The Three Kingdoms Voyage

Chapter 268 The Pirate Empire Is Near
"General, the Yue people are still clearing the waterway, and it is estimated that they will be able to leave the port in three to four days."

Ruan Wu nodded, and smiled disapprovingly. In the past few days when Fan Man left, he had been carefully inquiring about the situation of the Yue State Navy. They have been trying their best to clean up the sunken ships in the waterway these days, and the progress is very slow. From this point of view, they may not be able to leave the port when the King takes the Jinchen Kingdom.

Ruan Wu admired Fan Man to the extreme. Several generals of Funan Kingdom suffered losses at the hands of the Yue people one after another, but Fan Man immediately put them under control as soon as Fan Man made a move. .It's a pity that Fan Man is old and not in good health.

Ruan Wu sighed sadly when he thought of Fan Man's body.He waved his hand and ordered the scouts to go down to rest, poured himself a glass of wine, and drank slowly.The jungle in summer is stuffy and hot, and there are a lot of mosquitoes, but this is good, the Yue people are not used to such an environment, and they still don't know that Fan Man has rushed to Jinchen, and they always thought that tens of thousands of troops set up an ambush here , did not dare to go ashore at all, so it is very safe here, and Ruan Wuda can drink with confidence.

When the bright and clear moon came out of the sea, Ruan Wu's footsteps were already a little floating. After checking the situation of Meng Ang Bay for the last time, he fell into a deep sleep.Fan Man told him to stay here for at least five days, and after five days, he could retreat at any time, and today was already the fifth day, and he could leave here tomorrow morning.Although Ruan Wu planned to stick to it for another two days, if the Yue people couldn't find out, he would stick to it until the news of Fan Man's victory came, but knowing that his mission had been completed, he still felt an indescribable sense of relief.

The forest at night was quiet and full of dangers, and Ruan Wu fell asleep amidst the faint roar of tigers.

……

Fan Man thought for a whole night, but there was still no better way. Dunxun's outer city was captured, and the Yue people retreated into the inner city, shrinking the defense line, relying on the taller inner city wall, and giving full play to their strengths of excellent weapons , the difficulty of attacking the inner city has doubled.According to Fan Man's thinking, the best way is of course to besiege and not attack, and wait for the food in the city to run out, and collapse without a fight, but he knows that the news that he surrounded Cui Qian in Jinchen will soon reach Sun Shao In his ears, if there is no accident, Sun Shao will arrive soon. If he can't take advantage of the gap before Sun Shao's arrival to severely injure Cui Qian, he may be attacked from inside and outside the city, so although he is very good at conquering the inner city He didn't have any hope, and he didn't intend to conquer the inner city before killing Sun Shao, but he still ordered to attack the city, intending to take advantage of the number of people on his side and consume Cui Qian's strength, just to avoid the casualties of the war elephant, he put all All the war elephants withdrew from the outer city and set up defenses on the way Sun Shao might come.

The offensive and defensive battles were fought in full swing, and a fight lasted for three days.This time Cui Qian defended very carefully. The people of Funan didn't even touch the side of the city wall. The generals of Funan fought fiercely, but Fan Man was very calm. situation is of great concern.Ruan Wu sent news every day that Sun Shao was still in Meng'ang Bay, but Fan Man estimated that Sun Shao might already be on his way.The reason is very simple. Jin Chen is only more than 300 miles away from Meng'ang Bay. Although Sun Shao's ship is trapped in the bay, Cui Qian's fleet can pick him up. On the way, without hiding it from Ruan Wu's eyes, he rushed to Jin Chen secretly.

Fan Man carefully calculated the time and sent a large number of scouts to investigate the situation along the coast. At the same time, he ordered Li Yuan in the city to be ready to assassinate Cui Qian when necessary.

However, the development of the matter was somewhat beyond Fan Man's expectation. Sun Shao never came, and Ruan Wu sent news every day that Sun Shao had been in Meng'ang Bay, and several scouts even saw Sun Shao himself. I am busy with clearing the channel, and the progress is very slow. It is estimated that it will be impossible to leave Meng'ang Bay in a while.

