The group of people walked towards the village. After walking for a while, they suddenly saw several officers and soldiers holding steel knives escorting a group of villagers. They were all young and strong men.
When the leading officers and soldiers saw Zhao Desheng and others, they were stunned and said, "Who are you?"
"I am your grandfather!"
Zhao Desheng took a step forward, and the horse spear pierced the man's throat without losing force, and then pierced the neck of another man, as if he had two candied haws skewered.
The other officers and soldiers rushed forward with their swords raised. Zhao Desheng swept the two men into a small pond next to him with a sweep of his horse. He stabbed one man in the chest with his spear, lifted him up, and knocked him towards the two officers and soldiers.
When the villagers saw help coming, they began to resist.
In fact, they had resisted once before under the leadership of Taigong He and killed several officers and soldiers. However, they were unarmed after all. In the end, dozens of people died and were suppressed by the officers and soldiers.
Originally, He Taigong was of great status. Before the officers and soldiers came, they had received orders from their superiors not to touch the He family. How could they expect that He Taigong would take the lead in resisting?
So he kept doing nothing, robbed He's house, and set a fire, intending to burn all the He family to death without any evidence.
The little sister of the He family was spotted by the officers and soldiers because of her beautiful appearance, and was taken to the pasture to enjoy her alone.
The officers and soldiers were no match for Zhao Desheng and others, and now the villagers also resisted. In addition, the leader had just been killed by Zhao Desheng, and the army was immediately defeated. All of them were quickly beaten to death by the furious villagers.
When everyone came outside He's house, the door was locked with iron chains, and the fire was raging and growing. Zhao Desheng split the iron chain, led people to rush into He's house, and rescued all the living people.
"Father, are you okay?" Seeing Zhao Desheng carrying Taigong He out, He Xiaomei hurried forward.
Taigong He, whose beard and hair were burnt, coughed a few times and said in a hoarse voice: "I will definitely go to Sun Tongzhi to punish these evil thieves!"
In addition to Taigong He, more than a dozen members of the He family were rescued.
Liu Wudao: "Grandpa, you are right. We can no longer stay in the western suburbs. We should move to the northern suburbs to survive!"
Taigong He looked up at the house that was engulfed in flames and sighed: "Sun Tongzhi persuaded me at that time, saying that I could no longer stay in the western suburbs and let me go into the city. Alas, I really regret not listening to him!"
Liu Wudao said: "Tai Gong He, you can't leave everyone alone!"
Mrs. He said angrily: "Our houses in the suburbs have been burned down, so we have to live in the city. You didn't listen when I asked you to go to the northern suburbs. Why are you stopping us now?"
Taigong He said in a hoarse voice: "Don't worry, even if my family moves into the city, I will help you with the migration to the village!"
Everyone was relieved, and Liu Wu shouted: "Folks, help put out the fire!"
Taigong He had decided to abandon this residence, so he did not let his family put out the fire. He bowed to Zhao Desheng and said, "Thank you to the martyr for saving me. I wonder where the martyr is from?"
Zhao Desheng hurriedly bowed down and returned the courtesy: "I dare not, I...I am currently settling in Longtan Village."
Taigong He twisted his beard and said with a smile: "Okay, okay, Longtan Village is indeed a righteous village as Sun Tongzhi said!"
At this moment, a villager rushed over and shouted from a distance: "No, no, no, the army of officers and soldiers is coming!"
Zhao Desheng was taken aback and hurriedly led people to the village.
When I looked up, I saw a dark crowd of officers and soldiers blocking the entrance to the village. The two leaders were clearly Liu Ju and Chang Yuchun.
It turns out that Liu Ju followed Zhang Mingjian and served as deputy Qianhu of the Ximen Qianhu Office.
In the past few days, he had taken advantage of Zhang Mingjian's attention to compete with Zhang Yangquan and Huang Boyan in the city, and secretly recruited people in the suburbs to expand his power.
This is how he developed in the beginning, and he was so skillful that he recruited more than a thousand people in less than a month, completely ignoring that he was already an official.
