Chapter 595 Nahlan (Part 1)
Three days later.
On a gentle slope of Quming Mountain in the heartland of the Wuxi barbarians.
As soon as he received the order to rest on the spot, Han Bang, a captain in the patrol battalion, found a flat place and sat down on the ground, gasping for breath.
After a while, he finally recovered a little and took off his boots with difficulty. Seeing that several blisters had appeared on the soles of his feet, he couldn't help but want to curse.
But suddenly he saw Shen Lian sitting not far away, and he quickly spat out the dirty words that were on the tip of his tongue along with the thick phlegm.
“Pah~!”
He picked at the blisters one by one and found that two of them had broken the skin. He then used his shoulder to nudge Inspector Zhang beside him, forcing him to take out the medicine and apply it on the soles of his feet.
"Don't take off the old skin yet."
At this time, someone suddenly reminded: "Use a needle to thread some cotton thread into it and drain the water inside. It won't be too late to peel it off after new skin grows out."
If others listen to your advice, they should at least say "thank you".
However, Han Bang was a stubborn person. Not only did he not appreciate it, but he stiffened his neck and cursed: "Damn it, your feet are on my body ..."
The word "上" got stuck in his throat and he couldn't spit it out for a long time.
It turned out that this guy stiffened his neck, but met Sun Shaozong's stern gaze, and immediately all his barbs turned into soft hair.
He jumped up eagerly, not caring about the bubbles hitting the stone, and said with a smile: "Thank you for your consideration, thank you for your consideration!"
Sun Shaozong was too lazy to pay attention to him. He sat down opposite Shen Lian and signaled to the generals nearby that there was no need to be polite.
"grown ups."
Wang Zhen came up and handed over a water bag. Sun Shaozong took it and drank a few mouthfuls. Then he reported: "Captain Lu just caught two tongues. I heard they are Nahlan's spies. Ba Ke and several guides are questioning them now."
After a pause, seeing that Sun Shaozong had no instructions, he continued, "I have listened a few times nearby, and it seems that the barbarians nearby have also received the warning. I am afraid that this village is not so easy to capture."
Wuer Village was fine, but once the news spread that Waleng Village was breached by government troops and even the Tongxi barbarian leader Yahama and his son were captured by government troops one after another, it immediately aroused the vigilance of the barbarians in various tribes.
We traveled during the day and slept at night. The several mountain strongholds we passed along the way all increased their alerts. It is said that some even followed the example of the Han people and placed city defense equipment on the gates of the strongholds.
The other things were fine, but the boiling golden juice was both simple and sharp. Even a fierce general like Sun Shaozong would not be able to withstand the power of it being poured over his head.
Fortunately, this time the government troops also brought some firearms for siege. Although the power is not enough to blow down the city gate, it should not be a problem to suppress the barbarians guarding the gate.
"Do as I say."
At this time, Han Bang couldn't help but interrupt and said, "We shouldn't rest in Wuxi City. It would be better to capture a few more villages while the barbarians haven't reacted yet!"
Others were fine with this, but Wang Zhen glared at him and said sarcastically, "If everything in this world could be solved by you, Captain Han, with just a few words, it would be really easy."
"Tell me, Envoy Luo has handed over the city defenses, so how can our master just leave like that?!"
"Or, without our master's unparalleled bravery, you, Han Baihu, with hundreds of troops, can outnumber the enemy and run rampant in this mountain without fear?"
"How do you know that..."
Han Bang stiffened his neck and was about to refute, but when he saw Sun Shaozong looking at him, he immediately shrank his neck again and dared not say another word.
This guy is really annoying!
Sun Shaozong withdrew his gaze speechlessly, thinking that if he didn't have the ability to shoot an arrow through a target from a hundred paces away, which could be displayed right in this mountain, he should have thrown this troublemaker directly back to Wuxi City.
never mind.
Let’s get down to business first.
He winked at Wang Zhen, who immediately understood and took out three simple maps, passing them to the generals around.
However, it was not only marked with the destination of this long-distance raid, 'Nahlan', but also several checkpoints were depicted on the surrounding roads.
After everyone had seen most of the things, Sun Shaozong said loudly: "Everyone, don't take it lightly. This Nahlan is not comparable to the two mountain strongholds before. It is the ancestral home of the Wuxi Barbarians. Although the number of barbarians stationed there is less than a thousand, they are all carefully selected warriors from various tribes."
"In addition, according to Nabake, there are three beacon towers in Nahlan. Once attacked, they will be lit at the same time. When the barbarians see the beacon fire, they will rush to help without hesitation."
"Therefore, we must allocate a part of our forces to block the roads around Quming Mountain, so as to avoid being unable to defeat Nahlan and being surrounded by enemies on all sides."
In fact, the three centurions were already familiar with these matters, and this time they were mainly conveying them to the inspectors and captains below.
With the precedents of the previous raids on Wuerzhai and Walengzhai, everyone thought it was just another trip of burning, killing and looting. Now, after listening to Sun Shaozong's detailed account of Nahlan's situation, everyone's originally relaxed expressions suddenly became much more serious.
Although there were as many as 500 government troops entering the mountains this time, the number of the enemy seemed to be much smaller than that of Waleng Village.
But how can fully dedicated professional fighters be confused with ordinary young and strong mountain people?
What's more, the other party's mission is to protect the ancestral spirits. With the blessing of faith, their ability to withstand losses is naturally far superior to that of ordinary barbarians.
