The Chongyu Zhao family is a very ambitious family.
In other words, the deceased old patriarch Zhao Hui was an ambitious man.
During his lifetime, he taught by example and instilled his expectations into the next generation of family heads.
He did not agree with the path of handing over the secret realm in exchange for wealth.
In his opinion, the Zhao family had already escaped poverty, and what they should seek was prosperity for generations rather than wealth for one generation.
Therefore, he asked a martial arts master to teach the young and strong men in the tribe and lead them to hunt and kill the invading bandits.
After they have fought several bloody battles and gained courage, we will select the most capable ones and bring them into the secret realm to attack.
But the reality is cruel. After the battle, some died and some were injured. Even the first batch of demons in the secret realm could not be killed.
At this point, the secret realm should be handed over to the imperial court in exchange for wealth and honor.
However, a young man from the tribe accidentally fell into the water while transporting goods. In the narrow escape, he got a glimpse of the secret realm of the Turtle Mansion.
The temptation of the two secret realms and the family heirloom was too great, so Zhao Hui finally chose to send someone to Qizhi for the Lianhuanwu bandits, and the two sides formed an alliance to jointly attack the Turtle Mansion secret realm.
Since the Zhao family was a merchant family and the young and strong members of the clan sold goods in many cities, Zhao Hui was not afraid of being assassinated by the Lianhuanwu bandits.
At worst, he would sacrifice his life and let his sons in other places hand over the secret information to the court officials.
Relying on this ruthlessness, the Zhao family formed an alliance with the Lianhuanwu bandits.
One of them is a businessman and the other is a bandit. They use various means to constantly enlighten the bandits in the secret realm.
The Lianhuanwu bandits finally grew to a certain size and had a group of cannon fodder at their disposal, but Zhao Hui passed away suddenly.
The new head of the family, Zhao Gong, has his father's ideas, but not his father's methods.
He could only barely maintain the alliance, but it was difficult to mobilize the serial bandits to work for him.
In order to prevent Zhao Gong from giving up the secret realm in exchange for his own wealth, the elders of the clan and the Lianhuanwu bandits were keeping an eye on him.
This left him with no other options except becoming a warrior, guarding the place and sharing the prosperity.
"Uncle, you've seen that the Lianhuanwu bandits are difficult to control. Can't we offer the Turtle Mansion secret realm in exchange for a generation of wealth and glory?"
"Master, this is absolutely unacceptable. The development of the secret realm can benefit all the clan members for generations to come. How much can we get in return for giving away the secret realm?
We are only one step away from becoming a noble family, so we must not give up halfway."
While the Zhao family was still urging the Lianhuanwu bandits to attack the secret realm, Zhou Yuan had already gathered the troops and started to besiege the fort.
This move caused some of the Wu Castle Lords to complain. If Zhou Yuan had not just randomly drawn people, surrounded them and left, the Wu Castle Lords would have gone to the county office to complain.
"Qu Du, why did you return the valuables and only take some food and drinks?"
"We are here to fight the bandits, but we can't actually become bandits.
Since the soldiers have surrounded the fort, if they don't take some things away, the fort owner will definitely panic.
So they can just collect some worthless items, put them on the county office account, and use them to offset their taxes."
Zhou Yuan moved forward and did not find anything unusual during the process of sieging the fort.
But when they approached Zhaojiabao, before they began to surround it, the managers inside the fort started to panic.
"Master, it's bad! A battalion of soldiers is coming from the west and is heading towards our Wu Fort."
Those who were in charge of keeping watch were all young men of the same clan whom Zhao Gong trusted. They had no idea that their family was engaged in a major event to attack the secret realm, they only knew that they were controlling the bandits to make profits.
Therefore, they were extremely frightened when they saw the government troops, thinking that the evidence of their crimes had been leaked and that the government troops were coming to encircle and suppress them.
"What? How could this be? Quickly call the elders and some brave men to come and discuss this matter."
