The Villain's Counterattack

Chapter 411 Several Reasons Why Murong Fu Could Not Kill Ma Dayuan

When Qiao Feng saw that the elders who taught martial arts, the elders who enforced the law, and the leaders of the Da Ren, Dayong, Da Li, and Da Xin sects were rescued, he couldn't help but feel relieved, knowing that his side had truly gained the upper hand in this rebellion.

Although he had doubts in his heart, he did not dare and did not want to really cause internal strife in the Beggar Gang at this time. He took the initiative to ease the atmosphere and decided to handle the matter calmly. He wanted to eliminate a catastrophe before it became apparent. He would not cause the Beggar Gang brothers to kill each other at all costs.

While his idea was a good one, someone disagreed. This person was Bai Shijing, the law enforcement elder who oversaw the Beggars' Sect's rules. Within the Beggars' Sect, he was known for his stern and impartial image. Even those within the sect, young and old, were terrified of him, even if they hadn't violated any of the sect's rules. Holding his breath, he charged directly at the four elders, Song, Xi, Chen, and Wu.

After all, judging from their posture, they seemed to be planning to set him and others on fire to death. How could he swallow this?

Among the four elders, Elder Song was the oldest and most senior, but he was not worthy of his position and kept making excuses. Seeing this, Bai Shijing pointed the finger at the Beggar Gang disciples who were actually doing the work. He forced one to death and scared away another, although in the end, they couldn't escape.

Seeing Bai Shijing's aggressive approach, the strong-willed Elder Wu could not help but stand up and speak eloquently, revealing the conspiracy to "depose the leader", shocking all the Beggar Gang disciples present. However, he was willing to be tied up, which made Elder Chen look extremely ugly. He secretly called him a coward and thought that if everyone rose up to resist, it might be possible to suppress the isolated Qiao Feng.

After all, almost all of the people present at that time were on their side. Although Qiao Feng's martial arts skills were high, he might not be able to defeat a hundred of them alone and suppress so many of them, especially since they were all good fighters of the Beggar Gang. Not to mention the elders and the captain, there were very few disciples with less than five bags of martial arts, and most of them were second- or third-rate fighters of the Beggar Gang.

Given Qiao Feng's character, he might not give his all when facing these Beggar Gang brothers. At that time, Qiao Feng would most likely be the one to fail, unless he was willing to break out of the siege and escape. Presumably, with his pride, he would never choose such a cowardly behavior.

But it was too late to say anything now. Thinking about it, when Qiao Feng captured Quan Guanqing, and then came to talk to the four of them, he was planning to divert attention and delay time. Now, the two elders of transmission of skills and law enforcement, and the five helmsmen of Da Ren, Dayi, Da Xin, Dayong, and Da Li had all returned, not to mention that the other three elders were willing to be tied up. What could he do if he wanted to resist alone?

The four elders were tied up, and Qiao Feng's side completely controlled the situation. Under Bai Shijing's stern interrogation, he finally pointed the finger at Quan Guanqing. Qiao Feng untied his mute point, and Quan Guanqing knew that his rebellion had failed, but he had to make a final struggle, otherwise he would surely die. He immediately blamed Qiao Feng for the death of Deputy Gang Leader Ma.

"The Beggars' Sect has been passed down for hundreds of years, and there has never been a deputy leader. It's only when it comes to you that you have Deputy Leader Ma. His existence has greatly diluted your power. If you can't get rid of him, your position as leader will be unstable." Quan Guanqing's words shocked everyone. To be honest, although the deputy leader of the Beggars' Sect was first established during the reign of Wang Jiantong, it continued to the tenure of Qiao Feng. It felt a bit weird no matter how you looked at it.

Qiao Feng couldn't help but laugh. "When our master was on the throne, his later years weren't conducive to his career, and he lacked the energy to handle the heavy Gang affairs. That's why Big Brother Ma took on the role of Deputy Gang Leader. He later devoted himself to assisting me in my rise to power, and made great contributions to stabilizing the Beggars' Gang. After I became Gang Leader and became familiar with Gang affairs, Big Brother Ma once proposed to resign as Deputy Gang Leader, but I overruled him. Now, it has a lot to do with Young Master Murong."

Everyone was shocked to hear this. Quan Guanqing was overjoyed and shouted, "You are indeed in collusion with Murong Fu. We have all come to Gusu to seek revenge on Murong Fu. Why do you keep delaying? What's the reason?"

Qiao Feng glanced at him as if he were a fool and said, "Compared to me, a friend who has fought with Young Master Murong, Big Brother Ma is Young Master Murong's ally. He proposed the idea of ​​chief and deputy leaders, and inner and outer leaders, ever since Master was about to pass the throne to me. In reality, he was trying to get Big Brother Ma to take charge of the Beggars' Sect's internal affairs so that he could cooperate with him in business. Big Brother Ma is his closest ally within the Beggars' Sect."

