Chapter 36

After nearly an afternoon of effort, traps have been set up along two small paths leading to the bandit hideout, covering nearly 1,000 steps. Now, Ogasawara Koji is organizing people to set more traps at the edge of the forest near Mount Yotaka, seemingly intent on turning the area around the village into a death zone.

Meanwhile, Masahiro is leading the ashigaru (foot soldiers) in training on the parade ground. With the bandits about to attack, they must undergo targeted special training. "Sir, the lookout has returned," at this moment, a young retainer named Saboro came hurriedly to report.

"Oh? Let's go and see." Upon hearing this, Masahiro asked Tsuda Masahide to continue leading the training while he quickly walked out of the parade ground. At this moment, a 13-year-old boy approached. Masahiro looked closely and recognized him as Shinjiro, one of the three squad leaders of the patrol team.

"Shinjiro, I greet you, my lord." Shinjiro gave a standard military salute to Masahiro.

"Hmm, what's the situation?"

"My lord, we discovered a group of ten bandits camped by a stream. From their conversation, they plan to attack us along the stream at dusk," Shinjiro reported.

"Oh? Only ten people? And they plan to attack us?" Masahiro found this strange. The bandits wouldn't have just a few people, right?

"Yes, my lord. Their original intention was to gather information, but the leader of the bandits changed his mind and decided to attack us. It seems this decision led to a dispute within the group," Shinjiro continued, seeing the lord's confusion.

"Very good, Shinjiro. This information is crucial. When Shinjiro returns, tell him he can claim a bag of mixed grains from the warehouse as a reward for this mission," Masahiro was very satisfied with the information. Regardless of why the bandits changed their mind to attack the village first, it was a good thing for the domain. Masahiro feared the bandits would concentrate and attack the village together, which would result in a Pyrrhic victory. Now, with them attacking in batches, it fit his plan perfectly.

"Thank you, my lord." Shinjiro was very happy to receive a reward.

"Hiratsuka, make the midday meal for the ashigaru more substantial, add more fish and pork. Also, serve an extra meal in the evening (at this time, people in Japan only ate breakfast and lunch). Koji, allocate some people to reinforce the traps by the stream and in the forest, and try to add more traps," Masahiro turned to the hastily arriving Togo Hiratsuka and Ogasawara Koji and gave instructions.

"Yes, my lord." The two accepted their orders and hurried off to carry them out.

"Then, let's wait for our guests." After giving the instructions, Masahiro turned to look at the lush mountains.

......

Time passed quickly, and soon the sun began to set. From a distance, the sunset cast a gentle red glow over the land of Mount Yotaka.

After dinner, Masahiro divided the troops into three groups. Eleven archer ashigaru and eleven spear ashigaru, led by Tsuda Masahide, entered the forest near the stream to prepare to attack the bandits in the dark. Another eleven spear ashigaru, led by Ogasawara Koji, lay in ambush near the entrance to the village from Mount Yotaka, ready to intercept fleeing bandits or block incoming attacks. The remaining seven spear ashigaru stayed with Masahiro to deal with emergencies or provide support to the other two groups.

The bandits, on the other hand, were eager to attack. If not for the fear of alarming the village and causing the villagers to flee, they would have started entering the forest much earlier. After a long afternoon, with the sun about to set, the bandit leader, Yotsu, quickly woke his sleeping subordinates and led them into the forest by the stream, advancing towards the village.

After nearly an hour of pushing through the underbrush, the ten bandits finally reached the trap area. By this time, night had fallen, and the moon cast a cold light on the forest, but it remained pitch black.

"My lord, should we light torches? It's too dark to see the path," suggested Matsu.

"Hmm, yes, light the torches, but be sure to extinguish them when we approach the edge of the forest to avoid alarming the peasants," Yotsu agreed with Matsu's suggestion and immediately gave the order.

The forest at night was especially eerie. The bandits lit their torches and continued forward. As they walked, suddenly a patch of muddy ground covered in leaves split open, and one bandit fell in before he could even cry out, then groaned in pain. Another bandit quickly shone a torch into the pit and saw the fallen bandit's body pierced by bamboo stakes, clearly not surviving.

"Ah! Be careful, there are traps!" The ashigaru was terrified by the sight and quickly retreated. At that moment, he felt a cold wind at the back of his head and turned to look. "Bang!" A black object hit the back of his head, causing dizziness, and he fell forward into the pit, followed by another scream. This unfortunate bandit became a companion to the first one in the pit.

"Ah!" A bandit on the other side suddenly sank into the ground. Although he quickly grabbed a nearby shrub to prevent himself from falling completely, his feet were pierced by bamboo stakes, and he screamed in pain. Another bandit behind him rushed to help, but in the darkness, a long arrow shot out and pierced the bandit's neck, causing him to fall with a muffled groan.

In a moment, three bandits were dead, and one was injured and lying on the ground. Everyone was stunned. Matsu, who was at the back, seeing the situation was dire, shouted and turned to run. The others, including Yotsu, also turned and ran back. "Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh," at this moment, arrows shot from all directions in the darkness, and with three screams, three more bandits fell.

"No, don't leave me, come back!" A bandit in the darkness shouted as he tried to escape but fell again, clearly hit in the thigh by an arrow.

"Kill!" A loud voice came from the darkness, and dozens of torches lit up. Dozens of people rushed out from all sides, and the injured bandits were quickly captured.

