There is a god in the sky

Chapter 433 Accident

As thick smoke billowed from the damp firewood, the soldiers took off their outer garments and began to fan it.

Thick smoke filled the cave, and soon the sound of the enemy coughing could be heard.

Seeing that thick smoke and fire blocked the cave entrance, Cheng Han set up a battle formation outside the cave, waiting for the people inside to come out and die.

"Lord Xiao, there's smoke behind that mountain!"

Someone spotted black smoke rising from the mountaintop and immediately reported it to Xiao Ji.

Lord Liu quickly retreated to the back and, sure enough, saw smoke rising from the direction of Stone Mountain.

He realized something was wrong; this meant there was another way out of the cave.

Xiao Ji had obviously thought of this as well, and immediately led his men toward the Stone Mountain.

Shen Lan quickly surveyed the surrounding terrain.

Behind the rocky mountain is a precipice, and it was too dark to see anything looking down.

Li Ye understood her plan, broke away from the crowd, and climbed down the cliff edge.

As the smoke cleared, they saw people crawling out of the secret passage; they were villagers from Muyun Village.

The two sides immediately engaged in combat upon meeting.

The fighting ability of ordinary government officials was somewhat inferior to that of these fierce villagers, but they had the advantage of numbers.

Prefect Liu was apprehensive; judging from the situation, there would be another fierce battle tonight.

However, this is Jiangling after all, and General Qin will surely bring his troops to its aid as soon as he receives the news.

"Lord Xiao, we must finish this quickly!" he shouted.

Soon, the sounds of fighting could be heard.

Prefect Liu asked General Cheng, who remained in place, "General Cheng, aren't you going to help?"

"No need, attacking from both sides is the way to win."

Sure enough, with their backs blocked, people began to run out of the cave.

Before the first arrow was even fired, someone inside shouted, "Don't fire! Cough cough... We are law-abiding citizens! We surrender!... Cough cough..."

The screams coming from inside were quite frightening.

Cheng Han couldn't bring himself to do it, and shouted, "Come out, hands up! Anyone who dares to lay a hand on you will be shot dead!"

Immediately, people ran out, some of them still on fire.

The once arrogant centurion was being helped out by two soldiers, choking on a thick cloud of smoke, his face darker than the sky.

Cheng Han ordered his men to remove the damp firewood from the cave entrance and counted the surrendered men one by one. He found that most of them were the soldiers who had fought with them earlier.

"The numbers are wrong." Cheng Han held a knife to the centurion's neck and asked, "How many people are inside?"

The man stammered, "When we ran out, only the miners were still locked in cages; the guards had all run to the back of the mountain!"

Cheng Han panicked as soon as he heard this, "Quick, go in and save them!"

By now, most of the smoke in the cave had dissipated. Although it was a bit choking when we went in, it wasn't fatal, but it did affect our vision.

When they found the miners locked in the iron cages, many of them were already unconscious.

"Gold! Lots and lots of gold!"

As soon as Cheng Han turned around, he saw his men running in one direction, having completely forgotten about saving people.

Just as he was about to get angry, he saw someone running over with a handful of gold nuggets.

"General! Gold! Lots of it!"

Cheng Han grabbed a handful and stuffed them into his clothes, warning them, "That's enough, come and save people first!"

Soldiers know their limits; they understand that they can't take all the spoils of war, especially since this place could very well be a gold mine.

Since the imperial court knows about this place, it will not allow anyone to empty it out.

The national treasury is empty, which is why the emperor sent Xiao Ji to investigate this case. Otherwise, he had only recently ascended the throne and did not want to break ties with the Qin family.

All the miners were wearing shackles, which made it difficult for them to move around. It took Cheng Han a lot of effort to remove the shackles from them.

One by one, the unconscious people woke up and huddled in a corner, refusing to leave the iron cage no matter how Cheng Han tried to persuade them.

"A bunch of idiots! They can't even tell good from bad! Men, drag them out!"

