Chapter 195: A Total Loss

Second, Zhao Yigong would surely send men into the city to raid his stronghold, and he might even inform the yamen to search it together. If nothing else, the gunpowder, sulfur, swords, and daggers stored in the courtyard were enough to constitute the crime of “rebellion.”

Originally, Hao Yuan’s script was written as a “gang fight,” but now Zhao Yigong had forcibly changed it to an “anti-government riot.”

A single careless move, and the entire game was lost. A bitter taste filled Hao Yuan’s mouth. In this game of chess, he had carefully planned every step, finally reaching the point of “checkmate.” He never expected that Xihua’s defection would instantly put him in a completely passive position.

“Benevolence does not command troops,” he secretly regretted. It would have been better to have silenced Xihua yesterday! A moment of kindness had led to a great mistake.

Now that things had come to this, regret was useless. He could only swallow it as a bitter medicine and remember the lesson.

“Hao Da, what do we do now?” a few people asked, seeing his grave expression and knowing that things were not good.

“Retreat immediately.”

“But Hao Da, our men are all in position, and more than half of the gunpowder has been transported. Even if the wind has changed, we can still act immediately,” He Liu said, unwilling to give up.

“If we don’t leave now, I’m afraid none of us will be able to,” Hao Yuan said coldly. “You don’t know how formidable they are. Go and tell everyone to retreat immediately.”

Hao Yuan knew there was no room for hesitation. His master had once told him to never underestimate the reaction speed of the “Australians.”

“They are the fastest reacting people in the world. You must calculate their reaction speed in minutes, not hours.”

Hao Yuan found it hard to imagine an organization with such a fast reaction time. In this world where feedback and decision-making were calculated in years and months, it took many days for a single piece of news to spread. Even in the same city, local news would take several days to spread throughout the city.

But his master’s words had always been correct. Over time, Hao Yuan had developed an almost superstitious reverence for his master’s pronouncements.

He Liu and the others looked at each other, but they had also developed a habit of following Hao Yuan’s “divine calculations” to the letter. Although they were unwilling, they immediately went to carry out the order.

The retreat plan had been prepared long ago. With a single order, his men quickly began to withdraw from their standby positions in groups.

Hao Yuan’s order was just in time. Just as the last group of men had left, the horse and foot patrols sent by the Hangzhou prefecture arrived at both ends of the street, blocking the street and questioning pedestrians. Some yamen runners were directly guarding the entrance of the Wanbi Bookstore.

While they were still on their way, news came that the residence had also been raided. The ones who came to raid it were also yamen runners from the government.

Although the gunpowder and weapons stored inside were lost, the documents and valuables were all safe thanks to the timely transfer. The people stationed there had also withdrawn in time.

He Liu and the others were dumbfounded. This Master Zhao was truly something! Naturally, they also secretly admired Hao Yuan.

“Send a local with an unfamiliar face out of the city to inform Zhou Shier at the Phoenix Villa as soon as possible. Tell him to take the brothers and leave as soon as it gets dark. Don’t get involved in the attack on the villa. The few escorts who withdrew from the stronghold are all Master Shi’s men. Silence them all.”

“Yes.” He Liu nodded. “What do we do now?”

“We’ll hide in the city for a while.”

Although they were no longer attacking the Wanbi Bookstore, it was hard to say if Zhao Yigong had set up secret checkpoints at the city gates to track them. So Hao Yuan instructed the main force not to leave the city for the time being, but to hide in various strongholds in the city. He himself would not leave the city either, only taking a few confidants to hide in the home of a secret disciple.

Nanxiawa was no longer an option. Although it was safe, the entrances and exits were now surely being watched by a large number of spies. Once his whereabouts were exposed, there was no guarantee what methods Zhao Yigong would use. He had originally planned a surprise attack, but now that the “surprise” was gone, the roles of attacker and defender had been reversed. His situation was very passive, and he could only lie low and wait for another opportunity.

The “burning of the Phoenix Villa” plan, painstakingly planned by Cao Guangjiu and Gou Chengxuan, was meticulously planned and executed. They even specifically invited several high monks through Zhang Guang to perform a “flaming mouth” ritual, preaching the message of defending the faith and vanquishing the demons. A group of bankrupt sericulturists had also been gathered, ready to seek revenge for their grievances. There were also a large number of fighting societies secretly carrying fire starters and sulfur, just waiting for the order to rush into the villa and set fire to the Cihuitang, creating a raging inferno.

However, Xihua’s defection had completely exposed the entire plan. Based on Xihua’s confession, Qian Shuixie adjusted the defense arrangements. Just as the sky darkened and the “flaming mouth” ritual began, several snipers opened fire from their designed positions in the villa, killing the monk who was presiding over the ceremony.

The loud sounds of the ritual instruments and the silencers perfectly concealed the sound of the rifle shots. The night vision scopes accurately sent the bullets into the body of a person nearly a thousand meters away.

The sudden death of the presiding monk caused great panic. Cao Guangjiu and Gou Chengxuan, who were commanding on the scene and had volunteered to handle the matter of floating the river lanterns, secretly knew that something was wrong. The location of the ritual platform was more than a li away from the villa gate. Besides the incited commoners, the “fighting societies,” and the invited monks, there was no one else around the platform. Unless Master Zhao had magical powers, it was impossible to kill someone from such a distance.

