Chapter 404: The Backup Plan

Zhuo Yifan walked through the crowd, heading towards the riverside stadium. He was wearing old clothes procured by Sima Qiudao, with a fake beard glued to his face, disguised as a down-and-out scholar. He carried no long weapons, only a throwing dart hidden in his sleeve and a short dagger at his waist. Three of his junior disciples, disguised as peddlers and laborers, followed him from a distance, their bodies laden with various hidden weapons.

When Zhou Zhongjun was exposed, he was less than twenty zhang away from her. As the police moved in to arrest them, he had already turned and walked away from the plaza.

The plan to act in the plaza had failed! So even when the disciple responsible for signaling desperately launched the firework rocket, he did not make a move, but quickly left the plaza with the crowd.

He had understood from the beginning that the chances of successfully attacking the Aussies near the stadium were slim. But the Aussies’ internal and external defenses were extremely tight, and opportunities were scarce. They had to take the risk.

However, he and Sima Qiudao had estimated the chances of this move succeeding over and over again, and it was probably only a fifty-fifty chance. Even if Zhou Zhongjun and the others could fool them for a while with the Aussie uniforms and get close to the genuine Aussies, with the martial arts skills of those few female warriors, a successful strike was not guaranteed.

Therefore, based on the intelligence passed on by Seventh Master, he had prepared a second plan.

Seventh Master had provided the route of the Aussie “musicians” and had indicated that there were several genuine Aussie leaders among them. The intelligence was very detailed, not only with the specific route, but also the size of the convoy, the approximate number of guards, and how many “pseudo-Aussie musicians” were on the public horse-drawn carriages.

Compared to the plaza, the security along the route would not be as heavy, and their chances of a successful surprise attack were much greater.

Once the assassination attempt in the plaza failed, all other locations would be activated, and the Aussies’ nearby security forces would be drawn away. Coupled with the diversions in Dongmen Market and the inn, the attention of the various Aussie yamen would be scattered. With the element of surprise on their side, they had a sixty to seventy percent chance of a successful strike.

Now that Zhou Zhongjun and the others had been discovered and captured by the Aussies, he and his core disciples immediately left the stadium. As they walked, they heard the sound of gunfire in the distance. The number of Aussie police and soldiers on the road had increased significantly. Black-clad policemen on two-wheeled vehicles were rushing through the streets, and black-and-white horse-drawn carriages were heading towards the stadium and the Qiong’an Inn one after another. Barricades were being set up at major intersections to check pedestrians, and the gates of the side roads and alleys were also being closed. The atmosphere was tense, with every rustle of grass and every tree looking like an enemy. It was a nerve-wracking journey. The group blended in with the crowd and finally escaped the area near the stadium before the lockdown.

By now, the streets were sparsely populated. Pedestrians were all hurrying, and shops were closing one after another. The streets were deserted. The sound of gunfire from various locations had also ceased. Zhuo Yifan and his junior disciples quickened their pace. Although he tried his best to hide it, tears had already fallen from his eyes.

Although he had already considered Zhou Zhongjun and the others as expendable pawns, the thought of them being trapped in the Aussies’ heavy encirclement, likely facing a grim fate, filled him with immense grief and indignation. Even though he was not familiar with most of them, the thought that they were either already dead or being taken to the Aussie dungeons to suffer torture worse than death, made his chest burn with sorrow and anger.

This time, I will risk my life to slay a few genuine Aussies!

However, as the pedestrians thinned out, they immediately noticed a “tail” behind them. This instantly made Zhuo Yifan nervous. Have the Aussies already targeted them?

He was secretly nervous and quietly looked back. He saw more than a dozen plainclothes personnel following them closely. He immediately turned around and made a gesture to his junior disciples behind him. Then the four of them quickly left the main road, walked onto the Wenlan River embankment, and with a leap, jumped into the rolling waves.

Although the opportunity to ambush the Aussie convoy was rare, the enemy had clearly discovered them. At this moment, escaping was the most important thing! Therefore, he made a decisive decision to “flee.”

Fifty meters behind them, a naturalized citizen plainclothes policeman stood dumbfounded for a moment before taking out his whistle and blowing it desperately.

The policemen who had been tailing this group of “disguised saboteurs” quickly gathered, but they had no boat. They could only send one person to run back and report, while the rest searched along the river.

“The culprits may have swum across the river to escape. Find a boat quickly and cross the river!” a naturalized citizen policeman shouted. “Quick, go and inform the water police!”

Zhuo Yifan held a reed in his mouth and hid underwater. After entering the water, they did not cross the river, but turned around and drifted downstream with the current.

The “scenic belt” along the Wenlan River was built along the river embankment. On one side was a wide road, and on the other were flowers and trees, creating a beautiful landscape. At this moment, the art troupe’s convoy was driving close to the river embankment. The wheels occasionally crushed the flowers and grass on the roadside, which looked quite unsightly. However, the Elders in the carriages were in no mood to consider these things.

After the convoy turned around, the dense sound of gunfire from behind and the fireworks in the sky in the direction of the plaza told them a clear and unmistakable fact: the enemy had launched an attack, right in the heart of the Senate’s rule: Lingao.

This served as a wake-up call for them. They had been living too comfortably.

