Chapter 98 - 76: Are You Trying to Rebel?

Chapter 98: Chapter 76: Are You Trying to Rebel?

"Yes, sir!"

Hearing the order, the Decurion named Feng Ze immediately led the brothers of his squad forward. They relentlessly stabbed at the bandit who had just scrambled up from the ground. In the blink of an eye, the man was riddled with bloody holes and collapsed dead.

In front of Zheng Jun, a line of small ink-wash characters materialized.

[Empty-handed Blade Seizing, Horizontal Training Showdown. Iron Sand Demon Suppression Skill repayment progress +13. Current repayment progress: 2408/2500.]

Zheng Jun gave a slight nod. A shallow bloody gash had actually been sliced across his hand, but the power of the Iron Sand Demon Suppression Skill was slowly healing the wound.

He pondered, "It seems being slashed by a blade increases the repayment progress significantly more than being beaten barehanded. Should I actively seek out people to slash me with blades in the future?"

Zheng Jun fell into deep thought.

With the death of the Blood Refining Bandits, the turmoil gradually subsided.

A hundred infantrymen and ten cavalrymen exterminating twenty-one mountain bandits was hardly a difficult task—especially with the advantages of higher Realms, superior numbers, and a preemptive ambush. Still, this brought a solid victory for the fifty infantrymen of the new recruit squad.

The corpses of the twenty-one mountain bandits were gathered together. Their heads were uniformly severed and loaded onto horse-drawn carts to be taken back for merit recording and rewards.

After all, the Great Zhou recorded military merits by body count. Bandits were at the very bottom of the military merit ledger; three bandits were only equivalent to one Beirong barbarian soldier. However, for a place like Black Mountain County, which essentially shared no borders with Beirong, their greatest source of military merit could only come from bandits.

The casualties this time were light. Not a single man died in battle. Only four were injured, three of them with minor wounds. Only one soldier took a slash from the bandit who had briefly broken out of the encirclement, but the bleeding had already been stopped. He would just need a few months of rest to fully recover. Otherwise, everything else was fine.

"Captain."

Xu Zhilei, panting heavily and with his face covered in blood, approached Zheng Jun. He cupped his hands and asked for instructions, "These bandits have been entirely eradicated. I ask for the Captain’s orders on how we should proceed up the mountain to easily capture their den?"

"No rush," Zheng Jun shook his head, looking up at the nearby Yan Family compound.

The main gates of the Yan Family compound were shut tight, sealed without a single crack. It was as if the bloody skirmish that had just taken place right outside their doors had absolutely nothing to do with them.

Seeing this, Zheng Jun immediately selected two squads of his Personal Guards and ordered, "Come to their door with me. Let’s see what’s going on with the Yan Family."

The moment he finished speaking, twenty soldiers stepped out of the formation. Zheng Jun continued, "The rest of the troops will rest here. The Crew Leaders will compile the battle reports. Any severed head whose kill is unconfirmed will be credited to the entire squad, and the bounty for it will be split equally among every brother in that squad."

"Yes, sir!"

Hearing Xu Zhilei’s resonant and forceful reply, Zheng Jun felt highly satisfied. He then led the twenty County Soldiers toward the Yan Family compound. However, before he could even knock, he heard a flurry of chaotic noises echoing from inside the courtyard.

***

The Yan Family compound was the largest household in Nansha Town.

Covering over a dozen acres, they were the undisputed local overlords of the town. Here, their words carried more weight than the Emperor’s decrees. They had thirty servants waiting on them in the courtyard, and as for hired Guardians, there were two Blood Refining Martial Artists and ten ordinary martial artists.

Today’s pillaging by the Black Mountain Thieves had frightened Master Yan terribly. Fortunately, the Black Mountain Guard had received the intel and set up an ambush beforehand, wiping out the bandits in one fell swoop and restoring peace to the Yan Family.

Second Young Master Yan held the fort at the front, while Old Master Yan waited anxiously deep within the compound for the final outcome.

However, right after the victory was secured, Second Young Master Yan began to fret.

After all, those bastard soldiers outside had won. According to custom, he would have to dish out some money to reward the troops.

He thought to himself, "Oh well, consider it spending money to avert disaster. Rewarding those bastard soldiers is still better than being robbed blind by the Black Mountain Thieves."

"You there, come here. Tell the old man to fetch thirty taels..."

After comforting himself mentally, Young Master Yan immediately beckoned for a short servant to come over. But before he could even finish his sentence, the servant suddenly gritted his teeth, pulled a sharpened, jagged piece of iron from his sleeve, and lunged right at Second Young Master Yan!

"Young Master!"

"Watch out!"

The servant was just an ordinary man, while Young Master Yan had two Blood Refining Guardians standing right beside him. Seeing the unfolding scene, the two Guardians struck before the servant’s makeshift blade could connect. They forcefully intercepted the assassination attempt and pinned the man down.

