A country that has lasted for more than 4,000 years, its rich historical heritage is destined to have many behaviors that will not be the same as the small kingdom of Rigar with a history of only a hundred years.
Such facts were conveyed to Rigar and his party through various details over and over again after arriving in Crescent Continent.
The investigation work was completed on the same day. It was led by Masayuki, the owner of the hot spring village hotel, and the whole village agreed. The "Suppression Document" signed by Kotaro Iwakura, the Chinese son of the Pingshan County magistrate, details the reasons for launching the bandit suppression and the specific participants:
"On the Kuihai day of the Wen month of the Bingming year, because there was a hot spring village in Pingshan County of Zhangzhou, banditry was rampant in the adjacent swampy barbaric land, and the people were suffering from it, so we came here to suppress the documents."
"More than a hundred ronin are hired. The voluntary participants are the Aoda clan and their southern barbarian entourage, samurai warriors traveling out of the domain, and more than 10 strong villagers, all of whom are proficient in bows and arrows. The leader is Mr. Torataro of the Iwakura clan."
"Destiny is clear and justice will prevail."
As one of the entourage, Galeva recorded in his notebook in Laman language: "On July 3, 4046 in the Great Moon Calendar, we began to march to the swamp."
There is a big gap between the formal language used in official documents and daily conversations, and even though Torataro seemed like a loser before, when he picked up his pen to write, he showed extremely high literacy.
The correct writing style and rigorous wording show the educational level that the Chinese should have, and the seal that was later taken out gave this paper document undoubted power.
The seal owned by the adult Torataro is the "acting magistrate" seal, because his father is the current magistrate of Pingshan County. If he is away for something or is temporarily unable to take power for some reason, he will exercise agency authority. Under some special circumstances, he can also issue a document with notarization force like this as a binding official status. It is natural for Chinese children to have this kind of position, even in vassals with a higher degree of autonomy. Yajiro would have similar authority if he came of age in Qingzhi.
This power will remain until he finds a place to serve. It is not hereditary, but an extension of the power of the county magistrate or town mayor. Once the parents are deprived of their Chinese status, their status as acting county magistrate will also disappear. Therefore, it is only a temporary official position at best, and most of the time it is not given real power. However, as a Chinese from Xinyuezhou, once you hold an official position, it is strictly regulated to carry your seal with you.
The Luoan girl did not know this, because Narumi and others would not disclose too much information related to official nobles. She just thought like Rigar, thinking that Torataro was a noble child here, so his words should represent the authority of the nobles.
She never thought that this matter would become so formal and official. These people even carefully left paperwork to prepare a report later.
Such a scene was beyond the expectations of the people of Ligar. The need to standardize everything is a characteristic of the Crescent Continent people with a strong historical background. Although sometimes this may seem too much red tape and very bureaucratic, leaving evidence and document seals can sometimes be far more convincing than relying on just one word.
This incident suddenly reminded Mira that the power of the letter of surrender from the rebel nobles that they found in the domain was far beyond their imagination.
Another episode was that after realizing the real power that Torataro had, she suddenly didn't hate him so much, because although this young man was somewhat vain and selfish, he was not someone who would use his real power to bully others.
He holds real power without abusing it. Even when he is extremely urgent and wants to rescue Ah Hui, he lowers his status and pleads for mercy instead of using a high profile to use the seal of acting as county magistrate to pressure people.
Whether he didn't realize the extent of his power or other issues is another matter for now. All in all, with the actions of Torataro and the store manager Masayuki, not only did they formalize the operation to avoid being talked about, they also provided part of the reward to the ronin group led by Ryunosuke.
The pitiful remuneration was mostly provided in the form of material supplies, and although Torataro himself was nominally the commander-in-chief, he had to accompany his Hui, so the final staffing for the trip was mainly composed of combat personnel.
Old Qiao, who was working hard, successfully persuaded Ryuunosuke and his party, and when the elite ronin force of more than a hundred people and fully armed arrived, Henry and his party were waiting at the entrance of the hot spring village with local young men holding hunting bows. .
"We haven't seen you for a few days." Ryunosuke smoked his pipe and gave a few simple greetings to a few people. Then he turned to the purpose of coming straight to the point: "Then without further ado."
After marching at a slow speed, they retained enough physical energy. Because they needed to enter the swamp as early as possible, they immediately began to march towards the interior as soon as they met the merge.
