The early morning fog had not yet receded, but a small group of soldiers had already entered the town along the path at the back of Liangshan Mountain. There were shouts of killing all of a sudden!

Many water bandits who were still sleeping with women in their arms hurriedly picked up their swords and went out. What awaited them were sharp arrows shot by Xuzhou archers.

"The Kaiyang County Lieutenant led his troops to fight against the thieves!"

More and more soldiers entered Liangshanbo, under the banner of officers and soldiers.

No matter how many water bandits there are, they are just thieves. When I heard that the officers and soldiers came to fight against the thieves, I was scared to death.

Because it was a sneak attack, the city walls and wooden arrow towers of the first-level town were useless.

Zhou Yafu commanded the infantry to block all roads in the town and try his best to wipe out this vicious banditry.

"Master, the officers and soldiers are coming in!"

"If you come out to fool around, you will have to pay back sooner or later. What are you afraid of? Grab a few alive to block the arrows and kill them out!"

The leader of the water bandits with a scar on his face was so cowardly that he put another piece or two of gold in his arms and tried to escape from the chaotic battlefield with a few cronies and captives.

The water near the Yi River has frozen, and the water bandits cannot take advantage of it, so they can only fight on land.

As long as Zhou Yafu had enough troops, it would be easy to bully the water bandits.

A row of light infantry held up long guns to block the intersection, using wooden planks and other obstacles. Behind them were Xuzhou archers holding long bows, using the gaps between the light infantry to kill the water bandits who tried to break through.

The light infantry held their spears flat and advanced step by step, compressing the water bandits' living space.

The water bandits who were blocked in the center of the town became increasingly panicked. They were ambushed by Zhou Yafu from all sides and could not escape at all.

Zhou Yafu was the main force in the attack on Liangshanbo. When Chu Tian led the reserve team to arrive, Zhou Yafu had successfully surrounded most of the water bandits.

As for the water bandits patrolling the city wall, seeing that the situation was not good, they abandoned the city and fled.

There was an ambush from Xia Town's light cavalry outside, intercepting and killing the escaping water bandits.

"The officers and soldiers blocked all the streets. It's like they knew the layout of the entire town in advance!"

"There must be a traitor among us who is colluding with the government!"

The water bandits became increasingly nervous and took a dozen townspeople into custody, trying to negotiate with the officers and soldiers.

"My lord, the water bandits want to negotiate with us using the townspeople in their hands as hostages. Should we negotiate or attack by force?"

Faced with this difficult situation, Zhou Yafu left it to Chu Tian to make the decision.

What seems to be a dozen lives is actually an important choice, because it determines the first plan that Chutian and his men will consider when facing similar situations in the future.

Chu Tian knew that he could not be soft-hearted. Otherwise, how could he defend the city if the enemy hijacked the people and captured them to attack the city?

"This is no longer a security incident in the town, but a war. I will attack immediately without any threat."

Chutian's decision ensured that any future military operations in Xia Town would not be threatened by the enemy's use of civilians.

"As commanded."

After all, Zhou Yafu has seen too many lives and deaths on the battlefield. Liangshanbo has become a battlefield. In order to eradicate the roots, it is impossible to let go of the main thieves.

Under the command of Zhou Yafu, Xia Town's soldiers and horses successfully suppressed the water bandits, and half of the townspeople held hostage by the water bandits survived.

"Once upon a time, a general was kidnapped. The lieutenant general was unwilling to compromise and attacked the assassin. The assassin abandoned his weapons and surrendered. Later, the monarch heard about this and ordered that the army should not worry about the safety of the hostages in the future, so nothing like this happened."

In order to appease Hua Mulan and others, Chu Tian told an allusion.

This allusion is really not made up by him, but a real historical allusion, which happened in the late Eastern Han Dynasty.

The kidnapped general was Xiahou Dun, the assassin was the general sent by Lu Bu to pretend to surrender, the deputy general was Han Hao, and the monarch was Cao Cao.

