Logically speaking, Ang Lee and his men should have been discovered when they arrived near Nine Dragon City. However, Ang Lee's men were too few, and Nine Dragon City happened to be celebrating. Most of the bandits were drunk, so their vigilance was naturally much lower.
A few days ago, this group of bandits had robbed a relatively wealthy family and obtained a lot of money and food, especially food. There were 50 carts worth of food, which made the bandit leader extremely happy and celebrated with his subordinates.
The 50 carts of food were enough for their stronghold to enjoy for half a year. With the food, they did not panic and felt that they could continue to be free and unfettered.
Compared with the previous bandit lairs, which had strong checkpoints, the bandit lairs here did not seem to have strong defenses. However, the terrain here was more complicated. The mountains were high and the forests were dense. It was easy for people who did not know the terrain to get lost. There was also a terrifying miasma in the mountains. During the day, if one accidentally entered the miasma area and was infected with the terrible miasma, it was not a joke.
It was precisely because of the complicated terrain and the harsh conditions here that the imperial army had not been able to eliminate the bandits here. Therefore, the bandits here had been free and unfettered until now.
"Brothers, let's eat and drink well. I said that this time, we will celebrate for three days and three nights. Of course, I can't go back on my words. Everyone, eat as much as you want. Now, we don't lack food. Eat as much as you want."
The bandit leader sat on the seat of honor and said excitedly.
Obviously, the bandit leader was also someone who knew how to win over his subordinates. The reason why he could sit firmly in his position was naturally inseparable from the fact that his subordinates followed him. And since his subordinates followed him, he naturally had to give them enough benefits. If he didn't give them benefits, why would they continue to follow him?
This time, robbing the rich family caused many casualties among his subordinates. At least 30 of them were killed and 70 or 80 of them were injured. This was also greatly beyond his expectations. Before the robbery, he did not expect that the rich family would resist so strongly and make them suffer such heavy losses.
However, the reward was proportional to the effort. Although the other party resisted fiercely and caused them to suffer heavy losses, when they found the food and treasures hidden by the other party, they were immediately excited. Fifty carts of food and ten carts of various treasures. These benefits were enough to offset the loss of the men and horses.
This also made the bandit leader understand why the rich family resisted so desperately. It turned out that there were too many treasures in the family. However, after all, the bandits lost dozens of people, so after taking over the rich family, the bandits massacred all the survivors, even the children of a few years old, after taking over the rich family.
After these bandits returned to the mountain stronghold, they began to celebrate for three days and three nights. At this time, it was already the last night. For the bandits who had been entrenched in the mountain for a long time, their daily life was quite boring. There was not much entertainment. Every day, they just ate, drank, and chatted. The celebration could be regarded as the most interesting activity among them.
Of course, sometimes, they would go down the mountain to kidnap a young woman or something and bring her to the mountain to be the wife of the stronghold. However, life in the mountain stronghold was too difficult. Generally, the young women would commit suicide to prevent the bandits from succeeding. For this reason, the bandits also killed many young women. These bandits were guilty of many crimes, so naturally, they could not be forgiven.
Now, they were still celebrating unscrupulously. However, Ang Lee's men had already surrounded them. Although there was no dead end in the terrain and it seemed that there was an escape route in every direction, the mountain stronghold also had walls. It was said that there were only two gates in the stronghold. Caught off guard, these bandits could not escape at all. Of course, if these bandits discovered the imperial army in advance, they would have more escape routes. Even if there was no road in the dense forest, these guys still dared to go in.
Most of the bandits were eating and drinking to celebrate, but there were also a few who were keeping watch outside. After all, these bandits were still somewhat afraid of the imperial army. Even if they had not been encircled for decades, they were still worried that they would suddenly be threatened, so they still had the most basic defense. However, these bandits who were responsible for keeping watch were very lazy and did not seriously keep watch. They did not think that they would encounter any danger at all. After all, they had not been encircled by the imperial army for so many years. As long as they entered the miasma filled nest, the imperial army would not come near.
