Chapter 324
The Youngest Son of the Silver Sea Trading Company Chapter 324
Chapter 324. A Clean Settlement (2)
Soon, they drew their swords and rushed forward.
“We'll tear you to pieces and feed you to the beasts! Ugaaaah!”
There were about ten of them.
When they first attacked us, there seemed to be twice as many of them.
Perhaps because we didn't show our true abilities during the first clash, they still didn't seem to know how strong we were.
That's why they're rushing at us, mistakenly believing that their numbers give them the advantage.
Then again, my bodyguards and I are unusual.
It's not easy for people of this age who have reached the top of their field to gather in such numbers.
They say you have to measure something to know how long it is, but there are many cases where you can tell without measuring.
Like now.
Puk!
“Ouch!”
Squish!
“Guh!”
Those who attacked us were defeated in an instant.
I leisurely approached the one who seemed to be the leader of the group.
“I won't say anything. Just kill me!”
“From what I heard earlier, you seem to know who your superior is. Are you really not going to tell us?”
“Yes.”
So that's how it is... What should I do?
After thinking for a moment, I smiled.
Why did I even bother thinking about this? If he doesn't want to tell me, I can just make him tell someone else.
“Tie him up tightly.”
“What are you going to do with him?”
“I'm going to give him to the emperor as a gift. He'll like him, won't he?”
At my words, the man's face turned pale, and he quickly bit his tongue in an attempt to kill himself.
Puk!
“Guh!”
That won't do.
I kicked him in the back of the head to stop him. Then I pressed his acupoints to immobilize him.
“What should we do with the others?”
“Let's take them with us. It's only natural to bring back a small gift when returning from a trip, isn't it? They'll be perfect gifts for His Majesty the Emperor.”
Two men died in the battle, leaving eight remaining.
Since there were eight of us, it wasn't difficult to tie them up and take them with us.
“Then shall we finish our dinner?”
I only had a bite of the roasted deer meat earlier.
We tied up the Dao bandits and hung them from trees so they couldn't do anything.
Then we sat around the bonfire again and started eating the deer meat.
“Pal-gap, do you have any hocho?”
“Yes, I do.”
“Let's sprinkle some on the meat.”
Ho-cho is a bit expensive, but there's nothing better than ho-cho for getting rid of the gamey smell.
Since we're eating it, we might as well eat it well.
“Mmm!”
We heard someone swallowing their saliva behind us, but we ignored it and finished our dinner.
The next morning.
We arrived at the ferry landing in Lanzhou. While looking for a boat, we saw a familiar face.
“No! Isn't that Master Xian and Master Dao?”
They were the captain and crew of the boat we had taken to Lanzhou the other day.
“It's good to see you again.”
“But who are the people behind you?”
“Ah... They are black-clad warriors. We are escorting them.”
He nodded as if he understood the situation.
“In that case, you need a safe and fast boat.”
“Yes, we are looking for a boat bound for Kaifeng.”
Then he smiled brightly and said, “We have a favor to repay you. Why don't you use our boat? We can take you to Kaifeng right away.”
“Now we have a chance to repay your kindness. How about using our ship? We can leave for Kaifeng right away.”
“But we can't fill the ship by ourselves. Won't you lose money?”
“Isn't repaying a kindness supposed to involve some loss? Please don't refuse.”
I was grateful for his words. I'll have to pay a little extra for the fare when we arrive.
“Then I'll be in your debt.”
By the way, since we arrived at the ferry landing, we weren't prepared to board the ship.
We need to prepare food and other things, but the people who tied us up are a problem.
I marked their acupoints and tied them up tightly, so nothing should happen, but you never know.
Then I suddenly remembered something I had received a while ago.
“Is this it?”
“Yes. If you have any left, please give it to me. I think I can use it.”
“You've been through a lot this time, so I'll give you some. Here you go.”
“Thank you.”
I can give the sleeping poison I got from Bang No-sa to those guys.
