Chapter 289 He suspected Xie Yuchuan had escaped
"Hurry, hurry, hurry! Someone come here! Over here!"
"And over there! Where's the fire? Where's the fire!"
The officials and the exiles were all in a state of confusion, their faces pale as they hid in fear.
The danger tonight was not only experienced by these outsiders. Soon, the places where other villagers lived in the fort also began to light up one after another. Before long, clusters of lit torches illuminated the fort.
The villagers had many weapons and tools, and soon a group of people rushed over with knives and shovels. When they arrived at the place where the officers, soldiers and convicts were camping for the night, they heard only wailing and crying everywhere.
When the person in charge of the Tian family saw this scene, he slapped his thigh on the spot!
"Oh no! Someone must have been bitten by a snake! Who has quick legs? Go get the snake medicine in our fort and save them!"
“Me, me!”
"Go!"
When bitten by a snake, time waits for no one.
The person in charge sent people to report the news to the master, the eldest lady and the shopkeeper Tian, and at the same time brought experienced people from the village to help!
Someone cursed: "These damn bandits are so heartless!"
"This has happened several times, and you still expect them to be kind? You're a bunch of people whose consciences have been eaten by dogs. Get rid of the snakes!"
The villagers' faces turned pale as they rushed in between the busy and overwhelmed officers and soldiers and the fugitives, waving the tools in their hands and struggling to clear the swarms of mountain snakes on the ground.
Xiong Jiushan had no idea how many snakes he had killed with his sword. While observing the surroundings and directing the snakes to kill them, he grabbed a nearby villager who came to help.
He asked quickly, "What's going on with your Tian family? You actually released snakes into the camp in the middle of the night!"
The villager came to help and caught the saliva that was sprayed from Xiong Jiushan's face. He was not scared by the snake, but was scared by the official to the point that his legs almost went weak.
"Sir, that's not right! How dare we release snakes? They weren't released in our fort! Sir, please spare me!"
Xiong Jiushan swung his bloody sword, scaring the villagers so much that they closed their eyes tightly. It was not until a gust of wind from a sword passed behind their ears that they opened their eyes and found that the adult who had arrested and questioned him had actually helped him get rid of the threat behind him.
Looking at the snake cut in two on the ground, the villager who had escaped death spoke very quickly: "Sir! It was the bandits in the mountains who did it! It was them! They have let snakes go before!"
Xiong Jiushan let go of his hand and frowned.
"Have you let it go before?"
"Let them go! These inhuman beasts have done all sorts of evil things! They have absolutely no conscience!"
Xiong Jiushan didn't need to listen to the rest of the words. He just needed to confirm that these things were not placed there by the people in the fort.
Right now, what is more important is to eliminate the danger as soon as possible.
He, along with his men and some of the fugitives who were able to defend against the snake attacks, struggled for most of the day and finally escaped from the most urgent danger.
In addition, the villagers had experience in dealing with this situation, and with everyone working together, no serious consequences were caused.
However, dozens of people still suffered injuries of varying degrees, especially some who had been bitten by poisonous snakes and were in a worrying physical condition. Some fugitives and yamen runners were foaming at the mouth and unconscious.
After hearing the news, Tian Su'e and the old shopkeeper Tian Qing rushed over quickly and led the villagers to clean up the snakes and help take care of the injured.
Fortunately, the Tian family had snake medicine, and after a scare, no one was lucky enough to die. However, there were terrified wailing sounds all around, which was creepy to hear.
Tian Su'e came before the escorting officer Xiong Jiushan with a guilty look on her face.
"Sir, I'm truly sorry, my lords. I never expected the people from Qinglong Village to resort to such cruel tactics again. I was the one who let you rest in the fort. I was inconsiderate and caused trouble for you. I beg you to punish me."
After saying this, he knelt on the ground with his head down, waiting for Xiong Jiushan's decision.
Tian Su'e hated those bandits in her heart. They were simply wearing human skins in vain!
Xiong Jiushan's face was gloomy. Although he was very annoyed by being attacked by a group of snakes in the middle of the night, this was not the fault of the Tian family. Moreover, he had made the decision to stay for a few more days after weighing the pros and cons. There was really no point in making things difficult for Tian Su'e, a woman, at this time.
Xiong Jiushan said in a deep voice, "Get up. What the bandits did was not your will. I will not hold it against you."
Tian Su'e breathed a sigh of relief and got up from the ground.
"Your Excellency's generosity makes me feel even more guilty. I wonder what the Tian family can do to make amends for you and the other officials."
"I just saw the snake medicine your people gave to the yamen runners and the exiled prisoners. It's working quite well. If there's any left, do your best to save lives first."
"Okay, I'll take people to get snake medicine and save them right away!"
Tian Su'e bowed and stepped back, then took people to get the Tian family's good medicine and came back to save people.
Xiong Jiushan turned around and looked at the group of people crying beside him, his face dark.
In the crowd, many members of the Xie family were helping the yamen runners bandage the injured. Among the fugitives, some who had just helped were following the Xie family to assist the officials in stabilizing the chaotic situation.
Xiong Jiushan squinted his eyes and looked at everything in front of him, secretly feeling lucky that the Xie family was alert and quickly sounded the alarm, thus preventing the entire group of prisoners from suffering huge consequences.
He didn't discipline me enough.
He let his subordinates go and neglected the surrounding environment.
Xiong Jiushan felt extremely depressed at the moment, but he couldn't ignore the efforts made by the Xie family tonight.
After thinking about it, he walked towards where the Xie family was.
But halfway through the walk, he suddenly stopped and stood there in a daze!
Xiong Jiushan looked around with sharp eyes two or three times, and finally confirmed that there was no figure from the Xie family that he was most familiar with in the crowd.
He said that he always felt like something was wrong tonight.
It turned out that it was the leader of the Xie family, Xie Yuchuan, who did not appear at the scene at all.
A shudder came up!
Xiong Jiushan's face changed drastically. He rushed to the front, grabbed a member of the Xie family, and asked fiercely, "Where's Xie Yuchuan?! Why didn't he come out? Where did he go?"
Xie Wenjie was bandaging the skin of a fugitive who had been bitten by a snake.
But as soon as he turned around, he was picked up from the ground and scolded.
"Sixth brother! Sixth brother is sick and in the house and can't come out!" Seeing that the person who arrested him for questioning was Xiong Jiushan with a sullen face, Xie Wenjie quickly pointed to the thatched hut where they slept.
"Master Zhang is also in there."
Xiong Jiushan was full of disbelief. He pushed him hard and shouted, "Come here! Keep watch over all the people from the Xie family!"
He wanted to go and see Xie Yuchuan in person.
With such a big thing happening outside, he didn't believe that Xie Yuchuan still had the mind to lie in that room?!
He had already seen through his intention to suppress the bandits!
I always wanted to persuade him to solve the problem once and for all, but I didn't know where those desperate criminals got the courage from.
His family's lives were in danger, but there was no sign of Xie Yuchuan.
Could it be that Xie Yuheng also followed the example of others and ran away?!
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