Linxia

Chapter 33, Robbers

Fang Lin's family was not alone. After laughing, families like the Geng family spoke out in support.

"Yes, it's better to be cautious!" said Su Xiaoqing, the young wife of the Geng family.

"I also think it's a bit risky to take the small path." Sister Guihua also said the same thing. Not only was she supporting Fang Lin, but she actually thought so herself.

"Don't be fooled by Song Kai's nice words. He is just lazy and is gambling with all of us!" You Chaodong also said at this time.

In fact, he did not want to suffer more by taking the official route, but because of the feud with Song Kai, he would rather suffer more and make the other party uncomfortable. As the same kind of person who "fears fatigue and wants to save trouble", this utterance directly exposed the other party's past.

……

Hearing these sounds, many people who originally preferred to take the small road began to hesitate again.

However, Qiao Xu had already made a decision. He had listened to Fang Lin's words just now. If something went wrong while taking the shortcut, Song Kai and his gang would not be able to bear the responsibility, so could he bear it?

Not seeking achievement, but avoiding mistakes, for the sake of safety, he decided not to take risks and was preparing to make the final decision.

At this time, someone spoke first. It was Song Kai, who was almost mad with anger. First, Fang Lin mocked him without naming him, and then You Chaodong revealed his thoughts. In his mind, it was no longer a question of taking a shortcut or the main road, but a battle of victory or defeat, and of pride.

He decisively used the method that had worked so well in the past two days: "Justice is in the hearts of the people. As usual, let's vote. Those who are against taking the shortcut should raise their hands. Before that, let me say one more thing. There are not so many unexpected things in the world. Think about your own food situation. Will you starve if you don't take the shortcut?"

Qiao Xu looked unhappy. This time Song Kai did not ask for his opinion and directly decided on the voting method. Where did he stand? But seeing that the villagers took it for granted, he was silent for a moment, knowing that even if he opposed it, it would be useless.

"Then let's vote!" he said with a gloomy face and immediately raised his hand.

"Power is something that, once given away, is very difficult to take back." Fang Lin saw this scene, thought to himself, and raised his hand.

After a series of events in the past two days, the family's trust in Fang Lin can be said to have reached a blind level. Naturally, Fang's father, Fang's mother, and Tian Xuan followed suit and raised their hands.

Then it was Sister Guihua and the Geng family, followed by You Chaodong's family and Fu Hong's family who were at odds with Song Kai's gang, and several older families in the village who also raised their hands.

However, Song Kai and his gang have won over quite a few people in the past two days, and some families have been persuaded and, considering their own food situation, chose to acquiesce in the hope of getting away with it.

In the end, a slight majority of people did not raise their hands, and the Xiaohe Village team decided to take the small road.

Seeing this, Fang Lin felt helpless. If Fang's mother had not been ill, causing the Fang family to be absent for a period of time, he would not have been able to allow Song Kai and his gang to win over so many people and occupy the right to speak in the village. The result might have changed this time.

"That's all!" he sighed.

The Fang family would never be alone again. Who knows what kind of trouble might happen. He was already scared after walking alone two days ago.

'In this peaceful time, it is basically impossible for bandits to gather hundreds of people, and it is rare to see dozens of people. In the worst case, we will only encounter a small group of robbers or some beasts. Song Kai is right. There is another village ahead, plus the team from Xiaohe Village, so there are so many people. So, think in a dark way... Even if you encounter something, as long as you run faster than others, you don't have to be afraid.'

With this thought in mind, Fang Lin didn't do anything else.

After returning, the small group centered around the Fang family, including the Geng family and Sister Guihua, came over to discuss the matter. Out of caution, they unanimously decided to walk behind the group of villagers. They also sorted their belongings and took the valuables with them, but were afraid that the clothes they put on their bodies would be worn out and lost. It was Sister Guihua who suggested that they sew several layers of valuables into their clothes to get through this period.

So, that was settled.

……

They set out again, following a group of villagers in front of them. The group from Xiaohe Village also took the shortcut. The Fang family, the Geng family, and Guihua's mother and daughter all fell behind, perhaps out of tacit understanding, or perhaps out of a deliberate desire to irritate Song Kai and his gang. The You family and the Fu family also fell behind; and the few smart families in the village also fell a little behind.

Song Kai was the initiator of the idea of ​​taking the shortcut, so he naturally could not be stage-frightened. Partly because of his impulsiveness, he walked in front of the Xiaohe Village team - to be honest, he was a little nervous at first because of Fang Lin's words, but after more than half an hour, everything was fine, so he calmed down.

