The court lackeys of the eight-hour workday

Chapter 516 Gap
An Ziyang bowed his head, accepted the order, and left.

He barely spoke a few words to Li Miao last night.

Li Miao laughed and beat him up, dismantling his hard work accumulated over the past six months, before leaving with the words "You still need to practice." It wasn't until this morning that he recognized Li Miao's back and rushed over.

However, he had grown accustomed to Li Miao's willful and disregardful manner of disregarding his subordinates' feelings, and thus willingly carried out Li Miao's orders.

He failed to notice the immense psychological damage his words had inflicted on Wu Mingxiao and Ming Wanhai, two young men not yet twenty.

“Li, Li…”

Wu Mingxiao stammered.

"Big, big..."

Ming Wanhai hesitated and stammered.

"Ugh."

Behind them, Zhao Ying sighed, handed the baby in her arms to the soldiers of Dengzhou Guard, walked to Li Miao's side with her hand on her sword, and bowed.

“Commander, our agreement is now settled. I’ve thought things through on this journey together. My father’s grudges are a complicated matter, so it’s best to leave them unresolved…”

"I am utterly disheartened and only wish to find a place to end my days. Commander... could you please let me go?"

Li Miao looked at her with a smile.

"I don't have the habit of letting my enemies spend the night with me."

Zhao Ying's expression darkened, and she gripped the hilt of her sword tightly.

"in this way."

"Then I won't take up any more of your time. Could you allow me to commit suicide, so as to preserve some dignity for the Zhao family?"

Li Miao remained noncommittal.

Wu Mingxiao, standing nearby, grew anxious. Although he had known for some time that Li Miao and Zhao Ying had a grudge, he hadn't expected it to be to such a degree. Forgetting about Li Miao's status, he hurriedly spoke up.

"Li Da—man."

He ultimately swallowed the word "brother," for a pitifully thick barrier had already formed between him and Li Miao.

"Miss Zhao has been traveling with me all this way, and she's not a bad person. Could you—"

"Okay."

Before he could finish speaking, Li Miao unexpectedly agreed immediately, stopping Zhao Ying from drawing his sword.

He casually pointed to the battle formation ahead.

"Didn't you want to end this miserable life? Where did you go?"

Zhao Ying was taken aback.

Before she could answer, Wu Mingxiao rushed over, grabbed her arm, pressed down on her back with one hand, and pulled her down.

"Alright, alright, Miss Zhao agrees!"

"Then let's go kill the thieves!"

Fearing that Li Miao would change his mind, he grabbed Zhao Ying and ran towards the place where the battle was taking place.

As Zhao Ying passed by Li Miao, she said something almost inaudibly.

"Thank you, sir."

Li Miao pretended not to hear.

After Wu Mingxiao had dragged Zhao Ying along for a while, he seemed to suddenly remember something and turned around to say something.

"By the way, Xiao Wu."

Wu Mingxiao turned around.

Li Miao said with a smile.

"I still prefer to hear you call me Brother Li."

Wu Mingxiao's face broke into a smile.

"Hey! Brother Li!"

"I'm going!"

Li Miao waved.

"go Go."

Wu Mingxiao smiled, turned his head, drew his knife, and charged into the crowd with Zhao Ying, splashing blood everywhere.

Li Miao watched for a while before turning to look at Ming Wanhai.

"Young man, still not recovered?" Ming Wanhai was stunned, then trembled, and finally his legs went weak and he was about to kneel down. The several martial arts practitioners who had followed him were also about to kneel down. But Li Miao lifted them up with a gesture of support.

"How is your sect leader?"

Li Miao asked with a smile.

Ming Wanhai replied tremblingly.

"It's alright...it's alright."

Have you mentioned me?

"I mentioned it...I mentioned it."

"You haven't been in the martial arts world for very long, have you?"

"Yes……"

"I am an old friend of your sect leader, and I am your elder. Since I have met you, I can't not give you something, so I taught you a sword technique last night... Now I will teach you a principle."

Li Miao smiled and put her hand on Ming Wanhai's shoulder, which startled him. He replied tremblingly.

"Please speak..."

"The act of chivalry is actually the same as rebellion."

Li Miao, a high-ranking official of the imperial court, casually uttered a treasonous metaphor, which shocked the group of martial arts practitioners so much that they broke out in a cold sweat and thought to themselves, "Is this something I should listen to?"
But no one could shut Li Miao up, so he continued talking.

"Fists, brains, timing, and understanding of the enemy are all indispensable. Reasoning with a sword is not like reasoning with words, where you can back out, cover up, or pretend nothing happened."

"But none of that is the most important thing. Do you know what the most important thing in rebellion is?"

"It's about choosing companions."

"A matter cannot be accomplished without secrecy. A single accomplice who is insincere, loose-lipped, and morally corrupt can ruin the entire affair."

Ming Wanhai was startled and horrified!

How could he not understand Li Miao's meaning!
It turns out that Li Miao had been acting out this whole drama with them last night, and hadn't revealed his identity until he finally met An Ziyang, all because of this!
Yes, there are several thousand Japanese here today. In this tiny island of Japan, it would probably take several daimyo joining forces to muster such a force. How could they not confirm such a display?

The traitor had infiltrated from the very beginning, intending to use this group of foolish knights as cover to storm into the prison and investigate Qi Jiguang's true situation!
Moreover... if An Ziyang and Li Miao hadn't interfered last night, the traitor would probably have immediately killed Qi Jiguang, completely extinguishing Dengzhou Guard's hopes! Fortunately, something went wrong, and fortunately, the General Qi from last night was an imposter!
"who is it!?"

Ming Wanhai suddenly turned his head to look at the five martial arts figures who had come with him, trying to find out what was going on.

Actually, there's no need for him to go looking for it.

When Li Miao was halfway through his speech, an unremarkable middle-aged man stared intently at him, about to speak.

"Your Mightiness--"

"Did I give you permission to stand?"

Li Miao said calmly.

Bang!
A surge of protective energy slammed into the middle-aged man's shoulder, and his knees slammed into the ground with a crisp "crack".

"Well."

The middle-aged man's face turned pale, but he suppressed his cry of pain, forced his head up, and said to Li Miao.

"Sir, may I have a word to say?"

"We have crossed the sea not to plunder your people, but because our country is in trouble, and the source of this disaster is in the Central Plains... So we have no choice but to try to get some leverage to exchange for something with your country."

Li Miao let out a cold laugh.

"The bargaining chips you want are the people of my Great Shuo?"

The middle-aged man said in a deep voice.

"Yes."

"Furthermore, please do not underestimate our determination. Even what we have now is not the greatest 'sincerity' we can offer... What we want is not important to the Central Plains, but for it, we are willing to pay a lot of lives... as many as you cannot bear."

"Therefore, please reconsider... Your country's martial arts have declined, and the gap that has been widened over the past two hundred years is not easily bridged. Today, we have a great man who can make you realize this gap."

"How about we call a truce and make peace? We'll get what we want and then—"

Li Miao waved his hand casually.

laugh!
The middle-aged man's eyes widened, his hands covering his ripped throat, making gurgling sounds. The wound was precisely cut, enough to render him speechless, but not enough to take his life immediately.

Li Miao turned his head to look at the back of the battle circle.

"You mean that old man?"

"Recognize the gap?"

"Very well... it's time for you lowly people to realize the difference in status."

(End of this chapter)