Shoot
When his subordinates led the two men in, Li Dacheng finally looked up and sized up the unfamiliar, pale-faced scholar.
Although he was dressed in coarse linen clothes, his skin was not dark from years of working under the scorching sun. His face was handsome, and his posture and demeanor did not look like that of an ordinary family.
Moreover, he also possessed the kind of bureaucratic air that Li Dacheng hated most.
Tsk, another civil official he dislikes.
The other one was taciturn and expressionless, but had an upright posture, a tall stature, and firm muscles; he was a trained fighter.
If it were a one-on-one fight, he might not be able to win now.
"Lord Li, how about we make a deal?"
Xu Qiu bowed deeply, his smile unchanged, "I want Zhang Yanming's weakness, and in exchange, I'll spare your life."
Upon hearing him mention Zhang Yanming's name, Li Dacheng, who was wiping his longsword, paused. This man had quite the arrogance.
He shouted in a commanding voice, "Who are you?"
Xu Qiu took out an ivory waist tag he had borrowed from Li Shiqin. The tag was oval-shaped, with two beasts engraved around one side, holding a hole for attaching a rope. The middle line read "Li Shiqin, Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard".
"I'm here on behalf of Commander Li. What, Lord Li, are you afraid I'll lie to you?"
Xu Qiu held the waist token and observed Li Dacheng's expression. Seeing the fear on his face, he knew that the man had believed it.
"May I ask who you are, sir?" Li Dacheng asked cautiously.
"My surname is Xu, and my given name is Xu Qiu. I am the Assistant Magistrate of Xi'an Prefecture. I came to Xi'an on a mission for the Emperor. I am here to see you today because I must have evidence in my possession. I just don't know if Lord Li is willing to cooperate?"
Li Dacheng pondered to himself, since this person already knew about Zhang Yanming's dealings with him, he must also know that he had transported weapons for Zhang Yanming.
"I know what I've done, and I deserve to die. I don't know what you mean by letting me go, sir?" Li Dacheng asked respectfully.
If the Embroidered Uniform Guards were to personally take action, his soldiers would certainly not dare to rebel with him. In that case, he would be all alone, and he would not even be able to defeat the Embroidered Uniform Guards beside Xu Qiu.
Since death is inevitable either way, it's better to take the risk and make a deal with Xu Qiu.
"Although you deserve to die, I want to find out who is behind this. The credit for catching Zhang Yanming is much greater than the credit for catching you. In order to catch him, why not release you? I'll find a corpse to replace you."
"Well? Lord Li, you'd better think this over carefully. Xu Yunliang has already confessed to the salt smuggling. Zhang Yanming has heard that he will personally arrest you tomorrow and put you under military law. If you fall into his hands, you will surely die."
"But if you make a deal with me, I won't make things difficult for you today. You can escape tonight, and when the court has to give an explanation, I will find someone to replace you."
After Xu Qiu finished speaking, he just looked at him with a smile, as if he were looking at a mouse struggling for its last breath.
Li Dacheng was covered in cold sweat. Xu Qiu had given him too much information, and time was of the essence; Zhang Yanming was arriving tomorrow.
He thought rapidly, his eyes darting around, and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead with the handkerchief he used to clean his sword. "I can give you the things, but you must guarantee that I can escape from the garrison alive."
Xu Qiu raised an eyebrow. He had guessed that Zhang Yanming had something on Li Dacheng, but he had only tried to trick him. Now that he had actually gotten something out of him, it was a pleasant surprise.
If those merchants didn't collude with officials in the court and the garrison, where would they get the artillery ammunition to transport? Shaanxi was the only way to the north, and he had long suspected that Zhang Yanming was involved, but he didn't have any solid evidence.
"Alright, since you've made up your mind, bring the things over," Xu Qiu said.
Li Dacheng fumbled around under the bed for a while before finally opening the mechanism and taking out something from the hidden compartment for him. "This is the list of the artillery ammunition I transported, but I burned all my communications with him, as well as the money exchange and bank drafts he used to give me my share of the profits. It's all here, Lord Xu."
Xu Qiu took the items and sighed inexplicably, "You're already the commander of the garrison, why would you do something like colluding with the enemy and betraying your country?"
Li Dacheng said with a wry smile, "The imperial court hasn't paid salaries for two years. Even if I had been receiving salaries without working in previous years, I still couldn't pay my subordinates. Besides, I'm just a person who does the work. If I quit, this position will go to someone else. I have no choice."
Li Dacheng's words made him sound like a daughter-in-law caught in the middle between her mother-in-law and husband. But Xu Qiu didn't think he was being wronged. The court didn't pay him a salary, but hadn't he been selling smuggled salt for a long time?
"Do you know where these weapons came from?" Xu Qiu continued to ask.