On this day, he was leading people to recruit young men in the western suburbs again. Suddenly he heard a report that the people who went to Shangshui Village to recruit young men were killed by a group of passing strongmen, so he raised a large army and came to investigate.
As the saying goes, when enemies meet, they become extremely jealous!
Liu Ju's three thousand men were wiped out by Zhao Desheng. He didn't expect to meet Zhao Desheng here again, and the identities of both parties could easily change.
"Hahaha, this means enemies don't get together! Black-faced thief, when you killed all three thousand of my brothers, did you ever think that this day would happen?" Liu Ju was riding on his horse, laughing heartily.
Other villagers also rushed over. He Taigong pointed his crutch at Liu Ju and said angrily: "As an officer and soldier, how can you enter the village as a thief?"
Liu Ju glared at him and said fiercely: "Didn't officers and soldiers come to our house to grab things when I was a kid? This is the benefit of being an official, why didn't I grab it!"
"Official thief! Official thief!" Taigong He stamped his feet and cursed.
Zhao Desheng knew that the opponent had many people and well-armed weapons, and that his side had no chance of winning, so he simply put aside life and death and pointed his horse at Chang Yuchun.
"Your Excellency is skilled in martial arts and has a majestic appearance. You should be a hero. Why do you sacrifice your life for such people?"
Chang Yuchun remained silent, and he became more and more disgusted with Liu Ju's behavior. However, when he was about to starve to death, Liu Ju saved his life and made an oath in his heart, so he couldn't bear to abandon him.
Liu Ju said angrily: "You dare to sow discord when you are about to die. Brothers, come here and kill all these guys!"
Just when the officers and soldiers were about to charge forward, a cavalry team of about thirty people suddenly ran up the trail in the distance. The leader was Li Er.
Liu Ju saw them all holding guns and said angrily: "Are you the defenders of the North Gate? This is the western suburbs, not your territory!"
Li Er stopped his horse, pointed a long spear, and said coldly: "You are here to rape strong men, who gave you the right, Zhang Mingjian?"
Liu Ju looked around for a while and saw that there were few of them. He raised the knife in his hand and said with a evil smile: "Since you saw it, just stay here!"
Just when he was about to order the cavalry to charge forward, he suddenly saw a large cloud of dust rising behind Li Er. Only when a large army was dispatched could there be such a large formation.
"No, Zhang Yangquan and Qin Lingjun must be behind. My new brothers can't defeat them!" Liu Ju yelled in his heart and shouted to everyone: "Brothers, shah!"
Run towards another trail and evacuate!
Li Er met Zhao Desheng when he was guarding the village last time. He led everyone forward and said to Zhao Desheng: "Brother Zhao, I came to pick you up on the orders of the leader of the third village, and I met your family members at the intersection!"
He glanced in the direction where Liu Ju and others were escaping, and said, "Why did you get into a fight with the Xicheng soldiers?"
Zhao Desheng said in a deep voice: "They were killing people, setting fires, and raping strong men here. Zhao couldn't stand it, so he killed several officers and soldiers."
Li Er nodded and said: "It's getting late, let's go back to the village quickly."
Zhao Desheng glanced behind Li Er and frowned: "Aren't Military Advisor Zhang and the leader of the village on their way over?"
Li Erdao: "I ordered people to cut off the branches of the smoke and dust to create suspicion. Otherwise, how could we scare Liu Ju away? Without further ado, let's leave quickly."
Mrs. He said hurriedly: "You are gone, what should we do?"
Liu Wu shouted: "Yes, they will definitely come back and kill our whole village!"
Zhao Desheng stared at Li Er without saying a word. Li Er was a person who cared about the people. He hesitated and said to the villagers: "If you are willing, how about following me up the mountain and joining Longtan Village?"
Liu Wuxi said: "That's great. Folks, I've heard about it. There are also villages in the northern suburbs that have moved to Longtanzhai, and their lives are good. Don't miss the opportunity!"