Witch Wind

Chapter 85 Merchant Autonomy (Part )

One hundred Xingtian clan members rushed out.

On the hillsides on both sides, hundreds of Dongyun soldiers shouted and cursed, and some pulled the bolts of their guns and started shooting at them.

The one hundred Xingtian clan members all had alloy round shields one and a half feet long and two inches thick tied to their left arms. The firearms used by these Dongyun soldiers were only the most primitive single-shot rear-loading needle rifles, and the propellants they used were probably the oldest black powder.

The speed of a bullet out of a muzzle is limited. After the bloodlines of these Xingtian clan members were opened by Xingtian Li, they could even see the trajectories of these old bullets flying in the air.

These Dongyun soldiers were in a hurry and their shooting accuracy was really limited. It was obvious that their daily training was nonsense and they had never been seriously trained.

Very few bullets were fired at the descendants of Xingtian. Occasionally, they would just wave their hands lightly and the bullets would be knocked away by the round shield. There was a crisp "ding" sound and a few sparks flashed. These descendants of Xingtian did not even shake their arms and rushed to the hillside in a few steps.

Next, there was a hearty game of whack-a-mole.

The Dongyun soldiers didn't have the chance to fire a second shot. They didn't have time to clean the gun chambers and reload the bullets before they were slapped or kicked away by the Xingtian clan's disciples. With shrill howls, these Dongyun soldiers vomited blood. Those who were kicked away were fine, with only a few broken bones, while those who were slapped had their necks broken.

"Brother?" Xing Tianren, who was leading the team forward, turned around and shouted.

"Kill them!" Xing Tianli waved his hand lightly, giving the order to the Dongyun people. All the Xing Tian clan members drew their swords and mercilessly chased the fleeing Dongyun people, killing them on the spot easily.

Poor Dongyun people with their short legs, the one who fled the farthest was killed before he could even run down the hill.

Xing Tianli rode his horse and slowly came to Zuo Bitou's front.

Zuo Bitou and the town officials all knelt on the ground, trembling with fear, and interacted with their foreheads against the ground with force and frequency.

Xing Tianli coughed lightly.

Xing Tianren had already retreated with his people. The two small hills behind Xing Tianli shook slightly, and suddenly a landslide occurred. A large amount of earth and rocks slid down and fell into the large pit dug by the Dongyun people at the foot of the mountain.

What a coincidence! The sliding earth and rocks almost filled up the big hole, making it extremely smooth, as if it had been carefully measured.

"Mr. Allen, please ship your goods to Black Pearl Harbor as soon as possible." Xing Tianli smiled brightly: "Look, the merciful Virgin Mary is also protecting you. It just so happens that such a small earthquake has come, just in time to fill this hole."

Allen and a dozen other plantation owners looked at Xing Tianli in disbelief, as if they had seen a god.

'Apparition of the Virgin Mary'?
What the hell, they would rather believe that Xing Tianli is the incarnation of the Virgin Mary on earth, but the gender doesn't seem to match. And those burly men who easily slaughtered the Dongyun people who were several times their number, they must be the legendary holy knights who guarded the Holy Temple of the Virgin Mary?

"As you wish, respected Mr. Li Li." Allen took off his dirty wide-brimmed hunting hat, pressed it against his chest, and bowed deeply to Xing Tianli. "I heard that Smith brought back a very effective holy image from you. I hope I can have such an honor!"

Xing Tianli raised his eyebrows and laughed loudly. He pointed at Allen and nodded, saying, "Come back to me when you're done with the cargo transportation."

When Xing Tianli saw the woodblock-printed statues of the Three Pure Ones in Nanxun Town, he didn't know what he was thinking, but he asked the old shop owner to print tens of thousands of copies.

Well, he likes people like Alan who are knowledgeable and interesting. Xing Tianli swears that Alan's business will be smooth and he will make a fortune. No one can change this fact!
Tongtian Miaozhu gently tapped Zuo Bitou's shoulder, and Xing Tianli said in a deep voice: "Except for this guy, all the others should be killed."

