Chapter 97: Collecting the Treasures of Black Wind Mountain]
If they were going to take them hostage, why not just put a knife to their necks and be done with it? Why bother with deception?
On the soldiers' side, Li Yong looked at Chen Wu and said anxiously, "Boss, let's run quickly! Isn't it better to surrender to the soldiers than to trust them?"
Chen Wu couldn't help but hesitate.
He did not believe the words of the masked bandit, but believed the words of Chen Fenghe.
Just now, the bandit clearly said that it was Miss Shen who brought them the message.
Moreover, he also felt that the arrival of these bandit-suppressing officers and soldiers was strange. They could arrive so quickly, which meant that they were nearby. So when they were surrounded by bandits, they must have seen it all.
He saw it but did nothing to save them. Either he was using them as bait or he was planning to let them die.
And last time in Daming Prefecture, the prefect was clearly trying to frame Miss Shen...
Seeing Chen Wu's hesitation, Yuan Xun put aside his personal grudge with the bandits in front of him, calmed down and thought about it, and soon figured out the reason for Chen Wu's hesitation. He leaned close to Chen Wu's ear and whispered, "Boss, do you think... these officers and soldiers are coming for Miss Shen and the others?"
Chen Wu nodded solemnly, and then he looked at Yuan Xu with lightning-like eyes and asked, "Excuse me, sir, have Miss Shen and Miss Qin been killed by you?"
Yuan Xu looked at him and said calmly, "I can't answer that. Anyway, I've already said it. Whether you believe it or not is none of my business."
After saying that, he still looked at Yuan Xun, then turned around and left without looking back.
Seeing that most of the prisoners had escaped, Li Yong was so anxious that he jumped up and down: "Boss, why are you still hesitating? If we run away with these bandits, we will be considered accomplices and die without knowing how we died!"
About half of the prisoners followed the Qin family and ran away. The rest had no opinions of their own. There was also the Zhang Zhou family, who believed in Chen Fenghe more and stayed behind, waiting for Chen Wu to make a decision.
Yuan Xun came up and said, "Boss, Miss Shen has never cheated us along the way. What she said makes sense..."
Li Yong saw this and glared at Yuan Xun angrily: "Brother Yuan, you just told me not to be blinded by beauty! Now you are being fooled by that Chen Fenghe, aren't you? She must have been killed! Why do you insist on believing the words of a bandit?!"
Yuan Xun cursed with a cold face, "Li Yong! What are you saying? Those officers and soldiers came here in a strange way. Do you want the leader to lead everyone to their deaths?"
"Great! From the sound of your voice, it's clear you're planning to go with the bandits! You want to be their accomplices, but I won't! Brothers, whoever is willing to follow me to join the soldiers, let's go now!"
As soon as he said this, two or three officers followed him and said, "Boss, Brother Yuan, I'm sorry, we still think the officers and soldiers are reliable..."
"Yongzi! Don't be impulsive!" Chen Wu looked at Li Yong and the others and shouted. But Li Yong and the others were determined and left without looking back.
Zhang Zhou came forward and said tremblingly, "Master Chen, we are willing to follow you, Master Chen. We accept death or life!"
Chen Wu looked at the people who were left behind and felt heavy in his heart. The lives of these people depended on his thoughts!
Yuan Xun asked, "Boss, I think Miss Shen is still alive. Besides, since we were captured and taken to the mountains, these bandits have not killed a single person except for stealing our money..."
Chen Wu turned to look at Yuan Xun, gritted his teeth, and said, "Let's escape through the secret passage!"
As Chen Wu spoke, he was the first to step out of the dungeon.
Yuan Xu had actually been standing at the door the entire time, and had already heard the conversation inside clearly. Seeing Chen Wu come out, he smiled and said, "Have you decided? Aren't you afraid that we'll harm you?"
Chen Wu clasped his fists and said, "I'll have to trouble you, my good man, to lead the way! Even if you've chosen a dead end, I, Chen Wu, accept it!"
Yuan Xu had never expected that a lowly official like him could actually possess such courage and determination to face death head-on. He nodded in admiration and said, "Excellent! A man's life and death are determined by fate, so why should he fear? Come with me!"
Yuan Xun was stunned for a moment and subconsciously looked at Yuan Xu. Why did the words just now sound so familiar to him, as if... he had heard them somewhere before?
Yuan Xu said as he led everyone to the entrance of the secret passage quickly. He said, "You go ahead and I'll cover you."
After Chen Wu and Yuan Xun went down, Yuan Xu quickly set fire outside the main building of the stronghold.
Before this, he had ordered his men to move firewood to various places, and now after lighting the fire, it immediately began to burn.
He had been under the secret passage before, and since it was interconnected, he was not afraid of suffocating himself by the thick smoke. On the contrary, it would be best if the fire burned the entire stronghold into ruins. In this way, even if the officers and soldiers knew there was a secret passage, it would take some effort to find the entrance, and they would have more time to escape.
After doing all this, Yuan Xu entered the secret passage swiftly and sealed the door.
After Chen Wu, Yuan Xun and others brought Zhang Zhou and other prisoners into the secret passage, they soon discovered Chen Fenghe, Qin Mengyue and the three little guys, and they couldn't help but get excited!
Yuan Xun rushed over first and asked, "Ms. Shen, are you all okay?"
Jiang Shuo, who was standing by, couldn't help but frown when he saw Yuan Xun.
This official... He had seen him before when he was following from a distance. He had felt that he was too attentive to Madam Shen before, and now it was even more obvious...
Chen Fenghe smiled at them and said, "Master Chen, Master Yuan, if you really did come, I can't say for sure what those officers and soldiers are like. I have a feeling they have bad intentions, but if I'm wrong, and I've implicated several of you..."
Chen Wu immediately said: "Miss Shen, don't worry. This decision was made after careful consideration. Even if we die, we will never blame Miss Shen!"
Zhang Zhou and Zhang Yuan and his wife also came forward to greet them. Zhang Zhou couldn't help shedding tears, and only stopped after Chen Fenghe persuaded her for a while.
Seeing that everyone had entered the secret passage, Luo Yan and Yuan Xu didn't waste any words and followed Chen Fenghe's instructions and walked down the secret passage.
It turned out that only a section of this secret passage was dug by humans, and the back was directly connected to a huge cave, and there was even an underground river. Everyone held torches and supported each other as they walked towards the cave entrance.
After walking for a while, Chen Fenghe saw that they were probably near the branch of the small cave where the treasure was hidden, so he lied that he needed to go to the bathroom and then left the team.
After turning left eight times, they finally reached the end of a small path. It looked like a dead end, but Chen Fenghe felt around on the mossy wall and quickly found the mechanism. The cave door opened.
When Chen Fenghe went in, she saw more than ten large boxes inside. When she opened them, she found that they were full of silver, jewelry, etc.
Chen Fenghe couldn't help but sigh that Lai Hu's business ability was really good. He actually robbed him of so many treasures. Without any nonsense, he waved his hand and put all the boxes into the space.
After she came back, everyone continued on their journey. It took them more than an hour to finally reach the cave entrance.
Luo Yan first sent people out to investigate, and after seeing no trace of soldiers, he let everyone go out together.
It turned out that the secret passage here led directly to the foot of the steep cliff on the north side. The northern side of Black Wind Mountain was very steep, so the officers and soldiers did not deploy to climb the mountain from here.
Everyone couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, feeling like they had survived a disaster.
At this moment, Luo Yan gave a look, and Yuan Xu and others suddenly drew out their knives and put them on the necks of Chen Wu, Yuan Xun and others.
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