CHAPTER 31 Farewell to Kyoto?
The assassin’s head flopped back, hanging upside down behind him only by virtue of the lone, thin vertebrae, a blood-red, disgusting cavity facing the snow-stopped blue sky.
With no time to catch his breath, Fan Xian backhandedly pulled up the longsword stuck in the snow, and with a point of his feet, he shrunk his body into a ball and retreated behind him in a strangely fast and unimaginable manner. After his body had shrunk into a ball, the area exposed to the air became smaller, and his grayish-white Supervisory Yuan uniform covered his entire body without a single loophole.
The sound of crossbows clanging and clanging in the field was like the killing of a Western Hu iron zither, but all of them were shot around Fan Xian’s body, and his stance was really too fast, so even the fast crossbows couldn’t accurately pierce him.
Even the fast crossbows couldn’t hit him accurately. Occasionally, a few crossbow arrows hit him, but they couldn’t penetrate his body.
Fan Xian swept to the top of the crossbow, utilized the remaining overbearing true qi in his body, and lifted it up with his backhand!
How much strength did this require?
The huge crossbow tumbled in the air and smashed into the two crossbows next to it.
It was in this brief moment, Fan Xian backhanded sword tip a pick, right in the air crossbow spring string, at this time the crossbow has already been wound, collapsed to the most critical moment.
The sword of the son of heaven sent by Wang Qinian for thousands of years is indeed the ultimate treasure blade that is rare to see on earth, only to see that the spring string breaks for no reason where the sword blade passes.
The snipers around them panicked and roared, charging towards Fan Xian, but ignoring the defending crossbow.
Cackling, a series of mind-blowing rattles rang out from the top of the snowy mountain. With three loud clangs, the city guard crossbow smashed together and was instantly deflected, while one of the spring strings had already been cut by Fan Xian, and the all-metal crossbow arrow that had been storing up its power for a long time finally shot out.
Yet it was not aimed at the valley, but at the ground.
The powerful recoil caused the massive garrison crossbow to jump, flipping up half a man’s height and directly pressing down on the group of people chasing Fan Xian.
It crushed through, a blur of blood, flesh, and broken limbs.
And the two city crossbows that were smashed could no longer control the strings on top of the crossbow bolt, whooshing twice and shooting out, the crossbow arrows going in no direction at all, shooting out in a chaotic manner!
Two sharp light flashed, a crossbow arrow hit an old tree, where the trunk withstood such a strong force, the bark is difficult to fly, hardwood like tofu general cut, from which a large hole in the hole in the part of the immediate after the break, and fell down with a bang.
The other crossbow bolt caused even more amazing harm, directly through the bodies of the three snipers, rooting the three on top of the snow!
Blood flowed down the snowy ground from the terrifying crossbow arrows, while the three snipers who were pierced into skewers of meat died in a moment, moaning.
The scene was in chaos for a moment.
Taking advantage of the chaos, Fan Xian once again hid himself in the snowy forest, leaning down on top of a tree branch, panting heavily, and taking care not to let the blood behind him drip down from the snowy trees and startle the snipers.
The other party had crossbows in their hands, and if a group of crossbowmen surrounded Fan Xian after he was seriously injured, Fan Xian was not sure that he would be able to survive.
And his mission had been accomplished, the density of crossbows and arrows among the snowy forests had been lowered a lot, and the death of the three main perpetrators had made these ambushers feel chilled and panicked, with no one to direct them, and without the calming effect of those three guarding crossbows, the pressure on those black carriages among the valleys was instantly too much less.
Fan Xian crouched on the trunk of a tree and listened to the movement of the opposite mountains and forests, knowing that the Shadow had already disrupted the camp on that hill before he could. The ambushers’ army had been disorganized, and the assassins of the six divisions of the Academy of Supervision had, at last, gotten their chance to play.
The people in the Inspectorate naturally knew where the opportunity lay, and without waiting for the chief to send out whistles and orders, they had already rushed out of the carriage, drew out the black braziers beside them, dodged the crossbow rains that had already become sparse, and silently and furiously dived into the mountains and forests.
