Chapter 367
During the earlier ambush, the bandit chief charged forward, only to get hit a few times by a toddler who didn’t even have all his teeth yet. The boy threw something that looked like a water bottle—but not quite. It was just a tiny little bottle, and the "water" inside had a strong, meaty smell to it.
They hadn't managed to steal any goods, so the chief had cursed and grumbled the whole way back to their hideout.
That night, he dragged another woman into his room and kept her up until the middle of the night. He was sleeping soundly that morning when suddenly, a commotion erupted outside.
Yu Daniu flew into a rage, cursed his mother, and pulled on his trousers to go out. But before he could, one of his underlings came stumbling in, pale-faced and trembling.
"Chief! Chief, bad news! Bad news!"
Yu Daniu kicked him. "Quit your panicking—where are your manners? What the hell happened?"
"Outside… outside…" The underling seemed terrified, shaking as he pointed toward the door, his voice stammering: "The government troops… they've broken in! They're killing everyone!"
Yu Daniu froze, refusing to believe it. His voice shot up: "Impossible!! "
Longhu Mountain was massive—its ridges stretched for dozens of li, covered in thick grass and dense forest. Their hideout was hidden deep within, and without someone to guide them, outsiders would never find it.
Screams of agony rang out from outside. They sounded familiar—they were his own brothers crying out in pain.
Yu Daniu's heart jolted violently. He rushed toward the door, but the next second, it crashed open with a deafening bang, kicked in from the outside with tremendous force. The wooden door nearly fell off its hinges. Yu Daniu stumbled back two steps.
A handsome young man strode through the doorway, long spear in hand, walking unhurriedly in the golden-orange morning light. Behind him trotted a big-headed little boy.
Yu Daniu thought the two looked very familiar.
And no wonder—they had run into each other just that very noon.
Bold of them.
"Who… who are you?" Yu Daniu demanded.
Fang Zichen swept his gaze over him and smirked. "Oh? Yu Daniu, you've grown nice and plump over the years, and now you don't even recognize your own father? You don't even know who I am? How have you been running this operation?"
Yu Daniu's face turned ashen.
"Weren't you the one loudly swearing to wipe out my entire family?" Fang Zichen raised an eyebrow and walked slowly toward him. "Back then, you were so arrogant! You didn't even take me, the prefect himself, seriously. Well, now that I've finished my business, I've made time to come meet you in person. How does it feel—honored, aren't you? Now, let me show you exactly who's going to wipe out whose family."
The prefect?!
Yu Daniu's eyes flew wide open. Panic suddenly gripped him. He was stunned—utterly shocked. "No… this can't be. This can't be!"
Fang Zichen pointed his spear straight at Yu Daniu. Blood was still dripping from its sharp tip. One of the underlings nearby broke out in a cold sweat. Seeing that Fang Zichen wasn't paying attention to him, he quietly inched toward the door. But he'd only taken two steps when a searing pain shot through his knee, and he dropped to the ground with a thump.
Guaizai leaped up and whacked him across the back with his little stick.
"My father didn't say you could leave! Trying to run? Guaizai will smack you silly!"
Yu Daniu tried to fight back, swinging a punch at Fang Zichen. But he'd never had any real training. The sounds of clashing weapons from outside had already shaken him, and when it came to the actual fight, he lost whatever ferocity he had. Fang Zichen took him down in just two moves—he couldn't even get back up.
"Damn it. With skills like that, you still had the nerve to run your mouth and threaten me from afar?" Fang Zichen threw another punch. Yu Daniu doubled over in agony, feeling like his ribs might have snapped. He retched and curled up, gagging.
He'd picked a fight with the wrong person.
Outside, the noise gradually died down. It was probably a total loss. Yu Daniu was a tough man, but he knew that if he didn't do something fast, the stronghold he'd spent nearly twenty years building—and all his men—would be finished. So he swallowed his pride and, despite the pain, begged: Could Fang Zichen please spare him?
He promised he would offer regular "tribute" from then on. When he noticed Fang Zichen pause, he thought the man was interested, and a flicker of hope rose in his heart. He quickly added more sweeteners to the deal.
The reason their gang had been able to hold out for decades in Shunan was not just because they had numbers and the locals were too afraid to mess with them—it was also because the local officials had turned a blind eye.
Yang Chengfeng, the magistrate of Shu County, had known these men were bad news and had wanted to wipe them out many times. But he'd always been short-handed. Earlier, he'd reported the situation to the prefect, but the prefect had never sent troops—whether out of indifference or some other reason, no one knew.
