Chapter 29 Snow in the Valley
Snow is still falling, the night is getting deeper and deeper, the village is arranging for this group of officials to rest in various houses. Fan Xian did not let Hong Changqing and the swordman on night duty, because he knew clearly, there are still hidden dangers outside, although the six swordman is skilled in assassination, but for the long-distance attack also does not have a good method, the broad clan school only left him a person fretting, although the fire in the fire pot is burning, the bamboo charcoal on the side of the pot is also prepared a lot, but always let a person feel the temperature seems to be a little down.
It was quiet.
Fan Xian stretched out his hands and roasted the fire, his head slightly tilted, obviously somewhat lost in thought, and he suddenly spoke, “That sword of mine chopped out.”
He paused for a moment, then summarized, “But, chopping empty.”
The light in the hall of the clan school changed slightly, and the red light from the fire pit shone out Fan Xian’s shadow, which twisted and moved on the ground, before a man dressed in black walked out of the shadows and naturally sat down next to Fan Xian.
Fan Xian glanced at this pale-faced middle-aged man and handed over the wine bag.
The shadow quietly looked at Fan Xian’s wrist, at the bag of wine in his hand, and after thinking for a moment, he shook his head and said in a somber voice, “Wine slows down one’s reactions.”
“What is the name of Yan Xiaoyi’s son?” Fan Xian changed the subject, retrieved the wine bag and took a sip, feeling a spicy line of fire burning from his lips to his middle organs.
“Don’t know.” Shadow shook his head, then said, “You gave him a good nickname.”
Fan Xian said, “Don’t be too nervous about the day, this little arrow brother should still be outside freezing in the snowy night, where he dares to attack close by.”
The shadow nodded.
Fan Xian once again handed over the wine bag and said, “Take a couple sips, I’m not Chen Pingping, and although there are many people in this world who want to kill me, at least it’s not that easy.”
The shadow thought for a moment and took the wine bag and took two shallow sips, a moment later, two threads of redness seeped out of his pale cheeks, looking like a clown on a theater stage, very cute.
Fan Xian laughed and said, “If the two of you and I get along easily, how can I not endure the loneliness in the darkness …… I have always been curious, don t you usually need to eat and drink or something?”
When it came to protecting Chen Pingping or Fan Xian in close quarters, the shadow had always stayed close, so it was no wonder that Fan Xian had asked this question.
The shadow said grimly, “I naturally have my ways.”
Fan Xian shook his head and didn’t say anything else, turning back to the most previous statement, “You saw that sword of mine cut through the air.”
“Yes, my lord,” the shadow’s voice was devoid of emotion, “That Wang XIII Lang is very strong.”
Fan Xian was silent, of course he knew that Wang Xi was strong, so strong that he could silently approach the clan school in the middle of a snowy night without himself or the shadow realizing it, so strong that he could block in front of Fan Xian like a wandering spirit when that arrow was in the air, so much so that that sword …… of Fan Xian’s chopped through the air.
It seemed like a simple block of the green streamer, but Fan Xian knew the strength contained in that black arrow in the snowy night, and the more gently Wang Xi acted, the more it proved his strength.
“I can’t see through him.” Fan Xian picked up the brazier from his feet and scratched it haphazardly in the fire pot, “This Thirteenth Lang is indeed very strong, but he’s very capable of enduring, and capable ninjas must have big plans ……”
He suddenly raised his eyebrows, “It’s not enduring, he doesn’t care, Wang Xi’s talk shows that he doesn’t care about a lot of things, he doesn’t care about my verbal attacks, he doesn’t care about my deliberate insults ……If he is really sent by the Four Gu Swords, why does he care so little? The only way to not care is to not care, and a person who can’t see what he wants is a bit troublesome.”
What exactly did this Wang XIII Lang want?
This question gradually pressed on Fan Xian’s mind, and he didn’t like this situation where an outsider suddenly ran in to mess up the situation.
The shadow suddenly spoke, “This person …… should be someone from the Sword Lodge, but not just someone from the Sword Lodge.”
Fan Xian is not very understand, but believe …… the shadow’s judgment, four Gu sword taught out of the closed disciple, really mysterious powerful.
He sighed and said, “Wait until he kills Brother Little Arrow.”
Shadow glanced at him, knowing that this was the so-called cast, knowing that Fan Xian borrowed this sword to kill, not to see the color of the sword, but to see the heart of the sword, if Wang Thirteen Lang was really the attitude of the Four Gu Swords, and Yan Xiaoyi’s son died at his hands, Fan Xian would have a great deal of articles to write, at least the relationship between Xinyang and Dongyi City, there would be a great rift.
“Other people don’t know that Wang Thirteen Lang is Four Gu Swords’ closed disciple.” Shadow reminded.
Fan Xian calmly explained, “If he kills Brother Little Arrow, I will let the entire world know that he is the shut-in disciple of the Four Gu Swords.”
