The group moved very quickly. They were about to reach the Lu River Valley. Although the horse bandits were very tired, they didn't feel so tired when they thought that they would be able to set up camp and rest after crossing the river valley. Everyone seemed to be in high spirits.
"The Lu River Valley is just ahead. Foal, do you still remember what kind of trees there are in the valley?"
One-eye asked.
Foal smiled and said, "How could I forget? There's an extremely large pagoda tree in the valley. I estimate that it's at least two thousand years old. It's practically a divine tree! Don't even mention how tall those trees are. "
Of course, he wasn't speaking blindly. Big Colt had purposely told him what they would encounter along the way, what the terrain was like, and if there were any special landmarks, he would tell his brothers so that they would know where they were and how far they were from the Lu River Valley. He didn't expect that it would be so useful at such a time.
Foal wasn't sure if One-eye had passed through the Lu River Valley. If he had, he would definitely know what was going on inside. In this way, if he said that there was a pagoda tree that was more than a thousand years old, One-eye would definitely believe him and not suspect him. Moreover, this pagoda tree was not far from the western entrance of the valley. When the bandits entered the valley and saw this pagoda tree, they would definitely believe Foal's words and lower their guard.
Although this Horse Gang team was more like a transport team, every Horse Gang member had a weapon in their hands. Among the more than one hundred people, there was no lack of powerful elite Horse Gang members. The strength of these elite Horse Gang members was not weaker than the soldiers. If they were determined to resist, they would cause a lot of damage to the soldiers. Therefore, it was necessary to weaken their vigilance as much as possible and let them be tired enough so that they would completely lose the ability and will to resist and become the captives of the soldiers in perfect condition.
When One-eye heard Little Pony's words, his brows relaxed a lot. He had walked through this valley before, and even though he had only passed by in a hurry, he still had some impressions of some of the iconic trees along the way. Therefore, when he heard about the old locust tree, he immediately thought of the gigantic tree in the valley, and instantly believed in One-eye even more. He felt that Little Pony wasn't lying to him, and perhaps everything Little Pony said was true, and he was just overthinking it. Thinking of this situation, One-eye naturally felt as if a heavy burden had been lifted off his shoulders, and his brows naturally relaxed.
Now, all the bandits no longer had any psychological burden. No one suspected that Foal was a spy for the soldiers. Everyone chose to believe Foal. Moreover, they believed him unconditionally without a trace of doubt.
As they had set off earlier, by the time they were about to reach the Lushui River Valley, the group at the back had been left far behind. They were at least fifteen li away from the group in front and their communication had basically been cut off. This was even on the basis that the group at the back was constantly catching up.
Not far away in the Lushui River Valley, more than a thousand soldiers were already prepared for an all-out battle. They were lying in ambush on both sides of the valley, using makeshift camouflage facilities to conceal themselves. Their concealment was obviously very successful. The bandits who had recklessly entered the valley didn't notice the soldiers lying in ambush nearby. They didn't take any precautions along the way and moved very quickly, smoothly entering the ambush pocket of the soldiers.
Ang Lee was drinking tea at a high place. Standing at a higher position, he could overlook the whole valley. Due to the camouflage net in front of him, the people below couldn't see Ang Lee. It was like hiding in the woods, you could see everything outside, but the people outside couldn't see you hiding in the woods. Ang Lee was looking down through the camouflage net. In the eyes of the people below, the camouflage net in the distance was just ordinary dry leaves and stones. They couldn't see anything else at all.
"Haha! More than a hundred people came and left in such a hurry! Their formation is completely scattered. I can tell they are a mob at first glance! "
Ang Lee said.
"Mounted bandits are naturally a motley crew. However, with so many chests, are they really filled with treasures? How could this group of bandits rob so much? Summer Province is quite poor. Where did they get so many treasures? "
Lao Guo said with a frown.
As far as he was concerned, the economic condition of Summer Province was not very good. It could be said that it was a very poor city. However, the Horse Gang active here could accumulate such a huge amount of wealth in a few years, which naturally surprised Lao Guo. He could not figure out how these Horse Gang could plunder so much wealth, and from whom did they plunder so much wealth?
Ang Lee sighed, "Summer Province is indeed poor, but its merchants are not poor. Most of them are poor, but there are also many rich people!"
In Ang Lee's view, Summer Province's environment had been damaged to a certain extent, and there were not many employment opportunities. Therefore, it naturally gave people a feeling of poverty. But Summer Province was a very important hub connecting the capital of the Tang dynasty and the northern grassland. Many merchants favored this place and invested here.
Even though the existence of the Horse Gang made these merchants suffer unspeakably and even caused many merchants to go bankrupt, the group of merchants was huge. Some merchants suffered heavy losses and chose to leave the Summer Region to make a living elsewhere. However, there would soon be new merchants who did not believe in heresy and would rush into the Summer Region to do business. These merchants coming and going provided enough fat sheep for the Horse Gang to accumulate a huge amount of wealth in a short period of time.
This was similar to certain shops in the future. A businessman spent money to renovate and move in, but he soon realized that there was no business at all. There was no money to be made, so he chose to leave. But soon, a new businessman would move in, continue doing business, and then leave. Just like that, a shop in a bad location could bring in batches of money to the owner, and the ones who would suffer losses were always the businessmen who wanted to try.
The merchants of the Tang dynasty were no exception. If they didn't come to Summer Province to do business, how could they understand the power of the bandits in Summer Province? If they didn't personally experience the reality of their goods being robbed, how could they prove that they were so unlucky? In any society, the bold would always be full, and the timid would starve to death. Places with many bandits also had more opportunities. After all, the profits were there. As long as they could avoid the bandits, they could get very rich profits.
