C451: In My Dream There Was This Gang Leader Who Looked Exactly Like You
"Let me wipe it for you."
Ling Zhang immediately clapped his hand to his butt. "I'll do it myself!"
Yuwen Tong snorted with a smile. This brat actually began to worry about his butt. "Remove your hand," he instructed.
"No. I can manage it myself. Give me the towel," said Ling Zhang, turning around to face Yuwen Tong, holding out a hand, covering his butt with the other.
Naturally, Yuwen Tong wouldn't give him the towel. There was fire in his eyes which seemed to be boring into Ling Zhang—fire of desire, of course.
"Get over here."
Ling Zhang stared back at him, motionless. After a few moments, he failed to restrain himself and obediently walked up. Yuwen Tong grabbed his arm, turned him around and began to wipe his butt...
Ling Zhang's face was burning badly. Yuwen Tong was such a wretch! He was deliberately washing him so slow!
"Ca-Can't you do it any faster?!"
"Not if you want me to wash it clean enough."
Ling Zhang could feel Yuwen Tong's hot breath on his butt when Yuwen Tong was speaking. Taken aback, he jerked his head aside and found Yuwen Tong staring at his butt. "Hey!" he exclaimed.
He was just about to jump away when Yuwen Tong quickly grabbed him. "Don't move!"
"What do you think you are doing? Get it over with, okay? I'm still naked." The very look in Yuwen Tong's eyes made Ling Zhang scared. This guy was gazing at him like a hungry wolf at a lamb!
"Humph." Yuwen Tong replied with a snort, "You think I'm going to let you get dressed?"
As the warm towel slid through the crack in his butt, Ling Zhang gave a shudder and with that all his attention was focused on his butt, which made it exceptionally sensitive.
After Yuwen Tong meticulously washed it, his delicate, white butt looked even whiter and glistened wet. A particular part of Yuwen Tong's body ached at the sight of this. He muttered a curse, quickly washed Ling Zhang's back and then his front part. After that, he scooped up Ling Zhang and made towards the bed at the far end of the tent.
Ling Zhang felt as though he were a freshly steamed bun that could be swallowed at any moment.
But he was still holding his butt one-handed.
Yuwen Tong tossed Ling Zhang's hand a glance, his eyes full of indifference. Keep holding it if you like. Soon you'll see how pointless that is, he thought.
It struck Ling Zhang that at this time Yuwen Tong looked very much like a gang leader, that he bore no resemblance whatsoever to the Emperor he normally was.
"Don-Don't go too far. There are a lot of people out there. I don't want to be a laughing stock!"
"Nobody dares approach this tent."
"We're not in the Imperial Palace or your encampment."
"It sure as hell is my encampment. Every inch of this country is mine. I'm the Emperor now, remember?"
Yuwen Tong put Ling Zhang down onto the bed and then began to taking off his clothes. While stripping off, he continued, "You won't have to worry about anybody hearing you if you don't groan that loud."
A flush spreading to his neck, Ling Zhang sniffed, "I-I won't have to groan if you could show some restraint!"
Yuwen Tong tossed his clothes to the ground and replied smugly, "Well, that's not on the table."
"Hey, hold on, hold on... Ah!"
...
...
All nearby tents were cleared. Vaguely hearing the voices issuing from Yuwen Tong's tent, Yao Yi and some others inexplicably felt as though they'd returned to the Imperial Palace.
As a bunch of bachelors, they once again felt hurt as they had in the palace.
...
Ling Zhang had no idea how long the sex lasted, but at the end of it, he didn't even have enough strength to lift a finger. He groggily felt someone wipe him clean, dress him in clean dry clothes, and carefully examined his wounded arm, but soon he drifted into a deep sleep, unable to feel anything.
Seeing he was fast asleep, Yuwen Tong leaned over to kiss him, tucked him in and then went to wash. After changing clothes, he left the tent.
He wanted very much to get some sleep with Ling Zhang in his arms, but he couldn't do that yet.
After instructing Yao Yi and some others to guard the door of the tent, Yuwen Tong went to the main tent.
...
It was already night when Ling Zhang woke up. Yuwen Tong had returned and was reading intelligence reports sent to him by his secret bodyguards from various locations. On sensing Ling Zhang wake up, he rose to his feet, walked up to the bed and laid a hand on Ling Zhang's forehead to feel his temperature. Positive that Ling Zhang was okay and had had a good sleep, he rubbed Ling Zhang's face and said, "You're awake? Do you want to get up?"
