knife

Chapter 11 left one speechless.
Zhang Qingyun lifted the tent flap and came out.

The biting wind made her shiver involuntarily. Everything before her eyes was white; the frost of the night had bathed everything in a silvery glow.

Turning his head, Zhang Qingyun saw Yuan Rong and his brothers, as well as Wu De and his men, and felt a pang of guilt.

The hair and eyebrows of these people were also completely white.
Last night, they stayed around the tent, dutifully guarding the Zhang father and daughter.

"Uncle Yuan!" Zhang Qingyun had just spoken when Yuan Rong raised a finger and pointed into the distance.

Following Yuan Rong's hand and looking at the clouds, Zhang Qingyun's originally rosy complexion became exactly the same as the surrounding scenery.

Although it's still far away, and although it looks blurry...

But you can still tell that there are groups of people gathered together.

People gathered in such a large group in this desolate wilderness are certainly not good people.

Thinking of the bandits Li Dachui mentioned yesterday, Zhang Qingyun's heart trembled.

She couldn't help but look around, searching for Li Dachui.

At this moment, perhaps only this person can give her a little bit of security.

Li Dachui leaned against the flagpole, the flag embroidered with a hammer hanging listlessly because there was no wind, just like Li Dachui's current state.

He showed none of the fervor and high spirits he had before the great battle; instead, he looked as if he hadn't slept well, with droopy eyelids.

In front of the flag, his three hundred men sat on the ground, munching on flatbread. Looking at them, Zhang Qingyun's eyelids twitched again.

More than three hundred riders and horses, among whom a group were fully armored, even their horses were covered in armor.

These horses were about the same size as the dragon steeds that Li Dachui had brought to the temple a few days ago, with a shoulder height of at least seven feet.

Normally, a horse like this could fetch thousands or even tens of thousands of taels of silver in Chang'an, and its owner would treasure it dearly. But here, it's just an ordinary warhorse.

These people probably arrived last night, right?

We haven't seen them at all during the day!

Armored warrior.

You're telling me these are bandits from beyond the Great Wall?

Zhang Qingyun felt that this world was too absurd.

Li Dachui waved lazily at her, and Zhang Qingyun walked over.

"The Heavenly Battalion under the command of Li Dachui, a notorious bandit from beyond the Great Wall, has a total of three hundred cavalrymen, including sixty-six armored soldiers. How about that? Pretty impressive, right?"

"Why sixty-six?" Zhang Qingyun, as if possessed, didn't pay attention to why Li Dachui could afford to keep armored vehicles, and instead asked a strange question.

"Sixes bring good fortune!" Li Dachui's reply was equally irrelevant.

"The Heavenly Battalion? Does that mean there's also the Earthly Battalion?"

"Clever!" Li Dachui laughed. "And there's the 'Human' camp, representing Heaven, Earth, and Man—the Three Powers!"

"Is this the kind of equipment they all have?" Zhang Qingyun pointed to the armored vehicles in the middle.

“We can’t afford to support them!” Li Dachui said. “The three camps of Heaven, Earth and Man each have their own characteristics, but they are all big spenders! However, they are also very efficient in their work. Every penny I, Li Dachui, spend is not wasted.”

"Those bandits over there?" Zhang Qingyun bit her lip, her bright red lips immediately losing all color.

“They’re nothing but chickens and dogs, not worth mentioning. The real problem is the people behind them.” Li Dachui broke off a blade of grass, put it in his mouth and chewed it. “Xiao Changche has come in person.”

"Why did you say that the person who most wanted to kill my father was someone like Xiao Changche? From what you've said, he's not such a bad person."

"This world can never be simply divided into good or bad people, nor can it be simply divided into black and white. Some people who are bad to you are considered the best people by others, and those who are good to you might be hated by another group. Birds of a feather flock together!" Li Dachui said slowly, "Xiao Changche was born and raised outside the Great Wall. As far as I know, his clan and relatives were all wiped out by the Northern Yuan. He was the only one who escaped. In his life..." Their mission was to destroy the Northern Yuan. But your father and his ilk, citing the barrenness and chaos of the area beyond the Great Wall as a burden on the Qin Dynasty, wanted to abandon this vast territory. In the eyes of Xiao Changche and his men, this was tantamount to Qin traitors, villains, and their mortal enemies. If the court abandoned the area beyond the Great Wall, they would have no hope of revenge. "Every inch of this land was bought with blood; how could we simply abandon this land won back by the blood and sacrifice of countless ancestors?" "The area beyond the Great Wall has indeed become a huge financial burden on the court."

“The problem isn’t with the border regions, but with the court itself,” Li Dachui said resolutely. “Giving up is not the solution. If we consider the Great Qin as a person, then the border regions are part of its body. If we keep cutting off pieces, how can the main body survive? Moreover, if the Northern Yuan were to seize this land, it would inevitably become a nightmare for the Great Qin.”

"Not all the officials in the court are merely incompetent fools."