The villagers gradually relaxed.

Song Kai deliberately shouted in the front: "Isn't this going well? Some people are timid. I think people like this will never accomplish anything great in their lifetime."

"Isn't it? Some people are still hiding behind!" Bai Bao echoed and followed the ridicule.

Fang Lin naturally heard it, but didn't say anything. He also stopped Fang's mother from scolding back.

In his opinion, Song Kai and others were immature, and there was no sense of accomplishment in arguing with them. Instead of a meaningless argument, it would be better to save some saliva and energy! As they were talking, they came to a valley.

"and many more!"

Fang Lin noticed that it was extremely quiet ahead, even the sound of birds singing had disappeared. Realizing something was wrong, he immediately called out to Fang's father, Fang's father, and Tian Xuan.

The Geng family and Guihua's mother and daughter also stopped, especially Guihua's mother, who seemed to have discovered something and quietly retreated with her daughter.

"Robbery! Don't move, we only rob money, we won't hurt anyone!"

At this time, a middle-aged man riding a horse, with a scar on his face and a bow and arrow on his back appeared in the distance. Soon after, figures emerged from the bushes, wearing black short shirts, holding knives, spears, etc., and shouted "robbery".

If you were able to calm down and count them carefully, you would find that there are actually only twenty or thirty of them, but they appear so suddenly, with the help of the shadows of the bushes and the intimidating shouts, the momentum seems to be hundreds of thousands.

"There are not many of them, don't panic!" The village chief of the village in front was quite calm and shouted immediately. However, as soon as he finished speaking, he was shot in the neck by an arrow and fell on his back.

"Dead!"

"Muramasa is dead!"

"There are robbers, everyone run!"

……

The village ahead was in chaos. Some people were screaming, some were terrified and at a loss, and some wanted to get their own money and then run away...

Looking down from the sky, the originally relatively orderly group of villagers in front suddenly became chaotic, like a group of headless flies.

The Xiaohe Village team was at the back, suffered less impact, and performed slightly better, but it was just less chaotic, let alone picking up things to resist.

In fact, what Muramasa of the villager team in front said was correct. If the two village teams were not frightened, but mustered up their courage, worked together and fought hard, even if their weapons were inferior, they could still defeat and crush the robbers with an advantage of four or five times the number of people.

However, this is just an ideal situation and it is difficult to achieve in reality.

The bandits obviously knew this, and while they were shouting "robbery" to boost their morale and intimidate the villagers, they had already begun to disperse and rushed over wildly to surround them.

"Run!" Qiao Xu shouted.

Some of the villagers in Xiaohe Village were so frightened that their legs weakened and they could not run; some woke up from a dream and ran away; some took advantage of the distance from the robbers and took their belongings away...

It is necessary to mention Song Kai here. Although he swore before that nothing would happen, when something really happened and the robbers showed up, he was scared to death. He didn't want anything anymore, and didn't even care about his wife and children. He turned around and ran away. He was so flustered that he fell down and fell into the mud. He then rolled up and got up and continued to run.

He looked so miserable that he was pissing and shitting himself.

Bai Bao, Zheng Yu and others were planning to call Song Kai to go with them, but when they found out, they could only see his back. They cursed inwardly and quickly ran with their families.

If we talk about the best situation, it would be the Fang family, the Geng family, and the Guihua family. As soon as the robbers appeared, they turned around and ran away with the important things as if they had rehearsed, and they put a cliff-like distance of several hundred meters between themselves and the people who were fleeing behind them.

Back in the valley, these robbers had already come in and surrounded the majority of people who were slow to react, shouting "We will only rob you of your money, not hurt anyone, and we will not kill you if you kneel down." The villagers believed them and did as they were told without any resistance.

But when he turned around, he tied them up.

"It's a big lot. The whole city is looking for people. These people can probably be sold for a good price." A robber said with a smile.

Yes, they deceived the villagers. How much money could these poor people have? The only thing that is truly valuable is themselves!
"Boss, it's a pity that a lot of them still ran away!" Another robber smacked his lips and said unwillingly.

"Don't be greedy, these are enough. If there are more, we will offend the government and be besieged. Don't believe the promises of those wealthy merchants that they can help us suppress it."

The scarred leader sneered, "If something really goes wrong, the first thing those people will do is probably to kick us out. They might even sell out our information to distance themselves from us."

……

(End of this chapter)