The soldiers rushing to rescue them saw Wang Yue holding Zhao Jian's hand in one and a red paper umbrella in the other. Amid the endless rain of arrows, he walked unhurriedly.
The arrows looked extremely dangerous, but they couldn't hurt the two of them at all, as if they were deliberately avoiding them.
Seeing the pair, who looked like gods descended to earth, the Northern Liang soldiers weren't so anxious anymore. One after another, they couldn't help shouting,
"Northern Liang!"
"Northern Liang!"
The Eighth Prince wasn't concerned with any of that. He hurriedly grabbed Ouyang Xiu and told him to send Great Song troops to intercept the ships. Although Wang Yue and Zhao Jian were unharmed now, he didn't think that would still be the case once the ships got close.
Ouyang Xiu was startled too, but before the men they sent could stop the ships, they saw the vessels speeding along suddenly halt in the river for some unknown reason. They all stopped more than a hundred paces from the bridge, and the people aboard were thrown into disarray.
Seeing this, Ouyang Xiu immediately understood that Wang Yue had prepared for this well in advance. Smiling, he said, "All right, Eighth Prince, you can relax. Changwen plans ten steps ahead for every one he takes. How could he not have known someone would cause trouble? Look, the ships have already been stopped. We worried for nothing."
After hearing Ouyang Xiu, the Eighth Prince looked over and saw that all the ships that had suddenly appeared were stopped. He smiled too. "It seems I worried for nothing!"
Ouyang Xiu smiled breezily. "In this scene, I can only think of one poem: 'Rain of arrows over Lan Bridge, tearing crimson silk; pale hands—'"
Seeing that Ouyang Xiu had actually started