Chapter 261: Escaping the

As Jier used his hands to forcefully pull up the man standing on the rope below, in a very short amount of time, this person was easily hauled up.

Reaching out to pull over the man who was gripping the rock crevice at the edge of the mountain, the man looked at everything around him with excitement after coming up.

Seeing that the other party seemed to want to speak, Jier hurriedly covered the other's mouth with his hand, leaned close to the other's ear, and whispered: "Do not speak directly. We are not far from the guards stationed at the entrance of the bandit lair, and one can even hear voices. I do not know if they will notice if we speak directly here, so if you must speak, do it quietly like this."

This man nodded excitedly, and then, following Jier's instructions, he also stood behind Jier, wrapped his hands around the rope, and prepared to help Jier pull up the remaining people according to the plan.

The rope was lowered bit by bit again, and the second person to come up was also a man in relatively good physical condition. With the strength of two people, Jier finally did not have to bear the entire weight by himself.

He only needed to grip the rope tightly with his palms and then exert force to pull backward.

The time spent was even less than the first person; after this second rescued man came up, he even excitedly kissed the rock mountain under his feet.

With three people, it became much easier. As one villager after another was rescued, eventually five men stood behind Jier, and everyone worked together with Jier's movements to pull the sturdy rope. Originally, the full weight of a person was heavy, but when shared among the arms of six people, it was much easier.

Soon, all the women among the rescued villagers had come up. No one ran around; they all gathered in the open space Jier had cleared near the crevice of the mountain. Everyone silently hugged the things they wanted to carry, and because it was very cold outside, everyone huddled together for warmth.

Because there were no suitable items to make gloves, the villagers had to tuck both hands into clothes modified from various linen sacks to keep warm. Although everyone was in a sorry state, the joy of escaping from the bandit lair made everyone high-spirited.

Of course, everyone kept their mouths tightly shut, and some even wrapped their faces with strips of linen cloth; on one hand, it was for warmth, and on the other, they did not intend to cause trouble for everyone's escape by opening their mouths.

As the movements of Jier and the five men behind him became increasingly proficient, they finally pulled the last person up from the passage beneath the crevice.

After the rope was retrieved and wrapped around his waist, Jier counted the number of people and confirmed that everyone had been rescued. Only then did he have everyone hold hands, leading the villagers one by one along the safe route he had marked earlier to descend.

Crawling down a steep mountainside in the pitch-black night, once one lost their footing, they would roll down the slope. And when a person was in danger of rolling, the injuries sustained from the rolling were secondary; the most critical thing was the reckless shouting in a dangerous situation, which was the one point he needed to worry about.

Regarding this, Jier specifically chose the smoothest downhill route he could find. Although it meant taking a detour on the steep slope, this time cost was necessary to avoid being discovered.

Everyone held hands, trying to have a man sandwich a woman in between to ensure that everyone could safely reach the Shulin.

By the time the waxing crescent moon of the night sank into the earth, the mountain forest in the early morning became pitch black. Only then did Jier allow the rescued villagers who had reached a safe position to speak in low voices.

Everyone hugged their companions around them excitedly, and soft crying gradually spread through the crowd. However, some whose entire families had been killed could not cry; when Jier asked in a low voice, they said bitterly that their tears had long since run dry. The current rescue was only the first step; in the future, they would take revenge on those bandits who had taken everything from them.

After determining the direction, the group set off with Jier leading everyone.

Their current position was a little to the north of the Luodai Cave lair, but generally, they were still in the center of the territory of the Thieves of Luodai Cave. Once the bandits discovered that the captured villagers had escaped after dawn, they would definitely pursue and kill them with all their might.

Although Jier had left them some surprises, he did not know how much effect they would have. After all, the bandits were numerous in number, and after calming down, they could completely have some people extinguish the fire while others came out to search for their tracks.

It was unrealistic to count on the bandits not being able to find them, so the key to whether they could escape depended mainly on how far they could run with all their might before their escape was discovered.

Once the distance was widened, they would have many more choices. Although they were still on the territory of the Thieves of Luodai Cave, the bandits were still short-handed. In this vast mountain forest, their group of over twenty people could have various ways to avoid the bandits' pursuit.

