Chapter 24 March
Seeing Ye Mingsheng draw his sword, Li Changjiu's face became even more frightened, and he hurriedly continued in a trembling voice: "As long as Lord Ye lets me go, I am willing to sell all my belongings and give you a thousand taels of silver!"

Ye Mingsheng had no interest in Li Changjiu's proposal. He walked towards him with a knife in hand and a gloomy face, his eyes full of cold murderous intent.

As the saying goes, "even a rabbit bites when it's cornered." Seeing that Ye Mingsheng was unwilling to let him go, Li Changjiu, who was kneeling on the ground, flashed a ruthless look on his face. He suddenly pulled out a dagger from under his robe and rushed towards Ye Mingsheng.

Although Li Changjiu's action was sudden, catching Ye Tie and other personal soldiers around him off guard and leaving them no time to protect Ye Mingsheng, Ye Mingsheng himself was highly concentrated at this time. Seeing Li Changjiu rushing towards him with a hideous face, he did not hesitate at all and swung his sword horizontally.

The extremely sharp blade immediately cut across Li Changjiu's neck. Then, a red line appeared on the neck of this short and fat middle-aged man. He fell softly to the ground and died. Although he was dead, the ferocious look on Li Changjiu's face did not change at all.

After wiping the blood off the knife, Ye Mingsheng looked around with cold eyes at the seven trembling servants of Li Changjiu present. Then he waved his left hand downwards, and the personal soldiers who received the order immediately started the massacre. In an instant, seven corpses were lying in the clinic.

"Load them into the car, then go out of town and find a secluded dirt pit to bury them. Do it cleanly!"

After instructing Ye Tie and others, Ye Mingsheng, under the protection of Ye Dong, took the carriage to bring Pei Zhixiu, who had not yet woken up, back to the military camp.

･･･････
･･･････
The sun is high in the sky, spreading its energy to everything in the world.

On a mountain trail in the Dahu Mountains, an army of about 3,000 people was marching rapidly towards the east in a forced march.

Just three hours ago, Ye Mingsheng, who led his troops out of the city, reunited with Heishanfeng controlled by Liu Shilin in Dahushan District. Liu Shilin also formally transferred the command of Heishanfeng's more than 2,000 troops to Ye Mingsheng. As for Liu Shilin himself, he also served as a lieutenant general, following Ye Mingsheng's command.

"Master Ye, the brothers have been marching for three hours. Do you think it would be possible for them to take a break?"

A middle-aged man with a simple face and wearing a cotton armor rode up to Ye Mingsheng, clasped his hands together, and said earnestly:

Upon hearing this, Ye Mingsheng glanced at the middle-aged man. If he remembered correctly, this man was called Gao Zuorong, and he was one of the generals of Heishanfeng.

Under Gao Zuorong's gaze, Ye Mingsheng thought for a moment, then said, "Ten miles ahead, there is a water source. Let's rest there!"

Upon hearing Ye Mingsheng's order, Gao Zuorong's face immediately turned bitter. His men were now unable to hold on any longer. However, as the commander, Ye Mingsheng's order had already been issued, the only thing he could do was to obey orders.

After bowing to Ye Mingsheng and saying "Thank you for your understanding", Gao Zuorong rode away, urging his men to move forward. Looking at Gao Zuorong's back, Ye Mingsheng nodded imperceptibly. In his expectation, this group of farmers who had only been trained by the Supervisory Department for a few months, with dozens of kilograms of weapons, cotton armor and other things attached, could last for two hours of forced march, which was already very good. But now it seems that he seems to have underestimated the combat quality of Heishanfeng's group. At least in terms of endurance, they may be stronger than he imagined.

After a while, the troops arrived at a stream. Ye Mingsheng immediately ordered a rest. After eating two mouthfuls of dry food and drinking some stream water, Ye Mingsheng's gaze subconsciously shifted to the corner behind him, where a thin and delicate soldier was leaning on a stone with his head down, resting very tiredly.

The normal imperial guard uniform looked abnormally large on this person. Although her face was smeared with some black soot, it could not hide the whiteness and beauty of her face. This person was none other than Pei Zhixiu, who was rescued from Li Changjiu's clutches by Ye Mingsheng last night.

After taking a look at Pei Zhixiu, who was disguised as his personal soldier, Ye Mingsheng's eyes immediately showed a hint of helplessness.

After Pei Zhixiu woke up last night, Ye Mingsheng, who was about to lead his troops to launch a surprise attack on Liujing, originally planned to give her some money to get rid of her. However, after Pei Zhixiu learned that Ye Mingsheng killed Li Changjiu for her, she insisted on following Ye Mingsheng.

No matter what Ye Mingsheng said, he couldn't change her mind, so Ye Mingsheng had no choice but to keep her with him temporarily.

Ye Mingsheng found a bag full of stream water and a bag of finely made pastries from his luggage and handed them to Ye Dong, who was guarding him. Then he looked at Pei Zhixiu. Ye Dong, who was very smart, immediately understood his master's idea, showed an ambiguous smile, and then quickly delivered the things to Pei Zhixiu.
Pei Zhixiu, who was taking a break, was a little hesitant about the things Ye Dong brought and did not take them. After Ye Dong's repeated persuasion, she looked up at Ye Mingsheng, then reluctantly accepted the things and ate some.

After sitting there and thinking carefully for a while, Ye Mingsheng finally made a decision. He stood up and sat down next to Pei Zhixiu. After a moment of silence, he whispered, "

"You are a smart woman. You should understand that I am going to fight and kill people!"

After saying that, Ye Mingsheng turned to look at Pei Zhixiu and said very seriously: "If you stay with me, I can't guarantee your safety!"

Pei Zhixiu smiled sadly, then lowered his head and said quietly, "Then Lord Ye, do you think I can be safe there?"

Ye Mingsheng subconsciously wanted to say something when he heard this, but when he opened his mouth he couldn't say anything...
Pei Zhixiu was right. The palace is now in chaos and the rules of etiquette have collapsed. Considering Pei Zhixiu's temptation to men, even if Li Changjiu is dead now, there will still be Wang Changjiu and Liu Changjiu who will stand up and treat her, a weak woman, as a prisoner, bully her, and possess her.

Seeing that Ye Mingsheng didn't say anything, Pei Zhixiu smoothed the hair scattered on her forehead and continued softly, "I think Lord Ye, you should know the story of how Li Changjiu took back the old house for me and I promised to marry him?"

When Ye Mingsheng heard Pei Zhixiu mention this rumor, he was a little surprised, but still nodded.

(End of this chapter)