Chapter One: Perplexity

  After getting rid of those people outside the yard, a group of dark shadows rushed out from the bushes and woods and came to the outside of the yard.

  Zhou Haofei quickly ran to the side door of the yard, stretched out his hand and used a piece of cloth strip to twist it several times, tightly tying up the door ring of this side door. He then found a short wooden stick and inserted it into the cloth strip, twisting it several times to ensure it was very tight, so that the people inside couldn't pull it open.

  On the other side, the captors rushed to the back wall of the courtyard, where no one was on guard. They used the ropes they carried with them to tie up the branches they had cut down and threw them over the wall, hooking onto the top of the wall. Then, holding onto the rope, they climbed up the wall with force and slid into the yard again. When they landed, they stepped on something and made a loud "crash" sound.

  In the darkness, a loud noise suddenly burst forth, like a sharp blade that instantly tore through the silent night sky. Everyone felt a tremble in their hearts and involuntarily stopped what they were doing, perking up their ears to listen for what might happen next.

  But after everyone was stunned for a while, nothing happened. Fortunately, these thieves did not raise dogs in the yard, otherwise they would have been exposed by now.

  But even so, it still made one break out in a cold sweat. Xing Duoyi silently cursed and left several archers at the front gate, handing them over to Gao Huaiyuan, while he himself led the remaining capturers to rush towards the back door.

  Two bowmen also took out two makeshift flying tiger claws, quietly threw them over the wall, and made two slapping sounds, but still did not wake up the drunkard. So the bowmen climbed up the wall in a flurry of activity, bringing eight people from Hua's side, including Gao Huaiyuan. Just as the last person was climbing up the wall, something unexpected happened.

  Drunk Xiao Er was suddenly woken up by a strong urge to urinate, and with a "gulp" sound, he sucked back the saliva that had flowed to the corner of his mouth. Rubbing his eyes, he woke up, and as a result, in his drowsy state, under the bright moonlight, he saw several people climbing on the wall, and his nerves immediately tensed up, ready to shout loudly.

  At this time, those bowmen who were climbing the wall were still some distance away from him and couldn't get to him in time. This is going to be bad!

  But his movements all fell into the eyes of Gao Huaiyuan, who had been paying attention to him. At this time, Gao Huaiyuan also took over the two-stone hard bow from Zhou Huan's hand, seeing that the situation was not good, he didn't think and immediately opened the bow, raised his hand and shot an arrow at Xie Er.

  However, the movement was still a bit slow, and because of the tension in his heart, although he didn't quite understand the situation, his instincts told him that something was wrong, so he let out a loud shout and rushed towards the wall to escape over it. At this moment, Gao Huaiyuan's arrow also happened to arrive.

  Xiang Er's life was saved because his foot slipped, and he stumbled. The arrow that was originally heading straight for his chest suddenly shot into the depression of his shoulder, and with great force, it pierced through his shoulder, throwing his body backward. Accompanied by his mournful cry, he fell face up into the courtyard.

  At this point, the action was finally exposed, and Gao Huaiyuan immediately waved his hand and shouted: "Quickly get on the roof!"

  Those archers immediately understood, stood on the wall, jumped deep to the top of several outhouses close to the high wall, and occupied the high place.

  But now the exposure has no great impact, and the backyard door is opened from inside by the catcher who jumped into the yard earlier. Xing Catcher led a group of catchers rushing in from the door and pounced on those dark rooms.

  At this time, the second discovery was also made by them, and when they let out a cry of surprise, the shrill and mournful cries instantly awakened most of the thieves in the courtyard from their dreams.

  Yang Tong was embracing a woman he had seized, sleeping naked in bed. He was suddenly awakened from his good dream, his whole body trembling with fright. He pushed away the woman in his arms and grabbed a big knife with a tiger-shaped handle from the bedside table, shouting: "Who's calling?"

  He then pulled over a piece of clothing from the bed, wrapped it around his body, covering his lower body. If not, he would feel that his lower brother was unsafe. Then he rushed out of the bedroom. At this time, the yard had already become chaotic.

  Under the moonlight, one could see figures darting about in the courtyard. Some of his subordinates rushed out of their rooms in a panic, only to be immediately struck down by the intruders' flashing blades at the door.

  At this moment, a dark shadow rushed towards Yang Tong, raised his knife and chopped, Yang Tong hastily fended off, both sides clanged and clashed as they started fighting.

  Yang Tong was a young man who liked to dance with guns and learn martial arts, but he used his skills for evil, causing trouble in the countryside and earning the nickname "Flower Knife Taosui". Later, because he injured someone, the government wanted to arrest him, so he simply gathered a group of thugs and started robbing houses. His martial arts skills were quite impressive.

  The two captors who rushed at him were no match for him, and they were cut down to the ground in just a few strokes. Yang Tong took advantage of the moonlight to take a look, this person was wearing casual clothes, and it was not clear what their background was, but he knew that today he had been ambushed, so he shouted loudly, wielding his big knife to drive away the two captors who tried to kill him, shouting: "Feng Jin Ge Hu!"

