Luo Yue nodded and said, "Okay, you haven't been to Crouching Tiger Mountain, so how did you notify the bandits, and how did you hand over the food and supplies to them?"

Even if he had agreed to help the East China government, Sun Xianlu had nothing to hide, and said: "The villain and the thieves agreed that as long as the village promised to give them something, they would plant a flag at the entrance of the village, and tie a few cloth ribbons to the flag, that is, they agreed with them that they could gather the things in a few days, and the place of delivery was by the small river in the south of the village." Grain and materials are loaded with carts, pigs, sheep and livestock are driven, and the villain takes a few villagers to the river, they will come to pick them up, take the car away, and leave a few taels of silver for the villain to buy a car, and other villages are the same. ”

Luo Yue pondered for a while and said, "How many villagers do you usually take to transport food and supplies, and how many people do they usually send to pick them up?"

Sun Xianlu said: "There are always more than 10 people at a time, and on the thief side, there are about 4 or 50 people." ”

Luo Yue thought about it again and said, "Okay, you go home first, and then immediately plant a flag at the entrance of the village, tie three strips of cloth, and if someone asks you, just say that the township government asked you to do this, and don't say anything else." Tomorrow morning, take me to the creek?"

Sun Xianlu agreed, and under the arrangement of the staff, he led his wife and children home to arrange the flag planting.

And after he left, Luo Yue said: "Although Sun Xianlu promised to help us, he can't be completely at ease with him, because he wants to prevent him from escaping with his family, so he has to send someone to keep an eye on him these days." ”

Ding Chao nodded and said, "Okay, I'll arrange it right away." ”

Luo Yue said to Jiang Haidong again: "You have to do a good job in the work of the militia, and in the past few days, you must stabilize their emotions." I'll talk about the rest of the matter tomorrow when I look at the terrain by the river. ”

Jiang Haidong said: "Yes, I will definitely deal with it." ”

That night, Luo Yue sent people back to Jinan and ordered the first battalion to rush to Beiya Village at night, stationed in the woods 6 or 7 kilometers northwest of the village, and asked the battalion commander Ban Xiaowei to come to the village to report to him.

Early the next morning, Luo Yue and Ban Xiaowei changed into civilian clothes, and with more than a dozen guards, under the leadership of Sun Xianlu, they came to the small river outside the village. This river is not big, the river surface is estimated to be only 2 or 30 meters wide, but it is the main source of irrigation water in this area, connecting several river outlets, and there is no fixed place where Sun Xianlu and the robbers handed over in the past, because the terrain in this area is relatively flat, so as long as you stand on the embankment, you can see it from a very long distance, of course, for several years in a row, it has also roughly formed a range.

Luo Yue stood on the embankment and looked around, the embankment is not high, only 3 or 4 meters, and the width of the top is less than 3 meters, but there are a lot of woods inside and outside, and there are some reeds growing near the river, but on the whole, the terrain is relatively flat, and it is not a good place to ambush and hide, of course, if only a few hundred people are hidden, it can be done without being strong.

After looking at it for a while, Luo Yue asked Sun Xianlu, "How did the bandits come here before?"

Sun Xianlu said: "They all came up from the embankment to meet us. ”

Luo Yue said: "The river embankment can't lead to Crouching Tiger Mountain, so they should have a place to go up the embankment, do you know where it is?"

Sun Xianlu nodded and said, "The villain knows that about 5 or 6 miles away, there is an intersection on the embankment, and the road after the embankment leads directly to Crouching Tiger Mountain. ”

Luo Yue said: "That's right, take us over there to have a look." ”

After surveying for a morning, Luo Yue and the others returned to the village and immediately gathered the main officers to discuss the strategy of ambushing the bandits. Judging from the survey, it is not suitable to set up an ambush at the handover site, and Sun Xianlu only brought about 10 villagers to go to 4, 50 bandits contacted, in the number of direct contact between the two sides is at an absolute disadvantage, because the distance is too close, may not be able to reflect the advantage of the People's Army in firepower, it is difficult to completely control the bandits who come to contact in the first time, and it is not easy to protect Sun Xianlu's safety, after all, if Sun Xianlu is really full to help the People's Army, then it is necessary to ensure Sun Xianlu's absolute security, this is not only from the moral considerations, but also to set Sun Xianlu as an example, indicating that the People's Army will do its best to protect the people who help the government, if Sun Xianlu is injured in the conflict or even killed, then who will help the government in the futureTherefore, setting up an ambush in the area of the handover is not the best solution.

On the contrary, after the bandits received food and supplies, they left the embankment and turned into the place where the road leading to Wohu Mountain was more suitable for ambush, although the terrain here was also about the same place, but because it was the place where the road turned, it was more surprisingly sudden, and at this time only the bandits were left, and the People's Army could also shoot without scruples. Of course, the disadvantage of this plan is that it is difficult to form a siege of the bandits, so as to capture most of the bandits, and it is easy to slip through the net.

