Chapter 11 : Chapter 11
Chapter 11: Sha Yue Flies into a Rage, and the Coal Mine Is Seized
The Red River Gang’s great gambling den had been smashed?
Who had the guts to do something like that?
Wu Lenggang was utterly shocked when he heard the report.
The Red River Gang was, after all, the greatest force in Qinghe County. With Qinghe County as its core, its influence spread outward along the Qing River.
It controlled much of the river transport passing through several other counties of Yanhe.
Its leader, Sha Yue, was also the strongest martial artist in Qinghe County, having reached the Third Rank.
Under his command were more than a dozen ranked martial artists, each of whom would have been qualified to serve as a Banner Captain within the Jinyiwei.
Who could be so blind as to dare smash even the Red River Gang’s gambling den?
No matter how hard Wu Lenggang tried, he could not imagine that anyone in Qinghe would dare do such a thing.
And yet, for no reason at all, his heartbeat began to quicken, and panic rose inside him.
“Hm?!”
When Sha Yue heard the report, his eyes widened, and a savage gleam burst forth from them. He flung aside the beauty he had been holding in his arms.
She slammed into the ground so hard that flesh and blood splattered. After letting out a single scream, she stopped moving.
“Who did it?! What lunatic dares smash my gambling den?! Tired of living?!”
The gambling den was his money tree!
The gang member who had come to report was trembling all over as he continued, “It isn’t just the gambling den in the west of the city. I heard those people have already headed for the coal mine north of the city. They said they’re going to seal up the mine!”
BOOM!
At those words, Sha Yue’s expression grew even more ferocious, and he kicked the chair in front of him to pieces.
“This is going too far. They’re openly declaring war on my Red River Gang... wait! What do you mean by ‘seal up’? Who exactly is picking a fight with me?!”
At first, he had assumed some enemy from the Jianghu had come to take revenge on him, but then he suddenly realized something was wrong.
Seal up the coal mine?
People of the Jianghu would never use that kind of wording. They would usually just say that something belonged to whoever was fit to possess it.
With a vicious glare, Sha Yue instinctively turned to look at Wu Lenggang nearby.
Wu Lenggang shuddered all over and silently swallowed. In his mind, the last thing he had seen before parting with Cheng Yu surfaced again—the man’s calm, indifferent gaze.
No way?
Surely not?
The Red River Gang member hurriedly kowtowed. “In my panic, I forgot to say it—it was the Jinyiwei. A Banner Captain led people to smash our gambling den and kill our men. After posting the seizure notice, they went to the coal mine!”
The Jinyiwei? How dared they?
Sha Yue was filled with confusion, but then he suddenly remembered that Wu Lenggang was still here, and at once he erupted in a furious roar.
“Wu Lenggang! Is this why you came to see me?! You want to die?!”
He pushed himself up from the ground and moved to strike Wu Lenggang.
“Gang Leader Sha, calm your anger!”
Wu Lenggang hurriedly raised his hands to stop him. His limbs had gone ice-cold, and it felt as though a mountain had come crashing down onto his heart.
Cheng Yu really was trying to get him killed!
It had not even been half a day since Sha He’s death, and Cheng Yu had already led men to smash the Red River Gang’s gambling den and seal up its coal mine.
Wasn’t his execution ability a little too terrifying?
If Sha Yue, a Third Rank martial artist, truly struck with killing intent, Wu Lenggang would not be going back alive.
“What that Banner Captain did absolutely was not my intention. I knew nothing about it!”
“It had better not have been!”
Sha Yue restrained himself and did not continue the attack. Furious as he was, personally killing a General Banner Captain would still have far too serious a consequence.
When Wu Lenggang saw that Sha Yue was no longer pressing the matter, he was overjoyed.
He immediately cupped his hands toward Sha Yue and said, “This was all done behind my back by one of my subordinate Banner Captains. Gang Leader Sha may send people to deal with this as he sees fit. No matter the outcome, I will have no complaint. Let that serve as proof of the friendly attitude my Jinyiwei holds toward the Red River Gang!”
“That Banner Captain, Cheng Yu, comes from the North. Among First Rank martial artists, his skills are considered fairly good. Gang Leader Sha, do not underestimate him. I was deceived by his age myself!”
Inwardly, he sneered. Cheng Yu, Cheng Yu, your nerve is too great. You even dared provoke the Red River Gang. In your next life, go learn how treacherous the Jianghu can be.
