Chapter 150: Unscrupulous, Coercion and Rescue

Even Bagehai, who was the Division Chief, obeyed honestly, so the rest of the experts from the Jingwu Division naturally dared not make any extra moves, following Lu Yuan and Bagehai away from the venue with terrified expressions.

As their figures moved into the distance, Chen Zhantang and Peng Yidao were also left dumbfounded, not knowing what to say.

Peng Yidao said with great uncertainty:

"Junior Brother Chen, is the Hall Master preparing to rebel right now?"

Publicly protecting Zhao Shuhua and the others in front of the Jingwu Division was indeed no different from treason, and Chen Zhantang was clearly also somewhat bewildered:

"Sh-shouldn't be, right?"

"With just the few of us in the hall, no guns and no men, what would we use to rebel?"

Regardless of what these two were thinking.

After leaving the Guangwu Hall, Lu Yuan and Bagehai mounted the horses parked at the entrance and rode forward.

The dozen or so Jingwu Division experts behind them felt their scalps tingle, not knowing what would happen next, yet they dared not move to stop them, so they could only bite the bullet and follow on horseback.

The Guangwu Hall was less than ten miles away from the Jingwu Division's courier station and official residence, but after a moment's time, the group arrived on horseback in front of a quiet and elegant building.

Although it was called a courier station and official residence, it was actually a place for high-ranking officials like the Governor to stay after inspections, so it was magnificent and built like an imperial garden.

There were guards stationed at the entrance of the residence; Bagehai was still somewhat dazed at this moment, so he dismounted and walked straight ahead.

As the Division Chief of the Jingwu Division, the guards did not stop him, and they even assumed Lu Yuan and the others were merely attendants, so they let them pass immediately.

As for the other Jingwu Division experts who arrived a few steps later, they were blocked outside and not allowed to enter at will.

After entering the residence, a guard led the way, taking Lu Yuan through various gardens and corridors before arriving at a main hall.

Following the announcement, footsteps were soon heard from behind the screen in the main hall, and Nayancheng's laughter followed:

"Bagehai, has the matter been settled?"

With the laughter, the Zhili Governor Nayancheng walked out with the stride of a dragon and the step of a tiger, accompanied by a guard and a Staff Officer, still maintaining that look of holding great power and being imposing without anger.

However, upon entering the main hall and seeing Lu Yuan sitting there with a bold and unconstrained posture, his smile suddenly froze:

"Lu... Hall Master Lu? Why are you here?"

"Bagehai, what is the meaning of this?"

By the time he said the last sentence, his tone already carried irrepressible panic and anger.

Because he, as the Zhili Governor in charge of Jinjin, knew some inside information about the fact that the Niangan Office Great Governor Mankeduo and the Great Shaman Lugu Ta had personally led experts to Jinjin, and he knew that the two seemed to have died at Lu Yuan's hands; even the Old Buddha was extremely wary after finding out and had not made any moves.

He couldn't even avoid such a fierce person, yet he never imagined Bagehai would bring the other party to the official residence where he was staying!?

"I am the one who made him bring me here."

Seeing Nayancheng, Lu Yuan sat still and said indifferently:

"It is said that under your command as Governor, a batch of rebels from the Iron-Blooded National Salvation Society was captured last night? I am protecting these people; I want you to send them all to the Guangwu Hall for me. I will only give you half an hour."

Hearing this, Nayancheng and the guard and Staff Officer beside him all changed color, and they immediately shouted sternly:

"Lu Yuan, what do you mean by this? These people are all national traitors handpicked by the Old Buddha, they are thorough rebels and traitors, and you actually want to protect them!?"

"Harboring rebels is a crime of equal severity, punishable by the extermination of one's clan and death by slow slicing! If you retract your words just now, this Governor can pretend nothing happened; otherwise, otherwise..."

Lu Yuan cast a mocking glance over:

"Otherwise what? That Mankeduo you brought last time died at my hands, and he was the Great Governor of the Niangan Office, yet I didn't see the old witch do anything? You had best do as I said just now, otherwise Jinjin will have a new Zhili Governor very soon."

"Audacious!"

Nayancheng's face was livid and he could not speak, but a vigorous old man over fifty years old behind him, whose Qi and blood were robust and at least at the Six-Level Baodan Realm, was furious:

"You lawless rebel, Governor Nayancheng is a pillar of the nation and a high official of the frontier, how could he be..."

*Swoosh! *

Before he could finish his sentence, Lu Yuan flicked his finger, and a golden light erupted in the void like lightning, sweeping across his throat, so fast that it was impossible to react.

The moment the golden light flashed, the vigorous old man's mouth opened, his eyes filled with horror and disbelief, and then his head separated from his body and rolled down.

When his head hit the ground, a fountain of blood gushed from his severed neck; Nayancheng and his Staff Officer were terrified and retreated violently, their faces drained of color.

Including Bagehai, who had been somewhat dazed all the way, he was suddenly jolted awake by the stimulation of the blood and the smell of blood, and he retreated to the side with a look as if he had seen a ghost.

