Wang Chen, his wife, and Li Xian followed the caravan and indeed did not encounter any bandits along the way.
On this day, the caravan came to a tributary of the Wei River, named Qianhe River.
The next road is all waterway. If you follow this river and merge into the Wei River, you can reach Chang'an directly.
The couple felt a little relieved after seeing that there had been no accidents in the past few days.
On the first night on board the ship, the three of them had dinner in the lobby of the passenger ship with the leader of the caravan.
This ship is the largest and best passenger ship in this water area. It is very stable and does not feel bumpy.
The leader of the caravan is named Fan Ting. He was educated when he was young. He gave up studying and went into business because he failed to pass the Jinshi exam many times. He is the backbone of the Fan family trading company.
He has been doing business abroad for a long time, has extraordinary knowledge and is a talkative person. Under his guidance, Wang Chen and his wife's depression has been reduced a lot.
Just as the couple was gradually relaxing and chatting freely, several people suddenly walked in through the side door.
The two leaders were wearing coarse linen clothes, but they couldn't hide their nobility.
As soon as they came in, their eyes were fixed on Wang Chen's table.
Wang Chen felt slightly strange. At this moment, he suddenly noticed that Li Xian's face was pale and his forehead was covered with beads of sweat.
He was moved and thought: "Are those two men Li Xian's brothers?"
The two people sat down on the table next to Wang Chen, and the five followers behind them stood quietly, like five straight iron towers.
The older of the two men suddenly said: "Old Qi, come here!"
This sentence was obviously addressed to Li Xian, with an unquestionable dignity in his tone.
Li Xian looked closely at Wang Chen and his wife, with prayer in his eyes, as if he hoped that they could come forward to help him.
Just as Mrs. Wang was about to speak, Wang Chen whispered: "These two people should be his brothers. Let's leave their family affairs alone."
Mrs. Wang immediately stopped talking.
Seeing this, Li Xian sighed, stood up, and walked towards the two people dejectedly.
Seeing how pitiful he looked, Mrs. Wang finally couldn't help but said: "You...if you don't want to go there, just don't go! Although they are your brothers, they have persecuted you to this point. You don't have to listen to them anymore!"
Li Xian's eyes lit up, as if his courage was ignited by her words.
"Brother Six, Brother Eight, you have made me suffer enough. I don't want to see you again, and you should stop disturbing me!" He mustered up his courage and shouted towards the two of them.
After speaking, he strode back to sit next to Mrs. Wang.
The man he called Sixth Brother sighed and said: "Lao Qi, you are the last hope of our Li family. Neither my eighth brother nor I have selfish motives. You should understand."
Li Xian hummed: "Brother Six, I have seen everything you have done over the years. I am not that stupid. I know you just want to use me."
The younger man said angrily: "Brother Qi, you know our current situation. We don't have time to argue with you. Since you don't want to come here by yourself, we have to use force!"
Li Xian said loudly: "It's not that easy if you want to catch me!"
After speaking, he looked towards Wang Chen and his wife, hoping that they would come forward to protect him.
Sixth Brother said calmly: "Old Qi, I made a mistake that day. I didn't know that those government officials brought bows and arrows. I have investigated clearly today and found that there is only one caravan around you and no official protection. You should just follow us honestly."
Fan Ting said heartily: "My boss asked me to take care of these three people. I can't just sit back and do nothing at this time." He immediately said loudly: "Since Mr. Li is not willing to go with you, why do you have to force others to make things difficult for them."
Brother Six's face turned cold: "My friend, I advise you not to meddle in other people's business. This matter is not something that you, a small businessman, can easily get involved in."
Fan Ting felt angry when he heard his loud tone, and coldly snorted: "I was about to ask you who you are."
Suddenly, a loud laugh was heard.
"His Royal Highness King Pei is right. This matter is not something that you, a small businessman, can interfere with. If you are interested, just step aside."
Following the voice, a group of men in black entered the lobby.
Wang Chen's expression immediately changed.
The leading man in black had slender eyes, a delicate beard, and the cuffs of his black attire were rimmed with gold, which was exactly the same as the leader of the men in black who attacked his home that day.
What surprised him even more was the word the man in black mentioned just now.
King Pei!
Li Xian’s sixth brother turned out to be King Pei!
Wang Chen met King Pei a few years ago, but after so many years, he could not remember his appearance. He had never seen the two of them in Beijing, so he never expected that they would appear here.
The lobby immediately became noisy and bustling with people.
The imperial court issued a notice very early, saying that King Pei had committed rebellion and had been demoted to a commoner. He was wanted nationwide and had a high reward on his head.
