Chapter Eighteen: Coming Out on Top

  Xiao Sun was beaten by someone in Xishi.

  Fufeng City is a border county town, adjacent to the area controlled by Donghu and also connected to Xiongnu. However, at this time, Xiongnu did not pose a threat to Great Yan, but Donghu was exceptionally powerful, frequently raiding the border counties of Great Yan. The people of Donghu were the ones who often harassed the border areas of Great Yan. But in recent years, the border area has been relatively calm, and when there is no war, Fufeng City is still extremely prosperous. People from Donghu and Xiongnu come to trade with Great Yan here, and the West Market of Fufeng City is exceptionally lively at this time. The barbarians who are rarely seen in other parts of Great Yan can be seen everywhere in Fufeng City, as long as there is no war, their figures will appear at any time.

  In Yan Haibo's account, Zhang Han and Gao Yuan finally understood the general situation of things. The young man who ran back to ask for reinforcements was named Yan Haibo.

  Several foreign horse traders were selling horses in Xicheng when they ran into He Tianliang, the young master of the He family. Without needing Yan Haibo to say anything, Gao Yuan also understood the general situation: He Tianliang had taken a liking to the horses and wanted to force the foreigners to sell them at a low price. However, the foreigners refused, and He Tianliang, who was used to being overbearing in Fufeng City, even almost killed Gao Yuan with one slash of his sword. The foreigners were no match for him either, so they clashed. Although the foreigners' martial arts skills were quite good, He Tianliang suffered a great loss and sent someone to invite Sun Xiao, promising him five taels of silver. Sun Xiao, who was struggling to provide food and clothing for his entire team, immediately brought over a dozen people to help out. However, he never expected that the dozen or so people would be defeated in one battle, with even Sun Xiao himself suffering a great loss.

  Yan Hai Bo ran back to ask for reinforcements.

  "Four people knocked down Sun Xiao and a dozen others?" Zhang Han was shocked, these few foreigners were quite formidable.

  "My brothers didn't eat breakfast, they had no energy, otherwise there wouldn't be such a cheap thing!" Yan Haibo said with great discontent. Looking at that appearance, he was also a good fighter.

  "Gao Bingcao, what do you think we should do about this? We can't take a large group of people to retrieve the battlefield, and if we go with too few people, we won't be a match for them. This is really a difficult situation!" Zhang Yan was immediately at a loss.

  "I'm going." Gaoyuan didn't think much and took it all on himself.

  "Who?" Zhang Yan looked at Gao Yuan with some disbelief. This guy had just been in a fight with Huo Da Shao not long ago and almost lost his life. These people weren't even a match for Sun Xiao, what could Gao Yuan possibly do to help?

  "You few, follow me!" Gaoyuan didn't pay attention to Zhang Han either, swept his eyes and pointed at several bigger guys with his hand. Several people who were pointed at looked at Cao Tiancheng, Cao Tiancheng nodded, and a few people walked out excitedly.

  "Zhang Fuwei, wait here for news!" Gao Yuan lowered his voice and whispered in Zhang Yan's ear: "Keep an eye on these people, don't let them go out and cause trouble, I'll be right back."

  He didn't even wait for Zhang Yan to speak and swaggered away. Looking at Gao's distant back, Zhang Yan was stunned for a moment before turning to Cao Tiancheng: "Send someone to follow Gao Bingcao. If he gets into trouble, hurry back and report, I'll bring people over. If Gao Bingcao gets into trouble, the county magistrate will definitely not intervene, we can go to the street and fight, the county magistrate won't say anything."

  Cao Tiancheng smiled with a mouthful of big yellow teeth, "Deputy Zhang is indeed capable, after all, it's our team that went out, cherishing old relationships, this idea is good, but can this little guy succeed? Don't suffer a big loss, County Wei will come back to find trouble for us."

  "Whether it succeeds or not, only time will tell!" Zhang Yan was also uncertain, looking at Gao Yuan's confident appearance, he couldn't tell if this guy was ignorant of the danger or had a plan, but judging from the sword at his waist, Gao Yuan was an expert.

  "Get the brothers ready!" he ordered.

  "Alright!" Cao Tiancheng said with a smile.

  He Lanxiong knew he was in trouble today. He looked back at his companions, each of whom had a tense expression on their face. If they weren't in the territory of Da Yan, he would have drawn his sword and cut them down long ago. But here, he couldn't. So far, both sides were still at the level of fighting and brawling. If he drew his sword, things would get out of hand. After all, this was Fufeng County. He Lanxiong now regretted bringing his sister along. It was his own soft heart that had led him to agree to her request to see the world. Who could have anticipated that something like this would happen?

  His eyes glanced at the well-dressed thug hiding behind, and he couldn't help but feel extremely resentful. If it weren't for him, there wouldn't be this trouble today. The dozen or so people blocking his way also gave him a headache. Although they had clearly been beaten to a pulp by him, they still refused to budge, determined not to let him pass. It was obvious that they were waiting for reinforcements. Moreover, these people were well-trained and disciplined, clearly not your average street thugs, but rather soldiers.

  He swallowed hard and turned his head to say a few words in the Xiongnu language in a low voice. If things get any worse, he'd have no choice but to draw his dagger and fight to the death. He had to escort his sister out of the city no matter what. The young master was clearly up to no good, his eyes scanning his sister with an unwholesome gleam.

  In the previous fierce battle, her sister's hat was knocked to the ground, and a head full of black hair scattered down, everyone could see that this handsome young man beside him was actually a big girl.

  Hu Tianliang hid behind Da Ding's back, but at this time his heart was joyful, originally he just wanted to get a few good horses, but unexpectedly he could also get a big girl, Sun Xiao had already gone to find reinforcements, he had more than 100 men under his command, they rushed over together, and one person's saliva would drown these four people.

