When Chang Geng opened his eyes, it was pitch black all around him, and the only thing reflecting light nearby was Master Liangran's bald head.

As soon as he moved, the embarrassed Xu Ling rushed over and shouted, "Prince! Prince, you are awake! Prince, do you still recognize me? Prince..."

Before he finished shouting, Lord Xu began to choke up. He wiped away his tears fiercely in front of Chang Geng like a filial son and grandson, but the more he wiped away, the more tears came. In the end, he just sat aside and cried loudly.

Chang Geng: “…”

This piercing magic sound was very similar to the sound of General Gu's flute. Chang Geng's ears were buzzing with it. At this moment, he was extremely grateful that Master Lanran was a mute.

The mute not only did not make any noise, but was also very considerate and persuaded Lord Xu, who was crying and snotting, to stop crying.

He leaned closer and gestured to Chang Geng, "This place is close to the Jiangbei camp, it's very safe. The wooden bird has been released, and the little brother under Brother Sun has also found a way to bring the prince's token to the Jiangbei camp. If nothing unexpected happens, General Zhong will be able to find us soon, so don't worry, Your Majesty."

Although the monk often plays tricks and doesn't like to take baths, he is worthy of being a top disciple of Linyuan Pavilion. Among the more than 360 days in a year, there are always two days when he can be relied on.

Chang Geng nodded with some difficulty, and deeply experienced what it meant to "capsize in a ditch", and couldn't help but smile bitterly.

That day, after Chang Geng left his guards behind, he took Xu Ling and went to the Shahai Gang alone. Unfortunately, his luck was not good and he came at a very bad time.

They had just followed Boss Sun to the branch of the Shahai Gang and were halfway to the main headquarters when the rebels, who were like a mob, came out in full force and met them head-on.

In fact, at this point, although Chang Geng's heart skipped a beat, he was not too nervous.

Based on his understanding of the situation in Jiangbei at that time, this rebellion was not unexpected to him. A cornered dog will jump over the wall, and a rabbit will bite when it is desperate. Everyone knows that rebellion is a serious crime with the death penalty and the extermination of nine clans. However, if all nine clans are exterminated, and one's own life is in danger, and one cannot even survive, what else can be done? A cowardly death is also death, and if the rebellion fails, he will be arrested and beheaded. Anyway, it is impossible to be executed twice, so it is better to rise up in rebellion. At least he will die a worthy death and leave his name in history.

The refugees who escaped from Jiangbei have indeed reached the point where they are ready to rebel.

But Chang Geng was not a god. He could infer that the refugees might do something like this, but he could not know when and how they would rebel. But at that time, Chang Geng just felt that he had come at an unfortunate time. What storms had King Yan not experienced? He did not think that he might not be able to control the situation.

Chang Geng knew that this kind of mob rebellion that was forced out of life would not be difficult to resolve.

First of all, the court and the rebels knew that in the Purple Gold Era, fighting was not about relying on two or three experts to kill one person every ten steps. Lighters and steel armor were the key. Even a great general would be helpless when he ran out of ammunition and food. Even if the Shahai Gang was a gangster gang, no matter how big it was, it would never be a match for the Jiangbei camp if it didn't have lighters and steel armor and its own source of purple gold.

They were forced to rebel simply to ask the court for a way to survive.

Chang Geng had prepared this way for them before he came. Even the most fearless people would still want a glimmer of hope. With this glimmer of hope, who would be willing to fight the Jiangbei camp? Who would be willing to be an egg hitting a stone?

Although Boss Sun, who brought Chang Geng and the others into the Shahai Gang, spoke harshly and had a very bad attitude, he was a sensible man and did not act rashly. Seeing the situation in the gang, he made a prompt decision to conceal the identities of Chang Geng and Xu Ling. In such an excited situation, the falling of Prince Yan from the sky would not only fail to calm people's hearts, but would instead ignite the anger of the rebels. If there were really someone who was blind enough to indiscriminately detain Prince Yan to threaten the Jiangbei camp, it would be a difficult outcome for both parties.

Boss Sun and Chang Geng had the same idea. They didn't want to use the lives of these poor people to fill the muzzles of the Jiangbei camp's cannons that were supposed to be aimed at the foreigners - just to let the court hear a loud noise.

Therefore, Chang Geng and Xu Ling still pretended to be righteous businessmen from the south, and Boss Sun helped to cover up. At the same time, Monk Liangran, who had been mixing among the refugees in Jiangbei and saving all living beings, happened to be in the Shahai Gang. With the help of the relationship Liangran had established before, they successfully contacted the rebel leaders.

As everyone knows, King Yan has a silver tongue that can tell lies to different people. Except when he is facing Gu Yun, he always performs poorly. He is extremely powerful at other times. As long as he is willing, he can fool anyone. In just over a month, Chang Geng has basically controlled the situation. The gang was originally very excited, but later everyone was able to sit down and weigh the pros and cons.

The "Four Kings" of the Shahai Gang, including Boss Sun, except for one troublemaker who was sworn enemies of the imperial court, were all persuaded by Chang Geng and were willing to send people to try to contact the imperial court first.

