292. The Tiger and Gunpowder
Xie Wenling has a very good memory, and since it happened recently, he still remembers the villager's face.
They are villagers of Baicao Village.
Because he hadn't participated in the encirclement and suppression of him and Xiao Tuanzi, Xie Wenling let him go when he was dealing with those villagers.
He only killed the villagers who participated in the siege and looted their property.
He ignored everyone else.
However, he did not expect that the old man and woman who saved the little dumpling would endure the torture and refuse to confess. Instead, this villager took the initiative to approach the King of Zhennan and sold them out.
Looking back now, he truly regrets it.
He shouldn't have been so soft-hearted.
We're all from the same village, so we're all related by blood or marriage, and at the very least, we share some common interests.
Isolated elderly people like the grandpa and grandma who saved the little dumpling are a very small minority.
Xie Wenling gritted his teeth. He should have done what he had suggested to Wei Xiuming: eradicate the entire village, even dig out the earthworms and chop them up.
Inside the carriage, the little girl peeked through the gap in the curtain and immediately spotted the old man and woman.
She instantly forgot her fear, broke free from Qu Zijin's hand, and rushed towards the car: "Grandpa and Grandma! It's Grandpa and Grandma! What happened to you? Did they hit you? Yue'er will save you!"
Qu Zijin quickly reached out and pulled her back, holding her tightly in his arms, but he couldn't cover her mouth.
He also knew that there was no point in hiding anymore.
It was obvious that the Prince of Zhennan would not let them go.
He could only lower his voice to comfort her: "Teacher, don't make a sound, don't go out. If you go out, you and the old man and woman will be in danger. Master Xie will find a way to save them. Be good."
The little girl's tears fell like broken beads, landing on Qu Zijin's hand. They were scalding hot. She kept nodding her head, but her eyes remained fixed on the elderly couple outside the car.
Seeing the commotion inside the carriage and hearing the little boy's cries, the Prince of Zhennan instantly became smug. He crossed his arms and laughed wildly, "Hahaha! Xie Wenling, you still want to deny it? Now you've been exposed! I knew they were definitely in your carriage!"
Sun Weicai laughed along, his small eyes full of calculation, his tone becoming increasingly arrogant: "Lord Xie, things have come to this point, you shouldn't try to hold on anymore."
“Good boy, let us bring the people off the carriage and follow my prince.”
"Kneel down and kowtow to our Prince to admit your mistakes, and perhaps the Prince will take pity on you and spare your lives."
"If you resist again, not only will you not survive, but these two old people and the four people in the carriage will also suffer!"
The Prince of Zhennan spoke with smugness: "Lord Xie, listen to my advice, stop struggling in vain, you can't escape! Today you either obediently beg for mercy and serve me, or watch these people die in front of you!"
Anger surged in Xie Wenling's eyes. Without further hesitation, he raised his hand and let out a clear whistle.
Immediately afterwards, a deafening tiger's roar came from the rear of the Zhennan King's army, the sound waves rolling so loudly that even the ground seemed to tremble.
The warhorses began to neigh and groan in disarray.
The soldiers of the Prince of Zhennan panicked and turned around to look.
A tiger was seen charging out majestically from the forest behind them!
Its massive body stood out against the snow, and its injured hind leg, though still wrapped in bandages, remained strong.
The tiger snapped a soldier's spear in two with a single bite, and with another roar, the surrounding warhorses retreated in terror, throwing the ranks into chaos.
"It's Big Cat!" Inside the carriage, Little Dumpling saw the tiger through the gap in the curtain and exclaimed, "Grand Tutor Qu, look, Big Cat has come to help us!"
Xie Wenling didn't delay. Seeing the enemy army in disarray, he immediately ordered Qin Fengsong, "Fire arrows! Force them back, and retreat at the same time, don't hurt the tiger!"
"Yes!" Qin Fengsong immediately responded, and his guards drew their bows and shot arrows at the army of the Prince of Zhennan, forcing them to retreat instead of advancing.
At the same time, teams like the Little Dumplings also retreated, and the two sides immediately widened the distance between them.
Having achieved its goal, the tiger roared again at the army of the Prince of Zhennan.
He then turned to look in Xie Wenling's direction, and glanced at the carriage, as if to confirm the little dumpling's safety.
Once it confirmed this, it immediately turned around and ran towards the mountains and forests.
The massive figure quickly disappeared into the snow, leaving behind only a mess of frantic footprints.
