As the village head issued commands one after another, the entire Xihewan became chaotic.
First, Tiechui, the fastest, led more than forty war horses and galloped out of the village.
Immediately after, Liu Tie led almost all the men of the village, pushing more than a dozen flat carts and jogging off.
All the women in the village mobilised, taking their children and valuables, and hurried to the textile factory cafeteria.
Tang Dongdong also halted the night shift at the textile factory, sending all the female workers from Xihewan and Guanjia Village to gather in the cafeteria.
The female workers who had come from other villages to seek refuge were required to return to their temporary dormitories immediately.
Soon, Little Yu, with a few female soldiers and the injured, set up heavy crossbows at every intersection leading to the textile factory and the smelting plant.
The female soldiers were responsible for firing, while the village women handled winding the winches and reloading.
For a time, the atmosphere across Xihewan grew tense.
Not long after Liu Tie set off, a female soldier on high-ground watch hurriedly found the village head and Tang Dongdong.
“Village head, Factory Director Dongdong, someone is coming from outside!”
The female soldier said anxiously.
The village head and Tang Dongdong both paled at once and rushed to the high ground.
Sure enough, more than a mile outside the village, a group was approaching quickly.
Hundreds of torches formed a fiery dragon, winding over two hundred metres long, clearly a large number of people.
“Could bandits really choose today to attack Xihewan?”
Intense fear appeared on the village head’s face.
This was arguably the moment when Xihewan’s defences were most vulnerable; if several hundred bandits really attacked, the consequences would be unthinkable!
Yet even knowing this, neither the village head nor Tang Dongdong regretted sending people to rescue Jin Feng.
Because if Jin Feng died, the consequences would be far worse than Xihewan being stormed by bandits right now.
Xihewan could now be said to have every citizen as a soldier, many women had received amateur training, and they were fighting on home ground; they might hold out until dawn.
But if Jin Feng died, Xihewan’s sky would never brighten again.
“Village head, if it were bandits sneaking in, they shouldn’t be so brazen.”
Tang Dongdong said, “Could it be people from Guanjia Village?”
“It is indeed coming from the direction of Guanjia Village.”
The old village head thought for a moment, “I’ll go out to meet them and see. If they are bandits, I’ll fire a signal arrow to warn you, prepare early. If it’s Old Guan, I’ll bring him over.”
“No, that’s too dangerous, village head, you can’t go.”
Tang Dongdong shook his head at once.
If it was people from Guanjia Village, it would be cause for joy; if bandits, after the old village head fired the signal arrow, he likely wouldn’t escape.
“Now the village probably only has me as the one able-bodied man left. If I don’t go, who will?”
The old village head brooked no argument and ran straight out.
Tang Dongdong knew this was the best option now, bit his lip, glanced at the village head’s retreating back, and ran to inform Little Yu to prepare.
At the village entrance, the original patrol posts had all withdrawn to the textile factory side. The village head hid in the nearby bushes, then lay down in the grass and quietly crawled outward.
After all, he was old; after crawling only a short distance, the village head felt his back ache, but he still dared not stand, gripping the crossbow in his hand ever tighter.
As soon as he spotted bandits, he would immediately pull the trigger and fire the signal arrow.
The village head drew closer to the torch procession.
When the distance was only a dozen metres, the village head finally saw clearly.
Leading the torch group, who else but Third Master Guan from Guanjia Village?
Following behind Third Master Guan was Jin Feng’s brother-in-law, Guan Zhuzi.
The stone in the village head’s heart finally settled, and his arms went limp as he lay on the ground.
“Who’s there?”
Guan Zhuzi heard the rustle in the bushes and stood in front of Third Master Guan with a firewood knife raised.
“It’s me!” The village head crawled out of the bushes, “Old Guan the Third, you scared me to death!”
“Crawling out of a haystack in the dead of night, and you say I scared you?” Third Master Guan said irritably, “What are you doing?”
“Afraid you were bandits, that’s all?” The village head asked, “Why have you come?”
“Old Jun came to your village today to visit relatives, and on his way back after dinner, he heard two signal arrows from your village and ran back to tell me.”
Third Master Guan said, “As soon as I heard, I knew something big had happened, so I rallied all the men in the village to come and see what was wrong.”
“Then you’ve truly come at the perfect time.”
The village head, upon hearing this, emotionally grasped Third Master Guan’s hand, “Our village now only has women left.”
“What exactly happened?” Third Master Guan asked.
“Brother Feng and Xiaorou went to the county seat today to get the marriage papers for little Miss Bei, and on the way back, they were ambushed by bandits…”
“What?!”
Third Master Guan, upon hearing this, his eyebrows shot up, “Brother Feng isn’t just Xihewan’s man, he’s also our Guanjia Village’s son-in-law. Something this big happened to him, why didn’t you send someone to notify me?”
Jin Feng was not only Xihewan’s sky but also Guanjia Village’s sky.
“I got the news and immediately had Tiechui take men on horseback and leave first, then Tiezi took all the village men away. Where was the time to notify you?”
The village head said helplessly.
“We’ll settle this account later!”
Third Master Guan pointed at the village head, turned and shouted, “Zhuzi, take the tiger-hunting team at once and catch up with Liu Tie.
Old Ninth, take the rest of the men and follow Old Liu’s arrangements, got it?”
“Got it!”
Guan Zhuzi agreed and led Guanjia Village’s tiger-hunting team running off.
Old Ninth Guan then led the remaining men and followed the village head into the village.
In fact, those people from other villages who had come to seek refuge earlier had also approached the village head, offering to help, but the village head dared not let them take defence duties and politely refused.
But Guanjia Village was different; because of Jin Feng, the two villages were practically indistinguishable and completely trustworthy.
…
On the other side, Jin Feng’s group, led by the hunter, finally arrived at Heishuigou.
“Sir, what happened to you all?”
Zhang Liang, seeing Jin Feng at the base of the small castle tower, was startled by their appearance.
This was the first time he had seen Jin Feng in such a sorry state.
“Encountered bandits.”
Jin Feng briefly explained the situation.
“They actually dared to ambush the gentleman; they’re tired of living!”
Zhang Liang glared in fury, “Sir, wait, I’ll send men right now to slaughter them all!”
“No need. If I’m not mistaken, they’ve already fled.”
Jin Feng said, “Quickly send a fast horse back to Xihewan, tell them to send a few carriages tomorrow to first transport the injured brothers back for treatment.”
“I’ll arrange it now. Erkui, first take the gentleman and the others up to rest.”
Zhang Liang agreed and immediately went out to arrange manpower.
Erkui then led Jin Feng and the others up to the small castle tower.
Below the tower were several rooms, originally resting places for the bandits.
Now they had become dormitories for the old soldiers.
With Jin Feng here, the best room naturally became his.
But the so-called best room was extremely crude; both the table and the bed had a layer of black dust.
“Sorry, sir, this damned place is full of this black ash everywhere. Wipe it today, and it’s back tomorrow; it never ends. Later, Brother Liang told me not to bother wiping anymore.”
Erkui wiped the stool with his sleeve, explaining embarrassedly.
“Hold on!”
Jin Feng pinched some black ash with his fingers, held it under the oil lamp, and examined it closely.
A trace of delight gradually appeared on his face, “You say this black ash is everywhere here?”