Fan Man was confused, could it be that Cui Qian's fleet was wandering in the sea and didn't get in touch with Sun Shao?Or did Sun Shao have enough confidence in Cui Qian that he didn't want to come to rescue him at all?Or maybe he overestimated Sun Shao's importance to Cui Qian?

Fan Man was in a dilemma. If Sun Shao didn't come, his plan to siege the city and fight for reinforcements would be in vain, and now he couldn't go on at all. If he couldn't attack the city for days, he couldn't keep his promise to the soldiers. His morale was very low. If he dragged on for another day, It will be more dangerous.Fan Man was hesitant, and reluctantly attacked the city for another two days, but Sun Shao was still not at all. Fan Man felt that something might have happened unexpectedly, so he immediately changed his plan and decided to take the inner city of Dunsun first, replenish food, supplies, and solve the problem. The urgent need for unstable military morale.

While ordering the generals to prepare to attack the city with all their strength, Fan Man gave an order to Li Yuan in the city to assassinate Cui Qian immediately and cooperate to seize the city.

After Li Yuan received the order, he invited Wu Jiu and told him Fan Man's order.Wu Jiu was very surprised: "The reinforcements from the Yue Kingdom have arrived?"

Li Yuan shook his head and said indifferently: "I don't know."

Wu Jiu was stunned for a moment, knowing that Li Yuan didn't intend to tell himself this, he sighed sadly, nodded and said, "How is the general going to do it?"

Li Yuan smiled coldly: "The best way, of course, is for the king to invite Cui Qian to a banquet, kill him at the banquet, then open the city gate, and invite King Funan to enter the city. But I am worried that Cui Qian may not be willing to come, so I Another plan has been prepared, that is, the king will lead us to his camp, as long as we enter his tent, I can kill him."

Wu Jiu frowned: "Only with those ten archers?"

Li Yuan curled his mouth: "You don't have to worry about this, you just need to bring me in front of Cui Qian. Kill Cui Qian, open the city gate, and I will not break my promise to you."

Wu Wei Wei Wei agreed and sent someone to invite Cui Qian to the banquet, but as expected, Cui Qian declined because he was busy with military affairs.Wu Jiu had no choice but to implement the second plan, and rushed to Cui Qian's barracks with Li Yuan and the personal guards dressed as Funan people.

Cui Qian's barracks is right at the gate of the city, and it is heavily guarded. As soon as Wu Jiu and the others arrived outside the camp, they were stopped by a group of heavily armed soldiers. With a blunt smile: "Your Majesty is here to see my general again?"

Wu Jiu smiled and said: "Exactly, the general has worked hard these days to protect my Jin Chen people, and I specially brought some gifts to comfort you all."

The captain glanced at the wine, food and belongings carried by the soldiers, and immediately became more polite, and said with a smile: "Your Majesty is too polite, but there are rules in the camp. Your Majesty can go in, but these personal guards of your Majesty cannot all go in."

Wu Jiu smiled and said: "Naturally, they are all waiting outside the camp, I only need to bring a few people to make trouble."

The captain nodded and turned to let him go.Wu Jiu went first, Li Yuan entered the camp with ten archers carrying things, until they arrived outside Cui Qian's tent, Cui Qian's personal guards stopped them again, asked them what they came for, and asked them to take Things were kept outside the tent, only Wu Jiu and Li Yuan were allowed to meet Cui Qian in the tent.Li Yuan had been prepared for a long time, he let ten archers wait outside, and he entered the tent with Wu Jiu.

It was very quiet in the big tent, the guards asked them to wait, and then went in to report, Li Yuan sat on the side in a regular manner, quietly took off the short crossbow hanging behind his waist with his right hand, pressed a short arrow coated with poison Put it into the arrow slot, string it, and hide it quietly under his arm. For convenience, today he specially put on a wide straight crossbow, which is enough to cover this small short crossbow.He touched the dagger at his waist again, and the dagger was also coated with poison. Although Li Yuan was sure that he could hit every shot at the distance of two or three steps, he was still prepared to fail out of safety, even though he I don't think this preparation is necessary at all.

