Chapter 41

Gu Jun noticed that more arrows were aimed at Lin Yue.

Lin Yue clearly also discovered this point; the wooden lid used to save his life was now more of a hindrance.

He threw away the wooden lid, held onto a wooden stick, swept away the arrows shot from all directions, his feet touching the ground, quickly advancing forward. After sweeping away several waves of arrows, he arrived before an archer. Taking advantage of the opponent's shock, his arm trembled, shaking out a dagger he had previously switched into his sleeve pocket. The dagger's blade slashed through the opponent's carotid artery.

Fresh blood splattered all over his face.

"Whoosh!" The sound of an arrowhead piercing the air came. Lin Yue looked sideways and saw several arrows flying towards him.

He grabbed the shoulder of the archer, who was destined to die, clutching his neck and gasping for breath, using him as a shield in front.

The vast majority of the arrows shot into the opponent's body, making squelching sounds. The remaining arrows headed straight for him. He released the person, raised the wooden stick, swept down a few arrows with it, and ran towards a nearby small alley.

Several cries of pain came from behind him. The people who had broken out together with him fell to the ground.

Lin Yue didn't look back. Just as he reached the alley entrance, he saw two people jump out, holding chopping blades, directly hacking towards his head. Lin Yue used his stick to knock the chopping blades out of their hands, then raised his leg and kicked them several meters away. He continued moving forward.

He had taken just one step when suddenly he heard an earth-shattering roar of killing.

Lin Yue looked back and saw a gang of people, their breath turbid, holding various sharp weapons, charging towards the burning county office.

They were going in to kill people.

Lin Yue's face darkened. During this interval, "Whoosh!" A volley of arrows attacked.

The alley was narrow and blocked many arrows. He only needed to deal with a few large ones.

The two people he had kicked away climbed up, picked up their chopping blades, and charged over.

Lin Yue didn't have time to deal with all the arrows. He snatched the chopping blade from one of them with one hand, reversed the stab and pierced the other person's stomach. Immediately after, his fingers flipped, revealing the dagger, finishing off the first person. However, this action, although it allowed him to finish off the enemies, also prevented him from dealing with the remaining two arrows.

One arrow went astray, shot to the ground, and bounced off.

Another arrow, without any deviation, directly embedded itself into his abdomen.

Lin Yue broke out in cold sweat from the pain. He glanced towards the county office through the crowd and firelight, broke the arrow shaft, and using the moment the archers were nocking arrows, leaped into a pitch-black small alley.

"He actually didn't go back. Truly a heart of stone and iron." Seeing the figure disappear before his eyes, the lead archer said coldly.

This person was precisely the man in black from before.

"Then just let him run away like this..." The person beside him asked.

"Rest assured, he can't run away!"

...

Gu Jun prayed that Lin Yue could find help to bring back. But before that, he had to deal with this gang of people charging in with blades.

This gang wore clothes in a mess. Strips of cloth with two holes cut out covered their eyes; wet cloths covered their mouths and noses. They were tall, short, fat, thin, all different from each other;

They had no discipline whatsoever. Upon entering, they shouted, ran around everywhere randomly, some seizing gold, silver, and jewels, some killing anyone they saw;

Their attacks were vicious, showing no fear, without any method. Combining their aura, weapons, and so on, one could deduce that this gang was either bandits who engaged in burning, killing, plundering year-round, or desperate fugitives drifting everywhere.

Gu Jun came to this conclusion, and his heart grew cold.

How could ordinary people deal with these people?

He squinted his eyes, which were constantly tearing from the smoke. Looking around, he saw a rockery in the corner of the courtyard and hurriedly hid over there. Inside the rockery, two young servant girls were already hiding, hugging each other and weeping softly.

Gu Jun said: "Don't cry. It wouldn't be good to attract the wolves."

The two young servant girls at least understood his words and hurriedly covered their mouths.

Gu Jun heard the sounds of pleas for mercy, fighting, and miserable screams rising and falling around him. His face was like gold paper, cold sweat pouring from his body. Why wouldn't he want to save people? But he could barely protect himself right now. Gu Jun thought: I am truly a selfish and self-serving person.

