126 Chapter 126
ā—ˇEncirclement and annihilationā—ˇ
Zhaojia Village, threshing ground.
A dozen Mongol soldiers had entered the area disguised as civilians paying taxes. Jin Xiong and Li Yu had just finished unloading a cart of rice and were resting in the shade when they were caught off guard by a Mongol soldier's broadsword. After apprehending the people working in the threshing ground, they demanded they bring their families.
"As long as you hand over all your people, we can consider sparing your lives."
A villager recognized the leader and whispered in Jin Xiong's ear, "He used to run a horse ranch. His surname was Shangguan. He used to own the nearby Shangguan Horse Ranch. We know him."
Thinking about Shangguan's whereabouts being unknown after he sold the horse farm, Jin Xiong and the villagers initially thought that this group of people were bandits, thinking they were just going to steal food. It was not until they heard them communicating in Mongolian that Jin Xiong realized that these were Mongolian soldiers!
Someone colluded with the Mongolian state and let the thieves into the house!
"Who is Madam Cheng? Madam Cheng who knows how to farm? Hand her over!"
Jin Xiong exchanged glances with Wanli from a distance. They were coming for Madam Cheng, so they had to get the message out quickly.
Someone pointed in Gui'er's direction, and Gui'er stepped forward and said, "That's me!"
Shangguan Duan swung his knife with a fierce smile: "Just you?"
Gui'er fought with him, and a Mongolian soldier drew his bow and shot an arrow into Gui'er's shoulder.
Seeing the blood, everyone in the threshing yard fell silent.
Shangguan Duan shouted sternly, "If you don't hand over Madam Cheng, you will all die!"
Shangguan Duan chopped off the person who had pointed at Gui'er with his sword, "Those who deceive me will not have a good end!"
The head rolled on the ground with its eyes still wide open. The people standing on that side were so scared that they kept backing away. The Mongolian soldiers who surrounded them chopped off two more heads of the people at the back.
The woman screamed and the child cried loudly in fear.
"My patience is limited. If you don't hand it over, I'll kill you when I count to ten."
Finally, someone couldn't help but shout, "Madam Cheng no longer lives here. You should go find her in Songzhuang!"
"Yes, she is in Songzhuang!"
"She is in Puyang City, go find her in Puyang City!"
"She is in Yunzhou City!"
Later, Gui'er took the lead in shouting to confuse the audience, and Jin Xiong followed suit, making the statement of "in Songzhuang" unreliable.
Shangguan Duan asked everyone who had spoken out to come forward, but no one dared. He personally grabbed them and asked, "Where is Madam Cheng?"
"Yes, yes..." The old man he rescued was bewildered. "I don't know! I haven't seen Madam Cheng for a long time. She sold the land in the village a long time ago. I don't know where she is!"
"Kill!" Shangguan Duan gave an order, and a feather arrow shot the old man down.
Jin Xiong and Wan Li were very anxious as they couldn't find a chance to escape.
At this moment, the nine oxen in Yu's arms began to howl.
Yu was furious, and Jiuniu kept crying.
The Mongolian soldiers tried to snatch the baby from her arms, but Yu held on tightly. Gui'er half-supported herself on the ground and shouted, "I know where Madam Cheng is! I'll bring her here!"
Jin Xiong and the others' eyes instantly became sharp.
Shangguan Duan grabbed Gui'er and said, "You came here to accept your death, yet you still don't know how to die!"
Gui'er's mouth was bleeding as she forced a smile. "This is my child. If I can't bring him here, kill him and everyone here!"
Shangguan had been driven mad by his killing spree. He grabbed the arrow still lodged in Gui'er's shoulder and twisted it, reminding her, "This is the price you pay for bullying me just now."
Gui'er tried her best to hold it back, and big drops of cold sweat rolled down her forehead.
Bah! She finally couldn't help but spit at Shangguan Duan.
Shangguan Duan pulled out the arrows, tearing her flesh apart, and Guier fainted instantly.
Yu opened her mouth, not daring to cry out loud. She covered Jiuniu's mouth tightly with her hands and was about to go see Guier again.
Shangguan Duan snatched Jiuniu from her arms and ordered her, "You! Go and bring Madam Cheng here!"
