Chapter 37: Luring the Snake out of the Hole

While Li Xiao was snatching the Hou family woman, the people of Hou Village had already gathered in the village.

A total of more than six hundred people, men and women, young and old, were all here; the atmosphere was quite oppressive.

Everyone’s gaze was fixed on the very front, where there was a slope about two people high.

A group of people stood on the high slope, led by an old man of about sixty.

He had gray hair, a face full of wrinkles, was not tall, and had a hunched back.

The most eye-catching thing was his clothes, dressed in silk and satin, completely out of place with the surrounding herdsmen.

“Do you know how the ‘Hou’ in Hou Village came about?” The old man let out an old and angry roar.

Standing on the high slope, like a rooster, his gaze swept over everyone in Hou Village.

Anyone he looked at dared not meet his gaze and silently lowered their heads.

The old man was very satisfied with the attitude of these herdsmen.

But since he was going to make an example, he must maximize the effect.

“I tell you, first there was our Hou family, and then there was Hou Village.”

“Our Hou family is the sky of Hou Village, the master of Hou Village.”

“But some people, actually ungrateful, dare to betray our Hou family and want to rebel against heaven.”

As his voice fell, the crowd was instantly silent like cicadas in winter, and no one dared to speak.

“Bring him up.”

The old man waved his hand, and a burly man in his thirties was dragged up by two Hou family able-bodied men.

This burly man was covered in blood and full of whip marks, obviously having suffered torture.

“Lin Dazhuang!”

“This person has received kindness from my Hou family for generations, yet he doesn’t think of repaying kindness but wants to secretly release a key criminal of our Hou family.”

The old man pointed at the burly man and shouted sternly.

“This act is treasonous and deserves death.”

“Today, in front of everyone, Lin Dazhuang will be cut into a thousand pieces.”

Hearing the old man’s words, the people below instantly went into an uproar, but no one dared to stand up for Lin Dazhuang.

They also knew what Lin Dazhuang had done.

The Hou family was detaining a group of people, mostly soldiers from the Battle of the Northern Mountains.

One of them knew Lin Dazhuang and had a good relationship with him.

Lin Dazhuang couldn’t bear to see the Hou family send the other party to the Karluks to die, so he secretly released the person.

But unexpectedly, the other party’s injury was too severe; before he could run far, he was caught back by the Hou family.

After careful investigation, it turned out to be Lin Dazhuang’s doing.

So, Old Man Hou decided to kill the chicken to scare the monkey, imposing capital punishment on this Lin Dazhuang who colluded with outsiders.

After all, this was a critical moment for the Hou family. Once successful, the Hou family would become the leader of the Han people in Jin Prefecture.

Old Man Hou’s move was also to deter others in Hou Village, lest these lowly people cause trouble when cooperating with the Karluks.

“Wuwuwuwu~”

“Dad, Dad~”

“Don’t kill my dad~”

“Let him go, please, Grandpa Hou~”

As the old man’s voice fell, the crying of Lin Dazhuang’s family rang out in the crowd.

But they were firmly held back; barring accidents, they could only watch helplessly as Lin Dazhuang died tragically.

“Now you know fear?”

“Hmph, too late.”

Old Man Hou said disdainfully.

However, when he saw Lin Dazhuang’s daughter, a weird smile appeared on his old face.

He beckoned a young man from the Hou family: “Sanzi, send Lin Dazhuang’s daughter to my room tonight.”

Hearing this, a knowing smile appeared on Hou San’s face.

“Uncle, don’t worry, guaranteed to arrange it clearly for you.”

Old Man Hou was the previous generation’s Village Lord of the Hou family. Being old, he passed the position to his son.

But Old Man Hou’s status in Hou Village could still be said to be one where his word was law.

He was despicable and shameless, worse than a beast. At such an old age, he still lusted after women.

Having already married several concubines wasn’t enough; he actually took a fancy to Lin Dazhuang’s daughter, who had just turned fourteen.

“Damn it, why don’t you die of exhaustion?”

While smiling and guaranteeing to handle the matter well, Hou San cursed secretly in his heart, wishing he could replace Old Man Hou.

Their conversation happened to be heard by Lin Dazhuang. His body began to struggle violently, but unfortunately, his mouth was tightly gagged by a horse bit.

He could only make “wuwu” sounds.

His eyes were bloodshot, staring dead at Old Man Hou as if he wanted to eat him.

“Hehe, what, want to kill me?”

Old Man Hou didn’t care about a dead man’s threat at all, even slapping Lin Dazhuang’s face constantly with his cane.

He said disdainfully: “Unfortunately, you can’t kill me~ And you are about to die soon.”

After speaking, Old Man Hou turned around directly and said to a person from the Hou family: “Execute.”

Cut Lin Dazhuang into a thousand pieces, let everyone in Hou Village see, this is the fate of opposing the Hou family.

However, before the executioner could drop the first knife, a person from the Hou family squeezed into the crowd in a wretched manner and came to Old Man Hou.

He said in a panic: “Old Village Lord, something bad happened. The Young Madam was snatched by horse bandits.”

Hearing this, Old Man Hou’s face froze instantly.

“What?”

“Xiu’er was snatched by horse bandits?”

Old Man Hou seemed unable to react.

His grandson took his granddaughter-in-law to go to Huangsha Village. They had just set off not long ago; how could something happen so soon?

