The Military Governor in Dream of the Red Chamber

Chapter 121 Execution

"Huh?" Boss Jin's eyes widened.

"Hurry up! If we keep going like this, everyone will die and we won't be able to make it up!" Master Du shouted.

Boss Jin thought about it and realized the situation was dire, far beyond his expectations. He gritted his teeth, immediately charged forward, and shouted, "Brothers, follow me!"

Now that things have come to this, he has no choice but to go.

Having paid such a high price, we must kill those in power; otherwise, if we retreat now, we'll likely be the ones who die.

This Master Du will definitely not let me off the hook.

Perhaps motivated by the reward money, or perhaps because they were charging forward with their leader, everyone's pace quickened.

Just as they had finally mustered some morale to charge forward, the sound of volley fire rang out again.

Then the ten newly joined bird commanders finally finished loading and fired.

They filled the gap left by the defenders' firing, slowing down the speed of the bandits' charge once again.

However, after this firing, the bandits still rushed within thirty paces, and the three-eyed commander took over firing the musket.

As a result, the casualties were considerable, and the courage that had just been mustered by the reward money vanished instantly.

It's either stagnation or retreat.

Boss Jin killed two people to stabilize the situation.

"This is outrageous! We have over three hundred people here, what are we afraid of?" Old Jin roared.

That's what they said, but the people below were terrified.

Keep in mind that they originally had 600 men, but now they've lost half of them and haven't even managed to touch the enemy.

They had no choice but to charge again, but this charge was completely different from the previous ones.

They weren't very fast, and they were constantly trying to dodge as they charged forward.

The more they dawdled and dared not charge forward, the more time they gave the defenders of the Way.

As a result, these guys really became sitting ducks.

The sound of muskets could be heard from time to time in the valley, accompanied by the loud bang of three-eyed guns.

This gang of thieves used a piecemeal tactic, hesitatingly rushing forward one by one to their deaths, only to be shot down one by one by muskets and three-eyed guns.

Hu Youcai stood behind Jia Chen, watching the thieves in front of him fall one by one, silently counting the number of the remaining ones.

"Two hundred and fifty people."

97

"Two hundred! One hundred and eighty~~"

Hu Youcai's eyes gradually brightened as he silently recited the mantra.

At this point, he was no longer so afraid.

Six hundred men couldn't do anything to him, so what's there to be afraid of with just over a hundred people?

Moreover, Jia Chen and his men were still carrying out a massacre; it was a one-sided massacre.

The thieves were still unwilling to give up and kept charging, even though they were already at their last gasp. It was their leader, Boss Jin, who forced them to charge with a knife.

Jia Chen sighed inwardly, thinking that these guys had missed the best opportunity.

In fact, the first charge on horseback was the most dangerous moment for our side.

When the bandits choose to dismount and charge, their defeat is almost certain.

Unless they charge forward without any fear of death, the bird-like system that defends the Way really can't stop them.

Unfortunately, they are human beings, and they are afraid of death.

Jin's eyes were bloodshot. He was quite brave and charged ahead, while his brothers fell one by one beside him.

If this continues, I'm afraid my entire fortune will be wiped out here.

He regretted it a little; he shouldn't have agreed to Du Ye's request.

But it was too late to regret it. Having paid such a high price, we had to push forward, or all our efforts would be in vain.

"Kill! Charge!" He had just shouted "Charge!" when his voice stopped abruptly, and blood was gushing out from a hole in his chest.

He was shot, his eyes wide open, and he fell to the ground, filled with resentment.

"Ah~~ Boss is dead~~~" With less than a hundred men left after being killed, and with Boss Jin dead, the gang of thieves finally couldn't take it anymore.

They turned around and ran back.

"Stop right there! Stop right there!" Master Du immediately drew his knife and slashed down three men who had fled back.

"Fuck you, brothers, kill him! It's all his fault that so many of our brothers have died!" someone roared, brandishing a knife.

Continuing to charge forward will surely lead to certain death, and now that we're retreating, there are still people blocking our way. They're really not giving us any way out.

The other party is just one person, what's there to be afraid of?

"What are you going to do?" Master Du looked terrified when he saw the men's eyes blazing with fury.

No one answered him; the guys roared and drowned him out.

When the group of fleeing people dispersed, Master Du was already a bloody mess, a truly gruesome sight.

"Kill!" Jia Chen drew his sword and charged forward, the enemy already routed.

"My lord, protect the father-in-law, we're going!" Jia Chen's actions frightened Wei Dao so much that he hurriedly put down the musket he was still loading and drew his long sword to follow.

Eighty men descended the mountain like fierce tigers.

Unfortunately, those guys escaped too quickly; they soon reached the main road in the valley and rode away at breakneck speed.

They were terrified.

Jia Chen and his group failed to catch up with any of them.

"Stop chasing! Quickly bring the horses back!" Jia Chen shouted.

Besides the horses ridden away by the escaped thieves and those that were injured or killed, there are still more than four hundred horses left here.

Jia Chen immediately interrogated some of the injured thieves.

These were indeed a gang of bandits from Xuanfu Town, and their leader was known as Boss Jin.

However, a few days ago they acquired a batch of fine horses, apparently gifted by a very powerful person.

As to who exactly it is, not only they, but even their leader doesn't know.

