Chapter 118 (5,000 words) The Three Princesses...
Above the rivers, the cold wind blew and the flags fluttered. The gray-black smoke from the artillery fire, with a pungent smell, lingered.
At this moment, many ships were circling and confronting each other, the waves caused by the shells were surging, and there were many floating wooden planks and wreckage.
A lot of river water continued to pour in from the gap, swallowing up the soldiers inside, causing the boat to lose balance and appear to be sinking.
The third princess looked solemn. She raised her hand and picked up the monocular spyglass, stretched it out and aimed it at the distance, observing the offensive formation of the enemy's official ships.
"It seems that the one coming is not Xuan Yizhen but Princess Tai'an?" At this moment, Yin Xing wished he could be welded to the ground to avoid being thrown out accidentally.
"How do you know?" the third princess asked with a puzzled look.
Yin Xing looked up at the Third Princess's half-masked face, blinked, and said in a confused tone, "Of course I see with my eyes."
The words fell silent. The Third Princess took a deep breath and said nothing more. Instead, she watched the fierce battle in the distance. Her eyes fell on the large ship among the many official ships. When she saw Princess Tai'an, she frowned and asked, "Where did she get so many navy ships?"
It seems that I really underestimated Princess Tai'an's ability.
"I can't see this with my eyes." Yin Xing shook his head seriously.
"..." The third princess remained silent and didn't want to say a word to the stupid woman.
The rumbling sound of cannons outside the ship still did not stop. As the ship shook, the third princess ordered her men to turn the rudder to avoid a prolonged battle and speed up.
The whole journey continued until it was dark, making it difficult to fight and easy to cause accidental injuries, so both sides launched a fierce chase in order to gain the upper hand in a better position.
The candlelight flickered. Yin Xing, feeling a little seasick, held onto the table and chair. He watched the Third Princess pick up the food as she ate. Her hands were clearly not very nimble. He asked in confusion, "Are you seasick too?"
The Third Princess's expression changed slightly. Thinking of her hand injury, her eyes were filled with solemnity. She raised her eyes and was about to explode, but saw Yin Xing raised his hand to replace the spoon for her. She frowned and said, "What are you doing?"
"It's more convenient to eat this way." Yin Xing responded by using a spoon to scoop up rice, thinking that a princess would not be unable to eat with a spoon.
"Don't you know that my hand was crippled by Xuan Yizheng's men?" The third princess said coldly without moving.
As she spoke, the third princess suddenly realized that Yin Xing seemed to be in a coma at that time, and she really didn't seem to know the specific situation.
Yin Xing paused and fell silent because he realized that the topic was dangerous.
After all, the third princess led troops to rebel first, so it was obviously a routine operation for her to be punished or executed.
However, Yin Xing thought about his current hostage situation, buried his head in eating, and tried to pretend that nothing had happened.
The Third Princess glared at him and said, "Why don't you explain and clarify things for Xuan Yizhen?"
"Hehe, I think if you let me go now, maybe Xuan Yi will really help you deal with Princess Tai'an." Yin Xing tried to maintain his desire to survive while speaking.
"You are so hopelessly stupid that you actually believed that Xuan Yizheng would interfere with Princess Tai'an's revenge because of you. She might be dead now." Now the third princess no longer thought of trusting anyone in the world.
Logically, Princess Tai'an should be fighting with Xuan Yizheng in Tianchuan.
After all, the third princess agreed to take the second princess away from the capital because she calculated that if Xuan Yizhen broke her promise to Princess Tai'an, there would be a conflict between them.
But now Princess Tai'an appeared in the waters with an official ship, and Xuan Yizheng was very likely to be killed or seriously injured.
Yin Xing suddenly became restless and asked, "Is this true? How did you know?"
The Third Princess raised an eyebrow, slowly eating with her spoon in hand, and said leisurely, "You serve Xuan Yizhen and then you just eat by yourself?"
