The Legend of the Condor Heroes: From Being Expelled from Peach Blossom Island

Chapter 321 It’s over
Five days later, thirty li outside Tongguan County, on the only road to Zhongdu of the Jin Kingdom, there is a small mountain to the northwest. The mountain is lush and green, covered with dense forests, and is also the best place to hide small groups of soldiers.

Wu Chengyu, now wearing the face of Tang Kuo Shanying, was sitting on a large rock in the forest. Beside him were at least half of Xia Kuo's private soldiers, a full two hundred men, all cavalry. Behind them were more than three hundred bandits.

These bandits were actually the private armed force that Xia Kuo Shanying had secretly built up in the past. Relying on the name of the Xia Kuo family, they burned, killed, and plundered outside, doing a lot of dirty work for Xia Kuo Shanying. They were all ruthless, bloodthirsty, and utterly wicked.

Wu Chengyu looked at the people in front of him, seemingly satisfied with them, but secretly calculating how many people would be left.

For the past five days, Wu Chengyu's version of Xia Kuo Shanying has been swaggering around in Tongguan County and within his family, once again offending everyone he could. In Tongguan County, his reputation is infamous, and within his family, he is hated to the core by all his clansmen.

If he didn't have his own private army, he would have been attacked by the masses long ago. He was like a spring that had been compressed to its limit, and he only needed a trigger to rebound with maximum force.

And today, that opportunity has finally arrived.

According to Lady Wen's intelligence, the offerings for Wanyan Hongsheng's celebration of the Empress's birthday will pass by the main road outside Tongguan County today. They will not enter Tongguan County, but will pass by outside the city. The best ambush location is the small hill where they are now.

Wanyan Hongsheng's side consisted of a convoy of over twenty large carts, escorted by more than two hundred Jin soldiers. Now that the rebel army had ceased its activities and had not launched any offensives for a long time, more than two hundred Jin soldiers would normally be sufficient to ensure the safety of the convoy.

Meanwhile, the troops prepared by Wu Chengyu also had ulterior motives. The group of soldiers from Xia Kuo's private army who were loyal to Lady Wen were still staying at Xia Kuo's house, ostensibly to guard Lady Wen.

The men who served Tangkuo Shanying, led by Tangkuo Quan, were all brought out. Together with the bandits who followed Tangkuo Shanying and committed all sorts of evil deeds, this force was enough to attack Wanyan Hongsheng's caravan.

According to Lady Wen's intelligence, this caravan was not as simple as just over two hundred Jin soldiers on the surface, which suited Wu Chengyu's wishes perfectly.

This time, besides robbing the caravan, the goal is to exhaust all the forces loyal to Tangkuo Shanying here, killing two birds with one stone and ending it all at once.

In fact, these people were just there to die. Wu Chengyu and Madam Wen's goal was never to successfully rob the caravan. If they had succeeded in robbing the caravan and killed all of Wanyan Hongsheng's men, they would have completely broken ties with Wanyan Hongsheng.

At that time, the truth will be on Wanyan Hongsheng's side, and even if Lady Wen has a good relationship with the Empress, it will be difficult to suppress the other party's anger.

Now, as long as Tang Kuo Shan Ying makes a move against the caravan, even if he fails, the charge will be enough, and then Madam Wen will have enough reason to regain control of the family.

It was almost noon when the scouts scattered outside immediately reported: "Master, the caravan has appeared three miles away and will arrive soon."

Tang Kuoquan turned to look at Wu Chengyu, not without worry: "Master, this is Wanyan Hongsheng's caravan. After all, Wanyan Hongsheng is the Grand General of the Qingyang Prefecture Army and a member of the imperial clan. If we rob his things, I'm afraid he will harm you."

Throughout the entire process, Wu Chengyu never told Tang Kuoquan that the caravan contained tributes from Wanyan Hongsheng for the Empress's birthday. Otherwise, no matter how loyal Tang Kuoquan was to Tang Kuoshanying, he would have forcibly dragged Wu Chengyu away.

"Don't worry, I've inquired. This caravan is just Wanyan Hongsheng delivering silver to Zhongdu. With such a small number of guards, our forces can easily handle it. As long as we do it cleanly, who would suspect that it was done by our Tangkuo family?"

"What? You dare disobey my orders as the head of the family?"

To be fair, Tangkuo Quan was truly loyal to Tangkuo Shanying and dared not disobey orders at that moment.

In less than the time it takes for two incense sticks to burn, Wanyan Hongsheng's caravan came into view.

Wu Chengyu, the Tangkuo Shanying, naturally wouldn't take action personally. Tangkuo Quan mounted his horse, drew his saber, and led his private soldiers and bandits in a charge.

The distance from the grove to the main road was only a few hundred meters. The cavalry and bandits whistled and brandished their long swords, charging forward in an instant.

Of the Jin soldiers responsible for escorting the caravan, there were only a few dozen cavalrymen, the rest were infantrymen. However, the commander reacted very quickly. He first ordered his cavalrymen to attack, slowing down the enemy's charge and buying time. At the same time, he organized the infantrymen to surround the wagons as a defensive formation, and then used crossbows to launch a counterattack.

The dozens of cavalrymen were all active-duty regular soldiers with considerable combat strength. Although they were outnumbered, they managed to temporarily hold off Tang Kuo's private army. When the two sides clashed, seven or eight Jin soldiers died, but Tang Kuo's side suffered even more casualties.

Seeing that their rear had already formed a battle formation, the Jin cavalry quickly retreated and joined their own battle formation, using wagons as a barrier and archers to fire, while the cavalry split up to guard the flanks.

