Chapter 327: Under the Mountain of the Bandit Leader's Lair - The Militia Approaches and the Bandits' Countermeasures

Jier did not sleep well all night.

The Hunters sleeping in the surrounding tents did not make a sound; they even breathed softly, a sleeping habit formed from years of resting in the wild. And in the tent between theirs, those women were also very quiet.

It was just that the surrounding Militia were too noisy when they slept. Not only was there the sound of patrolling Militia squads walking back and forth in the camp, but in the first half of the night, there were also sounds of some Militia singing in their tents.

By the second half of the night, teeth-grinding, getting up to relieve themselves, and sleep-talking followed one after another. What Jier could stand the least was the snoring; the crude young Militia men snored in waves, as if they hadn't sung enough in the first half of the night and were relying on snoring in the second half to compete for a ranking.

After waking up in the morning, Jier was listless, and the Hunters, who also hadn't slept well, were in low spirits. After some tidying and packing, that young Hunter, along with the guards arranged by Knight Kela and several clerks returning to Bingxun Pass, took the six female civilians and walked out of the Militia camp, heading east toward Bingxun Pass.

To ensure safety, Knight Kela also had a squad of Melee Militia escort them for a distance, so that these people would not be suddenly ambushed by Bandits near the Bandit Leader's lair.

Knight Kela also handed a sealed, waterproof small tube containing a letter to the old Hunter who was returning to Knight Lanisha, asking them to deliver this letter to Knight Lanisha.

Jier stayed behind.

As it happened, a spot had opened up in the tent of Knight Kela's guards, so he arranged for Jier to stay with his guards whenever they made camp.

Just as the sky began to brighten, the Militia, who had slept for the night, got up early to pack the camp. After dismantling various supplies, the heavy items were organized and piled onto several empty cargo carts, while other lighter supplies were carried by the Militia themselves.

At the same time, the Militia, having eaten a quick meal early, received the mission arranged by Knight Kela; the first group did not need to pack the camp and set off to the area around the Bandit Leader's lair to blockade and compress the Bandits' activity space.

Jier followed the guards to pack up their tent and Knight Kela's tent, then loaded them onto a cargo cart specifically for Knight Kela's use.

The cargo carts transporting supplies in the camp were all requisitioned from the Caravan at Bingxun Pass, borrowed during the annual Militia cleanup and returned afterward. Those driving the carts were the clerks' assistants; these assistants who did everything looked like they were working hard, but in fact, it was quite easy. They just needed to drive the carts, cook, and serve the clerks who managed the logistics supplies.

The Militia took quite a while to set off in the morning, and by the time they actually walked out of the open space where they had rested last night, the sun had already climbed over the nearby mountain ridge and poked its head out from the top.

Jier walked beside Knight Kela, who was riding a tall warhorse that looked like a Monster, and listened to Knight Kela talk about their current distance from the Bandit Leader's lair.

On the way, Jier also ran into the friends who served as Local Guides. There were not many of these civilians rescued by Jier from the Luodai Cave Bandit Leader's lair, and after a period of time, even fewer were willing to risk their lives to truly serve as Local Guides for the Militia.

According to what they said, some of the rescued civilians who still had relatives and friends basically said goodbye to them—the ones who wanted to take revenge—after thinking it over in the days after Jier left. There were also some weak-hearted ones who refused to leave the town again; after this incident, they were basically recruited by Mr. Xiao Simengsi and joined the Simons Chamber of Commerce. Among the rescued civilians, there were also two who belonged to a Caravan and wanted to absorb these helpless people, but they were clearly slower than Mr. Xiao Simengsi, whose brain turned faster.

Those two rescued civilians from the Caravan, because they still had work, could of course not join the work of being Local Guides for the Militia. However, they didn't do nothing with Mr. Xiao Simengsi; they provided new cold-weather clothing for those who wanted to leave to join relatives and friends, and also paid for the ride on Caravans heading to various places within the county.

And for those civilians determined to take revenge, they also provided enough supplies and support, and asked the civilians acting as Local Guides to give the Bandits a hard time on their behalf.

Jier talked with them as they walked, and after everyone briefly shared their recent situations, Jier parted ways with them; the rescued civilians acting as Local Guides still had to lead the Militia forward.

After they were captured by the Bandits before, they had been taken by the Bandits along this mountain road to their lair in a hidden area in the mountains.

"Jier, I didn't expect you to have such an exciting experience. Tell me properly how you discovered the Bandit Leader's lair back then, and how you managed to, um, the dozen or so people they mentioned, evade the Bandit pursuers and return all the way to Bingxun Pass. There's nothing to do while traveling, tell me about it to relieve the boredom." Knight Kela's voice came from his Knight Helmet, sounding a bit muffled because he hadn't opened his Faceplate.

