Chapter 12: Midnight Ambush (Part 1)

  The Dai flavor dishes, Dong Limao ate very refreshing, beside him except for the knife Han Tu Si accompanied by two beautiful women sat on both sides, a few cups of Dai family rice wine down his throat, he was drunk, this is a kind of intoxication from the heart, looking at the two peach-like faces of the women, Dong Limao seemed to be in a cluster of gorgeous flowers, how could he not get drunk, if it wasn't for Dao Lanxiang's sincere request to Li Yuanyuan to spare him and not give him more wine, Dong Limao might have continued drinking.

  Li Yuyuan was also drunk, she didn't drink less than Dong Limao. In the end, she was carried back to her room by two men under her command. As for Dong Limao, he was supported by Qie Lanxiang as he returned to his room. After lying down on the bed, he still tightly grasped Qie Lanxiang's hand: "Rusong, I really like you... I can swear an oath to Grandfather Taigong..."

  Dolanxiang finally managed to extricate himself, sat quietly on the edge of the bed waiting for him to slowly fall asleep, untied the military belt tied around his waist, gently placed it on the bedside table, then changed the dressing on his wound and re-bandaged it. He stared blankly at his handsome face for a while, let out a soft sigh, tiptoed out of the room, and closed the door behind him.

  Dong Li Mao slept soundly, until after midnight when he seemed to hear someone softly calling his name. The voice sounded like Bai Ru Xue's. He wanted to open his eyes to look, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't open them. Suddenly, he heard Bai Ru Xue sobbing and seemingly slapping her own face, saying: "Dong Li Mao, you can't die like this, you have to live! If you're a man, quickly wake up for me..."

  The night was so quiet it was scary, the stars in the sky were shining like they were competing with each other, and Guanzhai was surrounded by a chorus of frogs.

  A dozen or so men in black clothes quietly approached the entrance of the government office and stopped at the edge of a bamboo forest.

  The two sentries at the gatehouse were yawning listlessly, their eyes half-closed and leaning against the railing of the sentry box.

  The man in black at the front waved his right hand towards the sentry post, and immediately, the two men behind him bowed quickly and rushed towards the sentry box. They had a samurai sword on their backs. The two of them crouched down outside the bamboo fence at the door, took out iron hooks with ropes from their bodies, swung them in circles, and threw them upwards. The iron hook flew into the bamboo fence, followed by two faint whooshing sounds.

  The two sentries on the watchtower heard the sound of the iron hook hitting the bamboo fence and immediately perked up, almost simultaneously shouting: "Who?"

  Two men in black under the bamboo fence, calm and quiet, pressed their bodies tightly against the bamboo fence.

  "Was that noise from your side?" asked the sentry on the left of the one on the right.

  "It's probably just a mouse chewing on something." The sentry on the right replied with a yawn.

  "Just hold on for another half hour and it's time to switch shifts. Dammit, those new recruits should be the ones standing guard today." The sentry on the left grumbled, then fell silent again.

  Two men in black under the bamboo fence waited for about three or four minutes, looked at each other, got up and grabbed the rope, like a gecko catching prey, so fast that the prey didn't even react, they were already on both sides of the sentry post. Two silver-white lights flashed, and the heads of the two sentries were gone. Then quickly slid down the sentry post, opened the bamboo door, and the black-clad men crouching in the bamboo forest moved rapidly towards the entrance.

  After the men in black entered, the leader glanced at the bamboo buildings on both sides, swung his hands to both sides, drew out a samurai sword from behind, pointed it at the gate leading to the backyard, and the other men in black seemed to understand his gesture. They immediately divided into three groups, two of which rushed towards the bamboo buildings on both sides, while the third group followed the leader and charged towards the back door.

  Zhang Dali had his first delicious meal since the expedition, so he ate several more bowls of glutinous rice. In the middle of the night, his stomach hurt, and he got up to go to the latrine. He squatted on the toilet for over ten minutes, feeling relieved that his stomach was empty. Hearing the conversation from the sentry post, he muttered to himself: "Damn it, why do we have to stand guard?"