He lifted Jiuniu high up in the air and said, "Otherwise I'll throw him to death!"
"There's no need for that, Lord Shangguan!" Two men on horseback rushed into the threshing ground.
The Mongolian soldiers were on alert, Mu Yun reined in his horse, dismounted and held the reins, leaving Cheng Mu sitting on the horse.
Shangguan Duan grinned, "Madam Cheng, you finally showed up!"
Cheng Mu: "I'm here. It's me you want. You can let these people go."
All the villagers in the field seemed to have seen a savior, except for a few women and children, who felt sad and burst into tears at the thought that Madam Cheng would fall into the hands of the Mongolian soldiers.
Mu Yun shouted, "Hurry up and leave!"
The villagers didn't dare to move. Jin Xiong took the lead, followed by Wan Li. Li Yu and the others also moved Gui Er. Only then did the others dare to move. But they hadn't taken two steps when they heard Shangguan Duan's stern voice ordering, "Anyone who tries to escape will be beheaded!"
The Mongolian soldiers tightened the encirclement and slashed at the golden bear running in the front with their scimitars.
Jin Xiong spun around and kicked the Mongol soldier's scimitar away. Wan Li quickly grabbed the weapon, and the two of them engaged the Mongol soldier, slicing his throat in two moves. Cao Bai and Gui Ze sneaked in, each targeting a Mongol soldier, slashing him in the waist, knocking him down, and then stabbing his throat.
Their counterattack instantly inspired everyone, and chaos broke out in the field.
"run!"
"Run!"
The Mongolian soldiers carrying bows and arrows drew their bows and shot arrows, killing several people. Then they changed their target and shot at Cheng Mu.
Cheng Mu dismounted and hid behind Mu Yun. Mu Yun blocked the arrows and shouted, "Where are the young and strong men? Stay and kill these bandits!"
Shangguan Duan was so angry that he wanted to smash the doll in his hand to death. Just as he fell, Wu Yong tried to grab it, but was slashed on the back by Shangguan Duan.
There was a sting on his back, but luckily he caught Jiuniu! Wu Yong grinned.
Li Yu and Chen Hu lifted Gui'er up, and Yu took Jiuniu from Wu Yong. Gui'er slowly woke up, glanced at the situation in the field, and angrily threw away the hand that was holding her up, "Don't worry about me, go protect Madam Cheng!"
Mu Yun protected Cheng Mu and dodged left and right, while Shangguan Duan rushed over with a knife.
This group of people are all those who have gone crazy with killing today. In their eyes, people are no longer people, but vegetables and weeds. The only thing left in their hearts is the goal they repeatedly remind themselves: to capture Madam Cheng and seize her horse.
Shangguan Duan was determined to kill Mu Yun as soon as possible. Three Mongolian soldiers came to help, and the four of them surrounded Mu Yun and Cheng Mu.
Facing four on one, Mu Yun was not a big problem, but he was a little caught off guard as he had to take care of Cheng Mu's safety while fighting. Fortunately, Li Yu and Chen Hu came over not long after. They secretly captured a Mongolian soldier and took away his knife. Cheng Mu took advantage of this opportunity to escape.
Li Yu raised the knife. He had never killed anyone before, so he hesitated to use the knife to cut the enemy's vital points.
"I'll do it!" Gui'er walked over, snatched the knife from Li Yu's hand, and killed the Mongolian soldier with one blow without hesitation.
Cheng Mu supported the staggering Gui'er.
"How are you?" Cheng Mu took out a small ginseng from the space, "Eat it, and hold on for now."
Gui'er's clothes were covered in blood. She chewed some ginseng and regained a lot of her energy.
"Madam Cheng, I first tried to impersonate you, but was discovered. Then I tried to go and tell you the news, but that was also discovered." Gui'er explained, "I didn't mean to betray you."
"Gui'er, being too strong can lead to failure. You didn't need to be injured like this. When the enemy is outnumbered, you should wait for an opportunity to strike."
"How did you know Zhaojia Village was surrounded?"
"Not only Zhaojia Village, but other villages were also massacred by the Mongols. We have the means to kill the few people here."
Cheng Mu went to watch the scene. At this time, the sun was setting in the west, and the red glow dyed half the sky red, and the air was filled with blood.
