Chapter 112: Solitary troops go deep into the enemy's territory
Qin Yao borrowed a fast horse from the county post station and asked the officers and soldiers for two signal flares - sky-high firecrackers that can fly into the sky and emit red light and loud noises when lit.
Ask the county magistrate to prepare manpower and head to Yuhua Mountain where the horse bandits are currently entrenched in the evening, taking advantage of the last ray of light from the setting sun, and wait for her signal to act.
Normally, no one in the government office would join in such "mischief", but before Qin Yao left, she lifted up the stone lion at the gate of the government office with one hand.
The scene was so shocking that all the officers and soldiers in the government were so excited that they just wanted to follow her immediately, sacrifice their lives and shed their blood to kill all the bandits!
Qin Yao rode a fast horse and left the city. She did not go to Yuhua Mountain, but returned home.
A journey that takes five hours on foot now only takes one and a half hours on horseback. Qin Yao was so envious that she secretly decided to buy a fast horse for easier travel once she got the hundred taels of silver.
She suddenly came back, riding a horse, and passed through the village, attracting the attention of the villagers of Liujia Village.
Jin Bao, who was playing by the village well, immediately ran home, "Grandpa, grandma! My third aunt is back on horseback!"
After finishing the report, he turned around and went to his uncle's house. As soon as he ran to the river, he saw Qin Yao coming out on horseback again with her bow and arrow and sword.
Jinbao only had time to shout "Third Aunt" before the man and the horse flew past him at lightning speed, leaving behind only billowing dust, which choked Jinbao so much that he quickly covered his face.
"Grandma, grandpa! Third Aunt is riding away again!"
Less than five minutes after I left, I ran back home and reported to everyone in the Liu family's old house.
Zhang and He were just about to go out to take a look, but when they heard this, they were both stunned and thought, what is his third aunt doing?
Qin Yao came and left in a hurry. She went home to get her weapons, gave some instructions to the four brothers and sisters of Dalang at the water mill, and rode away.
So much so that Dalang and his three siblings thought they were hallucinating, imagining that their stepmother was riding a horse past them, and they stood there in a daze for a long time.
It was not until Zhang's mother-in-law and daughter-in-law and Jinbao came over to ask that they realized that their stepmother had really returned.
"Why did your mother come and leave? What happened in the city?" Zhang asked with concern.
The masters had gone to get stones to make millstones, leaving only the women at home.
Then he remembered that Qin Yao was sending Liu Ji to the academy in the city to register, and he was worried that Liu Ji would not be able to enroll smoothly, so he hurried over to inquire about the situation.
Sanlang and Si Niang were still confused and only said, "Mother said she had something to do and would be back two days later, so we should go back to the old house to stay with grandpa and grandma."
Erlang was a little more awake and heard one more sentence: "Mother said she went to make a lot of money."
"What big money?" He's heart was lifted. How much money can ordinary people make? Could it be bad?
Zhang glared at He and said, "Don't open your mouth and talk nonsense."
He rubbed her nose and asked Dalang, "Can your mother explain what happened? Where did the horse come from?"
Horses are much more expensive than cows. Ordinary people cannot afford to raise them. They either belong to government officials or wealthy masters.
Dalang shook his head and said he didn't know.
But he knew one thing clearly, that is, he took out the weapon, and after thinking about it for a while, he knew that things were not simple.
But Dalang didn't mention this matter, and also winked at his younger brother and sister-in-law, telling them not to say anything.
However, the stepmother would not be home for a few days, so they had to continue to trouble the old house.
Zhang also thought of this and sighed. She told the four brothers and sisters to come home for dinner after collecting the money box from the mill in the evening. She also arranged for her youngest son to go to Qin Yao's house to look after the four children in the evening.
The incident happened suddenly, and Qin Yao didn't expect that she had something important to do today, so she could only explain it after she came back.
Carrying weapons, he headed straight for Yuhua Mountain.
This place is located in the south of Kaiyang County. It is a hill in a mountain range. There is only one normal entrance, and there is a cliff on the back, making it impossible to climb.
Therefore, every time the officers and soldiers wanted to encircle and suppress the enemy, they would expose their whereabouts in advance.
The horse bandits used the entire mountain range as cover, and once they entered deep into the mountains, they could not be found at all.
Moreover, there is no need to worry about food and water in the deep mountains, so it is impossible to trap them to death.
On the contrary, the officers and soldiers were unfamiliar with the terrain and were not fully prepared, so they had to retreat after a siege of three days at most.
This was still a relatively good result. If their luck was a little worse, the bandit leader would suddenly get excited and lead his men to harass the officers and soldiers from behind, and a bloody battle would be inevitable.
Now that Qin Yao is alone, she doesn't have to worry so much.
By the evening, Qin Yao had already dived to the back of Yuhua Mountain.
According to her plan, she would quickly find the bandit leader and then take action at dawn.
In this way, when daybreak comes, the officers and soldiers will be able to reach the mountain stronghold without being affected by the darkness and terrain, and will be able to exert their maximum combat effectiveness.
There are horse bandits on the mountain roads and valley entrances leading to Yuhua Mountain. They occupy high ground and can easily spot invaders.
However, in the evening, it was time for dinner, and people would always slack off a bit, so Qin Yao bypassed the bandits who were on the lookout and entered the mountain from the side of Yuhua Mountain.
The location of the stronghold is actually very easy to determine. With so many people, they must need food and drink, so they won't be too far from a water source.
Qin Yao followed the source of the water and soon heard human voices.
The horse bandits had been entrenched here for more than three months. The road on the mountain had long been cleared, and they successfully found the mountain stronghold by following this road.
They were quite rampant and did not set up any checkpoints along the way.
There is a natural cave here, and dozens of tree nests are built around the cave.
Do you think the life of horse bandits will be easier?
In fact, this stronghold is full of stench and looks like a primitive tribe of savages.
The smell of horse manure, human feces and urine, and the stench of rotten food all mixed together to form an extremely aggressive smell. Qin Yao almost fainted when she stepped in.
Outside the stronghold, a two-meter-high fence was built with wooden stakes following the terrain on both sides of the mountain.
Outside the fence, there is a tree shed on each side to provide shade from the scorching sun for the guards.
When Qin Yao arrived, the guards were making a fire in the shed to boil water and cook. They were eating two stolen chickens. When the water boiled, they put the two plucked hens directly into the pot to cook without even cleaning their internal organs.
Because water is not very convenient here, if you want to clean the internal organs, you have to walk dozens of meters into the mountains to get water.
They are all desperate criminals, there is no need to be so particular.
I was really bored, so I asked the boss for some silver and went down the mountain to find a brothel to have some fun.
The several waves of teams that went down the mountain today have all returned now. We have limited horses, and for the sake of efficiency, we cannot send out all of them, so we come in small teams.
Some people could not come back after going down the mountain, but most of them were able to return with the spoils.
Among the two teams going down the mountain at the same time, the team with the least harvest will be punished.
Qin Yao, wearing a "skin" covered with branches and leaves, stood on a towering tree on the side of the cave and watched the entire punishment process with her own eyes.
The suspected target person was found - the horse bandit leader nicknamed Xiang Wang.
(End of this chapter)