knife

Chapter 339 Atoning for one’s sins
After much thought, Quanxin was still puzzled, looking at Li Dachui with a lingering look of doubt in his eyes.

"Are you wondering how I managed to get so close?" Li Dachui asked with a smile.

Quanxin nodded: "Exactly. Xiantian is not a god. This is a military camp, not an ordinary place. You can't silently sneak up from the outside to the core without the army reacting at all."

"It seems you are quite confident in your ability to manage troops!"

Quanxin didn't say anything, but the expression on his face said it all.

"The reason I was able to reach your innermost territory without your men reacting is because someone brought me in!" Li Dachui laughed. "Once I was inside your camp, near your residence, and someone pointed out the exact direction, finding you became a piece of cake!"

Quanxin lowered his head, pondered for a while, and said, "You came in with Quanzhen, then met Quanrui first, and under Quanrui's guidance, you marched straight in?"

“Correct!” Li Dachui laughed.

Quan Zhen was a member of the Quan clan who came from Chengdu to deliver the news to Quan Xin, while Quan Rui was Quan Xin's son.

"So, you've already convinced Quan Rui!"

"Of course, he's young and quick-witted, and he wasn't willing to just follow Prince Ji and the Tang family into a slump. I extended a hand as a gesture of friendship, and he immediately grasped it firmly!" Li Dachui laughed. "Now, it's up to you, the pillar of the whole family."

Quanxin turned his head to look in the direction of Jianmen Pass, his expression extremely complicated.

"Is Linghu Zhishu here with you?" Li Dachui asked. "The person Quan Rui described to me should be my old acquaintance, my good friend Linghu Zhishu."

"If Tang Xiaofeng had adopted Linghu Zhishu's advice and launched a full-scale attack while Wu De was still establishing himself, annihilating him and then immediately returning, you wouldn't have had a chance!" Quanxin said with deep regret.

Although it's hindsight, looking back, the opportunity was actually given to them, but they just didn't seize it.

“Indeed!” Li Dachui nodded in agreement: “I took several thousand of the most elite officers and soldiers with me. Wu De’s place is just an empty shell. If you hadn’t wanted to take advantage of the situation, to avoid paying any price, and to make the enemy foolishly attack Jianmen Pass, which is supposed to be impregnable, and instead adopted Linghu Zhishu’s suggestion, we might be fighting fiercely on the Chengdu Plain right now!”

Quan Xin lowered his head dejectedly: "One wrong step, and there will be no more chances."

“Yes!” Li Dachui agreed wholeheartedly: “In this competition, if either of us makes the slightest mistake, we will fall into an abyss. But now you have a rope hanging in front of you, it’s up to you whether you want to climb over it!”

"Why would I betray Tang Xiaofeng? Do you know that we've been friends for decades!" Quanxin said, his neck stiff.

Li Dachui smiled and pointed in the direction of Jianmen Pass: "Guess what Linghu Zhishu is doing at this time?"

"What can he do? We've failed, and Sichuan has fallen into your hands. He can only tuck his tail between his legs and run away!"

"This isn't like him at all!" Li Dachui laughed. "At this moment, he's persuading Tang Xiaofeng to launch a full-scale attack, confront Wu De head-on, and after defeating Wu De, lead the remaining troops to join the Linghu family!"

"This is one way out!"

"Yes, for Tang Xiaofeng, this is indeed a way out. Although from now on, he will become a henchman of the Linghu clan, fighting for them to conquer the world, and will have no autonomy whatsoever. Until you and your subordinates have shed all your blood and tears, you will never have the chance to return to Shu and see your parents, brothers and relatives again!"

Li Dachui spoke slowly and deliberately, and with each sentence he finished, his new face became even paler.

"I might as well tell you that Wu De at Jiguanyan is currently in full preparation for your attack! Perhaps some of you will be able to break through, but I can tell you very clearly that even if I don't intervene, you will suffer heavy casualties. At most, no more than half of the tens of thousands of elite troops from Shu will be able to break through! Quanxin, do you really want to do this?"

"Will we have a good life if we stay?" Quanxin asked.

"The Tang family is definitely out of the question! They are the ones I must eliminate!" Li Dachui said resolutely. "But I can make an exception for the entire Tang family!"

Quanxin gave a bitter smile: "Our whole family has always been the Tang family's closest allies. I don't think you'll let us off the hook. Over the years, our family has never been involved in anything the Tang family has done!"

"So you also know that what you've done in Sichuan all these years has been unethical!" Li Dachui said. "I entered Sichuan alone with only a few thousand men, yet when I raised my arm, countless people responded, which shocked me greatly. You've exploited the people of Sichuan too much over the years, to the point that the common people of Sichuan all hope for your downfall." "To contend for the throne, someone always has to pay the price!" Quanxin said. "This generation of Sichuan people has paid the price, but once we succeed, Sichuan will be the place where the new emperor will rise to power, bringing blessings to more than just a few generations."

