The Prisoner of Beauty - Chapter 15
Chapter 15: The Wrath of the Marquis of Yan (Part I)
Chen Rui’s eyes and heart were completely full of Xiao Qiao’s shadow. As soon as he went down the city walls, he went straight to the Grand Administrator’s estate, giving orders to immediately set up the wedding hall in preparation for his marriage to Xiao Qiao. With his natural disposition, if he took a fancy to a woman, let alone one who had fallen into his hands like a sheep entering a wolf's mouth to be slaughtered at his whim, how could there be any reason for him to patiently accommodate her like this? It was just that this time, for some unknown reason, he simply could not bring himself to use brute force against her. He thought to himself that, at worst, he would just wait another day. Once they went through the wedding hall, regardless of whether she was willing or not, she would be his person. At that time, he would shake up his spirits, display his masculine vigor, and once she tasted his skill at handling women, he was not afraid she would not submit. On this day, he arranged the city defenses, assigning the important positions of guards and colonels to his personal confidants. After that, he ignored all other matters, just loitering around Xiao Qiao, constantly ordering people to bring jewelry, silks, and satins before her, trying to please her in a hundred ways. Finally, by the evening of the next day, everything was prepared. The bridal chamber was decorated decently, and Chen Rui also properly waited until the auspicious hour, ordering people to go into the room to forcibly bring Xiao Qiao out to perform the wedding ceremony. Right at this time, an urgent report arrived, saying that scouts had discovered an army thirty li outside the city marching toward the city walls, appearing to be Wei Shao's troops, and they would soon press down upon the city.
Not expecting Wei Shao’s army to march so quickly, Chen Rui could only temporarily halt the wedding ceremony and ordered the scouts to investigate again. They returned to report that the army was already less than ten li away.
Chen Rui loudly cursed Wei Shao for ruining a good thing, snatched off his ceremonial robes, and ordered people to bring his chainmail and breastplate. Fully armored and taking up his painted halberd, he shook up his spirits to lead the army out to face the enemy. Suddenly, he remembered something, hesitated for a moment, turned around, and hurried back to the room. He pushed open the door and said to Xiao Qiao: "Beauty, Wei Shao has personally come to seek his own death. Not knowing what is good for him, he actually dares to ruin our good thing! Just watch, I am going out of the city right now to kill him beneath his horse. When I return in victory, I will perform the wedding ceremony with you. Wait for me." As he spoke, he pulled out a rope, and with a few moves, bound her hands and feet. Finally, he carried her to the bed, laid her down, and comforted her: "Beauty, do not blame me for using force again. It is truly because I do not feel at ease leaving you. I am afraid that if I am not by your side, in case you cannot think things through and something happens to you, I would regret it too late! Just endure it for a bit, I will go and return quickly." After finishing, he let down the bed curtains, turned around, and went out. He ordered the servant women to guard the door well. Only then did he hurriedly rush to the city gate, select his soldiers and generals, leap onto his horse, raise his banners, and take the lead in guiding the troops out of the city gate to deploy on the field, looking awe-inspiring as he waited for Wei Shao's arrival.
Wei Shao marched forward. On the road, scouts had frequently reported the situation, letting him know that Chen Pang had already been restrained by Chen Rui, the defense generals of Shiyi had been changed, and Chen Rui had also led troops to line up outside the city, clamoring to decide who was the stronger hero. Thus, he headed straight for the city. When he was a few li away, catching sight of the city from afar, the two armies clashed.
Wei Shao looked toward the opposite side. At the front of the formation, he saw Chen Rui sitting high on horseback with his painted halberd held horizontally across his hands. He was flanked by four robust generals, and behind him stood a battle banner over a chang high, with the character "Chen" embroidered as large as a bucket, fluttering in the wind and looking magnificent. Chen Rui spurred his horse out, shouting provocations directly at him, his posture incomparably arrogant.
Wei Shao acted as if he had heard nothing. He only took his twin-mechanism tiger-piercing iron bow from his side, and after aiming, drew the string to its full limit, launching a three-consecutive-bead volley toward Chen Rui.
The arrowheads carried a faint, sharp whistle that tore through the air, following each other head-to-tail in midair like a perfectly straight, taut snake, striking directly at Chen Rui who was more than a hundred paces away. Chen Rui was unprepared and received a great fright. Seeing it arrive in front of him like a flash of lightning, it was too fast for him to even swing his halberd to block the arrows. Disregarding how unsightly it looked, he hastily bent his body flat against the horse's back, barely managing to dodge the arrowheads. A rushing wind whizzed past the top of his head, and he only heard three consecutive dull thuds behind him. Looking back, the three arrows had actually pierced deeply into the flagpole in a line. Although it was from over a hundred paces away, the strength still penetrated the poplar wood which was as thick as a wrist. The tails of the arrows vibrated wildly, and wood chips flew from the flagpole. Another gust of wind rolled past, and with a slight crack sound, the flagpole snapped cleanly into two halves, falling to the ground along with that grand banner.