  At this moment, Sun Xiao's son was in a difficult situation, originally four bodyguards, thought that bringing ten or more people would definitely be able to handle it, but didn't expect to kick on an iron plate, the opponent was extremely powerful, and even brought themselves down, all of them were knocked over by the opponent. At this time, retreating would not only lose the five taels of silver promised by Huo Tianliang, but also lose face. Being taken down by a few bodyguards, how could Sun Ye still be a man in the future? So even though they knew they were no match, they had to cling tightly to the opponent and wait for the main force to arrive before dealing with them.

  Sun Xiao also knew that the opponent had a knife on his horseback, although it was wrapped in cloth, but Sun Xiao was a soldier and could see it at a glance. However, this was Fufeng City, if the opponent really drew the knife, he would be able to take them down with justification.

  Time was ticking away second by second, and Yan Haibo still hadn't arrived, Sun Xiao couldn't help but curse in her heart, even if she had to crawl, she should have crawled back by now. Seeing that the four opponents had already lost their patience, and they weren't fools either, they must have realized that she was blocking them here to call for reinforcements.

  "These good men, I am He Lanxiong, and I came to Fufeng City for business. I didn't expect you all to be so unreasonable. If you still don't let me pass, I will not be polite." He Lanxiong decided that if the other side still didn't give way, he would charge out.

  Sun Xiaoleng sneered, "You're thinking beautifully. Earlier, I only wanted your horse, but now you can't even think about leaving with your lives."

  "That's right, Old Sun, I'll take them down, the horse is yours, I only want this foreign woman, haha, I've never had a foreign woman before!" Huo Tianliang laughed and said.

  He Lanxiong's face turned red with rage, his eyes fixed on Huo Tianliang were filled with murderous intent, his hand grasped the hilt of the knife wrapped in cloth on the horseback, the remaining two men and one woman saw He Lanxiong's action, and simultaneously reached for their own horses' backs, Huo Tianliang was still talking incessantly, unaware of the situation, while Sun Xiao felt a sudden tightness in her chest, and took a step back.

  "Sun Doutou, we're here!" The crowd behind echoed with Yan Haibo's shouting voice, Sun Xiaochang let out a breath of relief, the reinforcements had finally arrived.

  The crowd dispersed like a tide, and Yan Haibo charged in on horseback, taking the lead. Sun Xiaoru felt relieved of his burden, but He Lanxiong's killing intent was already making him gasp for breath. Turning back to look, he couldn't help but rage - where were the imagined troops with weapons in hand? There were only a few people, what could they possibly accomplish? If these few people could make a difference, would he still be in such a sorry state? Yan Haibo knew his thoughts and leaned in close, whispering a few sentences into his ear. Sun Xiaoru's suspicious gaze turned to Gao Yuan, sizing him up from head to toe.

  On the other side, Huo Tianliang also saw Gao Yuan and was stunned, because of Gao Yuan, he had been whipped by his father not long ago, but now this kid had been stabbed with a knife, how could he still be so energetic? Moreover, this guy looked completely different from before.

  Gao Yuan didn't even glance at Huo Tianliang, let alone Sun Xiao, and walked straight to He Lanxiong's face.

  At the moment when the crowd parted and walked in, He Lanxiong's hand had already come back from the hilt of his knife. There was no large army as he had imagined, but only four or five people. He also let out a sigh of relief.

  "What's with the Eastern Barbarians?" Gaoyuan stared at He Lanxiong and asked coldly.

  "You're the Donghu people, your whole family are Donghu people!" He Lanxiong was furious, his own tribe had been bullied by the Donghu people many times, and every year they were forced to pay tribute, yet these Great Yan people actually thought he was one of those greedy Donghu people.

  Gao Yun never thought that one of his casual remarks would enrage his opponent so much, and he blurted out a phrase that was eerily familiar to himself. A sense of intimacy suddenly arose in his heart as he looked at He Lan Xiong, "So you're a Xiongnu."

  "I am a Xiongnu, what's wrong with that? We came here in good faith to do business, but we didn't expect you to bully us like this." He Lanxiong could tell that the newcomer was definitely a leader.

  "No matter if you're here for business or not, whoever hits my people is out." Gaoyuan said with a wave of his hand.

  "How is it?" asked He Lanxiong.

  "You hit my man, I have to hit back." Gaoyuan burst out laughing, "An eye for an eye, I won't bully you."

  "With just the few of you, are you going to come at me together or one by one?" Seeing that there weren't many people with Gao Yuan, He Lanxiong felt more at ease. If it was just a fight, he wasn't afraid.

  "You want to go one on one?" Gaoyuan said with a hint of a smile. "Alright." He flexed his wrists and neck, "I was just about to see what kind of skills the person who can make me look so miserable has."

  Sun Xiao now knew that the tall and distant person in front of him was the newly appointed military officer, although he didn't quite like him, but this guy understood how to give his subordinates a way out as soon as he took office, which wasn't bad, however, he wanted to fight one-on-one with this guy, it's better to spare himself.

  "Gao Bingcao is formidable, let's take him down together." Sun Xiao came over and said that Zhang Han had sent someone to greet him yesterday, the new soldier Cao was Lord Lu's nephew, if he were beaten up, they would be in trouble themselves.

  "Is it Sun Xiao?" Gao Yuan glanced at him, "No order, privately bringing soldiers out of the camp to fight and brawl. After this matter is settled, I will settle accounts with you."

  Sun Xiao didn't think that his good intentions would lead to such a result, and he couldn't help but get very angry, silently retreating back home. At such a young age, you don't know what's good for you, wait until you suffer a loss then you'll know the severity. I recognize that you have an uncle who is a county official, but these few people don't recognize me.