But who doesn't love money?
Yu Daniu sure did. He loved it a lot.
Fang Zichen listened to his offer, then slapped him twice across the face.
Try to bribe me? Not a chance. If I ever stooped to that kind of dirty business, I'd be deep-fried in hell after I die—and my grandfather would probably crawl right out of his grave just to beat me to death himself.
No. I'm going to follow the law.
Yu Daniu was stunned by the slaps. When the soft approach didn't work, he switched to threats.
"Don't—don't get cocky! So what if you've caught me? My brothers won't let you get away with this!"
Guaizai heard that, paused, and exchanged a look with Fang Zichen. Then father and son threw their heads back and laughed until they were practically shaking.
"Brothers?" Fang Zichen kicked him again. "You think your brothers can escape? Even if they run, the temple's still here—they can't outrun their roots. If you don't pull up the weeds by the roots, they'll grow back with the spring wind. How am I supposed to sleep soundly if I don't wipe out every last one of you in one fell swoop? You learning this, son?"
[跑得了和尚跑不了廟 (pǎo de liǎo héshang pǎo bù liǎo miào): lit. "The monk may run away, but the temple cannot"; fig. A person may run, but their ties or consequences remain.]
"Learned it!" Guaizai's eyes sparkled with excitement. "Father, let's go find the treasure vault!"
"Oh, right!" Fang Zichen called Zhang Quan over, had him tie up Yu Daniu, and then hurried off with Guaizai to search for the "treasure vault."
Zhang Quan had just finished tying the man up when several soldiers who'd been sent ahead came to report: "Commander Zhang, everyone in the stronghold has been captured."
Zhang Quan ordered, "Tie them all up and keep a close watch. Don't let any escape."
The soldiers acknowledged and went to carry out the order.
There were seventy-two men in this stronghold—the largest among the three hill gangs. They'd started out living in caves, but as they grew bolder and richer, they'd built this small fortified camp.
As the soldiers bound the captives, they chatted among themselves.
"Man, our Prefect is really something! He shows up and—what's that saying? The one that goes… what's the word?"
His companion cut in: "It's 'arrive and capture with ease.'"
"Oh, right, right, that's the one! But how did the prefect even know these guys were hiding here?"
It was early morning now, but when they'd set out from the county to raid the bandits, the sky hadn't even been light yet. They'd seemed to wander aimlessly, twisting and turning until everyone was completely lost. The one leading the way was a dog—apparently Guaizai the young master's pet.
Back then, it was still early. Guaizai had been cradled in Fang Zichen's arms, fast asleep. He'd woken up once, squinted sleepily, and given his father a sweet little kiss on the cheek, telling him: When you find them, make sure to wake me up—I'm going to go on a rampage and bring justice to the people!
Fang Zichen had agreed. Then they'd followed the dog, wandering aimlessly. The soldiers were all dumbfounded. They'd trudged through the mountains until they were nearly exhausted, crossed one whole ridge, and still hadn't found a single soul.
They'd come looking for bandits before, too—scoured the hills—but these men hid deep. They'd turned over one ridge after another and never found them. No one dared to go too deep into the mountain range, and the bandits weren't foolish enough to set up camp deep in the wilderness either.
The soldiers didn't dare ask Fang Zichen directly, so they struck up a conversation with one of the imperial guards behind him.
"Brother, do you know what our prefect is doing?"
"No idea," the guard answered honestly. When the soldiers sighed and shook their heads—clearly doubting Fang Zichen, thinking he was acting recklessly, looking disapproving—the guard got annoyed.
To be fair, if it weren't for the whole mountain-blasting incident, even the guard might have doubted Fang Zichen. The man kept stopping and starting, following a dog the whole way, even doubling back on some paths several times. A dog wouldn't know those bandits—how could it possibly know where they were hiding?
And they'd never seen a dog lead the way like this before.
But now, the guard believed in Fang Zichen. If he could level a mountain in an instant, a mere bandit hideout was probably no challenge at all. And besides—the Qin family troops he'd sent out earlier hadn't come back yet, which probably meant they'd already succeeded. So the guard said: "Just follow the prefect. Don't question it."
"But this isn't getting us anywhere! If we're going to search the mountain, we should spread out," one soldier suggested.
"No need. We stick with the prefect." The imperial guard said with absolute certainty.
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