Chapter 9 The Bandits Arrived

  In the northwest direction of Lingshan Weibao, there is a village with more than 100 households. Because it is backed by an earth mountain, most people in the village are surnamed Wang, hence the name Wangjiatun.

  The land of Shandong has been known for its fierce folk customs since ancient times, especially the land of Qingzhou, where Cao Cao's powerful army that dominated the world during the Three Kingdoms period originated.

  After entering the late Ming Dynasty, due to severe land annexation, many farmers in Qingzhou who lost their land but were unwilling to be exploited by landlords took risks and became bandits, robbing merchants and travelers everywhere. In Wangjiatun, a group of habitual bandits gathered, led by a local bandit chief, a man in his thirties with a sturdy build, who had suffered from smallpox as a child and was left with pockmarks on his face, so the villagers called him Wang Dama Zi, while few people remembered his real name.

  Because Wang Dama Zi was cunning and cruel, he never left any survivors when robbing merchants, usually killing all the men and taking the women back to his stronghold for him and his accomplices to enjoy. As a result, he quickly gained notoriety in Lingshan Wei and gathered over 500 fugitives under his command. Recently, Wang Dama Zi kidnapped the young concubine of the Qingzhou Prefecture Magistrate Wei Tongnian, who was visiting her hometown. The magistrate was furious and immediately ordered the Qingzhou Commander-in-Chief and the Qingzhou Garrison to eliminate Wang Dama Zi's gang of bandits.

  Although the official position of Song Xinghe, the commander-in-chief of Qingzhou, is one level higher than that of Wei Tongnian, the governor of Qingzhou, Wei Tongnian and Yang Shiqing, the governor of Shandong, are old friends. Therefore, he had to give face to Wei Tongnian and ordered the soldiers to eliminate Wang Damaizi's gang within a limited time, along with the battalion commander. For this purpose, 2,000 stones of grain and 3,000 taels of silver were specially allocated as mobilization fees, which led to yesterday's scene where Pang Gang encountered Zhao Daxian transporting grain on his way back...

  A coarse and uneven wooden stick about two meters long, with a rusty iron spearhead inserted at one end, almost indistinguishable from the red-tasseled spears held by the children's team in the classic Chinese film "Landmine Warfare", this is the weapon that Comrade Pang Gang had just received.

  Since he shouldered this primitive-looking weapon, Pang Gang's mood has become increasingly depressed. Just two days ago, he was still a proud urban management officer in Xinghu City, chasing after small vendors every day, drinking with friends and colleagues at night, strolling through the night market or surfing the internet to flirt with female netizens, this life was so comfortable. But unexpectedly, the sky has unpredictable winds and clouds, and in the blink of an eye, he ran to the end of the Ming Dynasty, and even became a miserable soldier, this huge contrast made Pang Gang's mentality unable to adjust.

  Looking at the troops around him, dressed in a motley fashion, walking on the dusty road as if they were strolling down the street, holding some miscellaneous weapons in their hands, Pang Gang felt suffocated. What kind of suppression of bandits is this? This is clearly going to deliver vegetables. Although Pang Gang didn't know how many bandits there were in Wangjia Village or what equipment they had, he could be sure that those bandits' equipment was stronger than these people's, after all, their profession was killing and arson, while the people around him, let them farm, it's still okay, but let them go and kill people, forget it.

  They, however, had a thousand households' leader who felt quite good about himself, riding on a yellowish-brown inferior horse, holding in his hand a long spear that had been polished to shine, with a curved knife hanging at his waist, looking left and right very majestically.

  He secretly gazed at the curved knife on He Zhengnan's waist, and Pang Gang recognized it as the one he had "paid respects" to him with yesterday. Suppressing the anger in his heart, he was afraid of being detected by He Zhengnan, who was not far away. Pang Gang lowered his head and closely followed behind Da Zhuang.

  The troops set out at 9 am and marched for two hours until they reached the foot of a mountain ten miles away from Dawangzhuang at 3 pm. By then, the formation of the over 600-strong army had become disorganized, with soldiers originally following their battalion commanders now scattered all over the place, groaning in agony. Some even sat down by the roadside, ignoring the scolding and beating from their battalion commanders or family servants, refusing to get up.

