Although there are many bandits in the mountainous area in the north of Runing Prefecture, the two most powerful groups are Li Yaozi and Lei Ying. Among them, Li Yaozi's force is stronger than Lei Ying's.
In the past, because life was pretty good, the two groups of bandits were basically in harmony with each other. However, now that everyone is having a hard time, there is some friction between the two sides.
In the process of friction, the smaller Thunder Eagle always suffered some losses. Moreover, Li Yaozi, who had the upper hand, became more aggressive. Therefore, this is also one of the reasons why Thunder Eagle wanted to surrender to Wu Shigong.
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For these bandits, because of Wu Shigong's reputation, it turned out that they did not dare to mess with the caravan escorted by Wu Shigong's army. In addition, Wu Shigong's army was also relatively knowledgeable. On this trade road, they only escorted salt goods and did not
Not escorting other commodities, but also leaving a bite of food for these bandits.
However, as the life of the bandits became more and more difficult, they robbed caravans more and more frequently, and because they were robbed more and more often, fewer and fewer caravans passed through this trade route.
A vicious cycle is formed. The profits of these bandits are getting less and less.
As Li Yaozi became more and more powerful among these bandits, his ambitions also expanded, and he set his sights on the caravan escorted by Wu Shigong's army, the only one still doing normal business on this trade road.
In the current Li Yaozi's heart, although Wu Shigong's prestige still remains a little, there is not much left. Because after all, more than half a year has passed since Wu Shigong massacred the Holy Spirit Society rebels. Prestige also has a shelf life.
It also needs constant watering with blood to keep it fresh.
Li Yaozi estimated that with his own strength, he would definitely not be able to compete with Wu Shigong in a direct confrontation between cars and cars and horses. But as long as he was in the mountainous area of Runing Prefecture and relied on this home field advantage, Wu Shigong could not do anything to him.
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Therefore, when the caravan escorted by Wu Shigong's army passed by this time, Li Yaozi led more than 500 men and built a barrier with tree trunks and stones to block the road, intercepting the caravan escorted by Wu Shigong's army.
The officer leading the caravan escort this time was Qian Qi. During the escort process, which had always been smooth, he encountered bandits who robbed the road for the first time, which made Qian Qi a little nervous. So, he shouted loudly: "The ones blocking the road ahead.
Who is in charge? We are Wu Qianhu’s caravan here. Is there any misunderstanding?"
Qian Qi's idea is: after reporting Wu Shigong's name, if Wu Shigong's name can be used to successfully solve this trouble, that will be the best result.
Unexpectedly, Li Yaozi who was behind the obstacle also shouted: "I also know that you are Lord Wu's caravan. But it is really hard on the mountain. I beg Lord Wu to give me some food and leave half of the salt. I, Li Yaozi, am here first."
Thank you Master Wu!"
Although Li Yaozi came to rob the caravan escorted by Wu Shigong's army, he didn't want to end the matter. Therefore, he wanted to bargain. If the caravan was willing to keep 30% of the salt in the end, Li Yaozi would be satisfied.
Of course, he can also find out Wu Shigong's bottom line through this robbery. If Wu Shigong gives in this time, then the next robbery may also rob all the salt goods of the caravan escorted by Wu Shigong.
But after listening to Li Yaozi's words, Qian Qi immediately became furious. It seemed that these bandits knew where they were coming from. They dared to swat flies on the tiger's head, so let them see how the tiger showed its power. He
Lu Yunhuan stopped trying to bargain with Li Yaozi and immediately made a gesture to the officer behind him, preparing to fight.
Among the officers under Wu Shigong now, Qian Qi's position can be firmly squeezed into the top ten. However, Qian Qi knew in her heart that among all the people Wu Shigong brought out of the capital, her relationship with Wu Shigong was the weakest.
At that time, in the Nancheng Military and Horse Division, Qian Qi was promoted to the position of Xiaoqi by Wu Shigong because of the relationship between his father Qian, the deputy commander, and Qian Qi's relatively good performance in military training.
But in the following more than a year, Qian Qi and Wu Shigong, the then commander of the Military and Horse Division, did not even exchange three words and had no contact. It was only when Wu Shigong left the Military and Horse Division that his family
The reason was that Qian Qi could no longer survive in the Military and Horse Division. So he took refuge with Wu Shigong.
After arriving at Qianhu So, it was also because Wu Shigong's other guards were unwilling to train the new soldiers in formation training, so Qian Qi got the position of deputy leader for training the new soldiers.
By such a coincidence, in the end, Qian Qi sat in such a high position. Therefore, Qian Qi knew that many of his officers who were from Wu Shigong's escort were not very convinced of his qualifications and abilities.
Therefore, Qian Qi especially wanted to make some contributions to silence those who doubted his ability. Therefore, when Li Yaozi and his group of bandits demanded blackmail, Qian Qi said nothing to Li Yaozi and the others.
Nonsense, he immediately ordered his soldiers to prepare for battle.
After Qian Qi's order was issued, the soldiers began to line up, and the gunmen began to load gunpowder bullets. This must take a while, a process. And the way the soldiers were preparing to fight was also seen by bandits like Li Yaozi.
Inside.
At this time, Li Yaozi was a little hesitant. After all, he did not want to formally confront Wu Shigong, but just wanted to show his strength and get more benefits. If the two sides fight, the conflict will intensify. Once the two sides get angry, then
But it will never stop.
