Chapter 116 – The Chase (above)

The sea wind whistled past the ship, the waves drove the ship up and down, although the lampstand attached to the wall of the ship would not fall to the ground, however, the flame in the lamp was sometimes big and sometimes small, dazzling the two people in the cabin with uncertainties.

Outside the faint sound of summoning, a soldier knocked into the door, to Xu Maocai reported a few sentences, and then hurriedly out of the cabin and go. Tonight, the people within a twenty-mile radius of Dadong Mountain were all caught up in a tense and fearful atmosphere, and both those who knew the truth and those who didn’t were all very frightened.

“It’s time to expand the search area.” Xu Maocai lowered his voice and said, his expression was a bit complicated, earlier Fan Xian’s words directly overturned all his thoughts, if the emperor didn’t die …… But Xu Maocai didn’t believe in this inference of Fan Xian, although he didn’t know the whole plan of the eldest princess, but looking at this momentum, how could the emperor come down from the top of the Great Eastern Mountain alive He did not believe Fan Xian’s reasoning.

As he pondered, Fan Xian watched him quietly from the sidelines. Xu Maocai obviously played a very important role in the Jiaozhou navy’s rebellion, otherwise the Princess’ side wouldn’t have been relieved to let him bring the ships to act. And Fan Xian is clear, Xu Maocai has always been on the Qing court has no loyalty, there is only hatred and desire for revenge, the so-called rebellion, this is the water to the thing …… just he wanted to rebel to help the object is their own.

So Xu Mocai didn’t follow Fan Xian’s arrangement in the year, in the first time with Jiaozhou governor Wu Gefei, or Hou Jichang get in touch with the Jiaozhou sailor’s message to the Supervisory Yuan, thus creating the great dongshan surrounded by the difficult predicament.

This is Fan Xian in Jiaozhou sailor buried extremely deep a chess piece, but because the chess piece has its own ideas, and lost the original role.

However, Fan Xian could not get angry, and even his anger was faint, because he knew this person’s heart well.

Seeing that he couldn’t convince Fan Xian, Xu Mocai’s face had a somewhat grim expression. After a long time, he said, “What I originally intended was to mobilize my men to counterattack at the sea at the last moment, disrupt the encirclement of the sailors, forcefully disembark, and receive you down the mountain before going to Kyoto.”

Fan Xian’s heart trembled, with these few boats in Xu Maocai’s hands, totaling more than a thousand troop strength, he wanted to land and receive himself down the mountain, thinking that he must have held the determination and courage of certain death.

“I didn’t think that you could actually ……” Xu Maocai shook his head and sighed, a hint of awe couldn’t help but emerge in his eyes. In the eyes of these people, a person who could vanish from the smooth and jade-like wall of Dadong Mountain seemed to have already left the realm of mortals.

Xu Maocai continued, ”You guessed it right, this time the Jiaozhou sailors joined the Elder Princess s plan, on the one hand, it was the Qin family, but more importantly, it was my participation …… If I let you, young master, get shipwrecked on the mountain, then it would really be hard for me to cover my faults with all my deaths. But the good thing is that because of this, Great Governor Yan trusts me, and I don’t think that I will be able to find out about this ship in any way, so you can stay at ease.”

Fan Xian coughed twice and shook his head, “I must hurry back to Kyoto.” After boarding the ship, the first thing he did was to ask Xu Mocai about the blockade on land at the sea at this time, and it was clear that this blockade circle tonight, with countless strong men assembled, along with those terrifying ninth-grade assassins in Dongyi City, would indeed be extremely difficult if he were to break out by land.

“Can we get the boat to go three miles north.” He frowned and said, “Three miles away, those people won’t be able to control a wider area and should be able to find an opportunity.”

“Too many eyes are watching, it will have to wait.” Xu Mocai gave him a worried look and sighed. In his opinion, returning to the capital at this time was instead not the most pressing matter, and finding a way to contact the Black Riders and then get in touch with the people in Kyoto, sitting on the mountain and watching the tigers fight, was the wisest choice.

Fan Xian was not unaware of the fact that if he wanted to maximize his benefits, it would be the best move to return to Jiangnan, inform Xue Qing, and then return to the capital from Wuzhou, and then wait for the backhanded move – however, this kind of decision was undoubtedly not something a normal person could make, and there were too many people he needed to care about in Kyoto, such as the survival of Qing, and whether the world would be at war or not. A great rise, being in Fan Xian’s position, he had to be deeply concerned.

“I can’t wait too long.” Fan Xian lowered his voice and said directly, the fire in his lamp brightening and dimming with the waves outside the cabin, giving his face a touch of anxiety that he rarely saw in his usual manner.

