Chapter 113 – Covering the Moon
Fan Xian was shocked for three reasons, one was that the emperor had sent himself down to the mountains with a trace of compassion, which was really out of his expectation, the second was that the emperor’s words seemed to be devoid of the usual kind of self-confidence, and the third was the emperor’s last words ……
Who sits in that chair, let him make up his mind? Is this the last words or what? The problem is, even if one’s life is great, can rush before the Princess proclaimed the fact that the instantaneous thousands of miles back to Kyoto, but one has what strength can their own ideas into reality?
This was not the Ming family in Jiangnan, not the Cui family, not the court officials in Kyoto, not the poor people in the Chintian Supervisory Bureau, but the imperial palace, but the belonging of the world!
A bitter smile appeared on Fan Xian’s lips, even if he was a powerful minister of Qing, but he didn’t have a single soldier in his hand, how could he stabilize Kyoto for His Majesty? And who was he to decide where that chair belonged.
“I, will not lose.” The corners of the emperor’s lips bloomed out a hint of a smile, the smile was full of cold killing intent, “Even if I lose, if there are Ye Liuyun and the Four Gu Swords to accompany me to the funeral, what are you afraid of? You don’t need to worry, President Chen is in Kyoto, the Empress Dowager is in the palace, those people can’t turn over much of a storm, you take my decree, take my line seal to go, if someone stops you …… kill all of them!”
Fan Xian forehead seeped out cold sweat, thought if Ye Qin two families also against, even if he is a great master, at most can only play guerrilla warfare, and how can all kill?
He had already seen the trace of uncertainty within the Emperor’s heart, and his mind couldn’t help but be a little bleak. If the Emperor really died on top of the Great Eastern Mountain, what would the world become like? Regardless of whether it was the crown prince or the second son who succeeded the throne, this country of Qing was afraid that there would no longer be a place for him to live, should he really embrace that treasure pot and take the second path?
However, the situation has not reached the most dangerous moment, there is still Elder Eunuch Hong and Uncle Wuzhu on the top of the mountain, plus more than a hundred tiger guards, no matter what kind of strong enemy, can support for a long time.
Strongly climbed Dadong Mountain, there is only one way, the foot of the mountain five thousand longbowmen’s task is obviously to cut off the Dadong Mountain and the world’s connection, at least three days or more, for the incident in Kyoto to empty time, and really want to regicide, these rebels can not play any role.
Because the emperor will not be stupid enough to go down the mountain.
Then …… Ye Liuyun will climb the mountain.
This is indeed a gamble, if the three great powers of the world remain as they have been in the past – the monarch of the Kingdom of Qing sets out to snipe Ye Liuyun, it must be a matter that Beiqi and Dongyi are all very willing to be optimistic about, and neither the Bitter Lotus nor the Four Gu Swords will throw away their identities and come to meddle in the matter.
But …… the cold sweat on Fan Xian s forehead had dried up, and his body only felt a chill, and when he was in Wuzhou, his father in law Lin Ruofu had reminded him that, for a goal that was tempting enough and even a bit splendid, the great masters might come together quite naturally.
Fan Xian’s mouth grew increasingly bitter. If things really went on like this, where would there still be living people on this Great Eastern Mountain? But could it be that the emperor hadn’t anticipated this situation in the beginning? He carefully glanced at the emperor’s face favor, and found that the emperor’s face was a bit gloomy, and his pupils flickered with fire in the night ……
He didn’t dare to continue thinking about these questions, and analyzed the situation at hand extremely quickly in his mind. The victory or defeat of the Da Dong Mountain situation was unknown, but if it was at a stalemate, there was a problem on the Kyoto side, and he himself had to bring the news that His Majesty was still alive to Kyoto, to the Empress Dowager’s side.