Having his face and temple kneaded, Ling Zhang replied in a throaty, languid and faintly nasal voice, "I'm not awake."
Yuwen Tong chuckled, "If you're not awake, then who's talking with me?"
"I'm talking in my sleep."
"What are you seeing in your dream?"
"A gang leader."
"A gang leader?"
Not having caught on, Yuwen Tong said unhappily, "What's the point of dreaming about a gang leader? Where does he live? I'll have him beheaded."
Still fairly unwilling to open his eyes, Ling Zhang snorted softly, "He looks exactly like you. You still want him beheaded?"
The gang leader looked exactly like him? Yuwen Tong came to understand, stooped down, gave Ling Zhang's cheek a playful nibble and then planted a kiss on the corner of his mouth. "What did he do to you?"
Yuwen Tong really believed he was talking in his sleep? Ling Zhang slowly opened his liquid bright eyes to look at Yuwen Tong and then responded, "He harassed me, so I beat him up. After that, he became very submissive and did whatever I told him to. Humph. He kept moving his waist with great gusto."
Yuwen Tong dissolved into chuckle. "Is that so? Oh, my Empress is so amazing. Was he doing it as happily as you were?"
Ling Zhang, "..."
He jerked the quilt up and covered Yuwen Tong's head with it, intending to trap Yuwen Tong in it and kick his ass.
"Of course. He was moving it so energetically!"
Beneath the quilt, Yuwen Tong burst into laughter, scooped Ling Zhang up from the bed, put him down to let him sit, and then removed the quilt, looking at him with a twinkle in his eyes. "Okay, that's enough. You need to get something to eat. The food is ready. Given that you only had some steamed buns and flatbreads for lunch, you must be quite hungry."
As if on cue, Ling Zhang's stomach rumbled. He slid Yuwen Tong a sideways glance and said, "It's all your fault. I told you to show some restraint but you wouldn't listen. Now my whole waist is sore."
Yuwen Tong's heart was melted by that sidelong look. He obsequiously reached out a hand to massage Ling Zhang's waist. "You may continue to sleep after filling your belly."
Seeing Ling Zhang want to stand up, Yuwen Tong helped him to his feet, rearranged Ling Zhang's clothes and then, holding Ling Zhang's hand, led him out of the tent to eat his overdue dinner.
Ling Zhang walked around a giant screen with Yuwen Tong and was astonished to see a table full of delicious food. "How did you... You got these from downtown?"
"Yeah. I had them go into the city to buy these," replied Yuwen Tong, settling Ling Zhang in a chair and giving him a bowl of congee. "You barely ate anything during the day, and we did some exercise in the afternoon, and now it's pretty late, so you should just have some congee. Don't eat too much of these meat dishes."
Fortunately Yao Yi and the others had superb lightness skills and could travel very fast, so going into the city to buy these dishes hadn't been much trouble for them.
At least he could have some meat now. Previously Yuwen Tong had forbidden him to eat any meat after sex, allowing him to eat vegetarian meals only. Congee didn't sound so bad now. Ling Zhang took a slurp from his bowl and said, "Have you had dinner? There are so many dishes here."
Yuwen Tong got himself a bowl of rice and sat down beside Ling Zhang. "No. I've been waiting to have dinner with you."
Ling Zhang knitted his brows, looked at the color of the sky and came to know that it was late at night. "You shouldn't have waited for me. This is not to be repeated, or I'll never let you touch me again."
His tone of voice was serious, which suggested that he meant it.
"I waited because this is the first meal we have together since our parting. I won't do it again. Dig in," explained Yuwen Tong.
Finding this explanation acceptable, Ling Zhang slurped down half of the congee in his bowl and then asked, "How's everything going out there?"
"We're still waiting for Mu Rongfeng's reply," answered Yuwen Tong.
It'd been at noon that the letter had been sent. Delivering it to Mu Rongfeng and bringing back his reply would take some time. The reply would've arrived if Mu Rongfeng was in Pingtao City, but considering he'd brought a great number of men to this country, he undoubtedly had to stay with them to make sure everybody toed the line. Those in Pingtao City were just his scouts.
"Has Wu Zhuo gone back?"
"Yeah. Barring accidents, Mu Rongfeng's reply will arrive tomorrow, and his men will come ashore the day after tomorrow. Our navy will have to put on an act convincing enough, and Wu Zhuo will have to cooperate with them."
Yuwen Tong glanced at him and added, "All arrangements have been made, so there's no need to worry. I got this."
"Um." Ling Zhang helped himself with a piece of meat and observed, "The cooks in Pingtao City do know their stuff."