Many speculators secretly looked at the guards behind the two men, eager to make some extra money.
The prudent person realized that there would be a commotion here and hurriedly left the hall.
Since Li Xian and Li Dan heard the voice of the leader in black, they stood up and stared at him closely.
The leader in black smiled slightly and said calmly: "You two are really capable. You have not revealed your whereabouts for several months. I thought you two went to another country."
Li Xian took a deep breath and said coldly: "You have been secretly eyeing Li Xian for a long time, right? Did you deliberately not catch him, just to use him to hook us?"
The leader in black smiled but did not answer. He walked to an empty table and sat down, pouring a cup of tea. He seemed to have no intention of taking action immediately.
Fan Ting walked to Wang Chen, glanced at Li Xian, and whispered: "Brother Wang, who is this Mr. Li?"
Wang Chen was also a little confused at this moment. Li Xian's brother was the King of Pei, so he was naturally a prince.
What Li Xian? He is clearly the missing British King Li Xian!
The couple unexpectedly saved a prince, and they don't know if it was a blessing or a curse?
Li Xian looked at the leader in black warily and whispered a few words to the guards behind him.
Just as the guard was about to go out, the leader in black smiled and said, "Your Highness King Pei, you don't need to send anyone out."
Li Xian stared coldly at the leader in black, waiting for his next words.
The black-clothed leader continued: "When you were talking to His Royal Highness just now, I had already led people to deal with all your subordinates outside. By the way, the small boat you prepared also fell into our hands."
Li Xian said coldly: "Are you the Queen Mother's secret guard?"
The leader in black did not answer. He glanced around, raised a token, and said loudly: "The government is arresting the wanted criminal. Everyone, please go back to the cabin and rest!"
Those who originally planned to take action were greatly disappointed, sighed secretly, and left the hall one after another.
The leader in black turned his attention to Fan Ting and several people in the caravan.
"I know your boss is a big businessman in Shu, but if you get involved in today's incident, it will bring disaster to your boss!"
Fan Ting whispered to Wang Chen: "Brother Wang, let's leave Li Xian alone and go out together."
Wang Chen smiled bitterly, how could Fan Ting know that these men in black were coming for him.
"Brother Fan, you... you can go by yourself. You don't have to worry about this matter. Thank you for escorting me all the way." He said in a hoarse voice.
Fan Ting frowned secretly, thinking that Wang Chen was unwilling to abandon Li Xian.
He is a businessman who knows how to weigh the pros and cons best. When it comes to royal matters, he has nothing to do with them.
He immediately handed over his hands and left the hall.
In the blink of an eye, only the men in black, King Pei and his party, Wang Chen and his wife, and Li Xian were left in the hall.
King Pei sent one of his men out. Not long after, the man came back and reported that just as the leader in black said, everyone outside him had been killed.
King Pei looked at the leader in black coldly and thought: "If the other party didn't take action immediately, there must be an ambush outside. It would be inappropriate to rush out directly. It's better to stay in the hall for the time being and adapt to changes."
With his thoughts settled, he sat back on the chair.
The black-clothed leader praised: "As expected of the royal bloodline, he has extraordinary determination."
At this time, Wang Chen finally couldn't help but said: "This official, was Her Majesty the Queen Mother sending you to take the lives of my husband and I?"
The leader in black glanced at the two men and did not answer.
Wang Chen gritted his teeth and said: "My husband and I have never met Her Highness the Queen Mother. Why does she want to kill us? Please let us know clearly!"
The leader in black said calmly: "You don't need to know that much."
King Pei suddenly smiled and said: "Wang Langjun, you don't need to ask him. He is just a dog of the Queen Mother. He just obeys orders. He has no idea why the Queen Mother wants to kill you."
The black-clothed leader's expression suddenly changed, with murderous intent flashing in his eyes.
But for some reason, there was still no order to take action.
Wang Chen looked at King Pei with hostile eyes, gritted his teeth and said: "Listen to what you mean, do you know why the Queen Mother wants to kill us?"
"The king does know."
"Why?"
King Pei's eyes flashed slightly: "Wang Langjun, you and I are in danger now. It's useless even if you know the reason. Why don't you and I join hands and escape from here together, and I will tell you the reason!"
Wang Chen looked pale and said: "This is on the ship, where can we escape to?"
King Pei smiled and said: "Don't you find it strange? This lackey has already taken control of the situation and could have arrested us, but why hasn't he taken action yet?"
Wang Chen was stunned, and looked at the leader in black, finding that he was staring at King Pei, as if fire was about to burst out of his eyes.
