Ling Zhang and the others spent the night in the small town. What with the matter of the two gangs of bandits, they didn’t resume their journey right away. Shortly after daybreak, Wang Dashan returned.
“Young Master, those bandits indeed didn’t go further south. It seems that the two gangs have merged and made a den out of a spot on a hill fifty miles away from this town. Liu Yi and some others are trying to check out the lay of the land in that place, and I came back here to report it to you first.”
“Fifty miles away?”
When Wang Dashan reported on this, Ling Zhang and the others were having breakfast in the lobby. The innkeeper and the waiters were all present. When they heard that those bandits had made a den out of a place fifty miles away, despair appeared on all their faces.
“Why did they make a den nearby? Are they planning to rob us again? We’re toast. We’re so toast,” said the inn-keeper, harassed-looking.
Ling Zhang exchanged glances with Ling Zhaowu and then said, “Since we’ve already got involved in this, we won’t leave until all of them are handled, so there’s no need for you to panic.”
The innkeeper rejoiced at these words. “Thank you, childe. You’re such a good Samaritan!”
“But those bandits number thirty to forty. Are you sure you can defeat them?” said one of the two waiters both of whom looked apprehensive and didn’t seem to quite believe Ling Zhang and his men could handle those bandits.
“They’re just a bunch of bandits, a disorderly mob. We’ve got nothing to fear from them,” said Ling Zhaowu.
The two waiters seemed to have something else to say, but the innkeeper stopped them and said, “If you really dispose of those bandits, you’ll be the saviors of this town, and we’ll do everything within our power to repay you for your help. Apart from anything else, I won’t charge you a single coin for the meals or the accommodation.”
Ji Donglin on the side uttered a snorting chuckle. Although he didn’t saying anything, it was very obvious that he was not very struck on the promised reward.
The innkeeper appeared somewhat disconcerted.
Ling Zhang said to him, “Please prepare some more food for us – something we can carry with us: dumplings, steamed buns, etc.”
The innkeeper hurriedly took his leave, followed by the two waiters.
“Should we directly go there, Young Master?” asked Wang Dashan.
Ling Zhang nodded. “Let’s make this quick and then resume our journey.”
“Fortunately these two gangs of thugs didn’t go further south. Otherwise nobody knows how many more people would fall victim,” observed Wang Dashan.
“It’s the north that’s at war. The further south they go, the less easy targets they could find. Given that they’ve made a den fifty miles away, they must’ve made up their mind to take advantage of the panic to rob residents of Youzhou. Currently they don’t dare travel south,” said Ling Zhang.
“It surprises me that this rabble of thugs actually are not incurably foolish,” said Wang Dashan.
“They’re nothing but a crew of losers,” remarked Ling Zhang.
After waiting for some extra time, the innkeeper had their food ready. Ling Zhang told his bodyguards to take it and deliver it to Liu Yi and the couple of others later.
“Father, I’m afraid you’re not in a fit state to make a round trip to that place, so maybe you should wait in this inn for us to come back, and don’t forget to take your medicine according to Mr. Mu’s instructions,” Ling Zhang said to Ling Zhaowu.
Ling Zhaowu thought for a while and agreed. “Okay. Stay safe.”
A disorderly mob didn’t really count as a threat to them, and he believed that his son could handle it. It’d be better if he saved his strength for the remainder of the journey.
“Brother Donglin, would you please have some of your men stay here?” Ling Zhang looked at Ji Donglin.
Ji Donglin gave a bob of the head. “I’ll have five of them stay here to keep Master Ling company.”
Among Ling Zhang’s traveling companions were ten guards from the Millennium Pavilion sent by Ji Yin, all of whom were top-notch kung fu experts.
“Just go and get it over with. Those cold-blooded bandits not only plundered this town of its valuables but also murdered innocent people. There’s no reason to show them any mercy,” exhorted Ling Zhaowu.
Ling Zhang inclined his head and then left the inn, followed by Wang Dashan, Ji Donglin and some others. Before long, they exited the town and made a beeline towards the den of those bandits, Wang Dashan leading the way.
The sun was already high in the sky when they arrived. Liu Yi and the others had generally got the lay of the land.
“It hasn’t been long since they made this place their den. I think there used to be a couple of households in that place, but whether those people are still alive is unknown.” Liu Yi had a rather grave face. “There are thirty-six of them in total. I did some recon and found that all the weapons they got were just some sabers and iron staffs stolen from smithies. They are nothing but a bunch of hooligans and loafers. They have no kung fu skills.”
Ling Zhang gave a nod. “Have something to eat. We’ll go uphill in a few moments and restrain all of them.”
Liu Yi bobbed his head, called the others over, took a couple of bites and then led Ling Zhang and the others uphill.
Distantly, on the hillside, they saw a roadblock in the path, which was guarded by two men on the side who were leaning against a tree trunk, seeming rather bored, chatting in obscene language, so engaged in their conversation that they were totally oblivious of those approaching them.
Wang Dashan and Liu Yi crept up on them and each disposed of one without making any noises. The two bandits were unaware of what happened till the last breaths of their bodies.
“Let’s go up there.” Ling Zhang disgustedly flicked a glance at the two men’s corpses.
As they progressed uphill, it became more obvious that these bandits had indeed settled in this place not long ago, because along the way, they saw some newly felled trees and some messy clumps of bushes.
