Damn it, I'm in the garbage book I wrote

Chapter 607 The King of Thieves Beheaded (Part 2)

Hu Ye didn't understand, and he could never figure it out. How could someone who was born in a small town, grew up in a small town, and finally prospered in a small town, have ever witnessed such a scheme as luring people out to kill them by pretending to be a stray cat outside their house, or secretly exchanging cards with people under the card table in the small town to kill the fat sheep?

However, when he was full of anticipation and suddenly encountered General Wei, who was fully armed, his mind clearly couldn't keep up.

Wasn't he making great strides all along? Didn't he say everything was all arranged? How come such a change suddenly occurred at this crucial moment?

"Kill him! Quick, men, kill him! Brother Zhang!"

He was shouting incoherently, but he found it had no effect. His orders were no longer effective. The elite soldiers he had brought with him all had smiles on their faces and looked at him as if he were a fool pretending to be crazy on the street. Only the more than two hundred assassins he had recruited on the road picked up their weapons and assumed a defensive stance.

But this was even more ridiculous. Behind them were two thousand men, and in front of them were countless others. They were all wearing armor and carrying sharp blades, bows and arrows, and golden melon seeds. These men, who looked like elite soldiers, surrounded a group of people who were obviously just scattered rabble.

Even Xiang Yu didn't receive this treatment.

As darkness fell, Wei Changsheng did not rush to make a move. He gradually lit the torches, and the surrounding light began to flicker.

"Hu Sandao, what are you thinking?"

"You villain! I am a person handpicked by the Dugu family. You'd better get out of my way if you know what's good for you. If you don't, my brother Zhang and the Dugu family's private army will definitely sweep through your Guizhou."

"The Dugu family?" Wei Changsheng's face gradually broke into a smile: "What can the Dugu family be? Isn't that right? Brother Zhang, no... I should call him Lord Xia."

At this moment, the soldiers behind Wei Changsheng parted to make way, and then Xia Lin slowly walked over with several personal guards. The torchlight shone down on his face, making it impossible to see his true appearance. Only his cheekbones, illuminated by the torchlight, and his eyes, hidden in the shadows, were visible.

"Brother Zhang!"

The moment he saw Xia Lin, Hu Ye felt like a drowning man grabbing a straw floating on the water. He shouted anxiously, "Brother, quickly tell Wei Changsheng that we are from the Dugu family! Even if he doesn't dare to move, he won't dare to do anything."

Xia Lin looked up at Wei Changsheng, smiled, and cupped his hands in a gesture of respect: "Brother Wei, you've worked hard."

"You flatter me, Lord Xia. It is only right."

After saying that, Wei Changsheng urged his warhorse to retreat a few steps, leaving the main stage to Xia Lin and Master Hu. Xia Lin had his hands in his sleeves and still had a smile on his face. He stepped forward and faced Master Hu and the two hundred assassins beside him.

“Brother Hu, please don’t blame General Wei this time. Well… the matter isn’t difficult to resolve, but I need to borrow something from you, Brother Hu.”

"Brother Zhang, please speak. Whatever it is, I'll take it!"

Master Hu breathed a sigh of relief. But seeing his expression, Xia Lin could only sigh silently that reading more books was indeed beneficial. After all, anyone who had read the Romance of the Three Kingdoms knew that what one needed to borrow at this time was probably not so simple.

“Then I will be so bold as to speak.” Xia Lin silently took a step back: “This time we need nothing else but Brother Hu’s head. A decree has been issued from the capital to have Brother Hu’s head sent to Nanjing. We have no way to commit the crime of deceiving the emperor, so please bear with us, Brother Hu.”

Upon hearing this, Master Hu's eyes widened in shock: "Zhang Shuo! You'll die a horrible death! I considered you a brother, and this is how you treat me?"

Xia Lin spread his hands and sighed deeply: "Someone, please ask Brother Hu to get going!"

The soldiers around him slammed their swords against the shields in unison, the sound deafening. Driven by his will to survive, Master Hu began this final dance.

He raised his long sword and shouted, "Brothers, let's take a gamble! Kill these scoundrels in the city, and I'll bring you riches and glory!"

Those two hundred assassins had no other choice at this point. Even though they knew the final outcome, they still held onto a sliver of hope.

Master Hu led his two hundred men in an immediate charge, but they had no armor or shields and could only try to carve a bloody path through the vast number of soldiers with a steel sword.

Master Hu's martial arts skills were good, but what good were they? Qiao Feng was useless against the Khitan army, and Guo Jing could only die for his country when Xiangyang fell. His sword could cut deep into the bone but couldn't cut through the armor; his agility could dodge a sword to the face but couldn't avoid a cold arrow from behind.

