Chapter One: Perplexity

  It turned out that this guy was the one who was shot by Zhou Xiang earlier, but his injury was relatively light. Seeing that everyone else was fighting with Gao Huaiyuan and the others, he quietly got up and slipped to the side of the large cart. This guy was also an expert, and at a glance, he figured out that there might be women in the cart. So, he thought of secretly taking control of the women inside the cart and using them as hostages to force Gao Huaiyuan and the others to surrender.

  But this guy is really an unlucky kid, the abacus of intention is not bad, but he didn't think that Liu'er in the car also had a plan. Just now when both sides started fighting, Liu'er took out the hatchet given by Gao Huaiyuan and held it tightly, staring at the curtain.

  The guy lifted the car curtain, stuck his head inside to take a closer look, but it was quite dark in the car and his eyes hadn't adjusted yet. Before he could see clearly what was going on inside, Liu'er had already seen his face clearly, let out a sharp cry, and without hesitation, chopped down with her knife, hitting this unlucky kid right on the head, opening up a gash on his skull.

  Fortunately, Liu was a young girl and didn't have much strength in her hands. The axe was also rough and the new blade wasn't sharp either. If it were a man, his skull would have been split open by now. Even so, he couldn't take it and dropped the axe, rolling off the cart.

  Liu Er's trick succeeded, but she was frightened to death, thinking she had killed someone, and let out a loud scream, which just happened to attract Gao Huaiyuan, who almost got hacked to death as well.

  "Don't run! Watch me beat you to death, you scoundrel!" Just as Gao Huaiyuan was comforting Liu'er, he suddenly heard Li Tong's shout.

  He hastily turned his head to look, and as a result, he saw Li Tong picking up the wooden stick he had dropped, shouting loudly and chasing after a big man. This big man was the leader who was shot by Gao Huaiyuan's arrow just now. At this moment, seeing that all his brothers were knocked down by Gao Huaiyuan and others, he knew that today was a kick against an iron plate. He endured the pain, got up with a limp, and carried the arrow shaft on his leg, wanting to escape into the woods.

  Li Tong was now furious, seeing his master and two young men, Huang Yan and Zhou Huan, take down a group of bandits with ease. Feeling ashamed for hiding behind the carriage despite being an adult, he feared that Gao Huaiyuan would look down on him in the future and give him the cold shoulder. So, he ran out to pick up the wooden stick that Gao Huaiyuan had dropped by the carriage, intending to severely beat the bandits who were already defeated.

  When he saw the leader limping and trying to escape, he immediately took off after him, shouting loudly to boost his own courage.

  He waited until he caught up with the leader, then swung his wooden staff at the big man, thinking that he would finally be able to make a contribution. However, the big man saw someone chasing after him and, becoming vicious, suddenly swung his knife back and chopped down on Li Tong's staff.

  Li Tong didn't know kung fu, the force in his hands was not enough, and on top of that, Da Han's strength was very great. This knife was also launched with anger, so as a result, one stick hit past, the knife and stick intersected, and suddenly he felt a lightness in his hand. When he looked carefully, the wooden stick in his hand had only half left. He was so scared that he threw away the stick and rolled back while crawling, shouting loudly inside: "Young master save me!" It was embarrassing to the extreme.

  Seeing this scene, Gao Huaiyuan was both angry and amused. After letting Liu'er sit back in the carriage, he picked up a hard bow from the ground and grabbed an arrow, immediately drawing his bow and aiming at the big man who was about to escape, shouting: "If you take another step, I'll shoot! Let's see if you can run faster than my arrow!"

  The big Han immediately stopped in his tracks, turned his head to look at Gao Huaiyuan, and his face suddenly turned pale. He hastily called out: "Don't shoot the arrow, I won't run! Today we admit defeat!" As he spoke, he threw away the single-edged sword in his hand and sat down on the ground.

  Gao Huaiyuan let Zhou Huan and Huang Yan go, kicked this guy down with one foot, collected the soldiers' blades, hugged them back to the side of the big cart, and ordered Li Tong to search for the rope on these guys' bodies, dragged them together like dead dogs, tied them up, and only then was this battle thoroughly ended.

  Gao Huaiyuan picked up a single-edged sword and slapped the face of the leading big man with the blade, coldly saying: "You're just a bunch of trash, can't even handle a few kids like us, yet you dare to rob people here? It's laughable! I say you guys have some strength, why do something bad like this? Isn't this just asking for death?"

  That big Han, despite having an injury on his leg, still had a strong air about him. With a face full of discontent, he glared at Gao Huai and said: "Today we suffered because we underestimated you guys from the start. We didn't expect that you would have bows and arrows, which is why you were able to take advantage of us! Otherwise, if it was just one-on-one combat, you definitely wouldn't be our match!"

  "Damn it! Unprofessional is unprofessional! You're a thief, you should have the skills of a thief. Before making a move, you didn't even investigate our bottom line, and that's your stupidity! Moreover, nine of you were defeated by three of us young men, and you still dare to say you don't accept it? Talking about one-on-one combat! You nine people, how can you mention one-on-one combat to me? Don't be ridiculous!" Gao Huaiyuan scolded immediately after hearing that.