Mistaking a foreign land for one’s homeland. The phrase suddenly entered Dongfang Ke’s mind.

This was still the dangerous 17th-century world. The enemy was watching them covetously, surrounding them, ready to tear them to pieces at any moment.

Dongfang Ke couldn’t help but grip his pistol tighter. He knelt on the seat by the carriage door. Okamoto and Nangong Hao sat on the other side, and since these two had basically no experience with pistol shooting, two pistols were placed there as insurance.

The only woman in the carriage, Liu Shuixin, sat silently on the floor in the middle of the carriage.

The escorting soldiers, walking on foot, formed a “right echelon” formation on the road, focusing their guard on the road and protecting the Elders’ carriage on the side of the road below the river embankment. To cover the gap on the riverbank side, he ordered the accompanying guards to get back on the carriage, their guns pointed towards the riverbank. The guard captain was at the rear of the team. He had just fired several warning shots to disperse the crowd. Now that the team had left the hot zone, they had also picked up some speed.

On the public horse-drawn carriages were the naturalized citizen musicians recruited from the old opera troupes. Unlike what Director Okamoto had worried about, they were not the frail “art workers” of the old world. These Ming Dynasty musicians, who had been wandering the jianghu for many years, seemed to have a natural adaptability to danger and chaos. They sat calmly in their seats. Although their expressions were frightened, no one lost control and ran around in a panic.

Four heads emerged from the water one by one. From the riverbank, they climbed up to the lower edge of the embankment. It was Zhuo Yifan and his group. Although they didn’t understand what had gone wrong, their decisive escape had temporarily saved their lives. The four of them were still in shock when they suddenly heard the sound of regular gunfire from upstream, followed by the faint appearance of carriages, horses, and figures. Just as they were about to jump back into the water, Zhuo Yifan stopped them.

“Don’t panic. We’re far from the stadium now, and there’s no one around. Let’s hide and rest for a moment. We’ll decide what to do after the people ahead have passed.”

So the few of them scattered and lay down in the bushes. Zhuo Yifan watched the situation on the road intently and suddenly noticed something.

“Two four-wheeled public horse-drawn carriages, one four-wheeled small carriage, one four-wheeled freight carriage, with soldiers escorting them… Isn’t this the convoy mentioned in the intelligence report!” Zhuo Yifan whispered excitedly, thinking, These Aussies must have turned back from the direction of the stadium. They must have been frightened by the chaos and are eager to return to Bairen City to hide. I didn’t expect to run into them here.

“Better late than never! Today, I will exterminate you Aussies who turn Chinese into barbarians!” He immediately crawled over to his companions and told them what he had discovered.

But after a brief discussion, the four of them discovered a difficulty. The convoy was gradually approaching, and the figures of the accompanying soldiers were becoming clearer. At a glance, there were at least a score of them. The enemy outnumbered them greatly, and the Australian muskets were extremely sharp. A head-on fight was clearly not a winning proposition.

Originally, he had planned to make some preparations on the road, but now the whole plan was in disarray. He could only act hastily!

“We can only take a risk now,” Zhuo Yifan said slowly. “This group of Aussies are all in horse-drawn carriages. Horses are easily startled. Junior Brother Zhao, are the firework rockets you brought for signaling still usable?”

“The rocket is still here,” the junior disciple named Zhao said, taking out a bamboo tube from under his clothes. “The wax seal is still good. It should be usable!”

“I have one here too,” another disciple said, also taking one out.

“Good. This is the Lei family’s special ‘Three-Bang Thunderclap Rocket.’ It’s the most powerful. Since we can’t use it for signaling, we’ll use it to startle the horses!” Zhuo Yifan said. “The Aussies have a total of four carriages. The first and second are large carriages, carrying the Aussie musicians. The last one is carrying the Aussie musical instruments and luggage. The genuine Aussies are all in the third carriage.”

He first explained the situation one by one, then assigned tasks. “Junior Brother Zhao, you’ll be on the river embankment. Use this thunderclap rocket to shoot at the first carriage first, then the fourth carriage. These two are heavy-laden large carriages. Once the horses are startled, the carriages will immediately overturn, and the Aussie carriages will be blocked in the middle. Junior Brother Lü, your hidden weapon skills are the best. As soon as the firework rocket goes off, you rush over and shoot at the horses of the genuine Aussies’ carriage. Junior Brother Wu, you’ll attack the carriage with me.”

At this point, Junior Brother Zhao raised an objection:

“Senior Brother, the Aussie troops have been firing their guns all along the way. Their horses are probably warhorses, trained not to be afraid of the sound of firearms…”

“This firework rocket is heavily charged. Even if you don’t hit the horses, landing it near them will be enough to startle them.” He pointed at the surrounding terrain. “You see, the Aussie soldiers are all on the main road. The riverbank side is blocked by the carriages, so their muskets can’t easily hit us. We have a sixty to seventy percent chance of success. Whether we succeed or not, we strike once and retreat immediately, rolling down the river embankment and into the water.” Zhuo Yifan came up with a plan in his haste, not caring that it had many reckless elements.

The disciples he had brought with him were all his trusted followers from his own sect. They were all from good families. Although they were young, their martial arts skills and knowledge were commendable. What was more valuable was their sincere heart, their loyalty, and their willingness to risk their lives. They immediately accepted the order.