Sha Yue was a cruel man by nature. There was no way he would let Cheng Yu off after Cheng Yu had smashed his property.
Su Feng stood to one side without saying a word, only feeling a chill spread through his heart.
The General Banner Captain was clearly trying to use the Red River Gang to kill Cheng Yu. It inevitably gave him the sense of a rabbit grieving for a dead fox.
“Good! I hope you are not lying to me!”
The flesh on Sha Yue’s face twitched with hatred as he nodded and shouted, “Tell Fang Bo to go deal with that Banner Captain. Best not kill him—bring him back to me! I’ll make him understand what happens to anyone who opposes me!”
“Yes!”
Wu Lenggang was overjoyed to hear that.
Fang Bo—one of the Red River Gang’s deputy leaders.
A Second Rank martial artist!
Dealing with a mere Banner Captain would be no problem at all. No matter how many tricks Cheng Yu had, this time he would never escape disaster!
If he wanted to act like a thorn in his side under his command, then he had better be prepared for this day...
North of Qinghe County, outside the city.
Cheng Yu led two subordinates to the front of a coal mine. Quite a few Red River Gang members were guarding the entrance.
Inside the fenced-off mine were more than a hundred filthy, ragged laborers, all toiling back and forth in bitter labor.
There were also many swaggering men carrying weapons and holding whips.
The moment any laborer dared slack off, a vicious lash would come crashing down on him.
Flesh split open, and ghastly screams rang out.
Off to one side, several men had been tied together in a line, wailing for their fathers and mothers.
They seemed to be men who had tried to escape and had been captured and dragged back. It was obvious they would not meet a good end.
“So this is the kind of business the Red River Gang deals in?”
Cheng Yu let out a cold snort and cursed, “Wu Lenggang is complete trash.”
His other subordinates were greatly startled to hear a Banner Captain openly cursing a General Banner Captain, but they quickly found it easy enough to accept.
On his very first day in office, he had led them here to destroy the Red River Gang’s business.
No matter how one looked at it, he was a ruthless man.
It was perfectly normal for someone like him to look down on a man like General Banner Captain Wu.
“Have the others arrived yet?”
Cheng Yu had only brought two subordinates ahead of the main group to inspect the situation. He had sent the others back to bring the standard-issued Jinyiwei bows, crossbows, and arrows.
This coal mine was different from the gambling den in the crowded city. Its defenses were much stronger.
Although Cheng Yu did not regard these people as a threat, he only had a little more than ten men under him in total. Losing one or two of them would still be troublesome.
“Reporting to Lord Cheng, they’ll be here very soon!”
At the entrance to the Red River Gang’s coal mine, a gang member with a bit of martial skill held a thick hemp rope in his hand.
Tied to that rope were four gaunt men with faces full of despair.
“You lot have some nerve. Once you’ve entered my Red River Gang’s coal mine, you still think you can leave? Now you’re in for it!”
These laborers who had tried to flee would be taken to another section of the mine—the most dangerous one—to dig coal there, where they could lose their lives at any moment.
One of the laborers kept his head lowered, tears threatening to fall.
“I only borrowed three taels of silver, and now it’s turned into three hundred. I was forced to sell myself into the mine. If I die, what will happen to my wife and children back home?”
The other two men were equally overcome with grief.
“My life is so bitter. Won’t somebody save us?”
The Red River Gang member dragging them along sneered.
“Who’s going to save you? Some hero from a story? Or the Great Qian court? Hah! They wouldn’t dare. The heavens over Qinghe County belong to my Red Riv—”
Before he could finish, a small arrow tore through the air and sank deep into his throat.
The gang member could not make a sound. Clutching his neck, he collapsed.
The three laborers stared in disbelief toward the direction the arrow had come from, only to see more than a dozen figures standing there in Flying Fish Uniforms.
The clothes of the one at the front were the finest of all, outlining a powerful physique.
“R-really... someone really came to save us?”
Cheng Yu calmly loaded another arrow into his hand crossbow before putting it away.
He drew his Hundred-Forged Xiuchun Saber, and the ring of metal reverberated sharply in the air.
His clear, forceful voice rang out:
“The Jinyiwei are raiding and seizing an illegal coal mine! Everyone, put down your weapons and surrender! Resist, and die!”
The guards at the gate had just seen him kill a man, and now they heard Cheng Yu’s declaration.