After figuring this out, Jier lit a Torch and had the villagers pair up, supporting each other as they followed him forward.

The chosen direction was to go north first and then east, to first leave the area of the bandit lair with all their might, and then detour to the east side of the territory of the Thieves of Luodai Cave.

Doing this was, firstly, to confuse the bandits. After all, the bandits would definitely think they would flee straight in one direction, but they would not necessarily think they would travel through the bandit territory and choose to walk in places with complex terrain. This was also because Jier harbored a certain intention for battle; among everyone, only he had combat ability exceeding that of ordinary bandits. Once caught, as long as the terrain was complex, he still had the possibility of dealing with a small number of bandits alone.

Secondly, although their group had just eaten and drunk their fill, traveling through the mountain forest in winter was inherently a very energy-consuming and exhausting task. The food they carried was insufficient and not enough for them to spend several days returning to Bingxun Pass.

When Zhao Ji came alone, it took nearly two days from Bingxun Pass to here. Now, with so many injured villagers who had been locked up for a long time, it was impossible to reach the speed he had alone.

After they started walking, Jier realized that at the speed of their team, it might even take up to ten days to return to Bingxun Pass. Therefore, moving east would allow him to retrieve his equipment, and they would have more chances of survival.

At that time, Jier himself, by thinking of a way, could still take out one or two small Jiedian that the bandits had set up on the outskirts of their territory, which would definitely have enough food reserves.

The source of food for their group after escaping from here could only be what was snatched from the bandits.

In the morning, one of the Bandit Leaders of the Thieves of Luodai Cave, "The Decapitator" Delang, was awakened by a burst of urgent knocking on the door. Hearing a commotion outside the room, he hurriedly pushed away the two arms draped over him and got up.

Wearing only leather trousers and picking up the Double-edged Axe leaning against the bedside, he then opened the wooden door that would be locked after sleeping at night.

Seeing his own gang of subordinates standing nervously outside the door, Delang grabbed a subordinate who was knocking and asked: "What happened?"

The subordinate hurriedly and nervously replied: "Boss, the prisoners locked in the Jianlao have run away! The brothers on guard have all been killed!"

Pushing this subordinate away, Delang called his subordinates to follow; such matters had to be seen in person to be judged. He did not bother to put on his leather coat and started running.

Inside the cave passage leading to the storage room, Jianlao, and training ground, someone had moved many empty boxes; Delang kicked these empty boxes blocking the way over with one foot.

Arriving in the upper cave, sure enough, everything was in a mess; much of the dried meat prepared for winter had been torn open and dropped on the ground, and more of the things containing supplies had been rummaged through by people.

"It's simply as if it had been visited by bandits!" Delang remarked, but the subordinates behind him did not dare to point out to him that they themselves were bandits.

Arriving in the Jianlao, all the ropes binding the prisoners had been cut, and several Jianlao were empty: "Where did the guards go? And which people were guarding the Shandong gate yesterday! Where did so many prisoners run off to?"

The subordinates hurriedly led their leader to the depths of the area where various supplies and loot were stored. Here, three stripped bandits were hanging naked, as if mocking them all.

"Hurry up and take them down, #@! It must be that those guys were just playing around and got subdued and slaughtered by those women who hadn't been tamed yet. I've said it so many times, you have to wait until people submit before you can do it, but no one listens. Also, where did so many prisoners go? Can they really burrow into the mountains?" Delang ordered his subordinates to call other leaders still in the Shandong to come and discuss the subsequent handling methods.

But before the subordinates could run far, something happened where the bodies of the killed bandits were being taken down.

Five bandits had brazenly wanted to climb onto the pile of goods to the side and use a Dagger to cut the rope hanging the bodies. As a result, just as the rope was cut and the bodies fell, the backs of the bodies seemed to collide and rub against something.

Along with the scraping sound of Stone rubbing against Stone.

Large sparks were ignited from behind the bodies, and those sparks, once touching the goods behind the bodies, directly ignited a large fire.

The bandit who cut the rope above hurriedly defended himself, saying it wasn't him who caused it, and he didn't know what had happened.

The bandit catching the bodies below pointed at the large amount of Flint stuck behind the bodies and shouted: "It's Flint! Damn it, it's a trap!"

