CHAPTER 475: CHAPTER 475: CAPTURED ALIVE

Qin San Lang’s expression darkened as he said to the pursuing Vice General Lan and Vice General Ren, "Generals, immediately issue the command arrow for everyone to attack the Water Bandit Village. Gao Tong has already guessed that we would attack and added another lookout in the bushes."

The poisoned river bandit confessed that there were four bandits per watch post in the Water Bandit Village. Yet, after they had killed four bandits, another appeared, which showed Gao Tong’s cunning.

Vice General Lan and Vice General Ren were alarmed and promptly issued the command arrow for everyone to attack the Water Bandit Village.

The Jiangnan Commander Department, the Zheng Family, the Shangguan Family, along with Gu Jin’an and their men, seeing the command arrows issued ahead of time, knew something had gone wrong and immediately rushed over on fast boats.

Qin San Lang and his men had already followed the soldiers into the Water Bandit Village.

As expected, Gao Tong was prepared. They encountered traps full of iron spikes and were ambushed with cold arrows and poison.

About a dozen soldiers were poisoned and fell to the ground, unable to get up. Fortunately, they had taken the antidote provided by Gu Jinli, which was effective against many toxins, saving their lives.

Still, Vice General Lan was furious: "Damn it, these beasts want to annihilate us all."

He had originally not planned to use the poison given by Jiang Qi, feeling it wasn’t honorable, but now he ordered, "Spread our poison, we’ll make sure these damned bastards don’t survive!"

The soldiers immediately tore open the medicine bags and threw the poison bags in the direction where the bandits had thrown poison.

After a while, those who had thrown poison at them fell to the ground, not getting up again.

Hearing the noise, Vice General Lan and his men waited a bit longer before going over to check. Seeing more than thirty bandits lying on the ground brought them immense satisfaction.

The soldiers also-found several bags of poison on the bandits’ bodies. Vice General Ren was relieved: "Thankfully, Vice General Lan made a decisive move, or we would have suffered even more casualties."

Before he finished speaking, another wave of bandits charged out, and Vice General Lan and his men immediately drew their swords and fought with the emerging bandits.

By the time Zheng Ying and Shangguan Zhuo arrived, the entire bandit village was a bloody scene with bodies everywhere.

However, looking at the attire, they were all bandits’ bodies, with only a few wearing armor.

With Zheng Ying and the others’ arrival, the encircled force against the bandits directly increased to more than eleven hundred men. With the Jiangnan Commander Department’s good weapons, including crossbows, they quickly shot and killed many bandits.

Gao Tong was an extremely arrogant man. He had dominated the Huai River for decades and, with the backing of the Ruyang Marquis Mansion from the Capital, he even looked down on the Magistrate of Linhe Prefecture, believing that no soldiers would dare to exterminate him.

But now the soldiers had indeed attacked, with a joint force from Jianghuai and Jiangnan. Angered, he killed a "Fish" on the spot to vent his fury.

"Fish" was a derogatory term used by the bandits for servant boys not yet of age within the village.

These "Fish" were often born to women captured by the bandits and abused. Since many bandits could be the father, and none would acknowledge the offspring, they simply cut out the boys’ tongues and disabled their vocal cords to make them servants.

Gao Tong originally wanted to slaughter all the attacking soldiers to crush their spirit, making them never dare to suppress bandits again. But seeing the soldiers’ ferocity and advancing towards the middle of the village, he had to order, "Old Si, Old Ba, each of you take a team of ’Fish’ and leave. If soldiers pursue you, kill a ’Fish’ to threaten them into letting you pass."

"Old Jiu, take a team of ’Fish’ and follow me," Gao Tong meant to have Old Jiu protect his escape.

Hearing this, several of Gao Tong’s grandsons, crying, pleaded, "Grandfather, Grandfather, won’t you take us with you? If the soldiers catch us, we are done for, wuu wuu wuu..."

