At this moment, a burst of gunfire suddenly rang out in the distance.

"What's going on?" Dai Zongqian, who heard the gunshots, couldn't help but be shocked.

"Yes...... Shouli Castle ...... The direction of the royal palace! Liu Chaopei followed the prestige, and his face also changed color.

As soon as the two of them finished speaking, there was an explosion, and a thick smoke instantly rose from the direction of the palace.

"Not good!" Liu Dai and the others glanced at each other, and they both thought of a person, and immediately rushed down the hillside.

Ryukyu Imperial Palace, back garden.

"Yao'er, please wait!"

Ye Chuyao heard a familiar boy's voice calling his name, hesitated for a moment, but still stopped, but did not turn around.

She heard it, it was Xiang Dehong's fourth son, Xiang Chengxin.

"Stand down! I'm going to have a few words with Yao'er. Xiang Chengxin said to the servants, and the servants retreated.

Xiang Chengxin came to Ye Chuyao, Ye Chuyao raised his head, glanced at him, and hurriedly lowered his head again.

He is three years younger than Ye Chuyao, but he is already about the same height as Ye Chuyao.

"Yao'er, I heard...... King...... I want you to serve that day...... That person? Xiang Chengxin stared at Ye Chuyao and asked.

Hearing his question, Ye Chuyao's body trembled slightly, but she didn't speak.

"Big brother is right, I can't do anything well, study, ride a horse, practice swords, let alone go into battle and fight, I'm just a waste." Xiang Chengxin said softly, "Even you ignore me." ”

He often talked to Ye Chuyao like this, although many times, he couldn't hear Ye Chuyao's answer.

"But......" he shook his head. I don't want to be a piece of waste. I really...... Really hard work! Suddenly, the sourness rose from my heart. He spun around sharply and stared blankly at the sky. Ye Chuyao's hand was warm, stretched out from behind his back, and touched his face lightly. The gentleness between his palms made him stunned for a moment, and he turned his head to see Ye Chuyao's eyes, and he was a little embarrassed.

"I'm really useless, just know to say this......" he scratched his head.

Ye Chuyao shook her head gently.

"Maybe you're the only one in this world who doesn't hate me......" Xiang Chengxin said softly.

Ye Chuyao still shook her head.

"You...... That man...... To you...... Didn't do anything, did you? He finally asked the question that worried him most.

A gentle smile spread across her face.

She tilted her head and brushed his hair. Fingers gently stroked in his hair. Xiang Chengxin felt an itch on his head, and after a while, he finally couldn't help laughing. Ye Chuyao was still laughing, still shaking her head silently.

No thunder could be heard, and a drizzle fell silently.

"Ahh It's raining! Xiang Chengxin touched his slightly damp hair, "Let's hurry back to the house." The rain became heavier in a blink of an eye, and the cold raindrops hit the body, and there was a faint pain. Xiang Chengxin untied his big and shook it off on top of Ye Chuyao and his own heads.

She unintentionally turned her head, and her body suddenly froze.

"Yao'er?" Xiang Chengxin followed her back.

Somehow, he suddenly shuddered in his heart. A sense of foreboding came over me.

There were people behind them, and a team of men in black stood quietly behind them.

It was a group of silent samurai. The pistols and daggers at their waists glowed black.

The sky was overcast, like night, and only the palace lamps by the eaves were left, but they could not be seen. They seemed to be wearing hard iron armor, as the raindrops hit them, splashing as if a glimmer of light was covering them.

"Who are you?" Xiang Chengxin shouted boldly, "I am Chengxin, the fourth son of the Xiang family!" ”

No one answered, the men moved their feet, approached, the lights shone brightly, and each of them had a cold arc of light in their hands, which was a Japanese-style katana. Xiang Chengxin has never seen this kind of knife, it is slender and slender, and the sharp arc of the blade head makes people daunted.

"You ...... Who the hell are you? Xiang Chengxin shuddered.

Ye Chuyao didn't dare to stop even for a moment, she turned around and pulled Xiang Chengxin and ran wildly in the rain.

The footsteps behind him followed. Those men did chase them up, and they didn't chase them very closely, like a predatory beast biting a flock of sheep, slowly chasing the footsteps of its prey, and not really starting to pounce on them like lightning.