Even if His Majesty is dead and one returns to Kyoto, one must convince the Empress Dowager that His Majesty is still alive, otherwise with the judgment of a political figure like the Empress Dowager, once she learns of His Majesty’s death, she will definitely choose to let the Qin family vault the Crown Prince to the throne and stabilize the dynastic government of Qing.
The Emperor was her son, if anyone wanted to harm the Emperor, the Empress Dowager would definitely not allow it, but if the Emperor’s death became a foregone conclusion, as the eldest generation of the Imperial Family, the Empress Dowager had to consider the survival of the entire Imperial Family and the survival of the world.
Therefore, whether from the perspective of his own safety or the situation in Kyoto, Fan Xian knew that the emperor’s arrangement was correct, and that he himself must return to Kyoto with His Majesty’s handwritten letter and travel seals to stabilize the situation in order to cope with the post-patriarchal era.
Yes, the era of post-patriarchs, the battle of Dadong Mountain, no matter who won or lost, there would definitely be so one or two great patriarchs who would thus exit the stage of history.
He nodded in silence and said, “Please rest assured, Your Majesty, nothing will happen in Kyoto.”
The emperor gave him a deep look and said, “The road to this place is treacherous, you must be careful.”
Fan Xian was slightly stunned, originally, deep down in his heart, he was quite sarcastic and self-deprecating towards the emperor’s earlier comment of “I have four sons”, but unexpectedly, he heard such a sentence, and the tip of his heart softened a bit.
Fasten the belt, make sure the body equipment is complete, Fan Xian from the identity of a minister quickly changed into a ninth grade of the night walker, body and body convergence of the breath, as if to blend with the scenery of the summit of the Great Eastern Mountains.
The only thing that shone less harmoniously on his body were those irritating silver moonbeams.
In his arms, he carried the Emperor’s seal of execution and a handwritten letter to the Empress Dowager, which was not very heavy, but he felt very heavy – he knew clearly that the news of the siege of Dadong Mountain would surely reach Kyoto soon, and at the same time, the news of His Majesty’s assassination would be reached at the same time – the Eldest Princess had struck was a perfect timing gap, she didn’t even need to prepare anything in Kyoto, as long as the death of the Emperor was confirmed, the Empress Dowager had to come out from behind the curtain in grief and choose one of the three imperial sons to succeed the throne.
At this time, the sacrifice to heaven has not yet been made, the heavenly decree has not yet descended, although the whole world knows that the crown prince is about to be abrogated, but the crown prince is still the crown prince, no matter from the stability of the dynasty or whatever angle, the empress dowager will choose the crown prince to succeed the throne.
This is not a conspiracy, just borrowing the momentum, borrowing the water to the momentum. Even if the emperor left countless backhanders in Kyoto, and Chen Pingping and the forbidden army are loyal, but when the news of the emperor’s death spreads throughout the world, who dares to disobey the Empress Dowager’s will head on, unless …… they want to rebel for a second time.
Fan Xian stretched his limbs, as if trying to make the burden on his body easier, knowing that he was tantamount to carrying that dragon chair of Qing Guo on his back.
“They are your own brothers after all.” The emperor stood beside Fan Xian, who was dressed in black, and said indifferently, “If you can refrain from killing them, don’t kill them, especially Cheng Ze. And …… if you have to kill them, kill them all.”
Fan Xian’s heart fluttered slightly and he nodded.
The corners of the Emperor’s lips curled slightly as he looked at the small boat on the distant sea and sneered, “Why is Uncle Liuyun Shi so slow? Could it be that as a Great Patriarch, he still has uncontrollable trepidation in the face of me. Great Masters still need helpers?”
Fan Xian laughed and said nothing, looking up at the bright moon in the sky and frowning.
“During the daytime, I once spoke to you about why I chose the Great Eastern Mountain to sacrifice to the heavens.” The emperor suddenly said, “The first and foremost reason is, of course, to ask Old Five to come out.”
Fan Xian looked at the emperor.
