Chapter Thirty-two Targeted Training

  Ci Yunying's words also brought up a bigger issue, the tiger cannon of the Zhou family was not placed upright, but rather sat flat on a stone base, which had an axle that could rotate.

  "This old scoundrel has learned all sorts of good things, but uses them for evil purposes."

  Yang Meng was also furious, this Zhou family's manor is like a turtle shell, he is the head of the fierce tiger, but he can't even open his mouth.

  Having fully understood the defense of the Zhou family, Yang Meng took the drawings back to his own yard. He didn't believe it, as a poisonous villain from a later generation, he couldn't even surpass a great Qing dynasty's Zhou Da Niu.

  Having been a mercenary and having done armed robbery, many things that had already been forgotten slowly flashed through Yang Meng's mind. An operation targeting the Zhou family estate also gradually took shape.

  Since ordinary attacks are useless, let's give him a special operation. At night is not the best time for a sneak attack, so choose a rainy day to attack Zhou's villa.

  Many of the mercenaries' tactics were also added to Yang Meng's plan, first controlling Zhou's family cannon and then dealing with his well-trained guards.

  It's raining, and none of the Yang family's firearms can be used. Yang Meng asked about the bow and arrow, and it turned out that they could be used in the rain, although their accuracy would be slightly off. As long as they control the tiger cannon, with their numerical advantage, they should be able to take down the Zhou family's manor.

  Yang Meng had just finalized the plan and asked Ding Baojun to consult with him, but there was still a problem. At this time of year, Yunnan rarely rains, and even if it does, it's only a shower. The plan to attack Zhou's mansion during the day was directly vetoed.

  At night, the defense of Zhou's house was strict. For an old thief like Zhou Shi Qing who had done all sorts of evil deeds, he must have been extremely cautious. It was likely that the early hours of the morning were the time when the defense of Zhou's house was the most strict.

  Ding Baojun was on the side, and Yang Meng also inquired that the Zhou family had not been disturbed for many years. If they wanted to launch a surprise attack on the Zhou family, they could only choose when the village guards were most lax.

  Dawn is the easiest time to be attacked. According to Zhou Jia Zhuang Ding's usual training, their vigilance is highest at this time, not a good time. Dinner time should be the best opportunity.

  Yang Meng found a few knife hands, went far away to observe the Zhou family, their cooking time was about when the sky just turned dark, then the hazy sky color, just right for a sneak attack.

  Moreover, having just eaten a meal, people's bodies will naturally feel somewhat lethargic and their reactions will slow down. Taking advantage of this time to launch a surprise attack on the Zhou family estate would have the highest success rate.

  The Zhou family estate is located on the main road in and out of Yiliang. The knife-wielding men just happened to be disguised as a horse team, first attracting their attention, taking advantage of the noise of the horse team, allowing the knife-wielding men to take advantage of the night to reach the pre-selected location, suddenly launching an attack, surrounding the Zhou family estate, and the knife-wielding men dealing with the Zhou family's guards.

  Yang Meng let Ding Baojun take a look at this plan again. This time he did not put forward any opinions, and it was considered approved.

  With a perfect plan in place, manpower still needs training, and making a model of the Zhou family mansion has become the top priority.

  Not all of them need to be made, only the location of Zhou's house with tiger squatting cannons and Zhuang Ding's residence are the main targets of attack. Once these problems are solved, the Zhou family estate will change hands.

  The knife's lethality was insufficient, so Yang Meng went to ask around and found out that the new knife hands had mostly hunted before and knew how to use bows and arrows. The dart was also a decent weapon. Yang Meng asked the craftsmen to make a batch of darts over a meter long, which could be used for throwing and killing people, and their lethality would be greater than that of a waist knife.

  One hundred skilled archers were selected to shoot and kill the strong men of the Zhou family. One hundred with great strength, who could throw darts accurately, formed the assault team. Fifty with good swordsmanship coordinated with the assault team. The rest disguised themselves as horsemen, surrounded the Zhou family, and not a single member of the Zhou family was allowed to escape.

