Chapter Thirty-Two: Knocking on the Door

  "Haha! So he's just a hoodlum after all! He even dares to call himself Sha Po Tian! Truly ignorant of the heights and depths! Alright, take this guy away first, give him something to eat, and don't make things difficult for him. He's also from a poor background, no need to vent anger on him! As for the Mountain God Temple, we won't be going there either. Tomorrow morning, we'll directly go to raid Sha Er Bao's lair!" After understanding the situation with Sha Er Bao, Xiao Tian Jian suddenly relaxed and had someone take this guy away to be watched, planning to have him lead the way to rescue Jiang Fu Zi tomorrow.

  Sha Er Bao never thought that someone would actually come to find them and demand people, these past few days he had kidnapped several hostages, thinking he could make a small fortune and live comfortably for a while, plus he had also taken several women, this life was indeed comfortable. However, not long after dawn, Sha Er Bao was still holding onto one of the women and sleeping when one of his subordinates called him from outside the room, saying that someone who had stayed at the Mountain God Temple had returned, saying something had happened over there and asking him to go take a look.

  Guzhuang is located in a mountain valley, with only one uphill road leading to the village, making it a relatively easy place to defend and difficult to attack.

  At that time, this was a wealthy landlord's mansion with the surname Gu. Because of his wealth and lack of benevolence, in the fifth year of Chongzhen, he was targeted by a group of bandits who gathered over a thousand rioters and attacked the mansion day and night. After seven days of continuous fighting, they broke into the Gu Mansion, killed all members of the wealthy Gu family, and took away all their grain and wealth. As a result, the Gu Mansion became an abandoned mansion, which was occupied by Sha Erbao during this period and became his lair.

  Although the old village has been abandoned, there are still some houses in the village that have not been burned down. Sha Erbao led his men to repair them slightly and rebuilt the village gate. They started living a comfortable life here. Moreover, he built a shortcut behind the village, leaving a back route, preparing for when they would be surrounded by government troops, making preparations to escape at any time.

  After hearing the shouting outside, Sha Er Bao sat up with a scowl and reached out to pinch the woman's chest hard. The woman immediately covered her chest and began to sob.

  "Grandma's, it's hard to get a good sleep! You stinky girl, it's your good fortune that I'm sleeping with you. Following me, you have food and drink, what's wrong with that? It's much better than starving to death at home, isn't it?! If you dare to cry again, annoying me, I'll give you to my brothers as a reward, let dozens of men serve you for a night, then you'll know that sleeping with me now is the best thing in the world!" Sha Er Bao scolded the woman on the bed impatiently.

  The woman was so frightened that she quickly restrained her crying, struggled to get out of bed, and helped Sha Erbao put on his clothes and boots with a trembling body.

  After listening to the report of the head of the mountain temple, Sha Er Bao didn't think it was a big deal either. His subordinates would occasionally run away one or two at a time, and losing one subordinate wasn't a big deal for him.

  "You good-for-nothing, isn't this just a small matter? Liu Si has run away before, catch him and bring him back, I'll skin him alive! Is it worth making such a fuss over this little thing? Take your people and get out of here, the ransom should be delivered in two days. If you delay, watch out or I'll break your legs! Get out of here!"

  That little head seemed a bit tense, so he carefully reminded Sha Er Bao: "Hold the plate! The other day we didn't tie up a businessman, did we? Didn't they say that they are also sticks like us? Don't let them come to seek revenge and take Liu Si away! If it's like that, it won't look good if we tear our faces!"

  "What the hell, which stick in this area do we not know? What nonsense, don't believe their words, they're just trying to scare us! Don't mind Liu Si anymore, go back and take care of the Mountain God Temple, there are people who will pay for redemption, if you collect the money and release them, that's it!" Sha Er Bao didn't take it seriously at all, waving his hand impatiently, he was still thinking about the woman in the house, yesterday he hadn't had enough fun, planning to go back again today, let alone breakfast hasn't been eaten yet, so he waved his hand and chased away that underling.

  But before the Second Treasure returned to the house, another servant rushed in and hastily reported to him: "Master! Five or six men have come from the village below, armed with knives and guns, clamoring for you to go out and talk. They say that if we quickly release their people, they will spare us; otherwise, they will fight their way into our estate!"

  "What?" Sha Er Bao almost choked with laughter and immediately asked again: "How many people did you say they brought?"

  "Five or six... Oh! No, it's six! Yes, it's six!" The gatekeeper's subordinate hastily replied.

  Sha Er Bao really burst out laughing, muttering to himself: "Damn it, this world is really getting harder to understand! Just a few of them, they dare to come and find fault with us! Someone, go and get the brothers to open the door, let's go out and meet these good-for-nothings! What do they think they are? Someone, bring me my knife!"

  Xiao Tianjian, accompanied by five subordinates, stood at the foot of the ancient village, loudly shouting for Sha Erbao to come out and answer. Meanwhile, Xiao Tianjian kept looking up to examine the terrain of the ancient village. Indeed, as the captive had said, this place was easy to defend but hard to attack. If he only relied on his current manpower, trying to force his way into the ancient village would be more difficult than ascending to heaven. He and his men were armed with nothing but knives and guns; they didn't even have a ladder. As soon as the villagers closed their gates, Xiao Tianjian's group would be left standing there helplessly.

