Volume 1 Chushan Bandits Chapter 61 Before the New Envoy Arrives
“…”
On the grassland on the north bank of Qingliu River, more than thirty bandit cavalrymen were galloping from west to east.
If Xu Wukun had not been quick-witted, jumped off his horse, grabbed the bridle and forcibly pulled back the horse that Xu Huai was riding, Xu Huai might have charged towards the group of bandits alone again.
Xu Wufu, Xu Zhongyu and others who were standing on the wall of the village could not help but slap their foreheads when they saw this scene, and they were all wailing in their hearts:
Does this reckless guy know when to stop? Why does he always have to play such thrilling games? ?
If being stubborn and reckless was useful, the entire Tongbai Mountain would have long been occupied by those bloodthirsty bandits who value money over their lives.
Of course, Xu Huai's daring and reckless killing was not completely ineffective.
In the past twelve or thirteen days, another seven enemy bandits were killed by Xu Huai.
Ten days have passed since Pan Chenghu led the bandits to demand punishment, and more than twenty members of the Xu family have been harassed and injured.
Twenty bandit soldiers were also killed.
However, half of the victories achieved by the Xu family were won by Xu Huai alone.
Sometimes we have to admit that such a brave and reckless guy can still play a role at the critical moment. At least small groups of thieves dare not run out of Shangliuzhai alone anymore.
The bandits under Pan Chenghu had only fifty or sixty cavalrymen, and they had lost more than a dozen of them by this time. Most of the remaining ones were attracted to the north bank of Qingliu River. The Lutai camps were all on the south bank of Qingliu River and near the middle peak of Yuhuang Ridge, so the impact on their lives and production was reduced. The construction of the new camp on the east slope of Shituo Ridge never stopped from beginning to end.
Xu Huai rode on the horse and pretended to fight with Xu Wukun for a while, but he saw the bandit cavalry slow down 300 steps away and sent a small team to seize the hill in the north. He sighed to Xu Wukun: "Now the bandit soldiers have really learned their lesson and didn't fall for it."
Xu Huai and Xu Wukun pretended to fight, mainly to lure the bandits into rushing out from the narrow valley between the hill and Qingliu Creek so that they could surround and kill them.
Not only is the terrain of that valley narrow, there are rugged rocks on the shore, and the beaches are mostly soft mud that is difficult to walk on. The bandits are unfamiliar with the terrain, and if they rush to cross the valley, the front formation will certainly be pulled apart, and Xu Huai and his men will have the opportunity to launch a counterattack, kill two or three bandits, and then withdraw calmly.
However, he didn't expect that the bandit cavalry had become smarter after fighting with them on both sides of Qingliu Creek for the past eight or nine days and losing several good fighters at his hands.
There were only five people on their side. The two cavalry teams led by Zhou Jing and Xu Chen were on the south bank of Qingliu Creek at this time and could not wade across the water for the time being. Now was a good opportunity, but the bandit cavalry were no longer in a hurry to surround and kill them. Xu Huai was helpless.
"Pan Chenghu has been able to gain a foothold in Xiema Mountain for so many years, and all the big clans are unable to do anything to him. How is it possible that he and his men are all fools? It is impossible for them to fall for your tricks again and again." Xu Wukun pretended to pull the bridles of the two horses and walk eastward, observing the reactions of the bandit riders from the corner of his eyes from time to time.
Xu Wukun dragged Xu Huai eastward to a point within an arrow's reach, and only after he met up with Xu Wuliang and others did he get back on his horse.
This is a shallow beach of Qingliuxi River, and they can retreat to the south bank of Qingliuxi River at any time.
However, after the bandit cavalry took control of the hill on the north side, they did not advance quickly. The dozen or so cavalrymen who stopped on the hill kept looking towards the northwest.
Xu Huai and his men's vision was blocked, but the sentry posts set up by the North Camp and the New Camp on the north bank of the Lion Camel Ridge indicated that a group of people were approaching from the north. Xu Huai, Xu Wuliang, Xu Wukun and others did not know who were coming, so they retreated to the south bank of Qingliu Creek.