They had long since worn their black official uniforms backwards in the carriage, and like a single gray ghost, they entered the snowy forest and began to snipe down any living being in the snowy forest with their means and grievances, sparing no effort.
A long-planned ambush crossbow battle finally turned into a close-quarters sniping battle between the mountains and forests under the life-threatening attacks of the two powerhouses, Fan Xian and Shadow.
In this world, there was no one who could be better at sniping than the assassins of the six divisions of the Procuratorate.
Even the most powerful Qing army in the world was no match for the Sixth Division in a close-quarters assassination battle in the middle of a dense forest.
Listening to the eerie silence in the snowy forest, listening to the occasional sound of a crossbow, the occasional sound of breaking snow, the occasional sound of a brazier going into the belly, the occasional sound of a miserable cry ……
Fan Xian was clear that his subordinates had gained an absolute advantage, the retaliatory massacre was being carried out methodically, and the two hundred crossbowmen who had ambushed the Inspection House could never again be alive after leaving the Inspection House dead or wounded.
His heart, which had been crumbling, finally relaxed.
There were no survivors, just as Fan Xian had predicted, the swordsmen of the Sixth Office had been extremely ruthless, leaving no survivors. Of course, it wasn’t just because the Sixth Office had struck hard, but the remaining two dozen crossbowmen had committed suicide in a very neat and tidy manner as the battle came to an end.
Fan Xian stood on the snowy ground, looking indifferently at the two dozen corpses on the ground, looking at the faces of these corpses, and realizing that there was no sadness or trepidation on these people’s faces, but only perseverance and loyalty.
The army …… of Qing Guo is really the most powerful force in the world, this kind of discipline and toughness, if placed on the battlefield, what kind of terrible power.
And today in the valley on the black carriage there are a total of more than thirty officials of the Supervisory Yuan, in the end to be able to enter the snow forest alive, only about twenty people, just these twenty people, they sniped more than a hundred crossbowmen.
In the mountains and forests on both sides of the snowy valley, under the trees behind those dark rocks, there should still be quite a few corpses whose blood has been frozen lying around.
Fan Xian’s mind was stirred and he coughed twice, coughing up some blood, slowly turning around and looking at the bloody man on the ground.
This person was covered in blood, the eyeball of one eye had been picked out by the dagger, as ugly as a deflated wine bag, and both arms had been neatly chopped off, a bloody hole in the left hand, and the right hand had been shattered into broken wood by the Overbearing True Qi.
This was precisely one of the three experts who had attacked Fan Xian from behind earlier, the one who had defiantly hugged him on the verge of death, not realizing that he would end up being the only one among the snipers to survive.
Fan Xian walked to this person’s side, slowly raised his foot and stepped on this person’s face, stepping on it twice to wake him up.
The bloody man slowly awoke, his godless gaze swept around, saw the bodies of those inspectorate spies around Fan Xian as well as his brothers scattered in the forest, and after a bout of grief resumed with determination, a look of begging suddenly shot out from his eyes as he endured the pain and trembled, “My lord don’t kill me, I’m willing to do anything …… ”
The intention was a closed-toothed voice.
Fan Xian shot out like lightning, inserting his own fingers into this person’s mouth and wrenching with force, this person’s jaw was wrenched down in blood, no longer able to close, and even his teeth fell a few.
Fan Xian reached out in the snow beside him and wiped the blood off his hand, saying, “Don’t think about suicide, you’re still useful to me …… You’ve lost your hand now, and you can’t close your mouth, so how are you going to fulfill your loyalty by dying?”
“Stop his bleeding and keep him alive.”
Fan Xian instructed his subordinates beside him, then slowly walked towards the snowy valley at the bottom of the mountain, coughing up blood all the way, the blood trickling down his back the whole way.
Hong Changqing followed behind him and tried to help him, but he stubbornly shook off his hand.
Hong Changqing’s luck was good, he didn’t die under the crossbow rain today, only his left arm was slightly injured.