But despite this, he still didn't take action.
"Why didn't they take action?" Mrs. Wang hid behind her husband and asked cautiously.
King Pei glanced at Wang Chen, narrowed his eyes and said, "You must have a Wu Chengsi token in your hand."
Wang Chen suddenly understood and asked, "Is it because of this token that he didn't take action?"
King Pei was just guessing at first, but seeing the leader in black's face getting paler, he smiled slightly.
"Yes, this lackey must value his own future very much and is unwilling to take the risk of offending Wu Chengsi by killing you, so he refrained from taking action."
The leader in black said sternly: "Yes, I really don't dare to do anything to him, but you are different!"
He stood up violently, as if he was about to order an attack on King Pei and his party at any moment.
Seeing that he was getting angry, King Pei became calmer and said with a smile: "You must have some plan to kill the couple with the help of others."
The leader in black already had his hand on the handle of the knife and said coldly: "You don't need to worry about this. You two rebels have orders from above. If you dare to resist, you can be killed on the spot!"
Li Dan's face changed drastically: "Is this an order from the Queen Mother?"
The leader in black smiled sadly: "What do you think?"
Li Xian had already shrunk to the corner. After hearing this, he took two steps forward and said loudly: "You are talking nonsense, my mother will not give such an order!"
The leader in black said coldly: "Your Majesty, don't worry. You are different from these two traitors. I will send you safely back to the Queen Mother."
King Pei sighed and said, "I had already guessed that she would kill us."
He glanced at Li Xian and said: "Old Qi, if you leave with him, you will become the Queen Mother's puppet for the rest of your life, and you will never have any freedom!"
The leader in black drew his sword out of its sheath and ordered the men of King Pei to be surrounded and killed.
Suddenly, King Pei quickly came to Wang Chen and put his sword on his neck.
This turn of events not only stunned Wang Chen and his wife, but the man in black was also shocked. He frowned slightly and swallowed the word "do it".
Li Xian said anxiously: "Brother Six, he is my savior, please don't hurt him!"
Mrs. Wang screamed in surprise and shouted: "Let Brother Shen go!" Regardless, she tried to rush over, but was stopped by Li Dan and several guards.
The leader in black said coldly: "Li Xian, you don't want to use him to threaten me, do you?"
King Pei smiled and said, "Yes, that's what I meant."
The leader in black looked up and smiled: "I think you are crazy. I was going to kill him. It would be better if you help me kill him!"
King Pei said calmly: "If my guess is correct, water bandits will attack this ship later. According to your script, this couple will die in the hands of water bandits!"
The black-clothed leader's face darkened and he thought to himself: "This person reacts so quickly." He said with a cold face: "I don't know what you are talking about."
King Pei narrowed his eyes and said: "It doesn't matter if you don't admit it, but if the water bandits haven't come yet, the couple will die, and then Wu Chengsi will only think that you killed them!"
The leader in black was shocked and angry.
His original plan was to wait for the water bandits to arrive, then take away Li Xian, and let the water bandits kill Wang Chen and his wife, and capture Li Xian and Li Dan alive.
Unexpectedly, after sitting for a while, Li Xian not only angered him, but also pointed out his intentions, making the situation become what it is now.
The black-clothed leader had a cruel look on his face and said in his heart: "At this point, I don't care whether King Zhou will take revenge in the future." He walked towards Li Xian with the knife in hand.
Li Xian's heart sank, and he saw that he was planning to fight to the death.
Suddenly, he took a few steps back, put the knife on Li Xian's neck again, and said coldly: "If you take one more step forward, I will kill him!"
Li Xian was horrified: "Sixth brother, you, do you want to kill me?"
Li Xian said coldly: "Rather than letting you become Wu's puppet, I might as well kill you with one blow now."
The leader in black suddenly stopped.
"Retrieve Li Xian" is one of several tasks assigned by the Queen Mother. If he is killed by King Pei because of him, the superiors will definitely blame him!
Wang Chen escaped from death and hurriedly took his wife to the corner and whispered: "Madam, let's not stay here anymore, let's escape together!"
Mrs. Wang nodded repeatedly.
The couple immediately left the hall through the side door. As soon as they came to the walkway on the side of the ship, they suddenly saw the commotion outside and heard several voices shouting.
"The water bandits are coming!"
"The water bandits are coming!"
Wang Chen was shocked and horrified, and thought to himself: "What King Pei said is indeed true. Those men in black want to use water bandits to kill my husband and I!"