Xing Tianyi's brothers came forward and shot the officers to death amid their miserable wailing and begging.

Zuo Bitou, who was so scared that he peed his pants, climbed up the donkey he rode when he came here obediently under Xing Tianli's command. Well, a horse that was about the same size as a donkey. Zuo Bitou rode on this "steed" and obediently followed Xing Tianli back to Jinshan Town.

The town hall of Jinshan Town is also located in the core area of ​​the town, just one street away from Yingjishi’s business office.

When Xing Tianli led a large group of people back to the town office, a 300-man Dongyun regular army wearing black uniforms, white leggings, and black painted steel helmets had already set up a fairly strict defensive position inside the town office.

Machine guns, mortars, barbed wire, and an officer named Touno wearing a short cape and holding a katana, stood outside the main gate of the town hall in a dignified manner, presenting an attitude of "one man guarding the pass against ten thousand men".

Xing Tianli rode his horse and slowly walked up to the officer.

The officer raised his head and stared with an extremely complicated look at Xing Tianli, who was riding on a tall horse and was almost more than ten feet tall including the horse.

The most common emotion Xing Tianli saw in his eyes was "jealousy"?
"People from the East, this is the territory of the Dongyun Empire. No matter who you rely on, you and your people must abide by the rules of Dongyun." The officer gritted his teeth, pulled out his long knife, and slashed it hard on the ground in front of him, leaving a shallow knife mark.

"Don't cross the line, otherwise, you will definitely feel the wrath of the Dongyun Empire!" The officer shouted loudly: "You must know that the Empire has 300,000 troops stationed in Black Pearl Harbor. Such a magnificent military force is enough to sweep away all those conspirators who have evil intentions!"

It was magical that when this guy looked at Xing Tianli before, in addition to jealousy, there was also a strong sense of dread and a hint of deeply hidden fear in his eyes.

However, after he said the words "300,000 garrisons", this guy's aura suddenly expanded. He looked at Xing Tianli almost arrogantly, with an inexplicable sense of looking down on him.

As expected, the Dongyun people are the epitome of "fearing power but not virtue". All their confidence is based on various kinds of "strength".

Xing Tianli looked down at the officer with a smile, his eyes showing a strange light. He stared at the officer's eyes and whispered, "Strange, since Black Pearl Harbor has 300,000 troops, why did Beihe Cang only send a few of you?"

The officer stared straight into Xing Tianli's eyes, and his gaze became scattered.

As Xing Tianli's cultivation level soared, many minor witchcrafts no longer needed to be chanted or sealed, and could be activated silently. Especially the minor witchcrafts of the soul and spirit, with the powerful soul of the celestial being, Xing Tianli could use them easily without any worldly airs.

This officer, being only a mortal, fell for it directly.

He murmured, "Well, although Commander Nanshan is the childhood friend of Mayor Beihe, brothers should also settle accounts. Mayor Beihe only gave us 500 taels of silver for the departure expenses, so of course only 300 of us came."

"With five hundred taels of silver, why did only three hundred people come?" Xing Tianli asked curiously.

"Commander Nanshan took 200 taels, our immediate superior took 100 taels, and as the commander, I took 40 taels. The officers under me took 33 taels, and the remaining 270 soldiers took the remaining 27 taels equally."

The officer sighed, "These lowly peasant soldiers, they just come out to show off for the mayor of Beihe, and each of them can get one penny of silver. It's really cheap for them. On weekdays, their monthly military pay is only one penny of silver!"

Xing Tianli, as well as He Xi, Xing Tianren and others who heard the officer's words, all gasped.

And behind Xing Tianli, the Yingjishi guards, especially the nine of Tata, looked at Officer Dongyun in disbelief - are you kidding me? You only get one penny of silver a month, aren't you afraid that your soldiers will shoot you in the back?
Oh, Dongyun soldiers have a tradition of shooting their superiors in the back on the battlefield. Then, there’s no problem!