But the rest of the Supervisory Court was not so lucky, a total of more than thirty of Fan Xian’s close associates who had followed him back to the capital, nearly half of them were dead, and the ones who were alive were all wounded and weakened.
All the way to the direction of the valley, along the way of the Supervisory Yuan officials slightly bowed and salute, this is to the Lord Tisi from the heart of respect, everyone knows, without the Lord Tisi brave death of the assassination, today the Supervisory Yuan people are afraid to all die in the valley.
The officials of the Supervisory Yuan gradually gathered behind Fan Xian, dragging the only survivor back to the valley, beside the wrecked carriages.
Fan Xian squatted beside his overturned carriage, his fingers tugging at the shattered carriage, occasionally glancing at the dead driver in the carriage, his face calm, not knowing what he was thinking, and refusing the request of the subordinates of the Procuratorate to treat his injuries.
Why? Why is all this?
A valley full of dead bodies of the state army, which force had the guts to carry out an ambush in a valley so close to the capital? Who had the strength to mobilize so many military experts, and even moved the city crossbow over!
The crossbow is the second point of suspicion in this sniping incident, the snipers need time to place the crossbow, need a lot of noise, why is it that the Kyoto garrison, which is responsible for the security of the four fields in Kyoto, didn’t notice it at all?
And the most chilling thing for Fan Xian is, why the other side will be able to pinpoint their own time to return to the capital so accurate, from Yingzhou to Weizhou, he laid out the suspicion, so that the Jiangnan water fortress to put out a false wind, and then all the way straight into the …… If you want to snipe your own, these armies would not dare to ambush for too long in the vicinity of the Kyoto, how would the time pinpointed so accurately?
What’s even more frightening is that although the capital is close, Fan Xian asked himself not to relax his vigilance, and released scouts at a distance of three miles, so why did he get the scouts’ return at the very beginning, but everything was normal? Why did the spies report that everything was normal at the beginning? Until the shadow first alert ……
Countless questions came to Fan Xian’s mind, especially the ones in a certain area, which made him feel cold.
Today’s bureau was completely different from the one at the Hanging Temple.
Today’s bureau was a deadly one, and the other party had utilized such powerful forces and meticulous preparations, without a doubt, to kill himself. If the eldest princess authorized Yan Xiaoyi to do it, then it must be that a great change has already occurred in Kyoto, and the other party would be so unscrupulous, and so bold as to defy the emperor …… But if there really is a turmoil in Kyoto, even if the palace can’t send out the news, but what about you?
Fan Xian thought somewhat somberly, but what about you? Even if all the people in the world are frozen, but you …… must have a way to inform yourself.
This is a contradictory proposition, if Kyoto is not in chaos, then it can not be explained, why the eldest princess and Yan Xiaoyi dared …… to make such a big thing, and if Kyoto is really in chaos, why did he not get the early warning?
“My lord, it’s time to make a decision.” A member of the Qi Nian group with a face full of dried blood whispered in Fan Xian’s ear, the Qi Nian group had followed Fan Xian for the longest time, so they spoke more directly, this person said in a deep voice, “Should we retreat back to Weizhou and get in touch with the Kyoto side first, or should we enter Kyoto directly.”
Fan Xian was silent, glancing around at his subordinates who were not lightly injured, knowing that he had to make a decision immediately.
If Kyoto was really in chaos, his group would be sending themselves to their deaths if they returned to Kyoto.
He was silent for a long time, and then suddenly raised his head, looked at the outline of Kyoto that was faintly visible outside the valley, and said in a cold, strong voice, “Send out a fireworks order.”
“Yes.”
A smoke rocket shot up from the middle of the snowy valley, with a sharp whistling, with a dazzling light, hiding this snowy day and bleak day.
This was the signal of the Procuratorate’s first level danger call for help, the entire Qing military and Procuratorate system used this kind of signal, so Fan Xian wasn’t sure if the people who stayed in the valley to meet him were from the military or the Procuratorate.
He hoped that it was the former.
