Xiomi the warlord of the Ming Dynasty

Senseless debate

"Of course not silly" replied Qiaofeng, "But that doesn't mean that I won't use any other methods besides Kung Fu to win" she stated firmly.
"You just want people to fear you don't you?" questioned Wang Jian with a malicious grin.
"Exactly" Qiaofeng said nodding in satisfaction "I want them to look at me differently. If I show them respect, I will be able to obtain their trust. As long as I am respected and feared, no one will ever bother with Tianchai or Zhang Family anymore."
Suddenly she got up off the ground and walked toward Wang Jian, standing in front of him, she said "Now, I know what you wanted me to come to help you for" she said. "And?" asked Wang Jian.
"I told you, I'll help you, but first, you need to give me something" replied Qiaofeng "Qiaofeng the woman who troubled the chairman of the Ming dynasty's glorious steering committee one was really"  Wang Jian laughed evilly. Qiaofeng narrowed her eyes threateningly and warned, "Are you trying to test me Wang Jian?"
When she saw the smirk that Wang Jian wore on his face, Qiaofeng immediately understood his intention. But before she could respond, Wang Jian interrupted her with, "Alright fine. I'm sorry I doubted you, I will agree to let you take care of Zhang Tianchai for me".
"Good" Qiaofeng smiled in satisfaction, "Then let's begin the hunt..."
Tianchai woke up with a start after hearing the noise. He quickly grabbed his bow and arrow, but he noticed that no one else was here except for a group of five men who were currently eating their dinner at the table, while he was sitting across them. He quickly put the arrows back into their quiver, got up and left the tent silently. After walking outside, he noticed Xu Wei sitting alone on a stump next to a river, reading a book and watching the water splash against the shore. He slowly walked towards Xu Wei and asked cautiously, "Xu Wei, did you summon me here to train me?"
Xu Wei lifted his head and smiled kindly at Tianchai, "Do you remember when you were attacked by that group of thugs?" he asked.
"I do" replied Tianchai, nodding his head affirmatively.
"Well, they sent me some messages saying that the two of you had gone missing. When we arrived at the scene, we realised that the robbers had taken you away and locked you up somewhere. So I ordered a couple of our soldiers to go check where they held you for us. In the end, we managed to find you in the same place the thieves had put you. We then interrogated you for hours but didn't manage to learn anything from you. Eventually, though, we gave up on the idea and decided to let you recover on your own since we were unable to extract any useful information from you. I was wondering whether you would be able to recover on your own. I guess,  if anyone can, it's you. After all, you're a master swordsman who fought alongside the champion of Qingyang Valley, Guo Xiuwen. That's more than enough to prove yourself."
Upon hearing Xu Wei's last sentence, Tianchai sighed to himself quietly, 'Yeah yeah, whatever... I guess the only reason why they didn't ask me anything was because they already knew where I was and had the means to rescue me themselves'.
After thinking for a little bit longer, Tianchai asked "Do you have any leads regarding Zhang Li?"
Xu Wei shook his head, "We found some traces that lead us to believe that Zhang Li was heading here. However, we don't have any concrete clues about how he is planning to attack you from. So, we are waiting for him to attack you directly, so that we can deal with him quickly and get you out of danger. But as for what is happening with him now, it seems as if he is still hiding around there. If that's the case, we have no choice but to wait and see. Until we know where he has been hiding all these years, there's nothing we can do except prepare ourselves for anything he might do in the future. Right now, we don't have too many guards at our camp so, if we do have to move, we have to be careful" he explained.
"Understood" nodded Tianchai. He then added, "Actually, we do have some good news to tell you. They captured Zhang Li and brought him back to the camp. Apparently he was severely beaten by those four thugs in black" he reported.
"Really?" exclaimed Xu Wei surprised, "That makes things easier for us. Those four bullies should be dead by now. They must also be badly injured, otherwise they wouldn't have dared to challenge me." At that point Xu Wei's expression suddenly turned grim, "However, they seem to still have quite a few tricks up their sleeves, considering the fact that they had managed to escape from the prison" he explained.
"What does that mean?" asked Tianchai curiously.
"I mean, there's still another possibility to their escape" Xu Wei continued explaining, "They could have escaped via another way, leaving behind evidence that may be enough to arrest them again if needed. Although that would require a lot of trouble, since the guards here are usually pretty careless and lazy, and it wouldn't make it hard for them to hide or to disguise themselves, if needed. If it were someone else, they wouldn't be able to get past the guards without having to sneakily kill someone" he explained.
"But then how are we going to get the information to the authorities?" asked Tianchai.
"If it's possible, then I'll do it myself" replied Xu Wei calmly.
"And if they won't cooperate?" asked Tianchai.
"Then we shall force them to cooperate" retorted Xu Wei calmly.
Who cares if they will cooperate or not!" said Tianchai angrily, "As long as we catch them, we can demand that the culprit be punished, and then they will have to tell us everything" he growled.
"Hey, wait a minute, what punishment do you mean, try to explain? I'm trying to understand your words but you aren't making sense!" snapped Xu Wei impatiently.
Seeing that Xu Wei seemed unwilling to cooperate, Tianchai tried to persuade him further, "Why don't we ask the leader if we can borrow their ship for an hour to transport the information that we will need to gather. He surely knows where Zhang Li went and where they have placed Tianchai" he suggested.
Xu Wei furrowed his eyebrows in suspicion but eventually agreed to his proposal. After all, he was curious about where the three girls were being kept. The best thing right now was to capture those three scum first and interrogate them afterwards. Even if they refused to tell them where they hid the girls, he could always just threaten them by reminding them about the consequences of refusing to obey his commands.
While Xu Wei, along with several other guards were leading Tianchai toward the lake, Yang Zi who was lying in the tree nearby observed everything that was happening and smirked maliciously. She then made her way down the tree gracefully to join the others and whispered, "Let them do as they wish. There is no way in hell they will find anything that they could use to identify the location of the girls."
"But the girl's injuries are serious" argued Wang Jian "How is she dong to continue fighting if she hasn't recovered sufficiently yet?" he asked.
Yang Zi sneered, "Don't worry. She has the support of the people and the people like her." She then raised her head to gaze in the direction of the camp and announced proudly "There she goes! How much longer before he will notice her absence and send somebody looking for her. You should be relieved to think that the plan of this guy has fallen apart!"
The following morning everyone had returned to the camp. Wang Jian instructed his soldiers and arranged them to build new shelters for each member of the troop. Afterward, he personally led Tianchai toward the camp. As they approached the main gate of the camp, Wang Jian turned to Tianchai and asked, "Are you ready?".
Hearing that, Yang Zi stood straightened her posture and stared intently at Tianchai as she answered Wang Jian firmly, "Yes, sir!"
Wang Jian then proceeded forward to open the gates of the camp for Tianchai. After entering, they found a small pavilion near the lakeside, where Wang Jian directed Tianchai inside, "You can rest here temporarily. Don't worry, there will be someone here constantly watching over you, and I will come by periodically to bring food and water. Don't even dream of escaping" stated Wang Jian sternly. With those final words, he slammed the gate shut loudly. Once Tianchai heard the sound of the gate closing behind Wang Jian, he collapsed onto a chair, leaned his head against the wall, and closed his eyes, exhausted.