Insufficient balance

  Upon arriving at the county town, Mo Sheng ate at a small restaurant before heading towards the government office. At the entrance of the government office, someone was pacing back and forth. Mo Sheng fixed his eyes on him and saw that it was Wen Hao. Seeing Mo Sheng return, Wen Hao hastily said: "Big Brother Mo, how did you manage to come back so late? You've almost worried me to death."

  "Sorry, Wen Hao, I fell asleep in the mountains and overslept." Mu Sheng said with a smile.

  When Wen Hao heard Mu Sheng's answer, he didn't know what to say about this Mu brother, so he said: "Brother Mu, let's go to my study first!"

  Mo Sheng responded, and the two of them went to the study, each finding a chair to sit down in. Wen Hao asked, "Big Brother Mo, have you eaten? If not, I'll get Yang Shu to heat up some food."

  "Don't bother, I've already eaten, let's get straight to the point!" Murong said.

  "How's that going?" asked Wen Hao.

  "Today I took a look, and there's only one small path leading up the mountain. Their numbers are probably in the hundreds. If we launch a direct attack, I'm afraid our casualties will be heavy, and the effect won't be significant."

  "What should we do?" Wen Hao asked in confusion.

  "We have no choice," said Mu Sheng: "I do have a plan, although it's a bit despicable, but it's not a bad method either."

  "What method?" Wen Hao asked anxiously.

  "Use anesthetic." Murong Sheng said calmly.

  "Wen Hao was still confused and said: 'Brother Mu, I haven't figured it out yet, can you explain in detail?'"

  "Alright, I'll go through the whole plan!" said Mu Sheng: "First, I'll sneak up from the other side of the mountain and put a sedative in their food while they're not paying attention. Then I'll set fire to their house, and you lead the constables to wait at the foot of the mountain beforehand. When you see thick smoke rising from the mountain, you rush up along the small path, and we'll meet on the mountain."

  After listening to Mu Sheng's plan, Wen Hao thought for a moment and said: "This plan is feasible, so when do we start, Brother Mu?"

  "In three days, but for the time being, don't tell anyone else, the fewer people who know about this, the better. That gang of robbers probably has many spies in the city."

  "This I naturally know," said Wen Hao.

  "It's nothing, I'll go back to my room first." Murong Sheng asked.

  "Then you go rest first, Big Brother Mo! I'll think through some of the details." Wen Hao said with his head lowered.

  For the next two days, Mu Sheng stayed in the county government office, taking some time to give pointers on the martial arts of the Cheng brothers. The three knife techniques he taught them had already shown some progress, which made Mu Sheng feel relieved and happy.

  Then, Mu Sheng called Ma Long, the county's capture head. Ma Long was big and strong, with great strength, his martial arts were similar to those of the Cheng brothers, but his body flexibility was slightly worse, often losing out in this aspect. When he arrived in front of Mu Sheng, Ma Long asked: "I don't know what Master Mu has called me here for?" The capture head had a lot of respect for Master Mu, who was particularly well taken care of by the officials.

  Musheng beckoned to Malong and when he approached, Musheng said: "I don't know if Captain Ma can help me get some anesthetic."

  Although it was strange what Mu Sheng was doing, Ma Long very consciously didn't ask why, because he knew that some things were better left unasked. Otherwise, he wouldn't even know how to die. He only asked softly: "How much does the young master need?"

  "About a catty!" Murong Sheng said slowly. Actually, Murong Sheng didn't know how much was needed either, he just casually mentioned it.

  "Ah! So many." Ma Long exclaimed in surprise.

  "Is there something wrong?" asked Musheng.

  "This, Marquis Mu, this is indeed a bit... I'll try and see." Ma Long said cautiously.

  "Then thank you, Ma Bo. Here's a 100 taels silver note for you. Use it to pay for the medicine and consider the rest as drinking money for my brothers in the yamen." Mu Sheng handed over a silver note saying this.

  "This, young master, I cannot have, helping you is what I should do." Ma Long carefully explained.

  "Take it, I don't want to say it a second time." Mu Sheng said sternly.

  Looking at Mu Sheng's sharp eyes, Ma Long shivered and knew that if he continued to push it off, this Mu Gongzi would probably get angry. So he said: "Then I'll take it on myself. Here, I thank you on behalf of the brothers in the yamen. If you have nothing else, then I'll be going first."

  "Go ahead!" Mu Sheng waved his hand and said, after instructing the anesthetic matter. After that, Mu Sheng spent the next period of time meditating in the room, as it was essential to improve his cultivation. Practicing martial arts is like sailing against the current, if you don't advance, you'll retreat. The same principle applies. The next two days passed by like this.

  On the third evening, Wen Hao suddenly ordered the closure of the city gate, only allowing entry and not exit. He then quickly commanded the yamen runners to combine, totaling over 80 people. The Cheng brothers followed Wen Hao closely, while the runners were led by Ma Long. Everyone set off towards Wolf Mountain in a grand manner.

  Musheng went to Langshan one step ahead, just like last time. Musheng carefully arrived at the kitchen door and saw that there was no one around. He poured more than a catty of anesthetic into the water tank. As long as the water in the water tank is used, the food, tea, and water will all have anesthetics.

  After Mo Sheng finished putting the medicine, he went to the rooftop to observe below. He saw that those kitchen workers didn't notice and directly used the water from the water tank to cook rice and dishes. As dish after dish of food and bowl after bowl of rice were sent out, Mo Sheng began to observe other rooftops. He saw that people who ate the food fainted after a few bites, and the sound of people falling down came continuously from each house.

