Chapter 8

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"General Pei, I will leave a group of people with you. You take these bodies and their personal items and weapons back to Yangzhou. General Yang, you follow me with the others. The guys who killed these people may not have gone far. We will go and meet them, to see who they are."

Pei Li, upon hearing this arrangement, did not care at this moment that Sima Dekan actually had no authority to command him. He nodded slightly, as he now had no desire to stay any longer and only wanted to return to Yangzhou immediately.

Leaving Pei Li and ten others behind, Yang Wei took the lead, riding his tall black warhorse, leading the way through the forest. Sima Dekan followed behind, and behind him were forty guards from the Prince of Jin's mansion.

As dusk deepened, the sky grew heavy and gradually turned a leaden gray, then merged into darkness.

A few stars were sparsely scattered in the sky, and then a crescent moon rose, providing them with much convenience.

"We should move faster!" Sima Dekan said, as the moon was almost at its zenith.

"After a day's journey, perhaps we should rest a bit. Both men and horses are exhausted, and everyone will be unable to bear it," Yang Wei suggested.

Yang Wei reined in his horse and dismounted.

"Why have you stopped?" Sima Dekan was dissatisfied with Yang Wei's initiative, though they had been comrades for many years, he was now the Grand General, and Yang Wei was a General, who should follow his orders.

"Something doesn't feel right!" Yang Wei gazed into the distance, his face serious, muttering.

Sima Dekan immediately stopped as well. He trusted Yang Wei's instincts, as they had fought side by side countless times outside the Great Wall, relying on mutual trust.

He listened carefully but only heard the rustling of leaves in the wind. However, he still waved for everyone behind to dismount. Then, he drew his saber, which, though not a treasure sword personally crafted by Master Yuwen, was still an imperial saber from the Imperial Arsenal, bestowed by the Emperor himself when he served as a palace guard. The moonlight reflected brilliantly on the straight blade.

The guards of the Prince of Jin's mansion were all carefully selected, each a valiant warrior. They quickly dismounted, drew their swords, strung their bows, and assumed a battle stance.

"Who's there!" Yang Wei called out in a low voice.

But the only response was the rustling of leaves and the distant cry of a night owl taking flight from the treetops.

Just as everyone thought it was a false alarm, Yang Wei suddenly spotted a white figure dart through the forest. He turned his head and saw a white shadow in the darkness, which then disappeared.

The wind grew stronger, and the leaves rustled loudly.

With the wind, the forest suddenly echoed with countless whistling sounds from all directions. Yang Wei and Sima Dekan both drew a sharp breath, "Enemy attack!" they shouted, raising their shields and swords almost simultaneously.

Holding a shield in one hand and a sword in the other, Sima Dekan bravely charged forward into the rain of arrows.

"Who dares to face me in battle!" he raised his sword overhead, his voice challenging. Facing the enemy's ambush, he did not retreat but bravely charged forward, just as he had on the grasslands years ago.

After several volleys of arrows, the group of fierce guards from the mansion suffered little damage. Led by the two, the forty guards charged forward.

The white figure appeared again. This time, Yang Wei saw clearly that it was a young woman wearing white leather armor and a white veil. He saw the eyes beneath the veil, cold and deep, like burning ice. The woman gave off a dangerous aura, her gaze fixed on the sword she held high, a large sword with jade decorations, now in the hands of a cold-hearted woman.

It was a deep-seated hatred.

One by one, figures emerged from behind the trees, some wearing white leather armor like the woman, others in black leather armor. Upon closer inspection, those in white leather armor were all young women like the woman, with white veils and leather armor. Those in black were all fierce men, exuding a sense of having crawled out of a pile of corpses.

Their numbers exceeded those of the guards. Yang Wei attacked with his sword, and two figures rushed forward, their swords clashing with a sharp, metallic sound.

Sima Dekan also engaged a tall man, and the other guards found their opponents. For a moment, the forest was filled with the clash of blades and the shouts of battle.

