Ang Lee wouldn't stay at the border for long. After a short rest, he continued on his journey to Guichang City in Dongnu Province. That was the destination of this trip. The road conditions from the border to Guichang City were still very bad. It would take at least ten days to get there. If they could build a smooth road like the one in the future, even with the speed of a carriage, they would be able to get there in two days.
"Assistant Minister Li, our 500-strong army should be back in a few days. Why don't we wait for them and leave together? After all, the road isn't safe, and we have to stay at the border. We can't leave as we please. "
Zhao Wu said.
Ang Lee shook his head and said, "The road isn't safe. I know that. However, the bandits can't do anything to me. You don't have to worry about that at all."
Ang Lee wasn't afraid of the bandits they might encounter along the way. He had more than 300 Dragon Warriors under his command. The bandits' strength was nothing to him. The bandits were scattered and didn't show any signs of joining up. Therefore, there was nothing to worry about.
The only thing that restricted the bandits from working together was the lack of food. Without enough food, the bandits could only scatter and gather together. When there was no food, they wouldn't even be able to dig for wild vegetables, so they would starve to death!
"Since Assistant Minister Li has already decided, I won't say anything more. This is a map that I personally drew. Assistant Minister Li will definitely be able to use it."
Zhao Wu personally handed the map to Ang Lee.
This map was a topographic map of Dongnu Province. Not only did it mark the terrain and rivers of Dongnu Province in detail, but it also marked the approximate location of a large number of bandits, the number of bandits, and other information. This was naturally very important to Ang Lee.
"Mm, not bad. I'll accept it."
Ang Lee said happily.
After resting at the border for a night, Ang Lee's team continued on their journey. Although the roads in Dongnu Province were also difficult to travel on, there were people who maintained them. The troops transporting grain from Dongnu Province often passed through them, so they had always been repaired. At least, the roads were slightly better than those in Dazhou.
Li An and his team could travel at least twenty miles a day. Although this speed was very slow, it was already considered very good considering the muddy roads they were traveling on.
There were a thousand people in the team and five to six hundred carriages. Every carriage was filled to the brim. Among them, more than half were carriages filled with grain. Such a team naturally made the bandits along the way envious. Now, almost all the bandits were lacking in food. Those who weren't short on food couldn't last for long. They would run out of food soon. Whether they were hungry now or soon, it would make them panic and make them think of robbing.
However, robbing also required strength. Without strength, they couldn't succeed in robbing. They might even lose their lives. Therefore, before robbing, the bandits would also consider their own strength. Unless they were crazy from hunger, they wouldn't rob recklessly. Just like the robbery that Ang Lee's team encountered in Dazhou was caused by a group of bandits who were crazy from hunger.
Along the rugged mountain road near Xiaojinchuan, Ang Lee and his team advanced with difficulty. On the north side of the road was the famous Holy Mountain in Dongnu Province. It was also a continuous mountain. In this Holy Mountain, there were dozens of groups of bandits gathered. Each group had dozens of people, and the largest group had more than 500 people. Of course, most of the large bandit groups had grown stronger because of the large number of poor people. All the bandit groups didn't have much fighting power. They were all at the level of five. If they dared to rob, they would be purely sending themselves to death.
"The map that Zhao Wu gave is very useful. It marks all the areas where the bandits are active. There is a group of bandits not far ahead. There are about a few hundred of them. They are a new group of bandits. They should be farmers living in the mountains. Because they have no food, they have all become bandits."
Ang Lee said.
These new bandits usually looked for wild vegetables and fruits in the mountains. If they were lucky, they might also catch prey. However, these were not enough to solve their food crisis. Therefore, once they encountered a passing food team, they would also rob. As long as you robbed, you would be a bandit. Even if you only robbed once, you were still a bandit. It was like an ordinary person stealing once, then he was a proper thief. Others would think that he was a thief and not an ordinary person.
