Chapter 221: Seizing Grain

Among the refugees, a man with a narrow face, squinting eyes, and a handlebar mustache vigilantly sized up the soldiers on the city wall and whispered to the burly man beside him, "Boss, the defenses on the wall are strict; it won't be easy. Why don't we go look elsewhere?"

A burly man with a sturdy build, a broad back and thick waist, and a fierce gaze said, "Second Brother, this Luolong County has taken in so many refugees; there must be a large amount of grain inside the city. The brothers are all hungry. Let's go into the city, pull off a job, and eat and drink our fill before leaving. We can't stay in Dongchuan Prefecture anymore. We'll go to Luofeng Fu; it's much safer there. With our brothers' skills, we'll be able to carve out a piece of the world in no time."

This burly man was named Shen Dahu, the mountain lord of Liangtou Shan outside the city, and he had a group of fierce bandits with high combat power under his command.

They occupied the main traffic arteries, and whenever they had nothing to do, they would go down the mountain to rob, eating meat in big mouthfuls, drinking wine in big gulps, and dividing gold and silver by the scale; they lived quite happily.

Unfortunately, the world is now in complete chaos. The Monster Army is crazily attacking cities, many cities have been breached, and a large number of commoners have been eaten. Seeing that the Monster Army is about to approach Liangtou Shan, Shen Dahu and his group of fierce bandits can no longer sit still.

Even the two-thousand-man Divine Machine Battalion cannot stop the Monster Army; although these bandits from Liangtou Shan have some strength, they dare not act like a mantis trying to stop a chariot by blocking the Monster Army.

Shen Dahu led the core members of the bandits to hide among the refugee ranks and fled in a panic, wanting to find a safer place to make a comeback and resume their business of zero-cost profit.

On the road, the grain that Shen Dahu and his men carried with them had long since been eaten. The refugees were penniless and had long since begun to go hungry. In order to leave Dongchuan Prefecture, Shen Dahu had to seize a large amount of grain.

After inquiring in many ways, Shen Dahu chose Luolong County as his target.

"Notify the brothers to be honest for now. We'll make our move after entering the city. The strongest of these soldiers are only Second Grade Lower Stage Martial Artists, and some aren't even Martial Artists. As long as we get close and launch a sudden attack, they definitely won't be our match," said Shen Dahu.

This group of fierce bandits from Liangtou Shan had great strength. Shen Dahu was a Third-grade Intermediate Martial Artist, and the man with the narrow face was the second-in-command, who was a Third Grade Lower Tier Martial Artist. Under their command, there were also five Second-grade Experts and fifteen First Grade Martial Artists. This was a very powerful force; an ordinary county seat really could not stop a surprise attack from these fierce bandits.

Under the deterrence of the flintlocks, the refugees under the city wall finally calmed down. Following Xu Le's requirements, they lined up, with the elderly, women, and children in front and the young and able-bodied in the back, and were pulled up to the city wall one by one sitting in large baskets.

"Line up and walk forward. There are porridge stalls on the side. Each person can receive a bowl of porridge. After eating the porridge, go to the side to register your information. The staff will assign work according to your situation. Once you've come to Luolong County, as long as you work hard, you can eat your fill, and it's even possible to be allocated a house," said Xu Le.

The refugees looked at each other in dismay after hearing Xu Le's words, thinking they had misheard. They knew that Luolong County had been occupied by rebels, and they thought that after coming here, they would surely be treated like beasts of burden and exploited by those rebels.

Now hearing that they could actually have food to eat and even houses allocated just by working hard, they couldn't believe these words were true. But they were already refugees with nothing; what point would there be for this official to deceive them?

A man who was building defensive fortifications on the city wall in the Labor Camp laughed and said, "Haha, everything Officer Xu said is true. You were right to come to Luolong County. Just settle down and work here from now on."

The refugees were still half-doubting, but led by a soldier, they walked forward. Not long after, each of them was served a bowl of steaming thick porridge. Many people ignored the heat and began to slurp down the porridge.

Fleeing all the way, many refugees had not eaten a hot meal for a long time. Now, eating this sweet and delicious rice porridge, many felt it was supreme delicacy, and they were soon streaming with tears as they ate.

"Mother, why couldn't you hold on a little longer? If you had just held on for another half day, you would have had hot porridge to eat," a man cried bitterly. He and his mother had fled all the way, but half a day ago, his mother had starved to death.

This man's words resonated with many refugees. On the road of fleeing, they too had family members who starved to death. Along the way, they had passed by some county seats, but no matter how they begged, the city gates would not open. The garrison inside the city would not allow them to enter at all, and even fired cannons to bombard them, forcing them to leave as quickly as possible.

They never expected that the cities managed by the imperial court officials would not care whether they lived or died, but instead, the city occupied by the rebels allowed them to drink hot porridge.

Human hearts are made of flesh; after eating the hot porridge, these refugees all felt a sense of identification with Luolong County.

They dared not hope for houses; as long as they had hot porridge to eat every day, they were willing to obey the management and work hard.

Shen Dahu and that group of bandits also ate a bowl of porridge. His gaze flickered as he looked at the grain piled up in the porridge stall, then looked at the dozen or so guards around. After calculating the strength comparison between the two sides in his heart, he felt they had a high chance of winning, so he decided to move to seize the grain.

Shen Dahu had already considered the retreat route. The cannons on the city wall all had their muzzles facing outward and could not be turned in a short time. There were stairs inside the city leading up, and with Shen Dahu's speed as a Third-grade Intermediate Martial Artist, he could charge onto the city wall in less than a second.

As long as he got close, the soldiers' firearms on the city wall would be unusable, and Shen Dahu could start a massacre and kill all the garrison on the wall.

"Move!" At Shen Dahu's order, the fierce bandits leaped up, splitting into two groups. One part followed Shen Dahu to charge toward the city wall, and the other part, led by the second-in-command, charged toward the guards maintaining order.

The number of flintlocks was limited and prioritized for the garrison on the city wall. The soldiers guarding the porridge stalls were still using bird guns that required lighting a matchcord to fire.

When they saw the bandits suddenly launch an attack, it was already too late to try to use a fire-starter to light the fuse.

A First-grade Intermediate fierce bandit leaped up, his cold-glinting dagger making a fierce horizontal slash, intending to cut the throat of the soldier beside him.

At the critical moment, this soldier, who was not even a First Grade Martial Artist, shouted, "Kill!"

Following his usual training, the soldier ignored the dagger about to slash his throat, stepped forward half a step, and delivered a clean and decisive thrust with his bird gun equipped with a stabbing blade.

The soldiers of the Salvation Army, in addition to daily formation training and firearm training, were trained in bayonet fighting.

Time was limited, and Meng Yifan had only taught them one move: the forward thrust.

The thrusting move was simple and emphasized an indomitable spirit. After thousands of thrusts every day, the essentials of the thrusting motion had formed a muscle memory. Now that it was suddenly unleashed, it gave the opposing fierce bandit a huge fright.

This fierce bandit was also a veteran of many battles, but he had never encountered such a suicidal fighting style.

The dagger was about to slash the throat; logically, shouldn't one subconsciously dodge backward? Why did this guy not retreat but advance, thrusting forward instead? Was he not afraid of death?

The bird gun's stabbing blade was long, while the dagger was short. Therefore, if this fierce bandit continued to use the dagger to slash the soldier's throat, he himself would also be pierced through the heart. He hadn't lived enough yet, so of course, he didn't want to perish together with this soldier.

Between life and death, the fierce bandit abandoned the attack, used his Lightness Skill, and retreated backward, dodging the soldier's thrust.