He didn’t know how long it had been, but the sound of horses’ hooves came from outside the valley in a rush, with horses neighing. In the twinkling of an eye, a group of about two hundred cavalrymen sailed into the valley, these cavalry ranks were in shining armor, swords and spears at their sides, solemn and full of dignity, but they didn’t even have time to strike a flag.
But in Fan Xian’s eyes, without a banner, it was a bit bizarre, and at this point, having just experienced a bloody assassination, he refused to believe anyone.
The leading man was a middle-aged man of about thirty years old, with a solemn face, a short beard fluttering under his jaw, and a sword at his waist, but his expression was solemn with a few hints of puzzlement.
When he saw the mountains and valleys full of corpses and horse corpses, as well as those wagons overturned everywhere, and the crossbow arrows deep in the cracks of the rocks, this general’s solemn expression, in addition to the incomprehension, there were more infinite shock and hidden anger.
The general clenched his right fist in his hand and swung it upwards, shouting, “On guard.”
The two hundred cavalrymen behind him were instantly on alert, watching everything in the valley.
The man sailed into the valley with a grim expression on his face and drove directly to Fan Xian, who was sitting beside the carriage, and rolled over and dismounted in an extremely dashing manner, long sword in hand, and asked in a deep voice, “Are you alright?”
Fan Xian coughed twice and looked at him, “What do you think?”
“What kind of person moved?” The general’s face was full of killing intent as he gritted his teeth.
Fan Xian lowered his head and suddenly spoke, “I didn’t expect that the person who came was you …… There are no other generals in the Kyoto Guard Division? I actually alarmed you, the Chancellor, to come to the rescue.”
The person who came was none other than the second son of the Qin family, the current Kyoto Guardian, and the most popular military power figure in the dynasty, Qin Heng.
Qin Heng saw that Fan Xian was alive and still able to speak, knowing that the enemies must have been purged, and only then did he put his heart down and sighed, “A first class request for help from the Supervisory Court, everyone in Kyoto knows that you’re coming back soon, and of course they guessed that it’s you……. I’m scared to death, so how could I have dared to not come? ”
He lowered his voice and laughed to himself, “If you die, we Kyoto guards do not know how many people have to be buried for you.”
In fact, the moment he saw Qin Heng enter the valley, Fan Xian relaxed, since the Qin family was still in control of the Kyoto guard, it meant that the emperor was still in control of the Kyoto army, and there should not be any chaos in Kyoto.
But he still asked, “Is Kyoto alright?”
Qin Heng understood what he was worried about and shook his head, “The wind is calm.”
Fan Xian bowed his head and said, “Then …… it would be really strange.”
Qin Heng likewise understood his words, if the winds and waves were calm in Kyoto …… who would dare to risk the wrath of the Son of Heaven to assassinate a Dragon Seed?
Fan Xian briefly recounted today’s events to Qin Heng, who listened with incomparable trepidation, frowning and saying, “These people are truly wolves with undead ambitions.”
Fan Xian suddenly looked at him and asked, “You are in charge of the Kyoto garrison, and this valley so close to the capital is actually buried with such a strong army …… How do you explain it?”
“Cannot be explained.” Qin Heng said directly, “This is our problem.”
Fan Xian nodded.
Qin Heng said, “Go back, your injuries need to be treated.” He then sighed, “These people hit so hard, have all your subordinates died?”
“No.” Fan Xian coughed twice and smiled, “My subordinates are waiting for you.”
A dozen or so secret agents of the Supervisory Academy slowly marched out from the mountains and forests on both sides of the snowy valley, all holding hand crossbows in their hands, calmly and indifferently pointing them at Qin Heng as well as the Kyoto garrison troops who were in charge of clearing up the corpses between the valleys.
Qin Heng’s face changed slightly and said, “What? Don’t believe me?”
“Who else do you think I can trust right now?” Fan Xian mockingly laughed, “Don’t forget that I nearly turned into a ghost earlier.”