  Divide into groups, and then start training. First is the assault team, let them take the wall of the Wu Zhuang courtyard as their target, learn how to quickly climb over the wall, and enter the yard smoothly without getting hurt.

  In the courtyard, there was a building model made of straw and a wooden tiger squatting cannon. The first step for these people was to disable the Zhou family's tiger squatting cannon. The method was simple - just pour water.

  After finishing these, they will work with the Knife Hand Squad and the Bow and Arrow Squad to one by one eliminate the strongmen of the Zhou family.

  The team responsible for encircling took Yangjia Village as the target, training in encirclement and blockade time and again, roughly mastering the route math, then conducting specific training.

  Archers first shoot at fixed targets, then moving targets, and finally practice in formations. The assault team is the same, familiarizing themselves with the accuracy of the crossbow bolts and how to kill with them one by one.

  These things are familiar, next is the real person to practice, this time Yang Meng also participated, he also has a task, when sneaking into Zhou's mansion, he will bring Tang Mei Yi, Wei Congzi and the most elite twenty knife hands, responsible for capturing Zhou Shi Qing alive.

  The knife-wielding men responsible for the outer encirclement played the role of the Zhou family's farmhands, and through repeated drills, not only did they improve their familiarity with the action, but also gradually enhanced their quality.

  In twenty days, Yang Meng spent all his time on the training ground, watching one knife hand after another, with increasingly pure movements. Yang Meng felt that they had reached their limit and would not make much progress even if they continued to practice.

  In these days, Yang Meng also constantly sent knife hands to tread on the plate in Zhou's family manor. The horse team of the Yang family often walked through Yiliang, which provided convenience for Yang Meng to suppress the horse gang and expand the team, with knife hands mixed inside, passing through Zhou's family manor at various time periods.

  The purpose of doing so is to let the knife hands familiarize themselves with the terrain around Zhou's house, and also to let the Zhou family get used to the large-scale horse team, slowly lowering their vigilance.

  The effect of doing so was quite good, and after a few times, every time the horse team passed by, the manager of the Zhou family would come out and directly purchase some goods from the horse team. Many knife hands also took advantage of the opportunity to transport goods and became familiar with the actual situation of the Zhou family's manor.

  The Yang family's goods were complete and the prices were much lower than in the county town. As a result, the Zhou family started doing business with the Yang family, and except for Zhou Shiqing's courtyard, almost every part of the Zhou family's estate had been visited by Yang Meng's knife-wielding men.

  And they also got a lot of useful information from Zhou Jia Zhuang Ding's mouth, and what made Yang Meng most excited was that there were tunnels in the Zhou family.

  Perhaps due to his misdeeds, Zhou Shiqing attaches great importance to his own safety. In his courtyard, ten of the most ruthless strongmen live there all year round, and these people are Zhou Shiqing's last insurance.

  Once the Zhou family's mansion was attacked, as long as he delayed for a moment, he would escape through the underground tunnel. If he didn't know this information, according to Yang Meng's original plan, it was likely that they wouldn't be able to catch Zhou Shiqing, the old thief.

  The knife hands have nothing to do except training, but Yang Meng is different. Capturing Zhou Shi Qing alive is just the first step in the plan. Having done this, there are still many important things to deal with.

  The Zhou family's wealth is abundant and overwhelming. Many people will be envious, especially the high-ranking officials in Yunnan, who can't help but covet the Zhou family's vast lands, countless mountains and forests, not to mention their liquid assets, which alone would make many people lose control of themselves.

  If Yang's family does this, they will soon become the second Zhou family. Although the soldiers and braves of Yunnan are rubbish, they can't withstand their large numbers.

  Bird guns, shoulder guns, and big iron cannons may not be enough to deal with foreign devils, but they are sufficient for the Yang family.

  To eat the fat meat at home next week, it must be legitimate in terms of procedure, and both the land deed and house deed must have been transferred. It's best to go through official channels, which is also why Yang Meng wants to capture Zhou Shi Qing alive.

