Chapter 187 - 123: I Like to Clear the Field Before Battle

Chapter 187: Chapter 123: I Like to Clear the Field Before Battle

The Lu Family had indeed anticipated that Bai Ting would pay special attention to Yin Mountain County.

But no one could have imagined that Commander Bai would take it to such an extent.

Four Ironclad Ships bore down on them, their dark, imposing silhouettes sprawled across the river’s center like four crouching behemoths.

Fortunately, the Lu Family was not entirely unprepared.

The Canglan River was over a hundred meters wide. For a person, it was an insurmountable gulf, but for cannons, it was practically point-blank range.

Never mind the military’s heavy artillery; even the Public Security Bureau’s few old-fashioned Mountain Cannons...

...could easily send shells to the opposite bank.

On the calm river surface, those four Ironclad Ships were nothing more than four conspicuous targets.

As for a landing?

That would be even more difficult.

The five or six hundred men of the Public Security Bureau had long since erected simple fortifications at the docks and along any riverbanks where a beachhead could be established.

They had set up machine guns and taken their positions.

If the Bai Family’s main army were to launch an all-out assault, this small force would naturally be no match.

But if it was just the two hundred-some elites on the ships, no matter how well-trained they were,

turning the tables against the odds with such a small number of men would be next to impossible.

But now was not the time to make a move.

Bai Ting himself had not yet appeared.

No one, aside from Lu Jing’an, knew when Chen Xuan had quietly left the Lu Family.

This, too, was a move that had been planned long ago.

Winter twilight always arrived in a hurry, but what cloaked Yin Mountain County even earlier than dusk today was a thick, unheralded fog.

The mist seemed to rise from nowhere.

At first, it was just a thin veil over the river, but in an instant, it surged like a tide.

It swallowed the streets, the houses, and the riverbanks.

In the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, visibility had plummeted to less than twenty paces.

The river was a chaotic blur. The Public Security officers who had been lying in wait behind the riverside fortifications...

...could only watch as the silhouettes of the four Ironclad Ships were erased, inch by inch, by the white mist, until they vanished completely.

Torches were lit, but their dim, yellow light fell into the fog.

It was swallowed up completely, unable to penetrate more than a foot.

Yin Mountain County had always been rainy and misty, but a fog this strange and dense was unheard of.

For a time, unrest began to stir, and anxious whispers filled the air.

Fortunately, aside from obscuring vision, the fog seemed to have no other harmful effects.

After a while, some people even felt that as they breathed,

the cool, damp air seeping into their lungs was strangely invigorating, making their whole bodies feel comfortable.

And so the panic gradually subsided. Some old residents even set up incense tables in front of their doors.

They began to kowtow, saying it was a blessing from a Divine Spirit, bestowed upon all living things.

The Lu Family’s Old Mansion was also submerged in the sea of fog.

Luckily, the courtyard was brightly lit by electric lights, and the corridors and walls were lined with torches.

The dim yellow light and the white mist tore at each other, barely managing to illuminate a small patch of ground.

But this variable, completely unforeseen by their intelligence, was still like a tiny thorn.

It jabbed at the Lu Family’s strained nerves.

Lu Huaiqian crossed the fog-filled courtyard and found Lu Jing’an standing alone before the study window.

Lu Huaiqian glanced at the unsettling, milky-white expanse outside the window and said in a low voice:

"Jing’an, your Second Uncle and his family have already boarded a boat and left.

Your Third Aunt... she refused to leave without seeing the children, so I had your Third Uncle take her away by force."

Lu Jing’an gazed out the window and nodded. "I know, Father."

Lu Huaiqian looked at his son’s calm profile and hesitated for a moment.

But he still said what was weighing on his mind. "Jing’an, you really should have gone with them."

Lu Jing’an didn’t argue, simply replying in a steady tone, "I understand. But I wanted to try for myself."

Lu Jing’an paused, then turned his head halfway.

The light cast a latticework of shadow and brightness across his young face.

"Besides, if it really comes to that, I can leave whenever I want."

Lu Huaiqian said no more. His gaze returned to the thick fog, his brow tightly furrowed.

"This fog wasn’t part of the plan. The pressure on the docks... I’m afraid it’s immense now."

"I’ve already called the Water Patrol Bureau and told them to send that batch of lanterns from the warehouse over," Lu Jing’an said.

"Lanterns?" Lu Huaiqian was taken aback.

"The ones we confiscated from that Lamp Cultivator’s house when I was injured,"

Lu Jing’an explained.

"They were originally stored in the Public Security Bureau’s evidence room. Later, the Water Patrol Bureau needed them for night navigation, so I approved their transfer."

Lu Huaiqian’s expression cleared as he recalled the old incident.

Those lanterns did seem to possess a strange quality, capable of casting an extraordinary light through the fog.

As father and son spoke, over at the docks,

men from the Water Patrol Bureau had already hurried over, carrying several crates draped in black cloth.

The lids were thrown open, and seven or eight ancient-looking lanterns were quickly taken out and lit.

The moment the orange-red halos of light bloomed, the surrounding fog, thick as gruel, seemed to have met its bane.

It let out a barely audible HISS, visibly retreating and thinning.

Although the light couldn’t pierce the full hundred meters of the river, it clearly illuminated the dock area and several nearby fortified positions.

Beyond the warm, yellow circle of light, the fog continued to churn, forming an eerie boundary.

At almost the exact same moment, a Public Security officer, panting heavily, rushed to the temporary command post.

He urgently reported to Director Sun of the operations division:

"D-Director! The men stationed in defense at the old street entrance... they’re all gone!

There wasn’t a sound! I’m afraid someone’s slipped in!"

Director Sun’s face changed drastically. He ripped off his military cap and roared:

"Quick! Send men to block the breach! Get the machine guns in position!"

He immediately grabbed the nearby crank telephone and spun the handle furiously.

After a few sharp rings, he spoke in rapid, hushed tones into the receiver.

The telephone rang sharply in the Lu Family’s study.

Lu Huaiqian snatched up the receiver. As he listened to Director Sun’s suppressed report, his expression darkened, and the knuckles of the hand holding the receiver turned white.

"Understood."

Lu Jing’an’s voice was steady, but laced with a chilling cold.