The Marquis Is Innocent

Chen Rui’s heart and eyes were full of Xiao Qiao’s shadow. When he got down from the wall, he went straight to the Prefect’s residence and ordered them to set up the wedding hall for his marriage with Xiao Qiao.

With his nature, if a woman falls into his hands, it is like a sheep entering a tiger’s mouth. When there will be such patience to comply with the reason? But this time, he can not be ruthless toward her. He thought it’s just wait for another day. After the ceremony, whether she wants it or not, she will become his woman. At that time, he will show his man’s spirit. After she tasted his ability to serve women, she will be submissive.

This day he arranged for the city defense. He appointed the important positions such as guards and lieutenants to his own confidants. Then, he did not care about other things, just hanging around in front of Xiao Qiao. He ordering people to bring jewelry and silk to Xiao Qiao, pleasing her in every way. The next evening, everything was ready. The bridal chamber was decorated in style. Chen Rui waited until the auspicious time and ordered people to bring Xiao Qiao out to perform the wedding ceremony. At this time, an urgent report came. The scouts found troops 30 miles outside the city. It looks like Wei Shao’s people. And they will soon reach the city.

Chen Rui had to suspend the wedding ceremony. He ordered the scouts to report if they were less than ten miles.

Chen Rui cursed Wei Shao for ruin his good things. He took off his wedding clothes and ordered someone to get the protective armor. He was equipped and was ready to lead the army out to meet the enemy. Suddenly, he remembered and returned to the room. He pushed open the door and said to Xiao Qiao: “Beauty, Wei Shao himself came to die. How dare he spoil our plans! Take a good look, I will kill him and when I return from the victory, I will perform the ceremony with you. You wait for me.”

He said while taking out the rope. Tied up her hands and feet in three or two rounds. Carried her to the bed and comforted: “Beauty, do not blame me for being rough again. I am worried about you. I was afraid when I wasn’t here and you wouldn’t think straight. Please bear with me. I’ll be right back.” After saying that, he put down the curtain and turned out. He instructed the servants at the door to guard well. He hurried to the city gates and select the soldiers. Ride on his horse, set up the flags and leading the soldiers out of the city gates. Waiting for Wei Shao.

Wei Shao’s army came. There were reports from spies that Chen Rui had controlled Chen Pang. The Generals of Shiyi had changed, and Chen Rui led his troops into formation outside the city. Threatening to fight him, so he went straight to the city. When he reached and saw the city from afar, the two armies met.

Wei Shao looked across. He saw Chen Rui sitting high on horseback, with halberd across his hand. Four healthy generals lined up on either side. Behind him stood a banner over ten feet high, embroidered with the word Chen, fluttering in the wind. Chen Rui was provoking him with his arrogant posture.

Wei Shao, as if he did not notice, took his twin iron bow. He aimed and released triple shots towards Chen Rui.

The arrow carried a vague whistle, tearing the air. Its head and tail in the air, like a straight snake, aimed at Chen Rui over 100 paces away. Chen Rui was not prepare. He was shocked and saw only the lightning. The arrow arrived in a blink of an eye. It’s even too late to swing the halberd. Without caring about the appearance, he leaned down to the back of the horse. He dodged the arrow, and a gust of wind passed over his head. There’s “poof”, three muffled sounds in succession. He looked back and three arrow clusters were nailed into the flagpole. Although there’s a hundred paces away, it’s still through the thick poplar wood. The arrow’s tail buzzed. The flagpole swayed, and a gust of wind rolled over. “Ka La La” a slight sound and the flagpole broken into two pieces. Bringing the flag fell to the ground.

Wei Shao’s grandfather, Wei Lun, entered Luoyang as a young man and served as a general. Although Wei’s family was an aristocratic family and his ancestors had held important positions as governors, but because of his handsome appearance, no one believed in his ability. One day, the Han Emperor hosted a banquet. During the banquet, he used archery as a game. He had heard in ancient times, those who were good at archery had the power to penetrate five armors with one arrow, and he hoped to see it with his own eyes. Many of the good archers at the banquet came out to try, but none of them could penetrate five armors. When the Emperor was disappointed, Wei Lun came forward and asked to try for seven armors.

The Han Emperor was surprised, but still had people stack the seven layers of JingSuo armor. It turned out Wei Lun could get through with one shot. The Emperor was amazed. Everyone in the banquet was shocked. This made Wei Lun famous, and the Han Emperor gave him the title of Crossbow General and ordered him to lead the army against the Xiongnu. This is how Wei Shao’s grandmother, Mrs. Xu, fell in love with Wei Lun and married him. They giving birth to Wei Shao’s father, Wei Jing. Wei Jing was also known as a talented archer.