"Capture them alive, don't kill them. The lord said these guys are useful. For the dead, cut off their heads and take any useful items," this was Tsuda Masahide's voice.

"My lord, there are too many trees, hindering our pursuit. We couldn't catch up with the few who escaped," a panting ashigaru came to report to Tsuda Masahide.

"Don't chase them, let them go. The ones who escaped will be dealt with. Quickly clean up the area. Damn, it's creepy to be in this trap-filled forest at night!" Tsuda Masahide gave the order while nervously looking around.

At the same time, Masahiro, waiting at the edge of the forest, looked at his watch. It was 8:42 PM, nearly four hours since the groups left. So far, no news had come from any of the groups. Masahiro stood quietly, gazing at the misty mountains under the moonlight. Togo Hiratsuka, standing beside him, was getting impatient, pacing back and forth. He was very anxious, as this battle would determine the fate of the domain.

"Ah!..." The night was filled with intermittent screams, which seemed particularly jarring in the quiet moonlit night. Togo Hiratsuka "whoosh" stopped and looked towards the direction of the screams, which came from the forest near the stream.

"My lord, what do you think...?" Togo Hiratsuka was at a loss.

"Hmm, it seems the battle has begun. Don't worry, Hiratsuka, we will win," Masahiro patted Togo Hiratsuka's shoulder to comfort him.

Half an hour later, the small forest was filled with the sound of "rustling." Dozens of torches formed a long line as they emerged. From a distance, a cheerful voice could be heard, "Ha ha ha, my lord, we succeeded, ha ha ha," clearly Tsuda Masahide's voice.

Masahiro couldn't help but think, "Is it necessary to be so happy? It's just ten people, even if we won completely."

"Success? That's great, may the gods bless the Roshiden family!" Togo Hiratsuka, upon hearing the good news, immediately knelt down and shouted to the sky.

Soon, the group that went to ambush completely emerged from the forest. Tsuda Masahide, leading the group, quickly walked towards Masahiro and Togo Hiratsuka, "Ha ha ha, my lord, sir, we succeeded. Three dead, four captured, three escaped. Ha ha ha," and he raised an object in his right hand.

Masahiro looked closely and saw, damn, it was a severed head, still dripping.

"However, my lord," Tsuda Masahide approached with a resentful look. Seeing the head still swinging in his hand, Masahiro quickly moved away.

"My lord, don't run, I have an important request," Tsuda Masahide, seeing Masahiro move away, thought he understood his request and quickly chased after him, pleading.

"Stop, Masahide, put down what you're holding first, then tell me your request," Masahiro quickly said. Damn, Masahiro wasn't afraid of killing, but he couldn't accept the disgusting act of treating someone's head as a toy.

"My lord, it's... it's like this," Tsuda Masahide casually threw the head to an ashigaru behind him and stammered.

"Masahide, when did you become so hesitant?" Unable to bear Tsuda Masahide's stammering, Masahiro quickly said.

"My lord, I request not to participate in such ambush actions again, it's too stifling! I want to lead the vanguard actions," Tsuda Masahide finally expressed his thoughts.

Masahiro was speechless, this guy was really beyond help, but there were no vanguard actions for him to lead now, so he could only respond, "Alright, Masahide, I'll consider it next time."

Unable to bear Tsuda Masahide's resentful face, Masahiro quickly found Togo Hiratsuka as a shield and began to wait quietly for the results from the other group. About an hour later, the path leading to Mount Yotaka was filled with footsteps, and a line of torches slowly approached.

"My lord, I have failed you," as soon as he reached Masahiro, Ogasawara Koji knelt down, deeply regretful.

"Oh? What happened?" Masahiro was puzzled. The remaining fleeing bandits, in a panic, should have been easily captured.

"My lord, this time we only captured two bandits, one of whom escaped by diving into the stream," Ogasawara Koji bowed his head and said.

"Uh! Capturing two is still good. And having someone report to the mountain is also a good thing," Masahiro could only comfort him.

"Ah?" Ogasawara Koji, Togo Hiratsuka, and Tsuda Masahide were all puzzled by Masahiro's words. Seeing their expressions, Masahiro smiled and continued, "In the past, we feared bandit attacks because we feared a large number of bandits. Now, the bandits are in internal conflict and divided into several factions. The faction attacking the village is the largest, and they are gradually swallowing up the other factions. After this attack, they will surely send more people to attack us. We need to defeat them in batches to prevent them from consolidating. If they consolidate, even if we defeat them, we will suffer heavy losses."

"Oh," the three were enlightened and admired the lord's wisdom.

"Hiratsuka, tie the captives to the pillars in the village square, treat their wounds slightly, don't let them die, I still have use for them," Masahiro looked around and began to give instructions.

"Yes, my lord," Togo Hiratsuka immediately bowed, increasingly admiring this young lord.

"Masahide, tell the ashigaru who participated in tonight's action that each will receive five bags of mixed grains as a reward. Then arrange for them to rest as soon as possible, as the bandits' counterattack will likely come soon," Masahiro continued to give instructions.

"Understood, I will arrange it immediately," bowing, Tsuda Masahide quickly turned to carry out the orders, as the ashigaru were indeed tired after a night of hard work.

"Then, Koji, bring our guest and tell him that there are new companions for him to confirm," Masahiro finally turned to Ogasawara Koji and said.

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