Volume 1 Chushan Bandits Chapter 16: The Clouds Stop, but the Winds Do Not Stop
"The Hutou Village is so lawless, do they regard me, Deng Gui and the Inspection Office, as nothing?"
Deng Gui stared at the bodies lying all over the dirt road. His face was as gloomy as if it was going to rain. He tried his best to control his emotions and not roar.
In addition to the arrow and knife wounds from the fight, the throats of four of the corpses were cut open by sharp blades, and the surrounding grass and trees were splashed with blood. From this, it can be seen that the bandits who came down the mountain from Hutouzhai robbed all the property, but did not let the wounded go and deliberately stabbed them.
Deng Gui was usually addicted to alcohol and sex, and he left the task of searching the mountains and catching thieves to his subordinates. However, if something really happened in Tongbai Mountain, he had no way to push the responsibility onto the captains and governors below.
Twice this month, Hutouzhai broke the tacit understanding between the major mountain strongholds and the big families in recent years, openly gathering a large group of bandits to rob and kill merchants and travelers on the horse trail. They were so brutal and left no one alive. How could he not grit his teeth at all this?
This is not just a slap in the face to Deng Gui, nor is it just a sign of not taking him, the inspector, seriously.
What's so important about his face? What's more painful is that if he can't get rid of the stubborn bandits entrenched in Hutouling as soon as possible, he will have no good days in Huaiyuan, and the prefecture and county will hold him accountable at any time.
However, the road to Hutouling was difficult and dangerous, and there were more than two hundred ferocious bandits stationed there. It was impossible to capture it with only a hundred or so local soldiers from the Patrol Office.
The prefect Chen Shi decided a month ago to keep Wang Bing in the Huaiyuan military camp. Deng Gui hadn't slept well for several days to prevent assassins from coming. He didn't expect that the bandits who had been honest in the mountains for several years would jump out and stir up trouble as if they had taken aphrodisiacs. He was really confused and looked at Xu Wujiang and Deputy Captain Tang Tiande: "What should we do about this? What do you think?"
Xu Wujiang and Deputy Captain Tang Tiande stood beside Deng Gui, looking at the deaths of the caravan guards, their brows furrowed like mountains and they felt a headache.
The bandits were in turmoil, and perhaps Deng Gui, as the inspector, would have to bear the greatest crime of dereliction of duty and might even lose his official position. However, as local people, especially the Xu and Tang families, many of whom made their livings from this business, it was impossible for them to gloat over this scene.
However, when Deng Gui asked for their advice, they remained silent.
The crime scene was not far from the Huaiyuan military camp, and Xu Huai also ran over to see the scene.
This was a horse team coming from Luzhou and heading towards Dengzhou, selling Luzhou's sheep-hair brushes and Luzhou paper. At dawn, they crossed the Baijian River and headed west along the horse trail. However, less than 20 miles away from the Huaiyuan military camp, they were ambushed by bandits from Hutouzhai.
When they arrived, they found that six or seven thousand kilograms of commercial goods had already been transported into the mountains by the bandits.
The cavalry, together with the merchants traveling with them, totaled more than 40 people. The armed guards were quite diligent and organized people to hold back the bandits at the first possible moment. Most of the merchants, as well as the cavalry servants and managers, were able to escape to the Huaiyuan military camp to report the news, but the eleven people who were guarding the rear were all killed, leaving no one alive.
Of course, the thieves did this not so much to silence the witness as to kill to establish their authority.
Just like the robbery that happened near Yushan Station half a month ago, many of the people who escaped recognized the face of Chen Zixiao, the second in command of Hutou Village.
Tang Tiande, Xu Wujiang and others all looked unhappy, but Deng Gui asked them to offer suggestions but no one responded. Xu Huai quickly figured out what was going on.
No matter why Hutouzhai suddenly changed its style and became so active and brutal, one thing is certain, with only a hundred soldiers from the Inspection Office, it may not be enough to go deep into the northern ridge of Tongbai Mountain to wipe out this stubborn bandit group.
Normally speaking, if the bandits are stubborn and the patrol office is unable to suppress them, the prefecture and county should be asked to send troops; if the prefecture and county are incompetent, they should report to the court so that the stationed imperial troops can be mobilized to eliminate the bandits.
