Chapter 760: Doubt

Pan Yun nodded.

Master Xuanmiao's heart stirred slightly, and he asked, "What cargo is on the ship?"

Pan Yun paused, her gaze sweeping over the three wretched sea vessels and the Great Ming flags on their decks, her thoughts racing: "Two hundred thousand taels of silver..."

Master Xuanmiao stared at her steadily: "Who knows about this?"

Pan Yun said, "Even Yang Shan doesn't know. Only a portion of the people at the mining district know, along with Cao Jixiang of the Quanzhou Maritime Trade Office and a few of his men."

Pan Yun grew more and more suspicious: "Fourth Senior Sister suspects they recognized the wrong person and robbed the wrong ship?"

Master Xuanmiao thought for a moment and asked, "Those two hundred thousand taels of silver—all yours?"

Pan Yun bared her teeth in a grin: "No, it's all tribute to be presented to the imperial court."

Master Xuanmiao said calmly, "Then what difference is there from robbing an official envoy ship?"

Pan Yun's voice was chillingly cold: "There is no difference."

The two martial sisters exchanged a glance, both resolved to drag out whoever was hiding behind this.

"A venomous snake in the gutter—if you don't catch it and pull out its fangs, one day it will strike again."

Although Wang Cong's ship had slowed down, it still drew near the island.

Not knowing the specifics, they changed course, wanting to steer well clear of the place.

Seeing Miao Zhen took the flag and climbed up to the deckhouse, waving it at them.

Wang Cong couldn't read her flag signals, but through his far-seeing glass he could see a person, so he said at once, "Pull alongside."

The soldiers and officials of the envoy fleet saw the Great Ming flags on the large ship and embraced each other weeping.

Thank heavens—they wouldn't be stranded on a foreign island.

The two large ships reached shore, seven or eight small boats were lowered, and they immediately joined the effort to fish bodies from the sea.

Don't be fooled—not everything that fell into the sea was a corpse.

They not only pulled back quite a few soldiers and officials still alive, but also fished out a sea bandit who had been knocked unconscious by the collision.

Though the man was unconscious, he was clinging to a piece of driftwood.

The moment he detected breath, Tao Ji stepped forward at once, pried open the man's mouth, and before saving him, first extracted the poison sac from inside his mouth—only then did he administer aid.

Yang Shan came hurrying over, and Pan Yun gave Wang Cong a meaningful look.

Wang Cong immediately stepped forward to intercept Yang Shan and bowed: "My lord, I am Wang Cong. I wrote to you previously, inviting you to set sail together."

Yang Shan's steps faltered slightly: "You are Pan Yun's martial nephew, Wang Cong, who is temporarily overseeing the silver mountain on behalf of the imperial court?"

"This humble Daoist is precisely he, my lord. May I have a word with you in private?"

Yang Shan glanced at the sea bandit being treated by Tao Ji, then turned and walked aside with Wang Cong to speak quietly.

Wang Cong indicated that their ship carried something important, and they could take the others along on the return voyage, but the others must not wander about the ship freely;

moreover, the ship's load capacity was also an issue—it would be best to repair the ship; otherwise they would have to abandon some of their cargo.

Yang Shan's gaze swept over their ship as he asked, "Did you bring a great deal of cargo?"

Wang Cong: "A full load returning home."

Yang Shan frowned slightly and said, "Everything on our side is very important and cannot be discarded lightly."

Wang Cong: "So we must repair the ship first. If it can't be repaired, we'll talk then."

Wang Cong inquired, "Might I ask whether local people could be enlisted to help?"

Yang Shan considered: "I will submit a memorial to the King of Ryukyu, but don't hold out too much hope."

Because they had also suffered an attack on shore, Yang Shan no longer trusted Ryukyu much. But he did not expect that upon receiving his plea for help, the King of Ryukyu immediately sent people to assist, even bringing two extra sea ships along—should their ships prove unseaworthy, the Ryukyu fleet would escort them back.

The official who came was especially sincere, even bringing the King of Ryukyu's nephew along. The King of Ryukyu had no sons, so a nephew was likewise a prince. The Ryukyu official stated that their young prince could personally escort the envoys home.

