The Red Chamber begins with a bastard

Chapter 341 Bloodshed in Yangzhou City (V)
In ancient times, the women of wealthy families usually stayed at home all day and never went out of the front door. They always had to have a place to relax, so a back garden became a standard. The Salt Inspectorate Office was no exception. Its back garden was hundreds of square meters, with pavilions, terraces, rockeries, fish ponds, and various precious flowers and trees. The surrounding walls were more than two meters high, completely isolating the outside world. It was really a deep courtyard.

However, even a six or seven meter high wall was not so out of reach as long as there were suitable climbing tools. Since Ji Jinxiao, Zhang Yidong and others were planning to attack the Salt Inspectorate, they naturally prepared a lot of wall climbing tools, so Xu Wenhan led a group of palace guards around to the back garden, immediately set up a ladder and climbed up the wall, trying to climb over the wall.

Butler Xiao arranged twenty guards to patrol the back garden. If they saw a thief climbing over the wall, they would immediately raise their long bamboo spears and stab him.

These bamboo spears were two meters long, with sharp tips. If they pierced the body, they would either cause death or serious injury. They were sharp weapons for defending high walls. Therefore, the first batch of guards from the royal palace who climbed over the wall were stabbed and fell down screaming. Their broken bones were minor injuries, and some of the unlucky ones hit their heads on the ground and farted on the spot.

Xu Wenhan was shocked and angry, and he stopped pretending. He asked the guards of the palace to put on leather armor, and drove the slaves of each family to serve as cannon fodder, and climbed up the wall one after another.

The twenty Lin family servants defending inside the wall suddenly felt a huge pressure. Some of their bamboo spears were cut off by sharp blades, and some were shot and wounded by sudden arrows. The situation took a turn for the worse.

These guards were just slaves after all. They were far inferior to the regular army in both courage and fighting ability. Seeing more and more enemies climbing up the wall, and the threat of sudden crossbow arrows, their defense line finally collapsed. I don't know who took the lead, but he threw away his bamboo spear and fled in all directions.

Several palace guards took the opportunity to climb over the wall and captured a wounded Lin family servant. Xu Wenhan was probably anxious, so he climbed over the wall along the ladder, stepped on the chest of the Lin family servant, and asked impatiently, "Where does your young lady live?"

The Lin family servant was hit in the calf by a crossbow arrow and was in excruciating pain. He replied in horror, "In... in the west wing!"

"Lead the way. If you really didn't lie, I may spare your life!" Xu Wenhan kicked the servant on the butt and shouted.

The servant got up tremblingly and led the way, but his calf was injured and it was very difficult for him to walk. Xu Wenhan thought he was too slow, so he ordered two guards to carry him and lead the way.

Let’s talk about Jia Huan. Upon hearing the screams and fighting coming from the direction of the back garden, he immediately rushed to the west wing with ten of his personal soldiers.

The backyard of the Salt Inspectorate's Yamen was over 2,000 square meters, with numerous houses and winding corridors. Outsiders who came in for the first time might get lost, but Jia Huan was quite familiar with the roads, so he quickly arrived at the west wing courtyard.

Since the back garden was not far from here, the sounds of fierce fighting and screams could be heard clearly. The two servants guarding outside the gate of the courtyard were already frightened. When they saw a group of people approaching this side quickly under the faint moonlight and the sharp sword lights were faintly visible, they were so scared that they almost wet their pants.

"Who...who?" a servant asked bravely in a trembling voice.

"It's me!" Jia Huan replied in a deep voice.

The two servants then recognized that it was Jia Huan. They couldn't help but heaved a sigh of relief and hurriedly saluted, "Master Huan!"

Lin Daiyu, Ping'er and others in the house were feeling very anxious. Suddenly they heard Jia Huan's voice coming from outside the courtyard gate. They looked at each other in great surprise.

At this time, there was a knock on the door outside, and Jia Huan's voice came in: "Open the door, I am Jia Huan."

Lin Daiyu hurriedly asked the maids to move the heavy object that was against the courtyard door.

The courtyard door opened with a clang, and Jia Huan walked in quickly. Under the light, he looked solemn and his eyes were red. Lin Daiyu's heart sank slightly, and she asked anxiously, "Brother Huan, is the situation not good?"

Jia Huan nodded and said, "This place is no longer safe. Sister Lin, please move to the Buddhist temple for shelter."

Lin Daiyu knew that Jia Huan was calm and experienced. Since he said so, the situation must be very critical, so she didn't ask any more questions and just nodded and said, "Okay!"

Xueyan turned around and tried to run back into the house, but Lin Daiyu quickly stopped her and scolded her, "Why are you still running around at this time?"

Xueyan said, "There is nothing in the temple. It is very cold at night and the young lady is weak. I will at least get her a thin quilt."

Lin Daiyu was touched and angry at the same time: "Silly girl, it's already this hour, why are you still bothering me? Go away!"

