Chapter 13 Rainy Night
Under Zhao Ji's persuasion, threats and inducements, Qiao Tai took a few reliable servants, put on straw raincoats, held an umbrella, and went straight to the execution platform at the South Gate in the dark and rain without turning on any lights.

It was completely dark by this time and it was raining heavily. I couldn't see a few feet away with my eyes open and there were no pedestrians on the road.

Qiao Tai wiped the rain off his face and asked anxiously, "General Zhao, why did you ask me to bring a rope and a rag?"

"Didn't you ask what to do if the guards don't listen to you? This is the solution." Zhao Ji said with a smile.

"Ah?" Qiao Tai opened his mouth wide when he heard that.

"What? You want to go back on your word?" Zhao Ji thought Qiao Tai had just changed his mind, and the look in his eyes when he looked at him suddenly became extremely fierce.

Qiao Tai heard Zhao Ji's bad tone and quickly comforted him, "That's not what I meant. We only have a few people, and I'm afraid we are not strong enough to deal with so many guards."

"Don't worry, I will deal with the soldiers on the execution platform, and you can take people to rescue the civilians and take care of them."

"But, will this... work?" Qiao Tai frowned and looked at Zhao Ji suspiciously.

"They are just a bunch of rotten fish and shrimps, why bother with them?" Zhao Ji said nonchalantly.

"Well, I hope so." Qiao Tai was not confident, but he could do nothing about Zhao Ji.

Zhao knew that Qiao Tai was guilty, so he gave him a reassurance: "If something really happens, just hand me over to Fang Qian. I don't think he would dare to do anything to me."

"What are you talking about? How could I, Qiao Tai, be such a villain! General, please don't provoke me anymore. Today I will risk my life to accompany you and I will definitely save the people." Qiao Tai said angrily.

Zhao Ji smiled and patted Qiao Tai on the shoulder: "Hahaha... That's more like it. If Lord Di knew about this, he would definitely look at you differently."

Qiao Tai forced a smile and waved his hand: "I have been sitting in a vacant position for a long time, feeling ashamed of the people. How dare I take credit for it?"

The two men did not hesitate any longer and quickened their pace, rushing to the execution platform.
-
On the execution platform, the elderly and women were still suffering in the rain, and the guarding soldiers gathered in the tea shed to shelter from the rain.

Although it was a rainy night, Zhao Ji's group had a large number of people and still alarmed the guards.

A soldier came over with an umbrella in the crowd, tilted his head and asked in a rude tone: "Hey, hey, hey...what do you do?"

"You are so blind that you can't even recognize Lord Changshi!" a servant behind Qiao Tai cursed.

"Oh, it turns out that it's the Chief Secretary. Please wait a moment, I will go and call our leader."

The soldier immediately nodded and bowed, then ran to the tea stall to report.

The officer who abused the old man that day came over with all the soldiers and asked, "It's raining so hard, why are you here instead of staying at home?"

Qiao Tai first glanced at Zhao Ji and said, "I am following the order of the governor to put these rioters in jail."

As he said this, he ordered his servants to take the people down from the execution platform.

The officer looked at the governor and his party with suspicion and stretched out his hand to stop them: "Wait, where is the governor's order?"

"The governor has given the order, and I have brought people here in person. What's the problem?" Qiao Tai remained calm, hoping to get away with it.

"That's not right. Why would the governor ask you to come and deliver the order at night? I'm sorry I can't obey you without the order."

The officers were very disdainful and did not take Qiao Tai seriously at all, which showed to what extent Qiao Tai, the chief secretary, was sidelined.

"General Zhao, look at this..." Qiao Tai spread his hands and looked at Zhao Ji helplessly.

Zhao Ji did not say anything, but went up and slapped the officer on the left side of his face. The officer saw stars and turned to the right several times.

The officer shook his dizzy head, covered the red and swollen left half of his face with his hand, and looked at Zhao Ji with a ferocious expression.

"Hey, you, you dare to hit grandpa. Brothers, come on!"

