Volume 1: Turbulent Times as a Bandit Chapter 35: The Loot Rises

  "Don't be too happy yet, Iron Head! Take a few people to search the village and see if there are any fish that have slipped through the net. Feng Dogzi, don't idle around, go find Xiang Fuzi quickly! Zhao Er Dui, what's with your arrogant attitude? Hurry up and follow Yang Mantun to carry our injured brothers into the village for treatment! Li Shuangzhu, stop smiling foolishly over there, drive all the captives into the village and lock them up first. Whoever is not obedient will be chopped off! The rest of you, clean up the battlefield, don't just stand around!" Xiao Tianjian put away his spear and began to instruct his subordinates at the entrance of the village.

  These people who had been entrusted with the task did not dare to slack off and quickly followed Xiao Tianjian's instructions, busying themselves. In less than a minute, they all completed Xiao Tianjian's instructions and gathered together in the courtyard.

  For the fact that more than 20 of them defeated 50 or 60 opponents, Xiao Tianjian's subordinates were all smiling and excited, the tension and fear at the beginning had long since dissipated, and they all looked at Xiao Tianjian with admiring eyes.

  Xiao Tianjian took a look at his subordinates, and he was also very happy in his heart. Although they paid a certain price this time, the harvest was still quite rich, and the gain far exceeded the price they paid.

  In this battle, they lost three and injured six. Two of the dead were stabbed to death by the enemy's long spear, and one was shot to death by an arrow. Five of the six wounded were hit by arrows, and one was cut by a sword. The shield hand was not hurt at all. All the casualties were among the long gunners, and they were all injured during the head-on confrontation between the two sides. There were no more casualties in the pursuit battle.

  But their losses compared to the enemy's were really nothing, in this battle they killed twelve of the enemy, wounded thirteen and captured nearly fifty people, with a casualty ratio of roughly four to one, it was another great victory.

  For the dead, he didn't have much to grieve about. After all, life and death had been seen many times in these few months. The dead could only be said to have bad luck. However, for the wounded, he was more concerned. He personally checked their injuries one by one and even took the initiative to treat them himself.

  Fortunately, all the wounded were lightly injured. As long as they are taken care of properly and do not cause inflammation of the wound, they will be able to recover in a few days. For them, Xiao Tianjian attaches great importance to them. People like them who have seen blood and been injured, as long as they are rescued, can all become elite soldiers later on. Therefore, Xiao Tianjian is very concerned about these wounded men.

  Knife wounds are relatively easy to deal with. First, rinse the wound with cool boiled water to keep it clean, then apply some of Yang Mantuan's homemade wound medicine and bandage it up. However, arrow wounds are more difficult to handle. The arrowheads currently in use have reverse barbs, so if you try to pull them out after they've entered the flesh, you'll only end up enlarging the wound and possibly causing even greater injury or severe bleeding. When treating this type of wound, first break off the arrow shaft, then tear open the victim's clothing and carefully cut around the arrowhead with a small knife until it can be removed.

  In such a situation, anesthesia was out of the question, and all they could do was grit their teeth and bear it. As a result, when the arrows were being pulled out, each of the wounded men let out blood-curdling screams and curses, leaving Xiao Tianjian drenched in sweat. They had to stuff a wooden stick into their mouths for them to bite down on before they could finally manage to pull out all the arrowheads from their bodies. It was such an ordeal that it left Xiao Tianjian exhausted, even more so than when he was fighting on the battlefield earlier.

  It's really like being separated by a mountain! As a non-professional, it's not easy to do this. Xiao Tianjian was busy for a while before standing up straight and letting Yang Mantun bandage their wounds.

  At this time, a person rushed to his front, crying and knocking his head hard, shouting: "Master! Zhang Tong is incompetent, causing trouble for Master! Thank you, Master, for coming to save me! I...I..."

  Xiao Tianjian only then saw that Jing Tong had already been rescued from the cellar by Feng Gouzi, and as soon as he saw himself, he rushed over crying.

  Xiao Tianjian wiped the sweat from his forehead, reached out and helped up Jiang Tong, and comforted him saying: "Jiang Fuzi, you don't have to be polite. I've already said it before, since you guys followed me to do things, then I'll treat you as my own brothers. If my own brothers are in trouble, how can I just sit back and do nothing? If you want to thank someone, go thank these younger brothers of mine!"

  Jing Fu Zi was truly grateful, this time he was tied up by Sha Er Bao's men and locked in a cellar, every day he was thinking wildly, he knew that Sha Er Bao had many more people under him than Xiao Tian Jian, and thought to himself that this time it was all over for him. In this world, someone like him wasn't even worth 100 taels of silver, would Xiao Tian Jian possibly pay 100 taels of silver to ransom him? No matter how he thought about it, he felt it was impossible, after thinking for two days, the final conclusion was that sooner or later he would be killed by these thugs. So he lay in the cellar and had given up all hope, just waiting to be taken out and killed with one knife cut.

  But what he never expected was that as soon as the door of the cellar opened, a familiar voice outside called his name. Listening carefully, it turned out to be Feng Gouzi's voice. Jing Fuzi burst into tears at that moment. He had never expected that Xiao Tianjian would really bring people to break in and rescue him, and even broke into the villa and rescued him.

