Li Changhai smiled as he saw the city walls loom ahead of him on the road. He was more than eager to be at the end of this bothersome journey, to tell the truth. And from the casual comments and jokes that the rest of his soldiers were pa.s.sing about, it was similarly obvious that they were more than glad to be done with their short march.To be fair, it was more of a forced march the last five, six days. They had thrown aside some of their own rules, and no longer bothered with hunting or fresh food after that ambush by the Iron Fire Mountain Sect. And relied on their dry rations to fill their bellies ever since.
Not exactly a very enjoyable experience, the Second Ducal Prince reminded himself, as he turned to look over the two wagons that were following the troop. And the scowling man who was seated on their first of them, next to the driver of the same. Qin Feng clearly did not care for their rush, and the discomfort that came with it.
Still, the younger man didn"t make any noise about it. And he was more than happy to dress in the richer garments that Li Sanlang had provided. They were a lot more comfortable than the pitiful sc.r.a.ps of cloth that Qin Feng had left on his body, after the attack that they had suffered. And it was rather clear that what he had been wearing was his best suit of clothes.
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He would have to make it up to the young man, Li Changhai promised himself, as he saw how Qin Feng was peering about himself from where he was seated. The whole point of having him dress up was so that he could play the part of the Prince, and so keep any enemies from paying too much attention to the soldiers in the train. And Li Changhai was dressed as a squad leader so it wouldn"t look too out of place, to have the rest of the men listen to his commands, now and again.
As for Lieutenant Wei Xuanran, he was seated on the last wagon, and watching their rear, accompanied by the two Bodyguards. This had been the best that they could come up with, given their situation. Even the Bodyguards had to agree that their presence in the main troop would have given the game away, and so remained at the last of the wagons.
Those two were also not in any condition to march, even if they had insisted on doing it at first. The injuries that they had sustained in the attack by those Iron Fire Mountain Sect members had not been too severe, but they did cause quite a bit of bleeding. And the second of the wagons had been cleared to carry the wounded. Which gave them no excuses whatsoever.
Especially when Li Sanlang insisted on marching with his troopers. He was dressed as a squad leader, after all. And most of the other soldiers were treating him like one. So it was only fair that he played that part.
But he couldn"t help but shift a little closer to the wagons, so that he could stay within sight of Lieutenant Wei, and Qin Feng.
To his surprise, it was the latter to called out to him. Apparently, the fellow had something to ask, and did so, when the Second Ducal Prince drew closer. As the latter had expected, it was something to do with the city ahead, where their journey was supposed to end.
"That is Yanyun City? Your father"s Base City, here in the Western Reaches?"
Li Changhai turned his head, surprised at the question. But he nodded at Qin Feng, the one who had asked it, wearing a slight smile on his lips nevertheless. The younger man had not seen the place before, he remembered.
"Yes. We are almost there. If we keep to this pace, we should arrive before its gates within the next three to four hours."
Qin Feng"s frown seem to deepen, as soon as he heard that. Which was enough to start the alarm bells in Li Sanlang"s head ringing immediately. "Then this is the last stretch where we can be attacked? By those Iron Fire Mountain people? Or the ones behind them?"
The younger man"s questions sent a chill down Li Changhai"s spine, even as he nodded, as though agreeing with Qin Feng"s a.s.sumption. "That is correct. Although it would take a great deal of courage, to attempt something like that, this close to my father"s Base City."
"What was that saying again? Not afraid of ten thousand, but worry about the small possibility? I think your soldiers are a little too relaxed, now that we are within sight of the city. All it takes is just another small troop, and a few properly trained a.s.sa.s.sins, don"t you think? To s.n.a.t.c.h away your head, even if you are surrounded by a full troop?"
Qin Feng"s words were a little scathing, and the driver beside him seemed to stiffen as soon as he heard them. But Li Sanlang only felt his sweat suddenly pour down from between his shoulder blades. What the former disciple of the Heaven Sword School was correct. And his eyes flickered to the rest of the troop, and the wide open road ahead of them.
Hadn"t they been ambushed under similar conditions? On an open road like this?
And it was impossible for his father"s men to respond, wasn"t it? Not when they had no idea that the escort was approaching Yanyun City. They couldn"t be able to differentiate them from a merchant train or something similar, from this far away.
Which meant that it was far to early, to relax their guard!
But Qin Feng wasn"t done speaking, and his voice was sharper, when it rang in Li Changhai"s eyes once more:
"Since I am supposed to be playing the part of the Second Ducal Prince now, to lure out your enemies, you can hardly blame me for being a little worried, can you? After all, I am going to the first one that they would try to kill, the moment that they make their move.
"That is, if they have planned an ambush out here. The way that the road runs through uneven ground seems rather familiar to the spot where they had waited for us in those pits, isn"t it?"
Li Changhai bit down on the curses that were about to fly out of his mouth, and simply nodded at Qin Feng once again. Not that he was intending to direct any of them at the younger man. Instead, it was meant for the rest of the soldiers that were a short distance ahead.
He could see that they were merely going through the motions, from where he marched. And he didn"t doubt that they would be largely surprised, if there was a trap of some sort to be sprung, anywhere in the vicinity of the road.
Then, just as he was about to shout at the men who were closest to the wagon, and his present position, there was a cry from the front of the escorts, as two scouts suddenly turned, and rushed back towards the rest of the troop!
And their cries were sufficient to make all of the soldiers pull up their shields and their weapons. Even Lieutenant Wei rushed forward from his position to the rear, taking up a position next to Qin Feng"s wagon, next to the disguised Second Ducal Prince, the moment that the scouts shouted out their warnings:
Riders approaching!
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