Wang Daxia hung Ming Wang's head on the pre-prepared Great Ming flag, then launched three red fireworks into the sky to signal success.
Upon seeing the signal, the reinforcements outside shouted in unison: "Ming Wang is dead! Reclaim Xinghua City!"
Even Luo Longwen, tormented by gout, leaned on his crutch and roared through the streets and alleys, setting fire to White Lotus Sect altars large and small. The old man's blood boiled with fervor, as if he had returned to his youth.
This time, the Japanese Pirates in the city, much like the defending troops in Xinghua City last time, collapsed upon hearing of the city's fall, showing no will to fight.
Wang Daxia raised the flag bearing Ming Wang's head to the highest point of the watchtower and lit the Great Sea Lantern below. Under the lantern's glow, Ming Wang's wide-open dead eyes overlooked Xinghua City, his bald head reflecting brilliantly in the light.
Ming Wang was dead. The White Lotus Sect's Iron Bull was dead.
The true Japanese Pirates had only formed a temporary alliance with Ming Wang. Seeing him dead, they had no intention of prolonging the fight, focusing solely on breaking through and escaping. But this time, escape wasn't so easy. The Qi Family Army and Yu Dayou's troops pursued them relentlessly, encircling and annihilating them without sparing a single pirate. Caught between the empire's twin pillars, none survived.
The White Lotus Sect's die-hard followers swarmed toward the watchtower like moths to a flame, desperate to reclaim Ming Wang's head. Luo Longwen had lent Wang Daxia the Three Links Escort Agency's guards, who opened fire to protect the Great Ming flag.
But these brainwashed cultists showed no fear of death. As one row fell, another advanced over their corpses, treating arrows and bullets like mere raindrops.
The believers pressed on through the hail of gunfire and reached the watchtower, drawing their weapons to engage the guards in close combat. Like unfeeling logs, they felt no pain or fear, even willingly impaling themselves on blades to grapple with the guards, allowing their comrades to strike the killing blow.
These followers were human moths, knowingly flying into the fire. After several waves fell, all thirty-plus guards defending the watchtower had heroically sacrificed themselves.
Witnessing this from the watchtower's peak, Wang Daxia was stunned!
It was too late to jump—a fall from this height would be fatal.
Yet the believers were already charging up. He might defeat ten men, but against a hundred surging toward him, he would be overwhelmed.
What to do?
In this critical moment, Wang Daxia had a flash of inspiration. He tore his skirt into strips, bound his own hands and feet, then lay down beside the sea lantern, crying out for help!
When the believers stormed in, Wang Dasia wept bitterly, snot and tears streaming, and gestured with his chin toward Ming Wang's head. "Forget about me! Save Ming Wang first!"
What a display of marital devotion (or adulterous passion)!
Some believers rushed to retrieve the head, while others pointed at Wang Daxia and cursed, "Ming Wang's death is all your fault, you temptress! You trusted these guards as good men, promoted and relied on them, yet they beheaded Ming Wang. You favored villains and distanced the virtuous! Ming Wang was blinded by you, growing estranged from the Japanese and alienating us loyal followers who followed him from north to south to seek a better life. This is all your doing!"Throughout history, when a nation lies in ruins, it has become customary to blame a woman for the downfall of its ruler—the emperor is always blameless, while the woman is invariably at fault. Figures like Su Daji, Bao Si, Zhao Hede, and Yang Guifei—and now Wang Daxia—are all labeled as seductive temptresses who bewitched their sovereigns!
Wang Daxia offered no defense, weeping instead, "Since things have come to this, do with me as you will—beat or curse me, I won’t resist. I ought to have followed Ming Wang in death, but... I carry his child. What is my wretched life worth? I haven’t even borne him a son yet! Once the child is born, I will gladly die."
The followers were both shocked and elated. No wonder Ming Wang had doted so intensely on this married woman—she was pregnant! A mother’s status rises with her child.
As Wang Daxia kowtowed and wailed, the cult members hurriedly untied the ropes binding his hands and feet, helping him up. "Be careful not to harm the pregnancy," they warned. "Your life is worthless, but if you lose the child, we’ll burn you alive and send you to serve Ming Wang in the afterlife."
Wang Daxia nodded through tears. "I too was deceived by treacherous men."
One follower questioned, "It was this temptress’s husband and that so-called doctor who tricked open the city gates. How do we know she isn’t in league with them? What if she had herself tied up to fool us?"
Wang Daxia cried out, "Don’t slander me! My husband is inherently jealous. If I so much as glanced at another man or spoke a word to one, he’d say nothing outwardly but would beat and starve me once we returned home. I endured such torment until I met Ming Wang."
