Ang Lee had wanted to exterminate the bandits around the Gourd Valley for a long time. Especially a few days ago, when Luzhou City's citizens were ambushed by bandits while transporting supplies, Ang Lee wanted to draw his sword.
However, at that time, the new soldiers hadn't started training yet, and the six hundred Dragon Warrior Army soldiers had their own missions. They were more than enough to fend off the bandits. However, Ang Lee knew that he didn't have the ability to enter the mountains to exterminate the bandits, so he swallowed his anger.
Now, the army had been training for half a month. Although they were far from reaching the elite standard that Ang Lee had hoped for, they were strong enough. Moreover, Ang Lee felt that training in the valley wouldn't be as effective as actual combat. Only by having the new soldiers fight in real combat could they understand where their weaknesses were and improve.
When Li An recruited these new soldiers, he had made a promise that within three months of enlistment, he would not let the new soldiers go to war. However, Li An had the right to explain the situation to them.
It was clearly a combat mission, but Li An could also say that it was training. After all, it was actual combat training.
The news brought by Li Feishou Yu made Li An acutely aware that the bandits might not be able to sit still. A few days ago, he found out that the news of the gold mine was already known by everyone in Luzhou City. Thus, how could the bandits who gathered in the mountains and forests not know about it?
"What are these bandits doing? Are they preparing to attack the Gourd Valley?"
Ang Lee's lips curled into a smile, his face full of contempt.
In his eyes, the bandits were a motley crew. No matter how many people they had, they wouldn't be able to withstand a single blow. At the very least, the bandits definitely didn't have the ability to attack the Gourd Valley.
Lifei Shouyu also smiled, "The bandits are a motley crew. I don't think they have the ability to attack the Gourd Valley. However, we still have to transport the gold. If they attack along the way, it will be difficult to guard against them."
"Attacking along the way? That's very likely. The last time the citizens of Luzhou City were ambushed, it happened along the way. At that time, the new soldiers hadn't started training yet, so we didn't bother with the bandits. This time, if they dare to be impudent, we won't let them go."
Ang Lee said righteously.
"Don't worry. Now that they're outside the East Cove Valley, they must be here for the gold mine. We must be well prepared. We can't let these bandits steal our gold."
Lifei Shouyu paused, then continued, "Other than the Gourd Valley's security, we must have enough soldiers to transport the gold mine. Only then can we prevent any problems."
Li An didn't think so. He paused for a moment and said softly, "This way, we can indeed avoid losses. However, I intend to eliminate these bandits and train the new soldiers at the same time. I want to see exactly what level they've reached."
"Didn't you say that the new recruits won't fight for three months? Why are we sending new recruits to fight again?"
Lifei Shouyu's.
"This is not a war. This is actual combat training. Actual combat training, understand?"
Ang Lee corrected him.
"This is actual combat training, not war."
Lifei Shouyu immediately understood what Ang Lee meant. He was changing the concept. Actual combat training and war were the same thing. It was just a different way of saying it.
"You're really something, haha."
Lifei Shouyu smiled, then frowned, "The new soldiers haven't even been training for a month. If they go to war like this, won't there be many casualties?"
"There won't be many casualties. I'm very confident in the soldiers I've trained. Moreover, this is actual combat training. As long as we can defeat the bandits and train the new soldiers, it's enough. There's no need to kill all the bandits. Besides, if we really kill all the bandits, we won't be able to train in actual combat in the future."
Ang Lee said humorously.
"Haha, I heard from the Luzhou Provincial Governor that there are at least ten groups of bandits in the mountains. Just the Gourd Valley alone has more than ten groups. You're still afraid that there won't be any bandits to train the soldiers."
Lifei Shouyu said.
Ang Lee smiled, "No matter how many bandits there are, we have to use them sparingly. Step by step, we have to eliminate the bandits bit by bit and train our soldiers."
"That's true. Then, how do you plan to deploy this time?"
Ang Lee thought for a moment and suddenly had an idea. He brought Lifei Shouyu to the special forces.
He wanted to assign a difficult mission to the special forces' reconnaissance team. This mission was to find the bandits' lair so that the main army could launch a successful clean-up operation.
"Nan Jiyun, can your team complete this mission?"
Before Ang Lee assigned the mission, he first asked Nan Jiyun how confident he was.
