Chapter 13: Fire and Sorrow

  Under the bath of morning sunshine, withered yellow wild grass emits golden light. In Zhangjiakou market, early in the morning, six knights escort a horse-drawn carriage to the prairie. These days, Di Er Ye of Wangshun Pavilion has been frequently entering and leaving the town, which has attracted attention from many people, including Fan Yongdou.

  The supplies gathered by the eight merchant households have all been concentrated in Xuan Town tens of miles away, everything is ready, only waiting for the east wind. Fan Yongdong was waiting for the instructions issued to him by Yue Tuo. This was a business trip that could not fail. The cautiousness of Yue Tuo and Eru Zhuo made Fan Yongdou feel the importance attached by the Dongyu people to Zhangjiakou. If Lin Danhan of Chahar also had this heart, the fate of Zhangjiakou was still uncertain.

  What is the Di family secretly doing? Fan Yongdou decided to pass on the news to E Ruizhuo, who had been in secret contact with himself. There would be no solid alliance between business houses, everything was based on mutual benefit.

  On the grassland, Di Zhe and Xiao Zhishan walked in the front, followed by four partners who were carefully selected from the Di family as his guards. This was his third trip to the old nest of the Drilling Eagle, also his last one.

  "What is most important in an ambush?"

  The Hawk certainly didn't expect a rich merchant's son to come and ambush him, especially in his own lair. His knife had been sharpened to perfection last night.

  Because of the horse-drawn carriage, the group's pace was somewhat slower, and by the time they reached Suishi Valley, it was already mid-morning, and Meng Kang and the others were getting a bit anxious.

  The little followers took down the supplies from the carriage and loaded them onto the horses they had brought, as the carriage could not walk on the rugged mountain road to enter the old camp. Zhai Zhe and Meng Kang exchanged a look, everything was unspoken.

  The mountain road was difficult to walk on. Di Zhe brought four companions who naturally followed behind him. Meng Kang didn't speak, and no one asked much either.

  At the entrance of the valley, Zhantian Eagle came out to greet as usual.

  Di Zhe dismounted his horse and shook hands with Zuan Tianying. The two walked shoulder-to-shoulder into the valley.

  "We've shown enough sincerity as a big family! Look, we've brought wine and meat again!"

  "Alright, the brothers in the mountain stronghold are all waiting for your orders!" Zhuan Tianying chuckled and said with a sly tone: "To be honest, it's quite difficult for my family to escort the merchant caravan through the Thousand Mile Grassland. So I've contacted several other brotherhoods, perhaps we should renegotiate the reward?"

  Di Zhe stopped in his tracks, looking unhappy, and said: "Isn't one thousand two hundred silver coins enough? That's already enough to buy several tens of top-grade warhorses!"

  The eagle-like man let out a dry laugh, which sounded like the screech of an owl at night. "Double the price," he said, "and I guarantee to safely escort your merchant caravan across the Doyan grasslands."

  "I'll go back and discuss it with Dongjia again!" Di Zhe deliberately made his face gloomy.

  As they spoke, the two of them entered the earthen house.

  Di Zhe sat down, looking dissatisfied and shaking his head: "The merchant team is about to depart, and this is an unexpected branch of the main family. I had already brought half of the deposit with me."

  "Really?" The eagle's eyebrows jumped up.

  Di Zhe shouted loudly at Xiao Zhi: "Bring the silver over!"

  Xiao Zhiyan understood, and after going out, he called the four companions who followed him to the door of the thatched cottage. One of the companions carried a large package into the door, and the guard at the door did not stop him.

  "Open!"

  A heavy package fell onto the wooden table, and the partner carefully opened it to reveal two wooden boxes. Zhai Zhe stood up, gestured with his hand, and the partner opened the first box, inside which were ten silver ingots arranged in two neat rows.

  "Twenty-five yuan a catty!" Zhai Zhe signaled for his assistant to open another one.

  Zuan Tianying's eyes were fixed intently, just then Meng Kang's loud voice came from outside, saying: "Master, everything is in place!" He then walked in with big strides and was seemingly stunned by the silver on the table.

  Di Zhe gave him a wink and said to Zhu Tianying: "Let the master check the quality!"

  Zuan Tianying picked up a silver ingot and stretched out his hand. Di Zhe took a step back, drew out the waist knife and hacked down with all his might.

