Mercenaries and Adventurers

As Kiel used his hands to forcefully pull up the man standing on the rope below, the man was easily pulled up within a very short period of time.

He stretched out his hand and pulled the man who was holding the crack in the rock on the edge of the mountain. The man who got up looked at everything around him excitedly.

Seeing that the other party seemed to want to speak, Kiel quickly covered the other party's mouth with his hand, approached the other party's ear, and whispered: "Don't speak directly, this place is not far from the guards guarding the door of the bandit's lair, even I can hear voices. I don’t know if the other party will notice if we speak directly here, so if you want to speak, just say it quietly.”

The man nodded excitedly. He then followed Kiel's instructions and stood behind Kiel. He wrapped the rope with his hands and prepared to help Kiel pull the rest of the people up as planned.

The rope was let down again little by little, and the second person who came up was also a man in relatively good health. With the strength of two people, Keir finally didn't have to bear all the weight with his hands this time.

Just grab the rope with your palms and pull back with force.

It took a little less time than the first person. After the second rescued man came up, he even kissed the rocky mountain under his feet excitedly.

With three people, it became a lot easier. As people were rescued one by one, finally there were five men standing behind Kiel, and everyone followed Kiel's movements to pull the strong rope. Originally, the strength of one person's whole body is heavy, but it is much easier to share it with six people's arms.

Soon, all the women among the rescued people came up. No one ran around. They all gathered in the open space that Kiel had cleaned up beside the cracks and gaps in the mountain. Everyone silently hugged what they wanted to hold. Things, because it's cold outside, everyone huddled together to keep warm.

Because there is no suitable thing to make gloves, the people had to put their hands in clothes made of various sacks to keep warm. Although everyone was in a panic, the joy of escaping from the bandit's lair made everyone happy .

Of course, everyone kept their mouths tightly shut, and some even covered their faces with sackcloth strips. On the one hand, it was to keep warm, and on the other hand, they didn't intend to increase the trouble of escaping here because of possible openings.

As the movements of Keir and the five people behind him became more proficient, they finally pulled the last person up from the passage under the crack.

After the rope was retracted and wrapped around his waist, Keel counted the number of people and confirmed that everyone had been rescued. Then he let everyone hold hands and led the people one by one to detour from the safe route he had marked before. go down.

Climb a steep hill in the dark of night, and if you lose your balance, you will fall off the hill. And when a person is falling dangerously, the injury caused by rolling is secondary, and the most important thing is to shout indiscriminately in a dangerous situation. This is what he needs to worry about.

In this regard, Keir specifically chose the most stable downhill route he could find. Although it took a long detour on the steep hillside, it still took time to avoid being discovered.

Everyone held hands and tried to make a man sandwich a woman, so that everyone could reach the woods safely.

When the first-quarter moon sank into the earth one after another tonight, the mountains and forests in the early morning became pitch black. Only then did Kiel allow the rescued people who had reached a safe location to speak in a low voice.

Everyone hugged their companions excitedly, and the soft cries gradually spread among the crowd, but some people whose entire families were killed could not cry. Keel asked in a low voice, and they said bitterly that their tears had already been shed Done, the current rescue is only the first step. In the future, they will take revenge on those bandits who took everything away from them.

After a group of people judged their location, Kiel led everyone to set off.

Their current location was a little to the north of the lair of La Pocket Hole, but it was still roughly in the center of the bandit's territory in La Pocket Hole. Once the bandits find that the captured people have fled after dawn, they will definitely chase and kill them with all their strength.

Although Kiel left some surprises for them, I don't know how effective it is. After all, there are so many bandits. After calming down, some people can put out the fire and some people can come out to find their traces.

It is unrealistic to expect the bandits to find them, so the key to whether they can escape mainly depends on how far they can run with all their strength during the time when they are not found to escape.

Once the distance is widened, they have many more choices. Although they were all on the territory of the robbers in Luobagdong, the bandits were still short-handed. In this large mountain forest, there were more than 20 of them, and they could have various methods to avoid the bandits' pursuit.

