Chapter 2247: The Bandit Chief Falls
Sun Dabiao watched his household retainers cut down in an instant. Gritting his teeth, he brandished his saber and charged at Bi Da, who was leading the encirclement. Seeing the attack, Zhou Fu drew his twin blades and blocked Bi Da's front. The dual sabers whirred with power, and within moments, he forced Sun Dabiao back several steps.
"Capture Sun Dabiao, and there will be a heavy reward!" Bi Da shouted to the Zhou family retainers.
Their courage surged instantly. Zhou Er fired a chain of arrows, shooting down and driving back the minions attempting to approach Sun Dabiao. The other three retainers surrounded the bandit chief, their blades and staff raining down together. Within a few exchanges, Sun Dabiao was beaten until he had no power left to parry.
Taking advantage of this gap, Bi Da reloaded her weapon and fired two more shots, driving back the approaching bandits. On the other side, Luo Yiming led the Third Squad in a fierce counterattack, while the First and Second Squads cut off the follow-up bandit groups. The momentum of the breakout force gradually waned, and they were beaten back step by step.
Just then, the surrounded Sun Dabiao was struck on the leg by Zhou Qing's staff. He collapsed instantly. The three retainers pounced and pinned him down. Zhou Da, without ceremony, grabbed Sun Dabiao by his hair bun and dragged him before Bi Da.
"Master, we've captured the man!"
"Good! Ten taels of silver for each of you!" Bi Da said without hesitation.
"Thank you, Master!" the four retainers responded in unison.
Bi Da called over a local guide who knew Sun Dabiao. "Is this Sun Dabiao?"
The guide examined him carefully and nodded. "It is him."
Sun Dabiao's hair was disheveled, his clothes torn and stained with blood. This wretched appearance bore no trace of the majesty befitting one of the "Three Tyrants of Yangshan." Bound and unable to move, he could only glare viciously at the guide, then at the young woman before him.
So this girl is the baldy thieves' new County Magistrate! I, who roamed Yangshan unchallenged for decades, have actually fallen into the hands of a woman! Hatred seethed within him, but pain and despair seized his heart instantly, dissipating his spirit. This "Sun Dabiao," one of the Three Tyrants of Yangshan, had to bow his head at last, looking old and desolate.
"Tie him up well. Don't let him commit suicide."
"Magistrate, here is another one!" Several soldiers shoved forward a disheveled youth. His clothing was ornate, and he carried no weapons—clearly no ordinary bandit.
"This is Sun Dabiao's grandson," the guide said. "The person Sun Dabiao values most."
"Tie him up!"
With the capture of Sun Dabiao and his grandson, the bandits' will to break out evaporated. Luo Yiming seized the opportunity to have the local cadres shout, "Those who surrender will be spared!" Bandits began dropping their weapons and surrendering in droves. Before long, thirty or forty prisoners were captured at the intersection and tied together with ropes. Local cadres familiar with the bandits supervised from the side; spotting any relatively important leaders, they pulled them out to be bound separately.
By this time, the sky was fully bright. The gunshots and battle cries within Dalang Market had gradually thinned out, with only the occasional shot ringing out. Bi Da and the others knew the battle inside the market had essentially ended, though they didn't know the specific outcome. Just as they were worrying, they saw Zhen Huan leading several soldiers escorting prisoners over. Their faces and hands had been blackened by gunpowder smoke, and their uniforms were scorched and torn in many places. But the soldiers were high-spirited, their faces wearing the satisfaction of victory and disdain for the enemy.
"Bi Da!" Zhen Huan was beaming the moment he saw her. "Sun Dabiao, that hollow shell, couldn't take a beating at all! We finished them off in a few strokes! Now you can serve as County Magistrate with peace of mind." He moved to lean in closer.
Bi Da hurriedly took a step back, maintaining her distance. "Company Commander Zhen, you fought well. When I report this, I will definitely list your company as the primary merit."
"Your business is my business. What's this about primary merit? Bi Da, look at us..."
"Hurry and clean up the battlefield," Bi Da interrupted. "Our main force is largely at Dalang Market now, leaving the county seat empty. We must guard against a sudden attack by Feng Haijiao and that Yang Juren's bandit gang." She thought for a moment. "I think it would be best for you, Company Commander Zhen, to take the troops back to the county seat immediately. Section Chief Luo and I will temporarily 'work' here for a few days."
Dalang Market was the nest Sun Dabiao had occupied for generations; he had surely buried a large amount of hoarded wealth here. This war booty couldn't be left behind. Moreover, Dalang Market itself was a vital communication line leading to Yonghua and was originally a gathering place for merchants and residents. Most of the commoners here had been displaced during these seesaw battles, and many had been forced into banditry for their livelihood. They needed to be pacified as soon as possible to prevent the bandit gangs from growing larger the more they were fought.
Furthermore, this strategic treasure of Dalang Market was not only coveted by bandits but also by the Yao people of Yonghua. She had to restore order here as quickly as possible.
"Then I'll just stay here with the Mountain Company..."
"No," Bi Da rejected flatly. "You don't have experience in civil work, nor do you understand the local situation. It's more suitable for you to return to the county seat and act as our 'Guardian General'—if there's any situation, you can discuss it with Comrade You. Section Chief Luo and I will handle things here."
