I just want to live a good life

Chapter 292: Meritorious Service in Suppressing Bandits

Judging from others' experience, Su Nuan found it hard to imagine that she would create an opportunity for Mu Yunting to date his sweetheart.

It’s heartbreaking to think about this kind of thing. I don’t know how Princess Guang’an did it.

Su Nuan suddenly felt flustered. Xun Zheng had already made her move. She believed that she would appear in front of Mu Yunting in the near future. Perhaps they were already together now.

As soon as this thought came to her mind, Su Nuan was no longer in a good mood.

At the same time, in Xiaomian County, thousands of miles away.

Under the leadership of Mu Yunting, or it could be said that under coercion, Yu Moling and Mei Changli were leading the garrison of Xiaomian County to raid the private soldiers raised by Prince Guang'an.

There are only about a hundred of these private soldiers, but their fighting power is extremely strong. Each of them is as strong as the prince's secret guards. The one thousand troops led by the two adults are no match for these people.

Mu Yunting had not expected the battle situation to be like this. Seeing that the more than one hundred people were about to break out of the encirclement, he had no time to re-deploy his troops and sent out his secret guards to intercept and kill Prince Guang'an's private soldiers.

The secret guards of the Prince's Mansion have received strict training since childhood. Each of them has been through hundreds of battles before being sent to the Prince, and it is no problem for them to defeat ten enemies alone on the battlefield.

For a moment, the soldiers were caught off guard and the situation was reversed in an instant.

However, although the secret guards are powerful, their numbers are too small. There are only eight secret guards following Mu Yunting this time.

These eight people could tie up a small part of the private soldiers, giving Lords Mei and Yu a chance to catch their breath. They redeployed the formation and continued to command their men to attack.

But the two adults were standing in front of Mu Yunting, shaking like sieves. Two hidden arrows had been shot towards them. The three were unharmed because the secret guards blocked them with their swords. If more arrows were shot, the two adults would not know whether they should protect their master with their bodies or run for their lives.

Of course, it was wrong to think of escaping for their own lives. If anything happened to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince while the two of them were fine, the Emperor would certainly not forgive them.

More importantly, his precious daughter and son are still in the hands of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.

When Mu Yunting came to Xiaomian County last time, he wanted to catch this small group of private soldiers in one fell swoop, but the governor and garrison commander of Xiaomian County played Tai Chi against him.

The county magistrate was unable to take action because his subordinates were hypocritical and did not obey his orders, so he was unable to take action.

However, the garrison commander had a close relationship with Prince Guang'an and was unwilling to take action.

Although Mu Yunting holds the military command that allows him to deploy troops, if his subordinates pretend to obey his orders but actually disobey his orders, it will be difficult for him to achieve his goal of annihilating this small group of private soldiers.

So he remained calm and seemingly postponed the matter, but in fact he had already been secretly planning it.

He used the Queen Mother's birthday as an excuse to send Prince Guang'an away, and then took Yu Zhiqiu and Mei Runian away because Yu Zhiqiu had attacked his concubine. Finally, he made a surprise attack without making any noise.

When he came back this time, he mentioned to Mei Changli and Yu Moling the matter of encircling and suppressing Prince Guang'an's private soldiers. The two did not hesitate any more and happily led their men into action.

It's just that the world has been peaceful for too long, and the soldiers guarding a county have no experience in fighting. On weekdays, catching a civilian who breaks into the city gate is already a big deal.

Such a group of people would bring disgrace to the imperial court.

Mu Yunting watched the battle with a dark face. He felt that he would not be satisfied even if he killed the two people trembling in front of him a hundred times. He had led troops to fight in battles before, and even if he had lost a battle, he had never fought so miserably. If he had known this would be the situation, he would have made careful plans.

In order to save Prince Guang'an's life, he went to great lengths.

More than a thousand people were still fighting hard on the field, when suddenly three feather arrows came rushing over with a buzzing sound. Both Master Mei and Master Yu's faces turned pale. For the sake of their family and future generations, they gritted their teeth, closed their eyes, and resisted the urge to escape, standing still where they were.