Jier closed his helmet's Faceplate, then took off the helmet and hung it at his waist, wearing only the hood of his wolf-fur cloak on his head for warmth.

He walked beside the tall warhorse, looked up, and told Knight Kela in detail the story of how he rescued the Vice President of the Simons Chamber of Commerce and ended up saving many civilians.

While telling the story, the Squad Leader of the leading Militia would occasionally come over to report various intelligence. At the same time, the clerks in the team would write the statistics of the team's supplies they had calculated into the notebooks they carried for Knight Kela to review.

"I know those Hunters took some supplies this morning, and I have already sent someone back. He will notify the officials there to prepare a second, larger batch of various supplies when he passes through Bingxun Pass on his way back to Kendall City. Don't worry." Knight Kela reassured the clerks accompanying the team and informed them that after conquering this Bandit Leader's lair, they would head together to the Forest further west, where a new winter Forest had been discovered that the Bandits had specially prepared to hide from the Militia cleanup.

Speaking of this, Knight Kela asked Jier about the terrain and features of that Forest.

Jier then told him the situation he had scouted.

The Bandit winter Forest was a closed area surrounded by mountains on all four sides; generally speaking, there was only one entrance and exit to the east connecting to the wider mountains. The north side of the Forest was a high mountain area with wind and snow, which was generally impassable, but Jier and his group were not ordinary people, so that was a different matter.

And the west, south, and most of the east sides were somewhat high and steep mountain ridges; it was difficult for normal people to climb over the mountains, especially in this winter after the snow.

The terrain in the Forest was relatively flat, and there were trees everywhere that were not tall but quite thick. The various winter camps of the Bandits were all open spaces, suitable for combat deployment.

After saying this, Jier saw there was nothing else, so he continued to tell the story of rescuing the civilians. Finally, the story ended with Jier whispering about how he raided the Bandits' Jiedian in the city under the cover of night and killed all the Bandits and one of their leaders.

Knight Kela's voice was somewhat intriguing: "Bingxun Pass has become a good place for some people to amass wealth. Heh."

Jier didn't quite understand; he only heard that Bingxun Pass was Knight Kela's territory, but it seemed Knight Kela was not managing it.

He knew there was likely some secret in this, but this was not something he should be concerned with. If Knight Kela was willing to say, he would of course be willing to listen. But if Knight Kela didn't say, Jier wouldn't ask too much.

After a day, their main Militia force finally approached the mountain where the Bandit Leader's lair was located. From the place where they camped, they could directly see the location of the Shandong of the Bandit Leader's lair.

The Bandits were not just sitting and waiting for death; they initially sent people to attack the Militia's forward team, but they were met with the Militia's stubborn resistance. The attacked Militia team called for the surrounding teams, turning the Bandits' attack into a defensive battle in the Forest.

The Bandits, who lacked long-range weapons, launched several assaults, but were all forced back by the Militia's Crossbow bolts.

Afterward, the Bandits no longer attempted large-scale attacks on the Militia teams, but instead relied on the more Refining Qi Bandits to engage in close-quarters combat with the Militia's forward scouting teams.

The Militia still held the upper hand.

Afterward, as far as Jier knew, the Bandits seemed to have sent people to bypass the Militia's scouting range after losing some manpower, inviting some very small Bandit Groups in the vicinity into their own group.

It was unknown what the Thieves of Luodai Cave had promised.

But no matter what they promised, as long as they couldn't defeat the approaching Militia, they would end up with nothing.

Jier asked Knight Kela on the way why those Bandits wanted to hold their lair instead of running away with their valuables.

Knight Kela told him to put himself in the shoes of the Bandit Leader and think about it; if Jier were a Bandit Leader, what would he do?

After thinking for a while, Jier felt he would still run. But he was slapped on the head by Knight Kela, who scolded: "Idiot! What kind of temperament do Bandits have? Hmm? If you really ran away, can you ensure that those money-grubbing guys under you won't kill you first, and then take the chance to grab a haul and run away?"

"Only by holding their ground can they maintain their original ruling and management style, and let those Bandits who only know how to plunder continue to follow their arrangements as usual."

"Meaning?" Jier asked.

"Meaning, a Bandit Group is a bunch of guys organized only for plunder. Once the leader within the group cannot prove that the group under their management can no longer plunder and rob, their ruling power will rapidly decline and disappear. They won't run, unless running can satisfy the interests of all the Bandits."

