Thief Emperor

Chapter 75: Face-to-face attack!

Brigade Commander Yang looked up at the gate of the Ten Kings Village and was already cursing in his heart.

He was promoted by Sima Cao and was more trusted by Sima Cao than Du Lushuai, so he was sent to Lingyang Mountain to do this.

He knew better than anyone what the background of this largest stronghold in Qingyang and even in the whole Xuanzhou was!
The Ten Kings Camp was indeed originally a group of bandits, but more than 20 years ago, they had established a relationship with a big shot in Xuanzhou. From that time on, although the Ten Kings Camp still mingled in the green forest, its main business was no longer robbery.

They have very close cooperation with the wealthy families in Xuanzhou.

For example, if there was a batch of goods in Xuanzhou that needed to avoid taxes, as soon as they were shipped out of Xuanzhou City, it would be announced to the public that they had been stolen by the Ten Kings Camp, so naturally there was no tax to pay.

Furthermore, some private goods were expressly prohibited by government orders, but as long as they were transported to Xuanzhou, the people of Shiwangzhai could transport them into the city quietly.

These are some relatively serious jobs. In addition, Shiwangzhai also takes on some shady jobs.

Those who originally cooperated with the Ten Kings Camp were naturally some local tycoons. Any official with a little conscience could not accept the fact that local tycoons colluded with bandits.

And those officials who refused to cooperate with the "local tyrants" would eventually die inexplicably at the hands of bandits. Over the past 20 years, at least one governor and two county magistrates died at the hands of Shiwangzhai!

In addition, there are countless other complex collaborations.

Because of this, the local tyrants in Xuanzhou would not allow anything to happen to the Ten Kings Camp, let alone allow them to be wiped out by the local officials in Xuanzhou.

The people in the state have been trying their best to protect Shiwangzhai and the "black gloves" that can do the dirty work for them!
Of course, if it is impossible to protect it, the top leaders of Shiwangzhai cannot fall into the hands of Li Yun, or the Qingyang County Magistrate Xue Song.

Who knows if the new Qingyang County Magistrate will be stupid enough to investigate these bandits? Who knows if he will get carried away and report to the court after finding out something?
Although the imperial court is somewhat relaxed at the moment, once someone reports this matter to the higher authorities, the wealthy families in Xuanzhou will have to pay a huge price even if they can get through it, let alone whether they can.

If one thing goes wrong, you will lose everything!

Therefore, Sima Cao, one of the vested interests, was so anxious to send troops out and let Brigade Commander Yang to handle and resolve the matter.

After Brigade Commander Yang arrived at Lingyang Mountain, he found out that Qingyang's government troops had already gone up the mountain. When he was about to take over the Ten Kings Camp from those young men in Qingyang, he was stopped on the mountain road by the people from the Ten Kings Camp.

Are they crazy?!
This was the first thought that came to Yang Lushuai’s mind.

He raised his head and looked towards the Ten Kings Camp fiercely, shouting, "We are the soldiers from Xuanzhou, who are you?"

This sentence is to remind the bandits of Shiwangzhai on the mountain that they are their own people.

Liu Bo, who was hiding behind a slope, responded without hesitation.

"I am the ancestor of your Ten Kings Village!"

"You damned court lackey, if you have the guts, come up and fight your ancestors with real swords and guns!"

As soon as Liu Bo said this, all the bandits from the Cangshan Stronghold near the main gate of the Ten Kings Stronghold burst into laughter. Some of those who liked to stir up trouble started to shout, "Come up, come up!"

Brigade Commander Yang's face turned livid.

He looked up at the Ten Kings Village with an uncertain expression.

In this situation, there are only two possibilities.

The first possibility is that all those who knew the inside story in the Ten Kings Camp were not present, so these minions could not distinguish between friend and foe!

The second possibility is...

Brigade Commander Yang looked up at the Ten Kings Camp, his expression becoming even uglier.

Because the second possibility can only be that the people in the Ten Kings Village now are no longer the bandits of the Ten Kings Village!
In other words, they are not the original group of people!
If it is the first possibility, it means that the Ten Kings Village has not been lost and he can go back to report. If it is the second possibility, it only means that he came too late.

Thinking that he had not seen anyone from Qingyang County along the way, Yang Lieutenant General took a few steps forward and hid behind a big tree to avoid the arrows on the hillside. Then he asked in a deep voice, "Are you guys from Qingyang County Government joking with me?"

"If you pretend to be bandits and attack the government troops, you will be guilty of treason!"

As soon as he said this, Li Yun, who was halfway up the hill, frowned slightly.

This guy is really damn smart. He guessed most of the things just by guessing.

Unfortunately, he guessed wrong again.

Liu Bo was not afraid at all, and shouted at the top of his voice: "I am your grandfather, come up if you have the guts, and fight with your grandfather!"

Commander Yang could no longer bear it, and waved his hand, shouting, "Charge forward and wipe out these bandits!"

This time, he also led more than a hundred people up the mountain, and because there were no obstacles along the way, they almost all arrived at the gate of the Ten Kings Camp smoothly. At this moment, he gave an order, and although the government troops in these states were afraid, they still drew their weapons and bravely rushed up the mountain.

