Chapter 27: A Plan Born of Another, Winds and Clouds Arise

  Shi Jin gazed at a spot twenty steps away, planning to play a trick of "hanging sheep's head and selling dog meat", and made a secret gesture with Shi Yan after making up his mind.

  Time shifted, the plan was clear. After a brief countdown, the two of them each threw out a corpse as a decoy. Once the other person had fired an arrow, they took advantage of the moment it took to reload and charged forward from both sides. They killed one and left the other alive, using this method to scare the monkey and also make it easier to extract information later on.

  Shi Jin saw the signal from Shi Yan, and immediately grabbed a corpse of a Lüliang soldier with one hand, while making a gesture to Wu Sanlang with the other, counting down three, two, one. Just as his second finger folded back, something unexpected happened.

  All I could hear was a low murmur of voices coming from deep within the thicket.

  "The two big and small leaders stationed in Shijiazhuang were shot dead by our brothers, and now they are leaderless."

  "Right, right, right! The supervisor's clever plan has succeeded. Let's hurry back and report. Don't miss the big opportunity."

  Shi Jin heard and knew they were going to leave, so he went back to report and took advantage of the situation.

  Shi Jin sneered inwardly: "You thought Grandpa was dead, but Grandpa is still alive and will accompany you two to have a good time."

  He then stopped his hand, although it was just for a moment, but he had already thought of a plan in his heart.

  At this time, Shi Jin's hand gestures changed and he said: Follow them and find out their lair.

  Shi Qian was originally a master of flying and wall-walking, and this tracking business was a piece of cake for him. Moreover, seeing Shi Jin give the order, he, with his childlike heart still intact, knew that tonight would be a great show, and he also had some skills to display, so he followed Shi Jin quietly with full expectation.

  Pucheng County

  In a government mansion, the lights were dim. In one of the most inconspicuous ear rooms, no lights were lit, and several people sat in darkness.

  A shrill voice came from the front left of the house: "The adults are so powerful. This way, those few Huashan bandits will surely be unable to bear it."

  At this time, the one sitting opposite him said: "My master's means are far from just these, it's just that he has nothing to do and is slowly playing with that thief!" After speaking, he laughed complacently.

  A loud and powerful voice suddenly rang out, saying slowly and steadily: "County Magistrate Du, you scholars claim to be intelligent and wise. Then tell me, since the incident at Mount Shao Hua, I, a rough man, did not go to Huayin County, why did I come here to surrender to you?"

  The county magistrate in this dark room couldn't see the face of the supervisor clearly, only heard two sentences "scholar" and " rough man", his heart tightened.

  The mind turns extremely fast, and the "why" will naturally be said, even if it's guessed. It can't be said. Only at this moment, speaking out like this, what is the intention in one's heart? It needs to be carefully considered.

  At this moment, I thought for a while, and apart from money, I really couldn't think of anything else. Could it be...

  Du County Magistrate knew that Meng Dujuan and Wang Zhi were "united in appearance but divided in spirit", secretly rubbing against each other a lot. He himself had gotten closer to Wang Zhi, and looking at the situation, it seemed like he was coming to stir up trouble.

  The county magistrate was secretly calculating in his heart, and cold sweat broke out on his forehead. Fortunately, there were no lamps or fires around, so no one else could see it.

  That Meng Du Jian sat at the top, but didn't know what he was thinking in his heart. He just thought that he couldn't guess it. Underneath, he became complacent and pretended to be mysterious, saying: "The Shao Hua Mountain banditry is causing trouble, affecting Huayin County severely. According to common sense, we should go there to set up camp. But who would have thought that we would secretly hide our flags and drums, quietly hiding here."

  "That governor drank a mouthful of tea and continued: 'It is said that the Huayin County Magistrate has a deep grudge against the bandits, and it won't be long before they seek revenge on Huayin County since there are no troops in the prefecture to help.'"

  Meng Dujuan sneered, "When the time comes, I'll launch a surprise attack on the mountain stronghold. The bandits will surely return to rescue their lair. I'll ambush them along the way, and they won't be able to take care of both ends at once. One move will wipe out the entire gang!"

  The people in the room admired him silently and praised him openly.