This is the responsibility that the government should bear.
The problem is, Tang Tiande, Xu Wujiang and others are very clear about how strong the combat effectiveness of the county's sword and archers, the wing troops (provincial troops) under the jurisdiction of the provincial military and horse supervisory office, and the patrol troops.
If they were in a flat plain area, the state soldiers, county archers and local soldiers transferred from other patrol villages with better equipment might be able to rely on their numbers to encircle and suppress the bandits.
However, these soldiers and horses needed to be deployed deep into remote and dangerous areas, and it was unknown how much of an effect they could have. Before the Huaiyuan Inspection Office was forced to recruit local soldiers, it had been tested countless times.
As a result, not to mention the garrison troops, even the stationed imperial guards were useless. Not only did they cause trouble to the local people, but even worse, some of them killed innocent people to claim credit.
The only solution now is to call together the clan leaders of the big families to discuss and gather together the well-trained farmhands and farmhands under the control of the big families to attack Hutouling together.
But why would Tang Tiande and Xu Wujiang take the initiative to mention this matter?
Deng Gui himself was smart. He could have directly sent someone to invite Xu Wufu, the head of the Xu family, and Tang Wenzhong, the head of the Tang family, and others to the Inspection Office to discuss the matter. Deng Gui then informed the magistrate Cheng Lunying, and it might have been more appropriate for Cheng Lunying to come forward and discuss the matter.
These officials are usually high and mighty, ordering people around for everything. Now that problems have arisen, even if the local authorities are willing to help, if they don't show some attitude, can we still expect these officials to remember the kindness of the local authorities and exploit them less?
Besides, if one really wants to take down Hutouzhai, it is definitely not an easy task even if all the big families join forces with all their might. Otherwise, it would be impossible to "coexist peacefully" with those mountain stronghold forces in the past few years.
Deng Gui got angry, but when he saw that Tang Tiande, Xu Wujiang and the others remained silent, he knew that he did not have the ability to get the local forces to come forward and cooperate with him.
This time, several merchants and travelers from Luzhou, Shouzhou and other places had died. It was impossible to just catch a few petty thieves and kill them to get away with it. All they could do was send someone to Biyang to report that the bandits from Hutouzhai had started killing again.
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Hutouzhai carried out two massacres on passing merchants and travelers. Xu Huai did not think that this was just a coincidence with Wang Bing's stay in Huaiyuan Military Camp.
However, no matter how suspicious he was, he did not have the ability to attack Hutouling alone, and people like Deng Gui would not listen to his advice; he did not even have a way to escape and go to the vicinity of Hutouling to investigate.
He is actually powerless to do anything about the current situation.
After returning to the military camp, Xu Wujiang was called by Deng Gui to discuss matters; Xu Xin'an, because of his great skills and quick thinking, had been formally selected by Deng Gui as a scout of the Inspection Office. At this time, he was also sent out with other scouts to gather information.
Xu Huai had not yet officially applied for the military service. When he returned to the military camp, he saw Wang Bing and the postmaster Cheng Yi playing chess in the yard. There were two soldiers guarding the yard, so it was not convenient to talk. So he went back to the yard to get his spear and bow, and went to practice behind the willow grove.
The situation became tense. Except for those who were on routine patrols and those sent out to gather information, all the remaining personnel in the military camp were taken to the training ground by Deng Gui for training. The pond and willow grove to the north of the military camp were empty, with no one in sight.
Xu Huai tied the quiver to his right waist, stood with the bow in his hand, took the arrow and put it on the string, his eyes fixed on the willow tree forty steps away. He had previously used broken bricks to draw a bull's eye the size of a silver ingot on the tree.
The actual trajectory of an arrow after it leaves the bow is a serpentine motion, not a straight line.
He holds the bow with his left hand, and the arrow shaft needs to be placed on the bow arm from the left side; only in this way, after all aspects of the action are in place, can he ensure that the target that the arrow hits at high speed after leaving the string will match the target that the bow holder's eyes are aiming at.
He didn't know these principles before, and always thought that it would be quicker to take the arrow with his right hand and put the arrow shaft on the bow arm from the right side to shoot; but he didn't expect that the arrows he shot would always deviate to one side.
