The ronin troops of Ryunosuke and his party numbered more than a hundred people, and almost all of them were heavily armed units. Except for the 30 mounted samurai, most of the remaining people were heavily armored and used large bows, naginata, and large spears for foot combat. Such troops would not move too fast. Even if there were horses to transport the luggage on a large Rigal carriage, it would still take a day and a half for Old Qiao to go there to notify them and then come back.
Such an elite samurai force with rich experience in fighting abroad can be sure of victory in frontal combat against civilian bandits several times their own. However, if the terrain is not a plain but a swamp, the problem will become relatively complicated.
The swampy terrain near the hot spring village has undergone years of human activities and some intentional reclamation. In fact, there is a land route that allows a minimum of walking. It's just that these roads, which are simply compacted by reeds and mixed soil, can only be used by a few people on a sunny day. It is really possible for a heavy-armed troop of more than a hundred people to pass through because of the poor road conditions and get stuck.
The rumor among the villagers is that the group of bandits is entrenched in the depths about a day's journey away by land, but they can't figure out who's feet are used to calculate the so-called one-day journey, and in which direction the one-day journey is taken. .
Because the smallest and most detailed maps that exist are state-level maps that use the entire Zhangzhou area as a concept, and have not been updated for 50 years, even if you take out the map and want to find it on it, let the farmers point out the specific hiding places of the rogue bandits. It wouldn't work in that place either.
The lack of a clear direction will lead to a larger search area, and the annoying reeds that are taller than a person and blocking the field of vision aggravate the problem - in fact, this is an important reason why many villagers cannot tell the direction. They might be able to follow the flat road in search of resources and then come out based on some landmarks, but they don't have an overly clear impression of southeast, northwest, and northwest.
With his eyes darkened, he could only rely on his intuition and wait for Ryunosuke and his group to come over and try their luck to find the gang of bandits. It would be too unprofessional.
Henry, Mira, Lulu and an old hunter from the village went deep into the swamp at the same time as Old Joe set off, and went into battle lightly to conduct reconnaissance before the large troops arrived.
Years of experience and the rules they have learned are what they rely on. There is a lot of necessary information before officially launching a march to cause conflict, and they need to master it without fail.
Just like a hunter who goes up a mountain doesn't just wander aimlessly and wait for his prey to hit the door, to find a target, the first thing you need to do is to enter the other person's thoughts.
If the prey is a wild boar, lower your vision and observe the roots of the plants - wild boars like to eat food that grows in low places, such as potato roots and various mushrooms. The traces of turned up soil and the dug up and gnawed vegetation above the relatively intact roots indicate that wild boars were eating nearby. Based on the freshness of the gaps, it can be inferred when the food was eaten.
Once you are aware of this, you can try to look for animal paths and footprints, and follow them carefully while being downwind.
In contrast, deer prefer berries, tree buds and herbs that grow at higher places - if you find that all the fresh and juicy buds of a shrub have been eaten away, only the old ones remain. The astringent dark green leaves are probably the work of a deer.
The preferences of creatures are also key knowledge for identification and tracking - wild boars like to wallow in mire to cover their bodies with mud so as to have a hard shell to resist mosquito bites, while deer like to rub their bodies back and forth on rough tree trunks to relieve itching.
The height at which tree bark is worn down can reveal the size of a deer herd, and tracks near bogs can always provide important information about nearby wild boars.
What if the prey is human?
Human beings have storage devices, various tools, camping supplies, etc. Organized and large-scale humans have the ability to be self-sufficient independent of the local environment to a certain extent. They can bring rations and fresh water from elsewhere, and in the short term they don't need to move too much in the environment and keep a low profile. From this point of view alone, humans are obviously targets that are relatively difficult to track and detect - but this is only if the other party intentionally hides and has high willpower.
Cats know how to bury their feces, while dogs tend to defecate everywhere. The same is true for people - a master who is invisible can come and go without a trace, but how can a rogue who lacks discipline be able to do this?
While drinking and having fun, half-eaten dried fish were randomly discarded and crawled with ants. The empty wine bottles fell to the ground and were even trampled on so that half of the bottom sank into the mud.
"It stinks like hell." Some guy was relieving himself nearby, and the smell of urine left behind made the Luoan girl frown. This group of guys obviously didn't know how to hide themselves. The materials they brought were not properly hidden and buried after use. These man-made objects were incompatible with the natural environment and became the most obvious landmarks.
