Chapter 11: The Perfect Ambush

  The mountain village was quiet and dark, with no mountain bandits on night watch.

  The defense is so lax, these mountain bandits can roam freely until now, it's also quite lucky.

  Before long, torches were lit one after another on the mountain stronghold above.

  Zhou Jian's eyes narrowed, he waved his hand, and over a hundred people immediately slipped silently into the mountain stronghold.

  "Arson."

  Zhou Jian gave an order and one hundred water bandits were divided into ten teams, under the leadership of ten followers, they immediately started setting fires everywhere.

  On the mountain ridge, a shrill and mournful cry pierced through the silent night sky.

  The mountain bandit was startled awake from his sleep, his head still somewhat dizzy and confused, unsure of what had happened.

  One after another, a huge fire broke out rapidly, illuminating the mountain stronghold from above and to the west.

  Bang!

  A crude wooden hut was smashed open, and a nearly naked man rushed out rubbing his eyes. He didn't snap awake until he saw the towering flames in front of him, and when he heard the cries of killing all around, he froze in shock.

  "The government soldiers are coming to kill us, run quickly!"

  In the midst of wailing and screaming, the mountain bandits who were hacked at let out mournful long howls.

  "Pffft!"

  Zhou Jian cut down a bandit who was still in a daze with one slash of his sword, and with a wave of his horse whip, he immediately led over a hundred men to charge into the bandits' lair.

  It's all messed up, everything is messed up.

  The mountain bandits were caught off guard, having no mental preparation for being killed. Suddenly faced with this unexpected change, all the mountain bandits who woke up from their familiar sleep were like headless flies, rushing around in the stronghold.

  "The government soldiers are coming to kill us, run quickly!"

  The wailing cries that rose and fell were even more terrifying to the mountain bandits, who were already confused about what was happening, and they were frightened out of their wits, like a dog that had lost its master.

  A dozen or so fierce mountain bandits brandished their rusty machetes, charging forward with a loud shout.

  Zhou Jian brandished his sword and charged forward, suddenly letting out a loud shout: "Kill!"

  The sound was like a thunderclap, exploding right next to the mountain bandits, shaking the ground and causing over ten of them to have their hearts and gallbladders shattered, and they fell to the ground with a thud.

  Zhou Jian swung his sword and swiftly beheaded the three mountain bandits in front of him, cutting them into six pieces, their intestines spilling all over the ground.

  Over a hundred people behind him rushed forward like wolves smelling blood, and with a flurry of knives, they quickly turned the remaining dozen or so mountain bandits into minced meat. The dozens of mountain bandits who had just rushed forward were frightened out of their wits and immediately turned around and ran in disarray.

  On the mountain stronghold, large fires broke out on all sides to the west.

  The mountain bandits were so flustered that they didn't even think about it, and immediately someone rushed down from the front and east.

  More mountain bandits rushed out of the thatched cottages, seeing people rushing down, most of the mountain bandits didn't think and followed the crowd to rush down the mountain. Only a very small number of fierce and brave mountain bandits took their knives and killed towards the place where the miserable cries were coming from.

  The battle lasted less than an hour before it ended.

  Zhou Jian and Zhou Wu, Jiang Qin met in the mountain stronghold, when there were no more bandits standing in the stronghold.

  More than 300 mountain bandits were killed or wounded, and the rest of the mountain bandits did not know how many government soldiers came, and in the chaos, they all rushed down the mountain cliff from the front and east sides of the stronghold. In the darkness, it is unknown how many were smashed to death or injured.

  Zhou Wu brought over more than 50 mountain bandits who were wounded but not dead and asked for instructions on how to deal with them.

  Zhou Jian swept his gaze over the injured mountain bandits, and said coldly: "Robbing the rich is one thing, but harming poor civilians as well? What's the point of keeping such scum around? Kill them all."

  Zhou Wu accepted the order and immediately beheaded all the wounded mountain bandits.

  Twenty followers did not know what was going on, as long as it was Zhou Jian's order, they would unconditionally execute.

  Jiang Qin and two hundred pirates secretly praised him, thinking that Zhou Jian's words were really heartwarming.

  These bandits were all from poor backgrounds. If they had enough food to eat, who would want to become a thief? They naturally didn't have good feelings towards the wealthy.

  Zhou Jian favored the wealthy households while being heavy on the poor common people, naturally winning over the recognition and support of these local rascals.

  Soon, more than 50 captured mountain bandits were killed, and Zhou Wu returned to report.

  Zhou Jian then asked Zhou Wu, "What are the casualties?"

  "Thirty-two lightly wounded, three seriously injured, none killed or disabled."

  Zhou Jian nodded, no deaths or injuries, this real combat training was almost perfect. The two hundred pirates were originally desperate characters, specially trained for nearly a month, and it was an ambush, so the action could be so smooth.

  If it's a group of newbies who have never killed anyone before, then it is fundamentally impossible to achieve the goal of zero casualties.

  Zhou Jian gathered everyone together, his eyes scanning the two hundred pirates like a wolf, and said in a low voice: "You are no exception. If anyone dares to harm the poor people, I will not forgive them lightly."

  Two hundred water thieves were shocked and immediately remembered this iron law firmly in their hearts.

  Jiang Qin couldn't help but feel secretly relieved, fortunately they only robbed the rich, never the poor common people, otherwise, it's estimated that Zhou Jian wouldn't have let them off back then, and would have probably killed them all.

