Chapter 116: Arrived in Chuzhou · A Thunderous Strike [Heartfelt Thanks for Everyone's Support

Speaking thus, the group arrived at a warehouse by the shore.

Xu Xu Zaijing's eyes brightened with understanding as he said, "If the Bai family isn't leading as a benchmark, the other salt merchants can naturally pay taxes however they wish!"

"Exactly! Cut down the benchmark and line our own pockets! Look, the Japanese warriors are in there."

Gazing at the courtyard walls, which stood over two men tall, Xu Xu Zaijing asked, "How many?"

"Thirty-one. Han Wulang, you take that roof; watch out for us from the ridge," Zhao Zhao Meifeng said.

Hearing the number, Xu Xu Zaijing nodded.

With Brother Qingyun, Gao Gao Yuhou, the scar-faced bodyguard, and others, adding Xu Xu Zaijing and Zhao Zhao Meifeng, they numbered ten.

The odds were not overwhelmingly against them, so everyone began retrieving covered weapons and shields from the carts.

Brother Qingyun, blade and shield in hand, passed the quiver of feathered arrows to Xu Xu Zaijing; Xu Xu Zaijing took it, then tucked his flying axes into the leather belt at his waist.

Xu Xu Zaijing gauged the roof's height, stepped back for a running start, leaped fiercely to kick off the wall, and vaulted straight up.

Once on the roof, he strung his bow; seeing the few men below still stunned, he jerked his chin in signal.

Zhao Zhao Meifeng recovered from his surprise and raised his shield three times toward the gong-and-drum troupe that had followed from afar.

Soon, deafening gongs and drums echoed near the canal lock, as a band of Chuzhou's idle ruffians gathered around the troupe, shouting loudly.

Their task was to mask the commotion here.

Xu Xu Zaijing also moved slowly to the roof ridge; looking down from his high vantage, he saw a rectangular courtyard with the gate on the left.

The building under Xu Xu Zaijing's feet did not connect to this courtyard; across from him stood one house, and to his right another—the enemies were in those two places.

At this moment, below and to Xu Xu Zaijing's left, Zhu Zhu Qinghu, Gao Gao Yuhou, and the others had reached the small courtyard gate.

A thin blade carefully lifted the door latch.

"Twang!"

A Japanese warrior in the yard, about to cry out, was instantly pinned to the ground by a feathered arrow driven through his mouth.

Unfortunately, someone happened to step out just then and saw the fallen man.

"Taiketsu!"

That single shout instantly alarmed the Japanese warriors in the courtyard.

Warriors clutching spears and blades, clad in bamboo armor, rushed out.

Brother Qingyun, Zhu Zhu Qinghu, and the scar-faced bodyguard formed a small triangle at the front.

Behind them, the Gu family's bodyguards surged in.

These were veterans of many battles; below, Zhu Zhu Qinghu shouted, "Watch our left! Watch the left!"

On the roof ridge, Xu Xu Zaijing held four feathered arrows in his hand; his bow snapped like thunder, and the two Japanese warriors just emerging from the doorway on the bodyguards' left were skewered in a line.

Yet the people inside still charged outward, knowing that being trapped within meant a single fire could finish them, so they strained desperately to break out.

Two more Japanese warriors smashed out through a window, cooperating to climb the wall and escape.

Xu Xu Zaijing drew his bow and loosed an arrow.

"Twang."

The warrior by the wall was instantly pinned against it.

"Spurt."

On the other side of the wall, a bloodied arrowhead protruded from within.

The one who had crouched to boost his companion fell to the ground; another arrow struck, pinning his thigh to the earth, making him scream in agony.

Xu Xu Zaijing again held four feathered arrows between his fingers, shooting only the fastest runners, each arrow fatal.

Crossbow bolts also flew out from inside the house; Xu Xu Zaijing tilted his head slightly to dodge, then shot back with a thick, long eagle-feather arrow.

In the house where men hid, a heavy wooden table had been pushed up to serve as a shield; the crossbow bolts were fired from behind it.

At this moment, the three-foot-long feathered arrow Xu Xu Zaijing used shot forth.

Thwok!

On the upright tabletop, only the eagle feathers at the arrow's tail remained visible outside; the head of the person hiding behind it had been shot clean through.

"Bang!"

A muffled report from the opposite house made Xu Xu Zaijing's heart tighten.

Immediately after,

he saw a thumb-sized hole appear in the scar-faced bodyguard's shield.

Another report sounded; Zhu Zhu Qinghu's shoulder jerked, and it was plainly visible that he could no longer exert strength.

Xu Xu Zaijing was greatly alarmed.

"Damn it! How do they have such things!"

Zhu Zhu Qinghu shouted a loud warning, "More! There are more!"

Xu Xu Zaijing understood his meaning; he saw the threat—there was still a threat!

He immediately slung the quiver on his back, drew his bow while moving, and ran quickly to the right.

'Bang!'

Another report sounded; tiles a yard away from Xu Xu Zaijing flew into the air.

Xu Xu Zaijing cursed under his breath, "Shit!"

Soon he reached the roof on the right; ignoring the enemies in the room below, he kept running, then with a leap, landed on the roof opposite the one he had just occupied.

"Niru ai!"

"Niru ai!"

Xu Xu Zaijing did not understand the meaning, but he simply kicked with all his force.

