Chapter 217: Escaping danger

"Dang, dang….."

The s.h.i.+elds of the other side raised again, protecting their bodies.

Lin Mu Yu narrowed his eyes and saw that the other side was already within ten meters.  He raised his hand and shouted, "Throw the stones!"

Luo Yu led a group of strong soldiers to throw down stones, instantly filling the sky with falling stones.  They fell all over and the giant stones fell on the group below. It pushed aside the s.h.i.+elds and turned the Flying Mount Camp's people into piles of b.l.o.o.d.y mush.

Not only that, Lin Mu Yu flew off the walls.  His golden gourd wall protected himself as the sword in his hand quickly flew out, piercing into the Flying Mount Camp's people with a dragon flame spiral.  With how sharp the Dragon Spirit Sword was, it directly pierced through s.h.i.+elds and armour, instantly creating a streak of blood. Lin Mu Yu's fist flew out and sent two cavalry holding s.h.i.+elds flying.  He caught his Dragon Spirit Sword and swept out, cutting through a row of s.h.i.+elds, even cutting off the arms of the soldiers.

"Kill him!"  Long Qian Lin loudly roared out.

The cavalry soldier threw away their s.h.i.+elds and their long lances stabbed at Lin Mu Yu's gourd wall.  Light scattered and ripples swept out. Each ripple meant Lin Mu Yu's battle qi was being consumed, so he couldn't fight a prolonged battle!

Lin Mu Yu quickly retreated.  The gourd wall blocked the stones and he jumped back up the walls before shouting, "Throw the spears!"

Several hundred Dragon Courage Camp mercenaries on the wall threw out their iron spears, quickly falling down.  The formation had been ruined by the stones, so these iron spears killed over a hundred people.

In the blink of an eye, the thousand Flying Mount Camp soldiers attacking was reduced to seven hundred people and most of them had been injured by arrows.

Long Qian Lin's heart was filled with pain, how could he keep fighting.  He roared out, "Everyone, retreat! Prepare the burning carriages!"

"Burning carriages?"

Lin Mu Yu's heart turned cold as he secretly cursed Long Qian Lin for being so evil.  It was winter and all the vegetation was dried up. If he used fire to attack, wouldn't Fire Axe Mountain turn into a real mountain of fire?

No, he couldn't let the ten thousand Heaven Charging Army and Dragon Courage Camp be buried with him!

He placed his hand on the ice cold stone wall and Lin Mu Yu shouted into the distance, "Long Qian Lin, I have orders to eliminate Swordsmen Hall.  Will you really fight to the end with a part of the royal army? I sent a messenger bird to Orchid Goose City requesting reinforcements, commander Feng Ji Xing will be here soon with an army of fifty thousand.  Do you want to become an enemy of Feng Ji Xing and the empire?"

Long Qian Lin's face was uncertain as he said, "Lin Mu Yu, you attacking the Yun Zhong County soldiers is fact, just based on this, you aren't fit to being a South Guarding General.  When general Feng Ji Xing comes, this subordinate will naturally explain the whole story to him."

He was still a bit afraid, after all, there were some things that couldn't be said.  He wasn't willing to let Lin Mu Yu's group spread a certain piece of news.

Lin Mu Yu understood everyone before saying with a smile, "General Long, when I came up the mountain, I found that the rebel Guan Long Sheng was secretly mining gold ore, so he has already been killed by me.  I think Five Valleys City's governor Hu Tie Ning doesn't know about this yet. I advise you now to quickly retreat with your troops. Like this, I will give the merit of finding this gold mine to governor Hu Tie Ning.  What do you think?"

Long Qian Lin was instantly stunned.  He was most afraid that Lin Mu Yu understanding that Hu Tie Ning and Swordsmen Hall were colluding to secretly pocket gold coins, but now Lin Mu Yu was completely freeing Hu Tie Ning of this!

"Such an intelligent Lin Mu Yu……"

Long Qian Lin secretly praised in his heart.  He looked up and asked, "Sir Lin Mu Yu, you really didn't intentionally kill the Yun Zhong County soldiers?  If this is true, this battle is a mistake."

Lin Mu Yu opened his arms and acted like he was talking to an old comrade.  He said with a smile, "General Long, you don't trust me? I, Lin Mu Yu am the emperor's adopted son and the Falcon Guard commander.  The act of these Swordsmen Hall rebels secretly mining gold ores was witnessed by me and many other soldiers. When I return to the capital, this merit will definitely belong to governor Hu Tie Ning and it'll be a favour from me to him to thank him for not killing me!"

Long Qian Lin nodded, "Good.  I'll report to sir governor, I ask sir Lin Mu Yu to wait a bit."

"Good!"

Inside the Flying Mount Camp's main tent, Hu Tie Ning was enjoying a cup of tea when Long Qian Lin suddenly opened the tent flap to say, "Sir, I'm back!"

"It's Qian Lin.  How did it go?"

Long Qian Lin had a look of shame as he said, "Lin Mu Yu is skilled in fighting, this subordinate cannot take Fire Axe Mountain for now.  But……Lin Mu Yu also found the matter of Guan Long Sheng secretly mining gold ores. From what he said, it didn't seem like he suspected sir of being related to this matter.  This….."

"Is that so?"

Hu Tie Ning narrowed his eyes and said, "This Lin Mu Yu…..He truly is smart.  Leaving this kind of person by his majesty's side isn't a good thing. Qian Lin, what do you think we should do?"