Since ancient times, fishermen in coastal areas also had this kind of situation. Many coastal fishermen would go fishing in fishing boats. They looked like ordinary fishermen and would sell the fish they caught. It seemed that there was no problem. However, once they encountered a merchant ship that was alone, they would also rob it and take away the goods of the merchant ship. Thus, they became actual pirates. These were also the most terrible and secretive pirates. These pirates were very deceptive. Generally, passing merchant ships would not pay attention to these fishing boats and would think that they were ordinary fishermen. Therefore, it was easy for them to fall into the trap.
Ordinary people becoming bandits was the most terrible thing. In an era of political harmony, this kind of phenomenon was rare. However, in a chaotic era, this kind of thing was more common. Although it was not a chaotic era now, the actual situation in Dongnu Province was almost the same. The new bandits often robbed big families. Many families were robbed and killed. This was the atmosphere of a chaotic era. Moreover, if it was not handled well, it would continue to be chaotic and the consequences would be quite serious.
Fortunately, these bandits still had some surplus food. They could also find some wild vegetables, grass roots, bark, and so on in the mountains. If they really could not find any food, it was estimated that they would directly attack Guichang City.
The actual situation of each group of bandits was not the same. Some could barely fill their stomachs, but they could not last long. Some could only eat until they were half full, while others could eat until they were 70% full. The most miserable ones could only eat until they were 30% full, or even less. They could barely hang on to their lives.
In addition, because many of the bandits had just been converted from poor people, there were many old people and children among them. Since adults went to rob and became bandits, then these old people and children would be regarded as bandits by others. They lived together with bandits and had a very close blood relationship. If they were not bandits, then what were they? They were definitely bandits.
Under the premise of not getting enough food, the food that the old people and children could fill their stomachs was extremely scarce. Especially the old people, some had already begun to hunger strike. They wanted to let themselves die and leave food to the young people and children. Some could not afford to feed the young people and children, so they would suffocate the girls at home to reduce one mouth to eat.
The bandits who could barely eat their fill would still have a little rationality when doing things. They would carefully analyze the pros and cons. But the bandits who were completely crazy from hunger would do things recklessly. As long as they found food, no matter how many defenses the other party had, they would have a fluke mentality.
As soon as Ang Lee set up camp, he was targeted by the nearby bandits.
This group of bandits seemed to have more than 100 people, but in reality, there were 300-400 people. The 100 people referred to the people who could come out to rob. There were also many old people and children in the lair. These people didn't have the ability to rob, but they were still bandits. What was originally an ordinary village had turned into a bandit's lair.
After setting up camp, some of the guards under Ang Lee's command scattered around to patrol to ensure the safety of the camp. There were also the necessary simple defensive barricades. In short, as long as the opponent's strength was not too strong, there would be a way to deal with it.
"Assistant Minister Li, the bandits here seem to be crazy. They dare to rob the grain transport team of Dongnu Province. That's 500 elite soldiers!"
Chen Long said.
Not long ago, Ang Lee met the grain transport team of Dongnu Province, which was the other 500 people under Zhao Wu's command. These 500 people were mainly responsible for escorting the grain. They told Ang Lee that when they were escorting the grain to Guichang City, they were robbed by a group of more than 200 bandits. Although the bandits did not succeed in the robbery and almost all of them were killed, they also destroyed some of the grain carriages and ruined some rice. More than a dozen elite soldiers of Dongnu Province lost their lives, and many more were injured.
Although the combat strength of the elite soldiers of Dongnu Province was very strong, the hungry bandits were not weak either. Their fighting style was very terrifying. Even if they died, they would drag someone down with them. It was a style of fighting to the death, which was very frightening.
The deputy commander of the chiliarch told Ang Lee in person how terrifying the hungry bandits' fighting style was. Many of the hungry bandits did not dodge when their bodies were pierced by the soldiers. Instead, they continued to move forward, which made their injuries worse. At the same time, they also approached the soldiers of Dongnu Province. Then, they stabbed their weapons into the bodies of the soldiers of Dongnu Province and used this cruel method to die together with the enemy.