"When Ming Wang took me, my husband wouldn’t dare disobey—if Ming Wang ordered him to sit and die, he wouldn’t dare lie down! Seeing me favored by Ming Wang, he burned with jealousy. Using the pretext of seeking medicine outside, he led the imperial troops here. I’ve severed all ties with him. Now that I carry Ming Wang’s child, he will surely not spare me. How could we possibly be collaborators?"
Hearing this, everyone found it reasonable and quickly escorted Wang Daxia to safety, fleeing Xinghua City.
They bundled Wang Daxia into a carriage and broke through the northern city defenses under heavy guard.
To save his own life, Wang Daxia had to go along with the charade, playing the role of the "birth mother" to the unborn child of Ming Wang.
While Yu Dayou and Qi Jiguang were focused on exterminating the Japanese Pirates, Lu Ying’s mission was to eradicate the White Lotus Sect—leaving no one behind. Spotting from a distance the cult members herding Wang Daxia into a carriage, she assumed they were taking him hostage. Anxiously, she directed her subordinates to intercept, setting up barricades at the street’s end to block the carriage’s path.
A fierce alley battle erupted between Lu Ying’s forces and the cult members in the pouring rain. The relentless downpour drenched gunpowder and fuses, rendering firearms useless; arrows grew damp and lost their accuracy. Both sides resorted to close-quarters combat with cold weapons.
Inside the carriage, Wang Daxia heard the clashing of weapons outside and yearned to join the fight. But five burly men guarded him closely, protecting him—and the "child" in his womb—forbidding him from stepping out.
Trapped in such confined space, Wang Daxia couldn’t possibly take down all five at once. He had to rely on wit.
Feigning frailty, Wang Daxia fanned himself delicately. "It’s so stuffy in here—I can’t breathe. Either two of you step out, or let me get some fresh air."
One of the guards sneered, "Be grateful we’re sparing your miserable life. Don’t push your luck."
Gag! Wang Daxia clutched his throat, pretending to retch. "I can’t take it—I feel awful, nauseous. Morning sickness—a woman can’t control it."
"Don’t you dare vomit in the carriage," the guard snapped. "Go outside if you have to."Wang Daxia clutched his chest as he stepped out of the carriage. After securely closing the door and sliding the bolt, he drew the dagger strapped to his calf and fought the coachman, stabbing him to death. Seizing the whip, he drove the carriage recklessly through the chaos until finally breaking through to our camp.
The believers, seeing Wang Daxia’s triumphant expression, realized they had been deceived. Brandishing their weapons, they charged at him.
With Wang Daxia’s return, Lu Ying no longer held back. With a sweep of her hands, she commanded, “Fire the cannons!”
Her subordinates pushed forward several wheelbarrows carrying Crouching Tiger Cannons—modified designs by Qi Jiguang. Cannon blasts erupted, sending limbs flying and reducing houses on both sides of the street to rubble. Those believers not killed by the explosions were crushed to death beneath the collapsing buildings.
With perfect timing, favorable terrain, and united forces, the battle against the White Lotus Sect’s Iron Bull concluded swiftly and decisively.
The first words from Wang Daxia after his narrow escape were to Lu Ying: “Where is Wei Caiwei?”
Meanwhile, Wei Caiwei had arrived at the small rented building where Luo Longwen resided. Luo Longwen was brooding over chests of gold, troubled. All the guards from the Three Links Escort Agency had perished in battle. The forces that breached Xinghua City were led by Yu Dayou and Qi Jiguang—both backed by powerful figures: Yu Dayou by Grand Secretariat Senior Grand Secretary Xu Jie, and Qi Jiguang by Zhang Juzheng, a lecturer to Prince Yu’s household and the prince’s tutor, who was also Xu Jie’s student.
Only Hu Zongxian belonged to Yan Shifan’s faction, aligned with Luo Longwen under the Yan coalition. Yet ironically, the two generals who stormed Xinghua City were both from Xu Jie’s faction, and the Xu and Yan factions were as incompatible as fire and water.
What to do now? He couldn’t protect five thousand taels of gold alone. The task entrusted by his patron had not even reached its destination, and he was left isolated and powerless.
Luo Longwen scratched his thinning white hair anxiously. Hearing movement at the door, he immediately raised his musket in defense.
“It’s me,” a familiar voice called.
Recognizing the itinerant physician, Luo Longwen lowered the musket and opened the door.