Young Master Yan hadn’t even processed what was happening. Once he finally reacted, he flew into a rage, slapping the servant hard across the face as he roared, "You lowly wretch, you dare try to kill me?!"

"SPIT!"

The servant’s mouth was full of blood, and several of his teeth had been knocked out by the slap. He glared coldly at Young Master Yan, his eyes brimming with monstrous hatred. "You Yan bastard, I wish I could eat your flesh and sleep on your skin! Forty-nine days ago, you forcefully abducted Lian’Er in town. Where have you locked her up?!"

Hearing the name ’Lian’Er’, Young Master Yan sifted through his memories and carefully scrutinized the servant’s face. Realization suddenly dawned on him, and he sneered, "So it’s you, you wild dog!"

About two months ago, he had been in high spirits while strolling through Nansha Town. He had suddenly spotted a village woman with good looks, so he snatched her right off the street and ordered his men to beat up her companion. The village woman was supposedly named ’Lian’Er’, and the man before him now was that very companion.

He was probably her husband.

Thinking of this, Young Master Yan let out a cold laugh. He picked up the sharp iron piece used for the assassination, walked up to the pinned servant, and scraped it against the man’s face. He grinned savagely.

"Let me tell you the truth. After your woman slept with me, she cried and begged, fighting tooth and nail to be my concubine. So, I reluctantly took her in."

After speaking, Young Master Yan smacked his lips and sliced a gash directly into the servant’s cheek. Looking somewhat unsatisfied, he sighed with mock regret.

"It’s a pity, though. When my wife found out about it, she threw a fit and had people drag her out and throw her down a well to drown... I was quite heartbroken about it, too. After all, your woman was pretty good in bed.

"My wife’s uncle is the Chief Clerk of Lang Kang County, and her maiden family is a prominent clan there. I couldn’t afford to offend them, so I could only watch your woman perish."

Hearing Young Master Yan’s words, the short man pinned down by the two Guardians looked as if his eyes would pop out of their sockets. He could only roar in fury as two streams of tears uncontrollably rolled down his face.

"Lock him up in the backyard. Once those bastard soldiers leave, drag him to the well and throw him in to join his woman," Young Master Yan waved his hand impatiently.

Right at that moment, with a loud BANG, the main gates of the Yan Family compound were kicked open.

"Hm?!" Young Master Yan was momentarily stunned. He looked toward the gates and instantly breathed a sigh of relief.

The intruders were not the Black Mountain Thieves, but a young General.

Clad in Battle Armor, he stood at the entrance, his gaze as chilling as a cold star, with fresh blood splattered across his plates.

He cursed inwardly, "Why kick down my door? What a bastard soldier!"

He then quickly put on an obsequious smile and fawned over the young General, "Captain, thank you for saving..."

Before Young Master Yan could finish his sentence, the young General, his expression stern and unyielding, drew his Beirong Saber and ordered coldly, "Take him down!"

At his command, the fierce, wolf-like soldiers poured in single file, flooding the Yan Family courtyard like a tidal wave.

Hearing the young General’s words, Young Master Yan immediately panicked and hollered, "You, you, you... What are you doing?! Our family pays our tax silver every year without fail, feeding an entire town of commoners for the Court! If it weren’t for our kind hearts, renting our fields to those lowly peasants to farm, they would have starved to death long ago. On what grounds are you arresting law-abiding citizens like us? Are you trying to rebel?!"

Shouting seemed to embolden Young Master Yan, and he quickly followed up with a threat, "My eldest brother practices martial arts in the Vast Sea Sect and is an Inner Sect Disciple! If you arrest us, you won’t have a place to stand in either officialdom or the Jianghu!"

Hearing this, Zheng Jun couldn’t help but let out a snort of laughter. "The Vast Sea Sect? What kind of stray dog Sect from the roadside is that, barking around here?"

"You dare insult the Vast Sea Sect!" Young Master Yan glared with bulging eyes. However, looking at the surrounding County Soldiers, he immediately shrank his neck back and lowered his voice, "If you have the guts, leave your name! Which Crew Leader of the Black Mountain Guard are you? Don’t you know that your Vice Captain Yang Jun is a close friend of my Old Master Yan?"

Hearing Young Master Yan’s words, Zheng Jun lifted his eyelids, glanced at a soldier beside him, and ordered coldly, "Tell Yang Jun to get his ass in here!"

"Yes, Captain."

Receiving Zheng Jun’s order, the soldier immediately accepted the command and headed out the gates to find Vice Captain Yang.

Upon hearing the soldier’s form of address, Young Master Yan was suddenly stunned. A second later, a wave of terrible chills rose in his heart.

He panicked, "Captain? Then isn’t the person standing right in front of me... Zheng San?!"