There was no suspense in this battle. The bandits were completely defeated, with countless casualties and only a few dozen people escaped unharmed.
However, the caravan is not happy either. War is always cruel. Even if the caravan is well prepared and takes things by surprise, casualties are inevitable.
A total of 7 people were killed, 10 were seriously injured, and dozens of others were slightly injured.
Although the overall strength has little impact, they have developed some feelings for each other over the past few days, so no one will celebrate the victory.
Ye Feng did not participate in this battle. His first duty was to protect the safety of the wind chimes.
After the battle, the battlefield is cleaned, not to look for any property. Everyone knows that these bandits will not carry valuables with them. The main purpose of cleaning the battlefield is to recover crossbow arrows.
"Sister! I have a question that is really difficult to understand. I have been wanting to ask it for a long time!"
Ye Feng could imagine the cruelty of the battle. He had not seen any bloody scenes, so he didn't bother to go out at all. Instead, he discussed the problem with Feng Ling.
"You want to say why the merchants in the cursed city don't unite and act together, right?"
"Yes! But what I'm more curious about is that since we are suffering so much from bandits, why not be more direct and join forces to wipe them out?"
"In fact, merchants have united to annihilate bandits, but this is like a profit chain. As long as they always have huge profit temptations, even if they are annihilated, they will soon reappear."
"Then just capture the village and jointly fund a team to control it. This way we don't need a huge escort team. We can avoid innocent battles and don't have to spend more money. Wouldn't it be better?"
"Brother, you are still too naive. In real society, good and bad, black and white are not so clear-cut.
On the surface, the bandits robbed the merchants' money, and the merchants were the victims.
But looking at it from another perspective, bandits have spawned the security market and weakened the profits of merchants, which is helpful to economic development.
Of course, the most fundamental thing is that the bandits themselves are not simple, they are originally supported by merchants, and they are actually an employer-employee relationship."
"mercenary!"
Ye Feng couldn't help but blurted out.
"What mercenary?"
Feng Ling obviously had never heard this word before, but she immediately realized it and said with a smile:
"Your title is so appropriate. They are mercenaries. In fact, these guards are also considered mercenaries, so you should also understand that this is actually a kind of business. Bandits and guards are actually jobs, but sometimes they are too much.
bloody."
"I understand, it's all the evil capital that's causing the trouble!"
Ye Feng sighed with emotion.
"capital?"
This time it was the wind chime's turn to be confused.
"Haha! I understand somewhat.
You see, this cursed city is rich in source crystals. Why can’t everyone come and mine them freely? Isn’t it faster to make money by mining source crystals?
That's because the conditions for mining source crystals are harsh and ordinary people can't do it. If you want to hire a large number of child labor, you can't do it without strong wealth. This wealth is capital.
People with capital don't need to do it themselves. They only need to use the wealth they have to hire people to work.
These people get a certain amount of remuneration from their work, and the capital side gets greater value, which is called surplus value. Excessive surplus value will lead to further concentration of wealth. The poor will get poorer and the capital side will get richer.
When the gap reaches a certain level, wealth may kidnap morality, influence society, and completely destroy social order. Bandits can break this balance.
On the one hand, it allows capital parties to increase their investment in hiring guards, and the remaining value is greatly compressed.
On the other hand, it is more direct. Once the robbery is successful, the surplus value of the capital will be directly returned to zero, creating a balance in the economy."
"Well! Yes, yes! I believe you should understand the origin of these bandits!"
Feng Chime nodded in approval. She already understood the logic, and the logic in Ye Feng's words also felt novel to her.
"Oh! You want to say that these bandits themselves have government officials, right?"
Feng Chime didn't speak, just sighed and nodded silently.
"This time there is something different. What we are doing this time is the rise and fall of our entire dynasty, which is related to the future of millions of people.
Although bandits play some economic mediating role, overall they still do more harm than good. Especially in recent years, they have already gotten out of control.
The bandits here are no longer so innocent. While controlling the emergence of merchant oligarchs, they also caused the loss of a large amount of wealth, seriously weakening the overall economic strength of the dynasty, so we are gradually being marginalized by the Celestial Dynasty.
Now, even we ourselves can hardly control these bandits. There are too many organizations involved, so we will face great danger this time, because our real opponent is not the bandits themselves."
"Princess Princess, Wu Yuan wants to see you!"
While they were talking here, Wu Yuan's voice came from outside the car.
"Leader Wu, come in and talk!"
"yes!"
Wu Yuan respected the wind chime very much and always spoke so seriously.
"Uncle Wu, there are no outsiders here, so you don't need to worry about the red tape. Just say what you have to say."
After Wu Yuan sat down, Xiao Zhu served him some fragrant tea, and Feng Ling said straight to the point.
"yes!"
Wu Yuan is a rigorous person, and some habits are deeply ingrained and cannot be changed casually.
Wu Yuan is actually the captain of the secret guard of Nanjun Prince, and has a close relationship with Nanjun Prince. However, he rarely shows up, and not many outsiders know him, so he was sent here this time.
On the surface, he is from a trading company, but in fact, he is really responsible for the safety of the wind chimes. Even Qiu Jiannan does not know this.
"In today's battle, we easily repelled the bandits. Although the main reason was that we were well prepared and the bandits misjudged and underestimated the enemy, there were also many abnormal situations.
First, the number of bandits dispatched this time was too large, far exceeding the need to deal with a caravan. After inspection and analysis, it should be a joint attack by the three major mountain strongholds in the First Mountain.
Secondly, although there were many people, there were very few experts. No leader of the village showed up. So many villagers were dispatched, but the leaders did not participate. This was very abnormal.
The subordinates analyzed that this attack was just a test.
Their purpose is to find out our details, and these bandits are here to die."
"Yes! This is consistent with our earliest judgment. The third mountain is their real ambush location."
"Yes! My subordinates believe that they will still have a tentative attack on the second mountain, and the intensity should be higher than that on the first mountain. After all, they are already stronger.
The subordinates felt that the house-holding talisman played a vital role this time and greatly shortened our travel time.
Judging from the situation through the first area, if we give up rest and quickly pass through the second area, we will most likely avoid the eyes of the second mountain, and may be able to sneak across the second mountain.
If this way our strength will be better hidden, the decisive battle with the Third Mountain will be more beneficial to us."
"Uncle Wu, you can make your own decision. There is no need to discuss it with me. Just act according to your plan!"