The bandit army at the foot of the mountain indeed refused to retreat.

Cheng Xu coldly watched them, and Li Daoxuan equally watched them with a cold stare.

At the very front of the bandit army, a group of five hundred men spread out to curse, shouting in unison toward the mountaintop: “Are you the militia from Zhengjia Village? Fuck your mothers! Zhengjia Village produced a hero like Zheng Yanfu, who killed officials and rebelled. Yet instead of following his example, you’re helping the authorities bully your uprising fellow villagers. You’re all official lapdogs. You’re unfit to be humans—just a pile of dog shit. Screw you!”

Zheng Daniu grew furious. He opened his throat wide and bellowed toward the mountainside, “Zheng Yanfu is a… Mmmph…”

A militia comrade covered his mouth and dragged him back, whispering, “Big Brother Wang Er is set on protecting Zheng Yanfu’s reputation. Let’s respect Big Brother Wang Er a little and not spill Zheng Yanfu’s story.”

Zheng Daniu said, “I don’t care! I’m gonna spill Zheng Yanfu’s story anyway. Damn it, I even thought of him as a friend as a kid, but he launched a night raid on Gaojia Village trying to slaughter us all.”

After speaking, he shoved the militia men aside, lay at the cliff edge, and yelled, “Zheng Yanfu is a son of a bitch! You follow him? Well, I’ll fuck your mothers!”

Gao Chuwu, his good friend, naturally backed him up. He too lay at the cliff edge and joined Zheng Daniu in shouting, “I’ll fuck your mothers!”

The militia men all followed, everyone cursing angrily.

Cheng Xu also got angry. “Fuck! All of you, shut up. By cussing like that, you’re revealing our numbers. Earlier, they couldn’t tell how many of us were here.”

Everyone: “…”

Li Daoxuan couldn’t help but chuckle silently. Right, even I hadn’t thought of that point—or hadn’t even considered that approach. He probably had plenty of experience, since he’d often led over a hundred soldiers everywhere to suppress bandits.

This militia truly lacked discipline and was still far from being regular troops. Cheng Xu would have plenty to teach them.

Just as Li Daoxuan thought of this, he saw the bandit army below beginning stealthy maneuvers.

The cursers at the front kept spewing insults toward the mountaintop, while a large group of bandits at the rear quietly slipped out of formation. Led by the Second Leader Sui Fengxiong and the Third Leader Erchun, they retreated silently backwards into the woods. Under the cover of the trees, they circled to a cliff face, then buried themselves and slipped into a ravine.

Li Daoxuan didn’t have the skill to count how many people with one glance, so he had a camera snap a photo and handed it to a computer for scanning and identification. Soon, the computer reported: Four hundred people.

The bandit army dared not send too large a group because bigger numbers withdrawing might alert the militia atop the mountain. By splitting off only four hundred, they kept the militia believing their numbers stayed unchanged—all still piled at the front engaged in the cursing battle.

Sui Fengxiong and Erchun were both fierce bandits known for their height, build, and skill in fighting, as were all four hundred underlings—no elderly and weak, women and children.

At the very front was a guide, an herbalist forcibly brought from a village just east of here. He knew the mountain terrain nearby extremely well and led these four hundred fierce bandits into the ravine. Stealthily, they wound their way uphill.

Li Daoxuan saw that the direction these four hundred were heading was precisely where Cheng Xu had sent Xing Honglang to ambush. He couldn’t help silently praising: Cheng Xu does have some merit. Right after sizing up the terrain, he predicted the bandit army’s movements. A capable warrior like him—why was he just a lowly ninth-rank inspector? Shouldn’t they give him more room to grow? Instead, they sent Imperial Guards to kill him?

Alas! The Ming court! The Ming court!

Meanwhile…

Quangou Village!

Fang Wushang, the newly appointed patrol officer, stood on high ground, gazing toward Heyang County. County Magistrate Liang Shixian had claimed the bandit army would definitely pass through Quangou Village, but after waiting and waiting endlessly here, they didn’t show. Where had those bandits gone off to?

A deputy inspector suddenly dashed over, shouting loudly, “General Fang, big trouble! Fan Shanyue of Heyang hasn’t come this way. Instead, he’s headed toward Gaojia Village.”

Fang Wushang instantly panicked. “Fuck! That fool Liang Shixian. I thought he was so impressive, swearing up and down that the bandits would come to Quangou Village. Turns out he was blustering. Depart at once, for Gaojia Village!”

The deputy officer said, “It’s over ten miles of mountain path. We can’t make it in time!”

Fang Wushang fumed, “We’ll make it even if we can’t. Move! Fast, fast, fast!”

…

Xing Honglang and her group waited quietly for a while before any noise came from the ravine.

Sui Fengxiong and Erchun crouched low, guiding four hundred fierce bandits as they sneakily crept along the bottom of the gully.

As they moved, the two kept muttering awkwardly under their breath.

“Damn it,” said Erchun. “I spotted Xing Honglang just now. That bunch throwing stones from the hillside—those are her underlings.”

Sui Fengxiong replied, “Really?”

Erchun said, “I was in the very front, really close to the top of that slope. I looked up and saw that Xing woman staring down straight at me.”

Sui Fengxiong cursed softly, “That bitch of a woman actually teamed up with the militia to fight us. Absolutely outrageous—a traitor to the outlaw world.”

Erchun said, “Once we sneak up to the top and attack from behind, they won’t be able to hurl rolling logs and stones anymore. Our big brother can lead the main force up the front for a pincer attack. We’ll take that woman alive. I’ll make her regret ever being born.”

“Good!” Sui Fengxiong said. “I’ll help you capture that woman alive, Second Brother.”

Just as they finished speaking, a loud, coarse woman’s voice rang out overhead, “Erchun, Momma sees ya!”

Sui Fengxiong and Erchun started and hastily looked up.

Atop the cliff on one side of the ravine, Xing Honglang’s head popped out. In the next split second, a salt smuggler also poked his head over and threw a rolling log down below.

“Fuck!” Sui Fengxiong and Erchun were terrified and scrambled to both sides.

A rumble erupted as rolling logs and stones rained down from the ravine’s edge, pummeling the four hundred fierce bandits below.

Despite being fierce, bandits were still human.

Humans couldn’t withstand such insane attacks with rolling logs and stones. In the blink of an eye, cries of agony filled the valley. The four hundred fierce bandits got battered, scattering and fleeing in utter defeat.

Many bandits grew fearful and started retreating the way they came.

But Erchun did justify the “chun” (“fool”) in his name. Xing Honglang’s appearance had scrambled his mind. Amazingly, he didn’t retreat—instead, he shrieked like mad and charged forward.

Maybe luck shielded him. The rolling logs and stones didn’t hit directly, letting him rush all the way out of the ravine. Along a slope, he sped like the wind toward Xing Honglang…

Two salt smugglers immediately lunged to intercept. Xing Honglang waved thickly and shouted loudly, “Back off, everyone! Momma will take revenge herself.”