The whistling sound was piercing, Xiang Chengxin and Ye Chuyao bowed their heads suddenly, and something passed over their heads.

"Arrow...... It's an arrow! They're shooting us! Xiang Chengxin realized that it was the person chasing him who was firing arrows. The arrow was two feet high, not to kill them, but it was undoubtedly a threat.

"Are you Japanese?" Xiang Chengxin asked himself, but he had no idea at all.

The chill on his body has not subsided for half a minute, but has become more and more intense, as if there is a cold knife against the back of his heart, and he doesn't know when it will stab in. He couldn't tell, but intuitively the black-clad people were different from the ordinary Japanese samurai, who generally carried swords that were longer than the long knives used by the Ryukyuans, and these samurai were like thin knives in their hands, cold and sharp, with a piercing chill.

Both of them are children, probably because they are too scared, and after running for a while, they gradually can't run. Those black-clothed people seemed to be slowly approaching, on such a rainy day that seemed to be dark night, those people were like ghosts, no matter how Ye Chuyao and Xiang Chengxin turned and ran, the footsteps behind them like demons could never get rid of.

Suddenly, a group of soldiers appeared in front of them. Xiang Chengxin was relieved for a moment, and shouted loudly: "Save people!" Save people! This small group of men and horses immediately scattered and surrounded them, they were all dressed in neat fuchsia military uniforms and wearing Qianguo-style bowler hats, and the team was in an orderly manner.

"Yes...... Is it the centaur controlled by Wu Songyang? Xiang Chengxin recognized the outfit.

In order to strengthen the military power of the Ryukyus, the Ryukyu Kingdom restored the palace guards that had been disbanded by the Japanese with the help of the Ryukyu Imperial Guard. The guard now has a total of 500 men. The system and training are completely modeled after those of the Harbour Master and the Navy. The military uniform is also similar to that of the Harbour Marine.

"Who?" The leader of the Ryukyu Guard shouted, he was very vigilant, he took out his pistol, pointed it directly at Shinshin, and his subordinates also raised their guns.

"I'm the fourth son of the Xiang family!" Xiang Chengxin raised his waist card, "Someone, someone is chasing us!" The waist card in his hand was made of ivory, and it was dazzlingly white. Only kings and royalty will have it. The guards were alarmed and lowered their rifles, and the leading captain of the guard saluted against his chest.

"Who dares to chase the fourth son?" The captain of the guard yelled and rode over to Xiang Chengxin.

Through the faint glimmer of the palace lamp in the distance, Xiang Chengxin could vaguely see that the black-clothed warriors had stopped a hundred steps away, and they gathered in a line, still holding long knives in their hands, and no one made a sound. In the darkness, I vaguely felt a cold gaze piercing my body.

"Who dares to chase the fourth son?" The captain of the guard became angry and felt neglected, "Do you want to die?" "They are outnumbered, when it comes to saying so. The Ryukyu soldiers had already raised their rifles again. The weapons they used were the same as those of the shipmasters, French rifles.

The Ryukyuan people were influenced by the Celestial Empire. Too much attention was paid to civil rule, the people did not use force, and when men fought angrily, they would at most throw stones at each other, and they were easily conquered by the Japanese Satsuma Domain because of their weak armament, but the current Ryukyu army has been trained by the instructors of the Qianguo, and ordinary soldiers can be proficient in using rifles, and the shooting hit rate at a distance of 100 paces can be said to be quite high.

It was still quiet.

But it was only for a short time, and the footsteps rang out violently, and the formation of the black-clothed warriors swept up, and they launched a charge!

There were only a few people facing the two dozen people of the Ryukyu royal palace guards, but they took the initiative to attack.

"Fire!" The captain of the guard swung his pistol sharply, pulled the trigger, and a volley of bullets shot out. Familiar with the use of new weapons, the Ryukyu defenders were proud of their French rifles, which they had tried many times to pierce with a single shot, even if they were strong men or fierce beasts. The black-clothed warriors only had long knives in their hands, but when they swung their long knives and charged, those powerful bullets were dodged, and miraculously, no one was shot, and they seemed to be able to see the trajectory of those bullets.

