Chapter 24: The Hero Saves the Beauty

  On the official road, a horse-drawn carriage was rumbling forward quickly, with twenty guards surrounding it.

  The guards were all sturdy and rough men with broad waists, but they had all been injured.

  Some guards had an arm broken and dangling in front of their chest; some guards had a bloody wound on their chest, with flesh exposed; some guards were injured in the thigh, missing a large piece of flesh...

  The situation was dire, but no one admitted defeat.

  The horse carriage rattled forward, the guards protecting it from all sides to prevent bandits from attacking. Wave after wave of bandits came, the guards calmly fought back, each swing of their swords bringing out a string of blood droplets. The steel blades were stained with blood, and cries of agony filled the air. As time passed, the number of guards dwindled, until only twelve remained to shield the carriage.

  However, there were still over a hundred bandits around.

  These bandits are actually vagrants, wandering around and bringing disaster to the people in the surrounding areas.

  "Get out of the way, I'm going to park this horse carriage."

  Suddenly, a sturdy and robust man with a broad waist ran out of the bandits. The strong man let out a loud roar, holding a wooden stick as thick as a goose egg, and quickly rushed towards the horse carriage.

  One of the guards immediately stepped forward and blocked the man's path.

  "Hey!"

  The man suddenly let out a loud shout, raised his energy, and swung the wooden stick in his hand. The thick wooden stick, as big as a goose egg, slammed down onto the guard's shoulder with a loud "crack".

  "Hiss!"

  The guard's head was split open and he was knocked to the ground with one blow from Hanzi.

  The surrounding guards wanted to rescue, but were entangled by the remaining thieves and couldn't get away. The man grinned, his mouth open in a smile, and poked out with the long club in his hand, poking it into the groom's chest, actually poking the groom until he passed out from lack of breath. Immediately afterwards, the man took several strides forward, rushed over to grab the reins, and pressed down hard on the horse pulling the carriage, bringing the carriage to a stop.

  Hahaha...

  The man burst out laughing loudly and shouted: "The great master will definitely reward me if he gets the beauty in the carriage." He grinned foolishly, standing guard beside the carriage, and didn't make another move.

  The eleven guards left around him could not withstand the siege of more than a hundred bandits and were soon killed.

  In the carriage, two women were seated.

  One of the women sat in the middle of the carriage, about twenty years old, with bright eyes and white teeth, elegant and refined. She was none other than Gui Liang's eighth daughter, Zhi Lan. The carriage was surrounded, and the guards who accompanied them were all killed or wounded. Even though Zhi Lan remained calm, she couldn't hide the flash of fear in her eyes, and her skin, as smooth as cream, had a hint of pallor, revealing her inner weakness.

  Next to Zilan sat a young girl in a pale green long dress, trembling with fear, it was the maid Die'er.

  "Miss, we are surrounded by bandits, will we be killed?"

  The butterfly-like girl showed a flustered and frightened expression, shrinking her slender body, leaning against the carriage and trembling. The little maid had grown up in the Weiyang Palace since she was young, never expecting to encounter such an event.

  Zhilan's eyes also flashed a hint of panic, her cherry lips pursed tightly as she tried to maintain her composure.

  "Ah!!"

  The curtain of the carriage rolled up, and a rough, cruel face appeared before Zilan's eyes.

  His name is Xiao Shan, he is the leader of more than 100 bandits.

  Xiao Shan was originally a idle rascal in Tai'an Prefecture, who heard that Hong Xiuquan and Yang Xiuqing had established themselves as kings in Nanjing, also grew his hair long and wanted to climb up to Hong Xiuquan. Unfortunately, no one introduced him, so he became a bandit and became an ordinary thief. Xiao Shan instigated the refugees, and soon gathered a team of over a hundred people.

  This was Xiao Shan's first time taking part in a robbery.

  Xiao Shan Yin laughed and said: "Beautiful girl, you are actually the daughter of the Minister of War, this is great. Once you become my woman, I will be the son-in-law of the Minister of War, I can have whatever I want."

  Zhilan's face turned pale, her hands grasped at her skirt, and she asked in a cold voice: "How did you know my identity?"

  Xiao Shan laughed and said: "You brought guards to Taishan Mansion, isn't it easy to investigate your identity? My beauty, you are a gift given to me by the heavens. I will treat you well and make you give birth to my son, hahaha..." As he spoke, Xiao Shan burst into loud laughter, his thick and sturdy left hand reaching out to touch Zilan's lovely face.

  "Pffft!"

  Zhilan gritted her teeth, and her right hand suddenly rose, holding a hairpin that stabbed into Xiaoshan's palm.

  "Ah!!"

  A shrill and mournful cry pierced the air, cutting through the heart, making one's hair stand on end.

  Xiao Shan thought that Zhi Lan did not dare to resist, so he was not on guard.

