The hostages were successfully rescued, and the prestige of the newly established special battalion was greatly enhanced. Yu San took the opportunity to propose to Dong Hu that he would go to Yazhou to punish the traitors. According to the detectives of the Perak Army, the bandits who have frequently attacked the caravans passing through Yazhou in recent times are the former county lieutenants of Baizhang who surrendered to the Mongolian army after killing the county order. He later went to Mingshan Castle with the Mongol army, but was abandoned when Cheri fled east with the Mongol cavalry. Because he knew that the Thunderbolt army would not be spared, he fled into the mountains with dozens of new annexes in the mountain city of the same name and became bandits.

This traitor acted ruthlessly and knew how to do military affairs, and within a short time, he annexed several small bandits in the vicinity, and the number of bandits swelled to more than 200 people, which disturbed the nearby chickens and dogs for a while. Because he hated the Thunderbolts for driving out the Mongols and depriving him of his glory and wealth, he swore that he would not share the heavens with the Thunderbolts. Cao Zhizhou aimed at this, and let him go around plundering, and even deliberately connived. In fact, the attack on the Lizhou fire and nitrate mine was instigated by Cao Zhizhou. The reason why Cao Zhizhou did this was that on the one hand, he could use the hands of bandits to fight the Thunderbolt army, and even if he couldn't do great damage, he could disgust Ouyang Xuan; On the other hand, this traitor county lieutenant is not an ordinary bandit, but a political bandit, a lackey of the Mongols. Cao Zhizhou was secretly negotiating the terms of surrender with the Mongols at the moment, so he naturally did not want to be an enemy of them.

After reconnaissance, the Perak Army found out the pattern of the activities of this group of political bandits, and also learned that their hiding place was a remote cottage in Yandao County, the seat of Yazhou Administration. This cottage is also as easy to defend and difficult to attack as Qianjiazhai. If political factors are not taken into account, the field brigade equipped with heavy weapons is the first choice for attacking Fort Jianzhaili. But when acting within the boundaries of Yazhou, it is obvious that you can't make a big show, you must act secretly and low-key, and a sneak attack by special forces is the first choice, which is why Dong Hu was moved by Yu San's words. But Ouyang Xuan named the hoe to take on this task. In fact, both the hoe company and the special battalion are units of the internal guard brigade, and in terms of combat effectiveness, the latter is stronger. The reason why Ouyang Xuan let the hoe and traitor company go out, in addition to training the troops to cultivate many strong troops, is also to show the prestige of the hoe and traitor company, so that the outside world knows that the Thunderbolt army has a team that specializes in killing traitors, so as to show that it is not in the same sky as the traitors who surrendered to Mongolia.

To exterminate this political bandit, it is obvious that we cannot expose ourselves. Cao Zhizhou would definitely not allow the Thunderbolt Army to operate on the border of Yazhou, not to mention that the bandit leader also knew that he was secretly communicating with the Mongols. In fact, some of Cao Zhizhou's dealings with the Mongols were to let the bandits act as intermediaries, and once something happened, Cao Zhizhou could deny it and dump the pot on the bandits. For the bandit leader, anyway, the traitor has already been a traitor, so he simply went all the way to the dark.

It is the right of the Thunderbolts to kill the bandits who rob the caravan, but according to the rules of officialdom, to cross the line and suppress bandits is to stretch their hands too long. Ouyang Xuan asked the hoe rape not to make a big fuss, after all, this is in the territory of Yazhou. He was not afraid of turning against Cao Zhizhou, because the Thunderbolt Army killed not only bandits, but also traitors who rebelled, which occupied the moral high ground. Ouyang Xuan had already decided that after this matter was over, not only did he not need to hide it, but he also had to publicize it with great fanfare.

On a cold day with a drizzle, a caravan left Baizhang Pass and headed straight for Lizhou. It was the middle of December, the temperature in the western Sichuan Plain was cold, and the snow began to fall in Yazhou and Lizhou, while the places such as Diao, Yanzhou and Dajian furnace were already white. It was not a good time for the caravan to choose this midwinter season to go to the Tibetan region. It's just that the Thunderbolt Army urgently needs to transport the fire and ammunition back to Lizhou, and they really can't wait. Since the mine in Lizhou was put into operation, Qian Bao has organized the shipment of fire nitrate three times, completely solving the demand gap. Nitrate deposits have also been found in the mountainous areas near Qiongzhou City and Dayi and Qingcheng County, but the output in these places is far less than that of Shanglizhou. With the increase of military production capacity, a new demand gap will inevitably be formed.

