Everyone was utterly exhausted, but as the sky gradually brightened, the nearby villages had already been alerted. Han Qian and his group boarded the oar-canopy boats with no time to stop and catch their breath—they had to withdraw immediately if they hoped to continue concealing their tracks.
Although few among Han Qian’s group were skilled at rowing, the lake waters had risen and weren’t very deep. Using long bamboo poles pushed into the water, they propelled the two oar-canopy boats to glide silently through the dawn light, while behind them the fire at the fishing settlement spread ever wider.
Tian Cheng and Gao Shao commanded the highest respect among the newly recruited scouts. Even though they weren’t squad leaders, they didn’t need to take turns rowing or poling. They huddled under the boat canopy, looking down at the mother and her two children bound like dumplings at their feet, then observed Han Qian sitting at the stern. He had removed his boots and lifted his robe hem, extending his bare feet into the cool lake water while gazing back at the fishing settlement now ablaze with towering flames. No one knew what thoughts occupied his mind.
The two boats entered a reed marsh. Han Qian and his group shouldered the goods and hostages, abandoned the boats, and jumped into the shallow water. They trudged through the reed marsh, one deep step followed by one shallow, until they found an abandoned River God temple to take shelter.
Unable to light fires to boil water, and unable to drink raw river water, Han Qian struggled to swallow wheat cakes and dried meat strips.
At this moment, Lin Zongjing brought the woman before Han Qian. Han Qian tore off a small piece of meat strip, placed it in his mouth to chew carefully, then waved his hand, signaling Lin Zongjing to untie the torn cloth strip gagging the woman’s mouth. He asked:
“You can tell me now—what is your chief steward’s surname and given name, and among the five hundred routes of water bandits on Poyang Lake, what rank of figure does he belong to?”
After withdrawing to the oar-canopy boats, Han Qian and his group had stopped wearing cloth face coverings, but they hadn’t spoken much along the way. The woman never expected this group would actually know nothing about her husband Yang Qin and the Yangtan water settlement!
Were they trying to trick her with words, or were they truly not from the Bureau of Military Affairs’ Department of Operations?
“My husband Yang Qin is a fisherman of the Yangtan water settlement. He’s quite well-known across the five-hundred-li expanse of Poyang Lake. Even though the settlement has been emptied of all goods and wealth, as long as you gentlemen deliver my children and me back to Yangtan water settlement, never mind anything else—my husband can still manage to send you gentlemen over a hundred gold ingots,” the woman said, forcing herself to remain composed as she straightened her spine.
“Your husband intended to assassinate a court official. If I hand you over to the authorities, the reward won’t be small either. But if I send you back now, I might later be implicated with the crime of colluding with water bandits. Tell me, big sister, how should I weigh this decision?” Han Qian plopped down on the ground, smiling as he spoke. “How about this, big sister—why don’t you tell us just how formidable the water bandits of Poyang Lake really are? Perhaps if you scare us enough, we won’t dare take a single coin and will have to send you back!”
The Left Bureau of the Secret Office had been established too recently. They hadn’t even thoroughly investigated the situation in Jinling City and the counties of the capital region, let alone gained deep understanding of the various water settlement bandit groups on Poyang Lake. This woman before them seemed quite knowledgeable, and as the inner mistress of a water settlement bandit group, she surely understood Poyang Lake’s circumstances far more thoroughly and in greater detail than they did.
“That dog official Han Daoxun—after filling his own belly, he actually found the starving refugees near the capital an eyesore and wanted to drive away those displaced by hunger and homelessness. Surely you gentlemen have long found this distasteful. How could you let him peacefully assume his post and have the chance to prey upon the local people?” The woman realized she might have been deceived. Forcefully suppressing the shock and panic in her heart, she said:
“…” Tian Cheng and Gao Shao squatted behind Han Qian, exchanging bewildered glances. From the appointments of Han Daoxun and his son Han Qian, they could guess that Han Daoxun’s memorial urging the expulsion of refugees back then was definitely not as simple as it appeared on the surface. But they never imagined Han Daoxun’s “evil reputation” had actually spread to the Jiang-E region. They truly didn’t know what expression would be on Han Qian’s face as he sat with his back to them.
“If I hadn’t seen all that wealth hidden in your compound, I might have actually believed you were righteous bandits acting on heaven’s behalf,” Han Qian broke off a grass stem and slowly chewed it in his mouth, smiling nonchalantly. “I was originally thinking of releasing you and sending you back, big sister. But now that you’ve said this, it makes things difficult for me. If I let you return and your chief steward learns I’m the dog official’s son, wouldn’t I become a fool walking into a trap?”
Seeing the woman’s face filled with shock and bewilderment, Han Qian smiled triumphantly: “Has big sister now guessed our purpose in going through the trouble of disguising ourselves as Department of Operations agents? Do you still think we’ll release you?” He then reached out and forcefully grabbed the woman’s right hand, speaking with apparent pity: “Such beautiful little hands—to write those three characters ‘Department of Operations’ in the corner of that wall, you wore your fingernails down to stubs. It truly makes one’s heart ache!”
The woman’s vision went dark, and she nearly fainted from anxiety!
…
…
The entire Yangtan water settlement was engulfed in raging flames. In the bluish-gray dawn light, even from forty or fifty li away, it was clearly visible.
Yang Qin led eighteen boats—every three boats forming one group—scattered around the perimeter of the dog official Han Daoxun’s flagship. This way, no matter when the dog official Han Daoxun boarded his boat to escape, they could silently surround his flagship and strike once they were far from the Jiangzhou water garrison’s line of sight.