Wei Shao’s grandfather, Wei Lun, had been summoned to Luoyang when he was young and served as a commander of the Feather Forest Guard for a period of time. Although the Wei family was a prestigious clan and their ancestors had successively held important positions as Grand Administrators, because of his handsome and refined appearance, he was hindered by it, and initially no one believed in his ability. One day, the Han Emperor held a banquet. During the feast, they played archery as a game. The Emperor remarked that he had heard that in ancient times, those skilled in archery possessed the strength to pierce through five layers of armor with a single arrow, and he hoped to see it with his own eyes. Many skilled archers at the feast came out one after another to try, but not a single person could pierce through five layers of armor. Just as the Han Emperor was feeling disappointed, Wei Lun stepped out of the ranks and asked to try seven layers of armor. The Emperor was surprised but still had people stack seven layers of fine corded iron armor. In the end, Wei Lun pierced through them completely with a single shot. The Han Emperor was greatly shocked, and all the guests at the feast were shaken. Wei Lun became famous from then on, and the Han Emperor granted him the title of General of the Strong Crossbow, ordering him to lead troops to resist the Xiongnu. At that time, Wei Shao’s grandmother, Lady Xu, who was still an imperial princess, also came to admire Wei Lun because of this. Later, she married down to him and gave birth to Wei Shao’s father, Wei Jing. Wei Jing was also famous for being skilled in archery.
No one expected that decades later, Wei Shao would actually live up to his ancestor's reputation as a strong crossbowman, shooting such an exquisitely accurate and powerful crossbow!
The two armies were silent for a moment. Suddenly, Wei Shao’s side erupted into a coordinated roar of "Tiger Majesty." The soldiers struck their shields against the ground in unison, like rolling thunder, shaking the earth. In front of Chen Rui’s formation, the officers and soldiers looked at each other, completely silent. Before the two armies had even fought, their momentum had already lost a major half.
A cold sweat broke out on Chen Rui’s back. Seeing the grand banner snap and his momentum lose first, he could not help but turn his fear into anger. He sat up straight, urged his horse forward, and loudly challenged Wei Shao.
Wei Shao slowly put away his bow and crossbow, his face cold and frozen, paying him no attention. Wei Liang had already urged his horse out of the ranks, heading toward Chen Rui and saying: "Chen Rui child, win against me first before discussing anything else!" Chen Rui’s deputy general, Zhang Gong, had already spurred his horse forward to meet him, but how could he be Wei Liang's opponent? After only a few rounds, he was chopped down beneath his horse. Another deputy general, Liu Xiang, stepped out, but he was still no match and fled back on his horse with heavy injuries.
The deputy generals led by Chen Rui were all Chen Pang’s original men. In just two short days, Chen Pang’s power had been seized, and Chen Rui was self-important and arrogant, unable to listen to a single word of outside counsel, frequently threatening them with military law. The crowd of generals was already unsettled. In this confrontation, first, Wei Shao's shot from a powerful crossbow intimidated both armies and made the grand banner fall, causing them to lose morale first. Now, Zhang Gong and Liu Xiang were dead and heavily injured. How could the rest have any mind to fight? They all showed hesitation and were no longer willing to step out.
If discussing single combat, Wei Liang had rarely lost a battle in his life. This time, failing at his task and losing the newly wedded lady from his hands was viewed by him as a supreme humiliation. He wished he could immediately slaughter his way into the city to snatch back the lady. Seeing that no one on the opposite side dared to fight, he let out a furious roar and actually charged toward Chen Rui alone on his horse. The crowd was frightened by his aura and retreated one after another. Chen Rui had no choice but to push himself forward. As the two men met on horseback, Wei Liang brought his large blade crashing down with a force like a thousand jun. Chen Rui’s arms actually felt heavy and he barely managed to parry and extricate himself. Shocked by Wei Liang's divine strength, he only now regretted underestimating the enemy, knowing in his heart that if they continued to tangle, he would likely not get any advantage.