However, Luo Yue believes that these disadvantages are within the acceptable range, because now the People's Army has a battalion of troops, even if it does not count the support troops, there are more than 500 people, and there is an absolute advantage in the total number of people, so these disadvantages can be compensated by the advantage in numbers, and if the number is not enough, troops can also be transferred from Jinan City to reinforce. In addition, as long as half of them can be captured, it is actually an acceptable result.

After determining the location of the ambush, Luo Yue and Ban Xiaowei immediately began to study the arrangement of the ambush and all kinds of details. And after Sun Xianlu learned about the arrangement of the People's Army, he was also very grateful to the People's Army, firstly, he did not have to turn his face on the spot with the bandits, although Sun Xianlu knew that these bandits were the masters of murder, but after so many years of dealing, he was not bad to himself, and he also suffered a lot of benefits from them, not to mention that there are also his own relatives, and he can not have to turn his face on the spot, of course, it is no better; second, this is also for his own safety, if the two sides do it when trading, the knife and gun have no eyes, he is just a peasant who does not understand anything, and he will inevitably be injured by mistake。 And there is no need to worry about this coming. What else can the government say about being able to treat itself like this, so Sun Xianlu finally completely let go of the burden in his heart and helped the People's Army wholeheartedly.

Three days passed quickly, Luo Yue ordered 10 soldiers, change into the clothes of the common people, follow Sun Xianlu, push three carts, and drive pigs, sheep and other livestock to the river to trade with the bandits. Of course, the task of these 10 fighters is to protect Sun Xianlu's safety, and they also have the purpose of surveillance, not to engage the bandits, so as long as the food supplies are handed over to the bandits smoothly.

A group of people came to the embankment, waited for a while, only to see in the distance of the embankment, faintly appeared a group of figures, gradually approached, to be able to see clearly, sure enough, there are about 4, 50 people, all of them are tight-fitting and dressed up, and each holds knives and guns and other weapons, and a few people carry rifles, but when they get closer, they can see clearly, it turns out to be an old-fashioned single-shot gun, and even a front-loading flintlock pistol.

Sun Xianlu hurriedly greeted him, only to see that one of the people in the group also jumped out, and the two met the man: "Third uncle, wait for a long time." ”

It turned out that this person was Sun Xianlu's nephew, named Sun Zhicheng, and every year he brought people to pick up food and supplies, in addition to the reward given to Sun Xianlu by the cottage, Sun Zhicheng would also give him some extra money, mainly to help him take care of his parents' graves.

Although Sun Xianlu and his nephew didn't have much friendship, he didn't feel a little sad when he thought that his end was decided, and time was short, but at this point, he had no way out, so he couldn't force a smiling face, and said: "It's okay, it's okay, it's just one or two bags of cigarettes, it's not too long, let's see what you want." ”

Sun Zhicheng didn't suspect it, turned around and beckoned, and said, "Brothers, go count a little." Six or seven bandits stood behind him and came over to count the numbers, while Sun Zhicheng chatted with Sun Xianlu without a word, and said, "Third uncle, I heard that overseas Chinese are doing what kind of land division in your village, is this true or false? How many acres of land has your family allocated?"

Sun Xianlu said with a smile: "You know, my family still has more than 40 acres of land, so it is considered a middle peasant, and no land has been allocated, but the land of those big families has really been divided, and all the tenants have been allocated land." ”

Sun Zhicheng said: "Overseas Chinese are okay, but they have done a good thing." But this time we want something, what is the saying of overseas Chinese?"

The traverser of this question had already prepared a promise to Sun Xianlu, and said: "At the beginning, the overseas Chinese did not agree, and they planned to go out to celebrate and kill you, but a few old people in the village said that when this war started, it was our countrymen who were unlucky, and besides, these things were all from the village, and there was no need for the government to pay a penny, so it should be regarded as spending money to buy peace! ”

Sun Zhicheng said with a smile: "I have said a long time ago, how about overseas Chinese, those who are officials are all the way to the goods, more things are better than less things, it turns out that the imperial court is like this, overseas Chinese are not also officials of the imperial court, what can be different, the owner of the big village is still worried that the overseas Chinese are not easy to deal with, it has not been opened for several months, and the village is almost empty." How's it going?"

At this time, an inventory of bandits came over and said, "Master Cheng, everything is finished, and they are all in order." ”

Sun Zhicheng nodded, took out a roll of paper and two bags from his arms, and said: "Third uncle, this is a list for several other villages, hurry up and send it to let them make up things, otherwise the cottage will not be able to celebrate the New Year, this is your reward, and mine, you can go and add a few handfuls of soil to my father's grave when you are free this year." ”

Sun Xianlu hurriedly took it over, nodded again and again, and said, "Okay, okay, you can rest assured." ”

Sun Zhicheng waved his hand and said loudly: "Brothers, let's go back to the mountain, we can open meat tonight." ”

The bandits suddenly cheered, and the carts that pushed the pigs and sheep drove the pigs and sheep and left along the embankment.