Chapter 310 : Menghu Mountain (3)

Great Leader Yi held the wretched-looking Li Niang, then clasped his hands and said towards Yuxi, “Thank you for your mercy, Miss.” Yuxi obviously could have used Li Niang as a hostage, but instead, she released her. Since they were in front of so many people, he must accept this favour.

Yuxi knew very well that taking Li Niang as a hostage was ineffective. In the face of interests, anyone could be sacrificed. How could they back off just because of a single person like Li Niang? Instead of doing that, it was better to be good to Great Leader Yi. This way, it would be conducive for their subsequent negotiations. Yuxi said, “I heard Chief Huang say, although you are bandits, you people never robbed non-ill-gotten wealth? I wonder if that’s true?” Yuxi was trying to shift the argument. Chief Huang told Yuxi that the people of Menghu Mountain only want money, not to harm other people’s lives. When it came to Yuxi, these bandits suddenly became people who wouldn’t rob non-ill-gotten wealth.

Li Niang did not utter a single word at this time, as she had just lost a few teeth. It was so painful that she didn’t have any strength to speak.

The scholarly-looking man was the military counsellor of the Menghu Mountain, surnamed Lu, called Lu Kai. This person often gave Great Leader Yi’s advice and could be considered the military mentor for the Menghu Mountain people. When Lu Kai heard this, he asked, “Miss dares to say that your family have properly obtained all these dowries of yours and not bought them using unjust wealth?” Who would believe that? He wouldn’t count on it anyway.

Yuxi’s voice was icy as she replied, “These were the dowry my mother had saved for me. Not a single one of them was earned from using unjust wealth.” This was not a false statement. Qiu Shi had appropriately purchased half of these things.

Lu Kai questioned, “Your mother must be very good at making money to be willing to give you tens of thousands of taels as a dowry, isn’t she?” This statement made her words sound so fake.

Yuxi sneered, “Oh, so when you want to rob someone, you falsely accuse that person of buying things from unjust wealth? Is this what you call not robbing non-unjust wealth?” Who said these bandits were the most moralistic? It turned out to be nothing but a group of shameless people who just fished for undeserved fame. She was also foolish enough to listen to the rumours outside. Eh, to be exact, she was easily influenced by Chief Huang’s words.

Lu Kai mockingly smiled as he spoke in a raised voice, “Miss Han, if your Dage doesn’t hold a high and powerful position as an assistant for the Minister of War, will you dare say your family can still afford to buy so much dowry for you? How dare you say that your pieces of dowry aren’t bought using unjust wealth?”

As soon as these words fell, the faces of those in the Menghu Mountain changed. Those who became bandits in the mountains were either forced to die by the government soldiers or the gentry. Therefore, nine out of ten people here hate the officials. The meaning behind Lu Kai’s words was also pretty obvious. All Yuxi’s dowry were bought using Han Jiangming’s embezzled money.

Yuxi sneered. “Why do you only talk about my Dage, not my Er Ge? My Er Ge is also an officer and is now a fifth-rank officer in charge of a regiment in Yu City. From last year to now, he has won several battles with his subordinates by killing hundreds of northern captives. You accused my Dage, the Assistant Minister of War, of being corrupted by bribes, and my dowry comes from ill-gotten gains. What about my Er Ge? What about my Er Ge, who holds his head up by killing northwest barbarians in Yu City? I guess in your mind, that is the most stupid thing to do, right? If I have to say, why does he need to bother himself in killing those barbarians? If he acts like you guys by directly occupying a mountain and just lives there like a king, he can have hot food and drinks every day. If he is short on money, he can just go out and rob the passing caravan. Even the public can still say he has a good reputation for robbing unjust wealth. How good will that be?”

Zisu felt that Yuxi was too powerful. She could even curse those vicious bandits and did it so smoothly.

Chief Huang looked at Yuxi while secretly sighing in his heart. In the past few years, Great Leader Yi had been quite well-known in the jianghu, and could be regarded as a top figure. Still, today, she cursed him so much that he could not retaliate. Chief Huang had to admit that this Fourth Miss Han was a talent when it came to this.

Lu Kai lightly laughed and said, “Miss Han is pretty eloquent, and this Lu truly admires Miss for that. However, no matter what you say, you can’t change the fact that your family obtained the dowry from savagely oppressing the common people.”

