Chapter 112 – The Longbow Seals the Night Mountain

The moon was as cool as water.

Fan Xian squinted his eyes and looked at the small boat that was gently sinking and floating in the ink-like waters of the distant mountains and the distant seashore.

His inner strength was domineering and his eyesight was amazing, but in fact, he still couldn’t see the situation on the boat clearly, but strangely enough, it was as if he could see the old man on the boat, that hat, that beard, from such a distance.

Among the four great masters in the world, he had only seen Ye Liuyun.

Once when he was a teenager, once in Suzhou City, and he was amazed every time. Ye Liuyun is a dashing person, extremely dashing person, tonight riding the boat breaking the waves and holding the sword, the momentum has not yet arrived, the elegance is already incomparable.

At this time Fan Xian saw the boat in the ocean, thinking of that floating independent boat, rushed to the Great Eastern Mountain, although thousands of people I carry on the great master, can not help but feel a lot of emotion, for no reason in the heart a trace of admiration.

The small boat seems extremely close, is extremely far, then in an antenna of the seashore bathed in moonlight, slowly walking this way, seems never close to this shore.

However, Fan Xian is clear …… that the farthest distance in the world is not the distance between life and death, so this boat that will set the lives and deaths of countless people will eventually have the moment of disembarkation.

At the foot of the mountain, the side with the coastline at its back, there was a violent appearance of starry fire, although it was starry, but the bright light was enough to spread to the top of the mountain, so you can imagine that there on top of the battlefield, the powerful rebels who emerged like ghosts, were risking their lives to impact the defense of the 2,000 forbidden troops, and the fire at the time of the burning of the camp was already too big to be controlled.

Fortunately, the summer time rain is abundant, together with the sea breeze, the mountain is thick with moisture, not to worry that this fire will directly burn the Great Eastern Mountain into a scorched pillar, and burn everyone on the mountain to death.

There are a few more mournful horn arrow rises up in the sky, but only rushed to the position of half of the mountainside, then miserable, disheveled and powerless to fall down, just like this time at the foot of the mountain of the forbidden army defense line, has been difficult to continue, is about to support the unsupportable.

At this time the boat has not yet arrived, the enemy has killed to the foot of the mountain, the Qing emperor and his entourage have their backs to the sea, standing in front of the mountain in front of the stone fence before the view, silently looking at the foot of the movement, looking at those who burned when the fire, listening to those vaguely audible sounds of killing. After all, it is too far away, the sound of killing to the top of the mountain, the wind blew, the top of the forest a make, actually became a somewhat distorted rhythm beat.

There is no killing intent, at least the top of the mountain above the people do not feel this atmosphere, in contrast, in the sea behind the big east mountain is slowly drifting that boat, bring people’s nervousness but also a little more.

At this time, the Minister of Ceremony, the Secretary of the Imperial Standing Temple, a group of officials who should be sacrificed to the heavens have long since walked out of the room, following behind the silent Emperor, each heart is incomparably shocked, incomparably fearful, but none of them dare to say anything.

The vice commander of the forbidden army had already rushed down the mountain, ready to die on the front line. But I’m afraid that before he arrived, the 2,000 forbidden soldiers had already been turned into wandering souls in the night and dead corpses in the mountains and forests.

Fan Xian felt a bit bitter in his mouth, subconsciously sticking out his tongue to lick his dry lips, and in his heart, a hint of shock was uncontrollably born – where did this army at the foot of the mountain actually come from? Why didn’t the network of the Procuratorate in Dongshan Road detect any news in advance? Why did the 500 black cavalrymen placed along the Banshan Mountain not play any role? How was the other party able to sneak to the foot of the Great Eastern Mountain without realizing it?

And the most shocking thing to him is the situation at the foot of the mountain, watching the retreat of the fire head, listening to the ups and downs of the killing sound, judging from the arrows, he knows that the forbidden army can’t withstand it anymore – 2,000 forbidden army is actually going to be collapsed so soon!

The Qing Dynasty has established the world by force, although the forbidden army is based in Kyoto, from the field ability is certainly not as good as the Dingzhou army, the northern expedition camp that seven road army, but since the great prince transferred to the forbidden army commander, from the original western army to draw a lot of backbone generals, the forbidden army’s strength has been effectively supplemented, even if it is not the opponent of those armies, but it is not so …. …routed so quickly.

While Fan Xian was shocked, a hint of doubt welled up… just whose sons and daughters were the incoming army?

