Mercenaries and Adventurers

Kil threw out his sword, and the sword spun and pierced the last bandit who tried to run into the cave.

Carefully raising his shield, Kil tentatively approached the dark entrance of the cave.

Sure enough, as expected, as he approached the entrance of the cave, several small spinning knives flew out of the cave.

However, Kil had already expected this. He turned sideways and lowered the overall height of his body, so that not much of him actually faced the bandit. And most of this small area is still hidden behind his metal shield.

Dang Dang Dang.

With three consecutive blasts, several flying knives hit the front of his shield.

To be able to hit him, it seems that these bandits have been preparing to target for a long time. Unfortunately, their plans have already been calculated by Keir.

Approaching the bandit who was still struggling on the ground, Kil carefully stretched out a hand, grabbed one of the bandit's furry feet, and dragged him to the side of the cave entrance regardless of the bandit's miserable cry.

-

The sides were filled with militiamen with their crossbows cocked, and the bodies of many shot bandits were piled on the ground on one side.

Knight Crow rode over on his horse, ticking.

"Sir Knight, the entrance to the bandit's lair has been captured! However, the bandits have set up a defensive position in the entrance passage of the cave. Because the terrain is not open, they will throw weapons whenever they see people." Keir saw him Tell the knight the latest situation.

"Very good, let's stop here today. Haha, give those bandits a night of fear. Starting tomorrow during the day, we will use a day to capture the bandit's lair." The knight jumped off his horse, hit the ground with a thud, and swayed Without even swaying, he patted the war horse, let it play aside, and then said to Keir.

Kil approached the knight and explained his worries to him: "The bandits' lair has a spacious interior and a lot of supplies. The cave passage is very narrow, which is not conducive to the militia's team's crossbow shooting."

Waving his hand, Knight Crow said he was aware of Kiel's concerns: "Ha, I already have a way. You can't do anything about a turtle defense like this, right?"

Keir nodded.

"Imagine that you are very hungry and find a turtle. It shrinks into its shell. How can you have a full meal?" While talking to Kiel, Knight Crow directed the subsequent militiamen to move the big tree in the distance. The shield should be carried to the entrance of the bandit's cave, but not too close to prevent the bandits from throwing torches and burning the large wooden shield.

Kil was stunned by the knight's wonderful metaphor.

He took off his helmet, took a deep breath of cold air, lowered his head and pondered. After a while, he gave the knight an answer: "Try it to stick out its head, and then cut it off with a knife?"

"I plan to take down the bandits' lair tomorrow. I don't have any extra time to lure them out." The knight did not approve of Kiel's method.

Kil gestured with the dagger on his waist: "Then stab the dagger into the tortoise's limbs and the places where it retracts. If you stab it a few more times, it will definitely kill the tortoise."

The knight pulled out Kil's dagger from Kil's waist, and then threw it into the air. The dagger swirled up and down. When it fell to a person's height, it was caught by the knight's suddenly stretched out fingers.

"Aren't you afraid that the bandits will kill the men you attack? In close combat, the narrow cave passage makes it difficult to use the militia's numerical advantage. They are all good young men from various farmers, and so are you. I don't want you to die. In this remote place. Even if I trade with the bandits, I feel like I'm at a loss."

Kil scratched his hair and laughed. The surrounding militiamen who heard them also laughed.

Returning the dagger to Kiel, Knight Crow finally gave his answer: "On the seaside, when people catch turtles, they usually wash them clean and then just turn them over and roast them on the fire." He made a gesture of turning his hands: "It doesn't matter whether the turtle comes out of the shell or whether it is alive or not, just bake it and it will be cooked and ready to eat in no time."

Keir added: "The turtle's shell can be used as its pot?"

The knight's dull laughter came from under the thick steel helmet. He pointed at the tall mountains behind him that looked dark and gloomy under the torchlight: "Look, does this mountain look like the shell of a turtle? Tomorrow, no matter what the bandits think, roast them with smoke and let them bury themselves here."

"oh!"

"It's nice not to kill someone with your own hands."

"Can it be done in one day?"

"It's definitely possible. If the Lord Knight says it's OK, then it can definitely be done."

The brigade of militiamen moved the large wooden shield over. At the same time, under the command of the knight, the militiamen moved all the wooden boxes and obstacles left by the bandits who had lost their positions to the entrance of the cave. With these things hindering the bandits, the bandits Even if they really figured it out at night and suddenly launched an attack with all their strength, they would not be able to break through the numerous obstacles set up by the militiamen, and they would be killed in the open space at the entrance of the cave by continuous crossbow fire.

