Chapter 47, Strategize before acting

  Although Zu Chao didn't understand astronomy, by combining some old proverbs and basic physical knowledge, he still made a judgment that the forest would have evening fog. The forest was near the wilderness, with severe contrasts between dryness and humidity, plus the cold of early winter, making it easy to produce fog. As the sky grew darker, he saw dense and hazy signs deep in the forest, which were precursors to the birth of fog.

  "There will be heavy fog here tonight." he said firmly.

  "After the noon session, the thieves have been alarmed and are now in a state of panic. Taking advantage of the thick fog, we will create an optical illusion with lights, shadows, and sounds to confuse them. The thieves will be unable to distinguish reality from illusion and will be like startled birds in their confusion. If our previous predictions were correct, they will flee northward, and we will be waiting here in formation to launch a frontal attack and see who is superior!" Han Dangzheng said.

  Everyone who heard this analysis added a bit of confidence. Looking at it now, the difference between good and bad is still there. Even though the number of thieves is unclear, and there are more riders, they are still a mob. Compared to the Zhang family and their party, they have excellent weapons and equipment, and most of them are skilled in martial arts and horse riding. If they can't even defeat these little thieves one-on-one, it would be truly shameful to call themselves "men".

  Zu's face still showed a look of concern, but he didn't say much more. He wasn't one to shy away from risk, his worry was simply that he didn't want any more casualties among the Zu family members.

  "It's settled then." Zu Zhao made the decision with a serious expression and immediately arranged for several disciples to rush off and contact Zu Ke, Zu Li and Zu Ling, passing on the latest deployment.

  The whole process of passing on the new deployment was not too complicated, after all, it was no different from the previous plan. It was just a matter of combining three sides into one side and changing the real army team in the south to a fake army team. Although it increased some risks, such as not being able to guarantee that the thieves would escape from the north, or even not being able to confirm whether the thieves would really fall for the trick and escape. But no matter what, these risks were all within control, and the worst-case scenario was just letting many thieves take advantage of the situation and escape.

  Zulei and Zukui brought people to the northern hill, after meeting with Zu Chao and others. The two uncles were very dissatisfied with Zu Chao's insistence on not withdrawing. If it weren't for considering the safety of this young master, the two would have turned against him long ago.

  After meeting with Zu Zhao, Zu Ke, who had the most violent temper, couldn't help but lecture: "Young Master, since A Cheng and others risked their lives to report the situation of the bandits in the forest, we should first withdraw back to the city and contact the local county government before making further plans. It's almost dark now, how can we afford to be reckless?"

  Zu Zhao maintained his courtesy and calmly said, "Fourth Uncle, please don't worry. The bandits may be numerous, but they are just a mob, and we are now gathered together, with no disadvantage in numbers. What is there to fear?"

  Zu Ke said loudly: "Swords and knives have no eyes, how can they be as easy to play with as usual? The young master is simply too arrogant."

  Zu Zhao's face changed color and he said in a cold voice, "If Uncle Ke is afraid of such petty thieves, it would be better to take advantage of the fact that it is still daylight and enter the city."

  Zu Ke's eyes widened in anger, his face turned pale with rage: "You, you..."

  Zu Li sighed and said to Zu Fan: "Why don't you advise the young master?"

  Zu Feng hesitated for a moment, then said, "This matter, perhaps there is something that can be done."

  Zulei fell into deep thought. After all, Zufan was older than Zu Zhao and was also a county middle school student. If even he thought that this action "might be possible", it could add some confidence. He hesitated for a moment, although his face didn't look good, but still said: "In that case, let's first see how the thieves react, and then make plans."

  Zu Zhao didn't say much more and turned around to let everyone get ready.

  At this time, Zu Fan came forward, his face very solemn, as if he had something to say.

  Zu Zhao glanced at Zu Fan and asked first, "Isn't he still worried about this matter? A great man should be decisive, there's no need to worry so much. When brave men meet on a narrow road, the bravest one wins. Are we not confident in our bravery?"

  Zu Fan raised his eyebrows and smiled: "After all, the young master sees through it. However, what I'm worried about isn't just this matter. When Tian Gong Cao came earlier, the young master mentioned that the bandit had revealed their tracks but didn't flee, which means there must be other hidden circumstances. I've always felt that since the horse robbery case started, there have been many complicated and confusing aspects, making me worry."

  Zu Zhao nodded slowly, he had the same doubts in his heart. At first, he thought it was just a disturbance of the Tianping Dao, but later on, the shadow of the black arrow thief appeared, and now suddenly heard that there were riders among the thieves, putting these doubts together, as if there was a not small conspiracy behind the scenes.

  "What's behind this can only be verified after the bandits are broken."

  The night falls, the crescent moon rises in the east. The weather is getting colder and colder, in order to conceal their tracks, they dare not easily make a fire to warm themselves on this side of the mountain.

