On the 24th day of the sixth month of the first year of Gaia, the second bandit suppression operation in Shanhai County finally came to an end.
Compared to the first time, the second bandit suppression operation was three times larger, so the harvest was naturally more bountiful. They obtained a total of 5,400 gold coins, 5,500 captives, and a large amount of rations, supplies, and weapons.
Most importantly, they were lucky enough to obtain a technical manual from this bandit extermination mission.
[Ladder Manufacturing Technique Manual]: After use, the user will automatically master the ladder manufacturing technique.
Ouyang Shuo had witnessed the power of the ladder when the bandits attacked the city. He naturally coveted such a powerful siege weapon. Ouyang Shuo handed the Ladder Manufacturing Manual to the Combat Readiness Division, which was responsible for organizing the craftsmen to study it and create a finished product as soon as possible.
Ouyang Shuo did not forget that there was still a group of bandits waiting for him to take care of in the Southern Pass. The ladder was undoubtedly a godsend. Otherwise, there was really no other way to deal with the impregnable pass.
According to Shi Wansui, they encountered a tough nut to crack in this operation. It was a high-level bandit camp with more than three thousand bandits. Among them, there were more than five hundred elite bandits and one thousand five hundred ordinary bandits.
Fortunately, the mixed brigade, which had been established for more than a month, had experienced many battles and accumulated rich experience in fighting bandits. The various battalions cooperated well with each other. In addition to the first battalion of the mixed brigade, which was the trump card at the front, there were already four platoons equipped with infantry armor. Their defense was astonishing, like an iron bucket. They finally took down the bandit camp without any mishaps.
In this battle alone, the mixed brigade lost more than a hundred people. One had to know that the mixed brigade only lost a total of three hundred people in the two large-scale bandit suppression operations. It could be seen how intense the battle was back then.
In fact, at the county level, the bandits basically could not pose too much of a threat to the territory. This was because the size of the bandits was limited. The high-level bandit camp was already the limit. In the wilderness, there were very few targets that could be plundered. When a large number of bandits gathered together, they could only starve.
Facing a well-equipped regular army like the mixed brigade, the bandit camp could not fight back. It was precisely because of this that Ouyang Shuo did not participate in the bandit suppression operations after being promoted to a county level. He directly left it to Shi Wansui to handle.
Ouyang Shuo sent the remaining 4,500 captives to Friendship Town to help Friendship Town rise to the rank of a Class 1 County, with the exception of 1,000 who were selected to join the reserve forces. Among the three subsidiary territories, Friendship Town was the slowest to develop. Ouyang Shuo really couldn't bear to see this happen, nor was he willing to favor one over the other.
Zhou Haichen was appointed as the county magistrate. Zhou Haichen was naturally moved to tears by the Lord's trust. Of the three subsidiary territories, he was the only one who did nothing, so he naturally felt guilty and felt that he had let the Lord down.
Ouyang Shuo didn't say anything and just asked him to continue diligently.
At the same time, Ouyang Shuo ordered Lei Xun, who was in charge of gathering information about the nomadic tribes, to speed up the process of gathering information. At the same time, he sent a letter to Sun Tengjiao, who had just been promoted to the Second Battalion of the Vanguard Battalion, asking him to step up the training of the new recruits and ensure that the newly formed Cavalry Battalion could be put to use at any time.
Ouyang Shuo had intentionally allowed Sun Tengjiao to take part in the bandit suppression operation that had just ended. He was consciously tempering the troops and striving to form a fighting force as soon as possible.
Generally speaking, a battalion of soldiers had to reach the fifth rank on average to be considered qualified. Otherwise, in Ouyang Shuo's eyes, those below the fifth rank were just recruits.
At the same time, in order to strengthen the Second Battalion of the Vanguard Battalion, after a month of observation, Ouyang Shuo appointed the second leader of the Shadow Cavalry, who had been attacked by the bandits, as the Second Battalion's Deputy Battalion Commander.
Although the Shadow Cavalry had led 1,000 cavalrymen when the bandits attacked the city, he was now only a Deputy Battalion Commander. It seemed like he had been demoted by two ranks. But for a surrendered general, this was already considered preferential treatment.
Of course, on the other hand, it was also because Sun Tengjiao's ability wasn't inferior to the Shadow Cavalry's. In addition, with his qualifications, Sun Tengjiao would naturally be promoted first.
Moreover, according to the pace of Shanhai County's army expansion, as long as the Shadow Cavalry performed outstandingly, were loyal, and at the same time made contributions to Shanhai County, it was only a matter of time before they were promoted to Battalion Commander.
The 5,400 gold coins seized from the bandits, plus the 7,600 gold coins handed over from the Wolf Mountain Mine and the North Twilight Saltworks in the first half of June, amounted to a total of 13000 gold coins. Among them, the financial subsidies allocated to the three subsidiary territories amounted to 2,500 gold coins, the architectural blueprints of the level-two county's basic buildings cost 2,000 gold coins, the North Sea Fleet's Third Battalion and the Second Cavalry Battalion of the North City Barracks cost 1,250 gold coins, and the Mixed Brigade's casualties cost 250 gold coins to replenish, leaving him with 7,000 gold coins.
Ouyang Shuo didn't deal with the remaining 7,000 gold coins immediately. Instead, he planned to wait until the second half of June's earnings were tabulated before he made a unified arrangement.