  Seeing these people rushing in from behind, he immediately led the remaining people to rush towards the side door. At this time, a shower of arrows suddenly fell from the roof, and under the sudden attack, several thieves who followed Yang Tong's attempt to escape from the side door were immediately shot and fell to the ground in the courtyard.

  Yang Tong relied on his good kung fu skills and managed to dodge a sharp arrow flying towards him, then rushed to the side door, but found that it had been tied up from the outside, and it seemed impossible to escape from here.

  At this time, another archer targeted Yang Tong and began shooting arrows at him, trying to knock him to the ground.

  Yang Tong dodged the arrow by rolling off his donkey, and at this time the courtyard was filled with cries of killing. Yang Tong only then believed that they had been ambushed tonight, so he didn't dare to delay any longer, immediately called out to the remaining subordinates, and desperately rushed towards the main gate.

  Actually, this time Xing Captor and Gao Huaiyuan still couldn't accurately estimate the number of people under Yang Tong's command. Initially, they estimated that Yang Tong's gang was probably around 20-30 people, but in reality, Yang Tong's subordinates exceeded their expectations. Along the way from Yongxing County, he recruited some more bandits, and the actual number reached nearly 50 people. After Xing Captor led a surprise attack and the archers on the roof shot and killed them, about 10-20 were eliminated, but still over 20 bandits escaped from the initial chaos, following Yang Tong to rush into the front yard and open the gate.

  Yang Tong also knew that in such a situation, the front gate would likely have someone guarding it, so he left a heart's eye and let his subordinates run ahead to open the door and rush outwards. He himself fell behind, first taking a look at the situation, and also guarded against the arrows shot down from the roof. This was the reason why he could still be safe and sound after being pursued by the government many times. This guy was indeed cunning enough.

  The result was indeed not beyond his expectation. After several subordinates opened the front gate, they rushed to the door and were met with several long spears thrusting in from outside the door. Only two of them had managed to grab their weapons in the chaos. When the spears entered the gate, the bandits who were crowded together had nowhere to hide and four of them were immediately knocked down on the spot. One of them was even stabbed in the abdomen and retreated into the courtyard, covering his stomach and crying out in pain.

  In the chaos, Yang Tong couldn't tell how many enemies had arrived. It seemed like they were everywhere. The front gate was open, but it was still being guarded by someone, while his own men were constantly letting out mournful cries as they were shot down or hacked to the ground by the pursuing enemy.

  Yang Tong gritted his teeth, swung his large knife and shouted: "Brothers, make way, follow me to charge out!"

  The thieves inside immediately made way for a path, letting Yang Tong rush to the front. Yang Tong swung his big knife, dancing into a whirlwind of knives, desperately rushing towards the gate.

  As soon as he arrived at the gate, he suddenly heard someone outside shouting: "Assassination!"

  Then he saw five long spears, which were stabbed at him from outside the door. Although he was confident in his skills, the people outside the door moved very uniformly. He was confident that he could dodge or block two or three spears, but when five spears came at him simultaneously, he didn't dare to face them head-on. He forced himself to stop in his tracks and retreated a few steps, swinging his sword to knock away the two spears that were coming straight for him.

  After he stopped in his tracks, Yang Tong broke out in a cold sweat. Could it be that the people outside were government soldiers? Why were their movements so uniform? It seemed that things had indeed taken a turn for the worse today!

  They were all crowded in front of the gate, and the enemy on the roof kept shooting arrows, constantly creating new casualties among them. The enemies who rushed into the yard also killed the thieves in the backyard and then charged towards the front yard. Waiting here was only a dead end. Yang Tong also became desperate, grabbed one of his men, used him as a shield, let out a loud roar and rushed out of the gate. At this time, there was another shout outside: "Stab!"

  Again, five long spears pierced the gate together. Yang Tong blocked two of them with his right hand and grabbed one of his men with his left hand, shielding himself in front. The remaining three long spears almost simultaneously stabbed into the chest and abdomen of this poor guy, who let out a miserable cry before being thrown away by Yang Tong.

  Taking advantage of the gunman's withdrawal outside the door, Yang Tong jumped out of the courtyard gate with a swing of his knife, ready to chop at the gunmen blocking the door. The gunmen had an advantage in terms of distance, and if they allowed the enemy to get close, there would be little defensive space left. Yang Tong wanted to take this opportunity to kill these few gunmen and let his men rush out from inside the courtyard. Just as he swung his knife and rushed up to the gunman, ready to strike with all his might, someone beside the gunman shouted: "Chop!"

  Immediately afterwards, five single knives flashed with cold light and chopped down on him without any fancy moves.

  The knife method was simple, just a downward chop. But with five people chopping at the same time, Yang Tong didn't know how to dodge or parry, and his kung fu skills were useless. He was so scared that he had to give up his idea of attacking the gunman, and retreated in mid-air. Then he heard someone shout: "Stab!"

  The five long spears came at him again, and Yang Tong almost cried out in frustration. It was just a simple stab and chop, but he really had no way to counter it, and was once again forced back.