"Can interests be more important than life?" Jier felt Knight Kela's conclusion was extremely absurd; the Militia had already reached their doorstep, wouldn't those Bandits run? Didn't they want their lives?

Jier's question unexpectedly made Knight Kela and a guard nearby laugh. Knight Kela even laughed so hard he patted the strong warhorse under his crotch, which made this unusually sturdy, Monster-like warhorse quite unhappy.

"Bandits are already trading their lives for money; when have they ever cared about their own cheap lives?"

After arriving at an open space under the mountain of the Bandit Leader's lair, Knight Kela had the Militia set up camp there, and at the same time, had the most Refining Qi Militia teams establish a patrol circle around the Bandit Leader's lair.

This patrol circle included the entire mountain head of the Bandit Leader's lair, day and night, to cut off all contact between the Bandits and the outside world. At the same time, it was also to prevent possible external Bandit Groups from having other ideas.

Knight Kela also had some Militia use axes to chop down some surrounding trees, preparing to make man-powered battering rams for impact and large Mudu to block the Bandits' projectiles.

Calling them large Mudu, they were actually just simple mobile defensive positions made by splicing together tree trunks as thick as an arm. The Militia could hide behind them to load their Crossbows, and then stick their bodies out to shoot at the Bandits. And the Bandits' projectiles could not break through the thick offensive defense objects that were read as 'Mudu' but were actually Wooden Walls.

And the other few man-powered battering rams were to guard against the Bandits blocking the entrance and exit passages with debris, or some wooden fences or arrow towers they had built.

These hastily built things could all be knocked down by the more numerous Militia, relying on the man-powered battering rams that gathered the strength of all the Militia.

Of course, these were things Knight Kela had other plans for; attacking a mere Bandit Leader's lair simply didn't require these things. But just because they weren't needed now didn't mean they wouldn't be needed next year.

Next year, he and Kendall Baron would lead troops to the south of the Kingdom to assist the border Nobles there in fighting for control of a newly discovered large iron mine. By then, it was certain they would engage in battle with the armies of Nobles from another country in the south and compete for cities. To ensure the army wouldn't know what to do when the time came, letting them familiarize themselves with it now was necessary.

On the hilltop, the Bandits all gathered in the open space at the entrance of the Shandong, standing at the edge and watching the large number of Militia setting up camp below the mountain.

In the middle of the Bandits, a patch of ground was cleared; at this moment, four Bandit Leaders stood together, also looking down. Although their expressions were not very good, their specific emotions were actually quite different.

"They've come, what should we do?" one Bandit Leader asked, looking somewhat worried.

"Nonsense, we follow what we discussed before: resist first. If we can't hold them off, we hide inside the Shandong and stay there for the whole winter. I don't believe that with so many of them, they can survive by eating dirt to maintain their food and water supplies," Duan Tou Zhe Delang said viciously.

"That's right, this place is so far from Bingxun Pass that their supply lines are difficult. Besides, have the men for that matter been sent out yet?" A Bandit Leader with a steadier demeanor took over from Delang, then asked another Bandit Leader.

"Rest assured, they are all the most Refining Qi experts. Although there aren't many, one of them can easily take on three. Letting them handle that matter is guaranteed to be fine," the Bandit Leader nicknamed Iron Hook Arm said confidently, waving his severed-hand hook.

"Fine, fine? You always say it's fine, but didn't Lao Bozi always think he was very clever? How was he so unlucky to be surrounded and wiped out by the soldiers from Bingxun Pass? Bah. If he hadn't failed to finish off those damn long-legged guys who ran away, would these Militia have known the location of our lair?" Delang started arguing. The surrounding Bandits consciously scattered a large circle; they didn't dare to touch the 'Duan Tou Zhe' who was fuming, because they all knew that when that guy was in a rage, except for the other Bandit Leaders he didn't dare to hack, he would hack anyone else he wanted to.

"Hmph, the location of the lair? Do you really think this place could be hidden for long? Once the group grew to this size, it was impossible to keep it hidden. I still think we should have taken advantage of the time before the Militia cleared us out this year to break through Bingxun Pass, loot it, and then run away. By then, relying on so many of us, so much wealth, and the great reputation we'd have made, where couldn't we have done well?" Iron Arm said, waving his severed hand as he muttered about the plan he had always proposed, feeling somewhat resentful.

"Why are you saying all this now that things have reached this point? Wasn't your plan used this time? Watch closely, as long as we block the Militia's attack, the final result won't be too bad," the steady-mannered Bandit Leader had to appease his companion.

