The people gathered around the execution platform were completely uninterested in Cai Prefect's earnest teachings. It wasn't until they saw him throwing down the beheading sign that everyone became a little excited. Almost everyone moved forward at this moment. He moved forward, hoping to get closer to the execution platform so that he could see the whole process of the next execution more clearly.
This commotion naturally made the more than 200 Jiangzhou officers and soldiers guarding the execution platform and execution platform nervous. They quickly raised their swords and guns, waved them and scolded them, asking all the people to behave themselves and not to exceed He picked up the thick hemp rope blocked in front of him. After a while of shouting, order was regained.
But what they didn't know was that, taking this opportunity, twenty or thirty men with bulging waists had already squeezed their way to the front from the crowd. They were all ready to go, and one of them was protected by several companions. He took out a short bow from the package and placed it below with an arrow on the string. It was Hua Rong, known as Xiao Li Guang.
Two executioners with bare chests and arms, strong bodies, heads wrapped in red cloth, and holding ghost-headed knives stepped forward in a hurry. After looking at the appearance of the two prisoners kneeling in front of them, they first shouted: "It's been verified that they are the criminals Song Jiang and Dai Zong!" Then he took a large bowl of wine from the side. After drinking half of it, he put the bowl to the mouths of the two death row prisoners: "Here, drink this bowl and break the bones." Now that you’ve had your first drink, you can go on your way with peace of mind!”
Song Jiang and Dai Zong were already in despair. When the wine bowl was brought to their lips, they drank it mechanically, then closed their eyes, intending to suffer the blow. The two executioners didn't keep them waiting long. When they saw them drinking, they immediately threw the bowls on the table, shouted loudly, and raised the ghost-headed swords that were half a man tall. In a flash of cold light, they pointed towards them. He struck hard at the joint between the two people's necks and spines.
When the people saw this, they immediately let out a roar, and some people started to push forward. And under the cover of the human voice, two sharp arrows flew up to the execution platform with a whistling sound almost at the same time, and shot into the throats of the two executioners, pulling their heavy bodies straight back, and the knives in their hands had already been drawn. He lost his sense of proportion and fell on the stage, brushing against Song and Jiang's bodies. The two executioners failed to kill, but instead lost their lives here first.
The sudden change suddenly caused the atmosphere of the execution ground to freeze. The people were silent at first, and then bursts of exclamations rang out from all directions. Many people ran outside based on instinct, and some people opened their heads to explore. He looked around to see who dared to cause trouble in the execution ground.
In this panic, dozens of well-prepared men had already revealed their hidden weapons, and the leader shouted loudly: "All the heroes of Liangshanbo are here, brother Gongming, we I’m here to save you!” It was Chao Gai who revealed his identity.
As he shouted these words, the others quickly rushed towards the execution platform. The few soldiers who had just reacted had not had time to raise their swords and guns, and were stabbed in the chest with a short knife, screaming in agony. They fell down, and at the same time, the long weapons in their hands fell into the hands of the other party.
At the same time, a loud roar came from the restaurant on the side. I saw a short black man suddenly smashed the window lattice and jumped directly from the second floor. As soon as he landed, he was already waving. Two huge ones
He rushed toward the execution platform with a chopping axe, cutting down the innocent people standing in front of him like grass, while shouting urgently: "Brother Gongming, don't panic, Iron Bull is here!"
Li Kui was truly unparalleled in his ferocity. He killed the people along the way and screamed in agony. When they saw him charging towards him with two bloody axes, everyone hurriedly dodged to the side, allowing him to attack from behind. He arrived first and rushed to the edge of the execution platform. With an axe, he chopped down two officers and soldiers who had the courage to block his way and threw them out.
At this time, the other officers and soldiers also fully reacted. Some shouted "Protect the prefect!" and retreated towards the execution platform. Many people rushed towards the execution platform, trying to stop these thieves from robbing the prisoners. Just because there were too many Jiangzhou people between the two sides, they were a little constrained. The bows and arrows they prepared could not be used. They suffered setbacks in the head-on battle with the fierce Liangshan leaders, and soon they were defeated. This allowed Chao Gai and others to rush to the high platform and rush to Song Jiang and the others.
At this time, Li Kui was shouting: "Brother, I'm here to save you!" Then he slashed with an ax, cutting the rope that tied Song Jiang into two pieces, and held him up. The latter stared at him blankly, unable to say a word for a long time, because the turning point of the matter happened so quickly, and the hopeless situation that he thought was certain to die suddenly appeared, even Song Jiang was in a daze at this time. .
"Brother Song Jiang, I made you suffer because I was late. And Brother Dai Zong..." After Chao Gai jumped on the stage, he quickly cut off Dai Zong's restraints with his knife, helped him up who was extremely weak after being tortured, and then turned around to look Li Kui, who was still staring blankly in front of Song Jiang: "What do you call this brother? What's important is that we take them out of here quickly!"