  He stood up and just pulled up his pants, when he heard the rustling footsteps. Borrowing the weak starlight, he looked out through the bamboo door gap of the thatched hut and saw three groups of black-clad men holding shiny knives, scattered in a triangular shape. He was suddenly shocked and shouted loudly: "Brothers! There are enemies sneaking up!" His voice had always been loud, and on such a quiet night, Zhang Dali's shout was no less than a thunderclap.

  The three groups of black-clad men in the courtyard were stunned by Zhang Dali's shout, standing still for a few seconds before one of them rushed towards Zhang Dali, while the others quickly rushed towards their respective targets.

  Zhang Dali saw the black-clad man rushing towards him, and he was not afraid at all. The thatched hut was made of bamboo, and Zhang Dali had superhuman strength. He grabbed a bamboo stick with both hands and pulled it hard, breaking it off in his hand. He shouted loudly: "Enemy attack...!" He shouted three times in a row, and the bamboo door of the thatched hut was kicked open by the black-clad man. Zhang Dali dodged to the side, and a white light flashed towards his neck. At this time, he had nowhere to retreat, so he could only use the bamboo stick in his hand to block it. Suddenly, there was a cracking sound, and the bamboo stick was cut off. Zhang Dali didn't hesitate, and he kicked the black-clad man's abdomen with one foot. The black-clad man seemed to have underestimated Zhang Dali, thinking that he had no weapon in his hand. He tried to strike again, but his own abdomen was kicked by Zhang Dali, and he bent down in pain. Zhang Dali couldn't let go of such a good opportunity, so he took the half bamboo stick that had been cut off by the black-clad man's knife and inserted it into the black-clad man's left back. Suddenly, there was a hissing sound, and a stream of hot blood spurted onto Zhang Dali's face.

  In the room with the telegraph machine, there was a duty officer. When Zhang Dalie shouted for the first time, he heard it, but he was a bit skeptical or stunned and didn't know what to do for a moment. By the time he reacted and wanted to pull out his gun, two men in black had already charged at him with knives. He hastily hid under the telegraph machine desk. At this point, Zhang Dalie's shouting voice came again. His hand was still pulling out the gun, but his hands and feet were trembling. By the time he finally pulled out the handgun, the other side had already opened fire. Bullets rained down densely on the desktop.

  After a burst of intense gunfire, one of the men in black yelled at another man in black who was holding an assault rifle: "Baga..." The gunman ignored him and turned to rush into the next room.

  Zhu Yongsheng and his ten brothers were awakened by Zhang Dalai's second shout, followed by the sound of gunfire.

  "Brothers, take action! Scatter!" Zhu Yongsheng commanded the others with great experience: "Second brother, guard the door! Others, follow me!" After finishing speaking, he pushed open a window and jumped out first.

  Wang Jiagui held his rifle, slowly opened the door, and saw a person rolling on the floor of the corridor, with the muzzle pointing at the stairs leading up. He saw a man in black quickly rushing up, and without hesitation, he pulled the trigger, shooting the man in the forehead.

  At this time, Li Yuanyuan's subordinates who lived next door also rushed out of the doorway, but were shot by the black-clad men. Wang Jiagui crawled to the edge of the bamboo building corridor and looked down, only to see Zhang Dali holding a samurai sword, dancing with a black-clad man in the courtyard. Zhang Dali was clearly at a disadvantage and was about to collapse. Just as he was about to be overpowered, Wang Jiagui took aim at the black-clad man who was slashing at Zhang Dali with his knife, pulled the trigger, and fired a shot. The black-clad man's head burst open, and Zhang Dali managed to escape, running towards the back of the courtyard.

  Wang Jiagui immediately bowed and retreated back into his room, also jumping out of the window.

  Dong Li Mao was in great pain in his dream, he was extremely distressed that he couldn't open his eyes to see Bai Ru Xue. When the man in black shot and killed the watchman at the telegraph office, he was startled awake by the sound of gunfire. He suddenly opened his eyes wide, and the pain in his dream instantly disappeared. Then, he heard the sound of gunfire outside, and with a swift movement, he rolled off the bed, feeling the wooden floor slightly moving beneath him. Thinking it was not good, someone had come upstairs, so he quickly got up to find his gun. Fortunately, the armed belt was placed on a table at the head of the bed, he grabbed it in one hand, pulled out the pistol from the holster and rushed towards the door.