Nine-layer armor-breaking

Chapter 283 Thoughts

One group of people stood in an orderly fashion in the middle of the forest road, while another group was scattered in a staggered manner.

Standing orderly in the middle of the forest road were the thugs, while another group, arranged in a staggered formation, was Jiang Xian's group.

At this moment, of the three people in Jiang Xian's group, two were on horseback, while the third stood in the middle of the road, seemingly alone, forming a standoff with several thugs opposite them.

The guard in the middle of the road didn't have a particularly strong expression on his face; instead, he calmly looked at the group of thugs opposite him.

In particular, when he looked at the leader of the group of thugs opposite him, there seemed to be something else in his eyes.

Judging from his expression, he seemed to be thinking about something, as if he wanted to see what tricks the leader of the thugs had up his sleeve next.

Right now, he was simply watching the other side's performance. Since both Jiang family guards—one standing in the middle of the road and the other on horseback—appeared so composed about the upcoming battle, they were definitely prepared for it.

At this moment, they also knew that it was too late to think about anything now. They should focus their energy on the several thugs opposite them and see what they would do next in order to judge their moves.

Although neither of them were peak Heaven-rank martial artists, they were still high-level Heaven-rank martial artists.

Since that's the case, and their strength is something they can't change, they have no choice but to rely on their own strength to win this battle. They must escort Jiang Xian home safely.

The two guards from the Jiang family naturally wanted to continue watching the show.

But it was clear that the notorious thugs on the other side, apart from the leader, were also losing patience.

They were more or less puzzled by their boss's current behavior.

But it hasn't reached the point where I have any ideas yet.

From their perspective, their boss's current behavior is something they've never seen before.

In their memory, their leader had never behaved in this way.

Even when they were somewhat outmatched in strength before, their leader had never been in this state before.

Therefore, they naturally do not understand what their boss is doing now.

They didn't understand why their leader was laughing so heartily at the three people opposite him, and they didn't know why he had to go to such lengths.

They couldn't see the threat in their leader's eyes.

After all, judging from their current positions, their leader is facing away from them.

They simply couldn't understand why there were only three people facing them, and only two of them were capable of fighting back. One was standing on the road, confronting them. The other was on horseback.

In their view, the person standing in the middle of the road, in opposition to them, was probably slightly stronger.

Because they could tell that from his calm demeanor alone.

As for the man on horseback, their strength was difficult to guess.

But in their estimation, there are only two possibilities: either he is stronger than the person standing in the middle of the road, or he is weaker than the person standing in the middle of the road.

If it's the first scenario, and he's stronger than the person standing in the middle of the road, then he must be significantly stronger to remain so calm.

If it's the second scenario, and his strength is weaker than the person standing in the middle of the road, then his strength shouldn't be too bad either. Otherwise, his equally calm expression while riding his horse would just be an act.

Of course, this has a lot to do with an individual's personality.

Despite the fact that the criminals had calculated everything, they still couldn't figure out which situation it was.

As for the person riding behind them, the young master they had guessed, their strength was even more difficult to gauge.

But based on their speculation, they believed that the young master was an ordinary person who wasn't even a martial artist.

They were unaware of their leader's thoughts, the reasons behind his current stance, and the confidence of the two men opposite them that they would rather risk their lives than hand over the contents of the carriage.

They suspected that their boss would never let them go.

Given their past practices, they would kill after looting, so naturally they wouldn't let them leave easily.

Since that's the case, they could only take their leader's statement that leaving the carriage behind would allow them to leave as his explanation.

They, however, did not believe that their leader was truly capable of acting in that way.

Although they did not reveal their true identities, and none of them showed their true faces, robbing without killing would undoubtedly bring danger to their entire group and leave hidden dangers.

Although they were dressed in night clothes, it was still possible to roughly tell the size of the group of eight people and that their presence in the vicinity suggested they were a team from the vicinity of Qizhou.

That is to say, we can know that they specialize in robbery in the vicinity of Qizhou.

Since they were able to abduct Dingxi from Qizhou, it means that the eight of them had some connections in Qizhou.