"That's what you think, but the common people don't think that way. Why should their suffering be paid for by your ambitions!" Li Dachui sneered. "The will of the people is the right path. Water can carry a boat, but it can also capsize it. If you don't even understand this principle, what are you talking about in your quest for supremacy? You will only be sacrifices on the road to hegemony."

“You’re not wrong, we’ve already failed!” Quanxin nodded and said, “You came to me because I still have some value to use. In that case, I should bargain with you. If the Tang family is going to perish, what are you going to do with my whole family? If we’re going to perish anyway, why should I bear the stigma of betrayal before I die? Fighting with you and going down with the Tang family, at least I can still earn a reputation for loyalty.”

Li Dachui laughed heartily: "You're an interesting person too. Alright, I'll state my terms, what do you think?"

A brand new nod.

“I said that if the Tang family is finished, your whole family can stay. But your reputation in Sichuan has been ruined over the years, so it’s impossible for you to stay. First, you won’t have an easy life if you stay. Being scorned, suppressed, and ostracized is definitely not a pleasant experience, right? Second, your staying will not be conducive to our integration of Sichuan.”

"So you're going to send our whole family there?" Quanxin asked.

"Where do I come from?" Li Dachui asked with a smile.

Quan Xin suddenly realized: "You want our whole family to go to the Northeast?"

“The land beyond the Great Wall is vast and full of opportunities!” Li Dachui said. “You don’t really think the land beyond the Great Wall is just a harsh and remote place, do you?”

“Suffering is not necessarily the case, but coldness is inevitable!” Quanxin said.

“That’s quite right!” Li Dachui laughed. “Your entire clan can take your wealth and establish a new foundation outside the Great Wall. There is vast land there, which can fully satisfy your obsessive love for land. As long as you are willing, you can cultivate as much land as you want, as long as you pay taxes. Of course, the taxes there are very cheap. If you reclaim wasteland, you can even be exempt from taxes for three years!”

"What about the bad parts?"

"The downside, of course, is that you'll constantly face attacks from barbarians and other unknown scoundrels. You have to be ready to fight at any time!" Li Dachui laughed. "Although I've divided the Northern Yuan into three parts, two of them border us. On the surface, we're all laughing and doing business and making friends, but behind the scenes, we're stabbing each other in the back. You can still make a name for yourself there, but of course, you might accidentally become someone else's hero! In short, the area beyond the Great Wall is full of challenges and dangers, where opportunities and failures coexist."

"That sounds quite interesting!" Quan Xin pondered for a moment, "If we could seize the opportunity and my Quan family could become a powerful force in the region, would you allow it?"

Li Dachui stared at him: "Although you have a large family, you're going to a place where you don't know anyone. Do you think you can become a big shot without a generation or two of hard work? Do you know how many years the Chang family has been struggling outside the Great Wall?"

"So, in other words, wherever I am capable, no one will target me, is that right?"

“The premise is that you don’t break our rules,” Li Dachui said. “Don’t think that there are no rules outside the pass. On the contrary, we have very strict rules there, and some of them are red lines that cannot be crossed.”

“I understand. Without rules, there can be no order! Otherwise, how could you, Li Dachui, have become a regional overlord in just a few decades? I agree, I will go beyond the Great Wall!”

"Very good!" Li Dachui clapped his hands and said, "Over the years, you have done a lot of bad things in Sichuan. Now, you are going to the border to guard the frontier for the sake of the people of the Central Plains. This can be considered as redeeming your sins!"

"However, there is one more thing I don't understand and would like to ask you!"

"Please say!"

"Since you anticipated that we might launch a strong attack on Jiguanyan, you could have made preparations in advance. Why did you give me this opportunity?"

“It’s very simple. Whether it’s you or the Tang family, I don’t really care if you die, but I do care about the tens of thousands of strong men in Jianmen Pass! I don’t want to see their blood flowing in vain on Jinniu Road. I need someone to help me salvage the situation. The Tang family is someone I must eliminate. So, you have enough prestige, enough cultivation, and you’re not completely evil; you’re the kind of person who can be redeemed,” Li Dachui said, shrugging.

"You want me to kill Tang Xiaofeng for you?" Quanxin's mood was somewhat downcast: "Is this considered a pledge of loyalty?"

“You don’t need to do it yourself!” Li Dachui laughed. “Tang Xiaofeng will soon invite you to Jianmen Pass to discuss how to break through. You just need to bring me into the council hall. I’ll handle the killings, and you can handle the pacification of the troops. You’ve worked at Jianmen Pass your whole life, and Tang Xiaofeng only came there a year ago. Don’t tell me you don’t have any people there!”

(End of this chapter)