Thief Emperor

Chapter 46 Only a Passionate Heart
Although the young man was thin and not very strong, he soon hit the official with his stick, causing his head to bleed. After a while, he fell to the ground and lay motionless.

The young man holding the wooden stick threw the stick aside in panic, then collapsed to the ground, shaking all over.

At this time, several strong men who looked like farmers came out of the government office. After seeing the "corpse" of the official lying on the ground, they looked at the young men. One of them, a man in his forties, shouted, "Who told you to follow me?"

The man was also a little flustered and asked, "Did anyone see it?"

Several young men shook their heads.

The middle-aged man who was speaking was probably their leader. He heaved a sigh of relief and said, "While no one is watching, hurry up and go back to the village!"

In the night, a tall young man slowly emerged from the darkness. He said calmly, "I saw it. They can't leave."

The middle-aged man's expression changed slightly, but he quickly gritted his teeth and made a gesture to several men in their thirties around him. The men immediately understood and surrounded the young man with knives in their hands.

This young man was none other than Li Yun.

Li Dutou looked at these men without any fear. Facing these unruly men, he did not even draw his sword. He quickly approached them and kicked one of them to the ground. He snatched the standard long sword of the yamen from his hand, then swung his hand with all his strength, colliding with the single sword swung by another person and knocking the latter's weapon away.

Li Yun's knife was still very steady. He flipped the back of the knife and knocked the second strong man to the ground.

The third Zhuang Han no longer dared to step forward at this time.

Li Yun dropped the weapon in his hand and looked at the middle-aged man not far away, with a confident smile on his face: "What's your name?"

The middle-aged man was also looking at Li Yun with a complicated expression: "My surname is Meng."

Li Yun asked again: "From Hexi Village, Dahe Town?"

The middle-aged man surnamed Meng nodded silently.

"Yes."

He looked at Li Yun and said in a hoarse voice: "Your Excellency is quite skilled in martial arts, so you should not be a lackey of the imperial court."

Li Yun thought about it and answered truthfully: "It probably doesn't count."

"I want to ask Brother Meng a few questions. If you answer me, I will turn around and leave. I didn't see anything tonight."

The middle-aged man surnamed Meng waved his hand and told his companions to take the young men away. Then he walked up to Li Yun and looked at him: "Who are you?"

Li Yun thought about it and replied: "It's hard to say what my current identity is. Let's talk about it after I ask Brother Meng."

"I don't have much time."

The middle-aged man surnamed Meng clenched his fists and gritted his teeth, saying, "Ask ahead."

Li Yun stepped forward, looked at him, and asked the first question: "How many people died in Hexi Village?"

This question made the middle-aged man's eyes red. He suddenly raised his head and looked at Li Yun: "You, you..."

"My guess."

Li Dutou said calmly: "If so many people hadn't died, you wouldn't have gotten to this point."

"Eleven."

The middle-aged man clenched his fists, his voice full of anger: "No matter who you are, I don't have time to argue with you now!"

"No matter how good you are, you can never be a match for dozens of us. We are here tonight just to kill the dog official! It has nothing to do with you."

"You better leave now!"

Li Yun sighed: "It turns out it's not a rebellion."

"Since this is not a rebellion, what are you going to do after killing the official of Shidai?"

"Of course, I will hide my identity and go far away!"

"Killing officials is tantamount to treason."

Li Yun said, "Even if you leave, there will be no one left in Hexi Village?"

"The government will definitely wipe out Hexi Village."

The middle-aged man was so angry that Li Yun hit his sore spot. He was about to call someone out to fight Li Yun, but the chief of the Li village had already spoken: "I am the chief of the Cangshan village in Qingyang County."

Mr. Li said silently: "Since you are all righteous men, I can help you."

"Among the people who come into the city tonight, I can take 30% to Cangshan Mountain and give them a place to stay."

