One after another, they killed four of the enemys brothers. When three of them retreated, they were both dejected and angry, but not afraid. The military discipline was lax and their combat strength was weak, but they were not without elite troops. They were soldiers who had come through the bloody sea, and they looked at life and death lightly. How could they be afraid when they thought the enemy only had one person? The enemy had hung a wounded man on a tree in the forest, familiar with the terrain, and escaped. They hated to call out the enemy to the empty space in front of the thatched hut for a single challenge.

  "Damn it, Chen Qianhu that bastard, searching the ship is his job, how did he let the fish escape and hide on the boat?" The big man holding a machete had a scar on his cheek, which was quite ugly, and his face was full of resentment.

  Fu Qinghe changed into an old sailors clothes, choosing this moment to sneak up and kill. It was no wonder that he was mistaken for the pirate who escaped from Xi Sha Island two days ago. Unable to catch anyone, the three of them did not continue chasing, thinking that they could wait for the main camp to arrive and search the island again later. At this time, they absolutely couldnt give the other side a chance to counterattack.

  Approaching the thatched hut, no signs of the person who stayed behind could be seen, everything else was normal. The mustachioed military officer held a pair of short spears and asked in a loud voice: "Where did the two dogs go?"

  "Hiss!" The thin-faced man was the leader of the eight guards. He saw that the bows and arrows they had left in front of the grass shed were also gone, and he felt something was wrong. Just as he was about to crouch down and hide, an arrow shot out with a "poof" sound and pierced deeply into his shoulder blade.

  "Kill the two dogs!" The thin-faced man shouted as he fell to the ground with an arrow in him. The soldier with a double-edged spear and a mustache exerted himself to throw one of his short spears towards where the arrow came from, then leapt up to dodge. However, the open space in front of the thatched hut offered no cover, and Fu Qinghe shot another arrow at them when they were still forty steps away from the hut, leaving them unable to advance or retreat. In an instant, a second arrow shot out coldly. The soldier with a mustache tried to deflect it with his spear but failed, only avoiding the vital spot. The sharp arrow pierced into his ribs, causing him to cry out in pain. The last man saw that there was someone hiding in the hut who was skilled in archery and knew that turning around to run would mean certain death by exposing his back to the enemy. He charged towards the thatched hut with a broad knife, but when he was twenty steps away, an arrow pierced into his chest, causing him to fall to the ground and kick up a cloud of dust.

  Lin Xie knew that the accuracy of bows and arrows was far inferior to that of firearms in later generations. Who could hold a rifle at a distance of forty steps and hit three agile people in several breaths? Absolutely a master of guns. Unexpectedly, Fu Qinghes attainments in archery were so high. However, this also made him more convinced that in this world, individual martial arts are useful, but very rare.

  In the thatched hut, there were terrified screams. The short spears thrown by the Liao soldiers did not disturb Fu Qinghe, but pierced through the chest of a certain person and into the thigh of another young boy. These pampered county school children had been kidnapped for several days and were already frightened. Now, seeing their companions being killed, how could the stimulation be described with pen and ink?

  Some people were stunned, some cried out in shock. Su Mei and Xiao Mans faces were covered with lampblack, but the fear in their eyes couldnt be hidden. The child who was stabbed through the chest looked like he was only eleven or twelve years old. The youth who was stabbed through the thigh was only fourteen or fifteen years old, his face deathly pale, staring at the blood flowing from his thigh, without a cry or struggle, but with a look of mortal terror in his eyes.

  Outside, one was killed and two were injured. Fu Qinghe held a bow and arrow, staring at them. Lin Xie said to Chen Enze, Hu Qiaozong, and Hu Qiao Zhong, "Come help me, we can still save one person." He let them carefully pick up the young boy who had been stabbed in the chest, and he tore off a piece of cloth from his body to tightly bind the wound on the young mans leg. After lying him down flat, he slowly pulled out the short spear. Taking the broken knife from Chen Enzes hand, Lin Xie cut off the pant leg of the injured youth from the thigh root, and examined the wound. Fortunately, it had not hit the femoral artery, but the muscle was severely damaged, and the bleeding would not stop, which would eventually lead to death from blood loss. He asked the three youths to help him find something to elevate the injured persons legs, pointing to the spot on Hu Qiaozongs abdomen where the femoral artery was located, saying "You press here, this is the legs blood vessel..." Then he turned back to ask Su Mei, "Is there any clean cloth to bandage the wound? As long as we can stop the bleeding, it will be fine."

  "There is one here." A young man shrinking in the corner pulled out a clean towel and handed it over.

  Lin Tie finished bandaging the young mans wounded leg, then picked up his waist knife and walked out with his paddle knife. Fu Qinghe stood at the door, holding a bow with an arrow on the string and another in his mouth. The intense battle and the three arrows from earlier had caused all his wounds to burst open, especially the knife wound on his shoulder, which had soaked through his clothes with fresh blood. Yet Fu Qinghe was unperturbed, his sharp eyes fixed intently on something far away.