Knight Crow divided the militia into two parts, and sent one part back to the big camp. After the situation was under control, he safely spent midnight in the nearby mountain forest to collect dead branches and leaves, and cut down some small trees. They are all waiting to be delivered as soon as dawn tomorrow.

The other half of the militiamen stayed at the entrance of the cave as a defense against the bandits who might jump over the wall in a desperate attack.

In order to keep warm, the militiamen lit many fires to ensure that all militiamen had fires to keep warm. At the same time, the clerk's assistants also brought food, cooked dinner on the spot, and then used a cart to pull back the stripped bodies of the robbers.

The corpses had to be disposed of uniformly. Knight Crow specially arranged for a few people to burn the corpses in the downwind behind the militia camp. They don't need to fight, they just need to chop down trees during the day, split them into firewood, and then use firewood to burn the headless bodies of the bandits they killed during the day at night.

The robber's head was naturally piled in a pile of snow. These things were used to calculate credit. And then returning to Bingxun Pass is also used as a witness to the people and merchants of the pass to show the achievements of the militiamen.

As for the weapons and equipment of the bandits, or the property they carry, generally speaking, if it is not a particularly valuable thing or a good thing, it belongs to the militiamen who killed the bandits themselves.

Therefore, after these two days of killings, not only Kiel's own camp was filled with trophies, but even the several militiamen who attacked with spears with him also had a lot of trophies.

The militiamen kept iron products tightly because these metal weapons could be made by a blacksmith into a light and tough farm tool, completely eliminating the cost of purchasing iron materials. They only had to pay the blacksmith in the village to make them. Just the fees and fuel costs.

Kiel originally wanted to spend money to purchase some cheap raw materials and good bandit weapons, but as a result, almost no one among the militiamen was willing to give away their trophies.

Keir also expressed helplessness about this.

Knight Crow did not forget that there was another exit from the bandit's lair. In other words, that exit was specially reserved by him for the bandits to escape.

With a fallback or choice, people will not be so united and disagreements will definitely arise. This result is exactly what he wants.

Just as Knight Crow expected, since the bandit's lair was officially attacked by the militia, every night, there would be bandits who felt that they could not hold on and had no way to survive. Taking advantage of the darkness and the deliberate relaxation of the bandit leaders, they climbed out from the vertical patio with a rope, turned around and ran away without a trace.

But how can it be so easy to get down to the top of the mountain at night in winter? Kiel and the others climbed down slowly during the day, but a small number of these bandits who had never walked this road actually lost their footing and fell off the cliff, falling to their deaths. .

But this kind of death due to one's own reasons cannot scare these bandits who just want to survive.

However, after these bandits came down the mountain in fear, they did not know that what was waiting for them would be the militia blockade arranged by Knight Crow earlier.

Except for the militia camp, all the other ways out are blocked by the melee militiamen who have the best combat experience and good training performance arranged by Crow Knight.

These fleeing bandits will receive the most cordial and fatal greetings from these militiamen who have been waiting for a long time.

-

In addition, Knight Crow may seem careless, but he is actually very experienced on the battlefield. He has participated in many wars, large and small, since he joined the army as an adult.

So for every tiny fatal point, he has defensive arrangements.

Kil did not follow back to the camp, and he was asked by the knight to stay on the front line at the entrance of the cave. He sat by the fire and watched Knight Crow commanding people to move a long simple ladder that the bandits had abandoned by the entrance of the cave.

In order to prevent the bandits from climbing out of the vertical shaft and attacking the defenseless militiamen from the top of the cave, he specially arranged a group of militiamen to borrow the captured wooden ladders to climb to another side of the cave entrance. The top of a rock wall.

He asked these militiamen to light fires to keep warm. If they saw bandit activities on the top of the cave, they would shoot the bandits with arrows. Ensure the safety of the militiamen below.

Kiel had to admire this cautious defensive measure. If he were to command these militiamen, he would probably use other means to eliminate these bandits.

But no matter how you do it, there will definitely not be such an elaborate arrangement as Knight Crow.

With nothing to do, Kiel speculated on what caused Knight Crow's commanding style. After all, the knight himself is a very powerful warrior. According to his estimation, Knight Crow can kill them in open terrain without any injuries with just the thick armor of him and his horse, and only a spear. There are hundreds of people.

It doesn’t even take as long as an afternoon.

