Knife splashing

Chapter 674 The aftermath
It turned out to be Mendes!
As soon as they approached the Tulip, the hook began to heat up and pointed out the direction.

Li Yan already had some suspicion that the technique used to control the school of fish was related to this Mendes.

Now it seems that it is indeed the case.

Li Yan really didn't understand Western magic.

But he was clear about one thing, the rules of this world would not change, no matter which sect or school, they were all basically the same.

As long as you interfere with the altar, you can interrupt its magic.

The soul-breaking flying knife whizzed out, the knife light flashed in the air, and with a spin, blood splattered everywhere.

Mendes screamed and fell to the ground, with both of his hands cut off.

Li Yan was not in a hurry to kill.

Firstly, this person's identity is important and he may be related to opium and the Jianmu organization, so many things need to be clarified.

Secondly, the mission he accepted from the underworld was not only to get rid of this person, but also to find out the origins of the foreign evil demon.

After chopping off Mendes' hands, Li Yan rolled sideways without saying a word.

There were many pirates outside the cabin, shooting various types of muskets.

The firearms in their hands were strange and bizarre, some had long been rusted, and the styles were different. There were even some broken things that they assembled themselves, indicating that they were things obtained in repeated naval battles and robberies. Compared with the standard firearms of the Daxuan Dynasty, they were not a little bit inferior.

But even so, because of the large number of people, the gunfire continued.

Suddenly, smoke rose and sawdust exploded.

Because Li Yan had pierced the bottom of the boat, the river water was constantly rising and the cabin was in chaos.

Pulling open the flintlock pistol wrapped in oilcloth from his waist, Li Yan was also ready to fight back with his gun.

But at this moment, he frowned slightly and smelled a smell of sulfur.

The smell did not come from the gun, but from behind.

He whirled around, aiming his gun at Mendez.

At this moment, the condition of this red-haired foreign sorcerer has become somewhat strange.

He knelt on the altar that was flooded by the river, his body twitching and emitting a faint black smoke.

The smell of sulfur was coming from it, and the whale oil lamps on the tables around it were also burning abnormally fiercely.

Backfired!

Li Yan immediately saw the reason and then frowned slightly.

Many spells and altars require the power of ghosts and gods to control the evil spirit.

After losing control and backlash, one will often be affected or possessed by evil spirits.

But the smell of sulfur on this person was abnormally strong.

In a short period of time, it has affected the surrounding environment.

Not only did the whale oil lamps burn rapidly, but the coins, knives, forks and other items scattered in the water also began to slowly float up.

And Mendes' originally green eyes turned completely black.

Indifferent, violent...

That's not the look a human should have.

The other party suddenly spoke some words after mumbling something.

Li Yan narrowed his eyes slightly, raised his hand and pulled the trigger.

He had no idea what the other person was saying, but it was definitely not good.

boom!
In an instant, countless scattered bullets flew.

His flintlock pistol, after being modified by the Jinzhou weapon-making master, is more powerful and equipped with two types of magazines.

Single-barreled bullets have concentrated lethality, while shotgun shells have a wide coverage area.

With the addition of new gunpowder, it suddenly showed terrifying power in this confined space.

The heavy wooden tables and cabinets in the cabin, which were fixed with angle irons, exploded almost instantly, with wood chips flying everywhere.

The wall surrounded by wooden boards was riddled with honeycomb-like holes, and several pirates outside were thrown out with blood and flesh splattered all over.

As for Mendes, he exploded directly, leaving no trace of his body.

However, Li Yan did not let down his guard.

After Mendes died, several streams of thick black smoke emanated from his body.

It is a kind of evil energy, somewhat similar to the Netherworld Qi, but it emits a strong smell of sulfur.

These streams of black smoke rolled up and down. One of them wanted to pounce on Li Yan, but was scared away by the Qi of the "Dragon Snake Brand" and the arm guard "Thousand Thoughts". The rest whizzed out and penetrated into the bodies of several pirates.

Their bodies trembled, their eyeballs turned black, and cold and crazy murderous intent rose up.

So difficult?

Li Yan seized the certificate without saying a word.

I originally wanted to keep Mendes for interrogation, but since he is dead, there is no need to worry about it.

"The sky has its rules, the earth has its principles, the underworld is holding the souls, the living must avoid them!"

As the spell was chanted, strong winds suddenly blew around and darkness spread rapidly.

In the darkness, the sound of chains and armor could be heard.

At the same time, there was a violent roar.

Speaking an unknown language, mixed with the roar of wild beasts, forming a strange echo.

Li Yan quickly made some hand gestures and listened attentively.

His supernatural power is that he can hear the words of ghosts and gods.

I didn't have time to perform it just now, but I can hear it clearly now.

"Is this a demonic aura?"

"No, there's still a smell of incense."

"It should be a foreign demon god. Let's catch him first..."

The soldiers of the underworld moved quickly, and within a few breaths, all the darkness dissipated.

At this moment, the cabin was dead silent, with only water leaking out from the damaged hull.

