When the little woman and the baby walked away, Han Zhen smiled and said, "Falling in on you?"
"No...no, I just feel sorry for them."
Ma Sangou quickly shook his head in denial, with a rare look of embarrassment on his dark face.
Not to mention, although that woman is plain in appearance, she has the air of a lady, which is something that a peasant woman does not have.
Judging from her words and deeds, she should have been born into a family of officials.
This kind of temperament is extremely attractive to lower-class people like Ma Sangou and others.
No wonder Shi Bao is so partial to her.
Seeing Ma Sangou's denial, Han Zhen didn't expose him, but just smiled meaningfully.
After leaving the yard, the two went to inspect the grain depot.
As soon as he entered the grain depot, Ma Sangou frowned: "Why is there so little food?"
There was only a dozen stones of grain in the huge granary.
Han Zhen sneered and said, "Oh, one thousand acres of land supports more than a thousand people. It's good to have this little food left."
This gang of bandits doesn't know anything about business, and with the addition of more than 400 bandits, they eat and drink freely.
Fortunately, the summer harvest is around the corner, otherwise such a small amount of food would not be enough to feed the fleeing households.
Returning to Juyi Hall, he called Xiao Chong and said: "There is an ox cart in the village. You can drive one back to Xiaowang Village to inform the village chief and my sister-in-law that I will stay here for two days." , tell them not to worry. Everything in the village remains as usual, just as it should be."
In this attack on the stronghold, almost all of the thirty-five soldiers were injured, especially the five and three Wang soldiers who were seriously injured and needed to recover for a few days.
Moreover, when the stronghold was initially set up, he was also required to guard it to prevent the fleeing bandits from trying to counterattack.
"I understand."
Xiaochong nodded solemnly.
…
…
The dark clouds in the sky have completely dispersed, and the scorching sun is scorching the earth again.
On the official road, more than 300 archer soldiers were dejected and listless, and almost half of them were wounded.
The leader, Liu Yong, was covered in mud and in a miserable state. The jiaojiaofu head above his head was lost somewhere.
He never expected that the bandits in the village would dare to open the mountain gate and take the initiative to fight.
In the past two campaigns against bandits, the bandits in the village closed the gate tightly and drove away the officers and soldiers.
This time, he went against the norm and took the initiative to fight.
The bandits already occupy the advantageous location and use their high position to attack the low position.
And this group of archers and soldiers are also a mob. They have never seen such a formation before. They collapsed after just one encounter.
Hundreds of people scrambled to flee down the mountain. The defeat was so fast that Liu Yong didn't even react.
In the end, not many people were killed by the bandits' knives, but more than 20 people were killed by falling or being trampled.
Many people were injured while fleeing, and some unlucky ones even broke their legs.
What Liu Yong didn't know was that the reason why the bandits took the initiative to fight was just because the fourth master wanted to repel the officers and soldiers early so that he could go back and kill the deserters and continue drinking.
After all, the sumptuous banquet was not common in the village.
Reality is often so ridiculous.
Just by escaping, wouldn't it be that Han Er who made a surprise attack...
Thinking of this, Liu Yong reined in his horse and stepped back, his expression uncertain.
Seeing him stop, the archer soldiers behind also stopped.
An archer couldn't help but ask: "Du Tou, what's wrong?"
Liu Yong didn't answer, but looked back in the direction of Songshan Ridge with complicated eyes.
After some struggle and hesitation, he gritted his teeth and said, "Go back!"
"ah?"
The archer was stunned.
Immediately afterwards, Liu Yong was heard shouting: "Go back to Songshan Ridge!"
Go back?
For a moment, everyone looked at each other.
The archer soldiers who had just experienced a rout were all frightened and dared not go back.
Seeing them stunned in place, Liu Yong scolded: "Why are you still standing there!"
He was also very timid in his heart, but after all, he still had some friendship and couldn't bear to sell Han Zhen away like this.
Liu Yong made up his mind to go back this time and mainly use feint attacks to attract the attention of the bandits as much as possible, so as to buy Han Zhen time to escape.
Seeing this, the archer soldiers had no choice but to follow them no matter how reluctant they were.
However, they were not stupid either. Each one of them had their own evil thoughts and deliberately slowed down their pace. More than 300 people crawled like snails on the official road.