Qin Heng shook his head silently and said helplessly, “If you think that using these little crossbows on me will make you feel more at ease, you do so.” He then frowned and said, “Otherwise, you might feel much safer if I accompany you back to the capital first, and leave the cleanup of this valley to the Kyoto guards, which is supposed to be our business.”
This Qin family’s successor said calmly and seriously, “If it’s true, as you say, that there are military forces meddling in this matter, believe me, we of the old Qin family will definitely help you seek this justice.”
Fan Xian shook his head and said, “No need, let’s go together, I’m keeping these bodies.”
Qin Heng knew what kind of anger was hidden under Fan Xian’s calm face and nodded, then looked at the sniper at Fan Xian’s feet, who was dying but not yet dead, and asked, “What about this living victim? I’m afraid His Majesty will personally interrogate him.”
Fan Xian said expressionlessly, “All the dead in this valley are mine, and so are the living.”
The corpses of the state troops could not be heeded for the time being, but only the officials of the Inspectorate’s Rigging were carried out, and the bodies of the snipers who had died were gathered in one place as well, from among the mountains and forests on either side.
Fan Xian looked at the cold corpses of his subordinates, slightly inclined his head, and glanced at the corpses of those ambushers, and said softly, ”The remains of our own brothers should be taken care of, and as for these people …… what is the point of dragging so many corpses? Cut off all the heads and bring them back to the capital.”
Hong Changqing loudly led the order from the side.
Qin Heng watched this scene from the side and frowned slightly. If nothing else, these corpses were all good sons and daughters of the army as well, and although they had become murderers of the imperial court’s admired officials because of the dynasty’s tilt, death was naturally not a matter of concern, but Fan Xian humiliating the corpses in this manner still seemed to make this young general of the army feel a hint of discomfort.
Fan Xian simply ignored the feelings of Qin Heng next to him, and watched with a hint of a teasing expression as his subordinates hacked away at the heads.
After everything was cleaned up, the remaining bloodied corpses in the valley and the horse corpses and broken carts naturally had the imperial court’s subsequent manpower to carry out the treatment.
Half of the two hundred Kyoto Guard cavalrymen dismounted and very carefully helped the remains of the officials of the Supervisory Court to their horses, while at the same time letting those Supervisory Court officials who had been injured to sit on their horses.
This was all Qin Heng’s decision, and he knew that at this juncture, he had to do everything he could to calm Fan Xian’s anger, and calm the anger of the Supervisory Yuan.
The Procuratorate and the military, had always had a close relationship and a long-standing friendship, but because of the battle in this small valley, there was bound to be a wound that would be difficult to heal forever.
After Fan Xian also mounted his horse, Qin Heng rolled onto his horse and said calmly beside him, “Have you thought about it, if it is really the military that wants to be unfavorable to you …… I can completely kill all of you at this time.”
At this time, the officials of the Supervisory Yuan have collected crossbows and arrows, all of them are seriously injured after the robbery, Qin Heng with two hundred cavalry, really have the bottom of this word.
Fan Xian did not even look at him.
Behind the two of them were the horses carrying the remains of the officials of the Supervisory Yuan, and suddenly the body on one of the horses popped up!
That corpse swept across the distance between the three horses like a ghost, and floated behind Qin Heng in a faint and Yangyang manner, sitting on his horse, close to his chest and back, so intimate …… that it was like a shadow of him.
Qin Heng was shocked, but the long sword on the waist side only had time to draw half of it, but he found that the person behind him gently blew a breath on the back of his neck – it was very cold.
It was clear to Qin Heng that he had been caught off guard and restrained, and with the incomparably terrifying skill of the person behind him, in such a situation, if the other party wanted to kill him, even if Grandmaster Ye Liuyun came, it would be impossible for him to save his life.
The shadow behind him was dressed as a very ordinary secret agent, wearing a gray and white garment, with his head hanging low, seemingly dozing off.
Qin Heng fell silent, sheathing his sword and glancing at Fan Xian. Fan Xian did not look at him, but only looked at Kyoto in the distance with his eyes slightly narrowed.