roccoschili Chapter 40 The army sets off to suppress the bandits!
Chapter 40 The army sets off to suppress the bandits!
"Hey, who are you guys? Talk it out!"
In the village closest to the border, several villagers aimed homemade guns, just issued by the Rockys, at the disheveled hunters, their eyes gleaming with wariness.
When the Cossack cavalry came to distribute guns to the villagers, they specifically warned them to be careful of outsiders at times like this and not to let their guard down.
Who knows, some unfamiliar face might just be a spy sent by bandits?
The villagers wholeheartedly agreed with the Cossack cavalryman's words, as they had encountered similar situations before.
Let alone unfamiliar faces, even familiar faces can sometimes be unreliable. Some are traitors and spies who betray their own people and deliberately lure bandits into the village.
What they found even more ridiculous was that if these guys were leading bandits into the village to gain more benefits for themselves, that would be one thing, but some of them were betraying their own people simply because they were cowardly!
They felt that by helping the bandits, they had given them a pledge of allegiance, which should be considered a successful initiation into the gang.
Now that he has successfully joined the gang, does that mean the bandits don't need to kill him when they're killing people?
"Fellow villagers...fellow villagers, we are not bad people, we are hunters living in Xiaoshi Village!"
"Those bandits are utterly depraved! They...they killed everyone in the entire village! We demand to see the Luo family army; we beg Commander Luo to help us get justice!"
Hearing these people shout, the other villagers looked at each other in disbelief. Some even covered their mouths in horror, unable to believe that Xiaoshi Village was gone just like that.
Although they don't have much contact with Xiaoshi Village on a regular basis because the road is difficult to travel, they do have some contact occasionally, and some people in the village do recognize these hunters.
The villagers were both shocked and furious to think that such a village, not far from them, had been wiped out by bandits.
However, just to be on the safe side, they required these people to stay in the village and not go anywhere. They would call Luo Jiajun's men later to handle the matter.
Hearing what the villagers said, the hunters were anxious and eager to see Luo Ke as soon as possible, but to avoid misunderstandings, they could only stay there obediently and wait for Luo's army to arrive.
Fortunately, the Cossack cavalry usually patrolled around Rock's territory, so it wasn't long before they saw the cavalry patrolling there.
When the cavalrymen heard the villagers' words and learned that several unfamiliar outsiders had come to inform Luo's army, they did not hesitate at all. They quickly grabbed the hunters, put them on their horses, and then led them to where Luo was.
Less than half a day later, the cavalry returned to the stronghold on Black Dragon Mountain and brought Old Yang and his group to Rock.
As soon as they saw Rock, they tried to kneel down, but Rock did not make them kneel. Instead, he asked them to sit down and talk slowly, and also had someone bring them a bowl of hot soup and some flatbread.
Having been out for so long, the hunters were already starving, but they had no appetite to eat until they had explained the situation clearly.
So, with tears streaming down their faces, they recounted to Rock the entire atrocity committed by the bandits in Little Stone Village. Then, they knelt down with a thud and repeatedly kowtowed to Rock, saying:
"General Luo, we're begging you! Please have mercy and let us join the Luo Family Army so we can avenge us!"
"My wife, my mother, and my daughter who was only a few years old—they died so tragically!"
Rock, sitting in the chair, had a livid face, his lips trembled slightly, and his hands were gripping the armrests tightly with bulging veins.
To be honest, he knew before that these bandits in Guandong were extremely brutal and would kill entire villages at the drop of a hat, but those things were just on paper and only gave him a general impression.
When he learned from the victims who had personally experienced the massacre of the village how terrible the bandits had done in the village, he was so shocked that he could not imagine how such a person could be so evil.
"Damn it, they deserve to die!"
Let alone these hunters who personally witnessed the massacre of their village and saw their families wiped out by bandits, even Rock was trembling with anger after hearing their story. He couldn't think of any other word to describe these bandits except "deserve to die."
Taking a deep breath and barely calming his anger, Rock pulled the hunters up one by one and said angrily:
"Fellow villagers, please don't worry. I, Luo Ke, hereby formally promise you that our Luo family army will definitely wipe out these bandits! We are sworn enemies with them!"