The emperor looked at him and calmly said, “The second reason is …… that Dadong Mountain is a lone peak by the sea, and is the best place to die, Yun Rui let Yan Xiaoyi surround the mountain, and then asked Liu Yun Shiyi Uncle Shi Shi to go up to the mountain to stab me, but I simply have nowhere to go.”
Great East Mountain hangs alone by the sea, to the land at the foot of the mountain to go only a dead end, and the back of the mountain facing the sea on one side is such as jade like absolutely smooth stone wall, that is, the great masters can not be in the top of the lightweight kung fu to climb. If the emperor is assassinated here, it is really difficult to fly.
“I chose Da Dong Mountain as the place of death in order to give Yun Rui an illusion.” The emperor seemed to have gotten over the news that the Four Gu Swords might be coming and returned to that confident look, quietly looking into Fan Xian’s eyes as if he wanted to see through his true heart.
“She thought that she could block all the news of the Great Eastern Mountain, so that she could mess around in Kyoto, but she forgot that …… I chose this place of death, naturally, because I have living people around me who can fly out from the middle of …… the place of death. ”
Fan Xian laughed bitterly, thinking that his own Jiemen skills hadn’t escaped His Majesty’s eyes, and it seemed that there weren’t many things about himself that His Majesty didn’t know – in this world, probably only his own peculiar method of transporting his power could help him slide down that smooth-as-a-mirror Dadong Mountain. The emperor had caught himself on the Great Eastern Mountain, but he had actually ambushed him here.
His Majesty had really thought far ahead. Fan Xian’s heart suddenly stirred, and he was no longer as worried as he had been earlier. Since His Majesty could even utilize himself, how could he have failed to make a plan to deal with the most dangerous situation at the moment?
The emperor smiled and said, “I once said to Gong Dian that your ability to climb the wall is very much me …… than me.”
Fan Xian looked at the abyss-like cliff at his feet, twisted his neck, and made a rare joke: “There is a son over the wall, but it’s a pity that the moonlight is a little too bright tonight.”
“The moon has its own shade, that’s what you once said.” The emperor raised his head to look at the sky and said, “I can’t predict all the things that are going to happen, but I know that the moon can’t stay this bright forever.”
As the words fell, a layer of dark clouds drifted in the sky, covering the full moon behind the clouds. The silver light suddenly converged, and darkness returned to the land, the summit of Da Dong Mountain was pitch black.
By the emperor’s side, there was no longer any trace of Fan Xian.
The night forest at the foot of the mountain was filled with the smell of blood and water, which was even fishier than the smell of the sea breeze. Occasionally, the moonlight flicked through the forest, and it was faintly visible that the mountain forest was filled with dead bodies, some of which were lying on the ground, some of which were leaning helplessly against the trunks of the trees, and most of the dead were wearing the costumes of the forbidden army, and even more consistently, all of these forbidden army members who had been sniped to their deaths had several feathered arrows piercing through their bodies.
The feather arrows penetrated deep into the body of the dead, sticking them hard in the trees and on the ground, the scene looked very miserable and horrible.
Dadong mountain foot forest dense, that official road by the night and the forest at the same time cover, already can not see the general appearance, can only see countless corpses and blood water. The closer to the foot of the mountain, the residual scene declares that the previous killing more intense.
There were fires burning and then extinguished, only some trees were still burning in the forest close to the mountain gate, only dazzling a corner of the silent black night, the smell of charring that was lying flat on the ground gradually rose up, suppressing the smell of blood and the fishy smell of the sea breeze, making the armies on both sides start to tense up.
“Whoosh!” With a sharp cracking sound, a long feathered arrow shot out like lightning, hitting a forbidden army closest to the periphery at the edge of the forest!
The forbidden soldier held the arrow in his chest and wanted to pull it out, but under the severe pain, he was already out of breath and slowly sat down.
In the process of sitting down, three more feathered arrows broke through the air and ruthlessly pierced his body!
The forbidden soldier’s head tilted, blood spurted from his lips, and he died.
