Chapter 18: Sneak Attack

  "Will we ever find the way!" Er Yu Zhuo's head was pressed against Ge Feng's, half a foot away, and he whispered loudly, his hot breath spraying directly onto Ge Feng's face.

  After wandering in the mountains for several hours, as the darkness in the sky gradually dissipated, Ge Feng suddenly said he was lost. The two teams stopped in their tracks in the mountain valley, Eru Zhuo squeezed to the front and grabbed Ge Feng's chest, with a look that seemed like she wanted to swallow him whole.

  Di Zhe stretched out his hand between the two of them and said: "You put him down first, let him calm down and think carefully!"

  Eryuan Zhuo suddenly opened his right hand, and Ge Feng's face turned pale. Only then did he realize that the people in front of him were ruthless killers, and it was easy to enter the den of thieves but difficult to leave.

  "Take another look around!"

  Ge Feng grabbed a handful of snow and rubbed it hard on his face, then turned around to look around for half a day. He said: "I'm sure I've been here before, the old camp is not far from where the mountain eagle got lost, but I couldn't find the way out of the mountain anymore, the heavy snow has covered all the marks."

  "How about it? Shall we disperse and find our way?" asked Zhai Zhe to E Ruo Zhuo.

  "It won't work, he can't even find the road. Many of us will get stuck in these deep mountains, and if we're discovered by the mountain bandits, it'll be trouble."

  Di Zhe turned his head to look at Ge Feng, who was the only one familiar with this place.

  "Let's search again, brothers. If we still can't find the road, we'll have to return the way we came." E Zhāo's eyes gleamed with a fierce light as he looked at Gě Fēng.

  The sky was very cold, the horse thieves huddled against the war horses' bodies to keep warm, some people took out dry rations and began to eat them with snow water. Because of Ertai's performance, the atmosphere in the mountain valley suddenly became very tense, no one dared to speak casually.

  Di Zhe let the horse wind pick up five clever and capable horse thieves to follow Ge Feng, starting a new round of exploration.

  The sky was getting brighter and brighter, and the white snow on the distant mountain peaks had already begun to reflect golden light. Ge Feng still hadn't returned.

  Do you want to go back? Eru Zhuxiao stood opposite Zhai Zhe, his expression extremely annoyed. He looked down on the Han people from the bottom of his heart, and if it weren't for Beile's repeated entrustment, he would never have cooperated with the Han people with patience.

  Xiao Zhiyan suddenly jumped down from a high rock not far away and walked over to say: "I saw smoke!"

  The two were shocked, and following Xiao's words, they walked to where he was standing earlier. They looked carefully in the direction his hand was pointing, and indeed, a faint wisp of smoke was rising straight up into the sky from behind the mountain. The color of the smoke was extremely light, and if one didn't look closely, it would be hard to make out.

  "That must be the nest of the peregrine falcon!" Er Yu Zhuo's emotions finally subsided.

  Just as the three were talking, Ge Feng came running down from the mountain opposite, shouting: "I've found the way!"

  The sky had already brightened, and the possibility of a successful sneak attack had become extremely small. They had delayed for more than an hour in a place one mountain away from the old camp of the Flaming Mountain Eagles. Eryue Zhuo hated that he couldn't kick Ge Feng's butt with one foot.

  "Are you going to attack or not?" Di Zhe asked E Ruo Zhuo, after all, this was his plan.

  Xiao Zhiyan reminded him calmly, "In my opinion, it's definitely worth a try. In this weather, the horse thieves won't be getting up and about so early." He had once stayed in a horse thief's den.

  Erye looked straight at Xiao Zhiyan, who had an expression as if nothing was wrong.

  "It's done!"

  Two teams that had been somewhat frozen in place began to move again, climbing up towards the middle of the mountain. In order to avoid mistakenly injuring each other during the battle, everyone tied the red cloth strips they had prepared earlier onto their left arms.

  According to Ge Feng's previous description, the old camp of the pheasant was set up on a sunny slope, with some trees simply cut down around it as a fence, and there were no solid defenses.

  The old camp of the grassland bandits is only used during winter, after spring begins, most bandits move around in various places to capture and plunder, occasionally returning to their old camp to rest. The grasslands are not like the densely populated inland areas of the Ming dynasty, if they always hide deep in the mountains, they might starve themselves to death.

  They are now in the direction of the back of that mountain slope, and through the topographic map drawn by Ge Feng, the two teams decided to divide their troops and attack from both sides.

  Erye Zhuo attacked the main road down the mountain, where horses could pass through, and the road was spacious. Erye Zhuo didn't feel at ease handing over the front to Di Zhe, and Di Zhe naturally also welcomed it, but he also had some doubts about his subordinates' ability to fight a hard battle.

  The path leading to the back door was all small mountain roads, which were difficult to walk on under the thick snow cover. Di Zhe ordered everyone to abandon their war horses and proceed on foot.

  Meng Kangchong was at the forefront, Ge Feng also held a sword and followed him, pointing out the way. The team walked quickly, with people falling down from time to time, and the sound of walking could not be concealed by the mountains and forests. Xiao Zhishuo carried a large bow and walked on the outside of the team, closely paying attention to the movement in front.

  "Go through this forest!" Ge Feng pointed forward with the waist knife in his hand, lowering his voice to signal to Di Zhe behind him.

