Chapter 304 Ambushed on the Road, Jumping Off a Cliff
The next day, as soon as the city gates opened, Lao Liao led a dozen escorts on horseback out of the city to return to the capital. As they passed through a mountain forest, they encountered an ambush.
They knew beforehand that there would be an ambush, because it was their people who arranged it, in order to let Hu Feng and Zhao Jiu fake their deaths and escape.
The two riders were at the very back, expecting to fire two arrows without arrowheads but with blood pouches, as planned.
Unexpectedly, a dense rain of arrows came shooting at them from all directions.
Old Liao, who rode to the front, quickly drew his sword.
Before his brothers could react, they were shot off their horses.
"Whoosh whoosh!!!"
"Ambush! Run!"
Old Liao was hit in the shoulder by an arrow. He swung his knife and broke the arrow shaft, tightened the reins, spurred his horse, and charged forward quickly. His brothers behind him dodged and followed on their horses.
After running only a dozen meters, a tripwire suddenly sprang up from the ground, tripping Lao Liao's horse. The horse's front hooves buckled to its knees, emitting a loud neigh, "Neigh!!"
Those behind couldn't stop in time and crashed into each other, all the horses collided, and the air was filled with the neighing and roaring of the horses.
Old Liao fell forward, tumbling on the ground before regaining his balance.
Suddenly, several men in black leaped down from the tree and blocked their way.
Who are you?
"You who are going to take your lives! Prepare to die!"
One of the timid escorts, who had never seen anything like this before, panicked and asked, "Brother Liao, what do we do now?"
"Charge out!"
Old Liao never knew his life was so valuable.
They wanted to send assassins to kill him, but training an assassin is not easy; it takes at least ten years of training.
The man in black was more skilled in martial arts than the constable.
In less than a quarter of an hour, the guards were in a state of defeat, and were kicked to the ground by the man in black, "Bang!"
"Thud!" A assassin plunged a knife into the abdomen of a guard and twisted it violently.
"Well……"
He grabbed the black man's leg and shouted towards Lao Liao, "Brother Liao, run!"
Old Liao, clutching his wound, forced himself to grab a handful of dirt from the ground and flung it at the man in black's face.
Hu Feng had a box of rouge tucked into his chest, and he quickly took it out and threw it at them.
The man in black, thinking it was a hidden weapon, cleaved the rouge box in two with his sword. A gust of wind blew, and the powder flew into their eyes, causing them to squint in pain.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, the group ran up the mountain. Just ahead was a cliff with a stream below. Without hesitation, they jumped down, and the men in black began to shoot arrows down at them.
The stream was flowing, and the Black men guessed they had already swum downstream.
Search! We need to find him alive or dead!
"yes!"
After the people above left, Lao Liao and the others surfaced from the water. They were glad that they used to compete to see who could stay underwater the longest when they went to bathe in the river.
Old Liao tore off a piece of cloth from the corner of his clothes and pressed it tightly against the wound on his shoulder to prevent the blood from rising to the surface.
The group quickly swam to shore, reached the land, and hid in the woods.
The man in black saw the messy footprints on the ground and went into the woods to search.
The bubbles rising to the surface of the river from breathing drifted further and further away with the flow of the stream.
...
Upon learning that she hadn't killed Lao Liao, Yun Jiaoyue grabbed a teacup and threw it at the feet of the man in black. "Bang!"
"Useless, all of you are useless. Whether the others live or die is none of my business, but that Liao guy must die. So many people got away with it. What use are you all to His Highness?"
Su Wan'er heard the sound of a bowl being smashed next door. She pretended to go to the outhouse and went to the window to eavesdrop. She heard Yun Jiaoyue say something about someone surnamed Liao. There weren't many people with the surname Liao. The only person she knew was Master Liao.
Yun Jiaoyue sent someone to assassinate Master Liao, but Master Liao didn't die. What about Zhao Jiu?
Is he alright?
Please don't die! If he dies, who can help her contact the Su family and rescue her from this predicament?
No wonder her right eyelid kept twitching during the day; something must have happened.
"Your Highness, please calm down. The man surnamed Liao was shot in the shoulder with an arrow and then jumped into the water. He will definitely go to find a doctor. As long as we guard the nearby clinic, we will be able to find them and kill them in one fell swoop!"
"You are not allowed to fail this time, or I will make sure His Highness punishes you severely!"
Su Wan'er, who was eavesdropping outside the window, felt her heart pounding like a drum. What should she do? What should she do?
No, she has to save Zhao Jiu.
Oh, right, Prince Xiao and Princess Zhaoxue.
She returned to her room and went out through the back window to sneak into the Xiao family's house.
Upon learning the news, Xiao Xuance immediately sent people to search for them.
Two days have passed and they still haven't found anyone. They only know that those people are also looking for someone, so they are safe for the time being.
These past two days, the Xiao family has hired craftsmen to repair the roof.
Most of the households in the exiled group had their roofs repaired. The roofs were made of tiles, and because there were many typhoons in the Lingnan region, the house frames were made of earth and stone, which could withstand the tiles.
Compared to thatched roofs that leak wind and rain, these shelters provide better protection, and the entire village has been completely transformed.
This attracted the attention of the city defense battalion.
Jia Quan was still expecting his subordinates to skim off several layers of profit for him, but he didn't see a single ingot of silver.
He suspected that Lao Liu had embezzled the money, so he sent someone to invite Lao Liu to come and confront him.
"Sir, they are all like shrewd people. No matter how I try to make things difficult for them, they won't give me a single penny. They keep crying poverty and even want to borrow money from me. How can I get money out of their pockets?"
Old Liu has a thousand ways to get their money, but they've been fooled by Old Liao's lies and might return to the capital, so he can't afford to offend them.
I didn't dare go too far; I just made sure they finished their work every day.
Jia Quan questioned whether Lao Liu had embezzled the money.
Old Liu knelt down and begged for mercy, denying the accusations. Jia Quan ordered his men to drag him out and deal with him according to military law.
He could only recount everything that Lao Liao had said.
Jia Quan sneered, "Fool, not just a little fool, but an ordinary fool. Have you ever seen an exiled prisoner return to the capital and have his title restored? Especially that Xiao family, the Prince of Zhenbei died under mysterious circumstances, how could the Emperor possibly allow them to return to the capital?"
Why?
"If I kill your father, do you think I would still dare to give you an important position?"
"Damn it, how dare that guy surnamed Liao lie to me?"
That's what he thought at the time, but upon closer examination...
The Xiao family is so arrogant that they dare to provoke even Meng Dahu and his gang of scoundrels. The Xiao family consists of a group of women and only two men. Where does their confidence come from?
It must have been given by the imperial court.
"Idiot! You've been fooled. That guy surnamed Liao is probably dead somewhere out there."
"What? He's dead? Then my two bags of silver are all gone! This...this..."
How many people did he have to swindle from to amass two bags of silver?
Damn it, he's going to settle accounts with them.
In the afternoon, he went to supervise the construction, intending to find fault with the Xiao family and whip them.
Xiao Xuance stopped them one by one, and they were almost beaten. He was furious and went to find Meng Dahu and the others.
In the evening, after work, Xiao Xuance told Xiao Xuanwu to take the others home first, while he stayed behind alone.
As expected, Meng Dahu and his men arrived.
"Attack him together! Kill him!"
They all brandished their weapons.
Xiao Xuance drew the soft sword from his waist.
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