  Zhou Jian waved his hand and gave the order: "The wounded stay behind to rest, the others go down the mountain to pursue and kill the mountain bandits."

  Everyone responded in unison and quickly retreated.

  In the valley below, the cries of agony and groans were endless. Countless bandits lay with broken arms and legs, unable to move, letting out desperate wails that sounded like the mournful cries of night owls in the darkness, sending shivers down one's spine.

  Zhou Wu and Jiang Qin each led a team of water bandits, carrying torches to search for them. When they saw someone who was injured but not dead, they would add another knife.

  They worked hard until the sky was light and returned to the mountain stronghold to rest.

  Roughly estimated, adding up those who were killed and wounded, the bandits suffered over 200 casualties.

  Only a small number of bandits were lucky enough to escape with their lives and had already fled far away, it was unknown where they escaped to.

  There were quite a few grains and goods in the mountain village, as well as a large amount of silver money.

  Zhou Jianlue rested and reorganized his troops, immediately ordering them to return to Wan County, taking all the gold, silver, and money with them, but leaving behind the grain and other supplies.

  This gang of mountain bandits has been wiped out, and the Longshu County government will definitely send someone to investigate. This is not Anhui County, it's better not to have any contact with people from the Longshu County government.

  After leaving Longshu border and resting for two hours, when returning to Pujun County, the red sun had already set in the west.

  Zhou Jian had just returned to the other courtyard when Zhou Shang sent someone to summon him, so he hastily changed his clothes and went to the county government office again.

  "Father, the child has returned."

  Zhou Jian strode into the study and bowed respectfully.

  Zhou Shang nodded and waved his hand to dismiss Zhou Liang, looking him up and down a few times. Seeing that although Zhou Liang was still spirited, he couldn't hide the fatigue between his eyebrows, he asked with concern: "How are you? Can your body handle it?"

  "Father, don't worry, I'm fine."

  Zhou Shang then said, "The other day, your second uncle sent a letter from the capital, saying that General He Jin's second daughter, He Yan, has already been betrothed to Wang Yun's youngest son. This marriage is now off."

  Zhou Jian doesn't care, if it can't be done then so be it. There are many women in the world, a man with seven feet of stature won't worry about having no wife.

  Zhou Shang looked at his son for a few moments, then suddenly asked: "In recent years, many wealthy households in the surrounding counties have been robbed. Is it you who did it?"

  Zhou Jian's heart skipped a beat, but his face remained expressionless. He asked in surprise, "Father, why would you say such a thing? How could I do something like that?"

  Zhou Shang stared at him for a while, not knowing whether he believed it or not. He nodded and said, "As long as you didn't do it, that's fine. But sometimes when you walk on the road at night, you might encounter ghosts. In short, just be more careful in what you do."

  Zhou Jian only suddenly realized that although this era was ignorant and backward, the wisdom of the ancients could not be underestimated. Although he couldn't find any evidence, it didn't mean others wouldn't have doubts.

  His father's last words seemed to have a hint of advice, and it seems that he still had some doubts.

  If even his father can suspect himself, what about others?

  It seems that from now on, I won't be able to make any more risk-free trades.

  Even if you want to do it, you can't do it within Lujiang territory anymore.

  Zhou Jian thought for a moment and said, "Father, I have something to report."

  "What's up, speak!"

  Zhou Jian said, "This time, the child brought 200 water bandits to the wilderness for training and conducted a 200-mile exercise within the Longshu border. When they discovered a group of mountain bandits lurking in the Dabie Mountains, often descending the mountain to harm the local people, they took advantage of the situation and raided the mountain bandit's stronghold."

  Zhou's eyebrows jumped down and he asked: "How many mountain bandits are there?"

  "There were about a thousand or so people, we killed eight hundred of them, and the rest all escaped."

  "Crossing borders to attack the enemy is easily criticized! Even if it's to annihilate mountain bandits, it will still raise suspicions and make people doubt your loyalty to the king. Don't do such things that invite trouble again."

  "Son knows, Father can rest assured!"

  Zhou Shang waved his hand and Zhou Jian hastily retreated.

  After leaving the county government office, I was still thinking about how to come up with a way to get another 200 sets of iron armor and arm all 200 mountain bandits. Leather armor is lightweight and inexpensive, but its protective ability is not much worse than that of iron armor.

  If all equipped with iron armor, combat effectiveness will definitely be upgraded again.

  However, the iron armor is too expensive and having money doesn't necessarily mean you can buy it.

  The iron smelting technology of the Han Dynasty was already quite mature, and even had the quenching method, but productivity was extremely low, and iron remained a scarce resource. Except for weapons being entirely made of iron, most armor was still leather or bronze.

  As for weapons made of steel, ordinary people can't get them at all.

  Although the Han Dynasty had developed a method of steel production, forging steel weapons was still too time-consuming and labor-intensive, and the craftsmanship of artisans was also crucial.

  There is no refined iron produced within Lujiang's borders, and getting two hundred sets of iron armor isn't an easy task.

  There may be iron ore deposits, but with current exploration technology, it is estimated that they would be very difficult to find.

  Zhou Jian thought for a moment and decided that it was still necessary to equip the two hundred water bandits with iron armor as soon as possible. The quality of troops is more important than the quantity, and the quality of weapons and armor is one of the most important factors affecting combat effectiveness, which cannot be taken lightly.

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