Many people fell in the field, but fortunately most of the Mongolian soldiers were dead.
Mu Yun and several bodyguards were quite capable. There were seven or eight young and strong men from Zhaojia Village who stayed behind to help. Together with Li Yu and the other two, the situation had already reversed.
Stinky Dog also arrived at this time.
Shangguan Duan's fighting ability was average, and he was soon injured and captured. Jin Xiong and his men tied him up, and finally the two Mongolian soldiers who were not dead were also tied up.
Zhao Ji, the son of the current clan leader Zhao Zong, was also among the young and strong men who stayed behind. With his personal leadership, these seven people were gathered together. They couldn't believe that they had fought back and won.
"A traitor to the country, a beast who harms the people!" Jin Xiong kicked Shangguan Duan a few times, and the others followed suit. Mu Yun asked them to spare their lives, so they had to vent their anger by punching and kicking him.
In addition to the corpses of the Mongolian soldiers in the field, Zhao Ji and the young and strong men collected the bodies of other villagers, and found a few people who were just injured and fainted from fright.
The escorts all carried gold medicine on them, which they sprinkled on the wounds and bandaged them.
Gui'er's injuries were quite serious, with blood and flesh everywhere. Cheng Mu was a little afraid to look at it directly. It was Li Yu and Chen Hu who took action.
When night fell, the threshing ground was basically cleaned up. Several young men were digging a pit not far away, intending to bury the villagers who died in the accident.
Cheng Mu and Mu Yun were asking Shangguan Duan questions. Shangguan Duan's body was tense, with a feeling of fatigue after the excitement faded.
According to Shangguan Duan, there were thousands of people involved in this raid, and the main target was Yunzhou City. Their team of about a hundred people had the mission of Madam Cheng and Shangguan Horse Farm.
They sneaked into the territory of Yan State at dawn today. Except for resting for half an hour after attacking the camp, they were busy fighting all day.
Therefore, Mu Yun deduced that those who had entered Songzhuang would not come to Zhaojia Village for the time being, so they could deal with the aftermath calmly.
"He's asleep."
Shangguan Duan remained silent for a while, so Mu Yun checked on him and asked Cheng Mu, "Wake him up?"
Jin Xiong and Gui Ze were interrogating two other Mongolian soldiers respectively. After three comparisons, they found that Shangguan Duan was not wrong.
Because he was familiar with the horse farm, he led the team here, and the one going to Yunzhou was Xu Huan.
Even if they succeeded in sneaking in, Yunzhou had Prince Jing and garrison troops, and bringing a thousand Mongolian soldiers with them would be like hitting a rock with an egg.
Cheng Mu didn't worry about Yunzhou, she just looked in the direction of Songzhuang.
Mu Yun knew very well that she could not let go of Xu Xiuying. The Mongolian soldiers would stay overnight in Songzhuang and would most likely stay at their place. There were many houses and food. No matter where Xu Xiuying and Saohu hid, they would be found out.
Zhao Ji led his men to bury the dead neighbors and came to say goodbye to Cheng Mu. "Madam Cheng, the Mongolian soldiers will come sooner or later. We have no horses, so we should leave first."
Cheng Mu remained silent and looked at Mu Yun. Mu Yun asked them, "The Mongolian soldiers have invaded our country and bullied our comrades. Now they are fast asleep beside us. Do you dare to fight?"
Zhao Ji suppressed his grief and said, "We have no special skills and no weapons. Even if we are willing, we lack the strength. Besides, we have elderly and children at home."
Jin Xiong said, "There are only a few dozen Mongolian soldiers left here. There's nothing to be afraid of! Back then, Zhuge Liang defeated Cao Cao's army of 100,000 with only 3,000 soldiers."
Jin Xiong has served in the military, so his view on this issue is different from that of ordinary farmers.
Everyone looked at him in surprise, wanting to say, "You're dreaming."
Someone said, "The Mongolian soldiers are all strong men, and you are all as fierce as wolves and tigers. We are different. We have never fought a war before."
Cheng Mu said, "The enemy's strength is vastly different from ours. It seems hopeless, but if we abandon our attack, more of our comrades will suffer. Could you, my good men, stay and lend a hand? We don't need you to fight the enemy; we can outsmart them."
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