Volume 1 Chushan Bandits Chapter 62 The Murderer
Deng Gui personally held a sword and supervised the battle. He was full of murderous intent and did not hesitate to kill people in front of the battlefield to establish his authority. Even though Jin Longquan, Tang Tiande and other generals as well as the leaders of the local soldiers who were mobilized did not understand the situation at this time, who would dare to slack off in front of him?
They mixed the local soldiers with the military soldiers, raised their big shields, carried huge logs and knocked down several parts of the thin wall, and then took turns leading their troops to attack the village.
The most important thing in fighting is momentum. Either the east wind prevails over the west wind, or the west wind prevails over the east wind.
Previously, the various clans were unwilling to fight to the death with the bandits, and Deng Gui did not want to offend the local forces. He only wanted to rotate his subordinates to various places in peace and stability. He was very kind and amiable to his subordinates. Seeing the bandits licking blood on the knife edge, who would be willing to fight to the death?
This naturally made the stubborn bandits in Tongbai Mountain even more ferocious and arrogant, running rampant in the countryside and unstoppable.
However, the Wuzu soldiers respected the majesty that the position of Inspector brought to Deng Gui, and deep down they were still submissive to the court. This was the basis for the implementation of military discipline.
At this time, with the leadership of brave generals and capable officials, the combat effectiveness and will of the military soldiers and local militia, which were bound together by military discipline, were naturally stronger than those of the bandits.
The Xiema bandits' lair had been attacked by surprise. How strong could they resist against the Wuzu warriors who attacked them regardless of the arrows and stones?
On the first day of the assault, sixty to seventy people were killed or wounded on both sides.
This was mainly because the Wuzu militiamen had poor training and weapons. Pan Chenghu was a rare warrior in Tongbai Mountain, and he had dozens of fierce bandits under his command. While Jin Longquan, Tang Tiande and others were willing to drive others to fight, they themselves were not willing to fight, and several waves of attacks were beaten back by the bandits.
The next day, Deng Gui organized his troops to attack through the gap. Pan Chenghu realized that there was no way to survive if they continued to fight. Without him to lead the way, how could the bandits resist the attack of the local soldiers?
They were defeated in the morning. By the time Pan Chenghu decided to break out of the encirclement and escape from Shangliuzhai from the northeast corner and into the deep mountains and forests in the northeast, there were only thirty or forty bandits left around him.
Except for a part of the bandits who fled in other directions, nearly two hundred bandits were captured or killed in the battle of Shangliuzhai. It can be said that this was a rare victory in the anti-bandit campaign in Tongbai Mountain in recent years.
Nearly a hundred Wuzuzhai warriors were killed or wounded, but when distributed among the major clans, it was still barely acceptable and a happy ending for everyone.
Of course, people in Lion Camel Ridge were not at ease, and their hearts were even in their throats.
If Deng Gui used his power to defeat the bandits to attack Xiema Mountain, even if Xu Wufu was worried that the entire Xu clan would be dragged into the water, it would be difficult for him to find an excuse to stop him.
Fortunately, the thing he worried about did not happen, so Deng Gui decided to stop while he was ahead.
Even though the news coming from various covert channels tried to prove that the new bandit occupying Xiema Mountain was Xu Wujiang, he had already obtained the military merit he deserved, so why bother making trouble?
Deng Gui knew best that Xu Wufu wanted to kill Xu Wujiang and others, but there were secret reports that Xu Wufu and Xu Wujiang had colluded to take Xiema Mountain, obviously intending to drag the Xu family into the water - regardless of whether these people behind the scenes had other intentions or wanted to seize Xu's family business in Yuhuangling, Deng Gui had no need to be the knife.
The Xu family is quite powerful. If they retaliate forcefully, Deng Gui doesn't think he will be able to deal with it.
In his opinion, the matter of Xu Wujiang's desertion and joining the bandits should be left to others to deal with, or wait until Wang Bing's sudden death in Huaiyuan alarms the court and the public, and few people will care about Xu Wujiang's desertion and joining the bandits.
After a simple cleanup of the battlefield, Deng Gui ordered Jin Longquan to lead the local soldiers to garrison Shangliuzhai and clean up the mess. After eating the reward banquet arranged by Xu Wufu in Beizhai, he and Tang Tiande led two teams of intact soldiers and accompanied Guo Caoling back to the military camp.
It’s time for him to leave Huaiyuan. Let Guo Caoling worry about whether to conquer Xiema Mountain in the future!
Xu Wukun, Xu Wuliang and others all know the principle of making a great effort and then doing it to the fullest.
