Ge Li carried the lamb leg and left the village. Xiao Feng followed him out and came back an hour later.
Wan Jinlan naturally had not gone to bed yet. After hearing the noise of Xiao Feng returning, Xia Feng, Li Dazhuang and others also got dressed and got out of bed.
Everyone gathered in a room specially used as a study.
On the table lay a rough map of Qingyuan County, inherited from the original mountain village.
Xia Feng has a strong scholarly temperament. Wearing only a gray robe, he looks like a scholar.
"Boss Song, the imperial court's military rations cannot be robbed, and we can't rob them either."
There is a war going on in the border town now, and it is an emergency in Liangzhou. The imperial court has sent military rations and salaries, but for the sake of the overall situation, we cannot rob them.
Xiao Feng frowned slightly. How could he not know what Xia Feng said? However, when he was actually in Liangzhou, he realized that the scenery of each state he had seen on paper before was just the tip of the iceberg.
Why did the people behind Deputy Captain Gao dare to rob the military pay and rations sent by the court? It was just because they used the horse bandits as a shield. If the military pay and rations were robbed and reported to the court, the court would not only have to replace the robbed military pay, but also give another sum of money to suppress the bandits.
The military officers in Liangzhou often did this to kill two birds with one stone.
He had once read reports about bandits in Liangzhou and lamented the fierce character of the people there. Now that he was there, he realized that if it weren't for the connivance of local military officers and their collusion with the bandits, Liangzhou would have been peaceful long ago.
Liangzhou Yixi was conquered by his royal grandfather, and he established the Liangzhou Governor.
The emperor was far away and the state was difficult to govern. The state was often harassed by barbarians from the north. The governor of Liangzhou was in charge of the military and political power of the state, which was far greater than the authority of the governor of other states in the Central Plains.
In a place where the people are tough, having soldiers is more deterrent than the emperor far away in the Central Plains.
Even if Kyoto allocated funds for suppressing the bandits, whether the bandits were completely wiped out was still up to the Liangzhou military officers themselves.
Xiao Feng said: "We won't rob it, but let Mangshan know the news."
Even though he had just followed Ge Li to ensure that he had returned to the village, there was no guarantee that Deputy Captain Gao had heard some rumors and deliberately set a trap for them.
Besides, when the imperial court came to deliver military pay and rations, it would send at least a thousand elite soldiers to escort them. Including women and children, there were less than 200 of them. It was extremely difficult to snatch the military pay from the elite soldiers.
Xia Feng stroked his chin and looked at the others. "Why don't we do something bigger? If the bandits from Mangshan really go to rob the army, should we raid their lair?"
Xiao Feng looked at him with appreciation. Although he refused to rob military pay and rations, he also had this plan but had not said it out loud.
However, we know very little about the horse bandits in Mangshan, and we need to understand them before we can formulate an action plan.
Wang Shu said, "I know which gambling house in town the brother-in-law of Mangshan Wu Dangjia often goes to gamble at. I can casually pass on the information to him."
Wang Shu was once the chief military strategist in the bandit camp. He had read a few books, but they were not of much use in the eyes of the two leaders. They were only used to teach the children in the village to read and write. He had never done any fighting or killing.
This man was considered a breath of fresh air among the horse bandits. As to why he ended up in the bandit camp, it was because he looked obviously different from the Han people and had Qiang blood.
Wang Shu's mother was a Han Chinese. She became pregnant with him after being raped by Qiang people. Two years later, his mother died of illness, and he was raised as a son by a poor scholar. Later, the poor scholar fell into the river while fishing in winter and died within a day after being rescued.
Wang Shu, who lived alone, saved a horse bandit in the bandit camp by chance, and was later introduced by the horse bandit to become a horse bandit himself.
Wan Jinlan had found out all about Wang Shu's background. Among the group of horse bandits, only Wang Shu was somewhat useful. The rest could be used to fight against the enemy with weapons. Thinking was not suitable for this group of tall and strong but simple-minded people.