Of course, this time these guys were obviously wrong. It was true that the miasma was dense here, but the miasma appeared in a fixed area. Moreover, it was more serious during the day, but not at night. The location of their stronghold was not miasma. Otherwise, they would not have survived until now.
The troops led by Ang Lee and Chen Long respectively had entered the vicinity of Nine Dragon City and saw the lazy bandits not far away from them.
At this time, it was very important to quietly get rid of these sentries. Once they made a big noise, the bandits in the stronghold would notice. At that time, some of them might escape. In that case, they would not be able to achieve their goal of wiping out all the bandits.
"What time is it now?"
Chen Long looked at the soldier beside him and asked.
"It's already midnight."
The soldier replied.
"Well, it's almost time. You two sneak over and kill the sentries. Remember, you must do it cleanly. Don't make any noise."
Chen Long ordered the two subordinates.
The two subordinates nodded and quietly crept up. In order to avoid being discovered, the two subordinates didn't wear any armor. They only wore thin black clothes and a black veil on their faces. These were standard night clothes that were especially suitable for sneaking around at night.
They sneaked over quietly and did not attract the attention of the two sentries. They approached the bandit sentries little by little.
"Puff …"
The two daggers easily dealt with the two Mountain Bandit Sentinels without causing any commotion. This made Chen Long very satisfied.
"Go, let's continue forward."
Chen Long commanded his men to continue approaching the bandit's lair. The two bandit sentries he had just killed were one li away from the bandit's lair. There would definitely be more sentries ahead. Although these bandits were careless, they would not be too careless. There would still be quite a number of sentries.
Sure enough, 200 steps away from the bandit's stronghold, there were two more sentries lazily standing on the side of the road and dozing off. However, they were not really asleep.
These two sentries were very close to the bandit's lair. As such, if they made any noise, they would be easily discovered by the bandits not far away. Therefore, they had to be more careful.
Chen Long instructed the two subordinates to be extremely careful. They must not let the bandits in the lair discover them.
The two subordinates were also well-trained and easily got rid of the two sentries.
As such, they could directly enter the bandit's stronghold without much resistance. As long as they reached the stronghold gate, they could charge in and none of the bandits would be able to escape.
Chen Long led his troops and continued to advance stealthily. However, when they reached the stronghold gate, they saw an unbelievable scene. There was only one dozing bandit standing guard at the gate. There was no one else. The interior of the stronghold was also silent. It was as if all the bandits were asleep.
"Something's wrong! This is the stronghold gate. Why is the security so lax? This is too careless! "
Chen Long's face was full of doubt. However, since the other party was on such high alert, it was a good thing for him. Thus, he continued to let the soldiers under his command search the outpost and slit the drunk bandit's throat.
Then, the three hundred men arrived at the stronghold gate without any hindrance. They had already stepped one foot into the stronghold gate, but they still did not see a single bandit. This made Chen Long feel very strange.
"General, these bandits are very strange. Every one of them who I slit their throats reeked of alcohol. These bandits are in charge of keeping watch. Why are they drinking so much?"
A soldier in charge of the sentry reported in puzzlement.
"Oh, there's actually such a thing. Could it be that these bandits are celebrating? If that's the case, that's great. Then our operation will be much smoother."
Chen Long was pleasantly surprised when he heard this. This was a heaven-sent opportunity. Even the sentinels of the bandits were drunk. One could only imagine how the rest of the bandits were doing.
"That's great. You guys split up after entering. Try to slit the throats of all the bandits here silently."
Chen Long ordered.
The soldiers obeyed and immediately began to move. After these soldiers entered the stronghold, they split up into groups of ten. They charged into different houses and began to kill all the bandits they could find. Chen Long himself led twenty men and charged into the largest house in front. That was the core of the stronghold. It should be where the important bandits lived.