Now their vision was wider, and they saw a group of people coming out from behind the wild persimmon forest in the north. There were about a hundred people, and more than twenty cavalrymen in the front row.
At such a distance, I couldn't see the people's faces or the flags carried by the cavalry and infantry, but from the clothes they were wearing, I could tell that the military soldiers of the Inspection Office had come out in full force.
Lutai Village is only twenty miles away from Huaiyuan Inspection Office. Pan Chenghu has occupied Shangliu Village and harassed Yuhuangling for more than ten days. Deng Gui has not taken any action early or late, but why did he lead the inspection office's soldiers to come here at this time?
Did he rush over to reinforce Lutai Village to fight the bandits, or did he think that both sides were defeated and he had a chance to take advantage of the situation?
Seeing that reinforcements were coming from the Inspection Office, the bandits dared not linger in the wilderness on the north bank of Qingliu Creek.
The Inspection Office has only a few hundred soldiers, but as the only official military organization in Tongbai Mountain, it can invite local soldiers to encircle and suppress bandits in times of emergency.
Moreover, Pan Chenghu has led the bandits to harass Yuhuangling for more than ten days. Who knows what terms the Inspection Office has negotiated with the big clans such as Jin and Tang under the instructions of the prefecture and county? Who knows whether there are larger-scale militias gathering behind them?
No matter how brave Pan Chenghu was, he didn't dare to stay on the north bank of Qingliu Creek at this time. Dozens of bandits hurriedly gathered towards Shangliu Village.
Xu Huai, Xu Wukun and Xu Wuliang were not in a hurry to leave. They stopped on a high ground on the bank of Qingliu Creek. After a while, they saw more than twenty cavalrymen led by Tang Tiande, accompanying Deng Gui and another middle-aged man wearing a ninth-rank new green military official robe and walking to the Qingliu Creek Bridge.
We were far away and couldn't see the man's face clearly.
Liu Qiong'er, holding up her skirt, hurried over from the north bank of Lion Camel Ridge accompanied by Xu Xiaohuan.
There were no extra war horses in the new camp of Lion Camel Ridge, so Xu Xiaohuan sat on the horse of his father Xu Wuliang. Xu Huai reached out and pulled Liu Qiong'er in front of him to share the saddle.
"So fast!" Liu Qiong'er said with a sad face.
Xu Huai spied on the secret letter that Chen Tong wrote to Deng Gui, and he had long known that Zheng Hui and others would arrange a new inspector to replace Deng Gui, thus putting Wang Bing's fate completely under their control.
Although Xu Wujiang had mentioned the possibility of Wang Bin's comeback in front of Wu Zu over the past month, he was only using this to keep everyone on their toes and did not take any further action.
In fact, everyone knows that the power behind the assassin is too powerful and too persistent. The best option for everyone is for Wang Bing to die, the assassin to succeed and withdraw, and Tongbai Mountain to return to its former tranquility.
Wang Bing died in Huaiyuan, and the Privy Councilor Cai Ying arranged a scapegoat to take the blame for everything. By that time, the court and the public were in shock, and in comparison, Xu Wujiang's surrender to the bandits became insignificant.
Perhaps the states and counties will never mention this matter on their own initiative from now on.
Why did you mention it?
Just treat Xu Wujiang and his people as new bandits who have emerged and occupied Xiema Mountain.
If you can suppress it, then suppress it. If you can’t suppress it…
There are so many stubborn bandits in Tongbai Mountain, and even if there is one more, they won’t be able to cause any trouble.
Xu Huai did not say anything. He saw the gate of the North Village slowly open. Xu Wufu, accompanied by Xu Wuqi, Xu Zhongyu, Zhou Jing and others, went to Qingliuxi Bridge to meet them.
Obviously, Xu Wufu was also looking forward to the arrival of the new inspector, hoping that Wang Bin's body and head would be separated, so that Tongbai Mountain could return to its former tranquility.
"Let's go back!" Xu Huai said listlessly, as if the ending was already determined and he didn't want to struggle anymore.
…
…
"These short-sighted fellows probably thought that once Guo Caoling replaced Deng Gui as the inspector and Wang Bing was killed in the Huaiyuan military camp, everything would return to normal!"
