Chapter 133: General Personal Guard & a.s.sa.s.sin
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
A strange black fish-scale soft armor, with a cyan robe over it—this was the standard equipment of the Admiral of Zhonghe Prefecture, General Li Yuan’s personal guard.
As Admiral of Zhonghe Prefecture, Li Yuan had 36 personal guards and he established a personal guard camp.
Junior Leopard had already been Li Yuan’s personal guard for a month. Life had been very comfortable. In fact, as a general’s personal guard, life couldn’t be more comfortable.
The so-called personal guard, plainly speaking, was bodyguard, Li Yuan’s bodyguard.
Li Yuan was the Admiral, Commander in Chief and also Military Counselor of Zhonghe Prefecture. That meant, he was at least as great as the military commander of the local region in Junior Leopard’s previous life. But compared to Junior Leopard’s world, he was a little more powerful in this world. In theory, a personal guard like Junior Leopard had to follow Li Yuan on his trips to protect him. When Marshal Li went out, having a personal guard camp with him was not a big issue. But it wasn’t necessary to bring 36 personal guards all the time with him.
That was too ostentatious.
Li Yuan was not an ostentatious person. So on normal days, he only had six personal guards at his side. The 36 people in the personal guard camp changed s.h.i.+fts every six days. This way, they were more relaxed.
Of course, if you weren’t guarding, you weren’t out of the picture either. In the days when it wasn’t your turn, the personal guard camp was in training most of the time.
Li Yuan was a Level Three court official, a General. Naturally, his men could not act like ordinary Jianghu characters and the rebellious in the martial arts world who would attack casually when confronted with enemies. Especially his personal guard camp, what they focused most was coordination. Junior Leopard was, however, not very good at coordinating with the others.
He would always be a loner. So at the beginning, he found it hard to adjust.
After a month, he was finally able to fit in.
The personal guard camp had two princ.i.p.al officers, one chief, and one deputy. They were both experts in Bone-Forging Realm. The chief in charge was called w.a.n.g Lei who was a Level Five expert and good at using the long spear. The deputy chief was Qi Fei. He was a Level Four expert who employed the double Dragon Fangs Halberd.
All the other 34 people, including Junior Leopard himself, were all at Level Three.
There was a separate barrack in the personal guard camp, which was located in the Admiral Manor’s courtyard. Junior Leopard and the other members of the personal guard camp would practice various kinds of battle array coordination when they were not busy. He also benefited greatly.
The personal guards had a good att.i.tude towards Junior Leopard, and there was no evidence of the old soldiers’ bullying the newcomers as it was often portrayed in American movies. This was because the guards here were the entire General’s close confidants, having all gone through Li Yuan’s careful selection. Naturally, they understood the severity of the matter and had a profound understanding. Secondly, when Junior Leopard took Zhonghe City, the guards observed all the formidable attack force and strength that he emerged. It went without saying that they wouldn’t be so stupid as to go looking for trouble from such a talented a.s.sa.s.sin and they simply wouldn’t bring trouble to themselves.
As a result, they welcomed Junior Leopard to join the team. After all, a strong comrade meant they would be more secure.
Hence when it came to instructing Junior Leopard, they were all doing their best.
As a result, Junior Leopard received a lot of benefits.
What surprised him the most was that while he was in the personal guard camp, he even got a complete hammering skill with a power which was on par with the Wu Family’s Wild Hammering Skill?
Flipping Sky Hammer!
This Flipping Sky Hammer originally was a martial arts skill in the imperial family’s armory of Great Jin. 300 years ago, it was awarded to General Zhou Ang by Emperor Wu. Since then, it was introduced into the army. However, the hammering skill was in reality too unfathomable and it was demanding for cultivators. For 300 years, except General Zhou Ang, no one had succeeded in practicing it. Gradually, no one had bothered to inquire.
On second thought it made more sense. The saber was the princ.i.p.al weapon in the army. It not only was the easiest weapon to master but also the most lethal weapon at the early stage. Therefore, the saber was one of the standard army weapons. But, originally, a hammer was an unpopular weapon and the requirements placed on the user were high. Therefore, a common soldier wouldn’t use a hammer.
In the army, the only people who could really choose their own weapons were the generals.
A high-ranking military officer could only come from three backgrounds: a well-known family or the imperial court, which was a high quality background; an ordinary soldier’s background, which was also regarded as a high quality background; born in Jianghu or a Military Camp, which was the last background an officer may have.
Since a hammer was a type of unpopular weapon, those generals who came from the imperial court or well-known families wouldn’t use it. As for ordinary soldiers, they were already accustomed to holding the sabers and swords, how could they change to use the hammer?
A man in Jianghu whose background was the Military Camp, wouldn’t use it either because the weapon was too unpopular. Even if he had used this type of weapon, he generally wouldn’t have lived to see the day when he achieved meteoric success in his career. Moreover, this Flying Sky Hammer was an unfathomable hammering skill. Although it had been circulated in the military, it was not clear to everyone. Only those generals who had strong backgrounds could have access to it, like Li Yuan.
This Li Yuan was born in Pingzhou and was of the Li Family. The Li Family was very valiant and was deeply rooted in the military. If the Li Family wanted to acquire the cultivation method of Flipping Sky Hammer, it wasn’t difficult. But until now, they hadn’t found the right person to pa.s.s the hammering skill over. However, it was worthy of an investment to pa.s.s it to Junior Leopard. Li Yuan attracted a personal guard with boundless prospects by using a cultivation method that was of no use to him. In any case, this could be regarded as a very cost-effective thing.
Junior Leopard was naturally very grateful, at least on the surface.
