Duan Chu's face was full of disappointment. This little bit of horse meat was only enough for him to eat for a day. If he had to pay two hundred chests of jewelry a day, then in a few days, he would be sucked dry by this group of people. Although their Duan family was extremely rich, but they also had a limited amount of treasures, and there was no unlimited supply of treasures.
As for how much treasures the family had, Duan Chu was actually not very clear. His own family had at most a hundred chests of treasures, but his uncle Duan Jianwei's family should have a lot more treasures. However, his uncle had already died, and these treasures should have fallen into the hands of his uncle's prodigal son. As for how much treasures were left, he was not clear. Maybe there were only a few hundred chests left!
In any case, as long as he was trapped here for more than ten days, his family's treasures would not be enough to supply these desperados. This made Duan Chu very distressed. If he could get rid of these guys and return to Gelofeng's side, then all of these problems would no longer be a problem. But if these desperados were not willing to let him go, then he would really be miserable.
When he thought of the promissory note that these guys wanted him to write, his heart twitched. If they could let him go back to get the treasures, then why would they need to write a promissory note? Wasn't this promissory note just to let these guys go to the Duan family to get the treasures? So, once they emptied all of the Duan family's treasures, how could he still live? What he was most worried about was that the promissory note he wrote would not be recognized by his family. In front of the family's interests, even if he had to sacrifice his life, it would not be a big deal. Would the family really sacrifice all of their wealth for him?
Duan Chu's heart was in extreme despair. He was not in the mood to taste the horse meat in his hand. He was thinking about how to break out of this situation, but no matter how hard he thought, it seemed that he could not think of a way to break out of this situation.
As a map-blind person, even if these people let Duan Chu go, Duan Chu would not be able to find his way back to Nanzhao. Not to mention, there were officers and soldiers all along the way. Although he could pass through the mountain paths, with his small body, without the help of others, he would not be able to walk out of the mountain. When they came in, they disguised themselves as merchants, woodcutters, hunters, and other identities to come in. Occasionally, they would cross the mountains and secretly pass through the checkpoints from places where there were no traces of people. When crossing the mountains, Duan Chu did not carry any weight. There were even a few good men of high status who were responsible for taking care of him. When going up and down the mountain, he could borrow the strength of others to move forward. If he only relied on himself, just the food and water alone would be enough to wear him down. Not to mention that he did not know the way at all. When he came in, he took many twists and turns, so how could he remember clearly?
However, this feeling of being taken advantage of and controlled by others was very uncomfortable. From time to time, Duan Chu was so desperate that he wanted to commit suicide, but he did not have the courage to do so. Usually, when he was showing off his strength, he thought that he was so great, but when faced with a real crisis, he found that he was really weak.
However, Duan Chu was obviously thinking too much. How could he go back? In addition, these outlaws who controlled him could not get their hands on the Duan family's property. This was because Ang Lee would not let go of these evil people who tried to assassinate him. For example, he would kill all of these people to relieve the hatred in his heart.
Chen Zhuang's deployment was very covert and did not attract the attention of these evil people. After all, most of the main forces had indeed withdrawn to the various cities. There were less than five hundred soldiers hidden outside. They were divided into ten small teams, and each team only had fifty people. Moreover, they were all dressed as farmers. If one did not look carefully, they would not be able to tell.
A few days later, the leader felt that the danger had passed.
They were ready to leave. Although they could climb over the mountains, there were some places where there was no road. They needed a mountain road to climb over the mountains. If there was no road, there was no way to climb over the mountains. Some places were places that they had to pass through. They couldn't avoid them.
These thieves were also very careful. They did not dare to move with more than two hundred people. This would make them too big of a target. They also learned from Chen Long's method of scattering. They divided the two hundred people into ten groups, with only twenty people in each group. With such a small number, it was naturally not easy to attract the attention of outsiders. Because they had weapons on them, they dressed as hunters. This way, it would be reasonable for them to have weapons. Of course, some weapons could not be exposed, so they could only be wrapped up or directly thrown away.