  It was a matter of life and death, so Yang Tong also rushed out, wildly shouting and forcing the subordinates gathered in the front yard to make a desperate charge at the gate. However, because they usually committed crimes with short weapons, no one had a long-range weapon, and in the chaos, only some people took out their own weapons, while more than half of them were empty-handed. The width of the gate was limited, and five long spears sealed it tightly. After two charges, the result was the same - three people were knocked down before being forced back into the yard again.

  At this time, the thieves in the yard were also driven mad, and they randomly picked up some things that could be taken, threw them out of the gate, forced back the few gunmen outside, and took advantage of the opportunity to rush out of the gate again like a madman. As a result, he was killed by the knife shield hand who cooperated with the long gun hand, and two were chopped down, leaving one who ran back with his life, and as a result, a blood hole was stabbed in his buttocks by the gunman, and he fell in the yard.

  Yang Tong was really frustrated to the extreme, with more than 20 people in his hands, facing 10 people outside the door, he didn't have any way at all, and was even knocked down by half of them like chopping melons and vegetables, using only two moves, stabbing and then chopping, he had a set of skills that couldn't be used at all.

  At this time, Xing Captor had already led his captors from the backyard to the front yard, surrounding these thieves. Xing Captor shouted loudly: "We are the Da Ye County captors, you still don't quickly kneel down and surrender, do you want us to slaughter all of you?"

  These thieves, although they were doing bad things one by one, but when it really came to this time, most people had already been scared stiff and dropped their knives, crying and kneeling down, shouting for mercy. Seeing that many people had dropped their weapons, Yang Tong also lost hope. Today was thoroughly defeated. There were people blocking the front gate, a group of captors behind him, and archers watching from above. At this moment, he was in a desperate situation, with no way to escape or retreat.

  With no hope of escape, Yang Tong gritted his teeth and became ruthless. He knew what he had done over the years, and if he fell into the hands of the authorities, there was only one outcome: to be skinned alive and publicly humiliated. Rather than being captured and tortured to death with countless knives, it was better to fight back with all his might and die a quick death.

  Then he let out a loud roar, and with a deep swing of his knife, he rushed towards Xing the captain who was shouting at them to surrender. Several other bandits also knew what would happen if they were caught, so they too went mad and followed Yang Tong in a charge forward.

  The bowmen on the roof didn't idle, as soon as they saw these few people counterattacking before death, they immediately opened their bows and shot arrows, instantly covering Yang Tong and several people behind him in a rain of arrows. However, once people become desperate, even if the arrows hit them, they wouldn't feel any pain, after a brief pause, as long as they weren't shot in vital parts, they still charged forward with the arrows stuck in their bodies, following Yang Tong to attack Xing Bu and his men head-on.

  These captors have been staring at their movements, seeing the thief so ferocious, immediately followed by Xing Captor and Yang Tong to fight together.

  Yang Tong was indeed a fierce man, having been shot by two arrows, he seemed to be unaffected, his large knife danced in the air like a whirlwind of silver, and he was like a mad dog, making it difficult for Xing Baozhu and his men to deal with him for a while.

  It wasn't that Yang Tong's kung fu was much stronger than Xing's, but rather he now had a death wish and used an all-out attacking style. The constables were confident of victory, so why would they risk their lives fighting him? As a result, for the time being, Yang Tong was forced to retreat step by step by these few thugs.

  The archers on the house, because both sides were entangled together, also did not dare to easily shoot arrows again. The situation was unexpectedly stuck like this, and for a while, they didn't know what to do.

  At this time, Gao Huaiyuan led Zhou Heng and other gunmen to rush in from the gate. With a wave of his hand, Zhou Heng and Fei Wenlong immediately had their subordinates take away the several bandits who were kneeling on the ground and surrendering, and took out ropes to tie them up tightly before throwing them aside.

  Gao Huaiyuan looked at the chaotic battle in the courtyard, his brow furrowed. If they kept fighting like this, when would it end?! He suddenly pulled out his strong bow, nocked an arrow, took aim, and released it with a loud "twang". The arrow shot straight into the crowd.

  Yang Tong was forcing Xing and the others to retreat step by step, injuring two of them in the process. At this moment, he felt a glimmer of hope. He thought that as long as he continued to be fierce, the others would not be able to handle him. So he became even more ferocious, looking for an opening to make his move. His plan was to force the captors back and then quickly dash into the shadows, where he could catch them off guard and kill them before they knew what hit them. Once he escaped from the courtyard, he would be able to escape with his life. As for his followers behind him, he couldn't care less about their fate.

  The abacus was not bad, but before he could put it into action, he suddenly felt a chill on his back, as if something was pressing in on him, making him shiver. In the confusion, he made out the sound of a bowstring, and was shocked and dismayed. He thought to himself, "In this chaotic situation, the opponent still dares to shoot arrows, doesn't he fear hurting his own people?"

  Yang Tong wanted to dodge when it was already too late, this arrow came so fast that he didn't even have a chance to hide, only felt his thigh suddenly shook, an arrow directly pierced through the back of his thigh, penetrating his thigh, almost passing through his thigh, causing his body to lose balance instantly, and fell headfirst to the ground, the big knife in his hand was also thrown out, and almost injured one of his own people.