"Brother, something is wrong these days. A few strange faces often wander around our Hutou Village." The person who spoke was a dark man, with a long scar on his exposed chest.

A slightly thinner man sat next to the man, and he said, "I have seen people under my command patrol, and guys who often have faces appear at the foot of the mountain."

The two people who spoke looked at the big man sitting in the head at the same time.

The man frowned and said, "Has the person been caught? Have you asked what they came from?"

The man with a scar on his chest shook his head and said, "Those people have horses, and they don't walk deep into the mountains. When our people show up, they will leave without giving us a chance to surround them."

"Brother, you can't be an official person, right?" said the thin man.

The man sitting in the head of the head was the head of Hutou Village. He thought for a moment and said, "There is no news from the Xu family. If the government army wants to attack us, the Xu family will not send people to deliver letters. In this way, third brother, you go to the county town and ask if there is any news that the Xu family has encircled us. Second brother, you can send some more people to keep a close eye on Hutou Village. As long as those people come to the vicinity of Hutou Village, you must find a way to catch them."

"Yes." The second and third heads responded at the same time.

The county town was far away, and the Sanding family got up and left Dazhai, took two bandits with him, and rode down the mountain to Lingqiu County.

……………………

Not far from Hutou Village, there is a village called Zhaojiayu. At the west end of the village, there are a group of unknown men living in the Laizi Liu family.

Ordinary people would never dare to keep such a group of people at home, but Laizi Liu is a scoundrel in the village, stealing and likes to spend a few money. These unknown men gave him some money, so he kept people at home and moved to the house of a friend in the same village to live.

At this time, in the main house of Laizi Liu's house, Yang Yuan was sitting on the kang, Chen Daqing was sitting on the bench opposite, and there were a few people scattered around him, sitting in other parts of the house.

"Yangtou, there are many bandit patrols in Hutou Village, and it is difficult for our people to get close to." The speaker was a subordinate of Yang Yuan.

Yang Yuan said: "There is no need to go to Hutou Village. The troops from our camp are coming soon. Next time I go to Hutou Village, I will not seek information, but attack the bandits on Hutou Village Mountain."

Chen Daqing, who was sitting on the bench, stood up excitedly and said, "Is the boss and the team of troops coming to Hutou Village?"

During this period, he has been bringing people to inquire and collecting news about Hutou Village. He has some speculations about the camp coming to Hutou Village. Now he hears it with his own ears and can't help but feel excited.

Of course, he wasn't really excited.

Since he has known about Hutou Village, he has been envious of the Hutou Village.

Every time a caravan passes through the official road at the foot of Hutouzhai Mountain, he needs to pay a passerby silver. The passerby silver alone makes Hutouzhai rich.

Not only that, several villages around Hutouzhai need to pay safety money to Hutouzhai once a year in exchange for the bandits on Hutouzhai Mountain not to harm them.

In addition to safe silver, the people of these villages will also send a batch of grain to Hutou Village in spring and autumn.

Even so, the bandits on Hutouzhai Mountain would go down the mountain every few days to search for several villages. If they resisted, they would kill and set fire.

The villagers in several villages around Hutouzhai dared not speak out, and the government could not help the bandits in Hutouzhai. The people in several villages could only silently endure the bandits on Hutouzhai Mountain.

These things are a disaster for the people of several villages around Hutouzhai, but for Chen Daqing, as long as he takes over Heihuzhai, all this will be theirs. Such a treasure land is enough for more than a thousand people in the camp to survive here.

Yang Yuan nodded and said, "Last time I went back, the boss said that there would be teams coming soon, but I don't know which team came first."

Chen Daqing said: "If only one brigade comes, I feel that the third brigade is most likely to come."

Seeing Yang Yuan looking at him, Chen Daqing continued, "The muskets we brought back to the camp were handed over to the third brigade. The second brigade needs to guard the camp. The boss should be dispatched with the camp. Only the third brigade is most suitable to set out first."

Yang Yuan nodded and said, "We think the same thing. I think so too. The Third Battalion has just been equipped with muskets and needs a practical battle. There are not many bandits on Hutouzhai Mountain, so the Third Battalion can handle it."

As the two were talking, someone ran in the yard and said, "Yangtou, Chentou, Jia Liu from the Third Brigade arrived at the forest at the foot of Hutouzhai Mountain."

"It seems we've guessed right." Yang Yuan smiled, stood up and said, "Let's go, look at him. This guy was promoted from a refugee recruit captain to a squadron leader of the third brigade, and he has more subordinates than the two of us."

Chen Daqing stood up and walked out of the house with Yang Yuan.

There is a simple stable in the yard. Yang Yuan and Chen Daqing each took out a horse from it, left Lai Zi Liu's yard, and the two rode horses to leave the village.

Yang Yuan learned how to ride a horse during this period, but the riding skills were not very good. He couldn't do it even if he ran a horse, but it was not a big problem to let the horse trot.

With a horse to carry on, the two of them came to the forest behind Hutouzhai Mountain.

After seeing Yang Yuan and Chen Daqing, the bandits patrolling around the forest took them into the forest.

This forest is not big. There is a river to the east, which belongs to the back of Hutou Village, and is in two different directions from the official road passing through Hutou Village.

This place was a garrison place determined by Yang Yuan. As soon as Jia Liuhe's team arrived, Yang Yuan's subordinates arranged them here.

"Yangtou, Chentou." Jia Liu came out of the forest.

Yang Yuan did not be polite to Jia Liu, and asked as soon as he met: "When will the camp come?"

Jia Liu said: "I don't know exactly when, but the third team came first. My squadron is considered a pioneer, and there will be teams coming one after another."

"There are a little fewer people in a squadron. There are more than 100 bandits on Hutouzhai Mountain. We do not have the advantage in terms of number of people. Moreover, this is the territory of the bandits on the mountain. They are more familiar with the environment on the mountain than us." Chen Daqing frowned.

Jia Liu smiled and said, "Don't worry, when my squadron left the camp, Captain Chen was also preparing to leave the camp. He was afraid that too many people would be dispatched at one time and attracted the attention of the government, so he divided the teams to rush here. Before dark, the remaining two squadrons could almost arrive."

Hearing that there were two squadrons rushing here, Chen Daqing breathed a sigh of relief. He was not afraid of the bandits from Hutou Village, but was afraid that too few people from the camp would suffer losses.

Yang Yuan said: "Be careful in everything. This group of bandits on Hutouzhai Mountain is very unusual. Some ordinary bandits on the mountain wear iron armor. Without iron armor, each person wears cotton armor. Although these bandits are not large in number, their weapons and equipment are better than those of the official army."

"The master of the army has also explained this matter." Jia Liu grinned, "Before leaving the camp, the master of the army told me that you don't have to be afraid of seeing bandits wearing iron armor. Leave it to the musket team to deal with it, and ensure that you can penetrate it with one gun. The iron armor is crispy in front of the musket, and it is not as effective as cotton armor."

Yang Yuan nodded. Since the boss had thought about it in advance, there must be no problem. Moreover, he had seen the power of the musket with his own eyes. He hit the tree trunk forty steps away, and the lead was deeply embedded, leaving only a few holes.
Chapter completed!