Zhen Huan had no choice but to agree to Bi Da's plan. However, he requested to leave only after Dalang Market was completely cleared.
"I will send a platoon back first," he said.
"Let's go look at Dalang Market," Bi Da said. "Let's see what Sun Dabiao's lair actually looks like."
The three of them laughed heartily. The heavy stone pressing on their hearts since the decision to launch a night raid on Dalang Market seemed to have lifted all at once. Even the usually stern-faced Luo Yiming was beaming. Bi Da felt as if a ten-thousand-jin burden had been removed, and she secretly heaved a sigh of relief.
Yangshan still had a long road ahead, but at least she had taken the first step—she hadn't let down Elder Huang's trust.
Inside the market, scorched earth was everywhere, broken walls and debris all around. Several seesaw battles had brought almost total destruction to this land. Merchants and commoners had scattered, and the corpses of bandits lay stiff among the ruins. Occasionally, dying men wailed—not crying for help, but begging for "a quick end." Soldiers of the Mountain Company, holding daggers, sent them to their release one by one.
The captured bandits were all disheveled, their clothes tattered. Some were simply bare-chested. One by one, bleeding and hanging their heads, they were driven and gathered together. Although swords and weapons lay scattered everywhere on the ground, not a single person had the thought of picking them up to resist.
"How many prisoners were captured?"
"The count isn't in yet," Zhen Huan said. "Probably around three or four hundred."
"That many?"
"We'll only know after screening," he said. "There are women and children inside, as well as some commoners who were abducted. We can't distinguish them yet, so we detained them all."
"Release all the women and children."
Luo Yiming spoke up quickly. "We can't do that. Many of the women and children are family members of the bandits."
Zhen Huan nodded. "Sun Dabiao's whole family was captured—and a few committed suicide."
"Although the Senate says 'guilt does not extend to wives and children,' their relatives have been bandits for many years, harming the common people to scrape together wealth, and they were the beneficiaries—so they are also guilty." Bi Da's voice was cold. "It's merely a difference in magnitude. The crimes they committed must also be reckoned."
As they spoke, they arrived in front of a courtyard that was still relatively intact. This was the location where Wang Chuyi had been attacked initially: the Dragon Mother Temple. Because most people in this area worshipped the Dragon Mother, Sun Dabiao had deliberately avoided this place when setting fires. Thus, the Dragon Mother Temple was preserved. After the fire was extinguished, Sun Dabiao's gang used the temple as their "Food Platform" and "Ticket House"—a hostage prison. Because Zhen Huan lacked sufficient troops, he hadn't divided his forces to attack this place, but considering the guards might commit arson or robbery, he had sent a squad to monitor it. Once the battle started, the corporal of this squad saw the bandits fall into complete chaos and that the number of guards at the Food Platform was small, so he commanded his squad to launch a sudden attack, wiping out all the guards and seizing the Dragon Mother Temple.
Below the steps in front of the Dragon Mother Temple and at the foot of the walls, more than twenty bandit corpses lay in disorder. They were either guards killed during the surprise attack or scattered bandits who had intended to rob the grain and silver after the chaos began.
Seeing Zhen Huan approach, the corporal immediately saluted. "Report, Company Commander! Corporal Squad Leader of the Third Squad, First Platoon, Mountain Company reporting! The entire squad is ten men, with zero casualties!"
"What is the situation inside?"
"The warehouse is intact. The abducted commoners have also been pacified and are emotionally stable now," the corporal reported. "There were a few corpses inside; I was afraid they would contaminate the grain, so I sent people to drag them out."
The Fubo Army enforced battlefield discipline extremely strictly, absolutely forbidding any private taking of war booty. Thus, after occupying the Food Platform, the corporal immediately sent people to seal both the front and back doors, leaving only a side door for entry and exit, and posted sentries to guard it, forbidding anyone from entering or leaving.
"How many commoners are detained inside?"
"About seventy or eighty people—men, women, old, and young," the corporal said with a frown. "Quite a few are injured or sick."
"Let them go home as soon as possible after a preliminary screening. I know about the 'tickets' in bandit dens—they have all suffered torture," Bi Da said.
"No problem, we'll handle it as soon as possible," Luo Yiming agreed. He then joked, "Sun Dabiao entrenched himself here for generations and accumulated vast wealth. Taking down his grain store is striking it rich."
"I know these old moneybags," Zhen Huan said—he had participated in many special search team operations and was experienced. "Every one of them is cunning as a fox. Sun Dabiao wouldn't hide gold, silver, and valuables in a 'public' place like this; most likely, they're buried in a cellar somewhere."
"We'll only know after interrogating them."
"If that old fellow keeps his mouth tight, it'll be hard to say. I've encountered such things before," Zhen Huan said. "Some people know they'll die and just won't confess even under torture."
"No matter how well he can endure, his whole family is in our hands. Are we afraid we can't get it out of him?" Luo Yiming laughed. "Get two old yamen runners from Yangshan County and have them work on his wives, concubines, sons, and grandsons one by one—I don't believe he can hold out! These bandits are expert at torturing 'tickets' to force out wealth; we'll treat him with his own medicine. Let them taste the flavor of their own cruelty."
Next Update: Volume 7 - Guangzhou Governance Part 452 (End of Chapter)