  It felt like the time was almost up, and Wen Hao and the others should have arrived at the foot of the mountain. So, Mu Sheng came to the woodshed, lit the dry firewood inside, and in a short while, several rooms of the woodshed were ablaze with raging flames. The fire quickly spread to other surrounding houses. Then someone discovered the fire and shouted for people to come and put it out, but due to insufficient manpower and the fire being too large, there was no way to stop the spread of the big fire.

  The mountain stronghold caught fire, finally startling the young leader who was having a good time with his woman. Seeing the commotion outside, he shouted towards the door: "Who's there? Tell me what's going on!"

  A guard came in and said: "Report to the leader, the firewood house is on fire, the fire is very big, it has spread here."

  Hearing his subordinate say this, the young leader also lost interest in the fun and games, pushed the woman aside, got dressed, picked up his treasured sword and walked out.

  Coming outside, seeing that there were very few people putting out the fire, he loudly asked: "What's going on? Why are there only this many people putting out the fire? Where is everyone else?"

  One of them weakly said: "Reporting to the leader, all the other brothers have fainted in the house, it seems they were poisoned with anesthetics."

  At this time, another man came running from the mountain pass and said: "Report to the leader, the county magistrate is leading the yamen runners and catchers to attack the mountain."

  "A bunch of good-for-nothings!" The young leader said angrily: "Stop putting out the fire, assemble quickly and follow me to meet the enemy."

  Looking at the scattered team of less than a hundred people, the young leader was very angry, and with a wave of his hand, everyone went down the mountain. And in his heart, the young leader thought viciously, you damn county magistrate, this time I will surely take your dog life.

  Musheng watched the angry young leader leave from a dark place, and then secretly followed them. The big fire in the mountain spread faster because no one rescued it, and those who fainted in the house were submerged in the sea of fire.

  Wen Hao and his men launched an attack when they saw the flames rising to the sky from the mountain as they met at the foot of the mountain. Since there were fewer guards on the small road, Wen Hao and his men advanced rapidly and soon reached the middle of the mountain.

  However, at this time, a group of people rushed over from the front, and Wen Hao's group knew that the real battle was about to begin. Everyone tightly grasped the steel knife in their hands, not daring to relax in the slightest. The two sides confronted each other like this, while the leader of Wolf Mountain jumped out and asked: "Which one of you is the county magistrate?"

  The literary giant didn't know what intention the other party had, and casually said: "I am, you still don't quickly surrender."

  "So you're the new magistrate! Well, well, well, today is your day of death." After finishing speaking, he drew out his treasured sword and attacked Wen Hao. Although Wen Hao's martial arts skills were not high, he was not a coward either, and immediately also drew out his treasured sword. At this time, Ma Bu Tou said: "Sir, please quickly retreat, we will block their attack."

  Wen Hao glanced at Ma Long, then loudly said: "Brother Mu has always told me that only brothers who have been through thick and thin together are true brothers. Today, I share life and death with all of you brothers." Wen Hao's words greatly boosted the morale of the officials' side. Everyone thought to themselves during the battle: The leader is still with us!

  The offensive of the Wolf Mountain leader was blocked by the Cheng brothers, but after a while, the Cheng brothers gradually fell into a disadvantage. Mu Sheng thought to himself in the dark: "It seems that I won't be able to hold back anymore."

  Then a palm was quickly slapped out from behind the Wolf Mountain leader, and the Wolf Mountain leader was in a fierce battle with the Cheng brothers. When he felt someone attacking him, he didn't have time to dodge, and suddenly spat out fresh blood. The steel knives of the Cheng brothers took advantage of this opportunity and were inserted directly into the chest of the Wolf Mountain leader. The young Wolf Mountain leader fell down unwillingly.

  The people of Wolf Mountain saw their leader fall, and immediately they were routed. In no time at all, except for a dozen or so who surrendered, the rest were annihilated.

  Next, Wen Hao ordered everyone to clean up the scene. While cleaning up the scene, several secret letters were found on the body of the wolf mountain leader, which Wen Hao kept well.

  Musheng picked up the sword of the Wolf Mountain leader, this sword looked pretty good, he himself didn't have a weapon, since you're dead, brother, then this weapon can't go to waste, it's mine now!

  The house in the mountain has become a sea of fire. In this battle, the government lost three people and seven were injured, which can be called a complete victory. Wen Hao gave condolences to the families of the deceased and subsidies to those who were injured.

  This time, Mu Sheng made a big profit. After leaving the house on Wolf Mountain, Mu Sheng sneaked in and searched the room, finding 800,000 taels of silver notes. The leader would exchange all the loot, except for what was used for daily expenses and distributed to his brothers in the mountains, into silver notes for easy storage and transport, but ultimately it benefited Mu Sheng.

  After the crowd cleaned up the scene, they took a dozen or so bandits who had surrendered and marched triumphantly towards the county town.

  The townspeople heard that the county magistrate had eliminated the bandits on Wolf Mountain and cheered, with some families even setting off firecrackers to celebrate. The police officers were filled with excitement, seeing the crowd's cheers and feeling like great heroes themselves, this heroic feeling made them feel that even if they had sacrificed in this battle, it was worth it now.

  Wen Hao's heart was also thrilled, looking at the cheers of the crowd, he felt that being an official should think what the people want and worry about what the people worry about. Only when the people are happy can one be happy too. The relationship between officials and civilians should be mutually supportive and intertwined, only then can the interests of both parties be guaranteed.

  Compared with others, only Muyou is a bit more calm, perhaps it's because of the practice of "Mantra of Brahma"!