From a small soldier in the frontier army, an immortal god of war was born

Chapter 24: Suppressing the Bandits; Night Raid on Datou Mountain
After dinner, we returned to the camp and everything was back to normal.

However, the atmosphere in the military camp seemed to be a little more solemn after the New Year. The coaches intensified the training and the officers walked in a hurry.

There is a feeling of undercurrent surging beneath the still water.

There were even sporadic rumors in the camp: A war was about to break out!
Wu Fengdeng understood that this was a precursor to the suppression of the bandits. It seemed that the court had already allocated funds and grain to support the suppression of the bandits.

Despite such heavy training, he would often take time out to visit Jiang Qiyu.

Perhaps it was because she carried the cloth bag with her, no one at the market made things difficult for her. Plus, her craftsmanship was good, so the items were often sold out within half a day of being put out, and she made a considerable income.

Later, she felt that selling the cakes by moving the baskets around was inefficient, so she spent money to set up a stall in the market, where she baked three pots each morning, noon and evening. The hot pancakes came out of the oven just in time to serve the diners who came at mealtime.

Although she was a little tired at the end of the day, the money she earned was more than double what she had before, which was enough to offset her fatigue.

He felt relieved after seeing this.

Ten days later.

There was a solemn and murderous atmosphere in the training ground.

Ma Feng Captain Xu Tailai stood on a high platform, holding a leather manifesto in his hand, and his voice was as loud as a bell.

"Guyang is located on the border of the country. Since ancient times, bandits have been rampant, invading the countryside and causing harm to the world!"

"What's worse, they have been committing crimes repeatedly in the army recently. They are extremely rampant. In order to protect the peace of the countryside and the dignity of the army, we will suppress the bandits from now on!"

"General Hu Jing Chen Gao will lead the army to the battle. There will be 800 soldiers in the Shenji Battalion, 1,000 in the Qianfeng Battalion, and 1,000 in the Infantry Battalion, for a total of 2,800 elite soldiers."

"I will not return until the bandit problem is eliminated!"

The manifesto was not long. After Xu Tailai finished speaking in a sonorous voice, his broad face looked heavy, and he put his hands behind his back and said, "The above is the manifesto drafted by the commander-in-chief and the county government. I hope that those who are selected to join the anti-bandit team will be inspired and fight bravely."

Then he glanced at Wang Hu, who nodded slightly and drew his sword and raised it high.

"set off!"

The barracks were wide open, several coarse cloth flags with the word "Wei" flying in the air, and the army marched out in a mighty force.

At the front of the team, Wu Fengdeng was among the spearmen in the vanguard battalion, his armor already replaced with light brown iron armor.

In these ten days, Wang Hu has appointed him as the sergeant of the spearmen, in charge of Qiao Li and four others.

Although it was just a small official position, it was very rare for him, a new recruit who had just joined the army for less than half a year.

This time, the main area for suppressing bandits is the various hilltops within 300 miles around Guyang County, with a total of more than ten large and small ones.

The team Wu Fengdeng was in was responsible for the bandits in Dongfang Datou Mountain and other places. Xu Tailai was in charge and the total number of people was about 600.

The troops stopped ten miles away from Datou Mountain and set up camp.

Wu Fengdeng frowned as he watched the soldiers around him setting up tents and unloading their baggage.

What is this for?
Planning to fight a protracted war?

Although the bandits are brutal, once you can withstand their first two attacks, they will become unruly and easy to control.

Besides, we have the advantage in numbers, why bother? !

For example, the last time we wiped out the Black Wind Village, it was done in just a few hours, but this time it took so long.

"Brother Wu... Sergeant, it's noon now, why don't we just charge at them? There are only a few hundred bandits on Datou Mountain, they are nothing compared to our well-trained and well-trained troops."

At this time, Qiao Li walked over and scratched the back of his head in confusion.

"I don't know either. Could it be that Datoushan knows that we are suppressing the bandits and is defending the place in a dangerous place? Lord Xu wants to arrange tactics?"