Yuwen Tong also ate a piece of meat and said, "I was worried that the foods in Pingtao City were not to your liking, so I brought some cooks here from the capital. It was them who cooked these."
Ling Zhang paused briefly, took another slurp from his bowl and said in a quiet voice, "I'm not that finicky. You shouldn't have bothered about it. I'm okay with any food."
Yuwen Tong leaned over and touched Ling Zhang's forehead with his. "It's no bother. I'm happy that I did it. Doing these things is what makes me happy."
Eyes burning, Ling Zhang turned his head and kissed Yuwen Tong, staining his face with congee. Yuwen Tong didn't mind and resumed eating with the lip print of congee on his cheek.
Ling Zhang tried to keep from wiping it off but failed after a few moments.
Yuwen Tong let him wipe it away and then offered him more food. "Eat."
Ling Zhang obediently enjoyed those dishes and slurped his congee noisily. Since he was not in the Imperial Palace or at home, he didn't have to pay attention to table manners.
Yuwen Tong pushed a loose strand of Ling Zhang's hair back behind his ear. Seeing Ling Zhang enjoying the congee so much, Yuwen Tong swallowed and said, "Let me have a sip of it."
Ling Zhang looked up at him, perplexed. "Why do you want congee when you have rice?"
"Just give it to me."
Ling Zhang resignedly pushed his bowl to Yuwen Tong, who picked it up, put the part of its brim where Ling Zhang's lip had been between his own lips, took a slurp and observed, "It tastes fine."
Bewildered, Ling Zhang took his bowl back. Before he could figure out the reason, Yuwen Tong planted a sloppy kiss on his cheek, leaving a lip print on it.
Ling Zhang, "..."
He twisted his head aside to look at Yuwen Tong, who calmly looked back at him.
Ling Zhang turned his head back. Never mind. It was pointless to bother with an immature guy like Yuwen Tong.
Yuwen Tong, who was amused by the 'I-don't-want-to-be bothered-with-a-childish-guy-like-you' expression Ling Zhang assumed, raised his hand to rub Ling Zhang's head.
After a vain attempt to shake off Yuwen Tong's hand, Ling Zhang ignored him and resumed drinking his congee.
Yao Yi who was on guard duty outside the door glanced over his shoulder into the tent. Hearing his two masters bickering like children, he felt quite at ease, as though he'd returned to the Imperial Palace.
However, he was secretly hoping that he would find someone to slurp congee with him as well.
Yao Yi had lost count of the number of times this idea had occurred to him. It'd been only after he was saddened by his two masters' intimacies that he'd started considering this uncontrollably. It struck him vaguely that he didn't really want to get married that bad. Why had he been thinking about this kind of stuff so frequently in recent days?
The two people inside the tent were unaware that they had just depressed the current commander of the Palace Guards once again, but even if they'd come to know about it, they would continue doing it with a smile on their faces, showing Yao Yi no 'mercy' whatsoever.
C452: The Landing of Mu Rongfeng on the Shore
Early the next morning, Ling Zhang and Yuwen Tong walked out of the tent.
Mu Rongfeng's reply still hadn't arrived yet, and all sides were biding their time. The atmosphere was subdued and tense.
The two of them quietly entered Pingtao City. Residents were still unaware of the imminent fighting, so the mood in the downtown area was much more relaxed than it was in the military encampment. In order to prevent innocent civilians from being hurt during the operation the next day, the local yamen had some men put on an act at the port in the afternoon. In the name of an inquiry into a fistfight between two caravans, port guards took all members of all the caravans near the port into custody, and then sealed the port entrance temporarily, allowing only a small number of people to go in and out so as to minimize collateral damage.
At dusk, Mu Rongfeng's reply finally arrived. Yuwen Tong was the first to read the letter. In it, Mu Rongfeng agreed to Wang Xiangxin's plan, and he didn't mention anything about the time of their concerted operation, which spared Yuwen Tong the trouble of tampering the letter.
Ling Zhang studied the terrain of the areas outside Pingtao City for a while and then covertly brought Wang Dashan and some others out of the city to scout out the lay of the land. After returning from the trip, he told Yuwen Tong where he was going to deploy a formation.
"Considering the scale of tomorrow's operation, we won't be able to keep Wang Xiangxin in the dark about it. If they stay where they are, there'll be no problem, but if they move out of the checkpoint, my formation will hold them back and buy you some time."
