novel-bin Chapter 117, Getting on the Pirate Ship
Chapter 117, Getting on the Pirate Ship
Chapter 118, Getting on the Pirate Ship
He quickly changed his clothes, put on Zhou Jinwu's mask, picked up his knife, and left the inn disguised as Ren Qingshan.
A white horse, incredibly handsome and swift, was tethered to the large willow tree behind the back gate. It was as magnificent as Little Black.
The horse was quite unruly and did not obey strangers.
Ren Qingshan squeezed it tightly with both legs, and it quickly became quiet and obedient like a chicken, letting himself be controlled.
He rode out of the city on horseback.
On a hot summer day, as he galloped on horseback, the wind blowing on his face brought a refreshing feeling. Ren Qingshan pondered the whole matter in his mind, but he felt that something was vaguely amiss.
It wasn't that I was tricked by Gongshu Ce, but rather a kind of inexplicable resistance, like being forced to complete a task by a leader.
Feng Jingxian and Gongshu Ce once led a massive military group, and even now that they are retired, they may still be powerful. At this moment, he himself has been transformed into a cog in this military group in a secret and tender way.
"call----"
Having found the source of his discomfort, Ren Qingshan felt better.
I can become a member of it, leverage its strengths, and complete the task, but I must always be vigilant against becoming a complete cog in the machine.
Thinking about all this, we arrived at the city gate.
When the soldiers at the city gate saw the white horse, they seemed to have already been instructed to do something, so they let it pass without checking or asking any questions.
They left the city onto the official road and ran for a while.
Upon reaching an open area, Ren Qingshan indeed saw a fire on the western peak of the Shenxiao Mountains, with billowing smoke rising straight into the clouds, visible from a great distance.
This is certainly a disgrace to the Holy Land. Lu Qingyi might be a little happy to see this scene—fireworks are going off!
After running for another eighty li, farmers appeared ahead and blocked the road, stopping pedestrians and caravans on the official road and cutting off their flow in advance, saying that there were monsters ahead.
If someone insists on going forward, they are only told to bear the consequences themselves, and no one is forcibly stopped.
Their division of labor was so precise that they even arranged for people to isolate the battlefield to prevent innocent people from being harmed.
Ren Qingshan rode through on horseback.
After traveling about thirty li, they came across a long convoy, consisting of dozens of horse-drawn carriages and hundreds of oxcarts, all fully loaded and wrapped tightly in silk. Along with the carriages were also many pigs, chickens, ducks, and geese—it felt like the Japanese were invading a village.
Next to each vehicle, disciples dressed in the robes of the Divine Firmament Holy Sect escorted them, their steps hurried.
The sect was on fire in the western mountains, so of course they were anxious.
But no matter how urgent the situation, a heavily loaded ox can't go very fast.
Where are my teammates?
Just as this thought crossed Ren Qingshan's mind, as if he had seen the white horse appear, an arrow shot out from nowhere from the forest on both sides of the road, heading straight for the front of the caravan. A Shenxiao disciple was immediately hit by the arrow, clutching his neck and screaming in agony as blood gushed out.
"kill!"
"Kill all the Shenxiao warriors!"
Two burly men dressed in green, tight-fitting outfits resembling ghillie suits, with colorful cloth strips tied around their arms, charged out from the forest. One carried a bow, and the other a spiked club. Shouting loudly, they charged into the crowd.
Only two people?
Where is my senior sister?
Seeing that both of them had innate talent, Ren Qingshan had one kill the leader of the team and the other the middle, tacitly leaving the tail of the team to himself.
After pausing for a few moments, he immediately drew his sword and went into battle.
The Shenxiao disciples, suddenly seeing the enemy attack, drew their bows and began to fight back, with arrows raining down.
A sword was wielded with impenetrable skill, deflecting arrows one after another, allowing Qingshan to charge towards the Shenxiao warriors at the rear.
With a shout of "Tiger Shakes the Mountain," like the roar of a fierce tiger, the attack swept over the four people. Blood gushed from the ears and noses of the four Shenxiao warriors, who covered their ears in pain.
brush!
