Volume 1 Chushan Bandits Chapter 57: Burning Xiema Mountain
A clay pot will break if it is kept near a well, and a general will inevitably die on the battlefield.
Although Pan Chenghu was angry about the loss of three good fighters, he led his men here mainly to put pressure on the Xu family and was not prepared to attack Lutai Village by force.
After some bargaining, Xu Wufu was finally willing to pay 1,500 taels of silver and some wine, meat, grain and cloth as ransom. With this leverage, Pan Chenghu took the opportunity to back off, thinking that if he couldn't swallow this humiliation, he would wait two days before coming back to ask for it back for the holiday.
After much thought, he decided that allowing Xu Wujiang and others to settle in Jinshagou was absolutely intolerable.
Even if he didn't need to kill people in large numbers, he would send troops to Yuhuangling to harass and attack them from time to time. He didn't believe that the Xu family could hold out for long.
After thinking it over, Pan Chenghu felt that he came here hastily after confirming that Lutai Village had traces of a secret connection to Jinshagou, but he did not carefully consider how Xu would respond. He was too reckless. How could he end up like that reckless young man?
After getting the ransom, it was getting late and it was too late to rush back to Xiema Mountain that day. Pan Chenghu did not dare to station directly around the Xu family's Lutai stronghold, which had strong military equipment. So he rushed to a village called Shangliu upstream of Qingliu Creek and stayed there before it got completely dark.
Pan Chenghu was cruel and ruthless, and he had done many things to kill people to establish his authority, but as a second-generation bandit, he also knew that if Xiema Mountain wanted to gain a foothold deep in the Nanling Mountains of Tongbai Mountain, it would need to be patient and restrained. He was able to refrain from killing or setting fire to those obedient villages.
How big of a deal is it to ask for two women occasionally?
If no one had pointed it out, the dignitaries in the city of Bianjing would never have imagined that officials and bandits could coexist so peacefully in the Tongbai Mountains, and that the villages could get along well with both sides.
Shangliu Village was weak, with only two or three hundred people, which was comparable to Qingxi Village where Deng Gui had ordered Xu Wujiang to garrison. Both were unable to refuse Pan Chenghu and his men to go directly into the village to rest. They also specially cleared out dozens of houses in a corner of the village for the bandits to stay overnight, and also tried their best to prepare meals.
Pan Chenghu allowed these meals to be deducted from future filial tributes, and the village elders and several wealthy families were grateful and shed tears.
Report to the police?
There are no small clans or villages on the same level as Qingxi Village; when the police come to investigate the case, they are even more ruthless in demanding money than those in the mountain village.
Pan Chenghu led his troops outside Xiema Mountain. He did not dare to get drunk. He drank two pots of wine and went to bed early. In the middle of the night, he heard a loud knock on the door. He woke up and saw his subordinates coming in in panic. He asked in surprise, "You look like this. Did that bastard Xu Wufu send troops from Lutai Village to attack you?"
"There is no attack, but there is a flood at Xiema Mountain!" the bandit leader shouted.
Pan Chenghu pushed open the door with a bang, and saw the sky in the southwest illuminated by flames. He screamed in anger: "We have been tricked by that thief Xu Wufu, and Xiema Mountain has been robbed by his men!!!"
How could such a big fire be caused by an accidental fire?
…
…
The bandits made a fuss for a long time and a clan member died. His family ran to the ancestral hall and cried. Xu Wufu was busy and sent people to keep an eye on the whereabouts of the bandits. He finally rested late at night with his concubine serving him.
However, before he could vent all his resentment on his concubine's smooth and tender skin, Xu Heng barged in.
"What the hell, what are you panicking about?"
When the bandits attacked, Xu Heng did not dare to stand on the wall with him, which made Xu Wufu unable to hide his disappointment. He pulled the quilt to cover the concubine's jade-like breasts and scolded his eldest son who was standing at the threshold with a stupid face.