Yuwen Tong inclined his head. After giving it some thought, he said, "The formation will have to be large, and those scouts in the city will easily find out about its existence. Do you think it's doable that we make a plan first and wait until tomorrow to deploy the formation?"
Ling Zhang said, "I think so."
The main purpose of the deployment of the formation was to stall the rebel army and buy the garrison some time to round up Mu Rongfeng and his men at the port
Yuwen Tong and Ling Zhang consulted with Hai Mu about this matter. The next day, Hai Mu would lead the Haizhou garrison to trap the enemy in a pincer movement, and proper coordination would be needed for the formation to serve its purpose.
The consultation lasted until night. After a plan was finalized, Hai Mu took his leave to make final arrangements. Ling Zhang, Wang Dashan and some others, under the cover of night, went out of the city once again.
The next day, at the crack of dawn, the atmosphere was even more subdued than it was the day before. Everybody was poised to take action.
...
On the sea outside Pingtao City.
There had been some unusual movements on the seemingly quiet sea before daybreak. Some pirate ships, hiding in morning mist, had attempted to get through the waters patrolled regularly by the navy to get ashore.
"Pirates!"
Soldiers on an observation tower on an island spotted the pirate ships. The navy immediately sent a couple of warships to intercept them.
The two sides engaged and the fighting was in a stalemate for an hour.
Afterward, the pirates were defeated and made an attempt to detour around the naval base to flee south. The warships exploited the victory and pursued the enemy hotly, sparing no efforts. Soon the noisy sea fell silent, without a single ship in sight.
"Advance! Full speed!" The fleet of 'merchant ships' led by Mu Rongfeng took advantage of this opportunity and sailed through the waters that the navy had originally been keeping close watch on, headed in the direction of the port of Pingtao City. Even if the navy found out about it, their warships wouldn't be able to catch up with them in time.
These merchant ships in disguise were actually small-sized warships from the navy of the Luohai Kingdom. This time, Mu Rongfeng had led one third of the navy south to Haizhou, investing quite a lot in this operation.
The dozens of ships moved very fast, getting closer and closer to the port outside Pingtao City. Distantly, soldiers on the ships could now see the situation in the port clearly.
Mu Rongfeng didn't go ashore immediately. Instead, he sent a couple of ships forward to reconnoiter.
The port was fairly quiet, because the day before some members of two caravans made trouble at the port and had a fierce fight, and then local authorities took all caravans staying near the port into custody, leaving some merchant ships anchored on the side. And then there were some port guards on duty. A couple of fishing boats had just gone ashore. Some fishermen and temporary workers were unloading fish from the boats, which were to be transported into Pingtao City as soon as possible.
According to the plan, Wang Xiangxin would send some men to create disturbance and lure away the port guards to allow Mu Rongfeng's men an opportunity to land on the shore.
Of course, the real date on which Wang Xiangxin wanted Mu Rongfeng to take action was the next day, so on this day, some soldiers of the Haizhou garrison would pose as refugees and create 'turmoil' to 'lure' the port guards away.
Those on the shore were also observing movements on the sea. The moment Mu Rongfeng's warships came into sight, people on the shore started making final preparations.
Mu Rongfeng's scouts came ashore just in time to see the 'turbulence' begin and most of the port guards drawn away.
Finding that the port guards had been lured away, one of the scouts sounded his horn.
The horn tooted.
"Get ashore!"
Mu Rongfeng gave the order and with that all his warships quickly moved towards the shore.
Some warships of the navy had turned around to pursue them. Mu Rongfeng repeatedly ordered his men to pick up speed and go ashore as quick as possible. "Hurry up! All of you!"
Light and fast, his warships in disguise reached the shore very soon. The marines of the Luohai Kingdom, posing as pirates, were poised to disembark. Mu Rongfeng was standing on deck, his eyes sweeping across the port, surprised that the port was unusually quiet. Berthed at random by the shore were only some fishing boats. Not only had all port guards been led away, but none of the businessmen he'd previously seen engaged in loading and unloading goods was in sight. Seeing this, he couldn't help but furrow his brows.
"What's going on? Why are all those merchant ships berthed there?!" Mu Rongfeng snapped at the scouts who had been waiting on the shore all this time.
Mu Rongfeng had long since planted these scouts in Pingtao City in order to stake out the city in case the situation changed.
"Your Highness, yesterday afternoon two chambers of commerce came into conflict and had a fight in this place. They destroyed a lot of each other's goods and caused quite a stink, so the local yamen took all of them into custody for interrogation," replied one of the scouts.
