Your Majesty, Please Stop!

Chapter 72: I'm Going to Show Some Moral Kidnapping

At the fierce tiger stronghold, a brand new banner with the words "Carrying out the Way for the Universe" was raised, supposedly to suppress the "Carrying out the Way for Heaven" banner of the Fulong stronghold.

Inside the gathering cave on Mount Juyi.

Shangguan Fanqing sat on a tiger-skin chair in a strange posture, followed by a group of young gentlemen, Haitang the maid, Sun Dalu, and the bruised and swollen Sun Wu, and Wang Calabash.

They were indeed the group of people who followed Xin Zhuo up the mountain.

There was no special meaning behind it, purely because they had lost all their money and couldn't go anywhere since the capital was at war. With a month left until the appointment at Qiugong Pavilion, they had to find a place to stay.

Moreover, they were provoked by Xin Zhuo's various actions. Whether it was his skillful move of defeating the young masters of the four major families, or his spirited demeanor when surrounded by a hundred thousand people, it was not something a normal bandit would do!

So they thought, maybe we can be bandits for a while!

"That Xin Zhuo is really cunning damn it, he has gone too far in deceiving me. He was so obedient when he called me the leader, but then he turned around and didn't recognize me, calling me Sun Laowu. He's really something!" Sun Wu, holding his swollen face, looked towards Shangguan Fanqing. "Elder... Elder leader, please help me!"

Having been the leader for so long, he wasn't used to calling others.

"No problem!" Shangguan Fanqing waved his hand. "Since the... the elder leader has joined the banditry, naturally I will avenge you. By the way, you just said that Xin Zhuo's literary talent is not good?"

"It's not that it's not good, it's just too bad!"

Speaking of this, Sun Wu's face couldn't help but be filled with confident light. "I heard about him composing poetry in the flower house in the capital. It was a bit extravagant, but to be honest, that poem is highly likely to be copied from someone else. In terms of literary talent, he is no match for me. Calabash can testify!"

Wang Calabash immediately nodded. "Indeed! Xin Zhuo's choice of words is strange and meaningless. He's a fool."

"Nonsense!"

The maid Haitang suddenly felt insulted and angrily said, "Xin... Xin Zhuo's poem is clearly a new poem that no one has ever heard of. How could it be copied from someone else?"

Shangguan Fanqing looked at her in surprise. "Haitang, are you defending him because you want to marry him?"

"N-No, I... I don't!" Haitang pouted, looking at her toes, unable to speak clearly.

Shangguan Fanqing then looked at Jiang Hezhu. "Jiang Gong... Second in command, what do you think?"

Jiang Hezhu fanned himself leisurely and said, "A mere petty thief, his martial arts are not bad, and he has some tricks, but how can we let him shine? It's better to invite him to rob together before he goes to Qiugong Pavilion and see who can rob more money and do it better!"

"Is that all? That sounds boring."

"Of course not! First, we'll break his face. Young people, you know, they will be resentful in their hearts, and most likely they will seize the opportunity to seek revenge, plunder wildly, and commit heinous crimes. Who knows, his qualification as a student at Qiugong Pavilion might be revoked by the scholars.

Then we can invite him to have a martial arts contest, test his marksmanship. I'm not talented, but I feel that he's just ordinary. We can give it a try. By then, we'll strike a blow to his pride. This is a plan to kill someone by attacking their heart, a top-tier strategy. Even if we don't harm him at all, it will be enough to make him useless!"

"Hmm, it's quite vicious..." Shangguan Fanqing pinched his chin. "Do you think you can defeat Muxing Yi, the Sword of Suffering?"

Jiang Hezhu shook his head. "There's a difference of two realms, so I probably can't beat him!"

Shangguan Fanqing curiously asked, "Then why do you think you can defeat Xin Zhuo?"

Jiang Hezhu's face froze for a moment, then he laughed awkwardly. "Isn't there still the elder leader!"

"Report!"

Just then, a messenger entered the cave. "Leaders, I'm back. I have brought Xin Dawang's reply!"

