Chapter 14 Pacification

  After the massacre, the valley slowly returned to calmness. Meng Kang found a few mats of grass and wrapped up the eight corpses, including Lian Zhuantianying, and ordered them to be buried in a mountain ditch about seven or eight miles away from the old camp.

  All the horse thieves gathered on a flat grassland in front of the earth house under Meng Kang's command. Di Zhe wanted to comfort these horse thieves as soon as possible, no matter what kind of feelings they had towards Zhuan Tianying, at least he wanted them to feel that following him would have a better future.

  "Zuan Tianying is dead, I know you all have your own thoughts," said Zhai Zhe, waving his hands. "But I want to ask everyone, what are you wandering in this prairie for?"

  "To eat one's fill and wear warm clothes, rather than dying randomly on this prairie and becoming food for wild beasts!"

  "These Drill Sky Eagles can't bring you, only I can give them to you!" Zhai Zhe's voice echoed in the valley. "If anyone among you is thinking of Drill Sky Eagle and wants to avenge him, I can let you leave now and wait for your return here at any time to avenge him. If you want to gallop on the grassland with me, then stay!"

  "Stay!" Meng Kang shouted loudly with a raised fist, his usual fearless and dare-to-die image in battle giving him some prestige among these bandits.

  Di Zhe took out a golden mask and put it on his face, shouting: "Follow me! Oh!" This was something he had already prepared in advance. As the second young master of Wangshun Pavilion, he still needed to keep his identity hidden for the time being. The situation at Zhangjiakou was chaotic, and if he wasn't careful, he would leave himself open to ridicule.

  "Wow!" The horse thieves cheered and raised their arms, whether they were genuinely excited or just pretending.

  After clearing out the 182 horse bandits in the valley, Di Zhe temporarily did not dare to make a big move and ordered Meng Kang to guard the entrance of the valley, preparing to spend his first night in the old camp of the horse bandits.

  At night, the wind was strong outside, blowing through the mountains and forests with a loud noise. Throughout the whole night, Di Zhe, Xiao Zhongyan and others hardly slept at all. Their swords were always by their side, and the four guards did not take off their clothes until the bright light of dawn shone in through the windows, only then did Di Zhe feel relieved.

  The life of the bandits was as usual, when Di Zhe went out, most people were still asleep, and a few elderly and weak ones were preparing breakfast. The ignited firewood burned fiercely, and steam enveloped the iron pot above.

  Meng Kang also returned from the valley mouth, walking all the way while yawning, it was obvious that he didn't sleep well last night either.

  "The puppies haven't gotten up yet! Is this young fellow still used to living in the valley?" Meng Kang greeted Zhai Zhe with a big smile, perhaps he didn't think Zhai Zhe would stay here forever.

  Di Zhe shrank his body and said: "It's a bit cold, let's gather everyone after breakfast!"

  "Alright!"

  The valley is indeed very cold, and while it provides a refuge from the icy north wind, it also means that the sun does not rise high enough to fully illuminate until late morning.

  The bandits gathered in twos and threes on the grassland in front of the earthen house after finishing their breakfast, and after a night's relief, the shock brought by the death of the Heavenly Eagle slowly dissipated. Some people looked at Zhai Zhe and others with some unusual eyes, they were not willing to be led by an outsider.

  "Do you see that wooden board?" Zhai Zhe stood in the middle of the horse thieves, pointing to a circular wooden sign about seventy steps away from him, roughly the size of a small bowl mouth. That was his target.

  "Whoever can hit that wooden board from here, this silver ingot is theirs!" He opened the wooden box beside him and took out a silver ingot to toss in his hand. It was a 25-tael silver ingot, almost equivalent to two years' income for an ordinary family in the Great Ming Dynasty.

  The horse thieves whispered among themselves, and no one stood up for half a day.

  "Two silver ingots!" Zhang Zhe's amplified voice, "The two silver ingots in the first one!"

  The noise in the bandit's lair grew louder.

  A young man with a blue robe, a square face and slightly yellowish hair jumped out of the crowd and asked: "If I win, can I take these two silver ingots away and leave the mountain stronghold?"

  Meng Kang was furious and stood up saying: "Che Feng, you've gone too far!"

  Di Zhe stretched out his hand to signal Meng Kang to calm down, and looked at the young man in front of him: "This competition was originally only for people from the mountain stronghold. If you think you have what it takes, you can give it a try. Two silver ingots are nothing to me, if you insist on leaving, I won't stop you."

  Che Feng took the bow off his back, pulled it a few times to test the string, walked to within ten steps of Jia Zhe, slowly drew the bow and shot an arrow, hitting the wooden board eighty steps away.

  "Good!" Cheers erupted.