Because he recognized this guard beside Nayancheng; he was also a Martial Arts Master who had stepped into the Embrace Dan Realm, and if they were to truly fight, he might not even be the other party's match.

Who would have thought that with just a flick of Lu Yuan's finger, his head would be gone!

In an instant, the whole hall was in shock, and several guards from outside the main hall rushed in, shouting in alarm and anger.

Lu Yuan did not even look at them, his gaze sweeping indifferently over Nayancheng as he chuckled:

"Governor, my patience is limited."

Having never faced a life-and-death threat so directly, Nayancheng felt his hands and feet go cold and his body and mind turn icy, completely devoid of the dignity of a Governor.

Various thoughts flashed through his mind, and knowing that if he dared to refuse again, he would likely end up decapitated immediately, he could only force himself to stay calm and say in a dry voice:

"Fine, fine, since Hall Master Lu wants to protect these people, I, Nayancheng, will naturally comply."

As he spoke, he took a waist token from his person and handed it to the Staff Officer beside him, who was also badly frightened:

"Secretary Chai, go to the Jingwu Division prison and release all the prisoners captured yesterday."

The Staff Officer responded, took the token with trembling hands, then carefully avoided Lu Yuan and scolded the bewildered guards at the door:

"What are you looking at? Get out, get out!"

This was clearly to maintain what little face Nayancheng had left; the guards retreated in fear, and after the Staff Officer left, Lu Yuan looked at Nayancheng nonchalantly:

"In the past month or so, have you seen Xici in the palace?"

Although a headless corpse lay not far away and a pool of blood was spreading, Nayancheng was, after all, a high official of the frontier who had seen great storms and waves, so he took a deep breath and sat down:

"I haven't seen the Old Buddha recently. During this time, she returned to the Ancestral Land to pay respects and is not in the palace. Why do you ask this?"

"Returned to the Ancestral Land to pay respects?"

Lu Yuan couldn't help but sneer:

"What, wanting to beg for the ancestors' protection to continue the reign of your Jin Dynasty?"

Not knowing until now that Lu Yuan had only recently assassinated Xici, Nayancheng's face turned livid as he said:

"Hall Master Lu, is this behavior of yours today a sign that you have already made plans to raise a banner and rebel? In what way has the imperial court mistreated you, that you must commit such an act of treason?"

Lu Yuan smiled, as calm as an ancient well:

"Treason? The land of Shenzhou has been the home of the Han people since ancient times. You usurped the state, and to maintain your rule, you have oppressed and abused the Han people for hundreds of years—shaving their heads and forcing them to change their clothing, closing the country to the outside world, forfeiting sovereignty and humiliating the nation externally, while corrupt officials and cruel underlings exploit the masses internally. You are the greatest traitors of all!"

Nayancheng, however, said in a deep voice:

"Hall Master Lu, do you really think that under the previous Han dynasties, the masses of the world lived in peace and contentment, and were not living in dire misery? All dynasties are the same: at first, there is a prosperous and peaceful age, then it declines after reaching its peak, laws and administration decay, corrupt officials run rampant, and the masses suffer in dire misery. This is not something unique to the Great Jin.

By comparison, during the Jing Dynasty, the registered population of the world was no more than three hundred million, while under the rule of my Jin Clan, the population has exceeded seven hundred million, more than doubling! Such growth of hundreds of millions of people could not have been achieved without virtuous and good governance. If the Great Jin were truly as unbearable as you say, how could it have such a huge achievement?"

Lu Yuan sneered:

"Do not gild your own faces so much. As far as I know, the main reason for the population growth is the introduction of new, high-yield crops from foreign lands, which reduced the burden of survival for the masses. Of course, you have had some merits, but by now those few merits have long since been completely exhausted, and they cannot outweigh the suffering you have caused the world."

Nayancheng argued stubbornly:

"That was merely a great change unseen in a thousand years, coinciding with the invasion of foreign powers. The imperial court has already learned from its mistakes and is currently sharpening its weapons and accumulating strength to prepare for a counterattack. It only requires the common people to suffer a little for now; once the imperial court drives away the foreign powers, everything will naturally return to the right track and return to the peaceful and prosperous age that the people of the world expect!"

Lu Yuan laughed:

"Suffer a little for now? I think it would be better for the high-ranking officials in the imperial court to suffer a little first!"

Nayancheng was instantly left speechless.

Knowing that a person like Lu Yuan could not be persuaded by a few words, he turned ashen-faced, simply closed his eyes to rest his mind, and said no more.

And it was not long after.

He saw the Staff Officer that Nayancheng had sent out return, hurrying back, and saying:

"Governor-General, the important criminals captured yesterday, totaling eighty-eight people, have just been released in their entirety and sent to the Guangwu Hall."

Nayancheng looked at Lu Yuan:

"Hall Master Lu, are you satisfied now?"

Lu Yuan, however, looked over with cold eyes: "Why are there only eighty-eight?"

The Staff Officer's body trembled slightly, and he bit the bullet and said:

"As far as I know, when the great roundup was conducted yesterday, some people took advantage of the chaos to escape, and some resisted stubbornly and were killed on the spot, so..."