His mind turned extremely fast. After responding for another moment, he made a deceptive feint, turned his horse around, and took the lead in rushing toward the city walls, ordering a retreat into the city to defend strictly and hold fast. Seeing him turn his horse and head toward the city, the formation instantly fell into great chaos. The soldiers disregarded any formations, scrambling to rush into the city. Wei Shao ordered the drums to beat for pursuit, chasing them in one breath right down to the city walls. Chen Rui ordered the city gates to be closed with burning haste. At this time, there were still lagging soldiers who did not have time to enter the city, and in the blink of an eye, they were surrounded and wiped out cleanly by the pursuing Wei army.
Wei Shao stood beneath the banner gate, ordering a fierce attack to enter the city. Chen Rui settled his mind and personally ascended the wall to direct the defense. For a time, the sound of drums shook the sky and shouts moved the earth. Inside and outside the city walls, arrows and stones fell like rain, and fireballs flew wildly, just like the sky collapsing, the earth tearing, and mountains shaking.
The walls of Shiyi were high and towering, and the defending soldiers were also Chen Pang's old departments who were ordinarily well-trained. After retreating into the city with Chen Rui, knowing they had no path of retreat left, every one of them could only pull up their spirits and use their full strength to protect the city. Although Wei Shao’s offensive was fierce, he could not take it down for the time being.
When the two sides clashed, the sky was already growing dark, and the fierce battle continued all the way until nightfall, with casualties on both sides. However, far from weakening, Wei Shao's offensive became increasingly ferocious. When the soldiers saw Wei Shao leading the way to scale the cloud ladders, every single one of them fought desperately regardless of their own lives, the attacks sustaining wave after wave, continuous like a tide. When had the defenders of Shiyi ever encountered such a fierce attack? They gradually became unable to support themselves. Seeing things were going badly, Chen Rui refused to admit defeat and executed two retreating soldiers on the spot, forcing the remaining troops to hold fast. At this time, a great roar of battle cries suddenly erupted from behind them. Turning his head, he saw that it was actually Chen Pang reappearing on the wall. It turned out that Chen Pang's confidants took advantage of this opportunity to release him and invited him to come to the wall again to direct the battle and boost morale. Although Chen Pang hated his nephew for treating him this way, the matter concerned the gain or loss of the city, and at this moment he could not care to argue with Chen Rui. He hurriedly put on his armor and arrived, snatched the commander's banner, ordered his men to bind Chen Rui, chopped his few confidants to death with a blade, and personally went up the wall to direct.
The defenders of Shiyi had originally been scattered in morale, but suddenly seeing Chen Pang appear, they were encouraged and their morale rose again, actually managing to withstand another wave of attack from Wei Shao. However, Wei Shao’s offensive was simply too sharp, and Chen Pang gradually could not hold it either. Knowing that if this continued, the breaking of the city would surely be unavoidable, in his anxiety, he suddenly thought of the Qiao daughter. He immediately ordered people to bring her up to the wall to threaten Wei Shao into retreating his army. He did not expect that Chen Rui had actually taken advantage of people not paying attention to break free from his ropes. Just as he was about to quietly slip down to take Xiao Qiao and escape together, he suddenly heard Chen Pang giving orders to take Xiao Qiao up the wall. He loudly cursed Chen Pang as an old bastard, snatched a blade, killed the nearby guard with one strike, turned his head, and fled rapidly down the city. Chen Pang was furious and shouted for his men to pursue and stop him. Right then, he suddenly saw fire light soaring into the sky inside the city behind him, actually breaking out into a massive stretch of continuous fire. Looking closer, the fire light actually came from the direction of the Grand Administrator’s estate.
Right next to the Grand Administrator’s estate was the granary. Chen Pang had operated here for many years, and all his reserves were there, storing enough grain to support the entire city for a year of defense. Ordinarily, open flames were monitored with extreme strictness, yet at such a critical moment, it actually caught fire. The fire borrowed the wind’s force, raging and spreading, almost dyeing half the night sky red. Commotion arose everywhere inside the city, turning into a chaotic mess.
Chen Pang was greatly shocked, wanting to save the granary, but the offensive below the city was right at its fiercest. He could only gnash his teeth and continue to hold fast. However, the soldiers at the city gate were distracted by the fire, and were also terrified by Wei Shao’s fierce offensive that seemed determined to win. At this moment, even with Chen Pang sitting in command, they could not look after both the head and the tail. A massive boom sound suddenly came from the city gate; that door had been broken open by a giant log. Amidst the shouting, the crowd from outside surged in, and the two sides launched into a final hand-to-hand flesh combat.