Decades later, Wei Shao also lived up to the name of his ancestor’s superb archery, and could shoot such an excellent shot!

The two armies were silent. Suddenly, Wei Shao’s side issued a “tiger mighty” whistle. The soldiers gather with shields on the ground, like rolling thunder, sound shaking the ground. In front of Chen Rui’s line, the soldiers looked at each other, but there was no sound. The two armies have not yet started the battle, but they have lost a big momentum first.

Chen Rui was shocked, and his back was covered with a cold sweat. Seeing the broken flag and losing the momentum, he could not help but become angry. He sat up straight and pushed his horse out of line, and challenged Wei Shao.

Wei Shao put away his bow and crossbow. His face was cold, and he ignored it. Wei Liang had already pushed his horse and went towards Chen Rui, saying, “Little Chen Rui, beat me first before talking about anything else!” There was already Chen Rui’s deputy general Zhang Gong, who came up to meet him, but he was no match for Wei Liang, and was killed in a few rounds. Another deputy general, Liu Xiang, was defeated and returned with a serious injury.

These lieutenants under Chen Rui are all Chen Pang’s men. In just two days, Chen Pang’s power has been taken away. Chen Rui is too arrogant to listen to any words and always uses military justice to threaten. All the generals were already restless, and now, when they are fighting, they are shocked by a powerful crossbow shot from Wei Shao. The flag falls to the ground, and they were losing their spirits. Zhang Gong and Liu Xiang, one is dead and one is seriously wounded. The rest of them have no desire to fight. They are all hesitant, and no one is willing to come forward.

When it comes to individual fights, Wei Liang rarely loses battles in his life. This time, he failed to protect the lady, which was considered a great shame. He could not wait to enter the city and take back the lady. When he saw no one answered, he roared and came towards Chen Rui. The crowd was horrified by his momentum. They retreated. Chen Rui had no choice but to come out. The two came face to face. Wei Liang took out a large knife, slash with a force of a thousand pounds. Chen Rui’s arm sank and barely got out of the way. Amazed at Wei Liang’s strength, he regretted he was taking the enemy lightly, and knew the fight will end badly.

His mind turns fast and responds for a moment. With a false movement, beat his horse and turn around. He leads the way towards the city. He ordering the troops to retreat to the city and defend the gate. The crowd saw him turn around and shoot his horse towards the city. The formation was in chaos. The soldiers disregarded the formation. Scrambled to follow to the city. Wei Shao issued an order to chase. After entering the city, Chen Rui ordered the city gate to be closed. There were still Chen Rui’s soldiers who left behind. In the blink of an eye, the Wei army caught up and surrounded them.

Wei Shao stood under the flags at the gate and ordered an attack on the city. Chen Rui settled his mind and climbed the wall. He commanded to defend the city. The drums were loud. There were rocks and fireballs flying inside and outside the walls, as if the sky and earth were collapsing and the mountains were crumbling.

The Shiyi’s city walls are high. The guards are Chen Pang’s old troops, who are well-trained. After retreating into the city with Chen Rui, they know there is no way back. They can only fight to defend the city with all their might, and although Wei Shao attacked hard, he could not take it down.

When the two sides encountered each other, it was already dusk, and the battle continued until nightfall, with deaths and injuries. Instead of weakening, Wei Shao’s attack became more fierce. When the soldiers saw Wei Shao leading the way up to the ladder, they all fought to the death. The attack continued like a continuous tidal wave. The Shiyi guards had never encountered such a fierce attack before. Gradually, they were overwhelmed. Chen Rui saw the situation was bad. He refused to admit defeat and killed two retreating soldiers on the spot. He forced the rest of the soldiers to die. Suddenly there’s a sound behind him. He turned around and saw it was Chen Pang.

It was Chen Pang’s confidant who took this opportunity to release him and asked him to lead the battle to boost their spirits. Although Chen Pang was annoyed with his nephew for treating him badly, but the city was at stake, so at this moment, he did not care to bother with Chen Rui, and arrived in his armor, seized the marshal flag, ordered his men to tie Chen Rui up, and killed several of his subordinates. Then he went to the city to take command.

Shiyi’s guards were already dispirited, but when they saw Chen Pang, their spirits were boosted. And they could withstand another wave of attacks from Wei Shao. But Wei Shao’s attack was so severe that Chen Pang could not stand it anymore. It would be difficult to escape from the city if it continued like this. When he was anxious, he thought of Qiao’s daughter and ordered her to be taken to the wall to threaten Wei Shao to retreat.