The young woman's sword was extremely swift, and Yang Wei, unable to block a move, was struck in the abdomen.

"Where is Ji Yao? Where is Yi Feng?"

The young woman did not take the opportunity to kill him but suddenly asked a puzzling question.

Yang Wei roared in anger, pulling the sword from his abdomen with one hand and gripping his own sword with the other, swinging it wildly with all his might.

"Tell me where Ji Yao and Yi Feng are, and I will give you a quick death!" the young woman blocked his fierce attack and asked again.

"I don't know what you're talking about, but to ambush the guards of the Prince of Jin is to invite death!" Yang Wei gritted his teeth and shouted, his heart filled with fear. He had never seen such a formidable woman before, who, though slender, wielded a sword with extraordinary skill, far surpassing his own. He now believed that these were the people who had killed the eighteen black-clothed men, but he did not know their origins.

The name of the Prince of Jin did not intimidate the woman. Her sword was swift, and he quickly accumulated several more wounds, struggling to defend himself, and was about to die under her sword.

At this moment, a horn sounded in the forest, followed by the sound of galloping hooves. Yang Wei was relieved; it was the signal for the guards to communicate.

The black and white ambushers, who had the upper hand, immediately let out several whistles upon hearing the horn and the hooves. They then quickly withdrew, coming and going swiftly.

Sima Dekan, exhausted, called out, "Do not pursue them!"

A moment later, the forest was left with only the injured guards of the mansion. The ambushers had vanished.

The moon slowly emerged from the dark sky, lingering on the treetops, casting a few fragments of silver light.

Sima Dekan lay under a tree a few yards away, blood gushing from a wound on his leg, his face pale. Yang Wei, dragging his injured body, walked to his side and leaned against the tree behind him. The two exchanged a bitter smile, thinking of the many storms they had weathered on the grasslands, yet never expecting to be ambushed in this small, dark corner of Jiangnan.

The sound of galloping hooves, like a sudden storm, finally approached. Leading the charge was Pei Li, much to the surprise of both Sima and Yang Wei.

Not only Pei Li, but all ten of the men left behind had come, followed by a large contingent of over a hundred guards.

"How did you come here?"

"Prince Jin, seeing that you had not returned after several days, sent us to search for you. We happened to meet General Pei. Fortunately, we arrived in time. What exactly happened? Who was so bold as to ambush the guards of the Prince of Jin?" Grand General Yuwen Gai, seeing the two in such a state, was greatly alarmed and asked.

"I don't know. We were caught off guard. These people are very skilled, and there were over a hundred of them, all tough opponents," Sima Dekan, pressing his wound, replied weakly. "The black-clothed men we were sent to investigate earlier seem to have been killed by them."

Yang Wei added, "The one I fought was a young woman, about twenty years old, with excellent sword skills. She kept asking me about someone named Ji Yao and Yi Feng."

"Ji Yao, Yi Feng? Are you sure?" Yuwen Gai asked, puzzled.

"She asked twice. If not for her insistence, I would have been killed by her sword long ago." At this, Yang Wei still felt a lingering fear. To die at the hands of a woman would be a great humiliation.

"Yi Feng, Ji Yao, who are these people? Has anyone heard of them?"

Everyone shook their heads, indicating they did not know. Only Pei Li, in the darkness, his face changed when he heard the name Yi Feng. But he quickly regained his composure and shook his head, saying he had not heard of them. However, his heart was already in turmoil. Yi Feng, how could it be Yi Feng!

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PS: During the Sui Wendi period, the basic military units of the Fubing system were generally fifty men per squad, a hundred men per company, and two hundred men per battalion. The corresponding military officers were General, Commander, and Grand General. These three ranks were also the lowest three ranks of the Sui military titles.

After Yang Guang ascended the throne, in the third year of Daye, the military titles of General, Commander, and Grand General were changed to Squad Leader, Company Commander, and Battalion Commander. The scattered ranks and military titles were merged, and the three ranks were abolished.

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