Seeing this, Yin Xing had no choice but to serve food to the third princess, staring at her, hoping that she could tell him more news about Xuan Yizhen.
"I don't like vegetarian food."
"Then may I ask what would you like to eat, Your Highness?"
The third princess responded very happily: "Fish sashimi is very good, have you tried it?"
Yin Xing placed the fish slices in bowls and plates for the third princess and shook his head, saying, "This kind of cold fish slices can easily cause infection and illness, so it's better to eat less."
"You don't want to eat. It seems that you don't want to know whether Xuan Yi is dead or alive." The third princess lowered her brows and threatened with dissatisfaction.
"No, I want to eat it!" Yin Xing picked up the raw fish with chopsticks and chewed it, then quickly slurped it into his stomach as if it was hot.
The third princess was very angry at his perfunctory attitude and lost interest even more.
Yin Xing didn't understand the Third Princess's strange temper, but he was not used to raw fish. He thought that the fish caught by Xuan Yizheng was more delicious.
It is great for stewing soup or making fish balls.
The third princess said unhappily, "Pour the wine."
Yin Xing was busy, his eyes fell on the embarrassed face of the Third Princess, and hesitantly said: "You still have something to say."
"I don't want to talk about it now."
"Aren't you kidding me?"
The third princess drank her wine and raised her eyebrows confidently, "Well, you don't accept it?"
Yin Xing was speechless, repeating in his heart that when you are under someone's roof, you have to bow your head, three times in total!
Thinking of this, Yin Xing ate quietly and decided to conserve his energy and prepare to run away in the middle of the night.
Seeing Yin Xing's frustration, the Third Princess drank slowly. She looked at her bandaged hands and the inexplicable, irregular burn marks on her cheeks, and asked appraisingly, "Are these injuries from Xuan Yizhen's abuse?"
Although she knew that Yin Xing had been neglected by Xuan Yizheng recently, the Third Princess did not have any other more accurate information.
Yin Xing didn't want to pay attention, but was afraid of being thrown into the river to feed the fish, so he could only respond: "This is the scar of being struck by lightning."
After he finished speaking, there was silence. The third princess, who was originally just joking, couldn't help laughing out loud, thinking that it was a miracle that Yin Xing was still alive.
Yin Xing, who was laughing contemptuously, slowly realized that his words were ambiguous and looked embarrassed.
Suddenly, a dense and sharp sound of breaking through the air was heard outside the boat, and then it approached like a storm. The dense arrows, with flames, were terrifying.
This sudden attack was unexpected, and many soldiers on the cabin suffered hand injuries.
The half bowl of rice that Yin Xing hadn't finished in time suddenly fell to the ground with a crash, making a mess.
A sneak attack during meal time is too unsportsmanlike!
"It seems that Princess Tai'an really hates me and is really relentless in pursuing me." The third princess restrained her smile and spoke in a sharp tone.
"I don't think it's the time to settle personal grudges. It's more important to abandon the ship and save our lives." Yin Xing looked at the fire that was rising around him, raised his hands to cover his mouth and nose, and was already planning to find a window to jump out of the ship.
The third princess swung her sword to deflect the arrows and said arrogantly, "I will not run away, and neither will you!"
Yin Xing stared blankly at the sword coming towards him, thinking that the third princess must be crazy.
At this moment, rockets were launched all over the sky, illuminating the vast and dark river, like flowing lights in the sky, dazzling and brilliant.
Such a spectacular fighting scene should have been the best performance.
But Xuan Yizhen, who was sitting in a carriage on the mountain road at this moment, had a stern expression and was completely uninterested in watching. His jade-white fingertips rested on the ring and he said solemnly, "Immediately send someone to infiltrate the Third Princess's fleet and find Yin Xing."
"Yes, sir!" The people around in night clothes scattered in all directions, moving swiftly and quickly.
The female official Chunli who was waiting outside had a pale face and her neck was wrapped in gauze with blood faintly visible. Inside was a shocking burn scar.