Crash!

A large hole appeared in the roof.

Crash—

Another one appeared.

Voices still came from inside the house, sounding as if urging something on.

After kicking four or five large holes, Xu Xu Zaijing drew his bow again from above.

He glanced down and instantly spotted someone below raising a crude tubular object.

"Bang."

Those two shots just now seemed to have exhausted the luck of the people below; this time, nothing shot out of that tubular object.

Xu Xu Zaijing kicked once more, making the hole in the roof even larger.

By now, Japanese warriors in the courtyard were lying everywhere wailing in agony; those still able to move were mostly inside the house beneath Xu Xu Zaijing's feet.

Having used up one quiver of arrows, Xu Xu Zaijing saw people inside the house below still busy reloading that tube; his heart turned ruthless, and he directly pulled a flying axe from his waist and jumped down.

Seeing this scene, Brother Qingyun panicked, thinking Xu Xu Zaijing had fallen, and shouted, "Young Master!"

The personal guards hurriedly split into two teams: one blocked the front, while the other raised their shields and charged toward the house on the left.

Fifteen breaths later, everyone dragged out a person dressed in silk clothes; the enemies in the other house were also trapped inside, crying out loudly for mercy.

Xu Xu Zaijing climbed back onto the roof, retrieved his hard bow, jumped into the courtyard, pulled the feathered arrows pinned into bodies from the yard, and then picked off everyone in the other house one by one.

Soon, there was no one left in the courtyard capable of fighting.

After that, they went one by one to finish off those wailing in agony,

and it was over.

Zhu Zhu Qinghu, who had rested in the courtyard for a while and suffered no harm, skillfully arranged the corpses in a row nearby.

Zhu Zhu Qinghu counted them and said, "There are clearly forty-five of them!"

Hearing Zhao Zhao Meifeng, he held the tubular object in his hand, looked at the characters carved upon it, and said, "The naval forces in the east also need to be purged."

The others said nothing, busy wiping away bloodstains or checking injuries; fortunately, no one had died.

Afterwards, leaving two people to stand guard, the rest carried the person dressed in silk and continued walking toward the riverbank.

"Point it out—which one is your family's boat?" Hearing Zhao Zhao Meifeng said to the person they had just captured alive.

"That one! The one flying the Hao banner!" The captive hurriedly replied.

"With such objects on the boat, we should not approach; I will have the lock guards use ropes to drag it out of the channel. Later, I am going to stab those few Imperial City Bureau sluice guards; care to provide some support?" Hearing Zhao Zhao Meifeng said.

"Forget it, this is your Imperial City Bureau's affair; I won't get involved! Brother Qingyun!" Xu Xu Zaijing shouted.

Brother Qingyun walked over; earlier, a bullet that had pierced Scarface's shield had grazed his arm and flown past; his clothes were torn, but he was unharmed.

"Take off the padded vest inside and give it to Zhao... this big brother here," Xu Xu Zaijing said.

"Yes, Young Master."

Afterwards, Brother Qingyun took off the padded vest and placed it into Hearing Zhao Zhao Meifeng's hands.

"Jing Biao Ge, ask this person about the Bai family's situation."

"Alright."

At this moment, the group that had been beating gongs and drums earlier arrived before them, bringing along Mustache and Little Eyes.

One of the men clasped his fists and said, "Boss, these two spotted our trick and were about to run, but my subordinates held them down."

"What about the big fish?"

"Boss, rest assured, the big fish did not see them being caught."

Upon hearing Hearing Zhao Zhao Meifeng's voice, Mustache, who had been extremely arrogant just moments before, froze in shock.

Then Mustache carefully examined this group reeking of blood, and then took another close look at Hearing Zhao Zhao Meifeng; he immediately knelt on the ground.

With a trembling voice, Mustache said, "Commandant, spare my life; I know I was wrong."

"Tell me where Song is, and I will give you a quick death; how about that?" Hearing Zhao Zhao Meifeng said in a sincere tone.

As for Little Eyes, he could not even stand; the ground beneath his feet had already become wet.

"You don't want to say?"

"I'll say, I'll say. The Clerk is in the city near the Yan family's residence; he said to wait until things became chaotic here this evening. In case anyone escaped, they would definitely go to the Yan family's home to seek refuge, so the Clerk went to the Yan family's residence, saying he would cast a net and wait for them."

"How many people did he take with him?"

"Five."

"When?"

"Just two quarter-hours ago; he left from that Yuxian Yuxian Zhengdian ahead."

At this moment,

at the Yan family's residence.

Lu Yan was tall and sturdy; during the previous standoff in the north, he had come here to serve as Pacification Commissioner, and although that had ended, he had not yet returned to the capital.

Lu Yan listened intently to my lord Yan's words, his face filled with horror; he looked around the front hall, where seated were the Supervisor of the Bell and Halberd Office, the County Commandant of Chuzhou, and the Chief Clerk of the Baojia Office—all military officials on the same line; truly, if any noble were to come to harm under their watch, forget about promotion; they would not even know if they could remain officials.

At this moment, hurried footsteps approached,

and the doorkeeper's young servant who had entered earlier to report came running in again, panting heavily as he whispered, "Master, just now the old steward said that some thieves are impersonating nobles; he is detaining them at the gate and awaits your decision."

And also

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(End of Chapter)