noffsinger Chapter 309 Rescued
Chapter 309 Rescued
Chapter 309 Rescue
Li Maofang looked at Wang Qiang and said with a smile, "Lord Wang, stop joking. Saving the hostages is the priority. If you trust me, leave it to me. I guarantee I will rescue the hostages."
Wang Qiang curled his lip and said disdainfully, "Lord Li, please don't make things worse."
Li Maofang pointed at the corpses of the four bandits' family members on the ground and scolded, "How have I caused trouble? Lord Wang, these are all innocent civilians who are unarmed. How dare you kill them so easily!"
Wang Qiang frowned deeply. Li Maofang was here to cause trouble! Otherwise, how could they have safely rescued the hostages? Give them money? Let alone 1500 million taels of silver, even if they dared to give it, they would still have to be able to take the hostages out alive if they only gave the bandits one million taels of silver. Now that so many people have surrounded Mushan, the bandits are not idiots and will definitely not release the hostages easily.
Wang Qiang cursed and said, "You surnamed Li, get the hell out of here! Who said they are innocent civilians? I not only have evidence of their crimes of colluding with bandits, but also evidence of their collusion with the Tartars."
Li Maofang shook his head with a wry smile. Wang Qiang was just like his master, Wang Wenzhou, lying as easily as he opened his mouth.
"Where's the evidence? Show it to me! Besides, even if they are guilty, how can you abuse your power and execute them without trial?" Li Maofang, a seasoned veteran, left Wang Qiang speechless.
Wang Qiang thought for a moment and then said, "The evidence is all with my young master. If you want to see it, go find my young master."
"Nonsense! Guards, escort Lord Wang out of here!" Li Maofang wanted to get rid of Wang Wenzhou.
"Lord Li, you've finally arrived! We just want to negotiate with you! We will definitely guarantee the safety of the hostages, and the ransom is negotiable." Seeing this situation, Jiang Hongbao regarded Li Maofang as his savior. Just now, his men were almost turned against him by Wang Qiang.
Wang Qiang shouted, "Jiang Hongbao, shut up! You're going to meet the King of Hell soon, and I don't have time to negotiate with you. Men, take Lord Li out!"
"Who dares!" Tang Jialiang roared, sword in hand.
"Lord Li, if you intend to raise an army and cause chaos, you should have said so earlier, and I would have wiped you out immediately!" Wang Qiang threatened nonchalantly.
Li Maofang thought for a moment and decided that since Wang Qiang wanted to kill people, then let him do it. The more bandit family members he killed, the better, so that the blame could be shifted onto Wang Wenzhou.
"Hmph! Let's go!" Li Maofang snorted coldly and turned to leave.
"Lord Li! Don't go!" Jiang Hongbao was frantic. Wang Wenzhou, the Vice Minister of Rites, was so powerful. The Governor of Shandong was supposed to be a high-ranking official, yet he couldn't even handle the servants of Wang Wenzhou's family.
As soon as Li Maofang left, Wang Qiang, carrying a large knife, walked up to the bandit's family and loudly ordered, "Bring me another family."
"Lord Wang, please wait a moment!" the second-in-command hurriedly said.
Wang Qiang said with a smile, "Brother, what's your surname? Hurry up!"
"I am Lei Lekang, the second-in-command of Mushan. We are all kind and simple people. We were coerced by Jiang Hongbao into becoming outlaws. Today, we want to start anew. I wonder if Lord Wang can give us this opportunity?" Lei Lekang was no fool. He understood that even if Wang Wenzhou had the power to do so, they wouldn't live to spend the money unless they could escape the Ming Dynasty.
Wang Qiang said with a smile, "A prodigal son who returns is more precious than gold. You have all turned away from darkness and embraced the light. The court will surely treat you leniently. I cannot decide the specific charges against you, but I can guarantee that you will not die, and I will not let your families be harmed."
