Chapter 15: Plunder

  No matter how Zhai Zhe intimidated or bribed people to calm them down, his position as the leader of the horse thieves was unjust.

  There is Meng Kang in the horse thieves with prestige to support him, and Xiao Zhi's archery skills shocked the scene, but after all, he wants to turn this team into his own subordinates. Prestige is not gained by competing in martial arts or rewarding prizes.

  For seven consecutive days, the overall atmosphere in the mountain stronghold was cheerful. Di Zhe promoted Che Feng to be his trusted aide, and this group of horse thieves were almost all Han Chinese, he had Mongolian ancestry and was not well received by everyone.

  After the four guards of the Di family returned to Zhangjiakou, almost every day someone would quietly come to the valley to deliver messages from the collection and orders from Di Tang.

  In mid-November, on a night, Di Zhe and Xiao Zhishan lit more than 80 horse thieves and quietly left the valley in the middle of the night.

  Without a torch, the clear and cold moon in the sky made people feel even colder. The horse thieves were not unfamiliar with walking on the grasslands at night. But they rarely went out on such a cold winter's night, and someone occasionally complained softly. Di Zhe didn't hear it.

  "The Lu family's merchant caravan left Jizhen yesterday morning. At their usual speed, they will return to Zhangjiakou today at the earliest or tomorrow at the latest."

  In front of the team, Di Zhe whispered to Xiao Zhi that it was a message from Ji Zi. Whether it was Wang Shun Ge or Di Zhe himself, they both needed an attack on the Lu family's merchant team. Di Tang wanted to create some trouble for the Lu family, while Di Zhe hoped to establish his own prestige through a successful robbery.

  "Zhangba Grassland often has Chahar people's patrol cavalry! It is risky to launch a surprise attack there!"

  Di Zhe shook his head and said, "Don't worry, the Chahar people won't protect the merchant group. If the Lu family really established contact with the Chahar tribe, the merchant group wouldn't be so small in scale."

  Xiao Zhiyan's mouth curled up, his expression seeming to smile yet not quite smiling, asked: "Then why are you still being so cautious!" He didn't want to be a bandit, living by robbery and murder, but in the great Ming dynasty he had already gone too far to turn back. Zhai Zhe treated him like an older brother, making him feel indebted.

  "A careful sailor can sail a ship for ten thousand years!" Di Zhe urged the horse on, ever since he became a horse thief, he didn't dare ride that big black horse again.

  The bandits left the mountain forest and it was already slightly bright, Xiao Zhi's words took twenty people to go ahead and scout on the grassland, and the rest of the people ambushed in the intersection area between the forest and the grassland more than 20 miles away from Zhangjiakou. When Tumote was prosperous, there were Mongolian tents everywhere near Zhangjiakou, which could not accommodate the bandits' hiding place.

  At that time, merchant teams could be seen everywhere on the grasslands. The Tumet people learned to buy goods from the Hans and resell them to tribes in remote pastoral areas, becoming extremely rich. Even horse thieves were not as desperate as they are today.

  The surrounding area was devoid of human presence, and Zhangjiakou had not seen a merchant caravan for a long time. The Chahar army was stationed nearby, and the Doyan grassland bandits focused their attention on the east, targeting the border people of Ming Dynasty's Liaodong Town, the remaining Chahar tribes, and even the Dongyi people of Liaodong.

  It wasn't until after noon that Xiao Zhongyan sent a subordinate back to report, and the Zhangba Grassland yielded nothing except for occasional appearances by Chahar patrolmen.

  Even Mongolians have made preparations for winter, and recently there are no longer any tribes coming to Zhangjiakou to purchase goods.

  The horse thieves began to whisper to each other in twos and threes, a few of them showing signs of impatience. Staying in the old nest to bask in the sun during winter was certainly more comfortable than being out on the grasslands getting blown by the north wind. Up until now, Di Zhe had been mainly trying to placate them, but the arrogance of a few people slowly rose up again.

  Di Zhe saw it in his eyes and didn't say much.

  At dusk, Xiao Zhiyan led a dozen or so horse thieves in a rush.

  "I see the merchant group! About an hour later, they will arrive at the mountain pass of Zhangjiakou. There are more than 20 people and over 40 horses! I left four men there to follow them!"

  Di Zhe was overjoyed, and as the sky was about to darken, he had thought that today was hopeless, but unexpectedly the merchant group returned so late.

  "An hour later, it was already dark, heaven helped me too!"

  An hour later, Di Zhe put on his mask and the hidden horse thieves began to set off. The sky gradually darkened, and the mountains in sight slowly became blurred. Di Zhe kept urging the team's speed, getting closer and closer to Zhangjiakou. If someone came out to respond from the mouth of the valley, perhaps they would still have to fight a battle.

  Not far away, I remembered Xiao Zhiyan's whistling sound, which was a signal to contact the scouts and merchant teams.

  More than sixty horse thieves rushed towards the source of the sound, and it wasn't until Zhai Zhe approached that he saw Xiao Zhisheng standing a hundred paces away, facing off against the merchant caravan.

  The sudden appearance of this large group of people caused the merchant caravan to lose their courage, and the guards and companions surrounded each other, pale as earth.

  These people are almost all Shanxi people who came to Zhangjiakou to make a living. Di Zhe lowered his voice and said, "Leave the goods! You go!"

