Chapter 32: Sending Troops to Punish the Rebels

  The massacre, regardless of the dynasty or country, has always been a taboo. Because such things have exceeded the moral bottom line of humanity, except for those with psychological abnormalities, no one is not disgusted by this kind of thing, and Pang Gang and the people of Wang Hai Castle are naturally no exception.

  Pang Gang slammed his hand on the table and shouted: "This gang of thieves is so evil, they have lost all sense of morality! As an official of the Ming dynasty, how can I just sit back and watch these bandits run amok?! We must eliminate them completely, cut them off entirely, in order to protect the peace and security of this place!"

  "Right! We must exterminate them all!" The whole hall was stirred up, and everyone waved their arms in excitement.

  However, after the excitement, everyone was a bit worried. After calculating the strength of Wanghai Fort, they found that there were only 240 soldiers in total at this time. It was impossible to send them all out, otherwise, if bandits came to attack, they wouldn't even have the power to defend themselves. The Qianri Fort was a lesson learned from past experiences. In this case, the force that could be sent out would be limited to one hundred households, which is 120 people. However, relying solely on these 120 people to deal with the 500-600 bandits on Gouyashan Mountain was completely uncertain.

  After much discussion, Pang said: "Don't worry, I think such a big thing must have alarmed the Commander and the Magistrate, the government will not ignore it. We should wait for a few more days, during which we also need to make our own preparations."

  The Hua Yan also stroked his sparse beard: "Sir, you are right. In my humble opinion, the documents from above should have arrived by now!"

  Everyone else nodded in helpless agreement, only Da Zhuang whispered: "Hua Juan is pretending to be mysterious again, where did the official document come from after so many days?"

  Just as Da Zhuang's words had barely left his lips, a soldier came to report, "The gentlemen, the thousand-household leader has arrived!"

  As soon as Shi Zu's words came out, Pang Gang and Hua Yan exchanged a slight smile, and Pang Gang immediately led the crowd out of the hall.

  Outside the main gate of Qianhu Suo, Pang Gang's old acquaintance and former superior, Bin Shi Qianbai, was standing at the entrance with three attendants holding horses, waiting. Although they were wearing thick winter clothes, their faces were still scratched by the biting cold wind, and the war horses behind them kept spitting out white air.

  Pang Gang hastily welcomed Bin Shi Qian and the others into the main hall, and ordered someone to serve hot ginger soup to Bin Shi Qian and the others to warm them up.

  Bin Shiqian picked up the ginger soup and drank it without caring about scalding her mouth. After a large bowl of ginger soup went down, her face, which had been frozen to a greenish color, finally returned to its normal complexion.

  Pang Gang sat quietly on one side without making a sound, and only asked at this time: "Sir Bin, what is the urgent matter that made you rush here?"

  Bin Shiqian put down the big bowl and spoke after comfortably burping: "Brother Pang, to be honest! This time I came here with an important matter. You should already know about the tragic case that happened in Qianri Fort a few days ago."

  Pang Gang smiled wryly and said, "This Bin Bai Hu is indeed not seeing outsiders, calling each other brothers as soon as they meet. However, he couldn't care about that much at this time, and with a stern face, he said: 'I also just found out, I'm discussing it with several general flags and Hua Zan merchants right now? Who would have thought that Zhou Youcai dared to commit such a heinous crime, he's really asking for death!'"

  "Since my younger brother still knows, I won't explain much. After the massacre of Qianri Fort, Qingzhou was shaken, and the two masters, Zhi Fu and Zhi Hui, were extremely enraged. They have issued a strict order to our Ling Shan Wei to quickly dispatch troops to exterminate these bandits, not allowing a single person to escape, especially that bandit leader Zhou Youcai - he must be seen dead or alive! Currently, the Ministry of War has not yet sent new Qianhu to our Ling Shan Wei, so we, the several Baihu of Ling Shan Wei, have decided to jointly dispatch troops from Qiu Hong Fort, Wang Hai Fort, and Ling Shan Wei in three days to exterminate these bandits. I wonder how many soldiers your Wang Hai Fort can send?"

