The Beacon of Kyushu

Seeing the fire spreading all over the place and no one could stop it, Sun Quanxing couldn't help but smile and said, "Well, you should lure Gao Chujun into the city now. I won't be able to rest until he's dead."

"Yes, General!" the scout responded and rode out of the city quickly.

Sun Quanxing looked at the scout's back as he walked away, clenching his left hand tightly. The smile on his face was more arrogant than the flames in front of him. "Gao Chujun, don't think that just because your Gao family has been generals for generations, you can defeat my thousands of troops with just one or two hundred men! When you die, I will chop off your head and take it to General Fan to claim credit. By then, I will not only be a small Lanling Tuanlianshi, but I will at least be a general!"

Jia Xi smiled proudly, "General, don't be too self-deprecating. In my opinion, not to mention a general, even ten generals are too young! If Li Huan really knows how to appoint people, he should make you a vice king. Then we brothers will all be promoted to heaven!"

Wang Zhen raised his gun and saluted, saying, "General, Gao Chujun is an extraordinary martial artist. It would be better if I personally lead the troops to ambush and kill him. Otherwise, if he manages to break through the encirclement, our situation will be in danger!"

Sun Quanxing nodded and said, "It would be great if General Wang is willing to go. You can quickly dispatch a thousand soldiers to ambush at the city gate and kill Gao Chujun in one fell swoop! If you can really accomplish such a great feat, I'm sure General Fan will recommend you to His Majesty and let you rise to a high position."

"Yes, I will obey your command!" Wang Zhen bowed and rode away.

As soon as Wang Zhen left, Sun Quanxing's sight shifted to Yuying Manor again, and the smile on his lips became brighter. As long as Wang Zhen killed Gao Chujun, he would be successful, and no longer have to pretend to be trapped in a small place like Huabu. However, while Sun Quanxing was excited, he felt something was wrong in his heart, and he couldn't help but look at Yuying Manor a few more times, "Strange, although I set this fire unexpectedly, there are so many people in Yuying Manor, how come no one escaped? Is there something else going on?" This thought only appeared in Sun Quanxing's mind for a moment, and then it was diluted by endless excitement and pride, and thrown into the sky.

After a while, there was a sudden earth-shaking shout of killing from the city gate. This sound was particularly clear in the middle of the night. Sun Quanxing held a big knife in his hand and kept looking towards the shouting and killing on his horse. However, there were houses of different heights in between. Even if he had a clairvoyance, it was difficult for him to see the battle situation at the city gate. Seeing Sun Quanxing so anxious, Jia Xi said, "Although General Wang's martial arts are not a match for Gao Chujun, a good tiger cannot stand up to a pack of wolves. He will be killed by General Wang. Don't worry."

Sun Quanxing nodded and was about to send a scout to the city gate to inquire about the battle situation, but the shouting and killing gradually stopped and disappeared completely in the silent night. Instead, a horse came from afar, and the sound of horse hooves stepped on the stone road. Jia Shi pointed in the direction of the horse hoof sound and said, "General, did you hear it? General Wang is back!"

"Well, I heard it!" A smug smile appeared on Sun Quanxing's face again, and his tightly grip on the sword gradually relaxed. He just hoped that General Wang, who was riding a fast horse and carrying him, would arrive soon.

After a while, under the light of the fire, the man on the fast horse came closer. Sun Quanxing and Jia Shi saw the General Wang they had been waiting for, but General Wang was still alive just now, but now there was only a bloody head left, and the one holding the head was undoubtedly Gao Chujun. At this time, Gao Chujun had three sharp arrows stuck in his body, and six or seven other wounds were bleeding. His white battle robe was stained with blood, and the murderous intent in his eyes was hotter than fire and colder than ice. "You bastard! Give me your life!" Gao Chujun roared, threw Wang Zhen's head at Sun Quanxing, and at the same time, he raised his spear and jumped on his horse to go straight for Jia Shi.

