When Pang Zi arrived at the ten *li* point, the brothers of the Escort Agency were already waiting in a hidden place nearby. Seeing Pang Zi come, Pang Tianshuo hurried up and said: "Big Brother, all brothers have arrived." Learning there was a traitor among his own people, Pang Tianshuo felt very annoyed and also strengthened precautions. For every wave of brothers setting off, he counted the number personally. Until Pang Zi arrived, every single person in the Escort Agency had arrived without lacking one.

Looking carefully at the team brought by Pang Zi, Pang Tianshuo asked strangely: "Big Brother, where is Li Kun?"

Pang Zi snorted coldly and shouted to Gao Songling: "Get him out."

The brothers of the Escort Agency watched Gao Songling drag Li Kun out of the sack, not knowing what happened. But they heard Pang Zi say loudly: "We have an insider here. Li Kun sold our brothers for a whore."

Hearing this, all brothers' faces changed. Pang Zi ignored Li Kun's face turning ashy; he told the brothers surrounding him loudly what Li Kun did. Just after finishing speaking, the people around were already angry. Some wanted to rush up to beat Li Kun. People behind couldn't squeeze into the crowd, so they cursed loudly outside. Li Kun's ancestors for eighteen generations were cursed all over in an instant.

To avoid the angry crowd and not be beaten to death, Li Kun leaned tightly against Pang Zi's leg. Pang Zi shouted: "Everyone don't hit him."

"Big Brother, you still protect him even now?"

"Big Brother Pang, hand him to us; we'll kill him."

Brothers surged up relentlessly, looking like they must kill Li Kun.

"I told him, as long as he told the truth, I wouldn't hand him over to everyone to deal with. Since he told the truth, he, Li Kun, can be perfidious, but I, Pang Zi, am not such a person." Pang Zi blocked everyone for Li Kun while shouting. After much persuasion, he finally made everyone stop beating Li Kun temporarily. But everyone had no intention of letting Li Kun go at all.

"Big Brother Pang spare my life! Big Brother Pang spare my life!" Li Kun cried and shouted continuously.

Pang Zi looked at Li Kun with contempt, then pulled him up, drew the saber from his waist, and cut the rope. "Li Kun, I won't let everyone kill you. I can also let you go. As long as you can pass my test, you can go."

These words were strange; everyone including Li Kun didn't understand. Pang Zi asked everyone to make way. He led two horses over, and asked for a knife from Pang Tianshuo to hand to Li Kun.

"Brothers, my words, Pang Zi, always count. None of you intervene; I will solve this matter." After shouting, Pang Zi said to Li Kun: "Here is a horse; you have a knife in your hand. I also have a horse and a knife. Other brothers won't make a move. I count ten sounds. As long as you can run away, as long as we don't meet in the future, I won't look for you."

Li Kun never expected Pang Zi to draw such a path for him. He didn't know if Pang Zi spoke true or false. He dared not move for a moment. Pang Zi didn't say anything more either; he counted loudly: "One... Two..."

Li Kun was also a clever person. Seeing Pang Zi start counting, he couldn't care so much either. He rushed up in three steps and two steps, mounted a horse, and urged the horse to flee for his life. At this time Pang Zi just counted to six. He didn't speed up either, still counting at the speed just now: "Seven... Eight... Nine... Ten." As soon as the voice fell, Pang Zi raised the knife in his hand and threw it forcefully at Li Kun's fleeing back.

The long knife drew a white light and went straight to Li Kun's back. Pang Zi spent a lot of effort on the knife. The long knife pierced straight through the heart from Li Kun's back. Swaying on the horse's back, Li Kun fell from the horse. Pang Zi strode forward, pulled out the long knife from Li Kun's body, and with a backhand swing, cut off Li Kun's head.

The brothers of the Escort Agency completely didn't expect Pang Zi to solve Li Kun like this. For a moment, they didn't know what to say either. They saw Pang Zi wipe the blood on the knife dry on Li Kun's corpse, and strode back to the brothers. "Everyone set off now."

When the Huai Army was established, there were 6,500 people. After arriving in Shanghai between April and May 1862, it purchased foreign guns and cannons with foreign aid and Shanghai customs tax revenue, expanding the troops. By 1864, the Huai Army first colluded with the British and French armies and the Ever Victorious Army to fight against the Taiping Army near Shanghai, then cooperated with the Xiang Army to attack the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and other places. After the fall of Tianjing (now Nanjing), the capital of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, in the autumn and winter of 1864, after reduction, the Huai Army still had 104 battalions, more than 50,000 people. Between 1865 and 1868, as the main force of the Qing army, under the leadership of Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang, it fought against the Nian Army successively in Anhui, Hubei, Henan, Shandong, Jiangsu, Zhili (approx. present Hebei), and other places. After the Nian Army was suppressed, the Huai Army undertook the defense of important places in rivers and seas for thousands of *li* from north Tianjin and Baoding to south Shanghai and Wusong.

