Friends who often fight bandits know that to win against bandits, one must first not lose in terms of morale.
Lu Dazhi stood behind the crowd, and seeing the bandits about to charge, he immediately took a deep breath and roared, "Kill!"
The villagers of Lu Family Village, who struggled to survive in chaotic times, also had experience resisting bandits.
Hearing the village chief's roar, they immediately shouted in unison, "Kill!"
However, due to their weak bodies and lack of internal strength, their shouts sounded utterly lacking in confidence.
Seeing this, Lu Dazhi grew anxious and quickly shouted again, "Kill all the bandits! Protect our homes!"
The villagers followed suit again, "Kill all the bandits! Protect our homes!"
Unfortunately, this time their voices were even lower.
A few people started coughing repeatedly as soon as their voices faded.
"Charge! Kill!"
Lu Dazhi could only grit his teeth and give the order to charge.
The bandits were pushing forward aggressively; if the villagers stayed put, only defending and not attacking, their morale would already be at a disadvantage.
Charging forward might ignite a little bit of the villagers' fighting spirit.
"Kill!"
Several villagers shouted, raised their sticks and iron forks, ran a few steps forward, then looked back and saw that the others were still timidly staying put, and their steps immediately faltered.
No sooner said than done.
The leading Bandit Generals were already close at hand!
Their gleaming sabers emitted a cold light, like the scythe of death.
The villagers' formation had already begun to crumble.
Some people were slowly retreating.
"It's over!"
Lu Dazhi felt his limbs turn icy cold.
If his prediction was correct, this battle would, without exception, end in complete defeat.
Their hundred or so people might not even be able to kill a single Bandit General.
At this moment, he only hoped to delay the bandits as much as possible, so that his family would have time to escape to the back mountain.
As for his own life, he feared it would be lost here today.
Just then!
He heard a sudden whooshing sound, "Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh..."
Everyone saw one or two crossbow bolts conspicuously embedded in the bodies of the Bandit Generals charging at the front.
These crossbow bolts were deeply embedded in the Bandit Generals' bodies, abruptly stopping their forward momentum.
The Bandit Generals' eyes were filled with disbelief.
Then they painfully fell to the ground.
All the villagers were surprised, mouths agape, not knowing what had happened.
This sudden turn of events instantly slowed the bandits' charge.
Wang Batiao, the Bandit General at the back of the formation, couldn't help but frown.
He suspiciously scanned his surroundings, muttering to himself.
"Is there an ambush?"
If there were a dozen or so archers ambushing in the village, that would be troublesome.
He only had these few dozen men left under his command; if he lost fifteen or twenty here today, wouldn't that be a huge loss?
Just as Wang Batiao was feeling uncertain, he suddenly saw movement at the front of the formation.
To the astonished gazes of both sides, two figures suddenly charged out from the villagers' ranks.
Zhao Daya, dragging a long saber, was the first to charge out of the formation, heading straight for the bandits.
Behind her, Xie Qiao, who was about half a head shorter than Zhao Daya, held a small iron shovel high in her hand and sprinted toward the front of the line.
"Are they... are they crazy?"
With their small frames, weren't they just rushing to their deaths at the hands of the bandits?
Although the long saber in Zhao Daya's hand looked decent, her body was too thin, practically skin and bones, as if a gust of wind could blow her over.
A casual slap from a Bandit General could send her flying eight zhang away.
And then there was Xie Qiao... even more indescribable.
Honestly, wasn't she just here to be funny?
Although Xie Qiao wasn't as thin and weak as Zhao Daya, she was half a head shorter than Zhao Daya, like a young girl.
And what she held in her hand was a small iron shovel for digging wild vegetables and roots.
This small iron shovel was only a little over a foot long; it was barely enough to scare a child, let alone be used for fighting.
What's more, this wasn't just a fight; it was a desperate struggle against vicious bandits!
Some kind-hearted villagers had already started shouting.
"Come back! Come back quickly!"
"What are you doing? Come back quickly!"
But Xie Qiao and Zhao Daya had already rushed up to the bandits.
Some villagers had already closed their eyes, unable to bear the bloody sight of them being cut into pieces.
Originally, the bandits had been slightly startled by the sudden ambush of a dozen crossbow bolts.
But upon seeing two young girls running towards them from the opposite side, their somewhat tense feelings all relaxed.
In their eyes, these two young girls might have been afraid of being humiliated and deliberately came forward to die.