The officer waved his hand, and the guards all rushed towards Zhao Ji with guns.

Zhao Ji leaped up, dodged in the air, and kicked the soldiers in the chest in a series of kicks.

In a flash, all the soldiers were kicked down and wailing on the ground.

Qiao Tai waved his hand and the servants rushed forward, tying up some and gagging some.

The officer was terrified and realized that he had encountered a ruthless man. He turned around and staggered to escape.

Zhao Ji caught up with him in a flash and slapped the officer on the right cheek, causing him to turn to the left several times and fall to the ground.

"Ouch..." The officer sat on the ground groaning for a long time, opened his mouth and spit out blood on his hands and two big teeth.

"Who the hell are you? How dare you call me grandpa?"

Zhao Ji followed Yan Shuangying's steps, swaying left and right, and walked in front of the officer. The officer was so scared that he fell backwards in the mud.

Zhao Ji squatted in front of the officer, grabbed the officer's hair with his right hand, shook it vigorously, and asked:
"Who taught you to bully the common people? Who taught you to bully the old and weak? Don't you have parents or relatives? Huh?"

"It would have been fine if the old man was not given water to drink while being exposed to the sun on the execution platform, but you actually poured out the water drop by drop in front of his eyes?"

"Are you a human or a beast? You are really wearing this human skin in vain." After saying that, he kicked the officer far away.

The officer rolled in the mud in pain. Seeing Zhao Ji approaching him again, he immediately endured the pain, climbed up, knelt down and begged for mercy.

The officer cried, "Sir, please be magnanimous. Please spare my life. I will never do that again."

"You still want to have a future? Haha..." Zhao Ji walked towards him with a sneer.

"How can someone like you change? Huh?"

Zhao Ji grabbed the officer's armor on his chest with one hand, easily pulled him over his head, and threw him heavily to the ground.

The officer's internal organs were dislocated and he spat out blood and struggled to get up.

He saw that Zhao Ji had no intention of letting him go, and suddenly he became terrified and shouted with his last breath:
"Ah! I'll fight you!" The officer drew a dagger from his waist and stabbed Zhao Ji.

Zhao Ji narrowed his eyes slightly, stretched out his left hand, and easily grabbed the officer's arm holding the knife. With a slight twist, the officer screamed in pain and the knife fell to the ground.

"You won't change, you'll just die!"

Zhao Ji shook his head and broke the officer's neck neatly.

Everyone around was stunned, but Zhao Ji remained calm and said casually, "This man tried to assassinate the imperial envoy, and he has been brought to justice."

Seeing Zhao Ji was so powerful, Qiao Tai didn't hesitate to say anything. He quickly stepped forward and said, "General Zhao, the carriages we prepared earlier have arrived."

"Okay, take everyone back immediately, including these soldiers."

"Remember, walk slowly, return in several groups, make more circles, and return home through the back door. Don't attract attention. I'll be guarding here, and if there are pursuers, I'll deal with them." Zhao Ji thought for a moment and made arrangements.

Qiao Tai pointed at the officer's body and asked tremblingly, "What about him?"

"I'll handle it. Don't worry, Lord Di will arrive in Youzhou within a day or two. Fang Qian will be in big trouble then." Zhao Ji patted Qiao Tai's shoulder and said.

In fact, Zhao Ji had no way of saying when Di Renjie would return to Youzhou. He was just trying to appease Qiao Tai temporarily.

However, Zhao Ji was indeed overkill. Now that things had come to this point, it was too late for Qiao Tai to regret and he could only go down this path.

After Qiao Tai and his group had safely retreated, Zhao Ji hung the officer's body high on the execution platform.

The heavy rain splashed on Zhao Ji and also washed away all traces at the scene.

Zhao Ji stood in the rain with his hands behind his back, looking at the officer's body hanging upside down, his mind wandering.
-
While Zhao Ji was taking advantage of the rainy night to rescue people, Hu Jinghui on the other side was also taking advantage of the rainy night to kill people.