In the face of such desperate fighting style of the bandits, the elite soldiers of Dongnu Province inevitably suffered a lot of casualties. More than ten people died in the battle alone. The most important thing was that the morale was affected. After all, more than ten lives were lost. At the same time, the terrifying eyes of the bandits also deeply shocked them.
Even though they were well-trained and had better equipment, they didn't have the confidence to prevent casualties when faced with the bandits who didn't care about their lives. They even felt that if there were more bandits, they wouldn't be able to win. This was a huge blow to their confidence.
In order to prevent any mistakes during the transportation process, the deputy commander of the chiliarch hurriedly reported the madness of the bandits to his superiors after they arrived at Guichang City. Then, the superiors assigned an additional 100 elite soldiers to strengthen the strength of the team and prevent the food transportation from being robbed.
"Perish together. These bandits are really crazy, completely crazy. If one of them does not care about his life, even ten people can't stop him. It's really a headache to encounter such people who do not care about their lives."
Ang Lee opened his mouth and said.
Since ancient times, people understood that if one person went all out, it would be difficult for ten people to stop him. The tactic of perishing together was the most terrifying, and it was also easier to achieve one's goal.
In the era of the Great Qin Dynasty, Jing Ke tried to assassinate the Qin Dynasty by perishing together with the enemy. Unfortunately, the assassination did not succeed. Later on, the tactic of perishing together with the enemy was even more common. For example, the Japanese's airplane suicide attack was very powerful. They sacrificed themselves as the price to completely destroy the enemy.
In the animal world, lions could kill hyenas, but hyenas that did not care about their lives could also seriously injure lions. As long as the hyenas were not afraid of death, they could bite the lion's foreleg and completely crush the lion's leg bone. Once the lion's bone was crushed, it would not be able to hunt normally. In the cruel world of nature, this was considered a serious injury. Once the lion was seriously injured and could not hunt, what awaited it was most likely the fate of death.
The best way to perish together with the enemy was to prevent the enemy from getting close to you, or to make your defense strong enough to ignore the enemy's attack. In this way, you could sit back and relax.
To prevent the enemy from getting close to you, you had to be vigilant at all times and monitor the enemy's movements at all times. When the enemy wanted to get close, you had to use long-range weapons to kill a large number of people and completely defeat the enemy's plan.
As for strong enough defense, one was to build strong fortifications near the camp to prevent the enemy from breaking in. One could also let the soldiers wear heavy armor, a kind of tough armor that could withstand swords and sabers.
By taking these measures, you could protect yourself to the greatest extent and prevent the enemy from launching a desperate surprise attack.
In the great naval battles of later generations, when a country was faced with the attack of the Japanese's suicide planes, one method was to use more advanced anti-air cannons to shoot down these suicide planes from a distance. Another method was to cover the deck of the ship with a thick layer of extra armor. This armor could offset the damage of the suicide planes and ensure that the ship would not be sunk.
Of course, generally, only the strong side had the ability to ensure their own safety and avoid casualties. In order to win, the weak side sometimes had to fight with their lives on the line.
"Assistant Minister Li, if there are really bandits who don't care about their lives and want to rob us, what should we do?"
Chen Long asked.
He was not nervous, but he wanted a promise. After all, fighting without regard for their lives was too scary. If the Dragon Martial Army showed mercy, there might be more casualties. As the general of the Dragon Martial Army, he naturally did not want his subordinates to suffer losses. He did not want to see even one person die in battle.
Ang Lee thought for a moment and said, "As long as the bandits launch a surprise attack, use the crossbows to warn them from a distance. If they continue to charge, there is no need to be polite. Just kill them in large numbers."
Obviously, Li An was most concerned about the safety of his own people. Even if these bandits were poor people who were forced to become bandits, he couldn't show any mercy. Otherwise, his own people would be bitterly disappointed. And Li An obviously wouldn't let his own people be bitterly disappointed. He would never do that.
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