In the ancestral hall at the end of the village, Village Chief He summoned everyone in the village.
He looked at the worn-out Buddha statues and tablets. Since there was no incense, they offered three bowls of dry rice.
He stood at the front, and the others stood in line according to their seniority. Even those who had been bandits before stood in a corner, their expressions tense.
With a "thump", Village Chief He knelt down on his knees, then clasped his hands together in front of his chest with a pious expression, "I pray that our ancestors will bless our Changle Village to survive the disaster safely!"
Everyone knelt down and made a wish with him, "May our ancestors bless our Changle Village to survive the disaster safely!"
"One bow!"
"Two kowtows!"
"Three kowtows!"
They knelt and bowed their heads to the ground, their foreheads turning red with sincerity.
After paying homage to the ancestors, Village Chief He stood up, took a knife, and led the young and middle-aged men to the village entrance.
When passing by his wife and daughter, his eyes were red and he didn't dare to look at them for any longer, fearing that he would not be able to bear to leave.
"Boss, you better be careful!"
Jin Xiu, the wife of the village chief, watched her husband and son walk away, feeling extremely distressed. But she had to cheer up. Her husband was the village chief, leading the charge, and as his wife, she couldn't fall behind.
She wiped away her tears and said to the remaining elderly, weak, women and children, "We will hide all our belongings in the cellar and leave nothing for them!"
"yes!"
When Village Chief He and his entourage arrived at the village entrance, they heard shouting and then "bang bang" sounds. The wooden gate had been chopped off in half.
This is the door they repaired. It is not as strong as it was before.
The blind old man is gone, having died during the last refugee attack.
Village chief He still remembers that when he died, he could not speak clearly, and his hand was still tightly holding the crutch for beating the gong. He struggled to crawl into the house and rang the gong to wake everyone up.
His blood dyed the entire gong red.
This time, the bandits were even more brutal and powerful than the refugees. Over fifty of them had surrounded the village for three days. Today, they broke down the gate.
"For the village! Charge!" Village chief He gritted his teeth, raised his hatchet, and chopped off a hand reaching towards the gate.
They have to open their own doors.
Tiezi and Zhuzi opened that half of the door and rushed into the group of bandits with knives in hand.
The number of people on both sides was almost the same, and they were mixed together.
Village chief He was hit on the left shoulder, and he also chopped off the opponent's palm, and blood splattered on his face.
At this moment, he heard the sound of horse hooves and a shout, "The one in front! Stop!"
He turned around and wiped the blood from his eyes. Those people were wearing military uniforms and carrying sabers. "Yes, the soldiers are coming!"
His eyes were red as he shouted to the villagers, "We are saved, we are saved, the soldiers are here to rescue us!"
Seeing that the villagers couldn't be distinguished from the bandits, Village Chief He shouted, "People of Changle Village, retreat!"
Then he threw away his knife, and, rushing towards the general in his armor, with his hands raised to show that he had no weapons, he cried out, "Sir! Save us! The bandits are going to kill people!"
The villagers of Changle Village were also smart. They began to avoid the bandits and retreated towards the village entrance.
Seeing this, the bandits fled in all directions.
Li Zhi picked up the bow and arrow and shot at the leaders, hitting the target every time, like shooting an arrow through a willow leaf from a hundred paces away.
The leader fell, and the rest of the bandits began to lose their legs and surrendered without much fighting from the officers and soldiers.
Li Zhi rode to the village entrance.
Everyone in Changle Village was injured. The village chief led the remaining people to carry the bodies of the dead villagers back, and they had to take them home.
The wound on his left shoulder had become numb. Before he reached the village entrance, his legs went limp and he fell down with a thud. He gasped heavily a few times, unable to control his sadness, and lay on the corpse, crying loudly.
A tall and strong man burst into tears.
The corpses in their arms were still warm, and they couldn't close their eyes.
He murmured, "This is my third uncle's youngest son, only 14 years old this year, younger than my son. This is Ah Le's father, only 42 years old, one year older than me. And there's Second Brother Zhang, his wife is pregnant..."
A total of five people died.
He brought a healthy person out, but had to go back with a dead body. He couldn't open his mouth to speak to his living family members.
Zhuzi was also wiping away tears. These people were his relatives who ate and slept together, and yet they were gone in the blink of an eye.
Seeing dozens of men crying together, Li Zhi felt sad even though he had fought on the battlefield for many years.
He knew the sadness of his companions' death, and thinking of his brothers, he could no longer hold back the anger in his heart. He drew his sword and chopped off the heads of all the bandits.
Village chief He cried for a while and forced himself to calm down. He still had to make a living with the rest of the people.
He made a decision. He walked over to the general and knelt down heavily, "Thank you so much for saving my life!"
The people of Changle Village also knelt down to thank the adults.
Li Zhi helped him up and said, "Please stand up, fellow villagers. It is our duty to protect the people of this area."
Village Chief He didn't get up, and continued, "There are a total of twenty-four young and strong men left in our Changle Village. We petition to join the army, only asking for protection for the women and children at home."
His voice was firm, showing his determination.
The villagers were shocked when they heard this, but no one objected and they all followed the village chief's arrangements.
What's more, they all knew in their hearts that judging from the situation in recent days, the number of villagers was decreasing and the number of attacks was increasing. Even if they did not join the army, they would be eaten alive by others sooner or later.
They are willing to sacrifice their lives for the well-being of their families.
The number mentioned by the village chief does not include the previous group of bandits. He is responsible for the villagers and cannot make decisions for those people.
The bandits who had lived in the village for a long time had already repented. There were only eight of them left. They looked at each other and then knelt down. "We are also willing to join the army to protect the safety of the people."
Li Zhi patted the village chief's right shoulder and said, "Good boy! I accept you. From today on, you will obey my orders!"
When he first saw the battle from a distance, he was amazed at the fighting power of the villagers.
The other side was a group of desperate bandits. Five of their people died, and ten of the bandits died.
He likes soldiers who are so motivated!
Now that he had proposed to join the army, he would gladly accept it, saving himself the trouble. He was a rough man and hated to say words of advice.
Having come to this point and heard the adults' words, the village chief felt slightly relieved.
Li Zhi asked his soldiers to help them clean up the mess. After all, they would be good brothers who would live and die together in the future.
Along the way, he found that most of the villages had no survivors, but this village had many survivors, and their spirits were very good. Li Zhi was full of curiosity. He first walked around the outer wall of the village to look at it. The nails on the high wall were a good idea.
As he was watching, he was not careful and almost stepped into the trap.
"Hmm—there are spikes on top and traps on the bottom. This village is quite interesting."
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