Everyone was shocked when these words came out. Quan Guanqing was horrified: "This is impossible!"

Qiao Feng snorted and said, "The Beggars' Sect has the word 'Beggar' in its name, and most of the brothers within it aren't wealthy. But since I took over, or rather, since Big Brother Ma took over as the true leader of the internal affairs, have the tributes paid by the various branches to the headquarters increased or decreased? Has the headquarters distributed more or less in the benefits to the elders?"

"Less is being paid in tribute, but more is being distributed. Why do you think that is?" Qiao Feng sighed. "Young Master Murong is a highly skilled martial artist. Coming from a scholarly background, his talent is truly remarkable even within the Song court. Within six years of serving, he forced the court to confer a title and become a noble, forcing him to retire from officialdom. He traverses the world in commerce, and there are only a handful of people in the entire Song Dynasty richer than him. Such vast wealth requires powerful protection. The Gusu Murong family is one aspect, and my Beggars' Sect is effectively the bodyguard of the Murong Trading Company. It's none other than Big Brother Ma who oversees everything."

"I said Master Murong wouldn't harm Big Brother Ma, probably because Big Brother Ma is his ally. Apart from Big Brother Ma, even I, the legitimate leader, can't meet Master Murong's demands in this regard, especially in terms of business talent." Qiao Feng's words made everyone look at each other in bewilderment. Quan Guanqing's face turned pale, but he refused to give up and continued to argue, "Perhaps it was a dispute over the distribution of interests that led the Murong family to make the desperate decision to kill Deputy Leader Ma. After all..."

Hearing this, Qiao Feng suddenly sighed and said, "Brother Ma's case is full of doubts. He's nowhere to be found alive, and his body has never been found. Haven't you ever considered these doubts? How did you come to the conclusion that Brother Ma must have been killed? And how did you determine that the murderer must be Young Master Murong?"

Quan Guanqing scoffed, "It's no secret that Deputy Gang Leader Ma died at the hands of his own unique throat-locking technique. Isn't this tactic of giving someone a taste of their own medicine exactly what the Murong family excels at?"

"It's common knowledge?" Qiao Feng chuckled. "How did you know that Brother Ma died from a throat-locking technique? What evidence do you have?"

Quan Guanqing's face froze upon hearing this. Just as Qiao Feng had said, Ma Dayuan had never been seen alive, nor had his body been found dead. How could he be so sure that he had died from a chokehold? "Unless you saw it with your own eyes, or did it with your own hands!"

Qiao Feng's words frightened many people, Bai Shijing the most among them. His hands trembled and he almost pulled out a piece of his beard. Quan Guanqing could only say that it was well known, but it was impossible for him to tell the source of the information. He secretly cursed the bastard who stole Ma Dayuan's body. If the body was still there, there would not be so many variables.

"In the entire Beggars' Sect, the only one who truly caught Young Master Murong's eye was probably Big Brother Ma. If you were to say that Young Master Murong used his power to expel me and then helped Big Brother Ma ascend to power, thereby truly binding the Beggars' Sect and Murong Trading Company, I'd still believe it to some extent. But if you were to say that Young Master Murong destroyed his own arm to harm Big Brother Ma and help me ascend to power, that's simply impossible. Because I don't understand that stuff, and I don't want to create complications that would taint the Beggars' Sect." Qiao Feng said bluntly, "I don't advocate deep cooperation with Murong Trading Company."

Upon hearing this, Quan Guanqing hurriedly said, "Perhaps because of this, you were worried that Deputy Gang Leader Ma would ally with the Murong family to embarrass you, so you took the initiative to kill Deputy Gang Leader Ma. That throat-locking technique was the best evidence. You used it to kill Deputy Gang Leader Ma in order to frame the Gusu Murong family and eliminate two enemies in one fell swoop."

Qiao Feng said angrily, "Brother Ma and Young Master Murong have never been my enemies. Quite the contrary. Young Master Murong is my major financial backer, and Brother Ma is his thug, taking money from him. If we anger Young Master Murong, the Beggars' Sect loses hundreds of thousands of taels of silver every year. Even if we don't anger Young Master Murong, without Brother Ma, no one else has the ability to take money from him. Do you think I would cut off my own financial resources?"

"Several, several hundred thousand taels?!" The beggars were in an uproar upon hearing this. Qiao Feng swept his gaze across the room and suddenly said coldly, "Have you never considered that Brother Ma was merely captured, and not actually killed?"

Everyone looked at each other, but Bai Shijing had a strange expression on his face. He almost raised his hand to say: I can confirm this. After all, I did it myself. I strangled him to death with the throat-locking technique taught to me by Brother Ma.