Chapter 52 Suppressing the Bandits

That elderly steward was accustomed to bullying and beating soldiers in the manor, so when had he ever seen common soldiers dare to resist?

Now, caught completely off guard, a hot-headed rookie dared to attack him. Before he could even prepare to defend himself, and just as he was about to be run through by a spear, a powerful force suddenly grabbed him from behind and jerked him backward. It was the head guard standing beside him who had stepped in to save his life.

The old steward landed heavily on his backside. Only then did he realize what had just happened. Cold sweat instantly broke out all over his body, and his limbs felt so weak and numb that he could not move.

Filled with both terror and rage, he pointed a trembling finger at the tax collector and shrieked hysterically:

"You—you dare to kill me?!"

"I will never let you go!"

"And that corrupt official behind you, you all just wait!"

"I won't let any of you escape!"

After thrusting his spear, the tax collector realized he had caused a huge disaster. Seeing the undeniable malice in the enemy, and without time for careful thought, he immediately resorted to the problem-solving method taught by his own stronghold leader for dealing with such situations.

He quickly retreated a few steps, stood shoulder to shoulder with his brothers to form a small squad, raised his long spear high, and shouted:

"As long as there are no survivors, nothing ever happened!"

"Brothers, silence the witnesses by killing them all!"

More than a dozen men strode forward, taking aim at the members of the convoy, and thrust their long spears fiercely.

Had this merely been a merchant caravan, their plan might have succeeded. However, this was a convoy transporting the Birthday Convoy, and the guards protecting it were all of military officer descent. Both in martial arts and level of training, they far surpassed ordinary soldiers.

The guards successively drew their sabers from behind, formed a military battle formation, and charged directly forward.

With such a vast disparity in strength, the outcome of the battle was self-evident.

Having misjudged the situation, it was now the tax collectors who faced a brutal massacre.

At the very first exchange, half of the tax collectors were killed. The rest, seeing that the situation was hopeless, immediately turned and fled, but how could they escape? They were quickly run down by the guards and hacked to death with wild blows from their sabers.

A moment later, the head guard pulled his saber from the abdomen of the last man, kicked the corpse away, turned around, helped the elderly steward up, and bundled him into a carriage.

The old steward was still seething with rage, muttering incessantly: "Just wait until I find out who set up this tax checkpoint, this old master will make him pay dearly!"

The head guard shook his head inwardly, yet there was nothing he could do with the man. Feigning deafness, he shoved him into the carriage, whipped the horses forward, arrived at the checkpoint barrier, slashed the wooden crossbeam in half with a single stroke of his saber, and led the convoy charging straight through, vanishing in a cloud of dust.

By noon, the soldiers who had finished their meal came down to relieve the guard, only to discover the horrific massacre at the checkpoint. Shocked beyond measure, they immediately rushed up the mountain to report to Li Gui.

Upon hearing the news, Li Gui flew into a rage, grabbed his giant axe, and prepared to head down the mountain, but the others hurriedly held him back.

"Brother, we have already accepted amnesty and are no longer bandits! You must not go around killing people recklessly anymore!"

Li Gui glared fiercely and shouted in anger:

"Who are you calling reckless killing?"

"I am now a government official, and my brothers under my command are imperial soldiers. Anyone who dares to slaughter imperial soldiers is clearly a bandit!"

"So what if I killed them?"

"Since we have just accepted the amnesty, we are in urgent need of contributions and merits. For people to deliver themselves right to our doorstep like this, isn't this Heaven assisting us?"

"If Heaven bestows something and you refuse to take it, you will instead suffer the blame!"

"If you lot refuse to go, stay here on the mountain and wait; I shall go earn my merits myself!"

Daring not let him go alone, the others hurriedly followed him down the mountain, leading a troop of soldiers to track down the convoy along their trail.

Fortunately, those carriages carried heavy loads of gold and silver treasures, and their deep wheel ruts were clearly visible, leaving little chance of losing the trail.

Li Gui's horse was fast. Leaving the others far behind, he sped like lightning and soon caught up with the convoy.

Spurring his mount ahead, he blocked the front of the convoy, pointed his giant axe, and shouted at the top of his lungs:

"Halt!"

"You there with the convoy!"

