Chapter 49: Encountering Fellow Travelers on the Road and Joining Forces

  Xiao Tianjian was pondering whether he could take down the Zhuangzi when a horse's hooves sounded from the front, Xiao Tianjian immediately stood up and saw Shi Rang bringing back Da Niu and three others.

  "Take hold of the reins! A group of people is coming from that road on our left, looking like a formidable force with over 200 men, and they're approaching quickly! Please take control of the situation!" Shi Rang spurred his horse forward, dismounted with a flip of his body.

  Xiao Tianjian's heart tightened and he immediately asked: "Did you see clearly? Did you figure out where they came from?"

  "It can't be wrong! Just now it was Tiger who discovered them, and called out to Xiaodi to take a look. There were many horsemen, and as soon as they saw us few people, they chased over. They'll arrive immediately! Judging from Xiaodi's view, this group of people should roughly be Wang Tianlong's gang from the east! It seems like they're also heading towards this village! And they even carried ladders and whatnot, it doesn't seem like they're after us!" Shi Yan hastily replied.

  Xiao Tianjian only then realized that not far ahead was an intersection, where the people on both sides happened to converge. It seemed that these people shouldn't be after him. He couldn't help but feel a bit nauseous and thought to himself, "How come I always run into this kind of thing?" Last time he went to Zhaojia Fortress, he ran into a group of defeated soldiers, and this time on his way to Fanjia Fortress, he encountered fellow travelers! His luck was really not bad!

  "Everyone is present! Form up in ranks! Warriors in front, auxiliaries behind!"

  Xiao Tianjian saw that he couldn't dodge anymore, so he immediately shouted loudly at his subordinates.

  Dozens of subordinates listened to the order and immediately stood up, lined up at a very fast speed, and in order to be safe, Xiao Tianjian listened to Yan Zhongxi's opinion, led the team to move some to the right side of the road, and deployed the formation against a mound. This can effectively protect their rear team from being taken advantage of by the enemy cavalry. In dealing with such situations, Yan Zhongxi is still more experienced than him.

  They had just formed up when they saw a cloud of dust rising from the road ahead, and then more than a dozen horses appeared in their line of sight, rushing towards them at high speed.

  As a loud shout came, those dozen or so people outside the arrow range pulled on the reins of their horses and quickly gathered together, sizing them up from afar.

  When they saw Xiao Tianjian and his group clearly, these people showed a look of surprise on their faces, but most of them put away the weapons in their hands, which obviously meant that the other side did not show too much hostility to Xiao Tianjian and his group.

  Xiao Tianjian and everyone on his side were also sizing up the dozen or so horsemen who had appeared, just like them, these people were all dressed in tattered clothes. From their attire, it was clear that they were not government soldiers, but rather their fellow travelers, just a different group of porters. Under normal circumstances, when two groups of porters met, they wouldn't be overly hostile towards each other, as the saying goes "well water doesn't offend river water", everyone would go their separate ways.

  Xiao Tianjian was also sizing up the opponent, these dozen or so horsemen were more robust than their own side's Shi Rang and a few others who rode horses, controlling the horse was obviously more skilled, without thinking, it was clear that these people had been in this line of work for quite some time, after arriving here, they cooperated with each other very tacitly, showing great restraint, each one subtly revealing a robust color, making Xiao Tianjian somewhat envious, if only he had so many cavalrymen.

  After sizing each other up, a sturdy and short man with a scarred face and disheveled sideburns walked out from among the dozen or so people on the other side, his knife already put away, showing no signs of hostility. He led his horse forward at a slow pace, and with a loud voice, cupped his fist and called out to Xiao Tianjian's side: "May I ask, who is the one in charge here? Come out and talk!"

  This man spoke somewhat disrespectfully, without even saying please, and directly asked Xiao Tianjian to take the tray out to answer. Tie Tou was very displeased when he heard this, and pressed the hilt of his waist knife, about to open his mouth to rebuke him.

  Xiao Tianjian grasped Tie Tou's wrist, telling him to behave and not cause trouble. He handed his wooden sword over to Tie Tou and walked forward in big strides, stopping a few steps before the horseman. With a fist wrapped in his palm, he said: "This brother is polite, I'm in charge here, what advice do you have for me?"

  This man looked up and down at Xiao Tianjian, was quite surprised by Xiao Tianjian's physique, and saw that Xiao Tianjian was still wearing a cotton armor, compared to the dozen or so people behind him who were all wearing leather armor, he was actually dressed more shabbily, so he asked Xiao Tianjian: "May I ask this brother's surname and name?"

  "I don't dare, my surname is Xiao, and I have a nickname Xiao Yifeng. It's an honor to meet you, brother! But may I ask how should I address you?" Xiao Tianjian asked with a hint of a smile to the robust man on horseback.

  One rode a horse and the other walked, this person was somewhat disrespectful to Xiao Tianjian, but after hearing Xiao Tianjian's self-introduction, he still looked slightly stunned, and then quickly sized up Xiao Tianjian again, humming: "So you're that Xiao Yifeng! My name is Wang Tiandong, it turns out we're in the same line of work!"

