Chapter 8: The Man Known as the God of Death

  Hehe, updated again!

  In the palace of Hwangseong, King Gojong is dealing with his queen. This old guy is also quite pitiful. In recent years, he was imprisoned by the Qing Dynasty and just returned to enjoy life for a short time before the Donghak Peasant Revolution broke out, and he was unexpectedly pushed onto the throne as regent by Japan.

  After a sigh, the bedroom returned to calmness. After a while, the princess touched Li Yi's chest with her hand and asked in a soft voice: "Your Majesty, why did you want to save that Qing person?" A glimmer of light flashed in Li Yi's eyes, and he replied: "My dear, do you know that there is a kind of bird called the sparrow, which cannot build its own nest and can only occupy the magpie's nest. We are like the magpie, while the Japanese are like the sparrow. Japan has a small territory but many people, and they have already begun to covet our Korean land. The Qing dynasty is vast in territory but sparse in population, so it will not look down on us. Therefore, we can only believe that the Qing dynasty can save Korea. So although I was pushed into this position by Japan, I do not want to be a sinner of Korea." In history, Li Yi also did so, always acting as an internal spy for the Qing dynasty and passing on Japanese messages to the Qing dynasty.

  The princess seemed to understand and not understand, and smiled: "That king, is the magpie big or small? Is it bigger than your bird?" As she spoke, she grasped Li Yi's vital part.

  Li Yiying was furious, and retorted: "How can it compare to mine? Today, I'll let you witness my prowess." He then mounted his horse, but unfortunately, good things don't last long. A minute or two later, Li Yiying fell off again, and the princess gave him a sorrowful glance.

  Fortunately, there was an imperial servant knocking on the door to relieve his embarrassment. Li Yi covered up the pure and white body of Fei Zi and let the imperial servant in.

  The eunuch looked around and whispered, "Your Majesty, the Qing man's injuries have healed, he wants to bid you farewell!" The eunuch recalled that Qing man and couldn't help but feel a chill run down his spine. He remembered it was on a dark and windy night, several days after the Japanese invasion of the palace, when he found that man in a stinky ditch within the palace walls. That man had cut off a piece of flesh from his own thigh to feed himself and his foolish daughter. Thinking of those cold eyes, the eunuch couldn't help but feel a shiver run down his spine.

  Li Yi thought for a moment, then suddenly asked an unrelated question, "Do you know where Min Ziyu is being held?" Min Ziyu was the Empress Min, his daughter-in-law with whom he had been at odds for over ten years, and most of the time he was at a disadvantage.

  The palace maid did not understand Li Ye's meaning for a moment and replied cautiously: "Your Majesty, she is being held in the Cold Palace. What do you want?"

  Lee Yi-yeon bit his teeth and said, "Tonight you find a few trustworthy people to rescue her and hand her over to that Qing man to take away together." At this moment, as the King of Joseon, Lee Yi-yeon was completely qualified. He had abandoned his personal grudge against Queen Min for over ten years.

  The palace attendant understood Li Shimin's idea and said with some worry: "Your Majesty, what if the Japanese discover it?"

  "Don't worry, I'm not that easy to die. The Japanese still need me to stabilize Joseon. Besides, I'm already old and won't live for many more years, so let me do some good things for this country."

  The queen consort gazed at Li Yi with adoring eyes, the great king was still the great king, although he had aged and his time of vigor would not last long, yet he remained the majestic king who commanded respect. After the eunuch left, the queen consort employed all her skills to cater to Li Yi's desires.

  "Hurry, hurry, we're almost there." The eunuch urged repeatedly, hearing the footsteps coming from outside the door, Tu Linghan immediately jumped up from bed, grabbed the dagger by the bedside, and flipped his body to climb onto the beam.

  "Sir, sir." The person outside the door called out softly a few times, but not hearing anyone respond, they pushed open the door. In black clothes, Tu Ling Han sprang down from somewhere and landed on the ground. Before the person entering could react, they felt a dagger pressed against their neck. Their body trembling, they hastily said: "Sir, it's me."

  Tú Líng Hán sheathed his dagger and asked in a cold voice: "What's going on?"

