The journey to Langya concluded with the annihilation of the Kong family branch.
The events were documented in a memorial submitted to Chang'an.
Fang Er led his troops back to Laizhou, expecting news from the previously dispatched units.
Indeed, upon his arrival at the Laizhou Prefecture, the new Prefect, Jiang Shi, came out to greet him.
"Your subordinate greets the Duke!"
"The Deputy Commander of the Dengzhou Governor-General's Office, Fan Wujiu, has returned from suppressing bandits. He waited for you all day yesterday, and came again this morning. He is currently awaiting you in the main hall."
Fang Er subconsciously quickened his pace. "Lead me there."
"Yes!"
Jiang Shi bowed respectfully and hurried ahead to lead the way.
In the main hall, Fan Wujiu was meditating with his eyes closed. Upon hearing approaching footsteps, he stood up and walked to the doorway to look.
Recognizing the newcomer, he immediately saluted.
"Your subordinate, Fan Wujiu, has returned from suppressing bandits and reports to the Duke!"
Fang Er returned a military salute, then walked to the main seat and sat down.
"State the results directly."
"Yes, Duke!"
"Phoenix Mountain had over seven hundred mountain bandits. Excluding the more than three hundred who surrendered, the rest were all annihilated."
"The ten thousand brothers dispatched to Yunmen Mountain have also returned. This operation resulted in the deaths of five hundred bandits and the capture of three hundred and seventy alive."
"The brothers sent to Ni Mountain have not yet returned."
Fan Wujiu reported the outcome of the operation.
Hearing the numbers reported, Fang Er's hatred for the Kong family deepened by three parts.
Just YuHuang Mountain, the Langya Kong family, Phoenix Mountain, and Yunmen Mountain combined accounted for nearly five thousand bandits eliminated!
And this did not include the units sent to Ni Mountain, Lingyan Temple, and Weishan Lake that had yet to return.
He truly wondered how many lawless individuals were hidden in this small Shandong Circuit!
After waiting for a few more days, the Fourth Division of the Tianhuo Army, which had been sent to Lingyan Temple in Qizhou, also returned. However, they had found nothing.
When Wu Yong led the Fourth Division to Lingyan Temple, the place was already deserted. A search within a ten-mile radius of Lingyan Temple yielded not a single monk.
After questioning the surrounding villagers, it was learned that there had been no trace of monks there since the suppression of Buddhism.
Now, only the units from Ni Mountain and Weishan Lake had not returned.
These two locations were the furthest and closest to the Kong family.
When the missions were assigned, there was no evidence that the Kong family was involved in the National Debt robbery. However, given the current situation, a single branch in Langya could mobilize thousands of mountain bandits, suggesting that the bandit suppression operations at Ni Mountain and Weishan Lake would encounter trouble!
"All apprehended bandits are to be escorted to the valley outside the city! Let justice be served!"
"These rebels are a waste of food if kept alive!"
Fang Er prepared to execute them before personally leading troops to Ni Mountain and Weishan Lake, hoping to find further clues there.
To this day, seven hundred rifles and the two million guan in National Debt remained unfound.
He was not worried about the rifles falling into the hands of the Weishan Lake bandits, but rather about those at Ni Mountain.
The ten thousand Governor-General's guards dispatched there were all equipped with cold weapons!
Two hours later, outside Laizhou City, in the valley where the National Debt was robbed.
Hao Daniu, along with the brothers of the Third Regiment, carried an urn containing the ashes of their comrades from the Second Regiment in their arms.
All captured bandits had their mouths gagged and their hands bound behind their backs, kneeling in the valley.
Two thousand Dengzhou Governor-General's guards acted as executioners, holding long sabers and standing behind each bandit, awaiting Fang Er's command.
Fang Er stood atop a large boulder at the valley entrance, his gaze like a blade sweeping over the bandits within, finally resting on Kong Huiqing.
Under everyone's watchful eyes, he extended his right hand to the Melon King, who quickly produced a scroll from his chest and handed it over.
Grabbing the outer scroll, Fang Er unrolled it with a flick and declared loudly.
"The Kong family of Langya Prefecture colluded with mountain bandits, ambushed government soldiers, plundered the National Debt for disaster relief, and disregarded the common people of the world!"
"Their crime is tantamount to rebellion!"
"His Majesty has decreed that once verified, they shall be executed without mercy!"
"Executioners, heed the order!"
"Here!"
The two thousand Governor-General's guards, serving as executioners, responded in unison.
The resounding affirmation startled numerous birds from the woods on either side of the valley.
Just as Fang Er was about to utter the final word, "Execute!", the sound of countless hooves suddenly echoed from afar.
Everyone present quickly turned to look in the direction of the approaching hoofbeats.
To the east of the valley, countless cavalry were charging towards them.
As the cavalry drew closer, Fang Er, using his telescope, recognized the approaching figures: it was Li Xiaogong!
Before the cavalry could enter the valley, the sound of tractors came from the west.
Looking ahead, it was a convoy of tractors, with Liu Meng at the helm of the lead vehicle!
What a coincidence! Liu Meng, having delivered the National Debt, arrived at the same time as Li Xiaogong, who had returned from Japan.
