The little boy's cry broke through the silence of the night, waking up not only Li Zian and Shen Tianshu, but also the entire sleeping family.
It was Li Zian who asked a family passing by in the evening.
In addition to the elderly couple, two sons and daughter-in-law, there are three children in the family.
At night, the eldest grandson got up to urinate. When he saw several bandits approaching from different directions, he was so frightened that he held back his urine.
Fortunately, I still cried and woke up the family directly.
Seeing the posture of these bandits, the old man and his two sons immediately jumped on the guard.
The two daughters-in-law put the children, who still didn't know what was happening, into the old lady's arms, and blocked the flatbed truck themselves.
The old lady held a child in one arm and asked them to bury their heads in her arms and not to look in front of them.
Although there were only five bandits in total, the leader was carrying a crossbow.
The old man knew that it was a life-threatening thing and he couldn't fight hard. He lowered his attitude and said, "Senior heroes, we are all poor people, and there is really nothing we can do to honor you.
"Why don't you take a look? Just take all the food and don't hurt my family."
The bandit leader looked at the potatoes and some broken luggage in the car, and snorted: "Who cares about a few broken potatoes? Hand over all the valuable things!" Then he ordered people to search everywhere.
A bandit opened the bedding on the car and saw a few strings of copper coins hidden underneath. He immediately took it out and said, "Master, there is money here!"
The bandit leader immediately said angrily: "You are obviously rich, but you still want to send us away with potatoes? Do I look like a beggar?"
The old man felt bad and quickly said, "Just take it all."
But the bandit leader walked up directly, slapped the old man in the face with his hand and said, "It's too late now! You were so honest just now, you have to play tricks on me!"
The old man was pointed at by the bandit leader with a crossbow, and he could only explain in a huff: "This strong man, our whole family was pointing at these few coins to make travel arrangements on our way home. I was confused just now and didn't tell you the truth. To be honest..."
"Snapped--"
The bandit leader suddenly exerted force and slapped him hard.
Blood immediately flowed from the corner of the old man's mouth.
"father!"
"The head of the family——"
The bandit leader was very dissatisfied. His eyes swept across everyone's faces and landed on his two daughters-in-law and children.
"I can't trust you now." He waved his hand and said, "Someone, search me one by one!"
"Mom - wow -" The child was so frightened that he cried loudly.
The two daughters-in-law turned pale when they heard this, but they didn't even have a place to hide.
The old man and his two sons were almost furious and silently clenched the sticks in their hands.
Although the hand | crossbow is too powerful to intimidate, if these people really want to attack women and children, they will have to risk their lives to fight them.
Seeing several bandits heading towards the flatbed truck with evil smiles, one son finally couldn't help himself and rushed forward with a stick.
"You bastards, I'll fight with you! Ah——" As soon as he ran two steps, he screamed and fell to the ground.
The bandit leader held the crossbow in his hand and asked coldly: "Did I ask you to move?"
"Second brother--" The old man's voice broke.
"The child's father——"
"father--"
The second daughter-in-law and children thought he had been killed and burst into tears.
"Hey - I, I'm fine -" Lao Er hugged his calf that was shot, and it was so painful that he couldn't speak clearly.
The family was relieved that they were still alive.
But the old man saw that the attitude of these bandits towards him was like a cat teasing a mouse, and they had to humiliate and abuse them in every possible way before they started.
He was so angry that his veins bulged, and he asked angrily: "What on earth do you want to do!"
"Of course we want money. If you hand it over, we'll leave." The bandit leader said, his gaze continuing to
Women and children linger.
The old man and the eldest son rushed over to block the woman and children.
The bandit leader became irritated and kicked the old man.
"Get out of my way!"
"Ouch——" The old man was kicked so hard that he took two steps back and arched his body in pain.
The eldest son saw that his younger brother was injured and his father was kicked down. Seeing that his wife and child were about to fall into the hands of bandits, he finally couldn't bear it anymore and raised a stick to hit one of the bandits on the head.
The bandit's attention was focused on his young and somewhat pretty second daughter-in-law. He was unprepared and was knocked unconscious without saying a word.
"I think you are tired of living..." The bandit leader was furious, raised his hand and pointed the crossbow at his eldest son.
The moment he pulled the trigger, the eldest daughter-in-law suddenly rushed forward and hugged his arm.
The bandit leader felt his arm sink, and the crossbow arrow changed direction and shot straight into the ground.
"Smelly bitch, are you looking for death?" The bandit leader was furious and hit his eldest daughter-in-law on the head with his big fist.
Once, twice——
The eldest daughter-in-law was beaten until stars appeared in her eyes and she screamed in agony, but she still hugged her tightly and refused to let go.