“It’s Yan Xiaoyi’s personal army battalion.” His Majesty the Emperor stood at the edge of the stone fence, looking in the direction of the foot of the mountain, although it was obvious that he couldn’t see clearly what was going on down there, he also saw a hint of uneasiness in the eyes of Fan Xian and Elder Eunuch Hong, and said indifferently, “The forbidden army is no match for them.”

“Yan Xiaoyi’s personal army camp?” Fan Xian frowned, immediately associating it with that odd Cangzhou victory between Cangzhou and Yanjing a month ago, although he was still unclear as to what method Yan Xiaoyi had used to send these soldiers to the foot of the Great Eastern Mountains, since the enemy had already arrived, thinking about it at this point was purely a waste of time.

“You are the Tisan of the Supervisory Academy, what is the offense for an army to run for thousands of miles and go deep within the borders of the country?” The Emperor looked at Fan Xian and asked with a smile.

Fan Xian let out a bitter laugh, knowing that His Majesty was joking, but at this time, when the situation at the foot of the mountain was so dangerous, where did he have the heart to joke, and responded, “Even if there is a secret passage in the north of Tanyuzhou, the Supervisory Academy should have received wind of it, so I thought that someone in the academy was helping him.”

The emperor smiled and said nothing, but there was more than a hint of self-deprecation in his smile.

When Fan Xian said that there was a problem in the courtyard, he was being honest, but even more so, he wanted to test whether the elite troop at the foot of the mountain that was devouring and killing like tigers and wolves, Yan Xiaoyi’s personal battalion, was something the emperor had deliberately put over. Simply look at the emperor’s confident expression and calm posture at this time, Fan Xian in his heart believe this inference, but the emperor that smile looks helpless ……

“I would like to know the specific situation under the mountain at this time.” The emperor suddenly opened his mouth indifferently, “I, do not want to be a blind man.”

The emperor personally led the army to the south and north that year, set up a heck of a war, known as the continent’s first general, only nearly two decades have not been personally conquered, only to let the northern qi resistance to the barbarians of the upper cedar tiger gradually drowned out the glory of the military aspects of the king.

And like this evening, the imperial court is surrounded by the situation, the emperor if you can personally command the forbidden army, must be under the mountain of the forbidden army is not defeated so tragic, just …… this time in the night mountain, even if there is a bright moon high, up and down the mountain, the end is not a general pleasure of singing mountain songs, the order to pass still need a very long time, let alone personally command.

So the emperor s face is a little cold, the tone is a little unkind.

This small amount of unkindness didn’t make the people around the emperor scared to death, when this situation, His Majesty didn’t burst into a rage and cut off the heads of these officials around him, it was already calm enough.

Fan Xian slowly lowered his head, the index and ring fingers of both hands gently touched each other, making a bridge of meaning, and in an instant he mobilized the overbearing true qi of his entire body, urging the two circumferences in his body that were different from those of the crowd to circulate at a rapid pace, forcing his six senses into the most lucid realm.

In an instant, his body’s qi was so powerful that it stirred up a wind on the mountaintop for no reason, and the sand and rocks moved slightly!

The tiger guards guarding the emperor’s side were startled, and at this sensitive moment, they all made defensive movements. Only that old eunuch Hong remained in a half-asleep state, standing behind the emperor.

A moment later, Fan Xian respectfully reported, “Your Majesty, something is strange, the other side seems to have retreated.”

Hearing this, the emperor’s brow also frowned, and after a long time he said quietly, “Just how many people did he bring with him, how dare he intend to seal off the entire mountain and not let a single person out. Yan Xiaoyi …… has a big appetite!”

When the rebels were in full force, they suddenly retreated temporarily, giving the forbidden army some respite, and the officials on the mountaintop, including Fan Xian, were all a bit confused. But only the emperor is very clear to judge the intention of the rebels …… to give the forbidden army to re-gather the opportunity to set up, afraid of is the two sides of the war into the chaos at last, leaving out some of the live mouth out of this big net. The rebels under the mountain …… are actually prepared to not let any one person escape out of the Dadong Mountain, and report to the four wild states and counties!

“Impossible.” Fan Xian said, he knew that according to the flow of the Procuratorate, at this time with the forbidden army mixed with the six division sword hand, should be in the first time, foraging for the opportunity to protrude from the siege to notify the Dongshan Road officials, urgently mobilize the state army and the nearest place to come to the aid of the army.

