It was a dark and windy night.
The wind outside was howling, making people shiver with cold, but there were braziers in the four corners of the house, making it especially warm.
There were four people sitting in the room, a tall and strong bearded man, a thin and fair-skinned young man, a well-mannered old scholar, and the remaining one, a wheat-skinned, tall and long-legged woman who looked somewhat heroic.
The four people had the same sad look on their faces.
"What do you think we should do if that Qin guy doesn't leave? Are we just going to waste time with him?"
The bearded man raised his hands and irritably scratched the back of his head, making his already untidy hair even more messy. "It's been half a day!"
The thin man also frowned, "They won't let us go regardless of the lives of these hostages, right?"
The big bearded man and the thin man were the first and second in command of the newly formed Black Dragon Village, and they were also the original two leaders of this gang of bandits.
The former was a blacksmith in the village before the disaster and also the son-in-law of the village chief. After deciding to move away from the disaster area and find another way to make a living, he took away all the young and middle-aged men in the village.
The latter is the leader of the fleet, who is an excellent swimmer and is in charge of a dozen people. These dozen people have now joined the Black Dragon Village. Along the way, everyone relied on them a lot when passing by water.
While the two of them were frowning, the old scholar sitting near the door looked much calmer. "In my opinion, the Yizhou soldiers will definitely not let us go easily. Now they are most likely stalling for time and dispatching manpower."
The bearded man and the thin man became anxious when they heard this.
The bearded man immediately slammed the big knife on the table and said, "Mr. Qin, you don't believe that we dare to kill the hostages, right? I'll kill one of them and show him."
The thin man also smiled sinisterly, "Kill the county lieutenant and throw his head to them. Tell them to leave immediately, or we'll kill another person!"
"Boss, Second Boss, don't be anxious!"
The old scholar persuaded the two of them, "I haven't finished what I just said."
"Brother, sit down." The only woman in the room glanced at the bearded man, then said politely to the old scholar, "Mr. Tao, please continue."
The old scholar nodded slightly.
"The people we abducted along the way are of noble status. Yizhou is weak and cannot afford to offend the forces behind them. Even if the Qin guy wants to stop us, he dare not act rashly. Now he is stalling for time, not attacking or retreating. He is probably trying to contact the forces behind these hostages, such as the Bai family of Tanzhou and the Qiu family..."
The old scholar stroked his beard and said confidently, "It will take nearly ten hours to go back and forth even if we gallop, not to mention gathering people and rescuing the hostages. We will definitely not be able to act before dawn. We just need to evacuate this place tonight."
"How to evacuate?" the woman continued to ask.
"Sacrifice the small to protect the big." The old scholar said, "We have more than 800 people in Black Dragon Village now, but only 60 to 70 percent of them can really be used. Now is the time for the remaining 30 percent to play a role."
The old scholar's method is extremely simple.
Using the remaining 30 people as bait to confuse the Yizhou soldiers outside, the rest of the people took advantage of the cover of night to retreat into the deep mountains behind them, and then climbed over the mountain and escaped from the other side.
Doing this would kill two birds with one stone. Not only could they avoid being hunted down by the Yizhou soldiers, but they could also get rid of the useless people in the village, saving them from staying and wasting food.
"Mr. Tao still has a solution." The bearded man grinned, "I was just worried about not being able to get rid of those old and weak people. This time I left them behind for a reason. I believe others will have nothing to say."
"It's just past midnight, and it's still early for dawn." The thin man looked at the sky outside and breathed a sigh of relief. "Thanks to Mr. Tao's clever tricks, we were able to turn danger into safety and avoid the pursuit of the soldiers all the way."
"That's not true. It's obvious that the three leaders are brave and resourceful. I, Tao, am just making a few casual remarks and offering some advice." The old scholar said modestly.
For a moment, the atmosphere in the room became much more relaxed than before.
Even the bearded man and the thin man were in the mood to make jokes.
"Girl, why don't I see you bring your pretty boy with you today?" The bearded man asked the woman sitting opposite him with a grin.
"Brother, you really are always talking about things that are not related to the topic." The thin man shook his head and said, "That pretty boy is the one who made Yuemei angry. I heard that he was thrown away by Yuemei and tied up with the hostages."
"Sister, are you really back this time?" The bearded man smacked his lips. The third in command, whom he called "sister", was the most sturdy one. His strength was not inferior to that of a blacksmith like him, and he had a very bad temper. He would fight with others if they disagreed with him. However, the only exception was the pretty boy she picked up.
Not only did he control his temper in front of the pretty boy, but he also did not allow anyone else in the village to bully him.
Even if that pretty boy was shameless and unwilling to submit and serve her, she would never be willing to hit or scold him.
Is this finally changing now?
"Girl, I'm glad you figured it out. I think that pretty boy is just spoiling you."
The bearded man said in a hoarse voice: "It should have been done long ago! Beat him up, then let him starve, so that he knows the pain and suffering, and then he will obey you obediently, girl."
"Yeah." The woman glanced outside the house a little irritably and responded casually.
The thin man joked, "Looking at Yuemei's expression, she must still be thinking about that pretty boy. I have to tell the people below to take him with them when they leave, otherwise Yuemei will be worried about missing him again!"
"Don't worry about him."
"Oh?" Hearing the woman's decisive voice, the other three people in the room were all stunned, "You really don't want to take him with you?"
"No." The woman's face was slightly cold. She stood up and said, "I will go and arrange for my men. You should hurry up and don't wait until dawn. We will evacuate this place after midnight."
After saying that, the woman hurriedly left the house.
Soon, a figure appeared next to the wooden stake where the hostage was tied.
The thieves guarding here were stunned at first when they saw the newcomers, then they stepped aside with understanding, and as they stepped aside they couldn't help winking at the other people around them.
Look, what was said!
The "handsome young man" tied at the very edge is definitely the pretty boy picked up by their third in command.
They had only been tying him up for half a day, but the Third In Command couldn't help but come and see it in person.
Those guarding this side move back.
Wu Yue looked at the man who was tied to the stake, with a tired look on his face, but still had a jade-like temperament. She said in a voice that only the two of them could hear: "I'll give you one last chance. Follow me and I'll spare your life."
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