Chapter 32 Attack on Black Wind Stronghold!
The interrogation was the business of the yamen runners, and Shen Lanxi stood aside without interfering!
Liu Laohu lashed out with his whip: "Tell me, how many people are there in your stronghold? If you dare to tell a lie, I'll chop off one of your fingers!"
The bandits, stunned by the beating, instinctively knelt on the ground and begged for mercy.
"Great Grandfather, there are over 150 people in the mountain village, including men, women, and children!"
Liu Laohu: "How many able-bodied young men are capable of fighting?"
"Eighty or ninety, a little over one hundred!"
What kinds of weapons do they have?
"Knives, axes, bows and arrows, spears, whips—we have them all!"
Liu Laohu: "How many people are guarding the stronghold? What weapons do they have? How often do they change shifts? Besides the main gate, are there any other ways to enter?"
Another round of whipping followed, and all the information came in!
Shen Lanxi had Chunxue prepare the brush and ink, and then planned the next steps on the paper!
"We're not sure if he's telling the truth or not; I suspect the number is inflated!"
Liu Yanhui nodded in agreement: "We'd better wait a little longer. If no one has returned in an hour or two, someone will definitely come looking for us!"
Shen Lanxi nodded: "I agree!"
She drew a square with a pen and wrote "Black Wind Stronghold" on it!
"Leave two alive, question them separately, and confirm whether their statements are consistent!"
Liu Yan nodded.
“If we agree, we can split into two groups. One group can go around to the back gate of Black Wind Stronghold and sneak in! Then the other group…”
As Liu Yanhui listened, her hair stood on end, and she secretly glanced at Shen Lanxi several times.
How could a sheltered young lady like me learn to conquer cities and seize territories? And what about such high-level martial arts? I'd only ever heard of her arrogance; she'd never revealed even a fraction of these skills!
What kind of child is the Shen family trying to raise for their eldest daughter?
"Go and call the men now!" Relying solely on the constables will definitely not work!
Liu Laohu walked ahead, and Shen Lanxi gave Liu Yan a wink, which made the latter quickly follow!
Liu Laohu, whip in hand, said, "If we work together to take down Black Wind Stronghold this time, you can take whatever you want from inside, and I won't stop you!"
Liu Yan replied: "Silver, meat, water, and food—whoever grabs them gets them!"
Liu Laohu: "Anyone who wants to go, step forward! I'll give those who go this time preferential treatment on the way!"
The woman who pulled down her underwear was the first to stand up.
"Want a woman?" Having benefited several times in a row, she had tasted the sweetness of success!
Liu Laohu stared blankly at the woman who stepped forward for two seconds, then burst into a tirade of curses.
"You cowards, you can't even compare to a woman, you deserve to starve to death on the road to exile!"
A man signed up, and Liu Laohu told him to stand aside.
Shen Yuanjing glanced in the direction of his older sister, then at his mother, and ran straight over.
"I'm signing up too!"
When Zhou Xinrou saw her son run over, she quickly went to pull him away.
Upon seeing this, Shen Yuanjun and Shen Yuanqing also ran over.
Zhou Xinrou grabbed one and let another escape; before she knew it, they were all gone. She was so anxious she was about to faint. Seeing this, Shen Yuantang also ran over quickly.
"I'm signing up too!"
Zhou Xinrou looked heartbroken, clutching her husband's clothes tightly.
"Call them back quickly! We can't afford any more trouble for the Shen family!"
Shen Congwen looked worriedly in the direction of his children. If his wife hadn't been holding him back, he would have gone too.
"I'm signing up!"
"I'm signing up too!"
"Auntie, let go, I want to go too!" Shen Yuanqing tried to walk towards the registration line, but Wei Rulan held him back tightly.
"Son, are you trying to kill me? If you dare to go, I'll smash my head against a rock right now and kill myself..."
Li's mother, her husband, and their son all signed up, leaving their daughter-in-law to take care of the child!
Apart from the Shen family, almost everyone else signed up.
Only a few children and a few servants came from the eldest branch of the Shen family; no one from the other branches came!
"Lanxi is so good at fighting, she can take on ten people by herself. She's more than enough to represent our Shen family. The eldest branch of the family is so silly, still thinking about showing off at a time like this!"
"No, we're not going. Swords have no eyes. If we all get hurt, what will happen to Father and Mother? How will the women and children survive if only the family is left?"
…
Liu Laohu glanced disapprovingly in the direction of the Shen family, but refrained from saying anything out of consideration for Shen Lanxi.
An hour later, sure enough, someone came out to look for them.
There were only five people this time.
Using the same method of digging traps as before, they solved three cases, leaving two to interrogate separately, and the results were the same as before!
After quickly finishing off the two men and leaving one behind, Liu Laohu immediately led his men to circle around to the back of Black Wind Stronghold.
Shen Lanxi led her people slowly toward Black Wind Village. When they reached the riverbank, she even fed her horse.
The guards saw the cart and the horse-drawn carriage and assumed that the people who had gone out had returned, so they opened the gate and called out to them!
"Did you bring back all the gold and silver treasures?"
Chunxue held a knife to the bandit's neck: "Speak, you brought it back!"
The bandit, with a knife to his neck, immediately trembled and shouted, "I...I brought him back!"
The person opposite: "Is that Xiao Sanzi?"
The knife slashed the bandit's neck, and his crotch became wet again.
"It's me! It's me!" a hurried voice rang out.
The person on the other end: "Hurry up and come over here!"
Bandits: "We're here!"
The gates of the stronghold were wide open, and three more bandits emerged from inside.
Shen Lanxi made a two-pointer with the spring snow and autumn frost, she would take care of two of them, and leave the other two to them!
The four bandits slit their own throats and threw them into the carriage.
After the carriage entered the village and confirmed that no one was around, Shen Lanxi whispered for everyone in the carriage to come out!
"Find a place to hide, act according to the situation, and kill any lone bandits you encounter!"
The people in the carriage quickly disappeared into the darkness.
Next, Shen Lanxi separated from them and, taking advantage of the situation, headed straight for the Black Wind Stronghold warehouse.
The warehouse was full of grain, and they took away more than half of it, leaving only a dozen or so bags. Then they went to the storeroom where the treasure was kept and took away dozens of boxes of gold and silver jewelry.
The armory has dozens of spears and dozens of broadswords; we won't take them all!
There are still plenty of supplies left outside, for those who step forward tonight.
Quickly eliminate one-third of the people, and leave the rest to the others.
Shen Lanxi's team had Nu Bai's location tracking, making their kills swift, ruthless, and accurate, unlike the others. They were on tenterhooks, constantly on guard against being discovered, wary of their surroundings, and wondering if their small stature could handle the situation. They prayed that they would encounter smaller, thinner bandits... All these factors combined meant that the first and second teams didn't meet until dawn.
The two squads meeting up is equivalent to encircling the bandits from both sides, effectively trapping them like dumplings!
"Young Master Lan, all the men behind have been dealt with!" Liu Laohu reported the battle situation with a face full of excitement.
Shen Lanxi nodded: "After taking care of everything ahead, take the men and search again!"
Liu Laohu immediately led his men to search openly!
The woman, who was pulling down her underwear, approached with a shifty look on her face.
"Young master, what about what we agreed on before?"
Shen Lanxi: "After Liu Laohu finishes his search, ask him!"
The woman who had pulled down the underwear immediately looked disgusted; luckily, she had already stripped quite a bit off the dead bodies. "Hmph, I knew they'd go back on their word!"
(End of this chapter)
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