Chapter 129: Diversion

At the North Chengmenkou, the people who should have been bustling were now nowhere to be seen.

Everyone knew that a group of bandits intended to kill their way into the capital from this gate.

As for the duel with the Imperial Yulin Guard Commander, they had heard of it, but no one believed it.

In the eyes of the greenwood bandits, they were heroes who ate meat in large chunks, drank wine in large bowls, and divided gold and silver in large scales.

But in the eyes of most people, they were robbers.

Not engaging in production—how could this wine, meat, gold, and silver appear out of thin air?

Chu Danqing didn't go to the scene at all; he sat in the back waiting for news.

"Report~"

Around ten o'clock in the morning, the voice of a Lieutenant General of the Imperial Yulin Guards broke Chu Danqing's calm.

"More than twenty thieves were suppressed at the North Chengmenkou, and the thief leader Dong Mang was beheaded and displayed in public!" The other party said immediately after seeing Chu Danqing.

Dong Mang was the Overturning River Long Wang who wanted to duel Chu Danqing.

The Investigation Bureau had long ago stripped the other party's information clean.

"Only twenty or so people?" Chu Danqing wasn't surprised by the death of the Overturning River Long Wang, but couldn't believe the number.

This was the personnel gathered by the remnants of Mount Pingdou and Li Wanwu's foster children.

To say they had internal conflicts, Chu Danqing didn't deny that.

But the number absolutely couldn't be so small.

To say that in these days, the vanguard personnel who sneaked into the capital added up to almost a hundred people.

Among them, there were many who were bold enough to come and assassinate him.

As a result, the real main force was just this few people, which was too anticlimactic.

"If the duel at the North Chengmenkou was a diversion, then who would be their real target?" Chu Danqing first excluded himself.

He was heavily guarded, and coming to kill him was no different from suicide.

In this trial world, greenwood bandits were simply no match for a regular army.

Otherwise, why carry out a decapitation strike?

"I want to see His Majesty." Chu Danqing stood up immediately.

Besides himself, it must be the young Emperor.

If it were only greenwood bandits, their target would indeed only be Chu Danqing, who was the main pusher of bandit suppression.

But there were also Li Wanwu's foster children in this.

This group of people not only had a grudge against Chu Danqing, but the Taichang Emperor before the last had destroyed their whole family, which led to their subsequent adoption by Li Wanwu.

And this group of people were also carefully cultivated by Li Wanwu; politically, they could naturally see that Chu Danqing had been pushing for bandit suppression by controlling the young Emperor.

Killing the young Emperor first was equivalent to cutting off Chu Danqing's legal power.

They could even hold the young Emperor hostage as a threat.

Just as Chu Danqing finished speaking, a violent clamor broke out.

"Yangqi Hall!" Chu Danqing quickly locked onto the location of the sound source and took people there for the first time.

Upon arrival, more than a dozen corpses of Imperial Yulin Guards were scattered around the Yangqi Hall; it was clear that a battle had occurred.

However, because they were outnumbered and the other party was a master, they were killed.

"Commander Chu didn't come slowly." A white-faced youth wearing a green shirt and surrounded by several people said.

Another burly man held the young Emperor hostage, and in the back, a group of ministers were also surrounded by nearly a hundred greenwood bandits with extraordinary strength.

Chu Danqing swept his gaze over the people present; through some characteristics, he generally matched them, all of whom were famous figures in the greenwood.

"Green-shirted guest Kui Yuan, right." Chu Danqing said: "Release His Majesty, and everything is negotiable."

Kui Yuan didn't ignore Chu Danqing's words at all, but said to himself: "Nearly a hundred people, able to enter the Yangqi Hall as if there were no one there."

"Commander Chu, do you think the Imperial Yulin Guards and the Investigation Bureau are trash?"

After speaking, he answered himself.

"Of course not, so there must be someone cooperating, and someone in a high position cooperating, so that we could be so smooth."

Kui Yuan's gaze looked at the young Emperor, and then said: "Isn't that right, Your Majesty?"

He said this simply to sow discord.

The reason for doing so was very simple; he didn't know if he could successfully complete his plan.

Even if it failed, it could make Chu Danqing and the young Emperor have a rift.

Some things were completely different when said and when not said.

Chu Danqing's face didn't change; he had long known, so what accidents could there be?

The young Emperor's face was extremely ugly, and his gaze was quite evasive when facing Chu Danqing.

He was young after all.

"As long as you release His Majesty, conditions can be negotiated." Chu Danqing continued.

Kui Yuan revealed a smile: "Then what if I want your life, Commander Chu?"

"This condition, Commander Chu, can you negotiate?"

Chu Danqing didn't hesitate: "Of course you can, but your price must be enough for my life."

Negotiating conditions—Chu Danqing didn't say he had to agree.

Besides, if he died, the other party wouldn't release the person even more.

Kui Yuan's eyes showed solemnity.

Chu Danqing dared to say this in public, which meant he dared to execute it.

Otherwise, wouldn't he be slapping his own face? How could he stand in the court in the future?

"Good, since that's the case, then I..." Kui Yuan opened his mouth to say let Chu Danqing commit suicide.

However, before he could finish speaking, a change occurred.