"Two chambers of commerce came into conflict? All caravans were involved?" Mu Rongfeng had a hunch that something was not right.
"The two chambers of commerce are two of the largest in Pingtao City. More than seventy percent of the merchant ships going in and out of this port regularly belong to the two of them. The situation was too chaotic when the fight broke out yesterday, and too many people got involved, so the local yamen simply arrested all members of caravans and boatmen in the port," answered the scout.
Before Mu Rongfeng could figure out which part of this matter was wrong, one of his subordinates keeping a lookout for the navy of the Great Wen ran up to report.
"Your Highness! Warships of their navy are approaching! Should we disembark and blow up the port right away?"
Mu Rongfeng glanced over his shoulder into the sea area behind him and saw that there were indeed some enemy warships coming, but he had an intuition that the incident the day before happened in suspicious circumstances, that it was too coincidental to be true. Two chambers of commerce had got into a fight the day before he took action—it was almost like someone had specially cleared the way for him...
Was that part of Wang Xiangxin's plan as well, by any chance?
Did Wang Xiangxin wield enough power in Pingtao City to arrange for two large chambers of commerce to do something like and have the local yamen cooperate with him?
Mu Rongfeng was still dithering, the warships of the navy of the Great Wen approaching constantly.
"Has Wang Xiangxin made his move? Why am I not hearing any battle cry?" asked Mu Rongfeng, his ears cocked, listening hard.
"Maybe they're too far away," said one of his subordinates.
"No. Something's not right. Don't get ashore yet. Go and do some recon immediately. If Wang Xiangxin has taken action, some people in the city would definitely have noticed," averred Mu Rongfeng through gritted teeth. "Everybody else stay put. Get ready to engage the navy of the Great Wen!"
"Your Highness, if we do it this way, we'll have to fight their navy head on, and there might be unimaginably heavy casualties, which would be totally unnecessary!"
"Do as I say!"
"But... Yes, Your Highness!"
...
It'd been quite some time but Mu Rongfeng still hadn't got ashore. Instead, he sent some scouts to fan out into nearby areas to do recon, and he seemed to have the intention to launch a frontal attack on the navy of the Great Wen. On a tall building in the distance, Ling Zhang and Yuwen Tong saw the whole thing distinctly.
"It seems that Mu Rongfeng is not really that stupid. Unfortunately for him, even if he'd found out something about our plan, he wouldn't have enough time to take any countermeasures. He has to come ashore, no matter whether he wants to or not," observed Yuwen Tong.
"Judging from how long it has been since the start, Wu Zhuo and his marines should arrive to surround them soon," said Ling Zhang.
Predictably, before long, a patch of black spots emerged from the mist on the sea.
The first batch of warships pursuing Mu Rongfeng's men had approached, and there are a great number of warships in the distance, heading in this direction.
Mu Rongfeng's men panicked. "Your Highness, we're surrounded by a large naval fleet of the Great Wen!"
Mu Rongfeng climbed up a mast to look into the distance and then also noticed the fleet, his face falling instantly, realizing that there was indeed something wrong.
"Fuck! That son of a bitch Wang Xiangxin must've surrendered himself to the imperial court of the Great Wen. He lured us into a trap! Sound retreat! Everybody go back to the ships! Get prepared to–"
BOOM!
The naval ship at the front of the pursuers suddenly fired a ball with gunpowder inside. All those ships were equipped with catapults. Large balls containing gunpowder with lighted fuses were fired one after another before they landed on the 'merchant ships' and exploded, closely followed by a volley of flaming arrows.
"FALL BACK!" bellowed Mu Rongfeng after jumping off the mast, narrowly avoiding being hit by a flaming arrow.
"Your Highness, it-it's too late! There are enemy naval ships coming from both sides! All those merchant ships have been camouflaged. They're warships of the Great Wen!" a subordinate of his reported, panic-stricken.
Those 'merchant ships', which had been quietly staying near the port all along, suddenly moved, cornering them from both sides, large numbers of marines pouring out of the cabins, flaming arrows raining down on Mu Rongfeng's warships.
Mu Rongfeng's men were under attack from two sides. All those 'merchant ships' were larger than Mu Rongfeng's. If Mu Rongfeng was to force his way out of the port by breaking through the surrounding circle, he would have to pay a heavy price and it would take a lot of time too. Also, there was a very high chance that the marines of the Great Wen would get aboard his warships before his men could breach the ring of encirclement.
Mu Rongfeng's eyes were red with fury. There were so many enemy ships on the sea that even wind could barely get through. The naval forces of the Great Wen had almost turned out in full strength, making it impossible for them to retreat by sea.
