Chapter 141
Yu Ruo stood outside, looked at the scene in the yard, took a deep breath, and then a feeling of relief surged from deep in his heart.
Fortunately, these were not really his soldiers.
He felt powerless as if he was about to engage in combat with the Seventh Prince but was pulled back by a great force from his own side.
Looking back now, he, who was full of confidence a month ago, seems like a joke.
The people on his side don't even have the most basic obedience.
He must now start thinking of a strategy to escape, lest he be captured by the Seventh Prince before the fight even starts.
The scene was really not good at that time.
-
Three days later.
A batch of weapons was secretly delivered to Qingzhou.
Two hundred compound bows and sixty crossbows.
This batch of weapons is confidential, and the Ministry of Industry has specially sent people to accompany the team. "Your Highness, in addition to sending the first batch to you, more will be supplied to the northern border."
Qu Watanabe: "Yes, it should be."
It was originally built to deal with the Northern Frontier cavalry. It should be very useful after Xia Fuyang gets it.
He checked it and said, "Okay, once the test is done and everything is OK, you can leave."
"yes."
After the test was completed, Qu Dubian called Xi Zixing.
"We can let him go now. I don't know if I can fool those bandits after three days of training."
Xi Zixing shrugged: "Suspicion is a seed, it will naturally sprout when the time comes."
-
Black slaughter village.
Cui Er went up the mountain and was caught as soon as he arrived and thrown in front of the boss.
He is the son of Old Lady Cui. He went down the mountain to inquire about the situation more than half a month ago and never came back. Everyone in Heitu Village thought he was dead.
The big boss asked suspiciously: "What's wrong with you?"
Cui Er was tied up with ropes. He struggled and said, "Boss! The soldiers down there are really tricking us. They seem to be loose, but they are actually very tight. I almost got discovered when I went home in the dark. I hid under the kitchen for so long before I dared to come back."
"You don't know how strict their control is! They are just to prevent traitors from appearing in the village."
One explanation.
Cui Er also showed the stove ash on his body and the hair that was burned by the fire, "Look, brother, I really didn't lie to you."
He said anxiously, "My life and property are all here. You also know where my wife and children live. How could I have the guts to lie to you? If you have any doubts, just send someone out to investigate."
The boss's suspicion subsided a little. "I'm just afraid that you'll be discovered. We're all brothers. It would be terrible if you lose your life."
Cui Er: "It was mainly because I heard a secret. The more I thought about it, the more frightening it became. I thought I should hurry back and tell my brother."
The boss: "You say."
Cui Er frowned and lowered his voice: "I was under the stove and heard what the village chief said. He heard the Seventh Prince say that there were people from the imperial court among the bandits. They had sneaked in a long time ago to assist the imperial court in suppressing the bandits. In the final attack, they would cooperate with each other from inside and outside."
The boss' heart skipped a beat, "Did you hear who it was?"
Cui Er shook his head: "I don't know, and I don't know if they are talking about our Black Tu Village. After all, there are Tiger and Leopard Village and Lone Wolf Village in Jeju."
The second in command also frowned.
This kind of specious statement is the most suspicious.
Cui Er said: "However, I see that those important people from the capital are very particular about what they eat and drink, and they bathe alone. People in the court are similar, right?"
"Otherwise, they are people who disguise themselves very well, but they stop everything from being done, and find all kinds of excuses to delay time for the court."
Second in command: "Okay, we got it, you can go down."
Cui Er stood up, his face calm, "I know I have been down there for too long, and it is reasonable for the elder and second brothers to be suspicious. I am willing to be tied up in the woodshed and not go anywhere. I will come out after you have investigated everything."
The eldest boss: "How can this be possible? I trust you, we are all brothers..."
"No!" Cui Er, "All hidden dangers must be eliminated, including myself. Brother, don't forget to ask someone to bring me food."
He resolutely went to the woodshed, which made the two heads who had doubted him at the beginning feel a little guilty. They looked at each other for a while, not knowing what to say.
The two heads were silent for a while.
The second in command hesitated and said, "The third brother... seems to be the least sociable one."
The eldest boss said: "Don't doubt blindly. Without the third brother, would we have come this far?"
Second in command: "But he never tried to stop us before. This time he tried to stop us, but we didn't listen and took away so much food."
The eldest boss put his hands behind his back, frowned for a moment and said, "Let's wait and see."
