"There are horse bandits attacking the village." Xia Feng frowned and said regretfully, "We are short-handed and have no weapons. I'm afraid we can only watch these villagers being slaughtered."
After staying in the dilapidated temple for many days, there was a clear distinction between them and the villagers. Wan Jinlan would occasionally go to the village to buy some things, and only had a rough look at the layout of the village from the outskirts.
Xiao Feng asked, "Xia Feng, have you ever learned archery?"
Xia Feng nodded. Although he came from a branch of the Xia family, all the children of noble families would dabble in the six arts of a gentleman. Even if he was not valued by the family, he had learned them.
Xiao Feng jumped down from the temple, took the bag off the horse's neck, and took out his weapon.
The fire had been completely extinguished by the yellow earth.
Under the moonlight, Xiao Feng's eyes were sharp as he spoke: "The bandits are attacking the village. Did you hear their screams? If you have the strength and are not afraid of death, follow me."
In just a moment, seven or eight people stood up one after another.
This time, Xiao Feng also had the time to observe this group of refugees and see if they knew anyone.
"You all stay hidden until we get back."
After making the arrangements, the thirteen people ran towards the village in the night.
In Xiao Feng's bag were long swords, iron rods and other weapons, which were distributed to everyone.
Wan Jinlan handed the crossbow to Xia Feng.
Xiao Feng quickly gave the order, "Jinlan, take the rope and go to the village entrance to set up a tripwire. You can launch a sneak attack. The most important thing is to take care of yourself and don't fight too long."
Xiao Feng was once the right-hand man of Emperor Jian'an and had some understanding of the people's livelihood in various places.
Most people in Liangzhou are descendants of Qiang and Central Plains people. They are tall and strong. The local people are tough and horse bandits are rampant.
He had also heard rumors that local officials in Liangzhou had even recruited horse bandits in order to govern the people, and it was not uncommon for horse bandits to become officers.
Order is not impenetrable, so there are opportunities to exploit it.
This is the most fundamental reason why he chose Liangzhou.
Wan Jinlan gave him the crossbow and the nails.
This kind of cleverness is the reason why the two dared to lead people to rescue the villagers at night.
The troops were divided into two groups. Xiao Feng led his men into the village, while Wan Jinlan led Xia Feng and others to the road to the village entrance.
Before the tripwire was set up, two horse bandits who were patrolling the village road on horseback saw the movement at the village entrance. They rode their horses closer and swept the bloody spears in their hands towards several people. Suddenly, one of the horse bandits with a full beard fell off his horse and fell to the ground.
Wan Jinlan saw Xiao Feng's back flash by, then he stepped forward with his knife and stabbed him again. Blood spurted out from his neck, but the bandit was silent in a moment.
When another horse bandit saw his companion fall off his horse in a strange way, he felt a chill in his heart and stabbed Wan Jinlan with his gun in a ferocious look.
Wan Jinlan rolled over with the knife in her hand, rolled under the horse's belly, then flipped over and jumped onto the neighing horse. When she was about to fight the horse bandit with the knife in her hand, the iron nail shot out from the machine crossbow in Xia Feng's hand brushed past the horse bandit's earlobe and shot towards her eyebrows.
Not only were the horse bandits frightened, but Wan Jinlan's eyelids also jumped. He immediately leaned back and avoided the hidden weapon coming from his side.
Xia Feng's heart was about to jump out, and his left hand holding the mechanical crossbow was shaking.
He almost killed the Princess of Qi just now.
He slashed at the horse bandit with a long knife, and the horse bandit came back with a gun. Wan Jinlan took advantage of this opportunity, took out his machine gun, and aimed it at the back of the horse bandit's neck.
After the bandit fell, the others rushed to finish him off.
Wan Jinlan confiscated the two spears and distributed them.
The battle ended quickly, and the hands of the few who finished off the bandits were shaking. They had never killed anyone before, but seeing Wan Jinlan, a woman, finish off the bandits so neatly and efficiently, they felt a surge of emotion in their hearts.
Xia Feng wiped the sweat from his forehead and returned the crossbow to Wan Jinlan in shame.
Giving him this kind of thing was enough to prove Wan Jinlan's trust in him, but he almost killed his own people. He really didn't dare to touch it again. The moment the long nails in the crossbow were fired, he could feel the force and speed of the shot.
Wan Jinlan took it speechlessly. She couldn't understand what had gone wrong in her to give this thing to a scholar with a disabled right hand who wrote with his left hand?