"Get ashore and go north!" ordered Mu Rongfeng.
The Jiangzhou rebel army was in the south-west, but Mu Rongfeng was now very suspicious of Wang Xiangxin and no longer had any trust in him, so he naturally wouldn't retreat in that direction. He intended for his men to land on the shore, blend into local residents and flee north, then find an opportunity to get aboard some ships and travel further north to return home.
Mu Rongfeng believed that this was a shrewd move. However, his opponent had anticipated it and taken precautions in the north some time before. Even if he and his men managed to reach the northern part, they would have to double back eventually.
The moment Mu Rongfeng and his men set foot on the shore, soldiers guarding the gates of Pingtao City received orders to shut all city gates to prevent Mu Rongfeng and his men from fleeing into the city. This was also one of the benefits of the port not being part of Pingtao City. At ordinary times, it was not very convenient for goods to be transported from the port to the downtown area, but when there was a sea battle, a lot of losses could be avoided if the city gates were shut in time.
This time around, Mu Rongfeng and his men were doomed to end up like fish in a barrel.
C453: Wang Xiangxin's Entry into the Formation
As all the Luohai marines masquerading as pirates, by order of Mu Rongfeng, disembarked from their warships and landed on the shore, marines of the Great Wen from the merchant ships in the port also got ashore. At the same time, the port guards, who hadn't really been lured far away, charged out of hiding and towards Mu Rongfeng and the several thousand troops under his command.
"Kill these goddamn pirates! Take no prisoners!"
Mu Rongfeng, in order to hide his identity to make it more convenient to carry out his plan, had disguised himself as a pirate, but by doing that, he had actually tossed away his protective talisman. Now soldiers of the Great Wen could directly kill him without any misgivings.
"Do not stay here! Retreat north!" bawled Mu Rongfeng, beside himself with rage. Watching this scene, he inwardly cursed Wang Xiangxin numerous times. He knew very well that with this army of merely several thousand men, he didn't have a snowball's chance in hell of defeating the Great Wen's navy and the Haizhou garrison, that he must not fight the enemy head on, that the right thing to do was make his escape as quick as possible.
According to his original plan, this several-thousand-man army of his was supposed to launch a sneak attack on Pingtao City, blow up the port, prevent the navy of the Great Wen from landing on the shore to save Pingtao City, then join hands with Wang Xiangxin's army to attack the Haizhou garrison from two sides, but it'd never crossed his mind that he and his men would be forced into running for their lives before they could take action!
Mu Rongfeng was consumed with fury. He and Shan Congyi had agreed that they would cooperate with Wang Xiangxin and assist him to escalate the situation and make life difficult for Yuwen Tong, but now Wang Xiangxin had betrayed him, and he had no idea whether or not Shan Congyi had played a part in this. What with the chaos, Mu Rongfeng was unable to give it any careful thought and believed that the only plausible explanation was he'd been betrayed. Right now he must shake off the marines of the Great Wen and the port guards as soon as possible...
"This is bad, Your Highness. The road ahead is blockaded. It-It's the Haizhou garrison!"
"What?!"
...
At the checkpoint on the boundary between Jiangzhou and Haizhou.
This checkpoint was located on a relatively high position. Standing on the hilltop, people could see the movements in and outside Pingtao City. Besides, there were also faint battle cries coming from that direction. One of the soldiers on duty, as a matter of urgency, hurriedly reported to his superior what was happening at the port.
"General! Some pirates made a landing at the port outside Pingtao City. The naval forces of the Great Wen pursued them to the shore, disembarked and caught up with them. The two sides have engaged."
"What?!"
The general in charge of the checkpoint was thunderstruck. "Are they real pirates or–"
"I couldn't see them clearly."
The general hastened to the hilltop to see for himself and then returned. The round trip to the hilltop took him quite some time. Eventually he decided that no matter whether those people were real pirates or not, the circumstances were obviously quite suspicious, that he needed to report it to Wang Xiangxin without delay.
Wang Xiangxin was hiding in the military encampment, and currently the general was the only one aware of his true identity. When the general found Wang Xiangxin, the latter was very displeased. "Why are you here? Did I not tell you to never risk blowing my cover identity?!"
"There's an emergency, Commander. Those pirates took action ahead of schedule and are now surrounded by the marines. As far as I could tell, those people from the Luohai Kingdom are probably among them!"
Wang Xiangxin was immediately rendered too shocked to consider how to punish the general for coming to his hiding place without his consent, his face instantly darkening.