Everyone exchanged glances and quickly gathered around. Shangguan Fanqing snatched the letter and saw a paragraph written on it:

"Two golden orioles sing in the green willows, whose house's swallows peck at the spring mud. I am a person who picks up gold without hesitation, feeling restless and uneasy. I have a plan in mind, bending my bow to shoot the great eagle. Time flies like a white horse, a glance of ten thousand years. Hehehe, uneven and disordered..."

Jiang Hezhu, Haitang, and a group of people looked at each other, wondering what they were writing.

Sun Wu couldn't help but burst into victorious laughter: "How about that? Just as I expected, it's something without any literary talent, completely incomprehensible."

"Shut up!"

Shangguan Fanqing, however, sternly reprimanded everyone, carefully examining the content of the letter once again. He sighed lightly and said with conviction, "This letter is actually very profound and professional. I completely understand his meaning. He is provoking me with sharp words. Truly, a rotten wood cannot be carved. Write a reply!"

Sun Wu and Wang Calabash dropped their tea bowls to the ground, while Jiang Hezhu and the others looked at each other in confusion. How did he analyze it like that?

One night, plus a morning.

The messenger ran until his legs gave out.

The two of them exchanged twelve letters.

Fortunately, they were concise and clear, with idioms piled upon idioms, making them easy to read.

However, they just didn't know what the significance was.

But every time Shangguan Fanqing spoke earnestly and forcefully, it left Jiang Hezhu and the group of young gentlemen, Haitang, and Sun Dalu no choice but to carefully observe each letter, and then become dizzy and disoriented.

It wasn't until noon, when the final letter from Fulong Village arrived, that Xin Zhuo's writing style suddenly changed. There was only a short line of vernacular:

"Suspend the exchange of letters. The Dongyi Kingdom is invading, the rebels are attacking the city, and the reinforcements have not arrived. As citizens of the Great Zhou, we must consider the overall situation. I have decided to go support them. It is the responsibility of every individual to contribute to the rise and fall of the nation. You fools cannot understand this profound sense of patriotism. I despise you all!"

Shangguan Fanqing fell silent.

Then,

He felt that it made a lot of sense!

...

Of course, Xin Zhuo didn't have such profound enlightenment.

It was just that Murong Xiu received a message from a falcon, saying that the rebels and the Dongyi Kingdom's coalition forces were besieging the city, and the remnants of the border army, the four major families' practitioners, and some scattered practitioners in the city were forming a temporary army to confront them!

This matter had nothing to do with the few people in Fulong Village originally, but Xin Zhuo didn't wait for the return of the Autumn Palace Pavilion's messenger.

This unreliable backing couldn't be relied upon!

He had killed eleven practitioners from the four major families this time. Putting himself in their shoes, if this wave of defense succeeded, the government and the four major families would probably come after him.

Although he couldn't understand the profound forces of the Autumn Palace Pavilion and the Water Moon Nunnery, why they didn't go to support, he felt that he might be able to show his presence.

A mature and steady bandit had to learn to use every situation to reduce his potential danger, such as moral coercion and the like.

As soon as this thought arose, he led Cui Ying'er and Murong Xiu's group of people straight towards the capital city.

Fulong Village was quite far from the capital city, but they had horses brought from Menghu Village. The seven of them rode at full speed and arrived at a low mountain outside the city the next evening.

Looking down from the mountaintop, they could only see that Fufeng Prefecture was extremely large, and the full picture couldn't be seen clearly. However, the city was no longer as prosperous as before. The streets were desolate, and occasionally a few pedestrians hurriedly passed by, looking flustered.

Outside the eastern city, there was another scene--

Under the city, there was a large crowd of people, probably numbering around ten thousand. However, only a portion of them were soldiers in imperial armor. There were also practitioners from the four major families wearing various types of clothing and wielding various weapons, as well as scattered practitioners. At first glance, it was a colorful sight.

On the opposite side of the moat and the horse-deterrent stakes, there was another wave of people and horses, numbering around thirteen or fourteen thousand. The soldiers in black armor and helmets were the rebels, while the soldiers in leather armor, leather caps, and shaved heads, carrying curved knives, were the Dongyi soldiers.

The two waves of people and horses combined amounted to nearly thirty thousand. The flags were fluttering, and the killing intent was soaring. Just the intense killing aura on the battlefield alone was enough to make people shudder.

(End of this chapter)