Marrying a White Snake Wife is Super Cool-Chapter 109 - 85: Oh my~ You naughty boy, you’re teasing your Auntie~
The weapons’ range is too short, and the mountain paths are too narrow to deploy them effectively. Not only would you miss the bandits, you’d likely hit your own men.
So, in a frontal assault, the bandits on that mountain could truly hold off an army of ten thousand with just a single man at the pass.
A few hundred men guarding an entrance could hold off tens of thousands of attackers.
If you tried a war of attrition, you’d just be throwing lives away.
You’ve got to be kidding. Losing several thousand regular troops just to wipe out a few hundred bandits?
No one would ever make that trade!
That’s why, since ancient times, the Court has basically had only one strategy for dealing with bandits.
A siege.
You won’t come out, will you?
Fine, fine, fine. Then I won’t go in either.
I’ll just set up camp at the foot of your mountain, block the roads, and stay put.
Even if you get on your knees and beg me, I’m not going up there.
I’ll just wait down here.
Generally, after half a year or so—sometimes a little less, sometimes a little more—they’ll run out of food in their stronghold and come out on their own.
But the problem is, a siege requires a force several times larger than the bandits’.
There are so many forks in the road, you never know which one they’ll use to break out.
To besiege a mountain stronghold of three to five hundred bandits, you need three to five thousand soldiers.
But where would the Empire find those troops now?
They’re all in the Northern region, busy butchering "pigs."
Of course, that was then, and this is now.
Many troops have been withdrawn from the Northern region now, like Song Chi, for example.
He just got back from the front lines.
Once the Empire’s sword is done butchering "pigs" in the Northern region and returns, even an idiot knows the next step is to clean up the bandit infestation within the Empire’s borders.
So, logically, these bandits should be lying low right now.
After all, their good days are numbered.
But in reality, they aren’t stupid. They know their time is almost up and that trying to be a bandit in the future would be a death sentence.
What they’re thinking is, they might as well go all out and have one last crazy spree.
’Let’s pull off one last big score!’
Then, they’ll come back, split the loot, and each man will head down the mountain shouldering a huge sack.
With the money in that sack, they’ll buy some land, a big mansion, and a beautiful wife. They’ll clean themselves up and—hey presto—they’re respectable gentlemen!
That’s why the Divine Ling Empire is seeing so many vicious bandit incidents right now.
The kind where they come straight down from the mountains to raid the cities.
Otherwise, why would the Zhao Family hire so many household guards?
Aren’t they protecting themselves from exactly this sort of thing?
And this Liangshan gang, they sacked an entire city.
But, as fate would have it, they happened to do it just as Song Chi was returning from the front.
Of course, that in itself wasn’t a big deal.
When Song Chi first got back from the front, he didn’t immediately go to suppress the bandits.
The Da Xingzi incident happened at Taixing Mountain, and Song Chi was tied up with that for nearly two months.
Logically, the Liangshan gang should have dispersed by now.
After all, the regular army was back.
But human nature is greedy. As the saying goes, man is inherently evil from birth.
Back then, with the situation at Taixing Mountain, anyone would have thought it would take a long time to resolve—at least half a year.
So the Liangshan crew figured they’d squeeze in a few more raids before scattering.
But unexpectedly, the Taixing Mountain affair turned out to be all thunder and no rain.
It started off looking terrifying, with the Eight-Headed Serpent and whatnot.
But it was all over in two months.
Song Chi led his men straight back.
And it was a seamless transition; he came back and immediately went to blockade Liangshan.
This task actually has its own difficulties.
That’s because the situation at Liangshan Marsh is different from that of bandits in the south.
Southern bandits rely on treacherous terrain that the regular army can’t assault.
But Liangshan Marsh is different. It relies on its sprawling network of waterways.
Even though it’s not like the Northern Song Dynasty anymore and the legendary 800-li marsh is long gone...
...if it’s not eight hundred li, it’s at least eighty li today.
Liangshan itself isn’t very high, only two hundred meters in elevation.
Compared to the mountains in the south, it’s more like a large burial mound than a real mountain.
But the problem is, with that sprawling network of waterways, they can just duck into the reed beds and you’ll never be able to catch them.
This actually makes suppressing them much more difficult than dealing with the southern bandits.
Otherwise, without that advantage, how could Liangshan have become such a famous bandits’ den?
However, in theory, as long as one proceeds with a steady and careful approach, it shouldn’t be an issue.
You just have to slowly feel your way in.
Especially since it’s winter now, some parts of the sprawling waterways have frozen over.
