Chapter 238 Yun Jiaoyue is killed
On a large official ship behind, the man standing on the deck blowing a hairdryer heard faint screams coming from ahead.
One of the escorts asked curiously:
What happened up ahead?
"I think I heard someone shouting for help, but then it went silent. Could it be a ghost?"
The fog was so thick that I could only hear sounds but couldn't see anyone; it was quite eerie.
"What ghosts could there be in broad daylight? Something must have happened up ahead. Could it be a capsized boat or someone falling into the water? Should we go and rescue them?"
“We don’t have the final say on this ship. If Brother Liao were here, he might be able to say a word or two.”
"How will we know if we don't try? If something happens to Brother Liao and those convicts, we won't be able to explain ourselves, and we'll be in big trouble."
"That's right, let's hurry and find the Third Prince."
The escort found Zhao Xuan in the cabin. "Your Highness, it seems the ship ahead has run into trouble. Let's hurry and rescue them."
Zhao Xuan also heard the commotion and wondered, "The Wu family gang is fighting the Hong family gang from behind, so who else would attack them?"
Could it be that we've encountered other bandits?
He ordered his guards, "Go and tell the boatmen to speed up."
Yun Jiaoyue stepped forward and said, "Your Highness, I am worried about my mother and the others..."
Zhao Xuan snorted coldly, a hint of contempt flashing in his eyes, "Don't worry, they're just a bunch of rabble, nothing to fear!"
The words had barely left his mouth when several arrows shot towards them, "Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!!"
An arrow grazed Yun Jiaoyue's arm, and she shrank into Zhao Xuan's arms in fright. "Ah! Your Highness, help me! Save me..."
Zhao Xuan held her as they dodged the rain of arrows that kept flying in, standing close to the side of the ship.
"Where did this bow and arrow come from? Close the door! Close the door now!"
Xiao Xuance, Yun Zhaoxue, and the others were on the second floor. As soon as the first arrow flew into the room, they quickly closed the doors and windows and stacked the bed, table, and other things vertically to block the window.
It was sealed off in no time, and not a single arrow flew in.
The group crouched in a safe corner.
Xiao Xuanwu asked curiously, "Why are there so many arrows? They don't seem like ordinary bandits. Are they from the army?"
"I don't know, it might be, it might not be."
The army wouldn't dare to openly kill the Third Prince, but it's possible that someone from the army was in disguise.
The second prince plotted to eliminate Zhao Xuan and the Xiao family.
Once across the river, it will be the territory of the Marquis of Jiangling, making it much harder to kill the Third Prince.
The dense rain of arrows suddenly stopped.
Before they could even peek out, several rockets were hurtling towards them, "whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!!!"
Everyone was shocked.
"Oh no, it's a rocket, it's on fire!"
"Quickly, put out the fire!"
The Third Prince on the first floor roared, "What's going on? Weren't the Wu family gang held up by the Hong family gang? Who are these people?"
"Tell the boatmen to speed up and break through, and ram them over."
"Your Highness, all the boatmen have been shot dead."
Suddenly, shouts came from all directions: "Hee hee hee!!!"
Zhao Xuan sent his guards to check the situation, and they saw that more than a dozen ships were approaching them.
The boatmen were all dead, and with no one to row, the boat drifted slowly with the river, almost motionless.
As the small boat drew near, he climbed aboard the official ship, knife in hand, and shouted, "Kill!"
The officers and soldiers were no match for them; they were killed after only a few moves.
Zhuiying peeked through a corner of the window and recognized their moves at a glance. "Your Highness, someone is using military techniques. It seems to be the Dingzhou Army."
The bandits surrounded the cabin.
"Boss, everyone's inside."
"Yeah, make them come out here."
The henchman shouted, "Listen up, everyone inside! You have fifteen minutes. Get all of you onto the planks, or you'll be killed without mercy!"
After a short while, there was still no movement inside. The thieves lost patience and ordered their men to kick down the door and smash the windows.
"Come out! If you don't come out, we'll shoot arrows."
Fifteen minutes later, everyone in the cabin was standing on the deck.
The thief went inside and searched the place. When he came out, he walked up to a middle-aged man and reported, "Boss, everyone is here."
The man addressed as "boss" gestured to one of his henchmen with his eyes, "What do you want? We'll give you all our valuables and let us go."
The henchman held a knife to the prince's neck, sizing him up with a nonchalant air. "You're that dog emperor's third son? That 'Third Dog'?"
Zhao Xuan's face darkened, and he said in a deep voice, "Insolence! How dare you, a citizen of the Great Zhou, disrespect His Majesty!"
"As the ancients said, 'Are kings and nobles born with a special destiny?' Did your Zhao family seize the throne through a rebellion? We recognize him; he is the true emperor. Anyone who doesn't recognize him is utter bullshit."
"That's right, that's right, bullshit, hahaha!!!" The bandits laughed wildly.
The thieves searched the house and took out all the valuables.
Hearing their vulgar language, Zhao Xuan's face turned ashen. "Who exactly are you people? Where did your army get its bows and arrows?"
"Our leader is the former commander of the Dingzhou Army."
"You are Li Cheng? The court values you highly, why would you betray us?"
Li Cheng's younger brother, Li Yeyi, said indignantly: "Because the dog emperor is incompetent and foolish, he relies heavily on civil officials and treacherous ministers, and is wary of military generals at all times. The military generals listen to the civil officials' orders, and they give orders based on empty talk, making the soldiers risk their lives. The credit goes to them, but we take the blame when something goes wrong."
Once, after winning a battle, we received neither a reward nor our monthly salary. They withheld our salary, and we had nowhere to appeal. Just then, an imperial censor was inspecting the border, and we went to him to file a complaint. He asked us for a thousand taels of silver, so we took out our savings for our coffins to make up the difference.
When he returned to the capital, an imperial edict came down, accusing us of mutiny and ordering our execution. We fled the military camp that very night and returned to the capital, only to find our families had all been killed. Tell me, didn't that dog of an emperor deserve to die?
Zhao Xuan said, "My father is the ruler of a country and has to govern millions of people in the Great Zhou. If there are occasional ministers who mislead the emperor, it is not my father's fault."
Li Cheng sneered, "We are just insignificant soldiers, the dog emperor doesn't know that, does the Prince of Zhenbei not know that either? The Xiao family army has won so many battles, yet they are accused of treason even though they haven't rebelled. He's just incompetent, he deserves to die!"
Zhao Xuan then asked, "Then did the officials and boatmen you killed deserve to die?"
Li Cheng fell silent.
Li Ye retorted, "People in the martial world are often powerless to control their own destiny. If we don't kill them, they will kill us. If it weren't for the dog emperor listening to the slander of treacherous officials and ordering our execution, and even killing our relatives, we wouldn't have become outlaws, and they wouldn't be dead. San Gouzi, do you dare say your hands are clean?"
Li Cheng scolded him, "Stop wasting your breath on him, just kill him already."
"You dare!"
"Let's see if we dare to start with your woman!" Li Ye raised his knife and pointed it at Yun Jiaoyue behind him.
Yun Jiaoyue was dragged away, a knife tip pressed against her body, and she screamed in terror, "Ah! Your Highness, save me..."
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