"After going around here, we will travel about 500 meters." The sage took out a blank papyrus notebook from his pocket - this was one of the supplies purchased from Ziyun, the country of the moon where papermaking technology is developed. There is no need to rely on sheepskin as much as Rigal, so the price of paper is very low. They are even sold by the book rather than one by one. This small-sized book is usually used as an account book. Henry cut it smaller with a knife and then bound it with waterproof cowhide sutures smeared with beeswax and animal oil. That's when it came in handy.
If you don’t have a map, draw a simple one yourself. A good memory is not as good as a bad pen. And considering the large number of people who will act together next, if he is the only one who knows the way, he will lack flexibility and error tolerance in any situation.
Use simple and eye-catching landmarks as marking points: Henry marked the starting point of the hot spring village with a circle with a curve that looked like rising mist. After traveling for a while, he saw a crooked willow tree. The simple drawing captures its characteristics. After that, there was a dense patch of reeds and so on. Progressing one by one, the eye-catching landmarks are accompanied by simple small characters marking the terrain, turning left and right. As the pace progresses, the simple map is gradually improved.
As evening approached, they successfully approached the place where abandoned wine bottles and half-eaten dried fish were located - this was obviously the outskirts of the rogues' camp.
"Observe for a while and then go back." The visibility began to decrease significantly at dusk, but Henry decided to make good use of the night to conduct another observation. A group of four people, including the hunter from the village, observed it and then tried to hide in a nearby place with thick reeds. A group of four people went into battle lightly. Lulu and Orion carried simple hunting bows - a shorter bow called a four-and-a-half bow in the warrior concept, although it was still 160 centimeters long.
This kind of bow is much smaller than a large infantry bow of more than two meters, but it is slightly larger than the 130 cm long half bow used for mounted archery. It is a type of bow that is more commonly used by civilians than samurai. It is commonly used by farmers and hunters. Some ashigaru also choose it because of its small size and portability in dense forests.
The four-and-a-half bow that is a hunting bow has a draw weight of only about 30 kilograms according to the Rigal concept. It is a bit reluctant to hunt an adult wild deer weighing about 100 kilograms. As a war bow, it can only be said to have just reached the passing line.
Even worse than this is the simple Japanese crossbow machine newly purchased by Henry and Mira. Because Kazuto rarely uses crossbows, the structure of the crossbow machine here is very primitive and crude. The crossbow made entirely of wood is larger in volume than the Rigal steel crossbow but less than one-third more powerful. Its only use is to harass the opponent during the escape process or to shoot in an attempt to cause some slight damage before the melee begins. Just hurt.
Still, having a ranged weapon to rely on is somewhat reassuring.
Dry food roasted with coarsely ground grains mixed with water and salt and served with fresh water became dinner for the four of them tonight, and they couldn't pursue much while being watched. They managed to lay a layer of reeds on the ground to isolate the moisture, and waited patiently for more than an hour. After dark, they used the cover of darkness to get closer.
"It's like an island in the middle of the lake, with only one entrance and exit. There are patrols on the outside." The reeds around it seemed to have been cleaned manually. After coming from the place where the wine bottles were abandoned, the group was completely exposed to the sight of the bandits in the middle of the lake. , and this distance is still a hundred meters away.
"Fortunately, those people are informal." The Luoan girl sighed. The place before was densely covered with reeds, but if you run forward for a while, you will be directly exposed to an open space without any obstruction. Fortunately, the patrols randomly discarded food and wine bottles and relieved themselves there, which aroused their vigilance. Knowing that they had arrived near the bandits, they deliberately hid and waited for nightfall. Now, those who were in the middle of the swamp under the cover of darkness clicked again. A torch and bonfire was set up, the enemy was visible and we were hidden, and they crawled on the ground to observe in detail.
"Ah - wow -" The quarrel came from the camp in the distance. It was impossible to hear the content clearly because it was very noisy, but under the bright firelight it was obvious that two men were pushing and shoving.
The sound of "Plop-" sounded. The two people who were pushing in this island-like structure in the middle of the lake seemed to have fallen directly into the water in a drunken state. The four people observed carefully, they were pushing and flopping for a while. He actually stood up directly from the water.