Yuxi did not bother to waste any more words with this person, as she stated, “Do not give me that nonsense again. If you want to rob my dowry, just say so. There is no need to feed me with those grand excuses. It will only make people feel extremely disgusted just from hearing them.”

Lu Kai still had a smile on his face. “Miss had misunderstood. We do not want Miss’ dowry. We just want to invite Miss to the mountain fortress as our guest.”

Yuxi did not look at Lu Kai anymore but spoke directly to Great Leader Yi, “I can give you my things, but you must let us pass.”

Great Leader Yi answered, “The words of Military Counselor Lu are also my meaning.”

Yuxi asked, “What if I disagree?”

Great Leader Yi answered apologetically, “Then, this Yi has no other choice but to offend Miss.” The people of Menghu Mountain knew Yuxi’s identity and were ready to go all out to get her. Not only did they want Yuxi’s dowry, but they also wanted to use Yuxi as a hostage to demand more money from Han Jianming.

By this time, if Yuxi did not understand these people’s true intentions, it would be considered she had been living in vain. Yuxi looked at this group of people and smilingly said, “You want to capture me just to use me as a hostage so that you can ask my Dage for more money? You guys are pretty stupid. If I enter your bandits’ den, my innocence will be ruined, and I will no longer be worthy of any marriage, and so are the reputation of my unmarried sister. How do you expect my Dage spend money to redeem me then?”

Lu Kai sneered. “Miss Han, this is not something you need to worry about.” When the time came, they naturally had a way to make Duke Han pay the ransom.

Yuxi said to Great Leader Yi, “If you want my money and things, I can give them to you. If you think you can make me go to the mountain fortress with you, you can continue to dream. I will not go there even if I have to die.”

When Great Leader Yi heard Yuxi’s words, he became hesitant. What Yuxi just said was quite reasonable.

The dark and thin man standing behind Great Leader Yi urged impatiently, “Great Leader, don’t talk so much nonsense with her and let’s just kidnap them all. I’m sure that dog official will pay for the ransom.” He knew that the dog official liked this sister of his the most.

Hearing this, Yuxi put the dagger to her chest in front of everyone and said, “If you guys try to come over, I will stab myself.”

The people of Menghu Mountain called the thin dark man Heizi because his body was dark all over. When he heard Yuxi’s words, he laughed a few times before saying, “If you want to die that much, then do it fast. Don’t waste other people’s time. This old man has to go up the mountain to drink and eat meat next!” Once they were done with this job, they could have a delicious meal.

Yuxi’s words were full of sarcasm as she countered, “You should not rejoice too early. Once I die, Yun Qing will certainly raze the Menghu mountain to the ground to avenge my death. Speaking of which, it’s not a loss to have several thousand of you to be buried together with me.” Yuxi didn’t say that Han Jianming or Han Jianye would avenge her, but Yun Qing and that was because he had a massive reputation for being the God of Killing.

Heizi laughed loudly and questioned, “What are you to him? How dare you say that General Yun Qing will avenge your death?”

The location of Ganzhou in Ming Dynasty Map

Image Credit | Paul and Bernice Noll via Theo Skolnik @ World History Project (Apr 25 1644, The End Of Ming Dynasty)

When Chief Huang saw this situation, he interjected, “Miss Han is General Yun’s fiancée. This time, she goes to Yu City to complete her marriage with General Yun.” On their journey, the party did not announce Yuxi’s actual identity. They only released the news that Yuxi would complete her marriage in Ganzhou. After all, the bigger the name, the more memorable she would be.

As soon as Chief Huang had done speaking, Yuxi said towards him and Luo Shuigui, “Uncle Luo, Chief Huang, when I die, no matter which one of you manage to escape, go find Yun Qing. Tell him that these bandits killed me.” Yuxi deliberately said this to give these people something to worry about. In any case, Yun Qing’s reputation as the God of Killing was not just being blown out of proportion since it resulted from his actual killings record. Ordinary government soldiers couldn’t deal with these bandits, but if Yun Qing were the one who would come, it wouldn’t take even a day to destroy all these bandits. At the end of the day, these people of Menghu Mountain were just a flock of crows that only gathered temporarily.