At least more than half of the weapons were thrown in the valley by these desperadoes. After all, some of the weapons were too big and too conspicuous. They should not be owned by hunters at all. In this special period, they had to keep a low profile and try to make themselves look as ordinary as possible.
There was not only one way back to Nanzhao. The two leaders thought that they would return by several ways. Of course, the two of them would not be separated. They would take Duan Chu and leave together, and the rest of the subordinates would return to the nest separately.
As soon as these people left the deep mountains where they hid, they were immediately discovered by the soldiers who were lying in ambush. They immediately reported to Chen Zhuang and asked him to be prepared.
"What? They are all out, but they are actually splitting up and leaving?"
Chen Zhuang said with a smile.
"Yes, General. They have ten groups of people in total, and each group has about twenty people. We are watching them closely. They can't escape."
The soldier said.
Chen Zhuang said with a smile, "This is really good. We will divide into ten groups, and they will also divide into ten groups. This is great. One group against one group, and we don't have to spend energy to allocate manpower."
In Chen Zhuang's view, the soldiers under his command were much more elite than these desperadoes. 50 people against 20 people, he had the advantage in numbers. If he could not win in this case, he would not have the face to stay in the military of the Tang dynasty.
Soon, Chen Zhuang assigned the task. The task was to let the ten groups under his command follow a group of criminals, and eliminate them all at the right time.
When carrying out this mission, it was inevitable that there would be casualties. However, Chen Zhuang was not after zero casualties. He was not Li An. He was not interested in zero casualties. As long as he could win and the casualties were not too high, he would be very satisfied.
Since the important task of eliminating the thieves was given to Chen Zhuang, Ang Lee would not interfere. It was not a big deal to sacrifice a few soldiers. Anyway, it was Chen Zhuang's command, and it had nothing to do with him. As long as they could successfully eliminate all the assassins, it would be enough.
"Chen Zhuang, no matter what, we must capture Duan Chu alive as much as possible. The other assassins can be killed. After all, the cost of capturing them alive is too high, and it will increase the casualties of our army."
Ang Lee said.
Killing bandits was easy, but capturing bandits alive was much more difficult. Everyone understood this logic, and if one wanted to capture bandits alive, the price one had to pay would be quite high. Naturally, Li An did not wish for the soldiers under Chen Zhuang to suffer too many casualties, so he did not ask for too many prisoners. He only wanted to capture the main culprit, Duan Chu, alive. This would reduce the number of casualties.
"Assistant Minister Li, don't worry. Duan Chu can't escape. By the way, what about the thousands of assassins we captured before? Recently, more than a dozen disobedient ones have been killed by me. It's not good to keep the rest locked up every day! It's a waste of food! "
Chen Zhuang said.
Ang Lee said with a smile, "Are you stupid? You're keeping so many people for nothing and making them work! Now that Dongnu Province is in urgent need of manpower, the three hundred soldiers under my command have personally worked in the fields some time ago. Do you think we're keeping so many prisoners for nothing and making them work for nothing? "
"Yes! Brother, are you stupid? "
Chen Long said with a smile.
Chen Zhuang punched Chen Long and said with a smile, "I really want to see with my own eyes what you look like working in the fields."
"Haha! When you have time, you two brothers can work together in the fields. One of you can lead the ox and the other one can help with the plow. Brothers working together will definitely get twice the result with half the effort. "
Ang Lee said.
"Hahaha!"
Everyone laughed.
One night later, the two leaders and Duan Chu were resting in an inn. They had walked a lot on the mountain roads and their bodies were very tired. If they didn't find a decent place to rest, Duan Chu would probably be tortured to death.
At this time, Duan Chu's breath was very weak. If he were to struggle in the mountains for a few more days, there was a high possibility that he would die of exhaustion.
Although they had also walked through the mountain roads when they came, the situation was very different. Duan Chu had no one to take care of him and he did not eat well every day. In order to guard against the soldiers, these bandits took more mountain roads and moved faster than when they came. They were used to this kind of difficult mountain life, but how could Duan Chu be able to adapt? He fell ill in less than a day.
