Chapter Forty-Four: The Female Assassin Flees

  Hong Niangzi waved the fire starter in her hand, threatening: "You dog official, tell your dog legged subordinates to put down their firearms immediately. I have a weak heart and can't stand being startled."

  "Put down your firearms." Wang Pu had no choice but to turn around and order, "Brothers, put down your weapons."

  Zhang's family had no choice but to put down the firearms in their hands.

  Hong Niangzi raised her eyebrows and teased: "Dog official, you're quite pleased with yourself, aren't you?"

  "Hey, don't speak so harshly, little girl," Wang Pu smiled and said, "Let's talk it out."

  "Cut the crap!" Hong Niangzi's tone changed, and she suddenly shouted, "I don't have the patience to play with you, take your people to that corner and squat down. If you dare to make any tricks, I'll detonate the firework, and we'll all die together."

  "Young lady, you haven't thought this through." Wang Pu suddenly raised his voice and said loudly, "If we go to that corner, can we still have good fruit to eat? When you get out of the cabin, just throw the fire starter in your hand down like that, won't General and these dozens of brothers be done for?"

  "We're not fools, we won't fall for your trick!" Li Zushu seemed to understand Wang Pu's intention and loudly echoed, "If you have the ability, just detonate the fire, at worst everyone will die together. With these two beautiful young ladies accompanying you on the road to the Yellow Springs, it shouldn't be boring, hehehe."

  "Shut up!" The matchmaker angrily said, "If you dare to spout nonsense again, I'll really set fire to it."

  "Ah, don't be like that." Wang Pu hastily waved his hand and said, "It was just a joke, little girl, don't get angry. We had no grievances in the past, nor do we have any now, so why make such a fuss? Let's all sit down together, drink some tea, chat for a bit, and talk things over peacefully."

  Wang Pu often encountered such dangerous situations when he was still a hoodlum in modern society, and he deeply understood that the first priority in such situations was to stall for time. He would start by talking nonsense, confusing his opponent so much that they wouldn't know what hit them, and then catch them off guard with a fatal blow, which might just turn the tables and ensure his safety.

  "Pshaw!"

  Hong Niangzi, a female bandit, was born with a bold and generous nature, with exceptional martial arts skills. However, when it came to cunning and strategy, she was no match for Wang Pu. She clearly failed to see through his sinister intentions and cursed loudly: "Who wants to sit down and have tea with you? Shameless! You've taken the lives of my 3,000 brothers, and I haven't even had a chance to avenge their deaths yet!"

  "Ah, young lady, you're wrong," Wang Bo said loudly. "In the Battle of Jining, you lost 3,000 men, but I also lost several hundred brothers. If you want to avenge your losses on me, shouldn't I also seek revenge from you? This cycle of revenge will never end."

  Hong Niangzi said: "We and the government troops have always been sworn enemies, and we will fight to the death."

  "That's right." Wang Pu said with a nod, "The White Lotus Sect and the imperial court have their own grievances, but General, you and the young lady don't have any personal grudges. I designed to destroy your subordinates, and your subordinates killed my subordinates, all of this is just fate, can't blame others. You say, isn't that right?"

  ■■■

  Just as Wang Pu was talking incessantly with Hong Niangzi, Zhen Youcai was anxiously arranging his men to prepare for the rescue of Wang Pu and others. Earlier, Wang Pu deliberately spoke loudly to remind Zhen Youcai to think of a way to save them quickly! Now Wang Pu can only rely on this Dog Head Military Advisor.

  The problem in front of Zhen Youcai is how to eliminate the threat of those tens of barrels of gunpowder in the hold!

  However, this small difficulty obviously couldn't stump the clever and resourceful Zhen Youcai. Zhen Youcai quickly thought of a way to solve the problem. The dozens of barrels of gunpowder in the hold would only be powerful if they exploded simultaneously; if just one barrel of gunpowder exploded, it wouldn't be enough to cause fatal injuries.

  So, as long as it can penetrate the bottom cabin wall in an instant and let the river water pour into the cabin, everything will be solved. Even if the female assassin detonates the fire bucket next to her, the unlucky one can only be herself, because other fire buckets will be soaked by the river water and cannot be detonated.

