Chapter Thirty-Seven: Total Annihilation

  The arquebusiers were pale-faced one by one, but before they could think more, another loud shout came into their ears, and the troops obeyed: "Raise your guns!"

  "Kill."

  "Take aim!"

  "Kill!"

  Again the sound of "pfft pfft" entered his ears, and seven or eight bandits fell to the ground like their companions. The heavy losses made dozens of bandits around them unbearable to see their companions being slaughtered by the government soldiers as easily as killing chickens, and they collectively let out a shrill cry and retreated backwards without warning.

  Just as Pang was about to order the long gunners to pursue, a burst of "bang bang" gunfire came from behind, and more than a dozen bandits fleeing backwards fell to the ground. It turned out that Wang Zhi had brought up the bird gunners from behind.

  "All troops listen to orders, pursue and attack!"

  Killing with great fanfare, Pang Gang loudly shouted and led the soldiers to chase after the retreating bandits. Pang Gang and the soldiers chased the bandits into the mountain stronghold and stopped in front of a large hall. A ferocious-looking ruffian, about thirty years old, stood at the forefront of over a hundred bandits armed with knives, guns, and clubs, glaring menacingly at Pang Gang and the arriving soldiers.

  Seeing Pang Tong leading the soldiers to chase him, this fierce bandit shouted, "Damn it! You officials and soldiers are really damn persistent. Go your own way on Yangguan Road, I'll go my own way on Dumu Bridge, why bother to pursue me so hard!"

  Pang Gang said in a cold voice: "You must be Zhou Youcai, the leader of the bandits on Dog's Tooth Mountain. Your evil deeds are numerous, and you even slaughtered dozens of military households in Qianri Fortress. Did you ever think that it would come to this today?"

  Zhou Youcai sneered, a glint of ferocity flashing in his eyes: "Who made that old good-for-nothing not know how to behave? It's his good fortune that I've taken a liking to his daughter. Since he doesn't know what's good for him, I naturally won't be polite to him!" Although Zhou Youcai knew he couldn't escape today, his face didn't show any fear, and with an evil expression, he continued to wield the large knife in his hand.

  "Hehe..."

  Pang Gang heard this and instead of getting angry, he burst out laughing. "So you're saying that if someone takes a liking to another person's daughter, it's the other person's good fortune? And if they don't agree to let you slaughter their whole family, it's actually something they should be grateful for? Hmph! You really are a person who deserves to die!"

  After finishing speaking, Pang Gang immediately took two steps back and loudly commanded: "Gunners, listen to orders! Prepare!"

  "Bang!" With a loud noise, the bird gunners who had arrived in time raised their Remington guns and aimed at the bandits in front of them.

  "Brothers, kill the government soldiers!" With a determined look on his face, Zhou Youcai raised the big knife in his hand and charged towards Pang Gang.

  "Knock knock knock knock..."

  A burst of gunfire sounded, accompanied by a faint white smoke rising, and Zhou Youcai, who was charging at the front, suddenly had more than a dozen bullet holes on his body and fell back, his eyes wide open in death. The remaining bandits had long lost their will to fight, and now seeing their leader dead, they hastily threw down their weapons and knelt down to beg for mercy.

  Just then, another round of footsteps sounded from behind. It turned out that Hao Dajun had seen Pang Gang break through the short wall at the foot of the mountain and was leading all the soldiers in a charge up the hill.

  After seeing the friendly forces arrive, many soldiers in Wang Hai's fortress sat down on the ground in a daze, with many still having a blank expression on their faces. Looking at the battlefield littered with corpses before their eyes, many people couldn't believe that these ferocious bandits were actually killed by themselves.

  Just a few months ago, these soldiers were just some military households or vagrants who only knew how to farm, and no one had ever thought that they would be able to kill people as easily as killing chickens.

  On the side, Da Zhuang and Wang Zhi were also stunned. They didn't expect that the gunners trained according to Pang Gang's routine would have such strong attacking power. The long spear soldiers who formed a formation were like an invincible iron hammer, and everything in front of them was ruthlessly crushed. The bandits in front of them were the best example.

  Pang Gang leaned against a tree, panting heavily, looking at the corpses scattered all over the ground, and felt a wave of nausea. Although he was not a rookie who had never seen blood, seeing hundreds of bloody bodies in front of him for the first time, and these people died because of his own orders, made him feel uncomfortable. During the battle just now, he didn't think about it, but after finishing the fight and feeling relaxed, a cold wind blew by, bringing with it the smell of blood, making him feel like vomiting. Pang Gang couldn't hold back anymore, and he leaned over to vomit beside the tree, tears and snot streaming out.