But Li Yaozi did not issue an order, and some of his bandits could not sit still. Seeing that the soldiers were about to be ready, some bandits struck first. They stayed behind obstacles built of tree trunks and stones, and began to pull
The bow fired.
The first person shot an arrow, and the others shot arrows one after another. Because Qian Qi's soldiers wanted to protect the caravan, the whole group of soldiers did not retreat very far. Those soldiers in the first few rows of the queue
, right at the edge of the bow and arrow's range.
However, the bows and arrows used by Li Yaozi's bandits are also hunting bows, not military-standard bows, so the range is relatively short and the power is relatively small. In addition, the bandits' desire to fight is also half-hearted.
Some bandits with bows and arrows did not join the archery bandits.
Therefore, the few dozen arrows shot sparsely only injured four or five soldiers. And because these soldiers were all wearing beggar uniforms and protected by this earthen armor, no soldiers were hit.
Crucial.
However, even such an arrow shot caused a chaos among the soldiers. Only after Qian Qi and other officers severely reprimanded them, did the soldiers retreat in an orderly manner out of the range of the bows and arrows in accordance with the training content.
At this time, the gunmen had also loaded their gunpowder bullets. They stepped forward to the front of the queue and, under the officer's order, fired a row of volleys.
Due to the protection of tree trunks and stone barriers, this row of volleys killed and injured five or six bandits. However, it also caused a period of confusion among the bandits. When Li Yaozi saw that what had happened
After fighting, he made up his mind to fight.
At this time, the situation between the two sides in the battle was a bit delicate. Li Yaozi's bandits had a large number of people, were protected by obstacles, and had an advantage in terrain.
Qian Qi's soldiers were small in number, but they had sharp weapons such as fire blunderbuss, and their soldiers had received good military training. However, Qian Qi's soldiers had to protect the caravan, and they didn't know that there were mountains on both sides of the road.
There was no ambush by bandits, so some soldiers were sent to guard the sides and rear wing of the caravan. Therefore, the fight was timid.
In addition, if the caravan wants to move forward, this obstacle must be removed. However, under the threat of bandits' bows and arrows, sending soldiers to rush up like this will definitely cause heavy casualties. Therefore, Qian Qi did not move.
The soldiers were ordered to charge forward, but only the firing of fire cannons was arranged.
And because of the threat of Qian Qi's soldiers and muskets, Li Yaozi's bandits did not dare to break out of the obstacle and directly face Qian Qi's soldiers. Therefore, the two sides settled into a stalemate with a flurry of bows and arrows and a flurry of muskets.
It was not until the end that the artillery accompanying Qian Qi's soldiers was ready and fired several shots at the obstacle. After creating a gap in the obstacle, Li Yaozi and the bandits dispersed.
In the subsequent stalemate confrontation, Qian Qi's soldiers did not suffer any casualties, but Li Yaozi's bandits were killed and injured at most a dozen people, and they did not suffer fatal losses.
At this time, it was almost dark. Even if they could remove the obstacles and move forward, Qian Qi and the others were afraid of encountering an ambush by bandits in this dark night. After discussing with Lu Yunhuan, Qian Qi and the others decided to return to Qian Qian.
Husuo Fortress, after reporting Wu Shigong’s situation, they can make next plans.
After Wu Shigong understood the whole process in detail, he praised Qian Qi's actions. Wu Shigong mainly praised Qian Qi for the following two points: The first point is that Qian Qi dared to fight under the threat of bandits such as Li Yaozi;
The second point is that when the situation was unclear, Qian Qi was not impulsive and retreated his army and caravan back to Qianhusuo Fortress, thus preserving his own strength.
As for how to exterminate Li Yaozi and his group of bandits, we can completely make plans and discuss them with peace of mind, and there is no need to rush. Then Li Yaozi's bandit camp will not grow wings and fly away on its own.
After arranging for the treatment and recuperation of the injured soldiers, Wu Shigong first sent people to Leiying and asked him to send some people who were familiar with the road to Li Yaozi's stockade, as well as the structure and strength of Li Yaozi's stockade.
Unexpectedly, Lei Ying personally brought some subordinates who were familiar with the situation to Qianhusuo Fortress. Knowing that Wu Shigong wanted to destroy Li Yaozi, Lei Ying welcomed him with both hands. If Li Yaozi and his bandits were wiped out, the entire mountainous area would be affected.
Here, Thunder Eagle is the dominant family, which is completely in line with Thunder Eagle's interests.
After Lei Ying and his men introduced the situation in detail, Wu Shigong quickly formulated an action plan to destroy Li Yaozi's village after discussing with leaders such as Xue Yongli.
Then Wu Shigong asked Lu Yunhuan to report the case to the county government and his own Qianhu Office respectively, so as to ensure the legality of his bandit suppression operation.
Although Wu Shigong received an official document from his superior government asking him to jointly suppress bandits. However, Wu Shigong's anti-bandit operation this time was out of his own defense area, but to Runing Mansion to suppress bandits. If there is no legal reason, it is easy to do so.
Under attack. Especially when the current county magistrate is Wu Shigong's enemy - Yu Zilian.
Wu Shigong's reason for suppressing bandits was that merchants in his county were robbed by bandits on the trade road, so Wu Shigong helped the merchants in his county cross the border to suppress bandits.
After doing all this, Wu Shigong brought 500 soldiers and 100 cavalry. These soldiers brought more than 100 muskets. He also brought all five artillery pieces he owned, with Lei Ying and others leading the way.