Ye Luchun, Lu Yongzhi and Gao An rushed to the front of the official army in order to make meritorious contributions, they saw that the official ship had left the Yanliu Pavilion by the lake more than a zhang away, seeing that Xu Zhi, Zhou Yuanzhi and other rebels were getting farther and farther away from them, and the wealth that was about to come to naught was about to come to naught, and the three of them were unwilling.

In order to take the lead, Gao An took the lead in jumping into the lake by relying on his good water quality. Not long after Lu Yongzhi defected to the imperial court, in order to show his loyalty in front of Gao Biao and Yang Xingmi, he was not far behind, so he forgot that he was not accustomed to water, and also jumped into the water with Gao An. Ye Luchun has the highest martial arts among the three, but he was born in the north and is not good at swimming, so he looked at the sparkling lake in the moonlight, and hesitated.

Gao An dived underwater, struggled to catch up with the big boat of Xu Zhi and others, and secretly climbed to the stern, just when Qiu Yue at the stern saw it, Qiu Yue shouted: "Miss be careful, there are assassins!", after speaking, he hurriedly pulled Zhou Yuanzhi back.

Gao An saw that Zhou Yuanzhi was a beautiful girl like a flower, with golden branches and jade leaves, thinking that she was weak and could not do martial arts, and wanted to catch her and make a head, so with a hideous face, he stretched out his hands and pounced on Zhou Yuanzhi.

Zhou Yuanzhi retreated slightly, dodged sideways, and hit Gao An's jaw with a fist with her left hand, and hit him in the abdomen with her right elbow.

Gao An was defenseless, screamed after the move, sat down on the board of the boat, supported the dislocated jaw with both hands, and struggled to get up, not daring to attack Zhou Yuanzhi again, but retreated towards the stern of the boat again and again, Leng Hao was squeezed by the yellow crane who was supporting the boat on the string of the boat, and fell into a piece of residual load in the water.

There are a few fishermen who failed to hand over the Mid-Autumn Festival tribute on time, and they have long hated Gao An, at this time, seeing Gao An being squeezed off the boat, they exchanged a look with each other, and dived into the water, one person held his head hard, and the other people pulled his hands and feet, smothering him into the water and unable to move. After a while, this place, which usually does a lot of evil and bullies men and women, was drowned in the lake.

Lu Yongzhi was a little slower than Gao An because he didn't know how to water, but his martial arts were much more beautiful than Gao An, and when he saw that the big boat was not far from him, he struggled to jump out of the shoulder-deep lake and fly to the stern. Xu Zhi didn't wait for him to stand firm, and the bamboo pole in his hand was horizontal, and Lu Yongzhi staggered and took several steps back.

Yelu Chun saw that Lu Yongzhi was not Xu Zhi's opponent, he saw a big willow tree by the lake, flew up to the canopy, and with the tenacity of the branches and his agile body, he flew forward more than three feet away, and jumped on the stern of the boat. Yang Xingmi looked down on a capricious villain like Yeluchun, but he saw that Yeluchun was very agile and light, and knew that he had a unique skill, so he couldn't help but cherish it, and praised loudly: "Yelu Shaoxia, what a handsome skill!"

Ye Luchun listened, turned around and replied: "General Yang has praised it falsely! I want to capture the bandit leader today and dedicate it to the general!", before he finished speaking, he was surrounded by Zhou Yuanzhi and several guards, but his face did not change, and he was also at ease with one enemy, he swung his long sword, and stabbed one of the guards in front of him, turned around and swung his sword, and then slashed at another guard behind him.

Zhou Yuanzhi saw that Yeluchun was fighting with the guards beside her, and took advantage of her unpreparedness to raise her sword to "swim the dragon and frighten the phoenix", pointing directly at Yeluchun's throat, and several guards also raised their swords to stab Yeluchun's chest and back. Ye Luchun saw the swords shining around him, and knew that it was not easy to restrain all the long swords, he didn't dare to take risks, so he had to swing a sword to "hit the grass and startle the snake", forcing back several guards behind him, and then made a move "Danfeng Chaoyang", flying out of the crowd.

