Chapter Thirty-Three: One Sword, Three Coins

  The convoy stopped at an open area in front of the forest, and several men who were leading the way looked into the woods. They didn't see anyone escaping or entering, and the leader of the bandits saw that the young woman's attitude was firm and resolute, if they forced her, she would rather die than submit. With business to attend to outside, he felt anxious in his heart, gritted his teeth, and shouted: "Leave a few people to watch her! Brothers, let's go!" After speaking, he took the lead with his knife and rushed out of the forest, and dozens of bandits reluctantly looked at the woman before following him.

  A swarm of bees flew out of the forest, and the old trick was repeated. The convoy was surrounded in the center, fearing that one would escape. Upon closer inspection, they were all two-wheeled flatbed carts, loaded with stacks of hemp sacks, bulging and swollen, unknown what was inside. One cart had five or six men escorting it, and twelve carts had sixty or seventy people. But the robbers were not afraid at all. Based on past experience, these people were mostly merchants transporting goods, who valued their lives more than anything else. After being intimidated for a few sentences, they would be frightened by the glint of a knife and guaranteed to run faster than rabbits!

  "You bunch of birds! If you don't want to eat the blade, then get out of here quickly!" The leader's heart was tied up with Mei Jiaoniang, and he omitted a lot of words, directly and bluntly asking. The henchmen were obviously more anxious than him, each shaking their knives and guns, loudly threatening.

  A young man standing next to the car glared at the bandit chief and snorted: "In a peaceful world, with clear skies and clean air, do you still have any regard for the law?"

  The robbers looked at each other in dismay, and one of them asked, "Isn't this kid still on milk? How dare you ask such a ridiculous question! What's the law? How much silver is the law worth per catty? Give me six taels and I'll spare your life?" The leader of the robbers seemed to be amused by the young man's boldness and burst out laughing, saying: "In this place, I am the law! You little brat, if you want to live, hurry up and roll down from the cart!"

  At this time, someone beside the young man said: "But grandfather, I want to save my life and don't want to lose my cart, what should I do?"

  The leader's eyes flashed with a fierce intent, and he strode forward, pushing aside the young man. He stared straight at him. The young man was just a greenhorn, not even twenty years old, with a handsome face, but his expression seemed frozen, making the leader feel extremely uneasy. Raising his knife slightly, he pointed it at the young man and said in a low voice, "Say it again."

  "I say, let's go!" The words were still in his ears when suddenly a knife was pulled out from under the sack on the car. With a swift motion, the leader's head flew high into the air and was caught by the young man, who held it aloft and shouted "Three strokes to victory!" Only then did the headless body collapse to the ground!

  The remaining people didn't say a word! They all drew their swords and rushed towards the predetermined target! Dozens of bandits had no time to react, and the enemy was already upon them. The young man who spoke first, at the moment when the bandit leader's head flew up, had already charged forward with his knife. With one slash, he cut off half the head of a bandit who stood there like a wooden chicken, and silently cursed, "This is not good!"

  "Brother, brother, brothers! Fight, fight, fight!" One bandit shouted this out and then ran away with his tail between his legs. Suddenly hearing someone chasing from behind, a strong gust of wind arose! This was an old slippery fellow, knowing something was wrong, suddenly dodged to the side! A chill on his shoulder, intense pain arrived! He forcibly endured it, almost at the same time, the short sword in his hand stabbed backwards with all his might!

  A muffled hum came from behind, the thief drew his sword and took off without looking back, with a knife still lodged in his shoulder. After running several steps, the knife on his shoulder finally fell to the ground. Just then, the rapid footsteps behind him were getting closer and closer, but the thief did not repeat his previous trick. Instead, he suddenly lifted both feet upwards, his body quickly flipping backwards, and the short sword in his hand stabbed back like a venomous snake!

