Late at night.
In the sky floated a round moon nearly full—perhaps already full. Below it on Chaohu Lake, dozens of large and small ships were advancing rapidly forward.
Southward, southward.
Sswooosh, sswoosh.
Ships cutting through the water refreshingly.
Although most of the people aboard were not members of the Namgung Family, the ships belonged to the Namgung Family.
The composition was largely congratulatory guests who had come to celebrate this wedding, and while some of them remained at the Namgung Family, the absolute majority boarded the ships. Among those who remained at the Family, some still hadn't grasped how critical this situation was, or were those who judged it would be safer to remain at the Namgung Family.
However, such people were an extreme minority, so the Namgung Family, which had to monitor them, was relieved of one burden.
The rest, excluding them, were servants and workers of the Namgung Family and their dependents, whom Namgung Byeok had semi-forcibly loaded onto the ships. A fight would break out anyway when they arrived near Chaochuan. Before that, they couldn't waste the 'sacrificial lambs'' strength on rowing.
Unaware of Namgung Byeok's intentions, the congratulatory guests felt sorry and grateful about escaping alone. Naturally, they didn't doubt in the slightest that they would arrive safely at the Yangtze River.
However, at the very rear of the fleet.
Dong Bong-su, Tang O, Tang Hwa, and Namgung Hye. Only these four knew well that unprecedented danger lurked in Chaochuan.
Among them, Dong Bong-su was convinced that the actual enemies waiting in Chaochuan would be far more dangerous than Namgung Byeok had predicted.
If Namgung Byeok thought it was merely a dilemma, Dong Bong-su felt the current situation was like being surrounded on all sides.
He turned his head to look back. Since they were at the very rear of the escaping ships, the only things obstructing his view were a few fish occasionally waking from sleep and leaping above the water's surface.
Beyond the chilly night fog on the water, he could see a manor of magnificent scale. It was precisely Anhui's finest manor, the Namgung Family. However, Dong Bong-su's gaze didn't linger there long.
For now, that place was the most dangerous. Returning to the Namgung Family wasn't worth a moment's consideration.
Ahead.
His gaze turned forward again. Then what about that direction ahead where they were now heading?
If they continued forward for a few hours without any interference, Chaochuan would appear as Namgung Byeok or Tang O thought.
However,
In Dong Bong-su's thinking, that place was just as dangerous as the rear. Namgung Byeok and Tang O would have judged that breaking through Chaochuan was the safest and easiest option...
'If my thinking is correct, even if we reach Chaochuan, no, even if we reach Chaochuan and succeed in breaking through there, we will never be able to enter the Yangtze River.'
Dong Bong-su sneered at Namgung Byeok's naivety.
He felt that Namgung Byeok still hadn't grasped at all how thoroughly the enemy had prepared and struck here.
The word encirclement means to 'meticulously' surround. Namgung Byeok needed to reconsider the meaning of that word 'meticulously.' Of course, if he survived... and if afterward there was leisure left to do so.
Both front and rear disappeared from consideration.
Dong Bong-su's gaze this time went right, then turned left. On either side, dozens of lights flickered in the distance along the lakeshore. They were probably the rear units of the force surrounding the Namgung Family. They were too far away to know their exact numbers, but considering the distribution of torches, it was definitely not a small number.
Those moved gradually southward matching the fleet's speed. Even so, not all the lights followed the ships.
Preparing for contingencies, one light remained at regular intervals. Probably preparing for the ships to scatter and land on both sides simultaneously. From that sight, Dong Bong-su could read the opponent's strong will not to let even one person escape alive.
That's when Dong Bong-su sensed for the first time.
Perhaps the opponent's purpose wasn't to destroy the Namgung Family, but rather to kill everyone who had been at the Namgung Family and all those who participated as congratulatory guests.
"..."
Unease was already circulating throughout the entire fleet because of the lights. Most of the congratulatory guests had actually only heard about it in stories, and hadn't yet confirmed with their own eyes the reality of the enemy surrounding the Namgung Family. But now that they had clearly witnessed they were being pursued, they couldn't help but be anxious.
Still, to Dong Bong-su's eyes, both shores appeared relatively less dangerous than the front and rear. However, even so, attempting to land by bringing ships to shore was still an extremely perilous matter.
Even if they succeeded in safely docking the ships and climbing onto land, fierce pursuit from the enemies would immediately begin. Therefore, just as before, landing was also a difficult option to choose.