She no longer knew how many times she had been beaten, her hands and feet were gradually losing strength, and she didn't even have the strength to scream.
There was only one thought in her mind, she must control the crossbow so that the children would be safe and the men in the family would have a chance of winning.
Looking at his mother who was being beaten all the time, the little boy who first discovered the bandit suddenly got the courage from nowhere. He threw away the old lady's arm around him, jumped on the bandit leader, and bit him hard. On the tiger's mouth.
"Fuck! You little bastard!" The bandit leader gasped in pain and his eyes were red with anger.
Before he took action, he really didn't expect that this family, which looked old and young, was actually a tough nut to crack. .c
He threw away his eldest daughter-in-law who had been knocked unconscious, grabbed the child who bit him, lifted him high above his head, and pretended to throw him to the ground.
The child's neck was stuck and he couldn't breathe. Tears fell uncontrollably from the corners of his eyes.
Through the corner of his eye, he looked at his eldest daughter-in-law, who was lying on the ground uncertain about her life or death. His lips moved and he shouted almost silently: "Mom——"
The eldest daughter-in-law suddenly opened her eyes. She seemed to have heard the child calling her just now.
"Son--" The eldest daughter-in-law ran over like crazy to save the child.
But she couldn't be faster than the bandit leader's big hand that kept tightening.
The child's little face soon turned purple from the suffocation, and his arms and legs stopped struggling and all fell limply.
The eldest daughter-in-law tripped and fell to the ground, her eyes full of despair.
Just when the whole family was in despair, a dagger flew out of the darkness and went straight to the throat of the bandit leader.
"Ho ho—" The bandit leader's throat made an unexplained sound, and then he fell down on his back.
The eldest daughter-in-law crawled over, picked up the child who had been choked unconscious, and started crying.
Everyone else looked towards the direction where the dagger was shot.
Li Zian walked out of the darkness with a gloomy face.
Although he is no longer a child who is inexperienced in the world, he knows that although Huguang has undergone earth-shaking changes in recent years, it is not really without any dark side.
But Shen Tianshu had just praised Huguang during the day that it was very different from before, so at night they were allowed to witness such an unbearable scene.
It really made his face feel hot, as if he had been slapped hard in front of his face.
Li Zian stepped forward and bent down to pick up the crossbow from the bandit leader. The others were immediately frightened and backed away.
"Hand-crossbows are weapons that are strictly prohibited from being used by civilians. Where did you get this hand-crossbow?" Li Zian asked with a solemn face.
The remaining four bandits looked at each other in confusion after hearing this. Isn't road robbery explicitly prohibited?
In fact, most of the people in the village don’t know the master’s hand |
Where did the crossbow come from.
Strictly speaking, it was precisely because he had this handle | crossbow that he attracted a group of supporters, killed the old boss of the cottage, and successfully took the top spot in the cottage.
At the beginning, there were still people who missed the old master when he was here and were quite dissatisfied with him.
But as he often took people out to rob homes and houses, life in the village was much more comfortable this year than before, so everyone became more and more convinced of him and gradually ignored his origins.
When asked by Li Zian, they looked at each other and didn't know how to answer for a moment.
Shen Tianshu coughed slightly from behind, reminding Li Zian to pay attention to his current identity.
Only then did Li Zian remember that he was just a commoner now, not the crown prince of Prince Rui's palace.
He immediately said: "Hand-crossbows are really too dangerous. The imperial court has banned civilians from hiding hand-crossbows privately. They must be handed over to the government!"
The bandits were a little confused when they saw that he suddenly changed from a sinister look to a silly look.
What's going on with this guy? Could he be a fool?
So the boss was killed by a fool?
They came out together, how should they explain it after they go back?
Before they could figure it out, Li Zian had already taken out the rope and tied them tightly.
The family finally came to their senses at this time, and the old man and the old lady came forward with their family members to thank them.
The old man cupped his hands and said, "Thank you so much for this brave man's help, otherwise I'm afraid someone in my family would have died."
The old lady wiped her tears and regretted that she had thought too much before. If she could have been with this young couple, seeing how skilled the husband was, maybe no one in her family would be hurt.
"Is the child okay? Is anyone injured?" Shen Tianshu asked with concern.
The eldest daughter-in-law choked with sobs and said, "Thank you for your concern, madam. The child has recovered. It's just that his neck was bruised from being pinched. I'm afraid it will take some time to recover."
"My second son was also shot in the leg by a crossbow, but it was just a skin injury, not serious."
Shen Tianshu nodded, returned to the car, took out two small bottles of wound medicine and handed them to them: "The red bottle is for stopping bleeding, and the white bottle is for relieving pain and removing blood stasis."