At that moment, everyone walked out of the yard. As soon as they walked out of the gate, they heard hurried footsteps. In the distance, a group of people holding torches were walking towards this side aggressively. In the light of the fire, they could only see shadowy figures and the flashing of knives.

Seeing this, Jia Huan hurriedly ordered everyone to retreat back to the courtyard, close the door again, and extinguish all the lanterns. In an instant, the entire courtyard fell into darkness.

After a while, the footsteps outside were getting closer and closer, and the light of the torch came through the wall. Someone shouted, "Does Miss Lin really live here? Why is there no light?"

"Our girl does live here, I dare not lie!" another voice answered tremblingly.

Jia Huan was stunned for a moment. It seemed that the group of people outside were coming for Lin Daiyu. Their target was quite clear. At this moment, Jia Huan suddenly felt his left arm tighten, and a faint body fragrance came to his nose. It turned out that Lin Daiyu was too nervous and couldn't help hugging his left hand.

Jia Huan turned his head and looked in the dim light from the fire outside the courtyard wall. He saw that Lin Daiyu's face was as pale as paper, her eyes were full of panic, and she whispered in a trembling voice: "Brother Huan..."

Lin Daiyu is a peerless beauty in the world, and her miserable and frightened look at this moment makes her extraordinarily charming and moving, which is hard to describe in words. No wonder the original novel describes that Xue Pan was so weak in the knees that he could not walk after just one look at Lin Daiyu.

Jia Huan held Lin Daiyu's hand with his backhand and whispered in her ear, "Don't be afraid, Sister Lin. I'm here for you."

Lin Daiyu's little hand was held by Jia Huan, and her frightened heart suddenly calmed down, and her cheeks felt inexplicably hot.

At this time, someone outside exclaimed, "The one who saw the light from afar just now is probably hiding now. We'll find out if we go in and search."

"Search quickly, but don't hurt this girl!" another voice ordered.

Jia Huan had a photographic memory, so he immediately recognized the voice as that of the great-grandson of the king, Xu Wenhan. A cold light flashed in his eyes, and he thought to himself, "So it's this guy!"

On that day at the Yangtze River ferry, Xu Wenhan challenged Jia Huan in person, declaring that he was going to marry the young lady from the Lin family. Jia Huan then wanted to kill him, but he didn't expect that this guy was quite capable and actually climbed over the wall into the mansion to snatch the girl away.

There is a road to heaven but you don't take it, there is no door to hell but you come here anyway. You shouldn't refuse the head that is given to you for free!
Jia Huan waved his hand silently, and ten well-trained soldiers immediately spread out in a crescent shape, silently raised their muskets, and aimed at the gate of the courtyard. The muskets emitted a faint red light in the dark night.

There are two major disadvantages of the matchlock gun. One is that it cannot be used on rainy days because the matchlock will be wet by rain. The other is that it is easy to expose the position because the matchlock needs to be ignited in advance, which will glow and smoke! However, at this moment, Xu Wenhan's mind was full of beauties, and the road was unobstructed, so he was careless and did not observe carefully. He directly ordered to break in.

Boom!

The door of the courtyard was not built solidly and was soon kicked open violently. Several guards from the palace rushed in with torches in their hands, but the next second they found a row of black gun muzzles pointing at them. They were so scared that they stopped in their tracks.

bang bang bang...

Several gunshots were heard, and several palace guards were killed on the spot. Xu Wenhan outside was horrified: "Oh no, there's an ambush, retreat quickly!"

Xu Wenhan turned around and fled, however, at this time ten bodyguards had already rushed out bravely, several of them raised their guns and shot, and immediately knocked down several people, including Xu Wenhan. This guy was unlucky, as he was shot in the buttocks. He wailed in pain and rolled on the ground.

Seeing this, the guards of the royal palace who had escaped had no choice but to turn back and rescue the people, and fought fiercely with Jia Huan's ten personal soldiers.

"Oh, it hurts so much! It hurts so much!" Xu Wenhan was in excruciating pain, when he suddenly caught a glimpse of two servants from the Lin residence holding lanterns, escorting a young man out of the yard. He endured the pain and stared at them. His face suddenly turned pale and his eyes widened in horror, as if he had seen a ghost.

The young man who walked out of the yard at this moment was naturally Jia Huan. He was holding a yellow double-barreled pistol in his hand, with his eyebrows raised and his eyes cold. He walked step by step to Xu Wenhan.

Xu Wenhan's face was ashen and he was sweating profusely. At this moment, all the guards in the palace were being held back by Jia Huan's personal soldiers and no one could take care of him at all.

"Hey, isn't this Mr. Wang Zengsun? You led the crowd to attack the Salt Inspectorate's Office. Are you trying to rebel?" Jia Huan pointed his gun at Xu Wenhan's head and asked coldly.

Xu Wenhan was regretting so much at this moment. He regretted not bringing more people with him when he rushed to the West Wing. He never expected that Jia Huan was lying in ambush here waiting for him. Could it be that this guy was good at fortune-telling?