Only then did Song Jiang come back to his senses, and quickly replied to Li Kui who was still stunned: "Chao Tianwang, these are Li Kui brothers, Tieniu, this is Chao Tianwang, the leader of Liangshan Village, you should obey his orders quickly. !”
Li Kui then responded, bent down and carried Song Jiang on his shoulders, and then strode behind Chao Gai and the others with only an axe. After jumping off the high platform, he met the people who were already charging towards him, shouting for death. officers and soldiers!
The sudden appearance of Chao Gai and others was indeed a bit unexpected for Cai Jiu, especially after seeing how easily they could break in from the encirclement of hundreds of people and save the dying Song Jiang. Cai Jiu was even more excited for a while. Frightened and angry, he immediately shouted: "They are all a bunch of trash, kill them quickly, don't let these thieves escape!"
Seeing that the eunuch was angry, the officers and soldiers who were guarding him also panicked. They quickly agreed, raised their weapons and rushed towards the thieves in front of the execution platform, and soon formed a circle around them.
But despite the fact that there were only thirty or fifty people here, when facing nearly ten times the number of officers and soldiers, none of these people were timid. Instead of retreating to protect themselves, they excitedly raised their weapons and rushed over. , and soon fought with the officers and soldiers. Especially when Chao Gai, Li Kui and others behind them rescued Song and Jiang safely, the morale of these people was greatly boosted. After a fierce charge, they actually killed the more than 100 officers and soldiers in front of them and pushed them back. They had room to break out to the side.
Chao Gai's reaction was also very fast. As soon as he saw this, he quickly shouted: "Go
Go south, there's someone there to help you! "As he said that, he took the lead and waved a simple knife that he had snatched from the hands of the officers and soldiers. He turned around and rushed towards the south. He chopped down several officers and soldiers in one fell swoop. The others were so frightened that they could only duck to the side without daring to stop them. Its way.
Liu Tang, San Ruan, Wang Ying and other Liangshan brothers immediately followed his instructions and quickly changed directions, carrying Dai Zong and heading this way. Li Kui, on the other hand, made the same choice at Song Jiang's urging and headed straight for him. Rush here.
But at this moment, there was a gong sound, and more than 300 armored officers and soldiers were shouting and coming from the south to cover them up. At this time, because of the ferocious performance of the Liangshan people, the people here had already fled elsewhere, and they were completely exposed to the officers and soldiers.
Without the slightest hesitation, the general leading the team gave the order: "Fire the arrow!"
At the same time, arrows flew through the air like raindrops. Although they were not particularly dense, they still killed everyone. They were in a hurry and could only wave their weapons desperately to block them. Some of them who were not good at martial arts even screamed and fell down after being hit by the arrows. Go down.
Seeing this, Chao Gai could only change direction: "Go that way!" What he pointed at was the execution platform which was not too far away from the execution platform. Although there were officers and soldiers guarding it, the strength of the troops looked at it. It's much less common than here.
Everyone immediately turned around and rushed towards the prison killing platform to kill them. Upon seeing this, the dozens of officers and soldiers guarding there suddenly panicked. They quickly shouted, then raised their weapons and charged forward. If these thieves were allowed to get close to the governor, not to mention hurting him, even if they shocked him, everyone would be guilty.
Cai Jiu's face turned a little pale. Only then did he realize that he had indeed been too trusting. These Liangshan bandits were really capable. They could still act calmly during the encirclement and suppression by the army. He subconsciously glanced at Shou. Sun Tu, who was behind him, regretted not listening to the other party's suggestion that he should be in charge of the state government.
Sun Tu also took a step forward at this time: "Prefect, I believe that the soldiers under Xiaguan's command should have entered the city from the north gate at this time, and they will arrive in a short time. Let Xiaguan escort you down first..." After that, At this point, his expression suddenly changed, and his gaze fell to the north.
Cai Jiu followed his gaze toward the north gate and his expression changed. He saw a puff of black smoke rising from there at some point, and then more fire rising from underneath. It turned out to be a big fire. Of course he didn't believe that there was such a coincidence in the world. The Liangshan bandits must have been on guard early in the morning, so they set a fire at the north gate. This would make it difficult for the country soldiers to enter the city from that way.
And in this stunned moment, the state government officers and soldiers who had just rushed out to resist the thieves were killed by the Liangshan people and dispersed, leaving only a dozen of his close associates still standing guard in front of the execution platform.
When Sun Tu saw this, he immediately grabbed Cai Jiu and rushed to the audience on the other side. The latter was so frightened that his face turned pale and his feet were a little weak. Only then did he realize that he had made a mistake. What a big mistake.
When the people of Liangshan and others saw the guy who was obviously a high-ranking official of the Yamen hurriedly sneaking out, they were naturally very excited, and they hurriedly shouted and chased after him. Behind them, more than 300 officers and soldiers were pursuing closely...
The execution ground where rebels were punished has already turned into a mess...