall archery towers, and those permanent street barricade built between the roads.
Since the ‘barbarian siege’ incident two months ago, Wu Qi had lead the soldiers of the City Guards and started the construction of these defensive building in Little Meng City. He managed to construct an archery tower every two hundred feet, a street barricade every thousand feet, and an emergency escape tunnel, which connected to every single house, in just two months.
Luo Kedi’s face darkened. He estimated in his mind that, just with all these archery towers and street barricades that he saw, if he really initiated a siege with his cavalrymen, even if they managed to break into the city, they would suffer a lot of damage.
Ma Liang’s eyes were sparkling as well, and he kept peering at those archery towers and street barricades, his brows knitted in thought. When they had arrived at the front gate of the Mayor’s Mansion, Ma Liang suddenly threw out a question, “I heard that those barbarians had slaughtered all the wealthy tradesmen in the city? So now all the business of specialty products in Little Meng City are handled by the natives?”
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