Xie Ming

Chapter 79 The aftermath
On the 13th, at the beginning of the afternoon (15:).

In the Ma Dabanzi stronghold, the on-site salary distribution had just been completed and the soldiers were still immersed in a joyous atmosphere.

Xiao Jingchuan urgently called the leaders of each team to come over for a meeting.

What is being discussed is the survival of the village.

The Ma Dabanzi stronghold has been built to a considerable scale and probably consumed a lot of manpower. It would be a pity to destroy it now.

Furthermore, when they start to build a base in Jiulong Town in the future, the recruited soldiers will need a barracks for their daily training and life, and they cannot stay in the town. The current scale of this stronghold may save Xiao Jingchuan and his men a lot of trouble.

But setting up a barracks here also has a serious flaw, and that is the distance problem!

From here to Jiulong Town, it is thirty or forty miles away. If there is a war, even if we march quickly to provide assistance, it will still take an hour, which is a bit too long.

You know, since ancient times, speed is the essence of war!
For this reason, Xiao Lang wanted to discuss this with everyone.

After many people reviewed the matter, they all advocated abandoning this mountain stronghold and starting to build a new barracks at their troops' current temporary camping site.

It is located in the northeast of Jiulong Town, only a quarter of an hour's march away from the town entrance. The depth to the north is also great, so one can retreat directly to Bairui Valley or even further north.

Xiao Jingchuan also agreed with this.

So there was no problem with it, he stood up and started to arrange the next deployment!

"Okay, since everyone agrees to abandon this bandit den and build a barracks northeast of Jiulong Town, let's split up and act!"

"Sun Peizhong, Li Huchen!"

"Your humble servant is here!" The two generals bowed and waited for orders.

"You two will be responsible for escorting the confiscated materials in batches and gather at the camping point in the northeast!"

"Yes Yes!"

"If anyone dares to hide money and goods during transportation, according to military orders, he will be beheaded immediately!"

"Yes Yes!"

"Ma Minglu, Liu Wenbing, Gong Yonggu!"

"I will be here, here, here!"

"You three are responsible for staying here to guard the area. Once all the supplies have been transported away, you can evacuate!"

"Also, Ma Minglu, remember to blow up all the kilns here before you leave!"

"Yes Yes!"

"As for the rest, Qi Dayong and Jin Xuan!" Xiao Lang ordered again.

"In the!"

"You two must form a team and bring your soldiers with you to Jiulong Town with me!"

"By the way, Dayong, go and tie up Ma Dabiao for me!"

"Let's go to the mountain road in front of the town and see if we can get a car to kidnap him. We can parade the bandit leader through the streets and let the people in the town see him. This will make our hard work worthwhile!"

"Yes!" Dayong happily accepted the order.

"Hehe, hehehe!"

"Qi Dayong, what the hell are you doing stupidly?"

"When you follow me into Jiulong Town, you and your brothers, if any of you dare to lag behind and desert, I will cause trouble for you again!"

"I will definitely chop you into pieces this time. Do you understand?!" Xiao Lang glared at him and threatened.

"Yes! Don't worry, General!"

"If there are any more problems, don't bother yourself. I will commit suicide to make amends!"

After Qi Dayong was provoked by Xiao Jingchuan, his boasting became much less intense.

"Okay! Go ahead and do your own thing!"

After Xiao Lang finished speaking, the generals received his orders and dispersed.

"Fei Yu (Qiu Zhizhong), let's go, it's time for us to take Hong Wen back to town!"

As he spoke, Qiu Zhizhong followed Xiao Lang with a loud smile, and the two of them also ran towards the entrance of the village.

It is said that after the Xu clan leader Xu Jialin of Jiulong Town fainted on the mountain road in front of the town entrance, Xu Jialu and a group of clan members, young and old, carried Jialin back to the town for treatment.