Just as this bandit finished speaking, he was slapped on the head by the bandit next to him: "Extinguish the fire first! Extinguish the fire first!"

But Zhao Ji had sprinkled a large pile of wood shavings and wood chips on the goods behind the bodies and had poured Lamp Oil on these things, so it would catch fire with just a spark.

"What the #@ is wrong with you all! Why are you still worrying about the bodies! Everyone come and extinguish the fire! Speak! Which one of you accidentally started the fire?" Delang rushed over with his Double-edged Axe, ordering his subordinates to find a way to extinguish the fire while grabbing the subordinate who was still holding the body and questioning him.

Fearing that the "Decapitator" boss would chop him down, the subordinate hurriedly pointed to the large patches of scattered Flint behind the body next to him: "A trap! Boss! It's a trap! That bunch of dirt-diggers not only killed our people but also specifically set this up to start a fire."

Delang grabbed the neck of the body next to him and lifted the corpse of the dead bandit with one hand. While seeing the patches of Flint behind the body, he also noticed the wound on the neck of the corpse that had cut through most of the neck in one strike.

He narrowed his eyes, feeling that the possibility he had just thought of—that these guards had been careless and killed while playing with the imprisoned women—might have been misjudged.

This level of wound was not something that prisoners who hadn't even eaten a full meal since being locked up could achieve. At the same time, he touched the cross-section of the muscle of the wound and found that it was made by a Steel Sword with a sharp edge.

He frowned and thought, seeing at a glance that his subordinates had not yet been able to extinguish the burning goods, and even some leaping flames were burning into the interior of the pile of goods: "What's going on? Have you all not eaten for days? With so many people, you can't even extinguish such a small fire?"

A close subordinate complained: "Those escaping guys emptied all the water in the fire-extinguishing water vats, Boss."

"Then hurry up and call more people, wake everyone up, and hurry over to extinguish the fire!"

That was what was said, but all the other bandits brought water over in buckets and Wooden Bowls of various sizes to extinguish the fire, yet they still could not stop the fire from spreading.

The high temperature emitted by the raging fire made it impossible to stay in this cave. With no other choice, the bandits had to salvage some supplies and retreat to the Shandong hall.

Other leaders questioned how 'The Decapitator' Delang managed to start such a massive fire, which would make this winter extremely difficult for their group. Although a great deal of supplies was still stored in the various wooden cabins of the bandits, and they could still get by.

However, many of the goods plundered in previous years that remained were completely lost.

Facing the questioning of the other leaders and the dozens of bandits raising their unsheathed swords, blades, and clubs, Delang simply had his subordinates place the corpse of the prison guard killed last night in the open space in the middle of everyone.

Pointing at the flint behind the corpse and the fatal wound on the neck, Delang told the other Bandit Leaders about his discovery.

None of them were stupid, and they had all known each other for a long time; they knew Delang was not the type to talk nonsense, and Delang, who loved fighting and killing, rarely made wild boasts.

"It couldn't have been those prisoners; where would they have the means for this? Besides, where exactly did those prisoners run off to?" Delang looked around at all the bandits present, "Who was on watch last night?"

A few bandits tried to shrink into the crowd, but they were pushed out by the bandits who had been on patrol last night.

Another leader, nicknamed 'Bozhu Bushou', stared at these bandits and asked, "Did you see any abnormal situations last night? Think carefully."

These four bandits were subordinates of the four leaders present, so none of them protected their own men. The upper-level cave that was still burning had caused their entire Bandit Group to suffer heavy losses; although only three useless fellows had died, the property loss was not small.

They had originally intended to use those accumulated riches to find a way to whitewash their group, but who knew it would just burn away like this. To accumulate that much in supplies again would take several more years of hard work.

The few bandits on watch were stared at intensely by dozens of other bandits, and they lowered their heads, not daring to speak. Two of the bandits were even shaking like winnowing sieves.

The leader nicknamed 'Bozhu Bushou' walked over with a limp, grabbed the two trembling bandits, and forced them to open their mouths.

After sniffing, this grim-faced Bandit Leader patted the faces of the two bandits and asked them softly: "Do you know what you are on watch for?"

The two bandits who were on watch last night nodded with chattering teeth.

"You know? I thought you didn't." Without saying much more, this leader called over the other three leaders present, and the four of them formed a small circle to discuss in low voices.