In short, Nahlan is undoubtedly a tough nut to crack!
But if they can succeed in taking it down, the deterrent effect on the Wuxi barbarians will be more than ten times stronger than looting a few ordinary mountain strongholds!
After all, Nahlan is the common ancestral land of the Wuxi barbarians. Apart from the annual sacrificial ceremony, when there are disputes among the barbarians or when they need to decide something important, they often come here to ask the ancestors for judgment.
A few months ago, it was here that Kuilun, the chief of the Kangxi barbarians, persuaded the leaders of the other four barbarian tribes and successfully launched a rebellion.
Unfortunately, the Han guides found by the Huguang governor only had a vague understanding of Nahlan's affairs. It was only after Ba Ke surrendered to the government army that they pointed out the importance of this place.
Otherwise, Sun Shaozong would have definitely abandoned the Tongxi barbarians on the outskirts and led his army to attack Nahlan directly!
It’s too late to regret now, but it’s not too late to mend the situation!
The second time Sun Shaozong went into the mountains, he chose Nahlan as his target.
After explaining the situation that the government troops would face in detail, Sun Shaozong finally changed the subject and said with a smile: "Although they are all selected, they are just a group of barbarians in the end. How can they be compared with us, the elite guards of the emperor?"
At this point, he clenched his fist and waved it, saying, "In my opinion, we should pick the best of the barbarians to fight, so as to show the power of our Beijing Camp!"
When everyone heard this, they immediately became excited and shouted:
"Your Excellency is right!"
"Even if we can't defeat the Five Barbarians, we can still defeat three barbarians!"
"Besides, among the barbarians, is there anyone as powerful as our master?"
As they were talking and laughing, they suddenly saw Bake and a few guides coming towards them in a panic.
When they got closer, several guides were about to talk about something, but Ba Ke stopped them by reaching out his hand. He then approached Sun Shaozong cautiously and whispered a few words to him.
After listening to this, Sun Shaozong did not comment. Instead, he gestured and said, "Since the situation has changed, the brothers should be aware of it."
Ba Ke was stunned for a moment before he realized that Sun Shaozong wanted him to repeat what he had just said to everyone, so he could only say with a bitter face: "My Lords, I just interrogated the barbarian from Nahlan, but I got some unfavorable news."
In just a few days, this guy not only behaved and spoke like a Han Chinese, but also took a completely Han Chinese stance. He even imitated the government troops and started calling people "barbarians".
Everyone was just about to burst out laughing when they heard him continue, "Just three days ago, Kuilun of Kangxi Man suddenly arrived in Nahlan..."
"What?!"
Shen Lian stood up suddenly, stared at Ba Ke with burning eyes and asked: "So, Kui Lun is in Nahlan now?!"
When everyone heard this, they couldn't help but get agitated.
The Kangxi barbarians were the most powerful of the Wuxi barbarians, and Kuilun, who had instigated the rebellion and personally led the barbarians to capture Wuxi City, was now threatening to become the common leader of the Wuxi barbarians.
If we can capture this beast, the Wuxi rebellion will be almost half settled!
What's the disadvantage in this?
This is clearly good news of great fortune!
Unfortunately, just when everyone was eager to rush to Nahlan and capture Kui Lun alive, Ba Ke spread his hands and smiled bitterly, "Captain Shen is probably happy for nothing. Kui Lun went to Nahlan because he needed the help of the ancestral spirits for some matters. After receiving the revelation from the ancestral spirits, he immediately returned to Kangcheng."
Everyone was suddenly a little discouraged.
The city of Kangcheng is far away in the deep mountains. Besides, there are nearly ten thousand barbarians gathered nearby, so it is not something that can be taken down by three or five hundred soldiers.
From this perspective, this is really bad news - Kui Lun escaped a disaster for nothing!
Unexpectedly, just when everyone was disappointed, Ba Ke added more trouble to everyone.
"Qui Lun did leave, but before he left, he heard about Tong Xi Man's incident and left his 300 guards in Nahlan!"
"These three hundred guards are all elite soldiers among the Kangxi barbarians. It is said that most of them are wearing armor. The leader, Hasam, is known as the best warrior in Wuxi. It is said that he once strangled a tiger with his bare hands!"
After he said this, the surroundings suddenly became much quieter.
Not to mention the number one warrior in Wuxi, these three hundred elite soldiers alone made Nahlan's strength increase sharply, and it definitely broke through the thousand-man mark.
As for armor and other things, needless to say, they must have been captured from government troops or the government treasury.
This further offset the advantages of the government troops.
"Hahaha……"
Just when everyone was frowning, Sun Shaozong suddenly laughed heartily.
When everyone's attention was focused on him, he stopped laughing and sneered, "You only see the disadvantages, but why can't you see the advantages?"
"Originally, the barbarians in Nahlan all fought for their ancestors. They had no sense of affiliation with one another, which meant that there were no key points to target."
"But Kui Lun insisted on leaving behind guards and the number one warrior in Wuxi."
"In this way, the barbarians will definitely take Hassam as their leader. Then we just need to kill Hassam first, and Nahlan's army will be in chaos!"
"So in my opinion, Nahlan's power has not only not increased, but has instead gained an additional handle to betray his leader!"
"Gentlemen!"
As he spoke, he looked around and said decisively , "Come with me to weigh the head of the first warrior of the barbarians and see what the difference is between it and the other barbarians!"
