After saving the Empress, I became the top scholar in the imperial examination.

"Ning Baixuan, at a time like this, are you still going to spout nonsense?!" Zhao Laoqian shouted.

"I'll cut off your hand in a minute! Let's see if you can still fire your bow and arrow then!"

"I'll cut out your tongue!"

"Good, cut off the palms, cut off the tongue!"

The crowd was filled with righteous indignation, their faces turning red with anger.

They suffered heavy losses tonight.

Yu Dayong and two others died at Ning Baixuan's hands, while Peng Tanzhu and Xu Laosan were injured by Ning Baixuan.

Master Shen was injured by the gun-wielding youth. In addition, he was ambushed by the group of servants earlier, resulting in the deaths of three of his brothers. Another brother was stabbed to death by four servants. If it weren't for Madam Huang stepping forward and blocking four men by herself, several more brothers would probably have died at the hands of such petty villains.

Two other unfortunate brothers were trapped under the horse, their bellies bulging, barely alive, and were finally freed by the others with knives.

Everyone grabbed their weapons and glared at Ning Baixuan, their anger still burning. If it weren't for the fact that he had bows and muskets, they would have already swarmed him.

Now that His Highness the Prince's armored cavalry has arrived, there's no need for us to carry out his arrows.

Feng Yu was secretly lamenting his predicament. Unlike others, as the altar master, he knew Ning Baixuan's other identity and the Right Protector's purpose in capturing this person.

The Right Protector had also instructed that the enemy should not be harmed, but now that the brothers were united in their hatred of the enemy, he really could not give the order that everyone should not harm Ning Baixuan.

We have to take this person down first.

At this time.

The twenty riders took a step forward in perfect unison.

Ning Nan turned his horse around to face the twenty riders head-on, but his ears were listening to the movements behind him.

The general wearing the ghost mask raised his long spear, and three men stepped forward, heading straight for Ningnan.

The three men's silver armor gleamed in the moonlight.

"Ding!"

One of the Ningnan Dynasty men shot an arrow.

The arrow pierced the silver armor a little, but then fell off.

He drew his musket and lit the fuse with the flintlock pistol.

The dark muzzle of the gun was pointed at the masked general wielding the long spear, and he used the same tactic as before:

"Don't come any closer, or I'll shoot your general dead!"

He didn't know if this person was a "general," but he'd just say that for now.

The three riders indeed stopped.

The masked general said in a hoarse voice, "It's alright, seize him for me!"

Ning Nan's ears twitched; the voice sounded somewhat familiar.

The three riders, wielding long spears with sharp, menacing blades, charged at him once more.

A fishy wind blew across the great river.

Ning Nan stared at the sharp spearheads of the men, his eyes darkening, and he silently took a breath.

It was at this moment.

"Woof woof woof woof woof..."

About twenty feet away from the twenty cavalrymen, a sudden, loud barking came from the dogs.

……

……

Xing Kaiyang shook his limbs, escorted the King of Wu out of the inner room, and slammed the door shut behind him.

The officials of the Eastern Palace outside all stood up.

He leaned over the iron fence, angrily denouncing the scoundrel while feeling heartbroken and shedding tears for the King of Wu's plight.

"You scoundrels! May you never be reincarnated!"

"Release my Prince of Liang!"

"You traitors, without loyalty or respect for your ruler! You despicable dogs will die at the hands of the Heavenly Soldiers of Great Liang sooner or later!"

The crowd roared in righteous indignation.

The King of Wu looked haggard.

He walked ahead, dejected.

Xing Kaiyang opened the cell door and pushed the King of Wu out. Inside, the courtiers were still shouting, "You treacherous dogs, where are you taking His Highness?"

Xing Kaiyang glanced at the crowd inside, their faces flushed with anger, his eyes filled with disdain, and ignored them. The King of Wu had said that not a single tear from these people was real… but what the King of Wu needed was for them to shed some fake tears.

With a "bang," he slammed the door shut.

Two candles were lit outside the door.

Two guards with knives stood on either side of them.

King Wu tugged at the slipknot, loosened the rope, and threw it onto a wooden table.

He glanced at the lamp on the wooden table, then at the surrounding wooden structure, and said calmly, "Be careful of fire."

"Yes," Xing Kaiyang replied.

After giving this instruction, Wu Wang stepped forward and walked up a wooden staircase.

Thump, thump, thump, after walking down about ten narrow steps, the view suddenly became clear!

This place is actually the deck of a large ship!

Around the deck of the large ship stood a circle of people with red scarves tied to their sleeves, knives at their waists, standing in an orderly fashion, holding torches in their hands and guarding the ship.

Two guards with swords, who were not wearing red scarves, followed on either side.