But what is the reason?

Knight Crow never mentioned much about his previous career in the Kingdom's army, so Kil naturally didn't dare to ask.

In this way, except for the occasional pitiful screams of bandits when they fell from the back mountain and fell off the cliff, the whole night passed very peacefully.

---

At dawn the next day, the militiamen who had returned to the camp to rest last night dragged a large amount of dead branches and leaves and firewood to the front line of the bandits' cave lair.

By the time the militiamen had eaten the food, they were full and strong. Knight Crow began to direct the attack on the last day.

Bundles of firewood greased with grease were thrown into the bandits' cave not far from the entrance from behind a large wooden shield by Kiel and the militiamen, followed immediately by a large set of lit torches.

The first batch of firewood thrown in burned quickly, giving the bandits no time or chance to move the firewood away.

Then, balls of dead branches and leaves wrapped in the dirty animal skins worn by the bandits were also thrown in.

The previous items could only be said to be incredibly hot, but they were not very unbearable for the bandits who had retreated a little. But once these things are thrown in, it's different.

When these miscellaneous things saw the flames, they immediately erupted into a lot of unpleasant smoke. The smoke was thick and lingering. Following the wind flowing from the entrance to the inside of the cave, it poured directly into the bandit's lair.

There were originally four bandit leaders, but only three came out at this time. The bandit leader, who has always been timid and more like a businessman than a bandit, ran away secretly with a few of his cronies last night.

This made the other people who had no morale even more feel that they were doomed. However, relying on the fact that their cave was easy to defend and difficult to attack and the Iron Arm arranged for manpower at Bingxun Pass to attack later, they originally wanted to continue resisting like this and defend until the militiamen ran out of supplies before retreating.

By then, they would naturally be considered a complete victory, even if they themselves suffered heavy losses.

Only when they could smell smoke in the room where the meeting was held and their subordinates came to report, did they know what methods the militiamen were going to use to deal with them.

The militiamen are going to smoke them all to death in the cave!

Several leaders rushed to the cave passage, endured the choking smoke, crawled on the ground and took a look, and found that at the entrance of the cave, the militiamen were constantly throwing urine-soaked wood into the burning flames, and there were Some random things were also thrown in, producing a lot of foul-smelling smoke that followed the direction of the airflow and entered the cave.

"Can you put it out? Ahem." Delang shouted loudly. The three of them couldn't stand the thick smoke, so they took a look and returned to the cave.

The calm-looking bandit leader was left patting his chest, then wiping his blackened face, gritting his teeth and saying, "Whether we can or not, we must quickly find water to extinguish the flames."

After saying that, he directed his bandits to push the large stone tank for storing water and pour it into it directly at the entrance of the passage. At the same time, Iron Arm was also asked to organize manpower, no matter men, women, old or young, to fetch water from the water source inside the cave and quickly transport the water.

As for Delang, he had to lead a group of people out from the vertical patio and occupy the patio. He could not allow the militiamen to drop smoking objects down from there.

Delang took the manpower and rushed over immediately. On the way, he discovered that the smoke pouring into the lair was taking the same path as him.

When he came to the vertical patio, he was disappointed to find that all the smoke was discharged from the cave from here. If you want to climb up, you have to endure the constant smoke.

None of his men were willing to do something that would probably cost them their lives, even if Delang punched each of them, it wouldn't work.

With no other choice, Delang had no choice but to take out his double-edged ax and tell his men that whoever he clicked next would be killed immediately if he dared not crawl.

Immediately afterwards, the selected robber looked desperate and had no choice but to pick up the rope and wipe his hands on the ground to wipe off the sweat on his palms. While coughing from the smoke, the bandit carefully looked for a gap where he could climb up.

After climbing halfway, due to the smoke cover, the bandits looking up below could no longer see the figure of the bandit. They could only know through the sound of the other party coughing that the guy was still climbing up.

But soon, the bandit above suddenly dropped his hand amid a series of coughs.

After landing, his mouth and nose were twitching and he was vomiting blood and he was carried down.

Although he is not dead, he can only live for a few days.

Delang, the beheaded man, did not speak. He just raised the heavy double-edged ax with one hand and waved it toward his bandits in a demonstrative manner. Then he casually pointed at a bandit with the other hand.

The robber who was targeted was so frightened that he fell to the ground. He kept waving his hands and begging Boss Delang to show mercy, saying that his son had just been born and he didn't want to die yet.