Yes, the Da Dong Shan side he could leave behind, because his most feared Uncle Wu Zhu was in an absolute environment like Da Dong Shan, and had an absolute advantage over Ye Liu Yun and Si Gu Jian or even Elder Eunuch Hong, and it was impossible for anyone to leave him behind. Kyoto, on the other hand, urgently needed him to return, needed the jade seal in his arms and the Emperor’s handwritten letter to the Empress Dowager.

“Outside Tanyu Port, you’re on a ship?” Fan Xian, still dressed in his personal soldier’s attire, stood behind Xu Maocai and asked in a low voice.

“Yes.”

Receiving an affirmative answer, Fan Xian followed up by asking, “When did Yan Xiaoyi get on the ship?”

“It’s unclear.” Xu Mocai responded, “It should be on the way from Tanyuzhou to Dadongshan.”

Fan Xian’s brow furrowed, it seemed that the alliance on the side of the Princess had gained mutual approval, and there weren’t too many internal seams to exploit. “You should have seen a white sailing ship when you were in Tanyuzhou.”

Xu Maocai tilted his head suspiciously and said, “That was your seat ship, so of course I noticed it.”

“I’m going to get on that ship.” Fan Xian’s eyes narrowed slightly, his tone hostage to a sense of unquestioning and certainty, “Yan Xiaoyi’s eyes are only floating up from the bottom of the sea at this time, it’s too difficult for me to go ashore, is there a way to go north from the sea for a bit?”

Xu Maocai frowned and said, “Then it would be better to take a boat directly to Tanyuzhou, it just …… depends on luck.”

After Fan Xian thought for a while, he nodded and said, “My luck has always been overwhelmingly good.”

On the dark sea, the nearest sailor ship to Dadong Mountain had a bright light on, trying hard to keep in touch with the surrounding ships, the sea ship was extremely large, however, compared with the Dadong Mountain that stretched across the sky and the earth, it was small and somewhat pitiful, like a green bean in front of a piece of white paper.

The soldiers on the ship were nervously watching the sea surface, seemingly trying to find traces from the sea water, from time to time someone yelled something, there were also many soldiers with bows and arrows in their hands, ready to shoot into the sea at any time.

A long time had passed since the silhouette on the stone wall disappeared into the waves, from the sea to the land on both sides of Dadong Mountain, how many people were searching for traces of Fan Xian, no one had even imagined that Fan Xian would actually be hiding on the rebels’ own ship.

Yan Xiaoyi, dressed in a lightweight archery outfit, stood silently at the bow of the ship, the soldiers beside him helping him to carry the heavy bundled gold bow. He took down a cup of strong wine from the wooden case beside him and drank it in one go, still staring indifferently at those waves below the cliff. Although a long time had passed, he still believed that Fan Xian was not dead.

Although Fan Xian had been hit by an arrow of his own and was deterred by that wave breaking sword, Yan Xiaoyi still believed that Fan Xian was not dead and sent out an order for the navy as well as the battalions of his own soldiers on the shore to intensify their reconnaissance.

Yan Xiaoyi knew that Fan Xian was injured, but he subconsciously hoped that Fan Xian was still alive, preferably to be able to live to see himself, and then have that arrow of his viciously stabbed into his throat – he loathed Fan Xian, hated this little white boy. Partly because he knew that the death of his only son could not be separated from Fan Xian, and partly because that night in the streets of Kyoto, with a hard bow in his hand, he had lost all in a misty confrontation with Fan Xian, and that was a humiliation he could not accept.

Fan Xian had to die by his own hand in order to clear this humiliation.

“You shouldn’t be so lucky this time.” Yan Xiaoyi’s pupils flashed with a stern and vicious light as he stared at the stone wall of Da Dong Mountain without moving, but thinking about the scene he had seen earlier, the scene that had shocked him.

That little white boy was actually able to sneak down such a high, steep, and smooth wall!

If it wasn’t for Yan Xiaoyi’s high and wonderful realm and amazing eyesight, the naval officers and soldiers on the sea would never have discovered Fan Xian’s trail, only that Fan Xian would have borrowed the water to disappear thousands of miles away, and all the rebels would still think that this young Lord Tishee was still trapped on the mountain.

This was not a matter of luck, this was a matter of strength, Yan Xiaoyi was slightly chilled, shocked at the strength Fan Xian had shown. And because the ship was too far away from the wall, his chain of thirteen arrows did not pin Fan Xian to the cliff, but only injured him, a fact that made it difficult for Yan Xiaoyi to suppress the color of emotion.