  Just as Pang Gang was enjoying himself, a large hand gently patted his back. Pang Gang looked down and saw that it was Hao Daxiong helping him pat his back to relieve his indigestion.

  Pang Gang hastily straightened up and wiped his face with his hand, saying awkwardly: "Lord Hao, I am guilty of disappointing you."

  Hao Da smiled strangely on his face: "Pang Baihu doesn't have to blame himself, you've done a great job. You led sixty elite soldiers into the mountain stronghold, defeated hundreds of bandits and beheaded the bandit leader among them. This is a great achievement, what fault is there?"

  Hao Da turned his head and shouted: "Hei Bai Hu!"

  "Humbly at your service!" Hao Dazhu's subordinate, Hei Tie, suddenly appeared from nowhere and stood respectfully in front of Hao Dazhu. However, when his gaze swept across Pang Gang's face, it seemed to flash with a hint of mockery.

  "Hei Baihu, go and summon Bin Baihu, Qi Baihu and Lu Baihu to bring these bandits back to the camp area. Tomorrow we will report our victory to Commander Zhang! " Hao Da used hesitated for a moment before asking: "Pang Baihu, I notice that you don't look well, do you want to return to the camp to rest?"

  Pang Gang hastily shook his head, "Thank you, Sir, for your concern. I am not seriously injured. The other soldiers are still clearing out the bandits, how could I dare to return to camp alone?"

  Hao Dazhuang nodded and said: "Very well, let Pang Baihu search for the remaining enemies with the rest of the troops!"

  "Yes sir!" Pang Gang cupped his fist and led the soldiers towards the mountain stronghold to search.

  The Dog Teeth Mountain was not big, and there were not many buildings inside. Before long, the silver and grain hidden by the bandits in the warehouse were searched out and piled up on the empty ground like a small mountain. The silver searched from the warehouse had more than 2,000 taels, and the food had nearly 500 stones, such a large number of which made all the officers and soldiers look at each other with their eyes wide open.

  Pang Gang did not expect that a small mountain stronghold would have so much grain and silver. This is just a small stronghold, after all! Is it really that easy to make money by looting? At this moment, Pang Gang suddenly seemed to understand why some people were willing to become bandits - it turned out that looting was indeed the fastest way to get rich! Just look, in just a year or two, Zhou Youcai had looted so much wealth and grain. No wonder when Zhou Youcai was surrounded earlier, he still had a fierce expression on his face. It's no wonder that bandits throughout history only wanted to destroy and not build - the spoils of looting were indeed faster than the hard work of farming!

  Not mentioning the pondering Pang Gang, the military officers looked at the large pile of wealth on the empty ground and smiled one by one. However, despite this, they had not yet lost their rationality, and each gaze floated towards Hao Dayong, as the highest commander, Hao Dayong had the final decision-making power over this wealth.

  Hao Da stroked his short mustache and hesitated for a moment before saying to Pang Gang: "Pang Baihu, taking down this mountain stronghold is the greatest merit of Wanghai Fortress. As for the spoils, let's divide them into four parts."

  As soon as this was said, the faces of all the military officers turned ugly, especially Hei Tie beside Hao Dazhong, whose eyes towards Pang Gang revealed a hint of ferocity.

  Pang Gang thanked Hao Da with a fist, and then turned around to order the soldiers to start distributing silver and food. It was as if he hadn't seen the hungry look on the faces of the military officers.

  Pang Gang deeply understood that the military had always followed the principle of "whoever has the bigger fist is harder", and the modesty and courtesy prevalent among scholars were not feasible in the military. Moreover, at present, Wang Hai Fortress was in its pioneering stage, lacking everything, and every bit of material resources would increase its strength. It was unreasonable for him to give things away generously.

  Watching Pang Gang's subordinates continuously transporting supplies, the military officers felt a pang of pain in their hearts, but they also knew that Hao Dazhuang's allocation plan was not unreasonable. If it weren't for Pang Gang leading the charge into the mountain stronghold first, their side would still be unaware of how many people would have to die to take down this mountain stronghold.

  Until dusk, everyone finally moved the grain from the mountain village to the camp. Pang Gang got a total of 200 dan of grain and 800 liang of silver this time. He called over all the soldiers and said: "Brothers, before we set out, I promised you that whatever spoils we captured, I would give you four tenths of it. Now I am going to divide up four tenths of the spoils."

  After finishing, Pang Gang gave each of the soldiers who participated in the war two taels of silver and three dou of grain. Even the logistics personnel were given one tael of silver and one dou of grain per person. Additionally, he rewarded seven injured soldiers with four taels of silver and five dou of grain each, making everyone smile with joy.

  The power was out last night, so I'm sending this now, sorry!

  Also thanks for the reward from Crazy Man Far Institute's Tong Xie, thank you!