Master Chen planned for so long. How could he possibly let West River Bay get away with it so easily?
Transferring away Iron Ox, Zheng Fang, Iron Hammer and the village’s escort masters was only the beginning.
Now the defensive personnel in West River Bay have reached the absolute limit. No more extra escort masters can be pulled out.
On the third day after Iron Hammer and the others left, more than a dozen bands of bandits suddenly poured out from around Jinchuan. They charged into every part of the county from all directions and plundered the common people with madness.
Because of the rapid development of West River Bay, almost every village in the entire Jinchuan county now has people working there.
There are no more bandits collecting annual grain taxes, and with family members earning money in the factories, life across the county has become much better.
Even the poorest village in Jinchuan today would count as a wealthy village in the surrounding counties.
This delighted the incoming bandits. They looted even more frantically.
Although each band of bandits was not very large in number, almost all the young and strong men in the county had gathered in West River Bay or other factories. The villages only had the old, weak, sick and disabled left. How could they possibly resist the brutal bandits?
The people living on the borders of Jinchuan suffered terribly. Not only were their homes robbed, but quite a few were also killed by the bandits.
“Sorry, sister-in-law. My work was not done well enough. I let the bandits find a gap.”
Little Jade held a stack of intelligence reports and took the initiative to admit fault to Guan Xiaorou.
The Zhong Ming team was divided into two parts. Han Feng’s group handled the external side, while her second group was in charge of the internal side. Their main task was to gather intelligence around Jinchuan and guard against spies inside West River Bay.
“The moment the bandits entered Jinchuan, you already received the news. This is not your fault. The problem lies with Xie Xiguang!”
Tang Dongdong gritted her teeth and said, “Back in autumn, Brother Liang already wiped out all the bandits in the entire Guangyuan area. How could so many appear all of a sudden now? It must be Xie Xiguang secretly causing trouble!”
“What use is there in talking about this now?” Guan Xiaorou said anxiously. “We need to think of a way quickly. We cannot just watch the bandits rob everywhere!”
“There is only one company of escort masters left in the village now. There is no solution!”
Tang Dongdong said helplessly, “We can only hope that Brother Feng returns soon!”
“My brother said the journey from the Eastern Sea to Jinchuan is thousands of miles. Even if the boss hurries at full speed, it will still take more than half a month to get back. In half a month, the bandits will have looted the whole of Jinchuan!”
Guan Xiaorou was so anxious that she was almost in tears.
“Xiaorou, we really have no way.”
Tang Dongdong said, “The only thing we can do now is to pull back our defences and protect the village and all the factories!”
Guan Xiaorou opened her mouth but could not say anything.
She understood the logic Tang Dongdong spoke of. Yet when she thought about how Jin Feng had worked so hard to let the people of Jinchuan live good lives, only for bandits to ravage everything now, her heart felt painfully blocked.
Tang Dongdong patted Guan Xiaorou on the shoulder and left together with Little Jade.
The bandits had already killed their way into Jinchuan territory. They had to prepare in case the bandits reached West River Bay.
Very often, the line between good and evil is just a single thought. Ordinary people turning into bandits can also happen overnight.
This year is a year of disaster. The people of Jinchuan had Jin Feng’s relief, but the people in other counties did not.
Many people were already unable to survive. When they heard that robbing Jinchuan could make them rich, the common folk around Jinchuan began to stir with greed.
With Master Chen secretly fuelling the flames from behind, in the following days more and more ordinary people turned into bandits and poured into Jinchuan.
In an instant, the whole of Jinchuan was filled with the smoke of war. Bandits were everywhere.
When Zheng Fang, Iron Ox, Iron Hammer and the others received the news, their first thought was to lead their troops back immediately to protect the safety of West River Bay.
But the moment they prepared to move, the bandits more than ten li away also started to act.
Iron Hammer was in a slightly better situation. He no longer cared where the battlefield was and directly led his troops back to Black Wind Ridge.
