Chapter 145 The Magistrate's Slander

Lu Xiucai had over 80 loyal subordinates, while Li Dahu had just over 60. Apart from the 200 bandits that Zheng Laosan had taken down the mountain, the remaining hundreds of bandits did not know whom to trust. Since Lu Xiucai had been coerced by Zheng Laosan into going up Poison Dragon Mountain, the neutral bandits were relatively more inclined to believe Li Dahu, yet they did not rashly choose to help him.

As Lu Xiucai and Li Dahu engaged in a fierce internal strife, whichever side emerged victorious would secure the allegiance of these wavering bandits, making the battle exceptionally intense. Gentle Blade had assigned a player named Marksman to deal with Li Dahu. Once the infighting broke out, Marksman slowly crept up to a distance of 80 meters from Li Dahu, raised his Mauser rifle, and prepared to open fire.

Marksman was a specialized sniper-class player heavily cultivated by Xuanyuan Sword. Having practiced his marksmanship with a massive volume of ammunition, his shooting attribute granted him a range advantage of six meters, and he was 60 percent confident he could kill Li Dahu. Just as he raised his rifle to aim, a woman not far away raised her pistol and locked onto him.

"Bang."

"Bang."

Two consecutive gunshots rang out, and Marksman instantly collapsed to the ground. He could not quite comprehend it; the effective range of a pistol was typically only about 50 meters, so how could that woman hit him from such a distance?

The Browning pistol in Tang Qunying's hand was a deluxe edition with a range significantly greater than standard pistols and far superior accuracy. Therefore, even across a distance of 80 meters, her hit rate remained astonishingly high, meaning Marksman's death was hardly undeserved.

After eliminating Marksman, Tang Qunying reloaded her ammunition and fired her dual pistols alternately, sending bandit after bandit crashing to the ground. Only half of Lu Xiucai's men were armed with guns, and their marksmanship was utterly mediocre. They were beaten into a continuous retreat by the combined forces of Tang Qunying and Li Dahu.

Gentle Blade shielded Lu Xiucai as they retreated into a building, commanding the bandits to use the structure for defense, which barely managed to stem the assault. Chen Hao had been lurking inside the house all along, searching for an opportunity. Seeing Lu Xiucai's faction in retreat, he drew his Browning pistol and began firing from the rear. Caught in a pincer attack from the front and back, Lu Xiucai's bandits suffered heavy casualties, scattering in panic throughout the rooms.

Gentle Blade instructed the remaining bandits to protect Lu Xiucai while he took three men to search the premises, quickly locating the room where Chen Hao was hiding. One bandit rushed into the room first, and Chen Hao pulled the trigger, shooting him dead. Moments later, a second bandit charged in and met the exact same fate.

The third bandit burst through the doorway, closely followed by a player wielding a broadsword. As the bandit was shot down, this player lunged toward Chen Hao, swinging his broadsword in a vicious slash. Gentle Blade's close-combat attributes were undeniably high, and he had clearly mastered a blade technique. This strike was both accurate and ruthless.

Having learned lightweight martial arts, Chen Hao was considerably more agile. He sidestepped smoothly, letting the broadsword graze past his arm, shearing away a strip of flesh. Fortunately, it was only a minor injury that did not impair his combat effectiveness. Creating some distance, he retrieved a Yanling saber from his waist pouch and swept it upward, parrying Gentle Blade's second, consecutive slash.

Gentle Blade was the strongest melee combatant Chen Hao had ever encountered. He had nearly perished under his blade and had been forced to draw his own saber just to block the onslaught. With the Yanling saber in hand, his melee combat capability surged by 13 points, surpassing Gentle Blade. The two men locked in a fierce close-quarters struggle within the room.

After seizing the upper hand, Chen Hao used one hand to parry Gentle Blade's attack with his saber while covertly drawing his Colt pistol from his pouch with the other. Just as Gentle Blade raised his broadsword high for a downward strike, Chen Hao pulled the trigger, shooting him squarely in the chest and abdomen at point-blank range.

Firing a pistol with his left hand rendered his accuracy virtually negligible, but at such close quarters, the system could not possibly register a miss. Gentle Blade collapsed to the ground after taking the bullet. Chen Hao stepped forward, swung his Yanling saber, and delivered a finishing blow to completely eliminate him. After hastily reloading his weapon, he rushed out of the house.