He still had some doubts in his heart. After all, he and the second brother were biological brothers. The third brother came half a year ago and only had this little friendship with them.
-
One month has passed since the food was stolen.
Qingzhou's anti-bandit army began to fight back and forth with the bandits in the mountains.
The bandits took advantage of the terrain and set up dense defenses within 300 meters of the village, which could not be reached by fire or arrows.
The army fought and retreated, capturing 67 bandits.
The battle seemed to have entered a stalemate.
However, in this anxiety, Yu Ruo smelled something wrong.
He received news from the northern border.
Xia Fuyang from the northern border town, in a recent battle, used for the first time a crossbow arrow with a range far exceeding that of ordinary bows and arrows, and with enough force to penetrate a warhorse.
The range can reach four hundred meters, and it was presented by the seventh prince.
Before this, they only knew that the Seventh Prince had presented weapons, but they had no idea how powerful these weapons were.
Now we know that the Divine Arm Crossbow made its first appearance in the Northern Frontier and it killed an entire unsuspecting cavalry unit from just 300 meters away.
He immediately found the eldest boss and said, "Brother, we'd better hide in Jeju for a while to avoid the limelight."
"Hide from the limelight?" The big boss said angrily, "They have captured more than 70 of my brothers! Hide from the limelight at this time? I will beat them to death!"
Yu Ruo: "Something is wrong."
The eldest boss: "What's wrong? What's wrong again? Third brother, you should be thinking about how to make those damned soldiers lose face instead of letting us escape!"
Yu Ruo: "...They might attack the village."
The eldest boss shook his finger and said, "You are joking, Third Brother. You don't understand? Even if it is the bow and arrow of the government, it is the best if it can shoot about 200 meters. Our defense is 300 meters."
He looked as if he would not listen to anything.
Yu Ruo took a deep breath, went out directly, found his trusted subordinates here, packed up some things, and prepared for retreat at any time.
-
late at night.
Ling'an Village.
Sixty soldiers stood in front of Qu Duanbian.
As soon as he got the weapons, he began to select sixty soldiers with good accuracy to operate the crossbows, and Lieutenant General Zhang was among them.
When Lieutenant General Zhang tried out the Shenbi Crossbow, he was shocked. Its power and range made ordinary bows and arrows look so weak in comparison!
No soldier could refuse such a weapon, not him, nor the other soldiers.
In order to fight for these 60 quotas, everyone is using all their brains to fight.
Now it’s finally time to finish training and start playing.
Qu Duanbian looked them straight in the face: "Whether this operation will be successful depends entirely on you. You have been training for so long, don't embarrass me."
"If anything goes wrong, military law will be applied."
"yes!"
Qu Watanabe: "Let's go."
Sixty people quickly and stealthily slipped into the night.
They memorized the terrain map and lured the enemy back and forth so many times that they easily found the place to shoot at a distance of 350 meters.
At the foot of the mountain.
Zuo Tianlang narrowed his eyes. More than a thousand soldiers behind him were silently in the valley, waiting for the order.
The crossbowmen tied flammable cotton wool to the sharp arrowheads, lit the fuse and shot them out at high speed.
The flying arrows suddenly burst into brilliant sparks, and in front of the bandits' horrified eyes, they hit the surrounding haystacks and the black gunpowder used for defense.
boom--!
"Enemy attack!"
"Enemy attack!"
There was a panic.
According to their experience, they placed stones first, then frantically shot arrows down the mountain. When the stones rolled down to the foot of the mountain, Zuo Tianlang made a prompt decision: "Attack the mountain!"
“Kill—!”
A group of soldiers who had been holding back for two months rushed up the mountain like crazy, holding their shields.
Damn it, I finally waited until today! Watching the provocative faces of those bandits day after day, the general can really endure it!
They were howling and shouting, and the noise was so loud that it didn't seem like there were more than a thousand of them.
The crossbowmen quickly dealt with the enemies at the outpost, allowing the soldiers attacking the mountain below to come up unhindered.
Lieutenant General Zhang was so surprised that he shouted in the chaos, "Run! The imperial court is attacking with 10,000 soldiers!"
"Ten thousand soldiers! Run!"
Without the three hundred meters of protection, everything became a mess once the fire started inside.
The big boss ran out with his pants in his hands, looking shocked: "What happened?"