The Prince of Zhennan stood there, looking at the chaotic army, then at the direction the tiger had disappeared in. His face was ashen, his brows furrowed, and he kept muttering, "How could there be a tiger? Why would the wild beasts in these deep mountains help Xie Wenling? Could he possibly tame animals?"
He simply couldn't understand why a tiger would suddenly rush out to help Xie Wenling today, disrupting his plans.
Qu Zijin, holding the little dumpling, looked at Lin Fuman in shock, unsure whether to say "I knew it" or "How did you do that?"
But Xie Wenling knew very well why.
Yesterday, he secretly followed the tiger, chatted with it for most of the day, and finally managed to get the little dumpling to command the tiger, successfully achieving cooperation.
Then they talked for most of the day and finally agreed that he would give a whistle and it would rush out from the rear to disrupt the army's formation.
As for the specifics of how the communication took place?
Xie Wenling didn't really want to recall it.
This was the most difficult thing he had ever talked about. It took him an entire night to understand this little bit of information. The process was tortuous, difficult, and painful.
Later in the conversation, Xie Wenling lamented that there were no language courses in the world that could help people communicate with animals.
On the other side, the Prince of Zhennan was also filled with doubt and uncertainty.
But then he thought about it again. He had several hundred fully equipped soldiers on his side, while Xie Wenling only had a few dozen guards.
Even with one more tiger, it wouldn't change the fact that the two sides are vastly different in strength.
The Prince of Zhennan immediately regained his composure, crossed his arms, and looked at Xie Wenling with a cold smile: "So what if you have a tiger helping you? It's just an injured beast. It can run away and that's fine. You only have this many people with you today, and you still think you can slip away under my nose? You're just dreaming!"
Xie Wenling ignored his sarcasm and turned to the carriage curtain, whispering, "Make your move."
Qu Zijin was stunned for a moment.
ah?
Him?
For a moment, he didn't know whether he should put the little bundle of joy in his arms down and rush out.
But then I thought about it again and felt that something was off.
Isn't this just suicide?
Before he could figure it out, Lin Fuman made her move first.
Her huge bundle had been opened at some point, and she took out a strangely shaped object and bundles of cloth.
The carriage curtain was lifted slightly, and Lin Fuman peeked out. She was wearing a sky-blue cotton dress and a homemade pom-pom on each side of her cloak. At this moment, she had lost all trace of her childishness.
She was holding a homemade modified repeating crossbow, her failed attempt from last night. The reason for the failure was that the nozzle was too large and couldn't stop the bolts.
It can't catch crossbow bolts, but it can catch other things.
For example, bundles of cloth wrapped around gunpowder.
With focused eyes, she aimed at the Prince of Zhennan's army and pulled the trigger.
Thanks to the three-point line principle and technological support, even a child like her with no experience in crossbow shooting can easily achieve her goal.
With a few soft sounds, the cloth balls, accompanied by the sound of the wind, fell among the soldiers of the Prince of Zhennan.
The soldiers scattered and some even used their swords to deflect the enemy's attacks.
He was slightly careless and got hit, and immediately screamed in pain, thinking he was going to die.
After waiting and waiting, I found that it didn't hurt and nothing happened.
Lin Fuman's attacks were spread out, ensuring that clusters were deployed in every direction.
The soldiers were initially trying to avoid it, but after a while, the wads of cloth landed on the snow without making a sound.
At first, the Prince of Zhennan took two steps back warily, but when the cloth ball didn't react, his brows gradually furrowed, and his eyes were full of doubt: "What is this thing? Xie Wenling, what are you up to? Are you trying to scare people with some rags?"
After a moment of confusion, he seemed to understand something.
He burst into laughter, laughing so hard he almost fell over, pointing at Xie Wenling with a mocking tone: "I thought you had some amazing tricks up your sleeve, but it turns out this is all you have! Xie Wenling, are you out of your mind? Using a lump of cloth as a weapon, aren't you afraid of being laughed at?"
Sun Weicai joined in the fun, waving his folding fan and saying with a forced smile, "Lord Xie, are you out of ideas? Even if you want to buy time, you should come up with a decent way. Bringing out these useless wads of cloth is too perfunctory. Or do you think these wads of cloth can scare away our army?"
The surrounding soldiers also burst into laughter. The panic they had felt from being frightened by the tiger dissipated almost instantly, and their eyes were full of contempt as they looked at Xie Wenling.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
