There is a bug in the space? That's called buff!

Yuan Botao raised his head, and the emperor noticed that there was a large stain of blood on his forehead, which had now dried up and was staring at him like a black and red eye, which was shocking.

"What are you doing?" The emperor pointed at his forehead and asked in surprise.

"Your Majesty, I went to pick up His Highness, but found that He had been met by bandits and was nowhere to be found. Currently, the Spirit Snake Guard and the Flying Bird Guard have not sent back any news. I was impulsive and led the Black Tiger Guard directly into the Black Wind Village, but fell into a trap."

The more Yuan Botao spoke, the more choked up his voice became.

"Don't cry yet. Tell me clearly, what happened? Was the whole army wiped out?"

Yuan Botao tried to control his emotions and said, "No, more than half of them were killed or injured, and the remaining half are being held hostage in Black Wind Village."

Upon hearing this, the emperor pointed at Yuan Botao's nose and scolded him: "You! You are already a veteran, how could you make such a big mistake? Every time the court suppresses the bandits in Black Wind Village, it fails. Don't you want to think about why? Don't you use your brain before doing anything? A group of people are left as hostages, then what are you doing back?"

"I...I..." Yuan Botao hesitated, not knowing how to start.

"Speak!" the emperor roared.

Yuan Botao was frightened and said immediately, "The bandit leader is holding the golden dragon blood and wants to negotiate with the imperial court!"

"Golden dragon blood? Did you see it clearly?"

"The guards around His Highness said that he had taken the golden dragon blood himself before, so there is no doubt about it. Moreover, the blood seemed to have a golden glow from a distance and flowed slowly, as if it had life. I think it must be real."

The emperor was overjoyed, so he clapped his hands and laughed, and his expression became much warmer when he looked at Yuan Botao.

"What conditions?"

"The bandit leader wants an imperial decree, so that the imperial court and Black Wind Village will not interfere with each other in the future."

"Is it that simple?" the emperor asked suspiciously.

Yuan Botao heard that the emperor's tone was amusing, so he asked happily: "So, Your Majesty, you agree?"

"What kind of big waves can a small Black Wind Village cause? Not using military force against them can save my mother's life. It's worth it!"

The emperor seemed to be talking to himself, but also seemed to be talking to Yuan Botao.

"Liu Ruhai, please prepare your writing brush and ink! Bring me the brocade scroll. I want to draft an imperial edict!"

"As ordered!"

Upon hearing this, Liu Ruhai hurriedly placed the finest goat-hair brush and inkstone on the table, and took out the bright yellow brocade scroll.

Seeing this, Yuan Botao added water and started grinding ink.

Mo Yan was almost done, and Yuan Botao said to the emperor: "Your Majesty, it's done!"

The emperor picked up the pen, dipped it in ink, thought for a moment, and then began to write. After he finished writing, the emperor picked it up and checked it again. After confirming that there was no problem, he took the jade seal from Liu Ruhai and stamped it.

Liu Ruhai took the imperial edict and put it into a bamboo tube before handing it to Yuan Botao.

"Take this imperial edict with you! Tell them that I agree. If you can safely bring the golden dragon blood to save the Queen Mother's life, as long as the Black Wind Village does not rebel against the court, I will turn a blind eye to all their future actions."

"As you command, Your Majesty!"

Yuan Botao took the bamboo tube and put it on his back, then knelt down and said to the emperor: "Your Majesty, I will leave now. I will not fail in your mission!"

There seemed to be a hint of reluctance in his tone. After he finished speaking, Yuan Botao stood up and left, leaving only his back to the emperor.

The emperor watched Yuan Botao leave. He shook his head and smiled, then muttered to himself, "This guy, I don't really want to punish him, why does he look like he is ready to die bravely?"

Yuan Botao drove out and headed straight for Black Wind Village. A group of people watched him leave. One of them said to another, "It looks like it's done. Do I need to inform His Highness?"

"No need, Your Highness will know when the time comes. Let's retreat!"

With that, several people took off and left.

Along the way, Yuan Botao had an extremely smooth journey without encountering any setbacks, and soon he returned to Heifeng Village.

"Boss, I'm here with an imperial decree! Boss, I'm here with an imperial decree!"

Yuan Botao pulled the imperial edict out of the bamboo tube. The bright yellow imperial edict fluttered in the wind as Yuan Botao moved, and was particularly dazzling.

"It's Deputy Commander Yuan, he's here to save us!" The tied soldiers standing on the city wall cheered happily.

