Chapter - 11 Shocking Events In the Blizzard (11)

By now, the horse neighs and the human voices from all 4 direction were loud and chaotic. Yang Tiexin opened up a window and looked outside. A group of soldiers had already surrounded the entire village with torches in hand. Seven or eight of them are galloping back and forth on horsebacks.

The soldiers shouted as one, "Catch the traitors, don't let them get away!" Yang Tiexin thought to himself, "Are they here to catch Qu San? Haven't seen him around recently. Luckily, he isn't here, or else there is no way he could beat all of these soldiers, no matter how great his kungfu is." Suddenly one of the men on a horse shouted, "Guo Xiaotian, Yang Tiexin. You two traitors come out now and get what's coming to you!"

This shocked Yang Tiexin and Bao Xiruo's face turned white. Yang Tiexin whispered to her, "Don't know what's gotten into the authorities, they only know how to malign us normal citizens. We won't get a chance with the authorities. The only thing we can do is run for our lives. Don't panic, with this spear of mine, I can assure you that we'll get out of here." His kungfu was good and had made a living in the martial world before, so even though he is in grave danger, he did not panic. He put the arrow bag onto his back and grabbed his wife's right hand.

Bao Xiruo spoke up, "I'll pack." Yang Tiexin replied, "Pack what? We are leaving everything!" Bao Xiruo's heart suddenly went sour as tears rolled down her cheeks. She said in the shaking voice, "What's going to happen to our home?" Yang Tiexin answered, "All we need is to survive. We can start another home somewhere else." Bao Xiruo asked, "What about these little chicks and cats?" Yang Tiexin sighed, "Silly, why are you still worrying about them?" After a pause, he tried to console her, "Why would the authorities bother the little chicks and cats?"

Just as he finished his sentence, the light from the torches outside fluttered. The soldiers had just lit two thatched cottages on fire. Two more foot soldiers were heading this way with torches to light the house on fire, all the while shouting, "Guo Xiaotian, Yang Tiexin. If the two of you don't come out now, we'll burn all of Ox Village down to the ground!"

Yang Tiexin had about all he can take, so he opened the door and walked out. He shouted at the top of his lungs, "I am Yang Tiexin! What do you people want?" The two foot soldiers were shocked as they dropped their torches, turned around, and ran back. In the firelight, a man rode forth on his horse and shouted, "Good, so you are Yang Tiexin. Come with us to the magistrate. Seize him!" At once, 4 or 5 foot soldiers ran up. Yang Tiexin twirled his spear, pulled a "White Rainbow in the Sky", and swept three of the soldiers onto the ground. He followed it up with "Madly Deafening Spring Thunder" as he picked up a soldier by the spear shaft and threw him into the crowd. He shouted, "If you want to catch me, first tell me what crimes I committed."

That man shouted back, "Traitor! How dare you resist arrest!" Even though he was calling names, he nevertheless feared his foe's courage as well as skill and was afraid to get any closer. Another man on horseback behind him shouted, "Just come with us to the courthouse peacefully, that way there won't be anymore punishment to add for your crimes. We have the official document for your arrest here." Yang Tiexin replied, "Let me see it!" That man replied, "What about the other traitor, Guo Xiaotian?"

Guo Xiaotian stuck half of his body out of the window with his bow and arrow and shouted, "Guo Xiaotian is here!" The arrow was aimed at the man on horseback.

That man's heart felt all hairy as cold waves washed up his back, so he shouted, "Put down your bow and arrow, then I'll read the document to you." Guo Xiaotian viciously shouted back, "Read it now!" He pulled his bow full. Seeing that he has no say in the matter, that man brought up the document and read aloud, "Guo Xiaotian and Yang Tiexin of Ox Village of the Prefecture of Lin'an, colluded with traitors and criminals with intentions of wrong doing. Capture them and bring them in to be strictly judged by the law." Guo XiaoTin asked, "Which office issued the order?" The man replied, "Chancellor Han himself."

Both Guo Xiaotian and Yang Tiexin were shocked by this, "What could be so important that Han TouZhou himself got involved? Could it be that Father Qiu's actions that night were discovered?" Guo Xiaotian asked, "Who is the plaintiff? On what evidence?" That man shouted back, "We only worry about capturing you guys, if you guys want to plea your case then come to the courthouse with us." Yang Tiexin shouted back, "Chancellor Han only knows how to do harm to us good honest people, everyone knows that! We won't fall for that lie!" The leader shouted in response, "Refusing arrest, that is another crime to your sheet!"

{Actually Han Tuozhou is not as bad as portrayed in the book. Between Yue Fei's execution in 114two and Han Tuozhou's ascension as head chancellor in 1206, the Southern Sung emperors did not once invade the Jin territories in an attempt to reclaim some lands. Only when Han Tuozhou became chancellor did another attempt was made. However, this attempt was poorly planned and general preparations were lacking, add on top of that the internal conflicts within the imperial court, it is no surprise that it failed. NingZong, the emperor at the time, and a bunch of officials favoring peace executed Han Tuozhou and presented his head to the Jin emperor as a show of their willingness for peace. This was the last attempt by the Southern Sung dynasty to drive out the Jins. So Han TuoZhuo was actually a patriot who died for his country instead of how he is portrayed in this book.}

Yang Tiexin turned toward his wife and said, "Quickly put on some more clothes. I'll go get his horse for you. Once I shoot down the leader, the rest of them will panic." The sound of bow being released was followed by a meteor-like arrow hitting the leader's right shoulder. The leader let out an "Ai-Yo!" before tumbling down onto the ground. All the soldiers shouted in surprise. Another official shouted, "Seize them!" All the soldiers came rushing forth. The two men were shooting arrows one after another and in an instant, they had already shot down 6 or 7 soldiers. But there were too many of them as they still managed to charge to the front of both houses.

With a loud shout, Yang Tiexin jumped out of the door with his spear making the soldiers back up in surprise and fear. He jumped to the side of an official that was riding a white horse and thrusted the spear at him. The official tried to parry with his spear.

But Yang Family Spear was too fast, Yang Tiexin's spear dove down and hit the official on his leg. He then lifted his spear up and flipped the official off his horse.

Yang Tiexin put his spear shaft on the ground and pushed off, jumping onto the horse. He squeezed his legs, making the horse neigh and gallop towards the house. Yang Tiexin killed a soldier by the door with a thrust, leaned down, extended his arms, grabbed Bao Xiruo, and lifted her up onto the horse as well. He then turned and shouted, "Brother, follow me!" Guo Xiaotian was waving his twin halberds and protecting his wife as he charged out from the crowd. Seeing the ferocity of the two men, none of the soldiers dared to get any closer. So they started to shoot arrows at them.

Yang Tiexin made his horse run to Li Ping's side and shouted as he jumped off, "Sister, get on!" Li Ping anxiously said, "That won't be any good." Yang Tiexin didn't care what she said and threw her onto the horse. The two sworn brothers followed behind the horse and slowly walked off while battling off the soldiers.