One of them said, "Your Highness, the ship is ready and can be launched at any time."

The King of Wu glanced at the deck and nodded.

He didn't say much.

Walk to the right, reach the gangway, and take a few quick steps down the gangway.

Step onto a wooden plank.

Deep night.

The plank rested in a shallow pool of water.

A large ship, twelve zhang long and three and a half zhang wide, was also placed in this shallow pool of water, its hull already touching the muddy bottom.

Two guards, one in front and one behind, held torches for him.

Walk to the end of the flat wooden plank.

Step onto a sloping wooden plank ramp that ascends upwards.

The King of Wu walked across this slope, which was more than two zhang high.

With both feet on the green grass on the bank, I looked back.

There was a large, dark lake that looked like a hoofprint on the mountain, but the water was very shallow and a large boat was moored in it.

The King of Wu withdrew his gaze and turned his head. The lake was surrounded by a dark, dense forest.

Several people carrying torches walked towards him.

He looked upstream and said calmly, "Blow up the dam and release the water."

"Yes!" one person replied.

The King of Wu ignored him and hurried toward the forest to the left.

The forest to the left was originally dark and silent, but after his guard ran ahead of him and whistled, sounds of people getting up echoed in the forest.

A rustling sound came from the grass, and suddenly there were no fewer than a hundred breaths.

On the deck of the big ship.

Xing Kaiyang withdrew his gaze from the departing King Wu and saw the people on the shore waving torches. His expression became excited, knowing that this ship, which had been in the mountains since its construction began, was finally going to enter the river today.

He ordered his men to prepare, turned around on the deck, and planned to stand guard outside the prison.

At this moment, Xing Kaiyang suddenly frowned. A cluster of torches lit up the way into the mountains on the right, and he turned his gaze towards it.

A shadowy figure appeared, stepping over the ramp and then the plank to board the boat and report.

"Report!" the messenger exclaimed excitedly, "Brother Xing Liu, that Ning Baixuan, Brother Xu San has already captured him!"

Xing Kaiyang's eyes lit up.

Xu Laosan is such a slowpoke; he only arrived when the boat was almost leaving. I thought we'd have to wait at the river mouth later.

"Walk!"

He raised the knife at his waist.

He ordered two men to carry torches, quickly walk down the gangway, and jump ashore.

There were some sentries hidden in the woods.

Xing Kaiyang grinned as he passed through the hidden sentries.

After trekking for over a hundred feet through the forest, we finally arrived at the location of the fire.

There were about ten people in front of me, covered in blood, sitting miserably on the ground.

Xing Kaiyang was taken aback. Upon closer inspection, he saw Xu Laosan lying on a stretcher, his face contorted in pain.

He didn't know many other people.

I recognized Shen Shou; he was lying on a stretcher, his face pale, struggling with his eyes closed, looking like he was on the verge of death.

"Third Senior Brother!"

Xing Kaiyang cried out in alarm and rushed to Xu Tianji's stretcher. He squatted down and examined Xu Laosan. He was shocked to see that his thigh was covered in blood and that there were several knife wounds on his arm. The next moment, anger surfaced on his face.

He glanced around and noticed that the other dozen or so people also looked dejected.

Under the tree.

There was a person tied up with a rope, lying on the ground. It was unclear whether this person was Ning Baixuan.

"What happened?"

He angrily addressed the messenger.

When the messenger saw that Xing Liu was angry, his eyes narrowed.

After shouting twice, they recounted what had happened, saying that the group of brothers carried Brother Xu and Master Shen into the forest, shouting and yelling all the way, "We're here! Save Brother Xu! Save Master Shen!" When the sentries heard this, they came out and matched their secret codes with each other, and they all matched.

When asked what happened, they said they ran into government troops and managed to rescue Xu Liuge and Shen Tanzhu, but the others were trapped. Fortunately, reinforcements arrived, and they managed to escape.

"Hey!" the messenger said to a young man who looked exhausted. "Yu Xiaoyong, come here and tell Xing Liu Ge what's going on."

"Brother Xing Liu, it was Xiao Yong who gave us the correct code just now."

Seeing Xu Laosan's state, Xing Kaiyang was momentarily at a loss: "Tell me, what happened?"

The young man named Yu Xiaoyong, covered in blood and grime, crawled over with a bitter smile. He glanced at Xing Kaiyang's face and said in a Hejian accent:

"Brother Xingliu, we really had a close call today. Those bandit soldiers were incredibly fierce. They chased us for dozens of miles and even ambushed us. They killed Master Feng... Fortunately, we still managed to deliver that bastard Ning Baixuan to the Right Protector." Yu Xiaoyong sobbed twice.