In fact, this caravan braved the bitter cold to set off for more than just trade. It is also to lure political bandits. This group of bandits was based on the fortress and could not be attacked without heavy artillery, so the Thunderbolt army decided that the only way to lure the snake out of the hole was to settle the strategy. The caravan set out with a large amount of salt, iron products and other materials, and purchased a large amount of tea in Yazhou City, preparing to trade with Zeyang's people in Lizhou, and then bring back fire nitrate, mercury and other materials on the return journey. With the support of the Perak Army, Ze Yang has become the agent of the Perak Army in the region, and is also the largest force in Diao, Yanzhou, and Zhidajian Furnace and the nearby grasslands. With his help, the Thunderbolt caravan was able to purchase a large number of mules, horses, medicinal herbs, minerals, furs and other items in Lizhou, without having to go deep into the Tibetan region. Although Zelang took a part of the profits, it was a win-win choice for the Thunderbolts to save time and obtain a large number of urgently needed strategic materials.

The caravan was followed outside the city of Yazhou, but it pretended not to know, but moved forward unhurriedly. A few days before the caravan left Yazhou, the men of the hoe company went to the mouth of the canyon where the bandits' den was located through the path. This canyon is more than ten miles long, but there is only one road in and out, and the bandits' den is in the deepest part of the canyon. The soldiers of the Hoe-Rape Company lurked in the dense forest at the only entrance and exit to and from the canyon. For fear of exposing their targets, they did not dare to light a fire to protect them from the cold and did not eat hot food. Fortunately, they were all dressed in fur clothes and served with high-calorie foods such as sugar and jerky, and they were able to endure the cold. The nearest outpost here to the bandits is also four or five miles, and the winter in Yazhou is as humid and foggy as the western Sichuan Plain, so more than 100 of them have been lurking here for three days without being discovered.

After hearing the news that the Thunderbolt caravan had set off from Yazhou City, the bandits also left the bandits' den and set off. To say that in this dripping weather, leaving the warm fire to rob in the snow is also reluctant for ordinary bandits. It's just that I heard that the caravan was very rich in goods, and it was a very fat sheep, and the bandit leader made a promise that the robbery would no longer be a commission but be distributed in full, which made this group of rabble cheer up and grab knives and guns to ambush on the road that the caravan must pass. In order to lure the bandits to dispatch, the Thunderbolt army has invested in the goods is really eye-catching, and they are not afraid that they will not be deceived. Of course, these materials are also urgently needed in the Tibetan area, and Ze Yang is still waiting to make a lot of money after being transported back to the arrow furnace.

"You look at the scenery on the bridge, but you don't know that it has also become the scenery in the eyes of others." The bandits lined up in a long line on the mountain road, with more than 200 people, and it seemed that this time they were out of the nest. To say that this bandit leader has been a county lieutenant after all, he also knows how to march and fight. He divided the team into three teams, the front, the middle and the back, and put scouts at the front, and he sat in the middle to command. When he was about to reach the mouth of the canyon, he also deliberately ordered the whole team to stop advancing, and only continued to march after the scouts had reached the front to reconnoiter and there was no abnormal situation. As long as you pass the mouth of the most dangerous canyon, and walk more than ten miles, you will be the place to attack the caravan.

The leader of the bandits thought of the large sum of money that was about to arrive, and the thought that he could beat the Thunderbolt army to get out of his chest, he almost wanted to hum a song with joy. It's just that when he thought of the bandits' reaction to his humming, he still couldn't hold back. A few days ago, he was really happy after drinking, so he hummed a tune, and a few of his men who knew not long eyes hurriedly comforted him, and asked him what was so sad about him, and he cried so sadly? This made him immediately angry, and immediately beat these guys who didn't know what to do, and actually hummed him as a cry.