Suddenly, the sound of a small child crying came from nearby.

Gu Jun, from behind the rockery, poked his head out to look. He saw that this sound came from Magistrate Gu's son.

The magistrate's wife was holding him, escorted by a servant, running elsewhere.

The servant girl who had been holding him earlier had her head chopped off. He witnessed this scene and started bawling loudly.

The steward and that scholar had gone somewhere unknown.

Magistrate Gu lay on the ground, stabbed in the chest, his fate unknown.

Gu Jun noticed that two villains, drawn by the child's crying, had already targeted the magistrate's wife who was evacuating. They laughed wildly, gripping their blade handles, step by step approaching. The servant tried to protect them but was pierced through by a single blade from them.

The two kicked away the corpse, saying: "Yo, where are you taking this little bastard?"

The child cried even louder. The lady covered his mouth with one hand, her lips trembling, and said: "You just want money, right? I know where the money is! I am the magistrate's wife!" As she spoke, she pulled off everything she was wearing on her head and hands—gold, silver—and threw it all to them. "These, take these too. I beg you, give us mother and son a path to life."

Kicked it away with one foot.

"Is this your attitude when begging?" The damned smoke was too thick, even killing wasn't very satisfying.

The lady, holding back tears, hugged her child and knelt down.

The two saw this and laughed heartily.

The lady pressed the child to also kneel, kowtowing to them together.

!

The two had mocked enough, raised their blades. Just then, a clang! sounded, the blades fell to the ground. One of them collapsed, clutching his neck.

Blood flowed over his hand. He bared his teeth, fiercely turned his head back to look, and saw "her". The other party, taking advantage of the sound of the burning building, silently attacked them from behind.

On any other occasion, he would definitely have felt lust/desire to rape. However, at this moment, he only had a chest full of fury, his reason burned away. He twisted his body and lunged.

"You damn bitch, I'll kill you!"

Gu Jun threw away the large cobblestone he was holding in his other hand, gripped the kitchen knife he had just picked up from the ground, gritted his molars, and hacked at the opponent's head with one stroke. Blood from the black kitchen knife dripped onto the messy hair top. The sharp blade split the scalp, and with a "clang," it hit the hard skull. The skull shattered, white matter mixed with black-red blood splattered out.

Gu Jun was splattered all over. A few drops even landed on his lips. He pressed his lips together, tasting a rusty iron flavor.

He pulled back the kitchen knife, not knowing if the opponent was dead or alive, and slashed several more times for good measure.

"Mrs... Mrs. Gu..." The lady called out, trembling.

Gu Jun gripped the kitchen knife handle and said to the lady: "Take the young master and leave quickly." The lady was clearly frightened. Only after several attempts did she manage to stand up. She dragged the child and hurriedly retreated. The child was also terrified; now he couldn't even cry.

Gu Jun took deep breaths. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the comrades of the two thugs noticing this scene and rushing towards him. Not daring to stay a moment, he lifted his legs and ran.

After these many days of medicinal soups and ointment treatments, his knees wouldn't hurt terribly when running anymore. At critical moments, he could persist in running.

He couldn't go back towards the rockery, to avoid implicating the innocent.

"Stop! Today, I must flay you alive!" Several thugs chased behind him. The thug who had been hit on the back of the head by him and passed out had woken up and joined them, cursing and swearing as they chased.

How could Gu Jun be foolish enough to listen to him? He ran with all his might.

Fierce flames blazed, baking the brick floor until it cracked, the green plant leaves curling and turning yellow.

The cold sweat that came out of Gu Jun's body was dried hard by the hot air. He panted heavily, even through the wet handkerchief, somewhat unable to breathe.

Seeing there was almost no path left to take, he looked towards the burning main house of the back residence, plunged his head down, and rushed inside.

The back residence of the county office, where the magistrate lived, was a somewhat large dwelling, divided into front and back courtyards.

Gu Jun had been in the back courtyard previously. He and the thugs had circled around inside the county office and now returned to the back courtyard.

The several thugs immediately halted their steps. After pausing for a moment, they tentatively walked inside.

