It was extremely difficult for Dong Hu and the others to go out to explore the road this time. It was midsummer, when the vegetation was luxuriant, and there were thickets of thorns and vines all along the way. There were places in the direction where even wild beasts couldn't squeeze through, so they had to use the machete they carried with them to cut their way out. This time, they were damaged. The four machetes he carried. What's even worse is that because several years have passed, even though Dong Hu has a super memory, he can only remember the general direction. Most of the time, they could only move along the vaguely visible animal path, but they still often took the wrong path, and even walked several times, only to find that the path suddenly stopped at the cliff. Dong Hu, who was leading the way, was caught off guard and almost fell off the cliff because his vision was blocked. Some places were blocked by broken rocks and could not go around, so they had to risk climbing over. Fortunately, they brought the climbing rope given by Ouyang Xuan this time. As for the lack of water sources and the infestation of poisonous insects and ferocious beasts encountered along the way, they can only be regarded as trivial matters. After all, the three of them have been hunting in the mountains since they were young, and they have strong abilities to survive in the wild and deal with dangers. Even so, it took the three of them four days to find the road to the plain below the mountain, and another day on the way back.
Although this trip lasted only five days, the three of them lost a lot of weight, which shows how hard they worked. Even when they returned to Liuliba, Dong Hu and the others were already haggard and exhausted. As for Artemisia annua, it was collected from a hillside near the plain. Because the hillside here is a rocky desert terrain, trees cannot grow at all, but clumps of wormwood grow in the gaps between the stones. Dong Hu and others were arranged by Lu De to search for wormwood. They saw that the wormwood here was similar to but different from Liuliba, so they picked some on their way back. The wormwood in Liuliba is green, while the wormwood here is green with egg yellow, and has a distinct pungent smell. After Ouyang Xuan heard what the three said, he ordered Dong Hu and others to go back and recuperate, while sending someone to squeeze out the juice from the wormwood for Yu Zhu to take.
The next day, the person who cared for Yu Zhu reported with a happy face that Yu Zhu's condition had improved significantly after taking Artemisia annua juice, but he had been weak for a long time and still couldn't get out of bed. Finally, he hesitated and said that there was not much Artemisia left that Dong Hu brought back. While they were talking, Huang Dagen hurriedly walked into the house. Seeing other people in the house, he whispered to Ouyang Xuan, "Brother Xuan, the bandits from Wanjiaping are coming towards Liuliba." Ouyang Xuan immediately asked people to invite Lu Dezhi and Cao Ergou to discuss the matter. He turned away everyone and asked Huang Dagen in detail about the situation of the bandits.
Because the military situation was urgent, the discussion was brief and efficient. The only people participating in the discussion were Ouyang Xuan, Huang Dagen, Cao Ergou, Lu Dezhi, and Yang Xiucai, who was taking notes on the side. There were only five people. Ouyang did not want to alarm the rest of the staff. On the one hand, he was very confident about repelling the invading bandits. On the other hand, there was a lot of waste waiting to be done, and industrial and mining construction projects could not be stopped easily. More importantly, he did not want to panic. Emotions spread among the cottage.
Huang Dagen introduced the situation of the invading bandits detected by the secret sentry. There were about 50 bandits who invaded this time, half of them were crossbowmen, and the rest were sword, shield, and spearmen. As soon as the bandits left Wanjiaping and headed into the mountains, they were spotted by Liuliba's secret sentry from a distance. The secret sentry watched all the way until the bandits turned onto the mountain road leading to Liuliba, and then quickly ran back to report the news. Since the bandits walked leisurely and stopped, it was estimated that it would take half an hour to reach the entrance of Liuli Bazhai.
Lu Dezhi suppressed his inner panic and proposed to summon all the people to defend the stronghold. If the weapons were insufficient, use farm tools instead; Cao Ergou was gearing up and proposed to summon all the guards and teaching team to defend the stronghold; Huang Dagen saw Ouyang Xuan attacking the two men. He proposed to remain silent. Knowing that he was dissatisfied with the two people's proposal, he proposed that the teaching team guard the stronghold, while the guard team ambushed and waited for the opportunity to bomb with grenades. Ouyang Xuan did not agree to use grenades because there were still four days before the bandits requested it, and this time the bandits only came with more than 50 people, and they did not bring siege weapons. He judged that the bandits came mainly to warn Liuliba and intimidate the village to pay its "taxes" on time. Ouyang Xuan estimated that the bandits would not achieve their goals this time, so they would invade on a large scale. He didn't want to reveal his trump card prematurely, so he wanted to catch the bandits off guard with a grenade and give them a head-on blow.
