New and dark light years

Chapter 387 Roasted Cockroach Insect Man

In the largest house in Tuodong County, Tang Qi was throwing bait to feed the fish by the artificial hill and pond.

Several men walked over.

They came up behind Tang Qi, clasped their hands in unison, and said, "Greetings, Father King."

Tang Qi turned around and laughed, "I haven't even declared myself king yet, it's too early for me to call myself king."

"It's only a matter of time." He smiled at the most mature man and said, "My father will eventually sweep across the eight wastelands and unify the world."

Tang Qi's eyebrows twitched slightly, and she said, "Are you mocking me?"

The man immediately clasped his hands in a fist and bowed, saying, "I wouldn't dare."

"You don't dare?" Tang Qi looked at the other men and sighed, "You really don't dare, so you called a few of your brothers to come and find me."

The man gave an awkward laugh.

Tang Qi sighed, "Tell me, who persuaded you to come here!"

The most mature-looking man was Tang Li, the eldest son of the Tang family. He shook his head vigorously and said, "No one is here. We have come to pay our respects to our father in good faith."

Tang Qi pointed to the pavilion not far away and said, "Let's sit there. Since you all want to know, I'll tell you."

The group was overjoyed.

Before long, a group of people came and sat in the pavilion.

Tang Qi sat in the main seat, stroking his beard, and said, "Do you think that our Tang family army of 200,000 men can easily deal with Dian and Jin counties?"

Everyone nodded slightly.

That's certainly how they see it.

Tang Qi said, "As you can see, the resistance in Dian County is fierce, and another madman has come from Jin County. Our attack has been thwarted, so it's natural that we have to go into defensive mode. Isn't that normal?"

“But we could have taken the entire Dian County if we had launched a full-scale attack.”

Tang Qi said helplessly, "After we've finished fighting the army... who will help us look after these twenty-odd counties and villages in Dianjun? Who will help us collect taxes?"

"We can recruit soldiers..."

"We just killed their brothers and sisters, do you think you can recruit them?" Tang Qi laughed. "You let your men run wild, and every time you capture a city, you don't sheath your swords for a day. Do you think they don't hate you? Under such circumstances, would you dare to take the soldiers you recruit to the battlefield? You might die from a stray arrow coming from behind."

The men from the Tang family looked at each other in bewilderment.

Tang Qi continued, "Although the imperial court doesn't have many troops now, it's still a force to be reckoned with. Even that barbarian Zhao Tuo can see this clearly, so why can't you? If this country were so easy to conquer, Zhao Tuo wouldn't be hiding in Yue County, not moving an inch."

Tang Song couldn't help but ask, "Then what are your plans, Father...?"

"First, we should establish our own territory, build high walls, and stockpile grain. Now is not the time to contend for supremacy. If we wait a few more years, the world will be even more chaotic, and that will be the time for us to fish in troubled waters and make a great profit."

Everyone understood what Tang Qi meant.

"It's just that the rumors outside aren't very nice. They say you're afraid of the garrison troops of Jin County and Dian County. They say that our Tang family is nothing special."

"Let them say what they want. It would be even better if they looked down on us because of it." Tang Qi smiled simply. "Our Tang family's most powerful White Elephant Army hasn't been deployed yet. When they are born, the whole world will be shocked by our Tang family. Just wait. It will be three to five years at the shortest and the longest before our Tang family marches north."

Tang Qi's eyes were filled with the burning flames of ambition.

The Tang family members all wore similar expressions.

Meanwhile, Li Lin and Hua Yi'an saw off the Chinese delegation.

"Damn it, that old eunuch is really ruthless. He secretly asked me for money three times, a total of three hundred taels. Bah! Almost a tenth of the money awarded by the court went into his pocket."

After the Chinese delegation left, Hua Yi'an began to curse.

Li Lin laughed and said, "He also asked me for three hundred taels."

"Give it to me."

"Of course I'll give it to you, why wouldn't I?" Li Lin laughed. "It's better to offend a gentleman than a petty person."

Hua Yi'an gave Li Lin a deep look and asked, "County Commandant Li, what do you plan to do next?"

"Go back to Jin County, what else can we do?"

"You've conquered these three counties, don't you plan to... squeeze some money out of the local gentry?"

Li Lin shook his head: "They've already been ravaged by the rebels once, I can't bring myself to do it."

Hua Yi'an was quite surprised.

Li Lin clasped his hands in a fist salute and said, "Then I will lead the troops back first. Until we meet again."

Hua Yi'an returned the greeting with clasped hands: "Sigh... We get along quite well, it's a pity you don't want to stay here for long."

Li Lin laughed out loud: "If I stay here any longer, you and the Prefect of Dian County will be the ones who are restless."

Hahahaha!

Hua Yi'an also burst into laughter.

Li Lin then took his leave and returned to his camp, ordering his army to set off on their return journey.

It took the government troops eleven days to return to Jin County.

Li Lin took more than two-thirds of the rewards issued by the imperial court, converting the goods into silver, and distributed them to the local troops as compensation and rewards.

The rewards issued by the imperial court were mostly in kind, amounting to approximately ten thousand taels of silver.

That's not stingy at all.

Li Lin took three thousand taels of silver and distributed the rest to the army, which made the soldiers extremely happy.

Instead of rushing home, he went to the Huang residence in Jin County.

Huang Yan was very happy to see him.

I dragged him to the backyard and we drank together.

