Throughout the day, until evening, after Lu Gaosheng had made all the necessary preparations and arrangements, he instructed Li Hang and Sha Lang to go downstairs and get ready.
Of course, all of Lu Gaosheng's actions were under the surveillance of Zhang San.
And Zhang San had been following Lu Gaosheng closely. In just one day, he had witnessed many extraordinary individuals in the martial world, such as the master of disguise who could perfectly impersonate Lu Gaosheng's appearance.
Thinking back to the assassination attempt at the execution platform when they first entered the city.
At the beginning, Qingjian Sect successfully assassinated Lu Gaosheng, albeit it was a fake. From this, Zhang San speculated that there must be a group of experts skilled in disguise and voice imitation under Lu Gaosheng's command, who could replace him at any time to handle various matters related to the Prefecture's orders in his place.
As for himself, he could freely carry out various actions in the shadows.
Perhaps the private army and even the maritime trade were all managed using this method.
"Brother Zhang San, let's go. Before we proceed with the official operation, there is one great show waiting for us to watch."
Lu Gaosheng smiled mysteriously and walked out of the Prefecture's gates.
Zhang San reluctantly followed, and not long after, under the cover of the night, two swift horses quietly left Tian Ruo City.
...
...
Two days later, at the border of Tian Ruo Prefecture.
A small team arrived at this location, led by a man dressed in plain clothes. His face had an ordinary appearance, but his eyes revealed an unstoppable determination.
Even with ten thousand people, I will press forward.
Wu Qixue, accompanied by nearly a hundred martial practitioners from the Zhengwu Prefecture, rushed day and night, and finally arrived.
"Sir, here is the map, along with the information we gathered on the way."
Wu Qixue's face was pale, with cracked lips, clearly due to the lack of proper rest throughout the journey.
He took the map and carefully examined it. "Indeed, as I suspected, we should have caught up. Xu Guo's troops have already entered Tian Ruo Prefecture. If we continue forward, we can enter the Northern Land, but..."
Wu Qixue looked at the map, murmuring to himself, "There are numerous mountains within Tian Ruo Prefecture. If someone intends to harm our provisions, setting an ambush in Tian Ruo Prefecture would be the best choice."
However, where is Xu Guo now?
Wu Qixue frowned slowly, looking at the official road on the map, hesitating.
...
...
As evening approached, the sky grew dim.
Between the mountains to the north of Tian Ruo Prefecture, dense forests and a chilly winter breeze prevailed, making it extremely cold.
A long procession advanced on the official road amidst the mountain ridges.
As a central region, Tian Ge Prefecture was an important hub for trade and resource exchange between the northern and southern territories of Dawu Country.
Even in this era of rampant underworld activities and corrupt officials, official roads like this one were regularly maintained, and the Prefectures' orders were not neglected.
Therefore, although this road was built on the mountain ridges, the journey was relatively smooth, allowing large caravans to pass through.
The only unsettling factor might be the darkening sky, which seemed to cast an ominous presence among the deep woods beside the mountain road.
In the midst of the long procession was a group of laborers, numbering around six to seven hundred. They pushed a single-wheeled cart taller than a person, with a decorative bull's head on top and wooden boards surrounding it, resembling a moving large box. Its contents remained a mystery.
This is called a wooden ox cart, although it can carry fewer goods than the large cargo carts commonly used by merchants and travelers, it is advantageous in terms of being lightweight.
On the road from the southern region to Tian Ge Prefecture, there are many mountainous paths, so this type of tool is used for transportation throughout the journey.
The idea of Xu Guo and Tang Li is to requisition and replace the carts with faster carriages once they enter the Northern Land Plain, continuing straight to Hanwu Commandery.
On both sides of the road are a group of golden-armored guards, all of them tall and mighty, holding long halberds, with crossbows hanging from their left waist and long knives from their right waist. They are all clad in seamless golden armor, with specially designed face masks.
Without a doubt, this well-equipped guard force consists of around two thousand people.
The person leading them is also wearing golden armor, but what sets him apart is the jet-black guandao he holds, which appears quite heavy. He is riding a snow-white horse with a snow mane, known as a horse capable of traveling a thousand miles in a day, an exceptional steed in the world.
Such mounts are usually reserved for imperial family members, high-ranking nobles, as well as the two Great Generals of the South and North, and the rumored third person in the military, Xu Guo.
In a dense forest in the distance.
Two snow-maned horses are also tied to the side. Zhang San and Lu Gaosheng stand side by side, gazing into the distance at that approaching procession.
"Lord Lu, if we were to take action, what about your private army? It can't be just the two of us, right?"
"No, today we're merely here to watch the show."
Lu Gaosheng smiles faintly, looking at the distant procession. His relaxed demeanor clearly indicates no intention to take action.
It seems that something is about to happen. Hearing Lu Gaosheng's confident words, Zhang San faintly senses something.
However, waiting around is boring. Zhang San carefully observes the wooden ox carts on the road and the golden-armored guards accompanying them.
Hmm... They don't seem as formidable as rumored.
Before Zhang San can think further, a sudden change occurs on the official road in the distance. Out of the surrounding dense forest, figures dressed in black emerge one after another, launching attacks on the convoy.
