Chapter 111: Balance

Jinque Mountain was a small peak forty li northwest of Wuya Village.

At this moment, Li Xiao, Xiao Yanyan, and their entourage arrived.

Looking at the desolate scene around, Xiao Yanyan asked, puzzled, “This is already very far from Wuya Village. What are we doing here?”

Li Xiao held her in his arms with one hand and pulled the reins with the other, stopping the warhorse.

He chuckled and said, “Today the sun is bright and the breeze is gentle; it’s not too cold, and the scenery here is unique.”

“Just right for us to learn Khitan.”

Saying this, Li Xiao ordered his personal guards and Xiao Yanyan’s guards to seal off the small mountain as usual.

He himself rode the horse, taking Xiao Yanyan charging up the peak.

Standing at the highest point and gazing into the distance, one could see the beautiful rivers and mountains of Jin Prefecture.

And looking south, the shadow of the Feiying Fortress cavalry had not yet appeared.

So, Li Xiao dismounted, first spread a sheepskin on the grass, then lifted Xiao Yanyan off the horse and tossed her onto it.

Learning Khitan took off.

An hour later, accompanied by a faint, low rumble of warhorses…

Xiao Yanyan, who was riding and galloping, changed her expression: “Someone is coming.”

Judging from the sound, the number of people coming should be around two or three hundred.

In this wilderness, it couldn’t be that Xiao Sima sent someone to find her, right?

Saying this, Xiao Yanyan prepared to exert force with her legs to get out, but was stopped by Li Xiao.

Instead, he comforted her with a smile: “Don’t worry, it’s fine.”

“It should be my people arriving.”

“Ignore them; let’s continue.”

Saying this, he flipped onto the horse directly, taking the initiative.

At the foot of the mountain, the Khitan guards looked at the mighty cavalry coming from afar, all looking as if facing a formidable enemy.

Li Xiao’s personal guards, on the other hand, relaxed slightly and even comforted those Khitans with smiles.

As the large cavalry unit approached, everyone finally saw their appearance clearly.

Wearing worn leather coats and sheepskin hats, holding spears—dressed like Han people.

The guards all breathed a sigh of relief.

“It’s the people from Feiying Fortress,” Tietou said softly.

He was one of the people who knew Li Xiao’s plan, so he immediately rode forward to welcome them.

Immediately after, he saw Dahu leading two burly men walking out from the crowd and asking, “Tietou, where is my big brother?”

Tietou shrugged, winked at him, and said, “On the mountain.”

“I advise you not to disturb him for now.”

Dahu shook his head gently, gave a helpless smile, and let the people of Feiying Fortress rest on the spot.

After running for so long, if the people weren’t tired, the horses were.

Not long after, Li Xiao, who had quickly finished the battle and was neatly dressed, rode down the mountain.

At this moment, everyone from Feiying Fortress stood up, bowing and shouting to Li Xiao: “Greetings, Governor.”

Feiying Fortress could be considered Li Xiao’s direct line of power.

After the Battle of Wuya Village, it was subdued by Li Xiao. The Wang family was exterminated, and the remaining forces were continued to be led by the Qian and Zhou families.

In this reorganization, it was divided into two Hundred-Man units, served by Zhou Dali and Qian Sanbiao of the two families respectively.

Although the shadow left by Li Xiao’s slaughter of the Wang family was too heavy on them, the two families had genuinely gained many benefits by following Li Xiao later.

So, they both respected and feared Li Xiao.

After receiving Li Xiao’s order, they immediately rushed to Jinque Mountain to await orders.

“Governor…”

Zhou Dali and Qian Sanbiao came before Li Xiao to pay their respects.

Although both were already Hundred-Man Commanders, they were even more respectful in front of Li Xiao than before.

Li Xiao dismounted, slightly adjusted his sticky clothes, looked at the two, and said, “Dali, Sanbiao, I called you here for only one thing.”

“Within three days, I want you to seal off the area within thirty li of Jinque Mountain.”

“Capture anyone coming towards Wuya Village from the northwest.”

“Can you complete this mission?” Li Xiao looked at the two and asked in a solemn voice.

He vaguely guessed Xiao Lintuo’s next plan, so he came to try his luck. If it was really as he thought…

Then things might become simpler.

Even if he couldn’t catch anyone, at worst he would be scolded by Xiao Sima.

Anyway, just the killing of Wuliji couldn’t bring Li Xiao down.

“Yes, sir.”

“With us here, we will definitely not let a single person sneak into Wuya Village.”

Zhou Dali and Qian Sanbiao thumped their chests with their fists and said firmly.

“Good. Rest for a while, then start the operation.” Li Xiao nodded gently.

Wang Erhei arrived at Wuya Village two hours ago.

And the Wuliji Tribe was chased so miserably by Hexi Fortress; their first consideration should be to save their lives, then to come to Wuya Village to complain.

So, they inevitably couldn’t arrive before Wang Erhei.

But they would definitely arrive in the next two or three days.

When Li Xiao returned to the mountaintop, Xiao Yanyan was lying flat on the grass sunbathing, covered with clothes and sheepskin, only exposing a pair of feet white as jade shaking outside.