Gu Jun saw this and went further inside. Turning another corner, he entered a side room on the left where the smoke and flames were so great that upon entering one couldn't see clearly.

The several thugs stopped advancing, spat on the ground, retreated outside, and guarded this spot.

Gu Jun went behind the side room, found a corner to stand in. He didn't dare lean against the wall.

The entire county office was constructed using a combination of brick and wood structures.

At this moment, the brick walls were already burning hot. Leaning against them would surely peel off a layer of skin.

Gu Jun planned to wait a bit and then come out.

By then, they probably wouldn't still be guarding. Even if they were, there would be no other choice; he had to come out. Otherwise, when the wooden beams burned through and various objects from above fell down, they would undoubtedly bury him alive.

—To meet functional requirements like load-bearing, waterproofing, and heat insulation, multiple layers were installed between the roof beams and grey tiles, including rafters, roof boarding, and mud-plaster layers.

They together formed a complete roof structure system.

All around, including above, the fire burned fiercely, with crackling sounds rising and falling. Sparks occasionally burst out, flying onto Gu Jun. Gu Jun forced himself to keep his eyes open, constantly paying attention to his clothes. The wet handkerchief used to cover his mouth and nose had dried up, almost losing its function of blocking smoke.

So choking.

Gu Jun couldn't help but cough. His throat was dry and rough, as if filled with soot.

Gu Jun endured and waited a while longer. Hearing subtle movements from above, he understood he couldn't wait any longer and immediately ran outside. Perhaps the heat made his head unclear, or maybe the smoke was too thick, muddling his mind, or his brain was somewhat oxygen-deprived. When he ran, his entire body was swaying. Passing the main house, he was nearly hit by falling debris.

Once outside the building, the outside was much better, even though surrounded by fire on all sides.

Gu Jun suspected the fire burned so fast and fiercely because there must have been a mole inside the county office, and simultaneously, oil had been splashed everywhere. But the fire started too quickly; those who set out to kill them also arrived too fast, leaving no chance to verify the guess.

He stood in an open area, took a couple of breaths, and finally recovered his strength.

The few thugs had already left.

He breathed a sigh of relief, stepped over the corpses on the ground, found a spot behind a tree by the wall to hide, and waited for an opportunity.

He wasn't sure there would be an opportunity... but Lin Yue had promised not to abandon him and flee alone.

In his view, if Lin Yue was smart, it would be best to leave this place forever.

Such a huge incident happened at the county office, yet after this long, still no one came to rescue. That meant rescue was impossible.

Zhuyang County's military force had long been finished.

.

The county's defense was primarily centered on the Guard Station Army, supplemented by office archers, constables, and temporary local militia. The local gentry and officials in the county would participate in mobilization during special periods.

Lin Yue first went to the Guard Station. The scene that met his eyes almost made him laugh from anger.

The entire Guard Station, from top to bottom, was drinking. The air was thick with the smell of alcohol. Several wine jars were overturned on the ground. From officers down to soldiers, everyone was collapsed on the tables!

Lin Yue lifted a wine jar; the slightly yellow wine inside sloshed. This was good yellow wine from the market. Looking at the wine on the officer's table, it wasn't yellow wine. Although he didn't know what wine it was, smelling its aroma told him it was more expensive than the yellow wine.

Without needing to taste it, he guessed from the current scene that the wine contained a knockout drug.

Wine sent by Magistrate Wang's people?

Drinking wine regardless of who sent it—was there any need for this army to exist?

Was there any need for this officer to exist?!

Lin Yue picked up a wine jar and smashed it onto the officer's head. After smashing, he calmed down completely.

Today's situation was actually preordained early on.

It was already predestined from the first land annexation case that occurred outside.

The Guard Station functioned on the system of combining military and agriculture, with troops farming garrison fields to sustain themselves.

Since land annexation was so severe outside, which could be seen from the continuously rising vegetable prices,

then the Guard Station was not a place isolated from the secular world and naturally would not be free from land annexation.

Once land annexation appeared in the Guard Station—officers or powerful local gentry seizing large amounts of garrison fields—the military households who lost their farmlands and couldn't afford the rent for the land would become bankrupt and flee. The remaining military households had to shoulder the labor duties of the fleeing households; overworked and exhausted, they would also flee.