"General, rest assured. As long as the bandits appear, I will definitely be able to find their lair."
Nan Jiyun said confidently.
"Good. Tell the soldiers that this reconnaissance mission is very important. As long as they can find a bandit's lair, all the soldiers who participate in the search will be rewarded handsomely."
Obviously, Ang Lee was very satisfied with Nan Jiyun's answer. In order to boost the soldiers' morale, he was willing to reward them handsomely. Of course, now that Ang Lee had the gold mine, he didn't lack money at all. As long as the soldiers under his command performed well, he would reward them handsomely.
After handing over the reconnaissance mission to Nan Jiyun, Ang Lee went to the East Cove Valley to distribute the list of people who would be escorting the gold jewelry the next morning.
Ang Lee had a feeling that as soon as this batch of gold jewelry was sent out, it was very likely that they would be ambushed by the bandits. For this reason, he ordered the dozen or so Dragon Warrior Army soldiers in charge of escorting the gold jewelry to wear heavy armor and equipped them with shields and swords. He also warned them that if a large group of bandits appeared, they were to immediately abandon all the jewelry and escape.
"Are you planning to give all the gold jewelry to the bandits and then force them to reveal their whereabouts so that Nan Jiyun and the others can follow them?"
Ang Lee smiled gently. "Yes, that's right. The bandits don't dress much differently from normal hunters. If we don't force them to reveal themselves and give them some gifts, Nan Jiyun will have a hard time finding the bandit's lair."
"Good plan, good plan. However, we have to give them some heavy gifts. This can delay their return to the lair and make it easier for the scouts to find them."
Li Feishouyu suggested.
How could Ang Lee not have thought of this problem? He immediately ordered the craftsmen to use the copper block as the core and pour a layer of golden water on the outside to pass it off as gold. Such a large block of gold weighed more than 15 kilograms, and more than 20 of them were made.
After arranging everything, Li An returned to his tent in the Central Valley with a peace of mind. He believed that Nan Jiyun would definitely bring him good news every evening.
That night, the special forces scouts led by Nan Jiyun quietly left the Gourd Cave with her new recruits. They split into five groups and started their operation. Some of them searched the mountains, while others followed Ang Lee's instructions and set up an ambush in the direction of Luzhou City to find the bandits.
In order to avoid being discovered by the bandits, all the new recruits wore camouflage suits. As long as they lay prone in the woods, they would be hard to find within 10 steps. If it was at night, it would be hard to find them even if they were right in front of them.
With the camouflage suits, Ang Lee did not have to worry about the lives of the scouts at all. Moreover, they were all elite soldiers who could fight against 10 enemies at once. Even if they were discovered, they would be able to quietly kill the scouts and save their own lives.
The next morning, in the Gourd Cave, Third Fatty Tong carefully checked the gold jewelry to make sure there were no mistakes.
"What is this?"
Third Fatty Tong went to bed early and did not know what was going on with the 20 pieces of gold.
The Dragon Martial Army soldier replied, "General Li personally ordered us to bring these. They were just made last night, so we have to bring them along."
"Eh, why didn't General Li tell me?"
Tong Sanpang was suspicious for a moment, but after thinking about it carefully, Li An naturally had his reasons for making such an arrangement. Moreover, he wouldn't suffer a loss if he sent a few extra pieces of gold to his jewelry store.
"Let's go, let's go. Be careful on the road. These things are very precious. Nothing can go wrong."
Third Fatty Tong waved his hand and signaled for the Dragon Martial Army to continue on their way. He went straight to the mine and asked the craftsmen what the 20 pieces of gold were about.
Just as Ang Lee expected, the bandits had indeed set up an ambush along the way.
There were more than 200 of them and they were quietly hiding in the dense forest. As long as they were not within 50 steps, they would not be discovered.
The bandit leader and a few other leaders would occasionally poke their heads out from the bushes and look at the road from the Gourd Cave to Luzhou City. They were waiting for the big fish to come to them.
"Boss, boss, there are a dozen or so soldiers from the Gourd Cave. They're escorting three carts of boxes of various sizes and are rushing over. They should be here soon."
One of the leaders stationed near the Gourd Cave quickly ran over to the Mian Hill and reported the situation to the bandit leader.