After thinking about this, Kiel lit a torch and asked the people to follow him in groups of two and support each other.

The chosen direction was to go north and then east, first to leave the area where the bandits had their lair with all their strength, and then go around to the east of the bandit's territory in Luobagdong.

This is done in order to confuse the bandits. After all, the bandits will definitely think that they will run straight in one direction, but they may not necessarily think that they will walk through the bandits' territory and choose places with complicated terrain. It was also Kiel who had a certain fighting plan. Among all the people, he was the only one who had a fighting ability that surpassed that of ordinary bandits. After being caught up, as long as the terrain was complex, he still had the possibility of dealing with a small number of bandits alone.

The second reason is that although their group has only had enough to eat and drink, traveling through the mountains and forests in winter is a very physical and energy-consuming thing. The food they carry is not enough, which is not enough for them to spend several days back to the ice. flood pass.

When Zhao Ji came alone, it took nearly two days to get here from Bingxun Pass. Now with so many injured people and people who have been imprisoned for a long time, it is impossible to reach the speed of him alone.

After walking, Kiel realized that at the speed of their team, it was possible to return to Ice Flood Pass for up to ten days. So, heading east, they could get his gear back, and they'd have a better chance of surviving.

Sometimes, if Kiel is alone, if he thinks of a way, he can still get rid of some small strongholds placed by one or two bandits on the periphery of the site. There must be enough food reserves inside.

The source of food for their group after they fled here can only be snatched from the bandits.

----

In the morning, Delang, one of the bandit leaders in the bag hole, was awakened by a hasty knock on the door. He heard a loud commotion outside the house, and quickly pushed away the two arms that were on him and got up.

Just putting on a pair of leather pants and picking up the double-edged ax leaning against the bed, he opened the wooden door that would be sealed after falling asleep at night.

Seeing a group of his own men standing outside the door nervously, De Lang grabbed one of the men who knocked on the door and asked, "What happened?"

The subordinate hurriedly replied nervously: "Boss, the prisoners in the prison have escaped! The guard brothers have all been killed!"

As soon as he pushed the subordinate away, De Lang asked his subordinates to follow. This kind of thing can only be judged by seeing it in person. He didn't care to put on the leather jacket on his upper body, and started to run.

In the cave passage leading to the storage room, the prison, and the training ground, someone moved a lot of empty boxes, and Delang kicked over the empty boxes blocking the way.

When I came to the upper cave, sure enough, everything was turned over in a mess. Many dried meats prepared for the winter were disassembled and fell on the ground, and more things loaded with supplies were turned over.

"It's like being patronized by bandits!" De Lang expressed his feelings, but the subordinates behind him didn't dare to point out to him that they were bandits themselves.

When I came to the prison, all the ropes binding the prisoners were cut, and several prisons were empty: "Where are all the guards dead? And who was guarding the gate of the cave yesterday! Where did so many prisoners run?" went?"

The subordinates hurriedly took their leaders to the depths of the nearby area where various supplies and harvested items were stored, where three stripped bandits hung naked on it, like a mockery of all of them.

"Put them down quickly, #@! Those guys must be patronizing and asking those women who haven't been tamed to be subdued and slaughtered. How many times have I said that it can only be done after people give in, but they don't listen. And , Where have all the prisoners gone? Can they still get into the mountains?" De Lang ordered his men to go down and call other leaders who were still in the cave to come over to discuss how to deal with it later.

But before his subordinates ran away, something happened at the place where the corpse of the murdered bandit was put down.

The five robbers wanted to climb up the pile of goods beside them, and cut the rope that hung the corpse with their daggers. As a result, the rope had just been cut, and when the corpse fell, the back of the corpse seemed to collide with something.

Along with the rubbing sound of stones rubbing across.

A large area of ​​sparks was aroused from the back of the corpse, and as soon as those sparks touched the original cargo behind the corpse, a large area of ​​flames ignited directly.

The bandit above who cut the rope hurriedly argued that he didn't do it, and he didn't know what happened.

The bandit who was following the corpse pointed to the flint and steel stuck behind the corpse and shouted, "It's a flint and steel! Damn it, it's a trap!"