Although the time used in practicing martial arts at the personal guard camp was a lot, it did not take up all the guards’ time. Because they took turns being on duty for every six days, so they naturally had a lot of time to relax. It was during this time that Junior Leopard could freely govern. At the beginning, he was very busy, but after a month, he was idle now.
When he first came to Zhonghe Prefecture, in addition to reporting to the Admiral Manor, he also made a schedule for the w.a.n.g Tianlei family. His brother-in-law really followed him to Zhonghe Prefecture.
Junior Leopard naturally wanted to help him settle down. Fortunately, w.a.n.g Tianlei was a very independent person; he did not need Junior Leopard to worry about him but only needed him to provide the funds.
w.a.n.g Tianlei soon found a house in Zhonghe City. He took with him Junior Leopard’s elder sister and his little nephew to move into the house.
On the other hand, Jin Nanqing also secretly sent over Junior Leopard’s medicinal herbs. The two carts of medicinal herbs were disguised as grain and sent into the city. This was all thanks to w.a.n.g Tianlei who used the silver coins that Junior Leopard gave him to open a grain store in Zhonghe Prefecture. Hence, this flaw was yet to be discovered.
As for why w.a.n.g Tianlei wanted to open a grain store, it was a long story. Simply put, in the past, there was a fellow officer whose family were grain merchants. Moreover, it was the Qianzhou grain chaos that made w.a.n.g Tianlei find a resource. He used the funds that Junior Leopard provided and opened a not so big grain store in Zhonghe City.
As for being outlanders in the city, whether they would have any difficulty in opening a grain shop in Zhonghe City and whether the local thugs in Zhonghe Prefecture would come to collect protection fees, w.a.n.g Tianlei had not thought of such issues. Half a year ago, Zhonghe City had just been overrun by the sect of flame and had been under siege for ten days. Apart from a few shops such as the Wu Family’s Ironware Shop, others were burned to the ground. Now all business in Zhonghe City had declined, and only very few merchants were left. The mayor of Zhonghe Prefecture was now like local governers in Junior Leopard’s previous life, desperate to improve the local GDP. As for w.a.n.g Tianlei the new merchant, the mayor would no doubt warmly welcome. In addition, Junior Leopard was Li Yuan’s personal guard, one of the people who recaptured Zhonghe City with first-cla.s.s merit. Once all these factors were put together, they gave w.a.n.g Tianlei a huge advantage. w.a.n.g Tianlei could safely do his grain business in Zhonghe City. At the same time, Junior Leopard would have a home in Zhonghe City and in his free time, he didn’t have to stay at the Admiral Manor where he never felt free. Moreover, he now had two carts of medicinal herbs and his strength had reached the boundary of the Full Closure of the Skin-Toughening Realm. Naturally, he was eager to refine the Bone-Forging Pills as soon as possible and quickly forge the bones. He had been living in the general’s house but he never got the opportunity.
“Little s.h.i.+ba, you grow up. Haven’t you considered looking for a wife?” Sitting by the fire, pregnant Zhou Hua’er was sitting by the fire sewing and chatting with Junior Leopard. “Before coming out this time, mother warned repeatedly, that I must find you a good wife!”
Junior Leopard laughed mischievously and in his heart scolded himself as to why he thought to come and visit his sister. His visit had only resulted in his being his sister’s target. What a miscalculation!
“Okay Hua-er, don’t speak about it anymore. Every time Junior Leopard comes back, you continuously nag him. Be careful your nagging scares him away and next time he won’t come back.”
“How would he dare?” Zhou Hua scornfully glanced at w.a.n.g Tianlei and ferociously looked at Junior Leopard, “Don’t think that just because you now have a promising future, you can disobey me!”
“No, of course not, I wouldn’t dare!” Junior Leopard quickly responded, “By the way, sister, I still have things to do, so I can’t stay here and keep you company!”
“All right, go ahead. I know you’re tired of me!”
“Hah hah..” Junior Leopard chuckled and pulled w.a.n.g Tianlei out of the house in a hurry.
“It looks like I’ll have to limit my visits or else I’ll receive my sister’s nagging every time I come by!”
“If you don’t want to hear her babbles, just listen to her and get a wife, then I bet she won’t nag!”
“I don’t have time right now!” Junior Leopard smiled bitterly and shook his head.” By the way, General Li is going to the drill ground tomorrow. I don’t think I’ll be back for a few days, so do take care of Little Du for me.”
“It’s all right, business is more urgent!” w.a.n.g Tianlei said, “I’ll take care of the home. Besides, does it matter whether you come back or not?”
They both laughed.
…
……
Doing arms drill on the drill ground was a tradition since ancient times. In fact, it was similar to the army review of later generations and it wasn’t worth observing. However, this arms drill was different from usual. All personal guards of the personal guard Camp had to present to show the General’s dignity.
Among Li Yuan’s personal guards, Junior Leopard was the smallest and the shortest, therefore, he was at the very edge of the whole personal guard camp queue. Two silver hammers were hung on the horse’s back, and in addition to the black fish scales and the green robe that covered his body, there was a black helmet on his head. Riding on the horse, he looked quite magisterial.
It wasn’t too far from the Admiral Manor to the drill ground. One was in the east of the city; the other was in the west. There were many pedestrians on the road since it was in the morning. This group of people were all riding horses and occupying a large part of the road. Therefore, although he was riding on horseback, his speed was not fast.
Having attended the arms drill a couple of times before, Junior Leopard was not surprised to see this. While they were about to take a break, he suddenly felt the warning sign in his heart.
“Why?!” Junior Leopard’s muscles stiffened slightly and he loosed his left hand which was grabbing the rein and moved near to the hammer’s handle on the horseback.
Suddenly, Junior Leopard heard a faint vibration of the bow string.
“Phew–!”
A silvery light with a whistling sound broke through s.p.a.ce.
The target headed straight at Li Yuan.