Chapter 75 Bandits

The woman called Big Sister clenched her hand around the knife handle, her knuckles turning white from excessive force. A hint of anxiety flashed in her eyes, but it was quickly concealed.

Zhu Dafeng knew that her subordinates were very anxious at this time, and she was equally anxious, but she must not lose heart at this time.

So, she turned around to look at the young woman, Lü Qibai, who was speaking, and said teasingly, "Seventh sister, you are a young lady from a wealthy family and an educated person. How can you speak so vulgarly? You keep mentioning his father's name?"

Lu Qibai's attention was immediately diverted, and he retorted, "Pah! Screw the scholar. What's the point of reading so much? Men can become officials through education, but women who read about the husband being the head of the wife will only spoil their brains."

"Hahahaha..." Laughter suddenly rang out in the quiet forest.

It turned out that there were more than a dozen women lying in ambush nearby. They were all hiding under leaves and bushes, lying motionless. Unless you looked carefully, you couldn't see their figures.

Zhu Dafeng shouted, "Quiet the hell up!"

These people clenched their lips and kept silent.

Lu Qibai also stepped back obediently and hid himself again.

Despite this, she couldn't help but look at Zhu Dafeng again. This woman, who was dressed simply and looked ordinary, looked no different from an ordinary country woman, but she filled her heart with admiration.

She was indeed the daughter of a wealthy family, well-read, and had three older sisters who were both well-educated, well-mannered, and talented. Perhaps it was precisely because she was too intelligent and insightful, and because extreme wisdom can lead to harm, all three sisters met with a bad end.

The eldest sister died of illness just two months after her marriage. The second sister, out of concern for her siblings, cried all day long and soon died of depression. The third sister wrote a mourning letter with blood and tears, but also died before she got married.

Although she was dead, my father still had to fulfill his engagement with his best friend. His friend's wife was ill, and the family needed a woman to take care of the housework. My third sister's grave was not yet dry, but my father wanted to marry her off at the age of fifteen.

Lu Qibai is as smart as her sisters, and she knows why her sisters died.

Because they have witnessed the tragic fate of the women around them, they are worried that they will suffer the same fate after getting married. They worry all day long and are eventually crushed by their own fear.

And now, this fate has also fallen on Lu Qibai's head. She is not the kind of person who would feel sad about the passing of spring and flowers and be sentimental after reading some poetry and books. She has a tenacity in her heart.

If her sisters were the ones who saw the truth but did not dare to resist, then she was the one who saw the truth and chose to resist.

If a person is not afraid of death, what else can't she do?

She ran away from her marriage. On the eve of her wedding, she ran out of her home and fled to Mangshan with a pair of feet that had never even left the house.

She heard that there was a group of female bandits in Mangshan who ate raw meat and drank blood and killed people like crazy. The bandit leader Zhu Dafeng was an evil ghost who killed people without blinking an eye.

Everyone else avoided them, but after hearing about Zhu Dafeng's story, she just wanted to join them.

Zhu Dafeng was originally from Zhujia Village at the foot of Mang Mountain. She had a tough temperament since childhood. Later, she married to Liujia Village and gave birth to a daughter. Then her husband died of illness.

Seeing that they were alone and widowed, without even a son to inherit the family business, the clan leader seized her land and property and forced her to remarry. Zhu Dafeng was naturally unwilling to accept this, but she had no one in her family and was from a different family, so no one in the clan came forward to help her.

Seeing that Zhu Dafeng refused to obey his orders and leave, the clan leader became malicious and intended to humiliate and rape her, but he was killed by the powerful Zhu Dafeng.

Zhu Dafeng knew that the government would not let her live if she killed someone, so she decided to go all out and killed everyone in the clan who had bullied her and her mother. After massacring Liujia Village, she went to Mangshan and became a bandit.

Later, more and more women from nearby villages came to her for help, and gradually there were about a hundred of them. She became a serious threat to the government, and Zhu Dafeng's name became known.

It was at this time that Lu Qibai heard of her deeds and was filled with admiration. On impulse, she escaped from her marriage and went to the remote Mangshan Mountain to join the gang. With her knowledge and wisdom, she became the seventh in command.

The reason why they were lying in ambush on this road waiting for Princess Fuguang's carriage today was not because they were desperate and wanted to rob the princess who was escorted by elite soldiers, but because they wanted to ask the princess for help.

Just a day ago, the bandits who had been roaming around the Mangshan area and fighting guerrilla warfare against the government encountered a disaster.

"Third sister, look, there are soldiers ahead!"

Lu Qibai and Liu Lanhua took a few men to the village at the foot of the mountain to borrow food, but they saw the village entrance was full of soldiers.

Lu Qibai hurriedly grabbed Liu Lanhua who was about to move forward and hid behind a tree trunk.

The two men looked toward the village entrance and saw a group of about forty or fifty soldiers. The leader had a thick black beard and a ferocious look. He was ordering his men, "Capture all the women in the village!"

Liu Lanhua frowned.

She was from Liujia Village. Although she became a bandit, she still cared about her relatives in the village and would sneak down the mountain to visit them from time to time.

In the past, when these officers and soldiers came to suppress bandits, they would just sweep the mountains, plunder the food of the villagers in the nearby villages, and then leave. But why would they come here today to specifically capture women?

