Chapter 13: Eliminating the Bandit Chief Wang Dagna

  Wang Dahan was thus able to expand his bandit troops, and after several months of expansion, it was said that his bandit forces had grown to over 100 people, with more than 50 guns.

  After having guns, Wang Da Nai became even more evil and lawless. The landlords of the manors within a radius of over 10 miles had to pay him protection fees. Those who refused or were slightly better off would be robbed by his bandits.

  Luojiazhuang was a well-known large manor, and although the owner of Luojiazhuang, Luo Yuan, had paid protection fees, he had also organized his own guards. Therefore, Wang Dagna had attacked Luojiazhuang yesterday with guns to intimidate the surrounding areas and prevent other villages from organizing their own guards.

  Under the leadership of Luo Lao San, Zhang Aiwen and others found their uncle Chen Lao Er and Chen Lao San, who were told by government troops to cooperate in eliminating the mountain bandit king Wang Da Na. They repeatedly expressed their unwillingness.

  Seeing this scene, Zhang Aiwu pretended to be furious and claimed that he had received news that Lao San was colluding with the mountain bandits, Chen Lao Er and Chen Lao San were Wang Da Na's spies, and if they didn't lead the government troops to exterminate the bandits, they would punish the whole family.

  Seeing Zhang Aiwen and others using both kindness and intimidation, especially after promising certain benefits, Chen Lao'er told Zhang Aiwen about the situation in Yanshan Stronghold.

  Yanshan Village is strategically located, with only two small roads leading east and west to Wang Danna's gathering hall.

  Yang Xing occasionally nodded and occasionally used a pencil to draw on the ground, after a long time he handed it over and said: Big brother, the terrain is like this, the small road goes like this.

  Chen Lao Er and Chen Lao San were shocked and exclaimed: Boss, how are you so familiar with the terrain of Yanshan Village? The drawing is almost identical to what we have in mind.

  Yang Xing laughed and said, "Don't panic, big brother. I used binoculars to observe for half an hour, and roughly understood the overall trend of the three routes. However, apart from this main road, I don't have any information about small paths. I heard that you guys who chop firewood rarely take these main roads, so what we want to know is about the small paths."

  Two woodcutters looked at each other, their hearts filled with doubt. Yang Xing knew what they were worried about and took out 5 big coins, placing them in his hand: "If you lead us well and we successfully eliminate Wang Da Nuo, these will all be yours. If the bandits have a lot of loot, the reward will be even greater. But if you lead us astray, I'll take care of you myself."

  Chen Lao Er was greatly surprised, but still greedily looked at the vast ocean. After a long while, he pointed to the mountain and said: "Boss, I'm willing to lead the way. I know a small path that only we firewood cutters take. Even Wang Da Nuo and others may not know about it. They just see us cutting firewood on the half-mountain waist, but don't know how we get up there."

  Yang Xing was overjoyed and immediately discussed with his subordinates a plan to suppress the bandits.

  Yang Xing saw that it was still early and the soldiers were rushing to get there, so he had the troops stay at the edge of a forest, resting on one side while completing various preparations.

  At noon at 12 o'clock, the sun was shining brightly in the sky. Looking at the May sun shining directly on the trees, Yang Xing was overjoyed and ordered all the officers and soldiers to launch a two-pronged attack.

  Liu Ergou persuaded: Commander Lian, it's better not to attack now as the sun is high.

  Yang Xing laughed and said, "No problem, the bandits robbed all night last night, when they come back, they will definitely treat themselves to a celebratory drink or something else. After coming back, they will rest for a while, at this time, the bandits are tired."

  Everyone nodded in agreement after some deliberation.

  Yang Xing continued: "Brothers, besides, it's now noon when the sun is high in the sky, and people are usually most tired at this time. Generally, even farmers take a break at noon to rest, let alone bandits? How could they have anticipated that we would suddenly launch a massive attack at this time? Moreover, everything is under the sunlight at this time, which is advantageous for our army's offensive and disadvantageous for the bandits' defense."

  Everyone was delighted upon hearing this.

  Overjoyed, he immediately ordered Zhang Aiwu to lead a row of soldiers along the winding mountain path to climb up and launch a surprise attack on Wang Dahan's gathering hall.

  Led by Yang Daniu, the vanguard opened the way, eliminating bandit scouts and connecting with the main force led by Yang Xing to launch a surprise attack on Wang Danna's gathering hall.

  All along the way, the places where bandits used to set up ambushes in the past have long been free of bandits.

  The attack was very smooth, probably the bandits thought they had more than 100 people, with 50 guns, or it was noon today, the bandits were too complacent, or last night's robbery was not successful, and after returning to their lair, they celebrated wildly, and when climbing halfway up the mountain, they still did not encounter the bandits' resistance.

