In terms of force value, the armed caravan can only be regarded as second-line troops in the Perak Army system. However, these 300 second-line soldiers plus Zelang's more than 20 men were able to annihilate more than 600 horse bandits. Moreover, only six people in the armed caravan were killed and eleven injured, and Zelang's side suffered zero casualties. This not only shocked Zelang, but also completely exceeded Boss Qian's expectations. Although he knew that after the transformation of the Perak Army, the caravan's combat power was more than a little stronger than before, but it was so strong that it was beyond imagination, which made him both happy and scared. Fortunately, I fell in love with Ouyang Xuan and was taken seriously. What I was afraid of was that I was lucky that I didn't confront the Perak Army. Zelang's happiness was even worse than that of Boss Qian. He came to report the news last night. At first, he just wanted Boss Qian to leave the grassland quickly to avoid any accidents, and to get some goods as reward. The life of this horse bandit was really difficult. He was frightened, frightened, and extremely poor. He was often full and hungry.
Zelang's sudden arrival made Boss Qian both happy and worried. I am happy that my old friend's beloved son is still alive, but I am worried about how to escape the pursuit of six hundred cavalry on the grassland. With the mindset developed through many years of doing business, the first thing that Boss Qian thought of was to walk back overnight. However, after thinking calmly, he immediately rejected the idea. The journey back now is not only long and dangerous, but traveling at night is too dangerous, and the cavalry is extremely fast, so the caravan will be overtaken by horse bandits before it reaches the arrow furnace. Even if they leave the grassland and reach Dajian Lu, they will definitely be blocked by Adam, and the situation of being attacked from both sides will be even more difficult. Therefore, after consulting with Qian Laosan, he decided to follow Qian Bao's suggestion, repel the horse bandits, and then return calmly. At that moment, several people discussed with Zelang the plan of waiting for work and attacking from both front and rear.
Zelang took more than 20 leaders of the horse bandits and more than 30 confidants sent by Adam to a secluded place and killed them all. Boss Qian pretended not to know about this. The experience of licking blood from the edge of a knife for many years in business has taught him that being kind to the enemy is cruel to one's own people. Failure to kill these people will sooner or later lead to disaster. It would be best for Zelang to kill these people. After all, the caravan still comes here to do business. Making too many enemies is not a good thing after all.
Carrying the prisoners and captured horses, the armed caravan embarked on the return journey. Zelang did not go together, but took his men and the injured horse bandits to the depths of the grassland. He was going to take over the horse bandits' tribe. The leader of the horse bandits was executed, and his tribe was actually crippled. If Zelang does not take over, this tribe will also be annexed by other tribes. Of course, Zelang also brought a large amount of tea and salt as a gift from Boss Qian. Using carrots and sticks, it won't be long before he has the tribe firmly in his grasp. In addition to the men and horses Zelang took away, there were more than 400 prisoners and 500 captured war horses accompanying the armed caravan to Dajianlu. In fact, only about a hundred horse bandits were killed or injured in this battle, and not many war horses were killed or injured. The reason for their great victory was that the horse bandits were caught off guard by firearms and were convinced that the Buddha was sending thunder from the sky to punish them.
After arriving at the Dajianlu Valley, the armed caravan set up camp. When Adang saw that the armed caravan was not only unscathed but also captured a large number of prisoners, he closed the gate of the village tightly knowing that something bad was going on. He was not afraid of Boss Qian's retaliation at all. Although he couldn't eat the armed caravan, with the stronghold being easy to defend and difficult to attack, Boss Qian couldn't even think of attacking. As for the siege? This was just what he wanted. Boss Qian also knew that this village was a tough nut to crack, so he didn't order anyone to test it. He just ordered people to defend the camp and have a good rest.
