Before the expedition, Ji Gang received ten thousand death warriors from Prince Han, along with a promise: “Prince Han, rest assured. On this campaign, the Imperial Grandson will surely meet his end with no return!”
These ten thousand death warriors, following Ji Gang’s instructions, shaved their heads and changed their clothing to disguise themselves as Japanese pirates, placing themselves under Ji Gang’s command. They usually hid on isolated islands near pirate lairs, waiting for opportunities.
Ji Gang leaked the Great Ming Navy’s rendezvous signal—three orange flares—to Prince Han’s death warriors, instructing them to land early under the banner of the Great Ming Navy.
Given Zhu Zhanji’s style of treating worthy men with courtesy, he would certainly go to the harbor to welcome Earl Pingjiang Chen Xuan. When the warships sailed into harbor, they would turn their cannons toward Zhu Zhanji and bombard him mercilessly, then flee after the attack.
Even if the monk escaped, the temple could not. The Imperial Grandson would die eventually.
Ji Gang’s smile had not yet faded when he saw a green flare light up on the horizon.
His smile froze on his lips as Ji Gang flew into a rage: “What’s happening? Who fired the retreat signal without authorization?”
A subordinate rushed over in panic: “Report! Prince Han… it’s Prince Han’s heir who went to the harbor! Prince Han’s men ignored our attempts to dissuade them and fired the green signal, telling the gunboats to leave immediately!”
Who could have anticipated that Zhu Zhanhe would run to the harbor to his death!
Prince Han’s men had to ensure no harm came to Zhu Zhanhe. They would rather let the plan fail than allow a single hair on Zhu Zhanhe’s head to be harmed—this was also Prince Han’s death order. His eldest son was the apple of his eye, and no mishaps could be tolerated.
Zhu Zhanji could be killed at another opportunity, but Zhu Zhanhe only had one life.
Ji Gang looked up at the sky speechlessly.
Having finally gotten rid of the obstacle that was A’Lei, how had it become Zhu Zhanhe instead?
Actually, Ji Gang didn’t care about killing one more grandson of the Zhu family, but Prince Han’s men had their own stance, and now was not the time to break relations.
Could it be that Zhu Zhanji truly was the so-called True Dragon Son of Heaven, protected by divine spirits, escaping mortal danger time and again?
Ji Gang looked annoyed at the Japanese pirate confessions in his hand. There was no other way—if he couldn’t kill Zhu Zhanji, he could only use these confessions to plug this leak for now.
When the green flare rose from the isolated island, Zhu Zhanji suddenly awoke and jumped up from his bed: “Brother, there are Japanese pirate scouts sending signals. Immediately send people to search the area where the flares were fired.”
But Zhu Zhanhe was nowhere to be seen.
Hearing the commotion from the inner room, his personal guards quickly entered and said: “Just now, Earl Pingjiang Chen Xuan’s Great Ming Navy was about to enter harbor, so the Prince’s heir went personally to the harbor to welcome them.”
Zhu Zhanji pushed open the window—the storm had stopped. He took out his pocket watch to check the time; only four hours had passed. “How did Earl Pingjiang arrive so quickly?”
They had agreed to wake him after two hours of sleep, but his cousin, wanting to let him sleep a bit more, had gone in his place.
The personal guard said: “The main ship fired three orange flares, which is the secret signal our forces agreed upon with Earl Pingjiang.”
Zhu Zhanji took out his telescope to observe the naval formation at the harbor. The brilliant starry sky was about to take its curtain call, with dawn light appearing in the east. Though visibility remained blurry, it was clear that those ships flying Great Ming Navy banners that had just approached the harbor were turning around and heading out to sea!
Connecting this with the green signal just now, Zhu Zhanji made an immediate decision: “Something’s wrong. Close the harbor immediately! Stop those ships!”
His personal guard immediately raised a red lantern and waved it rhythmically toward the harbor outpost—this was the army’s unique lamp language.
The Youth Army was well-trained and followed orders without question. Zhu Zhanhe, who was at the harbor preparing to welcome Earl Pingjiang, received the secret order. Though confused and puzzled, he had absolute trust in Zhu Zhanji, trust that had long surpassed his trust in his own father, Prince Han.
Big brother’s orders—just follow them. He would never harm me.
Zhu Zhanhe thus ordered the harbor sealed.
The harbor’s exit was blocked by lowered floating bridges. The ships flying navy banners opened fire on the floating bridges, blasting them to pieces, then rushed out of the harbor.
