MHNEB 21 (2/2)

Book 1:  Now we don’t hear the loom shuttle; we only hear our daughter sighing.

第21章 败军之将

Chapter 21: The Losing Army’s General [Part 2 of 2]

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A wandering swordsman crawled up to the entrance of the room to knock on the door. After knocking, he immediately leaned back on to the side of the door and remained motionless. The LuShuihus in the room found that after asking the identity of the knocker, there was no reply. Then, they went to the door to listen to any movement sounds, but they kept the door closed.

There are several sides to the room without window shade paper. They relied on straw mats and the like to act as curtains. However, the walls here are very strong. 

Through the window slit, the white-faced youth saw that LuShuihu’s attention was drawn to the door. With a wave of his hand, seven to eight wandering swordsmen suddenly barged into the room through the window. In their hands, they held a blowgun. As they aimed their arrows at the Hu-ren, the anaesthetic arrow is as thin as a cow’s hair shot into their backs and faces.

Two to three strong wandering swordsmen ran to Cui Lin and quickly lifted him and threw him out the window. A powerful wandering swordsman responded to this outside, as he carried Cui Lin on his shoulders. With this, a group of people rapidly fled along with Cui Lin.

When the boss of the wandering swordsman saw that the person to be rescued had been rescued and after taking down many Lushuihus, the immediately turned to bring the kidnapped person away.

“Boss, since they have fainted, should we take the chance to ……” a wandering swordsman makes a “slicing” hand sign. 

“You doofus, what take the chance!” The white-faced youth slapped the wandering swordsman on his forehead, “This old one had said that the Yu City wandering swordsmen never kills any. If you want to be sliced by this old one, you can do it!”

The long and skinny-faced wandering swordsman that was smacked on the head felt that he could see stars. He shook his head vigorously, as he glanced at those Lushuihus that’s lying sporadically on the ground in a pity. He followed his companions out of the house. 

The Lushuihus are nothing good, and the officials under the heavens are nothing good too. 

If he could, he would have wanted to see them fighting between themselves. 

It's just that the old third and old fourth were still in jail, and their boss insisted on trying to rescue the one surnamed Cui, otherwise, no one would want to mess with this stinking issue.

This group of wandering swordsmen had always used the Qiuyuan Temple as a place to conjugate. Although the Lushuihus used their armed strength to force them out of the worn-down temple, it was also because they did not want to complicate matters. It wasn’t because they were scared of the Lushuihus.

Some time ago, the third and fourth-ranked old third and old fourth were abducted by them. Soon after, they heard that old third and fourth had offended the government after the abduction. Coupled with the fact that the worn-down temple was occupied by them and it is unknown when they would leave the temple, the boss of the wandering swordsman decided to give these Lushuihus a lesson.

They were the original people who had stayed here. Naturally, they were more familiar with the geography here than the Lushuihus. In the worn-down temple, there is an exit. This exit had always hidden by the wandering swordsmen behind the Buddha statue. It had become their secret passageway. Now, they are using this exit to pass through the backyard to “steal” Cui Lin out from the temple.  

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On the other side, the Yu City Governor Manor’s soldiers and Gai Wu were currently in a confrontation.

From what Bai Ma had said about the Lushuihu’s plan by using the lives of the civilians as a bargaining chip to exchange for the two eminent monks, both sides were doomed to not be able to work out a solution peacefully. 

He Mulan hated their move against the ordinary civilians. Now, she’s sombrely thinking of what to do. 

It’s probably the same as what You Ke was doing. He swung his body to the side, as he started to discuss and argue fiercely with the few house guards that followed Cui Lin from the Cui Manor.

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"Why do I think that what that Lushuihu-ren said is untrue?! These are the people under my jurisdiction, therefore, I definitely can’t use them as bargaining chips!" Magistrate You snarled as he extended his neck to the staff of the Cui family, "Cui Lin is my best friend. These civilians regard me as their parent. At this time, 'my best pal and 'my children' are in danger. What do you say I do?”

He said with his eyes red: "They still fear Lord Cui’s power. They are afraid to do anything to Cui Lin. At most, they would just let him experience bodily pains. But, what about the civilians? They did not know anything at all!”

"Lord You, we do not mean to disregard the people, but what was said by the Lushuihu though single-faceted..." His words were interrupted by the disdainful look of "Hua Mulan".

