Because he underestimated the efficiency of the bandits, Lin Hai hesitated for two more days after the oath-taking ceremony before leading his team out of the city, looking back every few steps.

There's no way. If we go too early, I guess that Tiger Boss hasn't even started attacking the village yet...

For Lin Hai, it was a great pleasure to gather all the bandits together to fight. After all, for the militiamen of Qinghe County who had never seen blood, asking them to wear armor, hold sabers, carry straight knives and then go through the dense forest to the mountain to attack the strongholds of various mountain kings, Lin Hai felt his scalp tingling just thinking about it. It would be a miracle if they could win.

Fortunately, everyone has what he wants. This group of mountain kings who are crazy about poverty, or who have money but can't find a way to spend it, resulting in a shortage of supplies, really can't resist the temptation of the iron mine and Qinghe County. If they want to share the profits of the iron mine or conquer Qinghe County, relying on one or two villages is completely suicide. They can only hope if they stick together.

Of course, to give them more hope, the most powerful Qitian Village in Xichuan has joined their ranks. In Lin Hai's words, "We are here to give them some professional guidance, so that they won't run around when the fight starts."

In any case, the coalition forces of the eighteen families have been dispatched. This is the first time that such a large-scale armed force has appeared in the entire southwest since the end of the war. Including civilian laborers, the eighteen families have dispatched a total of 32,000 people. Only farmers who are necessary to take care of the farmland are left in their respective villages. It can be said that they have gone out in full force. In Lin Hai's words, if these people cannot go back, the monkeys in the mountains will be able to steal the poorly defended mountain villages.

But no matter what, 32,000 people are already three times the maximum number of troops that Lin Hai can mobilize.

Lin Hai once expressed disbelief at the fact that he could gather 3,000 soldiers when there were less than 40,000 people under his rule. Although Lin Hai did not need to spend a large number of people on agricultural production after the steel and glass trade began, the soldier-to-civilian ratio of nearly ten to one was still considered insane.

For this purpose, Lin Hai has carefully formulated agricultural development plans and population development plans. However, developing agriculture requires population, and it is definitely too late to rely on the current population. Even if everyone in the city is working hard, the efficiency and number of newborns are far from meeting Lin Hai's needs. Moreover, even according to the rules of this era, a newborn will have a CD period of at least fourteen years from birth to being able to work, and Lin Hai does not want to wait.

Therefore, the bandits with a larger population became the human resource pool in Lin Hai's eyes. Now, he needed to draw some human resources from the pool.

The three new villages outside the city, Jinbu and Qianjin, closer to Jinjiang, were built to Linhai standards, with walls reinforced with cement. A cement road from the county seat to the villages was also under construction. Even without knowing much about cement, bandit scouts, seeing these villages with two-story or more watchtowers and walls, knew from afar they were difficult to attack. But Yuanqiang Village was different. While the village committee compound within Yuanqiang Village was fully reinforced with steel and cement, serving as a permanent fortification, the village's perimeter consisted of only a few unfinished earthen walls less than a meter high. The houses on the outskirts of the village consisted of little more than exterior walls made of a mixture of mud and straw. Overall, the village looked unfinished, a work-in-progress state, evident in the piles of bricks, tiles, and lumber at the village entrance.

Lu You also urged the coalition forces to send troops based on this. Otherwise, once the wall of Yuanqiang Village was repaired, everyone would have to use their heads to build the fortifications in Qinghe County.

Lu You's original plan was to attack at night. After all, charging into the village in the middle of the night was more in line with the public's perception of bandits, and the limited visibility at night made it easier to fish in troubled waters. However, he still overestimated the bandits' organization. With a march of hundreds of miles, ensuring that most of the 30,000-strong force made it to the finish line was a testament to the sheer effort of the various bandits.

When Lu You's troops finally reached the village entrance, the bandits at the rear were still over thirty miles away. The thirty-thousand-man column stretched to over three miles, with banners of all stripes mingling together, soldiers and civilians mingling. Two of the leaders even realized they had led the wrong group and their own men had disappeared, so they rushed around with their followers, screaming and shouting, "Look, they're not going anywhere."

Fortunately, Lu You sent a letter to Lin Hai in time, allowing Lin Hai to rest for another day or so. Otherwise, when Lin Hai came to kill him, he would have to stare blankly at Lu You...

Two more days passed, and every leader who arrived at the destination expressed admiration for Lu You's military management. After all, up to now, only Lu You's men had not been lost. As for Tianlongzhai, one of the main forces of the central army, well, their leader said that he could not find his own team. Anyway, the people must have come, but he didn't know whose team they mixed in and could not be found. They could only reorganize after the battle.

So forget about the night battle which is the most challenging to organize. It is better to start the battle in the morning after breakfast.

The next morning, the various mountain kings were eager to attack. After all, the journey took three days longer than expected, which meant that the dry food they brought was not enough. Even the mountain kings' breakfast was thin porridge so thin that you could see your reflection in it. Not to mention the bandits under them. They were lucky to have a few grains of rice. If they couldn't plunder anything, they would just surrender after two more meals of hunger.

Lu You opened the main road from the county town to the village entrance and saw the other leader, Tiger Power and Grass, leading their troops and horses, rushing into the village without receiving any command from the flag. According to the pre-trained procedures, the only small group of militia in the village would then escort the women, children, and the elderly to retreat to the village committee compound. Given the abilities of the two leaders, they would surely not be able to break through the compound.

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