A group of merchants left after suffering heavy losses. Soon, a new group of merchants would come to the Summer Province. These merchants would pass by the Summer Province and bring a huge source of income to the Horse Gang. However, because they could not get their goods back by making a big fuss, many merchants gave up after a little attempt. They quietly left the Summer Province as if they had never been here.
In ancient society, the social status of merchants was the lowest, which determined their lowly and humble status. Their property was robbed by the bandits. Even if they complained to the government, under normal circumstances, it wouldn't be solved. It was impossible to get it back.
The government would at most send troops into the mountains to suppress the bandits to appease these merchants. But even if the suppression was successful, these spoils of war would belong to the imperial court and the soldiers. They would even have to hand them over to the national treasury. As for returning them to the merchants, this was something they didn't even dare to think about. No merchant dared to have such an extravagant hope. Therefore, many of them didn't even bother to complain. They left quietly when they were sad and gave their positions to the merchants behind them.
"Are the merchants in Summer Province really so rich?"
Lao Guo frowned, looking very surprised. Obviously, this was something he didn't expect. But as for how many valuable treasures were in these chests, they wouldn't know until they checked them. No one knew how many there were without checking them.
"General, the bandits have come in. Is it time for us to attack?"
A lieutenant asked.
"No hurry. The fish have bitten the bait. What's the hurry? Let's wait a little longer. When they all come in, none of them will be able to escape. Remember, as long as the bandits don't resist, don't kill any of them. It's better to capture them all alive. Hahaha! "
Lao Guo laughed. Although his voice was loud, it was still a little far from the bandits, so they couldn't hear him at all.
At this moment, whether it was the soldiers lying in ambush or the Horse Gang marching in the valley, they all seemed relaxed. The soldiers felt relaxed because their opponents were too weak, while the Horse Gang felt relaxed because they didn't know the danger they were facing. They didn't know that there were soldiers lying in ambush nearby.
However, there was one person who was very nervous, and that was Xiao Ma Ju. He knew that there were soldiers lying in ambush on both sides of the valley, but where were the soldiers? Would they accidentally injure him when they fought? These were all things that he was very worried about. He was most afraid that the soldiers would suddenly shoot thousands of arrows. If that happened, his little life would be in danger. This was not a joke.
Although Foal was very nervous, he couldn't let others see through his anxiety. He had to continue to pretend to be happy and let others think that he was very normal. He looked around, but every time he looked around, he would tell the bandits beside him that he had seen these trees and rocks many years ago, so as to dispel the bandits' suspicions.
Because the soldiers were well hidden, no matter how carefully the little foal observed, he was unable to discover where the soldiers were hiding, just like how he was unable to discover his brother's figure. However, he knew very well that a large number of soldiers were lying in ambush nearby, and could suddenly charge over at any moment. Thus, he had to be extremely careful, and he had to do his best to prevent himself from being injured by the soldiers who suddenly charged out.
Of course, Xiao Foal's worries were a little unnecessary. Li An had already given the order for the soldiers not to use force first. They could surround the horse thieves first. As long as the horse thieves were obedient enough, he would not make things difficult for them and would let them live. However, these horse thieves had to be properly reformed through labor. These horse thieves who were full of bad habits had to be transformed into standard and qualified young people. This way, they would be able to properly return to society and be useful to society.
"It's almost time. Let's start."
Ang Lee said when he saw most of the bandits enter the ambush.
Lao Guo nodded and signaled his lieutenant to give the order.
"Bang …"
A harsh sound suddenly rang out, which was the signal for the attack. The soldiers rushed out from the ambush place Ang Lee directly approached the marching bandits and surrounded them. All the bows and arrows were aimed at the bandits.
The marching bandits didn't expect this situation at all. They were all scared out of their wits and were completely surrounded by the soldiers before they could figure out what was going on. Under such circumstances, resistance seemed to be meaningless, because their resistance would have no effect at all. They seemed to have no other choice but to surrender.
"Ambush, ambush."
Foal pretended to be flustered and hurriedly lay down on the ground. He saw a large number of bows and arrows around and was afraid that they would shoot at him, so he hurriedly lay down on the ground.
The rest of the bandits were also shocked. They were all scared out of their wits and had no time to consider whether Foal was a spy or not. Their minds seemed to have stopped, and they fell into a state of shutdown.
"Bandits, listen up. You've been surrounded. Drop your weapons and surrender at once, or we'll kill you all."
A captain of the Tang Army shouted loudly.
This was a very strict warning. If the bandits refused to surrender, they could really kill these bandits. This was their responsibility, and they would not be soft-hearted.
The bandits were already scared out of their wits and had no courage to resist. They were completely surrounded, and they didn't have time to take out the weapons in their hands. They almost couldn't put down their weapons because they didn't have any weapons in their hands at all.
"First team, second team, go."
The captain ordered loudly.
Suddenly, the two teams of soldiers began to move forward step by step, approaching the frightened bandits.
"We've run out of luck. Let's surrender!"
A bandit who didn't want to die said.
"Surrender! Surrender! We can only surrender. "
More bandits were scared out of their wits and looked extremely panicked. The only thing they could think of was to surrender.
At this moment, the one with the most heavy heart was One-eye. He was scared out of his wits. This was the second time he was captured. Moreover, he was a small leader. He was really worried that he would be executed by the soldiers. He didn't want to die yet. It could be said that none of the bandits wanted to die. Everyone wanted to live and didn't want to die.
"Foal, this is what you did!"
One-eye said hatefully.
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