Zheng Hui and his companions hid in the wild persimmon forest, from where they could clearly see the situation on both sides of the Qingliu Creek Bridge. When they saw Xu Wufu coming out of the camp so quickly and efficiently to greet Deng Gui and Guo Caoling, they could not help but laugh with contempt.
"What should we do next?" Dong Qifeng asked.
"Deng Gui cooperates with us so well, so of course we should give him some military merits before he leaves!" Zheng Hui said with a smile.
"Why do you have to create such trouble?" Chen Zixiao asked curiously.
"If we don't defeat Pan Chenghu's troops and incorporate them into Hutouzhai, aren't you afraid that Pan Chenghu will try to usurp the throne in the future?" Zheng Hui asked.
Chen Zixiao slapped his forehead, saying that he was stupid and didn't think so deeply.
Seeing Chen Zixiao like this, Zheng Hui was quite proud. He thought that such a person was the easiest to control, and patiently explained to him:
"In the past month, Hutou Village has been secretly recruiting soldiers and now has more than 400 people, but nearly half of them are novices. If we directly invite Pan Chenghu to lead 300 bandits to join Hutou Village, even if Pan Chenghu is willing to be under you, we can't be completely at ease - Pan Chenghu is still strong and it is impossible for him to follow your lead! In any case, the more badly Pan Chenghu is beaten, the more grateful he will be to Hutou Village for taking him in, and the easier it will be to control him..."
"That's true, sir. You see through people's hearts." Chen Zixiao praised.
…
…
The new inspector had already arrived at the Huaiyuan military camp, and they were waiting for Cheng Lunying, the magistrate of Biyang, to confirm the transfer order in the name of the military commander, and then they could officially hand over the power. Deng Gui led the soldiers to the Tongbai Mountain to suppress the bandits on the eve of the handover, and all the families still gave him face.
For three consecutive days, the Jin, Tang, Qian and other families successively sent thirty to fifty soldiers from their camps to help. Together with the military soldiers, they soon gathered nearly four hundred troops in the camp on the north side of Qingliuxi Bridge.
Deng Gui has not received any new transfer order yet. He has made up his mind that even if he has to wait for a while, it will be better than continuing to get involved in this dangerous quagmire.
These were his last few days on the job as the Huaiyuan Inspector General. He no longer had to consider the face of the local gentry, nor did he have to sympathize with his soldiers, who mainly came from various clans and surnames.
After the troops were gathered, he led them towards Shangliu Village.
Deng Gui would beat anyone who dared to neglect or delay with a stick without hesitation, and even beheaded two local soldiers who disobeyed his orders in front of the battle line.
I've been a sick cat for more than two years. I'm going to die in a few days. It's time to show my power.
Whoever stops him from taking away the final military merit should not blame him for turning against them.
That is to say, the battle was fought on Xu's territory, which required Xu to provide a lot of supplies for the troops and the equipment for storming Shangliu Village. Xu also had a large number of people and strong power here, so Deng Gui was a little more polite to Xu and did not dare to use Xu's clan soldiers.
Pan Chenghu was stunned by the scene and felt deeply regretful.
The reason why he dared to stay in Shangliu Village before was that he was sure that the Inspection Office had only a few hundred soldiers and was not to be feared, and none of the big clans would use their own soldiers to fight a bloody battle with them.
The Xu family was the most threatened by them, and the two sides had been fighting on both sides of Qingliu Creek for more than ten days with only a few casualties, and most of the casualties were at the hands of that reckless guy. This was enough to prove that his judgment was correct.
Shangliuzhai is not steep and its walls are thin, but there are many villages on both sides, so food is easily available. More importantly, Pan Chenghu knows that the more critical the situation is, the less he should panic.
He is fleeing in panic. Not only will the big clans not let him go easily, but the people are demoralized and the bandits have dispersed. How much capital will he have left to make a comeback?
He had expected everything, but he had never expected that Deng Gui would be transferred at this critical moment, and that before leaving, Deng Gui would gather the Wuzu militia to fight him to the death...