  The scar-faced man is dead, shot in the chest with an arrow; both the whiskered and thin-faced men have been hit by arrows, although not fatally, but as Fu Qinghe holds his bow guarding the grass shed, they only dare to lie down and hide in the low-lying areas, shouting loudly.

  "Spare their lives for now." Lin Xie said, still having some questions to ask them, and couldnt just kill them off yet. He tossed his waist knife aside and walked forward with the oar knife in hand; Fu Qinghe followed behind him with an arrow at the ready.

  The whiskered man and the thin-faced man only then realized that they were two different people. Earlier, they had shouted loudly to provoke Fu Qinghe into fighting with them, in order to seek a glimmer of hope for survival. Now that they knew all was lost, they closed their mouths and no longer made a sound.

  "If you want to save your life, put your hands behind your head and freeze!" Lin Xuan shouted.

  “Today you……” The bearded man suddenly grabbed a short spear and was about to launch a surprise attack. The hand holding the spear was shot through by an arrow and deeply embedded in the ground, causing the bearded man to cry out in pain as he struggled to get up. Lin Xie swung his paddle knife with a short blade and struck the back of the bearded mans neck, causing blood and flesh to fly everywhere, making him fall into the pit. The thin-faced man honestly threw away his knife and lay down on the ground, hugging the back of his head as Lin Xie had instructed.

  Lin tied the short spear and knife, turned his head to see that those young men had all walked out of the grass shed to watch the battle. He said to Chen Enze: "You come over, find something to tie these two up..." Chen Enze was very quick-witted, he borrowed two waistbands from the boys by his side and ran over to first bind the thin-faced man.

  "Should be tied like this..." Lin Tie handed the paddle knife to Fu Qinghe, took it himself, and demonstrated to Chen Enze how to tie a knot that was really tight. He also let Chen Enze learn to tie the nearly suffocated goatee tightly, and then handed him a waist knife, saying: "Killing is simple, if they dare to move, you just put the blade against their neck, a light pull will do..." Seeing Hu Qiaozhong also eager to try, he kicked the short spear to his feet: "This ones for you."

  Xiao Man was helping Fu Qinghe treat his wound, while Lin Xie asked Su Mei: "Ill go to the seaside to find salt, you find two clean cloths... they should have some water..."

  "Where is the salt? They put water and food in another shed, go find it there?" Su Meng said.

  "There is salt in the stone dens." Lin Mou said, this group of officers and soldiers hid people on the island and didnt want to attract the attention of passing pirates, so they had to ban fires, and there might not be salt - after the tide receded, the stone dens on the beach would have seawater accumulated, cool wind and sunshine, water evaporated cleanly, and salt grains would be precipitated. Lin Mou saw several stone dens with a layer of salt grains yesterday evening. Using natural salt powder to dissolve in water for wound disinfection and antiseptic is much more reliable than seawater.

  Su Meng took two clean towels and walked over, looking at Lin Fu crouching on the stone nest, using his hands to sweep salt grains. She handed him a towel to hold the salt and said: "How can you teach these young people to kill?"

  "Do they have a choice?" Lin Tie raised his head and glanced at Su Mei, who still had lampblack on her face and was wearing the tattered clothes of a boatman. However, her delicate facial features and beauty were still evident. He sat up and used his hand to sweep the salt grains onto his sweat towel, saying, "Did Master Fu tell you who led that group of soldiers?"

  "I helped you get the towel, who is it?"

  "Its hard to say who exactly will interrogate them, but it should be one of the top three people in Ninghai Military Town. Its very likely that its the main naval commander of Ninghai Town..." Lin said.

  "Ah!" Su Mei also didnt expect it to be like this, and was somewhat intimidated by the military leaders audacity and lawlessness, asking "Why is it like this?"

  "Do you know how much theyre worth?" Lin Mou turned his head and glanced at the young man in front of the thatched hut, asking Su Mei.

  Su Mei looked at Lin Xie with a puzzled expression.

  "The ransom offered by the East Sea pirates was 30,000 taels of silver, unfortunately that pirate didnt live to take it......" Lin Mou cursed in a low voice: Dont mention one ton of heavy silver, even if its exchanged for one ton of copper, its still a considerable fortune.

  Lin tied up the salt and Su Mei returned to the thatched hut, where the soldiers had several buckets of fresh water - also from the pirate ship - as well as dry rations and dried meat - enough for them to drink for half a month. Lin took out a ceramic jar and dissolved the salt grains in the water, then asked Su Mei to help Fu Qinghe and the young man who was shot in the leg clean their wounds, and finally used a cloth soaked in saltwater to dress and bind the wound tightly.