Ye Luchun saw that Zhou Yuanzhi had a lot of people, and he chased and beat him fiercely, and he was afraid that Xu Zhi on the other side of the ship would sneak attack from behind, so he no longer dared to be careless, let alone blindly attack, so he had to retreat to Lu Yongzhi's side, and fight back to back with him, side by side.

At this time, Xu Zhi also put down the oars in his hand, took out the Fengming sword, and compared the sword with Lu Yongzhi, he saw that Lu Yongzhi was also a master of making swords, and first used the Wudang Taiji sword, with static braking, slow to control fast, and the enemy around. The two fought for nearly 20 rounds, and Lu Yongzhi saw that Xu Zhi's swordsmanship was very tightly defended, and his moves were offensive and defensive, without any flaws. Xu Zhi also slowly saw Lu Yongzhi's sword moves, all of which were fast to slow and dynamic to control static, he suddenly changed his moves, making a move in the fluttering sword "flying in the sky", turning defense into offense, turning around and stabbing at Lu Yongzhi's left shoulder.

Lu Yongzhi was shocked when he saw it, and hurriedly put away his sword to return to defense, who knew that Xu Zhi was just a false move, Xu Zhi took the opportunity to cross the top of Lu Yongzhi and Ye Luchun's heads, and floated on a high mast at the stern like a flying flower, a move "Dancing with the wind", swinging the sword to hang on the mast and fluttering in the wind, divided into two, and the white sail fell from the sky, just covering the bodies of Lu Yongzhi and Ye Luchun.

Lu Yongzhi and Ye Luchun were afraid of falling into the trap and did not dare to fight, so they waved their long swords, cut through the sails, broke out of the cocoon, and jumped into the water one after another.

Zhou Yuanzhi saw Ye Luchun and Lu Yongzhi fleeing in a hurry, and shouted to several rowing guards and boatmen with a smile: "Everyone work harder, row the boat to the other side of the lake!" Gao Biao and Yang Xingmi were looking forward to Ye Luchun and Lu Yongzhi, and Gao An captured Zhou Yuanzhi and Xu Zhi alive, and then invited the imperial court to take credit, but they were outnumbered and were driven into the water one after another, and the boat gradually sailed away.

Gao Yu hurriedly said: "Soldiers, don't let these bandit leaders escape, since you can't catch them alive, you can kill them on the spot! General Yang, you quickly lead the soldiers to chase after you!"

Yang Xingmi listened to Gao Biao's words and said yes again and again, and ordered: "The archers shoot arrows at the bandit ships, the infantry pursues along the shore of the lake, and then send a team of cavalry to reinforce it, and quickly order the soldiers defending the city to close the city gate, and don't let the rebels escape from Yangzhou City!"

Xu Zhi saw that the archers were shooting arrows at the official ship, and hurriedly asked everyone to enter the cabin to hide, only to hear the sound of the outside of the ship, and the flying arrows were stuck all over the wooden planks outside the cabin. Xu Zhi was afraid that the officers and soldiers would occupy the opposite shore of the lake first, so he discussed with Zhou Yuanzhi and Huang He, and he could not boldly row the boat to the opposite bank, so it was better to row the boat along the canal.

Xu Zhi and others took advantage of the moonlight of the Mid-Autumn Festival, and struggled to make the boat leave Yaochi, and entered the canal in the east of the city, at this time the river gradually narrowed, both sides of the canal are the downtown area of the messy willows and dwellings, Yang Xingmi led the officers and soldiers can no longer pursue along the riverbank, they often have to bypass the houses and tiles of the people along the river, this detour will go a long way, and gradually can not catch up with Xu Zhi and others. In addition, as the time approached, the number of merchant ships hanging lanterns and admiring the moon in the canal gradually increased, and those officers and soldiers who were cruising the river and chasing after them could hardly distinguish the official ship on which Xu Zhi was riding by the faint moonlight, so they could only bluff and shout: "Brothers, don't let go of the traitorous party! Don't let go of the bandits!"