"Master, the imperial court has brought 10,000 soldiers to attack the mountain! We didn't even see them with our 300-meter defense line!"
"Ten thousand?!"
The boss was stunned by this number.
More and more people started to get confused and the fire spread rapidly.
-
Qu Dubian stood at the foot of the mountain, looking at the burning Heitu Village on the top of the mountain.
The faint sounds of fighting and shouting added a touch of blood to the night.
This was the first time in his two lifetimes that he had to command a real battle. Even though he had calculated all the possibilities, he still couldn't sleep all night.
When the sky turned pale, Lieutenant General Zhang came down the mountain covered in blood.
He knelt on one knee in front of Qu Duanbian and said, "Reporting to the general! We have captured 173 bandits, and our soldiers have 15 wounded, 10 of them slightly wounded!"
Qu Watanabe: "Have you caught the thief?"
Lieutenant General Zhang: "We only caught the second in command. The first in command was dragged away by the third in command, and the remaining twenty bandits also ran away with them."
Qu Dubian frowned slightly: "Didn't Jeju set up a siege? Didn't they rush into the net?"
Lieutenant General Zhang shook his head and said, "I saw from a high place that the Third Commander dragged them down the river and headed towards Tiger and Leopard Village."
"Tiger and Leopard Village..."
That is to risk being washed away by the river and seek refuge in an unfamiliar bandit den.
From being the boss to being a person with little say, the gap is not ordinary. But he did not expect the other party to escape from there, after all, the encirclement trend has been formed.
Qu Watanabe: "That third boss is really a character."
They tore a hole in the encirclement, destroying his plan to successfully break through the Heitu Village.
Admiral Zhang was a little annoyed: "It was our negligence that caused us not to find their traces in time."
"Don't blame you. I didn't pay attention." Qu Dubian patted his shoulder. "Okay, go down and let the injured brothers have a good rest. Be sure to take good care of them. If you need anything, come to me. We can't let the blood of the soldiers be shed in vain."
Lieutenant General Zhang's blood boiled, and he clasped his fists and said loudly, "Yes, General!"
After Lieutenant General Zhang left, the bloody smell dissipated, but Qu Dubian still stood there without moving.
Xizi walked to his side and asked: "What are you thinking about?"
Qu Watanabe: "I'm wondering what the reaction of the capital will be."
Xi Zixing smiled and said, "Some people doubt it, some people don't believe it, and some people are shocked."
However, in the face of absolute strength, all doubts and disbelief will be cut down by the sharp edge.
-
In September of that year, Heitu Village was captured.
Although the court was pleased, most people did not care.
October of the same year.
The Seventh Prince led his army to attack Tiger and Leopard Stronghold. Taking advantage of its geographical location, he besieged the stronghold for two months and used a soft strategy to lure the stronghold. As a result, Tiger and Leopard Stronghold ran out of food and all surrendered.
The Seventh Prince ordered the Tiger and Leopard Village to remain as it was, relaxed the vigilance of the Jeju Axe Gang, and launched a surprise attack around the mountain.
In December of that year, they successively captured two bandit dens, Tiger and Leopard Village and Axe Gang, and won a great victory.
There was a lot of heated discussion in the capital, with people suspecting that it was Zuo Tianlang's achievement and that the Seventh Prince was just seeking credit.
In January of the following year, Xi Zixing returned to the capital and angrily denounced the words of seeking credit. He had a debate with the scholars in Ruyi Tower. Those who were scolded by him did not dare to step forward and were finally twisted by Xi Shiqiu and sent home to review.
In February of the following year, the Seventh Prince, together with a thousand soldiers from Jeju to suppress bandits, led three thousand soldiers, crossed the Jeju River at night, conquered Qinshan, and chased the bandits for a hundred miles, winning a great victory.
Same February.
The Seventh Prince stationed his troops at the foot of Wangchu Mountain, where only the last bandit gathering point remained.
Upon hearing the rumors in the capital, Zuo Tianlang submitted a memorial requesting merit in advance. The merits of the Seventh Prince and all the soldiers were listed in the memorial. The wording was unbiased and the content was fair and verifiable.
Emperor Chongzhao also wrote the word "Yan" on the memorial, and would issue the reward as soon as the suppression of bandits was completely completed.
So far.
No one in the capital dared to ask the same question as eight months ago: "Can the Seventh Prince lead the army?"
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