  "Come on! You're a big man, with a group of people, and you can't even beat the three of us kids. And yet you still dare to say that our boss isn't afraid of a one-on-one fight? Don't you know how to blush?! If I didn't mock you, even in a one-on-one fight, you're absolutely no match for our boss! How embarrassing!" Huang Yan also chimed in with ridicule, his face full of smugness.

  The great Han was scolded to the point of being speechless, and this matter is indeed ridiculous. He only thought about getting rich yesterday evening and didn't put Gao Huaiyuan and others in his heart at all. Who would have thought that Gao Huaiyuan, a young man, was so powerful? As a result, not only did he fail to catch the fat sheep, but he was also defeated by him! Moreover, Huang Yan's words were also correct. He had just seen Gao Huaiyuan's skills and knew that if he really fought alone with him, he might not be his opponent either.

  After being scolded, I thought it was indeed embarrassing, and suddenly my old face turned red with shame. I opened my mouth and said: "You scolded us well, today is our fault, we are not capable! Since that's the case, I have nothing to say! I just want to ask this good fellow, how do you plan to deal with us?"

  Hao Hua Yuan listened and replied, "How should I deal with you? Of course, it's to hand you over to the government for disposal! You guys are definitely good-for-nothings who have grown strong for nothing, but insist on doing this business! Since you've done this, you should be aware of the consequences! As the saying goes, 'those who come out to make trouble will eventually have to pay the price!' Am I supposed to let you off and allow you to continue with this business?"

  Dahan's face changed upon hearing this, and he angrily said: "We are not lazy gluttons, you must not insult us. We were also honest peasants who tilled the land in the past. If it weren't for the officials who forcibly occupied our land and left us with no way to survive, who would be willing to do such a shameful business?

  Since I've been caught by you today, I have nothing to say for myself! Don't blame the others, these brothers were all brought here by me. Previously they were all ordinary citizens who hadn't done anything evil, this matter can't be blamed on them! Moreover, the wealth we robbed wasn't squandered, but was used to help some people who couldn't make a living! We didn't do too many things that harmed heaven and reason!

  "If we're all handed over to the authorities, they'll also be doomed to die. Today I'm here to take responsibility for you good men, it has nothing to do with them! You good men do things like good men should, come at me instead! If you want to kill, just kill me alone, I won't have a single complaint! Just please spare them, otherwise they'll be starved to death along with their entire family, that's dozens of people! Consider it my plea to you!" As he spoke, the big man's face revealed a sorrowful expression, gritting his teeth against the pain in his leg, struggling to get up, and heavily kowtowed to Gao Huaiyuan.

  Several of his subordinates who were not unconscious upon hearing this, all burst into tears and cried out: "Big Brother, don't say such things! We follow you to do things, we never thought that one day we'd end up in a good place! If we must die, we're willing to die with Big Brother!"

  After listening to the big man's words, Gao Huaiyuan suddenly had a greatly changed impression of him. Originally, he thought they were a group of idle and greedy rascals, but it turned out that wasn't the case at all. These people were forced into this path by circumstances, and according to what the big man said, they could even be considered righteous bandits. Moreover, this big man was very chivalrous and could be counted as a good fellow. If he were to turn them in to the authorities now, it would go against his conscience. Besides, he also knew that currently, the powerful officials of Southern Song were fiercely seizing land, and these people had indeed been left with no other choice but to take this path!

  When he saw these people in this situation, Gao Huaiyuan suddenly hesitated about how to deal with them.

  "Are you telling the truth? Are you not deceiving us? And have you ever done anything that goes against heaven and reason, how many innocent people have you killed?" Gao Huaiyuan couldn't help but ask.

  "Even if what I said is half false, let me be cut into a thousand pieces and struck by lightning! We may do this business, but we seek wealth not life. Except for killing that depraved official, we haven't done anything else that harms the heavens or the people. And it was my hand that killed that scoundrel, nothing to do with them! Even if you want to turn us in, I beg of you good sirs, take me alone and let me die in place of that scoundrel!"

  "Master, don't believe this scoundrel! I think he's intentionally deceiving you! Let's hurry up and send them to the authorities, then we can be on our way!" Li Tong said indignantly. Earlier, he had been cut off by the big man with a single knife slash, scaring him so much that he rolled away in a heap, losing face completely, and now he was seething with hatred towards him!

  That big fellow glared at Li Tong, angrily saying: "I am a great man who stands tall and upright, how could I deceive this good fellow? Don't spout nonsense!"

  Gao Huaiyuan stared at the big man's eyes, and the big man also looked back at him fearlessly, with a desperate look in his eyes.

  "Shut up, Li Tong! You go and gather the car and tools. This matter doesn't need your interference, I have my own way of handling things!" Gao Huaiyuan glared at Li Tong.

  Li Tong shrunk his neck and quickly turned to run back to the car, doing things according to Gao Huaiyuan's instructions. Today's battle made him truly understand Gao Huaiyuan's ferocity, and he wouldn't dare disobey Gao Huaiyuan's words even if he were beaten to death.