  But he wasn't very familiar with what was inside, it seemed like he had to ask Old Ding again.

  This question is not a small problem, at this time there was no silver ticket, large transactions were all cash and silver, the mountains, forests, fields and gardens of the Zhou family, as well as that huge mansion, could not be solved with just tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of taels, to avoid suspicion, this price must be reasonable, it's best to have some extra.

  And land transactions also have two ways, folk handover without going through the government, that is called white deed, used on Zhou's family ten thousand hectares of good fields, apparently somewhat childish.

  Only after affixing the official seal of the imperial court and paying taxes, can a land deed, also known as a red contract, gain official recognition. Such a large transfer of land cannot be convincing without any visible gold or silver.

  Taking a large amount of gold and silver to Yiliang is clearly not a solution. If someone were to take notice, no matter how great the Yang family's reputation may be, it would not be able to withstand human greed.

  As for whether the Zhou family has such a large sum of gold and silver, it is also an unknown number. If there is no preparation in advance, many changes will occur over time.

  Ding Baojun roughly estimated that the Zhou family's property was worth at least 30 million taels of official silver. Such a large amount would be troublesome to take away, and this problem had to be solved before they could rightfully seize the Zhou family's property.

  It's a big problem to make Zhou Shi Qing sell his property, fortunately, Zhou Shi Qing is not a native of Yunnan, making an excuse for returning home is also good, since he's going back home, it's not convenient to bring a large amount of silver, exchanging the official silver for gold bars is a good choice.

  Three million taels of silver, according to the gold and silver exchange ratio, is also worth two hundred thousand taels of gold. This can give some ideas. Putting some lead blocks at the bottom and covering them with a layer of gold ingots can deceive the authorities.

  These lead blocks are also a trouble to transport, Yang Meng is going to rob, carrying such heavy goods, it's not very convenient, if you can put the lead blocks in advance at Zhou's house, it's a good choice.

  The Yang and Zhou families are not far apart, the goods of the Yang family are placed in the Zhou family, it's obviously unreasonable to say that they can't get through, going ahead with a horse team or going later with a horse team is also not a good idea, if the news leaks out, it will be a big trouble.

  "Let the merchant group going to Yiliang try with an excuse, if it works, we won't have to worry about money matters. Yang's family still has some influence on Zhou Shiqing."

  Since this matter can't be handled, let's try to force it. Maybe the Zhou family will take care of it for the Yang family's sake. Yang Meng told this idea to Ding Baojun, and see what he thinks about it.

  "What's the reason for that?"

  Lao Ding thinks it's okay to do so, but a suitable reason is needed.

  "Let's just say that Yiliang has a merchant who wants it, but for the time being, there isn't enough silver, so let's put it in the Zhou's house for a few days and avoid the trouble of us running back and forth!"

  "Zhou Shiqing is no fool, our Yang family also has fields and farms in Yiliang, why didn't he put it there?"

  "Tianzhuang? Tianzhuang is just a place, nothing but a few broken tile houses. So many lead blocks are also worth some silver, let's say it's safer to put them in the Zhou family."

  An old and a young man made up their minds, and directly let the horse pass by to try it out. As expected, just as Ding Baojun said, the Zhou family agreed.

  The matter of usurping the family property has been settled, and next we need to establish a relationship with Yiliang. Jiang Yuanyi is someone who can be collaborated with, but Yiliang Dianshi, who is in cahoots with Zhou Shiqing, must be eliminated.

  It's also a hassle to bribe Jiang Yuangui with silver, if it's too much he'll be suspicious, and if it's too little he won't be satisfied. To grasp this degree, we have to find the old master.

  "Good luck with your ginger business, ten thousand taels!"

  This is the old man's reply, it's hard to keep things from Jiang Yuangji, but it's also not easy for Jiang Yuangji to figure out the truth, both sides have unspoken understanding, that's the key to success.