Duke of Zhenguan

Early the next morning, Cheng Yaojin personally led two thousand cavalrymen straight to Gubu, about one hundred miles north of Liangzhou City.

Gu Julu was captured in Liangzhou City. Because the Right Martial Guard Army had blockaded Liangzhou City, Gu Julu's father did not know that his son had been captured. When he heard from his clansmen that many Tang cavalry were heading towards the tribe, he was not too vigilant.

Therefore, Cheng Yaojin's two thousand iron cavalry easily surrounded the valley where the Bone Tribe was gathered.

It wasn't until he saw the menacing Tang cavalry that Bone Giant Deer's father realized something was wrong. But the Tang cavalry had already surrounded the valley completely, and the Bone tribe had only a little over a thousand warriors. At this point, resisting would be like throwing an egg against a rock.

After struggling internally for a while, the father of the Bone Giant Deer still led a few people to Cheng Yaojin and bowed to him in broken Tang Dynasty Mandarin:

"Gu Lianshan greets the Great General!"

Cheng Yaojin looked at Gu Lianshan and asked with a sneer:

"Gusabao, do you know why I have come here?"

"This lowly commoner is ignorant and humbly requests guidance from the Great General!" Gu Lianshan replied with a humble expression.

"Some time ago, the auxiliary soldiers under my command who were transporting supplies were attacked by bandits in the area of ​​Mabozi Mountain. Dozens of brothers were beheaded and their bodies were hacked to pieces!"

In a fit of rage, I led my men to wipe out the bandits of Mabozi Mountain, only to discover that many of them were actually from your Bone Tribe.

"Gu Sa Bao, is there anything you want to say?" Cheng Yaojin asked.

Upon hearing Cheng Yaojin's words, Gu Lianshan was so frightened that his legs went weak, and he hurriedly said:

"We, the lowly people, know our sins, but we beg the Great General to see the truth. Our Bone Tribe has several thousand people, and some of them could not endure the hardships of the tribe and secretly ran away to become bandits! We truly did not know that they were so audacious as to dare to rob the Heavenly Dynasty's army of its provisions..."

"Heh, Gu Sa Bao has managed to deny it all, but Gu Sa Bao still remembers Kang Chengli, right? And the Liangzhou Sima and the Liangzhou Military Advisor, Gu Sa Bao wouldn't not recognize them, would he?" Cheng Yaojin asked with a smile.

Gu Lianshan was so frightened that he knelt down and repeatedly said:

"General, this lowly person knows their crime, this lowly person knows their crime..."

"It's good that you admit your guilt!"

Cheng Yaojin nodded in satisfaction and said coldly:

"Since you know your crime, I will give you two hours to hand over all those who are related to the bandits of Mabozi Mountain. If you fail to hand over even one person, I will kill one hundred men from the Bone Tribe!"

Furthermore, hand over all the able-bodied horses belonging to the Bone Department, as well as all ironware!

"General, please spare the Bone Tribe! We lowly people will never dare to offend again..." Gu Lianshan pleaded repeatedly.

"Spare the Bone Clan? Bone Lianshan, you should be grateful. If it were Old Hou who came today, not a single dog in the Bone Clan would survive, let alone a human!"

"Before I change my mind, let's hurry and go find someone!" Cheng Yaojin said with a sneer.

Gu Lianshan had also taken the position of leader with his hands stained with blood. After realizing that things were beyond repair, he got up and led his men back to the Gu tribe.

The person who came was a general in the army, and he would not be merciful. Gu Lianshan did not dare to gamble with the entire tribe, so he could only tearfully arrest one of his sons, two nephews, and those who were associated with Ma Bozishan!

Anyone who resists will be killed on the spot.

Two hours later, Gu Lianshan arrived before Cheng Yaojin with over a hundred clansmen with their hands bound behind their backs, several corpses, thousands of horses, iron pots, and knives. He bowed and said:

"We have brought the men and horses as requested by the General. We beg the General to spare the Bone Tribe!"

