Zhang Rui's words not only did not make the team members retreat, but instead aroused their bloodshed.
Guangxi has been a place where "unruly people" have emerged from poor mountains and harsh waters since ancient times. Since there is constant competition for water for irrigation, fights are commonplace. Villagers must unite to face provocations from other villages, and villagers from villages with the same clan and surname are even more unusually united.
Bandits usually encounter large villages with more than a thousand people of the same clan and surname. They either take a detour or simply take what they want. They don't dare to go too far. They can only bully some small villages to do whatever they want.
During the Anti-Japanese War, the Guangxi Army was feared by all Japanese soldiers. The same was true during the Manchu and Qing Dynasties. During the Taiping Rebellion in Guangxi, they used 20,000 Guangxi troops to sweep away most of the Qing Dynasty. If the upper echelons of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom hadn't decayed too quickly, and Zeng Guofan's Hunan Army had risen, it would have been impossible to say that the Manchu Qing Dynasty would have changed.
Therefore, throughout the Manchu and Qing Dynasties, the Qing Dynasty corrupted Guangxi's chieftains and provoked infighting among them to facilitate management. In their view, as long as the chieftains don't unite, everything will be fine.
At this time, someone among the team members actually hummed the song about the Three Major Disciplines and Eight Points of Attention that they had just become familiar with.
One belt two, two belt three, even some onlookers who were not afraid of trouble also started singing. It was especially loud when the song "Defend the village and move forward forever, supported and loved by people across the country" was sung.
"Brothers are all bloody men. I, Zhang Rui, will not say anything that will hurt everyone's dignity." Zhang Rui saluted everyone.
"After killing this bandit, let's drink and eat meat together!"
"Okay...let's drink and eat meat together,"
A neat voice rang out
"Weapons are divided now. Since the weapons are currently limited, we can only take them on a first-come, first-served basis. But once you get the weapons, you have to stand in front and charge. Who is willing to come up and get them?"
"I..." Without saying a word, Li Mutou went to Zhang Rui's side and picked up a steel knife and a shield.
"And I..." Liu Shitou felt as if he was at a disadvantage and followed him to get a steel knife.
"Me too!" Li Sigou, the young man who ignored his parents' obstruction and insisted on taking the exam and finally passed, also followed closely and took a long gun.
People from behind followed up one after another. Sixteen steel knives, twelve shields, and sixteen spears were all divided in less than a moment. However, weapons are still lacking in large quantities.
Zhang Rui had no choice but to borrow some woodcutting knives, forks and even hoes and other farm tools from the villagers. In the end, the dozen or so people had no choice but to take sticks or even stones.
Many villagers heard that Zhang Rui was going to fight the bandits, and they insisted on leaving a piece of farm equipment to follow Zhang Rui, but Zhang Rui couldn't persuade him.
The villagers love Zhang Rui enthusiastically. Especially when those rumors spread. Of course, this Rui is unknown.
The villagers were willing to help Zhang Rui not just because of the three disciplines and eight points of attention he sang. In their opinion, Zhang Rui was just trying to help people like himself and the poor people who were harmed by bandits. Besides, many of the people in this bandit suppression team are close relatives, right?
More than half an hour passed.
At this time, Cheng Long also returned to Zhang Rui and told him. The bandits stopped to rest and eat after passing Shaomuling, but it seemed that they would not stay for long, so Zhang Rui was asked to prepare as soon as possible.
"Do you know how many bandits there are?" Zhang Rui asked Cheng Long
Cheng Long suddenly felt a little embarrassed. He tapped his feet on the ground twice and said, "Sorry, Brother Six, I don't know how to count. I just saw that they have a large group of people. I really don't know the exact number."
As soon as these words came out, Zhang Rui felt a little speechless. This is nothing. It is terrible to be illiterate. It seems that in the future, we must teach them simple arithmetic and writing if conditions permit.
Zhang Rui patted Cheng Long on the shoulder and said, "It's okay. I don't blame you for this. If I have a chance in the future, I will ask your husband to teach you how to read and write."
After hearing Zhang Rui's words, Cheng Long couldn't help but be moved: "Thank you, Sixth Brother. I will try my best to learn to count when the time comes."