  Following Ge Feng's direction, Di Zhe had already seen the wooden fence. The vigilance of the mountain sparrow was indeed very lax, and there wasn't even a single sentry post on the outer perimeter. The forest was peaceful and quiet. Indeed, he also didn't think that anyone would come to deal with him in last night's wind and snow.

  "Charge in!" Di Zhe swung his sword.

  Meng Kang strode forward, a large group of horse bandits closely following behind. Before they could even rush to the gate, they heard the sound of shouting and killing coming from ahead, E Zuo had already engaged in battle.

  "Charge in, hurry up!" Di Zhe stood in the middle of the team, drawing his sword and urging them on.

  The wooden fence gate was simply closed, and many people could be seen running towards the opposite side in the old camp. There were no guards at the gate either, as Ertu's attack had attracted the attention of the horse thieves.

  Meng Kang stretched out his hand from the gap and pulled open the wooden latch, kicking the door open with one foot, and a large group of people swarmed in.

  The vanguard had already merged into a chaotic mess, the first to discover the sneak attack was the cook's assistant. From afar, he saw a group of people rushing over like wolves and tigers on the road, the assistants could only shout loudly in panic: "Someone is coming to launch a sneak attack, sneak attack!"

  A few early-rising bandits holding swords rushed towards the main gate.

  There were not a few Mongolians in Ertu's team, all of whom were good archers. The sparse arrow rain passed over the wooden fence, and these people fell to the snowy ground before they even fought.

  Only a few of the bandits managed to dress quickly and rush out of the hut, holding their swords and looking around in confusion. By then, Erye Zhuo had already opened the gate of the camp. More than 200 people rushed in, cutting down anyone they saw. The few bandits who came out first were unable to resist and retreated continuously towards the back mountain.

  "Sneak attack! Sneak attack!" The shouting grew louder and louder.

  Bandits kept running out of the house, some people even only wore single clothes.

  The number of bandits increased, and the battle became more intense. Some people hid in their houses and shot arrows outside. Ertu's subordinates began to suffer some casualties.

  Meng Kang rushed into the village just as the vanguard was engaged in a fierce battle. With his left hand holding a shield and his right hand wielding an axe, he chopped down anyone who came his way. Xiao Zhiyu provided cover with his bow and arrow from behind, and no one could stop him along the way. The bandits in the village were caught off guard and couldn't withstand the attack, and with no way to retreat, many of them retreated back into their houses.

  "Those who surrender will be spared from death! Those who kneel down and surrender will be spared from death!"

  "The condemned is spared!" The shouting grew louder and louder.

  Some quick-witted people saw that the situation was unfavorable and immediately threw their weapons aside and crawled on the snowy ground.

  Di Zhe saw that cold arrows were coming out of the earthen house from time to time, posing a great threat. Launching a strong attack was also difficult. Pointing at the kitchen where smoke was rising, he ordered Che Feng: "First capture the kitchen and take fire to burn down the house!"

  "Roger!"

  There was no resistance in the hut, Che Feng led people to rush in and take out a dozen torches, one by one, setting fire to the thatched huts. The roofs of the huts were all covered with straw, and soon thick smoke rose, flames licking, after a moment, the people inside could no longer bear it, coughing and rushing out.

  People outside rushed up and chopped wildly, anyone without a red cloth strip on their arm was the target of pursuit. Wherever there was resistance, Meng Kang would be there, Xiao Zhiyan worried that he might make a mistake, so he held his bow and arrow to escort him, his arrows were like poisonous snakes, clearing the enemies around Meng Kang.

  "Spare our lives!" The cries grew louder and more frequent as people knelt down one after another.

  E Zhū Zuò yě kāi shǐ mìng rén nà xiáng.

  The surrendered bandits were touched by the soldiers' blades and escorted to the middle of the mountain slope, kneeling on the ground in a row with their heads bowed.

  Apart from a few houses where people were still stubbornly resisting, the overall situation in the stronghold was basically settled. The bandits were leaderless and scattered like sand, and the Mountain Eagle had not appeared until now. Several small bosses organized resistance but could not stop Meng Kang and E Ruo Zhuo's impact.

  When the last house was finally taken down, a man with a face full of smoke and soot, even half of his hair burned off, crawled out from the house. Ge Feng immediately gestured to Di Zhe: "That's Fan Shan Jiao Zi!"

  Di Zhe saw E Zuo walking in that direction and said to Xiao Zhong beside him: "Kill him!"

  "Who?"

  "Who did you kill?"

  "Over the mountains!"

  Xiao Zhiyan raised his hand and shot an arrow, which hit the left chest of Fan Shanyaozi. The long arrow pierced through his chest, and Fan Shanyaozi let out a miserable cry, his face contorted in pain as he fell to the snowy ground. Bloodstains splattered on the snow like scattered plum blossoms.

  Erye Zhūo walked up to within less than ten steps of him, saw the scene, and with a shocked expression, rushed over shouting: "Who allowed you to kill him?!"

  Di Zhe pointed at the corpse on the ground and said: "He is a mountain bandit."

  "Of course I know!" Er Yu Zhuo angrily waved his hand and turned away.

  The bandits began to clear the ruins of the old camp, looking for any accumulated wealth. The most valuable property here might be the more than 300 war horses in the stables behind the earthen houses, but unfortunately, this was a remote mountain area and the Mountain Hawk could not use the war horses to break through the encirclement.

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