Shen Shuli nodded at her father before saying, “We can prepare on several fronts.
“First, we need outside help. Find a few people who have good relations with the surrounding villages and send them to ask for reinforcements. If the people from those villages are afraid and unwilling to help, explain to them that when the nest is destroyed, no egg will remain unbroken. Once our village is wiped out, their villages will be next. Instead of waiting to be slaughtered one by one, we might as well take a gamble and fight together!
“Besides that, we can offer incentives. We got quite a lot of spoils this time, including plenty of silver and good horses. That bandit logistics team is coming to haul away grain, so they’ll definitely have plenty of ox carts, donkey carts, mule carts, and horse-drawn carts. Anyone who takes part in resisting the horse bandits can be rewarded according to their contribution. Money moves the heart. Surely there will be people willing to take the risk!
“Second, we can set up an ambush in advance. Anyone who has bows and arrows or knows how to use a slingshot can participate in long-range attacks and catch them off guard. We can also dig traps outside the village, fill them with fire oil and firewood, and use walls of fire to block their advance.
“Anyone with firecrackers or fireworks at home should bring them all out. In sufficient quantities, even firecrackers can blast apart rocks. Those horse bandits are still flesh and blood, so they’ll definitely be injured by the explosions. Then we can take advantage of the chaos and strike them while they’re vulnerable.
“It’s already dusk. In another two hours, it’ll be completely dark. We villagers know this terrain better than anyone, so we have a huge advantage.
“As long as we coordinate properly, we may not be powerless to fight them.”
There was actually a lot they could do with these preparations.
Shen Shuli had suggested all this because she had a large supply of ammunition in her spatial storage. She also had plenty of firecrackers and fireworks, which meant she could secretly manipulate the situation behind the scenes.
Even flour could explode.
Although they would be fighting in open terrain, as long as the concentration of flour was high enough and there was sufficient heat and airflow from nearby flames, the flour could explode as well.
Forget a hundred horse bandits—even twice that number could be wiped out.
Besides, she and both her parents had pistols, with an unlimited supply of ammunition. Even without any helpers or traps, the three of them could kill all the bandits.
The problem was that the pistols could not be exposed easily. After all, there were countless eyes watching them.
If word got out, it could bring a catastrophe upon their family far more dangerous than the horse bandits themselves.
Su Yunhai immediately understood his daughter’s intention. He nodded at Li Rui and said, “My daughter’s proposal is excellent. Let’s refine the plan and put it into action immediately. We don’t have much time left.”
Li Rui had no idea what to do in the first place, so naturally, he would follow whatever Su Yunhai said.
He quickly turned to the villagers. “You all heard her. This concerns the survival of our entire village! Every single one of us must cooperate. Go home and bring out everyone in your family who can move. Don’t even think about slacking off!”
“I’ll be watching right here. Anyone who tries to hide behind everyone else and enjoy the benefits without contributing will be driven out of the village as soon as this is over!”
Li Rui was the village chief’s son and the successor to the position of village chief. He had considerable prestige in the village.
His words carried the authority of the village chief himself.
The villagers did not dare take it lightly. They immediately rushed home to call their wives, sons, daughters—everyone who could walk was brought out.
Su Yunhai had already optimized Shen Shuli’s suggestions in his mind and immediately began assigning tasks.
Able-bodied men who had good relations with neighboring villages, as well as women whose maiden families lived in nearby villages, were sent out to seek reinforcements.
Men and women, young and old, all those with strength pitched in to dig pits and set traps along the roads.
The older children brought out firewood, firecrackers, lamp oil, tung oil, and anything else they had at home.
The long-range attack team—everyone who had bows, arrows, or slingshots—hurriedly practiced their aim.
Some of the older women and aunts were busy cooking huge pots of food to give everyone an extra meal.
After all, the able-bodied laborers had already been working hard for most of the day. How could they face those vicious horse bandits on empty stomachs?
Even if they ultimately lost, at least they could die with full bellies, right?
The villagers had voluntarily donated the food themselves, as though everyone had already prepared themselves for the worst.
Shen Yuehua led some of the women and children to follow the doctor into the nearby hills to gather any medicinal herbs they could use.
