Chapter 48: The Great Disaster Brings Three Deaths

  After Zhang Ming and Zhang Liang left, "I said to Old Fourth, you are too suspicious! I think this thing is obviously true, how can everything become false when it comes to you?" This was said by Zhu Hu, the second eldest.

  Zhu Bao couldn't help but laugh bitterly, "Second brother, I'm doing this for the sake of our mountain stronghold, it's not like I had a choice!"

  "Alright, Second Brother, Fourth Brother, don't say any more! I've already sent someone over. With the Zhang family brothers' skills, what do you think?" Eldest Brother Zhu Long spoke up, and this time Zhu Hu and Zhu Bao didn't say another word.

  The Zhang brothers' ability to gather information was unparalleled in the entire mountain village, and Zhu Hu and Zhu Bao had every confidence that they could bring back reliable news.

  Ping Shou Cheng, Jin Fu, is said to be Jin Fu, but in fact it's just a small house. The owner of the house is surnamed Jin, named Jin Xing, and he is almost fifty years old now. Because his head is relatively big, people who are familiar with him all call him Jin Da Tou (Jin Big Head). However, don't look at Jin Da Tou's current situation, the house has only one room, and there is only his older brother in the family, but Jin Da Tou's ancestors were wealthy merchants.

  Unfortunately, it was a case of each generation being inferior to the last. By his great-grandfather's time, six brothers had divided up the family property, with each getting one-sixth, and then they all went their separate ways.

  However, his great-grandfather's health was particularly poor after the division of the family. The main reason is that he was the eldest son in the family and had inherited the legacy of his ancestors, with a heart to develop and expand the family. But unexpectedly, the six brothers were not united, from small contradictions to the final evolution into a divided family, each going their separate ways. As a result, Jin Xing's great-grandfather always felt guilty towards his ancestors, and eventually fell ill and passed away in less than two years.

  This family of Jin is quite interesting, possibly inherited from his great-grandfather's generation. Not long after his great-grandfather passed away, his grandfather's generation divided the family property again. His grandfather's generation had three people, each taking one-third of the family property, but unfortunately, before his great-grandfather's body was cold, the three sons actually divided the house.

  After the division, Jin Xing's grandfather moved to Beihai Pingshou. Originally, with his grandfather's share of the family property, if managed well, he could have left some assets for his descendants. However, his grandfather was lazy and gluttonous, and in the end, they lost almost everything.

  After his grandfather passed away, he didn't leave anything for his father. In the end, even the house was mortgaged to pay off debts. Kim Xing's father only had him as a child, and fortunately, his father was not like his grandfather. Fortunately, although his grandfather didn't leave anything behind, after the house was mortgaged to pay off debts, the Kim family didn't owe any external debts either.

  Jin Xing's father made a living by doing small business, but he had heard from his father since childhood that the Jin family was once glorious. Now it is declining, and his father also hoped to revive the family one day, so he named Jin Xing "Xing". Unfortunately, until his father passed away, he did not realize his wish to revive the family. Jin Xing also wanted to fulfill his father's wish, but unfortunately, after decades of struggling, his achievements were still not as good as his father's.

  At nearly fifty years old, aside from a small house and himself, he had nothing else. Jin Xing sometimes lamented that heaven was not helping him; it seemed the Jin family line would soon come to an end.

  That night, he was sighing when he suddenly felt a chill on his neck. It turned out that there was a knife placed on his neck. He looked along the knife and saw a teenager in his early teens smiling at him, and this knife belonged to that teenager.

  Jin Daitou has really become a big head this time, his brain buzzed and got even bigger, scaring him so much that he almost peed his pants. He fell to the ground, paralyzed with fear. In all his years, he had never seen such an aura. "Th-th-this... hero... spare my life! Hero, spare my life! Mercy!"

  Jin Daitou finally finished speaking, but he was scolding in his heart. Nowadays this rascal not only has a bigger belly, but also looks younger. More importantly, he doesn't have any vision at all! His own family is poor and empty-handed, yet this good-for-nothing still dares to come to his home, it's definitely because of his own bad luck this year. If only he had listened to the blind fortune teller's words a few days ago and given him some money to help ward off the disaster, it would have been better, but now it's too late.

  "Golden Head, don't be afraid, I've come to find you tonight because of something."

  The young man who came was Ma Chao. As he spoke, Ma Chao put away his knife. Jin Daitou saw that the newcomer had no intention of taking his life, and finally put his heart at ease, but still asked fearfully: "Hero, what instructions do you have?" While speaking, he secretly observed Ma Chao, afraid that if he said something wrong, the other's knife would come over.

  Ma Chao nodded, "On February 5th, you come with us to Xuzhou, after we've finished our business, you can return!"