  One of the guards brandished his bayonet and shouted fiercely: "The goods are here, the people are here! The brothers in the collection will come out to save us soon!"

  Di Zhe no longer delayed and gave an order to Che Feng beside him: "Take action!"

  Che Feng plucked the bow from his hand, directing his men to charge forward in unison. The guards knew they could no longer escape and also rushed up with their weapons at the ready. Xiao Zhi's words held a short hardwood bow in his hand, calmly observing the battlefield without firing an arrow.

  Twelve guards were surrounded by more than fifty horse bandits, and some of the bandits rushed towards the accountants. Di Zhe loudly ordered: "Those who do not resist are not allowed to be killed!"

  The bandits didn't take Zhai Zhe's words seriously, the bandit who rushed to the front rushed to the side of the panicked partner and swung his knife to cut at the man's neck, and the person following closely behind also stabbed another partner in the chest.

  Di Zhe urged his horse to rush over, and his eyes hidden behind the mask seemed to be spouting fire as he loudly shouted: "Halt!"

  The murderous bandits, as if they hadn't heard, continued to charge towards the six surviving companions.

  Di Zhe drew out his long knife, just about to make a move, when he saw the two horse bandits in front of him let out a pained cry each and drop their weapons.

  Di Zhe took a closer look and saw that both of them had an arrow in their arm, not far away, Xiao Zhiyan's bow was still held in his hand.

  The twelve merchant teams surrounded on that side were outnumbered and killed in the attack by many horse bandits.

  "Take away the horses and retreat immediately!"

  The shouting and killing sounds have been going on for a while, if the Lu family's guards come to respond, they should already know that something has happened here, Zhai Zhe still doesn't want to have a head-on conflict with the merchant team's guards.

  Along with the escort's mounts, there were over sixty warhorses in total. The bandits who had not been injured each led a horse and disappeared into the hazy moonlight. The six surviving companions were like sieves, and it wasn't until half a day later that they slowly came to their senses, one by one turning over the bodies of their comrades.

  More than half a time later, the torches rose in the Zhangjiakou market, and more than 200 cavalrymen rushed out, but they stopped at the mountain pass. The torches wandered around the mountain pass, not daring to enter the grassland deeply. Night meant unknown dangers, and compared to horse thieves, merchants were even less willing to take risks. This merchant team being robbed was not a fatal blow to the Lu family, but if the guards were ambushed, it would be enough to make the Lu family lose their ability to go out of the pass.

  It wasn't until six of his blood-soaked companions cried out and ran back that it took more than half a day for over ten riders to rush towards the scene, wrapping up the bodies of the guards on the ground and pulling them back.

  Di Zhe and others rushed eastward without torches, the team's pace was very slow, until after Chen time had passed, everyone returned to their previous ambush location.

  In the mountains and forests, the horse bandits lit torches, Di Zhe's mask had not been removed, and the light of the fire illuminated his ferocious face.

  His eyes searched through the crowd until he saw the two horse thieves who were shot by Xiao Zhiyan hiding in the corner.

  "Come here!"

  Di Zhe hooked his finger.

  Two horse thieves exchanged a glance and bolstered each other's courage as they stepped forward.

  "Why didn't you listen to my orders just now!"

  "It's too noisy, can't hear!"

  "Why is it that when I come before you and give orders, you still don't listen!"

  The bandit on the right shouted: "Have you ever been a bandit? What kind of bandit doesn't kill people?"

  Di Zhe was furious and ordered Che Feng: "Tie him up!"

  Two horse bandits were somewhat frightened, drew their knives and shouted: "Who dares to come over!"

  Che Feng drew out a curved knife favored by Mongolians from his waist and shouted to the surrounding horse bandits: "Tie them up, kill those who resist!"

  The two horse thieves surrounded by everyone shouted: "How can you listen to a Tartar's orders!"

  Di Zhe took a step forward and shouted angrily: "It's not his orders you're listening to, it's mine! Take them down!"

  A burst of sword-unsheathing sounds echoed around, a circle of people holding swords surrounded the two horse thieves in the middle.

  The two horse thieves exchanged a knowing look, dropped their weapons to the ground and knelt down to beg for mercy from Di Zhe: "Great master, we know our mistake, please spare us."

  Di Zhe stood with his back turned and remained silent, while Che Feng led people forward to bind the two men's hands behind their backs.

  "Kill them!" Di Zhe ordered as he looked down at the two men who were already tightly bound.

  Che Feng was stunned, he didn't think Zhai Zhe would really kill these two people.

  "Kill them!" Zhai Zhe saw Che Feng didn't move and loudly repeated it again.

  Che Feng gritted his teeth, drew his sword and swung it at the horse thief beside him. Immediately, several men rushed up to pin down two people, and another person drew his sword and struck simultaneously with Che Feng. The swords rose and fell, and two human heads rolled to the ground.

  Di Zhe looked at the two heads on the ground, and let out a deep sigh in his heart. Since the ambush of Chahar cavalry began, more than a dozen people had died directly or indirectly because of him. Killing was really easy, once you started, it was hard to stop.

  "Follow me and you'll have meat to eat and wine to drink, but if you don't listen to my orders, this will be your fate!"

  The bandits are silent as a crow, the joy of a victorious battle is gone, but these people may have hoped for such a leader.

  "Bury it on the spot!"

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