But not everyone proceeds by land. Henry, the samurai of the Qingtian family and the strong men of the hot spring village handed over the enemy's defense, scale and nearby terrain map to Ryunosuke and his party for discussion, but they themselves did not take this previously explored land route.
The villagers provided a small ferry, and their small team prepared to set out by water this time.
This troop division strategy is mainly based on the visual range of more than 100 meters near the rogue camp. This distance cannot be reached instantly even by cavalry. In addition, although the island in the middle of the lake can theoretically be crossed by water, the march will be even more hindered if it enters the water.
If the period from the inevitable discovery to the battle between the two armies lasts for several minutes, some of the rogue bandits who are in the rear and cannot be attacked by Ryunosuke and his party may escape by boat.
And considering the abundant supplies they have, there is a high probability that there is a larger rogue force in the swamp and they will go and report it. When the scale of the reinforcements is uncertain, the best way is to quietly surround them and annihilate them or arrest them. Otherwise, once the reinforcements arrive, you will be passive under the attack of the two parties.
This plan proposed by the sage was approved by Narumi and Ryunosuke, who were the substantive military leaders, and the two parties divided their forces and advanced slowly and slowly towards the interior of the swamp.
Since it was already afternoon when Ryunosuke and his party arrived, Henry and his party, who set off by water, naturally had to spend the night on the water.
The farmers' ferries were square in shape from front to back. Even though they were chosen to be quite large, it was already a bit crowded with four or five fully armed warriors in each boat.
This kind of small boat, which is square in shape and has a relatively flat and wide bottom, is generally used to transport people or fish. Its stability is better than that of a pointed boat, but its speed is correspondingly slower. The high-speed harassment advantage possessed by the famous longships of the Skjing pirates in the world of Rigar is impossible to achieve on this kind of civilian ship. They can only slowly float in the water for a whole day to approach the camp.
Henry asked no one to light lanterns due to the need for privacy.
The swamp waters are not exactly cool on a summer night, so it's a blessing that it didn't rain tonight, otherwise the grass cover in the middle section wouldn't be enough to cover everyone.
No lamps are allowed, and no hot food is cooked in the ship's cooking utensils. Their dinner was just as simple as some dry food and fresh water.
But what makes novice boaters even more uneasy is the rocking feeling of a fully loaded boat.
The boat was packed with people and had a deep draft. With your arms resting on the side of the boat and your palms pointing down, you could cut through the blue waves directly. With such a shallow side of the ship, people can't help but worry that if a crocodile attacks them, the ship will not be able to provide protection at all. Therefore, in a quiet environment with only the chirping of cicadas after dark, the slightest "crash" sound of water can make everyone on the ship startled. .
People looked left and right with wide eyes, huddling in the boat as much as possible without standing up or sitting up. Because firstly, this will make the target appear larger, and secondly, if the center of gravity of the ship is accidentally changed, they will fall into the green swampy waters.
"Who knows what's in the water." Even people born locally in Hot Spring Village still try to stay away from these waters as much as possible. Only land can give people a sense of security, but the right side of this water area is basically covered with tall reeds. Except for the island in the middle of the lake where the bandits are located, which has hard ground, other places have to use a sickle to cut the reeds for more than half an hour before reaching the shore.
We can only spend the night on the boat tonight.
Mira wrapped herself in a feather fabric to protect herself from the mosquitoes that were raging in the swamp. In order to prevent the smell from blowing out in the wind and being smelled, they did not light the mosquito coils. They only used some insect-proof grass juice and smeared it on the inside of the body, such as the armpits and the roots of the neck. These areas are then wrapped with cloth. She held her new Moon Country-style long sword tightly, although she was not very fond of this weapon, which was shorter than the sword in Rigar's big hand. The bright eyes scanned the surroundings vigilantly. Although Henry asked her several times to try to sleep, the Luoan girl could not sleep peacefully.
"This child slept very soundly." Lulu's small size became an advantage in the crowded boat. She could stretch her limbs relatively without restriction. The girl from the Yi tribe was originally arranged to stay in the hotel with the old pharmacists Jianye, Ying, Miss Doctor, and the missionaries, but she insisted on participating in the event and making a contribution.