  "Although Jin Daitou didn't know what the other side wanted him to do, he also didn't dare ask more questions, so he could only nod in agreement. 'Yes, hero, let me, do what, I'll go, do what.'"

  "Alright, it's settled then! Everyone come on in!"

  No sooner had he finished speaking than seven or eight more people came in from outside, carrying five large trunks into the house.

  This frightened Jin Dingtou again, thinking that this was not just one person committing a crime, but seven or eight accomplices, scaring him so much that he shrunk his head and felt cold sweat from head to toe.

  "Wu An, you stay behind, and we'll head back first, then come over again on the fifth!"

  This small hut can hold five large boxes, but it cannot accommodate nine people. Adding Jin Datou makes ten. So Ma Chao only left Wu Ankou to watch Jin Datou, and the others went back first. The house sleeps two, no problem.

  Before leaving, Ma Chao deliberately waved his sword in front of Jin Dui's face, "You'd better not have any other ideas. I know you, but my sword doesn't! And look at this guy, he can't bear a day without killing someone!" After that, Ma Chao pointed to Cui An beside him.

  Jin Daitou almost cried, thinking to himself that the person next to him was too fierce. Looking at his murderous aura, he must have killed many people before. He hastily said: "I dare not, I dare not!"

  After intimidating Jin Dali, Ma Chao and the other seven people returned to their rented house first, leaving only Wu Anguo to monitor Jin Dali.

  Ma Chao is not a person who kills innocent people indiscriminately, but this play must be performed in its entirety. Therefore, Jin Da Tou is also a necessary link and more in line with his idea, so Jin Da Tou was unfortunately selected. However, Ma Chao is confident that he can prevent him from losing his life in the chaos, and after the matter is settled, he will give him some money as compensation.

  On the fifth day of February, Ma Chao and others arrived at Jin Daitou's home. In recent days, he had already spread the news that Jin Daitou was going to Langya in Xuzhou for business, but did not mention the five large boxes. Some things are better left unsaid, and mentioning them would only arouse suspicion. Even if they didn't mention the boxes, Ma Chao believed that with the strength of the Zhu family's Wuxiong Mountain stronghold, everyone would already know about it.

  A line of ten people, pushing five large boxes, set out from Pingshou. Along the way, Ma Chao had long been aware that someone was following them, but he didn't bother to take care of it. Someone followed, which meant that Zhu Jia Wuyong was step by step walking into a trap.

  In the stronghold of the five tigers of the Zhu family, Zhang Liang was reporting to the five masters about the news he had gathered in Pingshout. After listening to Zhang Liang's words, Old Fourth Zhu Bao said: "You're saying that a merchant surnamed Jin from Pingshou City is taking five large boxes of valuables to Xuzhou?"

  "It's indeed like going back home." Zhang Liang replied.

  "Alright, Zhang Liang, you go down and receive your reward first!" said Zhu Long, the boss.

  "Thanks for the hospitality! I'll take my leave." With that, Zhang Liang went down to receive his reward.

  "Big brother, this matter is very suspicious! That Jin Xing, he usually only does small business, how come he suddenly took out so much money to do big business?" Zhu Bao expressed his doubts.

  "That Jin family's ancestors were big merchants, I reckon they left behind a lot of wealth!" Old Second Zhu Hu analyzed.

  "Yes, Old Fourth, I think Second Brother is right, this time we've made a good deal!" Big-mouthed Zhu Xiong spoke up.

  "I'm afraid it's a plan of Guan Yu!" Zhu Bao said worriedly.

  But he had just finished speaking and laughed at himself, thinking that Guan Hai was capable of this, which was completely unreliable.

  "Fourth brother, if you're afraid, just stay in the mountain stronghold. I and big brother second brother will go!" Zhu Xiong thought that Zhu Bao didn't go because he was timid.

  Zhu Bao got angry as soon as he heard it, thinking to himself that he was doing this for everyone's good, but ended up being called a coward. The other side had only about ten people, what was there to be afraid of? He just wanted to speak, but was interrupted by Zhu Long, "I, I can..."

  "Alright, alright! You all say a few less words, our mountain stronghold hasn't done such a big deal in many years! Don't overestimate that little brat Hua Rong, what kind of trick will he use? Besides, even if it's a trick, does he have the ability to eliminate us?"

  Zhu Long has been living too comfortably in recent years, and he almost has no sense of crisis. Although he always wants to annex Guan Hai's mountain stronghold, he doesn't consider Guan Hai a major threat, which ultimately leads him to his downfall.

  "Then you go, I'll stay in the mountain stronghold, I'm afraid!" Zhu Bao said with a bad tone, apparently he still remembered what Zhu Xiong had said before.

  "Alright, since the plan is set, Fourth Brother you stay and guard the mountain stronghold, Fifth Brother you also stay and guard the mountain stronghold, I'll take Second Brother, Third Brother and fifty brothers to make a trip!"