As soon as the bandit finished speaking, he was slapped on the head by the bandit next to him: "Extinguish the fire first! Extinguish the fire first!"

But Zhao Ji sprinkled a lot of sawdust and wood flowers on the goods behind the corpse, and poured lamp oil on these things. If there is a little spark, it will catch fire.

"What's the matter with #@! Why do you care about the corpses! Everyone come to put out the fire! Tell me! Which one of you accidentally lit the fire?" De Lang rushed over with a double-edged ax and directed his subordinates to find a way to put out the fire , grabbed the subordinate who was still holding the corpse again, and questioned him.

The subordinates were afraid that the leader of the "decapitator" would chop him up casually, and quickly pointed to the pieces of flint and steel behind the corpse beside him: "Trap! Boss! It's a trap! Those who planed in the ground, Not only killed us, but also made this thing specially to set fire."

De Lang grabbed the neck of the corpse next to him, and lifted the corpse of the dead bandit with one hand. While seeing the flints behind the corpse, he also noticed that the blow on the neck of the corpse cut off most of the neck the wound.

He narrowed his eyes, thinking that the possibility that these guards were carelessly killed while playing with the imprisoned women, might have been miscalculated.

This level of wounds is not something that prisoners who have not even had a full meal after being locked up can do. At the same time, he touched the muscle section of the wound and found that it was made of a sharp steel sword.

He frowned and thought, and saw at a glance that his subordinates had not been able to extinguish the burning cargo, and even some flying flames burned into the cargo pile: "What's going on? They haven't eaten for a few days? So many people, such a fire Can't put it out?"

A close subordinate complained: "Those escaped guys have drained the water in the fire extinguishing tank, boss."

"Then hurry up and call more people, call everyone up, and hurry up to put out the fire!"

That's what they said, but all the other bandits brought buckets and wooden bowls filled with water to put out the fire, but they still couldn't stop the fire from expanding.

The high temperature emitted by the ignited fire made this cave unacceptable. There was no way for the bandits to retreat to the cave hall after rescuing some supplies.

The other leaders questioned what Delang the "Headbreaker" did to cause such a big fire, which made their gang's life very difficult this winter. Although there are still a lot of supplies stored in the large and small wooden houses of the bandits, they can still live on.

However, many of the looted goods left over from previous years' looting were all lost.

Facing the questioning of other leaders and dozens of robbers raising their swords and sticks, De Lang just asked his subordinates to place the body of the prison guard who was killed last night in the open space among all the people.

Pointing to the flint on the back of the corpse and the fatal wound on the neck, De Lang told the other bandit leaders about his discovery.

None of them are stupid. At the same time, the leaders of them have known each other for a long time. They know that Delang is not the kind of person who talks freely. Delang, who likes to fight and kill people, rarely speaks wild words.

"It can't be made by those prisoners. How could they have such a way. Besides, where did those prisoners #@# go?" De Lang looked around all the bandits present, "Who was on guard last night?"

Several bandits wanted to hide in the crowd, but they were pushed out by the bandits patrolling last night.

The other leader, nicknamed "The Lame Catcher", stared at the bandits and asked, "Did you see anything unusual last night? Think about it carefully."

These four bandits were the subordinates of their four leaders who were present, so each of them did not protect their own subordinates. The upper cave that is still burning now caused heavy losses to their entire bandit gang. Although only three useless guys died, the property loss was not small.

They originally planned to use the accumulated property to find a way to clean up the gang, but who knew they would just burn it like this. If you want to accumulate the same amount of supplies, you will have to work hard for several years.

A few bandits standing guard were stared at by dozens of other bandits, who lowered their heads and dared not speak. Among them, two bandits were shaking like chaff.

The leader nicknamed "The Lame Catcher" walked over with one foot high and one foot low, grabbed the two trembling bandits, and forced them to open their mouths.

After smelling it, the gloomy-faced bandit leader patted the faces of the two bandits, and asked them softly, "Do you know what your guards are for?"

