The Legend of the Condor Heroes: I became one of the Five Great Masters by drawing cards

Chapter 25: Hostage
The bald man looked down in shock, only to see a big hole in his clothes on his chest, with a claw mark running across his chest.

His horizontal training skills couldn't withstand the power of a claw. Fortunately, he retreated quickly enough. If he had been a moment slower, his heart and lungs would have been taken away.

"Nine Yin Bone Claw?! Who are you to the Black Wind Twins?"

Yang Miaozhen had good eyesight and recognized the moves Yang Kang used at a glance, and immediately exclaimed in surprise.

Yang Kang didn't say anything, but rushed after him, gathering all his internal energy and sending claws flying.

The bald man's martial arts skills are also quite good. Although not as good as Yang Miaozhen, he is also a good player at the same level as the "Three-headed Dragon" Hou Tonghai.

Such an uprising army is much stronger than the Taihu Lake bandits in terms of combat effectiveness.

When the bald man first saw that this strange claw technique could actually break his iron shirt, he was also shocked.

However, he was used to living on the edge of a knife and had rich experience in battle. It only took him a moment to calm himself down and counter the opponent's moves.

Yang Kang's "Nine Yin White Bone Claw" is just a basic skill. It can scare people at first, but it will show flaws after a while.

This is not surprising. The martial arts in the second volume of "Nine Yin Scriptures" are indeed exquisite, but Mei Chaofeng herself only has a superficial understanding of it and almost became paralyzed. How much can her apprentice learn?
Relying on the intimidating power of his claw skills, Yang Kang managed to hold out for more than ten moves before the bald man seized the opportunity again.

A kick to the heart, hard kick in his chest.

The poor little prince rolled around like a ball several times before he could stop retreating in a panic.

The Red Turban Army cheered loudly and applauded.

"Your Excellency, do we need to fight again?" The bald man breathed a sigh of relief, laughed, and asked jokingly.

Yang Kang felt extremely humiliated, and blood rushed up his head. Coupled with the injury from the kick, he vomited blood on the spot.

"Little prince!"

Gu Ping'an reacted quickly and blocked his way in front of him.

Yang Kang knew that he would not be able to defeat his opponent if he continued to fight, so he did not try to fight back.

"Best of three, you lost, do you still have anything to say?"

The bald man pretended to brush off the dust on his body, not caring at all about the bloody wound on his chest.

Yang Kang was supported by Gu Ping'an and stood up, but he still pretended to be heroic and said, "If you have the guts, kill me. In the future, my Jin army will wipe you out!"

He couldn't help but feel uneasy, but he didn't dare show his fear, so he deliberately added a hint of threat in his words.

"This Jinshi's Kung Fu is soft, but his mouth is very hard!"

"Do you really think grandfathers were brought up by being scared? Kill him!"

Suddenly, there was a burst of curses in the forest. Seeing the excitement and the flashing of knives, Yang Kang's face turned even paler.

"All right!"

When the group of people became more and more excited and could hardly hold back, the bald man slowly raised his hand.

"Brothers, please be patient."

He first calmed everyone down, then turned to Yang Kang.

"As for you, there's no need to scare us. We are just peasants, our lives are worthless, and naturally not as valuable as your life, the Imperial Envoy."

"Just say what you want to say. Don't beat around the bush." Yang Kang interrupted.

"Okay, then I'll be frank." The bald man clapped his hands. "We've worked so hard to do business in order to make money, not to kill people. It's not that we have to kill you."

He suddenly stopped talking midway, then curled his lips and looked at Yang Kang.

Yang Kang immediately understood what he meant and continued, "Just tell me a number!"

The bald man gave an exaggerated smile, as if he had heard some huge joke.

"Brothers, he asked me to tell him a number!" The Red Coat Army burst into laughter, pointing at Yang Kang and laughing at his naivety.

"You said it, but don't blame me for asking for such a high price!" The bald man laughed heartily and then spoke leisurely, "You are an imperial envoy. I just heard the captain of the guards say that you seem to be a young prince. Such a noble status is worth at least 20,000 taels of gold!"

This number was also the result of advance consultation.

They had just seen the wealth of Xu Hong, the richest man in Juzhou, last night. Excluding the real estate deeds, it was worth at least 700,000 to 800,000 taels of silver, which was equivalent to 70,000 to 80,000 taels of gold.

And what they earned through hard work, when all was added up, was only worth a few tens of thousands of taels of silver.

This time the asking price was 20,000 taels of gold. If the Xu family relied on it alone, it would be a huge loss. However, if they could pool their resources with a few other wealthy businessmen, they could still easily come up with the money.

But in Yang Kang's eyes, this is not a small amount.

"impossible!"

He was furious and was about to curse, but was stopped by Gu Ping'an.

"Young Prince, calm down. The situation is not favorable to us right now. If we anger them, we may lose our lives in vain."

What he said made sense, and Yang Kang didn't want to lose his life in vain, so he had to suppress his anger temporarily.

"But do you know what 20,000 taels of gold is? We can't even get that much money together. What's the difference between that and waiting to die?"

Gu Pingan pretended to be in deep thought, and after a long while he said, "Perhaps this isn't a situation where death is inevitable."

"Do you have a good idea?" Yang Kang's eyes suddenly lit up and he asked hurriedly.

"We definitely can't come up with this money, and it's too late to go back to the palace for help. The only solution now is to ask for help."

"Help someone? Who?" Yang Kang asked. "Father and his men disguised themselves and changed their route. Even I couldn't find them."

His first reaction was actually Mei Chaofeng.

Mei Chaofeng's legs have healed. When she hears about the martial arts competition among the Seven Freaks of Jiangnan in Jiaxing, she also goes south with them, wanting to avenge the "thief".

But her reputation was too bad to travel with the delegation openly, so they had to go separately and agreed to meet in Suzhou.

Suzhou was still far away, and Yang Kang wanted to ask for help along the way, but he couldn't find anyone.

Gu Ping'an expressed his idea: "The richest man in Juzhou is Xu Hong."

"Xu Hong? What kind of kung fu does he know?" Yang Kang was still thinking about asking someone to rescue him and didn't even think about paying a ransom.

Gu Ping'an was speechless for a while and explained patiently.

"We can't afford such a large sum of money, but Xu Hong is the richest man, so I think he has more than that."

Yang Kang finally understood, but he was still worried and said, "But I have no friendship with him, how could he be willing to let him go?"

"You have to give it up even if you're reluctant," Gu Ping'an consoled him. "You're shouldering a heavy responsibility now. If something happens in Juzhou and word gets back to Zhongdu, how can the officials of Juzhou, big and small, survive?"

He was afraid that Yang Kang was still confused, so he added, "If they knew there was a way to save them, they would have to rob them of their money even if they had to use knives!"

"You're right!" Yang Kang was worried about his life, so he nodded immediately when he heard that it was feasible.

He calmed himself down and said to the bald man, "Twenty thousand taels of gold, I'll give it to you!"

"Good!" The bald man was delighted. "The Imperial Envoy really knows how to handle current affairs!"

"How do I give you this money?"

The bald man was stunned. They were too hasty in discussing yesterday and only focused on how to set an ambush and catch people, but forgot to consider how to collect the money.

It’s still the skinny old wolf who sees the opportunity the fastest.

"In that case, please allow the envoy to remain as a hostage and send someone else to fetch the money for us!"

(End of this chapter)