"Oh, this little lady is really spicy, really flavorful! Come, quickly come to your big brother..."
A Bandit General showed a lecherous smile to Zhao Daya, who had rushed up to him, and teased her with words.
Suddenly, the long saber in Zhao Daya's hand swung upward from below!
Before the Bandit General could react, his head flew into the air.
Blood gushed out!
Both sides were utterly horrified!
Zhao Daya's movements did not stop; she swung her saber again.
The Bandit General next to her, who was planning to watch the show, saw his companion beheaded, was shocked with his mouth wide open, and before he could close his mouth, his entire body was cut in half at the waist by the long saber in Zhao Daya's hand!
Immediately, foul blood flowed everywhere!
"Ah! Ah ah ah..."
Although this Bandit General was cut into two pieces, he did not die immediately; he kept struggling on the ground, letting out howls.
All the villagers shivered involuntarily at the sight of the Bandit General's tragic state.
Although the bandits had killed countless people, seeing this scene, they also felt a chill run down their spines.
"Kill her!"
Several Bandit Generals, seeing their two comrades killed, finally regained their senses.
It turned out she wasn't here to die, but to truly kill.
They brandished their sabers and spears, fiercely attacking Zhao Daya.
At this moment, Xie Qiao, wielding her small iron shovel, also arrived.
It wasn't that Xie Qiao was slow.
It was just that Zhao Daya's movements were too fast; in the blink of an eye, she had taken down the two Bandit Generals at the very front.
Seeing Zhao Daya surrounded by bandits, Xie Qiao thrust her iron shovel forward, directly impaling a Bandit General through and through.
When she pulled back the iron shovel, the Bandit General's intestines spilled all over the ground.
All the villagers of Lu Family Village were stunned.
How could these two young girls be so fierce?
While the villagers were in a daze, Zhao Daya and Xie Qiao had already cut down five or six more Bandit Generals.
Their movements were too fast.
One saber, one Bandit General; one shovel, one Bandit General.
Every time Zhao Daya swung her long saber, a Bandit General would be dismembered.
Although the iron shovel in Xie Qiao's hand was short and small, it was incredibly powerful in her grip.
As long as her iron shovel touched a Bandit General, they would either die or be crippled.
"Kill these two girls for me!"
Wang Batiao's eyes turned red as he watched his brothers being killed one after another.
He roared loudly, "Kill them! A hundred taels of silver for each head!"
Originally, the bandits had been retreating in fear of the two young girls' ferocity.
Hearing of the heavy reward, the bandits' fearless ferocity surged again.
"Kill them!"
Amidst a series of shouts, the bandits surrounded Zhao Daya and Xie Qiao, brandishing their sabers and spears at them.
Seeing the two girls surrounded, the villagers also felt their fighting spirit ignited.
If two young girls had such courage, were they, a group of grown men, inferior to them?
Just as they were about to charge forward, they suddenly saw an extra person in the field.
Before, everyone's attention had been entirely on Xie Qiao and Zhao Daya.
It was only then that they saw Lu Chen had also arrived on the battlefield at some unknown time.
However, Lu Chen did not participate in the battle.
He was rummaging through the corpses of several Bandit Generals, looking for something.
Lu Chen did not intend to participate in the battle.
A mere few dozen Bandit Generals; Xie Qiao and Zhao Daya could handle them completely.
He only needed to clean up the battlefield.
Under normal circumstances, when bandits were working, they would usually have two pouches tied to their waistbands: one for heads, and the other for money.
That's right, Lu Chen was plundering the spoils of war.
If he didn't search now, these spoils might be taken by others after the battle ended.
All the bandits lived on the edge of a knife, and currently, most bandits were nomadic.
Therefore, these bandits usually carried their belongings with them.
Lu Chen searched each one, and he could find some money on almost every corpse.
The least was only two or three hundred copper coins, and the most was two or three taels of broken silver.
Overall, these bandits did not carry much silver or money on them.
"Lu Chen, what are you doing? Aren't you going to help your wife?"
Seeing Lu Chen not helping to kill bandits but instead busy searching the Bandit Generals' corpses for silver, a villager shouted loudly.
"Little Chen, you have a saber on your back, why aren't you going to kill bandits? If your second uncle had a saber, I would have gone to chop bandits long ago!"
Lu Chen looked up at the person speaking; it was his own second uncle.