Chapter 638: Chapter 474, Living Dead_1
Fang Hao was growing more confused the more he listened.
“How is this about fishing?”
Ma Hong thought for a moment before he explained, “Zhen Hu is quite active in the alliance, showing off fancy equipment and such in the channel every day to attract people. If he’s actually working for Life-taker, these newcomers are all in danger.”
As Ma Hong explained, he continued to nervously wipe the cold sweat off his forehead.
There was something else he didn’t mention: he had already contacted Li Zhenhu.
If his place was attacked by the mountain thieves, he would take his people and turn to Li Zhenhu for protection.
Now that he thought about it, if he took his people there, wasn’t he willingly walking into the trap after cleaning himself?
The thought of that made his cold sweat pour out uncontrollably.
From Ma Hong’s explanation, Fang Hao understood his meaning.
Transmigrators had been here for more than half a year, and during that time, alliances of all sizes were beginning to form in the region.
These alliances focused on recruitment, and no one would idle about to provoke Fang Hao.
Li Zhenhu, on the other hand, seemed to be exploiting this to fish.
He was hoodwinking every surrounding city lord to join him before launching a devastating attack. But what did he stand to gain from this?
What could he gain from these transmigrators?
Fang Hao then returned his attention to the mountain thief below, “Tell me more about this Li Zhenhu.”
“Oh, okay! I only heard rumors that Li Zhenhu is highly regarded by our boss, he even reformed our gang, and all our weapons came from him.”
“And what happened to the people he tricked?” Fang Hao continued to inquire.
“They were sold. Besides stealing money and food, women and children, as well as men who refused to join, were sold as slaves,” the mountain thief shared.
Concerned looks crossed the faces of Fang Hao and his companions.
It seemed that the transmigrants who had been deceived were likely sold off as well.
“Where were they sold to?” asked Fang Hao.
“I am not sure about that. Some were sold to nobles, some were sold as laborers. But those transmigrators you’re asking about, they were said to be gifted individuals and were sold at a higher price. I don’t know who exactly bought them,” the mountain thief answered seriously.
As the fact about transmigrators was no longer a secret.
All factions saw the value of the transmigrators.
Nobles were recruiting transmigrators, faceless ones were hunting them, and the Dwarves managed to upgrade the musket into a bolt-action rifle due to the knowledge of the transmigrators.
It could be said that transmigrators held great value, especially those with special skills who could fetch an astonishing price.
It seemed that Li Zhenhu tricked transmigrators for this reason.
“All right, continue telling me about your band of thieves. Once you’ve finished, you can go and rest, have a full meal, and get a good night’s sleep.” Fang Hao changed the subject away from the issue of slave trafficking.
This would be considered after they had taken down the gang’s stronghold.
The most important thing at this moment was to understand the strength of the gang.
“Yes, thank you, Sir.” Licking his dry lips, the mountain thief continued, “Our boss, the Tyrant, is at level eight, Greedy Wolf is at level seven, and altogether we have about three thousand combat power. Oh, and we have three cannons.”
The mountain thief in front of him was obedient.
His village had been raided, and he had joined the bandits just to survive.
He had no loyalty to any boss.
He answered whatever Fang Hao asked, and even volunteered information about the inner workings of the bandits.
Life-taker had three cannons, not just the one Fang Hao had seen.
Where they got them from remained unknown.
These were their trump card for quickly breaking through city gates.
“Can your camp accommodate so many people?” Fang Hao continued to ask.
“Not exactly, we have five camps in total. The main camp is in the middle, surrounded by four smaller ones. It was the third boss’ idea. He said it formed a kind of formation, where they could protect each other and assist each other,” the mountain thief explained.
Apparently, Li Zhenhu was quite crafty.
Regardless of whether or not this arrangement was effective, it definitely served as an impressive strategy for a bunch of illiterate bandits.
He was essentially acting as their Think Tank.
“How many people are in each camp?”
The mountain thief thought for a moment before replying, “There are about eight hundred of the bosses’ trusted followers in the main camp, the rest are all in the four smaller camps.”
Fang Hao nodded.
After thinking for a while and deciding that he didn’t have any more questions, he ordered someone to take the mountain thief back down.
…
Once the mountain thief left.
Rebecca looked rather upset.
Part of the responsibility for the attack this time fell on her.
Fang Hao had reminded her several times about the Life-takers, but she thought they only had a few hundred men and would not dare to make a move.
This had always been the case in previous years.
She did not expect that this year they would act so brazenly, even attacking a City Lord’s troop.
This led to the casualties they suffered today.
“Fang Hao, what should we do now? Should we go back to Lyss City and gather our troops to retaliate?” Rebecca asked, clenching her hands tightly, speaking softly.
They simply could not take on three thousand mountain thieves by themselves.
The only solution she could think of was to retreat to Lyss City.
But if they were to retreat and gather forces, they would not be able to attend this year’s Federal Conference.
Without giving an immediate answer, Fang Hao pondered the situation in his mind.
Distance, time, manpower. He needed to consider all of these.
Of course, he had to take revenge for this.
In his time in this world, he had always adopted a strategy of overwhelming their enemies with sheer numbers.
Now that he found himself under attack, he wasn’t about to let it go unnoticed.
Taking a deep breath, he tried to reassure her, “It’s nothing, no need to panic. They’re just a bunch of mountain thieves.”