Volume 1 Chushan Bandits Chapter 54: Suspicion is difficult to understand
Most of the troops from the upper reaches of Qingliu Creek were from Xiema Mountain, but Xu Huai could not think that the fact that the bandits were gathering outside Lutaibei Village meant that this matter had nothing to do with them and they could just sit back and watch.
They rushed back to the new village on the east slope of Lion Camel Ridge, which was still a group of shacks and surrounded by a three or four foot high earthen wall.
This place is closer to Lutaibei Village, which is the Qingliuxi Bridge north of Xu’s Village, and has an unobstructed view.
Su Di, Su Laochang, Xu Guanshan and others were standing on the leveled open space in front of the simple village gate, looking in the direction of Qingliuxi Bridge.
"They look like bandits coming from Xiema Mountain?"
Seeing Xu Huai, Xu Wuliang and Xu Wukun rushing back, Su Di, Su Laochang and Xu Guanshan walked over and said something.
Liu Qiong'er took small steps and fell behind.
"should be."
All the soldiers and their families were alarmed by the alarm and gathered in front of the village gate. Xu Huai said nothing and let Xu Wuliang, Xu Wukun and Su Di discuss countermeasures.
"Wu Jiang and the others are in the back village..."
Walking closer, Su Di whispered.
Xu Wujiang and his men hid in Jinshagou. They had already informed those people in Zhu Wuzu's family who could be responsible for the matter, and they had also met . However, just like Xu Huai continued to play dumb, they still had to guard against the possibility of too many people talking and accidentally leaking the news.
We cannot completely cut off contact with the Xu family’s stronghold, and we have to hire some young and strong people from other strongholds to help build houses.
In the new village, everyone still lives in shacks, but structurally it is divided into the front and back villages, separated by an earth wall to restrict unauthorized people from entering and leaving at will.
In this way, when necessary, Xu Wujiang could lead all the soldiers to hide in the rear camp in advance without risking being seen.
Xu Huai, Xu Wukun and Xu Wuliang rushed to the back camp to meet Xu Wujiang, but there was nothing to discuss about the current situation. It had been anticipated before, so Xu Huai, Xu Wuliang and Xu Wukun could only put on armor and carry swords, and take seven or eight people to wait and see. Su Laochang and Xu Guanshan stayed in the front camp just in case.
If necessary, for example, if the bandits come directly to the new camp on the east slope of Lion Camel Ridge and they naturally cannot take care of anything else, they will light a wolf smoke and call Xu Xin'an, Xu Sihu and other soldiers to come to the rescue.
…
…
Xu Huai and his companions walked through the stone valley between Yuhuang Ridge and Shituo Ridge and arrived at the northwest corner of Dazhai.
Three groups of bandits came along the dirt road on the south bank of Qingliu Creek, and gathered near the Qingliu Creek Bridge, with a total of more than 300 bandits; they were a dense mass, with several large flags waving in the ranks, giving people a strong sense of oppression; what Xu Huai and his men saw at first were only the cavalry who arrived at the Qingliu Creek Bridge first.
Seeing this scene, Xu Huai also took a breath of cold air: The Xiema Mountain bandits are coming out in full force!
The bronze bell in the Dazhai bell tower was still ringing one after another.
"That man is Pan Chenghu! People in Tongbai Mountain call him the man with the Soul-Taking Spear." Xu Wuliang pointed at a bandit chieftain who had stopped his horse on the Qingliu Creek Bridge and said to Xu Huai. From a distance, they could see Pan Chenghu with a sturdy figure, holding an iron spear, and staring at the direction of the village gate like a vicious wolf.
The big spear in Pan Chenghu's hand has a longer and wider blade than ordinary spears. "Wujing Zongyao" calls it a heavy spear or a heavy spear. Xu Huai looked at it with envy. The Fumang Spear must have such a heavy spear or a heavy spear with a long and wide blade to bring out its power of heavy chopping to the fullest.
The north gate of Dazhai, facing Qingliu Creek, was closed in time.
In addition to Xu Wuqi and other armed farmhands, the tribe soldiers and village warriors also put down their livelihoods when they heard the alarm, rushed over, picked up swords, guns, shields and stood on the village wall.
Every year during the autumn training period when there is no farming, the various villages in Lutai organize six to seven hundred local soldiers and brave men to train in swords and bows. In addition to the veteran soldiers of the Jingsheng Army, many soldiers and brave men from different tribes also participate in bandit suppression, and participating in clan fights is commonplace.
More than 300 bandits gathered near Qingliuxi Bridge. Although the soldiers standing on the wall were somewhat panicked, they organized the defense in an orderly manner between the village walls under the leadership of Xu Wuqi, Zhou Jing and others.
Xu Wufu was standing on the wall near the arrow tower at the gate. He was wearing brown leather armor and had a sword tied around his waist. Xu Huai was too far away to see the expression on his face, but he could tell that he was looking over here.
Others were shocked by the sudden arrival of the bandits in Xiema Mountain, but Xu Huai was sure that Xu Wufu could guess why the bandits came - Xu Wujiang was hiding in Jinshagou and could hide from ordinary tribesmen, but to think that Xu Wufu was still ignorant would be too much of an underestimation of his incompetence.
In the past, Xu Huai and Xu Wujiang only bullied Xu Wufu and trapped themselves in a cocoon, unable to speak out their grievances.
Xu Huai and his men did not stay at the village wall, but stopped their horses on a high ground beside Qingliu Creek.
At this time, more than 300 bandits also lined up in front of the Qingliu Creek Bridge, and pushed a dozen people from behind to the front of the village gate.