At this moment, Tang Kuoquan's men finally rushed to the front of the caravan and engaged in full-scale battle with Wanyan Hongsheng's men, suffering losses right from the start.

Ultimately, these family-run private soldiers may be quite skilled, but few of them have actually fought in battles; they are adept at bullying the villagers on ordinary days.

Facing a regular army, they could only unleash 70% of their strength, and with disorganized bandits mixed in, their formation was extremely scattered. On one side were elite troops, and on the other, a ragtag army. In the ensuing skirmish, everyone in Tang Kuo's family was wounded, and many fell from their horses.

If it weren't for their numerical superiority, Tang Kuo's family would have been utterly defeated. Even so, some of them were already considering giving up, as private soldiers and bandits could never match the discipline and fighting spirit of a regular army.

Seeing that the situation was not good, Tang Kuoquan wanted to lead his men to retreat, but at this moment, three or four figures suddenly darted out from the caravan. Each of them had excellent lightness skills and their attack speed was extremely fast.

When cavalry loses the impact of large-scale charges, they simply stand still and fight amongst themselves, and when they encounter martial arts masters, they are basically powerless to resist.

Lady Wen had already told Wu Chengyu that Wanyan Hongsheng had raised many experts, so how could he not send a few people to accompany him when he sent tribute to the Empress?

Wu Chengyu was hiding to the side, watching as the men he had brought were cut down from their horses like grass by those experts. These men were no match for him, but they were unstoppable to ordinary soldiers.

Tang Kuoquan couldn't care less about anyone else at this moment. He turned his horse to escape, but a master struck him down from behind with a palm strike.

He coughed up blood and collapsed to the ground. Most of the others were quickly slaughtered. The remaining people began to wail, and some even took the initiative to reveal their identities, saying that they were from the Tang Kuo family and were all nobles of the Jin Dynasty. They claimed that everything was a misunderstanding.

Thus, the objective of this operation has been achieved. As long as Wanyan Hongsheng's side knows that Tangkuo Shanying dared to provoke him, they will naturally come to punish him.

Wu Chengyu surveyed the scene and knew that the plan had succeeded. In particular, the fact that two cavalrymen left the ranks and galloped back the way they came indicated that they were there to inform Wanyan Hongsheng. Thus, his entire plan to impersonate Tangkuo Shanying was complete.

Now it was up to Madam Wen to clean up the mess. Wu Chengyu immediately left the dense forest quietly and returned to Tang Kuo's house alone. He pretended to be guilty and hid in the house, ignoring everyone and waiting for Wanyan Hongsheng's side to question him.

Sure enough, just one day later, Wanyan Hongsheng sent someone over to see the head of the Tangkuo family.

But Wu Chengyu, this Tangkuo Shanying, was as arrogant as he was before, and now he was as cowardly as he was. He hid in his house with the door tightly closed and didn't go out at all.

The clan leaders had no choice but to bring out Madam Wen. The people from Wanyan Hongsheng's side were very polite to Madam Wen.

"I am Wanyan Qi, the commander of the personal guards under the Grand Steward. Before I came, my master asked me to greet you and repeatedly instructed me not to be rude to the lady."

Our two families have always been on good terms. I truly don't know where we have offended the Tangkuo family this time, that someone from the Tangkuo family would attack our caravan.

Madam Wen's face was pale at this moment. She had been locked up for half a month without seeing the sun, and she had indeed become much more haggard. At this moment, she looked even weaker and more powerless.

She gave a wry smile and said, "Family scandals should not be aired in public, but it is true that our Tangkuo family has done something wrong. As the head of the household, I am also to blame. No matter how Lord Wanyan Hongsheng punishes me, I, Wenru, am willing to bear it."

Before Wanyan Qi arrived, he had already inquired about the upheaval in the Tangkuo family. Of course, he knew that Tangkuo Shanying was behind it all, but Wanyan Hongsheng valued his business with the Tangkuo family very much and dared not underestimate the relationship between Lady Wen and the Empress.

They didn't suffer much loss this time, so they didn't want to break off relations; they just wanted an acceptable explanation from the Tang Kuo family.

“Why should Madam take this matter upon herself? We have long known that these things were done by that young clan leader, and Madam has nothing to do with them. I just need him to give us an explanation.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the family stewards who had suffered heavy losses due to being bullied by Tang Kuo Shanying also started to shout.

"It was all done by Tang Kuo Shanying. What does it have to do with you, Madam? You can't be soft-hearted anymore. The young clan leader has been acting against the tide lately, making a mess of the clan and offending all the clans in Tongguan County. If this continues, my Tang Kuo family will be finished."

“Well… but he is, after all, the young clan leader and the sole heir of the clan.”

“Madam Wen, this matter involves the tribute from Her Majesty the Empress. Tangkuo Shanying, the young clan chief, cannot escape responsibility. If we cannot give Lord Wanyan Hongsheng and the Empress in Zhongdu an explanation, it will be difficult to resolve this peacefully.”

Madam Wen looked very troubled, but the family was in an uproar, and Wanyan Qi was unwilling to give up easily. After hesitating for a moment, she finally let out a long sigh.

"Fine, my family owns a coal mine in Ziwu Ridge. I'll punish Shanying by making her a manager there. She's not allowed to leave for ten years unless something happens. Consider it a ten-year imprisonment. As for Lord Wanyan Hongsheng and Zhongdu, I will certainly offer them generous gifts as an apology."

(End of this chapter)