Chapter 989 Zai's Prediction

The cannibals would dispatch thousands of people to hunt at a time. This was something Qubing had not expected, but it was understandable if he thought about it carefully.

They lived in villages, and a hunting team organized by one village could not provide food for all villages. Therefore, it was the most correct method for each village to form its own hunting team and for everyone to hunt for their own.

Qubing thought about it for a while, and then asked again.

"You mean, the hunting teams in each village are not subordinate to each other, nor do they contact each other, and the hunting targets and areas are also different, right?"

"Well, that's about it, but sometimes when the number of hunting targets is relatively large, they will also unite for a short time, but such cases are rare. Even if they unite, it is a very rare thing, and the scale of the union is not large, only a few hundred people, and rarely more than a thousand people, otherwise if there are too many, their prey will not be enough to share." Zai recalled and answered again.

Qubing nodded upon hearing this, and then fell into deep thought. Seeing him like this, Youye asked, "How is it, do you have any ideas? Or is it difficult to fight? I think in this case, isn't the strength of one battalion a little too little?"

Qubing shook his head, "No, it depends on how you look at it. It has advantages and disadvantages for us. The advantage is that their main force is now outside, and we can find a way to eat them outside, so we don't have to take the risk of going deep into their base.

"The disadvantage is the problem of strength you mentioned. The enemy has a large number of troops, and we only have one battalion of troops here. Of course, if we just want to kill them all, this battalion is enough, but our tactical goal is to capture prisoners, so we can't do it recklessly. We still have to disperse them and then defeat them one by one."

"Well, if you think about it this way, it's true. If they hide in the base, it will be even more difficult for us to fight." Youye thought about it and said in agreement.

"That's right. It looks like a test for us now, but in fact we have taken the initiative. Whether we fight or not, we have no problem here, but the enemy has to come out. If they don't come out to fight, they can't hunt for food. If they don't come out to fight, they can't get white salt. Even if they decide to go south, we can stop them. At the strategic level, we have the initiative and advantage. This battle is not difficult to fight. "Qubing immediately analyzed and said.

"Then what do you decide to do?" Youye asked again.

"Now gather the hunting team here, reorganize, teach them the skills of capturing prisoners, and the use of handcuffs; in addition, let the hunting team and scouts go together to scout all the cannibal teams active in the hunting grounds, and we will choose targets and attack at any time.

"When we act, send some teams to keep an eye on the movements of the cannibals around. Once they approach our battlefield, they will call the police in time, and then the people responsible for stalking will also block them. This is not difficult for us. One or two squads are enough to deal with two or three hundred enemies." Qubing decided without hesitation.

"Okay, let's do as you say. I'll call someone for you right away." You Ye also agreed immediately. After all, the task assigned to him by the leader was to assist the Shen Ce Guard in combat.

Zai didn't say anything on the side. He didn't know much about the Shen Ce Guard, but when he went out with You Ye to summon the hunting team and learned that there were only nine people in a squad of the Shen Ce Guard, he began to look strange.

If I remember correctly, the young Shen Ce Guard general who came from the Han tribe just now actually wanted to use one or two squads to stop a hunting team of cannibals.

Is that guy not good at arithmetic? He actually wanted to use a dozen people to stop two or three hundred people from the other side?

Or is this young Shen Ce Guard general too arrogant and thinks that his soldiers are all gods of war who can fight a hundred with one?

Or does he look down on those cannibals and ask for instructions from his enemies?

He wanted to say something, but after thinking about it, he shook his head and gave up. The Han tribe might be powerful, but not all of them were that powerful. It would be good to let this guy suffer a loss, so that he could realize his own shortcomings. Anyway, this matter had nothing to do with him, so there was no need to be enemies with these leaders from the Han tribe. Besides, wasn't this young general also chosen by the Han tribe leader who was called a god?

Let's see how the person he picked was.

In the next two days, the hunting camp was very busy. Youye and Zai summoned all the young and strong hunters in the camp, and then picked out a thousand of the most capable ones. When everyone heard that they were going to hunt the cannibals, they had no objection and seemed very excited.

