Chapter 572 Catching the Thief 3
Jiang Fenghua said directly, "Young Master Song wants to set off a bomb and blow this place up, so go ahead and set it off. Let's see who suffers more losses then. Boss Ran probably doesn't want someone to blow up your study, does he?"
Ran Heng felt utterly exasperated; they had seen right through him all along. "Brother Song, now that we've invited Miss Jiang here, let's all make money peacefully. Let the brothers put down their knives and discuss how to escape Licheng."
Song Peng was surprised by his skill and said in a deep voice, "Why don't you put down your knives and make way for Lord Xie? Don't disturb our distinguished guests. We still need Lord Xie and Miss Jiang to guide us."
Since he had three hostages, he didn't believe that Meng Yao and General Shen wouldn't let them go. The officials of the Great Zhou Kingdom were just a little more bargaining chip in their hands, to prevent the people of the Great Zhou Kingdom from making any rash moves to help them.
Song Peng was naturally unaware that the Southern Kingdom had submitted to the Great Zhou Kingdom; he assumed that the King of the Southern Kingdom had become Meng Yao.
He then ordered people to prepare carriages and load them onto the ships. Once they passed through customs and boarded the ship, they would be safe. The sea was their domain, and neither the people of the Great Zhou Kingdom nor the people of the Southern Kingdom could catch up with them.
Jiang Fenghua had been looking for an opportunity to rescue people, but Shen Bingxuan, Master Wu, and Mr. Wenbo were all in their hands. None of the three knew martial arts, so she dared not make any rash moves and could only wait until she left Fuguizhai before slowly making plans.
A moment later, Song Peng's men carried out more than a dozen large boxes from the secret room, waiting for them to load the goods onto the carriages. The boxes were even filled with firecrackers; if the government troops came to seize them, they would ignite the firecrackers and perish together, a desperate act that would result in even more deaths.
The door was surrounded by Xie Shang's men. When Xie Shang and Jiang Fenghua came out unharmed, everyone was about to surround them, but Xie Shang stopped them.
They needed to rescue the hostages, so they told Lin Feng and the others not to make any rash moves.
The next moment, Song Peng and Ran Heng also came out one after the other. They personally watched Jiang Fenghua and Xie Shang get into the carriage, and then sent someone to drive the carriage and clear the way for them.
Jiang Fenghua opened the pearl bag and took out the note inside. The note read, "Stay away from the treasure chest, there is fire and thunder inside." She knew that Ran Heng had written it, but why would he warn them about the fire and thunder in the treasure chest?
Aren't they in cahoots?
After Song Peng's men hauled out all the firecrackers and stolen goods, Ran Heng finally felt relieved. He had been waiting for Song Peng to leave because Fuguizhai was his life's work, and he didn't want Song Peng to destroy it, even if it meant his death.
He had always wished that he could return to host a real tea-tasting and poetry-discussing banquet in the future. If he could study hard and pass the imperial examinations, he would never associate with Song Peng. Unfortunately, God did not give him the opportunity to live a peaceful life.
He didn't know if Jiang Ruan had seen the note in the pearl bag, which was meant to save their lives and prevent them from committing further sins.
Next, as soon as the carriage left the city gate, no one expected that Ran Heng would personally ignite the fire bomb. A series of loud explosions erupted from the boxes, overturning the boxes of treasures to the ground. The bandits guarding the treasure boxes were instantly blown away and killed on the spot. After the boxes were blown away, the remaining bandits began to scramble for gold and silver jewelry and even started to flee in all directions.
Their escape was impossible; they were quickly captured by Lin Feng and his men.
Ran Heng ran to Xie Shang and Jiang Fenghua's carriage, only to find that the two were no longer inside.
The next moment, the bandit's knife pierced Ran Heng's back. He watched as Jiang Ruan frantically searched for someone in the distance, trying to save him. Jiang Fenghua didn't even notice him until he lay in a pool of blood.
The bandits didn't know why Ran Heng betrayed them by igniting the fire mine in the treasure chest; they were clearly about to escape.
The leader said that if Ran Heng dared to betray them, they would kill him.
Meanwhile, just as Jiang Fenghua was about to rescue Shen Bingxuan, only Master Wu and Master Wenbo remained in the carriage. She removed the rags from their mouths and asked, "Where did Miss Shen go?"
Master Wu said, "She has been taken away by bandits. Please, young lady, save Miss Bingxuan."
Master Wenbo was on the verge of death. He had been stabbed. Master Wenbo said, "You must be Young Master Ruan. I... I recognize you. We met once a few years ago. I even wanted to take you as my disciple, but you seemed to have something to do at the time and said you would never come to the Southern Kingdom again."
Jiang Fenghua couldn't recall any of what he had said. Seeing that he had been stabbed in the abdomen, she quickly bandaged the wound to stop the bleeding. "Master Wen, hang in there. I'll have someone take you to a clinic in my carriage."
"Thank you. I... I don't care if I live or die, please save Xuan'er. He was taken away by that villain." He was stabbed while saving Xuan'er.
Jiang Fenghua said, "It was Song Peng who took Miss Shen away."
Third Master Wu said, "It's him."
How could he act so quickly? He had someone send her and Xie Shang ahead to clear the way. They knew there were a lot of fire mines on the cart and didn't want to endanger the people in the city, so they signaled Jiang Jinyan to open the city gate to let them pass. But when they came out of the city and looked for Song Peng, he was nowhere to be found.
Xie Shang's men had already surrounded and fought with the bandits, and quickly subdued them.
Fortunately, they knew about the fire mines, so none of them were injured.
At this moment, Meng Yao received the news and also chased after the city. Hearing the explosion, he followed the sound and saw Jiang Fenghua's figure: "Miss Jiang."
All I heard her say was, "Song Peng has kidnapped Shen Bingxuan."
Meanwhile, Song Peng had already taken Shen Bingxuan under his control. He knew that Shen Bingxuan was the most valuable person among these people. As long as he had her in his grasp, her father and the Prince of Nan would let him go.
Xie Shang and his men caught up with Song Peng. "You have no way out now. Let her go, and you might still have a chance to live."
The knife in Song Peng's hand cut a bloody gash across Shen Bingxuan's neck. "You're talking nonsense! You officials are all scoundrels, good at lying. If I let her go, I'll die."
"Song Peng, let her go, and we'll let you live. We know you don't want to be a pirate; you want to pass the imperial examinations and pursue an official career." Jiang Fenghua and Meng Yao also arrived.
Shen Bingxuan's mouth was gagged, and her hands were tied with rope. She cried incessantly, "Brother Yao, save me."
Song Peng didn't believe them at all. "There's not a single good person in the Great Zhou Dynasty. They're all liars. Ran Heng and I studied very hard back then, wanting to pass the imperial examinations, but we were kicked out of the examination hall. It was someone else who cheated, not us. Why should we be framed and forced to flee our hometown? Let me go, or I'll kill her."
Jiang Fenghua then remembered to look for Ran Heng. "Where is Ran Heng? Didn't he escape with us?"
Xie Shang also didn't see it. When he and Jiang Fenghua separated to chase after Song Peng, he seemed to see Ran Heng ignite the fire bomb.
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