Chapter 327: Civil War

Early morning, the sound of roosters crowing rose.

Xiaoman hazily and confusedly opened her eyes, hugging the little black cat as she went out the door.

She saw Chen Ji sitting on the stone bench under the ginkgo tree, silently looking at a map of the outer city.

Xiaoman curiously asked, "Young master, when do you all plan to take action?"

Chen Ji lifted his head and said, "Not urgent. With Ji and Fu Rui Xiang having hundreds of people guarding the eight main alleys without doing any business, let's see who can't stand it first. We've already fought over a hundred thugs and they're nursing injuries at home. If we have a few more night attacks, they won't be able to gather so many people. Then we can!"

Li Sha Mao Alley, Chunfeng Courtyard!

The young man leaned against the window, yawning. He had been waiting like this from You Shi until Hai Shi, bored to death!

The young man sighed and said, "You shouldn't have driven out the women from this Chunfeng Courtyard. It would be good to let them stay and sing little tunes!"

Zhou Kuang sat to one side, his eyes also listless. "Master, if they stay here and see through your identity and go around talking, do I still have to silence them? This is already the fifth day. You didn't go to the appointment with Minister Wu of the Ministry of Rites, nor did you go to the appointment with Minister Zhang of the Ministry of Personnel. You've delayed so many things just to watch this play. If they still don't come today, we just won't come again!"

The young man responded with a smile, "You stupid boy don't understand. Why should I go see so many officials from the various departments? It's just inviting suspicion! Relax, that group of people will definitely appear!"

Zhou Kuang lifted his head and asked, "When will they appear?"

The young man stared through the gap in the window at the alley below and said, "With Ji and Fu Rui Xiang putting down their businesses and guarding here with hundreds of people, how many days can they persist? The businesses at Chong Nan Square, West Square, and Liuli Factory are still not operating. The ghost market at Panjia Yuan is still not open. Let's just see who can't hold out first!"

At this moment, sounds of argument came from downstairs!

Only to see Zhu Guan standing in the middle of Li Sha Mao Alley, loudly arguing with Qian Ping, "Don't block my way! It's already the fifth day. You and Ji aren't doing business, but I, Fu Rui Xiang, still need to continue operating!"

Qian Ping stood under the red lantern building, his face calm, and said, "Big Head Zhu, you and I and the leaders of Qi Gong swore a blood oath before. Are you abandoning your promise now?"

Zhu Guan let out a cold laugh. "I'm not being unfaithful or breaking the contract, I just really can't delay any longer. If this small matter delays the transaction at Panjia Yuan, and the East House punishes us, I won't be able to bear it! If that group of people comes again, you all can just quickly send someone to notify me. I, Fu Rui Xiang, will absolutely not stand by!"

The young man upstairs laughed, "Zhou Kuang, look, someone can't hold on anymore!"

Zhou Kuang frowned and asked, "Master, do you want to replace this Zhu Guan?"

The young man laughed, "Replace him for what?"

Zhou Kuang thought and said, "This person is petty. He has suppressed countless talents within Fu Rui Xiang over the past ten years, and it can be said that he has damaged your interests!"

The young man rested his arm on the windowsill, leaning his chin on his arm, and boredly watched Zhu Guan lead the people of Fu Rui Xiang away in a hurry!

He suddenly sighed, "When I was a child, Xu Taifu taught me to read history books, saying that evil people will eventually suffer evil retribution! Later, I followed Xu Jianzheng to cultivate Buddha, and he also spoke of the cycle of cause and effect, saying one must do more good deeds. Later, I met Zhu Guan, and I deliberately didn't punish him, wanting to see when this evil person would suffer retribution! But Zhou Kuang, look, what Taifu and Xu Jianzheng taught was all wrong. In this world, the more evil people are, the more comfortably they live!"

Zhou Kuang said in a low voice, "But most evil people die very miserably!"

The young man burst out laughing, "Enjoying pleasure for several decades, dying miserably for just an instant. Using that moment of suffering in exchange for several decades of freedom and ease, is it a loss or a gain? In my opinion, this is simply a huge profit, a special profit. Zhou Kuang, why did Wen Yuan Book Bureau refuse my living book? It's not because I didn't write well, but because I wrote too realistically, lacking the heroes they expected!"

