"Don't mention it." The second master picked up the wine bowl and took a big sip, put down the bowl, raised his hand to wipe the water stains on his mouth, and said, "I sent one of my men to find out the details of that group of people. Who knew he had us in the cottage? The news of the ambush leaked out, damn it, I’m so angry.”
He picked up the wine bowl and drank the wine in one breath. Then he pointed at the wine bowl and said, "Pour the wine in!"
The bandit on the side walked over in a few steps, picked up the wine jar and filled the wine bowl in front of the second master with a full bowl of wine.
"So it didn't work out." Dwarf Tiger narrowed his eyes.
"It didn't work." The second master said angrily, "I chopped off that guy's head in a rage. It's really not enough to succeed, but more than enough to ruin it."
"What are you going to do next?" Dwarf Tiger put down his wine bowl and looked at the second master beside him.
The second master grabbed a piece of meat from the basin and said, "I'm going to take people there after dark, give them a try, and finish them off tonight."
"There are many night-blind bandits among the bandits. A sneak attack at night is a good idea." Dwarf Tiger grabbed the wine bowl and took a sip, wiped his mouth, and asked, "How many people are you planning to bring?"
The second master held a piece of lamb rib in his hand and thought for a while, "The more people, the better. Even if the sneak attack fails, we can still attack by force."
The short-footed tiger nodded, grabbed a piece of mutton in the basin and ate it.
………………
Soon after one squadron leaves the bandit camp stationed at Qingtianbei, another squadron will come out of the camp.
There are about a hundred people in a squadron. They are not conspicuous. They are not burdened by baggage. Each person carries three days of dry food. There is no trouble such as setting up camp. They can easily walk seventy miles a day.
After noon the next day, the other two squadrons of the third brigade arrived near Hutou Village. They waited until it got dark before Chen Daqing led the two teams to the woods at the foot of the mountain behind Hutou Village.
"Captain." When Jia Liu saw Chen Xunping from the third brigade, he hurriedly clenched his right hand into a fist and put his arm flat on his chest.
This action is based on the salute action of later generations. Liu Heng changed it to clenching his right arm and placing it flat on his chest. The meaning is the same as that of salute. Generally, subordinates salute to their superiors first, and then the superiors return the salute.
Chen Xunping raised his right arm across his chest, put it down and said, "How is the situation in Hutou Village?"
The next two squadrons came to the forest almost at the same time. Under the orders of the captains of their respective teams, the bandits took out the dry food they had on them and ate it.
The dry food is very simple, two cakes and half a salted fish per person.
The pancakes had dried hard after being placed on the body for more than a day. Jia Liu had someone prepare wild vegetable soup in advance. After the two squadrons arrived, the wild vegetable soup was almost ready.
Each bandit has his own bowl in his hand, which is specially carried in a cloth bag and hung on his body. It is usually used for eating and drinking.
The dry and hard pancakes softened quickly after being soaked in the soup. Paired with the taste of wild vegetables, it was not unpalatable.
The salted fish is specially pickled by Li Shuheng and the logistics team. It is only about the size of a palm, but it uses enough salt and tastes like a bite of salt.
This was already the best marching meal Liu Heng could come up with. In the past, when there was no salted fish, he could only eat dry pancakes with cold water, one bite of pancake and one mouthful of cold water.
It’s really hot in the dog days of summer, so it’s difficult to store salted fish for too long, so there’s not a lot of it.
Each meal could only allow the marching bandits to eat half a pancake. If someone ate more, he would have to eat dry pancakes for the next meal.
When Chen Xunping and the two squadrons arrived near Hutou Village, Chen Daqing sent someone to send news to Yang Yuan and Jia Liu in the forest.
Because they were worried that they would be discovered by bandits from Hutou Village if they entered the woods at the foot of the mountain during the day, the two squadrons waited until dark before being brought over by Chen Daqing.
Knowing the arrival time of the two teams, Jia Liu asked someone to prepare some wild vegetable soup, and it was not troublesome to prepare this.
After Yang Yuan handed a bowl of wild vegetable soup to Chen Xunping, he said: "During the day, a bandit was sent from the mountain. He was somewhat solicitous, but I refused and asked him to go back and send a message that we would leave tomorrow."
Chen Xunping broke the pancakes piece by piece, put them into the wild vegetable soup, and said: "Let the brothers rest early tonight. Tomorrow morning, we will have dinner at Yin time, but don't make a fire. Eat the dry food you brought with you. We will launch an attack in half an hour and fight for it." Get rid of all the bandits on the mountain."
Jia Liu beside him nodded and said: "My squadron has a day off. I will be on duty tonight to let the other two teams have a good rest."
"Okay, but you must be careful. Tell the brothers below that you must not be lazy when patrolling. The more critical the time, the more cautious you must be." Chen Xunping picked up the bowl of wild vegetable soup and took a sip of the soup. It was a little hot and blew on it. He took out a piece of pancake and put it into his mouth, then picked up the salted fish and took a small bite.
"I'll make the arrangements right now." Jia Liu stood up and rearranged the patrol team.
Originally there were only two teams patrolling, but he added an extra team, keeping three teams patrolling the camp at the same time, and increasing the patrol scope.
During the patrol, the three teams did not go together, but were divided into six smaller teams. The chief and deputy captains each led a team and patrolled closely around the camp.
The number of people patrolling in each team has decreased, but the patrol range of the team has increased, and the frequency of occurrences between teams has also become higher.
The next two teams traveled for two days and were arranged to rest early after dinner, leaving only a few bonfires still burning in the forest.
Each team gathers together to rest in the same manner as in the camp, according to squadrons, squads, and teams. When gathering, there will be no confusion because the team cannot be found.
As the top officers of the team, Chen Xunping and Yang Yuan sat by the campfire and talked.
Chen Xunping said: "Come to Hutou Village and take a look. It is indeed a good place. The surrounding environment is better than that behind Qingtian. The forest is deep and suitable for garrisoning. More than a thousand people can't be seen from the outside at all. No wonder the boss wants to bring everyone here. Set up camp here.”
Yang Yuan said with a smile: "If you stay here for a few days and see passing caravans handing over money to the bandits on Hutou Village Mountain, you will feel that the boss's decision is wise."
Chen Xunping came closer and said, "Tell me what the situation is like and how much money the bandits on Hutou Village can collect."
Yang Yuan looked at the flames in front of him and said: "One of the fifteen draws is a large convoy coming out of Lingqiu. The east mountain of Lingqiu is a private iron yard. A batch of iron ingots will be shipped out every few days. What do you think? How much money can this group of people on Hutou Village earn?"
Chen Xunping took a breath of cold air and said, "These guys are ruthless enough. If they are beaten once every fifteen times, they are not afraid of angering the steelyard owners and calling in the army to suppress them."
Yang Yuan said with a smile: "There is a garrison in Lingqiu. They have brought troops to Hutou Village several times to suppress the bandits. As soon as the officers and soldiers came to Hutou Village, the bandits fled without a trace. As soon as the officers and soldiers left Hutou Village, they immediately returned. It was occupied by bandits and went back and forth many times. It was time-consuming and labor-intensive for the government and the army, and then they simply ignored it and allowed the bandits to stay in Hutou Village."
"The officers and soldiers can't suppress them, so it's an advantage for us." Chen Xunping chuckled and said, "These bandits are extremely rich. This time, I, Old Chen, will give them a one-pot deal."
Yang Yuan on the side reminded: "Be careful when you do it. This group of bandits got a lot of iron armor from nowhere. Even ordinary bandits also have cotton armor."
At this moment, the sound of firecrackers being fired suddenly came from the forest.