As the convoy reached the side of the valley, the tractors braked abruptly.
The connection between the carriage and the tractor head let out a clanging sound under the inertia.
Liu Meng leaped down and ran to Fang Er. Upon seeing the scene in the valley, he immediately knelt before Fang Er.
"Duke, please allow me to handle the execution!"
Just as Fang Er was about to reply, he saw Li Xiaogong approaching from the other end of the valley.
"Which of you is the Kong family rebel!" Li Xiaogong asked Fang Er, his eyes bloodshot.
After thousands of miles of sea travel, the spies of the Baiqi Division, aboard a tuna fishing boat, then transferred to a faster yacht at Panjin, had rushed to Iwami Ginzan without a moment's pause to read the imperial decree.
Upon learning that the National Debt had been robbed in Dengzhou and that one thousand Tianhuo Army soldiers and three hundred Baiqi Division officers had been killed, Li Xiaogong immediately abandoned his half-prepared banquet of "Nude Feast" and, with his personal guards, boarded a ship to return.
He was the Dengzhou Governor-General, and the Kong family's actions were a slap in his face!
Robbing the National Debt and then slaughtering the escorting Tianhuo Army and Baiqi Division was equivalent to being slapped on the left cheek and then having the right cheek stomped upon.
"Brother, the one in front of you is from the Langya County Kong family. He killed his own father two days ago, so he is now the head of the Langya Kong family."
Fang Er casually tossed over a cigar and pointed at Kong Huiqing, who stood before him.
Li Xiaogong heard him and directly snatched a saber from a Governor-General's guard beside Kong Huiqing. He then walked to the front of Kong Huiqing and tore the gag from his mouth.
"Come! Tell me, who gave you the guts to commit rebellion in my territory!"
Saying that, he severed Kong Huiqing's left arm with a single saber stroke.
"Ah!"
Kong Huiqing let out a scream of pain as his severed arm fell to the ground, blood gushing from the stump like a fountain.
"I'm asking you! What are you screaming for!"
"Damn your ancestors! Bah!"
As if realizing he had inadvertently cursed even Confucius, Li Xiaogong quickly changed his phrasing, for the descendants of Confucius were one thing, and Confucius himself was another.
"Damn your grandmother's bones, speak! Who gave you the guts!"
With that, he severed Kong Huiqing's right arm with another saber stroke.
At this point, for a scholar like Kong Huiqing, the only thing that could escape his lips was a scream.
"Ah~~~!"
"Ah, your grandfather! Since you won't speak, then don't speak! Go down and tell Confucius what you've done! Let him properly teach you how to be a man!"
Li Xiaogong swung his saber for a third time.
*Clang!*
Kong Huiqing's head was severed. Even then, Old Li felt a surge of dissatisfaction and, after decapitating a few more individuals, handed the long saber to Liu Meng.
"The rest, you handle!"
Having said that, he lit the cigar in his mouth and walked onto the large boulder where Fang Er was standing.
Seeing Fang Er nod, Liu Meng waved to the soldiers of the Third Division and First Regiment who had accompanied him.
"Soldiers of the Third Division and First Regiment, heed my command! Take the sabers from the Governor-General's guards and avenge our brothers of the Second Regiment!"
"Yes!"
The one thousand soldiers of the Third Division and First Regiment quickly surged into the valley and took the sabers from the Governor-General's guards.
Once they were in position, Fang Er shouted fiercely.
"Tianhuo Army, heed my command, execute!"
A thousand soldiers simultaneously raised their sabers and then lightly brought them down. As if by agreement, not a single head was severed with one stroke.
The saber blades got stuck in the cervical vertebrae, and the friction sound when drawing the blades echoed throughout the valley, a grating sound that made one's teeth ache.
This blow made the bandits deeply experience what it meant to be alive but wishing for death!
"Execute again!" This time, the command came from Liu Meng.
Similarly, for the second blow, not a single head fell.
However, most of the bandits had already lost their lives under this strike. Their heads and bodies were connected only by some flesh and skin, with the cervical vertebrae already severed.
"Brothers, avenge!"
Liu Meng roared again, bringing his saber down on the dangling head of the bandit before him.
The large head instantly rolled to the ground.
"Avenge!"
The thousand soldiers, shouting in unison, raised their sabers for the third time.
*Swish!*
What followed was the severing of over a thousand heads.
In the valley, a total of over two thousand one hundred people were bound. When Liu Meng and his men, carrying dripping bloody sabers, approached the remaining thousand or so people, these individuals had already wet themselves in fear.
Like the previous thousand, these men also experienced the treatment of being decapitated with three strokes.
After finishing with everyone, Liu Meng walked up to Hao Daniu and, with tears in his eyes, offered a straight military salute to the ashes of their fallen brothers of the Second Regiment.
"Salute!"
The deputy division commander behind him roared.
The soldiers of the First Regiment saluted their fallen comrades in unison.
Just then, Li Xiaogong, standing on the large boulder, watched everything and asked Fang Er.
"Brother, what are your plans for what comes next? We can't just have old brother return and kill a couple of tied-up beasts, can we?"
"The brothers who went to Weishan Lake and Ni Mountain have not yet returned. I plan to lead the troops there personally to investigate."