Chương 535: The Embroidered Uniform Guards Are Still in Action

His subordinate warned, "Master, we've heard that the Embroidered Uniform Guard is ruthless. We'd better be careful and not be overconfident."

"What are you afraid of!" Kong Wan slammed his hand on the table, making the teacups jump.

"If he dares to come, I'll move Confucius's memorial tablet to the main gate. Let's see if he dares to lay a knife on it! If he dares to touch me, he'll offend all the scholars in the world, he'll be a sinner for all time! How will history record him?"

The next morning, the Imperial Guards surrounded the Confucius Mansion.

Kong Wan indeed led his entire family to kneel at the gate, with Confucius's memorial tablet placed in the middle, incense and candles lit, and the air filled with the smoke of incense.

Dressed in white mourning clothes, he clutched the memorial tablet and wept bitterly, his voice piercing with sorrow: "What a misfortune for the Confucian school! How dare someone lay a hand on a descendant of the sage! Ancestors above, look! The Han Dynasty is doomed!"

The surrounding people also gathered around, discussing the matter animatedly:

"Yes, the Kong family are descendants of a sage, how can they be arrested? They are descendants of Confucius!"

"If we harm the Confucius family, who will dare to study in the future? Where will scholars put their faces?"

Zhang Long, a commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, frowned and stepped forward, saying:

"Kong Wan, someone has reported you for concealing land, possessing weapons, and killing a tenant who refused to pay rent. We have witnesses and physical evidence. Come with us."

"I won't go!" Kong Wan shouted, clutching the memorial tablet, his voice cracking.

"I am a descendant of a sage, you can't arrest me! Unless you smash Confucius's memorial tablet first!"

He thought this would intimidate the Imperial Guards, but to his surprise, Zhang Long sneered and said to the soldiers behind him:

"Put away the memorial tablet and send it to the Imperial Ancestral Temple in Luoyang. His Majesty said that Confucius is a sage and deserves respect, but if a sage's descendant breaks the law, he is punished the same as an ordinary person. He cannot be granted special treatment just because he is a descendant of a sage."

If Confucius could know this in the afterlife, he would not tolerate his descendants oppressing the people and committing crimes. He valued benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and wisdom above all else, and detested nothing more than injustice and lack of benevolence.

Two soldiers stepped forward, picked up Confucius's memorial tablet, carefully wrapped it in yellow silk, and placed it in a wooden box.

Kong Wan was completely stunned, his eyes wide open and his mouth agape enough to fit an egg.

He never expected that the Embroidered Uniform Guard wouldn't fall for that!

"You... you mustn't touch the sage's tablet! It's the lifeblood of our Confucius family!"

Kong Wan lunged forward to grab it, but was pinned down by a soldier and unable to move.

Zhang Long took out an iron chain and snapped it around Kong Wan's neck, his voice icy: "Kong Wan, don't use a saint as a shield. Everyone is equal before the law. Take him away!"

When the surrounding people saw that even Confucius's memorial tablet was ineffective, no one dared to say anything more and they all dispersed.

...

Longxi, Zhangjiazhai.

The Zhang family was an old and prestigious family in Xiliang, with generations of martial arts practitioners. They maintained over a thousand cavalrymen, each one brave and skilled in battle, riding tall horses...

When Zhang Teng, the head of the family, heard that the imperial court was going to wipe out the powerful families, he completely disregarded it.

"Our cavalry is invincible! Even Dong Zhuo feared us back then, so how powerful can Liu Ce's army be?" Zhang Teng said to his generals, patting his chest.

"When they arrive, one charge will annihilate them! Let them know that the Zhang family of Xiliang is not to be trifled with! Kill one if they come, kill two if they come!"

The generals echoed their sentiments, their enthusiasm running high: "Our patriarch is right! With our cavalry, who can stand against us! Let them taste the might of the Xiliang Iron Cavalry!"

Three days later, the imperial army arrived at Zhangjiazhai.