Long Qian Lin said with cupped hands, "Sir, Lin Mu Yu said he has already sent a messenger to request reinforcements.  It is unknown if it is true or not that Feng Ji Xing will be leading an army of fifty thousand, but Qian Lin thinks…..If we kill Lin Mu Yu on Fire Axe Mountain, it will save us quite a bit of trouble, but we will have to offend Feng Ji Xing and the capital to prevent the news of us secretly pocketing the money.  From what I can see…..how about we let Lin Mu Yu go this time? If we need to kill him, there will be other chances. Qian Lin promises that next time, I will not leave Lin Mu Yu a chance to live!"

Hu Tie Ning broke out in laughter, "Qian Lin, ah, Qian Lin, are you sympathizing with Lin Mu Yu?"

Long Qian Lin was stunned, "Sir, I didn't….."

"It's fine, let's go.  Come with me to greet the emperor's adopted son!"

"Yes!"

Under Fire Axe Mountain, the flags flew in the wind as Hu Tie Ning waited at the bottom with a group of Flying Mount Camp soldiers.  The corpses left from the battle before were completely cleaned out, like there had been no conflict at all.

"Zhi ya……"

The wooden door that had just been constructed was opened as Lin Mu Yu led Wei Chou, Luo Yu, Qi Ying, and the others down the mountain.  Lin Mu Yu was still fine, having a smile on his face, but the three commanders behind him all had alert faces. Their hands were on the sword hilts at their waist, prepared to attack at any moment.  There was a large group of Dragon Courage Camp soldiers standing on the walls, looking very tense.

"Sir, we can stay here."

Long Qian Lin reached out to stop Hu Tie Ning's horse, signaling that he didn't want to keep moving forward.  If they moved forward, they would enter the range of the Dragon Courage Camp archers. The accuracy and strength of these archers was something Long Qian Lin had personally experienced.

Hu Tie Ning was also afraid of death, so he nodded with a smile.  He dismounted and stood there waiting.

Lin Mu Yu's group quickly came over.  When the came close, Lin Mu Yu cupped his hand with a smile, "It's been a long time, sir governor.  Since Five Valleys City, we are meeting again!"

Hu Tie Ning bowed with a smile before saying, "That's right, but I never thought there would be some small misunderstandings between us.  The information we obtained before had no base, so we ask general Lin Mu Yu not to be angry. This matter was because I, Hu Tie Ning didn't handle it properly, it was our Cangnan Province that has wronged the general!"

Lin Mu Yu couldn't help smiling as he said, "How could that be.  Sir has personally led tens of thousands of Five Valleys City troops to Fire Axe Mountain to guard us, it should be me thanking you!"

"Ha……"

Hu Tie Ning's face twitched, as if he could hear Lin Mu Yu's taunt, but he didn't show any strangeness at all.  He kept smiling as he said, "General, the Swordsmen Hall of Fire Axe Mountain are all rebels, they should all be heavily punished.  I wonder, how will the general take care of these prisoners of war?"

Lin Mu Yu said, "I will send them to Orchid Goose City to receive their punishment.  Most of them will be executed, so sir does not need to worry."

"This is what this Hu should do."

"That's right."

Lin Mu Yu came forward and suppressed his voice, "Sir governor, there is a gold mine on Fire Axe Mountain and the Swordsman Hall scoundrels have already started mining it.  It is truly hateful. I only have orders to exterminate Swordsmen Hall, but I have no orders related to this gold mine, so I have already sent a messenger to Orchid Goose City, letting the work department send people here.  Before this, I'll leave Fire Axe Mountain to sir to guard. You mustn't let these villains steal the empire's gold!"

Hu Tie Ning nodded, "Yes, I understand.  The general can be a.s.sured!"

"Un, then let the Flying Mount Camp scatter and I'll bring my people down."

"Yes!"

Long Qian Lin waved his flag and the Flying Mount Camp and Five Valleys City army scattered, creating a path for Lin Mu Yu's people to leave.

They quickly rode off, with over nine thousand heavy cavalry fleeing Fire Axe Mountain with two thousand remnants of Swordsmen Hall following them.  At the same time, they brought away over one thousand and four hundred pieces of white diamond, but of course, Hu Tie Ning didn't know about the existence of the white diamond for now.

After escaping the blockade, Lin Mu Yu finally let out a sigh of relief.  It wasn't easy escaping with this ten thousand people. As for how much risk there was, perhaps only he knew.

"Sir."

Wei Chou had a confused look as he said, "We've left Fire Axe Mountain's gold mine to Hu Tie Ning again…..Based on what I can see, he will definitely keep stealing gold coins.  Could it be….we really have to pretend like we know nothing?"

"Otherwise?"

Lin Mu Yu asked back.  He said with a smile, "It's already hard enough being able to live, we can't afford to provoke Hu Tie Ning anymore.  Wei Chou, you understand the local rulers of the empire better than me, how many governors are like Hu Tie Ning?"

Wei Chou was stunned before saying, "At least half of them…..Most governors will recruit a certain amount of troops, so…..The governors of the major provinces support the troops themselves, so this is one of the reasons why the emperor's power has been declining.  As for the order to destroy Swordsmen Hall, the secret plots in all kinds of places was expected."

"It's like this……"

Lin Mu Yu took a deep breath and his heart became heavy.  This large Great Qin Empire seemed like it had a centralized government, but actually…..It was ruled by a bunch of local tyrants?  In this troubled world, one didn't know if this was a blessing or a curse.

Holding his Dragon Spirit Sword, Lin Mu Yu looked at the hoof marks on the ground behind him as his heart filled with complicated feelings.