If Shangguan Sheng and Jiang Yun had not arrived in time, he would have died without a burial place.
It was thought that the two princesses would take advantage of the chaos to flee to their respective fiefdoms, but who would have thought that the second princess was still determined to form an alliance with Princess Tai'an, and the third princess brought firearms and her personal soldiers to attack the summer palace, which really disrupted the plan.
Fortunately, the master's overall layout did not have too many mistakes. Even though there were entanglements and delays, the main force of Princess Tai'an was eventually defeated.
However, the navy of Princess Tai'an was very powerful. They sailed along the Tianchuan waters and rushed all the way, obviously wanting to return to their fiefdom.
But the Third Princess wanted to go south to sea with her confidants, so the master ordered someone to leak the news, which led to the current battle.
The only unexpected thing was that Yin was in the third princess's fleet.
Amid the sound of cannon fire, the third princess ordered her personal soldiers to defend. Many of the cabins on both sides were damaged and sunk, and the battle was very fierce.
The vast dark water surface was covered with thin cold ice at night, and it was obviously freezing. In the background, it was hard to tell whether it was scarlet fire or blood. What caught the eye was a bright red.
On a high platform on the deck of a ship, Yin Xing felt his ears buzzing and he held the railing tightly, not daring to let go for a moment.
The lights from the burning ships of many parties even burned half the sky red, clearly reflecting the ferocity and terror of the warring parties.
Princess Tai'an saw the third princess from afar, and recalled the night at the imperial mausoleum. She gripped the hilt of the sword tightly in her hand, wishing she could kill her with her own hands!
The third princess arrogantly met Princess Tai'an's gaze across the beacon fire, raised her hand and systematically directed the fleet's artillery counterattack.
If it were on land, with Princess Tai'an's martial arts skills, she would have already passed through thousands of troops to take the head.
Therefore, the third princess never thought of traveling by land from the beginning. Only the self-righteous second princess thought that she could escape Xuan Yizheng's Wanqi cavalry.
"Is your hatred for Princess Tai'an so deep?" Yin Xing raised his hand and patted the sparks on his sleeve and spoke.
The royal ladies are really more ferocious and terrifying than each other. Suddenly I feel that their previous intrigues were just small scenes.
"Who knows? I just killed a woman she loved, and she went crazy." The third princess said lightly.
Yin Xing suddenly felt a chill on his neck, and wondered if the Third Princess was hinting at something.
However, Yin Xing had indeed seen a woman next to Princess Tai'an, and he did not expect that being involved in a fight would be so cruel.
Just as Yin Xing was sighing, a rocket came whizzing towards him. He quickly lowered his head to avoid it, not even thinking of showing mercy to others.
If things go wrong, you might be the next victim!
Seeing that the entire fleet was in chaos, it was actually a good time to escape.
Yin Xing immediately glanced at the third princess who was busy mobilizing troops, and moved carefully along the railing.
Unexpectedly, the Third Princess's voice came from behind him: "The river water is icy cold at this time of year. If you are stupid enough to jump in, you will die faster."
Yin Xing paused, turned his head to meet the Third Princess's bright and sharp gaze, and silently stopped his movements.
But suddenly a lot of men in black appeared on the boat. They were agile and decisive in their moves, and quickly jumped to the upper level.
At this time, a man in black released signal fireworks, which looked like flying birds and were very conspicuous.
"Wow, what beautiful fireworks! No, it's an assassin!" Yin Xing quickly hid around the third princess to avoid losing his life and not being able to see Xuan Yizheng.
The third princess discovered with a serious expression that not only her own fleet, but also Princess Tai'an's fleet gradually stopped attacking. It was obvious that another group was carrying out the final harvest.
"Someone come here!" The third princess summoned her trusted guards and grabbed Yin Xing's wrist with her other hand, knowing full well that this was Xuan Yizheng's personal soldier.
Xuan Yizheng must be somewhere watching this mutually destructive drama.
