Free Web NovelChapter 84: Chapter 85: Unfriendly Soldiers and Civilians
He composed himself. "Who’s in charge of the army now, Zhong Shengguang or the Red General?"
What kind of question was that? The Guards were a little surprised. One of them said, "The Red General presides over all military matters, big or small." This wasn’t a secret; everyone knew it. But the man before them was acting stranger and stranger. ’He should be captured and thoroughly interrogated.’
With that in mind, the last Guard turned and ran back for reinforcements.
Hee Lingchuan saw this but paid it no mind. He only said to the others, "Stay where you are, and I’ll release him in half a double-hour. Otherwise, you can take your comrade’s corpse back with you."
He was certain this tactic would work on the Black Water City Army, but the Guards before him merely exchanged glances. Although they hesitated, they continued to inch forward, completely unfazed by his threat.
The captive said with difficulty, "Even if you kill me, they won’t let you go!"
Hee Lingchuan scanned his surroundings. The area was a stretch of rolling Hills, and the low-lying shrubs offered no cover. The nearest village was nearly a mile away.
Worst of all, the farmers by the canal, having seen him overpower the Guard, scrambled out of the water to give chase.
Now, he was attacked from both front and rear.
He couldn’t stay here; he had to find a way out. With that thought, he grabbed the captive and started moving toward the canal.
Fortunately, the captive was small and thin, and Hee Lingchuan was very strong, so he simply half-dragged him along at a jog.
The canal was built for irrigation. It was probably early summer, and the current was still somewhat swift. Hee Lingchuan’s eyes landed on a small wooden boat tied to the bank.
If he could go with the current, it would be much faster than running on foot.
In any case, his first priority was to shake off these pursuers.
He ran like this for about a hundred and fifty yards. Although the Guards refused to stop, they valued their comrade’s life too much to charge forward and try to seize him.
Suddenly, he heard the sound of hoofbeats. A dozen or so cavalrymen rounded a gully. From their attire, Hee Lingchuan knew them all too well:
The Great Wind Army!
’Great Wind Army Rangers, here of all places,’ he thought. ’Son of a bitch.’
Hee Lingchuan abandoned his hostage. He slashed the man’s leg, pushed him away, then turned and ran.
Two legs could never outrun four; he couldn’t afford to be weighed down by a burden.
Fortunately, he wasn’t far from the canal now.
Hee Lingchuan burst into a sprint, moving like the wind. He used his forward momentum to leap directly into the canal, slashing the boat’s rope with his saber. Pushed by the current, the wooden boat slowly began to drift away from the bank.
The hoofbeats grew closer; the cavalry was clearly charging. Finding the boat’s drift too slow, he bent down and gave it a hard shove.
Just then, a sense of alarm flared in his mind.
With no time to think, he threw himself forward, tumbling headfirst into the boat.
It was a classic face-plant, but as ugly as the move was, it saved his life. A second later, two arrows flew past. One struck the mooring post, sinking deep into the wood. The other sailed over the wooden planks and plunged straight into the water.
If he had remained standing there, an arrow would have pierced either his throat or his heart. Either way, it would have been a grim end.
But Hee Lingchuan’s movement had been too violent and the boat too narrow. His lunge caused it to flip completely upside down.
"..." Eldest Young Master Hee silently swore a blue streak.
’What now?’
With his arm strength, he could certainly right the boat again. But the cavalry were like a pack of wolves, and they had probably already reached the canal bank. Even if he rode the boat downstream, he would at most shake off the Guards and farmers. The few cavalrymen would stick to him like glue, never giving up until they found a chance to drag him out of the water.
’Besides, with someone taking potshots at me, wouldn’t I be a sitting duck in the boat?’
To be honest, the moment he recognized the Great Wind Army, he knew that running was the only real option.
In the span of just a few breaths, the cavalrymen were the first to reach the canal bank.
The terrain of the Chipa Plateau was unique; large armies couldn’t ascend it, but agile Scouts often snuck in to gather intelligence, poison wells, and carry out assassinations. As a result, the people of Panlong City despised spies. When they encountered one, they would beat them half to death without a second thought. As long as the spy was still breathing when handed over to the camp, the higher-ups would have no complaints.
They hefted the weapons in their hands, preparing to throw them like javelins.
The Hee Family had witnessed this technique in Panlong Wasteland City, where it had shaken even Sunx Fuping’s Barrier until it was on the verge of collapse. It seemed this was a standard skill for the Great Wind Army, one that everyone learned.
But when they reached the canal’s edge and looked down, they froze.
In the canal, there was only a single wooden boat, floating upside down with the current, moving surprisingly fast. At first glance, the spy was nowhere to be seen.
The water was clear enough that not even a fish or shrimp could hide, let alone a grown man.
Suddenly, one of the cavalrymen pointed. "Look, he’s hiding under the boat!"
Everyone looked down and, sure enough, a partial silhouette was visible beneath the boat—
The bastard was actually curled up underneath the boat, moving along with it.
One cavalryman decisively threw his Long Spear. It struck the bottom of the boat with a solid THUD. But the little boat continued to drift on, and no blood flowed from underneath. He had clearly missed his target.
The cavalryman cursed in frustration.
The bottom of the boat was rounded, impossible to stand on, so it wasn’t like they could just jump down onto it.
Hee Lingchuan was using the entire boat as a shield. The overturned hull had trapped a pocket of air, more than enough for him to breathe freely for a long time.
With him underwater and shielded by the boat, the archers on the bank could do nothing.
He was now curled up inside the boat’s air pocket, his feet pushing off the canal bottom, propelling the wooden craft forward with the current. Faster, and faster.
Under the combined force of the current and his own efforts, the boat picked up speed. In the blink of an eye, he left the foot soldiers far behind, with only the relentless cavalry still able to keep up.
He traveled downstream this way for more than a mile.
Hee Lingchuan had just managed to calm his heart rate and breathing when he sensed that something was wrong, even before he could come up with a new plan.
He couldn’t see the shore and had no idea where he had drifted. The most troublesome part was that he could feel the water level dropping.
This meant the water in the canal was becoming shallower and the current was weakening. Soon, the boat would no longer drift, and he would have to face the cavalry on the bank.
’What should I do?’
These kinds of canals used to be common in the countryside, and they always had bridges built over them at regular intervals so pedestrians could cross. At this thought, an idea struck him. He reached out under the boat, felt around, and grabbed the Long Spear, pulling it free with a sharp tug.
Then, he poked his head out from under the boat’s edge to observe the situation outside the canal.
The bad news was that the cavalrymen were still in hot pursuit. The moment Hee Lingchuan looked up, he was met with several icy stares. One of the pursuers even started to draw a bow from his back, scaring Hee Lingchuan into quickly pulling his head back in.
The good news was that buildings were starting to appear sporadically along both sides of the waterway. That meant a village or a market town was up ahead! freёwebnovel.com
As long as it wasn’t open plains, his chances of escape increased dramatically.
Hee Lingchuan already had a plan. He calculated the speed of the current, steered the boat toward the bank, and then suddenly let go and ducked down.
Just then, the small boat happened to pass under a wooden bridge.
It was about noon. The sun was directly overhead, casting the bridge’s shadow straight down onto the water.
A moment later, the boat drifted out from under the bridge, continuing on its way as before.
The cavalry, suspecting nothing, continued onward, chasing the wooden boat down the canal.