  The county magistrate heard this and came with the intention, although his heart was not very steady, but he also let out half a breath of relief, wiped away the virtual sweat on his forehead, and pretended to be pleased, clapping his hands repeatedly.

  Just then, there came three knocks at the door outside.

  "Come in"

  As the gate opened, the moonlight outside also fell in and dragged out a long shadow. The soldier standing at the door saluted and said: "The Lu brothers are back, everything has been taken care of, just waiting for the supervisor to issue the order."

  Meng Dujuan nodded silently and said, "Good!" He stood up and said, "If today's task is accomplished, I will first record their military merit. You can withdraw for now."

  When people left the door and closed the door, everything was swallowed by darkness again.

  Meng Du's tone changed, and he said solemnly: "Shi Jia Zhuang is now a scattered sand, as long as Shi Jia Zhuang is destroyed tonight, Shao Hua Mountain will be isolated... Kui Er!"

  "Ah!" A hoarse male voice rose from below.

  "Now is the time for you to show off your skills, don't let me down."

  The man stood up and bowed in front of him: "Please rest assured, I'm not good at fighting, but assassinating and slaughtering villages is what I excel at."

  "Tonight is the eve of the seventh night, do you know what I want?"

  Kui Er said in a low and hoarse voice: "Evil spirits claim lives, leaving no trace, let Shao Hua Mountain rumors spread, causing self-destruction without a fight."

  Meng Du Jian smiled slightly and said word by word.

  "Alright then!"

  Shijiazhuang

  Chen Da, who didn't believe in evil spirits, was now standing fifty paces away from the corpse, shouting loudly amidst the distant yells of the little rascals.

  He glanced around and saw that among the seven or eight corpses lying there, he did not see Shi Jing's body. He felt a little suspicious in his heart. When he heard Shi Jing's personal soldier say that Shi Jing had met a good man at midnight, where was this good man's corpse now? The more he thought about it, the more he felt that something was fishy.

  "Brother, look at this."

  Chen Da turned his head and saw Yang Chun pinching two short arrows with leaves. Looking at the arrow, it was very familiar, and he couldn't help but exclaim: "Black Feather Short Arrows!"

  Zhu Wu nodded and said, "Our people were all shot in the neck, what a ruthless move."

  Chen Da also hastily squatted down, carefully examining the wound on one of the corpses. The method was truly ruthless and venomous, where the arrowhead had passed through, the skin split open and the flesh burst forth, a trail of black blood congealed into scabs, still extending out from the wound.

  Chen Da's heart was filled with indignation, and yet they couldn't find Shi Jin's corpse, which made him even more anxious.

  Yang Chun wrapped a piece of cloth around the black feathered arrow and got Chen Da to stand up, saying: "Brother, let's go take a look somewhere else."

  Chen Da slightly raised his hand and said: "Brother Shi's body must have been dragged back by those corrupt officials, it's really too much!"

  "Rest assured, Shi and the others are safe," Zhu Wu said seriously. He then walked to the middle of the corpses and pointed to a spot on the ground, "Look quickly, the grass here has been trampled in one direction, all the way to over there."

  Yang Chun followed where Zhu Wu had gone and indeed it was so.

  "Just now, those two arrows also had no bloodstains on them, indicating that they hadn't been shot. Instead, they crawled forward for a while. If my guess is correct..." As he spoke, Zhu Wu searched around in a circle of about twenty paces within shooting range.

  Standing under a tree, he beckoned the two of them over and said: "It's right here. The person who shot the hidden arrow is hiding in these two clumps of grass, one to the left and one to the right."

  Chen Da looked at the flattened grass and saw that it extended all the way to the back, so he also suddenly understood: "Brother Shi must have secretly followed those two."

  Zhu Wu looked at Chen Da and smiled: "If it's not wrong, that's how it is. According to Shi Dage's temperament, I'm afraid tonight will make that dog official headache."

  The three men returned to Shijiazhuang, showing the black feathered arrow to the crowd and calming their minds. They sent someone to bury the bodies and take care of the aftermath, which was not worth mentioning.

  After arranging the ambush again, Chen Da wanted to guard Shijiazhuang tonight. If there was an accident, it would be better to respond to Shi Jin. Then, the brothers said goodbye. Zhu Wu and others led the original followers back to the village along the original route.