When Yin Xing was unexpectedly restrained by the third princess, he was a little confused and wondered when she became so compassionate.
But when they saw the man in black attacking so quickly, they realized that his target seemed to be the third princess!
The blade slashed across, and Yin Xing watched the blade avoid him, thinking to himself that the third princess was really cruel, like a human shield.
Seeing that more and more people in black were coming and the situation was not good, the third princess took Yin Xing and retreated into the platform.
Yin Xing was so frightened that he almost lost half his soul. Recalling the previous experience, he angrily waved away the third princess and said, "You, you went too far just now!"
Because Yin Xing couldn't swear, he could only stutter and accuse!
"They won't kill you, what are you afraid of?" As she spoke, the third princess raised her hand and swung her sword to cut the ropes on the wall, releasing firearms all over the ground.
"How do you know?" Yin Xing asked in confusion.
The third princess stood high up in the attic and pulled down the rope loop, saying unhappily, "Stupid, because they are the ones Xuan Yizhen sent to rescue you."
As soon as he finished speaking, countless shells were fired from all directions, almost turning the surrounding walls into sieves. Blood splattered everywhere, and the wind was filled with a disgusting smell.
Yin Xing watched helplessly as the third princess killed everyone indiscriminately, and he was completely stunned.
It turned out to be a specially made version of Gatling. The third princess is quite gifted!
The movement on this side quickly attracted attention because there were no survivors outside the deck, and some people's faces were even unrecognizable and bloody.
Princess Tai'an finally escaped and rushed to the top of the ship where the third princess was, and this was the scene she saw.
"You really dare to come and die." The third princess said condescendingly with arrogance in her eyes.
As soon as he finished speaking, countless iron bullets flew out, stirring up a dense cloud of dust mixed with a thick blood mist.
Yin Xing raised his hands to cover his eyes, no longer wanting to watch the horrific scene. Unexpectedly, the Third Princess frowned and asked, "Where did they go?"
After he finished speaking, Yin Xing quietly stuck his head out from the platform and met Princess Tai'an's fierce eyes head-on, his scalp numbing with fear!
There were flashes of swords and sabers, and Yin Xing had no time to react at all. The third princess swung her sword to block the attack.
When the two of them were entangled, Yin Xing discovered that the third princess was good at martial arts, but her martial arts skills were not as good as Princess Tai'an, and she was obviously in a state of decline and injured.
"You won't die easily tonight." Princess Tai'an spoke gloomily, and the sword in her palm cut through the side of the third princess's face, and she said quietly.
"It's still uncertain who will win." The third princess immediately swung her sword to fight back, knowing that Princess Tai'an was always ruthless. If she fell into her hands, she would definitely not be in a good situation.
Seeing that Princess Tai'an had the upper hand, Yin Xing felt that the third princess was in danger because her martial arts skills were so high that she was almost overwhelming.
So Yin Xing's eyes fell on the huge iron tool in front of him. He reached out and raised it, carefully and boldly loading the iron bullet and pulling the fuse.
The other side of the wooden railing was chopped down, and the Third Princess nearly fell off the boat. Her right hand was in unbearable pain, and she sneered with a cold sweat on her face, "You've been tricked by Xuan Yizhen. If you kill me, you'll be of no use to me."
Princess Tai'an pressed down the blade relentlessly, slowly embedding it into the flesh of the Third Princess's shoulder blade. She spoke calmly, "If I kill you now, I can find another opportunity to deal with Xuan Yizhen later."
As the blood from the blade stained the Third Princess's clothes, a cold sound suddenly rang out, and Yin Xing said, "Princess Tai'an, you'd better stop now, or you will die."
Princess Tai'an was stunned, and turned her head to look at the cold object high up and the Yin family of Xizhou, and became alert.
Seeing this, the third princess used her sword to deflect Princess Tai'an's sword and took the opportunity to counterattack.
The two immediately started fighting again. Yin Xing was a little dizzy and wavered, muttering, "Can't you respect me?"
