With the support of officers and soldiers, He Lingchuan had previously felt relaxed when facing the fat man, but now he felt something was wrong. Townships were different from small villages. Rich gentry would use their own money to form rural protection regiments and train their own regiments. Especially in troubled times, such an armed force was even more necessary.
This group of ruthless bandits can even take down a town, so at least they must have an advantage in numbers.
If a fat man lies about one thing, he can lie about everything.
He Lingchuan stuffed the dough cake back into his mouth, opened his front, and made a cross on his heart with a dagger.
The blood flowed out immediately, very quickly.
The fat man screamed in pain, but the sound was mostly blocked by the pancake. The muscles on his face were twisted and there was a gurgling sound in his throat.
Then, He Lingchuan handed the dagger to Zhu and guided her to put the tip of the blade into the cross: "Hold it firmly. If he goes one inch further, he will definitely die."
Zhu hesitated slightly and held the dagger with both hands.
"When you shout, she stabs you in the heart; when you answer randomly, she stabs you in the heart." He Lingchuan patted the fat man on the shoulder, "She hates you to the core, so you'd better not try. Do you understand?"
The fat man nodded carefully.
"Let's play a game called racing against time." He Lingchuan said with a smile, "If you answer all the questions before the blood bleeds out, I can stop your bleeding and spare you from killing you. How about that?"
The fat man nodded a lot faster.
He Lingchuan also nodded with satisfaction.
Just a few months ago, he couldn't be so ruthless. But after experiencing several life-and-death battles, he finally understood a truth:
To be kind to the enemy is to be cruel to oneself, especially if the other person is determined to harm others.
He took off the dough and asked again: "In which town are you still alive?"
"Sendou... town."
"How many people are there?" He Lingchuan was displeased, "Can't you be more conscious and act like a puppet on strings when I ask you questions?"
The fat man said with difficulty: "The town was captured the day before yesterday, and there are still two hundred people."
There are four to five hundred people in this group of bandits? "General bandits don't have this size. Where do you come from?"
"Hongchuan!" the fat man replied, "There is a flood in my hometown, and we can't get much money there, so we want to change places."
"Change here?" He Lingchuan asked Zhu, "This place is very rich? What is the population?"
Zhu shook his head: "There is not enough land and there are few people."
The fat man said quickly: "We are just passing by, Boss Lu wants to go south!"
Passing thieves are ruthless in killing people because they only make one transaction.
While he was talking, there was a commotion outside.
He Lingchuan said to one of his guards: "Go out and take a look."
The guard went outside for a walk and soon returned to report: "There was a sudden tide of fish in the lake and they washed up on the shore. Now the ground is full of live fish jumping around."
"Fish?" He Lingchuan never expected this answer. But at this moment, the sound of rapid footsteps sounded outside again, as well as the crunching of stones and muddy water under the soles of shoes.
Judging from the movement, there were at least a dozen people.
Fatty's reinforcements have arrived? The four of them tensed up. He Lingchuan pressed his hand on the handle of the knife, pointed at Fatty Wang and said, "Drag him into the inner room."
Fortunately, the footsteps came closer and closer, passing directly in front of the door without stopping.
The entire east side of the village seemed to be filled with the sound of footsteps.
He Lingchuan couldn't help but open the door and go out. He saw a large number of officers and soldiers running quickly, so he called the nearest one over and asked, "What happened?"
"We are fighting with the villagers, and the county guard is also at the west lake of the village!"
A fight started now? He Lingchuan was surprised: "Is my dad okay?"
"I don't know. The whistle blew three times, asking us to rush for reinforcements."
The flying whistle is the gathering order of the Blackwater City army, and different instructions are issued according to the length of the whistle.
He Lingchuan closed the door and returned, and the bodyguard asked: "Do we want to go over and help?"
"Wait, wait!" He Lingchuan thought in his mind. He was not at the lake and did not know the cause of the battle, but it was undoubtedly too early to start a war at this time, unless his father seized the opportunity temporarily... or Boss Lu seized the opportunity.
To put it more cold-bloodedly, He Lingchuan is not the leader of the Guards. Even if he rushes there now, he will not be able to calm the situation or turn things around.
What else could he do?
More than a dozen ideas popped up in his mind, but he crossed them out one by one. Finally, He Lingchuan sent another personal guard to the west of the village.
Less than half a quarter of an hour later, this man rushed back and said hurriedly: "The Sheriff has negotiated peace with the other party."
"He's not hurt?"
"No."
"Are there any bandits outside the house?" He Lingchuan already had some ideas.
"There's no one around anymore. They all rushed to the lake."
He Lingchuan felt relieved and breathed out: "Okay, you can go into the inner room to help."
The three of them walked into the inner room, where Fatty Wang was placed under Zhu's care. The wound on his chest had been simply treated and no longer bled.
The fat man was still gagged and his face was a little pale, but otherwise he was fine.
"Take him to dad's house."
The three of them lifted the fat man up and looked around before going out. There was indeed no one there.
Both bandits and officers and soldiers were gathered by the lake at this moment.
So they escorted Fatty Wang and quickly headed to He Chunhua's accommodation.
A quarter of an hour ago, this place was full of bandit spies. How could they escort the prisoners openly? Fortunately, the fight diverted the attention of both parties, and He Lingchuan was able to take the opportunity to escort Fatty Wang back.
Good things always take a long time.
We were still forty or fifty steps away from our destination when the nearby cottage suddenly opened and a woman poked her head out.
She probably wanted to check the situation around her, but when she saw He Lingchuan and the others escorting Fatty Wang, and saw Zhu accompanying them, her eyes widened.
Of course Mrs. Zhu also saw her.
The woman took a dull breath, shrank back, and wanted to close the door.
Mrs. Zhu rushed forward and pushed the door panel, preventing her from closing it.
The woman cried: "You can't do this, you are trying to kill us!"
Mrs. Zhu gritted her teeth and said, "Follow me, or I'll kill you!" She was afraid that the woman would report to the bandits.
"Are you crazy? The officers and soldiers will not stay!" the woman shouted, "The officers and soldiers are gone, but the bandits are still there!"
The two sides saw each other, and the guards asked He Lingchuan: "Young Master?"
He Lingchuan whispered: "Go and help!"
The guards rushed forward and tried to help Zhu pull the other party out. The woman was frightened, and she raised her voice and screamed heartbreakingly: "Who's coming!"
Zhu immediately let go and took two steps back: "Forget it!"
"Forget it?" He Lingchuan reiterated, "Are you sure?"
"OK!" Zhu's eyes quickly changed from confusion to determination, "Let's go quickly!"
The four people ignored the woman and escorted Fatty Wang forward. The wooden door closed and the woman stopped screaming.
There were no more troubles going forward, and no villagers even showed up again, although they all heard these high-pitched shouts.