Tang Qunying and Li Dahu also charged in with a group of bandits. Lu Xiucai was captured alive on the spot, causing his remaining men to abandon all resistance. Li Dahu gathered all the bandits in the open clearing and shouted loudly, "The imperial court has already dispatched a massive army to attack Poison Dragon Mountain. Right now, fifteen hundred government soldiers are assaulting the Flying Cloud Ladder, and everyone here faces the execution of our entire extended families. Zheng Laosan only rebelled because he committed crimes, and many of you were coerced. The authorities have declared that those who turn away from darkness and embrace the light will be granted full amnesty. Those willing to follow me, grab your weapons and come down the mountain with me!"

"Li Dahu, you ungrateful wretch! It turns out you were the one colluding with the government all along."

"Li Dahu, we will never listen to you..."

"Bang. Bang."

Two of Lu Xiucai's loyal subordinates began to stir up dissent, but they were promptly gunned down by Tang Qunying, causing the rest of the bandits to instantly shut their mouths. Under Li Dahu's leadership, the hundreds of bandits on the summit grabbed their weapons and rushed toward the Flying Cloud Ladder, raining down gunfire from a commanding height upon the bandits led by Zheng Laosan.

Deng Wentong's government troops had long since arrived at the Flying Cloud Ladder, but he had held back from attacking. Hearing the intense gunfire erupting from the mountain, he immediately ordered the patrol camp to launch an assault. With only 200 men, Zheng Laosan's forces crumbled under the pincer attack, and Zheng Laosan himself was shot and killed by Tang Qunying.

The government troops quickly stormed the Flying Cloud Ladder. Just as Li Dahu was about to gather the bandits to go and welcome them, a gunshot suddenly rang out from the flank, and he collapsed to the ground. Standing right beside him, Chen Hao cried out in grief and anger, "Third Chieftain!" He then raised his gun and fired multiple shots toward the flank, turning one of the bandits into a human sieve.

That bandit was holding a gun, yet until the moment of his death, he could not comprehend how he had somehow become the murderer of the Third Chieftain. Not far away, Tang Qunying was hiding behind a large boulder; taking advantage of the general panic among the bandits, she took a detour and returned to Chen Hao's side.

It was actually Tang Qunying who had shot and killed Li Dahu, a maneuver arranged by Chen Hao. After capturing Lu Xiucai, Tang Qunying had coerced a confession out of him, learning the location where Zheng Laosan had buried his gold and silver. Li Dahu had intended to unearth Zheng Laosan's hidden treasure, use a portion of it to bribe Deng Wentong and County Magistrate Shi Hong, and keep a hefty sum for himself.

Chen Hao certainly had no intention of allowing that, so he had Tang Qunying conceal herself nearby to assassinate Li Dahu and frame it on a random bandit. The reason that particular bandit had been standing alone on the flank was because Chen Hao had previously told him that, to avoid any contingencies, Li Dahu wanted him holding a gun to keep watch on the flank.

When Zheng Laosan was shot, that bandit happened to be aiming his gun in that direction, and after Li Dahu died, Chen Hao had feigned grief and anger to gun him down. Combined with the fact that the bandit had formerly been one of Lu Xiucai's men, not a single person suspected anything fishy.

Tang Qunying had initially been reluctant, feeling that using Li Dahu as a tool and then immediately murdering him was rather unprincipled. It was only after Chen Hao promised that all the excavated gold and silver would be entirely funneled toward the Northeast to fight the Russians that she agreed to go through with it.

After occupying Poison Dragon Mountain, Deng Wentong and his government troops immediately began searching the premises, hoping to find the bandits' stash of wealth, but they found absolutely nothing. He gathered all the surviving bandits for interrogation, and some claimed that Zheng Laosan had embezzled the vast majority of the plundered gold and silver himself, though no one knew where it was buried.

Deng Wentong dug up Poison Dragon Mountain three feet deep yet still yielded no gains, forcing him to sullenly lead his troops back to the county seat. To avoid arousing suspicion, Chen Hao and Tang Qunying also accompanied the troops as they departed, and Poison Dragon Mountain returned to tranquility.