In addition to Zhang Rui's bandit suppression team, there were actually nearly 500 villagers who came to help from foreign aid. In some villages, almost all the men who could fight came. Looking at this huge crowd, if it weren't for the fact that everyone was holding something in their hands, I don't know, I would have thought they were going to a market somewhere.
Things went beyond Zhang Rui's expectation, and Zhang Rui couldn't help but sigh: "This is different from what I imagined!"
Too many people are untrained. If more than a hundred bandits come, they will inevitably suffer losses, and the losses will only be greater if they are defeated and retreated by then. When it comes to fighting, it's better for the young and energetic people to fight first.
Therefore, Zhang Rui set up his ambush point at a place called Guotou Mountain one mile outside the village. There are two good things about this place. One is that the terrain is good, with a road sandwiched between two mountains, and there is a relatively large open space when entering the valley, which is convenient for spreading manpower. As long as the road in front and behind is blocked here, the bandits will have nowhere to go. Second, the plants are relatively dense and can easily hide people.
Zhang Rui commanded Liu Shitou, Li Mutou, Li Sigou and others to lead 60 bandit suppression team members including the second team, the fourth team, the fifth team, the sixth team, the seventh team, and the ninth team, and a hundred younger villagers to ambush At the entrance of the front valley, the bandits will be surrounded after they completely enter the valley.
Zhang Rui led the remaining fifty bandit suppressors and stood waiting for them at the intersection into the village. Behind Zhang Rui were also hiding a hundred younger villagers.
For the remaining villagers, Zhang Rui asked them to spread out on the mountainside on both sides of the road and cheer for them when they faced the bandits. If any bandits dared to go up the mountain, they could go together and beat them to death.
Everything has been arranged, now it's just waiting for the bandits to sneak in quietly.
About a quarter of an hour
Chen Deyun and Hong Hu appeared in front of Zhang Rui. When they saw Zhang Rui waiting for them, they felt much relieved instantly.
"Brother Six..."
…
"Thank you, you two. How long will it take for the bandits to arrive?" Zhang Rui said to the two of them.
"It's not hard work. These are commonplace things. The two of us almost followed the bandits back. Judging from our footsteps and the bandits' footsteps, the bandits should be here in about a stick of incense. .”
"Do you know how many bandits there are?" Zhang Rui asked again unwillingly.
"Well, we both don't know how to do this..." Chen Deyun looked at Hong Hu, both of them were a little embarrassed.
…
"Then see if there are many people here like us?" Zhang Rui had no choice but to ask another question.
Chen Deyun and Hong Hu looked at the people behind Zhang Rui. They thought for a while, then confirmed each other and said, "There are not so many people, but there are not many less."
When Zhang Rui heard this, he asked, "What's going on? There aren't more than a hundred people?"
With doubts, two bandits began to appear in front of them. Both sides were stunned for a moment, but soon the bandits gathered not far from Zhang Rui.
Both sides looked at each other.
As expected, he is a robber, but he still has some training qualities.
At this time, one of the bandits with a sharp mouth and a wretched face said to a man who was nearly 1.8 meters tall and had a rough body: "Fifth Leader, didn't you say that there is only one person in that bitch? How can there be so many people?" This is different from what you imagined.”
"It's different from what you imagined," said the fifth master, Li Ba. "They probably stole Lao Liu's money and used the money to temporarily hire these idiots. Look at what they got, except for a few handfuls from Lao Liu." The stolen knife and the gun I found somewhere.”
"Yes! Look, they are just some forks and some hoes." said the wretched bandit.
"Wait, what is that? A stick? Some people just have a stone in their hand. Is this looking down on us?"
I saw him looking at the weapons held by the bandit suppressing team members behind Zhang Rui, as if he had discovered a new world, looking surprised, yet ridiculously angry.
"It's not that they look down on us, they want to die. If they are afraid of such a bunch of mud-legged people, we will even give up our face." The fifth master said with disdain.
Then he turned around and prepared to mobilize and speak. It was nothing more than killing them all, grabbing money and women, and then drinking and eating meat.
Zhang Rui looked at the bandits. There were about thirty-three of them, and twenty of them looked like newcomers. So, he said what he said for the second time today: "This is different from what I imagined!"