He drugged Di Renjie and Li Yuanfang, changed them into Viper's clothes, and went to a small temple near Daliushu Village.

In the small temple, Li Er was closing his eyes, waiting for something.

"If you don't show up, it will be hard to find you." Hu Jinghui, wearing "Viper" clothes and a mask, said coldly.

Hu Jinghui once again wiped the Youlan Sword with his handkerchief, threw it aside, and asked, "Don't you want to stand up?"

Li Er remained calm, his eyes slightly closed, unmoved.

Hu Jinghui didn't want to sneak attack Yu, so he took a few steps forward and warned, "Go ahead!"

Then he swung his sword and stabbed Li Er.

At this moment, Li Er suddenly opened his eyes wide, his gaze was burning, and he pulled out a hemp rope from the pile of grass on the ground. It turned out that he was waiting for Hu Jinghui's foot to step into the trap.

Hu Jinghui swung his sword to cut the hemp rope and said disdainfully: "It's just a trivial trick."

But Li Er jumped up and pulled out two ropes from the ground and tied them around Hu Jinghui. Then he jumped to the other side and grabbed two more ropes. He repeated this process and formed a hemp rope formation that was about to trap Hu Jinghui.

Hu Jinghui's movements seemed to be restricted, but suddenly a poisonous snake flew out of his clothes, flew to Li Er in the air, and bit his arm.

Li Er looked down at the wound and immediately felt dizzy. He couldn't fight any longer. He had no choice but to smash the window and escape into the rainy night.

By the time Hu Jinghui broke free from the ropes, Li Er had disappeared.

Hu Jinghui looked at the direction where Li Er fled and said, "Humph, I didn't expect your martial arts skills to be quite good."

Hu Jinghui was very confident in the poison of the venomous snake and thought that Li Er was dead. He did not chase Li Er and turned to go to Jin Mulan's cave base.

When Hu Jinghui arrived at the cave, Ma Wu of Tianbao Silver Bank was escorting many carts into the cave, which were all the money from Youzhou government treasury. Hu Jinghui did not ask much and went straight to Jin Mulan's boudoir "Qingxiang Xiaozhu".

Jin Mulan saw Hu Jinghui appear, walked up to him and asked with concern: "Are you back?"

Hu Jinghui didn't say anything, just nodded.

"Where is Li Er?" Jin Mulan asked nervously.

"He was bitten by my viper and died." Hu Jinghui said lightly.

Jin Mulan breathed a sigh of relief: "That's good."

"If I take action, there will be no accidents." Hu Jinghui didn't know whether he was confident or arrogant.

Jin Mulan sighed and asked again: "Why did Di Renjie give up Gannan and come directly to Youzhou? Did he discover something? But we acted very secretly, so there is no loophole at all."

"The killer you sent gave us away with his accent, and Liu Jin was captured in Youzhou, so he was certain that we were in Youzhou." Hu Jinghui said dimly.

Jin Mulan felt a little unbelievable: "How is this possible?"

She found it hard to imagine that Di Renjie could see through the truth based on these two facts.

"Nothing is impossible. Now, he has set his sights on Fang Qian again. You should ask Fang Qian to restrain himself." Hu Jinghui reminded.

"It doesn't matter. Li Er is dead now. Kui Wenzhong took the list to contact the allies and wait for the Turkic army to arrive. Then the world will be ours. Even if Di Renjie has supernatural powers, it will be of no use." Jin Mulan figured out the key point and didn't care anymore.

Hu Jinghui understood Jin Mulan's ambition, but when he thought of the plight of the people in Youzhou, he said, "I would rather live with you, away from the crowd, and lead a life of leisure."

Jin Mulan snuggled in Hu Jinghui's arms and said sweet words: "I know you did all this for me."

The two lingered for a long time, and finally, Hu Jinghui said: "I have to go back. The effect of the drug is almost over. Di Renjie has amazing insight. It's already very risky for me to come to see you!"

Jin Mulan looked at Hu Jinghui leaving and sighed softly.

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(End of this chapter)