72 Brigand Stronghold

A plan started to form within Zhao Fu’s mind, but he didn’t immediately agree to help Xiao Jian and the others to take revenge. Instead, he asked, “Was it just you guys who were able to escape?”

“No sir, there were 30 more of us who were able to escape,” Xiao Jian respectfully replied. When Zhao Fu didn’t immediately agree, Xiao Jian’s heart sank.

“How many men are there?” Zhao Fu asked.

“There are another 21 men,” Xiao Jian quickly replied.

Zhao Fu thought for a while before saying, “I can help you take revenge, but it will depend on you. Bring the rest of the men to me!”

Xiao Jian was delighted and knelt on the ground to kowtow again. He then ran off and brought back 21 men who were quite skinny and had sallow skin. It seemed that they had gone through some rough times after their village had been destroyed.

In the Heaven Awaken World, people spawned at the Origin of villages. However, without a village, the original villagers would become refugees and would have to look for another village by themselves.

“Do you want to take revenge?” Zhao Fu asked the men.

Even though these people had sallow skin and were in a pitiful state, they could not mask their hatred and said together, “Yes!”

Zhao Fu nodded and said, “Give each of them an iron sword.”

The soldiers nearby obeyed and handed each of the men an iron sword. Xiao Jian and the others understood what was to happen – they would follow this sir and attack the stronghold together to take revenge.

However, what came next left them completely speechless. The soldiers actually took off all of their good quality equipment and rolled around on the ground. The heroic-looking soldiers now looked like refugees, and they picked up wooden sticks to use as weapons and wooden planks to serve as shields.

“Zhang Dahu, you lead this team and act according to the plan!” Zhao Fu ordered.

Zhang Dahu loudly yelled, “Roger!” After seeing how stunned Xiao Jian and the others looked, he loudly laughed before saying, “Let’s go!”

Xiao Jian still did not know what was going on. Why didn’t they take their equipment? Why were they instead going like this? Moreover, there were only 700 or so of them, so how could they defeat 5,000 brigands in a place that was easy to defend and difficult to attack? As such, Xiao Jian couldn’t help but say, “Sir, are we really going to attack the stronghold like this?”

Zhang Dahu grinned and was about to explain the plan when Zhao Fu stopped him. He lightly smiled and said to Xiao Jian, “Since you want to take revenge, bring out all of your courage and fury and stain your hands with the blood of your enemies. Isn’t that what brings the most joy?”

Xiao Jian thought back to the tragedy that had happened to the Hundred Flower Village and felt a white-hot fury within his heart. He once again kowtowed to Zhao Fu and said, “If we die, please take care of our elderly, women, and children. We will repay sir in the next life!”

After saying this, Xiao Jian took the other 20 or so men and left with Zhang Dahu and his 700 soldiers.

………………

Within the stronghold.

“Emergency! Emergency! There are enemies attacking our stronghold!” someone cried, shocking everyone.

Three big men walked out from the main hall. These men were the three leaders of the stronghold, and they took many brigands to the entrance of the stronghold. They saw less than 800 people holding what seemed to be wooden sticks, yet they wanted to attack their stronghold. As such, they couldn’t help but coldly laugh.

“Wang Xiong, Wang Long, and Wang Bao, I want you to pay for the Hundred Flower Village’s 800 residents lives with your own!” Xiao Jian rushed to the front and hatefully stared at the three big men on the walls as he screamed.

Seeing Xiao Jian, one of the three men said, “It’s that boy from the Hundred Flower Village. He was able to escape last time, and he gathered quite a lot of refugees to attack our stronghold. We tried to get his big sister to serve big brother, but she wasn’t willing to and committed suicide. What a waste.”

“Third brother is right. However, we brought back many women from the Hundred Flower Village, and they’re all quite good,” another man said as he laughed.

Only the ‘big brother’ maintained a calm expression and ordered, “Fire the arrows!”

Arrows flew through the air at Xiao Jian, but most of them were blocked by the wooden shields. Some people were injured, and many of the refugees seemed to run away in fear.

Roughly 500 or so people continued to rush onwards. Another wave of arrows descended and a few more people were injured, causing more people to run away.

After the third wave of arrows descended, less than 200 people were left.

On the wall, the ‘third brother’ mockingly said, “What a disorderly mob; we didn’t even do much and most of them have already run away.”

The ‘second brother’ agreed, saying, “That’s right! That boy from the Hundred Flower Village must have done something to gather so many people, but after seeing how powerful our stronghold is, they’ve been scared witless.”

“Hahahaha!” the ‘third brother’ loudly laughed before saying, “Big brother, we can’t let that boy off this time. I’ll take 3,000 brothers to chase after them!”

The big brother thought for a moment and nodded, but he felt that something was off. However, considering that their stronghold had offended quite a few different factions, it wasn’t too strange for people to come looking for revenge. Just to be safe, he turned and said, “Third brother, take 4,000 people, and make sure you’re careful!”

The third brother smiled and said, “Thanks for your worries, big brother.” Following this, 4,000 brigands flooded out from the main entrance and chased after Xiao Jian.

Xiao Jian and the others started to run towards the pre-determined place. Before, Xiao Jian had thought that Zhao Fu was making them launch a suicide attack, but after finally hearing the plan from Zhang Dahu, he realized what was happening

On the way, Xiao Jian asked Zhang Dahu, “What sort of person is that sir?”

Zhang Dahu thought for a moment and wasn’t sure what to say before finally replying, “I’m not sure how to describe him. However, His Majesty treats us all very well, and he is a very powerful person. He always thinks up great tactics to defeat our enemies. His Majesty possesses great charisma, and I’m sure that he’s someone who can create a safe place for us in this chaotic world.”

“His Majesty?” Xiao Jian realized that the youth, who looked slightly younger than him, had an extraordinary background.

Zhang Dahu did not mind revealing too much because Xiao Jian’s people had nowhere to go. His Majesty would definitely accept them in the end, so he already started to treat him as an ally.

Xiao Jian and the others quickly ran while the third brother led 4,000 brigands and furiously chased after them. Just as Zhao Fu had planned, they were able to lure the brigands into an encirclement.