Xu Zhi and a few people simply stopped going ashore, the boat along the canal all the way to the north, the boat went around the city gate along the canal, Xu Zhi looked back at the east gate of Yangzhou City under the moonlight, only to see a few red palace lamps hanging on the head of the city, and the officers and soldiers guarding the city also set up a banquet on the city tower, and the people were happy, all drunk and unstable. Xu Zhi thought to himself: At this time, no matter what earth-shattering events happen in Yangzhou City, I am afraid it will take a long time to wake up these soldiers.

Zhou Yuanzhi saw that the boat was out of Yangzhou City, and there were no pursuers behind her, so she finally let go of her heart, she got out of the cabin, and sat side by side with Xu Zhi on the bow of the boat, watching the scenery on both sides of the canal. Zhou Yuanzhi saw that Xu Zhi was sweating profusely, so she took out an embroidered handkerchief distressedly, helped him wipe the beads of sweat on her forehead, and said with palpitations: "Brother Xu, it is the first time for Yuan Zhi to experience such a dangerous scene? If it weren't for the eldest brother by my side, the little sister would have jumped into the lake in a hurry!"

Xu Zhi hugged Zhou Yuanzhi's shoulder and smiled: "Silly girl, jump into the lake, won't you be drowned in the water?"

Zhou Yuanzhi replied: "Anyway, it's all a death, rather than being killed by Yeluchun, it's better to end it yourself!"

Xu Zhi comforted: "Yuan Zhi, we all escaped death, why are you still worried about life and death!"

Zhou Yuanzhi muttered: "To meet Brother Xu tonight is like a dream, Yuan Zhi is dead in the arms of the eldest brother at the moment, and she is also willing!

Xu Zhiqi said: "Why is that?"

Zhou Yuanzhi said: "Ye Luchun openly betrayed his father and took refuge in Yang Xingmi, which seems to be a bad thing on the surface, but on the other hand, it is a great good thing. Fortunately, he was exposed early, so that his father and the righteous army could recognize his true face in time and no longer be deceived by him, isn't it a great thing? And it is precisely because of Yeluchun's rebellion that the two of us love each other even more, are not afraid of danger, and work together to advance and retreat, isn't this also the fulfillment of the oath we made to Mingyue?"

Xu Zhi listened to Zhou Yuanzhi's strange remarks, and said with a smile: "Yuanzhi, the eldest brother can't say that you are a ghost elf, but the eldest brother hates this Yeluchun?"

This time it was Zhou Yuanzhi's turn to be surprised, she opened her big eyes and asked, "Brother Xu, why do you hate that Yeluchun? Is it because he doesn't care about the morality of the rivers and lakes?"

Xu Zhi learned Zhou Yuanzhi's tone and said with a smile: "Yuan Zhi, you only know one thing, you don't know the other, this Ye Luchun and Xu Zhi have different opinions in Caizhou, and they are competing against each other in everything, and the Yellow King is also biased towards him, if it weren't for Yuan Zhi, you are strong-willed, maybe the Yellow King will marry you to him, do you say the eldest brother hates him?"

When Zhou Yuanzhi heard this, she was very happy in her heart, and said angrily: "Brother Xu, why are you talking more and more improper, but Yuanzhi knows your mind and likes it very much!", after speaking, a trace of shyness passed on her face.

Xu Zhi saw that Zhou Yuanzhi was very happy at the moment, and he talked more, and deliberately teased Guan Zi and said, "What about the third hatred?"

Zhou Yuanzhi was even more surprised: "Then what is it for?"

Xu Zhi replied: "This third hatred is because I and Yuan Zhi reunited after a long absence, and we should have happily eaten, talked, and admired the moon in that Yao Pond, but unfortunately these happy things were disturbed by him, do you think we should hate him?"

Zhou Yuanzhi didn't expect this, and also scolded: "Brother Xu, it's all because the little sister said something wrong, our Yaxing tonight was defeated by this damn Yeluchun, hey, don't talk about him, tell us what we plan to do next?"