"I actually think those Militia are just cowardly and timid guys. Once they lose their Crossbow, I only need to lead a group of men to beat them into a rout in close combat. Bah, Crossbow, things only cowards use," Bandit Leader Delang said disdainfully.

Although he said that, even he himself did not dare to face the Militia's Crossbow and insist on rushing up for close-quarters combat. He had previously personally led men to engage in a battle with a Militia unit that was scouting and compressing the Bandits' activity space; although he relied on a sneak attack to kill one Militia member at the beginning, he was immediately forced back to the side of the other Bandits by continuous Crossbow fire.

The Mudu he carried was shot to pieces by the Crossbow, giving him a new understanding of the Crossbow crafted by the Craftsman.

And hatred.

After finishing their conversation, they immediately arranged for their subordinates to defend the main road up the mountain, trying their best to block the Militia outside the lair to avoid the worst outcome of being forced to hole up in the Shandong later.

After Jier and the guards finished setting up their tent, he didn't know what to do. He found Knight Kela, who was about to leave the camp entrance, and asked if there was any work he could do.

"I see." He sized up the equipment on Jier's body and pointed to the Long Spear gun-blade strapped to the Backpack behind him: "There is a military Craftsman in the camp; have him get a new spear shaft for your Long Spear."

Jier shrugged: "That will take some time, but what about the time in between? Sir Knight, I am very happy to deal with those wicked Bandits."

"Heh, well done. Then you can come along with me later to check the surrounding terrain."

"Alright, I'll be there right away." After saying that, Jier came to the side of the tent where the scribes lived and found a military Craftsman who was repairing a damaged Crossbow.

At this time, there had not been much close-quarters combat with the Bandits, so the Militia's wooden armor and close-combat weapons had no wear or damage. Only some Crossbow damaged by improper operation needed him to repair.

"Hello, I am Qiao-Jier, may I ask what you are called?" Jier introduced himself first.

Sizing Jier up, the Craftsman smiled: "I know you. I saw you participate in the forging competition during the Harvest Festival before. Your performance was quite good for your age."

"Thank you for the compliment, thank you." He didn't expect the person to know him, so that made things easier.

"I am Kangkuinaersi, the military Craftsman. As for craftsmanship, I can do a bit of everything. Alright, what is your business? If it is something Sir Knight ordered, say it quickly, don't delay things." While talking to Jier, his hands didn't stop; in a few moves, he removed the broken part, casually fished a dirty part coated with Grease out of the pocket of his dirty leather apron, and stuffed it in.

Click, click. He casually reassembled the Crossbow, then pulled the trigger mechanism in the air; the damaged Crossbow seemed to be repaired?

Jier embarrassedly took out his Long Spear gun-blade and placed it on the table of Craftsman Kangkuinaersi: "The shaft of this Long Spear of mine broke earlier, and there will definitely be fierce fighting later. Knight Kela said I could come to you to have a new shaft fitted for the gun-blade."

The Craftsman glanced at the gun-blade: "It's the handiwork of Craftsman Boderli, if I'm not mistaken."

"What?" Jier didn't know what the other party was talking about.

"I said you can leave the thing here. By tomorrow at the latest, I will have it fixed." Picking up the gun-blade, the Craftsman shoved it under the table.

Seeing that the other party had accepted the weapon that needed repair, Jier hurriedly took out the copper coins he had prepared, ready to hand them to the Craftsman.

Unexpectedly, this Craftsman Kangkuinaersi refused Jier's coins: "Work hard, young man, just kill a couple more Bandits."

"No, I'm actually not part of the Militia unit; Knight Kela asked me to come over to deal with the Bandits. This money?" Jier didn't know whether to give or not give the copper coins in his hand.

The Craftsman closed Jier's hand and pushed it back: "Does it make a difference whether you are a member of the Militia? Go on, follow Sir Knight and kill a few more Bandits. If you insist on giving me something, then bring me a Bandit's head in exchange? How about that?"

Relieved, Jier felt that this was too easy. Since the other party didn't want money, that was great: "Then it's a deal. I will bring the Bandit's head as soon as possible. Please repair it quickly; I might be back with a Bandit's head before dark."

Jier's words made the Craftsman laugh out loud: "If dealing with Bandits were as easy as you say, then if I just repair Long Spears for people, wouldn't I be able to indirectly wipe out an entire Bandit Group?"

Jier scratched his head. Wasn't it? As long as you give him enough money, let alone an entire Bandit Group, he could even spend the whole winter wiping out all the Bandits in the entire mountain forest for you.