"This isn't just your hatred. Those bandits can no longer be called human. Since they refuse to be human and insist on being beasts, then we should kill these damned savages!"
Immediately afterwards, several cavalrymen guarding Luo Kechong shouted loudly:
"Quickly, pass on my orders and have all soldiers prepare!"
"By tomorrow morning, except for those who stay to guard the stronghold, all the remaining soldiers will be mobilized and must wipe out that bandit group!"
"Remember this, all of you: in this battle, no matter who the bandits we capture are, I'm going to leave not a single one alive!"
"I'll use the blood and heads of these bandits to atone for the deaths of the people they slaughtered!"
Rock felt he had never been so angry. He thought that after coming to this chaotic world and witnessing all kinds of chaos, he had gradually become accustomed to this cruel world.
But as it turns out, he was just overthinking it; he couldn't even imagine how bad this person could be!
There's a saying that goes something like this: the reason people suffer is because they are neither good enough nor bad enough. After witnessing just how bad those bandits could be, Rock truly felt that his sanity had been severely impacted!
Seeing that Rock was so resolute, willing to avenge their Little Stone Village without a word, and without any intention of shirking responsibility, the hunters quickly kowtowed to Rock, and even when Rock tried to stop them, it was no use.
"Thank you, Commander Luo, for standing up for us! Thank you so much, Commander, for being willing to avenge us!"
When these hunters witnessed firsthand that Luo's army was actually willing to fight against the bandits for them, a bunch of worthless peasants, they felt as if they had seen the light.
Before they arrived, the hunters' biggest fear was that Luo's army would not be willing to avenge them.
After all, they knew that the number of bandits was too large. From a rational point of view, the best course of action for the Luo family army was to choose to protect themselves.
They had even worried that if the Luo family army simply negotiated with the bandits and then handed them over to the bandits as a sign of "sincerity" in the negotiations, what would they do then?
But they had no choice; they were at their wits' end. So they could only trust the Luo family army and believe that the rumors about them were true!
Even after the hunters were helped away, Rock was still furious.
Many times he really couldn't understand why people who were all human, and who had all climbed up from the bottom, would turn themselves into this kind of people after they had weapons and power.
He didn't know what was going on with these people, but he swore in his heart that he would never live like this, like a demon or monster!
For no other reason than his most basic values and sense of identity as a human being, he felt that those bandits at this moment were truly like the legendary Chaos Warriors, no longer human.
The next day, Rock left behind 10 guerrillas responsible for training troops, 10 young guards, and 10 Hojo Shintenrai to guard the house, but he took almost all of his soldiers with him.
总共150名青年近卫军、100名皇后龙骑兵、28名升级为猎骑兵的哥萨克、5个混杂在民兵之中当军官的法军燧发枪兵，以及70多个从村子之中招募出来的民兵，加在一起大约360名士兵，全都加入到了此次战斗。
Looking at the well-disciplined troops before him, Rock nodded in satisfaction, then turned to the 70-odd eager militiamen and said:
"Gentlemen, you must perform well in this battle. I'm going to check your performance on the battlefield!"
"If anyone performs exceptionally well, I'll promote them to the rank of private and give them all the benefits of a private!"
Upon hearing what Rock said, the 70-odd militiamen's eyes turned red, and they gripped their guns tightly.
They couldn't wait to use their foreign guns to beat the bandits. Putting aside the sense of shared grief and the desire to avenge the dead villagers, the mere fact that they were treated like regular soldiers was enough to make them fight to the death.
To put it bluntly, if someone could become a regular soldier in the Rock Army, then his entire family would never have to worry about going hungry.
The silver that Rock distributed, along with the occasional bonuses and benefits he received, was enough to ensure that his entire family could live a good life and not suffer from hunger or cold.
Although this treatment may not seem like a good thing to people in later generations, for these ordinary villagers, it was a lifeline that they had grasped at that straw that could change their fate!
"Soldiers, let's go! Follow me to wipe out the bandits!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Rock rode his tall horse into the cavalry and led them to the front of the column.