In fact, more than half of the bandits currently active around Jinchuan are local common people from the surrounding areas.
Under the instigation and encouragement of Advisor Chen, many of these bandits believed that West River Bend was overflowing with silver and grain. After the forts were burned down, they surged into the village in a frenzy, terrified that if they arrived too late, the money and food would be snatched by others.
For the villagers of West River Bend and Guan Family Village, allowing the bandits to break into the village meant the end for every household.
Therefore, even before Guan Xiaorou’s orders could be passed on, the men of the Tiger Hunting Team had already rushed spontaneously towards the village entrance.
The two sides met at the threshing ground near the village entrance and immediately began fighting.
Neither attacking side nor defending side consisted of professional soldiers, yet the battle was extremely fierce from the very start.
The fog was too thick. The men of the Tiger Hunting Team had not received professional training, so for a while they could not form a complete defensive line. Quite a few bandits took advantage of the chaos to break into the village.
What awaited those bandits were the day-shift female workers.
The women hid behind courtyard walls, haystacks, and other cover, shooting cold arrows at the intruders.
After several months of practice, the female workers’ archery was quite decent. The bandits who entered the village were hit one after another.
If an arrow missed, the women could quickly escape thanks to their familiarity with the terrain.
The bandits, however, were visiting West River Bend for the first time. With the dense fog, they could not even find their way properly and had no chance of catching up.
Even if they did manage to pursue, they would be secretly shot and killed by other female workers lying in wait.
The fighting lasted from dawn until mid-morning and only ended when the thick fog finally dispersed.
The bandits were still too few in number, and they were unfamiliar with the terrain. In the end, they were jointly driven out of the village by the Tiger Hunting Team and the day-shift female workers.
“Village head, take people to reinforce the village entrance with heavy crossbows and catapults. Be on guard in case the bandits return!”
“Xiao Yu, tally the casualties and arrange for the military doctors to treat the wounded as quickly as possible!”
“Dongdong, pull two hundred people from the factory to help in the medical room!”
Guan Xiaorou calmly issued one order after another.
The village once again fell into a state of busy activity.
Guan Xiaorou took Ah Ju with her and hurried to the medical room to visit the wounded.
The medical room had already been expanded, with a row of brick-and-tile wards added.
At this moment, all the wards were filled with injured people. Despite the bitterly cold weather, Wei Wuya and the group of female military doctors were sweating profusely from their efforts.
“Sister-in-law, all the injured brothers and sisters have been sent here. The bodies of the fallen brothers have also been collected and are temporarily placed in the shed beside the threshing ground.”
Xiao Yu found Guan Xiaorou and reported.
“How many brothers were killed in action?” Guan Xiaorou asked.
“Six female workers died. One hundred and twenty-three brothers from the Tiger Hunting Team were killed!”
Xiao Yu replied, “However, we killed more than two hundred bandits and captured over a hundred alive.”
“So many casualties?”
Guan Xiaorou’s heart trembled.
She had known there would be deaths, but she had not expected the number to be this high.
“Sister-in-law, in war people will die. There is no way to avoid it.”
Xiao Yu pointed towards the wards. “The troublesome part is that many brothers from the Tiger Hunting Team were injured this time. Now, fewer than half of them can still fight…”
Among the bandits who attacked West River Bend, only a portion had been arranged by Advisor Chen. The rest were mostly ordinary common folk.
How many ordinary people dare to kill lightly?
Even those who dared had received no professional training, so it was difficult for them to deliver a fatal blow.
Therefore, during the battle, both sides basically wielded kitchen knives and similar weapons, hacking at each other wildly.
Many of the fallen Tiger Hunting Team members and bandits died from too many wounds and excessive blood loss.
In contrast, the female workers who shot cold arrows always aimed at vital spots. Bandits hit by them usually died on the spot.
This style of fighting also resulted in a large number of injuries among the Tiger Hunting Team.
While the two were speaking, a man on crutches hopped over.
This man was Old Fan, one of the two disabled company commanders left to guard the village.