Cheng Yaojin glanced at the more than one hundred people with their hands bound, as well as the Bone Clan members not far away, and said in a deep voice to Gu Lianshan:

"One more person needed!"

Gu Lianshan paused for a moment, then turned to look at the Bone Tribe people in the distance. He took out a bone knife from his pocket and slowly stabbed it into his chest.

Cheng Yaojin watched this scene quietly, and only after Gu Lianshan fell to the ground did he solemnly instruct the general beside him:

"Take the prisoners and horses, and return to Liangzhou!"

The following day, all the soldiers outside Liangzhou City withdrew to their camp.

More than a hundred people from the Bone Division were executed in front of the people of Liangzhou. Two local powerful clans had their homes confiscated and their entire members escorted back to Chang'an. The officials who committed the offenses were also escorted back to Chang'an.

The Right Guard's next destination was Lingzhou, but Lin Chuan would not go with them. He was going to take two thousand men to Guzang County to transport the salt they had collected over the past few days back to Chang'an.

Li Shimin, along with Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui, Changsun Wuji, and others, dug a huge pit in front of those powerful families, just waiting for the last batch of salt to be transported back to Chang'an.

Inside the Right Guard Camp.

After explaining the situation to Lin Chuan, Cheng Yaojin suddenly smiled and said:

"What do you plan to do with the two men who tried to assassinate you?"

"I haven't decided yet," Lin Chuan shook his head.

"I took a look, and the brother and sister are quite talented, both good prospects for martial arts! Especially the younger brother, he has a great physique. If he is properly trained, he might become the second Brother Qin!" Cheng Yaojin said with a smile.

Lin Chuan looked incredulous and asked softly:

"Does he really have such qualifications?"

Cheng Yaojin smiled and nodded.

Lin Chuan immediately made up his mind and softly asked Cheng Yaojin:

"Uncle Cheng, should we put the stone dragon back?"

"He's still locked up!" Cheng Yaojin nodded.

"Uncle Cheng, could you please hand this person over to me for disposal?" Lin Chuan asked with a smile.

"Of course you can, you can even kill him without any problem!"

Lin Chuan led Lao Xu and Lao Qi to the place where Shi Polong was imprisoned and said to the soldiers guarding the gate:

"Let him go!"

"yes!"

The soldier nodded and opened the wooden door.

Shi Polong limped out of the cell, looking at Lin Chuan with a puzzled expression.

"Follow me!"

After bringing Shi Polong back to his barracks, Lin Chuan had two boys brought up as well.

"leader!"

"leader!"

"Ah Wolf!"

"Ah Shui!"

The three of them were overjoyed the moment they met.

After greeting him with delight, Stone Dragon asked in confusion:

"Didn't I tell you to stay in the inn? What are you doing here?"

At this moment, when the older sister Ah Shui saw the leader, she realized that she and her younger brother might have gotten into trouble, and turned to look at her brother guiltily.

The younger brother, Ah Lang, wasn't very bright and awkwardly said to Shi Po Long:

"Chief, after my sister and I heard that you had been captured by the Tang people, we thought they had harmed you, so we planned to kill a high-ranking Tang official to avenge you! But we failed and ended up here!"

"..."

Shi Polong's vision went black, and he felt dizzy and disoriented.

After a long and difficult journey, they finally encountered a high-ranking official from the Celestial Empire who truly stood up for the tribe, but the two siblings actually went to assassinate him.

He inwardly groaned, then turned to Lin Chuan, cupped his hands in a respectful gesture, and said awkwardly:

"Chief Secretary Lin, I wonder which superior these two fools have offended? I will personally take the two children to apologize..."

Lin Chuan glanced at the siblings and pointed to himself.

Shi Polong's expression was incredibly complex. After a moment of stunned silence, he kicked the siblings to the ground in front of Lin Chuan, then knelt down with a thud and said in a deep voice:

"Chief Secretary Lin, could you spare their lives...?"

"It's not impossible to spare them, but their lives will be mine from now on! How about it?" Lin Chuan asked with a smile.

Shi Polong was overjoyed and turned to shout at the two siblings:

"Hurry up and thank Chief Secretary Lin!"