Chapter 253 Ambush in the alley, surround and kill them

"Let's do it!"

More than a dozen people drank the milk in one gulp.

Even drinking milk exudes an air of boundless pride.

Afterwards, the group left the dilapidated temple and braved the wind and snow to head to the county town.

Snowflakes, as soft as goose down, danced in the air, accompanied by a chilly wind that felt like silken rain, making the land appear even more desolate.

The town of Tingxian was eerily quiet.

Almost all the houses along the street had their doors wide open, and the old doors creaked in the wind.

The streets were muddy and messy, full of potholes, with broken ice and puddles mixed together, and then slowly covered by snowflakes.

Under a gloomy sky, in the corners of some houses or deep in alleys, young or old beggars huddled together.

Some beggars even occasionally exhaled steam from their mouths and noses.

Some, however, had already become one with the ice and snow; rats burrowed into tattered clothes, making gnawing noises...

Only some scattered areas near the county government office still had a semblance of human life.

The mansions of the city's wealthy are mostly located here.

Because they usually had a good relationship with the county government and often gave the county magistrate many benefits, the collection of anti-bandit taxes and the conscription of men did not affect them.

Elsewhere, all was desolate and cold, but here, the mansions of the wealthy were still brightly lit, with steam rising from the eaves and the aroma of food wafting through the air. Occasionally, one could hear laughter and lively chatter coming from within.

The county government office was closed, and the yamen runners were in small groups, warming themselves by charcoal fires in different rooms.

They either chatted and joked, sipped warm wine and ate some snacks, or took a nap.

The entire county government office was filled with a leisurely atmosphere.

Only a few yamen runners continued to stroll around the county government office as usual, but they only glanced at it briefly before returning to their rooms.

Compared to the higher-ranking officials and constables, the group of jailers responsible for guarding the prison cells did not have such a comfortable life.

Although the entire cell was empty, they had no choice but to stay inside, burning wood cut from the cell for warmth, eating a few bites of dry rations and drinking some water to fill their stomachs. If they were lucky, they could catch a few rats, burn off their fur, remove their internal organs, roast them over the fire, tear them apart, and each person would take a piece and chew it slowly.

"Sigh, I heard that the magistrate has moved a lot of things out of the county treasury these past few days," a jailer sighed and complained. "Our rations and salaries have been reduced again and again, all under the pretense of suppressing the river bandits. But I think... it's just the magistrate lining his own pockets."

Anyway, no officials will come over right now.

The jailers then began to chat.

Another man cursed, "From the county magistrate to the other officials and constables, they all profited handsomely from this bandit-suppression tax and conscription, while those of us who don't have to go out on patrol have no chance at all, damn it..."

A slightly older prison guard smiled and said, "Even if you had the chance, would you really be like them, disregarding the lives of ordinary people and robbing them without any conscience?"

The jailer, who had been cursing and swearing, fell silent and shook his head with a wry smile.

They were all the lowest-ranking officials in this county government office.

In the past, even though they could take advantage of family visits by prisoners to extort money, they never made things difficult for them, especially when the harvest was bad and people were struggling.

If they encountered a truly pitiful prisoner, they would even pool their own money to improve the prisoner's meals.

As a result, the jailers were all penniless and were ridiculed by the other officers for being brainless.

The jailer, sucking on a piece of charred rat paw, comforted the prisoners, saying, "Alright, it's come to this anyway, what can we do? At least, because we work in the county government, our families won't be conscripted and we've been exempted from the bandit suppression tax, so we're already luckier than many ordinary people."

That's what they said, but everyone still felt uneasy.

They were lucky, but what about the other people?

This inevitably includes their neighbors and friends with whom they have a good relationship.

They escaped unscathed, but those people…

"Sigh, what kind of world is this..." A jailer's eyes flashed with resentment. "Whether it's a year of plenty or a year of famine, people like us and ordinary folks live a miserable life, while only the county magistrate and his ilk live a comfortable life. Do we really have to abandon our conscience to live a good life?"

The jailer laughed and said, "Isn't it obvious? Have you ever seen anyone here get rich because they have a conscience? They're lucky they haven't starved to death."

The jailer gritted his teeth inwardly, unconsciously lowering his voice, "The officials in the county government are much more relaxed and leisurely than usual now, perhaps over at the warehouse..."