  But this time, he was left empty-handed. Just as he was shocked, a breaking sound came rushing in! A mournful cry, the thief was cut in half at the waist! He struggled to lift his head, only to see that he had been severed from the waist down, with his internal organs spilled all over the ground! The young man who beheaded the bandit chief was retrieving his knife, staring at him expressionlessly, but those eyes were clearly filled with anger!

  As he raised his sword with both hands again, the bandit gritted his teeth and closed his eyes, hearing the last words of his life: "This is three taels!"

  In less than half a meal's time, the forest that had been shaken by cries of killing and wailing returned to calm. On the ground were countless headless corpses, young men with red eyes holding knives like sickles, harvesting human heads.

  In the woods, several naked men covered their lower bodies and crouched on the ground, looking at the young people surrounding them with terror. More than a dozen restless knives could take their heads off at any moment. The mother and daughter clung to each other, leaning against the sedan chair, without the courage to look at everything in front of them.

  "Give way to Ninth Brother!" a voice shouted loudly.

  The young men surrounding the naked man parted to make way, and Xu Wei came forward, scanning the guards with a glance. Before he could speak, the leader of the guards hastily asked, "Which army are you brothers from?" He saw clearly that the knives in their hands were one of the standard equipment of the Song Dynasty army, the "Eight-Colored Knives", specifically hand knives.

  "Jingwei Xiang Yongying!" A young man holding two human heads in his hand replied with unparalleled pride.

  What's going on? Country bumpkin? Several naked guards looked at each other, saw the joy on their companions' faces, and slowly stood up straight, but feeling embarrassed, they squatted back down again, angrily shouting: "Take off your clothes!"

  Xu Wei narrowed his eyes and turned his head, saying: "Are you talking to me?"

  "Spare me the nonsense! Do you know who I am?" the leader of the guards asked in a tone that was all too familiar.

  "Not interested." Xu Wei looked at him with disdain and turned to leave. The guard's eyes widened in anger, he stood up abruptly and cursed loudly: "I am a member of the Step Chancellor's mansion! You dare..." But those fierce-looking men from Xu family village, their faces red with rage, waved their steel knives and forced him to squat down, their voices stern and severe!

  The mother and daughter clung to each other, their eyes tightly closed, trembling with fear. The woman was also splattered with a streak of blood on her white clothes. It seemed that they were really frightened, the appearance of the bandits had already chilled them to the bone, and the cruelty of Xu Wei's gang made the two women's souls fly out!

  When she heard no more noise, the woman slightly opened her eyes. What entered her sight was a face with distinct features, and the other party was staring at her without any reserve. Feeling the man's rudeness, she turned her head to one side. Just now, I heard that these people were from the Xiangyong Camp, presumably the rural militia under the jurisdiction of the Daming Prefecture. Running into them was like being given a second chance at life.

  "Mother, it's all right, Mother." The woman gently patted her mother's shoulder, and the woman finally opened her eyes, letting out a heavy sigh, and shouted "Heavens!" After shouting, she fell to one side, her body went limp, and leaned against her daughter.

  The woman panicked and shook her mother violently, shouting loudly with a sob in her voice.

  "It's okay, maybe it was just a shock and she fainted temporarily. Where are you from and where are you headed?" Xu Wei asked softly.

  The woman seemed to have no intention of paying attention to him, and only called out to her mother. Xu Wei didn't get angry either, and threw out a sentence: "Then you can stay here." After saying that, he actually really walked away.

  "Ah, you..." The woman was in a hurry and almost threw her mother to the ground. She hugged her tightly and with great effort managed to squeeze into the sedan chair. After settling down, she hesitated for a moment before chasing after Xu Wei. This place was not near any village or shop, if they were abandoned here it would be terrible. Although that person was rude, he wasn't a bad guy after all? The guards couldn't be relied on, so she had to ask him for help instead.

  "We came from Tokyo and are going to Qinghe County." The woman said in a low voice behind Xu Wei.

  Xu Weiting stopped in his tracks and didn't turn around. He pointed at the naked men with his right hand: "Are those few birds with you?"

  The girl didn't even glance at him and flatly refused: "No."

  .......................

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