  Jing Fu Zi cried as he agreed, crawling out of the cellar and being led away by Feng Gou Zi. As soon as he saw Xiao Tian Jian, he burst into loud wails, wishing he could throw himself at Xiao Tian Jian's feet and kiss him repeatedly. He thought to himself that this lifetime was worth living after all, for he had encountered a master who treated his subordinates with such kindness. Although he couldn't fight or kill, he made up his mind that from now on, he would devote himself to serving Xiao Tian Jian until death.

  And this rescue of Jing Fuzi, for all of Xiao Tianjian's subordinates, is equally a motivation. Xiao Tianjian's refusal to give up on his brother has won the hearts of everyone under him, and each person admires him deeply. Not to mention that Xiao Tianjian led them to victory in battle, but just the way he treats his own brothers is truly rare in this world. So after this incident, everyone was even more determined to follow Xiao Tianjian.

  It turns out that this time, Xiao Tianjian came to rescue Jing Fuzi, actually for the same purpose. He deeply knows that a person like himself wants to make his subordinates believe in him, he must take out something that makes them believe. Relying solely on stick education and a few full meals is far from enough to win over their hearts. Once there is a better opportunity, relying solely on this little trick, it's not guaranteed that the subordinates won't immediately scatter and defect to someone else!

  In such a chaotic world, he can only rely on his loyal subordinates, so even if it's just to win over their hearts, he must do this.

  Of course, he did so after listening to the situation of Sha Er Bao and making a thorough analysis before making a decision. If he didn't have enough confidence, he wouldn't be so reckless as to lead people to find Sha Er Bao and fight desperately. At worst, he would just pinch his nose and pay 100 taels of silver to ransom out Xiang Fu Zi.

  Moreover, he was not willing to let his subordinates idle about in comfort. Simply hiding in the mountains and training would not be enough to forge a strong team; only through continuous battles could a refined and powerful force be tempered. Therefore, since they had encountered such a troublesome situation, he naturally would not miss the opportunity to train his troops. Now that he couldn't achieve great things, it was just as well to do some small-time smuggling on the side. Apart from training his troops, this would also expand his power; it could be said to be a case of killing two birds with one stone.

  It seems that he has achieved all these goals, and through this battle, both new and old people have received a baptism of blood, gained actual combat experience, and looking at the things Iron Head and Zhao Er Liu brought out from Sha Er Bao's lair, this battle can be considered a gain.

  Just counting the silver in Sha Er Bao's treasure, there were more than 900 taels, it can be seen that in these two years, Sha Er Bao has accumulated a lot of money through robbery and selling kidnapped people, and also had a lot of cloth, grain and other goods, once again enriching his assets.

  There were also more than a dozen hostages, both male and female, found in the ancient village. Some of them had been recently captured and were waiting for their families to pay ransom, while others had been held captive for some time and were being temporarily detained until their families could come up with enough money to secure their release. However, most of them were young women from poor families who had been kidnapped from various places and whose families couldn't afford to pay any ransom, so they were locked up here and used as tools for the captors' lustful desires.

  For these people, after Xiao Tianjian inquired about their identities, he pondered for a moment. Those poor women were ordered to be given some money and each was given some grain, letting them take it directly back home.

  These women, who had been snatched away by Sha Er Bao, were already desperate. Today, although they heard that something seemed to have happened in the Zhuangzi and also heard shouting outside, it seemed like a group of people with sticks was coming to seek revenge. However, for them, none of this mattered. Whether Sha Er Bao won or lost didn't seem to make any difference to their fate. Even if Sha Er Bao lost, the new arrivals wouldn't let them off and would definitely treat these poor women even more cruelly. Just thinking about it made some of the women want to die.

  Especially when they heard that Zhuangzi had been conquered by outsiders, these women became even more restless and uneasy. Looking at the new arrivals rushing into the house like wolves, they cried in unison, thinking that they would be ravaged again soon.

  When they were led out of the house and brought before a tall, robust man, one by one, they shrank into a ball, unable to say anything except cry.

  But what they never expected was that the man holding the tray seemed to be very kind to them, only asking about their origins one by one, and finally even ordered silver and food to be distributed to them, letting them take it back home on their own.

  This made them all stunned for a while, not daring to believe that all this was true. They numbly accepted the silver and food handed over by someone, and only when they were persuaded to leave with kind words did they really believe that all this was true.

  Then these women immediately knelt down on the ground, knocking their heads against the palm of their hands to thank him. They asked for Xiao Tianjian's great name and said that after returning home, they would set up a longevity plaque for Xiao Tianjian, praying for him every day and wishing him good fortune.

  (Continue to ask for red votes! I don't know which road god I offended, from the beginning of stealing songs, I have been insisting on hitting me with black votes every day without interruption. Now this brother has even chased me to the new book and continues to support me with non-stop black votes! Here, Han Feng says thank you! It's not easy! People say it's easy to do a good deed once, but it's hard to do good deeds every day! This brother can have such perseverance, it really moves me! Hehe! Let out a loud shout, since he's here, let the black votes come even more fiercely!)