The casualties among the local soldiers and military soldiers were not low this time. As long as Deng Gui did not use the momentum of defeating the bandits to attack Xiema Mountain and let the anger fade away, and wait for the new inspector to take office before organizing troops to attack Xiema Mountain, it would take at least two or three months.
They have two or three months of buffer time to recruit soldiers, which is much better than facing the brave soldiers with the limited manpower they have now; what's more, the longer the time drags on, the less likely Xu Wufu will be able to clear his suspicion, and the more he will have to face the crisis together with them.
Xu Wufu obviously understood the logic behind this. In the afternoon, he arranged for people to deliver the other 20,000 kilograms of grain that had been agreed to be loaned but was temporarily interrupted by Deng Gui's unexpected dispatch of troops to the new camp at Lion Camel Ridge.
This time it was Xu Wuzhi who sent food over again, and he also hinted that a part of the bandits were forced to flee into the deep mountains and forests south of Shangliuzhai; these bandits broke out to the south and were used by Pan Chenghu to attract the main force of the Wuzu militia to besiege and kill them. They were abandoned pawns, and Xu Wujiang could send people to recruit them.
In the eyes of Xu Wuliang, Xu Wukun and others, Xu Wuqi's suggestion was obviously instructed by Xu Wufu: since they could not destroy Xu Wujiang and his men, and did not want Xu Wujiang and his men to drag the entire Xu family into the water, they could only hope to struggle to survive here, or at least not let any key figures fall into the hands of the government and become ironclad evidence of the Xu family's secret dealings with bandits.
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Although he was about to escape from the quagmire, when he returned to the military camp, Deng Gui did not feel the joy of returning from a great victory. He even felt a little depressed. At least he did not dare to see Wang Bing at this critical moment.
After returning to the house behind the office, Deng Gui ordered someone to close the door. He took out a volume of policy papers and read it on the couch to calm his mind. As for the matter of recruiting Guo Caoling, he pushed the responsibility to Tang Tiande.
If Guo Caoling didn't act in a hurry, he would have to deal with the Tang and Jin families for some more days.
Seeing that such heavy casualties had been incurred, and Deng Gui had actually taken advantage of the low morale of his soldiers to seize Xiema Mountain, Tang Tiande was quite dissatisfied. However, he could not force Deng Gui to give orders, so he could only pin his hopes on Guo Caoling.
Deng Gui handed the task of recruiting him, and Tang Tiande, despite the hard work of many days, invited Guo Caoling and two bodyguards to Yuehonglou for tea and a banquet.
Deng Gui did not leave, so after Guo Caoling arrived at the military camp, he could only live in the inn temporarily. The conditions were too simple. During the dinner, Tang Tiande suggested that an elegant courtyard in Yuehonglou could be vacated for Guo Caoling and his bodyguards to live in temporarily.
Guo Caoling has contacted Zheng Hui and Dong Qifeng and learned in detail everything that has happened in Huaiyuan Town in recent days.
It is unlikely that the Tang family would collude with Lu Xiong and the old soldiers of the Jingsheng Army, but there is something fishy about this woman Liu Qiong'er. There is no guarantee that some of the servants and waitresses under Yue Honglou might be bribed by the people who are secretly protecting Wang Bing.
How could Guo Caoling dare to move into Yuehonglou just to live there for a few days in comfort?
After the banquet at Yuehonglou, Guo Caoling returned to the military posthouse with two bodyguards.
This was the small courtyard where Wang Bing lived when he first arrived in Huaiyuan. There were three main rooms and two side rooms on each side. It was fairly tidy.
After drinking a lot of wine, Guo Caoling asked his bodyguards to go back to the side rooms to rest first. He sat in the reception hall to sober up and think about the subsequent arrangements.
It was easy for them to kill Wang Bing, but it would still take .
After much thought, Guo Caoling felt that he should meet with Zheng Hui again in a couple of days to finalize the details.
Being a little drunk, Guo Caoling took off his sword from his waist and held it in his hand. He pushed open the door and wanted to go in to rest. Suddenly, a sharp wind blew in his face, as if a poisonous python that had been lurking in the darkness for a long time was rushing towards him. Guo Caoling almost felt that the sharp wind was not the force of the sword breaking through the air, but the murderous aura in his heart.
"You bastard, you're so brave!" Guo Caoling shouted, as if a vicious tiger suddenly roared like thunder.
In addition to giving a warning, he also wanted to mobilize all his strength in an instant to deal with the assassin's subsequent thunderous continuous attacks.