Hua Mulan nodded: "My lord, what I did is definitely correct."

"No, this is not the right approach. It can only be said to be the only choice. The military can do this. If it is a security incident in the town, try to persuade them to surrender."

Chutian clearly distinguished two situations: war and public security.

Liangshanbo is a first-level town, but Chutian found that the resource buildings here only have second-level farmland, second-level mining sites, and second-level logging sites. The water bandits have embarked on a deformed development path, relying on looting other villages and towns to obtain resources, and then building crazy

Shipyards, barracks, docks, brothels, and taverns.

He brought Song, the lord of Liangshanbo, to the lord's mansion in time, and asked Song to hand over the ownership of this first-class town in time, making Liangshanbo a vassal town of Xia Town. Chutian renamed it Liangshan Town.

Song Jishi had long wanted to escape from the control of the water bandits, but now that the water bandits were wiped out, he felt relaxed and easily handed over the first-level town to Chu Tian unconditionally.

There are many buildings in Liangshanbo that Chutian covets. Of course, they are not brothels, but fourth-level docks and third-level shipyards. These are buildings that are not even in Xia Town.

Level 3 shipyards can already produce true warships.

"The property seized by the water bandits was piled up in the town's treasury. They also captured a group of blacksmiths, one of whom was a senior blacksmith."

Song Jiji, as the original lord of Liangshanbo, knew the situation here well.

Now that he is no longer a lord, Chu Tian will know these things sooner or later. It is better to give them out on a tray, maybe Chu Tian will be rewarded.

"Senior blacksmith?"

The special talents in Xia Town are basically mid-level or low-level talents, and high-level blacksmiths are very rare.

No wonder these water bandits use sophisticated Huanshou knives.

"Did this group of water bandits hijack ships traveling on the Yi River?"

"They make a living by robbing ships, but recently the Yi River has begun to freeze. They have been squandering money and food. They have not enough money and food to use, so they go to rob surrounding villages and towns."

It seems that this group of water bandits are the ones causing headaches for the Mi family.

This group of water bandits were so bold that they even dared to rob the merchant ships of Xuzhou's richest people.

This time he helped the Mi family eliminate a threat, and the Mi family would definitely sell him a favor in the future.

As a first-level town, Liangshanbo is not that easy to conquer. If it weren't for Song Jiji, who knew the reality of the town, Chutian might not have been able to capture Liangshanbo, which has more than a dozen arrow towers and a four-meter city wall.

There are two gondola warships by the river. There are parapets on the sides of the gondolas, which have certain defensive capabilities. The crews are mainly oarsmen, and they can carry a small number of soldiers and are very fast.

It was precisely with the help of two gondolas and dozens of sentinel boats that the water bandits in Liangshanbo successfully robbed the Mi family's merchant ship. The Mi family was helpless against the water bandits for a while.

"All captured water bandits, from the petty leaders above, will be put to death. The rest will be slaves forever. They will not be allowed to marry, nor will they be granted amnesty. They will go to mines that never see the light of day to atone for their sins. Only by working can they have food."

Chu Tian used the harshest punishment. The water bandits who were executed might be luckier than the living water bandits. They would not have to endure decades of hard labor.

"This place can be used as a stronghold for the navy, connecting it in a straight line with the previous water village and Xia Town. The only problem is that there is a shortage of labor for mining resources in this town."

Fang Xuanling observed the nearby terrain. Liangshan Town was easy to defend but difficult to attack. The water bandits tried their best to pile up buildings related to the navy. The fourth-level wharf made Xia Town inferior to it. It was suitable to become a town for the development of water transportation.

Chutian annexed Liangshanbo and returned to Xia Town with gold, silver and high-level blacksmiths.

"Inform the Mi family that this group of water bandits has been wiped out by us. They don't need to go to Zang Ba to negotiate."
Chapter completed!