In an instant, they rushed straight in front of them. The guards, who had emptied the platoon of guns, did not have time to open fire again, and drew their bayonets in the same way.

"You're looking for death!" The captain of the guard yelled to boost morale, and at the samurai who were at the front of the charge, he jerked the trigger of his pistol again, shooting him in the head. He is the best marksman in this group, and he kills one person first to establish authority. But when the gun rang out, the black-clad samurai seemed to turn into shadows, and somehow, the shot missed. The captain of the guard was in surprise, and suddenly felt his body lighten, and the sharp pain in his neck instantly made him completely unconscious.

In the eyes of the other Ryukyu guards, the moment the two staggered, the leader of the black-clothed samurai on the opposite side was like a strange bat, and he jumped slightly, and the captain of the guard shot was empty. His head suddenly splattered with blood, and his body still stood still.

The pistol in his hand has been transferred to the opponent's hand. The black-clad samurai was as silent as a stone, and he stood beside the captain of the guard with his pistol raised. After a moment of silence, he waved his hand and struck the barrel of his pistol on the vest of the headless corpse of the Captain of the Guard.

The body of the captain of the guard fell to the ground.

The Ryukyu guards had not yet recovered from their shock, and the sharp sword wind had already approached the front door.

Hidden in a bush of flowers hundreds of steps away, Xiang Chengxin clenched his fists tightly, feeling as if the splatters of blood were about to spray into his eyes. It was a total slaughter. The black-clad warriors quickly passed by their opponents and handed out their swords accurately, and the opponents were immediately disemboweled, and their stumps fell bloodily. And they are like ghosts in the wind, and there is no way to catch them.

Each fall of the stump was accompanied by a terrible howl, the frightened faces of the guards, and then their heads fell suddenly.

Xiang Chengxin trembled, his eyes full of thick scarlet blood, and his ears were full of wails and the terrible sound of the sword cutting bones. He reached out in fear and grabbed Ye Chuyao's hand tightly, which was cold and icy and trembling like a dead leaf in the wind. When he looked down, Ye Chuyao's face was completely devoid of color.

He chuckled in his heart, understanding that Ye Chuyao was the same as he thought, the massacre that happened on the land of the Ryukyus.

When ferocious pirates storm the Ryukyuan village. In Ye Chuyao's clear eyes back then. There must be such a cruel scene. The stumps of loved ones are flying. Warm blood splattered on faces, hellish wails, half-dead people struggling and crawling, someone rushing in fury and quickly mending the back......

"Yao'er, don't be afraid......" He lowered his voice, only to find that all language was pale at this time.

He stretched out his hands and wanted to cover Ye Chuyao's ears. A pair of slightly trembling hands also covered his ears at the same time, and both of them were slightly stunned. Then Xiang Chengxin hugged Ye Chuyao hard, and Ye Chuyao also hugged him hard. The two of them were just sticking together, listening to the miserable howls outside getting weaker and weaker, the sky seemed to be falling, and it would rain blood, and only the two of them could rely on each other in the world.

I don't know how long it took, but the surroundings fell silent.

Xiang Chengxin was bold and took a sneaky look through the cover of the flowers. The rifles were already in the hands of the black-clad warriors, and they stepped on the blood-stained ground. The bodies of more than twenty Ryukyu guards lay at their feet.

The skinny man was the leader of the black-clad warriors, who scattered through the crowd to examine the corpses. Finally, they gathered around him and shook their heads silently. The thin samurai groaned for a moment, and suddenly raised his hand, and the samurai scattered in an uproar, searching inch by inch of turf. Only the emaciated samurai was left standing alone on the blood-soaked grass, his cold gaze scanning the surroundings, as if gradually casting on the flowers.

He was masked, and Xiang Chengxin couldn't see his face clearly, but he felt that his gaze was like a knife in his face.

That's the eyes of a murderer! Xiang Chengxin leaned down suddenly, leaning tightly against the half-section of the dirt slope, just facing that kind of look, he felt like he couldn't breathe. The thin samurai glanced around, pacing, and consciously or unconsciously, he circled around and approached the flowers. The sound of his footsteps was the heaviest of all the footsteps of the man in black, and every moment it seemed to be stepping on his heart, and his long knife pointed diagonally at the ground, and blood fell drop by drop.