County Magistrate Shi Hong personally led a welcoming party outside the city gates to greet Deng Wentong. As the procession appeared, he quickly stepped forward and said, "Prefectural Commander Deng has rendered truly great and arduous service this time by annihilating the rebels of Poison Dragon Mountain. I have already prepared a celebration banquet and will soon submit a memorial to the court to claim credit for the Commander."

Deng Wentong dismounted and laughed, "The capture of Poison Dragon Mountain this time is entirely thanks to the otherworldly hero Chen Baxian and the heroic heroine Tang Qunying. Had they not sowed discord among the three bandit chieftains on the mountain and triggered their internal strife, it would not have been so easy for me to succeed."

Hearing the name Chen Baxian uttered by Deng Wentong, a sinister expression flashed across Shi Hong's face. Wearing a forced, insincere smile, he said, "Prefectural Commander Deng, are you certain that this Chen Baxian went up Poison Dragon Mountain simply to persuade the three chieftains to surrender? These otherworldly individuals are craftily deceitful; could it be that they actually defected to the rebels, and simply because Prefectural Commander Deng happened to crush Poison Dragon Mountain, they are falsely claiming credit for inciting the chieftains?"

Deng Wentong shook his head and replied, "Impossible. The very day I camped my troops at the foot of the mountain, Chen Baxian sent a letter stating he had a method to subvert the mountain's chieftains. Therefore, Chen Baxian's actions in this battle are entirely meritorious with no wrongdoing whatsoever."

Shi Hong turned green with rage. He had spoken quite straightforwardly in his attempt to frame Chen Baxian, yet this blockhead Deng Wentong still failed to pick up on the hint. Standing right beside him, Xuanyuan Sword stepped forward with a smile and said, "Lord Deng, what the County Magistrate means is whether someone might be harboring malicious intentions—appearing to work for the imperial court on the surface, while actually taking the opportunity to get close to Your Honor with sinister motives. Lately, Revolutionary Party bandits have been running exceptionally rampant, and the security of the county seat depends entirely on the patrol camp. Lord Deng must take care not to be deceived by others."

Deng Wentong let out a cold snort and retorted, "This official's eyes are wide open! It is not your place to lecture me."

Inwardly, Chen Hao considered himself extremely fortunate. He had never anticipated that Shi Hong was determined to see him dead. On the way here, considering that he had now contributed a meritorious service—and that if Deng Wentong put in a good word for him, his cumulative contributions after completing the Northeast mission could earn him a better official post—he had bribed Deng Wentong with 100 silver dollars.

Although Shi Hong could order Deng Wentong to suppress bandits, Deng Wentong did not report directly to him, so upon hearing Shi Hong attempt to frame Chen Hao, Deng Wentong simply feigned ignorance. Xuanyuan Sword's slander labeling him as a Revolutionary Party member was a blatant expression of hostility on behalf of the County Magistrate, yet Deng Wentong still refused to play along.

Chen Hao stepped forward and said, "Many thanks to Lord Deng for discerning right from wrong. Zheng Laosan's bandits committed every imaginable evil, and this humble commoner took risks to ascend Poison Dragon Mountain, yet to find myself blamed instead of rewarded would truly be disheartening."

Deng Wentong waved his hand and declared, "This official will naturally speak up on your behalf. I shall report the annihilation of the Poison Dragon Mountain rebels upward, and the imperial court will naturally bestow rewards; you need not worry."

Deng Wentong's words clearly demonstrated his intent to protect Chen Hao. If Shi Hong wished to slander Chen Hao when submitting his victory report, it would have to align with the combat report of Deng Wentong, who actually commanded the troops. With Deng Wentong taking such a firm stance, Shi Hong dared not act recklessly, and his attempt to cast dirt on Chen Hao failed completely.

A local magistrate could ruin a family just as easily as a prefectural governor could wipe out a clan. Having narrowly escaped this calamity, Chen Hao dared not linger in Yongshun County any longer. Shi Hong's desire to put him to death undoubtedly stemmed from knowing about his malicious accusations behind the scenes, meaning the magistrate would seize every opportunity to deal with him.

Chen Hao made up his mind: the moment he excavated Zheng Laosan's hidden gold and silver, he would leave immediately, denying Shi Hong any further chances, and deal with Xuanyuan Sword properly when the time came. (To be continued...)