"Commander, should we go there to rescue them right away or..." said the general in an anxious tone.
Heedless of the risk of blowing his cover, Wang Xiangxin hurried to the hilltop to look in the direction of the ongoing rough-and-tumble in the distance. The battle cry was getting clearer and clearer. If Mu Rongfeng was indeed in there and he didn't go to rescue Mu Rongfeng, he would be leaving Mu Rongfeng and his men in the lurch, but why had Mu Rongfeng chosen to make his move on this day?!
...
Outside Pingtao City, Mu Rongfeng and his men were ringed. The city gates had been shut. They were almost like fish in a barrel.
"Your Highness, this whole thing is so weird. Maybe we should send a signal and see if Wang Xiangxin would come to our rescue!" said one of Mu Rongfeng's subordinates, who was relatively sober-minded.
This was their only option, and Mu Rongfeng had to take it with an inclination of the head, though he hated Wang Xiangxin's and Shan Congyi's guts.
Thus, a signal flare was sent up into the sky and exploded.
In the checkpoint in the distance, Wang Xiangxin's face changed drastically at the sound. "Mu Rongfeng is really there!"
"What do we do, Commander? I think we might have a chance of saving the day if we go down there and join hands with Mu Rongfeng to attack them from two sides!" said the general.
Wang Xiangxin, however, believed otherwise. "Why did Mu Rongfeng make his move on this day? Why hasn't the port been blown up? Why have the naval forces of the Great Wen arrived so soon? It must be because Mu Rongfeng's whereabouts had been leaked some time before, and maybe even..."
After a brief pause, he continued through gritted teeth, "The letter I wrote to Mu Rongfeng might've been tampered with. Otherwise he wouldn't have chosen to take action ahead of schedule without telling me! Given the current circumstances, we would be walking straight into a trap laid by the Haizhou garrison if we go out there!"
"B-But the Wan Kingdom's support has become the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow already. If we stay here, we'll lose the Luohai Kingdom's support as well, and our chance of surviving the attack from the army of the imperial court under Yuwen Tong's command would be..."
The general didn't finish his sentence, but his meaning was explicit. Wang Xiangxin was not an incarnation of the God of War, and the special geographical location of Jiangzhou was the sole reason why he had dared stay in this prefecture, blockade the four checkpoints and work against the imperial court. Wang Xiangxin knew that given the current strength of the rebel forces in Jiangzhou, he didn't stand a chance of defeating Yuwen Tong's army on the battlefield.
As a result, he had to expand his army. Even if he couldn't take Haizhou, he must take Pingtao City!
Clenching his teeth, Wang Xiangxin stared fixedly in the direction of Pingtao City. After a long moment's apparently painful internal struggle, he said, "Get the men into marching formation. We're going to Pingtao City! Your job is to take some men and stall the Haizhou garrison. I'll go to Mu Rongfeng's rescue!"
"Yes, Commander!" replied the general.
...
The movements of the Jiangzhou rebel army immediately came to the knowledge of Hai Mu, the commander of the Haizhou garrison, whose men had been staking out the checkpoint constantly. He sneered and gave the order for the whole garrison to get ready to fight the Jiangzhou rebel army who would soon come out of the checkpoint.
The Jiangzhou rebel army poured out of the checkpoint with a lot of noise. The Haizhou garrison, who had been lying in wait for some time, immediately launched an offensive.
Thunderous beat of battle drums could be distinctly heard both in and outside Pingtao City.
...
"Wang Xiangxin made his move. It's time I went there to take a look."
Ling Zhang turned around to look in another direction. Wang Dashan and some others had gone to finish the last step of the deployment of the formation. Wang Xiangxin had just set out to rescue his allies when he was about to enter a containment formation!
Looking in the direction of Mu Rongfeng who was putting up a desperate fight, Yuwen Tong said, "Be careful."
"I will," Ling Zhang answered and then left with some bodyguards.
Yuwen Tong instructed, "Yao Yi, go and protect him."
Yao Yi glanced at the other bodyguards beside Yuwen Tong and then replied with a head bob, "Yes, Sire."
Mu Rongfeng was now like a turtle in a jar, posing no threat to anybody.
...
As the Haizhou garrison had pre-planned the ambush, the Jiangzhou rebel army had just went through the gate of the checkpoint when they were attacked and got into tangled fighting. Unable to extricate his army from the battle to have them go to Pingtao City to rescue Mu Rongfeng, Wang Xiangxin had no alternative but to break out of the surrounding circle with only a small number of soldiers and his hit squad while the Haizhou garrison were fighting the main force of the Jiangzhou rebel army, galloping towards Pingtao City.