  Less than half an hour later, when approaching the bandit's lair at around dawn, feeling complacent about the smooth attack, at the last two checkpoints, suddenly saw a figure swaying in front, Yang Daniu was shocked, hastily pressed down his arm, and everyone immediately lay down. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a bandit walking towards them.

  Yang Dainiu gestured to everyone to scatter, looking at a bandit with a pipe in his mouth, squatting under a big tree, looking far away at Chen Lao San. He stood up, wiped his hands on his waist and scolded: "Chen Sanhe Shang, you have great guts! Where can't you chop firewood? Why did you come here to chop firewood?"

  Chen Lao San apologized: "Zhu Dage, please be kind. You know, our family's eldest child had a high fever last night, and Wang Xiansheng from the neighboring village said that we need to use peach tree bark to make medicine. You know, Zhu Dage, there are only a few peach trees on the mountain around us."

  The bandit called Zhu Dage muttered: "You actually set your sights on our mountain stronghold. The peach tree bark on the mountain, you can peel it if you want to."

  Chen Lao San was startled and hastily walked over with the firewood on his back, saying: "Zhu Dage, have mercy, just save your nephew!"

  The two bandits walked up and immediately snatched away Chen Lao San's firewood, cursing as they robbed: "Turtle son, we've told you so many times not to chop wood here, but you still come over to chop wood and even want to strip the peach tree bark. You're really asking for it."

  Chen Lao San was quite clever, seeing the two bandits coming to rob his firewood, he didn't budge an inch, hugging the bundle of firewood tightly and saying: "Two gentlemen, please spare me, as long as you let Chen Lao San go peel tree bark, this bundle of firewood will be a gift for the two gentlemen."

  A bandit got furious, picked up the gun stock and was about to smash Chen Lao San when the soldiers from the instructional platoon took advantage of the opportunity to surround them and subdued the two bandits in no time.

  After interrogation, the situation of the mountain bandits has been clarified.

  The bandits had set up more than 7 ambushes on this road, but due to the rich loot yesterday, the bandits were also very tired. The leader Wang ordered someone to kill a pig and prepare good wine and dishes to celebrate their victory and reward everyone. Therefore, today the bandit's defense was very lax.

  Yang Dainiu listened carefully, and after inquiring about the location of each ambush, he immediately decided to have a soldier with a similar build dress up as a bandit, pretending to be ill, and run towards Jin Yutang, thus luring out the bandit scouts to clear the way for the main army.

  One after another, six bandits were ambushed, and Yang Daniu was quite excited. He didn't expect that the seemingly impregnable bandit lair would be raided by our artillery unit in this way, so how could he not be extremely excited?

  But in the excitement, Yang Daniu forgot to monitor the captured bandits.

  There was a bandit who thought that after being captured by the government army, he would definitely not have a chance to live. When he saw me, disguised as a bandit soldier, running towards the last bandit den, he immediately shouted loudly.

  Yang Dainiu was greatly shocked and immediately killed the bandit with one knife, but this also awakened the other bandits hiding in ambush, exposing their whereabouts.

  Bandits were caught off guard while sleeping and rushed forward with guns, engaging in a fierce battle near the mountain top.

  Although there were fewer bandits, they were very fierce. Under the cover of more than 50 guns, they put on their clothes and formed several small teams to rush towards me.

  Looking at the coaching team, although they were well-trained, they had rarely seen such a bloody scene before. Some of the timid ones were clearly not adapting, and yet the bandits, relying on their numerical advantage, were slightly gaining the upper hand.

  Less than 30 minutes after the two sides clashed, Yang Xing led the main force to arrive and saw dozens of bandits hiding in the bandit den, with rows of quick guns blocking the mountain road, compressing the teaching row.

  After less than 30 minutes of fighting, the instructor platoon had already suffered 1 death and 2 injuries.

  Looking at the chaotic atmosphere on the battlefield, Yang Xing was furious and called over Yang Da Niu for a scolding before letting him watch from the rear.

  As Yang Hing rushed over, the soldiers in front were quite excited, and some were about to jump out of the trenches and launch an attack. At this time, Yang Hing urgently called a halt.

  Watching Xiao Gang Pao had not yet arrived, Yang Xing ordered the formation of a dare-to-die corps, each carrying 5 hand grenades and 30 rounds of ammunition.

  At the sound of the order, Yang Daniu led the dare-to-die corps in a fierce charge forward, causing the bandits to be shocked and lose their color. When they were still 50 meters away from the bandit's stronghold, he suddenly stopped, leaving everyone puzzled, and the entire team ceased all actions.

  Suddenly, someone shouted loudly, and the atmosphere of terror enveloped the big and small bandits in Yanshan Village.

  It was astonishing to see people rushing over, and it was unclear who gave the order. The dare-to-die corps suddenly stopped, and a barrage of hand grenades flew over, heading towards the Yan Mountain bandit camp.

  The bandits were initially unaware of what was happening, but as the hand grenades exploded one after another, they were shocked and some even wanted to flee in panic.