Zhang Guang suspected that there were assassins skilled with projectiles hidden among the onlookers, because the forehead of the dead monk looked as if it had been hit by a projectile, but the hole was extremely small, not like a musket ball. He immediately had Cao Guangjiu move all the onlookers twenty zhang away, leaving only the monks performing the ritual and the various “incense societies” that had come to show their support.

Unexpectedly, as soon as the second monk got on the stage, before he could even open his mouth, he suddenly fell to the ground again. Zhang Guang rushed onto the stage and held the monk, who was already dead. He saw that there was also a bleeding bullet hole in his forehead. Zhang Guang was filled with hatred, knowing that it must be the work of someone from the villa, but he didn’t know how they had done it. The people around the platform were all reliable and familiar. The miscellaneous people had been moved twenty zhang away. Never mind a slingshot or hand-thrown projectiles, even a bird-gun couldn’t shoot that far. If it was shot from the villa, the platform was more than a li away from the villa. A cannon would be needed to reach here. Besides, the ritual instruments had not yet sounded when the second monk went on stage. The sound of a bird-gun could not have been missed.

What kind of evil magic had they used! Zhang Guang was so angry his eyes turned red, but he was helpless. Seeing the panicked and fearful expressions on the faces of the monks and incense bearers below, he couldn’t help but jump up and down in frustration. But when he tried to get someone else to come up and perform the ritual, no one was willing. No matter how he persuaded them, no one responded.

Suddenly, a gust of wind blew, knocking over a ritual instrument on the altar with a “clatter.” The monks and incense bearers gathered below the stage immediately scattered in all directions, and in a moment, they had all fled, leaving only Zhang Guang crying in anger below the stage.

Cao Guangjiu felt a chill in his heart, secretly wondering if this was still going to work. As he was hesitating, he suddenly heard Gou Chengxuan calling him. He turned his head but didn’t see him. Looking again, he saw Gou Chengxuan hiding in a large crowd, waving at him. He cursed inwardly, “What a spineless coward.”

“What are you doing, being so sneaky?” Cao Guangjiu cursed.

“Come over here. Don’t hold a torch. Come into the crowd,” Gou Chengxuan whispered.

“What kind of trick are you playing…”

Cao Guangjiu grumbled as he walked over. Gou Chengxuan pulled him into the crowd and whispered, “Old Cao, something’s happened with the river lanterns!”

“Something’s happened?!” Cao Guangjiu was surprised. Floating river lanterns was the easiest thing to do. What could have happened?

“Look.” Gou Chengxuan pointed to a distant spot where a fire was blazing. He had seen this fire before, but since it was the Zhongyuan Festival and many wealthy families were burning dharma boats on the riverbank, it hadn’t attracted his attention.

“This is?!”

“Those are the river lanterns and the great dharma boat!” Gou Chengxuan’s voice was filled with grief and indignation. “They had just been transported to the riverbank when a small boat came over and shot more than twenty fireworks at the riverbank, setting all the lanterns on fire!”

The river lanterns were originally made of paper. This time, to enhance the arson effect, containers filled with saltpeter, sulfur, and tung oil had been added inside. Once lit, they immediately became a raging fire.

“What do we do now?” Cao Guangjiu said anxiously. He was the “frontline commander-in-chief” appointed by Master Shi, in charge of the entire attack on the Phoenix Villa. But now everything was in chaos. Not only was Hao Yuan nowhere to be seen, but his team leader, Zhou Shier, was also missing. Gou Chengxuan’s water attack had completely failed, and there were problems with Zhang Guang’s side as well…

“I think the wind is tight. Let’s get out of here…” Gou Chengxuan didn’t wait for Cao Guangjiu’s answer. He ducked his head and disappeared into the crowd. Cao Guangjiu was so angry he cursed his mother.

Cao Guangjiu returned to his position, contemplating whether to send someone to urgently contact Master Shi. Suddenly, a member of a “fighting society” who was standing in front of him, craning his neck to watch the excitement, grunted and fell to the ground. Before he could react, several more people collapsed one after another. Cao Guangjiu, being a leading figure among the “worn-out boots,” had a quick mind. He kicked the “fighting society” member who was holding a torch beside him, and the torch was instantly extinguished.

Unexpectedly, this action brought death upon him. Just as he kicked over the torch, Cao Guangjiu felt a heavy blow to his body. He knew something was wrong. Another bullet pierced his head, ending all his thoughts.

With Cao Guangjiu dead, and Gou Chengxuan and Hao Yuan nowhere to be found, the crowd gathered outside the villa was left without a leader and scattered like birds and beasts. Although Zhang Guang had the intention to act alone, his followers had been scared out of their wits and no one responded.

The next day, at dawn, the riverbank in front of the Phoenix Villa was littered with discarded curtains, ritual instruments, clubs, straw sandals, and straw hats… A few abandoned, stiff corpses of the poor were collected by the Cihuitang. The neighborhood chief and the coroner came, cursorily examined the bodies, and reported them as having died of “sudden illness.” This dramatic scene thus came to an end.