The sky had completely darkened, leaving only the burning torches in the hands of the opposing cavalry team, making a crackling sound.
Now there are only two choices before Hu Jinqiu, either hand over all the money and goods to the other party, the caravan does not need to move forward, and return home early tomorrow morning. Whether he can go back alive depends on God's favor or not; Just fight to the death with the opponent, even if you die together, it is difficult to do, but if the opponent wants to escape without leaving more than a dozen lives, it is also impossible.
The problem is that these dutiful businessmen, even if they have the consciousness to put their heads in their belts, are not real desperadoes after all. They are different from the bandits in front of them.
No one wanted something like this to happen, and they paid the protection fee to try to avoid it. But looking at the other party's calm and composed look, Hu Jinqiu felt even more unsure.
The more calmly the other party behaves, the more Hu Jinqiu will guess.
Could it be that something happened in Kunlun Mountain and that they no longer have the energy to impose restraints on these bandits? Or is it that these bandits are so powerful that they no longer care about the Kunlun Sect?
Hu Jinqiu didn't have much time to guess what happened on Kunlun Mountain, because the faces of the bandits in the opponent's cavalry were getting more and more ugly, and they seemed to be impatient to wait.
Begging for mercy from the other party and trying to exchange a small amount of goods for the safety of the entire caravan seems to be impossible now, so the problem returns to the original option.
Fight for your life, or save your life?
If Hu Jinqiu knew Meng Ran's true combat power, he would probably have a completely different judgment on the situation before him.
However, Hu Jinqiu did not take Meng Ran's combat power into account from the beginning. This was partly because he felt that even though Meng Ran was a cultivator, she was still a girl. Facing these ruthless men, it would be difficult to protect herself. , let alone killing the enemy; on the other hand, Hu Jinqiu's kindness will never allow him to drag this little girl into this dirty water again.
Hu Jinqiu cupped his fists and raised his hands to the other party, and said something in Western dialect. The other party nodded and replied.
"Let me discuss this with the others in the caravan."
"Go ahead, don't be in a hurry."
Don't worry, it looks like something is really going on in Kunlun Mountain.
The guards still maintained a prepared posture, but their faces had long lost the calmness they had just now, and they seemed to be somewhat desperate for the situation in front of them.
How to fight with the opponent in this state?
Hu Jinqiu sighed in his heart, walked back to the crowd, and said with a frustrated look: "Looking at it, there is probably no room for relaxation. The other party wants to either hand over all the belongings or kill us." .”
A businessman could no longer suppress the anger in his heart, and whispered: "My wealth and life have all been placed on this product. If it is lost, there is no difference between killing me. It is better to kill everything!"
"As long as people are alive, there is still a chance. You must not have such a mentality of giving up your life rather than your wealth." Another businessman comforted.
In the end, the caravan was clearly divided into two factions, one of which insisted on fighting the other. Since these bandits did not rush up immediately, they did not
With full confidence that they can escape unscathed, the caravan still has a chance to win the final victory.
The victory mentioned here does not mean that the opponent can be slaughtered by just relying on the guards in the caravan, but that the opponent can fully understand the strength of the caravan. Even if they take action, they must reflect on whether the gain is not worth the loss. .
The other group insists that if you lose money to eliminate disaster, you will have to start over from scratch. Everyone has to memorize words in this life. If you are not forced by the other party, you must not have the idea of desperate. After all, we are all members of the same family, not for yourself. I have to think about my family.
There was no quarrel, because when these merchants from the Western Regions gathered together, they had an unwritten agreement: no matter who they were, they must obey the decision of the caravan leader during the entire process of running goods. How unreasonable is this team leader's decision?
The leader of this caravan is Hu Jinqiu.
This is equivalent to leaving the entire caravan's wealth and life to Hu Jinqiu alone to make decisions. One can imagine how much psychological pressure he is under at this time.
As the team leader, Hu Jinqiu pondered for a moment, and finally looked up at Meng Ran unconsciously.
To be honest, this was a choice he made out of extreme desperation. It was not that he wanted to evade responsibility, but that he really couldn't think of a better way.
When he looked at Meng Ran, it meant that he wanted to listen to Meng Ran's opinion. If Meng Ran expressed his opinion, it would be equivalent to acquiescing that he would advance and retreat with them as a member of the caravan.