Qubing was not idle either. He first asked people to copy many regional maps of the hunting area, and then sent out soldiers in squads, asking them to carry telescopes, compasses and other surveying and reconnaissance tools, and scout around under the leadership of local hunters, perfect the map details, and mark the areas where the cannibal hunting teams often moved, and select suitable places for ambushes.

I thought the hunting ground would be the first to fight, but I didn't expect the second and third battalions to report the results first.

After Qu Bing led the first and second battalions to leave the river mouth position, the third battalion stationed at the river mouth position reported victory first. They also captured two groups of old and weak cannibals who went fishing at the same place for two consecutive days.

And because of the previous combat experience, coupled with the new merit standard issued by Qu Bing, the soldiers no longer looked back when beating people. Some old and disabled people were killed without hesitation, anyway, they couldn't create much value, so it was easier to deter the young people.

After two consecutive battles plus the one commanded by Qu Bing, the river mouth position captured more than 160 slaves and killed and injured more than 40 people. As for how many of the injured can survive, it depends on fate.

The three consecutive victories gave the deputy commander stationed there some experience. In view of the fact that the enemy's scale of each deployment was not large and did not require so many troops, the deputy commander transferred a platoon of soldiers and some militiamen to escort the more than 100 captured prisoners back to the river valley camp and put them there for centralized custody.

As for sending them back to the south, they could only wait until the river thawed in spring.

The battle at the river mouth was good, and there was also a victory report from the Yanze camp, but the battle there did not capture many prisoners, but the strategic goal set in advance was achieved, which was considered a victory.

The first phase of the Yanze Campaign was not to capture prisoners, but to seize all the salt ponds controlled by the enemy.

After Qubing left with the first battalion, the military commander Wen Feiyu led all the officers and soldiers of the second battalion to come out in full force and decisively attacked, occupying all four salt ponds controlled by the enemy. In this battle, more than 300 enemies were killed and wounded, and 62 uninjured prisoners were captured. In addition, some of the enemies escaped, and there were probably dozens of scattered prisoners.

Originally, the Shen Ce Guards were equipped with muskets with a very long range, and they could definitely kill the fleeing enemies, but Wen Feiyu ordered them to be let go, otherwise it would be a violation of the battle plan.

The method he discussed with Qu Bing was to first take down the salt pond controlled by the enemy, and then set up an ambush when the enemy came back to fight for it. If you don’t send some people back to report, how will the enemy know that their salt pond has been robbed?

The latest news sent by the Yanze Camp said that Wen Feiyu was leading the Second Battalion and the local militia to build a defensive position, as well as a hiding point for ambush, but the enemy has not counterattacked yet. Once the enemy counterattacks, they will definitely be able to win another wave of results.

The most fortunate thing is that the battle reports sent by the Second and Third Battalions said that no one on their side was injured or killed, whether it was the soldiers of the Shen Ce Guards or the local militia.

But this is normal. After all, the Shen Ce Guards are equipped with long-range weapons. At their attack distance, the enemy can't produce any weapons with equal range. It is normal to be beaten unilaterally.

Qu Bing was very happy after seeing this. At the same time, he also asked his men to tell the soldiers of the first battalion about the battle report. First, to cheer them up, and second, to put some pressure on them. Now the second and third battalions have achieved results, and now they are waiting for their first battalion to show results.

On the fifth day of arriving at the hunting camp, Qu Bing finally made preparations for the battle. The 1,000 young and strong hunters recruited from the local area were all reorganized according to the ten-five system, and their equipment was also fully equipped.

Shields, long sticks, and some other tools they usually use for hunting, such as ropes or large nets, are all useful tools for catching live people. After watching their demonstration, Qu Bing agreed to let them bring them. Of course, handcuffs are indispensable. That thing is really very convenient to tie people up. Each hunter brought several.