A burst of sword energy erupted forth.
The two divine heads immediately flew high into the air.
With another slash, two more people were killed.
This precious sword is extremely sharp; it can cut through iron like mud and behead people as easily as cutting grass.
The Shenxiao disciples rushed to meet the attack, but none of the innate disciples in the team were present. It seemed that they had been drawn away by the fire in the sect and had left ahead of time.
The three innate qualities are like the sun melting snow.
Their fighting spirit crumbled at the first sign of trouble.
Except for a few die-hard martial artists, most of them scattered and fled.
At this time.
From all directions, nearly ten figures rushed out, their arms wrapped in floral cloth, both to block the way and to ambush, divided into three groups, layer by layer, striving to prevent anyone from escaping.
This battle was nothing short of a one-sided massacre.
Three innate elements lead the way, cutting off the enemy's initial sharpness.
The rest of the men surrounded them from all sides and cut off their escape route.
The battle was completely over in less than the time it takes for an incense stick to burn.
The disciples of Shenxiao died on the ground; no one escaped.
We also suffered a few casualties, but compared to others, it was a great victory with an extremely low casualty ratio.
Ren Qingshan's eyes searched through the crowd and he immediately spotted Feng Jianqin.
She transformed into a burly man, wielding a spiked club, looking extremely fierce, with brains still hanging from the club—she had just been killing with great gusto!
"I'm leaving now! Farewell, everyone!"
The innate cultivator who had just attacked the leader of the team left immediately after the battle ended, disappearing into the mountains and forests.
Many people followed him, each carrying a young child under their arm, and scattered in different directions.
Another person, along with a few others, inspected the battlefield, collecting all possible traces of their own forces.
Feng Jianqin tossed the spiked club to her companion and ran towards Ren Qingshan: "Discard the horse, let's go!"
She ran towards the mountains and forests.
Ren Qingshan followed.
Not far along the mountain forest, Ren Qingshan immediately heard the sound of horses' hooves coming from afar, and the ground trembled slightly.
Looking down from above, they were people dressed as a caravan of merchants.
There were about two hundred people, all riding tall horses.
The leader, dressed in shorts and a t-shirt, tossed a token to the innate expert who remained there, simultaneously shouting the order: "June 18th, highway raid!"
After verifying the password, Na Xiantian took the token, waved his hand, and left with his men.
The cavalry dismounted, each taking two large bags and filling them with the gold and silver being transported by each cart. They quickly finished loading and rode off in a whistle.
Despite their large numbers, they obeyed orders without question, demonstrating exceptionally strict discipline.
Thus, a small-scale battle came to a complete end, with an efficiency that was nothing short of terrifying.
This is the military, definitely!
Ren Qingshan sniffed, putting aside his previous contempt for the defending troops. If such a force were arranged in a battle formation, they could probably overwhelm Xiantian soldiers with sheer numbers.
It's just the difference between the garrison troops in Huaiyin County and the elite troops.
"Who are those children?"
In the mountains and forests, Ren Qingshan followed Feng Jianqin as they ran wildly. Thinking of the child from earlier, he asked with ease.
"Children from families in the city who voluntarily offered themselves to the Divine Firmament Holy Sect."
The mature woman's voice carried a hint of solemnity and grimness.
She paused, then explained in detail: "Many people in the city think that sending their children to Shenxiao is a promising future, but out of ten sent up the mountain, only two or three might survive. And those are mostly from wealthy and talented families. The majority will be used as servants, sparring partners, test subjects for medicine, or test subjects for poison. Since Shenxiao has been officially recognized, the government can't openly stop them, so they simply cut off the source. Those who want to go home are sent home, and those who don't want to go home are sent to learn martial arts and join the army."
Ren Qingshan thought of Lu Qingyi's experience and did not doubt the truth of these words. Then he thought of Qian Yuyan and said, "I killed a disciple of the Divine Firmament Holy Sect, the eldest daughter of the Qian family. She secretly practiced the Five Dragons Treasure Body and may already be colluding with the Divine Dragon Sect."