Seeing the change in the middle-aged man's expression, Li Yun continued, "No more. It will attract too much attention."

The middle-aged man surnamed Meng looked at Li Yun and said in a hoarse voice: "Why should I trust you?"

"Do you have any other choice?"

Li Dazhaizhu crossed his arms over his chest and said in a calm but ruthless voice: "If you are determined to rebel, after occupying Shidai, you can coerce the people in the city to riot, maybe you can hold out for ten days or half a month. But since you have no intention of rebelling, you must flee the city before dawn."

"It's better to be taken away by me than to be found by the government troops."

"Is that right, Brother Meng?" The middle-aged man stood there, not moving for a long time.

After a long while, he gritted his teeth and said, "There are some kids here tonight. They came here on their own. Can the village leader take them away?"

Li Yun nodded.

"I'll wait for them here for an incense stick of time."

The middle-aged man nodded, turned around and walked into the county government office again.

"I'll go discuss it with them too."

After watching the middle-aged man leave, Li Yun walked up to the official who had been beaten unconscious by several young men, hooked him with his foot, and turned him over.

Although this somewhat obese official had fainted, his eyelids were trembling rapidly.

Mr. Li drew his sword.

"Do not kill me!"

This person was actually Shidai Zhubu, the third-in-command official in Shidai County. After hearing the sound of the knife being unsheathed, he suddenly opened his eyes, took a look at the knife in Li Yun's hand, and then closed his eyes in fear and begged for mercy: "Please spare my life, please spare my life!"

Li remained calm, put the blade on his neck, and asked, "Do you know why you died?"

Li Yun asked a question, and before he could answer, the blade had already swept across his neck.

When he pulled back the long sword, Li Yun wiped the blood while asking himself questions indifferently.

"Because of you, I collected eight hundred coins in taxes."

………………

Later in the night.

A dozen young men followed Li Yun.

The middle-aged man surnamed Meng bowed his head to Li Yun and said in a hoarse voice: "My name is Meng Chong. May I ask the village chief's name?"

"I am Mr. Lee."

Li Yun did not hide it: "My name is just Yun."

There is nothing to hide from these people.

If they had any savvy, they would never have rushed into the county town to do such a brainless thing. In fact, even the former Li Mazi might have suddenly killed someone on the spot, but he would not have rushed into the county town so unplanned.

"Master Li."

Meng Chong looked at the group of young men behind Li Yun and whispered, "I just heard the village chief speak and knew that he is a man of insight. I want to ask... what will be the fate of Hexi Village?"

"Anyone who is involved with you guys will probably be exiled. Those who have female relatives at home..."

Li Yun glanced at him and continued, "Brother Meng should be able to guess it."

Meng Chong took a deep breath and whispered, "After we settle the matter in the county, we will rush back to Hexi Village and leave Xuanzhou with our families. If we have a chance to escape in the future, we will definitely go to Cangshan to pay our respects to the village chief!"

Li Yun shook his head slightly in his heart.

This group of people were really just full of passion, without any preparation beforehand.

However, it is inappropriate to say such things at this time.

He turned his head and looked at the dozen or so teenagers behind him, who were between thirteen and sixteen or seventeen years old, and then slowly said, "Follow me, don't fall behind."

These young people all looked at Meng Chong at the same time.

The latter said in a low voice: "Meng Hai!"

A young man about fifteen years old stood up and said with his head lowered, "Father."

"Take them with you and follow Village Master Li!"

Meng Hai gritted his teeth and nodded slowly.

"I understand, Dad."

After finishing his explanation, Meng Chong no longer hesitated, turned around and shouted angrily at the villagers.

"Brothers, follow me to search the house of that dog official. We must kill him before dawn! To avenge our Hexi Village!"

The crowd was outraged and followed Meng Chong away, howling.

Li Yun turned his head to look at the young men behind him. After a moment of silence, he spoke.

"we…"

"Let's go."

(End of this chapter)