Although Qilu isn’t like the region outside Liao Dong Pass—it doesn’t get that thick, rock-solid ice...
...even thin ice that can be broken by a small boat is a devastating blow to the Liangshan bandits.
But the problem is, this isn’t just a simple matter of bandit suppression.
It’s not enough to just wipe them out.
It has to be done fast!
Last night, I heard from Song Meiqin that the problem is that this gang of Liangshan bandits intercepted the sister of the Vice Minister of the Ministry of War.
And they killed her.
The order to exterminate the Liangshan bandits came directly from the Ministry of War, one of the Court’s Six Ministries.
Furthermore, after the new year, this Vice Minister of the Ministry of War will come to inspect Qilu.
Why is he coming here?
He’s coming for this Liangshan gang.
There are only about ten days left until the new year.
At most, in about twenty days, that Vice Minister will arrive in Qilu.
If he arrives and finds that Song Chi has made no progress...
...a big-shot leader like him won’t care about your reasons or difficulties.
It just means you’re incompetent.
And if you’re incompetent, you can just get lost and let someone else take over.
For Song Chi...
’Dammit, this could ruin my career!’
Forget about promotions; he probably won’t even be able to hold on to his position as Vice General.
’When our group first went to the Liu Family,’ Lu Yuan thought, ’that old hag only dared to get into a shouting match with Song Meiqin.’
’But the next day she dared to get physical. She probably found out about this situation.’
’Otherwise, how would that old hag have dared?’
’Song Meiqin’s brother is a Vice General, and he dotes on his sister so much.’
’And yet you tormented his sister like that—stripping off her cloak in the dead of winter, forcing her to kneel outside, hold water, and get whipped with a cane.’
’If he found out about that, wouldn’t he come back with bloodshot eyes, ready to kill you?’
"Yuan’er~ Come back and eat."
As Lu Yuan stood by the carriage, gazing at the hilly terrain in the distance, the curtain of a nearby carriage window was lifted, and Song Meiqin called out in a soft voice.
Having been held by Lu Yuan all night, Song Meiqin had been coaxed into a better mood and wasn’t letting yesterday’s events affect her.
Perhaps because she had caught a chill yesterday, her nose was a little stuffy, making her voice sound nasal.
It only made her seem even more gentle.
The Song Meiqin of this moment was a bit like an Official’s Wife from a Jiangnan Water Village.
Noble and mature, yet gentle and intelligent.
So very alluring.
Lu Yuan glanced at the distant hills again and couldn’t help but break into a grin.
Then, in high spirits, he leaned against the carriage window, grinned at Song Meiqin a few times, and said:
"Feed me.
Ahhh~"
Lu Yuan’s behavior stunned the three women for a moment.
Huh?
But once she came to her senses, Song Meiqin quickly tore off a piece of flatbread and passed it to him, her eyes filled with delight.
The tenderness in Song Meiqin’s beautiful, love-filled eyes could no longer be hidden; it was overflowing.
Lu Yuan looked at Song Meiqin’s delicate hand offering the food and opened his mouth wide.
He didn’t just eat the flatbread; he also took Song Meiqin’s slender fingers into his mouth and sucked on them loudly.
This made Song Meiqin’s cheeks flush a rosy red, and she said coquettishly:
"Aiya~ You little rascal, you’re teasing me~"
After speaking, she extended a delicate finger and tapped him playfully between the eyebrows.
Then she turned, picked up a small bowl, and, full of shy delight, prepared to feed Lu Yuan some porridge.
Lu Yuan treasured this kind of coquetry from a beautiful, mature woman the most.
He always felt the contrast was immense.
It was just like how Lu Yuan loved to see his wife’s face—normally that of an incomparably cold queen after her atavistic transformation—flush red because of him.
Meanwhile, Su Liyan and Zhao Qiao’er watched Lu Yuan outside the window, somewhat stunned.
’Our man seems to be in a really good mood today...’
But after thinking about it for a moment...
Zhao Qiao’er couldn’t help but roll her eyes first.
’How could he not be?!’
’There are three of us now!’
’It’s really just like that little stubborn mule said!’
’One in the morning, one at noon, and one at night!’
’We’re taking turns serving him!’
...
「Around four in the afternoon.」
「The main army tent.」
Song Chi looked at Song Meiqin, completely speechless, and said:
"Sis... you’re looking down on me way too much!!"
"I’ve been to the Northern Battlefield, for crying out loud! I’ve fought the Beast Race head-on!!"
"Just stay out of this!"
"This kind of thing requires a professional general. Lu Yuan really isn’t cut out for it!"