They even sent a man named Master Du to oversee this matter, ordering them to help with the killings.

Nobody knows this Mr. Du's real name.

Because of the significant benefits afterward, even though Boss Jin and his men saw that Jia Chen and his group were government troops, they still dared to take action.

Thinking that killing eighty-odd people with over six hundred men here would be a piece of cake for them?

If they destroy the body and cover it up, there will be no evidence to prove it, and who will know that it was them who did it?

Jia Chen sent people to examine Master Du's corpse, but unfortunately, the guy was hacked to pieces and was basically unrecognizable.

The person doing this was obviously very careful; even if the body was intact, they probably wouldn't leave any trace of their identity.

Jia Chen thought to himself that this Boss Jin was really naive.

This is a huge deal—killing the garrison eunuch. If Hu Youcai is really killed, will he still be alive?

They will definitely be silenced by the mastermind behind them.

These robbers were blinded by greed.

"Damn it, we won't let this go. We have to get to the bottom of this. We want to see who it is, who wants to kill us!" Hu Youcai gritted his teeth.

I almost died here, and no one can swallow this insult.

"Keep asking! If you don't talk, torture us! Torture us severely!" Hu Youcai roared.

"My lord, we should not linger here," Jia Chen said. "We don't know if those people will report this after they escape. Once they find out we are unharmed, they might send even more people to hunt us down. Besides, most of these people are genuinely unaware of the situation, and no matter how much we interrogate them, we won't get any useful information."

Upon hearing this, Hu Youcai trembled and suddenly felt a jolt.

"Jia Chen, what do you think we should do now?" Hu Youcai was terrified.

Yes, this time it was only six hundred people, next time it will be more than a thousand.

Will I still be alive then?

As for the idea of ​​interrogating someone to find evidence, Hu Youcai no longer has any such thoughts.

If the other party wants to kill me, they must have made thorough preparations.

Moreover, these are all ordinary people, so it's obviously impossible to find any information about the killer from them.

This matter can only be investigated slowly after I am safe.

"Let's go right away, thankfully we have horses now," Jia Chen said.

"Alright, alright, let's go, let's go now." Hu Youcai immediately mounted his horse.

"Father-in-law, we now have two options. One is to go to the nearest fortress, reveal your identity, and generally you will be safe. The other is to go directly to Datong," Jia Chen said.

Without hesitation, Hu Youcai said, "Go to Datong. We don't trust a single person in Xuanfu Town. We even suspect that it's those people in Xuanfu Town who want to harm us."

Jia Chen also had this worry in his heart.

This matter is very likely to involve high-ranking officials in Xuanfu Town, such as the general and the garrison eunuch.

Unfortunately, they don't have any evidence right now.

Jia Chen also preferred to go directly to Datong, as there were indeed few people he could trust in Xuanfu.

Now that the decision has been made, there's no point in hesitating.

After executing all the wounded bandits, Jia Chen and his party immediately rode away from the area.

Jia Chen and his group consisted of only eighty-odd people, each with multiple horses, bringing along over four hundred horses in total.

Horses are too precious; if we can bring them back, we should.

Also, everyone was running for their lives, so they dared not stop to rest.

If it were a horse, it probably wouldn't be able to keep running like that.

Rotating multiple horses ensures that everyone can move forward at the fastest speed.

They changed horses but not people, and half a day later, they left Xuanfu Town and entered the territory of Xinping Road in Datong Town.

There were no further dangers encountered along the way.

It was just that Jia Chen and his group were too fast. Even if they found out what was happening, it would be too late to send people to catch up.

"Father-in-law, it's getting dark. Ahead lies Pingyuan Fort on Xinping Road, the easternmost part of Datong Town. Shall we enter the fort?" Jia Chen asked.

"No, Jia Chen, let's keep going," Hu Youcai shook his head. "Let's go straight to Datong Prefecture. We can't trust anyone in our family right now. Although we thought the killer was most likely from Xuanfu Town, we can't rule out the possibility that some people in Datong Town want our lives. Especially since we're so close to Xuanfu Town, we can't take any risks."

Jia Chen felt that Hu Youcai was being a bit too sensitive.

However, upon closer examination, it makes sense.

If it was done by people from Xuanfu Town, would they have taken action on their own territory?

Wouldn't it be better to make our move once we reach the border between the two towns and take action within the territory of Datong Town?

Therefore, it cannot be confirmed at this time that it was done by certain people in Xuanfu Town.

Of course, it's not that something happening on someone else's territory can't possibly be theirs.

In short, Jia Chen and his team cannot confirm who the murderer is at this moment.

In this situation, it's not advisable to trust anyone.

Especially since this is a remote area bordering Xuanfu Town, it's a mixed bag of people, and the possibility of problems arising here is quite high.

"Alright, let's go straight to Datong Prefecture then." Jia Chen nodded. "It's over a hundred li from here to Datong Prefecture. If we travel at full speed, we can get there in half a day. Father-in-law, would you like to rest for a bit?"

Jia Chen and his men were quite tired after riding horses for half a day. Hu Youcai usually only rode horses for transportation, and he probably couldn't handle this kind of high-intensity forced march.

"No need, our family can manage," Hu Youcai replied through gritted teeth.

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