  An attendant from outside the door pulled in a woman and said: "Sir, please take her away from this place."

  Tú Líng Hán had long noticed this woman, although she was lowering her head and her hair was disheveled. As an old spy who had lived in Korea for over a decade and even married and had children here, Tú Líng Hán had already recognized that this woman was the wife of King Lee Hee of Korea, the famous Queen Min. He knew the power and status she held in Korea.

  Without any hesitation, Tu Linghan said bluntly: "Alright, lead us out of the city quickly. Now I'm taking these two women and leaving immediately."

  It was night, and the eunuch led Tu Linghan and two women to disappear into the darkness.

  It wasn't until the next morning that Miura Goro, the Japanese Minister to Korea, received news that Queen Min had disappeared from the palace and all fingers were pointing at Yi Yong-ik. Miura immediately sent people to chase after her while leading a group of men in storming into Yi's bedroom.

  With one kick, the door was open. Li Yi and his wife were still in bed and hadn't gotten up yet. Oshima Keisuke drew out his sword and shouted: "You dare to let that worthless woman escape! You're not afraid I'll take your life today!"

  Li Yi had expected the Japanese to come, but still underestimated their brutality and reaction. He remained calm and silent, but his concubine was frightened and trembling all over.

  Oshima Keisuke lifted the quilt, leering and saying: "What a beautiful person, today let me enjoy it." Li Yiying stood up to resist, but was kicked off the bed by Oshima Keisuke. The princess saw this and immediately hit her head against the bedpost until she died.

  Oshima Keisuke, furious and with nowhere to vent his anger, kicked Li Xiangying a few more times, coldly saying: "Li Jun, remember your identity, you are just a dog raised by the Empire, don't bark when it's not time to bark. If there is a next time, it won't be so simple." After finishing speaking, he slammed the door and left.

  The story splits into two threads, and in the other thread, Ye Zhiqi is leading his own Brave Troop and playing a game of hide-and-seek with ōshima Yoshimasa. Since Ye Zhiqi withdrew from Chengwan, the Japanese Ninth Brigade has been sticking to him like dogskin plaster, attacking him without regard for casualties, making Ye Zhiqi extremely annoyed. Fortunately, at this time, the main force arrived at the Han River. Ye Zhiqi couldn't help but recall a great man's feat of crossing the Red Water four times, and suddenly had an epiphany, applying it to make three crossings of the Han River. Although he wasn't that great man, without such high military accomplishments, the pursuers behind him weren't several tens of thousands of troops either, so he really did manage to shake off ōshima Yoshimasa's pursuit.

  Today is the last time crossing the Han River, Daishan Yichang still doesn't know that there's a lump behind him, so Ye Shao is in a good mood, standing on the small fishing boat, with his hands clasped behind his back, flanked by Wu Dasha and Wen Baisha, two great mountains, gazing at the rolling river waters. Our Ye Shao is full of heroic spirit, blurting out: "With sword in hand for ninety-nine times, I'll only stop when all Japanese pirates are killed!"

  Wu Dashan rubbed his scalp and asked, "Ye Shao, can you hold so many steel knives?" Wen Baishan burst out laughing, Ye Zhi Kui shook his head in distress, speechless.

  Wu Dashan's eyes were sharp and he suddenly pointed into the distance, saying: "Ye Shao, there is a small bamboo raft on the river over there, it seems like someone is on it."

  "The boat will come over and rescue you, let's talk later!" Ye Zhi Kui ordered.

  Before long, three people were brought on board. There was one man and two women. The man was about 40 years old with a long scar on his face and had been shot, unconscious and looked terrifying. The two women were in their 40s and 17 or 18 years old respectively, with delicate skin and beautiful features. The younger woman held the man's hand, crying and wailing, calling out "Dad" in Chinese. The older woman had been scanning her surroundings with her eyes since she boarded the ship but didn't say a word.

  Ye Zhi Kui hastily summoned the military doctor to treat him. The old military doctor, holding his medical box, walked over with trembling hands, took his pulse and said after a while: "Sir, this man's pulse is weak, he can't be saved."