Chapter Seven: Rescue

  "Ah! Brother Xue, you can see it for yourself!" Liu Sheng told the story of Zhu Zhi's greed and the ambush by the thieves from start to finish, saying: "I said let Bird County Magistrate wait for you, but Zhu Zhi was greedy and wouldn't listen, rushing into the village in a hurry, and ended up falling into the thieves' trap, losing miserably!"

  "How many thieves are there in total?"

  "It shouldn't be too many people listening, at most fifty or sixty!"

  "Hmph!" At this time, a person beside him laughed and said: "What's so great about these few bandits? Second brother is on the side to help me clean up the array. With my two bows, one horse, and one spear, I can capture the bandit leader with just one shot!" The speaker was a young man following behind Xue Liangchen.

  "Shut up!" Xue Liangchen shouted, turning his head to Liu Sheng: "My fourth brother is young and doesn't know the dangers of the battlefield, don't treat him as an equal!"

  "Second brother, don't say that. I've long heard of Xue Liangyu and Xue Si Lang's reputation. The skill of shooting with both hands is not something ordinary people can have." Liu Sheng pointed at the two quivers on the horseback, then his face changed: "But let's forget it for today. The morale of our archers has already been defeated. We only have a dozen or so men, and the bandits have taken control of the village. It's getting late too, so retreating early is best!"

  Xue Liangchen looked at the terrain and then at the sky, saying: "Inside are all fellow villagers, how can we see death without rescue?" He said here, he turned his head to ask the servants behind him: "You all think about it, is there any plan that can save people?"

  The crowd of guests all shook their heads, and Liu Sheng smiled: "Good minister, it's not that we don't want to save him, but the numbers are against us. If you must blame someone, you can only blame Zhu Zhi for being careless and falling into an ambush. Let's go!"

  At this time, someone in the crowd said: "Lang Jun, I have a plan! But I don't know if it will work!"

  Xue Liangchen went towards the sound of the voice and saw that it was Zhou Ping who was speaking, smiling and saying: "You can speak freely!"

  "Just now, the leader of the thieves tricked the county lieutenant into entering the village. We can use this tactic too. If we set fire outside the village and make a racket saying that reinforcements have arrived, what do you think those thieves will do?"

  "Good plan!" Liu Sheng was the first to applaud and laugh: "Those thieves will surely flee in panic, it's really a good plan!"

  "Alright! Anyway, even if we don't succeed, we won't have anything to lose!" Xue Liangchen said to Xue Liangyu beside him: "Second brother, lead the villagers to set fire at the edge of the village. Remember, just ignite the right side of the village, never enter the village to fight and kill, got it?"

  "Yes, Second Brother!" Xue Liangyu had been waiting impatiently and responded with a single word, then led Zhou Ping and the others towards the village. Xue Liangchen turned his head to Liu Sheng and said: "We'll go gather those who escaped, otherwise on a chaotic night like this, it's normal for some people to fall into the water and drown."

  Inside the village, there were already corpses everywhere. The remaining archers either fled or dropped their weapons and knelt on the ground begging for mercy. The only one still resisting was Yue Fei alone. He leaned against a large tree, holding a spear in his left hand and an iron rake in his right hand. Those far away were stabbed with the spear, while those close by were smashed with the rake. He was like a fierce tiger at bay, and seven or eight bandits could not get near him.

  Yang Shun'er stood behind the bandit and persuaded him to surrender, saying: "You young man, our leader sees that you are brave and doesn't want to kill you. As long as you put down your weapon and join us, we can spare your life! You're not an official who eats imperial rations, think of your mother at home, don't resist anymore!"

  "Damn it!" Yue Fei searched for an escape route while scolding, "I, Yue Fei, was taught by my father since childhood. How could I surrender to bandits? Real men come and fight, what's the use of hiding behind others and wagging your tongue?"

