RPAGF Chapter 66 The Pass Set Up by Bandits
Chapter 66 The Pass Set Up by Bandits
Chapter 66 The Pass Set Up by Bandits
To be honest, Rock thought he had treated these soldiers quite well, but he was still a little unsure of himself.
After all, it's normal for ordinary people to have awe for the imperial court. For many, the fact that they were going to confront the government troops guarding the gold mine was practically no different from rebellion.
To Rock's surprise, none of the soldiers he had recruited showed any sign of backing down or resistance upon hearing the news. They all looked at Rock with eager eyes and shouted excitedly, "What the commander says is true! The imperial court and the government troops are all cruel and ruthless, oppressing the people. Since they are ruthless, why should we care about them?"
"The Commander-in-Chief has treated us with immense kindness; we will only listen to him!"
Unbeknownst to Rock, compared to other regions, the Qing court's control over the area outside the Great Wall was not so weak. The soldiers he recruited were all people who had come from Northeast China, and along the way, they had already seen through the true nature of the Qing court.
Therefore, they didn't have a good impression of the imperial court in their hearts, nor were they afraid of it, since the emperor was far away and the sky was high!
In contrast to the imperial court, Luo Ke brought them real benefits.
This was not only because Rock paid them higher military salaries and provided a series of benefits that ensured their families wouldn't go hungry if one of them served in the army, but also because Rock truly kept his promise.
They served under Rock and swept away all the bandits in the surrounding area, killing all those bandits who used to rape and plunder them!
Now, within Luo's territory, no gang dares to show their faces easily. Many gang members, even after being forced to retire from their criminal activities, have to hide, fearing that they might accidentally expose their former identities and attract the Luo family's annihilation.
After the bandits' days became difficult, theirs became much easier.
By now, Luo's army's territory had become a paradise in this area outside the Great Wall. Whether it was the caravans traveling to this place or the villagers living here, they all knew that once they entered Luo's army's territory, they no longer needed to worry about the threat of bandits.
Looking around, countless villages in Kaiyuan City were incredibly envious of them. Some villages that weren't so remote had even started discussing whether they should contact Master Luo, offer security fees, and ask Commander Luo to send troops to protect them.
It was because Rock had done so much for them that they were willing to follow him wholeheartedly.
Let alone taking action against a gold mine sealed off by the government, even if Luo Ke were to one day raise the banner of rebellion and have them simply turn against the court, I believe the vast majority of Luo family army soldiers would be willing to fight alongside Luo Ke.
Although Rock hadn't fully grasped the situation, seeing that none of his soldiers were ungrateful bastards, but rather were all determined to fight the Qing Dynasty alongside him, a satisfied smile appeared on his face.
Excellent! The morale of the troops is high! It wasn't a waste of his money and effort in feeding these soldiers!
"Alright, brothers, let's go!"
"Once we capture Wugoutou, we'll seize the gold mine there!"
The main force moved out quickly, while the Cossack cavalry went ahead to scout out the defenses at Wugoutou.
Without a doubt, whether it's bandits panning for gold or gold mines further back from the bandits' gold mines that are being secretly mined, these places must have troops stationed and patrolled on a daily basis.
Otherwise, putting aside the possibility of someone leading troops to raid their gold, the very issue of how to prevent villagers from risking sneaking over to pan for gold is a major problem.
He didn't know exactly how many bandits and Manchu troops were stationed there, but he figured the number shouldn't be too large.
The bandits will definitely leave a lot of people here, but they still need to maintain the daily operation of the stronghold, so this place can only be used as a branch base at most, and it is impossible for them to leave most of their forces here.
As for the Manchu army's strength—
If Rock's guess is correct, the number of Eight Banners guards used to patrol this gold mine should not exceed 30.
After all, these border guards were originally border troops maintained by small outposts, and their task was to stand guard and keep watch, so it was impossible to station too many people there.
Thirty people, roughly equivalent to three to five normal-sized sentry posts, is enough to patrol an unexploited gold mine.
Did Wanfu secretly plant his own troops in the gold mine?
Rock wasn't quite sure, but he believed the number wouldn't be large, since Wanfu was unlikely to have stationed his own imperial troops here; he probably just had a few trustworthy personal guards or private militias working under the guise of military force.