The den of the bandits was located on a piece of flat ground which was quite broad. There were three adjoining houses all of which were fenced and seemed to belong to hunters living on this hill.
Right now there were also some half-finished house-like things standing there. On the open space in front of the three houses gathered most of the bandits, arguing with each other over the building of more houses.
“I told you we should go downhill and get some carpenters and some builders to this place. We would never have had to face any of this mess had we done that. It wasted so much of my time which I could’ve spent on having fun in the town down there.”
“Tell me about it. I don’t know what got into Chief. We would’ve joined the other group had we known that these people were so troublesome. Heading all the way south would’ve been a choice so much better than staying in this godforsaken place.”
“That guy surnamed He forbids us to go downhill without his consent. His control-freak personality is killing me!”
“Shut up, both of you! If you don’t cut this nonsense and it reaches Chief He’s ears, there will be consequences!”
…
Hearing those bandits quarreling, Ling Zhang felt rather surprised. Someone was restricting these criminals’ freedom? They couldn’t leave this hill at will?
“Let’s not waste any more time. Restrain them all. Those who dare resist shall be killed directly,” said Ling Zhang.
Wang Dashan and the others nodded, drew their weapons and charged right into those bandits without further ado.
Having never expected that a group of men would suddenly launch an attack on them, those bandits were all stupefied and failed to react immediately. On top of that, they didn’t have any kung fu skills whatsoever, so they were no match for Wang Dashan and the others at all. Soon, they were either restrained or killed, lying on the ground this way and that.
Ji Donglin had his men hit some of the acupoints of those who were still alive lest they try to flee.
“Identify yourselves!”
As over ten bandits outside the houses were instantly killed, those inside were alarmed and quickly ran out with sabers, iron staffs and some other weapons in their hands but were also overpowered very soon.
Wang Dashan and some others rushed into the houses and caught two men who looked like ringleaders of these people. They pushed the two of them hard, sending them to the ground. “On your knees!”
“Have mercy on us. Please, heroes!”
“Don’t kill us. Please don’t kill us!”
The dozen of surviving ones of the thirty-six bandits were all gathered together.
“These two are the leaders of these bandits?” Ling Zhang stared at the two men.
One of the two was trembling uncontrollably with fear. The other, though not shaking, had a pale face, cutting a sorry figure.
“Speak!” Qiu Bing gave the bandit kneeling on the side a kick.
“Yes, yes, yes. They’re our chiefs,” the bandit hurriedly answered.
“Where are the original owners of these houses?” Ling Zhang directly asked the two men without saying anything irrelevant.
“They–They are…” The quivering one, with a blood-stained knife held to his throat, replied in a tremulous voice, “They are dead.”
Ling Zhang knitted his brows. “Was it you who killed them all?”
That man didn’t dare respond, so scared that he wet himself, the foul odor of pee making people present nauseous.
Ling Zhang backed away several paces consecutively, looking at the man as though he were looking at a dead man.
Terrified out of his wits, the man soon confessed. “Yes, it was us who killed them. Please have mercy on us, heroes. We’ll never do anything like that again!”
“Kill him,” instructed Ling Zhang coldly.
Wang Dashan wielded his saber and finished the man off in a flash.
“And the others,” added Ling Zhang.
“Please don’t! Mercy, heroes! Please spare us!”
“Please don’t kill us. Please!”
“Ah–!”
The man who the others called Chief He had an ugly look on his face all along, but unlike the others, although he appeared pale and sullen, he’d never trembled so far, and neither did he show any signs of a breakdown, which made Ling Zhang perceptively come to realize that this man was probably more than a common loafer.
“Let this one breathe a while longer. Find out where he comes from and how he managed to flee to this area,” said Ling Zhang.
That man abruptly looked up at Ling Zhang in astonishment.
“What are you looking at? Get your filthy eyes off our young master!” Qiu Bing grabbed the man’s hair and sneered, “You’d better answer all our questions with complete honesty. Otherwise I’ll inflict such torture on you that you’ll beg me to kill you, and I’ll refuse.”
Qiu Bing had a long, thin needle clamped between his fingers, which was giving off a weird, blood-curdling, blackish purple light.
During the period when he’d been learning detoxification skills from Xie Shi, he’d been through a lot of pains and misery that had reduced him to yelling, so his personality had inevitably changed somewhat. At this moment, he was eyeing Chief He icily as though the man were a dummy to which he could do anything he wanted, as though he was waiting for Chief He to resist so that he could use that needle on him.
Frightened half to death, Chief He stammered, “I–I’ll tell you. I’ll tell you everything.”
Soon Chief He made a full confession. They came from that border city. As the border city was at war and rumor had it that Marshal Yuwen had arrived, they’d fled the city for fear that the foreign enemies might take the city, and that Marshal Yuwen might kill them after the many evil deeds of theirs came to his knowledge. On their way, seeing some families moving south with very few guards, they’d been tempted and robbed those people of their valuables. At first they’d only aimed at money, but afterward, they had got bolder with every person they robbed, and they’d started killing. They’d snatched their victims’ horses and other belongings and headed straight south. They’d also specially picked some towns, raided them and then fled. It’d been only when they arrived in this area that they decided to make a den out of this place.
“What kind of crime did you commit which made you so afraid of Marshal Yuwen that you fled that border city at the mention of his name?” queried Ling Zhang, fixing him with a flinty stare.
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