Chapter 9
But Li Mu was lacking in practical fighting experience, so if an actual fight occurred, the enemy would not stand there like a stone as you wish. Therefore, if he fought with a guy just like Ma Junwu, the winning probability of Li Mu was about between 70% and 80%.
Li Mu was quite clear about his true strength.
"What exactly is the true power of Shennong Faction in our county? Do they have great martial art masters?" Li Mu asked.
Ma Junwu had another thought when he heard this.
What happened in the courtroom yesterday was now spread throughout the top-leaders community in Taibai County.
A lot of people thought this humble county magistrate was mad and thus waited for his joke.
But now this county magistrate asked this kind of questions. Did that mean he wanted to deal with Shennong Faction?
"Shennong Faction has established for over twenty years, which is about thousands of people composed of medicine farmers, hunters and medicine collectors. Though most of them are ordinary people, they still something in our county. There are a dozen of masters in Joint-force level, two masters in Joint-qi level, who are Si Kongjing, the Grand Master and Fan Changan, the Keqing-Coach." Ma Junwu said that. Clearly, he was a qualified Dutou Official in the government, so he knew all of those information.
Speaking of that, the honest Dutou Official could not help but added, "The Shennong Faction has been operating in the county for decades and has intertwined relations with some rich businessmen and officials, so you’d better not underestimate them."
That was a very obscure reminder.
Ma Junwu thought he already did what he could do.
It was this humble county magistrate’s own business whether he could grasp his true meaning or not.
Although Li Mu was his subordinate, he was too young and impulsive with no powerful background, so he would never accompany Li Mu to death.
Li Mu felt very shocked after hearing that information.
In that case, Shennong Faction was too powerful for him to deal with.
Should he endure them for about a year until his strength was greatly improved? and then he could deal with Shengnong Faction.
Li Mu then realized it was not feasible with a second thought.
He had to do that even he would cry for this because he already bragged himself.
Otherwise, was that really a joke?
Just then, there suddenly came the noise of rapid footsteps from outside, and a guard ran into the office in a panic and said, "Your Honour. Your Honour. Bad News. Zhang Li and his daughter were taken away by a gang of thugs. Zhang Ru was also killed by them…"
"What?" Ma Junwu stood up with rage.
Li Mu was dismayed at first but immediately understood. He walked quickly towards the guard in two or three steps and shouted, "What did you say? What the hell is going on?"
"Some people from Shennong Faction attacked the small pharmacy." The guard was wounded and shakingly answered back.
The plaintiffs of the case, Zhang Lishi and his daughter Xiaoqin, was placed in the pharmacy by Li Mu to cure their wounds and were protected by an official guard named Zhang Ru, who sent by Li Mu to protect the plaintiff. However, a group of people from Shennong Faction was instigated by telling them that Zhang Li falsely accused Magical Medicine Pharmacy and colluded with dog-like county magistrate to let them die, so they rushed into the small pharmacy, fought with people and took the plaintiffs away, and the official guard Zhang Ru was also killed by those people… How horrible it was
"Damn it!"
Li Mu became furious!
"How dare they said I was a dog-like county magistrate?" Li Mu thought.
"I will kill those sons of bitches." Li Mu thought.
At the Official Medical Center of Taibai County.
The gate was smashed to pieces. The plaque was smashed, and the courtyard was in a mess. The voice of pain and groaning was heard everywhere.
Three of the four doctors in the Official Medical Center were knocked down unconsciously, and the other one’ head was beaten to blood with a broken leg. With the help of an apprentice who was also wounded badly, he sat at the door of the clinic and looked at the messy hospital with a numb look.
People from Shennong Faction had already left.
Li Mu and his guards were late to help them.
Bloody smell spread in the air.
Except those two guards of the four who were sent to protect the mother and daughter fled away to report to Li Mu, the rest two were
The young and strong man Zhang Ru, the only official who Li Mu knew the name, seemed to be nailed cruelly on the rosewood screen in the consulting room by a sharp long-handled medicine shovel after his chest was pierced due to resistance. His dead look was painful and angry and he still grasped a steel knife in his hand, leaving a big blood pool under his feet. His eyes were wide open, which seemed to say he would never forget what those bandits did.
That was the first time Li Mu saw the dead body so close.
But he was not afraid.
Yesterday Zhang Ru was still alive, but today he became a cold corpse.
Li Mu raised his hand and took Zhang Ru’s body down. He gently brushed his face and let him close his eyes.
Dutou Official Ma Junwu, on the other side, was also indignant although he already got accustomed to Shennong Faction’s arrogance.
Shennong Faction was more and more unreasonable. They even killed an official this time. How dare were they.
Li Mu seemed to calm down.
The reason why he gave three days of buffer time was actually to learn more information and deal with the matter calmly. But now it seemed that some people’s arrogance was beyond control and could only be done in the simplest way.
Li Mu took the steel knife from the hand of the dead Zhang Ru, stood up, looked at the guard who fled back to report and said, "You really saw clearly. Was it really done by Shennong Faction?"