"Three carts of boxes. It must be gold."
"Boss, it must be three carts of gold. Let's go."
The bandit leaders looked at the bandit leader with longing in their eyes.
The bandit leader was even more excited. "Damn, they're finally here. Tell the brothers to get ready. We'll take all of them."
"Yes, boss, we'll take them all."
Soon, a dozen Dragon Martial Army soldiers drove three carts into the Mian Hill.
"Boss, they're here. As expected, there are only a dozen guards."
"Boss, let's go."
The bandit leader cautiously looked around and whispered, "There's no rush. Let them get a bit closer before we attack."
Once the Dragon Martial Army soldiers were surrounded, the bandit leader greedily stared at the boxes on the carriages and roared, "Brothers, kill!"
"Kill!"
Two hundred bandits charged at the Dragon Martial Army soldiers from both sides of the road. They looked like they were going to wipe out the Dragon Martial Army soldiers in one fell swoop.
"Bandits! There are bandits! Retreat!"
The Dragon Martial Army soldiers followed Ang Lee's orders and raised their shields to protect themselves. They quickly retreated in the direction of the Gourd Cave.
"They ran away before the fight even started. These soldiers are nothing much. Haha!"
"Yesterday, there was a master archer. I thought they were all strong, but he still pissed his pants when he saw that we had so many people."
The bandit leaders slowly regained their confidence. After all, compared to the master archer yesterday, the Dragon Martial Army soldiers were nothing more than cowards. They looked down on them.
"Wow, a golden bracelet! There's even a golden lock here!"
"Haha, what a big gold bar!"
"Boss, we're rich! Just these gold bars will be enough for us to use for the rest of our lives."
The bandit leader sensed that something was wrong and scolded, "What are you all so smug about? There's something sinister about this. Tell our brothers to hurry up and take the gold back to the stronghold."
Although the bandit leaders didn't sense anything sinister, they naturally had to obey their boss's orders. They ordered the bandits to hurry up and take away all the gold they had stolen.
Only when all two hundred of his brothers had retreated into the forest did the bandit leader let out a sigh of relief. In his opinion, as long as his brothers entered the forest, no matter how many soldiers there were, they wouldn't be able to do anything to them.
Not far from Mian Hill, Nan Jiyun was leading ten of his subordinates to search for traces of the bandits. This was an important mission that Ang Lee had given him, and he had to complete it to the best of his ability.
However, there were too many mountains in Luzhou. There were countless mountains near Gourd Cave alone. Searching for the bandits was a difficult task.
Moreover, the bandits didn't have any markings on their faces. Even if they found someone suspicious, it could be a hunter who went into the mountains to hunt.
"If we want to find the bandits' lair, we have to find the bandits first. But these bandits are really hard to find. I finally found two of them, but after half a day of following them, they turned out to be hunters. Damn it."
Disheartened, Nan Jiyun sat down on a big rock.
"Boss, we found a group of bandits. There are more than two hundred of them. They are at Mian Hill, five miles away. They also robbed the gold jewelry that the Dragon Martial Army was sending to Luzhou City."
"Look carefully. There are more than two hundred bandits."
"Yes, there are more than two hundred of them. I came back to report the situation. There are still two people following them."
Nan Jiyun was overjoyed. "Great! We finally found traces of the bandits. Let's go. Follow them."
Although there were many bandits and the consequences would be severe if they were discovered, Nan Jiyun wasn't afraid. Wealth came from danger. If they didn't follow these bandits, how could they find the bandits' lair and complete the important task that Ang Lee had given them?
Nan Jiyun led some of the soldiers and quickly ran toward the bandits who had robbed the Dragon Martial Army. After discovering the bandits, they kept a distance of more than thirty steps and quietly followed them.
The bandits were still very vigilant. They turned around from time to time to look behind them. However, Nan Jiyun and the others were wearing camouflage clothes. As long as they weren't too close, they wouldn't notice anything unusual behind them.
The bandit leader was very vigilant at first. He felt that it was too easy to get so much gold. There seemed to be something evil about it. However, it was safe all the way. Moreover, they were getting closer and closer to their lair. Gradually, he relaxed his vigilance.
The bandit leader became excited when he thought that the gold and silver was enough for them to use for a lifetime. He had long forgotten about his vigilance.
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