Becoming a literary master starting from the story of Minglan

Chapter 456 The Black Hawk Overturns

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The earth-shattering storm within the Sheng family mansion was ultimately barely covered up by the official explanation that "the infighting within the Jianghu bandit gang 'Guoshanfeng' has affected the official residence."

The yamen runners of Bianjing City, appeased by the Sheng family's understated "tea money," left the seemingly calm but actually turbulent official residence with satisfied smiles.

However, this suppressed undercurrent did not subside; instead, it surged with even greater momentum, crashing towards the Lüliang Mountains, thousands of miles away.

This seemingly helpless cover-up by the Sheng family to save face was actually a key move tacitly made by Sheng Changquan, who lived deep in Zeyutang, and Lu Hongti, the female leader of the Lüliang rebels who was lurking in the shadows.

Although Lu Hongti and Sheng Changquan did not meet, or even communicate, there was only the note that had been used to pass on the message.

However, the two of them truly deserved to be called "friends" who had fought side by side. Even though this female leader of the Lüliang rebels had not met Sheng Changquan in person, she still understood him and chose to believe in him.

After completing Sheng Changquan's instructions and dealing with Zhao Mang at the Sheng residence, Lu Hongti quickly received news from the outside world.

—The news that the Sheng family of Bianjing had been embroiled in a fierce battle with bandits from the Lüliang Mountains, and that two young scholars, one seriously injured and the other frightened, spread like wildfire throughout the court and the country!
With the imperial examinations just around the corner, this shocking and audacious incident was like a boulder thrown into a deep pool, instantly alarming the imperial palace!

When the news reached the palace, the emperor, seated on his dragon throne, looked solemn.

He was known for his benevolence, but even dragons have their scales; touch them and they will surely be enraged!
On the eve of the national talent selection ceremony, how dare thieves openly attack the residence of an official in Bianjing, right under the emperor's nose, and seriously injure a scholar who had achieved academic success?!

Such actions are tantamount to a blatant provocation against the majesty of the court! Beneath the veneer of benevolence, the emperor's hidden rage suddenly erupted!
"Investigate! Investigate thoroughly!" The official's voice wasn't loud, but it carried an undeniable, iron-fisted authority. "Order the Imperial City Guard to investigate immediately! These lawless scoundrels must be eradicated completely! As a warning to others!"

Considering that the Lüliang Mountains are adjacent to the Liang Kingdom, it is not advisable to mobilize the border troops openly in order to avoid border troubles. However, in secret, the Imperial City Guard, the sharpest hidden blade in the emperor's hand, has already been drawn!

Sheng Changquan's brilliant scheme of "shifting the blame eastward and using someone else to do the dirty work" worked instantly under the emperor's wrath and was imbued with an even stronger imperial will!
The Imperial City Guard's spies operated at high speed, like the most sophisticated machines.

A series of shocking accusations against the "Guoshanfeng" bandit gang—including "assassination of officials' sons," "killing witnesses in a mansion," "poisoning Bianjing," and "intending to disrupt the talent selection ceremony"—were sent to the Shanxi Circuit Judicial Commissioner's Office at top speed and through the most official channels.

Each document was stamped with the Imperial City Guard's bright red seal, carrying a chilling aura emanating from the central government.

The official of the Shanxi Circuit Judicial Commissioner was both surprised and delighted as he held the hot "book of merits".

What was surprising was that the case had reached the ears of the emperor, and what was delightful was that this was a golden opportunity to suppress bandits, gain merit, and reach the emperor's ears directly!

The enthusiasm for suppressing the bandits was instantly ignited to a boiling point!
The elite troops sent by the Imperial City Guard arrived just in time, bringing with them the will of the central government and a more precise plan. The two forces quickly merged, and a large army was assembled with thunderous force. War drums thundered, and the air was thick with killing intent as they rushed straight towards Lüliang Mountain!
Meanwhile, in the Lüliang Mountains, those forces with a blood feud with the "Black Hawk" faction, such as the "Pangolin" and "Dragon Drill" strongholds, like hyenas smelling blood, pounced fiercely from the flanks with the tacit approval or even secret support of the government troops!