But the two of them were on the water and had no way to escape. They could only follow the crowd, hoping to find a small boat.
After running for a while, the couple followed the passengers to the bilge.
There is indeed a small boat here, but it is surrounded by men in black, all holding steel knives. Who dares to go up and grab it?
Soon, screams continued to be heard from above. Wang Chen hugged his wife tightly and huddled in a corner of the bilge.
None of the passengers in the bilge left.
Many people are thinking that when the water bandits come later, they may fight with the men in black and seize the opportunity to seize the boat.
Unfortunately, reality is often full of cruelty.
Suddenly, a strange whistle came from above, and the men in black immediately pushed the boat into the water through the hatch, and everyone got on board and left!
The passengers were horrified. Some people tried desperately to squeeze onto the boat, but were mercilessly slaughtered by the men in black. The smell of blood suddenly spread in the bilge.
Not long after the boat left, a group of bandits came to the bilge.
The leader had a copper ring in his nose and a giant dragon tattooed on half of his face, making him look extremely ferocious.
He seemed to be looking for someone, looking around.
Until he found Wang Chen and his wife, his eyes suddenly lit up and he said loudly: "Arrest them all, and whoever dares to resist will be sent on their way!"
With that said, he walked towards the couple, holding the steel knife high.
Wang Chen was already desperate and no longer resisted with the crossbow. He closed his eyes and hugged his wife.
At this moment, the big ship shook violently.
Not only the passengers on the boat fell down one after another, but also the leader of the water bandits fell to the ground.
"What's going on?" the water bandit leader got up and roared.
They came in small boats, and even if they hit the big ship, they couldn't shake it.
A water bandit rushed to the bottom of the bilge and shouted: "Boss, it's bad, the crazy cow is here!"
The tattooed man's face turned pale and he said urgently: "Get out quickly! Get out quickly!"
The other gangsters were even more panicked than him, as if a disaster was imminent, they all ran away with their heads in their hands, and in the blink of an eye they all exited the bilge.
Wang Chen was pleasantly surprised, and the other ship passengers were also overjoyed.
Someone shouted: "It's Captain Niu here! Don't be afraid, everyone!"
Many ship passengers seemed to know who Captain Niu was and praised him one after another.
Wang Chen asked someone nearby: "Brother, who is Captain Niu?"
The man escaped death and smiled from ear to ear: "He is the captain of Zhechong Prefecture in Longzhou, and this water area is his jurisdiction. He has only been here for a year, and the water bandits here have already been reduced by half!"
Another person shouted: "Captain Niu hates water bandits the most. All the water bandits he encounters never survive, so the water bandits are most afraid of him. They all call him Niu Madman behind his back!"
"I also heard that Captain Niu participated in the Battle of Liaodong before and served as the personal guard of His Royal Highness King Zhou!"
"Ah! No wonder it's so powerful. It turns out to be the soldiers of His Royal Highness King Zhou!"
Wang Chen's eyes suddenly brightened after hearing this, and he said anxiously: "Madam, let's go find this Captain Niu!"
Mrs. Wang also thought about it with him and nodded repeatedly.
The couple immediately left the bottom warehouse and went up to the deck. They saw officers and soldiers everywhere inside the ship, and the corpses of water bandits were all on the ground.
Mrs. Wang suddenly pointed to the west of the deck and said, "Husband, look quickly!"
Wang Chen immediately looked around and saw a tall general wearing mirror armor with his hands on his hips talking to the leader in black, who must be Captain Niu.
Behind the leader in black, King Pei and King Yin had their hands tied and fell into the hands of the leader in black.
Although the King of England was not bound, he was tightly sandwiched between two men in black, and his face was pale.
At this moment, the leader in black spotted Wang and Shen. His eyes lit up and he hurriedly said: "Catch them quickly."
Several men in black rushed over immediately.
Wang Chen saw that Captain Niu was silent and seemed not to intervene, so he hurriedly shouted: "I have His Majesty the King of Zhou's token in hand, who dares to touch me?"
Upon hearing the word "King of Zhou", Captain Niu's expression changed as expected, and his voice sounded like a bell: "Stop!"
The men in black didn't listen to him, and when they got to Wang Chen and his wife, they wanted to catch them.
Captain Niu was furious: "Brother Ge, can't you hear what I say?" He pointed at the men in black who took action and said, "Tie them up!"
More than a dozen sergeants immediately stepped forward. The men in black still wanted to resist. Captain Niu said angrily: "Whoever dares to resist, shoot him like a bitch!"
The men in black were taken aback. How dare they resist any longer? They were captured by the sergeants.