456 Discussing History At The Feast At Hongmen 2 (2/2)

The group of people took off their black clothes and disguised themselves as ordinary commoners. They left the small alley and merged back into the seemingly never-changing life in Jingdou.

The little alley was completely quiet as if no one had passed through. However, there were an additional three bodies. That headless corpse finally fell without the surrounding support of the arrows, making a muffled crash in the alley.

…

…

”In the past, I had never thought that things like arrows could be so terrifying.” Fan Xian lifted his wine cup and slowly drank. His eyes were filled with a perplexed expression, ”As everyone is aware, the Overwatch Council is used to using arrows. However, I still had not thought that when a murder object reached a certain number, it would become so terrifying.”

At the feast in Baoyue Brothel, everyone listened quietly to Fan Xian's story. These were the details of the attack in the valley. Everyone could hear the glimmer of melancholy and darkness in his tone.

Fan Xian placed his cup on the table and smiled slightly. ”The sky was raining with arrows. I had never seen such a sight in this lifetime. I had probably never seen it in a past life either. This was not an attack, it was more like being on a battlefield. It was only at that time that I realized that one person's strength was indeed limited.”

Across from him, the Great Prince nodded slowly with a complicated expression on his face. Perhaps he was thinking of year after year of killing with the Hu tribe during the Western expedition.

”The sound of the arrows landing on the carriage was like the knock of a soul stealer.” Fan Xian furrowed his brows, he seemed to be remembering the specific details of that time. ”That feeling of being blocked in and killed is not very good.”

The Crown Prince sighed and comforted, ”Fortunately it has already passed. As you were able to survive, those rebels and traitors will eventually be executed. The court is investigating closely. Presumably, they will have results any day now.”

”Thank you, Your Highness.” Fan Xian raised his cup to drink to everyone. He smiled and said, ”Yes, at least I survived. Presumably, many people were disappointed. Even the city-guarding crossbows were used, yet it could still not kill me. What does this mean?”

No one took his cue. The coloring of the two Deputies of the Bureau of Military of Affairs did not look very good. Without question, the attack in the valley implicated the military. Although the court's investigation had not yet yielded any results, this point was already ironclad. Speaking to here, Fan Xian could not allow these military elders to secretly analyze it.

”I am a very self-confident person.” Fan Xian showed everyone he had already drained his cup. He smiled and said, ”Including the Emperor and the Director, elders have all once asked me, 'why are you so self-confident?'”

Everyone focused their attention and listened, but an absurd feeling grew in their hearts. The feast was filled with important Qing Kingdom figures, there were also the Crown Prince and the three princes, yet, as long as Fan Xian opened his mouth, everyone's attention would be drawn by him. This was not only because he was the host of tonight's feast, but because…it was if everyone unconsciously admitted that he was the truly the most powerful one.

It was truly very absurd. Perhaps there were powerful officials in history who could overturn the court known as ”Faction of the Nine Thousand Year Old [JW1],” but there had never been a young illegitimate royal child full of deterrent force as this. He was also a very dazzling illegitimate child.

Everyone unconsciously glanced at the Crown Prince.

However, the Crown Prince was smiling slightly and listening to Fan Xian speak. There was not a glimmer of unhappiness in his expression. On the contrary, it was full of comfort and understanding.

The Great Prince coughed gently.

Fan Xian's left hand gently played with the large wine cup. His gaze was on the table in front of him as if he was looking at a very beautiful artwork. ”Why am I so self-confident? Because I believe I am the person with the best luck in this world. No one else could have better luck than me.”

For a clearly already dead person to mysteriously come alive again, and, furthermore, have such a rich and exciting, even monstrous and multi-colored, life, this kind of luck needed to be slowly celebrated through the years.

Fan Xian smiled and said, ”As I said earlier, the Overwatch Council is also very used to using arrows. Those arrows cannot kill me, and my enemies are certain to not have as much good luck as me.”

…

…

In the Overwatch Council, not very far from the Royal Palace, in Director Chen's favorite secret room, Yan Bingyun wore an outfit of pure white cotton and was staring in a daze at the case file on the table. A moment later, he sighed and rubbed his temples. The pain in his temples was difficult to stop.

Knocking came from the door. An official of the Second Bureau's intelligence service came in and handed him three small and sealed bamboo containers.

Yan Bingyun used his fingernail to pick apart the wax seal. He took out the intelligence report from within and swept his eyes over it, and then moved to stand beside a candle and burned it. Under the confused gazed of the intelligence officer, he tiredly said, ”Don't put tonight's events into the record.”

The intelligence officer immediately lowered his head an acquiescence, ”Forty-three targets, three had already been cleaned out.”

Yan Bingyun seemed to have a headache at hearing these words. He shook his head irritably and waved his hand to indicate that he knew and had him leave.

The secret room once more returned to silence. Yan Bingyun looked at the pieces of wax on the table and his mind began to wander again. Fan Xian was hosting a feast in the Baoyue Brothel while the Overwatch Council was in a state of second-class emergency. In the darkness of the Jingdou night, countless people were moving and countless people would die. And all of this was because of Fan Xian's craziness.

The night's plan had been personally formulated by Yan Bingyun. Although he had determinedly expressed his opposition to Fan Xian's face, he would continue to do what needed to be done. In this plan, they needed to kill 11 people and capture 32 people. Of the 11 people that needed to be killed, the first ones were the six of the Second Prince's eight generals.

This was a crazy revenge mission.

Three of the Second Prince's eight generals had already died. Given the Overwatch Council's full strength crazy retaliation, the power of a mere royal manor was not enough to shake the bigger picture. Presumably, he would receive news of the death of the rest of them.

Yan Bingyun walked to the window and lifted a corner of that black cloth just like how Chen Pingping used to do so. He gazed toward the not very distant Royal Palace through that narrow space. The Royal Palace was still brightly lit and gave off an air of holiness and majesty in the dark night.

He gazed at the Royal Palace and thought with worry, The Emperor wants you to be an isolated official, not an extreme official.

[JW1] ”Nine-thousand-year-old” is another name for Wei Zhongxian – a late Ming eunuch who is considered the most powerful and notorious in Chinese history.