After saying this, he directly swung his large blade, striking towards the leader.
"Swish, swish, swish."
The old Zhang in front of him, his eyes wide, felt a chill at his neck, and blood splattered out. Without even a scream, he was instantly killed by that single strike.
His body slumped weakly, filled with confusion until his last breath, wondering what had happened.
The soldiers beside him, having received the order, wielded their sharp blades and swung them forward.
Thudding sounds continuously rang out!
The several bandits standing at the entrance were instantly killed.
Guan Yu, gripping his blood-stained great blade, led the dozen or so soldiers beside him and charged inwards.
Upon seeing these bandits, he swept his blade across, and they were cut down on the spot, utterly without the power to resist.
Screams continuously echoed at this moment.
Liu Jin, in the forest, was overjoyed to see Guan Yu had already entered the bandit stronghold!
He immediately waved his hand, leading dozens of people behind him in a rush, and grandly entered the gate.
Cooperating with Guan Yu, slaughtering the bandits at the stronghold entrance was simply like butchering melons and vegetables.
Soon, the sounds gradually diminished, and all the bandits at the stronghold entrance were slain, with not a single one left alive.
Only corpses lay scattered around, blood flowing freely.
After a careful inspection, approximately fifty people lay dead here. With this, only over two hundred bandits remained on the mountaintop.
Liu Jin looked at Du Dang beside him and asked,
"Will the sounds of fighting at the stronghold entrance spread?"
Du Dang shook his head upon hearing this and said fawningly,
"Tuncun, don't worry. The stronghold entrance is still some distance from the mountaintop. The sounds of fighting just now definitely won't carry that far."
Liu Jin's face lit up upon hearing this. As long as the actions here didn't alert the bandits, it was fine.
It wasn't that he feared their desperate resistance, but rather that they might flee in disarray if they heard the sounds.
This area was a gathering place for bandits, and the mountain paths were more familiar to them than to him. It would be impossible to catch them all in one swoop.
Therefore, he had to take them by surprise and kill them all.
Even so, Liu Jin still had to march quickly, arrive at the mountaintop as soon as possible, and completely eradicate this group of bandits.
He was about to give orders, instructing Guan Yu and Zhang Fei to lead the soldiers to continue forward.
Du Dang, beside him, reached out to stop Liu Jin and whispered,
"Tuncun, you must be careful when heading towards the mountaintop, because there's also a hidden outpost on the mountaintop, with about ten people."
"If we go up along the road, we might be discovered. We must eliminate these people."
Liu Jin was startled upon hearing this. He hadn't expected these bandits to be so vigilant, even setting up a hidden outpost on the mountaintop.
No wonder the government troops had failed to eliminate these bandits after repeated encirclements. With so many defenses, they would probably flee into the forest to hide if they learned of the government troops' arrival.
After a moment of silence, Liu Jin ordered,
"Du Dang, you take my second brother Guan Yu, and lead a dozen or so men to eliminate this hidden outpost. This Tuncun will credit you with a meritorious deed, and your reward will definitely not be small."
Du Dang, upon hearing this, immediately bowed and scraped, saying excitedly,
"Tuncun, rest assured, this humble one will handle it perfectly."
Thus, Guan Yu and Du Dang, leading over ten men, went ahead to stealthily approach the mountaintop.
Liu Jin and Zhang Fei, leading the remaining government soldiers, followed a short distance behind, slowly advancing along the mountain path.
An hour later!
Guan Yu and his men had already stealthily reached the mountaintop area.
As they passed through a dimly lit forest, Du Dang whispered,
"Captain Guan, that forest ahead is where the hidden outpost gathers. If we sneak past here and kill all these people, we can go straight to the mountaintop."
Guan Yu nodded upon hearing this and instructed the dozen or so men behind him to follow him as he crept into the bushes.
Sure enough, there was a small tent among the trees, with snoring sounds occasionally coming from it.
Only two people were patrolling around, looking listless and yawning constantly.
Guan Yu, gripping his sharp blade, quietly crept over. Swishing sounds rang out!
The two patrolling bandits didn't even have a chance to react before their throats were slit, gushing blood.
The dozen or so men behind him rushed into the small tent, repeatedly striking with their large blades, hacking the still-sleeping bandits to death.
Blood continuously splattered out, with only a few low groans of agony.
After all this was done, the forest returned to its calm.
Du Dang walked in, looking at the several corpses inside the tent, and something seemed off.
The two patrolling corpses, plus the seven inside, totaled only nine people.
Feeling that something wasn't quite right, the hidden outpost always had ten people. Why were there only nine today?
Thinking of this, Du Dang inwardly cried out, "Not good!" He immediately said to Guan Yu beside him, anxiously,
"Captain Guan, this is bad! One person is missing!"
Guan Yu's brow furrowed upon hearing this.
He scanned the ground for a moment. Indeed, there were only nine corpses. Du Dang had said there were ten people at the hidden outpost, and now one was missing.
He immediately ordered the dozen or so men behind him to start searching carefully around the forest, to see if they could find the other person.
Du Dang hurriedly said,
"Captain Guan, don't search! That person might have gotten up in the middle of the night to relieve himself and was hiding in this forest. Now that he's discovered our actions, he's probably already run to report the news."
"If that happens, everyone on the mountaintop will surely be alerted."
Guan Yu, upon hearing this, said coldly,
"If that's the case, I, Guan, will lead my dozens of men to charge towards the mountaintop first and intercept all these bandits."
"You, on the other hand, run back and inform my elder brother, telling him to arrive quickly."
Du Dang was somewhat surprised upon hearing this. For him to charge up with just this small number of people would be suicide. He quickly shook his head and said,
"Captain Guan, absolutely not! There are at least two hundred bandits up there. With just the dozen or so men beside you, you're no match for them. It's better to wait for Lord Liu to arrive with his troops, and then charge up the mountain together."
Guan Yu flicked his long sleeve slightly, a cold and arrogant expression on his face, and said confidently,
"Mere insignificant individuals are not worth my, Guan's, attention. You only need to inform them here; you don't need to concern yourself with the rest."
After saying this, he led the dozen or so men behind him and charged towards the mountaintop.
Seeing this, Du Dang sighed softly. He had already advised him, so if any problems arose, he couldn't be blamed.
He immediately took off running downwards.
Half an incense stick of time quietly passed.
Liu Jin, leading Zhang Fei and the remaining government soldiers, came towards this place.
He saw a figure in the darkness ahead, coming towards them.
Du Dang darted out of the darkness and said in a hurry,
"Lord Liu, something terrible has happened! When we were killing the hidden sentries, one person seemed to have been relieving himself and escaped. He's probably gone to the mountaintop to report the news."
"Captain Guan, after learning the situation, has already led a dozen or so men and charged up."