Not speaking of the tragedy of this close combat, only speaking of that Chen Rui who took advantage of the chaos to escape. While in a wretched state, his heart still could not let go of the beauty. In one breath, he rushed to the Grand Administrator’s estate, seeing that the direction of the fire was precisely the place where she was locked up. He turned in circles twice on the spot, gnashed his teeth, and finally rushed inside. However, he saw the fire raging inside, and the entire room had already been swallowed by the massive fire. The roof beams were constantly collapsing. Standing outside the courtyard, a wave of scorching heat rushed against his face, forcing him to retreat a few steps.
Chen Rui knew in his heart that the beauty must have already lost her life in the sea of fire. He felt both pain and regret, crying out loudly: "The pain kills me!" A burst of impulsive energy came over him, and he turned around wanting to go find Wei Shao to fight to the death. Leaving the Grand Administrator’s estate, after walking only a few steps, he heard a commotion of shouting ahead. Borrowing the fire light behind him, he discerned that it was Wei Shao's army entering the city, coming right in his direction. He was greatly shocked once again, stamped his foot, and hurriedly turned back into the Grand Administrator’s estate. Fearing he would be caught, he lost his way in his panic, rushing all the way to the back garden, and finally climbed over the wall of the latrine to escape.
……
The fierce battle finally ended, and it was already late at night. Chen Pang was injured and captured alive, more than half of Shiyi's defending troops were killed or injured, and the rest surrendered. Although the generals and soldiers under Wei Shao's command were also exhausted, and many were injured, they had conquered Shiyi, and the military heart was excited, with sounds of cheering everywhere.
The deputy general Li Chong handled the post-battle counting of casualties and settlement matters, while Gongsun Yang arranged people to fight the fire. Wei Shao strode toward the Grand Administrator’s estate. When he was halfway there, Gongsun Yang and a military captain came rushing toward him. Seeing Wei Shao, the captain sprinted to the front of him, knelt on one knee to report, saying they had sent people to pursue the escaping Chen Rui, but had not found the lady.
According to the accounts of the servants of the Grand Administrator’s estate, the lady was locked inside that decorated new room at the time, and the source of the fire was precisely the location of the new room. At that time, the servant women ordered by Chen Rui to guard her saw fire rising in the room and opened the door to check, but the smoke and fire were thick enough to blind their eyes. They hurriedly called people to put out the fire, but the fire was too large and quickly ignited the entire building.
This captain had already sent people to search all over the vicinity, but saw no trace of the lady, estimating that it was highly likely she had already perished in the sea of fire.
After the captain finished reporting, he looked at Wei Shao, his expression somewhat uneasy.
Wei Shao stopped in his tracks, slightly raising his head, looking from afar at that piece of raging fire that was still burning into the sky not far away.
On his face and body, large patches of bloodstains were still attached. His armor reflected the fire light opposite him, and his expression carried a bit of a ferocious and murderous look.
At first, he seemed to be slightly spacing out, not knowing what he was thinking.
"Pass my order, kill Chen Pang, destroy all members of his household, cast the women to become camp prostitutes, and bury the surrendered soldiers alive, leaving not a single one."
After a moment, he said word by word. His tone, however, was quite flat, without carrying any ups and downs.
Gongsun Yang was shocked and cast a look at him. Seeing that his eyes were also flushed with a blood-red color and his gaze was thick with killing intent, he hastily came forward wanting to advise him against it. Before he could open his mouth, Wei Shao had already said: "Mister does not need to speak much, my mind is made up." His voice was cold.
While Gongsun Yang was hesitating, another captain came sprinting from behind him. This person, however, carried a joyful look on his face, shouting loudly from afar: "Lord! The lady is found! The lady is found! The lady hid inside an empty stable on the upwind side!"
Gongsun Yang was overjoyed and hastily took quick steps to meet him and ask for details. The captain reported that the lady was safe and sound, only that both her hands and wrists were scorched by the fire, the injuries appearing not light, and she had already been brought to a safe place.
Gongsun Yang turned his head to repeat it once, looking at Wei Shao’s expression, and advised: "Master! Chen Pang cannot be killed, keeping him has other uses. The remaining defending troops of Shiyi have also surrendered to Master; burying them alive is an omen of misfortune, I hope Master will think thrice."
After he finished advising, seeing that although Wei Shao did not nod, he also did not make a sound, he secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Thinking for a moment, he advised again: "It is good that the lady is fine. However, after this turn of events, she must have suffered no small fright. Why doesn't Master go visit the lady? The remaining affairs in the city can be handed over to me."
"Trouble Mister to send a military doctor to treat her injuries, and then station people to guard her well, do not let there be any more losses. I have other matters, I will go first!"
Wei Shao left behind a single sentence, turned around, and walked away.
Gongsun Yang looked at his back, shook his head, and gave out the orders.