How could such a powerful enemy allow him to escape this night’s certain death?

“How are the searches on the various ships?” Yan Xiaoyi said with a cold face, when no trace of Fan Xian was found in the sea, his first thought was that that brat should have climbed up to his side’s ships from the sea water. This time, the Jiaozhou naval division had dispatched people from his side who knew the insider secrets well, Yan Xiaoyi did not suspect anything.

The Jiaozhou Naval Commander, Qin Yi, glanced at him and said in a low voice, “Not on board.”

This person was a second generation figure of the Qin family, a cousin of Privy Council Vice-Envoy Qin Heng, because last year, when Fan Xian cleared the Jiaozhou case, this person was given the opportunity to take over the position of Jiaozhou’s Marine Governor. At this time, since he was standing side by side with Yan Xiaoyi at the bow of the boat, the attitude …… of the Qin family was naturally clear.

“Be careful, this son is very treacherous. Since he came down from the mountains, he must be carrying something extremely important in his arms, if he is allowed to rush back to Kyoto, I am afraid that it will only have a great impact on the plans of Her Highness the Princess and Master Qin.” Yan Xiaoyi said in silence.

Qin Yi responded with a yes, although he was a governor of the navy from the first rank, but in front of Yan Xiaoyi, the super ranked governor, he did not have a single qualification to be hardened, especially this time around the siege of Dadongshan, all parties were taking care of each other, but the one who was really speaking powerfully, was still Yan Xiaoyi.

Yan Xiaoyi looked at the seawater in front of him, suddenly frowned, and said, “I am worried that …… Fan Xian has come ashore from the bottom of the sea.”

“No one can keep their breath closed for so long at the bottom of the sea.” Qin Yi shook his head and said, “There is your personal battalion of soldiers on the shore, my lord, as well as those experts from Dong Yi City, who should not give him a chance.”

A strange smile floated at the corner of Yan Xiaoyi’s lips, thinking to himself that that little white boy was able to slide down the hundreds of feet high wall, so how could he be deduced by common sense.

Seeing Yan Xiaoyi’s concern, Qin Yi said calmly, “Tomorrow, the day after tomorrow at the latest, the plan for each state along the road will begin to be launched, although it is impossible to use the name of the Supervisory Yuan, but as long as the news from our side spreads out that Fan Xian assassinated the driver and is the number one felon in the Heavenly Character, how is he going to run?”

Yan Xiaoyi mockingly glanced at him, did not say anything, thinking to himself how the average military general is clear about the strength of a ninth ranked powerhouse, if he lets the other party go ashore and throw himself into the sea of people, even if the imperial court is fooled by the Princess and awards Fan Xian a great name for treason, who can guarantee that Fan Xian will not be able to enter the capital.

“If Fan Xian gets off and goes ashore, he will definitely look for the nearest Ministry of Supervision to deliver news to Kyoto.” Yan Xiaoyi said indifferently, “Although there are secret agents of the Procuratorate all over the states and counties, his most assured and closest …… people are undoubtedly those he left behind in Tanyuzhou.”

Qin Yi understood and said, “I will immediately arrange for someone to go to Tanyuzhou.”

If Fan Xian was on this ship at this time and heard this conversation, he would have hated to hug Yan Xiaoyi and kiss him twice, he was on Xu Maocai’s ship thinking hard about how he could return to his own ship in Tanyuzhou, and he could not have expected that Yan Da Dudu would have given such a wonderful opportunity.

Just …… why does he want to go to Tanyuzhou?

Yan Xiaoyi set everything in order and slowly raised his head, his right index and middle fingers subconsciously flexing, a habitual action brought about by his years of bow and arrow career. As he flexed his fingers, his gaze had landed on the distant, dark summit of Da Dong Mountain.

He knew that His Majesty the Emperor was there, and he also knew what greeted His Majesty the Emperor, but even though the conspiracy had already proceeded to this point, as a soldier, he still kept one part admiration, three parts awe, and five parts discomfort for that Emperor.

If the death of his only son had not made it clear to him that his own son was always less valuable than the emperor’s son, perhaps Yan Xiaoyi would have chosen another method instead of what he did tonight.

It was a good thing that he did not need to meddle in the matters on the mountaintop, Yan Xiaoyi thought to himself in this way, the camp of his own soldiers in front of the mountain gate was handed over to that man as part of the agreement, and his own mood would be smoother.

He then made an extremely respectful salute towards the sea, wishing that the old man in the boat who would soon be ascending to the eastern mountain, to see his majesty off well on his own behalf.