When Muramasa heard they were going to arrest a woman, he bravely asked, "Sir, we are all honest people. We have done nothing wrong and have not broken any laws. Why are you arresting us?"

The bearded man angrily said, "Someone reported that there are female bandits hiding in your village. These women are all suspects and must be arrested and thoroughly interrogated! If they are not guilty, I will naturally release them. You are stopping me from arresting people. Are you planning a rebellion?"

The village chief was immediately frightened and dared not protest anymore.

Soon, all the women in the village were arrested, and they cried and screamed in panic.

"Brother, save me!"

"Dad, please explain to them!"

"Please let me go, we are not female bandits..."

The officers and soldiers took out ropes and tied up the women one by one. When they heard them crying, they immediately took out whips and whipped them, "Shut up!"

The men were terrified, but they just stood by and watched. Some of them comforted them, saying, "It's okay. We're just taking you for questioning. You'll be fine."

Others cursed, "It's all the fault of those female bandits. They made us suffer like this."

Lu Qibai and Liu Lanhua were furious when they saw this. Everyone knew that soldiers were sometimes more hateful than bandits. They captured the women and who knew what they were going to do.

It’s a pity that there are only four or five of them this time, and they are no match for this group of officers and soldiers.

"Damn it, they are just a bunch of bandits! Third sister, let's go back to find eldest sister and ask someone to rescue them!" Lu Qibai said.

Liu Lanhua nodded and was about to turn around and walk back when she suddenly heard a cry, "Lanhua! Save me, Lanhua!"

It was the voice of her second aunt.

She looked back in a panic, only to see her second aunt tied up with ropes and being dragged away by soldiers. She stumbled and fell to the ground, half of her face covered in blood. She struggled several times but couldn't stand up.

"What are you hesitating for? Get up and go!" The officer raised his whip and was about to hit her head and face.

Her aunt was in poor health, and if she was whipped, she would either die or be injured. Liu Lanhua was so angry that her eyes were about to burst.

At this moment, emotion overwhelmed reason, and she rushed forward with a knife, "Let go of my aunt!"

Lu Qibai wanted to stop her, but it was too late.

How could Liu Lanhua, alone, be a match for those officers and soldiers? She rushed out to stop the whip for her aunt, but she was also arrested.

Lu Qibai was both angry and anxious, but seeing those vicious officers and soldiers searching towards their hiding place, she could only grit her teeth and escape with her men.

As soon as they left, the officers and soldiers immediately came to the forest where they were hiding. After searching without success, they went back to report to their leader.

"Sir, no one else was found, just this woman."

The bearded man retracted his gaze and ordered, "Then don't waste time. Hurry and bring these women back to Yuzhou City. The governor is waiting for them! As for the female bandits in Mangshan, just pick a few and kill them. Reporting it will be a great achievement."

The men nodded in agreement and urged everyone to move on.

The captured Liu Lanhua helped her aunt up and slowly followed the team forward.

Lu Qibai didn't go far. When he saw the soldiers leaving the village, he immediately ordered his men, "Follow them quietly and see what they are going to do with the women. I'll go back to the village and ask someone to rescue them."

The subordinates obeyed the order, and Lu Qibai went back to report the news to Zhu Dafeng, as well as the fact that Liu Lanhua was captured by the officers and soldiers.

Zhu Dafeng immediately gathered the people in the village to discuss ways to rescue them. At this time, the subordinates who followed the group of officers and soldiers came back and brought bad news.

This group of soldiers captured the women and locked them up in the county government office. Women from other villages were also captured.

Her subordinates watched from afar and saw that there were hundreds of people guarding outside the cell, and the surveillance was very strict. She asked around and found out that these officers and soldiers were going to escort them to Yuzhou City.

Lu Qibai held his forehead anxiously, "With just a few dozen of us, there's no way we can rescue them!"

Zhu Dafeng calmly analyzed, "Since this group of soldiers is in a hurry to send them to Yuzhou City, I think they will be safe before then. It will take at least three days to get from here to Yuzhou, so we still have time to find a solution."

"What else can we do?" Lu Qibai paced back and forth in the hall, extremely anxious, wishing he could rush over and kill those people right now.

At this time, Hu Mei, who had been lurking in the governor's mansion, brought news that Princess Fu Guang was coming to Yuzhou.

Zhu Dafeng's eyes lit up. "I've heard of Princess Fuguang. She once led people to burn down the prison and released all the female prisoners without charge. We can ask her for help."

Lu Qibai said worriedly, "We are bandits. If we go to beg her, what if she wants to arrest us and behead us?"

Zhu Dafeng pondered and said, "This is the only method worth trying at the moment. We can only take a gamble on Princess Fuguang's character."

Lu Qibai then made up his mind, "Alright! Damn it, I'll chop off his head, but at least I have to rescue my third sister."

So they lay in ambush on the official road leading to Yuzhou, waiting for Princess Fuguang's carriage to arrive.

Just when Lu Qibai was about to lose her patience, she suddenly heard the sound of horse hooves and wheels. She hurriedly looked up at the end of the road.

A black flag embroidered with a golden crow fluttered in the wind, followed closely by a team of armored cavalrymen riding tall horses and marching in an orderly manner.

An excited voice immediately sounded in her heart.

It’s finally here!