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

Gao Yuan, looking impatient, pointed to the bandit corpses on the ground not far away and said coldly, "What I'm asking is, which force exactly wiped out the bandits of the Liangshan Mountains!"

Upon hearing this, Deng Rong's expression immediately turned strange.

After a long pause, he said bitterly, "My lord, no other forces participated in the suppression of the bandits. It can be said that the bandits of the Liangshan Mountains were completely wiped out by Zhao Daxuan alone."

Upon hearing this absurd answer, Gao Yuan's expression changed, and he said with a stern face, "Deng Rong, you don't understand the situation. I don't have time to joke with you right now!"

Deng Rong shook his head and said with a wry smile, "Lord Gao, I dare not deceive you."

At this moment, Gao Yuan could no longer hold back. He stepped forward, grabbed Deng Rong by the collar, and shouted sternly, "Say that again!"

Looking at Gao Yuan's incredulous expression, Deng Rong felt helpless. He also thought it couldn't be true, but with more than 40 pairs of eyes watching, he couldn't fake it.

After a soft sigh, Deng Rong said, "Alas, everything I said is true, and others present can also testify that all the bandits along the way from the middle of the Daliang Mountains to here were killed by Zhao Daxuan."

Gao Yuan looked around at the other vanguard city guards with disbelief.

When Li Erlong and the others saw Gao Yuan looking over, they all nodded in agreement, saying, "Reporting to your Excellency, that is indeed the case."

Upon receiving Li Erlong's confirmation, Gao Yuan was struck dumb, turning to look at Zhao Daxuan with an incredulous expression.

As he traveled along the way, seeing more and more corpses along the route, the mysterious force he suspected grew stronger and stronger. But he never expected that in the end, this mysterious force was just Zhao Daxuan alone!

Gao Yuan stood there, his expression constantly changing, before finally speaking with a gloomy look on his face.

"Zhao Daxuan, you have indeed surprised me. Although you have made contributions this time, you have also committed a serious offense by privately distributing spoils of war! Your merits cannot outweigh your demerits, and I will report this truthfully to the Commandant upon my return."

Then, with a cold expression, he looked around and said, "Now everyone, hand over everything you've found in the bandit camp in the Liangshan Mountains. I need to organize it and report back to the Commandant!"

After saying that, he pointed at Deng Rong and said, "Deng Rong, you've been here the whole time and know the situation best. You're in charge of putting everything away."

He paused, then added, "Go and get the envelope Zhao Daxuan just gave you. No one is allowed to keep anything important!"

Upon hearing this, Deng Rong was eager to act. Now was the perfect opportunity to retrieve the envelope. If Zhao Daxuan were to take it back to Zhenbei City and hand it over, the consequences would be unimaginable!

With Gao Yuan there to back him up, Deng Rong's courage has also increased.

So he stepped forward, approached Zhao Daxuan, and said with a forced smile, "Zhao Daxuan, I'm just following orders. Hand over the goods!"

Zhao Daxuan stared at Deng Rong expressionlessly, unmoved. How could he possibly hand over such important evidence to the other party? Did they think he was a fool?

He sneered and said, "This letter is probably not suitable for you. I will keep it safe myself. Do I need to be more blunt?"

Upon hearing this, Deng Rong's expression changed. He hadn't expected Zhao Daxuan to be so bold as to refuse to carry out Gao Yuan's order in public.

In a moment of panic, he took two steps forward and reached into Zhao Daxuan's arms, trying to snatch the envelope back.

Zhao Daxuan's eyes turned cold as he looked at Deng Rong's outstretched hand. Did he really think he was easy to bully?

He immediately reached out and grabbed Deng Rong by the neck, staring intently at him.

Deng Rong suddenly felt as if he were being stared at by the Grim Reaper, and a suffocating sensation came over him.

His face turned bright red, and the veins on his neck bulged. He tried to slap Zhao Daxuan's hands that were gripping his neck, but it was as if he were hitting a rock, making him feel a sharp pain.

Seeing this, Gao Yuan was instantly enraged and pointed at Zhao Daxuan, shouting, "Zhao Daxuan, are you crazy? Let him go!"

Seeing Deng Rong start to roll his eyes, Zhao Daxuan tossed him far away.

Deng Rong was slammed hard in front of Gao Yuan. It took him a while to recover. He lay on the ground, supporting himself with his elbows as he staggered backward, looking at Zhao Daxuan with a terrified expression.

Only then did he realize that Zhao Daxuan didn't take Gao Yuan seriously at all. He thought that he could take Gao Yuan under his wing, but that was just wishful thinking.

He had just thought he was close to death. In that instant, his mind was filled with the terrifying scene of Zhao Daxuan shooting down bandits one arrow after another. This man was someone he could not afford to mess with.

Gao Yuan, glaring at the brazen Zhao Daxuan, turned a deep purplish-red with rage. His finger trembled as he pointed at Zhao Daxuan, shouting, "You...you...you wait! Disregarding military discipline, you'll be dealt with!"

Zhao Daxuan sneered, "Fine, I'd like to see who ends up getting punished!"

After saying that, he turned to Zhao Fubao behind him and said, "Fubao, go and bring the bandit leader over here. Keep a close watch on him yourself, and make sure he doesn't get killed to cover up the crime."

Upon hearing this, Fu Bao, who was behind Zhao Daxuan, immediately shouted "Yes!" and ran over to drag the bandit leader to Zhao Daxuan's side, staring at him intently.

Seeing this, Gao Yuan's expression grew even more unpleasant.

He originally wanted to find an opportunity to kill the leader, which would at least destroy half of the evidence, but Zhao Daxuan had anticipated this and had someone keep a close watch on him.

Therefore, he could only choose to act on the road at another opportune moment, but he still had to make further preparations to ensure that nothing went wrong.

After thinking for a while, Gao Yuan waved to Deng Rong, who was still shaken, and whispered instructions in his ear.

"Deng Rong, the situation is not optimistic. I have an important task for you. Go down the mountain immediately, ride my horse, and head back to Zhenbei City ahead of time to report the situation here to..."

Upon hearing this, Deng Rong was taken aback, then nodded in acceptance and hurriedly turned to descend the mountain.

Zhao Daxuan coldly watched Gao Yuan and the other man's little actions without stopping them. Now that there was enough evidence and witnesses, and he had taken over Daliang Mountain single-handedly, the advantage was entirely in his hands, so there was nothing to be afraid of.

After giving instructions to Deng Rong and watching him leave, Gao Yuan rearranged the cleanup of the battlefield. He also personally searched the bandit camp, but found nothing.

After a quick cleanup of the battlefield and a assessment of the situation, Gao Yuan left only a few people to continue the count before leading his team down the mountain towards Zhenbei City.

Zhao Daxuan remained an observer throughout, only taking Zhao Fubao and Li Erlong with him to guard the bandit leader until Gao Yuan led the team down the mountain, at which point the three of them followed him back to Zhenbei City.

Throughout the journey, Zhao Fubao and Li Erlong diligently carried out Zhao Daxuan's orders, keeping a close eye on the bandit leader.

Gao Yuan attempted to send assassins along the way, but they were all stopped before they could get close to the bandit leader.

Faced with Zhao Daxuan's stubbornness, Gao Yuan was at a loss and could only hope that after Deng Rong returned to Zhenbei City to report, that official would take action.