"Oh? The water seems to be very shallow, less than thigh high." This small detail did not escape the attention of Henry and his party - with this advantage, they did not have to focus on the ground passage directly leading to the rogue camp.
"The number of personnel is between 60 and 80. They have brought tents and seem to have sufficient supplies. You can see weapons such as spears, but no horses or fences have been erected." The sage took notes while the Luoan girl Together with Lulu and another hunter, they counted the people on the left, center and right sides of the camp. Because they were moving around and were covered by firelight and obstacles, this number had a certain amount of water, but judging from the total of 11 tents, it seemed that it was indeed about this number.
"They have a lot of baggage, but no cattle or horses." The Luoan girl noticed this keenly. A troop of 80 people requires a lot of supplies. The fact that these people can abandon dried fish and wine bottles at will proves that their lives are very abundant.
"Waterway?" Lulu was obviously very alert and she reacted.
"But I didn't see the big ship." The Luoan girl looked a little confused. The other side of the camp faced a relatively wide water area. Although there was a possibility of being covered by the tent, a large sailing ship that could carry nearly a hundred people at a time towered into the sky. , it is still easy to identify even in the dark.
"They probably divided their troops and came here in small boats. Because the dry and hard ground that can be camped in the swamp area is limited and cannot accommodate too many people. Or they were simply sent out to be stationed as the vanguard." The sage deduced that the small group of infantry has a long distance. Baggage logistics that exceed their own carrying capacity usually mean that they are just a detached detachment. Considering the high carrying capacity of water transportation, campsites may be relatively far apart.
"Will you go deeper to find the main force, teacher?" Mira looked at the sage. The risk of not knowing where the opponent's main force was was that they might be flanked by unexpected reinforcements when attacking the camp, but the sage shook his head.
"It's too risky to go deeper."
It took a full day to enter the swamp in the morning before reaching the rogue camp on the island in the middle of the lake. It was even more inconvenient to travel at night, and rushing deeper would only increase the risk of being discovered.
"It should be enough not to let them report the news." The intelligence from the investigation gave the sage enough information to formulate a combat plan. All that was left was to return to the village and wait for the arrival of Ryunosuke and his party.
"Go back." The drunk patrol bandits walked slowly in groups, holding torches, drinking and boasting. The four of them lowered their bodies and walked slowly for a while, then accelerated after entering the cover of reeds. He jogged away at a faster speed.
Thanks to the bright sunshine for the past few days, it is not easy to leave footprints on the dry and hard ground. Despite this, the sage swept the ground back and forth while running back with bundles of leaves broken off from the depths of the reeds.
Reeds that fall easily are a common sight on the mud in swamp areas, so they do not arouse suspicion. People's running footprints are vertical, and the reed leaves sweep back and forth across the ground to cover up and disrupt the vertical outline of the footprints. It doesn't need to be completely eliminated, just enough so that a row of footprints is not visible at a glance.
The journey was long, and even though we already knew the way and sped up our return, it was already around 3 a.m. when we returned to the hot spring village. If Lao Qiao succeeds in persuading, Ryunosuke and his party will be able to arrive in about half a day, so after drinking some hot water and soaking in the hot spring, he handed the notes to Narumi, who fell asleep first in the evening and now woke up and was waiting. He Dashen, Luoan girl and Lulu took the time to rest first.
The sage's detailed notes were recorded in Kazuto's language so that the samurai leader could understand them. Henry himself, who had not yet rested, also discussed with them to formulate a plan, and drew several more copies of the map on larger-sized paper, waiting to be handed over to Ryunosuke tomorrow for him to distribute to his ronin to quickly familiarize themselves with the terrain.
Detailed preparations were in full swing, and the rest of the people on their side were not idle during the day when they went out to conduct reconnaissance as scouts. The equipment that could be repaired was simply repaired, and the broken gun heads were installed on new poles. In addition, the store manager Yazhi tried to mobilize some young men in the village to bring farm tools to supplement their combat power. Everyone did their best. Prepare. Just wait for the reinforcements from Ryunosuke to arrive tomorrow, and then try to deal with the entrenched bandits.
Although the store manager's original proposal was to deal with the bandits and evil dragons, after returning from the investigation, the group had to admit that the crocodile problem might actually be secondary.
"Beasts and the like are not as dangerous as humans after all." The samurai leader sighed.