Wu Jiu looked at the expressionless Li Yuan preparing for all this, with deep sorrow in his eyes. Whether Li Yuan succeeded in assassinating Cui Qian or not, he would not have a good end. Now he only hopes that Li Yuan can keep his promise and finally let go. over his family.

"My lord, are you uncomfortable?" A young man appeared at the door of the back tent, looking at Wu Jiu with a smile on his face.Wu Jiu was taken aback, and subconsciously smiled, "Thank you for your concern, I'm not uncomfortable, it's just that the weather is hot." After speaking, he realized that this young man was unfamiliar, and he hadn't seen Cui Qian several times. However, it must be a new promotion.

"I see, the weather is indeed very hot." The young man smiled gently, then turned to Li Yuan and said, "Is this general also hot? Your forehead is covered with sweat. Would you like me to send you two glasses of water?" Come, let the two of you quench your thirst first."

Li Yuan grinned, shook his head and said: "Thank you for your kindness, the water is not needed, I still invite the general to come out, my king wants to present a gift list to the general. The general is busy with military affairs, we dare not stay longer, so as not to delay the general's affairs."

"Hehehe..." The young man smiled and waved his hands again and again: "It's okay, it's okay, please rest assured, the people of Funan attacked fiercely, but they have been in vain for the past few days, and they will definitely not be able to take down the king's city."

"That's, that's, General Cui's command is good, your soldiers are brave and invincible, this royal city is naturally safe." Wu Jiu forced a smile: "I don't know where the general is now?"

"The weather is hot, the general is resting." The young man waved his hand, signaling Wu Jiu and the others not to worry, chatting about one thing and another.Wu Jiu and Li Yuan didn't want to talk to him, but they didn't dare to ask him. Naturally, they looked a little uneasy. When the young man saw him, he couldn't help being curious, so he asked a few questions. Wu Jiu explained in embarrassment: "The military camp Importantly, Xiao Wang didn't dare to stay longer, he just wanted to see the general sooner, and he planned to leave after presenting a present, can the general..."

After hearing the interpreter's words, the young man rubbed his chin in some embarrassment, and looked at Wu Jiu who was showing embarrassment, Wu Jiu hurriedly stepped forward and stuffed a piece of malachite into his hand.The young man looked at the gem and smiled: "Okay, I'll go in and see if the general is awake."

"Thank you very much." Wugui felt relieved and thanked again and again.The young man entered the tent, Wu Jiu glanced back at Li Yuan.Li Yuan nodded, stretched his hands to his waist again, reconfirmed the position of the short crossbow and short knife, cleared his throat, and got ready to send out the signal immediately.

However, Wu Jiu and Li Yuan waited for a long time, not only did Cui Qian not come, but the young man also disappeared.Wu Jiu and Li Yuan gradually became a little uneasy, they looked at each other, and they both saw panic in each other's eyes.Li Yuan gritted his teeth and was hesitating between retreating or continuing to wait, when there was a burst of footsteps coming from behind the tent, among which Cui Qian's voice was very clear.Hearing this, Li Yuan felt as if he was facing a formidable enemy, he winked at Wu Jiu, held the short crossbow with his right hand, and buckled the crossbow with his fingers, while his left hand drew out the short knife, holding it in his hand, ready for Cui Qian to attack Just show up and shoot, don't give him any chance.He breathed a sigh of relief, preparing to send out a signal to let the ten archers outside the tent shoot and kill the guards at the same time, causing riots and creating opportunities for himself to escape.

As soon as the tent door was opened, Li Yuan looked up. It was the same young man just now. He quickly took a step back and lowered his head.The young man waved his hands and said with a smile: "What a coincidence, the general is already up, but he just had a nightmare that someone was going to assassinate him, so..." He rubbed his hands in embarrassment: "If you two want to see him , please take off your weapon first."

As soon as he finished speaking, several guards behind him surrounded him, looking at Wu Jiu and Li Yuan without blinking.Li Yuan was dumbfounded and didn't know how to deal with it for a moment. How could such a thing happen at this time?Could it be that God Brahma didn't want him to succeed, so he entrusted Cui Qian with a dream?Or maybe Cui Qian felt that his murderous intent was too strong?

