Chapter 154 – With Airbags, The Prince’s Great Ambition is Within Reach!
That night, the Empress secretly mobilized the experts from the Six Doors, Embroidered Uniform Guards , East Depot, West Depot, and the early-stage members of the Forbidden Army to prepare for the ambush.
Lin Beifan was stunned when he heard the news! This Empress was too powerful!
When he decided to inform the Six Doors and Embroidered Uniform Guard, he never thought of hiding it from the Empress. He wanted to use these violent departments to convey the message to the Empress.
After the Empress knew about it, she would definitely believe in it and dispatch a powerful army. But he never expected to send such a powerful lineup!
More than 30 early-stage experts! This force can almost sweep everything!
Unless they encounter a grandmaster, no one is their opponent!
In addition to the 20,000 soldiers accompanying them, Lin Beifan felt that it was enough!
“I didn’t expect that the empress would attach so much importance to this matter and even ordered me as the commander in chief to arrange it!” Chief Guo of the Six Doors was full of envy and said, “Principal Lin, the empress really trusts you so much!”
Lin Beifan opened his mouth but found nothing to say.
Indeed, it is a great deal of trust.
With just a flimsy excuse, so many experts were immediately mobilized.
What kind of trust is this!
Lin Beifan was moved and ashamed!
She trusted him so much, but he took so much money behind her back, and did so much iniquity…
If I had another chance, I would definitely be more corrupt and take from her!
“Principal Lin, although you already know about this, don’t leak it out, otherwise, it will not be good if we startle the snake in the grass!” Chief Guo secretly reminded Lin Beifan.
“Don’t worry, I know!” Lin Beifan nodded.
So, Chief Guo bid farewell to Lin Beifan and secretly prepared everything
Lin Beifan continued to do what he should do, attending the early morning court, going to the Imperial Academy to work, and talking with Li Shi Shi, the little princess and others during his leisure time. Although life was dull, it was fulfilled.
Finally, on the first day of the lunar year, the long-awaited water drill finally began.
Outside the capital, the mother river was reviewed by the empress and the whole city’s people’s support, and the army that was about to set off.
One airboat after another entered the river, a total of 100, connected by iron cables into rows and rows, like a huge water-based land, very spectacular.
Then, the generals carried the military supplies onto the airboats.
Originally, this time was mainly used to transport military grain and some armor and arrows, but the Empress considered that this time was primarily for testing. It wouldn’t be good if an accident happened.
Therefore, most of the military equipment was replaced with mud, leaving only a small amount of military grain as the army’s ration.
Then, a group of soldiers boarded the hovercraft and were responsible for steering and rowing, escorting military supplies. The majority of soldiers stood on both sides of the shore to provide protection. After everything was prepared, the troops set off towards Shangzhou, 300 miles away. If everything went smoothly, they would reach their destination in three days.
As the military set off, some people discreetly disappeared from the crowd. “Quick, notify the superiors! The training troops have already set off! They will arrive at Qing Shanling in about a day and a half, and that will be the perfect opportunity for us!”
“But for this training exercise, the court surprisingly did not mobilize any real military resources!”
“This must be the first long-distance trial, so they are also afraid of anything happening to the hovercraft! But we only need to focus on our main goal, the hovercraft, as long as it is there, there won’t be any problems!”
“That’s right, as long as we can take down the airbags for the hovercraft, we won’t have to worry about anything else!”
…
Thus, many mysterious people secretly followed them, and many others had already ambushed themselves in Qing Shanling. After about a day and a half, the majority of the troops finally arrived at Qing Shanling.
Qing Shanling was a very special place, located right in the middle of the capital and Shangzhou. There were no villages or shops nearby, so it was difficult to seek help in case of danger. Also, the river here was relatively small and fast flowing, with forest and vegetation on both banks, making the path difficult to traverse. Miasma permeated the river and forest, making it difficult to see beyond thirty yards.
The ambush here was too convenient. Once they succeeded, they could flee thousands of miles away, and the regular soldiers wouldn’t be able to catch up with them. At this time, the general in charge of transporting military supplies shouted loudly, “We have arrived at Qing Shanling! This place is very dangerous and is the most suitable for ambush. Everyone needs to keep their eyes open and pay attention. Don’t put the blame on me if something goes wrong!”
“Yes, General!” Everyone replied in unison.
At this time, another general laughed, “Sun General, you are too nervous! We are only transporting rocks and dirt. Who would ambush us? They must be completely at leisure and bored!”
“You can’t be too sure, just be cautious!” The General Sun had a grave expression.
He had average strength, but possessed a very keen sixth sense. Relying on this feeling, he survived several times on the battlefield, becoming a general and being granted a wife and children. He trusted his own intuition.
Just now, he felt a huge danger and shouted to warn everyone to be alert. Just as his words were ending, several people rushed out of the river, swiftly attacking everyone. General Sun’s face changed, he unsheathed his waist knife and hoarsely shouted, “Ambush!”