“I believe that. None of those who hold high positions in the Qin Dynasty and can determine the direction of the court's national policies are useless. They just look down on the Northern Yuan. In their eyes, barbarians are not worth mentioning.” Li Dachui waved his hand.

"Is the Northern Yuan really that powerful?"

"At least the current rulers of the Northern Yuan are, in my opinion, far superior to the kings and ministers of our Great Qin!"

"have you seen?"

"I haven't seen the most formidable one, but I've seen the lesser ones. Yet, one can see the whole leopard from a single spot, and know the depth of autumn from a single leaf. The lesser one is already so capable; how could the old man who trained such a formidable figure be anything less?" Li Dachui exclaimed with emotion. "My lifelong rival!"

Zhang Qingyun gave Li Dachui a strange look. The person he mentioned seemed to be an extremely important figure in the Northern Yuan, but how much interaction could he possibly have with a bandit leader like Li Dachui? Even if Li Dachui was the most powerful bandit leader!

A mournful horn sounded in the distance. Li Dachui put his hand to his brow, glanced at it, and pursed his lips, his expression seemingly one of extreme disdain.

"Rise!" Fang Xiaomao's voice reached Zhang Qingyun's ears. Looking closely, he saw Fang Xiaomao with only his head sticking out of the iron can. He held the iron helmet in his hands, and with each step he took, the armor plates made a rustling sound.

A thunderous roar filled the air, and sixty-five armored cavalrymen rose to their feet and moved to their equally armored warhorses. Surrounding them were over two hundred light cavalrymen.

"Are you going too?" Zhang Qingyun asked.

"These stragglers aren't worth my time. Xiao Changche would be more suitable!" Li Dachui laughed. "The scene that's about to unfold is bound to be bloody. You're a young lady, so you shouldn't watch. Go back to your tent!"

“After leaving Chang’an, I stopped seeing myself as a girl. You also said that this place beyond the Great Wall is a dog-eat-dog world. If I want to live longer, I have to get used to it.” Zhang Qingyun looked at him and said, “I’m not alone today because you’re by my side. I’ll be a little braver.”

Li Dachui clapped his hands and said, "Not bad, not bad. To have such awareness so quickly, it seems you are teachable. Then watch carefully and see this real world. Compared with the sneaky scheming in Chang'an, this is real fighting, clean and efficient. Those who die deserve it, and those who live are all right."

"It's not just about open warfare, is it? Even beyond the Great Wall, sneaky scheming is probably commonplace!" Zhang Qingyun sneered, "Brother Li, I think you're just a master of scheming!"

Li Dachui burst into laughter: "What you're saying leaves me speechless!"

"Looks like I hit the nail on the head!" Zhang Qingyun raised an eyebrow, somewhat smug.

“Those who don’t know how to scheme outside the pass will mostly become like those fools in front of us, driven here to their deaths,” Li Dachui said. “The biggest difference between here and Chang’an is that here, killing is done openly and honestly! No reason is needed.”

The distant, mournful bugle call grew more urgent, accompanied by the rapid clatter of hooves as bandits charged towards them in droves.

"Mount up!" Fang Xiaomao's shout came from ahead.

To Zhang Qingyun's astonishment, the heavily armored warriors stamped their feet and easily leaped into the air, landing on their horses.

"Now you know why there are only sixty-six, right?" Li Dachui said, "Although there are many people outside the pass, and although I, Li Dachui, am rich and generous, I can't just recruit good people casually. Among these sixty-six people, the most powerful one is naturally Xiao Mao, whose martial arts cultivation is at the eighth level of Xuan Yuan. He is also the commander of the Tianzi Camp. The others are basically at the fourth to sixth level of Yu Qi cultivation."

"Where did you manage to gather so many martial arts experts?" Even though he wasn't very knowledgeable about martial arts, Zhang Qingyun knew it was an extraordinary feat. For example, the eight constables escorting them, led by Wu De, aside from Wu De, seemed to be barely at the rank of ordinary officers.

Having come this far, only four remain now.

Even so, they were already considered among the elite members of the Six Doors.

"On the battlefield, the Heavenly Battalion is a butcher's knife!" Li Dachui said in a deep voice. "Xiao Changche has always wanted to find out the details of my Heavenly Battalion. This time, I'll let him see it clearly!"

"I'm sorry! We've dragged you down!" Zhang Qingyun felt that it was definitely not a good thing that Li Dachui had to reveal his trump card because of their family's affairs.

"It's hard to say!" Li Dachui said, "Sometimes you have to hide your strength so that the other side can't figure it out, but sometimes you have to let the enemy know it clearly to prevent them from making misjudgments and acting rashly. That's not good for anyone, is it? Sometimes the enemy makes a mistake, but in the end, it is both sides that suffer losses."

"You mean Xiao Changche is nearby?"

“Yes, he’s probably somewhere with a view right now, waiting to watch the show!” Li Dachui said. “He’ll show up once these bandits are done for.”

(End of this chapter)