According to Bang No-sa, even half a grain of rice will make you sleep for ten hours.
So it's not a sleeping pill, but a sleeping poison.
And as it is very effective, it also has significant side effects when taken in large quantities.
Not only will they sleep for several days without waking up, but even when they wake up, they will feel like they are still in a dream and their minds will be foggy. Naturally, after sleeping for several days without moving, they will become malnourished and lose muscle in their arms and legs, making it difficult to move.
But it's okay, as long as I can go in peace, right?
It's their own fault for suffering the side effects.
.
.
.
As the old man said, they couldn't overcome the sleeping poison and fell asleep in an instant.
I poked them with a needle to see if they were pretending to be asleep, but they didn't move at all, so I was sure they were asleep.
Still, just in case, he asked Jin-yu and Chang-woon to guard them and took the rest of the group with him to buy the necessary supplies.
“This time, we won't be going upstream, so it will be much faster. However, the boat will rock a lot, so please be careful.”
“Yes, sir.”
With that, the boat began to move.
* * *
He had a nightmare.
It was a dream in which a very handsome ghost was tormenting him.
“Dog meat soup, dog meat stir-fry, dog meat dumplings, and dog meat wine. Eat.”
“No! I don't want any more dog meat!”
“Eat. If you don't, your suffering will be in vain.”
“Ugh!”
He woke up screaming.
But he could only blink his eyes.
He woke up startled after hearing something terribly frightening... because the handsome ghost was right in front of him.
“Ghost! Aaah!”
“Hey, it's time to wake up.”
“Ugh! Ghost!”
Zap!
His cheeks burned, and he finally came to his senses.
“You're calmer now. Is this a side effect?”
The young man, Eun Seo-ho, who had been muttering something incomprehensible, said.
“We're here. This is Beijing.”
Eun Seo-ho's words made him look dazed.
Beijing? What is that? It sounds familiar.
“Huh!”
He remembered drinking the tea Eun Seo-ho had given him.
And... I must have fallen asleep for a moment, but this is Beijing?
He couldn't believe it.
“You must have been very tired. You slept soundly on the way here.”
A smile that seemed to be mocking him.
In fact, he had been secretly rejoicing when he heard that they would be traveling by boat.
His special skill, unknown to the others, was hand-to-hand combat.
So he tried to escape when he saw an opening, but it was already too late.
“Take him away.”
“Yes!”
He was once again gagged by the imperial guards and dragged away.
Suddenly, a thought crossed his mind.
If he had obeyed Eun Seo-ho and reported to his superiors, they would have killed him without mercy.
* * *
I glanced at the people being dragged away by the imperial guards.
By the way, the sleeping potion that Bang No-sa gave me is very effective. I should ask him to get some more.
At that moment, Pal-gap said,
“By the way, why did that man yell that you were a ghost?”
“He must still be half asleep. I'm going to the royal palace, so go to your quarters first.”
“Yes, sir.”
With that, I followed the court official into the imperial palace. At that moment, I felt a strange sensation.
I couldn't explain it, but it felt bad.
Could they have found something I didn't know about?
“Wait!”
I hurriedly headed toward where the group of black-clad men I had brought with me had been taken.
“Huh?”
But there was no sign of them.
Where are they? Where did they go?
The eunuch hurriedly followed me.
“I know the way to the prison. But where did they go?”
“Now that you mention it, that is strange.”
Hearing my words, the eunuch looked around with a confused expression.
He also seemed completely unaware of the situation.
I closed my eyes and concentrated on my senses. Fortunately, I knew their energy.
The repulsive energy of the Black Dao.
Where are they? Where did they go?
“...!”
I opened my eyes and said.
“Over there!”
I pointed to a spot and ran toward it.
Seeing that the court official was following me closely, I guessed who he belonged to.
It was my classmate.
The place I headed for was a deserted area within the imperial palace.
There, I witnessed the imperial guards wielding their swords at the black-clad men I had handed over to them.
What are they doing?
I had to stop them right away, but there was a problem.