  As the sun set, the dusk faded, Lin Jie let Chen Enze, Hu Qiaoguan and Hu Qiao Zhong lead seven or eight strong and brave young men to bring two wounded captives to a thatched hut for guard. Let Xiao Man take people to send dry food, meat and water to another hut to rest. He discussed things with Fu Qinghe and Su Mei outside.

  "Master Fu, Xiaoman is still young and might not be able to keep secrets in her heart. Perhaps its better not to let her know for now?" Lin Xie crouched on the ground, narrowing his eyes as he gazed at the sunset. Under the sunset, there were several small sandy islands, but no shadow of land could be seen.

  "Hmm, dont let Xiao Yatou know." Fu Qinghe agreed with Lin Xies opinion.

  "Whats going on?" Su Mei asked, wondering in her heart: the soldiers disguising themselves as pirates was something Xiao Man knew about, what else couldnt she know?

  "Baisa County hijacked the ship, and the pirates were brought by Du Rong. I hid with Lin Ye at the back of the boat, and I heard it with my own ears, its absolutely true," Fu Qinghe said angrily, "Xiao Wu and Xiao Qi died unjustly..." Xiao Wu and Xiao Qi were his two apprentices, whom he regarded as his sons, and he personally saw them being killed by the pirates brought by Du Rong. How could he not be resentful?

  "Uncle Fu still calls me Lin Xie."

  Fu Qinghe was being polite and serious, while Lin Xie felt a bit overwhelmed and didnt dare to take it on.

  "Why? Why did Du Rong do this?" Su Mei found it hard to believe that this was true. She had anchored her boat in Baisha County to perform and raise funds for disaster relief, and Du Rong had generously allowed her to donate a thousand taels of gold. How could the pirates possibly be his doing?

  "Miss, do you still remember when we were in Jiangning, Du Rong came with Du Jinan, Master Du, to listen to your piano playing?" Fu Qinghe asked.

  "Whats wrong, isnt he Du Rongs cousin?" Su Mei asked, thinking of the young mans gaze at herself, she slightly furrowed her brow.

  "This person is probably not that simple," Fu Qinghe told Su Mei some details he and Lin Xuan had overheard while hiding underwater, "Du Rong was entrusted by the second young master to kidnap Miss and take her to Jinan Prefecture in East Zhejiang..."

  "Fu Bo said he might be a member of the Xie family?" Su Mei asked, Dongming County, Jinan Prefecture was the stronghold of the Xie family.

  "The surname is fake, the name is fake. This Du Jinan is probably from the Sha family of Jinan Prefecture... " Fu Qinghe said, "Recently, there have been rumors that the Sha family intends to surrender and defect, its possible that this second son named Du Jinan is the key figure in the Sha familys secret negotiations with the interior."

  Su Mei sat there speechlessly, not to mention Fu Qinghe and Lin Xian, who had heard about this matter with their own ears. Even if they hadnt heard it personally, the many suspicious points of the incident all pointed to Du Rong. She was originally invited by Du Rong to sing at the Du familys old mansion in Weiyang Prefecture, and although she had stopped her boat in Baisha County with the intention of providing disaster relief, she had only planned to stay for three or four days before leaving. It wasnt until Du Rong promised her a thousand pieces of gold that she decided to stay in Baisha County for ten days... Without Du Rongs cooperation, it would have been impossible for the pirates to succeed so easily.

  Tai Zeis daughter is in a mess, Lin is tied up on the side shaking his head and sighing. This second son of the Zhao family has the heavy responsibility of secretly negotiating surrender and discussing peace, yet he still has the mood to flirt with girls!

  "What should we do then?" Su Mei was at a loss.

  "For the time being, lets just pretend that nothing has happened," Lin Xie said, seeing Su Meis flustered appearance, feeling a bit unbearable. Although she was still dressed as a man and her face wasnt clean, her eyes were surprisingly clear and bright. Lin Xie also didnt dare to look into her eyes for too long, saying, "Anyway, after Miss Su returns to Jiangning, Du Rong wont know that youve already discovered the truth, so he wont do anything to you. This secret will just have to be kept hidden for now."

  "Uh," Fu Qinghe affirmed Lin Zongyis suggestion, saying, "The Xie familys surrender is probably a done deal, and with the Xie family backing him, Du Rong cant be overthrown; besides, this whole thing was orchestrated by the fake Du Jinan, the second young master, from behind the scenes. After the Xie family surrenders, who would dare to risk pushing the Xie family to rebel again in order to uphold justice for Miss?"

  "What will they do?" Su Mei turned her head and took a glance at the thatched hut, worrying about the future fate of the twenty-nine young people inside.

  "Lets go in and talk..." Lin Wei patted his butt and stood up.