The shadow was silent for a moment, “Your Lordship is wise …… Only, this benefit, perhaps, is not enough.”
Fan Xian understood what he meant, playing Four Gu Swords into it would make Dong Yi City angry, and although Fan Xian and the entire Qing court had gotten used to putting a black pot on Four Gu Swords’ idiotic head, now that Four Gu Swords had shared a sliver of his sincerity with Fan Xian, it would be a bit of a shame if this sliver of sincerity were to be used to just stir up the relationship between Xinyang and Dong Yi City.
He glanced at Shadow and said quietly, “I’ll listen to you on this side of Dongyi City’s affairs, you’re more familiar with it than I am.”
“Yes, my lord.” Shadow slowly said, “There is also the fact that it will be a snowy day for the next five days, just right for archery attacks, so be careful.”
“How far is the Black Rider from us?”
“Ten miles.”
Fan Xian fell silent, in such a snowy day, an expert with arrows adorned the caravan from afar, it was really a bit troublesome, fortunately, with the Black Riders sweeping the surroundings, the other party couldn’t possibly mobilize a military team to come and take the risk.
To mobilize the army to kill Fan Xian, it was necessary to kill all the targets cleanly without leaving a single piece of evidence to be presented to the palace.
And even the toughest army in Qing was not capable of killing five hundred black riders cleanly without leaving a few alive.
“I don’t understand why I would choose to attack me on my way back to the capital, the other party should know that success is unlikely.” Fan Xian frowned and said, “Although Yan Xiaoyi’s son is young, …… he is not so arrogant.”
“Perhaps he has reasons why he must strike.” Shadow said slowly, “I’ll go kill him.”
Fan Xian pondered for a moment before slowly shaking his head, “I don’t know what else he has around him, the two of us together, let that Wang Thirteen Lang make his move ……Safety comes first, it’s hard to put together a dozen or two dozen of such creatures as masters, if it’s just a few, why should we worry about it? ”
Shadow gave him an odd look and said nothing.
Fan Xian looked up at the beams hanging between the gray nets in the darkness of the clan school lobby, and sighed in his heart, he did not dare to use his own people to make the most powerful counterattacks in this wintry night, because …… in these two or three years, the biggest gap in his mind and soul was that arrow, that bow.
Yan Xiaoyi’s bow and arrow.
Until today, two years later, Fan Xian was still able to clearly feel the aura of death in the corner tower of the Imperial City, the hostile aura attached to that arrow, and he still felt incomparable palpitations.
The arrow outside the clan school earlier had come too suddenly, too irrationally, so Fan Xian feared that it was a setup, a setup that was attempting to lure himself or Shadow into the snowy forest to snipe them to death.
Yan Xiaoyi also returned to the capital by imperial decree this year, and the courtyard report said that he was still on the road and had not arrived at the capital, but who knows …… on the road, on which road? Is not on their way back to the capital?
Fan Xian haphazardly pulled the charcoal fire in the fire pot, his mind had long since drifted to the snowy forest outside the village, and the fire in the fire pot gradually dimmed and gradually went out.
“Sleep early.”
Fan Xian sighed in the darkness, got up and patted his hips, tightened the collar of his fox fur, and pushed open the door of the clan school, the wind and snow outside poured in, causing his eyes to squint, but there was not that one arrow coming through, instead, it made him somewhat faintly disappointed.
On the second day, the caravan then followed the north of Yingzhou and got on the official road towards Kyoto. Because of last night’s incident, the entire convoy’s escort work became even more rigorous, and the swordmen of the six divisions separated three people to pretend to be merchants traveling in the snow, potentially watching all suspicious characters in the shadows.
Fan Xian also issued an order, has been far to protect the caravan at the head and tail of the five hundred black cavalry and caravan also drew close to the distance, can faintly hear the sound of hooves gusting, in order to ensure the safety.
Along the way, there were always some characters with some jianghu flavor, in the teahouse, in the restaurant, in the inn, outside the post station, watching the convoy.
The inspectorate’s spies and swordsmen were a bit wary, and when they reported it to Fan Xian, he just nodded gently, without much of a reaction.
When they were about to leave Yingzhou, a woman with a broken arm respectfully waited by the roadside and stopped the convoy, demanding to see his lordship.
Fan Xian met her, sipping his tea and looking at the woman with a bit of interest, whose face was really a bit charming.
The woman knelt in the middle of the caravan, and with a hint of awe, a hint of fear, she said, “My subordinate has met with Your Excellency.”
Fan Xian nodded and waved his hand, “Guan Charming get up and speak.”
“Yes.” This female bandit who was famous in Yingzhou back then, Xia Qufei’s cousin, stood up respectfully, half-risping her body so that her head didn’t touch the roof of the carriage.