  Pang Gang clasped his fists and said solemnly, "As a Ming official, it is my duty to eliminate the bandits. Please be assured, sir. Three days later, I will lead 120 elite soldiers to Lingshanwei to meet with you gentlemen and jointly kill the bandits!"

  Bin Shiqian listened and his eyes seemed to be thinking, sweeping across Pang Gang's face a few times before withdrawing his gaze. He nodded: "Very good, then I'll return to Ling Shan Wei to report back. Farewell!"

  Pang Gang also knew that Bin Shi Qian's matter was urgent and did not speak to retain him, leading people to send him all the way to the outside of the fortress. Only when he knew that Bin Shi Qian and three followers had become small black dots did he return to the great hall of the hundred households.

  After entering the hall, Pang Gang immediately ordered Wang Zhi and Da Zhuang to quickly tidy up the army and horses. Three days later, they must arrive at Ling Shan Wei to meet with the remaining hundred households' troops and jointly eliminate the bandits. At the same time, he also ordered Hua Yan and Li Xian to prepare food and supplies. This time, Pang Gang could not expect anyone to provide charitable assistance, now he can only rely on himself.

  As there are no mules in the current Wanghai Fortress, all the luggage can only be carried by people. For this reason, Pang Gang also ordered Li Xian to recruit 100 strong men as a luggage team, specializing in carrying grain and grass. In foreign wars, one strong man consumes about one liter of food per day, now there are 200 people, that is, 200 liters of food will be consumed in one day. Pang Gang prepared five days' worth of grain and grass, plus the fodder for several horses, which requires preparing 22 stones of luggage, all of which must be done quickly to succeed.

  In this contingent of 120 people, apart from the 60 long-gunners led by Pang Gang, the rest were all soldiers holding firearms. This was already the best that Pang Gang could muster at Wanghai Tower at this time. The remaining 120 soldiers were left to guard Wanghai Tower, which was Pang Gang's old nest and must not be lost at all costs.

  Moreover, a hundred households' military quota is only one hundred and twenty men. If it exceeds that number and is investigated by someone with ulterior motives after the fact, it will be troublesome.

  According to the rules of the Ming army at that time, soldiers needed to be given silver and military rations when they went out to fight. This was a common problem since ancient times. However, Pang Gang was so poor that he had no silver to distribute to everyone. Before this battle, Pang Gang explained the situation to the soldiers. In order to ensure the safety of Wang Hai Fortress and their families, and because Pang Gang's prestige in the fortress was high, the soldiers did not complain. Moreover, before departure, Pang Gang also made a promise to the soldiers that if they achieved any success in this campaign, all the soldiers who participated would be rewarded with four-tenths of the spoils.

  Three days later, at dawn, before the sky was bright, Pang Gang set out with 120 soldiers and 100 logistics personnel. All the military households in the fortress came to see them off, and everyone's expression was reluctant to part with each other. Some ladies and elderly people were wiping away tears, after all, this time they left, it was unknown whether the men in their families could come back again. However, they only dared to wipe away tears secretly behind their backs. There were also women who exhorted their husbands to follow General Pang to fight well and make meritorious achievements.

  Compared to the military dependents, the soldiers who went on this expedition were not so worried. They didn't have to travel too far to get here, and they had been practicing their combat skills for several months, feeling stifled every day, and looking forward to this day.

  Pang Gang rode on the big red horse sent by Song Zhihui, wearing a shiny suit, standing at the front of the team, holding a bright silver spear in his hand, with a large Damascus curved knife hanging from his waist, wearing a fish-scale armor on his body, and wearing the Ming army's eight-plate iron helmet on his head, looking very majestic.

  He bowed to the crowd, swung his long spear and led the 60 spearmen forward. Behind them were 60 gunners, followed by Hua Yan's 100 logistics soldiers.

  As the troops departed, the 220 people slowly disappeared from everyone's sight...

  New book seeking recommendation, seeking collection!