Hey, little did he know that this was not something Jia Huan could predict, it was simply Xu Wenhan's bad luck that led him into trouble. This might be what they call "lust is a sword hanging over one's head"!
"Jia Huan, you... didn't you go to Jinling? Why are you in Yangzhou?" Xu Wenhan asked with a stutter.

Jia Huan sneered and said, "It seems that you are well-informed, but not well-informed enough." After saying that, he put his index finger on the trigger.

Xu Wenhan was so frightened that his soul flew out of his body, and he shouted, "You can't kill me!"

Jia Huan asked jokingly, "Why?"

Xu Wenhan suppressed his fear and threatened: "Now the entire Salt Inspectorate is surrounded by my people. If you dare to kill me, all of you will die."

At this moment, another group of people holding torches came straight over here. Xu Wenhan was overjoyed and felt more confident. He laughed and said, "My people are coming. Jia Huan, if you have the guts, just shoot!"

Jia Huan raised his sword-like eyebrows, and was just hesitating whether to shoot this guy or take him hostage, when he heard Lu Xiangsheng shouting over: "Ziming, I'm here to help you!"

It turned out that Lu Xiangsheng had arrived with a dozen salt soldiers. Xu Wenhan was stunned and his laughter stopped abruptly.

Lu Xiangsheng was a man of both civil and military talents, known as Lu Dali. He swung his sword with great force, and killed two people in a flash. Xu Wenhan's dozen palace guards were soon killed together.

Lu Xiangsheng, holding the bloody sword, strode to Jia Huan and asked with concern, "Ziming, is Miss Lin okay?"

Jia Huan nodded and said, "She's fine. By the way, Jiandou, why are you here? Is Master Lin safe?"

Lu Xiangsheng replied, "I have just sent Master Lin to the Buddhist temple, but Master Lin was worried about Miss Lin's safety, so he asked me to come over to check on her."

As soon as she finished speaking, Lin Daiyu was seen cautiously walking out of the yard, surrounded by Ping'er and others. This girl had eyebrows like spring mountains, eyes like autumn water, a pink and blue cross-collared jacket on the upper body, and a moon-white embroidered horse-faced skirt on the lower body. She was graceful like a flower reflected in the water, and her movements were even more graceful than a willow swaying in the wind. She was truly beautiful and charming, with a variety of manners.

This was the second time Lu Xiangsheng had seen Lin Daiyu in women's clothing, and he was still amazed. He only took one look and didn't dare to look any further, fearing that he was being disrespectful. He hurriedly lowered his eyes and saluted, saying, "Lu Xiangsheng, greetings to Miss Lin."

"Mr. Lu, you are too polite!" Lin Daiyu bowed slightly in return, but her bright eyes hardly left Jia Huan. She looked him up and down until she confirmed that the latter was unharmed. Then she breathed a sigh of relief and glanced at Xu Wenhan, whose butt was stained with blood. She thought, this man should be the great-grandson of Prince Yi Zhong. He turned out to be such a disgusting character. It was a good thing that her father did not agree to his proposal in the first place.

Xu Wenhan didn't look bad originally, but at this moment he was covered in blood and curled up on the ground in a miserable state. Compared with the handsome Jia Huan, he was obviously a far cry from the other.

Seeing Xu Wenhan staring at Lin Daiyu in astonishment, Jia Huan said, "Sister Lin, please follow Brother Jiandou to the Buddhist temple. I have some things to deal with."

"Well, then, Brother Huan, you better be careful." Seeing the bloody corpses all over the ground, Lin Daiyu felt quite uncomfortable. After giving Jia Huan a warning, she hurried away under the escort of Lu Xiangsheng and others.

Xu Wenhan had been staring at Lin Daiyu since she appeared. He was simply astonished by her beauty. It was not until her graceful and beautiful back disappeared from his sight that he slowly came to his senses and thought, "So this girl is Lin Daiyu. There really is such a beautiful person in the world. It seems that the rumors are true!"

Xu Wenhan was still immersed in his amazement when he suddenly saw Jia Huan looking at him indifferently. He was startled and blurted out, "Jia Huan, what do you want to do?"

Jia Huan raised the pistol in his hand and asked jokingly, "What do you think? You came here to kill someone tonight, didn't you ever think that you would be killed?"

Xu Wenhan felt a chill running through his head, and threatened in a timid tone: "My grandfather is Prince Yi Zhong. If you dare to kill me, not only you, Jia Huan, but also Lin Ruhai and his daughter, and even the entire Jia family will be in trouble."

Jia Huan smiled contemptuously and slowly raised his pistol. Xu Wenhan couldn't help but feel terrified. Seeing that the title of Prince Yi Zhong couldn't scare Jia Huan, he suddenly had an idea and shouted, "Jia Huan, do you think the illegal salt case only involves our Prince Yi Zhong's family? In fact, the current..."

boom……

Before Xu Wenhan could finish his words, Jia Huan had already pulled the trigger, and a burst of hot red liquid exploded on his forehead.

(End of this chapter)