Chapter Thirty-One: Joining

  (Today, several senior executives from the parent company came over and got drunk. I can only store the draft for now and upload it later. Just got back from singing and taking a bath, sorry about that. There are typos, will correct them tomorrow. As a writer like me, I just write what's on my mind. Please bear with me. Thank you.)

  As the mountain stronghold of Woyao Mountain joined forces, the situation changed dramatically. The village militia in Zhangjiabao saw a group of fierce and ferocious men approaching and immediately lost their will to resist. They let out a shout and scattered in all directions, with only the Zhang family members still resisting stubbornly. The mountain stronghold brothers were even more spirited, slaughtering those fleeing militiamen. Lv Shi Yi pulled the blood-soaked Guo Tianxing and shouted: "Quickly restrain the brothers from indiscriminately killing innocent people."

  Don't shout across the sky and then jump onto a big cart, loudly shouting: "Put down your swords and guns to avoid death—"

  At this time, Zhao Dahai also freed his hands and looked at the situation, which had already been decided, and followed Lv Shi to shout loudly: "Surrender and be spared from death—"

  The village heroes were originally tenant farmers and refugees, just trying to make a living by mixing with the Zhang family, but they didn't have much loyalty to them. The Zhang family was also very stingy in normal times, so few people were willing to sacrifice themselves for them. Their initial resistance was only due to instinct and sudden rewards, now that the situation has turned against them, who would still be willing to die for the already dead Master Zhang?

  After hearing Lü Shi's shout, they didn't dare to believe it, and hesitated. But when Zhao Dahi stood up and shouted, everyone put down their hearts. After all, Zhao Dahi's official status was there at that time. The remaining **ten village braves immediately put down their knives and guns, knelt aside and waited for Lü Shi's disposal.

  As soon as these militiamen gave up their resistance, the remaining Zhang family members, although aware that their lives were at stake, had no training after all. Seeing that the situation was already hopeless, they let out a cry and ran towards the Zhang family mansion. Some distant relatives even dropped their knives, guns, and clubs, and directly escaped back home, closing the door to await their fate.

  The remaining Zhang family members, led by the steward, scrambled back to the Zhang family mansion and slammed the gate shut, preparing to make a last stand.

  The Zhang family's mansion was built over a hundred years ago, with high and sturdy courtyard walls, and the gate was made of the finest mountain elm wood. For a while, everyone couldn't help but make a fuss, and hundreds of people were making a racket in front of the gate on the square.

  The bandits had no organizational ability at all, they just took the lead in shouting and killing, and some of them had already begun to kill civilians around them, preparing to start looting and burning.

  Lü Shi immediately felt a great sense of urgency and pulled at the sleeve of Guo Tianxing, saying: "Big brother, quickly restrain our brothers from plundering the common people. After all, those people are not all evil, they are also ordinary civilians. Besides, the stronghold has already been broken, even if we don't plunder their belongings, we can still escape. If we force them to rise up in resistance, then our brothers will suffer heavy losses too. Quickly restrain them!"

  Although Guotianxing was reluctant, he had already felt grateful and admiring towards Lüshi in his heart. He loudly ordered his brothers not to plunder, and if anyone disobeyed, they would be punished according to the rules of the mountain stronghold.

  The law of the mountain stronghold is crude but simple, that is to say, no matter how big or small the offense is, it will be taken down and overturned. Compared with money and life, life is more important, let alone the master of the heavenly star who is not a petty person. In peacetime, he also treats everyone fairly, kindly and generously. It's all his own money anyway, so there's no need to die unjustly. So, although it's hard to bear, they are driven back to the square one by one.

  "Sir, what should we do next?" asked Tianxing and Zhao Dahai together, seeking advice from Lü Shidao.

  Lyu Shi took a big step forward, raised his hands high and shouted: "Everyone, don't panic, listen to my orders." Everyone looked up at Lyu Shi together.

  Immediately dispatch two hundred brothers to defend the upper wall, while collecting the militia's knives and guns. Remember not to harm their lives, after all, these militiamen are trained poor people, if they are willing to join us, it is still a considerable force.

  The big star nodded in agreement.

  Then two hundred brothers were led by a small leader and ran towards the city head.

  Twenty brothers were dispatched again to go to the city gate, remove the large door bar, make it into a battering ram, and prepare to storm the gate. Twenty brothers responded with a loud shout and rushed to carry out the task.

  "The brothers with long bows line up and advance."

  More than a hundred brothers with long bows stepped forward in big strides, forming a crooked and twisted horizontal team, looking at Lü Shi, waiting for Lü Shi's orders.

  "Brothers, prepare the rockets. Listen for my command. When I say attack, we'll launch a barrage of arrows and burn down this old mansion."

  Lü Shì said this mainly for the Zhang family juniors guarding the courtyard to hear, no matter how big a mansion is, it's just a house, and it can't be guarded against, there must be pressure in their hearts.

  Turning around, he said to Zhao Dahe: "There is still one more thing that depends on brother."

  "Just as you've instructed." Zhao Dahai said magnanimously, having arranged and coordinated for several days. In his heart, he had already admired this brother, and had carried out Lv Shi's words to the letter.

  "Order, dare not, please let the elder brother take his current official body and shout to the mansion, let them surrender, guarantee their life safety, can not kill or hurt is better."

  Zhao Dahai sighed and said, "I was no longer an official when I went up the mountain with you two days ago. But brother, what you say makes sense. After all, whether it's them or our brothers, there will be casualties in this battle. If we can avoid it, then let's try to."

  Then he took a big step forward, and thousands of eyes on the entire square were staring at Zhao Dahai. For a moment, the square became silent.

