Mercenaries and Adventurers

Zhao Ji tiptoed back into the hall of the cave. There was still no one moving around here, only the snoring and sleep talking from various rooms.

Randomly selecting a few ordinary wooden houses, Zhao Ji found that they were full of bandits, and many of the bandits lived together with men and women. There was no place like a prison.

Carefully approaching the wooden house with the door lights on, Zhao Ji pushed the wooden door of the house and found that it was closed from the inside. Although this wooden house had no windows, Zhao Ji could tell from the fact that there were five such wooden houses with lights on that these wooden houses should be the place where the bandit leader lived.

Zhao Ji remembered that he had seen a group of bandits going out to loot, and the leader of them was obviously a bandit leader. From this point of view, one of the five wooden houses with door lights in this hall should have no owner. It is estimated that only the family members of the other party live in it, and they may be able to contact them. After all, the women locked here should be the ones who lost their original family members by the bandits. Maybe there is still some hatred for the bandits in their hearts. ?

However, after thinking carefully for a while, he still gave up the idea of ​​finding the cabin of the bandit leader. He had to focus on finding and rescuing the kidnapped businessman. Even if he had an inner response who hated bandits, what could he do?

In the end, it is not necessary to do it with real knives and guns. These bandits with their lairs must be eliminated. If they are not eliminated, they will take root here. In the future, innocent travelers and chambers of commerce will be punished. harm.

Zhao Ji carefully spent some time investigating all the open wooden houses. Basically, every wooden house was more or less inhabited by some bandits. The bandits raised poultry and livestock around the wooden house, but not many. Some hunting dogs found that Zhao Ji, who was running around, just stared at him and didn't bark.

Zhao Ji reckoned that these hounds had been beaten for barking at night at random before, so now seeing the obviously suspicious Zhao Ji, they just lay down on the ground with their tails between their legs.

After searching around, I didn't find any of the wooden houses as prisons, so there is only one possibility, to inquire about the other connecting passage!

Unlike the other passages, this passage is slightly upwards and is illuminated here. This made Zhao Ji have to carefully detect what happened after the corner at every corner of the passage.

After several upward turns, Zhao Ji found that he came out of the cave suddenly. This made him quite surprised. After carefully looking around, he realized that it didn't come out of the cave, but that there was a loose crack extending out of the mountain on the top of the passage.

Through the crack, he can see the night sky outside, the stars, the moon, and the mysterious celestial bodies of gods can be seen one by one.

Passing through this passage without a roof, Zhao Ji finally came to the end of the passage.

He carefully put his head out from the bottom of the passage to observe, and found that there was a big cave on the opposite side. There were warehouses for storing materials and tools on the left, and on the right were several prison cells and a slightly empty training ground.

Many broken weapons and wooden doll targets were randomly placed on the training ground. Different from other places, there are guards here, and three people are probably staying here specially to prevent the people in the prison from escaping.

The three bandits were sitting at a table next to the small training ground drinking water and talking. Although it was midnight, they seemed to be having a lively conversation, arguing about something from time to time.

Zhao Ji looked at his current position, the distance and occlusion between him and the positions of the other three. It was found that not only did no one pay attention to this place, but at the same time, there was something that could cover his figure at the entrance of the passage.

Like the hall below, the thing that can hide his figure is a large water tank, which is also dug out of stones and filled with water. Needless to say, this is a safety measure to prevent the stored materials from being burned.

Although there were only a few steps from the entrance to the large water tank, Zhao Ji did not act rashly. He leaned against the wall inside the entrance of the passage and listened carefully to the words of the bandits to see if there was a suitable time to go there.

If it really doesn't work, then he has no choice but to kill them later. There are only three people, and maybe he can kill them before they sound the alarm.

And here is still some distance from the hall in the cave below, I don't know if the sound of fighting will be transmitted to the bottom, if not, then he will be easy to deal with.

After listening for a while, Zhao Ji found that the bandits were just guessing how long it would take for each of the imprisoned people to surrender. Except for young women, the captives they can keep are some talents they especially need.

