webnovelfull Chapter 680 Suppressing Bandits is This Simple
Chapter 680 Suppressing Bandits is This Simple
Sun Lang, who had successfully gained command, was so excited that he was practically drooling, but he forcibly suppressed the urge to roar to the sky and bowed, saying, "I hope my brothers will cooperate with me this time. When we get back to Jiangling, I'll treat everyone to a meal at a restaurant."
I can't help but be excited! You know, since his debut, he has always played the role of bandits being besieged by government troops. This is the first time he has been a government soldier besieging bandits. Just thinking about it is thrilling.
How exciting would it be if the bandits, having just gone straight to the streets and become law-abiding citizens, turned on their former bandit comrades?
Although Sun Lang was excited, he also knew that this was his first battle after surrendering to the Han Dynasty, and it was fought in front of the Crown Prince and Marquis Shence. Whether he could leave a good impression on His Highness the Crown Prince and Marquis Shence depended on this battle, so he was extremely cautious and immediately summoned the camp commanders to discuss countermeasures and formulate a plan.
After discussion, a consensus was reached that not only should they win, but they should also minimize casualties and reduce their own losses as much as possible.
In light of this, Sun Lang ordered his army to rest on the spot, while he personally led a scout team to Ma'erling to re-survey the terrain. At the same time, he captured bandits in the mountains to inquire about the terrain, number of people, and troop deployment of their dens, striving to know both himself and his enemy.
After Sun Lang left, Guan Xing looked at the anxiously waiting soldiers and said, "Remember, you are no longer ordinary soldiers but commanders of rank 1 or above. Commanders must think like commanders. You must carefully analyze every case you encounter, find the mistakes in their battles, and then simulate in your minds what you would do if you were the commanders of both sides. Thinking about it a few times will help you straighten out your thinking and give yourself psychological cues so that you won't be flustered when you actually go into battle. So don't be idle before Sun Lang returns. Think about how you would formulate a battle plan if you were Sun Lang."
The soldiers rose and saluted to show they understood, then sat cross-legged on the ground and closed their eyes in deep thought.
Ma'erling was only half a day's journey away. Sun Lang, Li Gousheng, and others were elite soldiers who had undergone half a year of training, so they were much faster than ordinary people. They returned smoothly at dusk and, after meeting Liu Shan and Guan Xing, summoned all the generals for another meeting.
Sun Lang spread the map he had drawn on the ground and said, "I've looked at it. Ma'erling is well-connected and easy to escape from, but the overall terrain of Wuling Mountain is surrounded by mountains, making it easy to defend and difficult to attack. In other words, Ma'erling is a small mound surrounded by mountains on all sides, with fertile fields and basins below. As long as we expand the encirclement and seal off all the exits from Ma'erling, we can surround Youchi within Ma'erling."
"From my observation, there are five main passages to the outside world from Ma'erling, each guarded by bandits. The guards at the five checkpoints range from a hundred to three hundred men. But everyone knows the fighting strength of the bandits. With equal numbers of troops, we can easily defeat them. So my strategy is to set off at midnight tonight, arrive at and capture the first checkpoint. This is the only way to enter Ma'erling. Not only must we capture it successfully, but we must also prevent the guards from lighting the beacon fire to notify Youchi, and we must annihilate the guards to prevent anyone from escaping to Youchi to report the news."
"After secretly capturing the first outpost, the army split into five groups to seize the other four outposts, blocking Youchi's escape route. Then I attacked from the front and officially launched a general offensive against Youchi."
"I've done the calculations. At our night marching speed, it will take half an hour to get from the first outpost to the furthest one. Let's leave plenty of time. We'll take down the first outpost at 1-3 AM, then quickly head to the other outposts. At 3-5 AM, I'll lead the main force straight to Ma'erling. Any problems?"
Everyone nodded in unison, indicating that there was no problem. Sun Lang waved his hand and said boldly, "Let's sleep, eat, check our equipment, and conserve our energy. We'll set off again at 11:45 PM. Dismissed."
The army began to stand ready, awaiting the arrival of Hai hour (9-11 PM).