  At this time, there were four men of the Drill Heaven Eagle faction standing on both sides of the room. Just as Di Zhe drew his knife, Meng Kang's massive body took a step forward, and his shoulder suddenly crashed into one of the horse bandits on the left, sending him flying backwards to collide with the wall. Then he raised his right fist, which was as big as a bowl, and struck another person.

  Xiao Zhe and his companion also rushed towards their respective opponents.

  Even the most vigilant Zuan Tianying did not expect this sudden assassination, and by the time he reacted, Di Zhe's knife was already less than half a foot away from him. In his desperation, he could only use his right hand, which still held the silver ingot, to block it. The waist knife was extremely sharp, and with one swing, it cut off Zuan Tianying's forearm into two segments. The severed arm still tightly grasped the large silver ingot as it fell to the ground.

  Di Zhe closely pursued, with a kick to the chest, he knocked the Drill Sky Eagle to the ground. His waist knife followed suit and chopped down, striking the Drill Sky Eagle's shoulder. Before it could even call out to its companions, the Drill Sky Eagle was struck by two consecutive blades, letting out a miserable cry that echoed far away.

  Zhang Er, who was not far from the main house, heard the mournful cry and his face changed greatly. He drew his knife and shouted: "Brothers, someone is making a sneak attack on Master! Quick, rush into the house!"

  Bandits swarmed in from all directions, each carrying weapons and rushing over from the mountains and valleys.

  The three companions at the gate had just knocked down the two horse thieves guarding the gate, and seeing the large group of horse thieves rushing over, they were anxious in their hearts, shouting loudly into the house: "Quick! Quick!"

  Meng Kang drew a small axe from his waist and chopped down two of Zuan Tianying's loyal followers. Seeing that Di Zhe had not yet killed Zuan Tianying, he rushed over anxiously, the blood-stained axe blade heading straight for Zuan Tianying's back. Zuan Tianying dodged and weaved but was stabbed in the chest by Di Zhe, muttering: "You..."

  Meng Kang didn't even have a chance to speak, his left hand grasped the hair, his right hand swung an axe, and with a cracking sound of neck bones breaking, the head of Tianying's man fell into his hands. On the other side, the guard disguised as a partner also killed another trusted aide of Tianying, rushing to help the last one who was entangled with Xiao Zhiyan.

  The sound of clashing steel had already risen at the entrance, and the three guards were no match for the numerous bandits, so they retreated into the house after a brief fight.

  "Don't shoot anymore!" Di Zhe rushed to the door and shouted loudly, "Zuan Tianying is already dead!"

  Zhang Er was still loudly shouting: "Charge in and rescue the master of the house!"

  Meng Kang threw the head of the Drilling Heaven Eagle from his hand out of the door, roaring: "Return the Drilling Heaven Eagle to you!"

  A bloody head fell into the crowded masses, the horse thieves scattered in fear, and the lone head of the Sky Eagle rolled on the ground.

  Zhang Er rushed forward, holding up the head and crying: "The master!" Then he turned around and shouted: "Brothers, kill them, avenge the master!"

  Di Zhe walked out of the house, Meng Kang closely followed him.

  "The great leader is already dead! Following the Sky Eagle, you can't even get enough to eat, but following me, there's wine to drink and meat to eat. What will you choose!" Di Zhe forced himself to remain calm under the encirclement of the horse thieves.

  Meng Kang shouted loudly beside him: "Brothers, you've all seen it these past few days, what has the new master given me? Grains, meat and wine. What are we bandits after? Isn't it just these things?! Following the new master, we're still brothers!"

  There were Meng Kang's trusted followers in the crowd who responded: "Surrender! The Sky Eagle has already died!"

  Zhang Er was furious, pointing at Meng Kang and cursing loudly: "You're a traitor, colluding with outsiders, brothers, let's kill him!" Under the incitement, more people began to stir, just then an arrow flew out of the house and hit Zhang Er's throat, Xiao Zhiyan holding a longbow also walked out of the house.

  When Zhang Er dies, the bandits are as quiet as a crow and sparrow.

  Di Zhe saw that the overall situation was settled, clapped his hands and said: "Those who surrender will be brothers from now on, those who don't follow me I won't retain! Follow me and there's wine to drink and meat to eat, let's take care of it together!"

  Those who see the wind and make the rudder shouted: "Surrender! Surrender!" For these people, it is the same to follow whoever, and no one will be willing to risk their lives for revenge against the Sky Eagle.

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