Wan Jinlan threw the bandit's body into the pile of dry grass. After she was done, she would take out the long nails. If she threw away one less, it would be one less.
She patted Xia Feng's shoulder with her bloody hand and said, "Don't blame yourself. Don't worry, every failure is a learning experience. I will definitely not bring you to do this next time, and you won't have the chance to hurt me again."
Xia Feng's face flushed red, and he was so ashamed that he wished he could bury himself in the ground.
A few people who were busy working laughed so hard that their shoulders shook.
The relaxed atmosphere did not last long, as a bandit on horseback turned around and rode his horse towards the village entrance, cursing foul language.
Everyone quickly hid in the pile of dry grass.
The two horses were walking one in front and one behind. Xia Feng emphasized again: "Wait until the first horse passes the first rope and then pull at the same time. You have to be fast and make sure it's tight."
The horse bandits arrived in an instant, two ropes stood up from the ground, and the two horses fell to the ground at the same time, neighing.
The two horse bandits were frightened by their companions who had fallen down and died mysteriously one after another in the village, so they fled to the village entrance.
Xiao Feng did not chase the two men. There were many horse bandits in the village. If they all rushed to the village entrance, Wan Jinlan would not be able to withstand them.
They could have chosen not to stop the bandits from escaping, but Xiao Feng now needed military supplies, such as horses, spears and swords. If the bandits were not killed, where would they get the supplies?
It’s a pity that these bandits don’t have bows and arrows.
He went to the town several times and spent a lot of money and effort to get a long sword and an iron rod. Military equipment was really difficult to obtain, and these horse bandits could only become victims of providing him with supplies.
Among the five people on Wan Jinlan's side, Xia Feng's combat power was negligible. He could only wait for an opportunity to strike back with a knife, and was kicked two meters away by a bandit who fell off his horse.
These horse bandits are just like their horses, all of them are fat and strong.
After dealing with the two horse bandits, several people sat on the ground panting.
Wan Jinlan's arm was cut by the spear, and a layer of sweat appeared on his head in the cold night.
Xia Feng covered his stomach with his hands, his face pale, and he couldn't raise his head in shame.
He wanted to show up in front of Xiao Feng, but he didn't expect that he was totally not cut out for this.
While armed with concealed weapons like the crossbow, they weren't invincible, the thirty-odd horse bandits left twenty-seven bodies in the village tonight. In a head-on confrontation, the refugees, who had only been fed for a short time, were no match for these powerful horse bandits. Xiao Feng employed a strategy to lure the enemy, allowing him to launch a surprise attack. While this was a resounding victory, it also resulted in casualties.
In the end, they captured nineteen horses, twenty-seven weapons, and the villagers' gratitude for surviving the disaster.
When Wan Jinlan was struggling to remove the long nails from the corpse, Xiao Feng rode up on his horse.
There was a lot of blood on his body, and the smell of blood was strong. His face was tense. Only when he got closer and saw that Wan Jinlan was intact did he breathe a sigh of relief.
He didn't want her to get involved in all this, but the two of them had been traveling together and he had gotten to know her a little bit. If there was one person they trusted, it was only each other.
How fierce are these horse bandits? He couldn't help but worry about her getting into trouble.
Seeing the damage on her arm, he grabbed her arm and frowned.
Wan Jinlan retracted his arm and said, "I'm wearing thick clothes. It's just a cut. It's all scabbed over. It's nothing serious."
"The long nails are not easy to remove. We need tools."
The main body of the spike is spiral-shaped, with four barbs just below the top. It is made with great precision and can penetrate deep into the flesh and even the brow bone. Once pulled out, it will take off a piece of flesh.
Wan Jinlan handed the long nail to Xia Feng who looked curious.
Looking up and seeing Xiao Feng's expression, she pinched the back of his hand and said, "Don't worry about me. Clean up the mess quickly. We don't know when the soldiers will arrive, and we don't know what their attitude will be towards refugees like us. For safety, we'd better move to another place overnight."
Xiao Feng's brows furrowed. He had never been more eager to provide her with a stable environment than now. She often said she would sever ties with him in the future, but she was very considerate of his feelings. He had never felt so sorry for a girl in his life.
Hearing Wan Jinlan's words, the villagers who had rushed here knelt on the ground and said, "We can't leave! We can't leave! If you leave, we will have no way to survive."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