Among them, the hot-tempered 'The Decapitator' Delang even cursed loudly.

After the four finished their discussion, they announced the decision to execute the two bandits responsible for guarding the cave entrance last night in front of all the bandits; as for the other two responsible for yesterday during the day, each would have one hand chopped off.

The bandits discussed it among themselves, but not a single person dared to oppose the leaders' decision. Some clever bandits guessed that the two who were on watch last night must have snuck some alcohol, leading to not a single useful discovery last night.

The four leaders then discussed for a while longer, feeling that no matter how the imprisoned civilians escaped from them, they certainly hadn't gone far yet, and it was still in time to pursue them.

Thus, they selected four ten-man squads, forty people in total, to track from their lair in the four directions of southeast, northwest, and south; if they discovered the fleeing prisoners, they were to kill them if they could, and if they felt unsure, they were to return and call for help.

Because those prisoners knew the location of their lair, if even one person luckily escaped back to the distant Bingxun Pass, then this winter, they would not be able to hide in the Shandong to avoid the large-scale routine sweeps by the Militia as they had in the past.

At that time, the losses would be even greater, because the loss from the cave fire was, after all, only financial supplies; although it pained them, it did not cause any damage to the foundation of their bandits.

But if this safe lair could no longer be used, then many of the new bandits who had joined the Thieves of Luodai Cave for the sake of safety would certainly take advantage of the chaos and leave them.

If one or two people wanted to leave, they could be killed to serve as a warning to others. But if more people wanted to leave, or break away to work on their own, they would not dare to kill them.

At the same time, besides one leader continuing to be responsible for extinguishing the fire, and one leader heading south of their territory to find the leader 'Tie Gebo' who was out working, 'The Decapitator' Delang would be responsible for carrying out the executions.

The most seasoned bandit, 'Lame Catcher' Lao Feisi, would take a small squad of elites to take a shortcut through the 'Tooth Ghost' Bandit Group and rush to Bingxun Pass to ambush the prisoners who might escape there.

"Jier! Look behind you!" Mr. Xiao Simengsi, having suffered many lashes from the guards earlier, finally could not hold on after fleeing for a while and collapsed to the ground.

Jier had anticipated this situation occurring earlier and had specifically asked people to prepare multiple makeshift stretchers. At this moment, it was just right to let Mr. Xiao Simengsi rest on a stretcher for a while.

Everyone else was grateful to Mr. Xiao Simengsi for saving them, and for his family entrusting Jier, this warrior. They had no resentment toward Mr. Xiao Simengsi lying on a stretcher being carried by others.

Mr. Xiao Simengsi, lying on the stretcher, felt a sense of shame; after all, all the ladies were still walking forward, and he, this middle-aged Merchant who had traveled far and wide, was actually the first to use this stretcher.

However, Mr. Xiao Simengsi, lying on the stretcher, was the first to discover a column of black smoke rising into the sky in the southern mountain forest.

That black smoke could be clearly seen by them, even though they were several hours away from the bandit lair, which meant the fire there was not small, and the black smoke was getting thicker, clearly showing that the bandits had not controlled the fire inside the Shandong.

Everyone who discovered this was quite happy; the supplies in those cave storage rooms were all the former property of those of them who had been plundered by the bandits.

Although it was a pity to burn them, even if they were burned, they could not be left to the bandits.

Not a single bit could be left.

Jier watched the black smoke in the distance behind them turn from thin to thick, and with no sign of stopping, he felt that he had overestimated those bandits before. They didn't know a damn thing about fire prevention or firefighting; if he had known that gang of bandits was so inexperienced, he might as well have gone back secretly by himself after rescuing the civilians and set the entire bandit lair on fire.

Burn that gang of god-forsaken trash to death.

However, the past could not be changed, and once an opportunity was lost, it was lost. Jier ordered everyone to start moving east from here, advance until noon, rest for a while, and then work harder in the afternoon, taking advantage of the good daylight to cover more ground.

When night came, the civilians would find a sheltered place to hide, and Jier would go out alone to scout around and look for any possible small Bandit Jiedian.

Eliminate the Bandit Jiedian with fewer people and obtain enough cold-weather clothing and food.