Xu Zhi saw Zhou Yuanzhi solemnly ask about the future actions of the two, no longer laughing, and replied: "I was about to discuss this matter with you? Since we are temporarily out of danger, we should let Steward Huang bring a letter from Shaolin asking for help to King Huang, so that King Huang can make up his mind to go north to the Central Plains." The two of us will go north first, and if there are pursuers, we can also lure them away, so that Steward Huang can go south safely. Yuan Zhi, what do you think?"

Zhou Yuanzhi said with a smile: "Big brother, you can decide, Yuan Zhi is willing to go wherever she goes!", after saying that, she called Huang He and asked him to lead the guards south, and be sure to bring the message of Shaolin Temple asking for help to Huang Wang.

Huang He respectfully listened to Zhou Yuanzhi's instructions, and was a little embarrassed: "At that time, the princess said in front of the Yellow King that after finishing her business in Yangzhou, she would immediately return to Jiangnan.

Zhou Yuanzhi replied: "Uncle Huang, you don't know, Brother Xu is strong in martial arts, and Yuan Zhi should have nothing to worry about when he goes north with him." Besides, Shaolin also secretly helped our rebels, and now that they are in trouble, we should also help, right? Brother Xu and I went north first, and we also brought a letter to Shaolin, so that they could stick to it and wait for help, and not lose confidence and hope!"

Huang He had no choice but to say helplessly: "Since the princess has made up her mind to follow the horse to the north, her subordinates don't have much to say, but I just hope that the princess will leave the guards who accompany her, and they can also keep the princess safe all the way." ”

Zhou Yuanzhi said with a smile: "Uncle Huang doesn't know, even if they follow them, they won't be able to enter the Shaolin Temple." Besides, Uncle Huang, your journey south is also difficult, and you need the protection of the guards!"

Huang He saw that he couldn't say anything about Zhou Yuanzhi, and said a little worriedly: "The princess asked her subordinates to only bring a letter to King Huang, what if King Huang doesn't believe what the old slave said and is unwilling to send troops?"

Zhou Yuanzhi smiled and said: "Uncle Huang, this shouldn't be difficult! If my father is unwilling to send troops, you can say that his only daughter heard that Master Zhijing of Shaolin Temple had been killed by spies of the imperial court, and in a fit of anger, she had already gone north to Shaolin to save the disaster, he could forget Master Zhijing's life-saving grace, but his daughter could not forget." My father has always attached great importance to faithfulness, and when he listened to his daughter's words, he must feel guilty in his heart, and he will definitely go north, so that he can not only solve the difficulties of Shaolin, but also overthrow the court and dominate the world in one go, which is also just around the corner. ”

Huang He listened to Zhou Yuanzhi's words, his heart suddenly brightened, and praised: "The princess is really high-minded! This is not only for the safety of Shaolin, but also to break the Yellow King's idea of favoring Jiangnan, it is really a double win, well, the subordinates understand the princess's good intentions, and they will definitely do this for the princess!"

Before leaving, Huang He called Qiuyue again and instructed her: "Qiuyue, the princess has a long way to go north this time, although she is accompanied by Xu Gongzi, but you also take care of the diet and daily life of the princess and the concubine, and you can't let the princess have any danger!"

Qiu Yue replied: "Steward Huang, please rest assured, the slave maid has been following Miss since she was born, as long as Qiu Yue is here, she will never let Miss suffer any grievances!

Huang He also sighed: "In fact, the old slave is also very conflicted in his heart, on the one hand, it is the will of the Yellow King to bring the princess back safely, but the princess has gone through a lot of hardships in the past year before reuniting with Xu Gongzi, and the old slave can't ruthlessly bring the princess back to Jiangnan and separate them!"

After Huang He finished explaining, he took a few guards, said goodbye to Xu Zhi and Zhou Yuanzhi, jumped off the boat, turned along the river embankment and walked south, and disappeared in the faint moonlight after a while.