Given Wanfu's abilities, he could never possibly raise such a large force outside. Moreover, the gold mine's output wasn't as high as one might imagine, so it shouldn't be worth Wanfu setting up an army specifically to protect the mine.
Taking advantage of this expedition, after conquering the gold mine, Rock also wanted to conduct a test to see how far his system could go when absorbing various precious metals as recharge.
After all, his system can absorb not only high-purity gold and silver, but also lower-purity placer gold and small pieces of silver. So it seems that his system does not have such high requirements for the purity of metals as one might imagine.
Therefore, Rock was curious to see if the system could absorb the gold ore directly.
If he could absorb it directly, he would have made a huge profit.
He could then skip the subsequent ore refining process and simply use the mined ore to pay the system.
Because the distance wasn't far, it wasn't long before Rock's Cossack cavalry returned and reported everything they had seen.
"Tsk, this is quite troublesome. I didn't expect these bandits to have already set up the checkpoints in advance!"
After glancing at the abstract map drawn by the Cossack cavalry, Rock frowned slightly and said, "Just as I expected, these bandits have indeed taken many measures to defend the gold mine."
At a mountain pass on the only road leading to Wugoutou, the bandits had somehow built a small village there. Although it was not large, it was like a small fortress blocking the road.
To get in or out of there, one must first conquer this small village. If the pass blocking the mountain pass cannot be breached, no one can get in. And the bandits, taking advantage of the terrain, can hold the pass against all odds.
Moreover, according to the cavalry's observations, in addition to this small village stuck at the mountain pass, the bandits had also set up many traps on the mountaintop.
If any of their troops attempt to force their way through the mountain pass, the bandits waiting on the hillside can immediately push down the piled-up stones, crushing the people below.
"Seriously, is there really only one road through this mountain pass? Aren't there any other detours?"
Looking at the guide in charge of leading them, Rock asked curiously. Because of the good reputation of the Luo family army in the area, when Rock asked for a guide, the hunters living in the nearby villages were willing to help them, and even told Rock about many hidden paths.
Unfortunately, when they got here, the hunters couldn't think of any particularly reliable paths.
"Sir, I'm so sorry, I really don't know of any other way around this place!"
The guide shook his head, then pointed ahead and said, "I only know this one road. If we don't want to go through that mountain pass, then we'll have to take a much longer detour, at least going around to the other side of the mountain!"
After comparing his position on the map, Rock lost interest in continuing to circle around that area.
He went around in that direction and almost reached Tieling. If he went any further, he could have entered Mongolian territory and was almost at Tongliao!
"Fine, since that's the case, let's just go for a direct assault!"
"The fact that the Cossack cavalry went to scout that section has most likely already alerted the bandits. Continuing to take a detour would only cause more trouble and create more problems."
Rock shook his head, waved his hand at the troops behind him, and ordered them to continue marching.
When these Cossack cavalrymen were scouting ahead, they had no intention of concealing themselves. Of course, it was unlikely that such a large force as Rock could hide.
Although there were many mountains along this route, there weren't many forests, so much so that they couldn't hide even if they wanted to. Therefore, Rock never even considered having his troops sneak through; at most, he thought of taking a detour and ambushing them from both sides.
Just as Rock's team was preparing to launch a strong attack on the bandits' pass, the bandits who had been hiding in the village also began to move.
"Damn it, hurry up! Grab the guns!"
"Stop dawdling and get those razor blades out right now!"
When the Cossack cavalry arrived here, they not only saw the bandits' stronghold, but also ran into the bandit cavalry responsible for daily patrols outside the stronghold.
However, those bandit cavalrymen were no match for the Cossacks; they couldn't even escape.
The Cossack cavalry quickly caught up, drew their revolvers and fired a barrage of shots. The bandit cavalrymen fell to the ground on the spot, and when they turned around, the Cossack cavalrymen finished them off with blows, severing their necks with a single stroke.
However, the bandit cavalry failed to escape, but the scene of the Cossack cavalry killing scouts outside the stronghold was witnessed by the other bandits, so they all became tense and each bandit was on high alert.
When they saw the Luo family army marching in a large, dense crowd, cold sweat broke out on the foreheads of the less than one hundred bandits in the village.
They never expected that the infamous Luo family army would not only lack martial ethics and launch a surprise attack on them, but also send out so many people!
For a moment, the bandits were all a little panicked.