knife

Chapter 12 Xiao Changche

If we were to name the most famous court official outside the Great Wall, it would undoubtedly be Xiao Changche.

Linghu Ye was the commander of an army of 100,000 men outside the Great Wall.
But ordinary people really don't know who this person is.

Xiao Changche, however, was a rare and powerful creature capable of stopping a child's nighttime crying.

His ruthlessness towards the enemy,
Even friendly forces turned a sidelong glance.

Whether it was chasing the Left Wise King of the Northern Yuan for thousands of miles back then, or forcibly taking his favorite concubine as a mistress...
Over the years, whether it was fighting against the Northern Yuan or suppressing bandits within the country, basically after each of his battles, a mound of corpses would appear outside the Great Wall.

Those densely packed heads forged Xiao Changche's glory.

In folk legends, Xiao Changche is described as having a waist three feet wide, a leopard's head with bulging eyes, a ferocious face, and being a lecherous womanizer who also eats children, among other strange and unusual traits.

These legends have been passed down for so long that some people, after actually meeting Xiao Changche, began to doubt whether the person standing in front of them was really real.

Just as Li Dachui said, Xiao Changche was only a few dozen miles away from Li Dachui at this moment. For people who measure distances with their own two legs and travel back and forth, a few dozen miles is really too far, but for them, a few dozen miles is just the time it takes for an incense stick to burn.

"General, I was wrong! I'll go and fight Li Dachui to the death right now!" Zheng Song, a notorious bandit leader in the border region, was kneeling on the ground, his voice trembling, his whole body shaking uncontrollably, his face contorted with fear.

Xiao Changche, sitting on the saddle, looked quite handsome—yes, handsome.

He had feminine features, with willow-leaf eyebrows, peach-blossom eyes, fair and delicate skin, and a tall but slender figure.

Compared to Zheng Song kneeling in front of him, the burly Zheng Song, if split in two, would probably look even more robust than Xiao Changche.

"Since when have I ever asked someone to do something that I need to repeat myself?" Xiao Changche's voice was calm and unhurried, devoid of any emotion, and his gaze towards the other person was devoid of any warmth.

Upon hearing Xiao Changche's words, Zheng Song's eyes revealed despair. He roared and leaped up, pouncing on Xiao Changche, who was standing close to him, like a bear.

Only by capturing him can we survive.

When people are at their most desperate, they can always unleash courage and strength that they themselves find hard to believe.

Zheng Song's move demonstrated a level of skill far exceeding his usual standard.

Xiao Changche's expression remained unchanged, but the officers standing behind him wore mocking looks and didn't move an inch.

Xiao Changche reached out and grabbed Zheng Song by the neck as he lunged at him, pinning him to the ground like a dog.

"If you have the guts to attack me, why don't you go and fight Li Dachui to the death? Is Li Dachui perhaps even more powerful than me?"

Xiao Changche's tone remained calm as always, but Zheng Song could no longer answer him.

While choking Zheng Song, Xiao Changche also snapped his neck.

He stood up and walked a dozen steps ahead to the clear water river. "Cut off this idiot's head and lay it out with the heads of his henchmen, so that all the scum can see the consequences of breaking the rules!"

"Here!"

A soldier walked over, grabbed Zheng Song by one leg, and dragged him away like a stray dog.

Xiao Changche squatted by the river, slowly washing his hands.

"Shouldn't it be time for a fight to break out? None of our scouts have returned yet?"

"General, they haven't returned yet!" An officer stepped forward, his voice revealing some unease. He was the officer in charge of scouts, and from yesterday to today, a total of ten scouts had been sent out, but so far, none of them had returned.

Xiao Changzhan stood up: "They're not coming back. Let's move out, forward. I'm going to meet Li Dachui! Since he invited me, it would be petty of me not to go."

"You mean he captured our scout?" the officer asked, somewhat incredulously.

"Is there a second explanation?" Xiao Changche said, "If I don't go, your scouts are doomed."

"How dare he!" the officer said angrily, his face flushed. "If he weren't so bold, would he be in this situation today?" Xiao Changche laughed.

"General, you seem to value this Li Dachui very much? We've been suppressing bandits for years, but you've never mentioned him. As a result, his reputation is growing! I don't understand! He's just a bandit!"

Xiao Changche took a dry cloth from the officer and wiped his hands, saying, "This person is indeed somewhat special. Since we're meeting him today, I'll tell you some things so you can have a clearer and more comprehensive understanding of him, which will help you avoid suffering losses in the future!"

"Now that the General is going to see him today, how can this Li Dachui possibly escape alive?" another officer laughed. He wasn't flattering him; he genuinely believed it. Over the years, every bandit leader Xiao Changche had ever met had become the top mound of a pile of corpses.

"I'd like to, but I'm afraid I can't!" Xiao Changche looked somewhat regretful: "Do you still remember the battle three years ago when we chased down the Left Wise King of Beiyuan?"