The other company commander had been on duty at Fort Number Two that day and had already been burned to death in the fire.
At this moment, Old Fan’s clothes and crutches were still stained with blood, showing that he had clearly joined the front lines earlier.
“Company Commander Fan, you are here!”
Guan Xiaorou asked Ah Ju to bring a stool and gestured for Old Fan to sit.
“Thank you, Madam!” Company Commander Fan was exhausted and did not stand on ceremony.
“How were the casualties among the escorts?” Guan Xiaorou asked.
“All the survivors are here.”
Company Commander Fan sighed and pointed towards the wards.
The bandits had launched a sneak attack, and the night-shift escorts bore the brunt of it. Their casualties were the heaviest.
Company Commander Lao Tong had been burned to death directly in the fort. More than seventy percent of the other escorts were killed in action. The surviving thirty percent were all wounded and had been sent here.
Company Commander Fan had come specifically to visit the injured escorts.
“Were the day-shift escorts’ casualties heavy?” Guan Xiaorou asked.
Company Commander Fan shook his head and sighed. “Only forty percent can still fight.”
“Why is that?” Guan Xiaorou frowned slightly.
She could understand the night-shift escorts suffering heavy losses from the surprise attack, but why had the day-shift escorts, who were in their dormitories at the time, also suffered so many casualties?
“The fog today was far too thick. When we formed our battle formation, we could not see where the enemy was at all.”
Company Commander Fan said helplessly, “I had no choice but to order everyone to scatter.”
With that explanation, Guan Xiaorou understood.
The escorts’ combat strength relied mainly on mutual coordination.
Once scattered, an escort was hardly stronger than an ordinary person. If surrounded and attacked by bandits, two fists could not defeat four hands.
Guan Xiaorou was about to speak when a female escort ran in hurriedly. “Madam, Team Leader, a message came from Guazi Gully. A group of more than a thousand bandits is heading this way!”
“More than a thousand?”
Guan Xiaorou clenched her fists so tightly that her fingers turned white.
Already, quite a few bandits had gathered at the village entrance, and more arrived from time to time.
Both the Tiger Hunting Team and the escort team had suffered over fifty percent casualties, and the forts at the village entrance had been destroyed.
What was most fatal was that today was another overcast day. It was only just past noon, yet fog was already beginning to rise in the valley. By night, there would surely be another thick fog.
If another force of over a thousand bandits came charging in, West River Bend might not be able to hold out.
Guan Xiaorou bit her lip hard twice, forcing herself to calm down and think of countermeasures.
But now West River Bend had become a tempting prize in the eyes of the bandits. Guan Xiaorou lacked Zhang Liang’s insight and talent. How could she come up with a good plan in such a short time?
She could only summon Tang Dongdong and ask her to mobilise as many female workers as possible to fill the gaps left by the Tiger Hunting Team and the escorts.
Soon, news that a large force of bandits was coming to attack spread throughout the village. The entire place was enveloped in an atmosphere of impending storm.
After assigning all the tasks, Guan Xiaorou climbed the hillside at the village entrance.
Looking at the dense crowd of bandits outside the village, her expression was grave.
Several dozen li away, Zuo Feifei on Iron Can Mountain wore the same grave expression as Guan Xiaorou.
In the previous few days, Iron Can Mountain had also faced several bandit attacks, but they had all been repelled by the stationed escorts and female workers working together.
The reason for Zuo Feifei’s grave expression was not that Iron Can Mountain itself was in danger. It was because she had just received news of a large group of bandits appearing near Guazi Gully.
Back then, the bandits who went to West River Bend to collect the annual grain tax came from Iron Can Mountain. The two places were not far apart.
She had heard about the battle that took place in the village last night, as well as the current situation.
She also knew very well how disastrous the consequences would be if this group from Guazi Gully reached West River Bend!
Although Iron Can Mountain was not on the bandits’ direct route, it lay precisely between Guazi Gully and West River Bend.
“Should we intercept this group of bandits?”