Footsteps, breathing, footsteps, breathing, Ye Chuyao tried her best to hold her breath, but it was in vain, her breathing followed the footsteps of the man, pushing her to the end step by step.

Ye Chuyao suddenly felt Xiang Chengxin, who was trembling like her, quiet down, and was breaking her hands around her waist. Ye Chuyao raised her head and saw his serious face, she didn't know why his strength suddenly became so great, Ye Chuyao wanted to hug him to death, but Xiang Chengxin's finger broke her hand one by one.

Ye Chuyao went to pull his sleeve and shook her away from Xiang Chengxin. He stared into her eyes, stepping back and forth.

Ye Chuyao shook her head desperately, she didn't understand if she was dreaming. That terrible sense of fear returned, and she would not forget when she was a child when her home was set on fire by pirates, and the wet nurse who had brought her up left her desperate to run outside. Then a pirate slashed the nurse down and stomped on her head. The loneliness engraved in my heart is more terrible than death.

She was not afraid of death, but she was afraid of being left behind.

Xiang Chengxin shook his head at her silently, and retreated without stopping. His slightly pale little face revealed a seriousness in the moonlight, even with an irresistible majesty.

Cold fear gripped his heart like a huge hand, and it felt like his chest was going to crack with every heartbeat. He licked his lips and couldn't stop shivering, he wanted to jump into that grass puddle and huddle with Ye Chuyao, hugging her tightly to forget that fear. But he couldn't, he had to make a decision while that courage was still supporting him.

"Don't come out! Yao'er! Don't come out! He whispered, "I'll protect you!" ”

Ye Chuyao stretched out her hand to pull him, but it was too late.

Xiang Chengxin jumped out of the cover of the flowers, and he stood there, not shaking, and pulled out a short knife from his waist. The black-clothed warriors slowly approached, and the leader stood in front of Xiang Chengxin. He didn't look at the knife in Chengxin's hand, but looked at the child silently.

No one could see how he made a move, and Xiang Chengxin was suddenly completely lifted up by him.

The warrior at the head glanced at the bush of flowers, and Ye Chuyao felt that his gaze was like a pinprick nailing her, making her unable to move at all. Lower, he laughed twice, yin and yin, like a knife scraping a person's ear bones.

She has long been discovered, and the child's bravery cannot hide from these terrible killers.

A warrior stepped forward and dragged Ye Chuyao out.

"You don't have to be afraid, I won't kill you." The samurai at the head looked at the little palace maid in front of him and said in skilled Ryukyuan language, "I just need you to answer my questions." ”

"You've seen this guy, haven't you?" The warrior at the head took out a small copperplate portrait from his arms and handed it to Ye Chuyao.

Ye Chuyao recognized that it was Lin Yiqing's portrait, understood what these killers were going to do, and immediately turned his head and closed his eyes tightly.

A strong hand twisted her head, and someone roughly ripped her eyelids open with his fingers, forcing her to look at the portrait.

"Looks like you know who he is." The samurai at the head smiled darkly, "Take us to him, otherwise, I will kill him." He pointed to Xiang Chengxin, who had been tied up and gagged.

Ye Chuyao couldn't help but shake his head at Xiang Chengxin and shed tears.

"Don't you believe it?" The samurai at the head sneered, and pressed Xiang Chengxin's throat with the short knife he had snatched, and with a slight cut, the sharp blade cut through the muscles, and a blood line instantly snaked down. (To be continued......)

PS: Aunt Wang put the ingredients for making the noodle sauce into the sauce jar and covered it with a layer of cloth. Granddaughter: What are you doing? Aunt Wang: It's called a firewall, which doesn't let the outside dust in, but it lets the smell inside. After Mengbu Wang's aunt shouted: The red sun is coming out! The granddaughter asked again: Why do you need the sun? Aunt Wang: Maggots can ferment when the sun is shining. Two months later, the sauce was ready, and Aunt Wang lifted the cloth and blew flies at the same time: they all went out and still sang the motherland here?

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