Speaking of this battle, the surrounding generals became excited; it was Xiao Changche's most triumphant victory, and theirs as well. The pursuit lasted almost a month, with eating, drinking, and even relieving themselves almost entirely on horseback, but the gains were immense. Each of them gained tremendous prestige and even wealth from this event, something they could boast about for a lifetime.

Seeing the excited expressions on everyone's faces, Xiao Changche asked, "Have you ever thought about why Wutu, the general under the Left Wise King, didn't manage to return to the Left Wise King's aid for a whole month? Where did he go? What was he doing?"

The officers looked at each other in bewilderment.

“We thought it was all thanks to Your Excellency’s brilliant strategy that Wutu was tricked into making a tactical mistake,” a one-eyed general said, picking at his eye patch.

His blind eye was caused by an arrow wound in that battle, but it was also his badge of honor, earning him respect wherever he went. The other guys weren't any less wounded than him, but they couldn't exactly strip down to show off their scars to everyone they met!
"You can fool people for a while, but can you fool them for so long?" Xiao Changche laughed. "It was hard to talk about this before, but now that time has passed, there's nothing to hide. Back then, I paid 50,000 taels of silver to hire this Li Dachui to intercept Wutu."

Everyone was stunned.

"Fifty thousand taels of silver to get this Li Dachui to intercept Wutu? I remember Wutu was leading tens of thousands of elite Northern Yuan troops back then!" The one-eyed general gaped. "And did Li Dachui even have that kind of strength back then?"

"The Commander-in-Chief knows more about this Li Dachui than I do!" Xiao Changche said calmly. "When I was planning this operation, the Commander-in-Chief couldn't spare any troops to help me, so he contacted this Li Dachui for me."

"No wonder you didn't want to get rid of this Li Dachui, General. It turns out he has something going on with the Marshal." The one-eyed general stammered, swallowing back the words that were about to come out.

Xiao Changche shook his head: "Dongwei, if I could really swallow Li Dachui whole, I'm afraid the commander would be even happier. But the problem is, can we even swallow him? Won't we break our teeth? Li Dachui isn't a benevolent man; on the contrary, he's a ruthless man who eats people without spitting out the bones. When Wutu wanted to rescue the Left Wise King, he divided his forces. One part was led by Wutu himself, while the other part escorted the wealth and people they had plundered from beyond the Great Wall. That Li Dachui really had some tricks up his sleeve. Not only did he hold Wutu back, but he also managed to rob all those people and wealth. Thirty thousand people and thousands of cartloads of various supplies were all eaten up by that guy, and in the end, he even shamelessly sent someone to ask me for fifty thousand taels of silver."

Xiao Dongwei's eyes widened, his face filled with indignation: "You can tolerate this?"

"Of course I can't tolerate this!" Xiao Changche said. "I gave the messenger he sent a good beating and sent him back."

The group of officers burst into laughter.

"But the money was still paid in the end, by the commander-in-chief." Xiao Changche said.

"Why?" The unanimous question revealed everyone's shock.

"Because that guy went to Zhenwu City with the Lord of Tai'an to complain to the Commander-in-Chief." Xiao Changche said, "It was in the Commander-in-Chief's inner residence that I first met the Lord of Tai'an City and this Li Dachui. I didn't have the money to pay the debt, so in the end the Commander-in-Chief had to pay it for me."

"He has a connection with the Lord of Antai City?" The crowd had become somewhat numb.

"It is said that the two met on the way, but who would believe that!" Xiao Changche chuckled. "Li Dachui rose from obscurity to prominence so quickly. Is it possible that he didn't have the help of a powerful figure? Looking at the entire area outside the pass, there are very few people with this ability, and Lord Antai is one of them."

"Just how powerful are innate masters?" Xiao Dongwei licked his lips.

"The commander said that in such a face-to-face environment, if the Lord of Tai'an City wanted to kill him, he wouldn't have much power to resist! The difference between the Innate and the Ninth Grade of Profound Origin is only one step, but that one step could very well be an insurmountable chasm."

The officers all shut their mouths. If even the commander-in-chief, a ninth-rank expert, was like this, then there was no need to mention them at all.

"How much did that treacherous Zhang Ruo pay to get Li Dachui to save his life?" Xiao Dongwei suddenly became agitated. "General, do you think those bandits can handle this?"

"It doesn't matter if we don't do well. We can use Li Dachui to wipe out these bandits. The effect will be just as good! Li Dachui has gone on a killing spree this time. He won't be able to get along with the other bandits outside the pass anymore."

"But what about Zhang Ruo?"

“If we can’t kill him this time, then we’ll find another opportunity. If the commander-in-chief is unwilling to get involved, then I, Xiao Changche, will do it.” Xiao Changche’s delicate face was full of killing intent. “I’m not afraid of getting into trouble. What’s so strange about a few officials dying outside the Great Wall? Dozens of them die every year. Everyone else can die, so why can’t Zhang Ru die?”

(End of this chapter)