The eldest daughter-in-law came forward with the child in her arms, took the medicine bottle, and thanked her profusely.
Only then did Shen Tianshu realize that her face was bruised and purple, one eye was swollen, and the injury was not serious.
"Are you okay?" Shen Tianshu asked, "You can also use the bottle of medicine given to the child."
The eldest daughter-in-law said repeatedly: "Thank you madam, I'm fine. I'll be fine in a few days."
Shen Tianshu has seen mothers like this so many times that he knows that no matter how much medicine is given to her, it will still be the same. She will never be willing to use the medicine on herself until the child's injury is completely healed.
But Shen Tianshu couldn't help but said: "Many of your injuries are concentrated on your head, so you shouldn't be too careless.
"If you feel dizzy, nauseous and want to vomit later, don't hold on any longer and see a doctor immediately.
"You can take better care of your children if you are in good health, right?"
The eldest daughter-in-law was convinced by her last words, and finally nodded and said, "Thank you, madam, I will pay attention."
While Shen Tianshu was giving careful instructions, the old man was talking to Li Zian.
"Mr. Sir, it's all thanks to you today, otherwise our whole family would have been killed by these bandits."
"Old man, where are you from? Where are you going this time? What do you know about these bandits?"
"We are from Lishan County and have been working in Hanyang Mansion to make money this year.
"There is not much work after winter, and the Chinese New Year is almost here, so I am dragging my family with me to prepare to go back to my hometown. Who would have thought that when I was almost home, I would encounter something like this."
The old man said, sighing and shaking his head: "Under the governance of Prince Rui these years, everywhere in Huguang is much safer than before.
"Who would have known that my family would be so unlucky this time that we encountered bandits on the way home.
"But to meet my husband to save me at the critical moment shows that my family's luck is not over yet.
"After we deliver them to the government tomorrow, the official will definitely lead people into the mountains to suppress the bandits."
After hearing what the old man said, one of the bandits who was tied below suddenly couldn't help laughing.
The eldest son was so angry that he kicked the bandit to the ground and said sternly: "Why are you laughing? If you have the skills, you can even laugh in the lobby of the government."
"It would be fine if you let us go, but if you take us to the government, I don't know who will come out with a smile."
This bandit actually dragged him to his feet.
"You don't know yet, right? The person he shot to death with an arrow just now was not only the boss of our village, but also the brother-in-law of the county magistrate.
"Otherwise, why do you think he has a crossbow that is strictly controlled by the court? His brother-in-law who is the county magistrate didn't give it to him!
"When the county magistrate finds out that your brother-in-law has been killed by you, do you think he will lead people up the mountain to suppress the bandits, or will he convict you of murder and throw him in jail?"
The old man's family turned pale when they heard this. If this was really the case, and the delivery officials did not dare to deliver it, but just let it go for fear of the other party's retaliation, then they would be riding a tiger now.
Although what this person said is true, for him, the big boss is dead now. If they are really taken to the county government, they will not get any good fruits. They may even be angered by the county magistrate or directly punished. Being pushed out to take the blame.
So when he said such words at this time, he mainly wanted to scare Li Zian and others, and then simply let him go.
After all, for ordinary people, officials are too powerful, and no one wants to deal with the government when they have nothing to do.
He just wanted to get away now, but he didn't know that his words had successfully aroused Li Zian's anger again, and it was burning even more fiercely than before.
Huguang is such a big place, and it is inevitable to have bandits and bandits in remote places.
But if there is a collusion between officials and bandits, the nature of the matter will be completely different.
Li Zian almost wanted to call the shadow guards directly and ask them to investigate the matter immediately.
But a gust of night wind finally calmed down his heated head.
The shadow guard is not a secret guard, and his and Shen Tianshu's top priority is to treat Mr. Chen Fengjun as soon as possible.
If the local magistrate is really colluding with officials and bandits, and he is allowed to live for a few more days, he will never let him go in the future.
Thinking of this, Li Zian said directly to the old man: "Old man, after dawn, you should hurry up and go home.
"As for these people, don't ask anything about them, just leave them to me.
"I can guarantee that they will never have the chance to seek revenge in the future, how about that?"
When the family heard that there was such a good thing, they were extremely grateful to Li Zian.
Early the next morning, at dawn, the family thanked the two of them again and set off early.
But what confused the four bandits was that Li Zian and Shen Tianshu had no intention of dealing with them. They just drove away after eating something.
Just when the bandits who were kidnapped by Wu Hua Da thought they were afraid and did not dare to report to the authorities, a few cold lights suddenly flashed across the treetops.
The four people fell to the ground without any precautions, and their throats were accurately penetrated by a flying knife.
After the person fell to the ground, blood slowly flowed out from the wound.