  Zhen Youcai urgently assembled a dozen or so soldiers who were good at swimming, and installed at least ten "underwater dragon king cannons" on the bottom and sides of Wang Pu's ship. The "underwater dragon king cannon" was actually an earth-made landmine, but it was covered with a layer of feathers that could prevent water, which was invented by General Qi Jiguang to deal with the Japanese pirates, and since then it has been preserved in the Ming army's naval forces.

  "The underwater dragon king cannon" was ignited by a fuse, so it could be lit on the water in advance and then placed at the bottom and side walls of the ship, with a delayed explosion.

  ■■■

  Hold.

  Hong Niangzi was driven dizzy by Wang Pu's east pulling and west dragging, and finally couldn't help but say: "You dog official, are you going to let me pass or not? If not, I'll ignite the firecracker!"

  "Rumble, rumble, rumble..."

  The Hongniang's voice had just fallen, and the dozen or so "underwater dragon king cannons" installed on the bottom and sides of the ship exploded one after another. In an instant, the big ship was blown out with more than a dozen large holes, and the icy river water rushed in quickly.

  Hong Niangzi and Bai Lian Jiao Zhu were still trying to figure out what was happening when they were knocked to the ground by a massive shockwave. The fire starter in Hong Niangzi's hand also fell to the floor, but it had already been extinguished by the river water before it hit the ground. Wang Pu and the others were no better off, all of them stumbling about from the sudden explosion.

  "Xiao Qi, take two brothers to escort the general upstairs! Knife Scar Face sprang up from the ground, shouting loudly, "The rest of you brothers follow me to guard the cabin door, and absolutely cannot let these two women escape."

  "Yes!"

  Dozens of servants responded in unison, pulling out shiny steel knives and gathering behind Scarface. Wang Pu and Li Zushou had already climbed up the ladder with the support of Xiaowu and two other servants, while Zhen Youcai hurried over to greet them, asking obsequiously: "General, are you alright?"

  "It's nothing, it's nothing." Wang Pu shook off the water droplets on his body and said loudly, "However, this big ship can be considered to have been blown up by you little brat. Immediately gather your brothers, transfer all things on the ship at once, and order your brothers to guard the nearby river section with small boats. Also, dispatch more sentries along both banks of the canal. This time General will definitely catch that female assassin."

  "General, you can rest assured." Zhen Youcai said with a smile, "These little people have already been taken care of."

  The hold, river water poured in from a dozen or so holes with a gurgling sound.

  Time passed quickly in the stalemate, and the lower hold was soon filled with river water. With no choice, Scarface led dozens of servants to retreat to the upper deck, but the two female assassins who stayed in the lower hold remained motionless until half a time later when the entire ship capsized, still without seeing the female assassins' faces.

  "Scarface." Wang Pu asked, "The two female assassins weren't blown up, were they?"

  "No." Scarface replied resolutely, "Absolutely not."

  "This is strange!" Wang Pu scratched his head in confusion, furrowed his brow and said, "Could it be that these two female assassins can also transform into mermaids and swim around? Search! Immediately send people down to the bottom of the water, dive into the cabin and search. Also, find those two slave women who were locked up in the lower hold, I want them alive or dead!"

  Thinking of Heilan Zhu and Bumu Batai sinking to the bottom of the river with the big ship, Wang Pu felt very regretful. All the risks along the way had been overcome, and now that they were approaching the capital, they encountered an unexpected disaster! However, it's better to die, otherwise, with their identity and beauty, they wouldn't have a good ending even if they arrived in the capital.

  Half a time later, more than 100 water ghosts who had dived into the water floated to the surface one after another. The leading water ghost shouted: "General, I and my brothers have searched the entire sunken ship, and also searched the nearby river section, but we did not find the corpse of the female assassin, nor did those two Jian Nu women appear!"

  "What?" Wang Pu said in surprise, "The slave woman is also gone?"

  "General!" Just as Wang Pu finished speaking, another water ghost emerged from the surface of the water, excitedly shouting, "General, I've found a secret passage! The entrance is right here, but it's below the water's surface!"

  "Underwater secret passage?" Wang Pu heard and was furious, "Damn it, I said how these two female assassins got into the city, it turned out they came in from an underwater secret passage!"

  "Huang Degong, who was guarding Wang Pu's side, shouted: 'General, I'll take the men to pursue them in the water!'"

  "Pursue!" Wang Pu shouted sternly, "Pursue them to the ends of the earth and sea if necessary, but we must capture these two female assassins."

  ;