Two hundred people fell down before even an incense stick could burn, leaving only Master Hu, riddled with arrows, using his knife as a cane to prop himself up on the ground, kneeling on one knee, his eyes filled with resentment and hatred as he looked at Xia Lin.

"Zhang Shuo, you will not die a good death."

Xia Lin remained standing there, his hands tucked into his sleeves, looking down at Master Hu. He didn't speak, only chuckled a few times, and then the axemen behind him stepped forward.

"Brother Hu, we've known each other for a while now. If there's an afterlife, I'll give you this advice: do what you're capable of. If one day someone suddenly arranges something for you that you wouldn't even dare to dream of, it's definitely a trap."

"Zhang Shuo, fuck..."

Before he could utter a single curse, he suddenly felt dizzy. He didn't feel any pain, just some fatigue. His head, which had landed on the ground, spun around, but his eyes remained fixed on "Brother Zhang" in front of him. After a while, Master Hu felt extremely sleepy and then fell into a deep sleep.

Blood gushed from his chest cavity into the sky, turning into a rain of blood that scattered all around. Xia Lin stood there until no more blood flowed out before turning and walking into the city.

"Record: The bandit leader launched a surprise attack on multiple locations in Guizhou. The reinforcements from Jiangnan Circuit and the soldiers of the Guizhou headquarters worked together to wipe out the rebellious bandit gang. Due to the abundance of miasma in Lingnan, the bodies were buried on the spot to prevent the spread of plague. The bandit leader has been put into a box and sent to Nanjing."

Thus, a "grand" and "earth-shattering" bandit rebellion in the southwest was quelled. Of course, there were many things that couldn't stand scrutiny, but that didn't matter, because the imperial court was unlikely to travel thousands of miles to conduct a thorough investigation. All they wanted was an explanation. Besides, the matter was very minor, so minor that all they needed to do was issue a proclamation to scold Wei Changsheng and that would be the end of it. That was all.

But for Mr. Hu, this marked the end of his life.

If he settles down as a petty thief, he may have a long life ahead of him, and he might even be able to successfully launder his money and go straight during the upcoming large-scale management change.

But he didn't. He had ambitions that didn't match his abilities, and a surging drive to act. Under the guidance of others, he gradually went from wanting to dominate the county and become a local tyrant, to wanting to become an official, and finally even dreaming of becoming an emperor. But in the end, all that awaited him was a fatal blow.

Xia Lin believes that Lord Hu is a microcosm of a large segment of the population. When chaos erupts, different forms of Lord Hu will emerge. Some will be wiped out as soon as they rise, but some will ultimately reach the pinnacle of power due to chance or because their opponents are too incompetent. Even if such a pinnacle cannot be maintained for long, it will still be a disaster for a certain region. Just look at Lord Hu; he took control of a county and started preparing to build a palace. Isn't that a joke?
Of course, his head has now been put into a box and rushed to the palace to meet the emperor. Well, it's good that he had the chance to see what a real palace and a real emperor were like; this fulfills his long-cherished wish.

Xia Lin turned around and met Wei Changsheng's gaze. Wei Changsheng nodded to him, and he nodded in return. Then everything was calm again.

Along with the head, Wei Changsheng also brought supplies he had stockpiled for years to prepare for his uprising. Xia Lin asked him if he regretted it, but Wei Changsheng just smiled and said, "It's nothing special." A head alone wasn't enough; these other items were needed to prove the debauchery and tyranny of these bandits.

Xia Lin also frankly reported the 30% he had withheld, because he couldn't be expected to make up for it himself when he was out quelling the rebellion, right? This was also the standard practice of the imperial court.

Anyway, everyone was happy. The things Wei Changsheng had stockpiled were naturally not as much as what the Duke of Dingguo had seized back then, but there were still more than a hundred large carts.

When these large chests filled with treasure, grain, oil, armor, and weapons arrived in Jinling, the imperial court was naturally overjoyed.

Because the imperial treasury can never be filled, the officials of the Ministry of Revenue wish they could fly to Xia Lin's side and take turns giving him a loving kiss. They endured until autumn, and just when they were about to run out of food and could not go on any longer, such a big gift was suddenly sent over. Who could not love Xia Lin?

With money, many things could be carried out: the Ministry of Rites' celebrations, the Ministry of War's drills and equipment rotations, the Ministry of Works' prevention of the spring and autumn floods, the Ministry of Personnel's official bonuses, and the Ministry of Justice's funds for inspections in various regions. In short, this solved the court's urgent problem. After all, there were still nearly three months before Li Yuan's payment for this year's projects, and Jinling City couldn't afford a single penny during those three months. Even a skilled cook can't cook without rice.

Has anyone noticed the loopholes in this? Of course they have. While there are certainly bloated idiots in the court, there are also plenty of shrewd and capable people. I wonder how many people have seen through the trickery here.