They had no few wounded, so Yang Shan decided to leave behind some of the severely injured; the soldiers and officials killed in battle would be cremated and their ashes brought back.

To return to Jingcheng as quickly as possible, he decided to change course and head straight for Tianjin Guard.

The Ryukyu side had no objection whatsoever, stating that they would follow Yang the Envoy's every decision—they only wished to serve the Celestial Empire.

Pan Yun listened and sighed with emotion: "The King of Ryukyu truly does appreciate the imperial grace; this is also the fated connection between Lord Yang and Ryukyu. It seems Lord Yang's earlier choice to return via Quanzhou was wise—had he returned to Tianjin Guard, he would have missed this..."

Pan Yun broke off mid-sentence, her body going rigid.

Yang Shan murmured, "Yes. When we came we passed through Ryukyu on imperial orders to comfort them; on the return, though, it was decided on the spur of the moment to go from Ryukyu back to Quanzhou, rather than via the Yellow Sea back to Tianjin Guard. These people lay in ambush here in advance—did they get wind of our fleet's movements, or do they have some other aim?"

Yang Shan looked at Pan Yun, then at Wang Cong, and finally at the two large ships behind them, then turned and hurried away.

It seemed he was going to urgently interrogate those two sea bandits.

Xue Shao, seeing Pan Yun's look of vexation, reminded her: "The man's walked far away—you can drop the act now."

Master Xuanmiao turned and left: "Too fake."

Pan Yun didn't care, still wearing a look of vexation, though she muttered, "As long as it works."

Sure enough, after urgently interrogating the sea bandits, Yang Shan changed his mind again—he decided to join forces with Wang Cong and the others to return to Quanzhou, and from Quanzhou back to Tianjin Guard.

Yang Shan said in a low voice, "We take the sea route the whole way. I want to see just how difficult the sea routes of our Great Ming truly are!"

He did not press Wang Cong further about what was on his ships, but directly had the Ryukyu fleet escort Wang Cong's two ships in the middle.

After repairs, two of their three official ships were still usable, so he entrusted the broken one and the severely wounded to Ryukyu, and brought along the two official ships bearing marks of blades and fire—even if they sailed slower and the load was lighter, he would still take them.

Pan Yun stood at the bow watching the lead sea vessel and smiled slightly: "I wonder whether there will still be sea bandits raiding us from here on?"

Tao Ji: "You sound as if you're looking forward to it."

Pan Yun: "I like cutting through tangled knots with a swift blade. What I hate most is this sort of drizzling rain that never stops, these hidden arrows that never cease."

Xue Shao: "I'm afraid even if the sea ban were fully lifted, these schemes would not come to an end."

Pan Yun turned to ask Wang Cong: "Did you hear that? Endless plots and schemes—are you certain you want to get mixed up in this?"

Wang Cong, however, was very excited: "Entering the world is also cultivating the Dao. I'm not stupid—why shouldn't I earn this money? Little Martial Uncle, the private maritime trade of Great Ming today is in utter chaos. If I were to part the clouds and clear the mist, wouldn't that be splendid?"

Master Xuanmiao: "Not afraid of dying?"

Wang Cong: "I would not regret it even in death!"

Master Xuanmiao and Pan Yun silently agreed, though a gleam shone in both their eyes.

Since the child of the family wished to do it, they could scout the way for him—what harm was there in that?

The sea was vast and broad; because of the Great Ming sea ban, the waters normally saw not even a single fisherman, yet from time to time a boat would appear.

The vessels were all small, merely rocking in the distance; upon sighting this fleet of eight ships, they would only watch for a while before withdrawing.

Every day Yang Shan took out his clairvoyant glass and watched; seeing small boats appearing nearby for three days running, his face was dark as still water.

He had someone pass word to the rear ships: be careful and keep watch at night; from now on, half the men must remain in battle readiness at night as well.

Every ship carried out the order strictly.

Yang Shan turned and went down to the lower hold to look at the two sea-bandits.

(End of chapter)