  Di Zhe also clapped his hands and signaled the guards beside him to take out two silver ingots, shouting at Che Feng: "It's yours!"

  Che Feng walked over, took out a leather pouch and hung it on his waist. All sorts of envious and jealous eyes were focused on him alone, and the scene suddenly became quiet, as Zuan Tianying had never given such a generous reward to his subordinates before.

  Di Zhe lowered his head and took a glance at the wooden box, then shouted: "There are still eight silver ingots left! Whoever gets another one will be rewarded with one more! The game continues until all prizes are won."

  With the wind at their backs, everyone's courage grew, and more and more bandits were eager to try their luck. One after another, they came forward to take a shot, some successfully hitting the target and taking away the silver ingots, while others missed and retreated amidst the crowd's jeers and laughter, the atmosphere gradually relaxing in the midst of the teasing and ridicule.

  Che Feng took the silver and retreated to a nearby sunny hillside, quietly observing.

  The horse thieves wandering on the grassland have been competing with the Mongolians for many years, and their archery skills are indeed not bad. In less than an hour, five of the eight silver ingots were taken away by someone.

  Seeing no one else coming up to try, Zhai Zhe gave Xiao Zhishan a look.

  Xiao Zhiyan walked into the valley, holding a golden longbow, and the crowd immediately fell silent. Zhang Er was killed by this man, and judging from his demeanor, everyone knew that Xiao Zhiyan was going to show off his skills.

  Xiao Zhiyan turned his back to the wooden board, slowly taking steps as if measuring the distance. As he got farther and farther away from the wooden board, about thirty paces away from Di Zhe, Xiao Zhiyan stopped in his tracks, took an arrow, turned around, drew his bow, and shot an arrow that flew like a shooting star to the moon, hitting the bullseye at a hundred paces.

  In the valley, there was a sudden stillness, and everyone stood frozen in place with their eyes wide open.

  Someone whispered: "A hundred paces, one arrow!"

  "One Hundred Steps Through Yang!" A loud shout.

  The car wind on the hillside scratched his disheveled hair and looked incredulous.

  Of course, it's still far from hitting a willow leaf at 100 paces, after all, the wooden target is much larger than a willow leaf. However, Xiao Zhiyan's archery skills are indeed worthy of being called divine techniques.

  Di Zhe didn't miss the opportunity to stand out and loudly shouted: "Our mountain stronghold is full of talented people, why worry that we won't have a good future!" The atmosphere among the horse bandits was boiling again.

  First, lure the enemy with benefits, and then overwhelm them with skill. There is no better opportunity than this. Di Zhe immediately ordered the prepared lots to be taken out, and each of the horse bandits took one out. The people in the mountain stronghold were divided into ten teams, with eighteen people on each team. The six people who had just obtained the silver ingots through their excellent archery skills became the leaders of the teams. The remaining team leaders were selected through a test of strength and martial arts, only the capable ones were used.

  Che Feng was watching the commotion in front of him on the mountain slope, and he also squeezed into the crowd to draw a lot again. He returned to his original position, and Zhai Zhe saw him from afar, walked up to him, and smiled: "If you want to leave, there's no need to draw lots. You can leave the mountain now, I won't make things difficult for you!"

  Che Feng knelt down on the ground and said: "I won't think about leaving anymore!"

  Di Zhe hastily stepped forward, reached out his hand and helped him up, saying: "All the people in the mountain stronghold are brothers! You want to keep me here? Forget it!"

  "Are you Mongolian?" Zhai Zhe asked curiously, unable to resist asking about his hair color.

  Che Feng's face was somewhat melancholy and sorrowful, saying: "My father is a Han Chinese, my mother is a Tumet person! Both died under the iron hooves of Chahar!"

  The Tumet people have been sinicized for a long time, and many Mongolian men marry Han women outside the Great Wall, but it is rare to see Mongolian women marrying Han men. It can be seen that Che Feng's father was also a capable person.

  Di Zhe patted his shoulder and said, "You just stay by my side!" From the reaction of the crowd when the car wind array was formed, it can be seen that his status in this team is not high, and he is about to promote such a capable person.

  For three consecutive days, the horse thieves in the valley competed with each other to show off their strength, martial arts and riding skills, vying for the remaining position of team leader. The valley had rice and meat, and occasionally they could even drink some wine, so everyone's mood gradually calmed down, and even those who harbored evil intentions could only hide their thoughts for the time being.

  Di Zhe saw that the situation in the stronghold was settled, and ordered his four personal bodyguards to return to Zhangjiakou Market first. These people were all trusted by the Di family and could not become horse thieves just like that. After returning to Zhangjiakou, they still had important tasks to perform, passing on messages for him. Moreover, those people were only trusted by his elder brother Di Tang, and he did not want them to stay by his side forever either.

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