Chapter 127 - 106: The Bloody Long Night
‘We’re innocent!”
“We are all loyal citizens, it’s impossible for us to be rebels!”
“Where is the County Magistrate? I want to see the County Magistrate!”
Seeing that Lu Yuan actually dared to take action and really did so, the initially triumphant and arrogant heads of the families instantly panicked and began to plead for mercy and explain themselves.
Of course, there were also those who were more hot-blooded.
Seeing that these government officials were not planning to show any mercy, and that there was no peaceful ending today, they shouted loudly.
“Everyone, these government dogs are not going to spare us. Since death is certain, let’s fight them!”
“That’s right, waiting here for death is worse than charging with me. If we can escape and survive, I will assemble people to kill all these dog officials.” “I knew we couldn’t trust these Yue dog officials, follow me and kill!”
While the heads of the five big families were still pleading, those mixed up in the Jianghu like Leader Zhang, as well as the Miao people of the three surnames, had already started roaring and rushing towards the door.
But they had barely taken a few steps when they heard the thrum of bowstrings being let loose, and then dozens of arrows rained down upon them.
These people were all here for the banquet, and none of them had expected the County Magistrate to be so bold as to target them, the leaders of local county powers, so they hadn’t brought any weapons with them.
At this time, they were unarmed, and although some with good martial arts skills could use their bare hands to deflect the arrows.”
However, there were only five or six of them charging forward, whereas Lu
Yuan had arranged for thirty archers, all skilled in archery from the mountains.
Now that they were equipped with the strong bows of the army, dozens of people fired volleys together. It didn’t matter whether these third-rate or even lesser figures were present; even second- rate masters would have inevitably been filled with regret at this sight.
“I hate!”
Sure enough, under the haphazard rain of arrows, those who charged forward were instantly pierced and looked like beehives, unable to get any closer. Of course, there were also one or two clever ones who didn’t rush forward, but instead tried to escape through the windows on both sides of the hall.
However, Lu Yuan had long placed armored warriors on both sides of the hall. They were all carefully selected, either having developed Inner Strength or being third-rate martial artists themselves.
At the same time, as the County Captain began to take action, these martial artists who made up the armored soldiers also drew their weapons to work together and kill the escaping bandits.
Facing the siege of several martial artists of the same level who also had weapons and armor, those unarmed people were naturally no match, dying within a few moves under the chaotic blade.
At this time, after killing those who had tried to break through the siege, the archers didn’t stop.
Another rain of arrows passed by, and the heads of the families who had been pleading for mercy in the hall were similarly sent to their deaths.
From the moment of home signal by throwing a cup, it took only a short while for more than ten people who participated in the gathering to be completely wiped out by the well-prepared government soldiers.
From the beginning to the end, Lu Yuan only shot the first arrow.
For dealing with these people, there was no need for him, a top-tier master, to take much of any action. The government soldiers and armored warriors were enough.
‘Even if they are Jianghu masters, facing the siege of a large army and the strong bows multi-shot, they can’t hold up! I should learn from this and never dare to get involved in danger like they did.’
He looked at the corpses all around and couldn’t help but sigh, then turned to his subordinates and said, “Zhou Qing, Ma Ying, Tian Wei, Su Biao.”
Lu Yuan listed four names in a row, all of them his inspectors, and then ordered, “You will immediately follow the original plan and take people to eliminate those remaining rebel remnants. Now that the Rebel Head is gone, those people are like headless dragons, lost and confused.
It’s just like what I said before, all the key rebels will be executed, and the bandits’ wealth will be confiscated.”
I want that by the end of this night, there will be no more rebels in Wugang County.”
“Your subordinates obey.”
Zhou Qing and the others stepped forward, accepted the order, then turned and left the door. They each led a hundred men under their command and started cleaning up the rebels house by house according to the original plan.
The first to suffer were the servants and coachmen waiting at the entrance of the county government office.
These close associates of the rebel head were naturally the first to be cleared, directly killed by the county soldiers who came out.
Afterwards, Zhou Qing and the other three inspectors each led their subordinates and headed in different directions within the county.
In no time, various places throughout the county were filled with one wave of shrieks and wails after another, as some fires started and lit up the night sky.
The people living in the houses within the city, awakened by the noise, were so scared that they thought bandits had entered the city and hastily blocked their doors.
They then crouched by the window, peeking through the cracks, terrified to look at the outside.
A bloody sleepless night had begun.
While Zhou Qing and the others were leading the troops to kill the bandits, Lu
Yuan had someone clean up the living room and had the remaining inspector, Su Biao, guard the county government office with his subordinates, guarding against a bandit attack.
After handling the situation, he returned to the backyard of the government office to see his friend.
In the pavilion under the garden in the backyard,
Sun Siwen stood on the railing, his hands behind his back, pacing back and forth.
Hearing the sound, his friend came over and asked, “Is everything done?”
Lu Yuan nodded with a smile: “Of course it’s done. With me taking action, can’t you trust me?”
Sun Siwen felt relieved, but was still worried: “According to the bandit spies captured in the county government office today afternoon, the city’s five families, and those two gangs, have gathered about a thousand men.
Zhou Qing and the others only took four hundred people. With the enemy outnumbering us several times, don’t you think there are too few people?”
Lu Yuan shook his head and smiled: “Brother Sun, you’re overthinking it. Four hundred men are more than enough. In fact, I think it’s too many.”
He had made thorough preparations tonight, and Zhou Qing and the others were all third-rate experts in the Jianghu world, each leading a hundred armored warriors.
How could those ragtag groups in the city, whose leaders had been killed and were completely unprepared, be their opponents?
So now all he had to do was wait for Zhou Qing and the others to kill the backbone of the rebels, remove the troublemakers, and the rest of the traitors would scatter.
Right now Sun Siwen was just concerned and confused. After tonight, everything would settle down, and he could be at ease.
“I pray to the heavens for a smooth success tonight.”
Sun Siwen rarely made a prayer, then forcibly calmed down and sat in the pavilion, waiting patiently.
Lu Yuan looked at his friend’s appearance, smiled, and sat beside him, practicing his Inner Strength in silence.
Although he said it was fine and believed tonight’s operation would go smoothly, he was still afraid of any fish slipping through the net.
If these bandit remnants were restless and tried to assassinate Sun Siwen, it would be a big mess.
If he wasn’t watching his friend’s back, he wouldn’t feel at ease.
The night slowly passed in waiting.
The screams and chaos within the city gradually subsided, and fires died down.
Soon the pale light of dawn appeared on the horizon.
Having practiced Inner Strength all night, Lu Yuan heard the noise and opened his eyes, his gaze falling on his disciple who had entered from the courtyard.
Zhou Qing’s armor was mostly stained with blood, and his face still showed a trace of excitement. At this moment, he walked to his master and saluted, saying, “Master, the backbone of the city’s five families and two gangs have been largely killed in the overnight fight.”
By his side, Sun Siwen had stayed up all night, just dozed off, and was startled awake again. On hearing these words, he was instantly wide awake.
Immediately, his face lit up with joy..