  I've heard your name a few days ago, I heard you killed Gu Zhuang's Killing Heaven, is this true? Why did you want to kill him?" Wang Tianlong spoke somewhat roughly and directly questioned Xiao Tianjian.

  It is a taboo for rods to do such things. If there is no reason, one rod forcibly swallows another rod and kills the palm of the other rod, it will not be justified in the industry.

  "Wow, I didn't expect my name to spread so far so quickly! Even Wang Tianlong has heard about it! Xiao Tianjian thought to himself, but his expression was not pleasant. He cupped his hands and replied: "Nice to meet you! I've long heard of your great name! If Brother Wang asks about this matter, then it's easy to say that I'm not to blame for anything! My brothers went to buy some things and ran into the Sha guy. After they revealed their identities, the Sha guy still robbed my brothers' money and livestock. Not only that, but he also tied up my brother's meat ticket and asked me to pay silver to redeem it. He was the one who broke the rules first, so I went to settle accounts with him! He not only didn't release the person, but also wanted to swallow me whole. In the end, his skills were no match for mine, and he got killed by me. This has nothing to do with me!"

  As for Wang Tianglong, Xiao Tianjian had never dealt with him before and didn't want to cause any unnecessary trouble, so he roughly explained the cause of the matter.

  Wang Tiandong furrowed his brow after listening, what Xiao Tianjian said was basically the same as what he had heard. This matter couldn't be blamed on this Xiao guy, it's just that stupid Sha guy looking for trouble himself. He didn't have any relationship with Sha either, so it wasn't worth it for him to stick up for Xiao over this matter.

  However, Wang Tiandong looked at the people behind Xiao Tianjian and still felt a little envious. He had more than ten subordinates, but only he wore iron armor, while the rest of his subordinates were not wearing any armor. On the other hand, this unknown Xiao Tianjian had more than ten men wearing brand new leather armor, and these men looked like they were well-trained, making Wang Tiandong's own subordinates look even more inferior in comparison. This made Wang Tiandong not dare to underestimate Xiao Tianjian too much.

  Then he slightly revealed a smile, and said with a clenched fist: "So that's how it is! In that case, that idiot surnamed Sha died without regret. If I, Wang Tianlong, had encountered this matter, I wouldn't have spared him either!"

  "Just met Xiao Dangjia here today, but I don't know what you're going to do?"

  Xiao Tianjian's mind flashed a few times, now they are not far from Fanjia Fortress. After walking to this point, there is only one road left, which is to go to Fanjia Fortress. So since the other party asked, he didn't need to hide anything. Moreover, Wang Tiandragon came here with such fanfare, no need to ask, it must be heading towards Fanjia Fortress. Their goals should be consistent. He smiled slightly and said: "Hehe! It seems we met by chance today, brother. I've been lacking in food recently and was about to go ahead and hunt for some grain. I suppose Wang Dangjia is also going to that place?"

  Wang Tiandong nodded and said, "Hehe! It seems we really are on the same page! The other day, I had someone send a message to that old miser surnamed Fan, wanting to borrow some grain from him. But that old scoundrel refused to give me, Wang Tiandong, any face. If I don't teach him a lesson, how can I still survive in this area?"

  "Now that we've met, why not go together? That Fan's fortress is as hard to crack as a turtle shell, and I was worried about insufficient troops. Your arrival is timely, with your brother's forces, it's definitely impossible for him to resist! Why don't we join forces and take down that old scoundrel Wang together?"

  Wang Tiandong was telling the truth. Although he brought over two hundred men, the terrain on the side of Fanjia Fortress was quite treacherous and the walls were high and well-built. With his strength, taking down Fanjia Fortress would be a bit daunting. Moreover, he wasn't a fool and could see at a glance that Xiao Tianjian's men were far more elite than his own. If he could get Xiao Tianjian's help, taking down Fanjia Fortress might be a much simpler task.

  Moreover, in this era, relying solely on the strength of one gang is often not enough to take down a village. Many times, several gangs will join forces and attack a village together, making it much easier to succeed. After taking down the village, they would divide the spoils according to their prior agreement, which has become a common practice.

  Xiao Tianjian listened to Wang Tianglong's proposal and thought for a moment. This time, he led his men to attack Fanjia Fortress, but in fact, it wasn't a very confident thing to do. He only had these forces at the moment, and there were no other options elsewhere. He could only go to Fanjia Fortress first to see the situation. As for whether they could take down Fanjia Fortress, he himself was also uncertain.

  Moreover, he has been doing this for a short time and previously only did some small-time banditry. The attack on Liu's village was just because Feng Gouzzi knew the terrain and took advantage of it. Overall, he still doesn't have much experience in attacking villages. Another reason is that during this period, he trained his troops mainly for field battles, so he didn't train them well for attacking villages due to his own lack of experience. In other words, like Ma Chao's Xiliang army back then, they are strong in field battles but weak in siege warfare.

  Today, Wang Tianglong proposed that they jointly attack Fanjia Fortress. After thinking about it, Xiao Tianjian felt that it was feasible. After all, the other party's experience in doing this must be richer than his. Through this joint attack on Fanjia Fortress, he can also take the opportunity to accumulate some experience in attacking strongholds. In the future, when doing such things again, it will be more convenient.

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