"Speed up your pace and don't use these little tricks!"
Liu Yong scolded him a few times, but it had no effect.
"Got the order!"
This group of archer soldiers shouted loudly, but their steps did not speed up one bit.
Liu Yong did not dare to push too hard, otherwise there would be a mutiny.
But according to this journey, I'm afraid I won't be able to reach Songshan Ridge in an hour.
"Han Er, brother really tried his best. Whether you can survive or not depends on your own life."
Liu Yong sighed and thought to himself.
At this moment, an ox cart came from a distance.
Xiao Chong was startled and was about to jump out of the car and run away when he suddenly noticed that the person leading the horse looked familiar.
After taking a closer look, it turned out to be Liu Yong.
At this moment, Liu Yong also recognized him and quickly clapped his hands and stepped forward.
When he came closer, he hurriedly asked: "Why are you here? How is Han Er?"
"We killed Shi Bao and captured the stronghold. Brother Han called me back to report the news." Xiao Chong said in a bad tone.
He was resentful towards Liu Yong in his heart. If the officers and soldiers hadn't retreated too quickly, how could they have been in danger.
Thanks to Brother Han's bravery, he was able to hold off the bandits' reinforcements alone.
"I can't help it. These rural soldiers are really unreliable. They were defeated as soon as the bandits charged them."
Hearing the resentment in his words, Liu Yong laughed sarcastically and explained: "After gathering the defeated troops, I am preparing to go to Songshan Ridge again."
Hearing this, Xiaochong glanced at the rural soldiers and saw that they were indeed coming in the direction of Songshan Ridge. Most of the resentment in his heart could not help but disappear, and he said aggrievedly: "Liu Dutou, you almost killed the brothers. If it weren't for Han Er, My brother is so brave, I’m afraid we’ll leave him alone on the mountain.”
"It's okay."
Liu Yong breathed a sigh of relief, and then asked: "Are Shi Bao and all the big and small bosses dead?"
Xiaochong replied: "They are all dead. We killed many bandits and the rest fled into the mountains."
Liu Yong rubbed his hands and said excitedly: "Can you give me the heads of bandit leaders like Shi Bao?"
Those corpses were useless to Han Zhen and the others, but in Liu Yong's eyes, they were all contributions!
If the bandits are successfully suppressed and reported to the state government for credit, the heads of the bandit leaders must be provided as proof.
Otherwise, who knows if you are lying?
Is it to kill a good person and take credit?
Xiaochong shook his head and said, "I can't make the decision. Liu Dutou will have to discuss it with Brother Han."
Hearing this, Liu Du nodded, waved his hand and said: "You can go now, don't delay reporting the news."
"Liu Dutou, I'm leaving!"
After Xiao Chong finished speaking, he shook the reins of the bullock cart and headed towards Xiaowang Village.
After Xiao Chong had gone far away, Liu Dutou returned to the team on horseback.
Seeing that his face was gloomy just a moment ago, but now he was full of joy, an archer couldn't help but asked: "Liu Dutou, what happened?"
"The bandits in Songshan Ridge have been wiped out!"
Liu Dutou was so high-spirited that even his voice couldn't help but become louder.
"Eradicated?"
The archer's expression froze, his face full of disbelief.
Looking around at the crowd, Liu Yong sneered and said: "Hmph, do you really think that the magistrate and I rely on you to suppress the bandits? I have already sent a team of elite troops to raid the stronghold and capture it in one fell swoop."
All the archer soldiers looked at him in surprise.
Seeing that he didn't look like he was being fake, I felt a little more convinced.
The archer looked excited and said, "Du Tou, let's go to Songshan Ridge quickly."
The bandits have been wiped out, and there are a lot of good things in the village. If you don't make a fortune at this time, when will you wait?
The eyes of the archer soldiers in the rear suddenly lit up, and they all started urging.
Liu Yong laughed angrily at the shameless expressions of this group of people, and angrily said: "Don't think that I don't know what you and others are thinking, and I don't punish you and others for the crime of disadvantage in the battle. It's already a good intention."
When fighting, they can run faster than anyone else, and when it comes to reaping benefits, each one is more active than the other.
What a bunch of thieves!