"If you don't want to die, then your child will die because of your cowardice!" After saying that, Delang strode over and cut the bandit in half with a drop of his arm.

"His child drowned! Women also reward the guy who dares to go up next! Then, it's you!" Delang said the punishment, and then pointed to another bandit.

Although this bandit has a face full of reluctance, if you ask him to go out and fight with others, he won't even frown. But if you let the bandit climb up along the crack on the edge of the vertical patio, it is usually not difficult.

But now all the smoke that pours into the cave comes out here, like a climbing chimney, or a chimney with a fire.

The bandit found a fine cloth to cover his mouth and nose, but he felt it was not safe, so he asked his companion for some water. After soaking it a little, he wrapped it around his face and climbed up with the rope on his back.

This time, the bandit coughed a lot less. De Lang was very satisfied and loudly expressed that he would reward this guy with a few gold coins later.

Seeing that it was not difficult, the other robbers also found fine cloths, soaked them and wrapped them around their faces.

After waiting for a while, there was indeed a rope hanging down from the top, and the robbers began to grasp the rope one by one and climb up.

With the rope on top as a climbing aid, the rest is not that troublesome for these bandits. They wrap the rope around their waists, then grab the rope with both hands and kick the rock wall with their legs. Using both arms, the bandits quickly climbed up.

The smoke continued to smoke them. Fortunately, their mouths and noses were wrapped with wet cloths. Although it was difficult to breathe, they could still endure it. Of course, my eyes couldn't bear it anymore, so I could only close them tightly.

I really don’t know how the guys before could endure this kind of smoke. As soon as they opened their eyes, they were so smoked that they had to close them tightly.

The guy before had to climb the rock wall to find a way, and then go all the way up.

-

Delang below watched his men climb up one by one. He also put the double-edged ax aside, preparing to wait for his turn. He would first tie the double-edged ax to the bottom of the rope, then climb up first, and then climb up again. Pull the weapon up.

Seeing a bandit crawling unsteadily in the air, Delang couldn't help but curse: "@#￥ # ! Keep your grip firmly, be careful if it falls and hits me!"

The bandit reluctantly agreed and climbed up.

But after a while, a bandit fell from above.

A person fell unexpectedly, startling the bandits below. One unlucky bandit was hit by the impact. Fortunately, he was only slightly injured and was not in trouble.

"Let me tell you, this guy is always messing around in the house. He is so weak that he can't get up at all." A robber who lived in the same house as the robber commented.

"Then you didn't tell me earlier! What a bad luck! Who's coming down?" Delang originally wanted to order another bandit, but when he lowered his head and looked at the soft-footed bandit who fell to death on the ground, he suddenly found that this bandit had something on his arm. A wound.

It wasn't a bump from the fall, but a stab wound.

He suddenly raised his head and looked at the vertical patio shrouded in smoke. His face changed again and again, and the teeth in his mouth were almost broken. The bandit next to him saw it strangely and was about to ask the leader what was going on and why he was so angry.

As a result, Delang, the beheaded man, yelled at the top of the patio: "You militiamen! I thought they were all honest farmers, but I didn't expect they were so vicious! Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! Die! Die! Have the guts to come down and follow me?" Let me show it off! See if I don’t kill you with one axe. Come and kill some of you!!”

Amid his curses, the smoke-shrouded patio seemed silent for a moment, and then, one after another, the decapitated corpses of bandits fell from above.

Many of the robbers who stayed below were hit and injured.

Delang angrily raised his ax and struck it from bottom to top, splitting a headless corpse that fell on his head.

Now, the bandits all knew what was happening up there. It turned out that the bandits who had just gone up were killed by the militiamen who were ambushing above. They even lowered the rope insidiously and let the bandits below climb up along the rope one by one.

-

At the top, Kiel and several militiamen threw down the last beheaded bandit body, hoping to kill one or two bandits who were unlucky enough not to avoid it.

"Ahem! Okay, okay, let's get out of here. Remember to bring their rope. It's quite strong and it might be useful later." Kil finally couldn't bear the choking smoke. Go away and take a deep breath of fresh, cold air.

Several militiamen nearby were all smiling. A bandit's head was worth one silver coin. If the family farmed for a year, the family might be able to harvest one gold coin of food. How could one earn money quickly by killing bandits while farming?

And it is still the convenient and quick method now.

"Are these bandits stupid?"

"Hey, Brother Kil is still smart and knows how to trick them."

Kil smoothed his hair and smiled proudly: "That's not the case."