“Old Chu, shut your mouth!”
A bandit with an unusually large mouth and singed hair snarled viciously, “Where’s Jin Feng?”
“There, up the mountain.”
The fat bandit pointed to the small hill.
Big Toad glanced up the mountain. When he saw the corpses on the path and a spear-like arrow not far away, his pupils contracted slightly.
“Didn’t Jin Feng’s lot all ride horses? Where did the heavy crossbow come from?”
“You forgot he brought a carriage too? Probably hidden in the carriage.”
The fat bandit said, “But no need to worry. Heavy crossbow arrows aren’t light. Jin Feng couldn’t have brought many, and reloading the heavy crossbow takes time each time. As long as you charge in one go, you can definitely rush up!”
“Such a good deal, and you’d leave it for us?”
Big Toad sneered.
“Sigh, as expected, only Scarface is the fool…”
The fat bandit sighed inwardly, then smiled and said, “Big Toad, I’m giving you the chance to take the lion’s share. If you don’t want it, fine. Now that everyone’s here, let’s discuss what to do.”
“Jin Feng has a heavy crossbow. Whoever charges dies. A direct assault definitely won’t work.”
Scarface said, “We’ll learn from him and trap him on the mountain. They can’t have much food on them and won’t last many days.”
As soon as he finished, the other bandit chiefs looked at him like he was an idiot.
“Why are you all looking at me like that?” Scarface asked huffily.
“Because people as stupid as you are rare nowadays,” Big Toad laughed mockingly.
“Say that again if you dare!”
Scarface glared, drawing his knife at once.
“Hey now, we’re all here to make money. Fighting among ourselves would play right into Jin Feng’s hands, wouldn’t it?”
The fat bandit quickly stepped in to mediate, “Scarface, calm down a bit.”
“Then tell me, what’s wrong with my plan?” Scarface demanded, sticking his neck out.
“Scarface, if Jin Feng doesn’t return tonight, do you think West River Bay won’t send people to look for him?”
The fat bandit explained, “By then, they won’t even need to gather forces from the prefectural city. Just pulling over the troops guarding West River Bay, plus a few heavy crossbows, who among us could withstand that?”
“This…”
Scarface was stumped, his face flushing red with embarrassment.
He now understood why the others had mocked him.
The mountain path was narrow. With a heavy crossbow firing, there was nowhere to dodge; you could only stand and wait for death.
“So, no matter what, we must kill Jin Feng tonight, or we’ll never get another chance!”
The fat bandit, too lazy to watch Scarface embarrass himself further, said, “Everyone, think of any ideas quickly.”
“No good ideas. Only a hard assault.”
Big Toad said, “You were right earlier. Jin Feng couldn’t have brought many heavy crossbow arrows. As long as we exhaust their arrows, the heavy crossbow is just scrap. Taking Jin Feng will be no problem!”
“Exhaust the arrows, you say it simply. Whose men will do the exhausting?”
Scarface asked with a cold laugh.
Seeing the two about to clash again, the fat bandit quickly interjected, “It wouldn’t be fair for any one group to do it. The best way is for each of us to contribute a few men. Spread out the formation when climbing the mountain. That way, we can exhaust the arrows at the smallest cost.”
“Makes sense!”
The remaining bandit chiefs nodded in unison.
Soon, an eighteen-man suicide squad composed of men from several bandit groups climbed the mountain again.
To motivate them to fight desperately, the chiefs not only raised the reward for killing Jin Feng to two hundred taels but also added fifty taels for whoever first killed a veteran or female soldier.
The suicide squad took the small path, no longer in a single file but scattered chaotically. This way, even the heavy crossbow could kill at most two or three, and the rest could quickly storm the mountain during the gap for restringing and reloading.
They walked most of the way, yet Jin Feng did not fire the heavy crossbow.
This filled the bandit suicide squad with joy, thinking their plan had succeeded.
Unfortunately, they forgot that Jin Feng had not only the heavy crossbow but also the veterans.
When the suicide squad neared the summit, Old Black led nine veterans charging down from the top.
The bandits were no match for the veterans to begin with and were caught off guard. They couldn’t withstand even the first charge. The suicide squad was scattered and killed.
Apart from the ten at the rear who fled back, the remaining eight were all slain by the veterans.
The veterans did not pursue and returned to the summit to await the next wave.
Below the small mountain, the faces of the bandit chiefs turned extremely grim.
They knew this attempt would fail but hadn’t expected such a decisive defeat.
Eight dead, let alone exhausting arrows; they hadn’t even wounded a veteran.
However, the chiefs did not give up. Under threats and incentives, they soon reassembled another bandit suicide squad.
This time, not only increasing the number to thirty-six but also hiding six archers among them.
When Old Black led the veterans charging out again, the six archers simultaneously drew longbows hidden behind shields, nocked arrows, and shot at the veterans.
Old Black had never anticipated this and was completely unprepared. Immediately, four veterans were hit by arrows.
Two were struck in vital spots and soon breathed their last. The other two were hit in the thigh and shoulder respectively.
Though not fatal on the spot, they had nearly lost combat ability.
“Shuanzi, San Gouzi!”
Old Black’s eyes reddened at once.
The two dead veterans were from the same village as him. Though not blood brothers, they were closer than such!
“Old Black, take the wounded brothers and withdraw to me!”
Seeing the enemy archers drawing their longbows again below, Jin Feng quickly ordered retreat.
At the same time, he turned and shouted to the female soldiers, “A Lan, what are you waiting for? Take out their archers for me!”
The female soldiers immediately raised their hand crossbows, aiming at the enemy archers to counterattack.
“It seems I’ll have to have a good talk with Brother Liang when we get back.”
When Zhang Liang trained the veterans, he always emphasised strict obedience to orders, but Jin Feng hadn’t expected A Lan and the others to be trained so rigidly by Zhang Liang.
Without orders from him or Qing Mu Lan, they didn’t even know to rescue their comrades?
The female soldiers reacted a beat slow, while the bandit archers were clearly prepared, rapidly firing arrows before hurriedly raising shields.
Thump, thump, thump…
A Lan and the others’ arrows were all blocked by the shields.
And among Old Black’s group, another veteran was hit by an arrow.
Even Old Black’s cheek was grazed and wounded by an arrow.
Most critically, the remaining thirty bandits of the suicide squad were nearly at the summit.
With Old Black’s men blocking the front, the heavy crossbow could not fire. With two dead and three wounded among Old Black’s group, their combat strength was halved. Once engaged in close combat, they could never hold off thirty bandits.
“Mu Lan, A Mei, protect Xiaorou and Xiao Bei well. A Lan, bring the rest with me!”