Yes, they all know that what was said would not be single-faceted.

These Lushuihus dared to gather in Qiuyuan temple under the eyes of everyone. If it was only Cui Lin was in their hands, they would be too bold to do this.

But the fact is that no one knows that the Lushuihus were not only bold, but they were bold to this extent.

Using the civilians as a bargaining chip, this is a method that Great Wei never used and never dared to use. Only these LuShuihus who have no country, no monarch, and no discipline that they are able to accomplish this.

Gai Wu saw that "Hua Mulan"’s complexion turned uglier and uglier and his heart sank immediately. The Lushuihus are people who prize heroes the most. Previously, he also did not put down the idea of making an acquaintance with the “heroine”. 

But since Bai Ma exposed his plans, from the moment Hua Mulan started to enter into the muddy waters, he had no chance of making an acquaintance with Hua Mulan.

At this moment, a sound of "step step step", the sound of horse hoofs pounded into everyone’s ears. About 20 over horsemen came out from the woods from the side. 

However, the sight of the white flag floating in the air, and coupled with the fact that the Lushuihus love using the colour white, with just a glance, everyone knew that the Lushuihu army arrived. 

These cavalries emerged from other places as well, and there was a faint sense of them willing to assist the Lushuihus. This made You Ke’s heart topple like a huge rock. 

Their troops were much more than the troops here. These horsemen carrying the white flags probably heard that their leader had lost. Therefore, they intentionally revealed a part of where the other Lushuihus were stationed to help their leader to put on a show of power.

At this moment, the scene where hundreds of soldiers surrounded the Qiuyuan Temple was turned upside down.

The families of the Governor Manor’s soldiers live in Yu City’s four townships. Hearing that there might be a sudden change in their family’s situation, they immediately became anxious. An atmosphere of fear and unrest started to spread like a plague amongst them.

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He Mulan stood in front of Gai Wu, watching him covering his ribs with a helpless look. She can't help but regret why she didn't use a much heavier strength to smack him.

How she wished she could smack him to the state wherein his life afterwards the bottom half of his body would not be working.

Before that, why did she think that Gai Wu was a responsible man since he was willing to come out and fight?

If he had so many plans, he didn't need to come out to fight at all.

"I heard that LuShuihus are believers in Buddhism, although I can understand why you want to rescue the Buddhist monks, the monks are compassionate. If they knew that they were rescued through such manners, would they be willing to be rescued?” He Mulan stared at Gai Wu, trying to find traces of guilt on his face.

"If Wei Emperor promised us, no one would die." Gai Wu shook his head, and the earrings of the Buddha statue shook with his movements, appearing unpleasant to the eye. "It is the Wei Emperor, and not me, that will either become a Buddha or a demon. Isn't it ridiculous for him to restrict the development of the belief of Buddhism beyond the world as an emperor?"

Gai Wu's tone suddenly turned flat.

"He is your emperor, not our Lushuihus’. The Buddhists would also have their terrifying moments, I am just doing something extraordinary at this extraordinary time."

"I see…..." He Mulan finally let a unique expression that belonged to her anger show on her face. "You are a jerk. At least, the emperor in my memory is an emperor who has never sacrificed ordinary civilians for personal enmity and beliefs."

"Therefore, the rule I want you to abide by is…..."

"General Hua!" Cui family’s family members called out her out in fear. 

"Hua Mulan, do you want to offend Cui Hao, a powerful and noble official in this dynasty, to save the civilians, or to save the people and sacrifice Cui Lin, you better think about it yourself!" Bai Ma cried again. "If you let the leader have any loss, we LuShuihus promise to wash the city with blood!"

Gai Wu has decided to wait for his ribs to heal before giving this kid a good smacking.

“The losing army’s general, how confident you are to be this brave!”

He Mulan's gaze hit Bai Ma's face, and she spoke coldly.

She stared at him as if looking at a dead person, and there was no longer that smug expression on her face.

"Gai Wu, since you lost to me, I want you to swear that you and your men must not hurt the lives of any ordinary civilians." He Mulan looked down at Gai Wu that is sitting on the ground sternly.

"If you violate this oath, the Gods and Buddha will abandon you."

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Fleur's Corner:

Sorry for the late update today! We are at about the end of verse 1. Next update by 14/2. 

Please give your support to this novel by writing a review on NovelUpdates! 

Thank you!

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