The thoughts of the hunters are simple and simple: these people are now companions, and they should help their companions if they are able.
She had no reason to be afraid, although she didn't have many reasons to be enemies with the bandits.
As mercenaries, Henry and Mira received a reward that was a bit small compared to what Torataro had previously provided. Just like what was provided to Ryunosuke and his party, this is not all money, but a patchwork of items. The Luoan girl's new sword is one of them.
The quality of the knife can only be regarded as average. Even if the knife blade used as a guard is shaken slightly, it will make a "click-click" sound. This knife is one of the personal collections of the store manager Masayuki.
Its sharpness is up to standard, and it saves a lot of trouble by not having to sharpen it on the spot. But the whole thing is only up to the standard and is useful enough, and it cannot be regarded as a treasured sword.
When she got it, the Luoan girl rolled her eyes and complained that the knife would probably break immediately after the battle, and the reward would be zero. But in the end it's better to have one more usable weapon than none at all.
The Rangers on the boat were divided into two types: melee combat and long-range shooting. The ten selected young men from Hot Spring Village were all veterans who were good at hunting. Although their hunting bows are not as powerful as real war bows, they are not responsible for the main attack.
The boat was divided into two parts, with Narumi as the commander. The recovered Ayong and three other samurai and the strong men of the hot spring village were a little further away. Each of their boats only carries 3-4 people, who are responsible for standing on the boat and shooting bows and arrows. As for Rigar and his party, our sage and Luoan girl, as well as the stupid green Kaleva and the remaining samurai and ashigaru put on armor and used melee weapons, marching further to the right. Go straight to the landing battle.
In addition to the original staffing, Joshua, who had just parted recently, also joined Henry's team at Ryunosuke's signal. The blind red-haired swordsman has excellent hearing and is better at melee fighting than formation. It is more advantageous to arrange for him to conduct a small-scale special attack like this instead of Ryunosuke's main attack.
There was a faint sound of oars, and the ship also took turns to paddle at night, moving forward slowly at a speed that did not consume too much energy. The rocking ship and the stinky smell in the swamp, coupled with the annoying cicada chirping all the time, actually acted like a cradle under the bursts of fatigue. Mira felt that her eyelids were getting heavier and heavier, and finally she felt at ease. He curled up and fell asleep on the boat.
Because they chose the largest boat, the crocodile did not attack them after all. And when morning came, the sparkling swamp water was actually beautiful for a moment.
The bright yellow morning sun reflects on the water, and the cicadas that have been chirping all night seem to become more intense after the sun rises. All kinds of creatures that live here begin to move as morning comes, and fish leap to try to devour the insects crawling on the reeds. There were bursts of "crash" sounds, and it was obvious that some kind of giant thing had entered the water, but its sound was only heard but not its shadow.
The egret, which is good at fishing, flapped its wings and flew up from the reeds. The group controlled their speed to avoid making too much noise and disturbing the birds and exposing their whereabouts. Today's meal was still simple, and as time passed, all the combat professionals took up their weapons and took off their inconvenient coats to prepare.
They worked hard, waiting for the dense reeds to disappear and the rogue camp to appear at the end of the corner.
"Almost there." Joshua said suddenly with his eyes closed.
Under the extreme silence, the voices of people in the distance can be heard more or less.
It was close to noon, and they still seemed to be walking a little fast. At this moment, there was only a hundred meters away from the rogue bandits.
There were some sounds of people making noises, playing and laughing in the air, but there were no war cries or screams.
——What was slowing down Ryunosuke and his party on the land route? Or the group of people walked too fast.
Theoretically, the main force of Ryunosuke and his party should launch the attack first, and then attack from land and water while their attention is attracted, but now it seems that this cannot be realized according to the plan.
Without any means of contacting friendly forces on land, a group of people must make a decision as soon as possible - whether to slow down and wait for Ryunosuke and his party to launch an attack, and then join the battle after hearing the war cry and the sound of gold and iron, or to maintain this speed and wait for the opponent to attack. Also show up on time and launch the attack at the same time?
Henry communicated with Narumi through sign language, and the samurai leader finally decided to keep the current speed and approach the past.
Because he believed that even if they were to engage the enemy, the combat capabilities of the samurai and Henry and others would be enough to contain the enemy and allow Ryunosuke and his entourage to enter.
The battle is coming and everyone is ready.