Xing Tianli sighed: "Then you didn't take much."

The officer sighed, "Yes, forty taels of silver is not much at all. This amount of money is not enough to buy two acres of land in my hometown. Besides, even if the lords in the village take the money, they will not sell the land to us."

The officer began to complain, saying that his wife was too spendthrift and his children were not yet able to earn money on their own, and that seven or eight people in the family were all staring at his military pay and extra income, while he went to Black Pearl Harbor to have a few drinks with geishas and was still so stingy.

Xing Tianli nodded: "So, Mayor Beihe is very stingy."

The officer sighed, "He's too stingy. He really doesn't deserve his name. Why is he so stingy as the son of the ruling family of the North and a noble prince like a god?" Xing Tianli smiled from ear to ear, "So, why should we protect him? Take the people and go back to Black Pearl Harbor."

The officer hesitated for a moment: "But, Commander Nanshan's order is for us to protect the safety of the mayor of Beihe and deter foreign British barbarians with ulterior motives!"

Xing Tianli smiled kindly: "But, Beihe Cangyi is very safe, isn't it? Besides, where are the Yingjishi barbarians? You see, we all have the same faces, we are all Orientals, without Yingjishi barbarians, Beihe Cangyi is safe."

The officer nodded thoughtfully, took out a whistle and blew it hard.

With the sound of urgent whistles, 300 Dongyun officers and soldiers left the defensive town and ran out of the town office. The officers roared a few times, then held their heads high, shouted the slogan "one, two, one, two", and marched out of Jinshan Town in a goose-step.

The three hundred Dongyun officers and soldiers were stunned, then followed their superior with a smile on their faces.

There were also smart people who carefully glanced at Xing Tianli and the more than a thousand tall and strong men behind him. They found that almost three of their bodies could fit into the body of any one of them. They were simply as mighty as gods.

They gasped, lowered their heads, and quickly followed their boss.

Go faster, go faster.

Once we arrive at Black Pearl Harbor, we will be safe. There are 300,000 elite imperial soldiers there. Just a few thousand people can't do anything too extreme, right?

"You, a bunch of, lowly bastards!" A hoarse curse was heard from the town office. Beihe Cangyi, who was wearing a moon-white Wu-woven casual suit and a gold-thread belt around his waist, and who also hung two hollow orchid and bamboo jade pendants on his belt, imitating the literati of the Eastern Kingdom, and holding a Xiangfei bamboo folding fan, hurried out of the town office.

He jumped up and down and yelled at the 300 Dongyun officers and soldiers who were going away.

But the three hundred Dongyun soldiers left without even turning their heads. No one even looked back at him. Isn't that right? Each person was given one penny of silver. Risking their lives for one penny of silver is too cheap!
If Kitakawa Cangyi gave three taels of silver to each of these Dongyun soldiers, perhaps there would really be a "brave righteous man" who would stab his boss in the back and stand by Kitakawa Cangyi without hesitation, helping him to resist the brutal British barbarians.

It’s a pity that Beihe Cangyi didn’t give so much!

"Mr. Mayor!" Xing Tianli jumped off his warhorse and walked slowly towards Beihe Cangyi step by step.

"You, you, you..." Beihe Cangyi looked at Xing Tianli, who was almost two heads taller than him, and was approaching him step by step. He was so scared that his whole body was shaking, and he kept taking small steps backwards step by step.

More than a hundred guards wearing heavy armor and holding guns came running out. They quickly formed a semicircular formation in front of Beihecang, swallowing their saliva and retreating in small steps with Beihecang.

Seeing Beihe Cangyi trembling and retreating to the steps of the town hall, Xing Tianli finally stopped and said, "The people you sent to make things difficult for Mr. Allen have all died. Except for Zuo Bitou, all the others have died because of a small landslide."

