readytorunbook Chapter 939 Little Commander
Chapter 939 Little Commander
"See these? These are my soldiers. Within this camp, I am the supreme king, and you are nothing but a weak ant," the commander laughed loudly with disdain.
Faced with a thousand crossbows, Lin Ping was somewhat flustered. If he were alone, he might dare to take a gamble, but with Jiang Yunying by his side, he had to proceed cautiously.
"Speak, who sent you?" The commander's gaze sharpened further.
The commander wasn't stupid; he knew Lin Ping's identity wasn't so simple.
How could a mere commoner possibly assassinate the commander? Lin Ping's identity must be extraordinary.
"Your name is Ye Xiao, right? Commander of the Guards of Meizhou City." Lin Ping straightened up, suddenly gaining confidence.
"How dare you address the commander by his given name! Do you have a death wish?" a deputy commander beside him said angrily.
Ye Xiao, however, was not so reckless. He knew that Lin Ping's gaze was not simple; it had a sense of disdain for all living beings, and was even more powerful than his own.
"Who exactly are you? Why did you come to assassinate this commander?" Ye Xiao asked urgently.
Even if victory was assured, Ye Xiao dared not make any rash moves. He didn't know what kind of powerful backer Lin Ping had, and he might very well get into huge trouble.
Lin Ping pulled out a golden scroll, held his head high, and said:
"His Majesty's edict, Ye Xiao, receive the decree!"
As a commander, Ye Xiao held a high-ranking position and naturally knew that Lin Ping was holding the emperor's edict.
"You are an envoy sent by His Majesty!" Ye Xiao suddenly realized, breaking out in a cold sweat.
He dared to be disrespectful to the envoy, which was tantamount to disrespecting the emperor. Once the news reached the palace, it would definitely be a crime punishable by beheading.
"Ye Xiao, why aren't you kneeling down?" Lin Ping emphasized.
Ye Xiao, who had originally been certain of victory, was now forced to kneel before Lin Ping, and he was filled with resentment.
"Commander, this imperial edict might be genuine. We must not kneel before this mere child," the deputy commander beside him cautioned.
Ye Xiao had a flash of inspiration and suddenly felt confident.
This is the land of Bashu, far from the emperor's reach. He has no reason to fear an envoy; he can simply kill him and say that Lin Ping died on the road. After all, there are many sects here, and it's normal for someone to die.
Lin Ping did not make him kneel any further, but instead loudly read out the contents of the imperial edict.
"By the grace of Heaven, the Emperor decrees: Commander Ye Xiao, disregarding the lives of the people and allowing sects to run rampant, is hereby dismissed from his post as Commander. Zhang Rong, the Deputy Commander, shall temporarily assume his position. Anyone who disobeys shall be executed without exception!"
A few simple words have already sealed the fate of several people.
Lin Ping's voice was loud enough for thousands of people around him to hear clearly.
In an instant, everyone panicked. They had almost killed the envoy sent by the emperor, a crime punishable by the extermination of nine generations of their family.
"Hahaha, you think you can make me submit with just a fake imperial edict?" Ye Xiao sneered. "This person is a fake imperial edict; execute him on the spot!"
These ordinary soldiers had never seen an imperial edict before. Since Ye Xiao said it was fake, then it must be fake.
Within the territory of Meizhou City, Ye Xiao is the boss. Even if an envoy really comes, he has to obey.
"There really is a problem!" Lin Ping said through gritted teeth.
Several days earlier, Lin Ping had suspected that there was something wrong with the commander of Meizhou City, so he wrote a letter to the emperor.
To his surprise, the emperor sent back an imperial edict, dismissing Ye Xiao from his post.
Clearly, the emperor was aware that the Bashu region was not entirely peaceful and wanted to use Lin Ping to quell the unrest.
If an imperial edict could solve the problem, the emperor would not have waited until now.
Therefore, Lin Ping's concern that the imperial edict would have limited effect proved to be correct.
"Release the arrows!" Ye Xiao stepped back a few paces, leaving Lin Ping and Jiang Yunying in the middle.
Thousands of cold arrows were aimed at the two of them, ready to be released.
"Hide behind me!" Lin Ping said nervously.
After all, he possesses X-ray vision and has extremely strong observational abilities; he might not be unable to withstand the design of the bow and arrow.
But he knew that these arrows were endless, and even if he could dodge one volley, he couldn't dodge two.
Time passed second by second, but the arrow aimed at Lin Ping was not released.
"What are you waiting for? Fire the arrows!" Ye Xiao said angrily.
He is the king here; his words are law. I've never encountered anything like this before.
"I made them wait." Just then, another commander who had been silent slowly stepped forward. It was Zhang Rong!
Ye Xiao's face was filled with rage as he shouted, "Zhang Rong, are you stupid? This imperial edict is fake. As long as I'm here, you won't be the commander."
In Ye Xiao's view, Zhang Rong was attracted by the contents of the imperial edict, after all, it appointed him as the commander.
"Whether the imperial edict is real or fake, you and I know perfectly well." Zhang Rong sneered, "Ye Xiao, do you really think the Emperor will let you run rampant like this? I've turned a blind eye to it before, but you've gone too far and crossed the Emperor's bottom line. I must get rid of you!"
"You're an undercover agent sent by the Emperor!" Ye Xiao gritted his teeth in anger.
He originally thought these five thousand men were all his confidants, but he never expected that the emperor had placed Zhang Rong in their ranks.
"Under the whole heaven, all land belongs to the king; on the shores of the earth, all people are subjects of the king. Ye Xiao, don't think that you can act lawlessly just because Bai Tiantian is backing you up. I advise you to surrender and avoid losing your life."
Under Zhang Rong's orders, the thousand crossbowmen actually turned their attention to Ye Xiao.
As an undercover agent sent by the emperor, how could he be without any ability? He had already won over a group of confidants through his efforts over the past few years.
Lin Ping finally breathed a sigh of relief; everything he had done had not been in vain.
He knew that the emperor must have planted his confidants in the military camp, but Ye Xiao was suppressing them too much and they couldn't find an opportunity to make a move.
Therefore, Lin Ping deliberately gathered a hundred ordinary people to cause trouble, in order to give Zhang Rong a signal to take action.
Zhang Rong understood Lin Ping's meaning and took the initiative to accept the task of secretly setting up an ambush, which led to the current results.
"Hahaha, Zhang Rong, you overestimate yourself. You think you can kill me with just a thousand men?" Ye Xiao suddenly laughed.
At the same time, the four-sign soldiers on the periphery frantically approached, and it looked like they were about to surround the thousand people.
With a thousand against four thousand, victory is impossible. Besides, all one thousand are archers with extremely poor close combat skills; they probably won't last more than a few rounds.
"I never intended to defeat them all; killing just you is enough!" Zhang Rong's eyes flashed with murderous intent. "Fire!"
shhhhhh!
Sharp arrows pierced the night sky, accompanied by a piercing sound, heading straight for Ye Xiao and his companions.
"Hero, save me!"
Faced with thousands of crossbow bolts, Ye Xiao panicked and hurriedly shouted loudly.
Whizzing!
Six white figures darted out, forming a human wall in front of Ye Xiao; they were naturally disciples of Mount Shu.