  Seeing this scene, He Zhengnan's mood naturally didn't improve, but he didn't erupt in anger. Instead, he held back his temper and ordered the troops to stop and rest; otherwise, the more than 600 people from Wangjiatun would have scattered long ago.

  After receiving the order to rest, hundreds of troops swarmed out like a general amnesty to find places to rest, and even more than 100 family servants were no exception.

  Pang Gang and a dozen or so companions arrived at the foot of the mountain, sat down on a slope, pulled out a bamboo tube filled with water from their waist, took a few sips, and gazed silently at the small forest at the foot of the mountain.

  Da Zhuang, sitting on the ground, glanced at Pang Gang and smiled: "Gangzi, didn't expect it, you kid can still walk quite well, after walking for two hours, you haven't fallen behind yet."

  Da Zhuang, as his name suggests, is quite robust. Although he doesn't eat well on a daily basis, compared to others, he's still much stronger. He originally thought that Pang Gang, who looks pale and weak, would fall behind the team within an hour, but unexpectedly, after two hours of continuous walking, this kid was still following closely behind him, full of energy.

  Facing Da Zhuang's praise, Pang Gang just smiled faintly and didn't speak. Although he had no experience of long-distance marching, his daily nutrition was very good since he came from the future, plus the physical quality that often got "exercise" due to work reasons, walking for one or two hours wasn't too difficult for him.

  "Gangzi, why are you always staring at that grove of trees over there? Is something wrong?" asked Gou Reng, the thinner dog, who was more meticulous and had noticed Gangzi constantly looking in the direction of the woods.

  He took a sip of water, and Pang Gang said slowly: "Don't you think this road is too quiet all the way here? By rights, with five or six hundred of us coming in such a big way, even a blind man would know, wouldn't those bandits from Wangjia Village know? Now that we're approaching their lair, they don't make any noise at all. Don't you think it's strange?"

  "There must be something strange, maybe those bandits saw our army gathering and escaped without a trace!" A voice came from behind, Pang Gang fixed his eyes to take a look, it turned out to be Li Yuan, the young man who led the way for him yesterday. Behind Li Yuan stood an old man in his fifties, with half of his hair and beard white, and more than ten holes were mended on his swan-patterned battle jacket.

  "Yuan'er, don't be naughty!" The old man glared at Li Yuan and then smiled apologetically at Pang Gang, "This young fellow, my son is still young and ignorant, please don't mind him."

  "It's nothing!" Pang Gang smiled faintly and pointed to the forest in front of him, saying: "I was just casually talking about it, don't take it seriously. However, if I were that bandit leader, I would definitely send out a small group of people to lure the government soldiers into that forest, then set up an ambush inside the forest, and rely on our familiarity with the terrain to wipe us out in one go."

  "Cut it out, you say they'll come out and they will? How is that possible?" The young man beside him curled his lip.

  "Son!" The old man scolded his son with some anger, and then sighed helplessly. This son was really a source of trouble, always offending people for no reason.

  It was just that Pang Gang didn't take the young man's words to heart, and his mind had already turned elsewhere.

  It seemed that the heavens were verifying Pang Gang's words, as a dozen or so men in tattered clothing ran out of the forest less than 300 meters away from Pang Gang. Each person held a large bow and shot arrows at the dozens of soldiers sitting near the forest. Only a few mournful cries were heard before five or six soldiers fell to the ground. After shooting two rounds of arrows, these men immediately ran back into the forest.

  "Enemy incoming... Enemy incoming..."

  "The habitual bandits have arrived!"

  Dozens of soldiers were ambushed and immediately alerted the nearby resting troops, who had never seen blood before. The inexperienced soldiers shouted loudly, and their first reaction was not to prepare for battle, but to scatter in all directions like sheep being released.

  All of this happened in just a short span of time, no more than half the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, leaving everyone stunned and speechless.

  Dazhuang looked at everything that happened not far away, stunned and muttered to himself, "Gangzi... ...it really was said by you, those thieving soldiers really came..."