Cheng Han also discovered many underground tunnels and pits. Following the tunnels, he arrived at the Stone Mountain.

The guards who ran out from this side were quite fierce and were still fighting with the government officials.

There were many corpses on the ground, and Cheng Han also saw the woman next to Lord Xiao being surrounded and attacked by a group of men, forced to the edge of a cliff.

Just as he was about to go and help, he saw someone get there first, and with a swift stroke of their blade, kill three enemies in a row.

"Excellent swordsmanship!" If the location weren't so inconvenient, he would have loved to clap and cheer.

Seeing that the young man was highly skilled in martial arts, he felt relieved and went to help the others defend against the enemy.

The guards at these mines, whose identities were unknown, were all quite skilled in martial arts, but ultimately, one man's fists cannot fight four hands, and they gradually lost ground.

Cheng Han hadn't had such a satisfying fight in a long time. Just as he was slashing a burly man's arm with his sword, he saw Xiao Ji running frantically toward the edge of the cliff.

"Shen Lan!" he cried out in anguish.

Cheng Han almost dropped the knife in his hand as the other person slashed him across the chest.

The breastplate of the armor saved his life, but his abdomen was still slashed.

He clutched his stomach and retreated, but his opponent pressed his advantage, and the fierce look in his eyes made Cheng Han's heart tremble.

Several arrows flew in, halting the man's attack.

Cheng Han spat and joined his companions in attacking.

After subduing the man, there were no more enemies standing at the scene.

He dragged his wounds toward Xiao Ji, and heard a guard beside him say, "Just now, Lord Shen and Deputy Commander Li were carried off the cliff by those villagers."

"what?"

He was taken aback to see Lord Xiao standing firmly on the edge of the cliff, radiating sorrow and despair.

He listened as the guard continued, "My master has long admired Lord Shen and originally planned to propose to him after this case was over."

Although Cheng Han was familiar with Xiao Ji, he did not know who Xiao Ji's sweetheart was.

Lord Xiao must be heartbroken at the loss of his beloved.

He stepped forward to comfort him, saying, "Lord Xiao, after daybreak I will lead men down to search, and we will surely find Lord Shen and the others!"

He didn't know how deep the cliff was, and he couldn't say for sure that the person was still alive.

It's already a miracle that they found the body.

Xiao Ji seemed oblivious to the sounds of the outside world, standing quietly like a statue.

Helpless, Cheng Han had no choice but to clean up the scene first and have Prefect Liu lead people to seal off the mine to prevent the gold and gold ore from being stolen.

The thing that Prefect Liu was worried about did not happen, because Cheng Han had also arranged for people to guard the various passages at the foot of the mountain, and anyone who went out to report the news was shot dead.

The siege tonight went very smoothly; the only regret was the death of two court officials.

When Prefect Liu heard about their plight, he sighed and said, “Although I have never been down to Stone Mountain, it is barren and its walls are made of hard stone. Even if the cliffs are not deep, it would be difficult to survive.”

If you fall, you'll be smashed to pieces no matter where you hit the ground.

Prefect Liu didn't care who died; he only cared about who the owner of the mine was.

Judging from the current situation, it seems that the Qin family is involved.

"General Cheng, it would be best to interrogate and take a statement as soon as possible, otherwise things may change."

Cheng Han pushed the interrogation task onto him, saying, "Lord Liu, we do not belong to Jiangling and cannot overstep our boundaries. You must make the decision here."

"This case..." doesn't fall under the jurisdiction of the Jiangling prefect either.

"Given Lord Xiao's current state, he's unlikely to be calm for a while. Isn't this a perfect opportunity for Lord Liu to make a contribution?"

Prefect Liu recalled Xiao Ji's words, and then thought that the two murdered men were both favorites of the Emperor. He realized that the Qin family was probably in deep trouble this time.

They weren't afraid of offending the Qin family anymore.