Most of the people present had been soldiers for half their lives, but none of them had ever seen such a battle. They were all stunned by Gao Chujun. Gao Chujun rushed out with the dragon-like sword, and the cold light flashed in the air, and Jia Shi was knocked off the horse and died. Sun Quanxing was so scared when he saw Jia Shi was dead that he raised his sword to fight the enemy, but he was half a step slower. Before he raised the sword to his chest, Gao Chujun shot him in the chest. "Ah!" Sun Quanxing screamed heartbreakingly, and all his delusional thoughts disappeared in an instant, and his body fell off the horse unwillingly.

When the soldiers saw that the three commanders were killed in an instant, who dared to fight Gao Chujun? They immediately dropped their weapons and knelt on the ground. Gao Chujun pulled out a spear from Sun Quanxing's body, squinted at the soldiers, and said sternly: "You are all soldiers of the Song Dynasty, but you have no backbone. You only know how to be accomplices to the tigers. Today I will kill the three thieves, but you surrender. I don't know who you will be loyal to when I am in trouble tomorrow! Why don't I kill you all today to avenge the deaths of the people in the village, and prevent you from bringing shame to the Song Dynasty in the future!"

Gao Chujun said as he thrust his spear at the throat of the nearest soldier, intending to kill him. The nearly burned-down village gate was pushed open from the inside at this moment. "Ahem! General Gao, your spear skills are inherited from your ancestors, but who did you learn the skill of killing the surrendered from? If I remember correctly, it seems that your great-grandfather, grandfather, and father have never done this before? Could it be that you have become more skilled and are planning to use this method to create a new way to carry forward the Gao family spear?"

"Young Master Wan? You are not dead?" Gao Chujun heard the voice and looked over. He saw Wan Jianfeng, Zhang Xubai, Hua Luoying, Baoen, Guangji, and Guangqing all rushed out of the Yuying Manor which was about to burn down. However, they were extremely pungent from the smoke. You could smell the strong smoke from a distance. The mixture of the sweet smell of flower wine and the smell of smoke made people feel indescribably awkward. Even a beautiful woman like Hua Luoying was not immune to this.

Wan Jianfeng led his donkey and ran a few steps to the high and handsome horse, "I am a lucky man with a good fate. Even if the fire gets bigger, don't think of burning me to death!"

Gao Chujun stared at Wan Jianfeng in astonishment, frowned and said, "Young Master Wan, how did you escape this disaster?"

Wan Jianfeng wanted to talk nonsense for a while, but Bao En said, "Amitabha, there is a wine cellar in Yuying Manor. We hid in the cellar as soon as the fire started. We wanted to wait until the fire was extinguished before coming out, but suddenly we heard shouts and screams outside the cellar, so Master Wan guessed that you were here, so we soaked our bodies with wine and rushed out in advance in the fire. How about it, we smell so good, don’t we? I won’t be willing to wash off this fragrance for a year or two!" Gao Chujun subconsciously covered his nose with his hand and said, "Since everyone is fine, this is the best! Without further ado, we must cross the Qiu River overnight before Fan Jubei finds out. Otherwise, tomorrow, Fan Jubei will definitely lead a large army to intercept and kill us, and then we will be in great danger."

Wan Jianfeng agreed, "That's right, General Gao is wise, and he thinks the same as me! Although the three thieves are dead now, Huabu is our world for the time being, but if Fan Jubei really brings a large army to attack the city, we will be in danger!"

As they were talking, Kou Zhun and his two companions followed the firelight and hurried to Yuying Manor. The two parties reunited without hesitation and immediately abandoned their fancy steps and rushed to Qiujiang River. When they were about to reach the river, they saw dozens of large and small ships parked on the river. They thought they were the navy under Fan Jubei, so they reined in their horses and no one dared to get close.

Wan Jianfeng looked at Gao Chujun unhappily and said, "General Gao! Didn't I ask you to guard Qiujiang? Now Fan Jubei has occupied Qiujiang. How can we return to the Central Plains? Should we let everyone fly back?"

Gao Chujun said, "Young Master Wan, it's totally unreasonable for you to blame me! Just now Sun Quanxing sent someone to inform me that the city was on fire, so how could I not leave Qiujiang? Who could have expected that Fan Jubei would send the navy to block my way at this moment? Besides, I only have one or two hundred troops stationed by the river, so how could I be a match for so many navy troops?"

