Wu Shigong's current crackdown on bandits was different from the last military action to exterminate the Holy Spirit Society's rebellion.

In the last rebellion of the Holy Spirit Society, although Wu Shihou can be said to have won a perfect victory, he also obtained huge economic benefits.

However, whether it was when Wu Shigong was guarding the county seat at that time, or when he later launched a charge to rescue the city of Defu, all of Wu Shigong's actions were completely in accordance with the actions of the Holy Spirit Society and the orders of his superiors, and he reacted very passively. It can be said that there is no jihua.

However, this time Wu Shigong's suppression of bandits was a purposeful and active military action. You can have plenty of time to plan your own military operations.

Needless to say, Wu Shigong is a person with a strong learning ability. In fact, he understood that in his two lives, he had not learned any military command at all, and he did not have any knowledge of military command. Therefore, he himself is no longer ingenious and does what the experts say.

That expert is also the Qin Bai who caused Wu Shigong to cross. That Qin Bai said: Before every military operation, the purpose of this military operation must be determined. Moreover, it is only possible to determine one purpose.

All right! Wu Shigong's suppression of bandits this time also determined a purpose. For what purpose? It's for the money!

Aside from Wu Shigong's desire to ensure that the trade routes are unblocked, he can earn money for escorting salt goods; Aside from the fact that if the stockade of Li Harizi's gang of bandits is exterminated, some supplies can be seized. Now the key thing is that Wu Shigong has found a huge opportunity to make money.

Wu Shigong learned from Lei Ying about the number of bandits and mountain people in this mountainous area. From these amounts, it can be estimated that these people need at least 300 stone of salt per month.

If Wu Shigong completely monopolized the supply of salt goods in this mountainous area, he would be able to earn at least 1,000 taels of silver per month. For the current Wu Shigong, this income of 1,000 taels of silver per month can completely make him salivate.

Moreover, this is only at the present time, when the people in this mountainous area are relatively sparse after the rebellion of the Holy Spirit. As the situation stabilizes, the number of people settling in this mountainous area will increase further, and Wu Shigong's salt income will also increase further.

However, there are three difficulties in completely monopolizing the supply of salt in this mountainous area:

First of all, there is no fixed seller of salt supply in this mountainous area, but this does not mean that there is no seller to supply salt to this mountainous area.

What does this mean? The meaning of this sentence is that in fact, there is still a supply of salt in this mountainous area. That is, those salt sellers near this mountainous area, including Lu Jianchen and Lu Yunhuan, who then sold the salt goods to the bandits and mountain people in this mountainous area at a higher price through the second dealers.

And when Wu Shigong monopolized the supply of salt goods in this mountainous area, those sellers near the mountainous area, except for Lu Jianchen, who directly supplied Wu Shigong's salt goods, other sellers would be expelled by Wu Shigong. And under the interests of money, they will definitely not be submissive, and they will also fight back against Wu Shigong's monopolistic behavior.

At that time, Wu Shigong must maintain his strong enough force in this mountainous area to maintain his monopoly position;

The second is that this mountainous area is located in Runing Province, and it is not in Wu Shigong's defense area. Therefore, Wu Shigong could not blatantly station troops in this mountainous area. Therefore, Wu Shigong wanted to use complete control of the bandits in this mountainous area to achieve his goal of maintaining force in this mountainous area.

Zuihou is, because he wants to completely control the bandits in this mountainous area, so before, Wu Shigong gave Lei Ying a part of the materials in exchange for Lei Ying's practice of not being hostile to him, which was a little lacking.

Because the current Wu Shigong doesn't want the bandits of Lei Ying to be his allies, he wants the bandits of Lei Ying to become his vassals. In order to strengthen Lei Ying's control, it is not only necessary to bind him with interests, but also to use blood to make Lei Ying sober and let him know what the consequences of betraying Wu Shigong will be.

From some of the above analysis, it can be seen that Wu Shigong went to attack Li Harizi's cottage this time, just to uproot Li Harizi's gang of bandits in this mountainous area. There is simply no second option.

In addition, Wu Shigong didn't think about this choice at all: through his own military operation, he only weakened the strength of Li Harrier's bandits, so that he could control the bandits in this mountainous area through the balance of Li Harrier and Lei Ying's internal struggle in the future.

Don't say that Wu Shigong has little confidence in whether he can play such a profound political trick. In case there is any fire in the future, at that time, it may not be possible for Wu Shigong to blatantly drive a large army to carry out some "peacekeeping operations" in this mountainous area?

As long as that kind of action is made, Wu Shigong's opponent Yu Zilian will definitely go online, that is, Zuihou will impeach Wu Shigong for rebellion, which is not impossible. Because Wu Shigong drove his army out of his own defense area after all.

Now that the purpose is clear, the development of Wu Shigong's military operations is also clear. Wu Shigong's military operation this time was to capture Li Harizi's bandit village and defeat all Li Harizi's bandits.

And after the capture of the stockade, a group of soldiers were stationed in this stockade, and these soldiers were used to deter the shili who controlled the thunder eagle remotely, and completely monopolized the supply of salt goods in this mountainous area.

