The little child among the captured bandits

  All the bandits who were shot dead had their bodies blown to a charred and bloody mess, but surprisingly few of them were missing arms or legs. Many of them still had their eyes wide open, with expressions of terror frozen on their faces.

  Yang Shuo Ming looked at the dead bodies of these bandits, but unlike Xu Yuan Jin, he didn't show any excitement. He furrowed his brow, got up and walked into the midst of the corpses, squatting down to examine them carefully, his brow furrowing even tighter.

  Judging from the state of these bandits who were blown to death, the power of these mortar shells made with local methods and using locally-made explosives still has a gap with what Yang Shaoming had imagined.

  Under Yang Shuo Ming's subtle mind movement, his supercomputer eyes quickly gave out the relevant analysis data, proving Yang Shuo Ming's judgment.

  Against bandits with poor combat effectiveness, these homemade mortars are a good weapon, but if used to deal with regular armies with advanced equipment and training, they undoubtedly need more improvement.

  In this remote town where mechanical processing equipment is extremely lacking, it's already not easy to build such a cannon in such a short time. Wanting to make further improvements, relying solely on crude methods won't work either.

  "It's best to get a few more cannons like this." Xu Yuanjin appeared beside Yang Shuo Ming at some point, looking around at the nearly 300 bandit corpses, "Damn it, killing one Hei Liu and yet again attracting so many bandits."

  Yang Shuo Ming saw that several security guards not far away were using long spears to stab some bandits who had been seriously injured but still had not died, and asked: "Why don't you leave a few to interrogate?"

  "You're all going to die anyway, so just give them a quick death! We've caught over ten prisoners, enough for you to interrogate." Xu Yuanjin looked at Yang Shouming with a mocking gaze, as if laughing at his ignorance. "What? Want to dig something out of their mouths?"

  Yang Shuo Ming told Xu Yuan Jin about the ambush he had set up earlier and the appearance of arsonists in the town. Upon hearing Yang Shuo Ming's account, Xu Yuan Jin's face immediately fell.

  "There's still a traitor in the village! Damn it!" Xu Yuanjin said angrily, "I'll find out which family it is and I'll kill them all!" He pulled Yang Shouming, "Let's go! We must find the traitor today!"

  Xu Yuanjin pulled Yang Shuo Ming to the place where the captives were being held. Yang Shuo Ming's gaze swept over the bandits who were squatting on the ground with their hands tied behind their backs, and when he saw several young figures that could even be described as immature, he was taken aback for a moment.

  A child of this age should be in school now, how could he join a gang of bandits?

  The child in front of him reminded Yang Shuo of the problem teenagers in later generations who dropped out of school and flowed into society for various "social reasons", and he couldn't help but sigh silently in his heart.

  Even in a future society with advanced material civilization, such problems have not been truly solved, let alone this era?

  "These little rascals are too cowardly, they must be new recruits," said a security team member. "Our first shot fell among them and they were so scared that they cried out like women." He kicked the older one crouching in front with his toes, "Look, he's even peed himself."

  Yang Shuo Ming noticed that the other person's pants were already wet, and looking at his terrified eyes, he felt a hint of sympathy in his heart.

  Xu Yuanshen noticed Yang Shouming's somewhat unusual expression, and shook his head with a hint of amusement, as if mocking him for being inexperienced. He began to loudly interrogate the bandits about who their inside accomplice was.

  The prisoners, who had already been frightened out of their wits, didn't even give the security team a chance to interrogate them, and instead poured out everything they knew like beans spilling out of a bamboo tube. It was only then that Yang Shuo Ming and Xu Yuan Jin realized that the situation was far more complicated than they had imagined.

  After the last time the Double Dragon Town Security Team defeated the Luan Shi Shan gang, the remaining gangs in various mountains felt a sense of crisis, fearing that this was the beginning of a large-scale crackdown by the government. In order to protect themselves, they formed an alliance. However, after learning that there were no government troops stationed in Double Dragon Town, Yao Changkui, the mountain leader of Sai Shi Ling, who was relatively close, had the idea of raiding Double Dragon Town. Under the instigation of He Changli, the remaining leader of the Luan Shi Shan gang who had escaped to Sai Shi Ling (Hei Lu's brother), Yao Changkui sent his younger brother Yao Dafa to lead a group of bandits and He Changli to launch a surprise attack on Double Dragon Town, with an agreement to respond from within.

  Yao Changkui's strength was not enough to take down the entire Double Dragon Town, his target was actually the Huang family mansion. After learning about Yang Shouming from He Changli's mouth, he decided to make a name for himself on another mountain and covet the wealth of the Huang family as well as the beauty of Huang Yunzhi (information obtained from Ruan Shimeng). He planned to eliminate the Huang family mansion while also taking out Yang Shouming and snatching away Huang Yunzhi. Under the pretext of "avenging He Dahu's household", he borrowed a few "fast hands" from other mountains, ambushing them in town, and specifically targeting Yang Shouming during the attack on Double Dragon Town.