Halfway up the hill, Liu Bo and his men fired another round of arrows, knocking down several government troops. Then Liu Bo patted Li Yun on the shoulder and said with a low laugh, "Second brother, don't show up."

Li Yun looked at the village, then said, "I'll wait for them in the village. If it's difficult, we'll retreat."

Li Dazhaizhu's eyes flashed with ferocity: "If it doesn't work, just kill them all!" Liu Bo grinned and said, "Don't worry, second brother. We have seen the ugly appearance of these Xuanzhou soldiers when we were in Cangshan. These people are not much stronger than those people."

After that, Liu Bo stood up and waved his hand: "Brothers, for Boss Tong!"

"Let's fight these government troops!"

Although Liu Bo is smart, he is not incapable of chopping people. He grew up in the mountain village and has done a lot of work with the bandits. He can do everything that the bandits can do.

At this moment, he shouted loudly, and after more than a dozen bows fired a round of arrows, the gate of Shiwangzhai opened wide, and more than forty bandits from Cangshanzhai rushed out howling.

However, the mountain path was narrow, and there were only seven or eight bandits who could attack at this moment. These bandits were ruthless. When they met the government soldiers, they chopped them in the face without saying a word. The government soldiers were so scared that they rolled on the ground and barely avoided the knife.

But the mountain path was slanted, and he rolled to the ground, and the government troops behind him also fell down.

At this moment, three or four government soldiers had been hacked and were lying on the ground screaming in pain.

Brigade Commander Yang was still hiding behind the tree. He took a look at the bandits rushing out. There were at least forty of them at a glance, and most of the suspicion in his heart disappeared.

It is unlikely that the Qingyang yamen runners were disguised as bandits, because there are not so many Qingyang yamen runners!
While I was thinking about this, the government troops in the front had already shrunk back in fear. More than a hundred of them were forced to retreat more than ten steps by more than forty bandits!

Yang Lieutenant General fiercely kicked the man in front of him and cursed, "Coward!"

Then he took one last look at the Ten Kings Camp, waved his hand, and shouted, "The Ten Kings Camp is easy to defend but difficult to attack. Retreat first and make long-term plans!"

They were not here to suppress the bandits, but to embarrass the yamen runners in Qingyang!
Now that Qingyang’s bailiffs are nowhere to be seen, the situation is beyond their capabilities.

Marshal Yang's orders were very straightforward.

A group of Xuanzhou soldiers withdrew from Shiwang Peak very smoothly, so fast that even Liu Bo couldn't react.

After the government troops had withdrawn far away, Liu Bo returned to the village, looked at Li Yun, and scratched his head: "Second brother, these government troops are too messed up. Looking at their appearance, I am even confident that I can capture Xuanzhou City."

Li Yun glanced at him and said unhappily, "Xuanzhou Sima has ten brigade commanders and a thousand soldiers under his command."

"Besides, what's the point of you taking Xuanzhou?"

Li Yun looked at the backs of the government troops and said calmly: "Also, even though they are not good at attacking, they are much better at defending the city."

At this point, Li Yun patted Liu Bo on the shoulder and said, "Old Nine, I'll leave the mountain to you and Shou Hou. Watch over this village. I'll go down the mountain through the small path to deal with these government troops."

Liu Bo nodded in response, and Li Yun brought an acquaintance from the village to lead the way, and they quickly went down the Ten Kings Peak along the path.

These people grew up in the mountains, so walking on this kind of mountain road is as easy as walking on flat ground. Therefore, when Li Yun walked down the Ten Kings Peak, Yang Lushuai and others were still on the mountain.

Captain Li changed into a white robe and called Chen Da and Huang Yong who were resting at the foot of the mountain. The three of them came to the entrance of the mountain road and waited for a while. As expected, they saw Brigade Commander Yang who had returned from suppressing the bandits.

Li Dutou asked Chen Da to wait on the side while he stepped forward and saluted, then asked, "Are they reinforcements from the state?"

Commander Yang looked Li Yun up and down and asked, "Are you Li Zhao, the head of Qingyang?"

"Yes."

Brigade Commander Yang frowned and asked, "Didn't you go up the mountain to suppress the bandits last night? Why are you at the foot of the mountain now?"

"This brother..."

Li Yun asked: "What's your name?"

"My surname is Yang, my name is Heng, and I am the commander of the brigade in Xuanzhou."

"It turned out to be General Yang in person."

Li Yun sighed, his expression gloomy: "General Yang, you don't know, we did go up to the Ten Kings Peak last night and fought fiercely with the bandits of the Ten Kings Village all night, but the bandits of the Ten Kings Village were too fierce and we were no match for them."

"Luckily, with the help of a local, we were able to escape down the mountain by a small path in the middle of the night."

He looked at Commander Yang and said happily, "Li was just about to go to the state to ask for reinforcements, but he didn't expect Commander Yang to be here. Commander Yang brought so many people, did he wipe out the Ten Kings Camp?"

When Yang Heng heard this, his face darkened to the extreme.

He clenched his fists and held it in for a long time before he slowly said, "The bandits are fierce, and the Ten Kings Stronghold is easy to defend but difficult to attack. We can't rush this matter. We have to..."

Commander Yang let out a breath and looked up at Li Yun with suspicion in his eyes.

"Think long term."

(End of this chapter)