The foot of the mountain was quiet, five thousand rebels came to Dadong Mountain unknowingly, and launched the most despicable and sudden night attack on the two thousand forbidden soldiers. The forbidden army was not able to react in a moment, plus with the imperial chariot to sacrifice to heaven, and did not prepare the heavy armor …… needed for field battles.
The rebels that attacked were Yan Xiaoyi’s personal battalion, over 5,000 longbow soldiers marksman, feinting and disappearing within Cangzhou and Yanjing, with the tacit approval and deliberate concealment of the Four Gu Swords, traversing the sixteen vassal states of Dongyi City, and then piercing through a secret passage in the north of Tanya State, and spending nearly twenty days sealing off the Great Eastern Mountains like 5,000 ghosts.
The scouts along the Dadong Mountain were sniped by the experts in the rebel army, and didn’t have time to send out any news – two thousand forbidden soldiers who didn’t wear heavy armor were raided by five thousand longbowmen, so one could imagine what a heavy price they would pay.
And what made these forbidden soldiers the most angry and agonized was that the first wave of attack by the incoming rebel archers was actually using rockets!
Right at that instant, it was as if thousands of heavenly lanterns were lit at the foot of Dadong Mountain at the same time, drifting and shooting towards the camp of the forbidden army. The rockets ignited as they landed, the camp burned, the forest burned, and everything burned with extreme momentum. At that moment, it was the very spot of fire that the Emperor of Qing and his party had seen on the mountaintop.
The forbidden soldiers, however, could not possibly spare their minds to put out the fire, because the burning fire, the suddenly bright night forest, exposed all of them to the opposing archer’s field of vision. Although the forbidden soldiers were well-trained and immediately searched for suitable terrain to take cover within the first hour, they still paid more than two hundred lives in the round of arrows that immediately followed!
What followed was a bloody and tedious counter-attack, breaking camp, failure, and siege.
A ground of corpses, mountains of blood.
Without using a few rounds, the rebels routed the forbidden army and gained an initial victory, blocking the forbidden army’s ranks in a half-mile radius to the left of the mountain gate of Da Dong Mountain. And right at this moment, the rebel army’s attack suddenly came to an abrupt end, only occasionally cold arrows were shot out, killing those forbidden troops who intended to break out and report the news coldly.
The occasional sound of arrows made the woodland at the foot of the mountain, which had suddenly turned deathly silent, even quieter, deathly quiet.
Suddenly, a person drenched in blood suddenly stood up from the pile of dead bodies. In such a moonlit night, in such a cultivated field, this kind of scene suddenly appeared, the sergeants from both sides felt horror, only to be immediately numb again, after so many people had died, where would they still be afraid of corpses?
Yan Xiaoyi’s personally trained archer’s fingers trembled, ten arrows shot over, each arrow’s target was not repeated, aimed at a certain spot on that bloody man’s body, enveloping his entire body, poignant and full, making it impossible for that person to avoid it at all.
This was a military order, it was strictly forbidden for any person to break out, so every time the incoming rebels shot a person, they had to make sure that person died, suddenly realizing that someone walked out from the pile of dead bodies, the archers subconsciously fired their arrows, thinking to themselves, “You’re still not dead?
But no one could have imagined that the bloody man, facing these more than ten soul devouring arrows, actually didn’t care at all, just picking up the two corpses beside him with his hands, and danced those two corpses as if they were shields!
A series of muffled sounds rang out, more than ten arrows, almost in no particular order, hit the bloody man at the same time, however, only in the next moment could it be seen that all of them were only shot at the corpse that the bloody man was dancing on, spewing out countless amounts of blood and water, staining the bloody man a little more horrifyingly.
The corpse was heavier than the shield, yet this bloody man was able to dance the corpse and block the extremely fast arrows, it must be said that this person’s arm strength was very amazing, and his vision and realm was even more mind-boggling.