The soldiers of the first battalion also carefully scouted the terrain of the hunting ground in the past few days, and further refined the map copied from Youye. Finally, they were summarized here by Qubing, and everyone had a deeper understanding of the geographical situation of the hunting ground.

The hunting ground can be divided into six major areas. The northwest direction of the hunting ground is the cannibals' way to the hunting ground. Whether they come here to hunt or take the prey back, they will pass through the northwest. The terrain here has only one feature, many trees, and there are countless towering trees.

In fact, the northwest of the hunting ground is the periphery of the forest where the cannibals are stationed. Although there are many trees here, they can't be compared with the forest. At most, it is a sparse forest.

And although the terrain here is also mountainous, the slope is gentle, and there are no steep slopes such as high mountains or cliffs.

Then it is the due west of the hunting ground. There are many mountains in the due west, but the mountains are not high. This is the stationing place of the Han tribe hunting ground camp. The mountains extend all the way to the southeast, all the way to the high mountains in the due east, and are connected with the mountains there.

There are also forests and sparse woods to the north of the hunting ground. There is a valley between the southeast and southwest. This valley is also the main passage to the south. The herd will pass through this valley whether migrating south or north.

In other words, there is a mountain range below the hunting ground, a forest above, and a complex area composed of water, hills, basins, canyons, valleys, and low mountains in the middle. This area is the main habitat of the herd, which is also the so-called hunting ground.

This hunting ground covers a large area, stretching hundreds of kilometers from east to west and seventy to eighty kilometers from north to south. In the absence of a road, even if you ride a horse back and forth, it will take about ten days and a half months. However, for hunters who are familiar with this place, human legs are faster, because there are some places where horses cannot go, but people can go over. Those large and small cannibal hunting teams are distributed in this hunting ground.

After getting the detailed map of this place, Qubing immediately formulated the first battle plan, first eating up the several cannibal hunting teams close to him, and expanding the camp established by the Han tribe to the west of the hunting ground to the east.

The purpose of doing this is to facilitate the custody of prisoners, because there are so many enemies here. If the prisoners have to be escorted back every time they fight, and then put into the next battle, it will waste too much time and manpower, and will miss the opportunity to fight. It is better to gather the captured prisoners in the concentration camps on the front line for custody, and then send the prisoners back after accumulating enough and stabilizing the front line.

Youye also agreed with Qubing's battle plan after listening to it. In this way, whether it is food or ammunition, the rear can quickly replenish it, and it will not be dragged down by those prisoners. At that time, the captured prisoners can be handed over to the local people for custody, and their Shen Ce Wei soldiers and militia can attack quickly and frequently.

"Here, here, and here, there are three enemy hunting teams. One team has about 230 people, and they are targeting a group of alpacas; this team has about 350 people, and they are targeting a group of yaks; the last team has about 280 people, and their target is a group of big-horned deer." The leader of the hunting team, Zai, pointed to the map and introduced the situation to Qubing and Youye. "Well

, based on your hunting experience, where should we set up an ambush?" Qubing looked at him and asked.

Zai raised his eyebrows. He didn't know much about fighting, but hunting was his forte, so he listened to him.

"Those who are eyeing the bighorn deer will definitely drive the herd into the woods to the north. The antlers of the bighorn deer are very wide, as wide as three or four meters. Once they are driven into the woods, the horns on their heads will become a burden for them, limiting their movement speed in the woods, so we don't have to run around, we just need to find a place around the woods and wait for them to come.

"And there is also a group of people eyeing the yak herd. The yaks are very powerful and they run rampant in the open land. No matter how many people there are, they don't want to target them, so this hunting team of 350 people will definitely drive the herd into the canyon to the west. When the time comes, as long as the herd enters the canyon and can't run, it will be easy to hunt them. So we can also set up an ambush around the canyon and wait for the cannibal hunting team. "

Zai pointed at the map and spoke clearly. Qubing looked at Youye. This guy might not be able to command a battle, but he was very accurate in predicting the enemy's movements. With Zai's prediction and Qubing's command, there was no way they could lose this battle.

(End of this chapter)