The two bandits who were on guard last night nodded with chattering teeth.

"Do you know? I thought you didn't know." Without saying anything, the leader called the other three leaders who were present, and the four of them formed a small circle to discuss in a low voice.

Among them, the grumpy 'Headbreaker' Delang even cursed loudly.

After the discussion between the four, they made a decision to execute the two bandits who were in charge of guarding the entrance of the cave last night in front of all the bandits. The other two bandits who were in charge of the day yesterday would have their hands cut off.

The bandits talked a lot, but no one dared to oppose the leaders' decision. Some clever thieves guessed that the two guards last night must have drunk alcohol secretly, so they didn't find anything useful last night.

The four leaders then discussed for a while, and felt that no matter how the imprisoned people ran away from them, they must have not gone far at this moment, and there is still time to catch up.

So they selected four teams of ten people, a total of forty people, and tracked them from the lair in four directions, east, west, north, south, and north. When they found escaped prisoners, they would kill them if they could, and if they felt unsure, they would come back and call for help.

Because those prisoners know where their lair is, as long as one of them is lucky enough to escape back to the Bingshui Pass in the distance, then this winter, they will not be able to hide in the cave as before, avoiding the routine cleaning of a large number of militiamen .

At that time, the loss will be even greater, because the loss of the cave fire before is only some financial supplies. Although it hurts, it has no loss to the bandits.

But if this safe old lair can no longer be used, many of the many newcomers who joined the bandit gang for the sake of safety will definitely leave them while taking advantage of the chaos.

If one or two people want to leave, they can be killed to kill chickens and scare monkeys. But if more people want to leave, or pull the team to do it alone. They didn't dare to kill it.

At the same time, except for one leader who continued to put out the fire, one leader went to the south of the site to find the leader "Iron Arm" who was out to work, and "Headbreaker" Delang was responsible for handling the execution.

The most experienced bandit, "The Lame Catcher", Old Fez, will take a small team of elites, and rush to Bingxun Pass to ambush the prisoners who may escape there by borrowing the way of the "Tooth Ghost" bandit gang.

---

"Keir! Look behind!" Mr. Simmons, who had been whipped by many guards before, finally couldn't hold on after fleeing for a while, and fell to the ground.

Keir had expected this to happen before, and specially asked someone to prepare a number of simple stretchers. At this time, it is just right for Mr. Simmons to rest on the stretcher for a while.

The others thanked Mr. Simmons Jr. for getting them out, and his family for entrusting Keel with the bravery. There was nothing objectionable to little Mr. Simmons being carried on a stretcher.

Mr. Simmons, who was lying on the stretcher, felt ashamed for a while. After all, all the ladies were still walking forward. He, a middle-aged businessman traveling all over the world, actually used this stretcher first.

But Mr. Simmons, who was lying on a stretcher, first noticed a black smoke rising into the sky in the southern mountain forest.

Those who had been away from the bandit's lair for several hours could clearly see the black smoke, which showed that the fire there was not small, and the black smoke was getting thicker and thicker. It was obvious that the bandits hadn't controlled the fire in the cave.

Everyone who discovered this was quite happy. The things and materials in the storage rooms of the caves were the property of those who were looted by bandits.

Although it is a pity to burn it, even if it is burned, it cannot be left to the bandits.

Not a single bit of it can be left behind.

Keir watched the black smoke in the distance change from thin to thick, and it didn't stop. He felt that he had a little too much regard for those bandits before. They know #￥@ fire prevention and fire fighting. If they knew that the bandits were so inexperienced, they might as well go back secretly after saving the people and set fire to the entire bandit lair.

Burn the bunch of rubbish that cost thousands of knives.

But the past can't go back, and the opportunity is lost. Kiel ordered everyone to move eastward from here, to rest for a while at noon, and then to work harder in the afternoon, taking advantage of the good visibility during the day and driving more.

After night, the people found a place to hide from the wind, and asked Kiel to go out to investigate by himself, looking for any small bandit strongholds that might exist.

Eliminate the bandit strongholds with few people, and get enough cold-proof clothing and food.