The Canal Defense Battalion was the troop of the old Huai Army. The Shandong Canal was an important transportation trunk line and had always been the bulk of tax revenue. Although theoretically, the Defense Battalion was a troop established for the purpose of striking bandits along the river and protecting the safety of the canal, they didn't put their minds on such duty at all. Encountering such a lucrative job, the Huai Army completely became a tax collection group setting up checkpoints to collect *lijin*. As for military training, it had basically been abandoned. And Yuan Shikai, who inherited Li Hongzhang's mantle, poured all his efforts into the construction of the Beiyang New Army and the police system, having no intention of reorganizing the old Huai Army at all. In recent years, the military training of the Defense Battalion had plummeted. This troop was already tax personnel carrying guns, with extremely low combat effectiveness.

Canal tax revenue was a business where money came fast. As the saying goes, money comes fast and goes fast. Among the officers and soldiers of the Defense Battalion, there were quite a few who smoked opium. The originally low combat effectiveness due to lack of training reached an even lower level with the help of opium.

But they were government troops after all; they still had basic firearms. Li Yutang, the Battalion Commander (*Ying Guan*) of the Canal Defense Battalion, didn't ride a horse. Instead, he sat in a sedan chair like a civil official. But not an ordinary sedan chair, but a bamboo sedan chair carried by four people. Li Yutang compared himself to the famous general Wei Rui of the Southern Dynasty, riding a bamboo sedan chair when fighting. But firstly, the soldiers hadn't read books and didn't know Wei Rui's deeds. Secondly, Lord Li Yutang had all five vices of "eating, drinking, whoring, gambling, and smoking." His body had long been hollowed out, completely unable to ride a horse. Being able to sit in a sedan chair and come out with everyone this time already surprised the soldiers quite a bit. As for the significance represented by the "example" Lord Li Yutang set for himself, it didn't move any officers and soldiers at all.

Lord Li being able to lead troops personally to deal with Pang Zi this time could be considered giving Pang Zi face. In these days, the name of "King Pang" spread around the canal. Reasonably speaking, Pang Zi should have discussed a tribute amount with the Defense Battalion long ago, so everyone could meet well. But this Pang Zi was extremely insensible. Lord Li sent people to find him several times; Pang Zi perfunctorily dealt with it with a very serious attitude. Soft didn't work, so come hard. But when he prepared to do so, Pang Zi's escort route became the line from Nangong County to the Beijing-Hankou Railway, actually breaking away from Lord Li's jurisdiction.

And the insider bought from Pang Zi's Escort Agency told Lord Li that this guy Pang Zi actually dared to send spies to monitor the Defense Battalion's movements. This was the real reason that thoroughly enraged Lord Li. A small Escort Agency actually dared to monitor the Defense Battalion? Really didn't know how to write the word "death." Lord Li immediately sent people to arrest those spies of the Escort Agency, and additionally gathered troops and horses to go to Nangong County to punish the crimes.

Pang Zi's practice made Lord Li very angry. If people around were all like this, how could the order of the canal be maintained? So Lord Li felt it necessary to give Pang Zi a profound lesson. Moreover, he heard that Pang Zi's teacher was the current Magistrate of Nangong County. Sending people to teach Pang Zi a lesson might not be effective. Plus Lord Li heard that this guy Pang Zi's Escort Agency also had quite a few guns. He felt he might as well take a large group of people to block Pang Zi; this way things could always be handled well.

Actually, Lord Li might not really want to do anything to Pang Zi. The key was that Pang Zi had "offended" the Canal Defense Battalion. If the face wasn't recovered, the reputation of the Defense Battalion would be damaged.

A large group of people marched on the road. Lord Li had no intention of watching the scenery either. He calculated how to speak to the Magistrate when arriving in Nangong County, how to intimidate Pang Zi. How to make Pang Zi spit out all the things he should have spat out before. How to set a tribute amount in the future. The key was the Magistrate of Nangong County. If it weren't for this Magistrate protecting his calf (protecting his own), Lord Li would have dealt with Pang Zi long ago. So those spies of the Escort Agency were taken in the team. Arriving in Nangong County, as long as these people were handed over to the Magistrate for questioning, the Magistrate would definitely know the rules too. It would definitely be more effective for the Magistrate teacher to teach this student Pang Zi a lesson.