  Xiao Tianjian had been thinking about how to deal with Sha Er Bao all the way here. A strong attack was definitely not feasible, their only chance was to trick him out of the village and settle things outside, only then would they have a chance to enter the village. Otherwise, not only might they fail to rescue Jiang Fuzi, but they might also put his life in danger and blunt their own momentum.

  After a good while of deliberation, Xiao Tianjian finally made up his mind. After arriving at the ancient village, he first had Tie Tou lead most of the people to hide on both sides, and only brought five people to appear in front of the village, standing below the village and shouting loudly.

  For something like cursing, Feng Gouzi was indeed a strong point. Having mixed in the streets for a long time, he knew all sorts of unpleasant words. Feng Gouzi opened his throat and stood under the village, naming names and asking about Sha Erbao's seven aunts and eight great-aunts, as well as all the females from his ancestors' eight generations. He also claimed that he wanted to have a super-friendly relationship with Sha Erbao's mother.

  It didn't take long before Xiao Tianjian saw the gate open, and a group of people shouting and scolding, carrying various tools, rushed down.

  Xiao Tianjian took a quick glance and saw that at least fifty or sixty people were charging down, so he turned around and ran with several of his men, while still having Feng Gouzi and Zhao Er Lv continue to loudly curse Sha Er Bao.

  As soon as Sha Er Bao came out, he heard the curses of several people below, especially when he heard these people constantly asking for his mother, he was so angry that he couldn't help but shout and curse back while leading his men to charge down, vowing to flay alive those who didn't know the height of the sky or the thickness of the earth.

  He had a sensible person under him, who followed him down while quietly advising Xia Er Bao to be careful not to fall into someone else's trap.

  Sha Er Bao was in a bad mood, and he was one of those arrogant guys who thought that since he had followed the rebels and seen thousands of big battles back then, ordinary people were not worth his attention. He didn't think much of these few goods from the mountain below, and felt they weren't like any tough characters. When they came out, these few guys turned around and ran away, which made him feel even more at ease.

  He led the way down the mountain without caring, and chased after Xiao Tianjian and his men relentlessly.

  Xiao Tianjian led five people running down the mountain to a flat area, and suddenly stopped in his tracks, shouting loudly: "Fall in line!"

  With a loud shout from him, Tie Tou immediately led more than twenty people out of the grass bushes by the roadside and formed two horizontal teams on the road in a very short time.

  The appearance of Tie Tou and others really scared Sha Er Bao and his men, who quickly retreated and looked around in all directions with suspicion, fearing that the other side still had more people hiding.

  When he confirmed that the other side had only more than 20 people, Sha Er Bao's courage grew again. He sneered coldly: "I thought these guys really had a lot of hidden troops! They really scared me to death! Haha! You little ones, no matter how hard they try, it's just this many people. We have so many people, can we still be afraid of them? Come on, let's chop them down and make them know that Ma Wang Ye has several eyes! Let's slaughter them today and when we get back, I'll treat you to a feast of good wine and meat!"

  In these times, drinking and eating meat is a dream. Even if they followed Sha Er Bao as a stick, the people under his command would not have had the opportunity to eat big bowls of wine and meat. Usually, being able to mix up half-full was considered good, and only Sha Er Bao and a few small heads under him could occasionally eat meat.

  At the sound of Sha Er Bao's loud shout, his subordinates were immediately excited. In such a world where life is worthless, who knows if they can survive till tomorrow after eating and drinking well today? As long as there's a chance to eat big chunks of meat, who cares about living or dying?!

  Sha Er Bao was furious, shouting and driving his trusted subordinates to the front to take the lead. The rest of the people were also driven forward by him, planning to swarm up and crush the twenty or so ignorant opponents in front of them. With two against one, they had an advantage, and their opponents looked weak, wearing tattered clothes that were even worse than theirs. Sha Er Bao's side was suddenly filled with morale, and it seemed that no matter how this battle went, they wouldn't be at a disadvantage. Therefore, dozens of people swarmed towards Xiao Tian Jian and his group like a hive of bees.

  Xiao Tianjian watched as the opponent rushed over, gripping the hilt of his long gun tightly and shouting in a low voice: "Steady! Listen to my command! March in step! Left-right-left... Steady! Left-right-left..."

  Twenty or so people formed two rows of dense phalanx formation, advancing towards Sha Er Bao's men with guns at the ready. Everyone was tense, gripping their rifle butts tightly. On both flanks were two shield-bearing swordsmen, responsible for covering the wings of the troops.

  The new recruits couldn't help but have their hands tremble a bit. Although they had killed people before, it was in the heat of the moment when they were enraged, and together they hacked that military leader into minced meat. But today, they were really going to engage in a fierce battle, which was still a first for them. Wanting them not to be nervous was nonsense. However, at this moment, no one dared to fall behind or turn around to escape because they knew that behind their backs stood Iron Head, staring at them with his piercing eyes and holding a big knife. Xiao Tianjian had already said the ugly words earlier: those who dared not follow orders would be chopped by Iron Head directly. So even if they were afraid, they had no choice but to mechanically march forward with the people beside them, their eyes revealing a terrified expression.

  It was those old brothers who followed Xiao Tianjian first, and now they seem to be more calm. After having an experience of fighting like this, their psychological quality has improved a lot. Although it is still difficult to avoid some tension, basically everyone does not panic, following Xiao Tianjian's command, starting to move forward step by step.

  Under the leadership of these old brothers, one by one, they advanced forward like this, and didn't make the team appear scattered, all the way to within forty or fifty steps of the opponent.