The golden-armored guards immediately draw their weapons and guard the provisions, but while their attention is focused on the first wave of black-clad assailants, a torrential rain of arrows suddenly descends from the surrounding forest.
The guards are obviously trained martial practitioners, and although caught off guard, they don't suffer significant losses from the volley of arrows.
However, the civilian laborers in the middle of the road are unprotected, and in an instant, over half of them are dead or injured, their wails filling the air.
In the distant mountains, Lu Gaosheng smiles indifferently. "They are well-trained indeed. Kill the laborers first and secure the cargo carts."
Zhang San furrows his brow and asks, "What's on those carts? Grain? Minerals? Salt and iron?"
Lu Gaosheng shrugs with an indifferent expression. "Who knows?"
Between their conversation, the golden-armored guards and the black-clad assailants have already engaged in fierce combat within moments.
Countless black-clothed assassins emerge from the surrounding mountains, and a rough estimate puts their numbers at no less than two thousand!
The battle reaches a stalemate.
The leader of the golden-armored guards, the man wielding the guandao, dismounts without hesitation and charges into the enemy ranks.
If the guess is correct...
The man with the guandao in his hand was none other than Xu Guo, the third-ranked figure in the military. As soon as he entered the battlefield, his might was unstoppable. In the blink of an eye, he beheaded more than ten people. The black-clad assassins, who had seen their fair share of killings, had never witnessed such swift deaths.
It was understandable, though. Xu Guo's guandao was long and heavy, a weapon rarely seen in the martial world. The martial world was more accustomed to battles in the streets and alleys rather than on the outskirts of the city or in the wilderness.
On the battlefield, however, the formidable generals who could single-handedly slay hundreds of people had a special fondness for such weapons.
Xu Guo grew more courageous and killed more enemies. The previously deadlocked situation on the battlefield suddenly became completely one-sided.
Xu Guo laughed heartily and said, "These are just some insignificant Jianghu assassins. Dealing with you doesn't require much effort..."
However, in the next moment...
A short curved blade pierced Xu Guo's chest!
A black-clad man, seemingly weightless, positioned his left and right feet on Xu Guo's neck and waist respectively.
The center of gravity for a normal person would undoubtedly be downwards, but this black-clad man's center of gravity seemed to be leaning towards the left.
The blade was as fast as lightning, stabbing into Xu Guo's chest and immediately slashing horizontally, cutting open his chest cavity!
He was beheaded with a single strike!?
There was no doubt about the ruthlessness of this black-clad man. He had his face covered, but his eyes, revealed like those of a fox, were narrow and elongated.
In the distance...
Zhang San murmured to himself, "That black-clad person with fox-like eyes has some extraordinary lightness technique. He got so close, and Xu Guo only realized it at that moment. But at that distance, he didn't even have time to react. And this lightness technique that seems to shift the center of gravity... Is it Liu Hu? The third-ranked on the Earth List?"
Listening to Zhang San's whisper, Lu Gaosheng sneered.
So it was Liu Hu.
Among the top fifty assassins on the dark path who almost monopolized the Killer List, this Liu Hu was indeed the best and the only choice.
But under the premise of not alarming any forces, it's impressive how you managed to gather two thousand people so quickly, Song YanShi, a high-ranking expert on the Earth List.
However... you are mistaken.
At the same time, Zhang San also sensed that something was wrong.
Xu Guo, the third-ranked figure in the military, should be on par with the former number one on the Earth List, Hei Shanhu, or perhaps even stronger.
And he died so quickly?
On the official road...
Liu Hu, who killed Xu Guo in an instant, immediately somersaulted off him and landed on the ground, shouting to the surroundings, "Fire the arrows!"
The golden-armored soldiers in the vicinity were thrown into disarray by the death of their general. They couldn't effectively stop the two-thousand-strong group of black-clad individuals. About two hundred of the assassins, upon hearing the command, retreated to the back of the crowd and immediately bent down to nock arrows!
However, they were all carrying flammable substances, and the arrows they shot were all fire arrows!
The flames soared into the sky.
But what followed was not the smell of scorched food after the grain was burned.
It was... an explosion!
The wooden ox carts were very close to each other. Once one cart exploded, the others couldn't escape either, especially considering that hundreds of arrows had just been shot.
"Boss, there are compartments in the carts! They're all filled with gunpowder and nitr..."
On the official road, hundreds of wooden ox carts exploded simultaneously, engulfing the black-clad assassins and the golden-armored guards in a cloud of dust and smoke. The extent of the casualties was obscured in the chaos.
Only a few dozen of the golden-armored guards seemed to have anticipated the explosion. Despite their disheveled appearance, they calmly emerged from the dust and smoke.
On a distant mountain, Lu Gaosheng clapped his hands in amusement and exclaimed:
"Hahaha... Song YanShi's idea was not bad, setting everything ablaze. But Tang Li was even more ruthless. Look at how slow those fake golden-armored guards reacted. They probably thought there was sand inside. If my speculation is correct, once the situation collapses, those few dozen experts who know the truth will ignite the fire themselves."
"What a spectacle! It's even more exciting than I had imagined."