Chapter 163: The Casualties of war 3 (1/2)

The Southern borders

Zhongshan Ling stayed back for a few minutes before giving an excuse and leaving the Chu family's cottage. The journey back to the watchtower unlike the much earlier trip to the Nanny's cottage was more Quietly. His men didn't know what Zhongshan Ling had talked about with his mother's Nanny but base on his current mood the result didn't look good.

His conversation with Nanny Chu replayed in his mind non-stop as they rode out of the small village.

”Young Mistress was poisoned by the Empress, she had been poisoned for years.”

”she begged her to adopt you, your mother was willing to relinquish her rights over you just to keep you safe.

”She knew that the empress had complications after giving birth and couldn't survive another pregnancy. Out of the other Imperial concubines, she was the best option because she needed a son and unlike the rest, she had a strong family and could offer you protection the Tong family can't.

”Young Mistress also thought that since the Empress had no son, you could be made the Crown Prince. According to the traditions of northern Wei, only the son of an Empress or an imperial Noble consort can be made the Crown Prince. It was beneficial to everyone dividing the Lu family, a few days after Empress Lu accepted to adopt you. She sent over a bottle of fast-acting poison and instructed your mother to take it.”

He would have never expected to hear that the Empress did something like this. He had always assumed that she was better than the other consorts who had zero regard for human lives and would kill anyone for power.

They rode out of the town unbeknownst to them that they were being followed by a team of Droko tribe's best shadow warriors. They didn't notice anything wrong until they were surrounded by the forest. The sound of a branch breaking at his left drew Zhongshan Ling away from his thoughts. He raised his right hand featuring for his hen to stop moving.

His men stopped moving and he looked to the thick bushes on his left. His eyes scrutinised every single part of those bushes, searching for something or someone out of place. A small rabbit running quickly out of the bush to the bush to the bush on the other side made him relax. He smiled and pulled his horse reins, to his men behind him.

He said, ”false alarm, it is just a furry animal but be on guard”.

”Yes”, his guards chorused.

Zhongshan Ling nodded and rode forward, this time his speed considerably increased. Their vigilance gradually reduced, after an hour when there was no attack for close to an hour. However, everything quickly changed when multiple arrows were shot at them from different directions. It was so sudden, one of his marked guards were hit through the neck by the arrow and died instantly.

Zhongshan Ling leaned forward on his horse as an arrow missed him by the ear, instead the arrow brushed his cheeks. There was a very quick sharp pain on his cheeks, a long line of blood dripped from the cur and stained the line of white fur on his horse. The horse was well trained and didn't ride away when spooked. Like most well-trained warhorses, it stayed, only going forward after being shaped gently by Zhongshan Ling.

The horse ran a few kilometres before it was hit on the jugular by an accurately shot arrow from Prince Du himself. The horse fell with the force pushing Zhongshan Ling forward. Zhongshan Ling stretched out his hands to waste his fall, but it wasn't a good idea because as he hit the ground a loud ”ckek” sound was heard of bone cracking. He hissed silently, he felt a sharp pain as he tried to move his right hand.

He rolled to his side while clutching his hands admits the throbbing pain as he tried to avoid the arrows aimed at him. He was cornered with most of his men either dead or occupied, he created a tree and using his good hand, he pulled himself behind the tree. He leaned on the tree trunk and tried to regulate his breathing, catching his breath was wishful thinking at most.