A bandit thinks that among the people who are locked up, the one who is most likely to succumb first is a businessman. He thinks that as long as next spring, the uncle of the other party has nothing to do. , must obediently become the eyes of their bandits.

The other two robbers followed this topic and laughed at how weak the people in the Simmons Chamber of Commerce were when they raided into the Simmons Chamber of Commerce. They thought that the Chamber of Commerce that had never been robbed was so powerful, but it turned out to be nothing more than that.

Speaking of this, the two bandits who must have participated in the night raid into the Simmons Chamber of Commerce laughed, and even cursed and humiliated in the direction of the prison.

"The Simmons Chamber of Commerce has never been robbed. In fact, it is just a group of soft-footed shrimps obediently following behind the big chamber of commerce, and never dared to go out to do business alone! Haha, we should have burned that dog Simmons Chamber of Commerce at that time Now, let the suckling soldiers at Bingxun pass know that the people hiding in the pass are old dogs without guts and can only eat leftovers."

There was also a faint retort from the prison.

"That's right! Then, all you powerful bandits, why didn't you set fire to our chamber of commerce? The trouble is, oh, after the fire, you probably won't be able to get out of the ice flood pass, right? With the lives of our chamber of commerce , In exchange for the life of the main force of your gang of brutal bandits, I think it is still worth it, hahahaha. When I have a chance to go out, next time you come back, I will definitely want you to die with me."

Zhao Ji guessed that the owner of this retort was probably his target, Mr. Kendo's nephew--Little Simmons.

Hearing that the other party still had the strength to refute the bandit's ridicule, Zhao Ji heaved a sigh of relief, which meant that the other party had been imprisoned for so long, at least he had not yielded in will. At the same time, he was physically able to refute, indicating that his physical condition was at least not too bad.

A weak rebuttal from this little Simmons seemed to irritate the three robbers, making them lose face among the other prisoners in the prison.

These robbers picked up a few leather whips hanging on the wall, walked over together, and opened the prison where Simmons was being held.

Then there was the sound of the whip falling on the person's body, and the unbearable groan of little Simmons.

"Hit me, beat me to death, and you trash must die together! Your leader still wants me to live. Give me some more whips, beat me! Come on!"

Then there was another loud crack of the whip.

"Damn, this guy looks like he wants to die. Guys stop! Stop!"

Then came the quarrels of the bandits, but the whips stopped hitting: "You want to be whipped, don't you? Listen carefully, we will come here every day to reward you with a few whips, hum! It's still far away from spring now, and the days to come It’s good for you. The same goes for you guys. It’s impossible to want to die, and we’re not stupid, but why do we have to be stubborn? Join us in the pocket hole. In the future, there will be delicious and fun things, although they may not be pleasant before. But as long as the life after that is alive, it will still last.”

"Yeah, you don't have to suffer if you join us. Some of the things that happened when you were invited to come here before were those boys' quick hands. Join us, you all know what to order. After joining us, your status must be above those scumbags! You can rely on your status to bully them, this is how the world is, if that person killed your family, after you joined us, you will quietly take revenge, the three of us must keep it a secret, how about it?"

No one in the prison made a sound, and the three bandits angrily gave each of the prisoners in the prison a whip.

It can be seen that the so-called attention will be paid after joining the bandits, but these people are just talking nonsense. These bandits have always believed that strength is the most important thing, and how can the people captured by them pay any attention to it.

The three bandits came out of the prison cursing with whips in their hands. A bandit walking in front was about to turn his head to talk to his companion behind him when a long sword swung from the side of the prison door and cut off half of his body with one blow. a neck.

The man died immediately, his convulsed body lying at the door, blood pouring out from the broken neck.

Zhao Ji pulled the long sword from the neck of the fallen corpse, took a step back, and dodged the whips of the two bandits walking behind. Then he rushed forward and forced back the bandit's half-yelled "Who?"

Zhao Ji saw the carelessness of the three robbers, and did not carry any weapons in the lair. When he taught the prisoners, he only took three leather whips.

