Dark clouds rolled up, the wind alternating between calm and fierce, the river waters swelling into sharp-pointed waves.
“Loach came to say that Tiger Claw Bend is ahead, and he needs to go discuss with Boss Wu how to get through. He’s asking us to stop the ship and rest for a bit.” Xiao Wei walked to the bow and spoke to Mo Zi, unable to help stealing a few extra glances at her.
Today she wore a knee-length dress paired with light cigarette-style pants, a small sword tied at her waist, and gray leather long boots on her feet. The dress was extremely simple in style—long sleeves, round collar, reaching to her knees, made of rose-colored coarse cotton cloth with no embroidery, no patterns. The split hem of the dress lifted in the wind, like a floating cloud. And her hair was also simply pulled up into a high ponytail, flying together with the hem of her dress.
Though he didn’t particularly like this style of mixing dresses with pants, he had to admit that on this great river surface, in this great river wind, she looked truly magnificent in this outfit—a sight worthy of infinite beauty.
“Rest until what time before we set off again?” She cupped her hands at her forehead, watching Boss Wu emerge from the deck of the opposite ship, and then their ship dropped anchor.
“After we finish lunch.” Extending his hand, he could grasp her flying hair strands. This close, yet he still couldn’t fathom her thoughts.
“Then let’s eat.” She turned with a smile, her movements light and nimble as she leaped onto the deck in several bounds, directing everyone to stop the ship and rest.
He stayed right by her side. “Mo Zi, what exactly are you thinking?”
“It’s not what I’m thinking, but what they’re thinking. What General Xiao needs to do is sharpen your sword and be ready at all times until we safely reach shore. If we can avoid moving against Yinyue, that would be best. Leave the other matters to me.” What could she tell him? Even she didn’t know how things would turn out.
However, though they’d been preparing for a long time, when it happened, it happened in an instant.
Right in the middle of eating, Stinky Fish ran in. “Brother Mo, there’s movement. The rats underwater have gnawed a hole in the bottom of our ship. Want to go take a look?”
Everyone at the table stood up with a start, except for Mo Zi, who could still calmly finish her last bite.
“Have the rats left?” Only then did she stand up.
“They’ve left. Afraid they’d become suspicious, I haven’t had anyone plug it yet.” Stinky Fish wasn’t nervous at all either. “I’ll wait until you’ve seen it to decide.”
“They’ve already come to bore holes so brazenly, and we’re still worried about making them suspicious? Take advantage of now—I’ll lead the archers to strike first and fight a vanguard battle.” Wei Jia rubbed his fists together eagerly.
“If it’s a head-on clash, we’re at a disadvantage with fewer people than they have. Even if we could win, it would be a bloody battle. To minimize casualties on our side, we must use cunning strategy. Exercise patience. When the other side thinks we’re vulnerable, that’s when the opportunity to return the favor arrives.” Mo Zi left the table, then said to Xiao Wei, “Big Brother, Loach will likely use the excuse that the road ahead is treacherous to propose bringing people onto the ship. Just agree, and don’t let him grow suspicious.”
“How many people could their ship possibly have?” Xiao Wei agreed with Wei Jia’s opinion—there was no need to wait.
“At least two hundred people. In terms of individual combat capability, they probably can’t be compared to our people at all. But they’re a river gang—in this environment, they’re like fish in water. Not everyone on our ship has excellent water skills. Wei Jia doesn’t, Qiao Qiao doesn’t, and the Internal Guards executing this mission with us don’t either.” She needed to wait for her trap to envelop their trap, while simultaneously avoiding any losses on her side. That was her goal.
Wei Jia listened in stunned amazement. “Individual combat capability? Hey, Mo Zi, I’m discovering you really do understand warfare.”
Mo Zi smiled.
