With the rise of my family, I can summon the Daoist Soldiers' Nest.

Lin Ye and Chen Cheng walked side by side, following Magistrate Sun all the way to the county government office.

Along the way, you can see many houses that have been burned down. Some roofs have collapsed, and some walls are only half intact, with wood and bricks scattered on the ground.

Most of the people living on both sides of the street were dressed in white, which is mourning attire.

Some people stood at the doorway, some gathered at the crossroads, and they didn't talk much to each other.

An elderly man with white hair leaned on a bamboo cane, his eyes filled with deep pain; a woman held a young child, her head bowed, tears streaming down her face; a young man, though struggling to stand, revealed his grief and indignation in his eyes.

Lin Ye and Chen Cheng felt heavy-hearted after reading it, and became even more determined to wipe out the river bandits as soon as possible.

Although the crowd was quiet, their eyes revealed their willingness to support the government's actions.

Upon entering the county government office, the atmosphere suddenly became solemn.

The soldiers guarding the courtyard had damaged armor and looked on guard, indicating that the government had not been entirely absent from the battle in the previous days.

Lin Ye and Chen Cheng stopped being polite; time was of the essence, and every moment of delay could allow the bandits to regroup.

"Magistrate Sun," Lin Ye said bluntly, "how many ships does the county currently have that are available for combat?"

Magistrate Sun's face darkened, and he slowly replied, "All the ships docked in the shipyard have been burned and looted. Now, all that remains are a few private boats belonging to wealthy families."

However, these were all merchant ships carrying goods or small fishing boats, lacking both defensive structures and weapons suitable for naval warfare. To actually go into the water and confront the bandits would likely be extremely dangerous.

Upon hearing this, the two fell into deep thought. The lack of standard warships meant that the difficulty of encirclement and suppression by water would increase significantly, forcing them to devise another strategy.

Seeing their furrowed brows, as if weighing their predicament, Magistrate Sun added, "My lords, we captured some river bandits while clearing the battlefield."

One of them was identified as the third-in-command of Bawangtan. Perhaps this will be useful to you.

"The third leader of Bawangtan?" Lin Ye immediately pressed, "How was he captured? Did you get any useful information from him?"

Magistrate Sun said, "It was discovered during the cleanup. He had a broken leg and claimed that during a fight with Blackwater Village, he encountered a second-rate martial artist who broke his leg with a single blow. He escaped by feigning death."

Later, when he was too exhausted to walk any further, he tried to continue feigning death, but he couldn't escape our search.

He paused, then continued, "In order to survive, he revealed a secret waterway to Bawang Beach that could avoid most of the monsters in the water."

He also said that there seemed to be several second-rate martial artists within Blackwater Stronghold, whose strength should not be underestimated.

Lin Ye and Chen Cheng's eyes lit up upon hearing this.

Chen Cheng immediately made the decision, "Good, Magistrate Sun, this third leader must not be allowed to die. Let's discuss it briefly and interrogate him again immediately to find out the details of his route and the bandits' inner workings."

With this waterway, we can launch a surprise attack straight into the heart of Bawangtan.

After Magistrate Sun left, Lin Ye and Chen Cheng gathered the army's captains and battalion commanders in a room, where more than a dozen people sat down around a table to discuss the matter.

Lin Jingxian shared his opinion: "We have already obtained the route to Bawangtan, so we can prioritize targeting it."

Bawangtan originally had more than 2,000 people, but due to the fighting in the county town and the fact that some people who got the money didn't become river bandits, the actual number is definitely less than 2,000.

It's the weakest of the three bandit groups, so we should attack it first. It's less risky and easier to accumulate victories.

Chen Hai, a captain under Chen Cheng, stood up and said, "The problem is that we don't have enough ships. The only ones we can use are cargo ships and fishing boats belonging to large owners, and we don't have any naval warfare equipment."

If we fight the river bandits in the river, we will be at a disadvantage.

Our advantage lies in our high armor coverage and good discipline, but if we fall into the water while wearing iron armor, we are basically doomed; the armor is actually a hindrance.

There wasn't time to reinforce these ships, not to mention that the crew had no naval warfare training; they wouldn't stand a chance in a real fight.

After listening, Lin Ye knew that Chen Hai was telling the truth.

The main threat that the Northern Han Dynasty faced for a long time was the Northern Xiongnu. Its army was mainly composed of cavalry and infantry, and its battles were mostly field battles or attacks and defenses of cities.

The lords in various regions also focused their military training on land warfare.

Although there are rivers in Yun County and Xiang County, the scale of the river bandits is small, and they have only caused sporadic disturbances throughout history, so there is no need to specifically train in naval warfare.

As he pondered, he thought of the river patrol guards in his territory.

These men are all martial artists who are usually responsible for clearing out small groups of bandits. They are quick and adapted to the water environment. Now that the number of people in Bawangtan has decreased, they may be able to launch a surprise attack using martial artists.

Lin Ye asked, "Could we use martial artists to launch a direct surprise attack?"

Our two armies have nearly forty third-rate martial artists and three second-rate martial artists. Let them head straight for Bawangtan's lair. This way, the movement will be less noticeable, and they won't be easily exposed beforehand. Once ashore, they can immediately unleash their combat power.

At the same time, transport the main force to the rear by boat, and while the warriors draw the enemy's attention, quickly land and launch a pincer attack.

Chen Cheng immediately added, "We can send our warriors over in crocodile armor. There are less than two thousand people at Bawangtan, but we need to find out how many warriors they have first. If they have more warriors, our warriors may suffer significant casualties."

Everyone thought that the third leader should be interrogated again first, and Magistrate Sun was soon invited in, bringing the prisoners into the room.

Knowing he was doomed, the third leader, in order to reduce his punishment and out of resentment towards his comrades, revealed everything about Bawangtan, including the location of their stronghold, its internal layout, and the location of the leader's residence.

According to his confession, Meng Lang, the leader of Bawangtan, was a second-rate martial artist, and there were three third-rate martial artists and more than a dozen unranked martial artists.

Although the number of warriors was not large, they still possessed considerable fighting power, leading nearly two thousand river bandits.

The group realized that since the task was to suppress bandits in Qinghe County, they couldn't rely on themselves alone; they also needed to involve the local martial artists.

Magistrate Sun explained that after the great battle, the county town suffered limited losses of third-rate martial artists, including city guards, constables, and guards of wealthy families, with nearly twenty remaining.

Based on this calculation, the raiding force consisted of nearly sixty third-rate martial artists and three second-rate martial artists.

According to conventional estimates, a third-rate martial artist can fight against about twenty-five well-trained soldiers. Adding the combat power of second-rate martial artists, the total number is enough to suppress less than two thousand river bandits.

After all, the individual combat strength of river bandits is not as good as that of regular soldiers, and their discipline is lax. Once they see a large number of their own people dying, they are likely to lose their organization and collapse.

After considering various factors, Lin Ye and Chen Cheng determined that the plan was feasible.

They instructed Magistrate Sun to contact third-rate martial artists in the county town, only saying that they had a mission to invite them to an appointment, without revealing the specific details.

Everyone agreed to set off under cover of darkness on the second night to launch a surprise attack by warriors, providing cover for the main army's beach landing.

During the discussion and arrangements, the group also considered several points: First, to ensure that the Crocodile Armor Guards transported the warriors and remained concealed.

Secondly, the main fleet must wait in the designated position and not expose itself too early, so as not to attract pirates to the ships and escape. Try to deal with the enemy on land.

Third, the raid was scheduled for late at night, taking advantage of the time when the bandits were less vigilant;