We couldn't bring weapons into the Imperial Palace, so we had nothing to stop them with.
Ah!
I instantly came up with a plan, took the silver coin out of my pocket, put my qi into it, and threw it at them.
Sssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
“What are you doing?”
They were taken aback by my appearance and began to murmur.
“Damn it.”
They looked around for a moment, then rushed toward me all at once.
Realizing that I had no weapons, they tried to kill me.
Did they think I would let them get away with that?
Boom!
Paf!
I used my imperial martial arts to dodge their attacks and subdue them.
Without a weapon, the only martial arts I could use were those taught to me in the imperial palace.
Of course, I also knew the martial arts taught to me by my Master, and I had mastered the Extreme Yin and Yang Fist.
However, I was reluctant to use those in front of others, and they were too dangerous to use in the imperial palace.
They are too powerful martial arts techniques.
Right now, my goal is to subdue them or buy some time, so I am fighting them using only the martial arts of the Imperial Palace.
Puk!
Pah!
That's strange. I'm sure there were eight of them at first, but where did the other four go?
Anyway, I was able to subdue all four of them.
It took some time because I had to subdue them with only my martial arts skills, which were still unskilled and did not allow me to use weapons.
These men are definitely the same group I captured earlier. They tried to kill them to prevent them from talking.
I thought I understood why the emperor had summoned Bang No-sa to the imperial palace.
The forces opposing the emperor's will had grown so strong that such a thing could happen even in the imperial palace.
Therefore, in order to defeat them, he needed someone with special skills.
Bang No-sa was the right person for the job.
Of course, I had already guessed as much when I left the imperial palace with the letter last time.
By the way, who are these forces?
The court official who had guided me earlier rushed over with the Royal Guards.
I wondered where he had gone, but he had called for reinforcements.
“Mister Eunseoho! Are you all right?”
“Yes, I am fine.”
“What on earth is going on here?”
I explained the whole situation.
“...So I subdued them.”
“How could this happen inside the Imperial Palace! I am truly sorry.”
The court official and the Royal Guards apologized to me and handcuffed the men I had subdued.
Then they tried to take everyone away.
At that moment, the leader of the group of black-clad men I had brought with me shook his head violently and tried to write something on the floor with his foot.
It seemed like he had something to say.
I asked them to untie his mouth, and the Royal Guards untied his mouth for a moment.
Was he angry at his superiors for trying to kill him instead of saving him?
Or did he hear something he shouldn't have?
He shouted roughly, as if chewing and spitting out the words.
“I'll tell you everything.”
“What?”
“Everything about this matter! I will tell you everything.”
It seemed that the leaders of this group of black-clad men had made a serious mistake this time.
After finishing my work, I went to see the emperor.
“Minister Eunseo. I have returned after completing the emperor's orders.”
Now, let's see how you can talk your way out of this.
Just as I was thinking happily, the emperor laughed and asked.
“So how much do you plan to extort?”
“What? What are you talking about?”
“Don't you know me? I'm sure you're planning to extort something from me.”
He caught me.
In this situation, if I say, “What are you saying? I have no such intention,” the emperor will surely say, “Is that so? I see,” and wipe his mouth.
No, that won't do!
I spent so much money on this.
I decided to go out with confidence.
“As expected of His Imperial Majesty. How can you understand my heart so well? I am moved to tears.”
And with sad thoughts, I shed a tear.
“What nonsense.”
He noticed that I was forcing myself to cry. Hahaha.
Even though he said that, he didn't look upset. Looking at him closely, he seemed to be grateful to me.
“So how much do you want me to pay you?”
“I've made a list.”
I quickly took another piece of paper from my sleeve and handed it to him.
It was a list of expenses I had prepared before coming to the imperial palace.
“You are very thorough.”
The emperor, through the eunuch, received it and examined it.
Then he narrowed his eyes and glared at me.
I have to choose my words carefully.
“Gracious Emperor. All of these expenses have their reasons.”