Just at this time, the sounds of killing suddenly came from outside Li Sha Mao Alley. The young man's eyes suddenly brightened. "You see, I was right! As expected, as soon as Fu Rui Xiang left, they arrived. Now this is more like it! If they only knew how to act recklessly, I would have lost interest. Now they can hold back, which indicates their plot is not small. This is interesting! But how will they respond to the guild's sitting hall officers?"

"Zhou Kuang, quickly boil me a pot of tea, and bring a plate of melon seeds."

Outside Li Sha Mao Alley, Chen Ji and others, masked, rushed in!

Chen Ji at the rear of the team instructed, "You must beat them so they can't get out of bed for half a month. Only then can we gradually strike and reduce them!"

Thugs killed their way from the other end of the alley. As soon as the two sides engaged, a six-foot-long iron wolf whisk immediately forced the thugs to retreat!

One thug tried to grab the tail end of the iron wolf whisk, wrestling with a Yu Lin Army soldier, wanting to seize the iron wolf whisk. But the end of that iron wolf whisk was sharp, and with one touch, his hand was pierced with several holes, and fresh blood flowed freely!

One thug angrily roared towards the inside of the brothel, "What are you waiting for?"

And Ji's thugs displayed their old trick again, rushing out from various brothels, intending to cut the duck and drake formation in the middle!

But as soon as they appeared, Duo Bao suddenly shouted loudly, "Change formation!"

The duck and drake formation quickly tightened up, like a hedgehog raising its quills, with iron spears everywhere!

One thug rushed forward holding a table as a shield. A certain Yu Lin Army soldier used a trident against the table to prevent him from approaching, while Li Cen decisively bent down and used the tail of an iron spear to sweep towards the thug's legs under the table!

The defenders holding iron wolf whisks, tridents, and rattan shields guarded the formation tightly, while the iron spear hands looked for opportunities to attack!

The young man upstairs observed through the gap in the window, muttering, "Good formation! It's simply tailor-made for street fighting! Zhou Kuang, suppose your Five Army Camp faced this kind of formation, how would you break it?"

Zhou Kuang thought for a moment, "Use cannon fire to bombard them!"

The young man said displeasedly, "Such a complex and narrow alleyway, by the time you bring the cannons, the people will have already hidden!"

Zhou Kuang thought again, "Indeed!"

The young man touched his chin and said, "This group of people is also strange. A group of military elites are treating street market thugs as Jing Dynasty elite soldiers. It's too unfair! Zhou Kuang, can you tell where they're from? Shen Ji Camp? Five Army Camp? Long Live Army?"

Zhou Kuang observed carefully for a while. "None of them seem right! The tactics of the Long Live Army are overbearing. The Shen Ji Camp doesn't seem to be good at close combat. The Five Army Camp's coordination is fine. This group of people in front of us is not overbearing enough, and their coordination is not considered fine, but they have certainly experienced battle!"

The young man said puzzledly, "Where exactly did this group of people come from? Could it be the Yu Lin Army?"

"You mean that group of dandies? Impossible!"

The young man watched the fierce battle in the alley. "However, although this formation is fierce, it lacks highlights! To break it, it's nothing more than using lives to fill the gap. This kind of tactic is too ugly! Go, let the sitting hall officers of Fu Rui Xiang take action and make the scene more exciting!"

Zhou Kuang said in a low voice, "Master, the paths of the Zuo family brothers, these two officers, still have the same sect hiding. If they are exposed like this, it will probably cause trouble... moreover, Ji is getting beaten now. We, Fu Rui Xiang, don't need to participate in it!"

The young man said nonchalantly, "What you said makes sense, but if the martial actors on the stage have no opponents, the play won't be exciting! The sitting hall officers of Ji are too timid. They still need Fu Rui Xiang to set an example for them. Go, let the Zuo family brothers take action!"

Zhou Kuang turned around and went out the door, leaning against the railing on the second floor of Chunfeng Courtyard and waving a black command flag!

In the middle of Di Zhai Alley, under the red lanterns, the Yu Lin Army had just stepped over the bodies of thugs!

Just as they turned towards Han Family Pond Alley, Chen Ji suddenly said, "Be careful, there are officers!"

Everyone looked up, only to see in the night, two people stepping on the ropes of the hung red lanterns, coming forward and backward, clamping the duck and drake formation in the center!