The bandit leader also stood on the city wall and looked across the cliff. He waved his hand and said, "Let him come over!"

"Yes!"

The bandits slowly lowered the wooden bridge. Yuan Botao dismounted and handed the horse to the soldier guarding it. He walked towards the other side step by step with the imperial edict, and every step was extremely firm.

When they reached the foot of the city wall, Yuan Botao said, "Please open the door, Boss."

The bandit leader shouted, "No need! I will come out myself."

As he said that, the bandit leader handed the tube of red liquid to the second in command and walked down the city wall alone.

With a "creak!", the gate of the mountain stronghold opened and the bandit leader walked out slowly.

"Commander Yuan, if we weren't enemies, I would really like to recruit you under my command!"

The bandit leader laughed heartily and patted Yuan Botao on the shoulder.

"Black Wind Village receives the order!"

"Zhang Tieniu, the leader of the Black Wind Village, has received the order!" the bandit leader said seriously.

Seeing that the bandit leader did not kneel, Yuan Botao was unhappy but did not care about it anymore. After all, since the bandit leader asked for this imperial edict, it proved that he still had some respect for the imperial power, just not much.

"Shen Yu Qianqiu, a gift from heaven, conveys the emperor's order. Shen Yu will live in peace with Black Wind Village and will no longer carry out bandit suppression activities. I hope Black Wind Village will abide by the contract, understand the suffering of the people, and stop affecting their peaceful lives. In this way, Black Wind Village can be guaranteed to be healthy for a thousand years! I decree!"

Yuan Botao handed the imperial edict to Zhang Tieniu and added, "The emperor specifically instructed that as long as Black Wind Village does not rebel against the court, the court will turn a blind eye to all your future actions."

Zhang Tieniu chuckled and said, "As long as the imperial court does not target our Black Wind Village, we will not go too far. The emperor is really worrying too much."

"What about this golden dragon blood?"

"Golden dragon blood? You mean the tube of red water? I don't know what that is, but I'll give it to you."

As he spoke, Li Tieniu shouted to the city wall: "Second in command, bring the tube of red water down. The court has agreed not to attack us."

The second in command responded and went down the city wall with the golden dragon blood.

Yuan Botao didn't breathe a sigh of relief until he put the golden dragon blood safely into his arms.

"Where did the boss get this golden dragon blood? Has he ever seen our Crown Prince?"

"We robbed another group of people and got this blood. We were planning to throw it away, but then there was a handsome man in black in that group."

"A handsome man in black? What are his characteristics?"

A trace of doubt flashed through Yuan Botao's mind, so he interrupted Zhang Tieniu.

"That's not the case, it's just that... there was another man next to the handsome man. He was actually quite good-looking, but he was covered in makeup and looked effeminate, which made people feel uncomfortable."

Zhang Tieniu still gets goose bumps all over his body when he talks about that man, and feels extremely uncomfortable physically!

"Where was I just now?"

"There is a handsome man in black in the team."

"Ah, yes! The man in black said he would redeem it with ten thousand gold coins, saying that the court was looking for this thing and we must not give it to anyone else."

Zhang Tieniu said angrily:

"Oh, what a bad temper I have! How dare you threaten me! So I agreed to his request with a smile, and then I revealed it to you. I didn't expect that your court was really looking for this thing."

"Then why doesn't the boss want millions of gold, but instead wants an imperial edict?" Yuan Botao asked puzzled.

“Money is nothing if you earn it but don’t spend it. So although I made less money on the surface, I actually asked for several death-proof talismans for my brothers in Black Wind Village. Although I’m not rich, at least I can live and work in peace in my Black Wind Village!”

Yuan Botao looked at Zhang Tieniu's complacent look, as if he was not a bandit but a top scholar.

But Zhang Tieniu is really smart. Other mountain strongholds value money more than life, but he focuses on long-term development.

"What about my people?"

"Take your people away!" Zhang Tieniu waved his hand with great heroism.

"Brothers, send all the officers and soldiers down and let them go home."

Zhang Tieniu gave instructions to his brothers on the city wall.

After all the officers and soldiers had arrived, Yuan Botao asked them to untie each other, and then led them across the wooden bridge to meet up with the horse guards.

When they were riding horses and counting the number of people, there were more than 150 people when they left, but only 80 came back. Yuan Botao felt even more uncomfortable and felt even more guilty.

After watching Yuan Botao leave, Zhang Tieniu returned to the mountain stronghold and said to the man who was drinking tea: "Your Highness, I have done as you said."

"Okay!" The man tapped the tea bowl with his bony hands and said lightly.