  Zhang's steward, with his men, fled back to the old mansion in disarray, shut the gate and barricaded it with hardwood, but in his heart he was wailing in despair. He had not expected things to develop like this. He had not expected those mud-legged brutes to dare to collude with the bandits and break into the fortified village. He had not expected the bandits to have such cunning that they could flood into the village within half an hour. He had not expected Master Zhang and Young Master to meet with disaster in an instant. He had not expected the hundreds of village braves he had raised to be so useless. And he had not expected even Zhao Dahai, who was supposed to be a government official, to participate in this affair. What's going on here?

  The Zhang family is now leaderless, with only one person struggling to hold on. Due to the sudden change, there wasn't even an opportunity to send out wolf smoke signals to ask for help from neighboring landlords and wealthy families. It's worth noting that twenty miles away is the home of this family's relatives, and Chenjia Village has many clansmen who have trained hundreds of brave villagers through village battles. But can they hold on until their uncle arrives with reinforcements to protect their wealth?

  The answer is obviously no, it's a dead end now.

  In a state of extreme anxiety, unable to end the day, suddenly heard outside the door a loud voice ordering the fetching of large logs to batter the gate, and ordering over a hundred bowmen to prepare fire arrows to burn down the house.

  Everything is over. Looking at the young masters lying on the wall to observe the outside situation, each face is pale, and I couldn't help but sigh in my heart. It's all over, it's all over. Unfortunately, this hundred-year-old foundation will be buried in the sea of flames along with the old and young of the family.

  Just then, there was a sudden stillness outside the door, and a loud voice shouted: "I, Zhao Dahai, ask the person in charge of the Zhang family to come out and answer."

  Zhang Guan's eyes lit up as soon as he heard that Zhao Dahai had something to say. He thought to himself, "Zhao Dahai is still an official after all, and things can't be too absolute. Maybe this family will have a chance to survive." Like a drowning man grasping at the last straw, Zhang Guan hastily agreed, saying: "Lord Zhao, I'll do as you say. Please restrain your brothers, and I'll climb up the wall to talk to you." Without regard for the danger, he ordered someone to support him as he shakily climbed up a long ladder, poking his head out to look around.

  At this glance, my heart became even cooler. I only saw that there were over a thousand men and women on the square, with strong and sturdy men in front, fully equipped with knives, guns, and other weapons. More than 100 people held the longbow of Lv Shichang, which they had seen before, and were fully alert. With just one misstep, it would be a simultaneous launch of thousands of arrows. On our side, there were only about a hundred young men, who had no ability to resist no matter what.

  Looking again, Zhao Dahai, covered in blood, was standing in front of the pole, with Lv Shi following closely behind. He swallowed his saliva and stammered: "Lord Zhao, what is the meaning of this today? Our Zhang family has always respected Lord Zhao, and you are also a distinguished guest who has entered our humble abode. How did it come to this?"

  "Zhang Guanjia, it has come to this today, do you still need to ask me? Isn't it because of the Zhang family's false use of official power, sucking the marrow from the bones of the villagers in Zuonai Village, leaving the surrounding people with no way to survive? What a dead end, if we fight against Zhangjiabao, maybe there is still some hope for survival."

  Zhang Guan's words stuck in his throat for a moment, and he couldn't speak. After hemming and hawing for half a day, he finally said: "That's also unavoidable, it's all about following orders from above."

  "What a wonderful thing to take from the top and distribute downwards." Zhao Dahai couldn't help but smile wistfully: "When our great ruler first decreed the stone tablet, how much land tax did everyone have to pay? And now, how much do they have to pay? How much did you apportion to everyone this year? And how much of it ended up in your Zhang family's pockets? Is it not all because of my brother's inherited craftsmanship that you've come up with such despicable methods, yet still want to implicate these fellow villagers?"

  He couldn't argue with him on this matter, so Zhang Guan said sternly: "Are you going to abandon your official career and follow the bandits?"

  "What's the future of being an official? Haha... Zhao Dahi heard this and couldn't help but laugh bitterly for a long time, saying: "This official position is something that thousands of people look down on, and millions trample underfoot. I, Zhao Dahi, am also a man of honor, for the sake of righteousness, giving up this life is nothing."

  Look, no matter what, it's impossible to move Zhao Da Hai. Zhang Guanjia got straight to the point, "Lord Zhao, we're just here for some money, please tell us a number, I can still afford to be the master of this house, I'll try my best to satisfy everyone's demands, how about that? Please, Lord Zhao, have mercy on all these old and young people in the courtyard and spare our lives."

  "However, Zhang the housekeeper understood that money was necessary, but I, Zhao Dahan, can guarantee that except for the money and goods in the old Zhang family mansion, not a single penny will be taken from anyone else. My main goal this time is to save people. Please release Old Zhang and the other villagers, and I will spare your entire clan."

  Zhang's family was overjoyed when they heard the news. After all, this wealth wasn't theirs to begin with, and as long as their own family was safe and sound, that was the most important thing. Moreover, there was an unexpected surprise - the money they had accumulated over the years wouldn't be taken away by the robbers.

  Ancient people valued their words, many things were decided with just one word, breaking a promise was considered shameful to the world, that's something you can't do no matter what.

  "I immediately let out Zhang's family and the villagers, but as an official, you must ensure our safety."

  "It's settled with just one word."

  The heavy gate of the Zhang family creaked open slowly, and the Zhang family members poured out one after another, throwing away their knives and guns, kneeling by the side of the road. Zhang Guan was about to hand over to Zhao Dahai when he suddenly looked up with a drastic change in expression.