In the crowd, the masked man leading the group whispered in a hoarse voice to the person next to him, "Don't delay any longer. Leave both the people and the goods behind this time."
Seeing that their road was blocked, the two men did not panic. They quickly retreated to the side of Manager Wan and pulled out short knives from under the carriage.
Manager Wan jumped off the carriage shaft, stood up straight, and snorted coldly: "If you want me to stay, then come on!"
"Everyone, let's go! Let's show these bastards if the Wan family is a pushover!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the canopies of the three carriages suddenly ripped open, and streaks of people shot out like arrows.
Manager Wan and his men crouched under the carriage and shouted at the men in black on their side, "Kill them!"
The Wan family has been merchants for many years and is not a weak and easily bullied rabbit. The family also keeps a group of guards who only care about money and not people.
Professional guards carrying knives in a caravan need to be registered with the government, and smuggling should not be carried out in a high-profile manner; the fewer people, the better.
The Wan family's trade routes were fixed, and they usually traveled through village and town paths. If they encountered ruffians or scoundrels, their few servants could handle them. That's why they were unable to resist when Qinhe attacked.
This time, the intention was to lure out the remnants of Tianxiang Tower, hence the presence of guards.
These people had been hiding in the carriage since they arrived at Suijin Town to pick up the goods, and they were really bored.
When they came out, they exuded a murderous aura.
Huo Lao Er was shocked: he had fallen into a trap!
At this point, he could no longer control the situation and had no choice but to bite the bullet and proceed.
The group of people who came from the village have done a lot of bad things over the years. They are all fearless and ruthless. When money is right in front of them, they become even more courageous and invincible.
When faced with thousands of professional security guards, it was a close match.
However, the Wan family was more professional. After four or five of the "villagers" screamed and fell to the ground, Huo Lao Er finally couldn't hold back any longer: "The wind is blowing hard, let's retreat."
So someone stepped forward, helped the injured person up, and began to retreat.
When Manager Wan saw that Huo Lao Er was trying to run away, he shouted from under the carriage, "Stay here, all of you!"
The two sides clashed again.
At one end of the official road, Commander Luo and his men stood silently, listening to the sounds of swords clashing through the dark woods.
"The people from Tianxiang Tower are about to escape. Follow them closely and find their hideout!" Luo Baihu's face, covered in a thick beard, lit up with excitement.
Behind him, everyone was on guard.
Sure enough, after only half a cup of tea's time, the sounds of fighting gradually faded into the distance, followed by various shouts and cries.
"Don't run!"
"There are still people over there!"
Another burst of chaotic hitting followed.
With a wave of his hand, Luo Baihu sent out a line of cavalrymen from the shadows.
Manager Wan had just poked his head out from under the carriage when he saw a horse's hoof trampling past his head. Startled, he quickly shrank back, his face filled with horror: "It's over, it's over! We've just escaped one danger only to fall into another."
He saw a group of soldiers in full armor surrounding him, and his heart sank to the bottom.
His own furs were smuggled; although they came from the Broken Gold Guard, they were handled by Song Liyun.
If the garrison turns its back on us now and takes the goods back, I'll lose both my money and my people.
Just as he was falling into despair, he saw that the soldiers only circled around the carriage once before chasing after Huo Lao Er and his men.
Luo Baihu reined in his horse and said to Wan Da, the steward who was hiding under the carriage, "Don't hide, come out and take your men away."
When they saw soldiers chasing after them, the Wan family's guards were terrified. Even if they didn't recognize people, they had to accept their fate.
The other side is the imperial army. If we fight, we will be captured on the spot if we lose, and we will be captured after we win.
Immediately, they all obediently stood to one side.
Some of the dim-witted soldiers didn't react in time and raised their knives to resist, but were all stabbed down by the long spear shafts of several mounted soldiers.
The wooden pole had no blade, and although I wasn't injured, the pain was so intense that I couldn't move.
The cavalrymen passed through the guards of the Wan family and slowly followed Huo Lao Er until they disappeared from sight.
Luo Baihu and his men came and went quickly; their appearance just now felt like a dream.
The waiter helped Manager Wan up from under the carriage, looking astonished. "Seventh Uncle, what should we do? When did the garrison soldiers arrive? Why didn't they make a move sooner?"
After a moment of stunned silence, Manager Wan realized what was happening.
The reason the garrison didn't arrest him was naturally because they would need him in the future. As for why they didn't act sooner?
Manager Wan gave a wry smile; they were using him as bait and a tool.
If it were the garrison soldiers who came out from the beginning, the people from Tianxiang Tower would not have appeared at all, or would have run away in all directions long ago.
Huo Lao Er and his men are currently locked in a fierce battle with their own guards, and some have already been injured. They can't run away quickly even if they want to.
Moreover, once the wounded are captured, their hideout will surely be found.
Although Manager Wan understood the situation, he could only accept it. Remembering Commander Luo's words, he quickly shouted to his men, "Pack your things, let's go!"
If Commander Luo wants to leave on his own, then he's asking for mercy.
I don't know what else might happen, so it's best to leave first.
Manager Wan gathered all his men, made sure no one was missing before driving away, and didn't even bother to clean up the mess on the ground, trying to absolve himself of all responsibility.
Luo Baihu led the garrison men in pursuit and soon found the small mountain village.
By this time, the mountain village was ablaze with flames. Having received advance warning, the bandits tried to flee in panic with their wives, children, and elderly relatives.
Under the swift cavalry encirclement of Luo Baihu and his men, all the bandits were captured without any doubt.
The only thing that made Luo Baihu uneasy was that Hong Jingtian and the two people beside him had not been found.
That very night, the garrison sent a messenger to the Qili County government office to report that the newly appointed prefect and magistrate of Qili County had been dragged out of his bed.
With the help of his servants, Jiang Feng hurriedly put on his official robes and went to the front hall.
The messenger was Wang Qi.
When Jiang Feng heard that it was the Suijin Guard who had captured the remnants of the "Suijin Massacre" and the families of Tianxiang Tower, but that the chief of the case, Hong Jingtian, and his subordinate, Huo Lao Er, were nowhere to be found, he only replied in a deep voice: "I trouble you, Lord Centurion, to escort the criminals to the county jail."
While Luo Baihu was still searching for evidence in the small village, he heard Wang Qi bring back these words and immediately cursed, "That Jiang Feng brat has quite the nerve! I arrested people overnight, and he wouldn't even send his head constable to bring the prisoners."
Wang Qi murmured, "My lord, when I reported the news at the county office, I saw that Lord Jiang only had a servant with him, not even any attendants. I'm afraid that even if he wanted to arrest someone, no one would listen to him."
Luo Baihu muttered, "Hmph, another unlucky fellow! Forget it, I'll go myself and meet this Jiang madman."
In everyone's eyes, this magistrate who was kicked out of the government office was a pitiful wretch.
It has been several days since Luo Baihu learned that Jiang Feng had arrived in Qili County.
Not only was there no interrogation, but Tianxianglou was not even searched; instead, Manager Mi and the others were all imprisoned.
His indifference caused the people in Suijin Town to relax their guard, which led even the Wan family to lose their composure and come out on their own.
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