"Damn it, they're playing this trick again!" Xu Wukun cursed angrily.
Xu Huai couldn't see clearly from a distance, but these people were tied up tightly and pushed to the front of the village gate, within an arrow's distance, and forced to kneel on the ground.
There was another commotion on the village wall at this time. Xu Huai guessed that these were the tribesmen who did not have time to take refuge in the village and were captured by the Xiema Mountain bandits.
"Master Pan, how come you have time to visit my Lutai Village today? I, Xu, did not come to greet you from afar, please forgive me. I have already ordered someone to prepare some wine to reward you, Master Pan. Please be patient, Master Pan and all the brothers!" Xu Wufu raised his voice on the village wall.
When the enemy soldiers attacked the stronghold, even though the Xu family was strong in fighting, they would not easily leave the stronghold to fight them to the death.
The bandits do a life-threatening job, but even if Lutai Village can organize six or seven hundred militiamen, most of them are civilians. They will put down their swords and spears and take up their hoes and shovels to work in the fields. They have wives at home waiting to provide them with a warm bed. Unless it is absolutely necessary, who would fight with the bandits?
At this time, Xu Wufu also followed the rules and expressed his willingness to take some money and food to send away the group of bandits from Xiema Mountain.
"Xu Wufu, my Xiema Mountain and your Xu family have kept to ourselves for all these years. Why are you trying to play tricks on me now?" Pan Chenghu rode his horse down the Qingliuxi Bridge. Dozens of horsemen in front of him cleared a passage for him, allowing him to calmly rein in his horse and stop beside the Xu clan members who were forced in front of the bridge. He raised his spear and stabbed one of them in the back.
The member of the Xu clan fell forward and died before he could even scream.
"Damn Pan Chenghu!" Xu Wukun cursed in hatred.
Xu Huai took off his straight-backed long sword, held it horizontally in front of him, and stared at Pan Chenghu without saying a word.
Pan Chenghu retreated seven or eight feet, then rode his horse forward, using the momentum created by the galloping horse to pick up the corpse with his spear and threw it six or seven feet away in front of the village gate, not sparingly demonstrating his extraordinary fighting skills and bravery.
After hearing the rumors, Pan Chenghu would not take the bait without thinking, but he sent people to search Jinshagou, and saw that there was indeed a group of people hiding there with bows, swords and weapons, and there were signs of secret dealings with Lutai Village.
When he saw Su Laochang, Xu Guanshan and others leading more than a hundred Wuzu families to move to the east slope of Lion Camel Ridge to reclaim wasteland and build a new village, what else did he have to doubt?
And he didn't come here today to listen to Xu Wufu's explanation. Not only did he stab a man to death in public, he also stretched out his hand and waved it back, and saw the thieves in the front row draw their knives and put them on the necks of dozens of Xu clan members who were tied up. Then he slowly looked at Xu Wufu on the wall of the village and said, "The lives of these dozens of people all depended on your words, Xu Wufu. Are you still going to fool me today, you son of a bitch?"
Xu Wufu stamped his feet in anxiety.
Of course he could guess that Pan Chenghu led his men here because of Xu Wujiang and others hiding in Jinshagou, but Pan Chenghu did not point it out directly, and even believed that he was the one who secretly masterminded this. How could he explain to Pan Chenghu in front of so many clansmen?
Could it be that he told Pan Chenghu that Xu Wujiang failed to join Hutouzhai and hid in Jinshagou, and it had nothing to do with him or the Xu family, and that Xu Wujiang was actually afraid of being framed by him and Deng Gui, so he acted on his own?
"Master Pan, everything is easy to talk about. Just return these tribesmen to Lutai Village first!" Xu Wufu was afraid of angering Pan Chenghu's grandson and starting another killing spree. He didn't care that a tribesman had already been killed by Pan Chenghu to establish his authority. He just said some soft words and told Pan Chenghu to stop while he was ahead.
"Everything is easy to talk about. It depends on how you talk, Xu Wufu! Within three days..." Pan Chenghu snorted coldly, staring at the wall of the village and was about to state the conditions word by word, but he saw restlessness on the right. He straightened up a little on the horse's back and saw a fast horse galloping towards this side along the river beach on the south bank of Qingliu Creek.
It was Xu Huai who tied the knife back to his waist, took off the longbow, threw Xu Wukun, Xu Wuliang and others away, and suddenly rushed towards the flank of the bandits alone.
Xu Wufu, Xu Wuqi, Zhou Jing and others were standing on the wall of the village, watching the scene most clearly. They shouted anxiously: "You fool, what do you want to do? Get back now!"
Xu Wufu didn't care about Xu Huai's life or death. He was even hard-hearted even if Pan Chenghu killed the dozen captured Xu family members. But in this way, there was no room for both sides except a bloody battle.
By then, even if he, as the head of the family, could suppress the restless clansmen and make them surrender, how much would it cost to make the Xiema mountain bandits give up?
Of course, as an outsider, the Xu family fought for land, mountains and water in Tongbai Mountain, and the strong scars were imprinted deep in their bones.
Especially the younger generation, who are the most brave. How many of them would listen to his words that a lack of patience will ruin a great plan?
If the tribesmen refuse to give in, and Xu Wujiang steps out and stirs things up, won't it be easy for him to win over their hearts?
Xu Huai, however, gave a cold look to Xu Wufu, Xu Wuqi and others on the wall of the village, and rushed forward without stopping. The three feather arrows in his hand were shot out one after another...