At this time, after Lu Xiong's guidance, he understood many principles. He also had the previous foundation of strength and bones, so once he corrected himself, the effect would be very obvious.
"Duo!"
An arrow hit the willow tree forty steps away steadily. The arrow feathers were buzzing. Xu Huai's hand did not stop, and the second arrow had already been shot out.
This is standard rapid-fire.
Linked arrows require that the first arrow hits the target, and the second arrow should be shot immediately afterwards . The faster the two arrows are connected, the more difficult it will be for the enemy to cope with.
Xu Huai used the arrow-picking, arrow-nosing, and bow-stringing methods taught by Lu Xiong, and shot the second and third arrows accurately, hitting the silver-ingot-sized bull's eye. However, when it came to the fourth arrow, in order to ensure that the speed could be connected, the muscles of his arms tightened uncontrollably, and the arrowhead finally missed the bull's eye by several inches and hit the tree trunk...
Xu Huai put down his longbow, looked at the fourth arrow that missed the target, and saw Lu Xiong walking into the willow forest. He said, "I still can't shoot four arrows in a row!"
There are three variations of the Fu Mang Fist, Whip and Hammer. If you can use them in a connected and smooth manner, you can be said to be a master of boxing and kicking. The standards for practicing swordsmanship and spears are similar. If you want to call yourself a master of swordsmanship, you have to keep doing it and block three arrows in succession using methods such as blocking, deflecting, and slashing.
Therefore, if one wants to surpass the level of ordinary masters in archery, one must shoot four arrows in a row without interruption, so as to force the so-called master-level enemy into a panic situation.
Of course, this standard does not have much significance in actual combat.
The so-called masters on the battlefield do not rely on heavy armor and strong shields, nor on their comrades around them. Even if they have three heads and six arms, it is impossible for them to deflect the arrows shot from all directions at the same time.
Xu Huai was more concerned with testing the level of his own practice.
"..." Lu Xiong couldn't help but slap his forehead and smiled bitterly, "Do you know how long it takes for the archery masters in the army to reach your level? Do you think the legendary nine-linked beads really exist in the world?"
"..."Xu Huai laughed, but he didn't think he was that greedy.
After regaining consciousness, with the guidance and instruction of people like Lu Xiong, Xu Huaineng's boxing, sword, spear and archery skills improved dramatically in just over a month. This was due to the fact that he had grown up in Tongbai Mountain for more than ten years without interrupting his training of basic skills for a single day, and that he was born with strong bones and tendons.
However, at this time, he has almost tapped all of his potential.
From now on, he will have to be like other warriors and can only rely on years of hard work to make further improvements.
This was also something he felt a little regretful about.
"There were two robberies on the road by Hutou Village, both of which resulted in massacres. What do you think?" Lu Xiong was almost losing the confidence to discourage Xu Huai. It was usually inconvenient for him to leave the military camp, and he came here mainly to ask Xu Huai about the details of today's robbery and murder on Zoumadao.
Xu Huai told Lu Xiong everything he saw at the scene today:
"In addition to the massacres in these two robberies, I also heard that the exploitation of the surrounding villages by Hutou Village has suddenly doubled. There was a village that refused to obey, and five days ago, Chen Zixiao, the second in command of Hutou Village, personally led dozens of bandits to force their way in, kidnapped dozens of women and children and took them back to Hutou Ridge as hostages, and ordered their clansmen to pay to redeem them. Uncle Seventeen and his men actually got the news, but thought the matter was not as serious as they imagined, so they concealed it and did not report it to Deng Gui; and no victim in this village dared to come to the Inspection Office to complain and ask for help..."
The victims did not dare to offend the vicious robbers and did not report the case to the inspection office or the county. Xu Wujiang and others took the initiative to report to Deng Gui. Isn't that asking for trouble?
Even Deng Gui might not have been kept in the dark, and it was more likely that he was pretending to be deaf and dumb.
If you can't see it, you can pretend it never happened; this is the logic of low-level officials.
However, today, merchants from Luzhou and Shouzhou were killed on the horse trail, and the news could no longer be concealed, so Deng Gui became really anxious.
Lu Xiong didn't know how to comment on this matter. He sighed and changed the subject, asking, "The bandits in Hutou Village are agitated. If it was the assassins sent by Cai Ying who instigated them, why do you think they did this?"