Li Dacheng pointed to the map hanging on the wall, his finger resting on a remote mountain valley in Sichuan. "I'm only responsible for getting the things from here..."
Then he moved his finger to a remote valley in the north, "Transport it here..."
"What about the people behind Zhang Yanming?"
"I don't know. I was only responsible for the transportation, nothing else. But I suspect that the Prince of Yan must have known about these weapons before they were to pass through Shu."
Li Dacheng's attitude was extremely good, with a fawning smile on his face that was almost dazzling.
Xu Qiu looked at the list: cotton armor, cannons, muskets, ammunition. He just didn't know if they were made in Shengjing or made privately.
"That's all for today, Lord Li. If you want to run away, you should do it sooner rather than later, lest you get caught and people say I broke my promise. I'll be going now."
Xu Qiu carefully put his belongings away, left a message for Li Dacheng, and then left the room.
"Farewell, Lord Xu. I, Li Dacheng, will never forget your life-saving grace."
As he spoke, he knelt on the ground and kowtowed three times to Xu Qiu's retreating figure.
The Imperial Guards who accompanied Xu Qiu didn't say a word, seemingly there only to protect his safety.
After leaving the garrison, Xu Qiu asked Lu Shi in a low voice, "How was it? What are the chances of success?"
Lu Shi was also a member of the Embroidered Uniform Guard. Although he knew some martial arts, it was not his forte. His specialty was ventriloquism. He could not only imitate other people's voices perfectly, but also imitate other sounds such as water and birdsong.
Lu Shi spoke up at this moment, and it was now Li Dacheng's voice, "Lord Xu, do you think it looks like him?"
"Hahaha... Not bad, not bad. I've always heard that Brother Li has a remarkable person under his command. This is the first time I've met him, and he truly lives up to his reputation."
"You flatter me, sir."
Zhang Yanming wanted to kill Li Dacheng himself, and Wei Cong also wanted to kill Li Dacheng himself. How could one person die twice?
That night, Li Dacheng had packed a bundle of gold and silver jewelry and was about to leave when he found the garrison heavily guarded.
He glanced at the patrolling soldiers, sighed, put the things back in the distance, and frantically stuffed the silver notes into his waistband.
Li Dacheng walked forward with his hands behind his back, taking big strides as usual.
The guard at the gate asked, "Sir, is there something urgent?"
"Yes, those merchants from Tongzhou invited me out for drinks. I won't be back until tomorrow. Keep a close eye on things while on night watch, and don't let any rats sneak in. The smuggled salt in the warehouse hasn't been cleared out yet."
"Yes, sir." They bowed and watched Li Dacheng leave.
The moon was bright and the stars were few. The wasteland outside the garrison was overgrown with withered yellow weeds, and dew still clung to the tips of the grass.
Li Dacheng's pace quickened, and when he could no longer see the campfire at the garrison, he hurriedly started jogging.
Since he was going to escape, he would definitely need to change his clothes. The closest village to Tongguanwei was called Tianhua Village. He would go and get some clothes to change into first.
Li Dacheng entered the village and searched for a long time before finally finding a family with their clothes hanging outside. He approached and heard some noises coming from inside the house, intending only to grab the clothes and leave.
Unexpectedly, the woman inside came out cursing and swearing to collect the clothes. Her hand holding the candle trembled, and she saw Li Dacheng's face clearly.
"Master Li?!!"
Li Dacheng frowned. If he didn't recognize him, that would be fine, but since he did, he had no choice but to eliminate him completely.
He reached out and twisted the woman's head, silencing her terrified scream that was still escaping her throat.
The male homeowner also came out of the room, and Li Dacheng quickly twisted his neck, then dragged the two lifeless people back into the inner room, where he found some thick clothes to change into.
The north wind howled past, swirling up withered yellow grass clippings.
Li Dacheng continued northward. The war in the north had only recently been quelled, and it was a time of chaos. He could blend in as a refugee and find a place to settle down.
Once he escapes Shaanxi, finding him again will be like searching for a needle in a haystack.
He ran a few steps, panting, but couldn't run anymore, so he found a haystack to rest for a while, and then continued running.
For some reason, Li Dacheng always felt uneasy. This was the intuition he had developed from years of experience on the battlefield, and his keen intuition had helped him avoid many fatal crises.
He always thought he was a very lucky person, always having benefactors to help him, and this time was no exception. Originally, if Zhang Yanming came to arrest him in person tomorrow, he would surely die.
Fortunately, the Imperial Guards intervened, allowing him to escape.
Having traveled for four hours, the border of Shaanxi and the plains was just ahead. Li Dacheng leaned against a haystack, watching the sky begin to brighten, and a relieved smile appeared on his face.
The aches and pains all over his body left him weak. Having not trained for too long, he suddenly found himself in a desperate sprint, only to realize that his body was no longer young.
