Translator: Mr Voltaire
Editor: Modlawls123
Zhao Fu lightly laughed and said, “To be honest, I’m not that confident that I can unify the world. However, I’ll definitely make sure that my people will have peace and security.”
Xiao Jian smiled and coughed up another mouthful of blood and grunted.
Zhao Fu came down from Little Black and propped Xiao Jian up. He fed him a super-effective healing pill before ordering some soldiers to take him away and treat his wounds.
Zhao Fu hadn’t thought that Xiao Jian would be able to kill Wang Bao, the third brother. In terms of strength, it should have been impossible for Xiao Jian to take down Wang Bao. However, with his blow-for-blow fighting style, he was incredibly ferocious, making Wang Bao feel a trace of fear. In the end, Xiao Jian barely defeated Wang Bao, but he was left with incredibly serious injuries.
This battle could be considered to be Zhao Fu’s complete victory. His side had killed 3,700 brigands and taken 300 captives. Apart from the few people who had been injured in the initial charge to lure out the brigands, they barely suffered any casualties or injuries. Four people from the Hundred Flower Village had died, and the rest received quite a few injuries.
The reason the battle had been so successful was because of Xiao Jian and his people. If it wasn’t for them, Zhao Fu’s plan to lure out the brigands would not have worked so well. Perhaps sending Goblins may have worked, but it would have raised suspicion, and the effects would not have been as good as using Xiao Jian and his people.
Most of the brigands only had weapons, and apart from shields, they had barely any defensive equipment. As such, Zhao Fu did not gain any equipment.
However, what was important was that there were one S grade and 213 A grade corpses. Including those who had joined him through conquest or soldiers who had been given Grade Orbs, Zhao Fu now had 724 A grade soldiers, and he had given two S grade Orbs to the Gnomes who were researching ballistae.
Zhao Fu was not interested in any corpses below A grade. The 10 Skeleton Cavalrymen stood over the corpses and devoured the deathly aura, causing their spirit flames to continue growing.
***
Within the stronghold, the second brother mused, “What’s going on? Old Third has been gone for a while and still hasn’t come back yet. Could it be that he’s determined to chase that Hundred Flower Village brat down and won’t come back until he kills him?”
The big brother also frowned and felt that something was off, but he said, “Old Third took 4,000 brothers with him, and he can dominate any force within the 50-kilometer radius area. There’s no one who can destroy his forces, and not a single person has returned yet. Perhaps we’re just thinking too much.”
The big brother was quite confident in his third brother, and it never even crossed his mind that his third brother and the 4,000 other brothers would be reduced to just 300 captives by Zhao Fu and that his third brother would be killed by Xiao Jian.
“Big brother, I’ll take a team to go find him. Old Third always acts rashly, and he hasn’t even sent anyone back to report to us,” the second brother said.
The big brother nodded and replied, “Be careful, and come back immediately if you encounter any danger!”
The second brother nodded and left the stronghold with 100 brigands.
***
Zhao Fu ordered his soldiers to bury the corpses that he didn’t want. As for their weapons, there were 3,000 Normal grade weapons, 10 or so Blue grade weapons, and one Silver grade weapon. Apart from the Silver grade weapon, all of the other weapons could be sold at Holy Light City, which would replenish the Storehouse.
“Your Majesty, there are 100 or so brigands coming this way,” a soldier reported.
Zhao Fu thought for a moment before taking many of his soldiers to surround those 100 brigands.
“Who are you, sir? Why have you surrounded us?” the second brother said as he looked at the people surrounding his party warily.
Zhao Fu lightly laughed and said, “What do you think?”
When the second brother saw Zhao Fu’s smile, he realized that the situation was quite dangerous for them and quickly said, “We’re from the Three Flood Dragon Stronghold, and I’m the Second Master. We have 5,000 brothers, so I hope sir will spare us. Let’s all just mind our own businesses.”
The second brother felt quite suspicious when he saw so many elite soldiers, but he still tossed out his title and faction in the hopes that he would be able to escape and report this to his big brother.
“5,000 brothers? I’m afraid you only have 1,000 left!” Zhao Fu calmly replied.
Hearing this, the second brother was incredibly shocked. When he thought of his third brother, who had not returned, and the 4,000 brigands he had taken with him, he instantly became incredibly furious. However, he suppressed that fury due to his current predicament, and he could only force a smile as he asked, “Sir, could there be some misunderstanding here?”
Zhao Fu lightly shook his head.
The last trace of hope within the second brother’s heart was destroyed, and he yelled, “Brothers, let’s break out!”
However, in the next second, at least 100 arrows descended on the second brother. He was unable to dodge them at all, and he was hit by tens of arrows, turning him into a pin cushion. In the end, he died a terrible death.
Thirty other brigands were also killed on the spot, and seeing this, the remaining brigands did not even dare to run. They quickly kneeled and cried out, “Sir, please spare us!”
Zhao Fu smiled and an idea came to his mind as he said, “I can spare you, but you have to do as I say. Bai Qi, give them each a Three Poison Pill.”
Bai Qi took out a bottle of normal healing pills and made each brigand swallow one. Wang Ergou, who was beside Zhao Fu, held back a smile as he watched the brigands swallow the pills with bitter expressions.
“You all should have realized by now that your stronghold will definitely lose and won’t be able to stop us. We already slaughtered those 4,000 brothers of yours – if you don’t believe me, you can take a look for yourself.”
After saying this, Zhao Fu and his soldiers took the brigands to the bloody battlefield. The ground was still stained with blood, and corpses were strewn across the ground. Some were shot to death by arrows, some were nailed to the ground by ballistae bolts, and others had been stabbed to death or trampled by the Cavalry. Before they died, they had all revealed expressions of fear and pain.
“Sir, please spare us, please spare us!” the brigands were scared out of their wits, and they fell to their knees as they begged for mercy.
A trace of a smile appeared on Zhao Fu’s face and he started to tell them his plan, saying, “Since you understand that it’s impossible for you to win, you should know what to do after returning to the stronghold. I’ll give you this bottle of poison; if you don’t want to die, do as I tell you, and not only will you be allowed to live, but you’ll also be greatly rewarded.”
The remaining 70 or so brigands shivered and nodded. They then returned to the stronghold, and Zhao Fu took his soldiers to stealthily surround it.
The outcome had more or less already been decided, and if everything went according to plan, Zhao Fu would definitely succeed. He did not have to worry about the 70 or so brigands changing their minds – after all, bandits and brigands did not have very high Loyalty, and they were susceptible to the idea of betrayal. Moreover, now that they had been scared witless and given ‘poison,’ there was little to no chance that they would betray Zhao Fu.
Even if they did betray Zhao Fu, his soldiers would just have to kill a few more people. Some might have thought that they would report about what had happened, resulting in the defenses being tightened. However, the stronghold had already sent out two teams, and now that not a single team had returned intact, even an idiot could guess what had happened.