Although Cao Zhi and the others were heroic, they also played several beautiful counterattacks, after all, the difference in numbers was too great, and the old guards were not as strong as they were ten years ago, and they lacked physical strength, and soon showed fatigue.

Cao Zhi contracted the defense line in time, gave up almost all the baggage, and made every effort to protect the lives of the personnel.

Although he was mentally prepared in advance, Cao Miao was still a little nervous in his heart when he saw the arrows flying in the air, life and death were in front of him, and the screams were in his ears. As for those who were not mentally prepared and thought that they would die tonight, they were even more in a mess, and many women even cried. Even Mrs. Xie, who has always been steady, was no exception, looking desperate, sitting quietly on the side, waiting for fate to come.

The thieves who had the upper hand were even more arrogant, some of them were still besieging Cao Zhi and others, trying to break through the last line of defense and kill them all, and some of them had already rushed to loot the loot and get some benefits first. Although the leader of the thieves cursed, foul language, and even drew a knife and slashed two people, he still could not restrain the team and attacked in unison.

The legendary 500 gold is so tempting that no one wants to be preempted by others.

For the vast majority of people, the main purpose of this trip is to seek money, and killing people is secondary, and some people even don't want to kill people at all. Anyone with a little brain, knows that killing Cao Zhi's family is not good for them, but may cause death.

If they can get the five hundred gold, they will be satisfied.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Cao Zhi found the mastermind from the chaotic crowd: a middle-aged man who had been hiding in the dark, protected by several strong men in the middle. He was originally far away and did not attract attention, until the thieves were distracted and attacked Cao Zhi and others for a long time, he couldn't hold it back, rushed to the leader of the thieves, and urged them to attack with all their strength, only to be discovered by Cao Zhi.

Cao Zhi immediately issued an order to capture this person alive.

Three arrows tied to the ignition were ignited and shot straight into the air, clearly visible in the chaotic rain of arrows.

Soon, Cao Miao saw a thrilling scene.

A dozen horses galloped out from behind the reeds in the distance, quickly slaughtering the thieves, cutting the thieves' otherwise unruly ranks into two, and the knights on horseback held their spears and brandished their ring knives, stabbing and cutting down one after another the thieves who met them, or directly knocking them away with their horses.

Seeing that there was an ambush on the other side and that there were cavalry, the thieves panicked, and many people began to flee.

Cao Zhi seized the opportunity, launched a counterattack, grabbed the prepared war horse, jumped on the horse, took Lao Bai and another old guard, and rode straight to the mastermind. The thieves panicked, and when they saw the horses, they ran away, and no one dared to stop them. The mastermind noticed that the situation was not good, and turned around and tried to escape, but it was too late. Cao Zhi's three horsemen rushed to him, and with a slight pull, knocked him to the ground.

The ambushed cavalry arrived, joined up with Cao Zhi, and surrounded several stubborn men. Someone dismounted, without saying a word, picked up the knife ring, smashed the mastermind unconscious, brought him back to the formation, and threw it in front of Cao Miao.

Cao Miao was prepared, first asked Ah Hu to tie up the person, gag his mouth, and then search his body himself.

This is a middle-aged man, about forty or so, with a white skin, three locks of beard neatly groomed, and a bit bookish. The blue-black cloth on his body didn't fit well, it shouldn't be his own clothes, but the clothes inside fit well, and the texture was good, it should be his own. In particular, leather shoes with a certain waterproof function on the feet are by no means worn by thieves. Thieves prefer to go barefoot.

The hands are very clean, the five fingers are slender, there is no dirt in the nails, there are calluses in several parts of the fingers, and there are many opportunities to write with a pen. The arm muscles are very strong, and the tiger's mouth has calluses, which should be in the body. There is no fat on the body, several muscle groups are very well-proportioned, and there is a lot of physical activity at ordinary times, and he is not a pure civilian worker.

Except for his clothes and the leather shoes on his feet, he didn't have much on him, he should have been prepared in advance, and he didn't bring anything that might reveal his identity.

Cao Miao finished searching her body and nodded. Ah Hu bent down and shook his hand to give two loud slaps.

"Smack!" The slap was crisp, the middle-aged man opened his eyes, looked at Cao Miao in front of him, and then looked at the thieves who were chased by the cavalry and cried wolf, with a look of horror in his eyes. He looked at Cao Miao, looked at the things that were found on him, and whined twice, but he was tightly gagged, and he didn't know what he said.

Cao Miao looked him up and down, an innocent smile on his face.

"Very cautious, hardly able to find any useful clues. I suppose you wouldn't tell you who it was even if I begged you, would you? ”

The middle-aged man stared at Cao Miao hatefully, snorted, his eyes calmed down, revealing a bit of perseverance.

Cao Miao snorted. Ah Hu stepped forward, stepped on the middle-aged man's body, took off his leather shoes, ripped off his foot coat, pressed his calves, and fixed his feet in front of Cao Miao. Cao Miao held his ankle with one hand, stretched out the other, and Qingtao handed over a short knife. Cao Miao held the short knife upside down and smashed it on the middle-aged man's toes with the knife ring.

"Smack!" There was a crisp sound, and the toe bone was smashed by the knife ring and warped.

"Huh-" The middle-aged man's eyes widened in pain and struggled desperately. was just held down by Ah Hu and couldn't move.

Cao Miao didn't look at him either, and said to herself: "I understand, your net worth and life are in the hands of others, and you can't be the master." Even if I let you go, you won't be able to escape death when you go back, it's better to carry it to the end, maybe you can keep your family safe and leave a loyal name. As he spoke, he broke the other toe of the middle-aged man.

"The beauty of a gentleman's adulthood, you want to be a loyal minister, I deeply admire and fulfill you." Cao Miao raised the short knife, and with another blow, he smacked off the third toe of the middle-aged man with great precision.

Three toes were broken one after another, and the middle-aged man was in tears, twitching all over, and he didn't know what to say, like cursing or pleading. Cao Miao looked at him puzzled, his subordinates were not slow at all, and broke his fourth toe, leaving only the big toe still intact.

"What do you say?" Cao Miao raised the short knife and looked at the middle-aged man blankly. "Scold me? It's okay, scold, I'm a crazy person anyway, I'm not afraid of being scolded. With that, he smashed his big toe again, and then let go of the hand that was pressing his ankle.

"Woo-" The middle-aged man screamed in pain. He subconsciously retracted his feet, tears raining down.

"Rip off his shoe." Cao Miao said as she pulled out the cloth from the middle-aged man's mouth. "Scold, scold, scold hard."

"You...... You're a madman. The middle-aged man scolded.

Cao Miao nodded indifferently. "I know." Reach out and grab the middle-aged man's other foot. The middle-aged man was so frightened that his face was colorless, and he didn't care about scolding anymore, while desperately retracting his feet, he said in a loud voice: "I said, I said, I said it all." ”

Cao Miao held the short knife, a little disappointed between her eyebrows. "Are you sure?"

The middle-aged man was afraid that he would not believe it, so he nodded vigorously, and even threw out his snot. "I say, I'll say it all."