Chapter 630: Returning to the Capital

"Returning to the capital?" Bai Lang didn't know what this was for. Fortunately, the deputy general who stayed behind told him secretly. "So I was impeached, saying I attacked without authorization and provoked a border incident? So let me go back to the capital to defend myself? Hahaha, then I'll go and defend myself." When Bai Lang returned to the capital, he brought fifty cavalrymen who had survived the attack, all of whom had changed to the tall horses snatched from the Cossacks—and brought back dozens of horses to find a horse farm in the suburbs of the capital to raise.

Raising horses was never difficult, especially since Bai Lang had seriously studied horse breeding in modern society. The efficiency of pen breeding was far higher than the free-range efficiency of the Mongolians. Raising horses required money, and Bai Lang thought he shouldn't be short of money, "At worst, I'll just mask my face and travel hundreds of miles at night to rob. There are many rich and unrighteous people in this world."

It took only ten days to arrive at the capital from the border. Along the way, Bai Lang saw that the situation in the countryside was not good, and there was always a sense of poverty. And the road was indeed not very peaceful, with black shops and robbers, especially those like them who carried a large number of fine horses, which were fat sheep. It's just that Bai Lang's group were all wearing official uniforms, and they all had bows, arrows, swords, and spears on their horses, so the robbers generally didn't dare to come up.

Bai Lang himself only carried an iron mace and a Cossack saber he had captured. This saber should be the favorite saber of some leader, and the steel was excellent—Bai Lang could see the quite obvious ladder patterns on the saber. "A saber of refined iron." An older cavalryman looked at this saber and was very envious. This trophy of the Little Earl would probably be worth a thousand gold in a shop. It was indeed a precious saber, because Bai Lang was very smooth when he cut the black shop owner and the waiter who sold tea by the roadside but put anesthetic in it.

The saber light was drawn flat, a dazzling arc-shaped light wave. And the human muscles and bones didn't block it for even a second. Bai Lang was still sitting on the chair and swinging the saber. "This tea really has a lot of ingredients, boss." Bai Lang had already said this when he picked up the tea, and the boss and the waiter still wanted to quibble. However, Bai Lang didn't say much and just swept the saber horizontally while sitting. The boss was cut into four pieces from the height of his chest—two broken arms and the upper and lower halves of his body.

And because the waiter was bending over, his head just flew up, which looked better than the boss's death. With one slash, he killed two people. Bai Lang shook his wrist slightly, and only heard the saber make a low hum, and not a trace of blood was left on it. However, Bai Lang still tore off the dead man's clothes and wiped the saber carefully. "So-called ordinary iron is just like this. I guess if I use the saber to cut off a few hundred more heads, plus my own true Qi training, I can achieve a magic saber. In that case, I don't need to wipe the saber anymore."

Whether it was robbery or a black shop, the only result was to let Bai Lang enjoy himself and raise the saber, and it couldn't cause any trouble for Bai Lang. What really made him feel a bit helpless was the big-headed scholars everywhere on the way back—the dynasty had been established for sixty years, and civil officials had long occupied the mainstream in the palace. Although the nobles still had the Four Kings and Eight Dukes as the leaders, fewer and fewer could truly speak in the court.

The Emperor of this dynasty was dedicated to suppressing the nobles with military power, and for this reason, he promoted many military officers who had nothing to do with the nobles to hold real power. And sixty years of time were enough to turn these nobles into waste—wasn't the Jia family an example? The descendants were one playboy after another, watching this family business turn into nothing in the blink of an eye. Just like this, it seemed that no one in the Jia family thought about what to do in the future...

"Sometimes I think of this guy Jia Baoyu, he has no share in inheriting the title in the future—the one who inherits the title is his eldest uncle, and the eldest uncle's legitimate son is Jia Lian, although he can only inherit a third-rank, and after Jia Lian, it's really gone. Don't these waste people make any achievements? If there is no military merit, they have to drop the title." Bai Lang thought, but he quickly thought of, "No, if Jia Lian has a son, he can continue to drop the rank. I remember it ends at the rank of General Assisting the Country—then his Duke mansion's plaque can be taken down."

Jia Baoyu had no title to take, and his father was only a fifth-rank official in the Ministry of Works, even if he wanted to favor a son, he was still a bit short—but his family was a noble, and the Emperor should allow him to favor one son. If this guy couldn't pass the imperial examination, his life would be about the same, there was no future—once his grandmother died, the Duke mansion's plaque could be taken to smash...

Bai Lang was thinking about Baoyu's miserable appearance in the future, but he himself was miserable now. The officials in the passing cities were clearly trying to blackmail him—from not allowing him to enter the city to collecting taxes according to national law. "According to the rules, as the Tianshui Earl, I have an exemption. Not to mention that these warhorses are all mine, even if I were really selling horses, according to the system, I don't need to pay any taxes—these horses haven't exceeded the exemption number!"

However, civil officials always had reasons, and Bai Lang couldn't just draw his saber and kill people. He had to not enter the city, only going to the city to buy horse feed—even for this, they tried to choke him. "Maybe they aren't targeting me, but just opposing the nobles?" Bai Lang understood it this way. Fortunately, the execution ability of these waste people was just like that. After Bai Lang really whistled in and rode his horse straight, they couldn't stop him. Those yamen runners certainly wouldn't risk their lives—a noble on a tall horse, the master wouldn't risk his life for them, only a fool would risk his life for the master.

So apart from being accused by these civil officials and having many impeachment memorials, Bai Lang really had no obstacles. "It's just that the anger is not smooth." Holding this anger, he returned to the capital, temporarily put all the warhorses in the Earl Mansion, and went to the palace to prepare to see the Emperor. The eunuch's imperial decree to him was "close the door and reflect on your mistakes." Bai Lang smiled, just taking it as a fart—isn't it just not letting him speak and not giving him power? It's just right not to go to court. The Tianshui Earl is a real enfeoffed Earl, hereditary and irrevocable, belonging to a super-rank official, and must go to court.

This point was stronger than the descendants of the Rong and Ning mansions now, and standing in class was also behind the Four Kings and Eight Dukes and Twenty-Four Marquises, basically standing inside the main hall.

Bai Lang just happened to go to the Rongguo Mansion to see people. With the relationship of Lin Daiyu, the Matriarch Shi intended to let the grandchildren get closer to this generation of the Tianshui Earl. Jia She had no real power, just a name, Jia Zheng was just a small fifth-rank official with no power, and the Ningguo Mansion was the same, all playboys who sat and ate the mountain and had no real power in the court. In contrast, the Tianshui Earl with military power was worth winning over.

The Tianshui Earl's troops at the border, this was something the current Emperor couldn't deprive. The ten thousand troops of the Tianshui Earl Bai family had been passed down from the first generation to the present, and there were still so-called real enfeoffed ten thousand households at the border used to raise the army. Although only four thousand troops remained now, under the cultivation of the Tianshui Earls of all generations, they could finally be called the elite of the Nine Borders... ===== CHAPTER 631 =====