All the generals and soldiers also changed their expressions, pulling out their weapons.
“Ambush!”
“Pick up your weapons and get ready to fight!”
“Quickly!”
Again, there were continuous splashing sounds, and more than ten people appeared out of the river, each with strong skills. As soon as they landed on the air cushion boat, they attacked the soldiers and injured dozens of them, causing them to fall into the river.
At the same time, a lot of strong people suddenly jumped out of the forests on both sides of the river. Some of them swiftly jumped onto the air cushion boat by leaping or treading on the water surface.
General Sun was taken aback: “Oh my god, why are there so many people?” There were about three or four hundred people, and each one had the strength of at least seventh rank.
There were also some whose strength couldn’t be discerned clearly, making it hard for General Sun, who was only of the eighth rank himself, to cope with them.
There was nothing valuable on the boat, so why did they provoke so many powerful people? Even the warriors who had jumped onto the boat were confused, wondering why there were so many people. Could it be that they were all there to rob the air cushion boat?
“Jump off the boat! Don’t fight with them, jump off the boat!”
General Sun gave the most sensible order. All the soldiers on the boat jumped into the river and swam towards the shore. At this time, a general on the bank shouted, “They are here for the air cushion boat! Fire arrows at them!” As soon as he finished, a dense rain of arrows came flying towards them.
Many warriors couldn’t dodge them and were killed. Only about two hundred people survived the first round of arrows, and then there was a second and a third round of arrows.
Under such intense attacks, in the end, only about twenty people survived. The arrows seemed to have no effect on them and were all shattered. One of them was an old man who disdainfully said, “Just relying on these arrows to try to break my innate qi? That’s a foolish dream!”
It turned out that he was an innate master. Innate masters condensed their true qi outside their body to form an innate qi shield, which was indestructible and hard to be harmed by swords and knives. They could also constantly absorb the natural spiritual energy from the outside world and their true qi would never run out.
However, he looked around at the other innate masters and felt a bit of a headache: “Can anyone tell me where these masters all came from? Are they all here to rob the air cushion boat from us?”
Other innate masters had the same thoughts.
“Why are there so many masters? Are they all here to rob the air cushion boat from us?”
Luckily, there were enough air cushion boats; otherwise, they would have all started fighting each other. Just then, there was a swooshing sound.
The chief of the Six Doors finally arrived with his luxurious troops, holding a token and shouting, “The Six Doors have been ordered to apprehend those who have stolen boats! Surrender yourself, or face death!”
The innate masters on the air cushion boat felt a huge danger and looked at each other before starting to fight. Although the number of imperial innate masters was only a few more, they were all elite!
For example, the chief of the Six Doors had a peak fourth-rank strength, making him one of the strongest among the innate masters, and he easily dealt with several ordinary innate masters on his own. In less than a moment, two innate masters were killed by him.
Other weaker innate masters also died at the hands of the imperial experts. Other innate masters felt great danger and broke the air cushion boat, taking a few airbags and fleeing for their lives.
“Chase them, make sure not one of them escapes!” shouted Guo, the chief of the Six Doors.
“Yes, my lord!” This pursuit lasted for a day and night.
There were originally 24 innate masters, but only three managed to escape, while the other 21 were killed. The other non-innate strong people mostly died in the rain of arrows.
This ambush could be said to have been highly successful. In the Lin family’s residence in the capital, Mo Rushuang and Guo Shaoshuai came to find Lin Beifan with a heavy expression.
Lin Beifan asked with concern, “Is everything okay with you guys? Did you not get the airbags?” Mo Rushuang laughed bitterly, “We did get the airbags, but the sacrifice was too great! In order to get the airbags for the air cushion boats, Prince sent two innate masters and 30 seventh-rank warriors! But in the end, only one innate master managed to escape, and everyone else didn’t make it back! Even that one innate master paid with one hand…”
“Ah, what a pity!” Lin Beifan sighed, wondering how everyone didn’t die.
“It really is a pity. For just one airbag, so many lives were lost!” Guo Shaoshuai, felt very regretful.
These were all seventh-rank warriors, and in the Jianghu, they were considered experts! Each one was stronger than him, but they died before they could make a name for themselves.
At this moment, he suddenly remembered a poem that Lin Beifan had recited. “The world’s turmoil comes from our generation, once we enter the Jianghu, time flies and the years slip by! Chatting and laughing about imperial dominance, one can’t compete with the drunkenness of life!”
He didn’t understand it before, but now he gradually understood it and felt very upset.
“But luckily, the airbags have been obtained!” Mo Rushuang said thankfully. “With the imperial airbags, Prince will surely speed up the research on the large air balloons and air cushion boats, which will be a great boost for the future!”
“Yes, with the airbags, Prince’s great achievement is inevitable!” Lin Beifan smirked.