Lei Lekang wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, looked at Liu Rushi, and pleaded, "Madam, please, please forgive us for our past mistakes!"
Liu Rushi thought for a moment, realizing she couldn't push the bandits too far, or they might really do something desperate. She looked at her sleeping son in her arms and said softly, "Since you haven't harmed my son, I promise you that if you surrender, I will guarantee your lives."
Lei Lekang quickly clasped his hands and said, "Thank you, Madam. We will never forget your great kindness!"
"Pfft..." Jiang Hongbao felt like crying. He cursed, "Second brother, third brother! You despicable people! How can we bandits beg for mercy from hostages?"
"Swish!" Lei Lekang drew his broadsword, pointed it at Jiang Hongbao, and shouted, "Brothers, Jiang Hongbao has committed all sorts of evil deeds. We were all bewitched by him and became outlaws. Now Lord Wang is giving us a chance to start anew. Brothers, charge! Kill him!"
"Kill!" Lei Lekang's confidants swarmed forward.
There were over a thousand bandits on Mount Mou, and more than 800 of their family members were being held hostage outside. Therefore, very few people supported Jiang Hongbao.
"You want to rebel..." Jiang Hongbao hadn't finished speaking.
"Pfft!" A trusted confidant beside Jiang Hongbao plunged a knife into his chest.
"The bandit leader Jiang Hongbao is dead! Please, sir, spare my life!" The man immediately knelt down and shouted to Wang Qiang.
"Haha!" Wang Qiang smiled slightly and said proudly to Sheng Liang, "Xiao Liang, how about it? Learn more from me and the young master in the future. You have to use your brain for everything! The young master said, why do people have brains? Isn't it for thinking! I think, therefore I am!"
Sheng Liang curled his lip, "You're just lucky, a blind cat stumbled upon a dead mouse."
Liu Rushi and her son were rescued, but the actions of Wang Qiang and Sheng Liang during the rescue planted a time bomb in Chongzhen's heart for Wang Wenzhou.
Meanwhile, Wang Wenzhou's "caravan" arrived at Shanhaiguan.
Jiang Zhenghe, a commander of the Imperial Guard who was playing the role of the caravan's leader, went to process the customs clearance with the caravan's documents. The caravan's documents were of course in perfect order, but Wu Sangui, the deputy commander of Shanhaiguan, refused to allow them to pass through customs.
Jiang Zhenghe knew that Wu Sangui just wanted some money. Jiang Zhenghe was somewhat angry; although the rank of a commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard was not high, his power was far greater than that of a general.
However, Wang Wenzhou had already said that they should keep a low profile along the way and not reveal their identities. Helpless, Jiang Zhenghe took out a thousand taels of silver and respectfully handed it to Wu Sangui.
A caravan of six hundred people only gets one thousand taels of silver? Wu Sangui was furious and threw the silver note at Jiang Zhenghe's face.
Jiang Zhenghe couldn't stand being treated so badly by a deputy commander-in-chief, so he turned around and left to report back to Wang Wenzhou.
Standing outside Wang Wenzhou's sedan chair, Jiang Zhenghe said aggrievedly, "Lord Wang, Wu Sangui, the deputy commander of Shanhaiguan, is making things difficult for us and preventing us from passing through the pass."
Wang Wenzhou was currently enjoying the services of the babies and had no time to deal with these messy matters. He said softly, "Little Jiang! You must be angry, right? It's okay, he just wants money, give him more! When we get back, we'll make him pay tenfold. By the way, which idiot dared to extort me? I'll remember his name and settle the score with him when I get back."
Jiang Zhenghe smiled slightly and said, "Wu Sangui, the Deputy Commander-in-Chief of Shanhaiguan."
"Wu Sangui?" Wang Wenzhou asked.
"Yes! It's him!" Jiang Zhenghe was overjoyed. Wu Sangui, you're in trouble. Lord Wang is the kind of person who dares to mess with even civil and military officials.