"Bang."
Yang Ge leaped past Fang Ke, landing first on a plank with such force that it immediately sank downwards abruptly.
However, as the river water washed over the plank just barely covering his shoes, he had already gathered his strength and leaped again, soaring onto the cargo ship ahead.
Timely, the deck of the cargo ship was already in chaos, filled with the Imperial Guards and ship's guards entangled in a fight. As soon as they saw Yang Ge jump onto the ship, several gleaming blades simultaneously swept towards him.
Yang Ge swung his axe with all his might, the heavy axe turning into a blur that was hard to catch with the naked eye, drawing a smooth arc from above and sweeping across the blades coming towards his face.
With a series of "clang" sounds of striking metal, the blades that had reached Yang Ge were either split by the axe on the spot or twisted out of handlers' grips by the powerful force of the blow.
"Thud."
Yang Ge landed inside the bulwark, his back forcefully slamming against it. He lifted his eyes only to see a swarm of moving shadows, unable to discern friend from foe, nor could he see if any enemies were thrusting knives at him.
All he could do was stabilize his footing and swing his axe wildly, bellowing forcefully, "Surrender your weapons and spare your lives... Damn it, those who drop their arms won't be killed!"
Among the many guards of the cargo ship facing Yang Ge, naturally, there were some seasoned combatants who could see through his fearsome yet hollow nature.
But the huge, murky axe in his hands, and the fearsome sound of the axe tearing through the air, were truly terrifying. A group of guards surrounded him, but not a single one dared to advance.
The next moment, Fang Ke leaped onto the ship, bravely diving into the crowd of guards who hesitated to engage, slashing one down and then pointing his sword at the others while loudly declaring, "Imperial Guards enforcing the law! Those who resist will all be charged with treason and their entire families exterminated!"
Seeing the young man surrounded by ship guards, Yang Ge feared for his safety and boldly stepped forward with his axe, questioning loudly as if setting off firecrackers, "Did you hear 'exterminate three generations'? If this continues, not only will you die, but so will your fathers, your mothers, and all the blood relatives of your wives!"
"Do you really want your entire family to go to the execution ground, to be beheaded one by one in a line?"
"Your parents raised you up with hardships, and this is how you repay them?"
"Your wives married you, washed your clothes, cooked your meals, bore your children— is this how you treat them?"
"Your children cling to the door every day waiting for you to come home— is this the future you want for them, to be beheaded?"
"No, exactly how much money did they give you, that you're willing to sell the lives of your parents, in-laws, and children?"
"Is it worth it?"
The exhausting questions, carried by the night wind, momentarily quieted even the sounds of "huffs and puffs" and "clangs" of the ongoing battle.
All eyes couldn't help but sneak a glance in the direction of the voice.
Imperial Guards: Who is this guy, blabbering so much?
Ship's guards: He's making sense!
That's how men are—once the mood is set and the blood is hot, they regard life and death lightly and refuse to give in!
But then, thinking of parents, wives, and children cools the blood down like a bucket of cold water...
Meanwhile, Xie, who teamed up with foreign spies to confront Shen Fa and other skilled Imperial Guards, noticing the change in the atmosphere, hastily shouted, "Brothers, do not listen to that boy's nonsense! If we are to survive this, we must eliminate these Imperial Guard dogs..."
"Bang!"
A dark and somber blade aura interrupted Xie's subsequent promise of a hefty reward, and Shen Fa could not suppress his delighted laughter as he said, "Your Xie Family is too preoccupied to even protect themselves, how could you possibly secure their safety?"
He knew that the guards aboard this ship were mostly fierce soldiers that the Xie Family had gathered from the ranks over the years, who obeyed only the Xie Family's orders.
Therefore, he had never considered capturing Xie and the Tatar spies without a fight from the very start. All the arrangements he had made were aimed at eliminating these guards.
But if he could capture these guards without shedding blood, then naturally, nothing could be better!
After all, should blades be drawn, they could not escape without losses.
Moreover, the more witnesses there were, the more concrete the case would naturally be!
Not to mention anything else, just the charge of the Xie Family resisting the law with force was enough for the imperial guards to first nail the Xie Family before securing the charge of collusion with the enemy!
And Xie was indeed in a dire situation, unspeakable suffering in his heart.
If he had a choice, he certainly would not have wanted to confront the imperial guards head-on.
Because he was very aware, since Shen Fa had appeared here and dared to openly make a move against his Xie Family, that meant, most likely, the imperial guards had largely settled their affairs... If his suspicions were correct, the primary family in the capital had probably already been toppled!
He had just silenced the Tatar spy to try and carve out some room to maneuver for the Xie Family... not much was needed, even just a sliver of space could be used as a breakthrough point for other families to pull his Xie Family out. Even if they couldn't maintain their current status and power, at the very least their lives would be worry-free.
If he had successfully silenced the Tatar spy just now, at this moment he would have surrendered himself.
Unfortunately, no one is a fool...
He truly had no other choice, which was why he was stubbornly confronting the imperial guards head-on, trying to grab that slim chance of survival from the spy.
Now, not only had he failed to seize that chance, he had added another shovelful of dirt to his family's grave!
With his emotions burning intensely, Xie hysterically berated, "Shen Family boy, do you really intend to drive my Xie Family to death? Have you forgotten that you are also a noble? Do you not know 'one's glory is all's glory, one's loss is all's loss'?"
Shen Fa, parrying a direct palm strike, responded coldly, "I have never forgotten that I am a noble, it is you who have forgotten you are nobles!"
"We have not forgotten either!"
Xie, with red eyes, lashed out like a whirlwind with both palms, "But conquering the land was done together by everyone contributing money, exerting effort, bleeding and sweating. Why should the Zhao Family, after having settled into power, oppress and trouble us in every way? If we do not try to protect ourselves, should we continue letting the Zhao Family prey upon us?"
Upon hearing this, Shen Fa's gaze became even more chilling, and his long blade even more ferocious, "Is this your justification for nurturing rebels, colluding with the enemy, and betraying your country? Where do you place the hundreds of thousands of soldiers on the border? Where do you place the tens of millions of citizens of the land? Creatures no better than pigs and dogs, beasts no better than wild animals, dare to claim the title of nobility? Dare to compare yourselves with us, upright men?"
Xie's cries of desperation echoed across the river, and the sporadic sounds of combat finally completely quieted down.
Only the sound of a "clang" was heard, as an unknown guard first dropped his weapon.
The next second, the sound of weapons hitting the ground, "clang, clang," rang out continuously...
They could fight to the death for the Xie Family's favors and support.
But that did not mean...
They did not know what was right and what was wrong.
Justice resides in the human heart!