In this way, since they are familiar with Qizhou, they will not easily leave Qizhou, nor will they easily let go of this lucrative opportunity.

They had no concept of other states, let alone any understanding or familiarity with them.

Therefore, they would definitely cling tightly to Qizhou, this lucrative prize, and target passersby outside the city. They would also use their connections in Qizhou to gather information about the movements of wealthy families. This familiarity would lay the foundation for their successful robbery.

Since they are unlikely to leave Qizhou easily, if their team wants to establish a foothold in Qizhou, they must take some measures to ensure they can stay in Qizhou long-term.

For example, they are not easily discovered, and therefore, it is not easy for anyone to find any clues about them.

Since they wanted to continue developing their team's business, they made this choice because they couldn't easily give others any leverage or allow others to find any clues.

Therefore, from the very beginning of the team's formation, they had this in mind: they must not leave any hidden dangers for their team.

Therefore, they made the decision that they could not simply rob.

They can't just stop after robbing some valuables; they'll definitely want to rob and kill as well.

After robbing someone's property, they must also eliminate the robbed person, the owner of the property, completely.

This will make them feel a little more at ease.

Therefore, they naturally wouldn't let the three people opposite them go so easily.

Moreover, they had even taken on larger and more imposing groups before, so why would they take this group of three seriously?

The calm demeanor of the two people opposite them was definitely not enough to frighten the eight of them.

So there's no question of giving up robbing them.

Regardless of the identities of the three people opposite them—whether they were wealthy individuals traveling discreetly or, as they claimed, small businesses running a small pharmacy—they would not let them go if there was any risk of exposing them.

Moreover, in their estimation, only two of the three people opposite them were combat-capable. Even if they were stronger than them, how could two people possibly defeat eight?
It wasn't a situation where the difference in strength was too great.

In any case, the two of them were absolutely no match for eight people.

Therefore, they naturally felt confident. They also believed that their leader's statement was merely a pretext to act in accordance with his own thoughts.

They didn't believe their leader would actually do as he said earlier, promising to let the three men go today if they handed over the carriage.

This approach is something they simply cannot understand.

They understood that now was not the time to communicate, so they could only suppress their doubts and wait and see what their boss would do next.

After all, their leader had just spoken about two of the team members.

Although they were not only puzzled by their leader's attitude, they were also somewhat flustered.

They really didn't understand the current situation or what exactly was going on.

Even if they were completely unaware of the current situation, they knew that since the robbery hadn't been completed yet, they should keep their mouths shut.

In their view, since the three of them wanted money rather than their lives, the valuables on the carriage must be much more expensive than they had imagined.

They still didn't know whether what the three people opposite them said was true or false, or whether the carriage contained medicinal herbs or something else. They still needed to take a look to find out what secrets the carriage held.
If what they said was true, and the carriage contained medicinal herbs, they absolutely would not believe it.

In their eyes, the medicine on the carriage was definitely not ordinary medicine. They guessed that even if it was medicine, it must be rare and precious.

But this doesn't really make sense, because if the carriage really contained valuable items, they wouldn't have only sent two people to escort it.

With the guard behind the two, they would be overwhelmed protecting both the young master and the goods on the carriage.

Therefore, in their speculation, they increasingly felt that they might actually be, as the three people in the group said, telling the truth and really being people from a small herbal medicine shop who came to Qizhou to purchase goods.

"Here's what we'll do: leave the carriage here, and all your men can leave now. That way, you won't have to push the carriage over or have your men lead it over."

"In that case, I believe you will believe in my sincerity. This way, our brothers won't have made a wasted trip," the leader of the thugs said to the Jiang family guards standing in the middle of the forest road.

“Since you just said that the medicinal herbs on the carriage weren’t anything special, then you probably won’t lose much. That way, I can give my brothers an explanation.” He said to the Jiang family guards, word by word.

The leader of the thugs was naturally trying to persuade the Jiang family's guards. Although he was speaking to the guards, he knew that the one in charge among the three was the young master riding on horseback at the back.

Looking at the leader of the thugs opposite him, he really hadn't expected him to say such a thing.

These words shocked the two Jiang family guards.