In the afternoon, Shanhai County's conference hall.
After the bandits suppression, Ouyang Shuo officially started to attack the surrounding players' territories.
According to the military office's deployment, this operation was codenamed 'Lightning'. It was to quickly uproot a total of eight players' territories on the east and west sides with lightning speed.
For this, Shanhai County didn't hesitate to mobilize the army.
Operation Lightning was divided into two routes, east and west, and they moved together.
There were only three players' territories on the east route. They were under the command of Shanhai County's City Defense Camp, Pool Water County's City Defense Camp, Friendship County's City Defense Camp, and the Second Vanguard Battalion. The military office's Ge Hongliang was the commander of the east route.
The four Battalion Commanders of the east route were not troublemakers, and Ge Hongliang would be able to command them with ease. Aside from this, Ouyang Shuo also wanted to use this opportunity to train the City Defense Camp's coordination and long-distance marching ability.
Given Shanhai County's development, passively defending was not Ouyang Shuo's goal. Taking the initiative to attack was his style. Hence, Ouyang Shuo didn't want the City Defense Camp to stay in the city, slowly deteriorating and losing their combat strength. He needed to pull them out from time to time and throw them into actual combat to maintain their morale and bravery.
There were five players' territories on the west route, and the Mixed Brigade was in charge of them. Shi Wansui was the commander of the west route.
According to the military office's feedback, the target territory did not have any decent city walls. Hence, Ouyang Shuo didn't mobilize the Divine Strategy Battalion this time.
This time, Shanhai County mobilized all its troops, and the scale of this operation was even greater than when they were suppressing bandits. However, their target was a level-three village that was not even as strong as a high-level bandit camp. Naturally, there were other considerations.
Speed was the core of this lightning-fast operation.
They wanted to take down eight territories at the same time, catching the other party off guard.
Before they set off, Ouyang Shuo specifically instructed them not to delay the other party after they arrived at the other party's village. Instead, they should charge straight in and take down the other party's residence to complete the occupation mission.
After a player's territory was occupied, all the players in the territory would automatically be teleported to the nearby system capital city. Naturally, the players in Lianzhou Basin would be teleported to Dali.
If the players died during the occupation, they would revive at the Reincarnation Hall in the system capital city.
Hence, to resolve the battle quickly and efficiently, the armies from the east and west would set off the next morning. They would march to the borders of the territories and set up camp. The next morning, they would charge into the other party's territory, catching them off guard. At that time, many players might not even be online and wouldn't know who the enemy was.
This was the effect Ouyang Shuo wanted.
If these eight territories knew that Shanhai County was the one who destroyed them, they would announce it on the forum. It would definitely cause the other lords of Lianzhou Basin to band together. This was not an outcome that Ouyang Shuo wanted to see.
Only when they didn't know who the enemy was, would the feudal lords suspect each other and not point their fingers at Shanhai County. Ouyang Shuo was raising venomous insects, but he didn't want the venomous insects to band together.
Raising venomous insects meant letting the venomous insects kill each other, leaving behind the strongest one.
After deciding on the strategy, the battalions returned to their camps to prepare for tomorrow's supplies.
On the 25th of June, the army set off.
The mixed brigade set off from the West Camp, heading to the westernmost side of the territory. The three City Defense Battalions and the Second Battalion of the Vanguard Battalion set off from their respective camps, heading to Pool Water County first before heading to the easternmost side of the territory together.
On the 26th of June, five o 'clock in the morning.
For the East Camp, Ge Hongliang's strategy was for the three City Defense Battalions to each take down a Level 3 village. The Cavalry Battalion would act as a mobile unit and provide support from the middle.
For the West Camp, Shi Wansui didn't assign tasks according to the battalions.
The battalions of the mixed brigade were all specialized units. He couldn't let the Archer Battalion move alone. For this reason, Shi Wansui split up the five battalions and reorganized them according to the squadrons. He formed five mixed battalions that were similar to the City Defense Battalions, consisting of two sword and shield soldiers, one cavalry, one spear soldier, and one archer soldier.
The Level 3 village's garrison only had about a hundred people, at most two hundred people. Facing a battalion of soldiers without any reliable fortifications, coupled with a surprise attack, there was no reason for them to fail.
At five-thirty in the morning, the East and West Camps, a total of four thousand soldiers from eight battalions, were like eight sharp sabers. Under the guidance of the spies from the Military Intelligence Division, they were like precise scalpels, rapidly stabbing into the enemy's hinterland.
Level 3 villages had arrow towers, and there were stone watchtowers on the periphery. Although it was early in the morning, the attacking troops still had nowhere to hide. At this time, the battalions didn't think about hiding their tracks.
The wooden gate of the village was directly smashed open by the Barbarian sword and shield soldiers. The follow-up troops followed closely behind, heading straight for the enemy's residence.
At this time, the territory's garrison troops who reacted quickly had already rushed out from their camps, ready to intercept. When two sides met, the strongest would win. The scattered garrison troops couldn't stop the advance of the army and were torn into pieces.
The alerted villagers saw that their sons were defeated so quickly, so they followed, not daring to advance. They could only watch as the enemy charged into the residence and occupied the territory.
After the territory was occupied, the NPC natives naturally became captives. (To be continued.)
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