"Was it your gang that harmed the soldiers at the tax checkpoint?"

The head guard stepped out from the crowd, cupped his fists, and was just about to speak when his pig-headed teammate popped his head out from the carriage behind him, pointed at Li Gui, and cursed loudly:

"So you're the wretched official who illegally set up that checkpoint!"

"Do you know who this old master is?"

"This old master is an administrator from the Grand Administrator's Mansion of Huainan East Circuit, and we are here transporting the Birthday Convoy."

"How dare you set up a checkpoint and collect taxes? That is a crime punishable by dismissal from office!"

"And your subordinates actually dared to rough up this old master—it is clear you lack discipline in your command!"

"If you know what's good for you, come over here obediently and let this old master give you a good thrashing to vent my anger, and this matter will end here."

"If you don't..."

It wasn't that the old steward failed to learn his lesson; rather, he simply refused to believe that a minor official like Li Gui would dare to attack him.

It was normal for a lowly foot soldier to let his hot blood rush to his head and fly into a rage, but officials rarely acted on sudden impulses. They almost always weighed the pros and cons before making a decision.

Therefore, despite being frightened by those tax collectors earlier, he firmly believed that was merely an anomaly. A martial officer of Li Gui's rank would undoubtedly never do something so foolish.

Yet, before he could finish his cursing, he saw the burly dark-faced man opposite him let out a chuckle, swing his axe, and urge his horse forward to charge at them.

"Ah..."

The old steward was instantly frightened out of his wits, letting out a series of shrill screams. He utterly failed to understand why the official rules in this Yizhou region were so drastically different from those in Huainan East Circuit!

The head guard hurriedly raised his weapon to block, but after a single exchange, he was knocked off his horse, and with a follow-up strike from the axe, his head was severed.

Seeing how formidable the enemy commander was, the rest of the guards did not dare to step forward. They scattered and fled in all directions, clearing the way.

Li Gui charged back and forth on horseback, slaughtering the guards until not a single one was left.

Most of the men in the convoy were hired porters. Realizing the situation was desperate, they immediately abandoned the carriages and fled into the dense surrounding woods.

Too lazy to chase after those fellows, Li Gui walked straight up to the carriage and brought his axe down squarely upon the head of the paralyzed old steward.

The old steward tried desperately to dodge, but how could he possibly be fast enough? His body was instantly cleaved in two at the waist. The upper half of his torso slumped to the ground, blood spurting wildly, while his lips still twitched as he muttered:

"You... cannot... kill me, I am..."

Ignoring him completely, Li Gui left him to savor the agonizing torment of his final moments and went around to rifle through the back of the carriage.

He had heard the legendary name of the Birthday Convoy for two lifetimes, but this was his first time seeing it with his own eyes, and he wondered how many fine treasures were hidden inside.

By the time the other three stronghold leaders hurried up from behind, all they saw was a battlefield littered with corpses. Their own chief was sitting on the carriage shafts, playing with a handful of golden pearls like marbles, while at his feet, a chest of jewelry had its lid pried open, with various pearls and gems scattered all over the ground, right beside half a mangled corpse.

This scene was simply... the absolute picture of a bandit raid!

"Oh, brother!"

"Why did you slaughter so many people again?"

The three men cried out in distress one after another, but Li Gui simply instructed:

"Go cut off their heads and send them to the county seat to claim our merit."

"We have exterminated bandits who ambushed and killed imperial troops; surely we deserve a reward for that."

Looking at the carts filled with gold and jewels—worth no less than one hundred thousand strings of cash—the three men knew these could never be real bandits, so how could they possibly believe it?

Zhu Fu glanced around, let out a long sigh, pulled the other two aside, and said in a low voice:

"Just look at the treasures in this convoy; the owner of these carriages has an extraordinary background."

"If word leaks out, I fear there will be endless trouble."

"Our only course of action now is to follow Brother Li Gui's approach and classify all these people as bandits to avert disaster."

"I noticed just now that quite a few survivors escaped. We cannot allow this; we must hunt them down and silence them."

Having reached a consensus, the three men immediately dispatched men far and wide to pursue the survivors in all directions, supposedly to avenge their fallen brothers in the stronghold.

Only dead men were wanted; no living prisoners!