With a bang, Gao Tong kicked the grandson who was crying the hardest, cursing, "Useless things, all of you. You’re not women, what are you crying for? Go find your mothers. They were captured to give birth, so at that time, just say your father is a common bandit. As long as you don’t say names, who would know you’re my grandsons?"

Gao Tong didn’t even bring his pregnant concubine or Gao Rui’s favored mother, how could he possibly take these grandsons.

For Gao Tong, his own life was of the utmost importance. As for his sons and grandsons, he couldn’t care less if they were wiped out because he could always capture a woman and father more children once he escaped.

After instructing his grandsons, Gao Tong immediately gathered Old Jiu and a hundred of his confidants, along with five child hostages to threaten the soldiers, and hurriedly left.

But Gao Tong couldn’t make the escape; he ran head-on into Vice General Lan and his men.

"Damn it, jinxed," Gao Tong cursed with his scarred face twisted fiercely, as he grabbed a child over one year old and instantly turned to vanish into the darkness.

Old Jiu shouted to the hundred river bandits, "Kill them!"

Upon hearing the command, the river bandits raised their Gou He Blades and charged at Vice General Lan and his men.

Vice General Lan and his troops drew their swords to meet the combat.

Qin Er Lang didn’t join Vice General Lan in fighting these hundred river bandits. Instead, he took off after Gao Tong.

He was determined to kill Gao Tong and claim the glory for himself.

Seeing this, Qin San Lang hurried after him, chasing Gao Tong while advising Qin Er Lang, "Er Lang, don’t be foolish; you can’t claim the glory for killing Gao Tong, you’ll get..."

Family matters were clear to them; the news of the effort to encircle the river bandits had already reached the highest level. They could claim credit for a soldier’s small act of merit but not the great achievement of killing the chief bandit.

Hearing this, Qin Er Lang calmed down, realizing he couldn’t claim that victory; nonetheless, he continued to chase Gao Tong: "We just need to stop Gao Tong; the task of subduing him will be turned over to the men from the Commander Departments of both regions."

Both brothers had long legs and ran extremely fast; soon, they caught up with Gao Tong and blocked his path from the front and back.

Gao Tong, seeing himself overtaken by two mere soldiers, furiously swung his Gou He Blade at Qin San Lang, who was blocking his way.

Qin San Lang, with exceptional agility and formidable strength, parried Gao Tong’s strike with his broadsword.

Enraged, Gao Tong attempted to flee to the left but noticed many torches flickering in that direction, an indication that the official soldiers were on his heels. He grabbed the child and threatened, "Get out of the way, or I’ll snap this brat’s neck!"

The child looked at Qin San Lang with silent tears streaming down his face, crying pitifully. Qin San Lang frowned, wishing he could flay Gao Tong alive: "Using a child as a bargaining chip to save your own life, how utterly shameless you are."

Gao Tong sneered, "Ha, I was born a river bandit, and you’re trying to lecture me about shamelessness? I’ll count to three, and if you don’t clear the way, this brat’s head will..."

Whoosh!

Qin Er Lang’s blade swung towards Gao Tong from behind, but Gao Tong, ever watchful, dodged in a flash.

Furious, Gao Tong exclaimed, "Damn it, you two runts dare to play dirty with me? Fine, this little fish is as good as dead."

As he spoke, his hand moved to snap the child’s neck, but he was stopped by a dagger thrown by Qin San Lang that pierced his arm, causing him pain that made him hesitate for a moment.

Taking advantage of the opening, Qin San Lang immediately surged forward, kicked Gao Tong over, snatched the child from his hands, and rolled away with the youngster. Seeing the official soldiers about to arrive, he shouted to Qin Er Lang, "Er Lang, strike now!"

Qin Er Lang promptly charged at Gao Tong with his sword, engaging him fiercely in combat.

Shortly after that, Vice General Miao from the Jiangnan Commander Department arrived with soldiers, and they all joined in the attack against Gao Tong.

Indeed brave and fierce, Gao Tong managed to fend off nearly a hundred soldiers for 30 minutes, before he was finally captured alive.