Just as three feather arrows brushed past the two men's cheeks and shot straight at Mu Yunting's face, a short sword flashing with cold light was lightly lifted in front of Mu Yunting, and the three arrows were instantly picked up and fell to the ground.

"You came at the right time. None of these private soldiers will be left alive."

Mu Yunting only took a look at the dagger and gave the order without looking at who the person was.

The person who came was none other than his most trusted leader of the secret guards, Ye Yin.

Ye Yin was followed by a team of secret guards. These people quickly entered the battlefield. In a moment, Ye Yin returned to Mu Yunting with the head of the private army leader.

With him standing there with a sword in hand, he looked like a killing god, making people feel terrified yet inexplicably safe. Although Lords Mei and Yu were frightened by the sight of that human head, their bodies stopped shaking.

None of the four made a sound, but continued to watch the situation on the battlefield.

Ever since Ye Yin killed the leader of the private soldiers, the battle situation has changed dramatically. The private soldiers were leaderless and had lost all momentum. They were defeated one after another, and their numbers were getting smaller and smaller, until finally there were less than ten people standing in a circle with their backs to each other.

Mu Yunting ordered the withdrawal of the guards, which originally numbered more than a thousand but now less than five hundred, and only left his own secret guards to capture the last few private soldiers alive.

"Master Mei, Master Yu, you two have made great contributions in helping me suppress the bandits today. I will reward you with a thousand taels of silver."

The two adults wiped their cold sweats. They were thankful that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince did not punish them after such a battle. They even dared not even think about it, as for the reward.

Whether it is suppressing bandits or eliminating Prince Guang'an's private soldiers, whatever His Royal Highness the Crown Prince says is the final word.

"Thank you, Your Highness the Crown Prince!"

"You two must do your best to reward the soldiers and provide relief to the families of the soldiers who died in battle."

After hearing this, the two men realized that the thousand taels of silver reward from His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was for rewarding soldiers and providing pensions to the soldiers' families. However, the amount was too small. So many people died, and the compensation of ten taels of silver per household would cost more than five thousand taels. It seemed that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince wanted them to pay for this money out of their own pockets.

The Yu family is easy to deal with. They are a large clan with deep financial resources, so it would be no problem for them to come up with several thousand taels of silver.

But the Mei family was not so lucky. They were originally a small family. Mei Changli entered the officialdom in middle age, and his family lived on his fortune. Although he was the county magistrate in Xiaomian County, there was a big Buddha, King Guang'an, in Xiaomian County. The people below did not take him seriously at all. Even if he wanted to make some money, he had no place to go. Several thousand taels of silver would simply cost him his life.

Mu Yunting ignored the two of them and was about to leave with his secret guards and several prisoners.

"Your Highness, Your Highness, stay."

Yu Moling nervously followed.

"Master Yu, is there anything else?"

"Your Highness, my daughter has offended Concubine Xia before. It is all my fault for not bringing her up properly. I am willing to take the punishment for my daughter. Please spare my daughter's life for my loyalty to you."

Mei Changli also followed and stood behind Yu Moling, not daring to speak.

Mu Yunting raised his eyebrows slightly and said calmly, "I have handed this matter over to Concubine Xia to handle. Whether to impose a heavy punishment or a light sentence depends on Concubine Xia's opinion. However, Concubine Xia has always been kind and I don't think she will easily take someone's life. Lord Yu, just keep it in mind."

After hearing this, Yu Moling's face froze. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince's words only confirmed that Concubine Xia would not want his daughter's life, but he wanted more than just to save her life!

His beautiful, spoiled daughter hasn't been betrothed to a good family yet. If she stays in the Ministry of Justice's prison for a month or so, how will she get married when she comes out?

Yu Moling was about to open his mouth to plead for mercy, but he saw the god of death standing next to the Crown Prince with the human head in his hand move towards him, and he swallowed the words he was about to say.

Mu Yunting ignored the two of them and turned to leave. He had something important to do.