A son who doesn't resemble his father? Love you, old man, see you at Xuanwu Gate!

Chapter 130 Going up the mountain
"Chief, the Han envoy Dong Zhongshu is shouting alone in the mountain stream, on the orders of the Emperor of the Great Han, requesting to see you."

On a cliff face, after hearing his subordinates' report, Mei Mian replied without hesitation, "I won't see him! I won't see him!"

Having plundered the Han emperor, the looting had come to an end. Aside from worry, Mei Mian also felt a bit resigned to his fate.

Anyway, the mountain stronghold is easy to defend and difficult to attack. Even if the Han army were to break in with a large force, it wouldn't be so easy. Let's hold out for now.

Moreover, I've heard that the Han Dynasty court is no longer ruled by the emperor, but by the crown prince.

Although Mei Mian wasn't very well-read, based on his simple values, he figured that the emperor and the crown prince wouldn't be particularly hostile to each other. If the father got really angry, he could consider siding with the son.

During his interactions with the Nanyang County government, Mei Mian sensed that Prefect Mi Pu seemed to be a man of the Crown Prince, and Commandant Wang Wenshu seemed to be a man of the Emperor. With this in mind, Mei Mian sent people to contact Mi Pu, hoping that the Nanyang County government, or rather the Crown Prince's side, could give a definite promise.

If the young lord is willing to forgive the bandit stronghold's sins, let bygones be bygones, and even offer some benefits, allowing them to descend the mountain and return to being law-abiding citizens, that would not be impossible.

"slow!"

Bai Zheng, who was also uneasy about the matter of the emperor's ascension to the throne, looked at Mei Mian and said, "Old Mei, I inquired about the affairs of the court when I came here. I heard that the court is in chaos and the emperor was driven out of Guanzhong by the Supreme Ruler. Although it is hard to believe, the current emperor is at a disadvantage in the struggle with the Supreme Ruler. It is very likely that without the Supreme Ruler's approval, the emperor will not even have the ability to mobilize the army. The arrival of the Han envoy has also confirmed some of my guesses."

Mei Mian was immediately startled. After thinking for a moment, he didn't completely agree. "Old Bai, that's unlikely, isn't it? The emperor is still the emperor. He can issue edicts and wield the tiger tally. When these two things reach the commandants of the surrounding counties, who would dare to refuse?"

"If imperial edicts and tiger tallies were useful everywhere, would you have even come up this mountain?" Bai Zheng countered.

Mei was taken aback.

Bai Zheng continued, "This is the real world. If you recognize the imperial edict, then you are the emperor. If you don't recognize the imperial edict, then you are just like us. You killed so many of the emperor's men and so many soldiers in Nanyang. What can they do to us? They are nothing but a tool to wipe our backsides."

"Old Bai, what you're saying is a bit confusing to me."

"I'm confused too."

Bai Zheng sighed, "We became outlaws without even realizing it. But those people in the court and government are more cunning than anyone else, and the emperor... no one is smarter than the emperor, and no one is more shrewd than the martial arts world. If the emperor really had a way to deal with us, he wouldn't have sent Dong Zhongshu up the mountain alone. I know he is a great Confucian scholar with some martial arts skills, but not many. He couldn't have come up the mountain alone to fight us. He was willing to entrust his life to us, so he obviously came with sincerity."

Mei was stunned by his words and stood there thinking hard. After a while, she suddenly stood up again and said, "Old Bai, could you explain yourself more clearly?"

How much more do you need to understand?

Bai Zheng disliked dealing with fools, yet, the power of fools could somehow make him sit down and reason with them. He said wearily, "If theft was rampant in Nanyang County before the Emperor came, and it's still rampant after he comes, then the Emperor's trip was in vain."

Even the most foolish men and women have some sense of shame, let alone the emperor, who is the supreme ruler.
Therefore, the emperor must deal with us!
But the emperor had lost power in the court struggles, so his words were no longer reliable. He had no way to wipe us out by relying on the people around him and the soldiers of Nanyang County.

If force didn't work, they had to try a softer approach. So, the emperor sent Dong Zhongshu to shout in the mountain streams, wanting to see us and offering us amnesty.

"So, does that mean we can open our mouths and ask the emperor for benefits?" Mei Mian finally understood.

"Not necessarily." Bai Zheng immediately poured cold water on the idea. "If we ask for too much, the emperor either can't afford it or can't fulfill his promise. Even if the emperor agrees to everything, he might make us ask the emperor in Chang'an for it."

"If you want it back, then so be it. It's only right that the son pays for the father's debts." Mei Mian gradually lost his awe of imperial power. If even the emperor could back down, what could the little crown prince do?

Bai Zheng gave a cold laugh, "Old Mei, do you still remember that Champion Marquis?"

Mei Mian shuddered, recalling how a few months ago, a cavalry force swept across the Guandong region, slaughtering everyone in sight.

At that time, commercial taxes across the country suddenly increased dramatically. Many wealthy merchants were indignant and wanted to teach the court a lesson. However, they were all wiped out in blood.

Wherever that iron cavalry went, it did nothing but kill. It seemed as if they came only to kill. They would kill wherever they went and then leave. As one of the five cities in Nanyang County, Nanshi received "special treatment." On the first day of the new year, the streets of Nanshi were filled with blood.

They were notorious bandits who robbed and killed many people, but all of them combined, it's hard to say they killed as many as that iron cavalry in a single day.

When that cavalry returned to Guanzhong from Nanyang County, Mei Mian once glanced at the general of the cavalry from afar. Even across the mountains and rivers, he could feel the boundless killing intent. The general of the cavalry seemed to have noticed his gaze and glanced in his direction. That one glance made his heart restless for a long time, and he couldn't sleep for many days.

Later he learned the man's name: Huo Qubing, eighteen years old, the Marquis of Champion!

Even now, Mei still trembles at the thought of that look in his eyes.

"what happened?"

"It's the Marquis of Champion coming to you to collect your father's debt from the Lord," Bai Zheng said softly.

Mei Mian's scalp tingled instantly, his face flushed red, and he looked at Bai Zheng and said, "On the other hand, the benefits we ask for should be put into our own pockets as soon as possible, it's better to have them in our own pockets."

Instead of mocking Mei Mian, Bai Zheng changed the subject, recalling the "God of Slaughter." During that time, all the bandits in Guandong were in a state of panic, and there was no one to even stop them from robbing. They were afraid of encountering the Marquis of Champion and dying without a complete corpse.

"Old Bai, tell me, is this Han envoy going to see us or not?"

"See!"

Bai Zheng replied without hesitation, "But we can't meet them directly. Send a few young men to tell Dong Zhongshu, 'In the battle of Wancheng, that old emperor killed several thousand people from our two strongholds. Those were our beloved relatives, friends, and brothers. We should fight to the death to avenge them. Saying we're going down the mountain to join the Han is absolutely impossible. Mei and Bai will never do anything that would be condemned by everyone. Tell him to retreat quickly and give up any illusions.'"

"Old Bai, isn't that a bit harsh? What if Dong Zhongshu really does leave..."

"Will not."

Bai Zheng interrupted Mei Mian's anxious words, "If we are not satisfied, the Emperor will have a hard time even leaving Nanyang County. Next, we'll see how much Dong Zhongshu, who came on the Emperor's orders, can give us to persuade us to come down the mountain."

(End of this chapter)