"They're coming."
Wang Dashan and the other twenty-three bodyguards, along with two teams of picked soldiers, had been waiting for quite some time. At the sight of the group of rebels hurtling downhill to rescue their allies, they opened the entrance of the containment formation that they'd deployed beforehand, waiting for the targets to enter.
"These people are not what they appear to be. Look, those wearing black skintight outfits don't seem like soldiers. They're more like..."
"Kung fu masters. They're probably Wang Xiangxin's hit squad that Young Master once mentioned."
"Everybody stay sharp!"
All of them squared their shoulders, poised to attack. Ling Zhang arrived just in time to see Wang Xiangxin and his men charge into the containment formation, and he naturally noticed the group of kung fu masters beside Wang Xiangxin who were clothed in black skintight outfits.
One of Wang Xiangxin's men, shortly after following him into the large-scale containment formation, perceived that something was wrong. "Wait!" he cautioned.
Wang Xiangxin on horseback looked at him in bewilderment, "What's the matter?"
"Something's not right. Look at the road ahead of us. I'm sure it was different before we exited the checkpoint. That turning wasn't there, and neither was this fog!" answered the man, his cold eyes sweeping around him, a suspicious look on his face.
It was after hearing his warning that Wang Xiangxin observed that fog had quietly begun to close in. It was clearly still daytime, but somehow the sky suddenly darkened. He remembered very well the weather hadn't been like this a short while before...
Wang Xiangxin immediately turned his horse to look in the opposite direction only to find that the road along which they had traveled to this place had vanished without a trace, and the thunderous beating of battle drums was also receding into the distance, along with the battle cry. All of a sudden, a deathly hush reigned!
"We're trapped." Wang Xiangxin clenched his teeth, his eyes menacingly darting around. Except for his men, everything was blurring and flickering, making it difficult for him to see any of them clearly.
...
Meanwhile, at the eastern city gates, most of Mu Rongfeng's men had been downed, the surviving ones closely clustering around him.
Looking at Mu Rongfeng, Yuwen Tong sneered, "Tell them I want Mu Rongfeng alive."
"Yes, Sire!" one of his bodyguards replied and then immediately took a flying leap, heading for the city gates to deliver the instruction.
Eyes on Mu Rongfeng who was now a sorry sight, Yuwen Tong inwardly sneered another few times. Currently the Luohai Kingdom's exchequer was fuller than either of the other two countries'. Unlike the Wan Kingdom which was now in dire poverty, the Luohai Kingdom was quite wealthy and would pay a lot of ransom in exchange for its crown prince. Mu Rongfeng's life meant nothing to the Great Wen, but money meant a lot to it.
Besides, considering the fairly complicated domestic situation of the Luohai Kingdom, he would very likely be doing the potential rebel forces in the Luohai Kingdom a favor if he killed Mu Rongfeng. From the vantage point of the present, it was best if the Luohai Kingdom stayed in civil strife. Letting Mu Rongfeng go back would do more good than killing him would.
Looking at Mu Rongfeng, Yuwen Tong had started pondering how to bargain with the Luohai Kingdom.
Mu Rongfeng was unaware that his opponent had put a mental price tag on him, that he was like a fish waiting to be sold back to the Luohai Kingdom.
"Your Highness, we're in a very unfavorable situation. It's been such a long time since we shot the signal flare, and the beating of battle drums has lasted quite some time as well, but there's still no sign of backup. I think Wang Xiangxin either has no intention of coming to our rescue or has been intercepted. Maybe we should figure out another way."
Mu Rongfeng's face was sepulchral. A while before, when he'd heard the beating of battle drums, he'd felt a sense of relief and been waiting for backup from Wang Xiangxin since then. However, after such a long time, his men had been downed one after another, and there were now only several hundred of them left, but Wang Xiangxin's rescue team still hadn't arrived. If things went on like this, it wouldn't be long before his men were wiped out.
"Hang in there for a while longer. If Wang Xiangxin still doesn't show up with reinforcements, I'll reveal my identity."
All those beside him were relieved at these words, feeling lucky that they didn't really have to fight to their last breaths in this place.
Mu Rongfeng, however, was unable to feel a shred of relief. If Wang Xiangxin came to his rescue, he might get a chance to turn the tide; if not, all his dignity as the crown prince of the Luohai Kingdom would be lost, and he could already see what kind of consequences he would have to face in the future.