It was easily determined that front, back, left, and right were all unthinkable choices—no, choices one didn't even want to think about.
'Then where is left now?'
Which direction should they escape to have a high possibility of survival?
Logically speaking, there was still more left.
This time Dong Bong-su raised his head to look up.
Caw caw caw-.
The strange cries of hawks, like chick chirps multiplied by hundreds, were occupying Chaohu Lake's night sounds. There was no way to fly, but even if they could fly, as long as those Killer Falcons were traversing the sky, they couldn't escape this place by flying.
'Was this the end?'
It wasn't. There was still one more place.
Right beneath his feet, that is, Chaohu Lake below the ship. But this wasn't worth considering at all. The moment they fell into the water, it would directly connect to death. How long could they endure in the water at night? They would probably die of hypothermia before long.
What if they could endure?
Even so, they wouldn't survive long. Setting aside the problem of body temperature drop, what would they do when day broke? If they remained here, it would still be surrounded on all sides. Ultimately, to survive, they would have to swim in any direction—front, back, left, or right.
Now he had considered all possible directions for escape.
Front, back, left, right, up, down. He had surveyed all places they could and couldn't go without missing a single one, but the possibility of breaking through in any direction seemed slim.
'Then what should be done?'
Dong Bong-su continued thinking.
The way to live was bleak.
Now he had to choose the side with even slightly higher survival possibility. For now, as before, trusting Tang O, who stood beside him with his hands clasped behind his back watching only the far distance ahead, was the best path.
However, no matter how he figured it, this method was only the best choice in a bad situation like now, and was no different from the lesser evil. The last choice he had no choice but to take since he couldn't choose the worst option of jumping into the water and committing suicide.
No, perhaps even this...
'Could be the worst.'
Dong Bong-su's eyes turned toward one corner of the ship. Two women were crouching there. Beauties so beautiful as to be unparalleled in the world. They were precisely Namgung Hye and Tang Hwa.
However, Namgung Hye was currently completely drained of spirit due to Do Heo-ok's betrayal, and Tang Hwa was slightly frowning as if the wound she received earlier was aching.
Even if the two were in normal condition, they were burdens to Tang O. Although Tang O was an unparalleled master, he was merely a person with one body and two hands. If a desperate crisis struck, he would naturally save those two. Perhaps he might even save everyone including himself.
However,
Tang Hwa, Namgung Hye, and 'Tang Sam'—if he absolutely had to abandon one of these three.
'That would definitely be me.'
His granddaughter and his sworn brother's granddaughter. It would be difficult for his value to Tang O to be higher than theirs.
Everything he had thought about so far was mere supposition, but it was the reality confronting him and highly likely to be realized. Very much so.
Normally, anyone would give up on survival by this point, but Dong Bong-su absolutely never gave up.
He continued thinking endlessly. Although he didn't know well the reason why he should live, he strived to survive. And just like until now, he would simply survive.
Of course.
He was confident he would continue to do so afterward as well.
Sswoosh, sswoosh.
The faster Dong Bong-su's brain turned, the faster the ships' speed became.
Had about two more hours passed like that?
Still, all that intermittently reached the escaping congratulatory guests' ears were the noisy sound of ships cutting through the water and the hawks' cries.
The vast Chaohu Lake didn't easily show or tell them its end. Though they had glided a distance equivalent to passing several towns and cities, Chaochuan still hadn't shown even a glimpse, and torches still clung along both shores of Chaohu Lake. However, from the fact that their brightness was increasing, one could tell the lake's width was gradually narrowing, if only slightly.
Sswooosh, sswoosh.
A few more hours passed.
Finally, the land on both sides had come close enough to be confirmed with the naked eye, and the current was also becoming considerably faster. A sign that a river was approaching.
Now Chaochuan truly wouldn't be far.
At that fact, a mood of relief was gradually spreading through the fleet where silence had been hovering. People were feeling they might be able to escape the crisis situation to some degree.
On the other hand, Tang O and Tang Hwa's expressions gradually hardened. Probably the tension right before fierce battle, something like that.
Dong Bong-su's expression, having glanced once at their faces, remained expressionless as always. However, his brain was still turning rapidly. He knew well that there wasn't much time left to think.
Then at some moment.
"It's Chaochuan! Chaochuan is visible!"
Someone aboard a ship at the vanguard shouted loudly.