How could a petty bandit hoard over a hundred truckloads of supplies? Most of those truckloads could be exchanged for cash directly.

It's highly likely that something really happened to Wei Changsheng's side, and Xia Lin's mission to quell the bandits wasn't actually to deal with Wei Changsheng. This so-called banditry is just a smokescreen.

But in the end, all these analyses were suppressed because the place was too far away. The imperial court and Lingnan Circuit were separated by the impregnable Jiangnan Circuit. If Wei Changsheng were dealt with, Lingnan would truly become a branch of Jiangnan Circuit.

Even if Wei Changsheng rebelled, he couldn't rebel against the imperial court; in the end, he was the one who was rebelling against Xia Daosheng.

Now that Xia Daosheng has covered this matter and sent over these things, battle reports may lie, but spoils of war cannot lie. Since he did it this way, he must have his reasons, so let him be. In any case, the one who truly benefits is the imperial court.

"Dao Sheng, oh Dao Sheng."

Emperor Jingtai returned to his study with a worried expression. Jinlian stepped forward to serve him soup. Seeing the emperor's troubled look, Jinlian asked softly, "Your Majesty, what's wrong?"

"Dao Sheng is deceiving the emperor."

Jinlian's heart skipped a beat: "Your Majesty... Lord Xia probably has his reasons."

"Jinlian, do you know what a ruler fears most?" Emperor Jingtai turned around and smiled wistfully: "What I fear most is that the people I have cultivated have become the elite. This time, it must have been Wei Changsheng who made a mistake. I have always suspected him, but I ordered Daosheng to investigate, and in the end, they found out about a bandit."

Jinlian remained silent, while Emperor Jingtai took her hand and said, "I don't know what Daosheng's intentions are, but I do know that his heart is no longer with me."

"His Majesty……"

Just then, the Grand Eunuch Song Bao stepped forward and whispered, "Your Majesty, General Xia has made a secret report."

"Ok?"

Emperor Jingtai was taken aback. He took the secret memorial, picked it up, and glanced at it. What he saw made him breathe a sigh of relief. The memorial not only detailed all of Wei Changsheng's actions but also his surrender document, as well as the subsequent resettlement and arrangements. The mere mention of Xia Lin disbanding all the military troops in the three prefectures of Lingxi and incorporating them into the peasantry was enough to make Emperor Jingtai's heart pound.

"Good heavens, isn't this bastard afraid of a mutiny..."

Further on, you'll find Xia Lin's own outline and steps for this operation, including how to secretly carry out the plan and how to use public opinion to undermine Wei Changsheng's morale.

It even explains why Wei Changsheng was protected.

After watching it, Emperor Jingtai, who was originally feeling like a heartbroken girl who had been dumped, suddenly became like a truck driver who had been holding in a poop for three hours and finally got to the toilet and relieved himself. The feeling of relief was indescribable and could only be experienced through the body and mind and understood by the mind.

"That bastard, why didn't he say so earlier?"

Jinlian detected a hint of reproach in those words, and she leaned closer to ask, "Your Majesty, what's wrong?"

Emperor Jingtai handed the secret memorial to Jinlian. After reading it, Jinlian, unlike Emperor Jingtai, lacked his nuanced emotions; instead, she was only shocked by Xia Lin's meticulousness and skillful methods. To take down a powerful regional official who had held sway for years without firing a single shot—only Lord Xia could accomplish such a feat.

"Look at him, look at him! This fellow always does this, making me so emotionally unstable." Emperor Jingtai rolled up his sleeves: "No, I'm going to write a letter to scold him."

However, after taking only a few steps, Emperor Jingtai suddenly stopped: "Never mind, it's good that he's safe and sound. I'll just write a letter to scold Wei Changsheng instead."

Seeing Emperor Jingtai's somewhat childish behavior, Jinlian sighed, both amused and exasperated. She couldn't help but look down on this emperor. It was fortunate that Lord Xia didn't want to seize his throne; if Lord Xia had used these methods on him, the Great Wei would probably have changed its name long ago.

“My dear consort, I plan to summon that fellow back. This year marks the fifth anniversary of the late emperor's death, and he should return to offer sacrifices.”

"Your Majesty, you should not trouble Lord Xia. The situation in the capital is quite turbulent right now. If he returns, who knows what might happen? Perhaps those powerful families will act desperately and cause some great chaos before he arrives. What should we do then?"

Emperor Jingtai pursed his lips: "Then I'll go find him and play!"

"Huh?" Jinlian exclaimed in surprise, "Your Majesty...isn't this inappropriate?"

"I'm so bored in the palace! My uncle is here, right? Tell him to be regent. I want to go to Lingnan for some fun!"

(End of this chapter)