At the same time, ships in the rear that hadn’t had time to dock also turned around and sailed toward the open sea!
“Pass my order: do not pursue by ship! Our forces are not skilled in naval warfare—don’t fall into enemy traps.” Zhu Zhanji ordered again: “Send five hundred men to escort Prince Han’s heir back to camp. Tie up a batch of Japanese pirates and drive them ahead to guard against enemy mines.”
Learning from bitter experience, Zhu Zhanji wanted to ensure his brother’s safety.
Though they were cousins, in Zhu Zhanji’s eyes, Zhu Zhanhe was closer than his own brothers, even closer than his parents.
The personal guard took the orders and left. At the harbor, Zhu Zhanhe watched as over ten warships sailed away, disappearing into the gradually brightening horizon. Suddenly, his heart brightened as he realized something…
The thunderous sound of ships blasting through the floating bridges woke A’Lei. She had been having an incredibly beautiful dream. Hearing the commotion, she immediately dragged her injured foot and pushed open the window to look outside, seeing fire-colored light at the harbor. Could there be remaining Japanese pirate accomplices attacking their old nest?
Zhu Zhanhe was escorted back safely without incident, and the two brothers held a meeting to discuss the situation.
Zhu Zhanji said: “Continue strict searches of secret passages on the island. Blow up all suspicious caves—we cannot fight on two fronts. The real Great Ming Navy should come to our aid today. With Earl Pingjiang’s strength providing naval escort, he can certainly ensure our safe return to land.”
The isolated island lacked food, and military provisions were running low. The food found in the enemy’s lair was but a drop in the bucket. Starting this morning, the Youth Army had been forced to fish in nearby waters as supplementary meals, with each person only getting one bowl of fish soup. They had to leave this place early.
“Big brother is absolutely right. We don’t know when the next storm will come—our forces cannot afford to stay here.” Zhu Zhanhe nodded and said: “Those ships that just disguised themselves as the Great Ming Navy might be pirates, or possibly another group of Japanese pirates we haven’t identified yet, thinking to profit while the snipe and clam fight, coming to the island to scavenge. This place is close to Liujia Harbor—they might have set their sights on the various national envoys. We must send a message by carrier pigeon to remind the Liujia Harbor garrison to increase vigilance, lest it cause a diplomatic crisis for Great Ming. Also, our agreed signal with Earl Pingjiang has been leaked—there must be a traitor involved, either on Earl Pingjiang’s side or we have Japanese pirate spies in our forces. We need to root them out early.”
While Zhu Zhanhe was being escorted back, Zhu Zhanji received intelligence that Ji Gang had tortured prisoners under interrogation, nearly killing all the captives.
Zhu Zhanji’s suspicions of Ji Gang grew even stronger. Ji Gang also wanted to personally deliver the Japanese pirate confessions for him to see. Fearing trickery, Zhu Zhanji ordered his personal guards to retrieve the confessions while sending Ji Gang and his thousand Imperial Guards to the harbor under the pretext of investigating the identity of those impersonating the Great Ming Navy, effectively dismissing Ji Gang.
If Zhu Zhanji were fighting Ji Gang one-on-one, with his cunning, he would certainly have better methods than isolation to test Ji Gang and find evidence. But he was not alone—beside him were Zhu Zhanhe and the mobility-impaired A’Lei. He had to ensure these two people’s safety.
He would rather harm himself than let these two suffer injury.
Ji Gang made a show of conducting investigations at the harbor. With repeated setbacks and assassination attempts continually disrupted, judging from Zhu Zhanji’s refusal of Imperial Guard protection and his transfer of all Imperial Guards to the harbor, this cunning brat was probably suspicious of him.
This was truly stealing a chicken only to lose the rice used as bait. What to do now?
A good hand played terribly, and he’d gone from hidden to exposed while Zhu Zhanji had turned the tables with sheer dumb luck.
What was worse, Earl Pingjiang Chen Xuan would soon arrive with the Great Ming Navy as reinforcements. Chen Xuan was a ruthless character trained by Mu Chun himself. Now that Chen Xuan was alerted, he would certainly protect the Imperial Grandson strictly, leaving even fewer opportunities.
So if he wanted to kill the Imperial Grandson, he had to act before Chen Xuan arrived.
A’Lei and Zhu Zhanhe were both people who couldn’t be touched. The only method was to lure the Imperial Grandson out of his “turtle shell.”
Ji Gang began his third assassination attempt. I refuse to believe I can’t kill him!