"Pan Chenghu has led his men to attack you. Are you so panicked? Let me tell you, you must stay calm in any situation, and then you can think of a solution. What's the point of panicking? Will it make the bandits retreat? You are wrong. The more panicked you are, the more powerful the bandits will be, and the more they will bully you. However, the calmer you are, the less the bandits can see through you, and their hearts will be insecure! The lives of bandits are cheap, but they also have a price. Do you think they are reckless and reckless?"
At this point, Xu Wufu suddenly thought of Xu Huai, the stubborn fool, and felt a tightness in his chest. He put on his coat and motioned Xu Heng to stand at the door to talk: "What's the matter that makes you so flustered? Tell me now?"
"There's a fire in the direction of Xiema Mountain!" Xu Heng said.
"What?"
Xu Wufu jumped into the yard and saw flames blazing in the sky in the southwest. He sat down on the steps, slapped the ground and shouted,
"We have fallen into the trap of that bastard Xu Wujiang! Pan Chenghu must have believed that we were trying to lure him out of Xiema Mountain. We are like a piece of mud falling into our pants. There is no way to explain it now!"
At this moment, Xu Bosong and Xu Wuqi led people into the courtyard and saw Xu Wufu sitting on the steps. They walked over and said gloomily, "Looking at the situation, Xu Wujiang must have taken advantage of the empty nest of the Xiema bandits and killed them by surprise."
After Hutouzhai deliberately released the news, even though Xu Wufu did not say it explicitly, he found Xu Wuqi, Xu Bosong, Xu Zhongyu, Zhou Jing and others a few days ago to hint that Xu Wujiang and others might be hiding in Jinshagou.
As they were all members of the Xu clan, Xu Zhongyu and his companions could not instigate Xu Wufu to report directly to the prefecture and county. However, they also made it clear that if the government sent people to arrest the families of Xu Wujiang and others for interrogation, the clan could not interfere.
However, he did not expect that after the news spread secretly for several days, the prefectures, counties and inspection offices did not take any action, but the bandits in the mountains came first to demand punishment.
What they had not expected was that before they could wait for Pan Chenghu to put pressure on them and surrender, Xu Huai rushed out and killed people indiscriminately, arousing the courage of the tribesmen and making it impossible for them to surrender; and Xu Wujiang even attacked Xiema Mountain at night and set it on fire until the sky was illuminated by flames, which made them stunned.
"They are going to bring disastrous disaster upon the Xu family!" Xu Zhongyu stamped his feet and shouted angrily.
"Perhaps we should send someone to meet Xu Wujiang and order him to withdraw from Jinshagou. Otherwise, we should not be polite any longer," Xu Bosong said. "If the prefecture and county also believe that we are secretly colluding with him, it will be a disaster!"
"I'm afraid I can't explain it clearly," Xu Wuqi frowned and said, "There are many impoverished families in the clan, and many of them can't find a way to make a living. If they knew that the fire on Xiema Mountain tonight was caused by Xu Wujiang, I'm afraid hundreds of people would immediately run to seek refuge overnight! Back then, Xu Wuxuan became a bandit in the mountains, and when he returned to the village, he took away thirty or forty of us overnight. You should still remember the head of the family, Bo Song, and Uncle Zhong Yu, right?"
"What Wu Qi said makes sense. The people of Xiafang Xu have become increasingly restless in recent years. Last time, they were not allowed to enter Lion Camel Ridge to build a new camp, so they wanted to incite the young and strong people of Xiafang Xu to cause trouble. We still can't tell the tribe members about this for the time being," Xu Wufu frowned and said, "Everyone should guard the camps first to prevent Pan Chenghu from jumping over the wall and bringing troops to fight!"
He always prided himself on his resourcefulness, but he found himself tied up in this matter. He never expected that Xu Wujiang was much more capable than he had thought...
…
…
Xiema Mountain, Yuhuangling Mountain, Shituoling Mountain, etc. are all branches of the Nanling Range of Tongbai Mountain.