In this situation, Yin Xing did not dare to fire the firearm, but he did not notice that the fuse was very close to the fire, and the wind blew it, quietly lighting up the flames.
The third princess was stabbed by Princess Tai'an again and fell to the ground with blood oozing from the corner of her mouth, looking extremely embarrassed.
Princess Tai'an, mindful of Yin's existence, did not dare to hesitate and decided to take her life immediately.
Unexpectedly, the huge impact force and the loud noise startled Princess Tai'an at the same time. Her expression changed suddenly and she felt unbearable pain. She supported herself on the ground with her sword, spitting out blood. She raised her hand to press the jade pendant in front of her, her face full of unwillingness.
The third princess stood up and looked at Yin Xing, whose face was covered in black ash, in disbelief. Her expression changed slightly and she chuckled softly, "It seems you are not hopelessly stupid after all."
Yin Xing smiled innocently with his eyebrows curved: "Of course, but I'm leaving!"
As he spoke, Yin Xing was about to go find the man in black alive so that Xuan Yizheng wouldn't have to wait too long.
Unexpectedly, a small boat was approaching not far away. Yin Xing leaned on the railing and saw the figure in the cold wind, and waved hurriedly.
The Third Princess's smile faded, and she raised her hand to stab the dying Princess Tai'an with her sword. Knowing her wounds were too deep, she struggled to pierce the kerosene barrel beside her. With a stern look on her face, she said, "You wanted to go find Xuan Yizhen, but I didn't agree."
Yin Xing turned around and saw the ground ablaze. He was so frightened that he said in disbelief, "Even if you have done so many evil things and want to end your life, you don't have to take me with you!"
"If I can't get it, no one else can either!" The third princess stood in the flames, took steps towards Yin Xing with great difficulty, and slowly stretched out her hand.
"Help, help!" Yin Xing subconsciously stepped back to avoid the third princess's grip, panicking.
In the firelight, the sound of cannons was deafening, and the surrounding small boats were also affected. The female official Chunli did not dare to look at the master's expression.
The waves surged, and the firelight illuminated the depths. Yin Xing fell into the cold depths, as if he saw the rosy clouds like the morning light, and thought to himself that the third princess was right.
Falling into water in such a cold season can be fatal. Yin Xing lost all feeling in his hands and feet.
In the darkness, when Yin Xing's vision was blurred, he vaguely felt something pushing him and floating upwards little by little.
When his vision was restored, Yin Xing's eyes focused on the face of the person hugging him, and he stuttered, "Yizhen, I am not dreaming."
Xuan Yizhen held the person in his arms. Seeing Yin Xing's lips turn purple, he said with lingering fear: "This is not a dream, don't sleep."
But Yin Xing was so sleepy that he even felt that Xuan Yizheng was warm. He thought he must be too cold.
In the past winters, Xuan Yizhen's body temperature was usually very cold. Yin Xing struggled with his eyelids and murmured softly, "No, I won't sleep. I miss you so much."
Xuan Yizheng held Yin Xing tightly and brought her ashore, completely ignoring the battle situation on the river.
In the past, Xuan Yizhen always watched all the fighting indifferently, but now Xuan Yizhen suddenly realized that fighting would take away precious lives, especially Yin Xing, whom he had finally found.
The fire above the river was still bright, and among the broken debris, the golden mask in the corner, faintly stained with blood, sank into the darkness and disappeared without a trace.
-----------------------
The author has something to say: Thank you to 15 lovely readers who quietly clicked on the collection to support you (≧▽≦)
Thanks to 19 lovely readers for following the update and leaving comments and rewards (≧▽≦)
New article recommendation collection: The fate of accidentally flirting with the paranoid queen (through the book)
A sweet story about a beautiful ambitious paranoid and a pure love silly little white rabbit. I hope you can click on the new article collection to support it (≧▽≦)
The author has many more completed works, please click on the column to read them, please (≧▽≦)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