Li Yan frowned slightly, quickly made some hand gestures, and took a deep breath.

At the same time, footsteps were heard from above.

It was Lu San who used poisonous bees to kill the pirates on the deck, and then rushed in with Sharifei and others.

"Brother Yan, what happened?"

Seeing the dead bodies all over the ground, Sharifei was shocked and asked quickly.

Li Yan said in a deep voice: "We have been fooled. These red-haired foreigners are baits. Kong Hui and Yu Wenhai are not on the boat. San'er, let the falcon rise up to see if we can find any traces. The others, follow me to look for any clues on the boat..."

After the tasks were assigned, everyone took action immediately.

After searching for a while, they found that the Tulip had been badly damaged and many of the keel joints had rotted away. Even if they did not destroy it, it would not be able to sail far and would break down halfway.

Obviously, using the Tulip to destroy the dock and create chaos was a plan that had been made long ago.

Everyone had special powers and soon discovered a large number of clues.

In a specially hidden cabin, there were boxes of longevity cream piled up...

In the secret room at the stern, there are some kidnapped and tortured gangsters, who seem to be experimenting with longevity cream, and they have all died...

In the secret compartment of the captain's room, there is a letter that has not been burned yet...

At the same time, the falcon Lidong also flapped its wings and rose into the night sky.

But the dock was in a mess at this moment.

On the broken bluestone road at the dock, muddy water was oozing with oil, the bamboo winnowing baskets of the fried cake stalls were overturned in the muddy water, the steamed buns wrapped in fermented bean curd were trampled into black mud, the "Flying Tiger Flag" of the Cao Gang fluttered in the river, with half a fried river shrimp stuck to the corner of the flag...

"Oh, my silk!"

The merchants who came in a hurry were lying in the pile of goods and wailing. The lake blue silk was soaked with blood and mud... The porters carrying bags were pressed under the camphor wood boxes, and the half of their legs exposed outside were twitching...

The fir wood door of the salt warehouse had been broken into strips, the official salt bags were torn open by the wind, and the salt collector in a numbered gown was lying on his back, his chest was torn open and his white flesh was exposed, his right hand was still tightly grasping a blue cloth salt bucket, and even the donkey that was transporting the salt had a ruptured stomach and intestines, with half of its body embedded in the mud house...

Fortunately, there are clusters of workshops and factories in the distance.

There was no attack there, and with a lot of noise, countless people came with torches to help.

The eagle Lidong naturally doesn't care about these.

It flapped its wings and circled in the night sky, searching Tianjin Wharf, Abacus City, and the surrounding rivers one by one.

Unfortunately, even the river was in chaos at the moment, and the escaping enemy could not be found at all...

...............

The next day, around noon.

More than 200 miles away from Tianjin is Tongzhou City.

This is the end point of the Grand Canal's shipping route.

There were many grain transport offices in the city, including the second-rank granary governor and the fifth-rank grain official, who were responsible for the inspection, transportation and storage management of grain. They were affiliated with the Ministry of Revenue and were responsible for the withdrawal of food and wages for the military in the capital, so they were called the "Small Ministry of Revenue."

After the grain from the south is transported to Tongzhou via the canal, it will be stored in the West Warehouse, South Warehouse and Central Warehouse.

The earthen wharf outside the east gate and the stone wharf outside the north gate are the main grain unloading points.

The grain can be transported to the capital via the Tonghui River.

It can be said that this is the granary of the capital.

The sun was blazing brightly at noon, making the surface of the Tonghui River ripple with golden rays.

The grain boats lined up to cross the Tongyun Bridge, and the boatmen's calls intertwined with the camel bells on the shore.

At the Shiba Wharf, boatmen were shouting with their bare chests, and the wheels of their wheelbarrows rolled over the reed fluff in the cracks between the bluestone slabs.

The jingling of camel bells came in from outside the new city gate. Camel caravans from Zhangjiawan were carrying Jingdezhen blue and white porcelain. There were shops lining the streets, selling goods from both the north and the south, and even merchants from the Western Regions and overseas. The bustle was no less than that of Tianjin.

In an inn in Dongcheng, the windows of the private rooms facing the street were half open.

A middle-aged scholar leaned against the window frame, stroking a jade ring on his thumb.

He has ordinary facial features and an average temperament, and looks no different from a down-and-out scholar.

Only when he glanced out of the corner of his eye, his pupils flashed red.

Opposite him sat a middle-aged scholar with sinister features and a furrowed brow.

It was the third master of Jinghai Gang, Yu Wenhai.

Compared with the Confucian scholar opposite him, he was dressed gorgeously and had an extraordinary demeanor, but he was half-sitting on the chair, his body was straight, his head was half-lowered, and he didn't even dare to move his chopsticks, obviously a little restrained.

"Master."

Looking at the scholar opposite him, Yu Wenhai asked carefully: "It's a pity to waste those things... If we act quickly, we might be able to kill the Twelve Yuanchen. With such a big fuss, I'm afraid the foundation of Tianjin will be ruined."

