Thief Emperor

Chapter 71 Attack the Ten Kings Village!
After Li Yun became the captain, he should have been a subordinate of Jiang Dianshi. However, Captain Li was the benefactor of the county lord's family, so Jiang Dianshi was sensible and did not ask too many questions, especially he did not participate in the management of the anti-theft team at all.

After obtaining the support of the county magistrate from the anti-theft team, possessing their own financial power and being under the control of Li Yun, the runners in this yamen actually had little to do with Jiang Dianshi.

Even if he didn't pay them the meager monthly salary, these yamen runners could still survive, and live well.

Now, several months have passed, and the runners in the county government, especially the members of the anti-theft team, have to consider whether to listen to the county magistrate or Li Yun, even if the county magistrate is present, not to mention Jiang Dianshi.

We are all leaders, and we are all here with the county master! You are a fourth master, who cares about you?

After leaving the city with a group of yamen runners, Li led them straight to the Ten Kings Village.

Because the distance was not too close, they did not arrive at the foot of Lingyang Mountain until dusk.

Lingyang Mountain is a very large mountain. One of its peaks is called Shiwang Peak, and Shiwang Village is located on Shiwang Peak.

At the same time, this is also a rather hidden mountain. Ordinary people may not even be able to find it without a guide, let alone climb it.

When they reached the foot of Lingyang Mountain, Li Yun took Sun Shouli out and pointed at the dark Lingyang Mountain in the night and asked, "How long will it take to get up from the small path?"

Sun Shouli was ready to make amends for his crime, so he answered straightforwardly, "It took about half an hour, but the path is quite steep, and it's not easy for people who haven't lived in the mountains to climb up."

Li Yun smiled and said, "Okay, you take a group of people up the mountain from the small road, and I will go into the Ten Kings Village from the main road."

At this point, he thought for a moment and asked, "How many people are left in the Ten Kings Village now?"

Sun Shouli thought for a moment and said, "Sir, there were originally 137 bandits in the Ten Kings Village. Last time in Cangshan, at least half of them were killed, and some of them ran away. Now there are probably only 60 to 70 people on the mountain."

"But, the Ten Kings Village is different from other villages. Most of the bandits in the Ten Kings Village have families who live in the village together. There are more than 200 of these families. Among them... some of them are already 13 or 14 years old, and they are also very fierce."

Li Yun touched his chin.

This is different from Cangshan Dazhai. Most of the people in Cangshan Dazhai are bachelors, but in Shiwangzhai, most of the people are married.

This is the advantage of a large village. There are enough people to plunder the population and bring them up the mountain. You can even create a population the size of a small town on the mountain!

It was not until this time that Li Yun understood why the people from the Ten Kings Village were so brave during the battle at the foot of Cangshan Mountain that day, and even after more than half of them were killed in the battle, they were still able to surround Boss Tong and retreat in an organized manner.

It turned out that their families were all in the mountains and they had to work hard for Boss Tong!

Thinking of this, he patted Sun Shouli on the shoulder and asked with a smile: "Do you have any family in the mountains?"

Sun Shouli shook his head and said, "I think women in the mountains are vulgar, so I have never married."

Li Yun smiled silently, found a big tree to sit down, leaned his back against the tree, and closed his eyes to rest.

"Okay, sit down and take a rest. You will be busy later."

Sun Shouli looked at Li Yun with some curiosity.

Now we have arrived at the foot of Lingyang Mountain. What is this Qingyang County chief waiting for?
…………

It was not until midnight that Sun Shouli finally knew what Li Yun was waiting for.

A team of about sixty or seventy people came quietly from a distance and came in front of Li Yun. The leader went up the mountain and called out "Second Brother".

Under the light of the torch, Sun Shouli saw the appearance of the leader clearly. His face turned pale and he shuddered with fear!
He knows this guy!
Two months ago, the second leader of the village captured a young man from Cangshan Village and cut off one of his arms. Afterwards, this young man went up the mountain and carried the young man with the missing arm down the mountain!