The jailer's expression changed. "What do you want to do?"

The other jailers also looked surprised.

The jailer mustered his courage and said, "I just want to take some of what should be distributed to us. My family is about to run out of food, and we are counting on the rations that the government is giving me to get through the winter."

The jailer hurriedly said, "Don't do anything reckless! You'll lose your life! We're no match for those officials. Here's what we'll do: let's think of a way to share some food from our own families. That should be enough to help your family get through this."

Upon hearing this, the jailer lowered his head and rubbed his eyes vigorously.

The crowd looked at each other in silence, only sighs escaping their lips.

At this very moment, outside the county government office.

Li He, along with a dozen or so teenagers, took advantage of the absence of officials patrolling outside and locked the main gate, side gate, and back gate of the county government office with chains.

Li He flew a drone over the county government office to observe, and it was basically confirmed that most of the county government officials and their staff were here.

The three constables who had previously murdered the schoolteacher had just gone to the county magistrate's house with some goods in a horse-drawn carriage, along with several constables.

Therefore, it can be concluded that the county magistrate was not in the county government office.

They have now sealed off all the entrances and exits of the county government office in order to delay the arrival of most of the officials and constables when the fighting begins.

After doing all this, the group quickly headed to the county magistrate's residence.

Filled with rage, and being teenagers in their early teens, they had trained day and night for this day. The thought of killing their enemies soon filled them with excitement, and they didn't feel tired even as they ran at full speed.

Before long, they saw the carriage coming from behind.

Li He instructed, "This place is too open and inconvenient to take action. Let them enter the alley ahead first, and then, according to my previous plan, split up and ambush them around the alley to kill them."

"yes."

The boys accepted the order and dispersed.

The carriage swayed and slowly entered the alley.

The official with a large black mole on his nose sat drowsily in the carriage, while two other officials drove the carriage on the left and right, and four constables followed on both sides of the carriage.

The seven people were completely unsuspecting and walked to the middle of the alley, where they could no longer see any entrances or exits.

Just then, the officer driving the carriage exclaimed in surprise and pulled on the reins.

The horse stopped, and the carriage jerked.

The man with the large black mole raised his eyelids, yawned, and asked, "Why did you suddenly stop?"

"Brother, there seems to be something blocking the way ahead," one of the officers pointed ahead.

The man with the large black mole squinted and craned his neck to look. He could vaguely make out that it was some broken bricks and rotten planks lying across the alley. He didn't know where it had collapsed from.

"You guys clean this up," the man with the large mole said to the constable.

The four constables looked displeased.

One of the constables glanced at him and said, "We're all of the same rank, so why are you ordering us around? All the way from the county office, the three of you were sitting comfortably in the carriage while we had to walk. Now you expect us to clear the road?"

The man with the big black mole frowned. "Brother, there's no point in arguing like this. We're all working for the county magistrate, and it was the magistrate who instructed you to accompany him. There's only room for three people in the driver's seat behind the horse. Are you expecting all four of you to squeeze in? Or you can sit on top of the cargo. Oh, and by the way, don't blame me if the horse can't pull it."

Upon hearing this, the constable became even more displeased.

"Hey, you really can't stand to suffer even the slightest loss? Why don't the three of you come down and clean up that stuff yourselves?"

"That's right, it won't make you work your hands off!"

"Anyway, we're not going. We're tired and need to rest. You three can decide for yourselves!"

The constables adopted a tough stance.

The two officers beside the man with the large black mole made a move as if they were about to start cursing.

“Forget it,” the man with the large mole said with a gloomy expression, pressing down on the two of them. “Don’t bother with them, we’ll handle it ourselves.”

Having said that, he led the way off the carriage, gave the constables a cold glance, and walked straight ahead.

The other two officers could only follow.

The four constables couldn't help but smile as they watched the three of them walk away looking dejected.

"Alright, let them take their time. Let's sit down and rest for a bit."

The four men used the carriage to shield themselves from the cold wind blowing through the alley. They found a relatively clean spot, sat down on the ground with their backs against the wall, and leisurely ate and drank the wine and dried meat they had brought with them.

The three men with the large black mole walked to the obstacle and looked back. The carriage had been turned sideways, and they could see the legs of the four constables sitting cross-legged under the carriage.

"Damn it, he's pretty good at slacking off."

The man with the large black mole cursed and started cleaning things up.

