Chapter 9: The Clever Capture of the Mountain Fortress

  The two of them dug in the woods for more than an hour or two, and didn't even see a shadow of a person, but tigers, leopards and other fierce beasts appeared much more frequently. If it weren't for Da Niu's strong backing, Yang Tian wouldn't have wanted to stay here for another minute.

  By noon, the two had no choice but to temporarily stop and eat some dry rations.

  After finishing his dry rations, Yang Tian instructed Big Cow to just wander around the vicinity and not run too far away, as he would be back in half a time unit. Then he logged off the game.

  Ordered takeout over the phone, the food was sumptuous, Yang Tian would never skimp on his stomach.

  As soon as they entered the game, the big cows didn't seem to find their sudden appearance curious, perhaps the system had already given them an explanation that seemed reasonable when setting them up.

  "Your Excellency! I've found a small stronghold on the mountain ahead. It should be the dwelling place of the Shan Yue people."

  Yang Tian was overjoyed and immediately said: "Great! Let's go take a look!"

  Taking advantage of the cover of a low shrub, the two of them sneaked to a place more than 100 meters away from the mountain village. Further in, it was just low crops, and going out would expose them.

  The scale of this stronghold is not very large, looking at the occupied area, there are at most more than 200 people. The outer perimeter of the stronghold is surrounded by a fence that is over one person high, the gate of the stronghold is open, with four men holding iron spears and wearing leather armor standing guard, on both sides there is a wooden watchtower about two zhang high, each watchtower has a soldier standing on it holding a bow and arrow.

  "Could there actually be archers?" This is a type of soldier that can only appear in a county-level territory. However, the fact is that this mountain stronghold has not reached the level of a county, and the simplest point is that it does not have stone walls. Moreover, as a mountain stronghold where all citizens are soldiers, its military strength cannot be inferred by common sense.

  "It's great to have equipment!" Yang Tian couldn't help but exclaim as he looked at the big cow wearing cloth clothes and holding a wooden staff.

  If we were to put armor on a fierce bull and equip it with long spears, what's the point of sneaking around here? We'd just charge in directly!

  After observing for a while, Yang Tian felt it was safer to lead these guys out one by one.

  Bian Tou whispered something in Da Niu's ear...

  Inside the mountain stronghold, the archer on the watchtower was daydreaming about his new wife at home when he suddenly noticed that the leaves of a tree over 200 meters outside the stronghold were shaking violently. He exclaimed excitedly: "Brothers, it looks like we'll have extra food for dinner tonight! Look down the mountain slope... there... I reckon it's a wild beast."

  "Beast? Where?...... Wow! The trees are shaking. Let's go! Little Three, the four of us will go take a look." Gunner A said to the other three gunners. As for having wild game to eat at night, the others naturally wouldn't have any objections and all carried their long guns towards the suspected wild boar location.

  The archer Yi looked at the four retreating riflemen and smiled, "I reckon it's just wild boars again! Just a few days ago we shot a few that were stealing crops, didn't expect them to come back today."

  "Who cares! As long as there's meat to eat... Hmm? No, that's not right. Why didn't they react at all after going in?"

  Gong Bingyi also discovered the problem. If they had encountered a wild boar or something, the four of them would have started acting already. But now, after entering the thicket, there was no movement from those four for half a day.

  "Something's wrong! Hu Zi, you quickly report to the leader. I'll go take a look at the situation!" said Archer A with furrowed brow.

  "The situation is unclear now, let's wait for the village head to come before going out. You wait here first." After saying that, Archer Yi climbed down from the watchtower.

  Soon, a group of people walked over from the village, with the first one being a big man wearing chain mail and holding a long iron spear.

  Under the leadership of Archer Yi, a group of forty or fifty people arrived at the place where the leaves had just rustled.

  Seeing the chaotic footprints on the ground, but the four riflemen were nowhere to be seen, and there was no bloodstain on the ground.

  The Great Han's face suddenly turned black. He roared: "Notify everyone in the village, search for me! I want to see which bastards dare to be wild on my turf!"

  Under the order, all the young and strong men in the village took action with their weapons, about a hundred or more people, five people in a group, carrying out a blanket search around the mountain village for ten miles.

  However, the search effect is not very good, and it's getting worse.

  Because originally many people became fewer and fewer, of course, this big Han village owner did not notice this situation.

  "Ah!......" A loud cry for help came, the bandit leader's face changed, and he shouted loudly: "Quickly! Rush over!" After that, he led the way and rushed towards that direction.

  When they arrived at the place, they found two people leisurely leaning against a tree waiting for them. One held a long gun and the other grasped a wooden knife.