Guangji clenched his fist and shouted, "It's too late to say anything now. The only thing we can do is rush over and kill you to death. Maybe there is still a glimmer of hope!"

Gao Chujun nodded slightly and said, "Well, that's the only way!"

Although Wan Jianfeng, Zhang Xubai, Baoen, and Guangqing were unwilling to act rashly, the current situation was urgent and they could not make any plans. They looked at each other and asked the soldiers around them to protect Hua Luoying and the three civil servants. The rest of them rushed to the riverside to fight to the death with the Qu Yue soldiers on the boat. However, when everyone rushed to the waterside, they found that the flags on the boat did not seem to be the flags of the Qu Yue navy, but all had the three words "Shuilongwu" written on them. At the bow of one of the large ships, a young man wearing a water blue sweatshirt and holding a wide iron paddle was standing. It was Shao Hengjiang, the owner of Shuilongwu who had not been seen for a long time.

"Huh!" Wan Jianfeng touched his chest, let out a long breath, pointed at Shao Hengjiang and complained with a smile: "Old Shao, you came without even saying hello in advance, and scared me so much that I almost vomited my gallbladder! If you don't bring out some good wine to calm me down, don't say that I don't care about brotherhood, I will never let you go!"

"Haha, when little Taigong heard that second brother accompanied the envoys to Hualu to negotiate peace, he expected that Li Huan would be at odds with the Song Dynasty, and would sooner or later kill you in Qiujiang. Therefore, little Taigong drove the boat from Shuilongwu to the upper reaches of Qiujiang in advance, waiting for you to return, so that he could go down the river without anyone noticing to pick you up to cross the river. God have mercy on me, little Taigong tried his best to help second brother, but was blamed by him instead. Little Taigong felt really wronged. But it doesn't matter, there is plenty of good wine on the boat, second brother, just come up and drink it!" Shao Hengjiang smiled and ordered each boat to lower the gangway to take everyone on shore on board.

Wan Jianfeng got on the boat with a dragon-subduing stick in one hand and a donkey in the other. But he looked around and didn't see Chen Zhong, Shao Hengjiang's personal steward. He couldn't help but ask curiously, "Old Shao, where is your timid old man? Why can't I see him?"

When Shao Hengjiang heard him mention Chen Zhong, he said indignantly, "Little Grandpa sent a boat to pick up my second brother, but this old guy refused to go, saying that he was going to report to the police. We are brothers, how can Little Grandpa let such an old coffin ruin the big thing? Little Grandpa had no choice but to send him back to his grandmother's home!"

Wan Jianfeng was startled and said, "What? You killed him! Killing someone is a small matter, but you won't be able to gain a foothold in Qu Yue. Can you bear to give up the huge Shuilongwu?"

Shao Hengjiang patted Wan Jianfeng on the shoulder and said, "For my second brother, let alone the small Shuilongwu, even the life of the young master is ready! There is no need to say anything else, my second brother. The young master has killed someone in Quyue this time, and he will go back to the Central Plains with you, so that he will not have to endure the anger of these southern barbarians!"

While the two were talking, Zhang Xubai, Hua Luoying and others also boarded the boat. Hearing this, Hua Luoying hesitated and said softly: "Now my Yuying Villa has been destroyed, and I have no relatives or friends. I really have nowhere to stay. If I stay in Quyue any longer, once General Fan and Lord Li investigate, my fate will be unimaginable. But if I leave, I don't know where to go..."

Zhang Xubai didn't know where he got the courage from. He lowered his head and looked at the tip of Hua Luoying's shoes. He said shyly: "Hua... Miss Hua, whether it's the nine continents or the four seas, or the heaven or the underworld, no matter where you want to go, I am willing to accompany you all the time. If...if I must leave, I hope to be in the paradise of my heart, when I am old and gray."

Hua Luoying smiled leisurely, her clear eyes looked at Zhang Xubai tenderly, without saying a word. At this moment, silence is better than words, no matter how many words there are, they are not as good as the eyes of lovers, which contain a hundred kinds of tenderness, a thousand kinds of promises, and a vow that will last forever. Two pure hearts, four bright eyes, intersecting and blending, compose a song together: Even if the mountains are gone and the sky and the earth are united, I will never part with you! (End of this chapter)