Seeing so many government troops, the common people by the roadside were scared into hiding by the roadside one after another. Occasionally a few guys who didn't know death rode horses past the Defense Battalion. Defense Battalion officers and soldiers scolded angrily, and those people were scared into fleeing in panic. Lord Li was carried by four people in the sedan chair, so naturally he couldn't notice. And the officers and soldiers escorting those captured Escort Agency brothers didn't care either. Whenever someone rode past, there were strange gazes in the eyes of these Escort Agency brothers. But that brother with relatively high prestige always stopped these captured brothers with his gaze. So they didn't show too outrageous performance after all.

Pang Zi got the news. Those brothers were not locked in the Defense Battalion's barracks but were taken in the team to rush to Nangong County together. He breathed a sigh of relief. As long as the brothers could be rescued, Pang Zi's worries would be much less. But what exactly did Li Yutang of the Defense Battalion plan, actually taking these brothers to rush to Nangong County together? Could it be that he still wanted to go to file a complaint? Pang Zi thought.

How to say with the mouth was one thing. If saying Pang Zi really determined to tear faces with the Imperial Court, that was also flattering Pang Zi. If speaking of Pang Zi's true purpose, it was just to establish his own independent small kingdom in Nangong County. Having a teacher as Magistrate was fine; others must listen to his "King Pang's" words. As for outside Nangong County, whether the Imperial Court decided or someone else decided, Pang Zi actually didn't care.

If one must say, Uncle Jing Tingbin back then also had such a style. But encountering external challenges, foreign religion began to preach, the Imperial Court levied additional "foreign donation," Uncle Jing had the backbone to raise troops to rebel, opposing these unreasonable things imposed on the common people. Pang Zi, who participated in Uncle Jing's uprising and watched the uprising fail with his own eyes, had worries in his heart. These straw bags of the Defense Battalion naturally were not in Pang Zi's eyes, but if the Beiyang Army was attracted...

At the end of last year, Pang Zi and Chen Ke went to watch the Beiyang Army's autumn maneuver together. Seeing the drill of that team of ten thousand people scale with his own eyes, no matter what he said with his mouth at that time, Pang Zi was very fearful in his heart. As long as he fought the Defense Battalion, sooner or later the Beiyang Army would be attracted. Pang Zi had to face this fact. Every time he thought of this, he felt very panicked.

If only letting the Defense Battalion extort a bit, business could still be done in the future.

If inviting his teacher to come forward, it wasn't that there was no room for maneuver.

If...

Various reasons and excuses hovered in Pang Zi's mind. Only a line difference from completely convincing Pang Zi. But this line was like a wall of copper and iron, unable to break through no matter what.

"Big Brother Pang, what to do?" Pang Tianshuo beside him asked. Seeing the Defense Army was about to reach the preset ambush site, Pang Zi delayed issuing orders. Since Pang Zi executed Li Kun, the brothers knew it was impossible to settle peacefully with the Defense Battalion. Everyone waited with tense faces. Some wiped their swords and guns; some ate the salted duck eggs they carried with them. But no one spoke anymore.

"What to do? Beat this group of bastards!" Pang Zi answered subconsciously.

As soon as these words came out, Pang Zi suddenly understood one thing. He wanted to fight this battle deep in his heart. Uncle Jing's hatred, Yihetuan brothers' hatred, the hatred of those fellow villagers he knew since childhood. Beiyang, foreigners, the Imperial Court owed too many blood debts. This was also the reason why Pang Zi couldn't lower his face to wag his tail and beg for pity to the Defense Battalion no matter what. This was also the reason why Pang Zi couldn't submit to this set of order formulated by the Imperial Court no matter what.

"Pass the word down; we prepare to fight. Remember, rescue the brothers first. Drive the Defense Battalion away. If possible not to kill people, then don't kill people." Pang Zi explained the main points.

Hearing the order, the brothers of the Escort Agency mounted their horses one after another and wrapped the masking cloth on their faces. Pang Zi raised the long knife that killed Li Kun and only shouted one sound, "Go!" Then he galloped onto the main road.

More than five hundred government troops came; the long team stretched out for several *li*. Pang Zi had communicated a lot with Chai Qingguo about cavalry combat skills before. He knew that if dividing into two teams to cut this long snake formation into several sections from the waist, and then cavalry slashed and killed vertically, no matter how many infantry there were, they could be defeated instantly. But Pang Zi was afraid the brothers would get addicted to killing. If Li Yutang and these people were really killed off, it would immediately be a shocking big event. Once the brothers' killing nature rose, how could they stop? They would definitely start a massacre. To avoid this happening, Pang Zi adopted the most inefficient method, attacking from the front. The horse team approached the enemy in an instant. After a round of firearms was fired, Pang Zi was just preparing to lead the team to rush up, but saw the enemy opposite first stunned in place, and then collapsed.

This was not a partial collapse, but the entire enemy army began to collapse comprehensively.