Chen Rui took advantage of the situation and broke free from the ropes himself. He was about to sneak down and take Xiao Qiao with him to escape, when he heard Chen Pang’s order to take Xiao Qiao to the city wall. He cursed Chen Pang, killed the guard near him with his sword and ran away to the city. Chen Pang was furious and ordered his men to chase after him. Suddenly he saw a large fire in the city behind him, and when he looked at it again, the fire came from the Prefect’s residence.

There is a granary near the prefect’s residence. Chen Pang has been operating for many years, all the storage is being kept there. The hidden food can support the entire city for a year. Usually they observe the fire. For some reason, the fire started at such a critical moment. The fire spread through the wind, almost half of the night sky became red. The city was in chaos.

Chen Pang was terrified. He wanted to save the granary, but the attack below the city was intense. He could only grit his teeth and continue to defend, but the soldiers at the city gate were distracted by the fire and shocked by Wei Shao’s fierce attack. Even with Chen Pang in charge, he couldn’t take care of both ends. Suddenly there was a loud “boom” at the city gate, and a huge wood had broken the gate. The tide of people from outside the city poured in, and the two sides started a fierce ultimate battle.

Chen Rui took advantage of the chaos to escape. Even though they were in a mess, his heart could not let go of the beauty, and rushed in to the prefect’s residence. He saw the source of the fire was the place where she was kept. Circled twice in place and gritted his teeth. Finally, he rushed in. But the entire house had been engulfed in fire. The beams kept collapsing. He standing outside the courtyard. A burning fire came, and it forced him to take a few steps back.

Chen Rui knew the beauty must have died in the fire. He was in pain and regret. Shouted: “Kill me too!” He turned his head to go find Wei Shao to fight him to death. After he left the residence, he heard a shouting in front of him. By the light of the fire behind him, he recognized that Wei Shao’s army had entered the city and was coming in his direction. He was shocked and turned back to the residence in a panic. Fearing they would chase him, he ran to the backyard and escaped through the wall.

……

A fierce battle ended, and it was already late at night. Chen Pang was wounded and captured alive. Half of Shiyi’s soldiers were killed or wounded, and the rest surrendered. Although the soldiers under Wei Shao’s command were exhausted and many were wounded, the army was excited to have conquered Shiyi.

Li Chong, the deputy general, took care of the casualty count and resettlement, and Gongsun Yang arranged for men to put out the fire. Wei Shao headed for the Prefect’s residence. Halfway down the road, Gongsun Yang and a sergeant-major came in a hurry. When the sergeant-major saw Wei Shao, he reported he had sent men after Chen Rui, who had fled, but had not found the lady.

According to the confessions of the Prefect’s residence’s servants, they imprisoned the lady in the new room and the source of the fire was where the new room was located. The servant who was ordered by Chen Rui to guard her saw the fire in the room and opened the door to check, but the smoke and fire were so strong that it was blinding. She called someone to put out the fire, but the fire was too big and soon burned the entire house.

The sergeant had sent people to search everywhere around the area, but there was no sign of the lady, so he thought she might have been buried in the fire.

The sergeant completed his report and looked at Wei Shao, looking a little uneasy.

Wei Shao stopped in place and tilted his head, looked at the burning blaze.

His face and body are still stained with blood. The light from the fire reflects on his armor. His expression brought out some murderous aura.

He seemed lost in thought. “Pass my order. Kill Chen Pang. Exterminate all the family members. Cast the women as camp prostitutes. Bury the surrendered soldiers alive. No one will be left.”

He said it word by word, but his tone was rather flat, with no emotions.

Gongsun Yang was astonished and looked at him. Wei Shao’s eyes were bloodshot. His gaze was murderous. He wants to persuade, but before he could speak, Wei Shao already said, “There is no need for you to say more. I have already decided.” The voice was icy.

While Gongsun Yang was hesitating, another soldier came running behind him, but with a cheerful face, he shouted from afar, “Marquis! We have found the lady! We have found the lady! She is hiding in the empty stable!”

Gongsun Yang was delighted and asked him what was going on. The soldier reported she was safe, but her wrists had been burned by fire, and they had taken her to a safe place.

Gongsun Yang turned to repeat himself and looked at Wei Shao’s expression and said, “My Lord, Chen Pang cannot be killed. There are other uses for him. The remaining guards of Shiyi have also surrendered to My Lord. It is inauspicious to kill them. I hope My Lord will think twice.”

He finished his advice, and saw Wei Shao did not nod, but also did not make a sound. He relieved, thought about it, and then advised: “The lady is fine. But with all the turbulence, I’m sure she must be frightened. Why don’t you visit her? I will take care of the rest of the city’s affairs.”

“Please send a doctor to treat her wounds, and have someone guard her well so that she doesn’t get lost again. I have something else to do. I’ll go now!” Wei Shao dropped a sentence, turned, and walked away.

Gongsun Yang looked at his back and shook his head.