Thanks to years of training, Guo Caoling was able to move several inches to the side in an instant, avoiding the nearly fatal stab. He was unable to draw his sword in time, so he thrust out with the hilt like a steel whip, and seeing the opponent's body shrink to the side in an instant, avoiding the stab from the hilt, he crouched and struck out with his right elbow.
Guo Caoling changed his moves one after another in order to force the opponent to retreat, even if he just took half a step back. The freed-up space allowed him to wield the long sword and chop like thunder, surely cutting the opponent in half.
Guo Caoling had not expected that the opponent would hit him hard with his left elbow, making him feel like he had hit a piece of iron.
Guo Caoling had been in the army for twenty years and had gone through countless hardships. His body had endured too much pain and suffering, so he was heartbroken at this moment. However, while he was secretly surprised, he knew that the other party was definitely not feeling well either.
He knew how powerful his elbow was.
However, the assassin was not repelled by the two heavy collisions as he had imagined, but his body was swung to the side like a rope.
Not shaking!
The assassin swung his left hip to the right, in order to make the previous left elbow hammer burst out with a stronger force to resist him, but the assassin's lumbar spine was fixed in place, which required an extremely strong reverse twisting force to burst out in an instant.
Guo Caoling was suddenly horrified, and immediately realized that the assassin had predicted his subsequent reaction when he stabbed the first knife. The left side of his waist and lumbar spine burst out with opposite force in a very short time, which would inevitably severely tear the muscles and bones of his waist. But the advantage of doing so is that it can give his right arm a reverse swing force at lightning speed.
Guo Caoling would not forget that the assassin still had a short blade in his right hand, which had just stabbed into the air from the side of his neck.
Use the left elbow to hammer, and use the reverse twisting force to forcibly fix the lumbar spine. This will transform the horizontal punch into the short blade of the right hand, so as to cut to the lower left.
This is an extremely sophisticated close combat tactic.
If the assassin's figure had not been tall and strong in the dark, Guo Caoling would have almost suspected that it was Lu Xiong who hid in the house to assassinate him - when he came back, he passed by the yard where Wang Bing lived, and clearly saw Lu Xiong and Wang Bing standing in front of the corridor and talking!
The Jingsheng Army still has such powerful remnants!
Guo Caoling wanted to understand all this, but he was too slow to react. After he hammered with his right elbow, all his strength was concentrated on his right hand, and the knife was pulled out halfway. At this time, he felt a chill on his neck, and the blade had already stabbed his body.
However, Guo Caoling was also ferocious. He tilted his head back several inches, and without stopping to draw his sword, a beam of cold light slashed towards the assassin's waist.
With a clanging sound, Guo Caoling realized that the assassin had a short blade hidden under his left elbow, and he drew his sword to block it.
Only then did Guo Caoling feel a wind rushing directly into his neck. The assassin's blade was as sharp as a poisonous snake. In an instant, he stabbed him seven times in a row, forcing him to sit on the ground without any room to struggle.
Guo Caoling had not yet completely died, and he watched the assassin squatting behind the window.
At this moment Song Jiejun broke into the room through the window.
He was on guard against the assassin hiding behind the door, but when he saw Guo Caoling's horrified eyes in the moonlight that leaked into the room, he realized that the assassin was right under him, but he was already in mid-air and only had time to kick and tap the assassin's shoulder.
Guo Caoling saw that the assassin did not dodge, and took the kick from Song Jiejun on the shoulder, and stabbed the blade into Song Jiejun's body from the lower body.
Yue Zhilong rushed in from outside, raised his knife and slashed at the assassin. However, Guo Caoling looked at the assassin's childish face in the moonlight, picked up the long knife that fell on the ground, and fought desperately with Yue Zhilong in the narrow room.
Guo Caoling could not imagine that the assassin was a boy of sixteen or seventeen years old, and it was even more difficult for him to imagine that his Fumang Knife would be so sharp. After seven or eight attacks, he suppressed Yue Zhilong's momentum. At this time, hurried footsteps were heard in the distance, and the long knife in Yue Zhilong's hand had been cut off. The next moment, Yue Zhilong's head was split in half by the boy's knife.
Guo Caoling was gasping for breath rapidly. He stretched out his hands to grab his throat. He wanted to die with his eyes closed. He wanted to ask the boy who he was, but he couldn't utter a word. At this time, the boy turned around, dipped his finger in the blood from his chest where seven or eight bloody holes were pierced, and began to write and draw on the wall.
Guo Caoling looked over there in the moonlight:
"The murderer is Chushan Yaksha Fox!"
"Is my name loud and clear? Are the hints obvious ? Do you remember who I am now?" The young man turned and looked at Guo Caoling and asked with a smile, then reached out and crushed Guo Caoling's Adam's apple completely...