A black shadow suddenly emerged from the shadow of the burly man holding the young Emperor hostage.

Then it passed through his arm, and when the pain broke out, it blocked the young Emperor with its body and pulled him out of the other party's hostage.

When the other party reacted and prepared to take the person back, a crossbow bolt pierced the hand he reached out.

Under the cover of the crossbowmen, the Human Heart Demon successfully brought the young Emperor back behind Chu Danqing.

Dabao and the Zhanji Tiger moved at the same time, and the remaining Imperial Yulin Guards and Investigation Bureau saw that the young Emperor was rescued and launched an attack for the first time.

Besides the crossbowmen, the Horned Dragon, and the Prince's Mansion guards, Chu Danqing also left many personnel to protect him.

As for the captured ministers, they could only be considered unlucky.

The process happened too fast, and Kui Yuan could only defend by relying on the terrain.

"Your Majesty, bandits are faithless and forget righteousness, and should be suppressed." Chu Danqing said.

The young Emperor's gaze looked at the bandits retreating to the Yangqi Hall, and the anger in his eyes was suppressed little by little.

He originally wanted to use this opportunity to strike at Chu Danqing and take back part of his power.

Unexpectedly, he was calculated by Kui Yuan instead.

Not only was the plan not achieved, but he also lost many of his supporters while making himself lose face.

Fortunately, he could endure it, just acting foolishly and saying: "Commander Chu is right."

"Your Majesty, you wouldn't want your Yangqi Hall to be stained with the blood of your many ministers, would you?" Kui Yuan's voice came from inside the Yangqi Hall.

"This matter is our loss; I don't have many requirements." Kui Yuan continued to shout: "You let Commander Chu let us have a way to live."

"In the future, we will no longer engage in greenwood, and from now on, we will hide our names."

Chu Danqing didn't speak, his gaze looked at the young Emperor, indicating what do you think?

The young Emperor was very conflicted in his heart.

Agree? He was threatened by a group of bandits, and his prestige would inevitably be further hit.

Not agree? That would be even more of a loss; the power in his hands would probably drop to a low point.

He wouldn't even think about taking back power from Chu Danqing.

Finally, gritting his teeth, he chose to preserve his power.

"The ministers are innocent; Commander Chu, otherwise..." The young Emperor was actually worried that Chu Danqing wouldn't agree.

After all, this was a good opportunity to weaken himself.

But from Chu Danqing's previous contradictory loyalty, he felt he could gamble.

"His Majesty's golden words, I will let you leave the capital." Chu Danqing said, letting everyone make way.

A greenwood bandit good at movement came out to test it, and after finding no problem, he had people hold the ministers hostage and come out.

Then they left the palace all the way until they left the capital, and only then released the people.

This scene made the young Emperor heartbroken.

His hatred for the bandits went up another level.

Originally, he didn't support Chu Danqing's bandit suppression very much; after all, it was too labor-consuming and money-consuming to suppress bandits while pacifying.

But now it seemed that bandit suppression was very necessary; only by pacifying internal troubles first could external troubles be solved.

However, Chu Danqing's behavior was also unexpected.

He actually listened to him.

"Have all the pillars of the country returned safely?" Chu Danqing asked.

An Investigation Bureau person immediately said: "Report to Your Majesty, Commander Chu, seven people have not returned, and their corpses have been found."

When the words came out, the young Emperor gritted his teeth.

"Let the people of the Investigation Bureau bite them tight for me, don't let a single one go, catch them all back and deal with them."

"Especially the thief leader Kui Yuan; this person has deep thoughts and is full of ambition. If he is allowed to escape, he will inevitably leave endless troubles."

Chu Danqing kept his word; since they had left the capital, catching them back was another matter.

He could be sure that the one who connected everything was this Kui Yuan, who was the eldest son of Li Wanwu's foster children, and the other foster children listened to him.

Killing this group of greenwood leaders and spreading the news throughout the world could at least reduce the difficulty of bandit suppression by 30%.

This was a rare good opportunity to complete the A-rank hidden task.

After handling it, Chu Danqing looked at the young Emperor: "Your Majesty has been frightened today, so go and rest."

"Leave this to me to handle."

The young Emperor was indeed frightened when he was caught, but he calmed down quickly; now there was more anger and hatred.

However, he did need to rest, so he acted out his persona and responded to Chu Danqing foolishly, then hurried away.

After he left, Chu Danqing arranged for people to clean up.

His heart was thinking about how to use this opportunity to complete the A-rank task as soon as possible and leave.

It was fortunate that the young Emperor was human enough.

He did strike hard against him, but in treating the people, he was the most benevolent among the three Taichang Emperors.

It was estimated that it was because he needed to make up for the lack of power from the people's hearts.

'Can't kill the young Emperor, but he has to give me severance pay.' Chu Danqing thought in his heart.

The next Taichang Emperor might not be so human, but Chu Danqing couldn't be targeted in vain.

Originally, he belonged to voluntary resignation, so it was not easy to ask for N+1.

Now if the other party didn't give him an N+2, then Chu Danqing would have to vent his anger.

Two things were two things, and they couldn't be mixed.

Otherwise, it would seem he was easy to bully.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 130 =====