If the bandits dared to pursue, then they would simply fight a battle at Black Wind Ridge.
But Zheng Fang and Iron Ox were pinned down and could not move at all.
The moment they left, the bandits would surely attack Twin Camel Peak and Black Water Ditch.
The most deadly part was that scouts had spotted catapults and heavy crossbows among the bandit groups.
“How can bandits have catapults?”
When Tang Dongdong received the news, her face was full of disbelief.
“Sister Dongdong, have you forgotten? Back then Duke Qing handed the catapult blueprints to the court, and later they leaked to the Dangxiang people.”
Little Jade said, “If even the Dangxiang people have them, is it really so strange for some lords in the court to get a copy?
From the scouts’ reports, the bandits’ catapults look like the first-generation models that Mister made in Clear Water Valley.”
“Are you saying this matter involves the imperial court?”
Tang Dongdong’s delicate eyebrows furrowed slightly.
Before this she had always suspected that the escaped Mister Feng was secretly causing trouble. Now she finally understood that this matter had nothing to do with Mister Feng.
Although Mister Feng had connections with the Dangxiang, the Dangxiang would never teach him how to build catapults.
The only reasonable explanation was that the method of making catapults came from the imperial court.
While the three of them were worrying, Aju ran quickly in from outside the courtyard.
The moment they saw her, all three felt their hearts tighten.
In recent days, none of the news Aju brought had been good.
“Madam, it’s bad! The suspension bridge at Black Wind Ridge has been burned down!”
“What?!”
Guan Xiaorou felt everything go dark before her eyes and almost collapsed to the ground.
Tang Dongdong also widened her eyes and asked, “What about Big Brother Iron Hammer?”
One end of the suspension bridge was West River Bay, and the other end was Black Wind Ridge.
The bridge being burned meant that one end had fallen.
There was no movement from the village side, so Guan Xiaorou and Tang Dongdong’s first thought was that Black Wind Ridge had fallen, and the escort masters on the West River Bay side had no choice but to burn the bridge.
Aju saw that the two had misunderstood and quickly explained, “Big Brother Iron Hammer should be fine. The bridge was burned by a spy.”
“A spy? Who?” Little Jade asked with a frown.
The escort masters guarding the bridge had all been carefully selected. Not only did they need excellent combat skills, their backgrounds also had to be completely clean.
They were either from West River Bay or Guan Family Village, or their entire families worked in the village.
These people had all received great kindness from Jin Feng. Little Jade really did not want to believe they would betray him.
“It was Old Tian, the cook who prepares meals for the bridge guards!” Aju said. “He drugged the guarding escort masters to knock them out, then used oil to burn the bridge, and he also killed himself!”
“Old Tian the cook?” Little Jade thought for a moment and asked tentatively, “The one missing a leg?”
“Yes, that’s him!” Aju nodded.
A skinny lame old man had come to West River Bay begging a few months ago and happened to meet her father.
The two chatted quite well, so her father introduced Old Tian to help in the worksite canteen as a stove cook.
Her father was the village head of West River Bay. Arranging one cook, who could object?
Even Little Jade had not paid much attention to it.
“Wasn’t Old Tian helping in the worksite canteen? How did he end up at the suspension bridge?” Little Jade asked.
Aju hesitated for a moment and said, “The worksite canteen side said the village head saw Old Tian working too hard there, so he arranged for him to go cook for the bridge guards instead…”
“How could my dad be so muddle-headed! The suspension bridge is such an important place. How could he casually send someone there?”
Little Jade stamped her foot in anger. “Sister-in-law, Factory Manager Tang, wait here. I will go get my dad right now!”
“Enough, Little Jade. This is not the time to find your dad!”
Tang Dongdong grabbed Little Jade. “The other side planned so carefully to plant a piece and destroy the bridge. The biggest possibility is that they want to strike at the village. Doing this is to stop Big Brother Iron Hammer from returning to reinforce the village. You should hurry and check if there is anything unusual around the village!”