Though Xiao Wei was also surprised, he had more important questions. “These past few days I’ve only counted thirty or forty people. Though that ship sits low in the water, I also assumed it was cargo. Even if they intend to devour us, it’s just criminals eating criminals. Why would they sacrifice private cargo to load two hundred people for an attack? Could it be the other side has seen through our identities, and they’re in league with Daqiu?”
Mo Zi just smiled again. This is why Xiao Wei wasn’t someone who could be easily dealt with.
The more she smiled, the more Xiao Wei felt something was fishy. “Could it be you’ve concealed something from us?”
“No matter what, let’s wait. I neither want the other side to attack this ship, nor do I want to fight them desperately in the water.” Mo Zi deflected by changing the subject, calling Stinky Fish to leave with her. “Big Brother, from now on, you’re responsible for keeping Loach and his people occupied. And before sunset, we must determine the outcome.”
“Where are you going?” Clearly he himself was the one who issued orders and led troops into battle, but he knew that neither water attack nor defense was this ship’s strong suit. If he let the other side board the ship, casualties would be inevitable. Even if there was something fishy going on, with matters already pressing, he couldn’t pursue it for now.
“I’m going to take a stroll.” Though the secret ultimately couldn’t be kept hidden, she could hide it for one more day if possible.
Mo Zi and Stinky Fish went down to the very bottom of the cargo hold, entering a partitioned cabin toward the stern. Water Snake was waiting there. As soon as he saw them, he pulled open the floorboards.
It turned out there was another level below the cargo hold.
“How big is the hole?” Mo Zi asked as she descended the ladder.
“The size of a large bowl, but they’ve thinned all the surrounding planks. As soon as it bears enough weight, it will expand.” Water Snake led the way ahead.
This level was the most important part of the entire ship—three parts above the water surface, seven parts below. The wheel mechanisms at both bow and stern were used to activate and control the fan-shaped hidden rudders, capable of adjusting ship direction and speed at will, as well as avoiding danger. Though they weren’t numerous, and she didn’t know if they’d come in handy, she had installed water jade pieces of a certain transparency in inconspicuous corners—the size of eye holes. At both ends of the ship were even more secret entry and exit points, close to the water surface, allowing direct release of small boats without attracting attention.
“Brother Mo, those water jade pieces you installed are really useful. Those water rats have no idea their little tricks are all falling under our eyes. They’re just too few and too small—it would be great if there were more.” Stinky Fish loved these novel gadgets.
Water jade pieces were crystal. Ancient technology made them difficult to carve, and the transparency varied. Just a few pieces had cost her nearly three thousand taels. Thinking that crystal and glass had similar compositions, her heart had ached terribly when the silver went out. Moreover, she couldn’t report this expense to the Emperor. Whose ship used crystal as material?
“They can only see extremely close areas—the usefulness isn’t as great as I’d anticipated.”
She walked to the stern and saw that hole gurgling water inward, with the Internal Guards bailing. Rolling up her pant legs and removing her shoes, she personally inspected it before having them seal the hull.
“Judging by the size of the hole, it should take about four hours before it affects the ship’s balance.” The main function of watertight compartments was to prevent the ship from sinking to the bottom, but it had been exploited as a “time bomb.” “This Boss Wu is indeed quite formidable.”
“Yu Zhong.” Water Snake suddenly spoke.
Stinky Fish stared intently at his second brother. “You’re not saying Yu Zhong is on the ship, are you?”
“Brother Mo, this person’s martial arts aren’t high, but he’s extremely familiar with ships and can even draw ship diagrams.” Water Snake told Mo Zi.
“Oh?” Mo Zi thought for a moment. “Could it be this ship actually belongs to Yu Zhong?”
“Heaven has eyes—today we can finally kill our enemy with our own hands.” Stinky Fish narrowed his eyes, a fierce expression appearing on his face.
“Brother Mo, if it really is Yu Zhong’s ship, we need to be even more cautious.” Water Snake’s true meaning.
“The most cautious approach—” Mo Zi bit her lip. “Go underwater.”
Stinky Fish and Water Snake simultaneously looked at her and asked, “Now?”