But at this moment, the Jiangbei camp, which had been secretly searching for the whereabouts of King Yan, suddenly moved, and the atmosphere suddenly became tense again.

Chang Geng knew that the fake Prince Yan might have already arrived in the capital, and his disappearance in Yangzhou had become known to everyone. Since the prince was involved, the Jiangbei camp had to go from being secret to being open and take a stand.

On the one hand, Chang Geng was trying to appease the rebels of the Shahai Gang, and on the other hand, he personally drafted a letter, hoping that the Jiangbei camp would not act rashly for the time being, so as to avoid failure.

Who knew something went wrong at this time.

Unexpected events happen all the time. When people are unlucky, even drinking cold water will make their teeth ache. Yan Wang and his entourage have not had a smooth life since they entered the bandit's lair. After the Shahai Gang plotted a rebellion, for the sake of safety, they implemented the strategy of "a cunning rabbit has three burrows", changing the location of the headquarters every ten days or half a month. At this time, the headquarters happened to be moved to the middle of a group of small hills in Jiangbei, with a mine behind it. Such mines are not very rare in the Jiangbei area. If Chang Geng had a long-arm master who specialized in this field at this time, he would remind him to pay attention to these small mines, because the wooden bird might not be able to fly out of the place close to the mountain.

Some mines will make things like the Si Nan ineffective. Even though the Linyuan Wooden Bird is exquisitely made, its core is just a special magnet in its belly, which can establish a connection with the magnets carried by the people in Linyuan Pavilion. The wooden bird can only pass the height or bypass interference when flying in the air. When it is not released, if it makes a circle in such a mine, all the magnets in the wooden bird's belly will be immediately useless.

The bird couldn't fly out, so Chang Geng had to use a stupid method - he asked Monk Liaoran to run errands and deliver the letter himself. The letter delivered was the one that Gu Yun's personal guards had sent to the capital.

But something went wrong again at this time.

The four rebel leaders generally had not read many days of books, and their appreciation level was very similar to that of the old farmer who loved to listen to books in the City God Temple. They called themselves "Heaven, Earth, Man and Ghost" respectively, and calls them "King of Heaven" and "King of Earth", which made people's skin crawl.

Boss Sun is the "King of Men", and the "King of Heaven" among them is the extremely vicious and evil troublemaker who has a deep hatred for the imperial court.

Originally, the troublemaker was a man of his word and everyone wanted to follow him in rebellion. However, he suddenly turned from the leader into a stubborn minority. After careful consideration, he believed that there was something wrong with Boss Sun, the "human king" who was always unwilling to fight against the Jiangbei camp. So he became resentful of Boss Sun, who was "afraid of death" and bribed one of Boss Sun's trusted subordinates, preparing to find fault with Boss Sun and kill him.

As a result, it was a coincidence that the bribed person had been staking out for five or six days and failed to catch Boss Sun, but he did see the monk Leran sneaking out of the main temple late at night to meet with people from the court.

When the king saw that their good brother, who had been treating them as brothers for such a long time, turned out to be a lackey of the court, he immediately became furious, and the little trust he had in the beginning collapsed in an instant.

Chang Geng acted decisively. As soon as he found out that his identity was leaked, he immediately invited all the important people in the gang to come before the king came to question him. He admitted his identity as the imperial envoy. Although the timing was not very ripe, it was better than being exposed. Chang Geng could kill the king, but the people of the underworld have their own way of life. These people who throw cups and kill dogs are not as practical as the people in the court. If they are not handled properly, they may provoke a backlash.

At first, the bandits were instigated by the king and they all started to denounce him. The king took out a hatchet and poked it on the table, saying coldly, "Then follow the rules. Three cuts and six holes."

This trick intimidated most people, but it couldn't fool the real gangsters. Tian Wang was aroused by him and stabbed Chang Geng with a hatchet without saying a word. Chang Geng knew that he would not be able to end the fight if he didn't resist, so he didn't dodge.

The rebels were stunned at the sight of blood, especially the big leaders. They all knew that King Yan must not die in the Shahai Gang in obscurity, otherwise they would have to rebel or die, and there would be no room for maneuver. So they tried to smooth things over and stop the rebellion. The King of Heaven became even angrier and announced on the spot that he would take his people out of the Shahai Gang.

There was internal strife within the gang, and the rebellion was likely to be in vain. Boss Sun sent people to escort Chang Geng and his men away overnight. On the way, they were ambushed by several waves of Heavenly King's men, and almost all the men left by Boss Sun were killed.

It was obvious that this kind of person who could lock himself in heavy armor and couldn't get out was basically half a burden, and Xu Ling was a complete burden. For a master, it was easier to go into a dangerous place alone than to escape with a few burdens. Chang Geng was already injured, and he hadn't been so miserable for many years. In order to protect Lord Xu, he got another knife wound on his chest that turned the flesh upside down. Fortunately, he was Miss Chen's half-apprentice, so he managed to stop the bleeding.