They hadn't expected the leader of the thugs to be so blunt.

Upon hearing this, not only were Jiang Xian and his two companions taken aback, but even his brothers were stunned.

They really couldn't figure out what their boss was thinking.

The two guards from the Jiang family were prepared for battle, but after hearing what the leader of the thugs said, they hesitated again. Now, the two guards from the Jiang family did not know what to do.

Upon hearing this, they observed the change in expression on the face of the leader of the thugs opposite them, and after thinking for a while, they still couldn't come up with a good solution. So they turned their heads and looked to Jiang Xian for help.

Jiang Xian, however, has now changed his mind and no longer insists on his previous idea.

Jiang Xian now genuinely felt that there were some valid points in the words of the leader of the thugs opposite him.

Jiang Xian felt that if he gave the cart of medicinal herbs to the thugs on the other side, it would just be a cart of medicinal herbs, not a big deal. Therefore, Jiang Xian was also thinking about what the leader of the thugs on the other side was thinking.

Even so, even though Jiang Xian felt that she could try what the thugs said and their ideas, she still shook her head.

Of course, Jiang Xian had her own reasons for doing this.

A truckload of medicinal herbs is a small matter, and it's fine to give them away, but if we show our weakness because of it, we'll be falling into their trap.

In Jiang Xian's view, the leader of the thugs on the other side had not yet given up his intention to rob and kill the three of them.

In Jiang Xian's view, at this stage, it is still a process of mutual competition between the two teams. Both teams are guessing each other's strength and betting on the other team to show weakness first.

Faced with the suggestion from the leader of the thugs, if they held back now, the three of them might be able to leave unharmed, or even without lifting a finger. There was a good chance they could even take the cart of medicinal herbs with them.

If you can't hold on, even the worst-case scenario is possible.

The worst-case scenario is that they become interested in robbing them of their belongings and then trying to kill them.

Jiang Xian had discerned the true strength of the eight thugs opposite him; anyone else would not have taken such a gamble.

If the other party is stronger than them, then they will not only rob their medicinal herbs, but also kill their people.

In some cases, a fight is still unavoidable.

Seeing Jiang Xian's actions, the Jiang family guards understood his intentions.

Although they were not fully aware of Jiang Xian's current changes in mind, they still followed his instructions.

They really didn't understand the idea that they wanted to take the goods, the medicinal herbs on the cart, away.

Those medicinal herbs were nothing to the Jiang family.

He actually found the suggestion made by the leader of the thugs on the other side understandable.

Jiang Xian did indeed think it was possible to agree to the suggestion made by the thug on the other side.

After all, this is a way to give away some money without harming anyone's life.

If things turn out this way, and if the leader of the criminals on the other side is indeed true to his word, then Jiang Xian can accept this outcome.

Even so, Jiang Xian could not outwardly agree to the demands of the leader of the thugs.

If the thug's proposal was accepted, and accepted so easily, it would mean that Jiang Xian and his two companions had no real strength, only empty bravado.

This would give the other thugs, especially the leader, a different perspective.

Originally, they could have indeed let Jiang Xian and his two companions go, as their leader of the gang had suggested.

Aside from the fact that they were asked to hand over some valuables, this was only on the surface. In reality, the thoughts of the leader of the gang were also unpredictable for Jiang Xian and his two companions.

He was able to become the leader of the team, which naturally means he has some ability.

Therefore, Jiang Xian could not easily agree, or at least could not easily and directly agree to the proposal of the leader of the gangsters on the other side; he had to negotiate a bit more.

"As you can see, our master's intention is not to give this cart of goods to you for free. This cart of medicinal herbs represents several months' worth of profits for our small business. If we were to easily hand over several months' worth of earnings, we would absolutely not be able to go home and explain it to our boss. We would also be unable to explain it to our employers when we get home."

"Young brother, you have to let us get something in return. We can't go back empty-handed. To put it bluntly, there's no reason for us to leave empty-handed. If we can't get something, we'd be willing to fight."

After hearing what the leader of the thugs had said, the Jiang family guards did not say anything more, but just looked at the thugs with a determined expression.

(End of this chapter)