"It's really troublesome. We've only walked on the mountain roads for a day and he's become like this. I really don't know why this guy is so useless. He's just a piece of trash."
One of the chiefs took a sip of wine and said with dissatisfaction.
"Yes! What a piece of trash. If it weren't for this piece of trash, we could have gone to the next town. What a burden. We might as well just leave him here. "
Another chief took a sip of wine and said.
"Forget it, let's bring him along! After all, he's an important figure in the Duan Clan. Only by bringing him along can we keep Duan Jian in check and make the Duan Clan obediently hand over their treasures. Otherwise, with just us, we definitely won't be able to withstand the pressure in our hometown. "
"Well, with this burden, we can also rest a little."
The two chiefs ordered a lot of wine and dishes and ate in big mouthfuls. In the hall outside, more than a dozen subordinates were also eating and drinking. Their expressions were not very good.
In this inn, there were a few people dressed like hunters. They were the elite soldiers under Chen Zhuang's command. They were responsible for keeping an eye on these guys and looking for the best time to make a move.
Looking at these guys drinking wine one by one, several elite soldiers were very happy. As long as these guys were drunk, they could capture these guys without shedding a drop of blood. Although their mission was to capture Duan Chu, and the rest could be killed, but if they captured all of them, then the merit would be much greater. However, this was all under the premise of their own safety. If there was danger, then they would not do it. If they could not even protect their own lives, then what was the use of the merit?
These desperadoes drank in big mouthfuls of wine and soon got drunk. In such an environment, they actually dared to be so relaxed. This was simply heaven's will to kill them.
Of course, this was also because their hearts were too depressed and their hearts were too depressed. At this time, it could be said that they were drinking to drown their sorrows. In addition, drinking so casually could also hide their identity. It made him feel that they could not be the assassins from before. Otherwise, why would they be so careless and drink in an ordinary inn.
In the latter half of the night, these drunken fellows were all lying in the inn, sleeping like dead pigs. It was estimated that even thunder wouldn't wake them up. A group of fifty soldiers had quietly entered the inn. They entered in batches and didn't cause much of a commotion. After entering the inn, they quietly approached the room where these criminals lived.
"No problem, act immediately."
At the captain's command, everyone immediately rushed into the house and captured the 20 people who were still asleep. Because they had drunk too much, these guys couldn't wake up at all. Even if they woke up, they didn't have the strength to fight back.
After all twenty people were tied up, these drunk guys finally woke up. When they found that they were tied up, they were suddenly scared and broke out in a cold sweat. They were so muddle-headed that they were caught by the soldiers. What awaited them was a tragic fate.
"Take them all away."
The captain shouted excitedly and escorted all twenty of them away. The same scene was repeated in various places. Some of the desperadoes were more careful and could only be beheaded. As for those who were more lax, they were all captured alive after getting drunk. Out of more than two hundred people, eighty were captured alive, and more than a hundred were beheaded. Chen Zhuang's mission could be said to have been carried out perfectly, which made Li An quite satisfied.
"What, you captured eighty people alive, so powerful, haha!"
Hearing Chen Zhuang's report, Ang Lee smiled happily. This result was something he never expected. Originally, he only wanted to capture Duan Chu alive, but he did not expect that they would actually capture eighty people alive, while only a dozen of his soldiers were slightly injured. The loss could be said to be negligible.
This was naturally because they had an absolute advantage in terms of numbers. Their combat effectiveness and weapons were also more powerful, and they were also quite well prepared. On the other hand, the enemy had relaxed their vigilance, which led to them being easily captured alive. Some of the more vigilant thieves were directly obliterated.
Since the soldiers under Chen Zhuang's command had done such a good job, Ang Lee naturally had to reward them according to their merits. He could not let the soldiers' hearts be cold. The treasures that were found in the treasure cave a few days ago had not been transported away, so Ang Lee took out some of his share and distributed it to the soldiers who had performed meritorious deeds as a reward. This was to encourage them to work hard and continue to work hard.
"Assistant Minister Li, Duan Chu and his men have been captured alive. Next, should we interrogate them and see if there is anyone behind these guys?"
Chen Long said.
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