They burned the supply routes that the "Black Hawks" relied on for survival, plundered their stored supplies, cut off their escape routes, and frantically tore at this piece of fat meat that was about to be crushed by the imperial court.

……

Deep in the Lüliang Mountains lies Eagle's Sorrow Gorge.

The biting wind, whipping up razor-sharp snowflakes, relentlessly lashed the already riddled and crumbling stockade walls. The once bustling and bandit-filled mountain stronghold was now deathly silent, with only the broken walls and ruins weeping in the cold wind.

The air was thick with the stench of blood, burnt flesh, and a chilling sense of despair that seeped into the very bones.

The wounded soldiers' suppressed groans came intermittently in the howling wind, like the cries of the dying, while the crackling of the campfire added to the apocalyptic desolation.

The core forces belonging to Jiang Yukun, nicknamed "Black Hawk," have been completely destroyed in the days of encirclement and betrayal.

The banner that symbolized his infamous reputation, embroidered with a ferocious black hawk, was torn with several huge holes. Like a dying vulture with its wings broken and its internal organs emptied, it drooped helplessly in the biting cold wind, making a mournful "flap-flap" sound like a death knell.

The leader, Jiang Yukun, nicknamed "Black Hawk," was a burly man with a face full of scars and a menacing black leather eye patch over his left eye. He was wrapped in a tattered leather coat stained with blood and frozen stiff, standing like a despairing stone statue on a shaky, icy watchtower.

His one intact eye, bloodshot and filled with crimson veins, stared intently down the mountain—where the government troops' campfires were densely packed, forming an endless, blinding band of light that pulsed with the aura of death, like hellfire spreading and burning across the vast snowfield.

Further away, the billowing smoke from the enemy strongholds that had taken advantage of the chaos resembled huge, twisted, and ominous funeral banners, piercing the leaden-gray, oppressive sky.

"boom!"

A dull, loud bang, mixed with the ear-piercing sound of ice shards shattering!

Jiang Yukun's huge fist slammed hard onto the hardwood railing covered with thick ice!

Wood chips and ice shards flew everywhere, cutting several bloody gashes on the rough back of his hand, but he was completely unaware, as if the fist wasn't his own.

"Passing through the mountain wind—! I curse your ancestors for eighteen generations!!!"

A roar filled with boundless resentment, endless unwillingness, and the despair of a dying beast exploded from the depths of his throat, the sound almost tearing apart the biting cold wind!
However, this roar full of violent power was instantly swallowed up and submerged by the even more violent howling wind and snow, dissipating into the empty and desolate valley.

It’s over! Completely finished!
Jiang Yukun's single eye was filled with bloodshot regret.

His hard-earned business, which had been a powerful force in the Lüliang Mountains for many years and was feared by all, was destroyed in an instant!
"Zhao Mang! You good-for-nothing idiot who's good for nothing but ruining things!!" He roared inwardly, his heart bleeding.

If I had known, I shouldn't have sent that idiot Zhao Mang to the capital to take on this business!
Jiang Yukun had previously received a job in the capital to kill a woman. Black Hawk readily agreed, as the job was incredibly lucrative.

Therefore, when Zhao Mang requested to leave the mountain, claiming he was going to Jiangnan to find a woman named Xiaodie, Jiang Yukun, considering him an old brother, agreed.

But he never expected that Zhao Mang, that fool, would dare to listen to the instigation of some equally stupid guy in Bianjing, who was so stupid he could go to his coffin, and take on some private job of assassinating officials' family candidates!
This is practically risking your life and willingly walking into the guillotine!
This unexpected disaster, this calamity that destroyed homes and villages, was all thanks to those "Guoshanfeng" gang who went mad in Bianjing!
He gritted his teeth in hatred, his eyes bloodshot, but he had no idea that the real mastermind behind the scenes, who could turn the world upside down with a flick of his wrist, was far away in the warm and cozy mansion of Bianjing, coldly controlling the snowstorms, bloodshed, and his doomsday in the Lüliang Mountains!

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