The doctor had already used up all the medicine he had. No matter what, even a little more would be better than nothing.
Meanwhile, Shen Shuli and Su Yunhai were busy setting up traps.
The more he watched his daughter secretly take out all kinds of powerful explosives, the more suspicious he became.
He had been separated from his daughter for eight years, and the changes in her were simply too great. It seemed she had also accumulated quite a few secrets.
Many of these weapons were obviously military-grade, while others were models that could only be found overseas.
How had a helpless orphan like her managed to get hold of them?
But this was obviously not the time to ask.
The two of them worked together, constantly setting up traps.
Time quietly slipped away.
The villagers had long since hidden themselves according to their assigned duties.
The happiest news was that those who had gone out to seek help had visited the five nearest villages and brought back more than a hundred people in total. Every one of them had brought weapons and tools with them!
Su Yunhai and Li Rui immediately assigned these newcomers their tasks.
They had barely finished distributing everyone when Shen Shuli immediately alerted them.
“The mountain bandits are here!”
Everyone went on full alert!
The sky was already pitch-black.
Many villagers could see a patch of firelight slowly approaching the village.
This group of horse bandits was different from the previous one.
The first group had been the vanguard—the pioneers. Their mission had been to slaughter the entire village.
Every one of them had a horse, allowing them to move rapidly across the terrain.
This group, however, was much weaker in combat strength, and they were not riding horses.
They were driving ox carts, donkey carts, and mule carts. Most of them were walking on foot, chatting and laughing as they approached the village without the slightest bit of caution.
It was as though they could already see countless sacks of grain laid out before them.
The night was extremely dark, and the torches could only illuminate the area about three meters in front of them. No one noticed that they were already stepping onto the road to their deaths.
Once every bandit had entered the killing zone, Su Yunhai was the first to fire an arrow.
“Whoosh!”
The flaming arrow plunged into the ground.
The bandits stared at the arrowhead glowing with fire, unable to understand what was happening.
“BOOM!”
The explosives hidden beneath the bandits’ feet detonated instantly!
The bandits closest to the blast were blown into bloody pieces, their agonized screams echoing through the night!
The bandits finally realized what was happening.
Their faces changed drastically.
“An ambush! There’s an ambush ahead! Retreat!”
Unfortunately, it was already too late.
In the pitch-black night,
clusters of meteors rained down from the sky.
They were flaming arrows raining down like fire.
“Thud! Thud! Thud!”
“BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!”
Even after the bandits at the front realized what was happening, there was nowhere for them to hide.
The livestock they had brought had already been terrified into a frenzy by the explosions.
They stampeded wildly through the bandit ranks, charging left and right. Many bandits were unlucky enough to be knocked down and trampled to death.
Firecrackers and fireworks mixed with land mines erupted beneath their feet, dazzlingly illuminating the pitch-black night.
The bandits at the rear of the convoy finally understood what was happening. Seeing the horrific scene before them, they were scared out of their wits.
The darkness made it impossible to see clearly, causing their fear to rise higher and higher.
They could not even summon the courage to fight back. One after another, they turned around and fled.
To reduce casualties on their own side, Shen Shuli had tied firecrackers to the seriously wounded horses among the spoils of war.
The frightened horses charged straight toward the bandits with the last of their strength.
These injured horses had been wounded by the villagers during the previous battle against the horse bandits. They would not last much longer and would eventually have to be put down anyway.
They might as well make use of them to the very end.
The six terrified horses caused another considerable number of casualties among the bandits.
“Charge! Don’t let a single one escape!”
With Su Yunhai’s order, all the villagers hidden in the darkness pounced after the fleeing bandits like ferocious leopards.
No one had expected the bandits to be frightened out of their wits by the ambush.
The villagers’ morale instantly soared. They locked onto their chosen targets and pursued them relentlessly.
Shen Shuli and Su Yunhai each took a pair of night-vision goggles and a sniper rifle, picking off any bandits who managed to slip through the net.
If even one of these bandits escaped and returned to report what had happened, the bandits might launch a revenge attack and mobilize their entire force against the villagers.
So not a single one could be allowed to escape!