Someone in the rebel camp seemed to have given the order, so there was no situation where ten thousand arrows were fired next.
The bloody man slowly put down the corpse in his hand and grinned, as if he was grieving for something, sympathizing with something, feeling something, and then he slowly walked in the direction of the mountain gate, without the disturbance of arrows, he walked calmly.
As he walked under the mountain gate, a thunderous cheer went up from the forbidden army.
They don t know who this bloody man is, but they know that this bloody man is an official of the Supervisory Yuan, a close friend who follows Fan Tisi, and is an absolute master …… In the third wave of the rebel attack, this Supervisory Yuan official killed more than four dozens of longbowmen by himself until he was finally pounced on by the waves of people, and he was covered up in a pile of corpses.
All of them thought that he was dead, they didn’t think that he was still alive, and on such a horrible night, at a moment when the rebels were threatening to shoot all the forbidden troops to death at any moment, suddenly finding such a strong man on their side was enough to boost the little remaining morale of the forbidden troops.
That was why there was that thunderous cheer.
Wang XIII Lang walked to the bottom of the burnt and charred mountain gate, slowly sat down on the stone steps, took the towel handed over by one of the members of the Qiyi Nian team beside him, and wiped the blood from his face, revealing that bright, handsome face.
He grinned, revealing a mouth full of healthy, white teeth, and looked over into the darkness of the night, to where the rebels were, and smiled.
Thirteen Lang, a true fierce warrior, had learned to use a corpse to block arrows tonight, and was no longer considered a reckless man. If Fan Xian were here and saw this scene, he would have sighed so.
The hooves of the rebels’ camp split into several horses, and one of the first horses had a person sitting on it, who was covered in black clothes, covering his face.
Yan Xiaoyi’s soldiers didn’t know who the man in black was, but only knew that Yan Da Dudu had strictly ordered that all the battles on this trip would be commanded by this person. Originally, although the soldiers strictly abide by the military order, but the heart is still a little unconvinced, but until the mountains across the water to the foot of the East Mountain, the black man military orders out, divided surrounded, the forbidden army beat up a lot of flowers and flowers …….
Are very simple some orders, are very direct some arrangement, but extremely subtle fit the terrain at the foot of the Great East Mountain and the environment of the night, the black man with soldiers …… really really like God.
Facts prove everything, at this time between the field of five thousand longbow soldiers look to the eyes of the man in black, in addition to admiration is only awe. Even if the previous that let people do not understand the sudden withdrawal of military orders, no one dares to doubt again.
The man in black was tall, sitting on the horse was even more powerful, but unfortunately, he was covered by the black clothes, and could not see his real face, and the power hidden under the black clothes.
The man in black looked at the young man under the mountain gate from afar who was covered in blood and had white teeth like jade, a voice came out from the black cloth, very sighing.
“Magnificent …… killed three times did not kill him, really fierce, if this person to join the army, not one year, the world will have another fierce general.”
The man in black suddenly smiled, “But the great power has become, the power of the horseman, how to go against the sky? It’s just a pity that in a little while, this strong man will die.”
Someone beside him suddenly sighed. The man in black turned his head to look, and mildly inquired, “Is everyone Yun cherishing his talent?”
The person who sighed wasn’t someone else, it was none other than Yun Zhilan, the head disciple of the Four Gu Swords of Dongyi City and a generation of swordsmanship experts!
Fan Xian had not been wrong, Dongyi City had indeed sent their most elite team of assassins to help the Eldest Princess’s rebels, and it was Yun Zhilan himself who was leading the team!
Yun Zhilan glanced at the black-robed man beside him and smiled somewhat reluctantly, but didn’t reply to those words. Because of all the people in the arena, only he knew who that young man who was covered in blood and water, but was still strong enough to maintain a smile was.
That person was not an official of the Supervisory Court, or even a citizen of the Qing Kingdom! He was Wang XIII Lang, his master’s favorite young disciple, his own most accomplished young master.