Meng Ran looked at the apology in the other person's eyes and smiled slightly. She did not blame the middle-aged man, and said slowly: "No matter what decision you want to make, I will support it, but if it comes to the point where I can't beat you, I will really run away first. Don't tell me anything." Not loyal."
There was no pretense of a free and easy smile to please what Meng Ran said. Everyone knew that what Meng Ran said was true.
And it should be so.
In fact, the moment Hu Jinqiu looked at Meng Ran, he had already made a decision in his heart. If it was to save money and eliminate disaster, then he didn't need to consult her opinion at all. It was just a matter of paying money and settling matters.
Now that the plan has been decided, everyone will stop talking nonsense and get it done.
Hu Jinqiu explained his thoughts to everyone and let everyone digest the contents. He slowly walked to the simple fortifications and started talking to the other party again, but this time the hesitation in his eyes was gone. All disappeared, leaving only determination.
The caravan agreed to the other party's request and was willing to use the goods on the horses and the money on the horse in exchange for personal safety. The premise was that the other party must let the caravan leave first and wait until everyone has gone far before accepting it.
The other party agreed happily and said that he would definitely believe in the sincerity of the caravan and would not come forward to receive the caravan's things within half an hour after the caravan left.
Hu Jinqiu said, "Hello, please step back, we will leave now."
The leader waved to the back.
The fifty-man cavalry retreated slowly, as if to show their sincerity and allow the caravan members enough time to leave.
The time left for the caravan was not ample, but Hu Jinqiu knew that he still needed to announce a pre-war mobilization to boost the morale of these guards.
The sad soldiers will win. At this time, just beating chicken blood is useless. A fool can see that there are only disadvantages and very disadvantages for the caravan now.
So Hu Jinqiu went out of his way and began to talk to everyone in the caravan in a heavy tone about the difficulties the caravan was facing today.
"Although the other party said that as long as we leave, they will not make things difficult for us, but as long as we walk out of this simple fortification that was built in an emergency, the other party may make a collective charge at any time. Don't talk about mediating with the other party. Even if we want to run away, I'm afraid we will not It's too late, and then we will end up with a terrible life-threatening outcome, so we can't rely on the other party's mercy, we still have to rely on ourselves." Hu Jinqiu looked at everyone and said slowly.
"Our only advantage is the weather." Hu Jinqiu looked at the dark sky and continued to say to everyone.
"The fact that they have torches in their hands is both a benefit and a disadvantage. The disadvantage is that it is difficult for them to see our every move in the dark. This is also the biggest advantage in our next response strategy."
Having said this, Hu Jinqiu let out a long sigh.
"The final result is still to fight hard. How to fight is what we must consider. But I hope that you will not take any chances. When it is time to be ruthless, you must be ruthless. After all, success or failure, even life and death, All in one fell swoop.”
The leader retreated into the cavalry and vaguely looked at the situation on the other side of the caravan under the light of the torch.
Naturally, the people in the caravan didn't know that they were actually not very interested in the goods at all. The purpose of coming here was to kill people. As for the property, it was just for hunting rabbits. It would be better to have it. If not, it would be better. , in fact, it doesn't matter much, only the horses can arouse his interest a little bit.
In order to prevent the other party from fighting against himself and losing too many brothers, he would definitely not adopt the current strategy.
However, it seems that the other party's desire to survive is indeed strong enough, which also gives me an opportunity to set up a trap. As long as the other party walks out of the fortification that blocks the horse, human legs will always not run as fast as the horse's legs. At that time, my brothers will only need to If you mount a collective charge, your opponent will suffer a pitiful end, and your own damage will be negligible, so why not do it?
So when he vaguely saw many people starting to walk out from behind the fortifications at the rear of the caravan, a sneer appeared on the corner of his mouth, knowing that his strategy was successful.
Don't be in a hurry, wait until everyone on the other side comes out, then kill people and steal goods.
The ones coming out now must be all unarmed businessmen. According to common sense, those guards will definitely be at the back of the caravan to prevent them from changing their minds temporarily.
Perhaps these businessmen in the Central Plains have not seen the combat effectiveness of these affiliated bandits for a long time, and they actually have such naive ideas.
Seeing the separation of people and goods, those people were already running toward the distance in dejection. Looking at their backs, they looked quite embarrassed. The leader knew that time was almost up.
He turned his head, showed a cruel smile to the brothers behind him, and said in standard Western dialect: "Charge and kill them."
These bandits couldn't wait any longer. When they heard the leader's words, they no longer concealed their greed and charged towards the lambs with roars!
