A sickly fellow ridiculed by the entire army? I'll be the most beautiful woman in the barracks!

The centurion leaned closer, noticing Li Changming's visibly relaxed expression, and asked with a smile, "Sir, have you discovered the powerful backer behind this kidnapper?"

Li Changming smiled slightly and handed over the account book and customs clearance certificate in his hand. The centurion took them and glanced at them.

The ledger listed the name "Chu Sancheng" in large characters after each amount of stolen goods, while the exit permit was stamped with the private seal of "Chu Hanchuan".

Upon seeing those words on the private seal, the centurion's pupils contracted, and he quickly slammed the document shut.

The centurion said excitedly, "Congratulations, sir! We've caught a big fish!"

Li Changning's lips curled slightly as he casually took the ledgers and vouchers from the centurion and tucked them into the inner layer of his armor.

He smiled faintly and said, "It was all thanks to Lord Zhao's proper command; we were merely carrying out his orders."

The centurion shook his head. "Sir, you are too modest. If it weren't for your persistence in chasing after them all the way, I'm afraid these kidnappers would have gotten away. Who would have thought they would take such a remote road?"

However, they did not actually take this road out of the city, but rather an adjacent road, only switching to it later by taking a shortcut.

Li Changning eventually got lucky and caught her red-handed.

At this moment, the soldiers under his command finished searching several carriages and ran over to report to their leader: "Sir, there are fifty-six children in the carriages. We have asked the drivers, and they all say that the children who were abducted in the city are here."

Li Changming asked with concern, "Has anyone been injured?"

The soldier shook his head and said, "Reporting back to you, sir, there were no casualties!"

Li Changming nodded, turned and walked towards his warhorse, saying as he went, "Tie up all the kidnappers, and take good care of all the kidnapped children, and bring them all back to Zhenbei City."

"yes!"

They mounted their horses, and the group, along with several accomplices and a few carriages, turned around and slowly headed towards Zhenbei City.

By the time the troops returned to Zhenbei City, it was completely dark. If he didn't have to go back to the city to report to the general, he would have preferred to spend the night in the wilderness.

When they arrived at the north gate of the town, they found that the other groups of Xuanjia cavalry had already returned and were all quietly waiting under the city wall for Li Changning and the others to return.

When they saw Li Changning and his group, the centurions of the Xuanjia cavalry below the city wall breathed a sigh of relief and then went to meet them.

Upon approaching the column, Centurion Li Ming finally noticed the carriages behind them, and his face lit up with joy.

"You adults are really something. We all missed, but you managed to catch us yourself."

Li Changming waved his hand: "It's all thanks to God's favor, nothing special."

After offering a few compliments, one of the centurions said to Li Changming, "Sir, the general wants you to come back and see him."

Li Changming nodded and said, "Perfect, I also need to report the situation to him."

When they entered Zhenbei City, Li Changming discovered that the search for kidnappers was still ongoing.

Li Changming smiled and said, "It seems we need to report to the general quickly and have him order the search to stop, so these people don't waste their time."

As the carriage passed the soldiers guarding the city gate, the soldiers heard faint children's voices coming from inside the carriage, which made them turn their heads frequently.

A look of surprise flashed across the soldiers' eyes as they thought to themselves, "Could it be that the kidnappers have been caught by them?"

The soldiers guarding the city couldn't help but feel a pang of envy, secretly marveling at how lucky Li Changning and the others were!

During the hour or so that they were on their way back, the child who had fallen asleep in the carriage had woken up.

In order to sell the child for a good price, the triangular-eyed men did not use too much sedative, fearing that it would harm the child's health and cause them to lose a lot of money if they could not sell the child later.

When the children woke up, they found the kidnappers tied up and thrown into the carriage. They all recognized these people and were immediately surprised.

Unexpectedly, after taking a nap, he woke up to find not only himself rescued, but also the kidnapper tied up and left in front of him.

A bold boy gritted his teeth, stepped forward, raised his fist, and punched the boy with triangular eyes and nose hard.

"bump!"

The man with the triangular eyes was hit by the punch and immediately burst into tears from the pain, curling up into a ball.

Because its mouth was tied with a rope, it could only make whimpering sounds in pain, unable to even scream.

"Hahaha…"

Seeing that the triangular-eyed man was in so much pain that he couldn't even resist, the child burst into laughter.

Then he straddled the triangular-eyed man's body and attacked him from both sides.

"Slap slap slap..."

"I'll beat you to death, you big bad guy! You kidnapped a child! I'll beat you to death..."

Although the child wasn't very strong, he was ruthless, throwing punches at the triangular-eyed man's face, which immediately became covered in blood and snot.

Seeing this, the other children in the carriage had a strange look in their eyes. After watching for a while, they also mustered up their courage and went up to punch and kick the triangular-eyed boy.

Li Changming, who was outside the carriage, had already noticed the commotion inside, but he just smiled and didn't care.

He couldn't be bothered if a few abducted children retaliated against their kidnappers; as long as they didn't kill them, it was fine.

As the group headed toward the core camp, the children's babbling on the carriage inevitably caught the attention of the search party, and the city guards immediately looked surprised.

Someone couldn't contain themselves and shouted, "Brother, what's in those carriages? Are they kidnapped children?"

Li Changming grinned and casually lifted the curtain of a carriage, revealing a child being bullied by a kidnapper inside.

"That's right, those are the abducted children. Everyone, stop wasting your time and let's call it a day! Hahaha..."

The surrounding city guards were immediately alarmed and gathered around, looking at the children in the carriages and the bound kidnappers, exchanging bewildered glances.

"It's a good thing you found it, otherwise we don't know how long we would have been busy."

"Brothers, you guys are really something, you actually found this kidnapper."

"That's right, brothers, you'd better go and report to the general right away, otherwise we won't dare to retreat!"

The city guards who had gathered around breathed a sigh of relief, all showing expressions of envy.

Li Changning sat upright on his horse and laughed, "It's getting dark, the road is difficult to travel, and we have a group of children with us, so we have to slow down, right?"

"Alright, I'm in a hurry to report to the general. You all wait for news!"

Li Changming waved his hand, "Brothers, let's speed things up."

Before long, Li Changming arrived at Yue Zhenyuan's tent. After a brief announcement, he met Yue Zhenyuan.

"Reporting back to the General, I have fulfilled my mission without fail. I killed sixteen kidnappers on the spot, captured eight more, and rescued fifty-six children."

Yue Zhenyuan's usually composed face finally broke into a smile, and he clapped his hands, saying, "Well done! You are worthy of being Zhao Daxuan's soldiers."

"Thank you for your praise, General! These are the account books and exit permits I found on the bandit leader. They bear the personal seal of Lieutenant Chu Hanchuan. Please take a look, General!"

As he spoke, Li Changning stepped forward, took out an account book and a dozen vouchers from his pocket, and handed them to Yue Zhenyuan in front of him with both hands.

Upon hearing this, Yue Zhenyuan raised an eyebrow and reached out to take the item for a closer look.

After a moment, he slowly put down the ledgers and vouchers in his hands, sighed softly, and shook his head.

"This evidence is insufficient to bring down Chu Hanchuan!"