Monk Liaoran wrapped some stream water in leaves and fed it to Chang Geng, then took out the golden wound medicine he carried with him and bandaged the wound again. Chang Geng drank the water, breathed a sigh of relief, gathered some strength to speak, and then he forced himself to be energetic, patted his side, and joked to Xu Ling: "Mingyu, come here and sit here - a blessing in disguise... Before I die, you should mourn for me first."

Xu Ling wiped his tears with his sleeves, saying "I'm ashamed" several times, and choked up, "It is me who has dragged down the prince."

Chang Geng smiled softly upon hearing this: "Last time when the foreigners besieged the city, Brother Mingyu worked hard to improve himself and learned a foreign language. What do you want to do this time? Are you going back to learn martial arts that can break rocks with your chest?"

Xu Ling: “…”

Chang Geng: "You saw Master Ran and he stopped crying. He was very calm."

The monk gestured shamelessly, "I can't carry anything on my shoulders or lift anything with my hands. I rely on Your Majesty's protection. When I return, I will light a long-life lamp for Your Majesty with my own hands and chant sutras for you every day."

"Thank you so much, Master. You look so majestic. If you open your mouth, I'm afraid I'll die," Chang Geng adjusted his posture with difficulty. A stream of cold sweat immediately flowed down his ear. He took a few breaths and said to Xu Ling, "The news that has been spreading these days... the bandits in the Shahai Gang have started to talk about it. Yang Ronggui rebelled in my name. Even though we are innocent, they will definitely not be able to catch us with anything, but... we are in a melon field... hiss... Master, you can't speak, are your eyesight not good?"

Upon hearing this, Monk Liangran, who had little eyesight, and Xu Ling hurriedly held Chang Geng on the left and right, carefully avoiding his wounds and turning him over.

"Well, it's hard to explain." Chang Geng endured the pain and added the second half of the sentence, "The matter of the refugees in Jiangbei has come to this point. We can't give up halfway... Instead of rushing back to the emperor to explain, it's better to stay here and solve the matter thoroughly. At that time, I can use this minor injury to avoid suspicion and leave for a while."

Seeing blood oozing out from under the gauze he had just wrapped, and hearing the nonchalant words "just a minor flesh wound", Xu Ling's admiration for Prince Yan reached an unprecedented level, even greater than that of Lord Fenghan in the capital.

He was about to express his feelings sincerely, but at this moment, Monk Liaoran's face suddenly changed. He waved his hand to stop Master Xu, and put his ear to the ground. After a moment, he gestured to Chang Geng and said, "At least dozens of people have come. Hurry up. Who are they?"

No one could tell whether the person coming was General Zhong or the mad dog under the King of Heaven.

Chang Geng put one hand on Xu Ling's shoulder and barely propped himself up. Xu Ling was startled and was about to speak to stop him, but Chang Geng interrupted him with a hand: "Shhh..."

The deliberate ease on his face had completely disappeared. His eyes were bright and his focused gaze was like that of a wounded beast king, who was always ready to strike with his fangs, even if there was blood all over the ground.

Chang Geng grasped a long knife in his hand that he had snatched from some bandit. The veins on the pale back of his hand were exposed, but there was no sign of weakness from the serious injury, which only made people feel horrified.

Xu Ling couldn't help but hold his breath.

Suddenly, Chang Geng tilted his ear slightly, and then a faint smile appeared on the corner of his cracked mouth. He straightened his disheveled clothes with his hand, threw down the knife in his hand, and said to Xu Ling confidently: "Go and see which general is coming, go out to greet him, and tell him that I want to invite you."

Xu Ling was stunned: "How did you know..."

"How could the horses and footsteps of those people from the Sand Sea Gang be so orderly? They must be some general from the Jiangbei camp." Chang Geng calmly covered the terrible wound on his chest and abdomen with his tattered outer robe, and said gracefully, "Forgive me for being rude as I am ill."

Clearly: “…”

King Yan's ability to pretend is something he has inherited from General Gu.

Xu Ling was completely convinced by him. Even if King Yan farted, he would believe it unconditionally and immediately went out to greet him.

Chang Geng reached out and touched his purse, which contained some emergency medicines in addition to the tranquilizing powder. With trembling fingers, he took out a hemp leaf and secretly held it in his hand, planning to chew a piece as an emergency measure if the pain became unbearable. Then he declined the monk's help and stood up on his own, supporting himself with his long sword.

At this moment, he heard Xu Ling call out: "Prince, it's..."

Before he could finish his words, the person came rushing in with sharp horse neighings.

Chang Geng: “…”

The person coming against the light was actually Gu Yun who should have already returned to Beijing!

Chang Geng lost his balance and his sword made a clanging sound. He fell forward and was caught by Gu Yun.

His Highness the King of Wild Goose, who had just been “strolling leisurely in the midst of bloody storms”, suddenly became “hurt as hard as a mountain falling”. The calm and composed “King of Beasts” became a delicate sick cat, with one hand drooping softly from Gu Yun’s shoulder, and he groaned softly with a weak breath: “Zi Xi, it hurts…”