  A low laugh spread through the crowd of thieves, and even if Yang Shun'er was standing on their side at this moment, they still didn't have any sense of camaraderie with this dwarf. Yang Shun'er's face turned bright red from Yue Fei's sarcastic remarks, and he cursed: "What a rude fellow! Everyone, let's work together to chop him into minced meat!"

  The bandits, however, were not unreasonable. They had all witnessed the young man's bravery and if they engaged in close combat, even if they managed to kill him, their own side would likely suffer a few casualties as well. Just then, a command was given, and several bandits holding long spears stepped forward, forcing Yue Fei back with their weapons. The bandits armed with bows and arrows retreated a step, drawing their strong bows taut, waiting for the order to shoot him full of arrows like a hedgehog.

  Yue Fei saw this and knew that he was certainly going to die, so he closed his eyes and waited for death. But then a cry of alarm came from behind: "It's on fire!"

  The bandits heard the noise and hastily turned around, only to see that more than a dozen fires had already risen on the right side of the village. The fire spread extremely quickly, and in the blink of an eye, the flames had already leapt up to twice the height of a man, forming a continuous sheet of fire. It was clear that this was a case of arson. The cattle and mules pulling the carts loaded with loot on the side were getting restless. Behind the glow of the fire, the sound of gongs, drums, and shouts of killing could be faintly heard. At this moment, the gun formation in front of Yue Fei couldn't help but become somewhat disordered. Yue Fei saw the situation and let out a loud shout, his hand rising with a spear that knocked an enemy soldier to the ground, and he charged forward wielding his iron shield.

  "Release the arrows!" Yang Wu shouted, and more than a dozen feathered arrows flew out. Yue Fei stumbled, his body already hit by two arrows, but he still rushed into the bushes. Several bandits wanted to chase after him, but were stopped by their leader: "Forget it, don't pursue! Our belongings are what matter most!"

  Outside the village, Xue Liangyu pointed at the retreating bandit convoy and asked, "Second Brother, do you want to chase after them and capture the leader? That would be a great achievement!"

  Xue Liangchen was deep in thought when he saw Zhou Ping standing beside him with a smile on his face, and his heart couldn't help but move. He asked: "Ah Ping, do you think I should pursue or not?"

  Zhou Ping was taken aback by the words and hastily said: "This matter is for Lang Jun to decide, how dare I intervene!"

  "If it weren't for your plan today, I'm afraid more than a hundred people here would have lost their lives!" Xue Liangchen smiled and said, "You can speak freely!"

  "Since I crossed over, I've always been humble and low-key. If I miss this opportunity again today, I don't know when I'll have to wait until next time. Forget it, I'll take a risk this once!" Zhou Ping gritted his teeth and said in a low voice: "I think it's better not to pursue it."

  "Ah Ping, you don't think I'm a match for the bandits?" Xue Liangyu on the side heard this and hastily said loudly: "Don't look at their numbers, now that it's after autumn, the land is flat and open, relying on my two bows, two quivers of arrows, one spear, even twenty or thirty people can't get close to me!"

  "Young master, that's not what I meant!" Zhou Ping laughed and said: "Everyone came out to defeat the enemy, just for the reward. Just now, the thieves left in a hurry, only taking half of their wealth with them. The livestock and goods they left behind in the village, roughly calculated, are worth around 700 or 800 guan. If we take out 50 guan to divide among the archers, the rest will be shared between Liu Dage and us. It's a good deal, and no one has to take any risk!"

  Xue Liangchen and Liu Sheng nodded in agreement, but Xue Liangyu was eager to go into battle and said discontentedly: "What you say is not wrong, but the county has offered a reward of 100 taels for the capture of the bandit leader, and the rewards for capturing other bandits are also substantial. The bandits must have a lot of wealth with them, so wouldn't it be better to chase after them and take everything back?"

  "Little lord, if we capture the leader of the thieves, I'm afraid these riches won't be ours anymore!"

  "What do you mean?" Xue Liangyu's face was full of confusion, but Xue Liangchen and Liu Sheng on the side understood the implication, looking at Zhou Ping in surprise.