An hour later, Mo Zi returned to the main cabin on deck, just in time to hear Loach talking with Xiao Wei and Wei Jia. As expected, he had brought twenty strong men onto the ship, using the excuse that the waterway they were about to enter was narrow with rapid currents, requiring experienced people to pole and manage the sails. Xiao Wei, following her instructions, agreed.
Loach raised a second request: to connect the two ships stern to bow with chain links.
This made Xiao Wei hesitate for quite a while, unwilling to agree easily. He had someone call Stinky Fish, who was nominally the ship’s captain, to ask whether it was appropriate, and only then did he finally nod.
They agreed to set off in half an hour, everyone took their positions, and the chains were also attached.
As Boss Wu’s ship raised anchor, Loach shouted, “Anchor’s up.”
The anchor was raised, but the sails were pulled halfheartedly.
Loach turned to look and discovered that the people he’d brought aboard had actually disappeared.
“What’s going on? Where are my brothers?” He immediately sensed trouble.
But he didn’t have the chance to ask again before Zan Jin sent him flying into the river with a single palm strike.
Xiao Wei looked at Mo Zi, unable to hide his surprised expression. “You—”
“If we don’t turn against them now, we won’t be able to seize the initiative.” Mo Zi smiled. “We can’t really wait for them to lead us down a dead-end road before attempting some desperate counterattack. I don’t have that kind of skill.”
“If that’s the case, why did you agree to let the other side attach the chains?” A major taboo in military strategy.
“Because there’s an advantage to it.” After Mo Zi spoke, she strode to the bow in a few steps and shouted loudly, “Where is Yu Zhong?”
Boss Wu sensed trouble when Loach fell into the water, and hearing Mo Zi call out the gang leader’s name, he knew the other side had already seen through them, so he simply threw caution to the wind. With a wave of his hand, those gang members hiding in the shadows rushed onto the deck—over a hundred people.
“Where are the three Lu brothers?” he shouted fiercely.
Stinky Fish grasped a sail rope with one hand, standing on the gunwale. “Lu Yu is here! Where is that old ghost Yu Zhong?”
Then in that sea of dark heads, a path opened up, and Yu Zhong’s cold face appeared. “If you three brothers had been a bit more stupid and just lived out the rest of your lives in such an unseemly manner, I might have spared you. However, since you’ve delivered yourselves right to me, if I don’t personally take your lives, wouldn’t I be wasting Heaven’s kind intention? What a pity for your parents—their illustrious reputation, yet they gave birth to such foolish sons. In that sense, I’ve actually done a good deed, sparing them from being angered to death by you, which would be even more unjust.”
Stinky Fish was no longer grinning and joking, burning with fury. “Old ghost, was it you who caused our parents’ deaths?”
“So what if it was?” Yu Zhong laughed heartily. “Now the Whale Gang has been completely cleaned out by me—everyone listens to me. Could they possibly clear your names, you three little bastards? Besides, you’re about to become dead men. What a pity for everyone on that ship, dying meaninglessly as burial companions for you three.”
Xiao Wei glanced sidelong at Mo Zi. “So that’s how it is.”
“It’s not just that.” Mo Zi returned his glance. “There are Daqiu people on Yu Zhong’s ship. The so-called private cargo waterline doesn’t exist at all. They’ve long been secretly in league, coming and going from Yuling as if it were their own home, which is why every time they encountered Yuling military ships they could pass safely. Therefore, they never planned to enter Tiger Claw Bend either. The red line on the water route map was deliberately drawn to make us think they really were smuggling cargo.”
Wei Jia listened and asked, “How did you learn this?”
“Didn’t they dig into our ship? So I paid them a return visit. As it happened, the Daqiu people were feeling stuffy in the bottom cabin and opened a window, complaining in their native dialect.” Mo Zi answered truthfully.
Wei Jia gave her a thumbs up. “I’m impressed.”
What would impress him even more was still to come.