There were a total of two thousand men, including six hundred infantrymen, six hundred musketeers, and eight hundred cavalrymen.

The troops were well-organized, their armor was gleaming, and their military bearing was impeccable.

Standing on the stockade wall, Zhang Teng looked at the army opposite him and burst into laughter, laughing so hard he almost fell over: "Is that all the men we have? They're not even enough to fill our teeth! All cavalry, charge! Let them see what we're made of!"

The gates of the stockade swung open, and more than a thousand Xiliang cavalrymen charged out with shouts. The sound of their hooves shook the earth, and dust billowed up, obscuring the sky.

Zhang Teng charged at the forefront, brandishing his broadsword and shouting, "Kill! Ten thousand coins reward for every enemy killed!"

But just as they rushed to within a hundred paces of the army, the musketeers on the opposite side suddenly formed three ranks, raised their muskets, and pointed their dark muzzles at them.

"Fire!"

"Bang bang bang—!"

Gunfire erupted, and smoke billowed, as dense as firecrackers.

The cavalry at the forefront fell in droves, their screams echoing throughout the battlefield.

The warhorse was startled, reared up with a neigh, threw the rider off its back, and trampled him into a bloody pulp.

The cavalry behind them lost their footing and crashed into each other, creating chaos and causing men and horses to fall.

"What's going on?!" Zhang Teng was terrified, nearly dropping his broadsword. He had never seen such a powerful weapon before.

"What kind of sorcery is this?! It can breathe fire?!"

Before he could react, the second and third musketeers opened fire in succession, firing volley after volley.

The cavalrymen fell in droves, unable to even get close to the enemy, dying before they could even see their faces.

"Retreat! Retreat quickly!" Zhang Teng shouted, turning his horse around and galloping back, abandoning his broadsword and throwing it on the ground.

But it was too late.

The imperial cavalry flanked them from both sides, blocking their retreat and surrounding them completely.

Seeing that the situation was hopeless, the remaining cavalrymen threw down their weapons and surrendered, kneeling on the ground.

Zhang Teng was dragged off his horse by his own soldiers, tied up, and brought before the officer. He was bruised and battered, looking utterly pathetic.

The officer looked at Zhang Teng, who was tied up like a dumpling, and said with a smile, "Zhang Teng, wasn't your cavalry supposed to be invincible? How come you lost in just one move? Didn't you say you were going to teach us a lesson?"

Zhang Teng lowered his head, his face ashen, his lips trembling as he stammered, "I... I didn't expect you to have such a powerful fire-breathing thing... What is it?"

"This is called a musket," the officer explained, patting the barrel.

"It's specifically designed to deal with people like you who think they're invincible."

...

At the headquarters of the Embroidered Uniform Guard in Luoyang, Lu Bing's daily routine consisted of sitting in the lobby, receiving reports of victories from various regions, and then drinking tea, chatting, and venting with Jia Xu.

The table was piled high with reports of victory, and every day, express horses came from all over the country, bringing the latest news in an endless stream.

"Report! The Guo family of Nanyang has organized a rebellion, gathering over three thousand men and occupying a small hill. They refuse to surrender. Our army blasted open the gates with cannons; three shots fired in quick succession, creating a deafening roar, and a large section of the stockade wall collapsed. The patriarch was beheaded in the chaos! We seized 100, 000 taels of gold and 300, 000 shi of grain!"

"Report! The Li family of Hongnong fled into the mountains with their entire family, but got lost. They wandered in the mountains for five days and five nights, ran out of their provisions, and were so hungry they were dizzy and weak. Finally, they couldn't bear the hunger any longer and surrendered! When they came down the mountain, they were all emaciated and looked like refugees!"

"Report! The Tang family from Guanghan hid in a cave and sealed the entrance, thinking we couldn't find them. We smoked it for half an hour, and they couldn't take it anymore. One by one, they crawled out of the cave to surrender, their faces blackened with soot!"