“Have they all gone mad?” Yun Zhilan muttered to himself. In his heart, he thought, since his senior disciple knew that the Master Sect had sent someone, why was he still guarding at the mountain gate like a fierce tiger? What exactly was he thinking?
“The Senior Sect sent you to follow Fan Xian, but not so that you could truly become Fan Xian’s aid.” Yun Zhilan looked at the bloody man under the mountain gate in the distance, thinking in his heart with incomparable confusion, “Being loyal when you do something? Even disregarding the interests of the division? Is this madness …… or is this the clear kill mentality that Master most appreciates?”
“Without madness, how can we live?” The man in black faintly replied to Yun Zhilan’s exclamation.
Yun Zhilan shook his head and didn’t say anything, although he wasn’t sure why Junior Master did what he did, but as a Sword Lodge Successor, he respected Junior Master, so he wouldn’t divulge Junior Master’s details in front of this man in black.
He does not know who the man in black is, but now all the team, are all this person in command, and watch for a long time, he must admit, this man in black with the army is really good, never line of danger, all step by step steady, but the whole rebel army’s resources deployed to a close to the perfect realm, did not give Qing’s forbidden army the slightest counterattack breakout opportunity.
Yun Zhilan with most of the sword lodge’s masters poured out, with Yan Xiaoyi’s personal battalion to act, the two sides to cooperate would have had a great problem, if the mountains of the Supervisory Yuan’s six sword hand or those martial arts tiger guards to break out, is not so easy to completely seal.
However, the black-robed man on the horse seemed to have a pair of divine eyes that could see all the details of the battlefield, and at the beginning of the raid, he had forcibly ordered Dongyi City’s experts to go to a seemingly insignificant place to set up an ambush.
At the very beginning Yun Zhilan did not understand, but when one sniping occurred in the darkness, when one breakout on Dadong Mountain was ruthlessly suppressed by the wrist of this man in black …… Yun Zhilan finally understood, this man in black is definitely not an ordinary person, able to lead the battlefield in its entirety without letting go of any possible loophole.
Such use of the army, non sand field immersed in decades, can not be reached – so Yun Zhilan is very puzzled, Yan Xiaoyi why do not personally lead the troops to come, who is this man in black?
He was guessing, in fact, many people in the rebel army were guessing the identity of the man in black, this man in black only brought two of his own soldiers to join the ranks of the rebel army, spilling out, but using the army as if he was carrying a finger, dashing and killing, which was very admirable.
The man in black did not explain to his subordinates the intention of stopping the attack at this time, but only looked indifferently at the large mountain that had risen abruptly in front of him. This trip to lead the rebel army to attack is only a part of the agreement, not to hold this batch of power temporarily in the hands of his own side, his majesty …… is very difficult to make that decision.
In the sky, a dark cloud suddenly floated over, covering the bright moon as much as possible, and the vicinity of the mountain gate was dark. The black clothed man rode on the horse motionless, only two of his side of the pro followers hand held in the cloth bag of short weapons in the shining ghostly light.
Fan Xian didn’t know how long this dark cloud would cover the moon, and he slid down the mountain in silence, not slowing down or speeding up, terrifyingly maintaining a steady pace. In the daytime, the jade-like wall of Dadong Mountain facing the sea emitted an eerie deep light in the dead of night, blending perfectly with him in his night clothes.
The Great Eastern Mountain’s knife-like dividing line along the sides of the mountain plunged straight into the ground by the sea, and there was an ambush sniper from Dong Yi City’s experts there, so it was impossible for him to choose that route, and he could only go down from the side that was facing the sea breeze.
No one in this world could slide down from such a desperate situation, except Fan Xian – so he wasn’t worried about the people on the sea, the rebel soldiers on land would find his traces, but he was still incredibly nervous because he always felt that there was a pair of eyes behind him that were piercing through the darkness of the night and the whistling sea winds, calmly gazing at him.