The discussion in Zhaojiabao was doomed to produce no results.
But it also deepened the Lianhuanwu bandits' sense of crisis, making them realize that they had to contribute any longer, otherwise they would be wiped out by government forces sooner or later.
"Master Zhao, don't panic. We are very clean. Those government troops are definitely not here to hunt us down.
You stabilize the government troops first, and we will attack the Turtle Mansion Secret Realm in the next few days to make you a warrior as soon as possible."
After Zhao Gong received the guarantee from the Lianhuanwu bandits, he suppressed his anxiety and took the elders of his clan to line up outside Wu Fort to wait.
It’s not that he didn’t want to hide and escape, but if he did, he would be exposed. Those officers and soldiers would probably choose to attack Wu Fort first and then ask for the reason.
As the army with fluttering flags drew closer, Zhao Gong's anxiety subsided a lot.
He could see clearly that there were only four or five hundred people coming, and they were all infantry, with only a few cavalry.
In the Wu Fort behind him, there were nearly fifty serial bandits and more than twenty good horses. If a real fight broke out, the possibility of them breaking through the military formation and escaping was very high.
Zhao Gong was thinking about how to deal with the officers and soldiers, as well as the escape route.
Suddenly, the army formation changed and three teams were divided, surrounding Wubao in three other directions.
The scene frightened him to death, and the uncles behind him were so frightened that their legs and feet went limp. If they had not been protected by their descendants, they might have collapsed to the ground.
"If you can't become the head of the family, then just close the fort and fight. Books often say that surrounding three sides and leaving one side open will discourage people.
These officers and soldiers won't even give us a chance to escape, they're probably going to surround us and kill us all."
"What nonsense are you talking about? We can't act rashly at this time. If we dare to act rashly now, the soldiers from Chongyu Camp will come to support us in less than half a day.
There are now four or five hundred people surrounding the fort. It seems easy to deal with, but if chaos breaks out, the soldiers will only pile up more and more."
At critical moments, the head of the family, Zhao Gong, still needs to make the decision.
Under his orders, the serial bandits in the fortress were ready for battle, but outside the fortress everything was peaceful, with no signs of a desperate fight.
Da, da, da...
A swift horse carried a heroic general to the south gate of Wu Fort, and the accompanying soldiers quickly formed a battle formation.
In the eyes of the soldiers, this was an exercise; in the eyes of the Zhao family, it was more like an iron-blooded encirclement and suppression after the evidence of a crime was leaked.
"General, why are you surrounding my Wu Fort? We are short of food and clothing after marching here.
Please allow us to serve you the food in the castle with all our heart."
"You are joking, Lord. How can we be without food and clothing when we are marching in our own territory?
I just heard from spies in the camp that Wu Bao was colluding with the bandits, hiding their tracks, selling their stolen goods, and supplying them with food and fodder."
Looking at Zhou Yuan's serious expression, Zhao Gong immediately broke out in a sweat.
He kept cursing the three serial bandits who had escaped back in his heart, didn't you say that you were clean from beginning to end? If you were really clean, how could you have attracted the officers and soldiers to come here?
"General, it's unfair. There are endless bandits in the coastal towns. We have built a fort to survive.
My Zhao family has been clean for generations and has never done anything illegal. If you don't believe me, you can go into the fort and investigate."
It was impossible to enter the fort, and Zhou Yuan had no idea how many serial bandits were hiding in the fort.
It is not a good idea to fight with those serial bandits in a semi-militarized fortress with dense buildings.
His purpose was to exert pressure and take the opportunity to mark a few more targets with the ghost spell, and then follow the direction of the target's movement to find the hidden entrance to the secret realm.
Therefore, after just a few routine questions and sending a team of soldiers in to check it out, he led his troops to the next Wu Fort.
"General, will this really lead out the hidden bandits?"
"Perhaps. Let's spread the word that all the forts we're besieging today are suspected targets of the camp.
Give them some time to react, and someone will inevitably take action."