After waking up, Xu Jialin burst into tears in frustration. Firstly, his daughter Hongwen could not be redeemed, and secondly, the more than one thousand taels of silver he had mortgaged his entire house in exchange for were also wasted. How could he live in the future?
At this time, Xu Jialu, seeing Jialin's condition, no longer fought with him as he did in the past. Instead, he patted his back and comforted him.

"Oh, all right, Jialin!"

"There's nothing that we men can't overcome!"

"You still have me here, and all the old men and young men in our family. If everyone helps you, you will get through it!" "Jia Lin, listen to me, it's okay!"

Hearing that Jialu, the old man, had a rare heart-to-heart talk with him, Xu Jialin wiped away his tears and patted his cousin on the shoulder.

"By the way, Jialin, now is really not the time for us to be sad!"

"Think about it, the boy you asked to bring the money to redeem the victim actually killed the thieves under Ma Dabangzi!"

"He just walked away from this matter. Who is that Ma Dabangzi?!"

"Can he just give up so easily?!"

What Xu Jialu said made a lot of sense. After hearing it, clan leader Jialin slapped his forehead.

"Oh my! This kid named Xiao has really screwed me over!"

"Galu, you're right!"

"Ma Dabangzi has always been vicious, and this gang of bandits is quite powerful!"

"He will definitely not let us, Jiulong Town, off easily for what happened today!"

"No, no!"

"Well, Carlo, go and ring the bell and call the tribesmen together to explain the situation."

"I'll go to the town entrance and seal off the town first, cutting off the flow of people in and out, to prevent the bandits from sneaking in. If they work together from inside and outside, it will be even harder for us to resist!"

"After you explain everything to everyone, tell each family's able-bodied men to bring their weapons and come with me to guard the town entrance together!"

"These mountain bandits never settle their grudges overnight!"

"So I guess, if that Ma Dabanzi really brings people to fight, it will probably happen tonight!" Xu Jialin said.

"Well, okay, okay, let's do as you say!"

After hearing what Xu Jialu said, he also thought it made sense, so he hurriedly stood up, and the two of them went about their own business.

15:45 p.m.

Xiao Jingchuan's troops, led by Qi Dayong, Jin Xuan and seventy or eighty soldiers under their command, lined up in an orderly manner and appeared on the mountain road heading west from the town entrance.

At the same time, not far away at the town entrance, Xu Jialin and Xu Jialu were also organizing their tribesmen to guard and defend as if they were facing a powerful enemy.

"Hey, Jialin, can we do it?!"

"Look at what they are holding, hoes, rakes, shoulder poles, how can we fight with them with these things?"

"Who are those over there? They are bandits from the mountains, very fierce!"

"In my opinion, we should send someone out to report to the authorities as soon as possible!"

"Tell the county to send troops to suppress the bandits!"

"If troops can really come to wipe out Ma Dabangzi, your daughter Hongwen might be able to come back!"

Xu Jialu puffed on his pipe and suggested to Jialin.

"Humph! Are you the only one who's smart?!"

"I've sent you some soldiers. You're so beautiful!"

"Can you afford to give money to reward the troops and support their expenses?"

"Mobilizing the army will cost a lot of money, and there is no guarantee of the harvest!"

"When I went to Laishui County last year, I heard from people in other mountain towns that the bandits there were even more violent. Later, the town had no choice but to report to the government, thinking that they would pay more money and ask the county garrison to lead troops to suppress the bandits in the mountains."

"But guess what? Two hundred soldiers are asking for five thousand taels of military reward!"

"After paying the money, they just took the team to wander around in the mountains, pretending to be nice, but they didn't do anything and then they went back!"

"You even reported it to the authorities and sent troops. What are you thinking?"

"In the current situation, you..." Xu Jialin leaned against a rock next to the archway at the entrance of the town, chatting with Jialu.

Suddenly, Carlos' eyes widened and he looked westward toward the mountain path.

"Hey, hey!"

"Jia Lin! Jia Lin!"

"Soldiers!"

"It seems that there are really soldiers coming!"

(End of this chapter)