Coming from the northeast, the mountains become increasingly steep.
In the previous dynasty, Emperor Gaozu personally led the army to conquer Xiangdeng and other places and passed through this place. Because the mountains ahead were towering and the roads were cut off, they rested their horses here, hence the name Xiema Mountain. Earlier, it was just an unknown dangerous ridge in Tongbai Mountain.
Because of its relationship with the emperor, Xiema Mountain became a famous mountain in Biyang. The prefecture and county of the previous dynasty spent huge amounts of money to build Chonghuang Temple here to commemorate Emperor Gaozu's visit. After the change of dynasties, it was renamed Baiyun Temple.
The bandit problem in Tongbai Mountain has become increasingly serious. In the past fifty or sixty years, many gangs of bandits have successively occupied Baiyun Temple, which has become a well-known bandit stronghold.
Pan Chenghu's father and two generations have been here, minus the several years they were driven out, and have been running this place for 30 years. The Taoist temple has long been unrecognizable except for a few main halls, wing halls and other buildings.
The sky was dimming over the distant mountains, revealing a pale sky. Xu Huai, who was sleeping on the roof of the palace with his clothes on and a knife in his arms, heard someone moving around in the palace. He looked out and saw Liu Qiong'er, accompanied by Xu Xiaohuan and Su Di's brother Su Xun, walking towards him in a panic. He asked curiously:
"Why did you come here at night? Can you endure this hardship?"
They set out from Jinshagou yesterday and headed south along the river beach. They walked for a full hour and a half. They were all strong men, but they were exhausted and exhausted.
Fortunately, there were only more than 20 old, weak and disabled bandits left in Xiema Mountain. After six or seven of them were killed or injured, they fled in panic, and they were able to successfully capture the village.
But I didn't expect that Liu Qiong'er would also come over.
Even though they had waded through the road ahead, Liu Qiong'er was so frail that it would not have been comfortable for her to walk all night. Looking at her torn clothes and her delicate face covered with several cuts and bloody marks, one could tell how hard it had been.
Liu Qiong'er didn't care about her manners and sat down on the steps. She didn't have the courage to say that she didn't dare to stay in Jinshagou.
Even after Xu Huai and the others left, Liu Qiong'er thought that once Xiema Mountain was on fire, it would be unlikely that Pan Chenghu would rush to Xiema Mountain. He would be more likely to take bloody revenge on the Xu family members, or he would be smarter and find a place to stay first.
Otherwise, once the major clans reacted and gathered one or two thousand local soldiers to encircle and intercept them, Pan Chenghu and his men would not be able to hold out for more than three to five days and would collapse due to lack of food.
Liu Qiong'er always felt uneasy staying in the Dongpo New Village or Jinshagou of Lion Camel Ridge without Xu Huai by her side. But dragging Xu Xiaohuan along and traveling on a dangerous road all night, she suffered the most hardships she had ever experienced in her life.
Xu Huai jumped down from the eaves and sat on the steps. Liu Qiong'er didn't care about her manners and leaned on Xu Huai's broad arms to rest. She asked curiously, "I thought you burned down the whole bandit camp. The fire was so big from a distance yesterday!"
"We burned the granary and bandits' houses below, and were ready to set fire to the main hall here. Later, we thought that Pan Chenghu might be afraid that the 300 bandits would be trapped in Xiema Mountain and dare not come back after seeing the fire, so we left the main hall above untouched. We also decided not to withdraw for the time being and wait and see the situation." Xu Huai said.
"I see you didn't hurt anyone, but I just saw Xu Wuliang stomping his feet. Did everything go wrong yesterday?" Liu Qiong'er asked.
"We all came from hard times. Who wouldn't stamp their feet when they saw thousands of bags of grain being burned in a fire?" Xu Huai said, "But if we don't burn it, we can't stop Pan Chenghu's thoughts!"
