On a pile of withered, yellow straw, a woman lay wearing only a thin gauze dress. Her eyes stared blankly at the roof beams, looking like a soulless corpse.
The woodshed door was violently pushed open. Accompanied by bursts of lewd laughter, the woman's body began to tremble.
Her pupils dilated; even her very soul seemed to shiver.
Through her spyglass, Song Jinzhao could see the situation inside the mountain stronghold with absolute clarity.
They were drowning in wine and flesh—it was the perfect time to attack.
She brought her hand down sharply. The archers swiftly stepped forward.
A sky full of arrows rained down, and the bandits guarding the entrance fell to the ground one after another, pierced by the volley.
Led by Song Jinzhao, three hundred men swarmed into the Tiger Head Stronghold as swiftly as a plague of locusts.
"The government troops are here!" A scream pierced the sky, and the stronghold instantly descended into chaos.
Hu Meng jerked his head up. Upon confirming the shouts, he violently shoved the woman to the ground.
He grabbed the heavy broadsword leaning against the wall, swung it fiercely, and roared with a savage expression, "How dare they attack our Tiger Head Stronghold! Brothers, come out with me and slaughter all these government dogs!"
"Kill! Kill! Kill!"
The furious roars whipped up a majestic bloodlust. Footsteps, as dense and loud as thunder, rumbled into Song Jinzhao's ears.
However, in the eyes of Liu Hucheng and the many other yamen runners, every bandit that popped up looked like a tael of silver. Their fear was entirely offset by the prospect of the bounty.
Seeing the stronghold crawling with yamen runners and guards in official uniforms, Hu Meng's steps faltered for a moment, his grip on his broadsword subconsciously tightening.
Why were there so many of them?
Did they bring every single runner from Suining City?
Song Jinzhao brandished her long spear, sending four bandits who charged at her flying backward.
"Ah—" Blood scattered through the air like fireworks.
Song Jinzhao looked up toward the direction of the screams.
She immediately planted the shaft of her spear diagonally into the ground and vaulted into the air. Upon landing, she gripped the tail of the spear and shook the sharp tip, thrusting it straight toward Hu Meng's face like a viper flicking its tongue.
Hu Meng instinctively dodged, simultaneously shoving a yamen runner toward the spearhead with a backhand motion.
In a flash of lightning, Song Jinzhao leaped forward and grabbed the center of the spear shaft.
With a push from the back of her hand, the spearhead spun clockwise in a half-circle before she caught it firmly in her grip.
"You're courting death, you filthy bitch!" Hu Meng swung his heavy blade and attacked Song Jinzhao from behind, spit flying from his foul, yellowish mouth.
Feeling the cold, murderous wind on her neck, Song Jinzhao sidestepped to dodge while sweeping her arm backward in a half-circle.
Unable to dodge in time, the silver-gleaming spearhead pierced directly through Hu Meng's heart.
Lifting the corpse high above her head, the icy glint in Song Jinzhao's eyes was even colder than before.
She shouted at the top of her lungs, "The bandit leader is dead! Those who drop their weapons and surrender will be spared!"
The bandits turned to look. Seeing Hu Meng dead, their morale instantly plummeted to rock bottom.
As the first bandit dropped his weapon, the others quickly followed suit.
Song Jinzhao issued her orders: "Tie them all up. Turn this entire stronghold upside down. Do not leave a single grain of rice behind."
"Yes!"
The men quickly dispersed. Soon, they carried out dozens of chests, along with bag after bag of rice and flour.
Opening the lids, brand-new fabrics greeted their eyes.
Liu Hucheng said, "This should be the fabric from the Fu Family's Fabric Shop."
"Sister!" Song Shixue opened a chest at random and, seeing its contents, shouted joyfully to Song Jinzhao.
The eyes of the yamen runners standing nearby were glowing, their gazes shining brighter than lanterns in the night.
The chest was filled to the brim with gold, silver, and jewels. There were hairpins and bracelets made of gold, silver, and jade, flawless white saltwater pearls, and pressed at the very bottom were several silver ingots as large as half a palm. It was definitely worth no less than ten thousand taels.
Song Jinzhao curled her lips into a smile and had her men open every chest for her to inspect.
She hadn't expected to seize so much gold and silver from their very first bandit lair. It seemed the start-up capital for Suining City was finally secured.