The scholar opposite glanced at him calmly, "Why, you can't bear to let go?"

Yu Wenhai was startled and lowered his head quickly, "Disciple knows his mistake."

How could he bear to do that while still talking?

Although he had no good intentions when he joined the Jinghai Gang from the beginning, he made painstaking plans over the years, won over many powerful people, and relied on the power of the Jinghai Gang to completely control Tianjin.

Years of hard work were completely destroyed.

Originally, he planned to gather experts and even use firearms in the army to deal with Li Yan and his men.

But the master directly played the Tulip card, which he really couldn't understand.

The Confucian scholar opposite is naturally "Mr. Landu" Kong Hui, who has now changed his name to Kong Zizai.

"Jizhou Ding has no chance."

Kong Zizai raised his hand and picked up a piece of Baihe vinegar fish, put it in his mouth, and said casually while tasting it: "The Jizhou Ding will pass through the dragon vein the day after tomorrow. Those people have already become suspicious. The Duwei Division and the Xuan Priest will definitely send support. It's useless to kill them."

"The chess game in Tianjin is already dead. Rather than losing it, it is better to play a bigger role."

Yu Wenhai was a little confused, and bowed respectfully, "Please give me some advice, Master."

Kong Zizai looked out the window at Tongzhou City. "There's news from the capital that the matter of 'Jianmu' has been known by the Xuan priests. All the major Xuanmen orthodox sects are investigating. Many of the previous plans and layouts will have problems."

"If you use the opposite of the Tao correctly, even a dead chess piece can be transformed into a new move."

"If we attack the Tianjin workshop, at most a few people will die, and it will also cause trouble for those chambers of commerce."

"If we direct the trouble to those red-haired barbarians, the imperial court will be alert."

"Those big chambers of commerce in southern Fujian and Guangdong have colluded with the red-haired foreigners to engage in smuggling for their own benefit. They have also concealed the situation in the Southeast Asian countries. They are looking for an opportunity to reveal this information to the local faction. They have been suppressed these days and will definitely not miss the opportunity."

"Master, that's brilliant!"

Yu Wenhai suddenly understood and quickly flattered him, "The capital city still needs our master to preside over it."

Kong Zizai's eyes suddenly turned cold. When Yu Wenhai was soaked with sweat, he said, "Don't stir up trouble. Zhao Qingxu is in the capital. I can't do what he can do. I am helping him by provoking a court fight."

As he spoke, his eyes became complicated, "This time when we go to the capital, we must follow Zhao Qingxu and don't cause trouble."

"There's news over there that Qiankun Academy has discovered something extraordinary..."

Suddenly, the noise outside the restaurant quieted down.

But we could see dust and smoke rising from the Tongyun Bridge, and a large group of cavalry galloping past on the official road.

They were dressed in black and were all members of the Duwei Division. The people along the way were so scared that they dodged them.

Not only that, the troops from the Tongzhou camp also quickly entered the city and closed off the streets.

The leading officer from the Duwei Division strode out with murderous intent in his eyes:
"In compliance with the Emperor's order, all foreign merchants will be strictly investigated. Anyone who dares to resist will be killed without mercy!"

As soon as he finished speaking, members of the Duwei Division and soldiers from the garrison rushed into various shops to arrest people.

“It’s just starting…”

In the private room, Kong Zizai smiled faintly, "Even the emperor can't control the disputes in the court. Let's go. The people in the capital are still waiting."

After saying that, he stood up, paid the bill, and took Yu Wenhai out of the inn.

A strange thing happened. The streets were full of soldiers and checkpoints were set up on important streets, but the two walked by with a swagger. Everyone ignored them, like ghosts in the daytime, and quickly left Tongzhou...

…………

"My Lord, all the people from the Jinghai Gang have been thrown into jail."

"Zhou Kang from the Navy Camp hanged himself out of fear of punishment..."

"Many people in the workshop have become addicted. Those who were caught said that the person who gave them the longevity cream asked them to believe in Maitreya..."

"All those in the Chamber of Commerce who were related to Mendes have been arrested..."

Inside the lobby of the Tianjin Military Commandery, Captain Tian felt his eyebrows twitching as he listened to his men's reports.

He didn't expect that no matter how hard he tried, something bad would still happen.

The shelling of the Sancha River Wharf has caused an uproar in the court.

Coupled with the anti-tax riot at the Linqing Bank a few days ago, there was bound to be a fight in the court.

"What on earth do these bastards want to do?!"

Tian Qianhu was annoyed and slammed the table, asking his men to continue dealing with the aftermath.

As for himself, he quickly stood up and went to the backyard of the Duwei Division.

Li Yan and others gathered here.

The table inside the room was piled with documents found on the Tulip.

Kong Shangzhao was holding a document, reading and copying it at the same time.

Li Yan really didn't expect that this alternative scholar from Confucius brought from Luzhou had actually learned foreign languages.

He picked up the page he had already translated and his expression became serious.

On it, there are documents about Mendes communicating his magic with others.

Barbatos, Solomon's 72 Demons...

(End of this chapter)