Xing Tianli used the most relaxed tone to say the words that terrified Beihe Cangyi the most.

"You, you, what do you want?" Beihe Cangyi suddenly pulled out the katana from the waist of a guard in front of him, howling at the top of his lungs, and swung the sword fiercely, making a "swish" sound that broke through the wind.

Sometimes, when an "honest person" is pushed to the extreme, he will do something earth-shattering and devastating.

What's more, Beihe Cangyi is not an honest man.

This man is a ruthless person who dares to lead his retainers to rebel against his superiors and try to allow his father to retire and enjoy a glorious life.

If it weren't for the subtle pressure on the life level emanating from Xing Tianli, which was unique to the 'witch people', Beihe Cangyi would not have behaved so badly.

At least when he was in Dongyun, no matter where he was, he was one of the most brilliant, eye-catching, superior, noble and proud people in the crowd!

Facing Beihe Cangyi's sudden outburst, Xing Tianli nodded approvingly and waved his right hand gently.

'Snapped'!
With an extremely crisp explosion, the fine sword in Bei Hecang's hand, which was forged from hundreds of refined steel, exploded into countless powders, which fell gently like a messy drizzle.

Bei Hecang tightly grasped the remaining hilt of the knife with both hands, looked at Xing Tianli as if he had seen a ghost, and screamed at the top of his lungs.

Xing Tianli smiled, shook his head, and gently shook the Tongtian Miaozhu. More than a hundred cold rays flashed, and blood spurted out from the necks of many guards around Beihecang, and they all fell to the ground.

"Your guards are no good!" Xing Tianli sighed softly, "Do you expect these rubbish to help you realize your ambitions? How is it possible?"

Bei Hecang kept gazing at Xing Tianli's dim eyes and said softly, "Yes, these useless people, I embezzle all the funds of the town hall every month, and feed them with good food and wine, but they are actually useless."

“My great ambition!”

Beihe Cangyi frowned and whispered to himself: "The ambition in my heart!"

Xing Tianli pressed the Tongtian Miaozhu on Beihe Cangyi's shoulder: "Oh? You really have some ideas in your mind? Tell us about it and let us hear it."

Beihe Cangyi's body trembled violently. He knelt in front of Xing Tianli and prostrated himself: "Ah, respected Lord Shangguo, I, Beihe Cangyi, have only a tiny ambition, which is to replace my father, become the head of the Beihe family, and become the ruler of Dongyun!"

"Let my father, that damn old man, go to the Elders' House for retirement and never let him leave that small, broken courtyard. That way, I can be together happily with Zi Zi!"

Beihe Cangyi smiled nervously, almost a little bit neurotic.

Xing Tianli and He Xi, Xing Tianren and others behind him were all a little dumbfounded.

Your grand plans are just a bunch of trifles?

"Who is Zi Zi?" Xing Tianli frowned and asked Beihe Cangyi in confusion.

"Zi Zi is, is, the most gentle and beautiful woman in the world." Beihe Cangyi raised his head, looked at the sky, and murmured softly: "She is my first woman, she must belong completely, and only, to me."

"What is her identity?" Xing Tianli asked curiously.

Beihe Cangyi looked at Xing Tianli and said very frankly: "In terms of bloodline, she is my distant cousin, the youngest daughter of the head of the Asakurain family. Ah, the Asakurain family made a big mistake. They colluded with the Western barbarians and sold the design data of Dongyun's most advanced battleship. In order to avoid committing seppuku, the old guy offered Shizuko to my father for marriage and atonement!"

"Now, Zi Zi is my father's youngest concubine." Beihe Cangyi clenched his hands angrily: "But he clearly knows that Zi Zi and I have been childhood sweethearts. I love Zi Zi, and she only loves me!"

Xing Tianli took two steps back in horror.

He Xi, Xing Tianren, and Tata and others who were watching the fun on the sidelines were all stunned with fear.

How could you, the powerful families in Dongyun, do something so against human ethics?

(End of this chapter)