In order to get down the mountain, the young man suffered a lot that day. Not only did he have to kneel to enter the village, but he was also slapped dozens of times by the second village chief.

Sun Shouli turned around suddenly and looked at Li Dutou of Qingyang County under the torch.

So that’s it!
It turns out that not only the Shiwangzhai has colluded with the government, but the Cangshan Dazhai has also already colluded with the Qingyang County government!

No wonder the runners from Qingyang County arrived so quickly during the great battle that day!
Everything makes sense now! All crows are black!
Just when Sun Shouli was stunned, the leader Li slapped him on the shoulder, causing him to stagger and almost fall to the ground.

"Why are you dazed?"

Li Yun frowned and said, "Did you hear what I said to you?"

Sun Shouli uttered an “Ah” and shook his head, “Sir… Sir, I was distracted just now and didn’t hear it.”

Li Yun frowned and continued, "These are our Qingyang righteous people and militiamen who are helping the government to suppress the bandits. Tonight you lead them up the mountain through the small path. Do you understand?"

Sun Shouli looked back at Liu Bo and groaned in his heart.

You call these folks militia?
But he still nodded hurriedly: "I understand, I understand."

Liu Bo put his arm around his shoulders and said with a smile, "Mr. Sun, right?"

"Have we met before?"

Sun Shouli swallowed his saliva and shook his head hurriedly: "No, no."

Liu Bo did not remember him. He nodded and said, "Well, let's go up the mountain."

Sun Shouli took a deep breath, walked in front to lead the way, and Liu Bo followed behind him, going up the mountain along the path.

Li Dadutou, leaning on his spear, stood up from under the tree, looked at the yamen runners, and said slowly: "Let's go up the mountain too!"

So far, all the anti-bandit operations of the anti-theft team have been carried out in cooperation with these "village militias". They are no longer surprised. When they heard this, they all responded and said in unison: "Yes!"

So, under the leadership of Li Yun, everyone extinguished the torches and walked along the mountain road all the way to the Ten Kings Peak.

The journey was very smooth, and Li Yun did not even notice that he was being followed by the people from the Ten Kings Camp. It was just that the mountain road was difficult to travel on late at night, and it took him about an hour to finally reach the halfway point of the Ten Kings Peak.

The Ten Kings Camp was already in sight, only four or five hundred steps away from Li Yun. There were no lanterns hanging in this large camp, and it was the late night, so no light could be seen.

Li Yun frowned slightly, waved his hand to call Li Zheng, and said, "Skinny Monkey, something is wrong."

Li Zheng also nodded and said, "Second brother, something is wrong. If it were normal, it wouldn't be surprising for the Ten Kings Village to be a little arrogant, but they just suffered a heavy blow, so they must be on high alert at this time."

"Second brother, their people have either set an ambush or gone to that trail!"

Li Yun thought about it and said, "Shall we go up a little bit?"

Li Zheng smiled and said, "I'm sure there's no problem. I can walk on this kind of mountain road with my eyes closed."

So, Li Yun ordered all the yamen runners to stay on the spot, and he took Li Zheng with him and moved towards the Ten Kings Village along the mountain paths on both sides of the road.

They had just walked more than a hundred steps when Li Zheng discovered something was wrong. He quietly returned to Li Yun and lowered his voice, saying, "Brother, there are people hiding in the bushes on both sides of the road, and there are quite a few of them."

“They knew we were coming!”

Li Dadu squinted his eyes and whispered, "It seems that someone informed them in advance. They were really fast."

"Shou Hou, go down and ask Chen Da and the other five or six people to light three or four torches each and slowly go up the mountain."

"The rest of you, go up the mountain from both sides."

Captain Li Dadu stuck his spear on the side of the road, drew the single-edged sword from his waist, and took a deep breath.

"Come with me and get rid of the people hiding on both sides!"

(End of this chapter)