Chen Ji lifted his head and examined them, only to see the two people wearing black opera robes, with four banner flags inserted on their backs, and their faces painted with white face and thin eye makeup!

The two people stood on the ropes of the hung red lanterns, gently swaying, as light as if they were weightless!

In a moment, the officer in front wiped his face, the white face and thin eyes instantly changed to a black face and curly beard, and he pounced towards the Yu Lin Army in the alley!

Only to see him grabbing two attacking iron wolf whisks with both hands. His hands were like iron casts, colliding with the iron quills and producing the sound of metal clashing!

The officer in the rear also wiped his face, the white face and thin eyes changed to a red face and curly beard, and he pounced towards the Yu Lin Army at the tail of the duck and drake formation! A Yu Lin Army soldier stabbed out a trident, but he seized it and pulled fiercely, snatching it away!

Li Cen drank in a low voice, "Be careful, this person has extremely great strength. He is an innate officer."

These two officers attacked the duck and drake formation from the front and back, forcing the Yu Lin Army to continuously compress their formation!

"Flash open!" Li Xuan and Chen Ji simultaneously passed through the separated passage of the Yu Lin Army, one forward and one backward, one holding a sword and one wielding a spear. Sword light and spear flowers bloomed simultaneously at the front and tail, forcing the two officers to let go and retreat successively!

The two people simultaneously wiped their faces, recovered their white face and thin eyes, and lightly floated back onto the red lanterns, standing on one foot!

One of them lowered his head and looked at his body, only to see a blood mark on his chest and abdomen that had been slashed out by Li Xuan. If he hadn't retreated quickly, he would have probably died just now!

The other was also alarmed. He had originally wanted to take Chen Ji's spear flowers head-on, but his hand was numb from the touch of the spear flowers and was still trembling incessantly until now!

The two people exchanged glances and immediately decided to avoid the head and tail of the formation, stepping on the ropes and descending towards the middle of the formation!

The two people in mid-air simultaneously wiped their faces, changing to red face and curly beard!

Qi Jian Zhe saw through the intention of the two people and said angrily, "Treating us like soft persimmets to pinch! Roll back!"

The ninety-jin heavy iron wolf whisk in his hand whistled out, like a banana leaf fan, fanning towards one of the people, forcing the opponent to wipe back his white face and thin eyes again and re-leap onto the ropes!

The other person had not yet landed, only to see a Yu Lin Army iron spear suddenly sweep horizontally, striking directly towards his face!

This person hurriedly wiped his face, changing to a black face and curly beard, and with a clang, was solidly hit by this spear and sent flying far away!

Before landing, he wiped his face back to white with his right hand and propped himself up with his left hand, flying back to the lantern like a feather!

The Zuo family brothers hesitated, not knowing for a while where to find the formation's weak point!

The young man upstairs lightly said "eh", and unconsciously met Zhou Kuang's eyes. "Are they all officers?"

Zhou Kuang hesitated and said, "It's impossible for them to all be officers!"

At this time, Chen Ji turned his head to look at the two officers who could change faces. The opponents temporarily had no way against the duck and drake formation, and the Yu Lin Army also had no way against the opponents, so they could only stalemate!

He drank in a low voice, "Fu Rui Xiang will surely arrive soon. We'll stop here today and retreat."

As soon as the words fell, the Yu Lin Army neatly changed formation and broke out towards the outside of the alley!

Just as the Zuo family brothers were about to block them, they suddenly heard the sound of neat footsteps from outside Li Sha Mao Alley. Another group of masked people holding iron spears blocked the Yu Lin Army's retreat path, totaling over eighty people!

Duo Bao asked in surprise, "Who are they?"

Li Xuan in the team slightly narrowed his eyes. "They are the spears from the Yu Lin Army arsenal. Does Chen Wen Ren think I wouldn't recognize them if he removed the white tassels on the spears? It looks like the second house of the Chen family is the supporter behind Ji. Indeed, the Wang family loves to do these sneaky things!"

Qi Jian Zhe involuntarily gripped his iron wolf whisk tightly, looked at the officers overhead, and then looked at the masked Yu Lin Army at the mouth of the alley, saying tensely, "Sister-in-law, what should we do? They are all officers too!"

Li Xuan looked towards Chen Ji!

Chen Ji said calmly, "Kill!"