When I was sitting in the carriage and looking this way, there didn't seem to be many messy obstacles.

It wasn't until they started cleaning that they discovered the broken bamboo poles and wooden planks were haphazardly intertwined, with a large amount of broken bricks and stones stuck in between, making it extremely difficult to move.

One of the officers muttered, "That's strange. Where did these things come from? We didn't see them when we passed by here yesterday."

Another officer said, "Could it have collapsed and fallen from the side?"

The man with the large black mole looked around and frowned. “Something’s not right. Look, the walls and tops of these walls are all intact…it seems like someone deliberately threw them here.”

The two officers said angrily:

"Who's so bored!"

"If I catch him again, I'll skin him alive!"

There's something vaguely off about that big black mole.

But then I thought, given the current situation in the city, it's unlikely that anyone would have any malicious intentions.

After all, ordinary people with that kind of energy have been captured and sent to suppress bandits, leaving only the elderly, weak, sick, and disabled, who would have a hard time walking out in this kind of weather.

As for the wealthy, although they have the means, it's absolutely not worth it.

So he stopped thinking nonsense and urged the two officers beside him to help him clean up quickly so they could pass through as soon as possible and avoid getting stuck here in the middle of nowhere.

About the time it takes for an incense stick to burn has passed.

The three officers were panting heavily from exhaustion.

I was sweating inside my clothes, and then the cold wind got into my collar, making me feel uncomfortable all over.

However, most of the obstacles were still there, and the cleared gap was not enough for the carriage to pass through.

"It's no use, brother. The three of us can't handle this." One of the officers said, wiping the sweat from his forehead. "Let's call those four guys over to help. If we do a little more work, they'll be fine. Surely they won't still refuse."

The other officer was too weak to even speak and was leaning against the wall, panting heavily.

Having exhausted all other options, the man with the large mole called out towards the carriage, "Hey! Have you rested enough?! Come and help!"

The sound, carried by the cold wind, drifted through the alley, becoming erratic and uncertain.

The man with the large black mole looked down at the carriage and saw that the four constables were still sitting on the ground, not having moved an inch. He wondered if the wind had carried away their voices and they hadn't heard him, so he suppressed his temper and raised his voice: "You guys come and help! Did you hear me!"

This time, my voice was loud enough.

However, the constables remained motionless and did not even respond to him.

"Damn it! I can't stand these four bastards anymore!"

The man with the large mole was furious. He drew his sword from his waist and stormed toward the carriage.

Seeing his anger, the other two officers roused themselves and drew their swords to follow.

When the three of them were about ten steps away from the carriage, they suddenly smelled a bloody odor.

"Wait!" Big Black Mole was startled and signaled the two people beside him to stop. Then he slowly bent down until he was lying on the ground.

Only then did he realize that all four constables were dead!

Each person had a cut on their neck, which had stopped bleeding, and the blood that had flowed out had frozen and congealed.

The large black mole made his whole body go numb, and he almost didn't have the strength to get up.

Judging from this situation, the four constables were probably dead before he called for help, only because the carriage was downwind, preventing the smell of blood from reaching the obstacle.

"Big brother, what's wrong?"

The two officers, seeing the large black mole, stood up trembling, their expressions as if they had seen a ghost, and hurriedly inquired about the situation.

The man with the large black mole lowered his voice, "We...we're leaving...don't...don't worry about the carriage and the constables, let's go!"

After saying that, he turned and ran.

To be able to silently take down four constables in this kind of awful weather, how powerful must one be?

The person with the large black mole had absolutely no confidence in going head-to-head with the other party.

Whether the other party was after the four constables or wanted to rob the food and supplies in the carriage, he didn't care anymore; saving his own life was the most important thing!

The other two officers hesitated for a moment, then hurriedly followed the man with the large black mole and fled in panic towards the other end of the alley.

Just as the big black mole ran to the obstacle.

Li He appeared out of nowhere, blocking his path, and grinned coldly at him:

"Gentlemen, where are you headed in such a hurry?"

The three of them stopped abruptly, startled.

Despite his strange clothes and the sharp knife he was carrying, people didn't take him seriously after realizing he was just a teenager.

"Kid, looks like you slipped through the conscription net," Big Black Mole said, raising his knife and pointing it at Li He. "I don't have time to arrest you right now, so get out of my way or I'll take your life!"