After leaving behind a sentence, Han Mo vanished with a swift departure.
"Young master, who are we waiting for? Aren't we going to take out the food from the lunch box?"
Half an hour later, Han Mo, dressed in casual clothes, arrived with Jiang Yan at a small roadside tavern outside the city.
"Why so many questions? Just eat your meat and drink your wine."
After shooting him a disgruntled glare, Han Mo huffily reached out, tore off a small piece of meat from the tenderly stewed lamb shank, and popped it into his mouth, chewing slowly.
"It's truly strange. The sheep raised by those Khitans and Western Xia people, even without any spices, have no muttony smell. But once you come to Jiangnan, what is this?"
After just a couple of bites, Han Mo lost most of his interest.
Upon hearing Han Mo's words, Jiang Yan's eyes almost rolled into the heavens. This was a humble village eatery, and having a lamb shank to eat was already quite good. His master was simply too picky...
"Is that Uncle Yu's carriage up ahead?"
Just as Jiang Yan couldn't help but complain internally, Han Mo suddenly stood up and headed towards a carriage on the official road.
"Young friend Han, your coming out to welcome me is truly overwhelming for this old man!"
Upon hearing Han Mo's voice, Yu Shen's voice immediately came from the carriage.
"Uncle, you are a senior. Han Mo, being young, naturally should come out to welcome you!"
Han Mo only invited Yu Shen into the small tavern nearby after Yu Shen had alighted from the carriage.
"The fare at this wilderness tavern is truly hard to swallow. Your nephew has specially brought some wine and dishes from Mingzhou. I hope Uncle will not find them wanting!"
"After a long journey with rough accommodations, having a good meal is already a blessing. How could I possibly find fault with it!"
Seeing the smile on Han Mo's face, Yu Shen also smiled.
"Go over there and help them feed Uncle Yu's horses properly!"
After pouring Yu Shen a cup of wine, Han Mo signaled to Jiang Yan.
"Yes!"
Upon acknowledging, Jiang Yan immediately understood that Han Mo was asking him to keep watch in the vicinity.
While Han Mo and Yu Shen were deep in conversation, thousands of miles away in the land of Wa, Yuan Xingchi was carefully observing the lewd-looking Wa man in front of him.
"What is this fellow saying?"
After glancing up and down several times, Yuan Xingchi couldn't help but frown again, looking at the guide beside him.
"Sir, this fellow says this is their territory and they want us to withdraw immediately, otherwise, they will launch a large army to attack us!"
"A large army to attack?"
Upon hearing the words translated by the guide, Yuan Xingchi couldn't help but laugh out loud. He didn't even know how to describe this guy.
Even though he had dispatched half of his forces and they were currently patrolling the Tsushima Strait to cut off sea access, the total number of soldiers he had still exceeded three thousand.
How could such a so-called general from the tiny province of Sado dare to speak of a large army attack in front of him? Yuan Xingchi truly didn't know if this fellow was too arrogant or had water in his brain.
"How many people came with them?"
Reaching up to rub his temples, Yuan Xingchi finally asked.
"There were only a dozen or so. When they first arrived, our soldiers didn't know what they were babbling about, so they casually shot a few. Now there might be four or five survivors..."
As Li Bao said this, he himself felt a bit embarrassed. It seemed he was the one who had been the most eager to kill just now...
These fellows were not only short but also not very bright. Seeing his large saber coming, those people didn't even know how to dodge, holding their pieces of raw iron and hard-charging into his blade. It was simply too easy to kill them.
He killed them one by one with great vigor. By the time the guide said these people had come to deliver a challenge, he had almost killed them all. Now that he thought about it, he felt a bit ashamed.
"Cut off his ears and then let him scram back. Tell that Shugo or whatever his name is, if they want to fight, they can just send their troops to fight!"
Seeing the shame on Li Bao's face, Yuan Xingchi roughly understood. It seemed that the matter of killing and arson was likely all his doing. However, he didn't expose Li Bao. Being a military man, if he didn't have some killing intent on him, could he still be called a military man?
"Yes!"
After hearing Yuan Xingchi's words, Li Bao, who had long disliked this scoundrel, stepped forward, kicked him to the ground, then drew the dagger from his waist and, with a backhanded swipe, directly cut off his ear.
"Hey, you, tell the gentleman what he just said!"
Amidst the agonizing screams of the Wa man, Li Bao then threw the ear he had cut off in front of the fellow.
However, to his surprise, after hearing the guide translate, the fellow whose ear had been cut off actually stood up and began to babble a lot at Li Bao again.
"What is he saying?"
Seeing the indignant expression on the fellow's face, Li Bao impatiently looked at the guide in front of him.
Although the languages were different, just looking at the fierce gaze of the fellow, he knew that what he was saying was definitely not good.
If Yuan Xingchi weren't here, he would have already cleaved this fellow to death with his saber, and there wouldn't be any room for him to jabber nonsense here.
"He says you have insulted his samurai honor, and he wants to duel you. If he falls in battle, he wants his retainers to take his body back..."
Looking at the impatience on Li Bao's face, even the guide couldn't help but show a hint of disdain after translating the fellow's words.
"Return his weapons to him!"
Upon hearing this, Li Bao almost burst out laughing.
"Just do as General Li says. Such a fool is not worth mourning!"
Looking at the questioning eyes of the guards, Yuan Xingchi also said with a smile.
"Yes!"
With his permission, the guards beside them returned the samurai sword to the fellow.
"That broken piece of iron in your hand can't even scratch this general's armor. Today, this general will give you a fair fight!"
Li Bao spoke as he unbuckled his armor, stood bare-chested, holding a plain saber, and beckoned the Wa man in front of him with utter disdain.
After witnessing Li Bao's actions, the Wa man clearly did not expect Li Bao to discard his armor and fight him bare-chested. After bowing to Li Bao, he once again held his sword with both hands, looking at Li Bao with a vigilant expression.
"Damn it, watch carefully!"