  "Little lord, think about it. I'm afraid that most of these stolen goods belong to the Han family and other wealthy households. If we capture all the thieves and kill them, the government will likely return the stolen goods to the Han family to curry favor with them. We'll be lucky if we get a reward. But as long as the thieves don't die, neither the Han family nor the government will investigate where these stolen goods came from."

  "Never mind, the enemy has at least forty or fifty people left, and they have more horses than us. With so many wounded here, it's better to save lives first!" Xue Liangyu had not yet come back to his senses when Xue Liangchen gave an order: "Fourth brother, your horse is fast, hurry back to the nearby village and tell them to prepare hot water and dry cloth to treat the wounded!"

  "Yes, Second Brother!" Xue Liangyu responded and rode off. Xue Liangchen looked at Zhou Ping deeply, then suddenly smiled: "Ah Ping, it seems we underestimated you before. This time when we return, you'll be by my side as my sworn brother, and learn some archery and horseback riding too."

  "Thank you, sir!"

  The village of Gaoping has been reduced to a scene of utter devastation. Tens of survivors, archers who had managed to escape with their lives, re-entered the village, checking on the bodies of their comrades. Those who were still alive were carried aside and given hot water and medicine. They were tended to as they drank the water and applied the medicine, resting nearby. Every so often, one could hear someone crying out in grief upon finding the body of a familiar comrade.

  "Good Minister, the bandits have gone far away and shouldn't be coming back to cause more trouble!" Liu Sheng walked up to Xue Liangchen's side, his face now completely devoid of the arrogance he had shown during the day.

  "It shouldn't be a problem, but still be careful. It's getting late, and we can only stay here tonight, so I'll trouble your brother to keep watch!"

  "Alright, alright! We've been doing nothing these days and we're all energized!" Liu Sheng patted his chest with a loud thud.

  Xue Liangchen nodded and took his fourth brother Xue Liangyu and Zhou Ping to examine the injuries of the wounded one by one, occasionally bending down to ask a few questions. Those injured archers knew they could escape with their lives and had to thank this second son of the Xue family for scaring off the bandits with his plan, and now he was comforting them in a warm voice, and they were all grateful and tearful.

  Xue Liangchen turned around and finally saw a 16- or 17-year-old boy lying on the ground, with an arrow wound on his leg and right shoulder, but no one was taking care of him. He asked about it and only then did he know that the boy's surname was Yue and his name was Fei, and he was a tenant farmer from the Han Mansion, an outsider, so no one was taking care of him.

  Xue Liangchen's face turned red with anger: "Since we are traveling together to fight the enemy, shouldn't we help each other? How can there be a reason to abandon him? Quickly bring hot water and medicine!"

  The onlookers' faces turned red with shame, and Xue Liangchen let out a cold snort. He took the medicine, clean cloth strips, and pulled out his waist knife. He heated it over the fire for a while before gently telling Yue Fei, "Hold onto this wooden board, I'll remove the arrowhead's poison, and you'll be fine soon!" Then he ordered Xue Liangyu, "You hold him down, don't let him move around!"

  To be honest, this is my third book, and it has been my worst performing one. The criticism mainly focuses on two aspects: the title and the late appearance of the main character. Let's put the title aside for now; as for the main character appearing late, I'd say it's a "chronic illness" in my writing. The reason is simple - I think it's like an opera performance, where before the main character appears on stage, there needs to be some introductory fanfare, curtain-raising, flag-waving, and drum-beating to set the tone for the main character's grand entrance.

  I believe this approach makes the plot development better, rather than having the main character pop up at the beginning, get framed, then exact revenge, flirt with girl A; get framed again, exact revenge again, flirt with girl B, and so on. Come on, I know reading web novels is supposed to be easy on the brain, but this is just too insulting to my intelligence! Are there really that many stupid NPCs around? If I want to indulge in some wish-fulfillment fantasy, wouldn't it be easier for me to just use my own imagination?

  A few sentences of ranting from a lousy writer - hehe, sorry about that, folks!