Chapter 215: Bandit Suppressing: To Kill Or To Capture? (V)
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
When Jiang Pengji painted the general structure of the bandits’ village, she had also thought about it. Her speculation was basically the same as Xu Ke’s.
“This is feasible, but there are two lookout towers in the village. What would you do to approach it without alerting anyone?”
After a long while of pondering, Xu Ke pointed to one place and said, “This village is built on the mountainside. It’s blocked by a peak here, which makes it very hidden. It is difficult for ordinary people to find it. This is the most natural protecting barriers of this village, but it is also the fatal land of it. Today, the moonlight is clear, and the shadow is dark. If you lurk from here, the bandits on the lookout towers may not find that.”
The shadow cast down from the mountain peak was in the direction of the bandits’ village.
After all, not everyone had an excellent night vision like Jiang Pengji.
“What’s more, did Langjun just command everyone to wear branches and weeds to blend with the surrounding environment? With the combination of night shadows and the covering method, experienced veterans couldn’t find us in the deep woods and mountains, let alone those rabbles.”
After hearing that, Jiang Pengji took a look at Meng Hun, who then nodded to him to show his agreement with Xu Ke.
They didn’t know the surrounding environment as well as the local bandits, but they organized things well so that they still had advantages.
After all, Xu Ke was good at internal affairs instead of mobilizing troops. Jiang Pengji asked him for his personal opinions in order to get various ideas and perspectives. The final decision maker was still her. The person who executed all her warrants was Meng Hun. She showed up on the battlefield purely to keep all things under her control.
Each had its own duties by a clear division.
One of Jiang Pengji’s principles was, “If you can do it, then do it. If you can’t, let the other capable ones do it. And don’t talk rubbish if you’re not qualified.”
Meng Hun was apparently among the capable ones, so Jiang Pengji felt very confident in him.
Although they didn’t have sufficient soldiers, the scale of the bandits’ village they planned to destroy was not very big. As long as the troop’s mobilization was flawless, it wouldn’t be hard for them to obtain the victory.
What was hard was that Jiang Pengji wanted to capture the bandits alive and pick some absorbable ones from among them.
If that was what she really wanted, then they couldn’t exert their full powers to kill them all, or even maul them grievously. It would take them too much time to recover from injury.
Jiang Pengji had to input extra energy and money, so it would also not be cost-effective from an investment perspective.
Meng Hun seemed to be reckless, but in fact, he was very cautious. After comprehensive consideration, he had already figured out what to do next and how to do it.
“I’ll go have a discussion with the lance corporals of all teams and instruct them about the surprise attack tonight.” Meng Hun held his fist in the other hand, then took several steps back.
“Okay, back off.”
The size of the troop was still very small, so for the time being, five people would be counted as one team, which was convenient for training and mobilizing.
In order to add pressure and motivation to the troops, Jiang Pengji had also formulated a series of rules and regulations when she had created the troop.
For example, the examination for the selected lance corporals would be held once a month. Nongqin was one of the selected lance corporals.
Several other lance corporals sat on one other side without prior consultation, trying to keep a distance from Nongqin. It was as if their calves would start cramping if they happened to make eye contacts with her.
Just a few days ago, there had been an internal reshuffle of the troops. The only lance corporal who had been selected on the grounds of capability was Nongqin.
That time, no one dared to gossip behind her back. Because she, in front of everyone, had passed all the examinations on the drill ground.
No one had ever known that a girl who had been as common as the others and kept silent on normal days could be so ruthless while fighting!
She had punched anywhere that was vulnerable on the other party. In terms of strength, she really couldn’t compare with the strong males, but she moved quickly and out of people’s predictions. Many people had been pressed down and knelt to the ground with their hands crossed behind their backs before they had taken any reaction.
An ignorant guy had tried to sexually harass her for she was just a helpless girl… Who would have known that the guy had almost lost his penis? As men, they didn’t know how it felt to have their breasts grabbed, but they were fully aware of how it felt to be kicked in the penis! That was really painful! They would curl up on the ground and they couldn’t even straighten up their body!
Fortunately, the guy had moved slowly, so he had failed to grab her breast. Otherwise, they all had had the reason to believe that Nongqin would definitely smash his penis by all means.
It would have been just fine for him to harass the other girls… Why had he chosen such a ferocious woman?
Meng Hun told the detailed deployment to the lance corporals, “About those… Do you have any questions?”
Apart from Nongqin, the other people had been cultivated by Meng Hun. There was a tacit understanding among them, and Meng Hun also trusted their abilities.
It was normal for them to win the competitions and be appointed as lance corporals, for they were, after all, experienced veterans––much better than the family servants that Jiang Pengji had bought from a dentist.
Other lance corporals shook their heads, indicating that they had no questions. Meng Hun felt satisfied secretly and then turned his eyes to Nongqin, who had been silent for a while.
“Do you have questions?”
Nongqin frowned and said, “You mean that we should capture all the bandits alive, and try not to cause severe injuries to them?” She couldn’t imagine why they would keep the bandits alive.
“This is indeed the case.” Meng Hun added, “This is what Langjun wants. Now is the time when people are in urgent need…”
Nongqin nodded and said, “I understand that! We will act according to Langjun’s intentions.”
Jiang Pengji had taught her an accelerated course mainly about the skills of assassination and surprise attacks. The central aim of the training was to exert miraculous effects. She had needed to let others acknowledge her ability in the shortest possible time, rather than have them deny her simply because she a woman.
Nongqin might not be able to defeat someone in face-to-face confrontation, but she thought she could make a successful surprise attack.
Meng Yidao said, “If there is no disagreement, then the action will start at around ten o’clock tonight.”
The guards at the gate and the two lookout towers of the bandits’ village changed regularly. According to the observation of Jiang Pengji, it shifted probably every four hours. The first shift after dinner was at around ten o’clock at night.
Since it was late at night, people would get sleepy and tired, and it would be hard to concentrate. It was just the right time for a surprise attack.
Of course, in order to avoid the mental impoverishment of her own people, Jiang Pengji let them take a nap in advance to recover their energy.
Wearing weeds and branches, the soldiers of the troop wouldn’t be found in the daytime, let alone in the dark night.
Jiang Pengji fiddled with the improved crossbow and had two arrows next to her. When the time came, she would immediately act and kill the two bandits on the lookout towers.
Without the lookout towers, no one would be able to find the traces of the troops. Thus, to take the whole village wouldn’t be a thing worth worrying about.
After the preparation of necessary things, Jiang Pengji turned her head and saw Xu Ke looking up at the sky with a look of sadness and brightness.
“Are you crying?”
Xu Ke was dumbfounded, and stared at her with his bright eyes. He asked in a serious tone, “What do you mean by that?”
Jiang Pengji thought about Laosiji’s comment on the bullet screen in the streaming room. In fact, she was also a member that was informed by him. Before that, she hadn’t understood the meaning of “looking up while crying.”
She turned very serious, and said, “Looking up will let the tears flow backward.”
Xu Ke was speechless.
It could be imagined that the audience in the streaming room bursted into laughter, for they had never expected that the ancient people would understand the pain of the non-mainstream youngsters in the modern era.
Xu Ke was not clear about what she meant, but he also replied seriously, “Langjun, you’re kidding. I’m just observing the astrology.”