Wu Shigong is not afraid of how strong Li Harrier's cottage is. Don't say that Wu Shigong sent troops this time, with all his five artillery pieces. Even if the artillery can't capture this cottage for a while, Wu Shigong will also besiege this cottage for a long time, with his own thousands of fortresses, so many material supplies, and long-term consumption, Li Harrier's cottage will definitely not be able to fight himself. When you arrive in Zuihou, you will be hungry, and you will starve everyone in Li Harrier's village to death.

Wu Shigong was not afraid of Li Harrier running away. In a hurry, Li Harrier fled with some bandit backbones in the stockade at most. If he loses the base of the village, Li Harrier will definitely not be able to settle down in this mountainous area to survive.

And at that time, Wu Shigong was also in this mountainous area, eliminating Li Harrier's bandit Shili, and he was also able to ensure his monopoly position in salt goods. As for Li Harrier making waves outside the mountains in the future, it was not in Wu Shigong's defense area anyway. Wu Shigong can't worry about it.

Therefore, after Wu Shigong's army entered the mountainous area, he marched unhurriedly, and did not pursue the speed of soldiers at all. In addition, Wu Shigong's army, with a large number of materials and tools, is preparing to besiege Li Harizi's cottage for a long time, and it is indeed not fast. Of course, Wu Shigong and the others are always vigilant to prevent any ambushes.

As the head snake of the land, as soon as Wu Shigong's army entered the mountainous area, Li Harrier quickly knew the movements and attack goals of Wu Shigong's army.

Knowing that Wu Shigong's army was here to attack him, Li Harizi was indeed a little nervous. However, Li Harizi is also an old bandit leader who has been through storms for a long time, and it is not the first time he has encountered bandits by the official army. Therefore, Li Harrier immediately concentrated his manpower and prepared to defend his cottage.

And Li Harrier made some mistakes in judgment this time. Li Harizi regarded Wu Shigong's military action to attack his own village as an ordinary military operation of the officials and troops to suppress bandits in the past.

In the previous suppression of bandits by the officials and troops of the Ming Dynasty, if the officers and soldiers encountered a well-defended bandit stockade, they would generally not attack to the death. Because, the main force of the official army's attack was the personal soldiers around those military attachés. If the loss of the soldiers is too great, the strength of this military attache will also be greatly damaged. Out of the practice of preserving strength, those military attaches will not do such a loss-making business.

Therefore, the process of suppressing the bandits by the officials and soldiers was generally as follows: the two sides pretended to fight indiscriminately, and then the bandits threw some gold, silver, pigs and sheep from the stockade as a reward for the officers and soldiers. The officers and soldiers also pushed the boat down the river and withdrew their troops.

And the following year, the same drama played out again. When I arrived in Zuihou, some of the officials and soldiers who hated cheating and cheating were even exempted from pretending to be a random fighter. After directly collecting gold, silver, pigs and sheep, they left, forming an institutionalized behavior of officials and soldiers coming to bandits to collect New Year's goods.

And Li Harrier just thinks that Wu Shigong is such a kind of anti-bandit action. At most, it was because Li Harizi robbed the caravan escorted by Wu Shigong's army and swept Wu Shigong's face. Wu Shigong came to take revenge on himself.

But Li Harizi thought so in his heart: he didn't rob any goods in the end, and the casualties of his bandits were greater than those of Wu Shigong's army, so in the final analysis, he also suffered a loss. It's not a never-ending situation.

As long as you say more soft words at that time, and send more gold, silver, pigs and sheep, as long as you rely on the strong defense of your own village, you will be able to resolve this misunderstanding at that time.

Li Harrier was indeed very relieved about the solidity of his stockade. After all, this village is also under the management of Li Harrier for many years. Moreover, the location of this stockade is also somewhat similar to Wu Shigong's Qianhusuo fortress, which can only be attacked in the front of the village, so it is easy to defend and difficult to attack.

In addition, the material reserves in the village are also very sufficient. Li Harrier estimated that it would be enough to support three months of consumption. Li Harrier didn't believe it: Could it be that Wu Shigong attacked his own stockade for months and months as an adult? Won't he go back for the New Year?

Li Harrier didn't know at all, Wu Shigong didn't say it was three months, it was a year, and Wu Shigong was going to attack this village.

So when Wu Shigong's army finally arrived at Li Harizi's stockade, Li Harizi shouted above the stockade: "Lord Wu, it's all a misunderstanding!" The villain gave Lord Wu ten pairs of pigs and sheep and one hundred taels of silver as compensation and reward to the adult. How about just stopping it? ”

The soldiers around Wu Shigong all looked at Wu Shigong when they heard this. Although these soldiers of Wu Shigong have received long-term military training, they have not withstood the test on the battlefield after all, and they still have the mentality of some ordinary people in their mentality.

In the thoughts of these soldiers: since Li Harrier has softened, he has sent some gold, silver, pigs and sheep as a reward, and he has no damage. The result of such a surrender without a fight is still acceptable.

But Wu Shigong didn't seem to see the looks of those soldiers, he didn't move, waved his hand, and ordered: "Fight!" ”