Ignoring the whip from the left, Zhao Ji held the long sword straight in both hands, and stabbed a bandit in front of him in the chest.

No one wanted to die, the bandit he was aiming at didn't fight back against Zhao Ji, but directly pulled the arm of the attacking companion, pulled him to him and took a fatal blow for himself.

Although the target was changed, Zhao Ji still stabbed the long sword through the hapless bandit's chest, directly through the chest cavity and pierced it from behind.

The cruel bandit who exchanged his companion's life for a chance rushed straight from Zhao Ji's side, and he ran straight to the nearest small training ground next to the prison, those randomly placed old training swords.

It wasn't that he didn't want to go across the training ground to get his own common weapon, but that right behind him, Zhao Ji rushed out.

--

Zhao Ji pierced the chest of the bandit who had been dragged to his back by his companions with a sword, and realized that the bandit who rushed out must want to get a weapon, and went out to call for reinforcements.

He didn't bother to pull out the long hunting sword, he turned around and chased after him.

The timing was just right, and as soon as the bandit took up his weapon, Zhao Ji chased after him, so that the other party did not dare to face him behind his back, and could only fight him head-on.

Although Zhao Ji was empty-handed, Zhao Ji just dodged twice sideways and exchanged positions with the bandit.

He also picked up an old long sword and looked at the bandit opposite who was holding an old machete full of gaps in his hand. Zhao Ji smiled and held the long sword frontally, standing far away from the nervous bandit .

"Who are you? Why are you here?" Perhaps realizing that he was no match for Zhao Ji, the bandit spoke first.

However, Zhao Ji did not have the obligation to answer the bandit, and he was not interested in saying anything other than a little smile for the bandit who was about to die.

After all, how can a normal person talk to a dead person?

The dilapidated long sword hung down, lightly tapping the rocks on the ground, making a knocking sound that made the bandits on the other side nervous.

Zhao Ji no longer stood there blankly, but circled half a circle around the bandits. When the bandit on the opposite side was twisting his body with his footsteps to adapt to Zhao Ji's movement, Zhao Ji suddenly stepped sideways, and the whole person suddenly returned to the previous position, and the old sword was tilted upwards.

The bandit suddenly realized that the opponent was attacking, but he was about to turn around and swing the knife, but Zhao Ji drew the sword from the bandit's left side, and before the bandit's knife came over, Zhao Ji's sword was already on the bandit's waist on the left side.

Originally, the opponent was willing to risk his left arm, and this sword might only cut off half of his palm, but the bandit on the opposite side subconsciously closed his arm with his fist so that he could swing the old machete with his right hand.

This time, Zhao Ji's upward thrusting sword slashed deeply across the opponent's left waist, and the thick and messy clothes on the opponent's body had no defense at all, and the internal organs were directly cut open.

The bandit who was severely injured on his left waist only let out a cry of pain, and the machete in his right hand lost strength and speed, and Zhao Ji boldly grabbed his right wrist directly.

He pinned the bandit's right hand to the opponent's neck. Due to the large gap in strength between the two, this seemingly burly bandit was directly suppressed by Zhao Ji.

The gapped blade of the old machete touched the dirty neck. The bandit's eyes were full of despair, but he didn't dare to speak out. He held on to his strength with his last breath. If the child is loose, then he will die in an instant.

Zhao Ji showed no expression, but pressed down the other party's wrist with more force, and then pulled the other party's wrist left and right, so that the old machete clenched on the other party's wrist broke through the trunk called the neck of the bandit like a saw.

Pulling it back and forth a few times, several large blood vessels on the bandit's neck were cut open, blood gushed out, and within a few seconds, the bandit passed out.

Zhao Ji let go of the old long sword he was holding, and held the old machete that had scratched the bandit's neck with both hands. With a downward force, the machete was deeply embedded in the neck of the robber.

After killing the bandit, Zhao Ji came to the opened prison again, pulled out a long sword from the chest of a twitching bandit, and then stabbed the fallen bandit into the eye until it entered the head. Really killed the bandit.