Thus, the Guard Station Army would suffer from insufficient soldier numbers.

Officers reported the original soldier quotas to draw empty salaries. Their appetites would grow, leading them to commit more illegal acts, causing the Guard Station to become thoroughly corrupt.

The number of soldiers was already insufficient, and with the Guard Station entirely corrupted, the entire army was indeed vulnerable to a single blow.

What did being drugged by wine count as? Perhaps another day, they'd fight each other to the death over a single sentence.

Lin Yue rushed to the stable and found the officer's horse.

This was a Red Hare horse, with sturdy muscles, a fine physique, and a beautiful coat color.

He mounted the horse and galloped towards the nearest gentry household.

As the backbone of the county's defense, the Guard Station Army couldn't stand firm; the auxiliary office archers, constables, and temporary local militia were affected, naturally becoming scattered sand.

It was good that none were more vulnerable than the Guard Station Army. In all aspects, especially in terms of treatment, they couldn't compare to the Guard Station Army. Moreover, the temporary local militia had been disbanded after their last use. To reassemble them required the magistrate to issue a recruitment order.

It was unclear whether the magistrate was dead or alive now, let alone issue any recruitment order.

In his view, for Zhuyang County to resist foreign enemies now, it could only rely on the local gentry.

The gentry were not officials but surpassed officials; they were commoners yet esteemed above commoners. As the hope of the township, they often recruited able-bodied men (called 'Tuan Ding' or 'Yi Yong'), and based on their strength, formed local militia corps.

Relying on their scholarly honors, landed property, or clan prestige, a gentry member would appoint himself as the corps commander. In peacetime, they caught bandits and kept the peace; in wartime, they built forts for self-defense, becoming the 'core of local military forces'.

Now that the parent-like official was in trouble, if they sought help from the gentry, the latter, for profit or righteousness, would not stand by idly. Contacting each other to gather about a hundred men could make tonight's rescue successful.

Actually, this number of men could be provided by finding two well-known gentry members within the county town.

However, when Lin Yue was rushing to the Guard Station earlier, he saw their homes on fire, the sounds of fighting rising one after another. Presumably, they were in chaos now.

Seeking help from them was worse than seeking help from other gentry. The latter group could assemble their armed forces and go to the rescue more efficiently.

Lin Yue thought: Damn this dynasty! Once I become an official, I will surely kill you and change the dynasty.

From the scenes flashing in his mind, Lin Yue knew he was probably a scion of a noble clan. As for which noble clan, once more scenes appeared, he could deduce it.

Those scenes mostly involved temples, showing his daily life in the temple: writing, reading, practicing martial arts, eating meals, etc.

Just as Lin Yue was almost arriving at the nearest gentry household's place on horseback, his path was blocked by a group of men and horses.

They were in cahoots with the previous group; all had their faces covered. Blocking the way, they spoke not a word, dismounted, and rushed forward with blades raised.

The horse was slashed on both legs and collapsed sideways. Lin Yue jumped off the horse's back, used the chopping blade he had seized earlier to kill the few at the front, and retreated towards the market.

His abdomen was injured, and the bleeding still hadn't stopped. It was unwise to engage them in a fight; retreating was the best plan. The market area had many covers, making it easy to escape.

Lin Yue quickly passed through the market, temporarily shaking them off. But he had also sustained some new injuries. Leaning against the damp wall of a small alley, he untied his outer clothes, used his dagger to cut several strips of cloth from the hem of his inner garment, tied two together into one, and bandaged the arrow wound and a newly acquired serious wound.

Blood quickly soaked through the strips; better than nothing.

Lin Yue tied his outer clothes, panted softly, and pondered what to do next.

The enemy knew he needed the gentry's help and knew he had headed this way. If he targeted this area, within the maximum range of foot power, to search for gentry, he would certainly be discovered by them.

He needed a means of transport.

A horse or a donkey, anyway, he needed a means of transport.

Just at this moment, clear and crisp horse hooves sounded from next door.