Chapter Forty-two Ups and Downs

  Such a sharp and decisive remark, Zhao Neng was stunned at first, then stumbled and ran towards the side of the road. As one of the leaders of the salt gang, Zhao Neng usually had a strong presence, but now he was fleeing in disarray. The group was momentarily thrown into chaos, with Ma Gang standing among them, sneering and cursing:

  "Can't see the real chapter of this rubbish..."

  The words behind were glared back by Li Meng, who was also somewhat uncomfortable. He thought to himself, what's going on here? Who would have thought that under the watchful eyes of everyone, Zhao ran to the small ditch by the side of the road, scooped up a few handfuls of icy cold water and splashed it onto his face, washing his face in a flurry, then ran back, grabbed the weapon that others were holding for him, and began to complain to Li Meng:

  "Why didn't you say so earlier? My head is still dizzy now."

  Li Meng burst out laughing and punched Zhao Neng's chest with his fist. After this move, the tense mood of some young people who were fighting for the first time also dissipated, and their morale rose instead.

  The team lined up in a rectangle, Li Meng and Zhao Neng were not like ordinary teams, even if there were dozens of people, the higher-ranking officials had to stand at the forefront, as if they couldn't show off their high status otherwise. Li and Zhao stood at the two corners of the rectangular formation, with long weapons on their backs.

  Ma Gang has been training with the salt pole for almost two months, and as someone who has had formal training, he quickly rose from cooking salt to joining the salt-carrying team. He is now deeply devoted to the training method of the salt pole, and this simple yet effective way of training has made Ma Gang, a person who loves martial arts and combat, feel like he's in a trance. Those seemingly simple and even childish movements can truly make people feel their physical strength improving. Ma Gang has already gained Li Meng's utmost respect, but he doesn't think much of Zhao Neng and Chen Liu Zi, feeling that he hasn't had the same opportunities as them, and if he had been by Li Meng's side earlier, he wouldn't be any worse than they are.

  He walked another three miles and saw a few stones piled up by the side of the road, couldn't help but laugh out loud and said in a loud voice:

  "Another five hundred steps forward, and it will be our battlefield!"

  The atmosphere in the team suddenly became tense, but looking at Zhao Neng's face still dripping with water droplets and Li Meng's smiling face, the mood of these young people suddenly relaxed a lot.

  In the training of the salt stick, the five hundred steps mentioned are not a rough estimate, but the number of steps taken by someone at the left or right corner of the first row. For Li Meng, during his military training, how many steps per minute was common military knowledge, however in this era, there were no such precise timers, only relying on the leader's estimation.

  After five hundred steps, these young people slowed down their pace. As expected, a loud shout came from both sides and more than 100 people rushed onto the official road.

  The roles of these ambushers looked more ferocious than the young people inside the salted fish barrel, and their bodies also looked stronger. They held big knives and long guns in their hands, and their weapons were much more exquisite.

  Li Meng's over 150 men were in a neat and tight formation, while the ambushers were all in disarray, but they seemed to be more numerous than Li Meng's men.

  "Form! Square formation! Level spears!"

  Zhao Neng loudly and quickly gave orders, in the queue training on the beach, these young people's movements didn't dare to be wrong, slightly hesitant, Li Meng's bamboo whip would come down heavily, the reaction was almost subconscious, although at this time there was still some panic, but still reacted according to usual training.

  After Zhao finished shouting, Li Meng followed with a loud cry:

  "Stab!"

  These ambushing salt bandits thought they could catch Li Meng's troops off guard, and seeing the 150 men turning around in all directions, they thought these poor soldiers were about to fall into chaos. Who would have thought that in an instant, the weapons in their hands had already been laid flat, and before they could even stop their footsteps, those long spears had already shot out swiftly.

  The salted fish that had surrounded them from all sides were caught off guard, and the bodies of the several that had charged to the front were riddled with holes, letting out miserable wails as they fell to the ground.

  "One step forward, thrust!"

  This square expanded rapidly under this command, and the young people inside the salt stick may be frightened, but their hands and feet still moved mechanically according to the command. Another miserable howl, and another dozen or so salt dings fell outside, pondering whether to rush in for the second round.

  In such a short period of time, nearly forty corpses had fallen around the salt merchants. These salt smugglers were at most just reformed thieves, mostly just local rascals. The ambush that was originally full of confidence was instead met with a fierce counterattack, causing many people's psychology to collapse immediately.

  Li Meng took a deep breath and turned around to look at his own team, and indeed they had only been training for a few months, just taking two steps forward, but already couldn't see any neat formation.

  But looking at the salted eggs fleeing in front of them, Li Meng turned his head and laughed with Zhao Neng:

  "This white wax rod's long spear is indeed much more useful than our bamboo sticks!"

  Zhao Neng also smiled and replied:

  "That's right, it goes in much more smoothly."

  By the way, after Li Meng had money in his hands, he bought a hundred long guns with white wax rods inside the Wei's house, which cost not much iron, and didn't spend several dollars. What's more, the other side was eager to curry favor with this new salt control inspector, so they almost gave it away for half price.

  Unfortunately, Li Meng was not very satisfied with his subordinates. These young people, even if placed in modern times, were at the level of a semi-military organization, and they had standard weapons in their hands. A semi-military organization with standard weapons, prepared to deal with a group of thugs of roughly equal numbers, would only have one outcome: slaughter.

  Li Meng furrowed his brow and turned to look at the somewhat disorganized troops behind him, then looked at the scattered fleeing salt workers, feeling that he still needed to strengthen the training of these young people.

  "Fall back and regroup!"

  Zhao Neng let out another loud shout, and the young people who had been keeping their guard up finally relaxed, took a step back, and returned to their formation. Each of them felt a sense of pride and satisfaction in their hearts, thinking that they were actually so strong.

  A few "humming" sounds rang out, and several young salt peddlers let out miserable cries as they fell to the ground. Everyone looked forward in the direction of the official road, where three people stood dozens of paces away, holding bows and shooting arrows.

  The salt workers were facing bows and arrows for the first time, with nothing to shield themselves except their long spears or bamboo poles. Three of their companions lay on the ground, screaming in agony. The sudden shift from the joy of victory to such terror was too great, and some of the salt workers who had fled along the official road stopped in their tracks and turned back.