At that time, it was agreed that Cao Ergou would recruit 50 people from the teaching team to guard the stronghold, and place large shields on the top of the stronghold wall. If the bandits came to attack, they would shoot bows and arrows and throw stones from a distance, and stab them with spears when they were close. It was built, and it was just a dream for the bandits to invade the stronghold. Huang Dagen chose 20 people to ambush, and when the bandits were defeated and retreated, they blocked the way and killed them. As for the rest of the people in the village, they are working normally. When bandits invade, they don't ring the bell or call the police, just close the village door tightly.
When the bandits from Wanjiaping walked slowly to the gate of the village, they were surprised to find that only a few days later, a new wall had been built in Liuliba. The people on the wall were hiding behind fences and large shields, standing neatly in order, and there was a vague sense of array. Confused by doubts, the bandit leader didn't think deeply about it. He only had the purpose of his trip in his mind - taxes. Following the example of the government, he sent two minions holding shields to shout for the people of Liuliba to obey. Unexpectedly, these two gangsters were very rough and rude. As soon as they shouted a few words, a large number of stones and arrows flew from the wall of the village, making their shields bang and bang. They were so frightened that they ran away like shit. Come back. Although the vitals of these two minions were protected by shields, their legs were still hit by solid stones several times. They were now holding the injured legs and wailing in pain.
This bandit leader is used to being arrogant in this mountain, how can he be willing to suffer any loss? In a rage, he ordered the bandits to form an attack array. Some held shields for protection, some fired arrows behind them, and some were ready to climb up the wall. Although the bandit crossbowmen stood under the wall, they were numerous in number, and the arrows they fired were powerful and accurate. The archers and militiamen on the wall were suppressed for a while, and they could only find an opening to fight back. They fired arrows and Throwing stones is also a big mistake. On the other hand, the bandits not only had many bows but also several powerful crossbows. The arrows they fired could penetrate the wooden shields on the village wall. Fortunately, the crossbow arrows only caused minor injuries to the two militiamen after passing through the wooden shields. While the top of the wall was suppressed, more than a dozen bandits watched the opportunity and threw out hooked ropes to climb up. The militiamen at the head of the village did not have long swords. Seeing that the bandits were about to climb up, some of the timid ones were ready to turn around and run away. Fortunately, Cao Ergou stopped behind and braved the arrows to kill one of them with a spear. The bandits climbed up to the top of the village wall and stabbed him, then ordered the militiamen to stab him with their spears through the gap between the two shields, thus blocking the bandits' first wave of attack.
After experiencing the initial panic, the Liulizhai militiamen stabilized their position under the command of Cao Ergou, and fought more smoothly and with greater confidence. The bandits then launched several waves of offensives, but they were all blocked. Not only did they fail to climb the wall, but more than a dozen people were killed and injured, and their morale became increasingly low. As for Liuliba, only a few people were slightly injured.
The bandit leader saw that he could not attack for a long time, and his personnel were getting more and more tired. He knew that this would only become more and more disadvantageous, so he prepared to retreat. When the bandits were supporting the wounded and carrying the bodies and preparing to retreat, they suddenly heard shouts of killing from the village behind. It turned out that the militiamen on the wall had rushed out of the gate of the village and killed them. In fact, according to Ouyang Xuan's idea, the militiamen only need to stick to the wall of the village. However, seeing that the bandits were in obvious decline, Cao Ergou ordered his militiamen to run forward in three rows, with the front row holding shields and the two rows holding spears. The formation is not strict, but it still has a strong sense of intimidation. When the bandits saw them, they fired arrows and resisted them with shields and spears. However, they could not withstand the condescending impact. In an instant, several people were stabbed by spears and fell to the ground, letting out heart-rending screams. The rest could be heard. The bandits were frightened, leaving the wounded behind and running back along the way they came.
