"I'll send you a box later." Upon hearing this, Wang Han said to Zhong Shidao with a smile, and then instructed Lu Da, "Lu Da, go to the military governor's office to get fifty soldiers and armor, and then go to the yamen to bring over ten prison carts."
"Yes, General." Upon hearing this, Lu Da immediately accepted the order and ran to the General's residence. He had already come to terms with Zhong Shidao's decision to assign him to the General. Following the General, he was fearless of power and could punish evil without having to worry about any court officials. He had never felt so comfortable before, and judging from the General's actions today, he would definitely feel just as comfortable in the future.
"Thank you!" After Lu Da left, Zhong Shidao said with a smile. A case contains six bottles, which is a bit few, but these are rare and fine wines.
“We don’t have any prisoner restraints right now, but we can’t stop us from drinking and eating, can we? Yang Zhi, break their legs. Drag them up, and we’ll continue drinking and eating. Make sure all the accomplices come up too. Anyone who tries to run away will be killed as a fugitive,” Wang Han instructed Yang Zhi, and then returned to the restaurant first.
"Yes, General." Upon hearing this, Yang Zhi and his men were immediately filled with excitement. Under the horrified gazes of the magistrate and Zheng Tu's apprentices and servants, without saying a word, they grabbed the hilts of their swords and slammed them hard into the knees.
"Ah!" A bloodcurdling scream, like a pig being slaughtered, suddenly rang out in the street. It was a truly horrific scream.
"Okay, right, we can't let them get away."
"Break their hands too! They can still climb using their hands, so it's safer to break their hands as well."
Seeing the county magistrate and his men screaming in agony after their legs were broken, the onlookers showed no sympathy whatsoever. Instead, they cheered loudly. Some even felt it wasn't enough and demanded that their hands be broken as well. If these people weren't prisoners that their respected General Shenwei was taking away, they probably would have already swarmed them and torn them to pieces.
"Go away, go away! You broke their hands, so you're feeding them instead!" Yang Zhi said upon hearing this.
"Go upstairs yourselves," Yang Zhi ordered, looking at the constables standing at the entrance of the restaurant.
The constables and officers who had come with the magistrate looked at each other, but none of them dared to run away. They all went upstairs on their own. Not only were they frightened by Wang Han's methods, but even if they wanted to run away, they were afraid that they would be torn to pieces by the crowd of onlookers.
Fortunately, they haven't done many evil deeds before. Most of the evil deeds were done by lackeys like Zheng Tu. I hope that General Shenwei can see through this.
After the officials went upstairs themselves, they dragged the county magistrate and others, whose arms and legs had been broken, upstairs as well.
"Let's go up and take a look."
Seeing this, the people began to flock to the restaurant.
"Wait, I'll go home and get some eggs."
“I’ll go home and get two pounds of cured meat too.”
Some people also hurriedly ran home.
——————————————
"Great General Shenwei, we know we were wrong. Please punish us according to your will." The officials went upstairs and knelt down in front of Wang Han, who was already seated.
“What you’ve done has nothing to do with bandits and is not my responsibility.” Upon hearing this, Wang Han took a sip of wine and said, “Confess who assassinated me, and then I’ll have General Zhong Shidao deal with you.”
"General, the assassins who tried to kill you were Zhang Lu, Li Si, Ai Fang, and Zhou Dalang. Li Si is dead, but we know where the other three are. We are willing to atone for our sins by capturing the remaining three and handing them over to you for punishment." Hearing this, the officers breathed a sigh of relief and quickly replied. Their crime was unrelated to bandits, and their lives were spared.
"Go!" Wang Han waved his hand upon hearing this.
"Aren't you afraid that some might slip through the net and take the opportunity to escape?" Zhong Shidao asked curiously, seeing Wang Han let these officials leave so easily. Given Wang Han's style of even capturing Zheng Tu's apprentices and servants, how could he let these people go so easily?
“General Zhong, I not only know magic, but I also know a bit about astronomy, geography, fortune telling and physiognomy.” Upon hearing this, Wang Han said with a smile, “These officials don’t have much malevolence, their karmic fire is not heavy, and they haven’t made any major mistakes. They just tend to extort and cheat a lot. This is a common problem for most officials in the late Northern Song Dynasty. We’ll teach them a lesson later and let them do good deeds for the people for free.”
"I see. The General is truly multi-talented!" Zhong Shidao said admiringly. "If everyone had the ability to judge good and evil by looking at faces like the General, the world would be much more peaceful, and there would be far fewer injustices."
“It’s not that easy.” Upon hearing this, Wang Han shook his head and said, “But I do know two people who have the ability to see into people’s fate.”
"Who is it?" Upon hearing this, Zhong Shidao immediately became excited. If such a person really existed, that would be incredible.
“One of them is Elder Zhizhen from Mount Wutai,” Wang Han said with a smile. “However, Elder Zhizhen is a highly accomplished monk who has long since withdrawn from the world and devoted himself to studying Buddhism. It would be extremely difficult to persuade him to come out of seclusion.”
"Who is the other person?" Zhong Shidao quickly asked again. He knew of Monk Zhizhen and how difficult it would be to persuade him to come out of seclusion. He only learned today that Monk Zhizhen actually had such abilities.
“The other person is a Taoist named Master Luo, who is extremely capable.” Wang Han thought for a moment and said, “However, he is a free spirit who has no fixed abode. Compared to the old monk Zhizhen, you may not even be able to find him, let alone have any chance.”
"..." Upon hearing this, Zhong Shidao remained silent for a while before speaking, "I wonder if the General could invite these two experts to come out of seclusion?"
“Me!” Wang Han shook his head and said, “Why should I invite them! I’m just a free spirit myself. If you want to invite these two, you’ll have to figure it out yourself.”
“Uh…!” Zhong Shidao was at a loss for words. Judging from Wang Han’s words, Wang Han himself was a free spirit who might quit at any time, let alone ask someone else to come out of retirement.
This is a noble and lofty demeanor of a person who wanders the world, but why does he dislike Wang Han's noble demeanor so much at this moment?
"Does the General have any way to persuade these two to come out of seclusion?" Zhong Shidao asked somewhat unwillingly.
“These two are hard to invite, but they both have disciples and successors,” Wang Han said with a smile.
"Does the General know the disciples of these two?" Zhong Shidao quickly asked. He already understood Wang Han's meaning: it's difficult to invite a master, but it's not necessarily difficult to invite a master's disciple.
"I know a thing or two, but you'll have to ask them yourself," Wang Han nodded. Actually, Wang Han told Zhong Shidao about the two men because he wanted them to come out of seclusion and help the Song Dynasty, since he couldn't stay in this world forever.
However, whether or not they can be invited depends mainly on the Song Dynasty itself. He might step forward, but definitely not now. After all, Wang Han knows very well what kind of people the Song Dynasty officials are. It's much better for the Song Dynasty to go through all sorts of trouble to invite a master than for him, the Divine Might General, to invite one. The difference in status, position, and level of trust is quite significant.
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