As Wu Fengdeng was quietly guessing, a group of people had already rushed out of the simple camp.

They were all armed with strong bows and arrows, and had three catapults, about a hundred people, and headed straight towards Datou Mountain.

He didn't return until evening.

Although the number of people was not reduced, all the arrows had been used up and there were only a few boulders left on the catapults.

Xu Tailai signed the memorial with a flourish, and his personal soldiers rode away with it. At midnight, three carts of arrows and rolling stones drove into the camp, and at dawn, more than a hundred soldiers from the Shenji Camp set out again.

Repeat this cycle for five days.

The scene that Wu Fengdeng imagined of a large army charging into the mountains to kill the bandits never happened. Except for the archers from the Shenji Camp, everyone around him was just patrolling, drinking and joking every day. They were much happier and more comfortable than they were in the Guyang County camp.

At first he thought that Xu Tailai and others were plotting something, but when he saw the arrows, stones, armor and food being transported in continuously, he finally came to his senses.

According to the prices he learned from the blacksmith shop, the cost of transporting materials every night was more than ten taels.

It's a waste of time and money, this is not how you suppress bandits!

On the night of the sixth day, when his comrades were drinking and talking dirty, Wu Fengdeng could no longer sit still and hurried to Wang Hu's tent.

"grown ups!"

Wang Hu took a quick look, then put down the wine glass in his hand and said in a leisurely tone: "What's the hurry?"

He asked in a deep voice: "Please enlighten me, sir. We have been on the march for six days. Why haven't we set out to suppress the bandits yet?"

Wang Hu said slowly, "The bandits of Datou Mountain heard the news and moved. They took advantage of the terrain to defend. A strong attack will only result in huge casualties. Let's just grind it out slowly."

“That’s not your style.”

As Wang Hu's personal soldier, Wu Fengdeng knew his character very well. He was decisive and would never be so slow.

Wang Hu smiled coldly: "What's my style?"

The candle flames swayed in the wind, the slanted shadows swayed, and the atmosphere was a little depressing.

Wu Fengdeng took a deep breath and finally said nothing.

After all, he was just Wang Hu's subordinate. Military orders were as heavy as a mountain and he had no choice but to obey them. His questioning just now had already violated military discipline.

And his attitude also made Wu Fengdeng feel disappointed.

It doesn’t matter whether you say it or not.

Just drinking the soldiers' blood.

Seeing that he remained silent, Wang Hu poured another glass of wine and said slowly: "If you want to earn some credit, you can. I'll give you a chance."

"The south side of Datou Mountain is where the bandits have the most archers. I'll give you ten men. If you can charge in under cover of darkness and destroy their positions, I'll give you credit for your achievement."

Wu Fengdeng breathed heavily, raised his hands to clasp his fists, turned around and walked out resolutely.

The cold wind made the door curtain rustle. In the dim tent, Wang Hu drank one cup after another, his eyes becoming increasingly ferocious.

……

Halfway up the south side of Datou Mountain.

There is a fan-shaped narrow passage made of a mixture of mud and tree trunks, half a person's height and about a hundred meters long. Standing in it, you have a wide field of vision.

"Damn these soldiers. They don't fight, and they don't retreat. They just shoot two arrows and then retreat. They're like a buzzing fly, disturbing people!"

"Wait a couple of days until the soldiers withdraw, then we can go down the mountain and have some fun in the brothel!"

"Drink, brothers!"

……

In the narrow passage, a dozen bandits were holding wine jars and shouting, their faces looking very ferocious under the dim torchlight.

Over the past few days, the officers and soldiers had repeatedly shot arrows at them. They were very panicked at first, but then they discovered that those officers and soldiers were actually archers, and they were all drawing their bows and shooting arrows randomly from bottom to top, and then retreating after using up their energy.

Mostly it's just a pretense.

The bandits felt relieved, so they let down their guard tonight and didn't even notice the several dark shadows approaching quickly.

(End of this chapter)