Wang Shu was responsible for leaking the news, Xiao Feng would take people to survey the situation in Mangshan personally, Li Dazhuang would be responsible for continuing to recruit refugees, Xia Feng would be responsible for maintaining stability within the mountain stronghold, and as for Wan Jinlan, he would be responsible for training horse bandits and strong men among the refugees.
Someone also needs to investigate and monitor the matter of the court sending military pay.
There are too few available people, which is also a headache.
At night, Wan Jinlan had her long hair loose, she was lying on her side with her head supported by her hand, holding a crossbow in her right hand.
The two men had eight crossbows and nine firearms, of which only one was in working order, and the remaining eight might explode after a single use. Ninety-six crossbow spikes were recovered from the eight men.
After Xiao Feng washed himself clean, he got on the bed in his pajamas. Wan Jinlan watched him lift up the quilt made of animal skins.
Seeing that he looked calm, she also pretended to be calm and did not kick him down.
"We need to find a blacksmith, buy iron, and make these long nails."
If these eight crossbows are used properly, they can be of great use.
In fact, what she wanted most was firearms, but there were no professionals.
Xiao Feng tucked the corner of the quilt into her arms and said, "There's no rush. It's already midnight. Go to bed."
Wan Jinlan placed the crossbow under the pillow, glanced at him, and saw that he had closed his eyes and lay down straight. After closing his eyes, he fell asleep without knowing when.
I had a dreamless night, but I felt unusually warm in the bed, as if I was hugging a big stove.
The next day, after Xiao Feng took his men out, Wan Jinlan selected more than 40 healthy people from the refugees and horse bandits and went from the passage in the back mountain to the open space outside.
Most of the mountains in Liangzhou are bare. Behind the mountain is a large mountain range, and in the center of the mountain range is an open space of nearly 100 acres. Although the ground is bumpy, it is also good for training soldiers.
After everyone passed through, Wan Jinlan asked someone to carefully enlarge the hole at the end of the passage so that people could pass through easily.
In addition, once the refugees are brought back and their symptoms have eased, they can be settled in this large open space. When the weather warms up, we can build houses. Now we can only build simple shacks to block the wind.
She had seen her father and elder brother train soldiers, and she herself had been trained by her grandfather, so she could still learn by copying.
The first thing to solve is whether these men obey her.
"Whoever wants to fight with me, come on." Wan Jinlan looked at everyone holding the chain.
More than forty people looked at each other, all ready to make a move.
"Madam, you are a woman. If I hurt you, I won't be able to explain myself to the boss."
Wan Jinlan said, "As long as you don't injure his vital parts, he won't blame you. If I really can't do it, I will admit defeat. Besides, you may not be my opponent."
A strong man pounded the ground with a spear and said, "Then let me try."
Everyone dispersed, and the spear swept towards Wan Jinlan with the wind. Wan Jinlan flexibly set out the iron chain in his hand and rolled it onto the spear. Wan Jinlan used the force, bent his upper body backward to be level with the ground, and quickly approached his opponent.
The man simply dropped his spear and punched her in the stomach.
Wan Jinlan straightened up, did a side flip, took the spear in his hand and swept it out horizontally.
There was a bloody mark on the lower side of the man's face. He should have admitted defeat, but he was unwilling to do so.
When the spear came at him again, he grabbed it and his palm bled.
However, when he was confident that he could take the weapon back, he found that the spear was so stable that he could not lift it at all.
As he watched the iron chain coming towards his head, he could only shout "Give up".
The battle ended quickly, and the big men didn't expect him to lose so quickly.
"Li Mazi, what's wrong with you? You can't even get your weapons back."
Li Mazi felt a little embarrassed. His wife's strength was equal to his, and her body was flexible and adaptable. Since he lost, he also wanted to make others lose.
"I can't do it, and neither can you!"
A big bearded man holding a dagger rushed towards Wan Jinlan.
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