There stood Wei Caiwei, covered in the dust of her journey. Outside, the sounds of battle still echoed intermittently. She entered and bolted the door behind her. “I’ve led the Qi Family Army and General Yu’s troops here. With two of the most formidable generals, they will surely annihilate the Japanese Pirates.”
Luo Longwen asked her, “What about Madam Ximen? Why haven’t I heard Boss Ximen and his wife return next door?”
Wei Caiwei replied, “Madam Ximen is safe. Boss Ximen is protecting her.”
Luo Longwen handed her a gold bar. “Keep this. Use it to elope with Madam Ximen in the future. I can no longer ensure my own safety, let alone arrange your escape. But money can move even ghosts—since I can’t offer strength, I’ll provide funds.”
Wei Caiwei stared at the familiar gold bar but refused to take it. “Why? The escorts may have fallen, but we’re still here. Aren’t we all heading to Hangzhou? Let’s go together.”
“You don’t understand,” Luo Longwen said. “At dawn tomorrow, leave Xinghua City on the Favorable Wind merchant ship with Boss Ximen’s caravan. I cannot join you—I would only bring you harm.”
Wei Caiwei feigned ignorance. “Why? I don’t understand.”
Luo Longwen pointed to two roof beams overhead. “When two beams contend, one may collapse. It seems only the beam has lost, but beneath it, a swarm of ants is crushed—dying silently and unnoticed. This is the meaning of ‘when the city gate catches fire, the fish in the moat suffer.’ I am sending you all away so you won’t become those fish.”At this critical moment, Luo Longwen was still thinking about his own safety, which further solidified the decision Wei Caiwei had secretly made.
She shoved the gold bars into Luo Longwen's hands. "No, you're the one who should take the gold and flee, not us. If you don't run now, it'll be too late."
Wei Caiwei continued, "How could the Qi Family Army and General Yu possibly believe the one-sided claims of a merchant and a wandering physician? In truth, we are both members of the Embroidered Uniform Guard. We've been following you all along. You're not Zhang Shan—your name is Luo Longwen, a retainer of Yan Shifan. You were carrying five thousand taels of gold south on Yan Shifan's behalf. Though we still haven't figured out your exact purpose, it no longer matters."
"Xinghua City is Japanese Pirate territory. When Yan Shifan's five thousand taels of gold 'coincidentally' appear in the Japanese Pirates' lair and are discovered by General Yu Dayou, he will report this to Grand Secretariat Senior Grand Secretary Xu Jie. Xu Jie will seize this opportunity to frame Yan Shifan with charges of colluding with Japanese Pirates."
The gold bars clattered to the ground from Luo Longwen's trembling hands. "You... no, impossible! How could Vice Minister Yan collude with Japanese Pirates? He already makes fortunes by selling official positions—why would he need to profit from dealing with pirates? Even if smuggling with pirates could bring money, selling offices is faster, more profitable, and carries less risk. Vice Minister Yan would never do such a thing!"
Wei Caiwei replied, "The Yan faction has controlled the court for years, remaining unshaken despite numerous impeachments. But flowers don't bloom forever—I believe this time we'll succeed. To be frank, my relatives were indirectly killed because Yan Shifan accepted bribes to advise villains and act as their protective umbrella. The horrific manner of their deaths remains unforgettable to me, haunting my nightmares. I've been watching Yan Shifan for a long time, waiting for an opportunity to bring him down. I will absolutely not let this chance slip away."
In her previous life, Yan Shifan had ultimately been brought down by Xu Jie fabricating charges of "colluding with Japanese Pirates"—the final straw that broke the camel's back. The court soon witnessed a swift movement to overthrow the Yan faction, uprooting the political group that had entrenched itself in the government for over twenty years.
Now, through twists of fate, Wei Caiwei and her companions had personally created a new opportunity, advancing the "collusion with Japanese Pirates" accusation by about a year.
Luo Longwen exclaimed, "This is blatant framing!"
Wei Caiwei chuckled coldly. "Indeed. Years ago, Yan Shifan used the same method of false accusation to ruin my father's reputation, leaving him to bear infamy even after death. He made my sister become a government slave, trampled and bullied by others. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth—now it's Yan Shifan's turn to taste the bitter fruit of his own actions."
Wei Caiwei picked up the fallen gold bars and pressed them into his hands, then handed him a set of completely new household registration documents. "You help me, and I'll help you. Go now, find a place to live under an assumed name, and stay away from court politics. Otherwise, when the roof beam collapses, it might crush an ant like you."
Author's Note: This explains why Volume Five is titled "Overthrowing Yan" despite its core content focusing on eliminating Japanese Pirates and the White Lotus Sect—Yan Shifan's misfortune begins from this point onward.
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