Luo Shuigui said, “Miss, even if we all die here without anyone reporting to General Yun, he will still know that these people killed you.”

Great Leader Yi and the other people’s faces instantly changed their colour. They didn’t expect that the woman in front of them was Yun Qing’s fiancee, and they wouldn’t have a peaceful life once they annoyed that God of Killing. As for whether Yun Qing would come to take his revenge, he would not be a true man if he didn’t do so! As for whether Yun Qing was a true man or not, everyone already knew the answer to this question without even the need to discuss it.

The first person to question her statement was Heizi. “Are you serious? Are you honestly Yun Qing’s fiancée?” If she was indeed General Yun’s fiancée, then they couldn’t rob her.

Yuxi thought the question was idiotic. “You think I have to lie to you when it comes to this juncture?” It seemed that she could use Yun Qing’s reputation to intimidate other people.

Hearing this, Heizi said towards Great Leader Yi. “Great Leader, we should release the people and let them pass!” Yun Qing was his idol. Only that, this woman was too hot for them to handle, and he didn’t know if General Yun could stand it if they messed with her.

The change was so fast that Yuxi was unable to enjoy it even for a moment. Was Yun Qing’s reputation this easy to use?

Lu Kai disagreed. “No, Heizi. Did you already forget what we discussed before we went down the mountain? With this money, we can buy not only a large amount of food but also many weapons. When there is enough food and weapons, we can recruit more people and expand our team.”

When Yuxi heard this talk, she knew that it was impossible to stop herself from bleeding. At that moment, she could only raise her voice and stated, “Just like I said before, I can give you my things, but you can’t harm our lives.” As for going to Menghu Mountain as a guest, that was even out of the question.

Hearing these words from Yuxi, Great Leader Yi said, “We only want money, not harming other people’s lives.” Originally, Great Leader Yi only wanted the money, not to capture Yuxi as a hostage. It was Lu Kai who kept on lobbying the matter to him for a long time. He told him that after they captured Yuxi, they could ask for more money from the Han family. However, at that moment, Great Leader Yi knew that by capturing Yuxi, they would not be able to get any money, but also created a feud with Yun Qing. Naturally, Great Leader Yi did not want to tear his own face. But, if he just released the people like this, it wouldn’t work. After all, there were many brothers he needed to feed on Menghu Mountain.

Yuxi instructed Han Ji, “Remove my wedding clothes and books, then take out your people’s daily necessities, and give them all the rest.”

Luo Shuigui glanced silently at Heizi’s sullen-looking face, and after turning it over in his mind, he uttered, “Miss, we cannot give the two carts of medicinal herbs to them. These herbs are to be given to the military camp in Yu City. Although the two carts of herbs are not much, they can save the lives of many soldiers.” Although Yuxi didn’t put that many medicinal herbs in these two carts, they were all carefully selected and of the highest quality. If Yuxi was unwilling to give them up, they could indeed save quite a few lives.

When the one called Heizi heard this, he immediately advised, “Great Leader, we can’t take these two carts of medicinal herbs. If we do, we will lose our moral righteousness.”

Luo Shuigui turned toward Heizi and expressed his gratitude, “I thank this brother on behalf of the people of Yu City.” He should put a high hat on this man first, and if the other bandits objected, they should settle it in their nest.

Heizi said toward Great Leader Yi, “Don’t worry. No one will touch those herbs as long as I, Heizi, is here.”

Luo Kai glanced at Luo Shuigui. This person was also not a simple person. If he insisted on taking those herbs, this Old Leader Hei would turn against him, and then there would be a fight in their nest. Luo Kai raised his voice and said, “We won’t touch the herbs, but you must give us the things in Miss Han’s carriage.”

Yuxi coldly stated, “My carriage has nothing but bedding.” It would be a foolish act to admit that there was something else in her carriage.

Lu Kai questioned coldly, “Miss Han, we have already taken a step back and no longer insist on inviting you to our mountain fortress as a guest, and you want to take us for fools?” His words could be considered a threat to Yuxi.

Yuxi always felt that this person had deep hostility against her. Thus, she said, “In my carriage, besides the bedding, there are just a few books. If you don’t believe me, you can have someone check them. However, it can only be limited to women.” She absolutely could not let men set foot inside her carriage.