"Brother, something is wrong these days. There are a few strange faces wandering around our Hutou Village." The speaker was a dark-skinned man, with a long scar showing on his exposed chest.
There was a slightly thinner man sitting next to this person. He said: "My men have also seen it when they were patrolling. There are often ugly guys at the foot of the mountain."
The two people who spoke looked at the big man sitting at the top at the same time.
The man frowned and said, "Have you caught them? Have you asked where they came from?"
The man with the scar on his chest shook his head and said: "Those people have horses, and they don't go deeper into the mountains. They will leave as soon as our people show up, giving us no chance to surround them."
"Brother, isn't he an official?" said the thin man.
The big man sitting at the top was the head of Hutou Village. He pondered for a moment and said: "There is no news from the Xu family. If the army wants to attack us, it is impossible for the Xu family not to send someone to deliver the message. In this way, the third child, you go to the county town and ask the Xu family if there is any news about the army encircling us. The second child, you send more people over there and keep an eye on the mountain. As long as those few people come to the vicinity of Hutou Village again. We must find a way to catch it.”
"Yes." The second master and the third master responded at the same time.
The county seat was far away, so the Third Master got up and left Dazhai, took two bandits with him, and rode a fast horse down the mountain to the county seat of Lingqiu County.
………………
There is a village called Zhaojiayu not far from Hutou Village. The Liu family at the west end of the village lives with a group of men of unknown origin.
Ordinary people would never dare to keep such a group of people living at home, but Liu Ben, the Leper, was a scoundrel in the village. He also liked to swipe a lot of money. These men of unknown origin gave him a little money, so he stayed. People live at home, and they move to live with their friends in the same village.
At this time, in the main room of Liu's house, Yang Yuan was sitting on the Kang, Chen Daqing was sitting on the bench opposite, and there were several people sitting scattered around in other places in the house.
"Yang Tou, there are a lot of bandits patrolling Hutou Village. It's difficult for our people to get close." The person who spoke was one of Yang Yuan's men.
Yang Yuan said: "There is no need to go to Hutou Village. The troops from our camp will be here soon. Next time we go to Hutou Village, we will not go to Hutou Village to inquire about information, but to attack the bandits on the mountain of Hutou Village."
Chen Daqing, who was sitting on the bench, stood up excitedly and said, "Are the boss and the team coming to Hutou Village?"
During these days, he has been leading people to inquire and collect news about Hutou Village. He had some speculations about the camp coming to Hutou Village. Now that he heard it with his own ears, he couldn't help but look excited.
Of course, I can't blame him for being excited.
Ever since he got to know Hutou Village, he was very envious of Hutou Village.
Every time a caravan passes by the official road at the foot of Hutou Village, it has to pay a passing sum of money. This passing money alone makes Hutou Village extremely rich.
Not only that, several villages around Hutou Village need to pay safety money to Hutou Village once a year in exchange for the bandits on the mountain of Hutou Village not to harm them.
In addition to peace money, the people in these villages also send a batch of grain to Hutou Village in spring and autumn.
Even so, the bandits on Hutouzhai Mountain would go down the mountain from time to time to raid several villages. If they resisted the slightest, they would kill and set fire to them.
The villagers in several villages around Hutou Village dare not speak out, and the government has nothing to do with the bandits in Hutou Village. The people of several villages can only silently endure the oppression of bandits on Hutou Village.
These things are a disaster for the people in several villages around Hutou Village, but for Chen Daqing, as long as they take Black Tiger Village, everything will be theirs. Such a treasure is enough for the camp of more than 1,000 people. People survive here.
Yang Yuan nodded and said: "The last time I went back, the boss said that a team would be coming soon, but I just don't know which team will come first."
Chen Daqing said: "If only one team comes, I feel that the third team is most likely to come."
Seeing Yang Yuan's gaze, Chen Daqing continued, "All the firecrackers we brought back to the camp were handed over to the third brigade. The second brigade will guard the camp. The chief should be dispatched with the camp. Only the third brigade will be sent out." The three teams are most suitable to start first.”
Yang Yuan nodded and said: "We both think the same thing, and I think so too. The third brigade has just been equipped with fire guns and needs a real battle. There are not many bandits on the Hutou Village mountain, so the third brigade can handle them enough."
While the two were talking, someone from the yard ran in and said, "Yang Tou, Chen Tou, and Jia Liu from the third brigade arrived at the forest at the foot of Hutou Village."
"It seems we guessed it right." Yang Yuan smiled, stood up and said, "Let's go and see him. This guy was promoted from the captain of the refugee recruits to the squadron leader of the third brigade. His subordinates are better than the two of us." That’s a lot.”
Chen Daqing stood up and walked out of the house with Yang Yuan.
There was a simple stable in the yard. Yang Yuan and Chen Daqing each took out a horse from it and left Leap Liu's yard. The two rode out of the village.
Yang Yuan learned to ride a horse during this period, but his riding skills are not very good. He can't make the horse run wildly, but it is not a big problem to make the horse trot.
Traveling with horses, the two of them came to the woods behind Hutou Village.
When the bandits patrolling around the forest saw Yang Yuan and Chen Daqing, they led them into the forest.
This forest is not big. There is a river to the east, which belongs to the back of Hutou Village and is in two different directions from the official road passing through Hutou Village.
This place was a garrison location determined by Yang Yuan. As soon as Jia Liuhe and his team arrived, Yang Yuan's men arranged for them to be here.
"Yang Tou, Chen Tou." Jia Liu came out of the forest to greet them.
Yang Yuan was not polite to Jia Liu. When they met, he asked, "When will Daying come over?"
Jia Liu said: "I don't know exactly when, but the third brigade came first. My squadron is considered the vanguard, and there will be teams coming later."
"One squadron is a bit short. There are more than a hundred bandits on Hutou Village. We don't have an advantage in terms of numbers. Moreover, this is the territory of the bandits on the mountain. They are more familiar with the environment on the mountain than we are." Chen Daqing frowned. stand up.
Jia Liu said with a smile: "Don't worry, when my squadron left the camp, Captain Chen was also making preparations to leave the camp. They were just afraid that too many people would go out at once and attract the attention of the government, so they were divided into groups. Send a team to rush here, and the remaining two squadrons will almost arrive before dark."
Chen Daqing breathed a sigh of relief when he heard that there were two more squadrons heading this way. He was not afraid of the bandits in Hutou Village, but he was afraid that too few people from the camp would suffer.
Yang Yuan said: "Be careful in everything. This group of bandits on Hutoushai Mountain is very unusual. Some ordinary bandits on the mountain wear iron armor. Even if they don't have iron armor, they all wear cotton armor. Although this group of bandits is small in number, their weapons and equipment are better than the official ones." All soldiers must be good."
"The boss has also explained this matter." Jia Liu grinned and said, "Before leaving the camp, the boss told me that I don't have to be afraid when I see bandits wearing iron armor. I will leave it to the fire gun team to deal with them. I guarantee that they will penetrate the armor with one shot. This thing is just brittle in front of a fire gun, and it is not as effective as a cotton armor."
Yang Yuan nodded. Since the boss had already thought of it in advance, there must be no problem. Moreover, he had seen with his own eyes the power of the fire gun. It was hit on a tree trunk forty steps away, and the lead was deeply embedded in it, leaving only a few hole.
