Repudiating a Good Wife Is Out of the Question

177. Hedgehog Chariot

 

Translator: Sissy That Walk

 

Xiao Yugui was so excited that finally he had an opportunity to give a good account of himself, he was going to search Qinglian Lake and confront those private troops with toughness. Xiao Yugui found what Cao Mo said too civil, he planned to turn the lake inside out and label the troops as rebels thus he could seek more credit in court.

Xiao Yugui beamed with smiles, he felt that his promotion was in the bag with the achievement of raising grains and the upcoming merit of suppressing rebels.

Xiao Yugui dispatched an express report to the emperor requesting reinforcements from the capital city, he stated that his brother Xiao Yuqi went missing after he went to Qinglian Lake, chances were he was hijacked by rebels who were lurking in that area.

Xiao Yugui didn’t mention the fact that Prince Ning had been maintaining private troops in Qinglian Lake area because shed all pretences of cordiality with Prince Ning, as a seasoned politician, he always left himself some ground for retreat, especially Imperial Concubine Fair now was pregnant.

However, Prince Ning was pretty hellbent on killing Cao Mo and Xiao Yi, he sent a troop over one thousand soldiers to siege their temporary residence while Xiao Yugui’s express letter was still on the way.

The interesting was the magistrate chose to turn a blind eye to the uproar of the troops marching down to Prince Xing’s temporary residence, the common people in the city all shut their doors tightly in panic.

“Shizi, Shizi Madam, a troop is marching down towards us!”

The situation didn’t surprise Cao Mo and Xiao Yi at all, but they were surprised that the magistrate remained a mouse in this affair.

“Destroy the leader and the gang will collapse, I will lead a group of trusted followers and get their leader! Mo, you just take refuge in the magistrate’s residence together with father, I don’t think he will play dumb with you and father showing up in his residence!” Xiao Yi gnashed his teeth.

A guards came rushing in when Xiao Yi turned his head to look for Xiao Yugui, “Shizi! Marquis Valour has opened the gate to confront the troops with a group of his trusted followers!”

Xiao Yi pressed his forehead, “Father… you shouldn’t have…”

Cao Mo frowned as well, “That’s a bit impetuous of father, battle-hardened he is, but those young soldiers are out for blood! Let me lead a group of people and help him out!”

With that Cao Mo put on his armor and grabbed a sword, he was ready to go.

“No, let me!” Xiao Yi stopped him.

“Don’t worry, I will sit in the “hedgehog chariot”, no way can they hurt me.”

“Let me, father won’t listen to you, you have no idea what father is like when he is in the battlefield. Sorry, Mo, I can’t let you take any risk.” with that Xiao Yi knocked Cao Mo out, then he asked several guards to protect Cao Mo while he was out.

Xiao Yi got on the “hedgehog chariot” with a group of his trusted followers, the reason why it was called “hedgehog chariot” was because Cao Mo assembled countless blades on either side of the chariot.

Ten guards pedaled the chariot all the way to the residence’s gate where Xiao Yi saw Xiao Yugui who was discussing strategic deployment with his followers. Xiao Yi shouted, “Father, allow me to spearhead the attack for you!”

Seeing the “hedgehog chariot”, Xiao Yugui realized why Xiao Yi and Cao Mo didn’t show the slightest sign of concern before, Cao Mo had invented this indestructible chariot!

Xiao Yi asked the ten guards who were pedaling the chariot to stop pedaling and took their spots inside of the chariot, two guards would pump the wood oil through a bamboo pipe, and the other guards would shoot fire arrows to attack the enemy.

The smoke of wood oil was toxic, Cao Mo had assembled a wind wheel on the top of the chariot, the toxic smoke all billowed to the other side.

Xiao Yugui was so impressed, he shouted, “Yi, you and you wife are well-prepared, yet you kept me in the dark!”

Xiao Yi’s lips twitched, “We haven’t tested it before, I figured we better let you know about this after we have tested it.”

Xiao Yugui took a look inside of the chariot, he nodded his head as he didn’t see Cao Mo, he bought what Xiao Yi just said, Xiao Yi didn’t bring Cao Mo with him because he was a little hazy about the chariot.

“Where is your wife?” Xiao Yugui sounded a bit mollified.

“I knocked him out, I don’t want to put him at any risk!”

“What risk can there be? Look at this chariot, it’s armed to the teeth! You little brat, do you know I almost got hit by an arrow? Don’t keep me in the dark next time your wife invents such a great thing, surely I will get a promotion if I present this chariot to the emperor!” Xiao Yugui stroked the equipment inside the chariot and beamed with smiles.

The troops had to retreat when they saw the fire, because the fire would attract a lot of attention and they dared not to expose themselves. Besieging a prince’s residence was a grave crime, no one could face that consequence.

Cao Mo was furious when Xiao Yi came back, he insisted on going back to the capital city by himself.

Xiao Yi hastened to apologize to Cao Mo.

“That’s domestic violence, you know, what if it happens again?” Cao Mo pretended he was going to pack his stuff.

“Mo, please forgive me, I just didn’t want to put you at any risk!”

“I was armed to the teeth, the chariot was armed to the teeth, what risk are you talking about? You just don’t trust me, do you?” Cao Mo pouted.

“I trust you with my heart and soul, but that’s a troop of ten thousand people, who knows what might happen. How about this, you knock me out and we call it even.”

“That’s not enough!”

Xiao Yi grabbed Cao Mo and he slapped himself with Cao Mo’s hand, Xiao Yi was amused by Cao Mo’s angry face, it reminded him of a bunny who was looking for food.

Cao Le barged in their room when the two were fooling around, “Have you guys heard of it? There were several merchants who supported Prince Xing got robbed last night, I’m so frightened, how are you guys? And is our agreement still good?”

Cao Mo rolled his eyes at Cao Le while Xiao Yi ignored him, “I was about to change my mind about that.”

Cao Le exclaimed, “But you haven’t changed it yet, right?”