The more important problem is that Xu Shiyang regards this war of bandits as his first effort to unify the various forces in the two counties, and he can be ruthless against the real bandits, but he would rather take another way to deal with this kind of fort that provokes trouble just because of a conflict with a certain family in the coalition army, so as to protect his reputation.

A good reputation is also a necessity for a proper ruler.

What's more, Xu Shiyang is still a nationalist.

"Alright, let's stop."

After silently counting to almost 50 times, Xu Shiyang ordered the soldiers to stop waving the wooden sticks in their hands.

He rode to the front of several dock castle owners who were still pleading around Xu Shiliu, and they retreated again and again, as if they wanted to hide behind Xu Shiliu.

"I've stressed it countless times, no robbery! Seizure and unified distribution! ”

Xu Shiyang Langsheng said:

"Do you think it's useless for me to talk as a commander? And again, and again! Is this still an army? I tell you, this is the last time! Next time there are random raiders, kill them on the spot! ”

"Bring them up!"

With an order, Xu Da led a few new army soldiers to escort over two dock fort soldiers who were tied up, followed by a few crying and disheveled women.

A castle lord surnamed Ding knew that the situation was not good, so he came over and begged for mercy: "Lord Xu Bao......, Lord Xu, these two boys are brave men who dare to kill, can you spare them?" ”

"Dare to kill, so dare to insult women, right?"

Xu Shiyang replied, and his cold tone frightened the lord surnamed Ding into shrinking back.

"These two are doing the same thing as bandits! Therefore they were punished as bandits, and they were cut down! ”

Moments later, two bloody heads were picked up on the top of long sticks and stuck at the edge of the barn.

"Who else wants to defy the law!?"

The scene was silent, Xu Shiyang's reputation had already spread, and the lord of the castle surnamed Ding, who had lost two precious men, could only shrink behind the team, and he didn't dare to speak more in frustration.

"Hmph, it looks like you don't want to."

"Then, pack up your things, set off tomorrow, and continue to suppress bandits!"

……

The offensive of the coalition forces was very smooth, and Xu Shiyang attacked all the bandit cottages in his sight, the enclosure where the homeless people gathered, and the dock fort of the "bandits".

Neither the cottage nor the Dock Fort alone was capable of sending out a similar force to resist the Coalition forces during such a busy farming season, and the first thought of most of the Dock Fortifiers after being attacked was to pay tribute to the Coalition forces, hoping that the Coalition troops would leave as soon as possible so that they could continue their farming.

In this case, Xu Shiyang generally treats them differently according to their status - if it is an ordinary dock fort that occasionally makes a cameo appearance as a bandit, Xu Shiyang will collect some of their money and food, and then ask the other party to promise not to participate in the looting in the future.

This kind of guarantee is easy to obtain, but it is basically non-binding, and Xu Shiyang only asked them to verbally agree, leaving an excuse for the next interference in "other dock's internal affairs."

In addition, Xu Shiyang asked these dock forts to send persuasive managers to Xujiawu forts to participate in the second meeting of the two county dock forts alliance during this year's agricultural slack.

Of course, there are also those who, like the previous Dock Fort, have a personal enmity with one of the coalition forces, and end up resisting desperately with their own strength.

In this case, Xu Shiyang could only break the opponent's dock fort to maintain the morale and reputation of the coalition army.

It's just that after breaking through the dock fort, Xu Shiyang strictly forbade his soldiers to burn and loot at will, and the rest of the population and materials, including the original dock fort owner, were moved away as trophies.

Since the purpose of sending troops is to suppress bandits, the bandit stockades along the way have naturally become the main targets.

It was slightly better than Fort Wu, the bandits were mainly robbed, supplemented by farming, and there was not much of a problem when they did not rob the farm, but in front of the coalition forces, their situation was not much better.

Seeing the strength of the coalition army, the bandits usually held the gate and tried to survive until the coalition army retreated, which was a fatal mistake - the gate of any cottage could not withstand the blow of a solid wooden cannon.

The consequence of everyone retreating from the defense was that the artillery could get close enough to miss every time, and use a single shell to break the biggest barrier that the enemy held to the end.

To make matters worse, after the seemingly impregnable gate is lost in a deafening explosion, the morale of the bandits will be seriously reduced, and even the old bandits will not have the confidence to confront this unheard-of weapon head-on.

When fighting between third-rate armies, morale and numbers determine everything, and the coalition forces have a strength advantage over individual bandits, and after defeating the morale of the other party, even if the new army does not fight, others can easily achieve victory.

For bandits, Xu Shiyang still maintains the previous style - all the bandit leaders are executed, and some of the old bandits are killed for the most heinous crimes, and the rest are rushed to do heavy work.

New bandits, if they don't have a blood debt, are treated as ordinary captives.

By the end of June, the coalition army circled around Wulian Mountain, sweeping through Rizhao, Juzhou, and half of the vast majority of bandits in Zhucheng and three counties, the army was so strong that most of Qi Province was alarmed, and hundreds of Wubao representatives from all counties of Qi Province (there were actually a few from Dengzhou) found Xu Shiyang, trying to find out what the ultimate purpose of this strange team was.

Xu Shiyang's reply to them was "six families united, protect Sangzi, protect the territory and the people", the coalition army only aimed at bandits, and had no interest in the outer dock fort.

If there was no invitation from Wubao in other counties, the coalition forces would not have left the scope of Juzhou and Rizhao counties (in fact, they had already touched many places in Zhucheng, but the representatives did not mention it).

So, regardless of whether the delegates really believed it or not, the guests and hosts were happy anyway, and the delegates went home with the gifts they had prepared long ago, and with the promise that the coalition forces would not expand the war.

As for whether these people will learn from the practices of Juzhou and Rizhao after returning home, and also engage in a large-scale joint crackdown on bandits at the county level, Xu Shiyang does not know for the time being.

On June 29, the coalition forces returned to Rizhao, and in the following days, the whole of Rizhao County was plunged into a sea of revelry—according to the results agreed upon before the joint meeting of the heads of the family, the spoils of war were to be distributed to the families in proportion to their troops.

According to Xu Shiyang's own records, in almost two months of anti-bandit operations, the coalition forces captured a total of 3 Wubao forts, 11 bandit cottages, plus the displaced groups and some smaller villages defeated along the way, a total of more than 12,000 people were captured.

In addition, there are hundreds of camel animals such as cattle, horses, mules, and donkeys, as well as a large number of meat animals such as pigs and sheep, and poultry such as chickens, ducks, geese, etc.

The surplus of food is relatively small, because the consumption of the coalition forces and prisoners along the way is very large, and looking at that, at most, a dock fort is divided into a dozen stones.

All kinds of captured weapons have been divided on the road, at this time, everyone is short of iron materials, and the weapons that have been built are also an important capture for the dock fort owners.

The surplus clothes and bedding of the farm tools were already distributed as a reward for the soldiers by the dock owners.

At this stage, the most important thing is actually the distribution of the population, livestock, and gold and silver from the bandits.