Chapter 516 - 282: Lu Huanqiao??? Lu Zhishen???
Lan Tai’s idea was certainly a good one, faced as he was with the encircling King Yan’s Army. If he could just take Gu Gaoxu—whose Martial Arts were completely gone—hostage, he could use the leverage to escape safely.
Little did he know, however, that while Gu Gaoxu had lost his Martial Arts, he still had a firearm for protection.
Gu Gaoxu held a short-barreled gun—one that resembled a firearm but was far more exquisitely crafted—and pointed it straight at Lan Tai’s forehead.
This pistol was a Browning, which Lu Yuan had slipped to him as he was leaving the Lu Mansion.
Lu Yuan had already told him exactly how to use it.
The Browning pistol was compact, capable of firing multiple shots in succession, and was hidden at his waist, completely undetectable.
Although Lan Tai had never seen this particular weapon, he recognized it as a firearm.
Lan Tai lifted the carriage curtain with the tip of his spear. Without moving, he said, "Prince Gu, how did you come to possess such a thing?"
Firearms, Armor, and Red Coat Cannons are all weapons regulated by the Court. Private possession is a capital offense!
As for King Yan’s Army being equipped with firearms, that had been previously approved by the Emperor. King Yan Gu Di had specifically requisitioned them from the Emperor for the campaign against the northern Beastman Race.
Afterward, these weapons remained in King Yan Gu Di’s possession, and Emperor Gu Yuanzhang gave his tacit approval for King Yan’s army to be outfitted with them.
Furthermore, Lu Yuan and Gu Gaoxu had opened factories in Yandu. One of the workshops secretly manufactured firearms, which were then used to equip King Yan’s army.
King Yan’s troops were not only fierce in battle but also strictly disciplined and never drew attention to themselves.
Not even the Jinyi Guard could discover exactly how many firearms King Yan’s Army had fielded.
Gu Gaoxu sneered. "It’s for saving my own skin. Do I really need to explain that to you?"
"It seems Prince Gu doesn’t trust me," Lan Tai said, still holding the curtain up with his spear.
"Trust you? I’d die a horrible death!" A deep sense of satisfaction welled up inside Gu Gaoxu.
Lan Tai let the curtain fall. With a sideways leap, he jumped from the carriage.
Gu Gaoxu fired three shots through the curtain, leaving behind three bullet holes.
Gripping the Browning, Gu Gaoxu slapped his thigh and cursed, "Damn it, I was too careless!"
BANG! The Browning went off, and a bullet tore through the carriage’s cabin.
No one was hurt.
Gu Gaoxu quickly engaged the Browning’s safety. ’Thank god,’ he thought, relieved. ’That thing wasn’t pointed at me. What would I do if it shot my junk off?’
He was counting on it to carry on the family line, after all.
Lan Tai leaped onto a warhorse and commanded his armored cavalry to break through the encirclement from the rear.
Lan Tai led his armored cavalry right into the next layer of the encirclement.
A short distance in front of the carriage, several dozen people who had been standing by began to walk toward Gu Gaoxu.
The three remaining Jinyi Guards stood protectively by the carriage. "Stay back! All of you, stay back!"
From inside the carriage, Gu Gaoxu’s voice rang out, "Let them approach!"
The group of several dozen sheathed their weapons and approached the carriage.
A large, burly man called out, "Fifth Brother Liu, Mansion Guard of the Lu Mansion in Taiping City, pays his respects to Prince Gu!"
"Come in and speak with me," Gu Gaoxu said from within the carriage.
With his Martial Arts gone, Gu Gaoxu wasn’t about to leave the safety of the carriage. ’What if I get hit by a stray arrow? How unlucky would that be!’
Fifth Brother Liu took a single step forward, only to have three Brocade Spring Sabers block his path.
Fifth Brother Liu understood at once and smiled.
Fifth Brother Liu unfastened the Big Treasure Sword at his waist and handed it to another Mansion Guard before boarding Gu Gaoxu’s carriage.
"Sit! Don’t stand on ceremony." Gu Gaoxu pointed to an empty seat on the other side of the carriage.
Inside the carriage, a grin spread across Gu Gaoxu’s face. He leaned toward Fifth Brother Liu and praised him effusively.
"Fifth Brother, your master is truly incredible. Tell me, how did Brother Lu know for sure that Lan Tai would turn traitor? And to even arrange for you to be waiting here?"
"Don’t tell me Brother Lu can actually perform divination? Is he even better than the officials at the Astronomical Bureau?"
Fifth Brother Liu replied with the utmost respect, "Prince Gu, I do not know. I am only following orders."
Gu Gaoxu sat up straight and asked, "Did Brother Lu make any other arrangements?"
"The boss said to bring Doctor Li from Taiping City. He said you are to take him back to the Imperial City for questioning," Fifth Brother Liu said.
"The boss?" Gu Gaoxu repeated, puzzled.
"Yes," Fifth Brother Liu affirmed with a solemn nod.
"That’s a new one. Isn’t Doctor Li the one who treated me? Alright, bring him!" Gu Gaoxu put the Browning pistol away.
’This Doctor Li from Taiping is one of the witnesses. He’s useful.’
Gu Gaoxu lifted the window curtain and glanced at the battle raging outside. "So Brother Lu was even hiding this from me. He actually called in the Three Yanshan Guards."
’So this is what Lu Yuan meant when he told me not to worry!’
The Three Yanshan Guards that Gu Gaoxu mentioned were his father Gu Di’s personal elite troops.
The Three Yanshan Guards—the Yanshan Vanguard, the Yanshan Left Guard, and the Yanshan Right Guard—were the most powerful fighting force under King Yan Gu Di’s command.
The Three Yanshan Guards numbered around ten thousand in total. The force dispatched this time was several hundred strong, the absolute elite among them.
Gu Gaoxu was extremely curious as to how Lu Yuan had managed to mobilize his father’s Three Yanshan Guards.
After all, forget Gu Gaoxu—without a direct order from King Yan Gu Di, not even the Crown Prince of Yan, Gu Gaochi, could mobilize a single soldier from the Three Yanshan Guards.
The biggest mystery for Gu Gaoxu was how his father had managed to move the Three Yanshan Guards through the fiefdoms of King Jin and King Lu to get here.
All troop movements were supposed to be under the supervision of the Court’s Jinyi Guard.
King Yan Gu Di was a stern father, but he was no fool.
After a phone call from Lu Yuan, King Yan Gu Di gave it careful thought and then, following Lu Yuan’s instructions, dispatched the Three Yanshan Guards to lay an ambush here.
To avoid alerting the traitors within the Court, King Yan Gu Di had used his considerable skills to move the Three Yanshan Guards into position here without a whisper.
Inside the carriage, Gu Gaoxu chatted for a while with Fifth Brother Liu, the Mansion Guard from the Lu Mansion, before sounds from outside the carriage drew his attention.