The Whole Village Thrives After Adopting a Lucky Girl

The torches gradually ascended the South Slope, first turning around in all directions, then slowly approaching the Jiang family’s wall.

Jiang Sanlang could see clearly that this was a pack of over a hundred bandits.

The bandits were dragging along two people, who were Chen Jiaxing, the eldest son of the Clan Leader Chen, and Chen Shu, the eldest son of Chen Sanyou.

These two were bound with ropes like dumplings, dragged along the road by the bandits.

Seeing this, Chen Yin gritted his teeth in anger.

His elder brother just would not follow his advice. Today, after painstakingly persuading his family to come to South Slope and stay with the Jiang family, neither his elder brother nor his cousin were willing to come, even saying that if they encountered bandits, their fate would be left to luck.

He had thought that they would at least find a place to hide, but they were staying at home so openly.

Now it’s good, both of them were caught by the bandits and dragged all the way here. If Uncle and Father and Mother saw this, they wouldn’t know how to bear the pain.

Jiang Sanlang made no sound, looking coldly at the bandits below and seeing how they would act.

These bandits did not approach, but instead circled around the wall.

The bandit leader kept nodding and murmured to himself: “This place is well-built. This fence was constructed in less than ten days, which shows how wealthy this family is.”

He turned his head and motioned to his sidekick: “Send a few men up to check it out.”

“Yes!”

The sidekick called over two lean young men and let them scale the wall to scout the path ahead.

These two were once thieves and first-rate in climbing walls and looting houses.

The two bandits nodded and quickly ran towards the wall. Seeing that there was no movement on top of it, they took out a claw hook strapped to their waist, and threw it forcefully onto the wall.

The claw hook clung to the side of the wall, the bandit pulled it hard to make sure it held firm, then swiftly scaled up the wall using the rope.

The hidden villagers were anxious and quietly asked Jiang Sanlang, “Third Brother, what should we do?”

Jiang Sanlang thought for a moment and said softly, “Let them come up.”

The bandits were too far from them to be reached by arrows, so they had to lure the bandits closer before they could shoot.

Moreover, they had two hostages in their hands, who were the sons of Chen Sanyou and Clan Leader Chen, so he had to be considerate of their lives.

The villagers, although confused, still stepped aside.

To resist the bandits, plenty of wood, stones, and bamboo arrows were piled on the wall. The villagers hid behind these, and with the cover of a moonless night, it wasn’t certain that the bandits could spot them.

A bandit climbed over the wall, only to have his hands cut by shards of ceramics on the outer edge of it.

He cursed under his breath, not daring to raise his voice. Looking up, he was startled by the shadows on the wall. On closer inspection, they didn’t seem to be people but piles of wood, stones, and other debris.

Looking down at the dark courtyard, there was no sound.

The bandit thought for a moment before signaling the others below.

The bandit leader saw this but did nothing, instead waiting for another’s response.

Another bandit climbed the wall, but before he could get up his neck was constricted by a thin rope. He tried to struggle but someone grabbed his head and snapped it with a forceful twist. With a faint crack, the bandit collapsed like a dead fish.

This small commotion startled another bandit.

This bandit reacted quickly and tried to escape by sliding down the rope.

But he was not able to get away. He had already been dragged over and had his neck twisted off.

It was then that Jiang Sanlang saw clearly that Wen Fu was the one who took action.

Wen Fu said indifferently, “The more you worry about the hostages, the more rampant the bandits will become, leading to a disastrous end. Send the signal now, so we can launch a pincer attack, catching them by surprise!”

Jiang Sanlang nodded and immediately ordered the ignition of the arrows. The flaming arrows, shot from heights, flew directly towards the haystack ten paces away.

This distance won’t kill people, but it can ignite the oil-drenched haystack.

For a moment, the bandits were surrounded by blazing fire, leaving them nowhere to hide.

Suddenly, cries of attack echoed from behind the bandits.

The leader of the bandits was taken aback and subconsciously looked over his shoulder.

From the darkness, more than a hundred villagers charged out. They wielded clubs, pitchforks, and shovels, some even brandished large swords, shouting attacks and cries for battle.

Having never encountered such a force, the bandits frantically raced towards the walls in panic.

“Fire!”

Seeing the bandits within range, Jiang Sanlang gave the order. The archers on the wall aimed their arrows downward, striking down more than a dozen bandits in one go.

Immediately, the gate flung open, and Wen Fu led dozens of villagers charging out, brandishing their knives and axes at the bandits.

The villagers were already filled with pent-up anger.

Their homes burned, their food and valuables stolen, their rage drove them forward fearlessly. They charged, hacking at every bandit they saw, almost taking one down with each swing.

This group of bandits was in fact just a rabble of deserters, some of them even injured. Their night raid was merely an attempt to steal some grain and silver coins, hoping to facilitate their escape in the future.

But they encountered a group of villagers who fought like a well-trained army from the Imperial Court, using all sorts of tactics against them.

The bandits were in complete disarray, running frantically in every direction.

The leader tried to escape solo, but someone had already set their sights on him. A flash of cold light took down the two bandits protecting him, followed by another flash, severing one of the leader’s arms.

The leader cried out, clutching his arm as he tumbled to the ground.

Two villagers pounced on him, quickly tying him up like a dumpling.

Wen Fu whispered, “Take him back, stop the bleeding, don’t let him die. This is a significant capture.”

Understanding, the villagers dragged the leader back.

Inside the walls, lanterns lit up the area. Everyone stood in the courtyard, listening nervously to the cries of battle and screams outside.

The villagers dragged the leader into a small hut and called for Wen Fu’s wife to tend to his wounds.

Wen Fu’s wife and Yingbao entered the hut, with Yingbao carrying a medicine pouch while Wen Fu’s wife took out her own medical kit and suture tools to sew up the wounds on the bandit leader.

The leader, having lost a lot of blood, was semi-fainted. Yingbao took out a pill, crushed it in water, and fed it to him.

This was a significant capture. He couldn’t be allowed to die.

Outside the walls, while some bandits were killed or injured, only a tenth or so managed to escape under the cover of darkness.

The injured were tied up, and the bodies of the bandits were gathered in one place to be dealt with later.

Meanwhile, the kidnapped sons of the Clan Leader and Chen Sanyou were untied and taken back to Jiang Family for medical treatment.

Each of them had lost an ear, their faces were swollen like pigs’ heads, and aside from surface wounds, they weren’t badly injured. However, they were scared to the extent that they had soiled themselves.

The Clan Leader, appearing visibly upset, requested his daughter-in-law to change their son’s clothes before calling upon Wu Four, the husband of Aunt Wu to medicate them.

By the time the cleanup was over, the day had already dawned.

Jiang SanLang sent two swift men to report the incident to Sun Licheng in the town and then went to rest for a while.

The victory was not only credited to Dongchen Village but also to a dozen or so households in Xichen Village and dozens of masons who helped out.

The most credit was attributed to Wen Fu.

Jiang Sanlang could see that Wen Fu was very capable, not only was he a skilled martial artist, but he was also decisive and experienced like a battle-hardened general.

However, he couldn’t understand why such a person was willing to live as a servant.

Even with the Imperial Court’s preference for scholars over warriors, it shouldn’t be a problem for such a talent to be freed from servitude, as long as he was willing.