  "Why did you two attack my villagers?" The village head saw that five of his men were lying on the side, their lives hanging in the balance. Of course, he knew that these two were the ones he had been looking for.

  These two were Yang Tian and Da Niu.

  Yang Tian smiled and said: "Actually, it's nothing. I just saw that you have a lot of weapons here, and I don't have any suitable ones on hand, so I came to borrow two."

  "How dare you! Do you think our mountain stronghold is unmanned?" The leader was furious and shouted loudly.

  Yang Tian burst out laughing: "Are there many people in your village? Look around you, how many people are left?"

  The village head looked around and found that after waiting for so long, except for the four people who came with him, there were only five people in total. The village head's heart trembled a little.

  Yang Tiandao said: "No need to wait any longer, all your people have arrived. As for the other 140 people, don't bother waiting, I've already arranged for them."

  "You... Your Excellency's methods are truly ingenious! And your heart is so ruthless!" The bandit chief's face turned pale.

  Yang Tian smiled nonchalantly: "You're overpraising me, in such a chaotic world, if one's heart isn't ruthless enough, it would be very hard to survive."

  "Alright then! Let the bandit chief come and meet you! Let's see just how clever your tactics are." The bandit chief looked around for a while, but no one came from his side. The other side probably only had these two people as well, so he relaxed a lot, still being quite confident in his own martial skills.

  "Alright! Great Master, you can go and learn a few moves from this Village Chief!" Yang Tian instructed. The other party was a dignified Village Chief, at the very least a low-ranking Martial General, and Yang Tian had no intention of going up there to get himself killed.

  The great cow didn't hesitate, holding the wooden-handled long spear in his hand and came up. He had been eyeing that iron-made long spear in his opponent's hand for a long time!

  The two men quickly clashed, but the opening was very brilliant, and the ending came too soon. In just three rounds, the tip of the bull's gun was already pointing at the throat of the chief...

  The villagers who came with the village owner originally wanted to wait for the village owner to show off his divine power and beat the opponent into a pulp. But they didn't expect that Big Cow was so fierce, and one by one, they were all scared stiff and didn't dare move.

  Yang Tian then walked forward and smiled: "My lord, I don't know if you are convinced!"

  The village master also counted as a bachelor, raised his head and said: "I'm not as good as others, what's there to say? Whether to kill or to behead, it's all up to you!"

  Yang Tian sighed and said, "You, the leader of this stronghold, are somewhat of a failure. As a leader, don't you consider the well-being of your own people?" Yang Tian fully utilized his eloquence.

  The villagers were fine, but as soon as they heard this, the village chief's face turned green with rage and said: "What is there to consider? My entire village has only over 200 people, and more than 140 of them are young men who have been killed by you. What chance do the rest have to survive? Even if you don't kill them, the wild beasts in the mountains will take their lives!"

  Yang Tian burst out laughing: "Haha! Haha! When did I ever say that I would kill your villagers, young master?"

  "You didn't kill them? How is that possible?" The village head clearly did not believe it.

  "I just had my men knock them out and hide them away. Of course, whether you believe it or not is up to you!" Yang Tian said with a very kind expression.

  The village head was taken aback, clearly not expecting this situation. After a long pause, he let out a sigh and said, "What do you want to do?"

  Yang Tian saw that they were dressed in simple clothes and his heart was delighted. He hastily said, "It's nothing, I just think you're living a hard life in this mountain, so I want to help you have a better life."

  The leader finally understood Yang Tian's purpose and thought to himself: "You want me to surrender, just say so, don't talk about letting us live a better life." However, the leader was still clever and knew that this couldn't be said out loud. At that time, it would be better not to mention living a better life, I'm afraid even harder days can't be endured.

  The chief thought for a moment and said: "Alright! As long as I can confirm that all of my villagers are alive, I will lead the entire village to surrender to you immediately."

  "Good! Refreshing!" Yang Tian was overjoyed and said, "Great Cow, put down your weapon!"

  After the village master gained his freedom, he first went to check on the several subordinates who were lying on the ground. As expected, they were still breathing and had just fainted. At this time, he also believed more than half of what Yang Tian said.

  The village head then had five of his men carry the unconscious people back to the mountain stronghold. He himself took the remaining people and Yang Tian to see other villagers.

  Arrived at a cave, inside was packed with people lying down. The owner of the village who was very familiar with his own villagers naturally knew that these were all his subordinates.

  After checking, it turned out that none of them were dead, all 144 people are here.

  At this moment, Village Master immediately knelt down on one knee facing Yang Tian and said: "Your subordinate Wuma has seen the master!"