  Fortunately, most of the people in the group were young and strong, and having been in the north for a long time, they could withstand this bit of cold at night.

  Zu Zhao crouched on the hill, looking up at a distance, and the forest in the distance indeed floated out of a layer of mist. A white misty piece surrounded the branches, faintly visible, with a hint of mystery. The others saw this scene, and they all secretly praised the young master's cleverness, even Zu Li and Zu Ke couldn't help but marvel at how the young master had such mastery over astronomy. Such an extraordinary skill was not something that ordinary people could possess!

  The sky had completely darkened into night, and before long, a commotion broke out from the south.

  Even here on the hill, you can still see a heavy firelight coming from deep in the forest, accompanied by the sound of people clamoring.

  Zu Ling led his team to start making a scene from the outside of the forest, fifty or sixty people were divided into three teams, crisscrossing back and forth, each holding a torch, shaking and shouting loudly during the process. Moreover, Zu Ling had also prepared many bonfires in advance, waiting for the agreed time to ignite them one by one. The entire southern part of the forest suddenly became extremely lively.

  The flames and human figures after the great fog, combined with the intense atmosphere, are enough to present a grand illusion.

  Just south of here, in less than a moment's work, the young man responsible for monitoring the east immediately shouted: "There is movement."

  Zu Zhao narrowed his eyes and looked east, the thick fog not only provided convenience but also caused obstacles to his line of sight. He looked for a while before seeing many black shadows swaying behind the trees. After a while, he could also faintly hear the sounds, including human voices and horse hooves, as well as shouting and wailing.

  "It seems that the thief was indeed frightened."

  "Tell all brothers to get ready. Mount horses."

  Orders were quickly passed down from the hill to the rear, and the young men who had been resting in twos and threes suddenly came to life, grabbing their weapons and getting ready. They helped each other check if their armor was tightened, archers hastily took down bows and quivers from horseback, and the horse herd recovered from its silence, as if a mountain storm was approaching.

  Zu Zhaoye followed down the mountain slope, came to his own mount, adjusted the saddle, and said to the left and right: "When the enemy appears, listen to my command before launching an attack. Don't take any unauthorized action. Do you understand?"

  On both sides, two men in a low voice responded, and then they mounted their horses separately.

  Zu Zhao leapt onto the horse's back, took a spear from one of his disciples, and with a light kick to the horse's belly, rode it to the side of the hill.

  Han Dang, Zhang Yuan, Gong Sunlong, Zu Ke, and Zu Li have arrived at the side of Zu Zhao. They are all skilled in handling horses and naturally know that they should take advantage of the high terrain to launch a charge, and this hill in front of them is obviously about to play its role.

  The movement in the forest on the east side was getting bigger and bigger, and the figures swaying behind the thick fog were also becoming clearer.

  Soon, several horsemen emerged from the fog, followed by many more riders. Their horses were not galloping fast, apparently to take care of their companions without horses in the rear, but the entire formation was very chaotic, mixed with intermittent shouting, which made the three or four armies even more disorganized and chaotic.

  Zu Zhao narrowed his eyes and carefully observed, but saw that the riders had more than 40 horses, half of which were majestic and robust big horses, while the other half were weak and frail small horses. The bandits riding the big horses were mostly wearing thick and long clothes, wearing hats with strange shapes, clearly not dressed as Han people, holding long weapons in their hands, various and not uniform; while those who rode the short horses also had Hu people's attire, but more were still Han people, they obviously lacked horse skills, on the horseback they were lying horizontally and vertically, twisting and turning, as if they would fall off at any time.

  "Seems like there's a barbarian?"

  "What's going on? How can there be thieves within our own ranks collaborating with outsiders?"

  "Let's cut the idle talk and mind our own business. Don't let any of those scoundrels get away. Everyone, let's muster up our spirits!"

  The sons of the ancestral home and the Zhang family brothers, one by one, straightened their backs, simultaneously raised the long weapons in their hands on horseback, and put on a posture ready to launch a charge at any time.

  "Draw your bows and fire a round at them first." Zu Zhao ordered in a commanding tone.

  The crowd of young men slowly climbed up the hill, lined up in a row, and then directly inserted the long-handled weapons in their hands into the ground, taking out bows and arrows from behind.

  Zu Zhaowang and Zhang Yuan, Han Dang and others have already taken their bows and arrows, they are staring intently at the east of the forest, calmly waiting for those thieves to continue fleeing north for a while, entering the best shooting range.

  After the horsemen appeared, a group of bandits on foot rushed out from behind. These small thieves without horses were all in tattered clothes, and the blades they held were farm tools such as hoes, sickles, and clubs. At a glance, it was clear that they were some destitute farmers with no way out. Roughly counting, there were about forty or fifty of these peasants.