  The hairpin pierced through the back of his hand, and surprisingly easily penetrated the thick palm. Fresh blood flowed out from the wound, flowing like a stream, dripping onto the carriage with a steady beat. Xiao Shan gritted his teeth in pain, his face twisted in anger, and cursed loudly: "You stinky ***, it's your good fortune that I've taken a liking to you. You dare to resist? Get out here for me!"

  Xiao Shan stretched out his right hand and grabbed towards Zhi Lan's shoulder, wanting to pull her out.

  Zhilan suddenly took out another hairpin and prepared for a desperate fight.

  "Ah!!"

  Xiao Shan's hand had just reached halfway into the air and hadn't yet grabbed Zi Lan's shoulder when he let out a pained cry.

  Bang!

  The majestic body lost its balance and fell into the carriage. Zilan looked down and found that Xiao Shan's occipital bone had a blood hole, with fresh blood flowing out of it, staining the carpet in the carriage red. Zilan raised her head and saw through the carriage curtain that Gudu and a young man were riding horses to come over.

  The young man was Li Zhen, who held a sniper rifle in his hand and shot Xiao Shan, the perpetrator.

  "The officials and soldiers have arrived!"

  When they were only a hundred meters away from the bandits, Li Zhen suddenly let out a loud shout.

  His voice was thick and loud, like a thunderclap in the clear sky, clearly entering the ears of the bandits around the carriage, as well as into Zilan's ears. Zilan looked at Li Zhen's horse galloping with agility, thinking that Li Zhen had saved her with one shot, her agate-like eyes rolling round and round, her heart beating rapidly.

  The next moment, Zilan saw the man holding a wooden stick beside the carriage and was so frightened that his face turned pale. The man holding the wooden stick shouted loudly: "Stinky woman, you killed the great master, I'll kill you."

  A goose egg-sized club was swung down, and it looked like it was about to smash into the horse carriage.

  Bang!

  A dull thud was heard, and a blood hole appeared on Han's head.

  The wooden stick fell, hitting the top of the carriage with a loud crash. The tall and sturdy man fell to the ground, losing his breath. After Li Zhen killed the man, he continued to fire shot after shot. As he rode his horse at full gallop, he took aim at the bandits who intended to make a move on the carriage, every bullet hitting its mark, taking away a life with each one.

  Gourdou cooperated with Li Zhen and also shouted loudly: "The government soldiers are coming, the government soldiers are coming."

  A loud shout went out and the bandits looked around in all directions.

  It was indeed government soldiers who had arrived, and over a hundred bandits began to scatter in all directions.

  These bandits were evolved from refugees, after all, they are ordinary civilians, with an instinctive fear of the government soldiers. Especially after Xiao Shan and several other leaders were killed by Li Zhen's gun, they had lost their calmness and did not dare to approach the carriage again. The bandits ran away, and Li Zhen and Gu Er rushed quickly to the side of the carriage.

  Fifty soldiers followed up and pursued the fleeing bandits.

  Gourd knelt on the ground and said: "Miss, I'm late for rescue, please punish me."

  A bloody smell was emanating from the carriage, and both Zilan and Die'er got out of the carriage.

  Zhilan said: "Gurd, if it wasn't for you leading the rescue team in time, I would have been taken by the bandits. You are not only innocent but also deserving of merit. Once we return to Beijing, I will report this to Ama."

  Guldu bowed his fist and said: "Thank you, miss!"

  Zhilan looked at Li Zhen and said: "I will never forget the kindness of saving my life, thank you for rescuing me."

  Li Zhen waved his hand and said, "It's just a small effort, besides, I'm following the orders of my master to rescue the young lady." After a pause, Li Zhen continued, "My master is returning to the capital for an audience with the emperor, and the young lady is also heading back. Moreover, her only remaining guard is Guldur, which might not be safe. I dare to ask the young lady to travel north with my master, so there will be someone to take care of her."

  Guldu stood beside Zilan and whispered a few words.

  Zhilan smiled and nodded: "I didn't expect General Li to be a subordinate of Lord Qishan. Since Lord Qishan has returned to the capital to report for duty, I'll have to trouble him with this matter."

  Li Zhen nodded and didn't say anything more.

  At the moment, Li Zhen ordered the soldiers to clean up the battlefield, burning away the dead with a fire, and then brought Zi Lan, Die Er and Gu Lu back to Qi Shan's resting place. Li Zhen came to Qi Shan's side and told him about leaving Zi Lan behind.

  Qishan was delighted to see Li Zhen adapt to changing circumstances.

  He wanted to get along with Gui Liang, and taking Zi Lan back to the capital was the best proof. Gui Liang owed him a favor, and it would be more convenient for him to do things in the future. Qi Shan couldn't bear to wrong Zi Lan, so he ordered the soldiers to find a horse-drawn carriage for Zi Lan, with Gurdu driving it personally, and the group continued northwards, heading towards Beijing.

  PS: The second of four updates