During the previous battle, the few prisoners locked on the wall in this prison saw half of the battle and heard a little battle outside the prison, but none of them made a sound.

It wasn't until Zhao Ji killed the three prison guards and robbers at this moment that they sobbed softly and asked Zhao Ji's identity.

But Zhao Ji did not declare his identity, and he still had no idea about saving these extra people.

Walking up to Mr. Simmons who had been whipped a lot before, Zhao Ji leaned into Mr. Simmons's ear and whispered, "Is it Mr. Thrace-Simmons?"

With tears of hope in his eyes, Little Mr. Simmons nodded urgently: "I am, I am, I am Thrace Simmons, and I am the vice president of the Simmons Chamber of Commerce. Are you the person my uncle asked to rescue me? ?”

Nodded to confirm, but Zhao Ji still asked one more question: "Please let me confirm, what is your uncle's name?"

"Kendo Simmons. Kendor Simmons!"

After getting confirmation, Zhao Ji cut the rope tied to the wall of little Simmons with a dagger. This kind of rope is soaked in oil and has a back, which cannot be broken by human teeth.

Moreover, the bandits didn't give much water at all, they could only keep people starved to death. These prisoners simply didn't have the strength to bite off the oil-soaked ropes that bound their hands with their teeth.

"Please save us too, please!" The prisoners next to him saw that Zhao Ji was here to rescue Simmons, and they all begged for help.

This made Zhao Ji a little embarrassed. He knew that these people were all poor people who had been captured by the bandits, and they all had hatred against the bandits. He also wanted to rescue these people.

But now they are deep in the bandits' lair, and there are at least fifty or sixty bandits sleeping in the cave hall outside, and there are at least four bandit leaders whose strength is unknown.

How can he escape with these people.

Arm everyone? Then kill it?

How is it possible, at least there are four elite bandits at the gate of the cave. If you are unlucky, you may meet two returning patrol teams, ten of them.

At most there will be fourteen bandits at the door.

Zhao Ji had no choice but to appease these people first, and did not say that he would save them, nor did he say that he would not save them.

He first asked Mr. Simmons to go out to eat something to replenish his strength.

This is where the bandits store supplies, and there is a water tank for fire fighting next to it, with food and water. Mr. Simmons came out excitedly to search for something to eat.

Sure enough, a leather bag was filled with jerky horse meat prepared by the bandits for the winter. Mr. Simmons used the water in the water tank~www.readwn.com~ to gobble up the jerky horse meat.

The horse meat is estimated to be made after the bandits slaughtered horses injured during the plunder. Salted and sun-dried, these jerky are very shelf-stable.

A lot of bags showed that these bandits robbed an unknown number of caravans every year. Of course, it might be a big one.

Zhao Ji came to the prison next door, and other people, both men and women, were imprisoned in the next few prisons. The women were all dull-faced and scantily clad. The men suffered more or less serious injuries.

After all the calculations, there were at least twenty-three people in the entire prison, eight women and fifteen men.

what can we do about it?

Zhao Ji walked to Mr. Simmons Jr. and whispered the current situation to him.

Mr. Simmons said excitedly: "I have an idea. There is a crack in the patio leading directly to the outside in the side passage. If we don't pass through the hall where the bandits live below, we can find a way to escape from there!"

Yes! There is indeed a way in the outer passage.

Zhao Ji asked Mr. Simmons to continue eating first, while he went to see if he could go out.

Just after Zhao Ji entered the passage, Mr. Simmons Jr. looked at the prison next to him, breathed heavily and thought for a while, then picked up the old sword on the training ground next to him, and returned to the prison to rescue other people who were tied up.

"Don't worry everyone, I'll let you out right away! The person who untied the rope will go first to rescue the other prisoners. Then there is a lot of food next to him. Eat something first, drink some water, and then we will Escape from here. Wait until you escape from here, and then bring someone back for revenge!"

Other people who were untied from the rope: "Yes! Yes! Yes! Revenge! Kill all the bandits who claim to be in the bag hole!"