To monitor the six sword hand in the dark walking ability, even if the foot of the mountain 10,000 horsemen arrive, in such a night, it is impossible to these sword hand all killed or captured, will always miss a few people is.

Just at this time, a shadow like gray man, from the ten thousand stairs to heaven on the floating up, this person’s light skill is excellent, posture is extremely strange, like the knee joints installed a certain machine spring like, every time you touch the ground, it will be gently bounced up …… Although the posture is not as good as the absolute generation of strong people that kind of clear and wonderful, but the victory in the fast and quiet.

The gray man has not yet swept to the top of the mountain, the night sky has bloomed countless snowflakes, snow general knife flower, lurking in the emperor around the tiger guards out of the long knife, chopped the past, that moment, actually masked the moon’s light.

The gray-clothed man did not make a move, but only held a token high, the token was very obvious under the moonlight and the light of the knife, it was the waist plate of the Supervisory Authority.

Eunuch Yao waved his hand, and the tiger guards returned to their swords, but still revealed themselves, surrounding the gray-clothed man in the center, with a dozen or so long swords pointed in their direction, with a compelling aura.

Fan Xian believed that even if he was in the middle of these long knives, he would only be able to run for his life. However, he took a step closer to the gray-robed man, a look of inquiry and concern on his face.

The gray-clothed man was none other than Wang Qinian, one of the two wings of the Supervisory Yuan, Fan Xian’s absolute beloved, who had led the Supervisory Yuan at the foot of the mountain in laying down defenses when the big change came unexpectedly today, and at this point had long since been shocked beyond any words of description, and without saying much to Fan Xian, he knelt down in front of the Emperor and Fan Xian directly in the midst of a ring of swordsmen and said in a hushed voice, “The rebel army of 5,000 is armed with crossbows, and the entire force are archery men! ……”

The crowd on top of the mountain fell silent at the same time because of this news. First of all this news proved the emperor’s judgment, the rebels that came to attack were Yan Xiaoyi’s personal battalion, and only an archery god like Yan Xiaoyi could train all of his own personal battalion to be one in a thousand divine archers.

The arrow range is not farther than a crossbow, but it is faster than a crossbow, and five thousand divine archers come in the dark of night, and legend has it that all of Yan Xiaoyi s personal battalion are longbowmen …… No wonder the forbidden army at the foot of the mountain and the people in the Supervisory Yuan resisted so strenuously.

The emperor looked at Wang Qinian who was kneeling in front of him and asked in a deep voice: “How is the battle situation?”

Wang Qinian’s tone was stifled and immediately responded, “When I was attacked, I went up the mountain, and I don’t know the current battle situation.”

The emperor snorted coldly, but did not continue to show his dissatisfaction. The attack so far time is extremely short, the distance between the mountain and the mountain is extremely far, in addition to those few order arrows alarm, Wang Qinian is the first official who rushed to the top of the mountain to report the news, look at his pale face, it is known that this very short period of time of sprinting up the mountain has consumed the vast majority of his spiritual inner strength.

“Five thousand longbowmen ……” The emperor suddenly laughed coldly, “then want to completely wipe out two thousand forbidden troops, Xiao Yi may not have such ambition and means. Really curious who is the high person who is commanding at the foot of the mountain at this time.”

The rebels sealed the mountain. Not attacking at this time, the situation was a bit odd. Fan Xian looked at Wang Qinian and asked directly, “Did it stick out?”

The Supervisory Yuan acted according to the rules and regulations, the superiors asked, the subordinates naturally knew what they were asking, Wang Qinian’s face changed slightly, and reported to Fan Xian, “Seventeen members of the six divisions. All dead.”

Fan Xian’s face remained unchanged as he asked, “Confirmed?”

“Confirmed ……,” Wang Qinian lowered his head and reported, “When I was on the mountainside, I once turned back, and there were encounters on the two quiet paths to the southwest and northwest, with masters lurking.”

Fan Xian’s pupils shrunk slightly, his heart ached for a moment, and he forced himself to suppress his growing anger and sadness. The Six Divisions had always walked in darkness, and where in Yan Xiaoyi’s camp of personal soldiers were there such swordsmen accustomed to assassination? To be able to kill all of his subordinates in the middle of the night proved that the assassins themselves were of a much higher grade than the caliber of the Sixth Branch’s swordmen!

He then looked deeply at Wang Qinian.

Wang Qinian did not nod or shake his head, but only moved his right hand, which was propped up on the ground, slightly.