After waiting for another two days, Zelang's cavalry returned to the Dajianlu Valley. Although Zelang became the new leader of the Ma Bandit tribe, he still couldn't forget the position of the Dajian Stove Man, which was the legacy left to him by his father. More importantly, the Dajianlu River Valley is much better than the grassland area. Not only is it located on a commercial thoroughfare, it has abundant water resources and a mild climate. It can be used for half agriculture and half pastoralism. It is a rare fertile land in the Tibetan area. But he also knew that it would be difficult to recapture the village to avenge his father's murder, because although the village had a population of less than 500, it was easy to defend and difficult to attack. The village has been continuously strengthened since his grandfather. After his father Nima took over as the leader, he made a lot of wealth through business and built a lot of defense facilities to prevent bandits. In particular, the two watchtowers in front of the village gate are dozens of high. Rice, even more so, one man can block it and ten thousand men can't open it. The houses in the village are also made of stone, not to mention strong. There are frequent earthquakes in Fan District, but the houses and watchtowers have not been damaged over the years, which shows their sturdiness. In recent years, the Mongolian cavalry has repeatedly traveled from the grasslands to the Han Dynasty via Dajianlu, and they were helpless in the face of the strong Dajianlu village.
Qian Laosan once proposed bombarding with artillery. Li Ganzi and others who attended the meeting believed that the light tiger squatting artillery could not deal with such a strong target. In fact, Qian Bao also knew that even if the light tiger squatting gun was replaced with solid bullets, it would not be able to open the village gate, let alone the stone village walls and watchtowers. The amount of gunpowder the caravan carried on this trip was too small, which was far from enough to blow down the watchtowers. Although the amount of gunpowder can blow down the wooden gate of the village, if you get close to the village gate amidst the condescending firepower of the watchtowers and village wall guards, you will definitely suffer heavy casualties. Most of the caravan members are members of the Qian clan, and the officers are also elites of the Perak Army. How can we explain to the clan members that the casualties are too great? How to explain to Ouyang Xuan? Boss Qian brought the caravan out to seek wealth, not to fight for his life. Moreover, too much strength has been lost in order to attack the stronghold. How can we ensure a safe return journey? The benefits of building the stronghold are also obvious - Zelang will become a staunch ally of the caravan and even the Pili Army in the Fan area, and thereby gain huge commercial benefits and strategic resources such as horses.
Zelang also knew about Boss Qian's difficulties, but it was hard for him to let go of his father-killing enemy. He knew that without the help of Boss Qian, he would never be able to take the village and regain what was rightfully his. Although he now controls a tribe, the real core is still the more than 20 people who follow him as horse bandits. Arm the prisoners and attack the stronghold? Not to mention that the prisoners were still being guarded by the armed caravan and were the property of the caravan. Even if Boss Qian gave all the prisoners to himself, he would not dare to drive these people to attack. These prisoners had colluded with Adam in the first place. If they defected in the face of heavy casualties, he would die without a burial place. Will we attack the tribe again after we have complete control over it? The grassland tribes were good at fighting on horseback. It was impossible to capture the stronghold without siege weapons. Moreover, Zelang knew better than anyone how strong the defense of the stockade was. Even if there were siege weapons, he would have to sacrifice his life to capture the stockade. However, there is only one fate for being seriously injured - being annexed by other tribes in the grassland.
Just when Boss Qian and Ze Lang were hesitating, Qian Bao came over with Li Ganzi. When Li Ganzi accompanied Boss Qian to the village to deliver gifts, he carefully observed the surrounding terrain. The village is halfway up the mountain. There is a cliff on the mountain more than a hundred meters behind the village. There is a platform with a radius of tens of square meters on the cliff. If the artillery is set up on the platform and bombards from a high position, the soldiers defending the stronghold will have no way to hide. Li Ganzi's suggestion made Zelang happy. The platform was actually only tens of meters high from the ground. When he was young, he and his companions climbed up to catch the eaglets. His men are all good climbers, so it is not difficult to climb up. As for the artillery and ammunition, they only need to be hung up with thick ropes.