Hearing the hoofbeats, her hand grabbed the scimitar beside her. Slowly opening her eyes and seeing clearly it was Li Xiao, she relaxed and continued sunbathing.

“You mobilized a full two Hundred-Man units of cavalry here; what are you planning to do?”

“Don’t say they are here to protect us; I don’t believe such nonsense.” Xiao Yanyan looked at Li Xiao sideways.

“Hehehe…”

Li Xiao chuckled, dismounted, walked over, lay on the ground too, and hugged Xiao Yanyan.

Jokingly, he said, “Of course I’m preparing to launch a mutiny. When your brother passes by here, I’ll capture him and force him to marry you to me.”

Xiao Yanyan scoffed, naturally disbelieving Li Xiao’s nonsense.

Immediately, her hand pinched Li Xiao’s soft flesh, and she said fiercely, “Stop talking nonsense; confess quickly.”

“What exactly are we here for?”

“Ouch, ouch, it hurts! You stinking woman, you’re pinching my flesh off!” Li Xiao howled in pain.

Then he pretended to yield and said, “Alright, alright, I’ll talk, I’ll talk, I confess.”

Xiao Yanyan was a smart woman; she definitely had suspicions from the beginning.

After all, if they really wanted to have a field battle, they could do it near Wuya Village; the scenery there was also nice, no need to run so far.

So, Li Xiao didn’t intend to hide it from her.

He simply talked about the Wuliji Tribe matter.

Although he didn’t mention Xiao Lintuo’s name, with Xiao Yanyan’s intelligence and the political sensitivity cultivated growing up in the Xiao family, she quickly thought of the key to the matter.

Her beautiful eyes widened. She propped up her upper body with one arm, half-exposing her breasts, turned to look at Li Xiao, and said with a look of disbelief.

“General Xiao Lintuo?”

Li Xiao gently rubbed her smooth back with his rough palm, closed his eyes facing the sun, and said.

“What’s so surprising about this?”

“It’s the most normal thing for Xiao Lintuo to plot against me.”

Xiao Yanyan shook her head helplessly and lay back in Li Xiao’s arms.

In a tone both annoyed and helpless, she said, “I thought General Xiao Lintuo was an honest person.”

“Didn’t expect him to…”

Li Xiao opened one eye, looked at her, and smiled: “Didn’t expect him to be so ruthless?”

“To fight with me, he plotted the death of a Thousand-Man Commander and caused hundreds of casualties?”

Xiao Yanyan nodded and sighed heavily.

Li Xiao chuckled: “Very normal.”

“You felt he was an honest person before because he had no conflict of interest with you or me.”

“But now it’s different. I have become the biggest obstacle to his goal of becoming the local emperor of Jin Prefecture.”

“It’s not surprising that he exposed his true nature.”

Saying this, Li Xiao smiled faintly: “Actually, Xiao Lintuo’s methods are much gentler than I imagined.”

“If I were in his position, to bring down me, this Vice Military Governor, I would only do things even more absolutely.”

Perhaps he wasn’t ruthless enough yet, or perhaps his political means weren’t astute enough yet. Of course, it was also possible that he had scruples about Xiao Yanyan and dared not do things too absolutely directly.

“Then he is too excessive. I’ll go tell Big Brother not to be deceived by Xiao Lintuo’s words,” Xiao Yanyan said indignantly.

Since she was already with Li Xiao, when considering problems, she would subconsciously lean towards Li Xiao.

Xiao Lintuo became the bad guy.

Li Xiao grabbed Xiao Yanyan, who was about to get up, shook his head, and said, “Don’t go; it’s useless.”

“Your brother won’t interfere in this matter.”

Xiao Yanyan frowned and asked disbelievingly, “Why?”

“My brother loves me very much.”

Li Xiao pulled her back into his arms and said in a faint voice, “This has nothing to do with you.”

“But because he has to consider the overall situation.”

“After all, in Jin Prefecture, my influence is already strong enough. Among the eight Thousand-Man Commanders, half are my people.”

“Directly overshadowing Xiao Lintuo, the main Military Governor.”

“This is not the result your brother wants.”

Xiao Sima wanted balance. Two Military Governors checking and balancing each other; even the main Military Governor being stronger than the Vice Military Governor was acceptable.

But the situation in Jin Prefecture was the opposite; Li Xiao’s strength was much greater than Xiao Lintuo’s.

Therefore, to balance the two major forces in Jin Prefecture, even if Xiao Sima knew the truth of the matter, he would only turn a blind eye.

He might even help Xiao Lintuo a bit.

And Xiao Lintuo dared to do this precisely because he had calculated Xiao Sima’s thoughts.

So, Li Xiao said explaining to Xiao Sima was useless.

Xiao Sima’s stance was not on Li Xiao’s side.

“Then what do we do? Am I to watch helplessly as you are framed?” Xiao Yanyan said angrily.

“Of course not”

“Although your brother won’t accept your pale explanation, if evidence is placed in front of him, he won’t have a choice but to accept it.”

“Maybe we can even counter Xiao Lintuo.”

Li Xiao snorted lightly.

This guy really treated Li Xiao as a young man who only knew fighting and killing.

Little did he know, Li Xiao had played these political tricks of workplace struggle to perfection in his previous life.