Chapter Thirty-Five: Capture the Thief First and Capture the King
Zhu Gui originally wanted to refuse, but when he thought that the other party's marksmanship was better than his own, and he would not know who was protecting whom, he agreed.
"Then..." Xu Miaoqing looked like she was still about to speak.
"Is there anything else?" Zhu Gui asked.
Xu Miaoqing frowned slightly, turned around and left, muttering "Idiot".
Early the next morning, Zhu Gui left the Prince Dai's Mansion with ten soldiers.
However, he was accompanied by some businessmen and officials from Datong Prefecture.
They were all part of the entourage this time and wanted to take the opportunity to get closer to the king.
Halfway through the journey, we finally met people from four states and seven counties, led by Qi Tai.
"I have met the prince." Qitai acted very humbly.
"Clan Chief Qi is willing to respond to the policies of the Dai Wangfu to set an example, so there's no need to be polite. Let's go."
In this way, the two parties gathered together, nearly a hundred people.
After another hour, they finally arrived at Hujian Gorge.
Zhu Gui looked forward on his horse, seeing majestic mountains on both sides, stretching to nowhere.
“Good mountain.”
Zhu Gui sighed.
"Your Majesty, after passing through this canyon, you will reach the hunting ground. This is the most famous Wuzhou Mountain hunting ground in Shanxi."
Qitai came over and said.
Zhu Gui nodded.
…
Just when the two were chatting at the bottom of Hujian Gorge.
The horse bandits above the mountain streams on both sides could not sit still.
The second leader said to Scarface: "Gang leader, why don't they come in yet? We've been waiting here for a long time."
"Then the young prince is aware of the danger?"
"Hmph, so what if he notices it? We have brought more than two hundred brothers this time. Even if the people below are all local garrison, they are no match for us. No need to wait, come on."
Scarface was a decisive person, but with the big fish right in front of him, he didn't exactly follow the plan.
The horse bandits on the mountain streams on both sides saw the signal and immediately roared down.
Zhu Gui, who was at the mouth of the gorge, felt the ground shake and immediately changed his expression.
In fact, according to the original plan, he was to wait for the remaining soldiers of the Dai Palace and Xu Yingxu to lead the team to reach the predetermined position, and then enter the Hujian Gorge.
But he didn't receive the signal for a long time, so he delayed.
What he didn't expect was that these horse bandits would be so bold and rush out.
Qi Tai on the side was also anxious.
"Your Highness, it seems that the horse bandits are here, and they will only be offended for a while."
Zhu Gui nodded.
With the ten soldiers he brought this time, even if he emptied the magazine, he couldn't save the situation. It seemed that he had no choice but to face the horse bandits head-on.
Soon, the horse bandits rushed to the bottom of the mountain, and the people surrounding them started shouting.
This is a means of intimidating the enemy.
Sure enough, in addition to Zhu Gui's personal soldiers, even the squires who had colluded with the horse bandits were scared to death.
The three leaders of the horse bandits also came out among the crowd.
Scarface ignored the squires and businessmen who knelt down and begged for mercy.
Instead, he walked directly in front of Zhu Gui and looked at him carefully.
"Is this the acting king? So young?"
He said this to Qi Tai, who was standing next to Zhu Gui.
Before Qi Tai could speak, he heard Zhu Gui say: "Are you Scar, the bandit leader of the Wild Wolf Gang?"
Scar was stunned for a moment and looked back at his men.
"My young prince, haven't you noticed what's going on now? It's me who has taken control of the situation. You are my prisoner now, and you are no longer a prince."
After he finished speaking, two horse bandits came over and were about to pull Zhu Gui off his horse.
But Zhu Gui suddenly dropped two pistols from his sleeves.
Just listen to two sounds of "pop" and "pop".
The two horse bandits fell off their horses with disbelief on their faces.
Scarface was so frightened that he jumped back on his horse, but how could Zhu Gui just let him go?
He directly raised his guns and pointed them at Scar, and then fired again.
The surrounding horse bandits were so frightened that they froze in place.
However, when the smoke cleared, Scar was not dead, but was crushed by the dead horse and was struggling to crawl out.
The horse bandits around him immediately reacted and rushed over to save Scar.
But Zhu Gui's soldiers reacted faster and killed all the horse bandits closest to Zhu Gui.
The scene fell silent instantly.
There were obviously more than two hundred horse bandits, but they looked at a loss at this time.
Scar stopped struggling. He lay on the ground and looked at Zhu Gui.
"I really didn't expect that the young prince would have such a sharp weapon. This time I'll be blamed for my injuries. If you want to kill or behead him, it's up to you."
Zhu Gui's personal soldiers came to his side and stood guard around him.
Two of them also dragged Scar out from under the dead horse and tied him up.
"You horse bandits usually make a living by robbing?" Zhu Gui glanced at the horse bandits around him.
"Otherwise?" Scar asked with a sad smile.
"Are you familiar with all the robbers and gangs in Shanxi?"
Zhu Gui asked again.
"More or less, those who eat our rice bowl will always have to deal with colleagues."
Scar didn't know that the young prince didn't kill him, but instead asked him what he was doing.
Zhu Gui nodded and said, "If today's incident had not happened, do you plan to remain a horse bandit in the future?"
Dao Scar was stunned for a moment, and then he realized that this young prince seemed to want to arrest him? This was an opportunity.
He immediately said: "If it weren't for the fact that they couldn't survive, the common people wouldn't be willing to do this business. If the young prince can ignore the past grudges and give him food to eat, the common people are willing to put their lives in the hands of the prince."
Qitai on the side reacted immediately.
"Your Majesty, you have to think carefully. These are horse bandits. Don't take their words lightly."
When Scar heard this, he cursed loudly: "My lord, he is the one who wants to collude with me to murder you, and there are many people here who also participated."
When the squires heard this, they ran up to Zhu Gui and said, "Your Majesty, we are all being held hostage by Qi Tai. If we don't agree, he will definitely deal with us."
At this time, Xu Yingxu arrived with his people.
He was delayed a lot of time due to some things on the way. He was originally worried that something would happen, but he saw this situation as soon as he arrived.
"Your Majesty, what is going on?"
Seeing Zhu Gui and ten soldiers restraining more than two hundred vicious horse bandits, he was a little unbelievable.
"As you can see, to capture the thieves, capture the king first, but I think these horse bandits have other uses."
Zhu Gui said calmly.
"He used them to plot against the vassal king, which is no different from rebellion. General Shu Mo will not agree. Someone will come and arrest these people."
Xu Yingxu waved his hand, and the garrison troops he brought with him rushed forward.
"Wait a moment."
Zhu Gui raised his pistol and fired.
The soldiers around him immediately stopped and looked here.
Zhu Gui looked at Xu Yingxu with a serious face.
"Killing these horse bandits is equivalent to cutting off the way out for other people who are suffering. It will only cause trouble in the future."