  But what the bandits did not expect was that the defense of Shuanglong Town was very tight, and the security team arrived at the battlefield quickly, bringing cannons that were so powerful (before they had also heard relevant news from internal responses, but didn't take it seriously), they hadn't even entered the town gate when they were beaten to death or injured, losing more than half of their men, finally they could only flee in disarray.

  Under Xu Yuanjin's interrogation, the bandits revealed that they had bought off an insider in town, namely Yin Dehong, the owner of the De Hong Shun shop. Yin Dehong had previously colluded with several mountain strongholds and had provided information to the Yao Changkui gang on multiple occasions when merchants from Double Dragon Town and Yongning County went to the provincial city to do business, resulting in the robbery of many merchant caravans. Moreover, his De Hong Shun shop had a secret cellar where bandits hid some of their loot. The bandits who disguised themselves as security personnel and attacked Yang Shaoming were initially hiding in his home, and the arsonists also came from De Hong Shun.

  Xu Yuanjin, having learned the details, rushed to raid De Hongshun with his men, while Yang Shouming did not return with him. After inspecting the condition of the two mortars, he rested for a while and somehow ended up at the place where the prisoners were being held.

  For Yang Shuo Ming, the eyes of these children were always unforgettable.

  At this time, the captives had been tied up by the security guards and were squatting in the corner of the wall. Yang Shuo Ming's gaze fell on those children again, and several children simultaneously lifted their heads to meet his gaze.

  The eyes of these children reminded him of those impoverished school dropouts he had once sponsored in his original timeline.

  But thinking of those tattered but always sunny and innocent children, Yang Shuo Ming's heart is always sour.

  It is for the sake of these children's tomorrow that Yang Shuo-ming has chosen to sacrifice his own future and engage in an unyielding struggle, in the hope of drawing attention from society and the government.

  Yang Shuoming, who had always been strong and unyielding, suddenly thought of those children he would never see again, and tears burst out of his eyes.

  The security guards and the captives, as well as several children, all stared at Yang Shuoming with astonished eyes, who sat there with his head down and tears streaming down, not knowing what had happened.

  "Mr. Yang, isn't it at home..."

  Lei quietly sat down beside Yang Shuo Ming and asked in a hoarse voice.

  Yang Shuo Ming wiped away his tears with his sleeve and shook his head without saying a word.

  Because he didn't hear Yang Shuo Ming's response, Zhao Er Hu, who had just drunk Yang Shuo Ming's wedding wine the day before and was known for his violent temper, thought that something really had happened at Yang's house. He let out a loud roar, kicked one of the captives to the ground with one foot, grabbed another captive with one hand, raised his fist as big as a mortar, and looked at him with a ferocious expression. The children were frightened again and screamed loudly.

  "Old Zhao!"

  Just as the terrible fist was about to come down heavily, Yang Shuoming loudly stopped Zhao Erhu.

  Zhao Erhu looked at Yang Shuoming, who had already calmed down, with some confusion. Yang Shuoming smiled at him and indicated that everything was fine, not as he had thought. Only then did Zhao Erhu release the captive.

  Yang Shuo Ming made Zhao Er Hu untie the three youngest children, Zhao Er Hu looked at Yang Shuo Ming, curled his mouth and showed an inexplicable expression, then pulled out a dagger and cut off the ropes binding the three children.

  Three children rubbed their numb limbs, which were tied up, and looked at Yang Shuo Ming with a hint of fear, seemingly at a loss. Yang Shuo Ming beckoned to them to come closer and talk.

  Yang Shuo Ming asked about the names of the three children and their experiences with bandits, but the answers from the three children shocked Yang Shuo Ming.

  These three children were originally sons of farming families in the Hunan-Guangdong border area, and they joined the bandits just to get food.

  "We didn't want to be bandits either, but we had no choice... or else we would have starved to death..." The youngest, Cai Aniu, cried out, "Our family was hit by famine, my parents followed the refugees to loot grain, and were killed by the government soldiers..."

  "My parents were driven to death by the landlord because they couldn't afford the rent." Liu Xiaoqi, the tallest and oldest of them all, looked at Yang Shaoming with a hoarse voice and said, "I want to avenge my parents, or else..."

  Yang Shuo Ming nodded, his eyes fell on the child called Wang Xiao Zhu, he stood there silently, although there were also tears flashing in his eyes, but he was always holding back, not letting the tears flow down. Except for reporting his own name, he remained silent.

  Perhaps fearing his good friend would be taken advantage of, Liu Xiaoqi looked at Yang Shuoming with some trepidation and spoke on his behalf: "Xiaozhu's mother is a bit..."

  "Shut up!" Wang Xiao Zhu interrupted Liu Xiao Qi's words, looking at Yang Shuo Ming with a hint of unspoken sorrow and indignation in his eyes. "You can kill me if you want! I can go find my mother then!"