As soon as the time came, Sun Lang couldn't wait to call everyone up. After personally checking and confirming that everything was in order, he led the army to set off immediately.
Sun Lang timed it perfectly, arriving at the first outpost just a quarter of an hour before 1 AM. He then ordered Li Gousheng to lead the scout team to climb over the cliff again from the spot where they had scouted the terrain during the day, and to circle around behind the outpost to block the sentry's retreat.
Sun Lang led the main force to wait in place. According to his calculations, it would take Li Gousheng about 45 minutes to cross the cliff and reach the designated location. After waiting patiently for 45 minutes, Sun Lang ordered Ma Zhong to command the army, while he personally led a hundred elite soldiers with daggers to sneak into the outpost, preparing to silently eliminate the outpost army. However, if the sentries were alerted, Ma Zhong would immediately lead the main force to launch a strong attack.
It was now 1:45 AM, the third quarter of the hour of Chou. At this time, the sentry guards were already fast asleep. Sun Lang sneaked into the sentry post and easily knocked out all of the less than two hundred guards. Then he made bird calls to signal the main force to pass through.
After successfully passing through the checkpoint and meeting up with Li Gousheng, Sun Lang ordered Ma Zhong, Zhou Shan, Li Gousheng, and another battalion commander to each lead 300 men to the other four checkpoints, while he continued to wait until they reached their designated locations before launching an attack.
In this era, there was no radio, and the scattered units could not communicate in a timely manner. Therefore, the timing and location of the encirclement and rendezvous, as well as any possible changes, had to be planned in advance and strictly executed to avoid the situation where one side experienced a change and the other sides, unaware of the news, collectively jumped into the pit.
Half an hour later, estimating that the other four armies had arrived at their designated positions, Sun Lang left two garrisons of soldiers to guard the prisoners and stand guard at the outposts, and then led the main force to quietly sneak towards Ma'erling.
As the name suggests, Ma'erling is located on a mountain ridge, but the mountain is relatively low and there are multiple roads leading up the mountain. With all the outposts blocked, Sun Lang did not choose to attack from all the roads at the same time, but instead led the main force directly up the mountain from the main road.
There were naturally sentries stationed along the mountain path, but the sentries were also bandits. How could you expect them to be dutiful? They would have been asleep long ago at this time. Therefore, Sun Lang led his elite squad to successfully eliminate them and reach the top of the mountain.
Sun Lang's good luck ran out here. Almost as soon as he reached the top of the mountain, he encountered a bandit who was getting up in the middle of the night. The two locked eyes for a moment, and Sun Lang immediately threw out his dagger and killed him. However, the bandit screamed before falling, and the army was forced to expose itself.
Then there's nothing more to say, let's go all out.
Thousands of elite troops roared as they charged into the enemy camp and began a massacre. The sleeping bandits were powerless against these killing gods. Some were hacked to death as soon as they got up, while others met their maker before they even opened their eyes.
Nevertheless, the chaotic battle involving thousands of people still created a tremendous noise that echoed through the silent night sky.
Inside the most luxurious room in the village, Chief Youchi, who was sleeping soundly with two women in his arms, was awakened by the shouts and said impatiently, "What's going on outside? It's so noisy."
No sooner had the words left his mouth than a voice outside the door cried out in a tearful voice, "Chief, something terrible has happened! The government troops have broken in! The brothers can't hold them off at all! Let's run!"
Youchi exclaimed in astonishment, "What the hell? The new governor actually came to beat me up? Has he gone mad? I haven't even gone to see him yet, how dare he?"
The people outside cried out, "Judging from their armor and weapons, they don't look like county soldiers, but rather like the imperial army's elite troops. Leader, there's no time left, hurry up and leave!"
"Holy crap..." Youchi was terrified by the words "elite army of the imperial court." Without thinking about why the imperial army would be here, he hurriedly got up, dressed, and prepared to escape. However, before he could even fasten his belt, the door was violently kicked open, and a general in armor strode in, staring at Youchi and sternly rebuking him: "You are Youchi, the bandit leader of Ma'erling?"