“What have you found?” Fan Xian rubbed his brow and asked, although the Supervisory Office had an intelligence network all over the world, if they wanted to check on people in the middle of the city, it was still not as good as gangs like the Jiangnan Water Village, which was originally deeply rooted in the people, no matter which inn picked up what guest, or where the car dealerships sent who, the Jiangnan Water Village could feel it all out.
Guan Feminine reported the situation these days, then said, “Only vaguely found one person, holding a big bag, but the brothers in the gang couldn’t keep up with him, the day before yesterday there was no trace of him in Fu Jiapo, looking at the direction of going, it should be towards Kyoto.”
Fan Xian was silent for a moment, thinking to himself that it appeared that Brother Little Arrow was indeed extremely brave to come alone to kill himself.
After a few more words, he let Guan Charming get out of the car.
The caravan started to move forward again, just like what Shadow got from observing the heavenly phenomena, the sky still kept drifting snow in the latter days, the snowflakes were sometimes big and sometimes small, gradually wanting to fascinate the eyes and confuse the hearts of the people.
Finally all the way safely to the Wei river upstream of Wei state, this place is the south into the capital before the last state, the city is not big, but also very prosperous, just the imperial court return to the early date, Fan Xian’s family business silver box is still in the river above the Wei river, in the protection of the Shazhou water divisions slowly to Kyoto, he can not be delayed again.
So on the second day, he went out of Weizhou, only at this time he had already revealed his identity, and at the same time transferred a hundred men of the state army to the Weizhou side. The Wei Zhou side was afraid that something might happen to this big shot, so of course they responded to his request.
The enlarged group traveled north for a day, leaving the territory of Weizhou and entering the capital city.
Fan Xian stood on the carriage and looked back, only to see Jing Ge wearing a silver mask watching him from the short hillock behind, he nodded, Jing Ge mounted his horse, clenched his right fist, and the five hundred black riders were like a black blade, cutting through the tranquility of the hillock, crossing a mound, ready to fall back into the camp of the black riders forty miles away.
This was the dead rule of the Qing court, the Black Riders were the invincible personal army allocated to Chen Pingping by His Majesty the Emperor’s own decree back then, but in order to ensure the Supervisory Court’s supremacy as well as its balance, the Black Riders were strictly forbidden to enter the territory of Kyoto’s jurisdiction.
If you enter, you will be killed without pardon, this is the iron law of the Black Riders. Fan idle often think, from this iron law can also see to understand, although the emperor’s son is confident to the point of narcissism, even who can rebel as a child’s play, but I am afraid that …… deep down also understand that the Qing Dynasty dignitaries, if the rebellion, the number of cripples the most horrible.
Although the emperor will not believe that the cripple will rebel, but as an emperor, he must guard against it.
Into the territory of Kyoto, the official road is gradually broad, the mountains and forests are less and less, pedestrians are more and more, the wind and snow are gradually resting, the snow is gradually melting, the wet mud wrapped in the horse’s hooves, so that the entire caravan’s travel seems a little difficult.
However, the hearts of all the people in the Supervisory Yuan had relaxed, and in Kyoto or so, no one dared to carry out sniping in broad daylight.
Although Fan Xian was a very cautious person, he was no exception, since the founding of the Qing Dynasty, even if there were occasional ambitious people in the military, no one dared to cause trouble near Kyoto.
A small valley appeared in front of us, the snow pressed against the precious evergreen forest, pressurizing the branches of those trees to creak, frost into dragons.
Fan Xian lifted the heavy curtain and looked at the valley, realizing that there were no rocks on the mountain, and the huge outline of Kyoto could be seen in the distance, as breathtaking as a giant beast.
Fan Xian released his face and smiled, Kyoto, he finally came back, that extremely unreasonable arrow of Little Arrow Brother actually made himself nervous for so many days, it seems that in the cultivation of the heart, there is indeed still a need to strengthen it.
Suddenly his earlobes trembled, and he heard the sound of a sharp blade plunging into flesh and blood in the mountains and forests in front of him, the sound of a shadow striking, and then he heard a sound of a crossbow armature being triggered.
Fan Xian let out a sharp whistle and reached for the horseman in front of him, and all the carriages in the convoy came to a screeching halt with that sharp whistle!
From the top of the short hill, a huge crossbow arrow broke through the air, and with a whistling sound of wind and thunder, it snorted and hit the carriage where Fan Xian was.
The horseman in front of the carriage screamed furiously, breaking away from Fan Xian’s hand and blocking him!
Although Fan Xian reacted extremely quickly, the crossbow arrow, which was about the length of a man’s arm, still ruthlessly pierced the coachman’s chest and abdomen, and blood and internal organs were sprayed out, coating the walls with liver and internal organs!
The crossbow arrow broke through the body and nailed the body of the coachman to Fan Xian’s side, Fan Xian’s face was grim, he patted the wall, and with a grating sound, a wooden board swiftly descended within the cotton curtain of the carriage, closing off the entire carriage.
Immediately afterward, countless horrifying, suffocating crossbow sounds could be heard resounding through the valley!