But having escaped, he wearily closed his eyes, wanting to rest for a while.
suddenly--
The sound of a sharp arrow slicing through the cold wind rang in my ears.
Li Dacheng hurriedly turned his head to dodge, but the arrow still hit his neck, missing his throat.
He clutched his injured neck, the intense pain making him gasp for breath. "Who is it?"
Could it be someone from the Embroidered Uniform Guard? Only the Embroidered Uniform Guard knew about today's escape plan.
But no, if the Embroidered Uniform Guard wanted to kill him, they could have just done it directly. Why go through all that trouble?
Moreover, the person wielding this short crossbow did not seem to be an experienced user, as the arrows did not penetrate the flesh very deeply.
Could it be bandits from this area?
A figure emerged from the withered reeds in the distance. He was expressionless, holding a crossbow in one hand and an arrow nocked in the other, the arrow aimed at Li Dacheng's throat.
"you!"
"call out--"
Before Li Dacheng could say anything, a second arrow struck him squarely in the throat. He clutched his bleeding throat and could only make a "hoarse" sound.
Then came the third and fourth arrows, which struck him in the chest.
The fifth arrow, the sixth arrow... He drew closer and closer, the arrows went deeper and deeper, and more and more blood flowed beneath Li Dacheng.
Li Dacheng's consciousness gradually faded, and his blurred vision followed Wei Cong's approaching figure until he finally saw his face clearly in the moonlight.
Before he died, he couldn't understand why Wei Cong was there and had successfully taken his life with a ridiculous short crossbow.
All ten arrows struck Li Dacheng, turning him into a sieve.
Wei Cong lowered his eyes, squatted down to check Li Dacheng's breathing, and after confirming that the man was dead, he stood up again.
He stood motionless for a moment in the wilderness, leaving only a long shadow behind him.
Xu Qiu and Lu Shi then arrived.
"The man is already dead?" Xu Qiu glanced at Li Da's corpse, which looked like a hedgehog, and then looked away. "Lord Wei, what excellent archery! Ten arrows in a row, not a single one missed."
Under the moonlight, blood seeped out again from Wei Cong's wound, which had reopened due to the exertion.
"Hmm." Wei Cong nodded, tore off a piece of his robe and wrapped it around his neck to stop the bleeding.
"Then Lord Wei, come back to the Xi'an prison with me. I will take care of the rest." Xu Qiu instructed Lu Shi to secretly transport Li Dacheng's body back to Tongguan Guard.
Lu Shi was quite agile; carrying Li Dacheng's corpse, he walked away in a few quick steps.
Xu Qiu followed slowly behind Wei Cong, asking, "Lord Wei, are you afraid of death?"
"I'm not afraid." Wei Cong shook his head. His enemy was dead, but Liu Bian and his men would never come back.
However, if he goes to the underworld, he won't have to worry about not being able to explain himself to them.
“My wife said that Lord Wei is a good official and a good person. Good people are few in this world, and good officials are even rarer. If you were to die at my hands, wouldn’t I be unable to eat or sleep in peace?” Xu Qiu said with a smile.
Wei Cong suddenly remembered what Gu Yu had said to him: she had made the choice for him and wanted him to live well.
“She treated me very well, and I don’t know how to repay her. If there is an afterlife, I will repay her kindness by holding a valerian ring in my hand.”
Xu Qiu sneered inwardly. This man actually thought about the next life? Even if there is a next life, shouldn't he be the only one destined to be with Gu Yu? This Wei Cong is shameless.
"Lord Wei, don't even think about the afterlife. Who said you were going to die?"
Wei Cong was puzzled, but did not ask further. Could Li Dacheng be involved in something else? Otherwise, why would the Embroidered Uniform Guard want his corpse?
As dawn broke, Wei Cong and Xu Qiu did not return to Xi'an Prefecture until the afternoon, even after Xu Qiu had paid for two horses.
Xu Qiu thought to himself, "This Li Dacheng is surprisingly fast. Wei Cong is also in good health; apart from being pale, he didn't seem to have fainted after staying up all night."
Wei Cong guarded the place leading from Shaanxi to the northern border for a whole day and night, showing great patience.
Wei Cong returned to the cell, and Xu Yunliang saw that his hands were covered in blood and his face was full of fear.
God knows how terrified he was when he saw Wei Cong practicing his aim with a short crossbow in the cell, fearing that Wei Cong would fight to the death and kill him.
But even after he begged the adults to change his cell, they couldn't change it for him.
"Lord Wei, you've gone out?" he asked cautiously. "How did you get injured on your hand again?"
Xu Yunliang chuckled awkwardly, shrinking into the corner as he discovered that all ten arrows in his crossbow were empty.
“Li Dacheng is dead,” Wei Cong said.
Upon hearing this, Xu Yunliang became even more frightened and dared not utter another word.
Wei Cong glanced at him, closed his eyes to rest, and remained silent.
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