The guard shuddered and dared not look into Li Mu’s eyes, just nodded repeatedly and said, "I saw clearly that it was the four King Kong of Shennong Faction rushed into the Medical Center with their subordinates. They broke and smashed the clinic, robbing Zhang Li and her daughter away. Zhang Ru let me escape to report to you. Who knew…" Speaking of this, this guard also burst into tears. Although he was timid and afraid of death, Zhang Ru was a nice colleague who always took care of him.
Li Mu looked at Ma Junwu and said, "Dutou Ma, is the headquarter of Shennong Faction in town?"
"It is in town."
"Do you have the courage to show me the way?"
"Ah…" Ma Junwu hesitated. People of Shennong Faction were very complex and from all kinds of backgrounds, and some of them were even outlaws. Besides, the location of it’s headquarter was very awful. If confronted directly with those bandits, it was inevitable they may lose their lives if those outlaws could not control their temper.
"You do not have to be afraid. All you have to do is show me the way, and I do not need your company." Li Mu said calmly.
But the calmer he looked, the more Ma Junwu could feel the rage which was like a volcano that would erupt in the young county magistrate.
"I definitely can show Your Honour the road." Ma Junwu was blushed by Li Mu’s words and a sense of bravery was triggered. He gritted his teeth and roared, "Zhang Ru was also my soldier. I would like to teach them some lesson. However, your honour, you can’t face the danger by yourself. It’s better to call up all the guards and horses first and go over together…"
Li Mu shook his head with a slight irony on his face and said, "Dutou Ma feels that I can command the guards and horses in Taibai County now?"
Ma Junwu looked embarrassed and said nothing.
He knew something about the fact the deputy county magistrate Zhou Wu and Dianshi janitor Zheng Longxing did not give any power to the young county magistrate.
Therefore, Ma Junwu was clear that this county magistrate did not have any power to command all the guards and horses except a few guards.
"Let’s go."
Li Mu took the knife and walked step by step outside the Medical Center.
At the home of Zhou Wu,
Zhou Wu, the deputy county magistrate, played with a string of thuja bracelet, showing a cold grin on his face.
"I can’t imagine that can happen. This young county magistrate, a weak scholar, has the nerve to come to the headquarter of Shennong Faction alone… Even God is helping me." He laughed with a venomous excitement on his face.
He was well informed, and everything that happened in the county was under his control.
On the other side, secretary Feng Yuanxing smiled and said, "Shennong Faction is roughly organized by Dianshi janitor Zheng Longxing and did a lot of stuff for him, which is the main power of Zheng Longxing. However, Zheng Longxing did not know that you already sent some spies in his faction. Zheng Longxing ordered Shennong Faction to attack the Official Medical Center and did not plan to kill somebody, but you just helped him killed them secretly… Haha. This is a big event now, and we will just see how Zheng Longxing will deal with that."
Zhou Wu smiled secretly and said, "That cannot be called a big event."
"What do you mean by that…" Feng Yuanxing smiled and said.
"I mean if this humble county magistrate accidentally dies in the headquarter of Shennong Faction. Does that will make Zheng Longxing even more embarrassed?" Zhou Wu said quietly.
Feng Yuanxing was startled, and a flash of fear flashed through his eyes.
How a vicious strategy it was.
If the young county magistrate was killed in the headquarter of Shennong Faction by them, the Taibai County Town would be overturned.
After all, Li Mu was a nine-grade official who died in the hands of gangs. There was no change that the government would neglect the case even the government of the Empire was very corrupted and loose. And the Empire could easily find Zheng Longxing out due to his close relationship with the Shennong Faction. Even if Zheng Longxing did not die, the road to be an official was totally over for him.
In this way, only some operations could let the county magistrate of Taibai County completely belong to deputy county magistrate Zhou Wu.
Meanwhile.
The house of the Dianshi janitor.
Zheng Longxing was very happy to say that, "Haha, this timid tortoise has finally come out of the county government. It is finally worthwhile… But how did that guard die? Didn’t I say that you were not allowed to kill any official?"
"Maybe those outlaws from the Shennong Faction did not control their power." Kneeling on the ground, the confidant servant anxiously explained.
"It’s alright. The goal has been achieved, so it’s not a big deal to kill a guard." Zheng Longxing waved his hand.
"Master, it’s better to let Sikong Jing kill this little fellow directly. That will save us a lot of effort." The confidant servant made a gesture of a cut to the throat.
"Bullshit." Zheng Longxing scolded, "Who does not know the relationship between Shennong Faction and me? If this humble county magistrate dies in Shennong Faction, then I can’t get away with it. Hey, at this time, I am afraid that the whole county is paying attention to this matter. You hurry to find Sikong Jing now. Let him not go out to see that young county magistrate. If the humble county magistrate breaks through hard, then let our subordinates pretend not to know who he is first. You just grab him, make him suffer a little, humiliate him, and then let him go in public… After that, you will not be in charge of anything."
"Yes, master." the confidant servant stood up and left.