Facing the vigilant gaze of several guards, Li Yuan did not dare to take risks. He handed over the short crossbow and short knife in his hand, and tried his best to appear calm.Wu Jiu also handed over the dagger he was wearing, the personal guard took it and handed it to the young man together.The young man looked at the two short knives and a short crossbow with great interest, and suddenly smiled and said, "General Li is so careful, he entered my general's tent and even shot an arrow? Could it be that the general is really an assassin?"

Li Yuan's complexion changed drastically, and he was sweating profusely.His short crossbow was loaded with good arrows. When he handed it over, he was so nervous that he forgot to let go of the bowstring to shoot the arrow. Besides, he didn't seem to have the time to do so.He stammered with a smile: "General...just kidding, how could I be an assassin, it's just...just..."

The young man glanced at him, let go of the bowstring of the short crossbow, and then pulled out the short knife to look at it, and sniffed it: "There is a smell on this knife, could it be poisonous?"

Li Yuan was shocked, and subconsciously explained: "How...how could it be poisonous, General...don't joke, General."

"Not poisonous?" The young man was dubious, holding the knife and walked to Li Yuan's side: "I don't believe it, how about this, I will stab you with this knife, if you are all right, then I believe you are not poisonous, OK?"

Li Yuan's face turned pale all of a sudden, he looked at the young man's smiling face and didn't know how to answer.The young man swung his knife and approached step by step. Li Yuan involuntarily backed away until his back was leaning against the wall, unable to retreat.

The young man still smiled and said: "The general is so nervous, there must be something poisonous on the top." Before he finished speaking, his face darkened, and he shouted: "Come here, take them all."

Several personal guards swarmed up and immediately restrained Li Yuan who was just about to resist. There was a burst of shouting outside, followed by a burst of screams in Funan dialect. Presumably ten archers were also disarmed or killed.Li Yuan was pushed down to the ground, gritted his teeth tightly, and screamed loudly.Wu Jiu kept surrounding the young man, putting the gem into his hand while explaining.

Cui Qian appeared at the door, pushed Wu Jiu away, and sneered: "King Jin Chen, do you think that bribing my king with a few gems will spare you the crime of assassination?"

Wu Jiu smiled awkwardly, and was making a sound to defend himself, when he suddenly remembered something, his eyes widened, and he looked at the young man who had recovered his smile again: "You...you are the King of Yue...His Royal Highness?"

Although Sun Shao couldn't understand what he said, he didn't need an interpreter, he could guess what Wu Jiu would say, he nodded, turned around and sat down in the front seat, Cui Qian stood beside him respectfully, and sneered .Wu Jiu was suddenly dumbfounded, his hands were trembling, his lips were trembling, but he couldn't say a word, and slowly fell to the ground, sobbing endlessly.Li Yuan raised his head desperately, looked at all this in disbelief, in an instant, remorse was like countless crocodiles gnawing at his body.

This young man was actually Sun Shao, King of Yue, and he was holding a short crossbow and a short knife smeared with poison in his hand. He talked to Sun Shao for a long time but didn't do anything.He wanted to kill Cui Qian wholeheartedly, but he missed the perfect opportunity to assassinate Sun Shao in vain.

"God's will—" Li Yuan sighed and lowered his head.

Cui Qian said with a smile: "Your Majesty is really astute, he saw through these two young people at once, and saved my life."

"Don't flatter me." Sun Shao said with a smile: "I can see through him not because I am smart, but because this assassin is too unprofessional. During the half-day talking with me, he touched the short crossbow and short knife in his waist at least three times. .”

"Then what's next?"

"Try to see if this kid's mouth is tough enough." Sun Shao casually said to Han Long behind him: "It would be better if he could pry open his mouth and lure Fan Man into the city, but that old thief Fan Man is cunning and cunning." Yes, it is not easy to trick him into the city, at most one or two small fish can be caught."

Han Long nodded, and stepped forward to mention that Li Yuan had gone out.