  Zhu Hu and Zhu Xiong burst out laughing, the big boss is indeed the big boss, still so daring, it's been a long time since they've made such a big deal, this time they must make a good show.

  After that, Zhu Long, Zhu Hu and Zhu Xiong selected fifty people and set off together. According to Zhu Long's calculations, they could rob the goods before Guan Hai.

  Ma Chao and his ten men had been traveling for more than two days since they left Pingshou. In these two days, Ma Chao had already dealt with the tail that was following him. Of course, before dealing with it, he had interrogated Zhang Ming several times, and Zhang Ming had confessed everything he knew. As a result, he still couldn't escape the misfortune of being silenced.

  After walking for a while, if they walked for half a day more, they would be within the range of Guan Hai's mountain stronghold. Ma Chao estimated that Zhu Jia's five heroes were about to arrive, and he had already sent Zhou Yi ahead to inform Guan Hai, asking him to launch a surprise attack on Zhu Jia's five heroes' mountain stronghold. He thought that if he could lure out three or four of them from this side, the remaining ones would be easily eliminated by Guan Hai without much trouble.

  He was thinking, and the road ahead had already been blocked by people. There were three men in front, and dozens behind them. Ma Chao secretly smiled to himself, having gone to so much trouble, he had finally gotten what he wanted, they had taken the bait.

  However, he still managed to put on a frightened expression and stammered out, "Y-you, y-you're... wh-what kind of people?"

  As soon as Ma Chao's words came out, the three men in front burst into loud laughter. The middle one said: "Old Two, Old Three, this kid asks us what kind of people we are, haha!"

  Among them, a man who looked like a hairless dog bear opened his mouth and shouted, "You little kid, listen up! Today, the ones who will kill you are the five heroes of the Zhu family. I am Zhu Xiong, this is my big brother Zhu Long, and that is my second brother Zhu Hu! Got it? When the time comes to report to King Yan, just report the three of us and that's all!"

  That was a crazy one, after finishing speaking, Zhu Xiong led the horse to charge forward, and in the middle, Zhu Long also shouted loudly, "Brothers, kill them, those riches are ours! Charge!"

  A group of mountain bandits charged towards Ma Chao, but he wasn't afraid at all. In the past when he launched a surprise attack on the Xianbei King's court in Shan Mountain, he didn't flinch even when faced with thousands of troops guarding the king's court; let alone today's few dozen small-time mountain bandits.

  Ma Chao clashed with Zhu Long, Cui An clashed with Zhu Hu, and Wu Anguo clashed with Zhu Xiong. The remaining five people then clashed with the fifty men of the Zhu family's Five Tigers Mountain stronghold.

  Zhu Long and Zhu Hu were defeated by Ma Chao and Cui An within five rounds, falling to the ground dead. The gap was too great, and when they came to their senses, it was already too late to escape, and the two ended their lives in extreme regret.

  Zhu Xiong was also killed by Wu Anguo with one hammer, and the remaining mountain bandits saw that three of their leaders were dead, and they knew they had met a tough opponent this time. However, when they wanted to run away, they couldn't, because Ma Chao and his men wouldn't let them escape. In the end, all fifty people who came together were killed, not one was left, and the whole army was defeated. The one who made the greatest contribution was naturally Cui An, whose body was covered in blood from head to toe, and he was very satisfied, but it was still not enough.

  Ma Chao ordered Cui An to go and cut off the heads of the three Zhu brothers, then wrapped them in Zhu Long's clothes, preparing to hand them over to Guan Yu.

  He found Jin Datou hiding in the grass by the side of the road, and Jin Datou was pale with fear. Ma Chao didn't plan to scare him again, gave him some money and sent him back to Pingshou.

  Jin Daitou was extremely grateful, and after what had just happened, he finally realized that the young man in front of him was also a fierce person. As for the one with the evil appearance, it went without saying. Being able to keep his life intact in front of such a group of people was truly a blessing from the Jin family ancestors, and as soon as he returned home, he would have to kowtow and burn incense. Originally, he didn't dare take the money, but Ma Chao threatened him that he must take it, so he had no choice but to take the money and leave.

  Things have been settled here, and Ma Chao led eight people to rush to Zhu Jia Wuyong's mountain stronghold. Ma Chao didn't know the way, but someone did, and Guan Hai's five subordinates led Ma Chao to Zhu Jia Wuyong's mountain stronghold.

  It seems that the battle for the counterfeit mountain stronghold should be over, because looking at this place it should have just gone through a big war, and the ones guarding the mountain stronghold are the people of Guan Hai Mountain Stronghold.

  Ma Chao entered the mountain stronghold and found Guan Hai. Looking at Guan Hai's appearance, although he had won, he didn't seem particularly happy. It wasn't until he asked that he knew what was going on.