When Chen Long rushed in, he was dumbfounded. There were dozens of bandit leaders lying around. There were more than thirty of them, and all of them were drunk. Less than five of them were conscious, and the rest were all asleep.
Such a heaven-sent opportunity, how could Chen Long possibly miss it? With a light wave of his hand, Chen Long gave the order to his soldiers to kill. Although capturing these bandits alive was relatively easy, Chen Long did not want to waste time. It was simpler to just kill them and end everything.
"Come, drink, continue drinking."
"Hey, who are you? Why haven't I seen you before? "
A drunken bandit asked curiously when he saw Chen Long standing in front of him.
Chen Long did not waste any more words. He directly slit this bandit's neck with his saber and sent him to Hades.
When this bandit felt the sharp pain in his neck, he immediately became clear-headed and sobered up. However, he also saw a scene that terrified him. He saw a group of soldiers killing his companions. Everyone in the room had their throats slit. There was a terrifying smell of blood everywhere. He was only frightened for a moment before his consciousness blurred. He closed his eyes and completely left this world.
"General, all thirty-six bandit leaders have been killed. None of them escaped."
The soldier reported excitedly.
At the same time, the soldiers outside also searched every room of the bandits and quietly slit the throats of all the bandits. The bandits in the mountain stronghold were cleared out, but they didn't make any noise. This was a miracle. Of course, it was also because most of the bandits were drunk. Otherwise, it wouldn't have gone so smoothly.
At this time, Ang Lee on the other side was a little anxious. According to the agreed time, Chen Long should have taken action by now. However, more than half an hour had passed. Why was Chen Long still not taking action? Could there be an accident? However, a few hundred bandits did not have much combat power. What could they do to 300 soldiers? This situation was obviously not possible. Therefore, the biggest possibility was that Chen Long remembered the time wrongly. Perhaps Chen Long's subordinates remembered the time wrongly. In this case, it was not a big deal to wait a little longer.
"Assistant Minister Li, did General Chen remember the time wrongly? He should have taken action by now. Why is there no movement at all?"
A guard was very puzzled.
Ang Lee nodded and said, "Maybe so! However, it is not a big deal to wait a little longer. The deeper the night, the more relaxed the bandits' defense will be. It will be easier for the soldiers to take action. "
The best time to attack the bandit's lair was in the dead of night. At this time, the bandits were basically asleep. Their resistance was at its weakest. This was the best time to minimize the losses of the soldiers. After all, the more casualties there were, the more it affected the soldiers' morale. Zero casualties was the most effective way to boost the soldiers' morale.
"Assistant Minister Li, there is movement. Someone has taken down two sentries. Strange, is it an internal conflict among the bandits? Impossible!"
"Assistant Minister Li, three people are running towards us. No, they are our men."
The two guards said one after another.
Ang Lee frowned when he saw the three people running towards them. They were all wearing the uniform of the Dragon Martial Army. Obviously, they were from the Dragon Martial Army. This made Ang Lee quite surprised. At the same time, he also admired Chen Long's methods. He had actually taken care of the enemies in the stronghold quietly.
"Haha! Let me guess. The bandits in the stronghold must have been taken care of. However, you guys are really amazing! You did not make a single sound. "
Ang Lee said.
The guards beside him were very surprised. After all, there were five to six hundred bandits and many sentries. How could they be so quiet? This was a little too strange.
"Yes, Assistant Minister Li. However, this is because these bandits were all drunk. The bandits on sentry duty also drank a lot of wine and were all drowsy. That's why we easily dealt with them all."
The soldier reported.
Ang Lee was naturally very happy when he heard this. He paused and said, "It seems that we are really lucky to have encountered such a good thing! Let's go to the stronghold quietly. "
After that, he led thirty guards into the bandit's lair along a small path. As soon as they entered, they saw a large number of bandit corpses neatly placed in a large open space. Chen Long was standing next to them with a happy face.
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