"King Jin Chen, what do you think I should do with you?" Sun Shao walked in front of Wu Jiu, with his hands behind his back, slowly turning around in circles.Wu Jiu didn't say a word, just kowtowed on the ground.He was too scared to speak now.The king of Yue, Sun Shao, was actually in the city all the time. He didn't know anything about it, and he wanted to help Li Yuan assassinate Cui Qian. He was so stupid.He couldn't help feeling sad for Fan Man again. Fan Man had been waiting for Sun Shao to come, but he didn't know that Sun Shao was already in the city.

"Do you want to live?" Sun Shao kicked Wugui with his toe.

Wu Jiumu was stunned and didn't respond at all. He didn't come back to his senses until the interpreter said it the third time.He looked up at Sun Shao, wanting to see if Sun Shao was joking with him or telling the truth.Sun Shao had already put away his smile, and looked at him seriously, with murderous intent in his eyes, but he couldn't see any teasing elements.Wu Jiu suddenly had a glimmer of life, he quickly kowtowed and said: "Everything is up to the king's orders."

Sun Shao nodded: "Get up, go back to the palace and meditate behind closed doors. I will discuss this matter with you after I defeat Fan Man."

Wu Jiu stood up tremblingly, and stepped out of the big tent step by step.Outside the big tent, the ten archers had all looked back into the pool of blood, their eyes wide open, their short crossbows and poisonous arrows laying intact, obviously, they hadn't had time to make a move at all.

After a while, Han Long came in and shook his head at Sun Shao.

"I can't tell that this Zhuzi lacks courage, but he is a righteous man." Sun Shao sneered: "However, I didn't expect him to turn against the water. I immediately sent a signal to Wei Wen and Yue Hai to come and fight, and we will fight Fan Man in a dignified manner. Let’s fight a battle and see how powerful the King of Funan has been in the South China Sea for 30 years.” Sun Shao paused, and then said: “Chop off the heads of those monkeys and marinate them, and hang them on the city wall before the battle begins. , to destroy Fan Man's vigor."

"Here." Cui Qian replied loudly.

Fan Man looked at Ruan Wu's military report that he had just received, his hands trembling.Ruan Wu said that Sun Shao was still in Meng'ang Bay, but he had just received the news that the Yue army had arrived from the east and the west, and he had also received the letter of war from Sun Shao from the city. Sun Shao was in the city and had just killed him. Li Yuan et al.He lied to Sun Shao, and Sun Shao also lied to him. The two tried their best, but in the end they still couldn't tell the winner. They still had to rely on their strength for the final duel.He was waiting for Sun Shao outside the city, ready to besiege the city and fight for reinforcements, and Sun Shao was also waiting for reinforcements to come to attack him.Now, Sun Shao's two groups of troops rushed from the east and the west, which had cut off his retreat, and he had nowhere to escape, so he could only fight Sun Shao in Dunxun City.

Without any ingenuity, it was a head-to-head battle based entirely on strength.

Fan Man slowly put down Ruan Wu's military report, and said in a deep voice, "Call all the generals to discuss the matter, and the decisive battle will be tomorrow."

At the eastern foot of Changshan, Fan Chang sneered as he looked at Wu Jun who had been defeated all the way.The Wu people only played tricks and tricks, sending people to intercept and kill the scouts and heavy soldiers who went out, but they were actually some cowards on the battlefield. For the past two days, he had been chasing the Wu people.If it weren't for the speed of the war elephant, he should be able to catch up to Xijuan City by now.Even so, Xijuan City still showed its true face in front of him. Fan Chang was very excited when he thought that he would be able to enter the city soon. Fan Zhan had entered Xijuan City before, but Fan Zhan died there. Wu Guoren was beaten and fled, and finally died in Changshan. On the contrary, he defeated Wu Guoren, chased them all the way to Xijuan City, and finally entered Xijuan City as the winner, and soon He became the master of Nichinan County.

Who can say that I am not as good at fighting as Fan Zhan?
Just when Fan Changyi was full of ambition, there was a loud noise in front of him, and a war elephant chasing at the front disappeared together with the battle flag on it. The personal guard suddenly tugged at his sleeve, pointed to the sky on the left, opened his mouth wide, but couldn't say a word.

Fan Chang turned his head to look, and suddenly felt a chill hit the back of his head.

(End of this chapter)