Nayancheng also hurriedly said:

"The order I gave was to capture them alive if possible; this matter has nothing to do with me!"

"Very well."

Lu Yuan could not be bothered to say more and stood up abruptly:

"Nayancheng, I will not kill you. After I leave, you are welcome to send troops to encircle and suppress the Guangwu Hall, but I suggest that before you do so, you first ask Xici, and then ask how many heads the princes and ministers in the imperial court, including yourself, have."

After speaking, under the gaze of everyone, his figure suddenly vanished into thin air.

Seeing this scene, neither Nayancheng nor Bagehai could help but be shocked, blinking hard in disbelief, suspecting that something was wrong with their eyes.

"Where is the person?"

In his shock, Bagehai reached out to probe the spot where Lu Yuan had been:

"What kind of method is this? Is he a human or a ghost!?"

Nayancheng, who had originally been filled with shame and rage and was preparing to mobilize elites for revenge as soon as he found an opportunity, felt as if he had fallen into an ice cave, his body and mind turning freezing cold.

As a high-ranking official, he was a man of wide experience, yet he had never seen such an inconceivable method; it almost exceeded his cognition.

With this kind of method, any encirclement and killing by Firearm and Cannon seemed to have become a joke.

And since the other party could vanish into thin air right under their noses, it was hard to say whether he had a way to appear out of thin air beside them. A top-tier expert who had once killed two Grandmasters—if he were to carry out decapitation assassinations against high-ranking officials like them, who could escape?

"Prepare the carriage, prepare the carriage."

In extreme terror and fury, Nayancheng's voice trembled:

"Return to Tianjing immediately. I must enter the palace to see the Old Buddha and report this matter!"

Lu Yuan naturally did not care how terrified and cold-hearted Nayancheng, the Governor-General of Zhili, was.

While there was a commotion in the post station official residence, he had already employed Invisibility and Wind Control. While in mid-air, he discovered a team of carriages and horses escorted by the Jingwu Division, which seemed to contain members of the Iron-Blooded National Salvation Society.

He did not wait, flying straight back to the backyard of the Guangwu Hall, then landed, dispelled the Invisibility Technique, and pushed the door open to enter.

At this moment, the sky was just beginning to brighten. Hearing the movement, Zhao Shuhua, Chen Zhantang, Peng Yidao, and the others turned their heads at the first moment, then said in surprise:

"Hall Master, have you finished your business?"

"Those people..."

Lu Yuan nodded and instructed:

"The people from the Jingwu Division will send the people from the Iron-Blooded National Salvation Society here immediately, eighty-eight in total. According to the people from the Jingwu Division, some of them took advantage of the chaos to escape, and some were killed on the spot while resisting. After they are sent here, Zhao Shuhua, you and Chen Zhantang and the others go out and take a look."

Zhao Shuhua, lying on the bed, was stunned upon hearing this, his words stumbling:

"H-Hall Master Lu, you really got the people out of the Jingwu Division!?"

There was another question he wanted to ask but dared not: how did you get them out?

Lu Yuan smiled and did not say much, only saying:

"They should be here soon, you can prepare. In addition, whether it is you or them, those who are willing to stay here for refuge can stay for the time being, and those who want to leave can also leave. Of course, it is better if you are willing to stay, because my Guangwu Hall was founded to prepare for an uprising, and it is in need of talent and backbone. If you are interested, you can consider it."

After speaking, he turned and left, leaving only Zhao Shuhua standing there in a daze.

After a long while, he suddenly realized, and at the same time looked at Chen Zhantang and the others in the room with some excitement:

"So, so Hall Master Lu he also...?"

Chen Zhantang and the others all smiled without speaking, indicating their tacit agreement.

And just at this moment, sounds of commotion came from outside. Except for Zhao Shuhua's guard, who was still in a coma, everyone else's eyes moved sharply.

Without another word, Zhao Shuhua, with the help of others, walked out of the room with Chen Zhantang and the others, passed through the hall, and arrived at the front gate.

They saw that in front of the gate, a total of seven or eight carriages were parked, and twenty or thirty officials from the Jingwu Division were shouting and driving people out of the carriages.

Most of these people were not very old, wearing shackles, and their clothes were thin, their faces bruised and swollen, and they were covered in bloodstains, seemingly having suffered quite a bit; after getting down, they looked around with dazed eyes, as if they had not yet figured out the situation.

"Song Dongshu!"

"Zhao Yunyi!"

"Qian Suan!"

Supported by Lin Sheng, the arriving Zhao Shuhua was even more overwhelmed with emotion, calling out the names of one like-minded partner after another.

The Iron-Blooded National Salvation Society had a weakness in terms of Martial Arts experts, and the Martial Peace Bureau was, to them, an entirely unshakable mountain; under normal circumstances, once these people entered that place, they could forget about ever coming out alive.

However, Lu Yuan had only been out for a short time of just over an hour, yet he had actually rescued more than eighty members who were regarded as rebels, and they were even delivered personally by people from the Martial Peace Bureau; this was simply as bizarre and incredible as a mouse acting as a bridesmaid for a cat!

(End of this chapter)