mtl008 Chapter 362 Luckily, I made it in time!
Chapter 362 Luckily, I made it in time!
Salt workers gradually gathered towards the sea, and the troops stationed at the salt mines also pressed closer to the coast.
On the beach, a burning fire illuminated the entire salt mine.
From the initial chaos to the later clear division of forces, Wei Sanye, leading the garrison, sneered at Luo Dadangjia, "Just a mere bandit, daring to cause trouble on your grandfather's turf! And you lot, it seems you've truly forgotten where this place is! How dare you run wild here! I'm giving you one last chance. From now on, I'll give you fifteen minutes. Anyone who surrenders will be spared. After fifteen minutes, everyone will be killed without exception!"
"A quarter of an hour? Hmph, do you really think everyone here is a fool? No one who goes in here ever comes out alive!" Chief Luo shouted.
"Hahaha, so what? You're nothing but a bunch of vicious criminals. What right do you have to live? If we don't release you, you'll only harm the people. Keeping you here to work is already a huge favor to you! I'm doing this for the people, it benefits the country and the people, and my merit will last for generations!" Master Wei laughed arrogantly.
Then he waved his hand and said, "Come on, count to one! Count from thirty to one, and those who don't surrender will be shot to death with arrows!"
The soldiers behind him shouted loudly.
"Thirty!" "Twenty-nine!" "Twenty-eight!"
"..." "Fifteen!" "Fourteen!"
"..."
"ten!"
Some people started to feel their legs go weak and wanted to take a step forward.
Luo, the gang leader, shouted, "I won't force you. If you're afraid of dying, take a step forward and see if these corrupt officials will let you go!"
"But those who are not afraid of death, those who no longer want to be oppressed by these corrupt officials, pick up your weapons and let's fight them to the death!"
"Let's fight them!" "Let's fight them!" someone immediately shouted in agreement.
The beach was immediately filled with a cacophony of voices.
"Looks like they're going to have to suffer the consequences!" Third Master Wei sneered and shouted, "Fire arrows! Kill them all without mercy! They have no way out. The ship is already here. As soon as it gets close, send the signal. Today, this beach will be their burial ground!"
The garrison troops approached the salt workers step by step.
On the sea, the ships gradually sailed toward the shore.
Meanwhile, at the exit of the shack area, Lu Yangyang, leading dozens of wounded girls, dodged the constantly falling rockets and finally walked out of the shack area. The group behind her had grown larger than before, consisting of women and children who had worked there. Many of them were families of salt workers. When chaos broke out here, they had nowhere to go. Unable to find their families and unwilling to sit and wait to die, they unconsciously followed Lu Yangyang and her group. In this way, by the time they left the shack area, their group had grown to nearly a hundred people.
Lu Yangyang carried a dying girl on her back, holding a long knife in her hand to clear the way. The other girls also unconsciously picked up the knives that had fallen to the ground, as if for the first time in their lives they had taken their own fate into their own hands.
They walked all the way to the exit, where they were surrounded by a group of soldiers.
This garrison had about two hundred soldiers, more than twice the number of Lu Yangyang and her group. Moreover, almost all of Lu Yangyang and her group consisted of the elderly, the weak, the sick, and the disabled, and had virtually no fighting ability.
But the girls who were in slightly better physical condition still gripped their knives tightly, and despite their fear and trembling, they remained steadfast, firmly shielding the remaining people behind them.
The garrison leader looked at the girls with disgust and shouted without saying a word, "They're all those rotten chickens, kill them all, don't let them get in the way!"
Lu Yangyang put the girl she was carrying down and handed her to the people behind her. She slashed with her sword, stopping the two soldiers who rushed forward. The leader's face changed: "Attack together! Kill them all! Don't leave a single one alive!"
More than two hundred soldiers rushed forward.
Lu Yangyang raised her knife and shouted, "Those who don't want to die, grab your knives and charge out!"
At this point, life and death were no longer the most important things for the girls. What mattered most was that for the first time, they held weapons in their hands and had the right to decide their own lives. Even if they died here, it would be for themselves, not meaninglessly toyed with and tossed about aimlessly.
With unprecedented determination, the girls raised their knives to block the soldiers charging towards them, forcefully slashing out and carving a path for themselves.
The garrison troops never expected that this group of prostitutes, who were on the verge of death from syphilis, would unleash such power.
They suddenly realized that they had underestimated their enemy.
However, at that moment, a fire lit up in the distance, and a group of people rushed towards them, surrounding them in the blink of an eye.
The woman at the head of the group was dressed in men's clothing, with clear and calm eyes. She held a token in her hand and said, "I am from the Governor-General's Office of Jiangnan. You, as the garrison troops of the salt mine, have been indiscriminately killing innocent people. I now order you to lay down your weapons and surrender immediately. Anyone who dares to resist will be killed without mercy!"
Before the garrison soldiers could figure out what was happening, the soldiers who rushed forward disarmed them and tied them up.
Jiang Zhiyi stepped forward, holding the token, and approached Lu Yangyang. She asked with concern, "Miss, are you alright? I just heard there was trouble here. What happened?"
Lu Yangyang hadn't expected Jiang Zhiyi's timely arrival. Before coming, they had discussed that Jiang Zhiyi and Wen Qingqing would wait for news in the outer town until Jiang Xun arrived with his men to provide support before taking action. However, what Lu Yangyang hadn't anticipated was the sudden change at the salt mine. She hadn't had time to send out any messages, and things had turned out this way. Her only options were to force her way out or face certain death. Fortunately, Sheng Junyi's advice to cooperate with Chief Luo had likely worked; otherwise, they wouldn't be stopped by just this one group. The three thousand soldiers stationed outside the salt mine were no joke.
Fortunately, Jiang Zhiyi arrived just in time; otherwise, even if she had been able to lead her people out, most of them would have been killed or injured, and it's uncertain how many people could have been rescued.
"Boss Luo was provoked by the mine manager, so he led the salt workers in a riot. Now the two sides are at odds and it has escalated. I tried to take these girls out first in the chaos, but I was blocked here. Luckily you arrived in time, otherwise I don't know what would have happened."
Jiang Zhiyi was also very fortunate: "My brother was worried that something might happen to us, so he brought a small team to get here first. I arranged for someone to come to the salt mine to keep an eye on things. I didn't expect that they would send me a signal as soon as they arrived. When my brother, Qingqing, and I rushed over, we heard that something had happened here. I told my brother to go and mobilize troops nearby first, while Qingqing led another group of people to meet us via another route."
Looking at the girls in front of her, Jiang Zhiyi was still shaken. "Luckily, I made it in time."