“What about Tiancai?”

“Is Tiancai okay?”

Old Man Hou asked hurriedly.

Although the granddaughter-in-law was important, she was far from comparable to his grandson. Moreover, Hou Tiancai was the grandson Old Man Hou favored the most.

He was the candidate for the next Village Lord of Hou Village.

“The Young Lord is fine, but he’s about to go crazy with anger. He asked me to gather troops to kill our way out and rescue the Young Madam.”

Hearing that his grandson was fine, Old Man Hou breathed a slight sigh of relief. After calming down, he asked: “How many horse bandits are there?”

This person thought for a moment and answered: “About twenty or so.”

Hearing the other party only had twenty or so people, Old Man Hou felt relieved.

Not many people.

On the Western Regions grassland, besides nomadic tribes and Han fortress villages, there was also a special group.

Horse bandits.

These were gathered by wandering herdsmen, either their tribes were wiped out by enemies or they were escaped slaves. In short, these people were disgusting like flies.

They would also harass the village from time to time, extremely annoying.

A horse bandit team of more than twenty people was considered not small; no wonder they dared to act wild in Hou Village!

“How long have they been gone?”

“Just left.”

Hearing this, Old Man Hou calculated the time. If he sent people now, it was still possible to catch up.

After all, Huang Xiu’er’s identity was special.

If she were an ordinary woman, at worst he would let his grandson divorce her and marry another.

But Huang Xiu’er’s father was the Village Lord of Huangsha Village.

Now was the time when the Hou family needed the power of Huangsha Village, so it was best not to let a rift develop between the two families because of Huang Xiu’er’s matter.

So, Old Man Hou ordered directly: “You immediately gather one hundred able-bodied men, set off now, make sure to rescue Xiu’er.”

“Yes.”

“Wuwuwuwuwu~”

After the man left, Lin Dazhuang made wuwu sounds again.

Only this time, his face was full of smiles.

The ridicule in his eyes was almost undisguised.

Hou Tiancai’s wife was snatched by horse bandits?

Serves him right. Who told the Hou family people to do all kinds of evil and lose all conscience?

Simply retribution!

“You~”

“Lin Dazhuang, death is imminent yet you still have a tough mouth. Hmph, do it.”

“Start from the feet.”

Old Man Hou said in a cold voice.

Soon after, one hundred able-bodied men rushed out of Hou Village in a mighty formation. Everyone rode big horses, holding spears and bows.

Looking ready to go, prepared for a big battle.

Hou Tiancai walked at the very front, his whole body full of murderous aura, his eyes bloodshot, with a gloomy expression warning strangers to stay away.

“Third Uncle, which direction did those horse bandits go?”

Hearing this, a middle-aged man from the Hou family observed the hoof prints on the ground and immediately said: “They went west.”

“Go, chase.”

Hou Tiancai roared angrily, his whip constantly lashing the horse’s back, constantly accelerating.

As soon as he recalled the bastard putting his hand into Huang Xiu’er’s clothes just now, Hou Tiancai couldn’t suppress his anger.

Which man could endure this humiliation?

He wished he could lead people to rush in front of Li Xiao immediately and kill him.

As long as Huang Xiu’er stayed in Li Xiao’s hands for one more second, Hou Tiancai felt stifled to death.

If he didn’t kill Li Xiao, he, Hou Tiancai, swore not to be a human.

“Anyone who kills a horse bandit, I’ll reward him with two ewes.”

“If anyone can kill the bandit leader, I’ll reward two cows.”

To kill Li Xiao and avenge the snatching of his wife, Hou Tiancai issued a heavy reward.

Most of the land, cattle, and sheep in Hou Village belonged to the Hou family. The others in Hou Village were more like tenant farmers of the Hou family, not having many assets themselves.

So, the reward of two cattle or sheep was quite a fortune for these able-bodied men of Hou Village.

Everyone instantly increased their fighting spirit.

For cattle and sheep, they would do it.

Meanwhile, ten li west of Hou Village, in an undulating slope area.

Li Xiao was putting on his iron armor with the help of Dahu and Tie Tou.

Behind him, the other nineteen heavy cavalrymen were also putting on heavy armor with the help of their companions, and even the warhorses were draped in iron armor.

Fully armed.

Although Li Xiao didn’t know if his goading method worked, he was still waiting for Hou Tiancai to appear with some hope.

Fortunately, his waiting finally had a result.

A scout reported: “Brother Da Long, the people from Hou Village have come out.”

“There are about a hundred people, charging toward us.”

Hearing this, a smile instantly appeared on Li Xiao’s face.

He knew his plan had succeeded.

This battle of Hou Village basically had no suspense.

Thinking this, his gaze turned to Huang Xiu’er curled up on the ground.

“Madam Hou, it seems your husband values you very much!”

Huang Xiu’er looked at Li Xiao with a terrified face, her gaze sweeping over the more than one hundred cavalrymen behind him, even including twenty heavy cavalrymen.

At this moment, Huang Xiu’er naturally understood everything.

These people were not horse bandits at all, but people from other fortress villages.

Most importantly, when Huang Xiu’er saw these twenty suits of heavy armor, she knew clearly in her heart that Hou Village was finished.

Huang Xiu’er looked at Li Xiao and asked in a shocked voice: “Who exactly are you?”

(End of this chapter)