The sound of the wind sword zither was icy.
"Over the years, this sect's practices have become completely corrupt; it's a malignant tumor that must be eradicated sooner or later!"
Thinking of the legendary martial arts story of the Shenxiao Sect, Ren Qingshan said, "Okay, take me with you then."
I wonder if there's any chance?
After running nearly thirty miles through the mountains and forests, bypassing the defenses set up by farmers on the way there, they arrived at a forest guarded by people.
Two other horses were tied to the tree.
"Go ahead."
Feng Jianqin gave instructions to the guard, who nodded respectfully and quickly left.
Watching his figure disappear into the distance, Feng Jianqin then removed the mask from his face, took off his outer garment and shoulder pads, revealing the constable's clothes, and took out another set of yamen runner's clothes and a human skin mask from the horse and handed them over.
"Put this on as an outer layer, let's go back to the city."
Tsk, what a complicated and meticulous arrangement of disguises. After Ren Qingshan changed his clothes, he and she mounted their horses and rode away.
"Senior sister, what about the silver we robbed?"
Ren Qingshan gradually relaxed and began to focus on the issues that he should be most concerned about.
Feng Jianqin glanced at him, a gentle smile appearing in her eyes: "My father will definitely arrange something for you later. Tonight, at Phoenix Pavilion, I'll personally treat you to drinks, both to celebrate your victory and to celebrate your becoming a disciple."
"OK."
Ren Qingshan laughed heartily, his gaze casually sweeping over her slender waist and full hips.
Two horses entered the city through the nearest east gate.
The garrison recognized Feng Jianqin; she wore the uniform of a government official and assumed she was leading her subordinates out of the city on business, allowing them free passage.
After entering the city, he gave her the horse and they parted ways.
When Ren Qingshan returned to the inn, it was not yet noon, not all the guests had arrived, and the main dishes had not yet been served; only cold dishes and wine were served.
Not far away, the eighteen-story observation tower was crowded with people. Many of them were looking eastward at the great fire on Shenxiao West Mountain.
Ren Qingshan slipped back to his room.
Gongshu Ce was drinking tea, and Feng Jingxian was also there.
After changing back into his own clothes, Ren Qingshan looked at the two old foxes and said calmly, "Although this operation was very secretive, there are not many people in the prefecture city with this kind of strength. They will find out as soon as they guess."
This is also a vulnerability.
Feng Jingxian chuckled: "You've got a good eye for detail. But the people we're using today are all Imperial Guards. The Divine Firmament Sect can send people to investigate all they want."
Secret Guard?
Ren Qingshan looked at him with a questioning gaze.
"It's not convenient to go into details about this matter. This summer, the northern border suffered a severe drought, and the autumn harvest is doomed to fail. The gold and silver plundered today will be converted into rice and flour and transported to the northern border in advance as a precaution."
"If your rice shop intends to expand into the northern border, you might as well send someone to take a look. With grain being expensive and land being cheap these days, I guarantee you'll make a fortune through ill-gotten gains."
"I have already written a letter of introduction for you. Go to Qinghe Prefecture in the northern border and find the local prefect."
Feng Jingxian slammed a letter on the table, glanced at Ren Qingshan with a smile, and hummed a little tune as he left in a good mood.
Gongshu Ce stood up and patted his apprentice on the shoulder: "If you don't make this kind of money, other grain merchants will."
Gold and silver are public property; how can they be distinguished as noble or base? Transporting more grain there will save as many lives as possible.
This is a great act of merit.
Ren Qingshan nodded.
He certainly understood all of this.
He walked to the table, picked up the letter that seemed to have been prepared long ago, and saw on the cover that it read "To my son" — Feng Jingxian's son, who was the prefect of Qinghe Prefecture in the northern border?
Ren Qingshan put the letter away, shook his head, and smiled.
Bad news: We're on a sinking ship.
Good news: The pirate ship is huge, the pirates are extremely fierce, the kind that can destroy a country, and they are meticulous in everything they do, arranging everything in an orderly manner.