But after lurking in the water marshes at Hukou for half the night without waiting for the dog official Han Daoxun to board his boat, Yangtan water settlement suddenly became covered in great flames.
Yang Qin’s imposing figure stood at the stern of the sail-oar boat. No matter how much he usually prided himself on having the bearing of a great general, at this moment his heart was filled with anxious panic. He didn’t know what had happened at the water settlement—how could there be such a massive fire?
Was it an accidental fire that broke out during the night, or had the settlement been ambushed while vulnerable?
Yang Qin looked toward Old Dragon Mouth with confusion and vigilance. At this time, the mountain peak of Old Dragon Mouth was covered in a thin mist that hadn’t dispersed, and he couldn’t clearly see the figures of Ji Kun and the others.
Not many people knew that Yangtan water settlement had been left vulnerable last night. Yang Qin desperately wanted to order all boats to surround Old Dragon Mouth and seize Ji Kun first. But reason told him that returning to the water settlement was the priority.
If all this was truly a trap Ji Kun had set for them, there might be ambush forces waiting behind Old Dragon Mouth. If they rushed over, they would only be walking into a net.
Seeing the direction of Yangtan water settlement ablaze with towering flames while the boats from Yangtan water settlement withdrew south from Hukou, Ji Kun regretted it so much he wanted to slap his own face.
Even though those around him discovered no suspicious figures, he no longer dared linger at Old Dragon Mouth. He led his three subordinates in a rapid descent down the mountain to meet with the attendants guarding the horses at the mountain’s base.
Ji Kun had no intention of returning to Hukou county seat. Instead, he randomly chose a direction and galloped toward the wild mountain wilderness southeast of Hukou County. Only after confirming no one was pursuing them did he pull the horses into a mountain ravine to hide.
“Yangtan water settlement suddenly caught fire—why did we flee in panic?”
They had traveled in such haste, and Ji Kun had seemed like he was being stalked by malicious spirits, galloping urgently the entire way without time to explain anything to his subordinates. Now hiding in the mountain ravine, one subordinate asked this question as soon as he caught his breath.
“Han Daoxun moored his flagship on the opposite shore as bait to lure us into revealing ourselves. Hateful—I was completely unaware, so that our meeting with Yang Qin fell entirely under the eyes of Dragon Sparrow Army’s covert agents. The fire at Yangtan water settlement was truly the Dragon Sparrow Army’s covert agents taking advantage of its vulnerability to strike. I alone must manage so many matters—some oversights are inevitable. Yet none of you detected anything suspicious. You all truly deserve death.” Seeing that his four subordinates still wore confused expressions and even at this point hadn’t figured out what had happened, Ji Kun said irritably.
Ji Kun stamped his feet in regret at this moment, secretly resenting his own excessive carelessness. Not only had he exposed his own whereabouts, he had actually allowed the whereabouts of Yang Qin’s group from Yangtan water settlement to be grasped crystal clear by the Dragon Sparrow Army’s covert agents. He didn’t know how many Dragon Sparrow Army covert agents were lurking near Old Dragon Mouth. He dared neither linger at Old Dragon Mouth nor return directly to Hukou county seat, fearing he might be assassinated by Dragon Sparrow Army covert agents lying in ambush along the way.
Ji Kun ordered one subordinate to climb a large tree on the mountain peak to watch the passages on both sides, preventing Dragon Sparrow Army covert agents from tracking them down for an ambush. He himself stood under the tree, took several deep breaths to calm his thoughts and organize his reasoning. After a moment, he took out his authority token and handed it to another subordinate, saying: “Take my authority token, quickly cross by boat to the opposite shore to see Jiangzhou garrison military commander Zhong Yanhu. Tell him our bureau has verified that the water bandits under Yang Qin harbor treacherous intentions and plotted to assassinate Prefect Han Daoxun who was traveling to assume his post in Xuzhou. Request that Zhong Yanhu immediately deploy water garrison warships to suppress Yangtan water settlement!”
“To eradicate the threat and silence witnesses, it seems better to mobilize our own people,” that subordinate said hesitantly. “Besides, even if we don’t silence them, no one would believe what water bandits say anyway.”
“Fool!” Ji Kun scolded in a lowered voice, exasperated. “The Dragon Sparrow Army’s covert agents merely attacked Yangtan water settlement when only the old, weak, women and children remained—what effect could that have? Have you not considered what consequences there would be if the Dragon Sparrow Army’s covert agents disguised themselves as our people to attack Yangtan water settlement and pin everything on us?”
That subordinate suddenly realized the severity of the problem. If they couldn’t eliminate Yang Qin’s bandit group, not only would they have to contend with the Dragon Sparrow Army’s covert agents going forward, they would also face the crazed retaliation of Poyang Lake’s great bandit Yang Qin. At that point, even preserving their lives would be difficult, let alone continuing to monitor Han Daoxun and completing the important mission entrusted by the Ming court officials.
“You take the ferry to Jiangzhou City and mobilize all personnel from Group Bing-Xiong to fully cooperate with Zhong Yanhu in suppressing the bandits. Don’t let Yang Qin become a hidden danger in this operation!” After Ji Kun gave these additional instructions, he sent this subordinate to depart quickly. He himself sat down under the tree, furrowing his brow as he carefully thought things through with regretful self-reflection, knowing that if he was truly careless, he might very well lose his life on this mission!