Fan Xian sighed in his heart, knowing that Wang XIII Lang was still quite peaceful, and letting down his heart slightly, he turned back to look at the emperor, and without deliberation, directly and calmly said:

“Your Majesty, the people from Dong Yi City have also come.”

Hearing these words, the emperor did not react in the slightest, seemingly waiting for something. A moment later, Eunuch Yao walked back from the stone steps and whispered something in the emperor’s ear. The emperor’s face gradually turned somber.

Only then did Fan Xian realize that when the first warning arrow had risen, Eunuch Yao had already arranged for the tiger guards to start breaking out to send a message, but at this time, he received a report confirming that the breakout had failed.

The swordmen of the six departments of the Supervisory Yuan and the strong tiger guards had twice broken out at night, but both times ended in failure. Just how many experts did Dong Yi City lend to the Princess? Could it be that the sword hut produced the most ninth grade experts in the world, and today …… all of them have converged at the foot of the Great Eastern Mountain?

Has the Four Gu Swords come yet?

The mountain top night wind again, the distant sea that boat is still if far away if near, the foot of the mountain killing sound gradually rest, the moonlight shines on the mountain forest, but can not brush away the darkness between the mountains, do not know how many hidden killing intent, is waiting for these people on the top of the mountain.

The emperor suddenly thought of the scene where Fan Xian had been practicing his kung fu earlier, and indifferently asked, “Your kung fu is getting better and better, has your old illness from last year returned?”

Fan Xian didn’t understand why at this point in time, the emperor would suddenly ask such an out-of-touch question, and responded, “There has been no relapse.”

“Very well.” The emperor quietly gazed at the pale earth under the moonlight, “Then I’ll leave this matter to you at ease.”

“Scram!” The emperor roared in gloomy fury.

On top of the mountain, except for the emperor and Fan Xian, old eunuch Hong, and the tiger guards hidden in the darkness, everyone else complied with the order and rolled back into their temples and residences, leaving this field empty for the …… poor father and son of his majesty and Lord Tiji.

“My trip to sacrifice the sky is originally a gamble, the sacrifice is the sky, the gamble …… is also the sky.”

The emperor’s eyebrows flashed a trace of heaviness, said, “I do not want to wait, so I have to bet on life, I am betting on the fate of the heavens …… or success or failure, are in the calculation. If become, my great Qing dynasty from now on no more internal worries, within three years, the sword refers to the world, no one dares to slow down my footsteps.”

However, he did not say how the defeat will be, coldly opened his mouth and said: “I may have miscalculated a little. Tonight lured Liu Yun Shiyu to the mountain, originally thought that those two will not intervene …… after all, this is my Daqing since the folding of pillars and stones of the move, if changed in the past, they should stand by and watch is.”

Fan Xian was silent on the sidelines, he was sure that amongst the rebels at the bottom of the mountain there must be the involvement of those ninth rank experts from Dongyi City, but whether the Four Gu Swords would come or not was anyone’s guess.

“Even if that idiot comes, so what? However ……,” the emperor slowly closed his eyes and sighed, “I must consider what lies behind, so you go down the mountain.”

Fan Xian looked up in a daze, not knowing how to respond, he had thought for a long time about how to convince the emperor to let himself go down the mountain, but he hadn’t expected that it was the emperor himself who had proposed this idea – only at this point, all the roads under the mountain were blocked, and with 5,000 longbowmen plus those terrifying ninth-grade swordsmen from Dongyi City, how could he go down the mountain?

The Emperor smiled mockingly and said, “Did you think that I would drag you around and force Old Five to make a move?”

Fan Xian smiled helplessly.

The emperor took a deep breath, as if to inhale all the moonlight on this mountaintop into his chest, and a moment later said in a cold voice, “Whether I can succeed or not, but the Kyoto side will definitely say that I’m dead …… so I want you to go down the mountain, I want you to go back.”

He quietly looked at Fan Xian’s eyes and said, “I have four sons, out of the two pigs and dogs are worse than things, you on behalf of me back to the capital to teach a lesson, do not …… let me down.”

Fan Xian’s heart was very complex, and then heard the emperor’s more gentle words than the sea breeze: “It’s not necessary to stay here and gamble with me for my life, go back to the capital, if things don’t end up the way I imagined them to, just go ahead, and who’s going to sit in that chair, take your own ideas.”

Fan Xian’s heart was so shocked that he was unable to speak.