While drinking, he said, "My dear son-in-law, you have given me a great deal of face, a really great deal of face."

Huang Yan's face was flushed, but she couldn't hide the smile in her eyes.

He had assumed that with the Tang family's rebellion, Jin County would follow in the footsteps of Dian County and be captured by the Tang rebels within half a month.

When the time comes, all I will have left is death.

Although he wasn't afraid of death, he didn't want to die like that. As a result... Li Lin actually took the initiative to attack.

And then they won.

As the garrison commander, Li Lin certainly had the authority to make decisions in this situation, but Huang Yan was worried for Li Lin.

“Although you are capable, you are still a young man. You have only been the Commander-in-Chief of Jin County for a year.” Huang Yan tugged at Li Lin’s sleeve and said in an incredulous tone, “Who is Tang Qi… He is a member of the Tang family… There are 200,000 border troops on the other side. At that time, I even thought… that you should take Qing’er and hide. Anyway, with the abilities of your Li family, no one could find you if you wanted to hide… But you quietly led the army to meet the challenge head-on… I admire you.”

Huang Yan was swaying slightly as he poured Li Lin a cup of wine: "My dear son-in-law, drink up, I'm toasting you. Remember, two months from now... in the capital. I'll risk my life... to make you... a military governor, and no one can stop me, I said it."

Li Lin was both amused and exasperated, but he still drank it as instructed.

Huang Yan also drank it all in one gulp, and then got drunk.

Li Lin summoned several maids and helped Huang Yan back to her room to rest.

He then asked a maid for a towel at the Huang residence, wiped his face, washed his hands, and left the Huang residence.

As soon as he stepped out of the Huang residence gate, he heard a familiar face standing on the opposite street, bowing to him.

Li Lin walked over and greeted him with a smile: "Brother An."

An Xin said solemnly, "Congratulations, Brother Li, on your extraordinary achievement."

"What kind of extraordinary feat is this?" Li Lin waved his hand helplessly. "We don't need to be so polite between us. Let's get down to business."

An Xin laughed: "Brother Li is still the same as ever. My four junior brothers are getting worse and worse. I hope Brother Li can go and help them with their treatment."

Li Lin nodded: "Then let's go."

The two entered Tianyi Gate and arrived at a private room that had been prepared in advance.

As soon as the door to the room opened, Li Lin felt a pungent, insect-like odor wafting towards him.

He instinctively covered his nose.

He then looked inside and found four strangely shaped people sitting there.

On everyone's face, something that wasn't flesh and blood grew.

No matter how you look at it, it's just pieces of insect shells.

At this moment, a pair of small hands offered a fragrant handkerchief: "Senior Brother Li, please wear this."

Li Lin took the handkerchief, covered his mouth and nose with it, and then turned his head: "Junior Sister Lu, we meet again."

This scented towel smells really good; it instantly masked the insect odor.

Lu Ying smiled and said, "Senior Brother Li, I heard you were coming, so I waited here for you."

Li Lin nodded, and then said, "I'll deal with your four senior brothers first, and we'll talk after this is over."

Lu Ying nodded obediently.

An Xin watched the two chatting from the side, not in a hurry at all, and even seemed a little 'expectant'.

Li Lin entered the room, where the four people were either sitting or lying on the floor.

Once inside and a clearer view was taken, it became clear that the four people no longer resembled human beings.

"How could it be so serious?" Li Lin asked in surprise. "Why did it develop so quickly?"

At this point, the four of them could be described as half-human, half-insect.

One person's eyes had even turned into the compound eyes of a fly, green and looking extremely strange.

An Xin said, "Brother Li, have you ever heard of Hongshui?"

"what is that?"

“It’s a kind of red sweet water that flows from Yue County,” An Xin said. “I didn’t know that before, but later I found that the abnormalities on my four junior brothers were too obvious and developing too fast, so I controlled them and interrogated them. That’s when I found out that someone was providing them with the red water.”

Li Lin's eyes narrowed: "Have you found the person who supplied the red water?"

An Xin sighed and said, "That person was very vigilant. After that, the four junior brothers never managed to contact him again."

This is clearly a setup.

That red liquid was deliberately given to them to drink.

Why would they drink something of unknown origin?

“Drinking it can accelerate the cultivation of martial arts skills and make supernatural abilities more powerful. How could they not be tempted?” An Xin sighed.

To some extent, the person who orchestrated the scheme wasn't wrong; these four were indeed much more capable.

But what will be the price?
They looked neither human nor ghost; who would dare approach them?

"Have you prepared the things I asked you to prepare last time?"

"Everything is ready."

Anxin pulled out a drawer from the cabinet next to him and took out a lot of materials and tools.

"Everything you need is here. I'll buy a few extra, just in case."

Li Lin picked up a brush, boiled some cinnabar, and drew a talisman on yellow paper with a flourish.

Then he spat on it, and soon the red mark on the talisman turned into a deep gold color.

Li Lin then stuck the prepared talisman directly onto the forehead of an insectoid creature.

"what!"

The insect-like creature was emitting white steam and kept rolling around on the ground.

Moreover, the smell of these white fumes is extremely foul and strong.

Even with a scented towel covering his nose, Li Lin still found the stench unbearable.

Even An Xin couldn't stand it anymore, and the two of them rushed out of the room, coughing violently.

"It stinks horribly, it smells almost like roasted cockroaches."

Li Lin said helplessly, "The insects that brother was residing in were cockroaches."

(End of this chapter)