The matter was of great importance, so Tang Dongdong and the village head had to proceed with caution.
They chatted with the four female workers for more than ten minutes before letting them leave.
Then both of their expressions turned grave.
All the necessary questions had been asked clearly just now, and everything matched what the hunter had said.
The female workers also confirmed that Tang Fei’s father had been killed by bandits, and Tang Fei had always hated bandits to the bone.
The old village head had lived most of his life, though he had not seen much of the world, he understood the mountain folk very well.
A person like Tang Fei had almost no chance of colluding with bandits to harm Jin Feng.
Han Feng and Jin Feng had no major grudge either, so there was no reason for him to risk his life to deceive Xihewan.
He was right there in Xihewan now, and if the village head and others discovered Han Feng was lying, they could kill him immediately.
“It seems Brother Feng really encountered bandits.”
The village head narrowed his eyes and said, “Tiezi, fire the signal arrow!”
“Yes!”
Liu Tie had already prepared the signal arrow, and upon the village head’s permission, he raised his hand and pulled the trigger.
The sharp whistling sound spread throughout the quiet mountain village.
Female soldiers, old soldiers, and all the villagers who were still awake came out of their houses and stood in their courtyards.
After waiting a minute, Liu Tie fired the second signal arrow.
The previously quiet Xihewan instantly became noisy.
“Oh no, it’s a signal arrow from the gentleman’s house!”
“Old Third, get up quickly, a signal arrow from Brother Feng’s side!”
“Brother Feng wouldn’t fire a signal arrow at night for no reason, last time it was little Bei girl who was kidnapped, this time it must be something big too!”
“Quick, quick, quick!”
All the old soldiers and female soldiers immediately grabbed their weapons and ran towards Jin Feng’s house.
Following behind them were the villagers one by one.
Soon, the open space in front of Jin Feng’s door was packed with people.
Even the injured like Tiechui, Dazhuang, Houzi, and others who were recovering at home came hobbling on crutches.
Everyone looked at the wooden platform nearby, waiting for Jin Feng to announce what had happened.
But the ones who went up on stage were not Jin Feng, but the old village head and Tang Dongdong.
“Village head, where is Brother Feng?”
A villager asked.
“Everyone, quiet down!”
The village head struck the gong, and when the crowd quieted, he said, “We just received news that Brother Feng was ambushed by bandits on his way back from the county seat…”
Before he could finish the rest, the crowd below completely erupted.
“What did the village head say? Brother Feng was ambushed by bandits?!”
“Oh heavens, what do we do now?”
“When Brother Feng went to suppress the bandits, I thought it was a bad idea, and now look, the bandits have retaliated!”
“Shut your stinking mouth, did Brother Feng provoke the bandits? The bandits robbed our caravan first and broke Huzi’s leg, Brother Feng had no choice but to act, right?”
“Exactly, bandits are wolves that can’t be tamed, unless we hide in Xihewan forever, otherwise they’ll keep coming for us! Better to fight early and be done with it!”
“Oh dear, I was just worried about Brother Feng, I said the wrong thing, please forgive me!”
“You know you said the wrong thing, at least you’re not completely rotten!”
“Don’t mind him, hurry and think of a way to save Brother Feng.”
“Now there are still bandits daring to block Brother Feng? Which mountain band’s bandits are so bold?”
“Village head, where are the bandits? How many are there?”
“Village head, have you sent people to rescue Brother Feng?”
…
All the people of Xihewan knew that only with Jin Feng did they have good days, without Jin Feng, Xihewan would be a piece of fat meat for anyone to tear apart, shredded by bandits and local tyrants.
The villagers were first fearful, then anxious and angry.
They shouted noisily, demanding to rescue Jin Feng.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The village head struck the copper gong hard several times, and the villagers finally quieted down.
“What are you all shouting about?”
The village head yelled, “The bandits ambushing Brother Feng are from three groups, totaling more than a hundred people, when Brother Feng left this morning he told me to have Da Liu replace Miss Mun Lan, so now Brother Feng only has ten male soldiers with him, at most plus Miss Mun Lan’s ten female soldier guards, they definitely can’t beat more than a hundred bandits.
So, we must go rescue Brother Feng!”
“Yes, rescue Brother Feng!”
The villagers immediately echoed in agreement.
“Rescuing Brother Feng is essential, now everyone listen to my arrangements!”
The village head shouted, “Is Mancang here?”
“Here!”
Mancang limped forward to the front.
“You go immediately to the iron forging workshop, open the armoury, prepare weapons for everyone!” the village head said.
“Yes!”
Mancang agreed loudly and shouted, “Everyone from the smelting workshop, follow me!”
Seven or eight female slaves who had been learning blacksmithing with him stepped out of the crowd and ran with Mancang towards the smelting workshop.
“Is Tiechui here?” the village head shouted again.
“Here!”
Tiechui quickly raised his hand in response.
“How’s your injury?” the village head asked.
“Not a problem at all!”
Tiechui threw away his crutch and quickly walked to the front of the stage.
Though he still limped a bit when running, Tiechui’s face showed no change.
“Good, you are Brother Feng’s personal guard captain, and also the best horseman in our Xihewan, immediately select forty skilled men from the village, take five heavy crossbows, and go rescue Brother Feng at the fastest speed, no matter what, you must save Brother Feng!”
The village head said coldly.
The war horses sent back by Qinghuai this time had mostly been sent to Guangyuan as soon as they arrived in Xihewan.
Now there were only forty-eight war horses left in Xihewan’s stables, Tiechui with forty-one men and five heavy crossbows would need forty-six horses.
That is to say, the village head only kept two war horses for emergencies, giving all the rest to Tiechui.
“Yes!”
Tiechui agreed, turned and ran towards the old soldiers and female soldiers’ formation.
At this time, except for the places that must be guarded, all other old soldiers and female soldiers had come.
But together there were only forty-three people.
Tiechui was too lazy to choose, directly excluding the three female soldiers on the far edge, and led the rest to the stables.
“Liu Tie!”
The village head shouted again, and Liu Tie immediately ran to below the stage.
“You organise the village guard team and the tiger-hunting team, go to Mancang to get ten heavy crossbows, three portable trebuchets, load them on flat carts, and set off immediately!”
“Guard team, tiger-hunting team, follow me to the warehouse to pull the flat carts, prepare to load!”
Liu Tie shouted loudly, and immediately a group of men stepped out.
Basically all the men of Xihewan village.
After these people left, only a group of women, a few female soldiers, and the injured like Dazhuang and Houzi remained in the field.
“Liu Yu!”
The village head then called out his daughter.
“Here!”
Little Yu came forward excitedly, standing tall below the stage.
“You immediately organise the women in the village, evacuate everyone in the village to the textile factory cafeteria, before Brother Feng returns, everyone will stay in the cafeteria for now!”
More than half of the old soldiers and female soldiers had gone to the escort bureau in Guangyuan, the remaining people not only had to blockade the three major bandit groups, but also form bandit-suppression teams to encircle small bandits, there were not many people left in the village.
Now the old soldiers and female soldiers guarding the village had been taken by Tiechui, and almost all the men had been taken by Liu Tie.
The only ones left to rely on in the village were some injured and the women, who simply could not defend the entire village.
The best way was to concentrate the people for management.