They felt both furious and amused.
A mere Jinyiwei dared meddle in the Red River Gang’s affairs?
“You want to die!”
But before they could surround him, they were each pierced through by small arrows.
They turned into human pincushions and died on the spot.
Cheng Yu raised an eyebrow. His subordinates really were a sorry bunch. At this distance, they still could not even hit their throats.
Fortunately, they were obedient enough.
“The men of the Red River Gang have defied the orders of the Jinyiwei. Take them all down!”
“Yes!”
More than a dozen men surged into the coal mine, targeting only those whose clothes were intact and who held weapons.
After all, every one of them had been selected into the Jinyiwei. Though none of them had reached true rank in martial arts, they still possessed internal arts. Against ordinary Red River Gang thugs of average strength, a surprise attack was more than enough.
The soot-covered laborers saw the scene and, not daring to think too much about it, immediately turned and ran, desperate only to escape this hell.
For a time, the whole place descended into chaos.
Yet Cheng Yu walked through it all as calmly as ever, heading straight toward the center of the mine.
Whenever he encountered some minor flunky on the way, he killed him with a casual slash.
It was not long before he arrived at the door of a wooden hut, just as the door opened.
“What’s all that racket outside?”
A disheveled Red River Gang member stepped out. He looked like some petty boss and already possessed the strength of a First Rank martial artist.
At a glance, he saw Cheng Yu standing before him in a Flying Fish Uniform, and then saw the battle in the distance between the Jinyiwei and the Red River Gang.
“This is outrageous! You actually dare come to my Red River Gang’s turf and cause troubl—”
Before he could finish, a cold Xiuchun Saber was already resting against his neck, the blade reflecting his panicked expression.
So fast!
Cheng Yu’s tone was calm—simple and direct.
“How is this coal handled?”
A coal mine this large, privately run with so many laborers held in captivity, was no small matter. Ordinary people would never dare get involved in this sort of business.
The Red River Gang petty boss was thoroughly frightened by Cheng Yu. Cold sweat trickled down his face.
“H-how would I know? It’s just some worthless coal rock—”
A flash of blade-light swept past.
The petty boss suddenly realized he had just seen his own body.
Without a head.
He did not even have time to wonder why Cheng Yu had killed him so quickly.
“If you don’t want to talk, then I’ll ask the next one.”
Cheng Yu sheathed his saber and stepped into the wooden hut, only to find a naked woman hanging from a beam, her hands and feet convulsing wildly.
It seemed that right after the petty boss had come out, she had immediately tried to kill herself.
WHOOSH!
A stone pellet sliced through the hemp rope, and the woman fell down.
After taking several account books from a cabinet, Cheng Yu turned and left. Giving her a chance to choose again was already more than enough.
When he returned outside, his subordinate Strongman Guards had already cleaned out all the ordinary Red River Gang members.
At their level, using bows and crossbows gave them an overwhelming advantage. They completed the job without a single casualty.
“Go count up the situation in this coal mine. See if there’s anything worth finding.”
“Yes!”
Cheng Yu, meanwhile, found a chair and sat down, closing his eyes to rest. At that moment, the system’s voice rang out by his ear.
【The host has seized an illegal coal mine and fulfilled the duties of the Jinyiwei. Reward: Internal Energy!】
His pure Internal Energy increased once more.
Not long after, the Jinyiwei finished clearing and counting the coal mine.
“Reporting to my lord, this coal mine has already been fully dug out. There are still more than one hundred thousand jin of coal that hasn’t been hauled away yet. In addition, we found more than four hundred taels of silver.”
Cheng Yu took the three one-hundred-tael banknotes from his subordinate’s hand.
“The rest is yours.”
The Strongman Guards immediately burst into cheers at that. There was still over a hundred taels left. Divided among them, it was no small amount!
Banner Captain Cheng might be strange, but he truly was the most generous superior they had ever seen.
“My lord, should we seal up the mine and leave now?” someone asked.
Cheng Yu shook his head and remained seated firmly in the chair.
“This is only the beginning. Get your bows and crossbows loaded. Later, don’t you dare spare the arrows for me.”
“Yes!”
Just as Cheng Yu had expected, it was not long before a great rush of hoofbeats sounded from outside the mine.
Then a furious roar rang out.
“You dog lackeys of the Jinyiwei in there—get out here and die!”