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After a while, Zhang Jin stuck his head in through the carriage curtain"Fourth Brother," he grinned"We've come to take you back
He climbed onto the driver's seat and the carriage moved off northwards away from the river, and stopped by the side of a mound, from which they could get a good view of the battle
Suddenly, Zhang broke away from his duel with Chen and ran for Wen's carriage
Luo Bing saw him coming and brandished her sword at himBut Zhang's sword was extraordinarily tough, and as they clashed with a 'clang', it snapped her blade in twoWith the rest of his strength, Zhang leapt up into the carriage and pulled Luo Bing in with himGreatly frightened, the other heroes raced up to save her, and Zhang lifted her up and threw her at themThe Twin Knights raced over and caught her
Meanwhile, Zhang turned and grabbed Wen, and pulled him to the carriage door"Wen Tailai is here," he shouted"If anyone dares to come any closer, I'll kill him!"
The cold gleam of Zhang's 'Frozen Emerald' sword was poised at Wen's neck
"Fourth Brother," Luo Bing wailed, and tried to throw herself at the carriage, but Lu Feiqing held her back and took a step forward himself
"Zhang!" he called out"Can you see who I am?" Zhang and he had not seen each other for a long time and it was difficult to see clearly in the moonlight, so Lu drew his White Dragon sword, took hold of the tip of the blade, and bent the cartier watches for women handle back so that it formed a circleThen he let the tip go and the blade bounced back upright and swayed slightly"Ah, so it's Brother Lu," he said"Why have you come looking for me?"
"You are wounded," Lu replied"All the heroes of the Red Flower Society are here as well as 'Iron Gall' Zhou ZhongyingIt is going to be hard for you to escape today with your lifeBut in memory of our benevolent teacher, I will give you a way out
Zhang grunted again, but said nothing
Suddenly they heard shouts and cries drifting over from the east, as if a thousand armies were racing towards themThe heroes were filled with apprehension, but Zhang was even more worried
"This Red Flower Society is truly resourceful," he thought"Even here in the northwest, they can still call up huge reinforcements
"Release Master Wen," Lu Feiqing continued, "and I will ask the heroes, out of respect for me, to release youBut there is one thing you must swear to
Zhang eyed the strong enemies surrounding him
"You must swear that you will immediately retire from public life and no longer be a running dog of the Manchus
Zhang had pursued glory and wealth with fervour and he had risen in rank as fast as though swept upwards up by a whirlwindWanting him to give up his position was just the same as wanting his lifeHe released Wen from his grip, pulled at the mule's reins, and the carriage charged forward
The heroes held rolex oyster watch back afraid of risking Wen's life, but Luo Bing could not stand it"Release him and we'll let you go without having to swear to anything," she called desperately
Zhang took no notice and drove the carriage on towards the ranks of Manchu troops, who had by now regrouped
Bodyguard Rui saw Zhang approaching and ordered the soldiers to fix arrows in their bows in readinessThe roar of the approaching column was getting louder and both Red Flower Society and the soldiers were afraid that they were reinforcements for the other side
"Brother Wei, take three others and scatter the Eagle's Claws," Chen shouted
Wei and the others raised their weapons and charged into the Manchu ranks, slaughtering as they went
A youngster darted out from behind Lu Feiqing saying: "I'm going too!" Chen frowned: it was Li Yuanzhi, once more dressed in boy's clothes
When Lu met up with her again after the battle, Yuanzhi had insisted that he take her with him to help rescue WenLu finally agreed, but made her promise that she would do as she was toldYuanzhi then wrote a letter to her mother in which she said she had decided to go on ahead alone to see her father in Hangzhou
Chen quickly issued his instructions, and 'Buddha' Zhao raced after the carriage and sent two sleeve arrows flying into the eyes of the mule pulling it alongThe mule gave a long scream and reared up on its hind legsThe Twin Knights charged to either cartier replica watch ladies santos steel side of the carriage and flung their Flying Claws at Zhang, who fended them off with his swordSimultaneously, Priest Wu Chen and Xu attacked Zhang's back
"Now!" Chen shouted to Xin YanThe two soared through the air and landed on top of the carriage
Zhang heard Chen and Xin Yan land above and behind him and threw a handful of Golden Needles at them
Chen saw the movement, and pushed Xin Yan off the carriage and placed the shield in front of his own bodyThere was a patter of metallic noises as the needles hit it, but despite the extraordinary speed of his reflexes, he heard Xin Yan cry outKnowing the boy had been hit, Chen hastily leapt down to help himZhang threw another handful of the needles at Priest Wu Chen and XuThe Priest flew out of the back of the carriage like an arrow, moving faster and further than the needlesXu, however, only had time to lift a cotton coverlet in the carriage to block the needlesBut his left shoulder was left exposed and with a sudden feeling of numbness, he fell out of the carriage
Zhang Jin raced over to help him"Brother Xu, are you all right?" he shouted, bending overSuddenly he felt a great pain in his back as he was hit by an arrow, and stumbled
"Brothers! Everyone regroup!" Chen shoutedArrows were flying towards them like thick clouds of locustsZhang Jin put his left hand on Priest Wu Chen's shoulder and hit out at the arrows with his wolf's tooth tiffany style necklace club
"Tenth Brother, don't move!" the Priest said He stopped the flow of blood from Zhang Jin's wound with a touch to the artery and carefully pulled the arrow outThen he ripped a corner off his robes and bound up the wound
Then they saw a pitch-black mass of Manchu soldiers surging towards them from the east
Zhang was ecstatic at the sight of reinforcements arriving, but his breathing was becoming difficult and he knew that his injuries were seriousChen and the others attacked the carriage once more, and he lifted up Wen's body, and swung it round and round as a detachment of cavalry charged towards the Red Flower Society fighters with sabres raisedChen could see that Wen would certainly be killed if they attempted to recapture him by force, so he gave a loud whistle and raced behind a nearby mound with the others following
Chen conducted a head-count, and found that Xu, Zhou Qi, Yuanzhi, Lord Zhou and Meng were missing
"Has anyone seen Brother Xu and Lord Zhou?" Chen asked
Zhang Jin, who was lying on the ground, raised his head and said: "Seventh Brother was injuredIsn't he here? I'll go and find him
He stood up, but the arrow wound on his back was too serious, and he swayed unsteadily
"Don't you move, Tenth Brother," said 'Melancholy Ghost' Shi
"I'll go too," added 'Crocodile' Jiang, but Chen held him back"You and Fourth Sister make your way to the river bank and prepare the rafts," he louis vuitton backpacks |