The Human Emperor (200-400)

C332: Superior!

"Prepare yourself. Just like before, we shall split our forces in four and eliminate every sentry the bandits have stationed en route to their den. Remember, don't give them any chance. Even a single escapee could spell the failure of our operation. If that were to happen, we'll retreat right away and leave it to the other troops in the future to deal with them," Wang Chong glanced to the side and commanded.

"Yes, lord!" Ma Song replied.

Hearing the dull thuds coming from the forest, a vague smile emerged on Wang Chong's lips. The bandits might be weak, but it would be foolish to assume that they were lacking wits.

To be able to survive the periodic cleanups conducted by the royal court meant that they either possessed superior strength or extraordinary wariness. Since it was impossible for them to be stronger than the troops of the royal court, it had to be the latter.

Even rats developed their own forte for survival, needless to say these bandits!

Xu Gan and Huang Yongtu were far too lacking in worldly experience, resulting in their underestimating the nature of this mission. They thought that they could easily suppress the bandits with absolute strength, and it was that mindset that doomed them to failure.

From the very start, Wang Chong knew that the purpose of this mission was to assess their experience and wits, and not just mere strength.

As outlaws, no matter how deep into the night it was or how tired their members may be, the bandits would still ensure that there were sentries stationed to keep a lookout for enemies.

Without clearing away the sentries at the perimeter of the bandit den, it would be impossible to eliminate all of the bandits.

Xu Gan and Huang Yongtu should have realized this fact when they had suffered their first failure. But perhaps because they were simply lacking in experience, or maybe they were underestimating the bandits too much, they overlooked this crucial factor and attributed their failures to bad luck.

"Prepare yourselves!"

After clearing away the sentries in the perimeter, the troops reorganized at the gathering point. Following which, Wang Chong raised his hand and signalled for the troops to charge into the camp.

At this moment, most of the bandits were still deep in sleep.

------

"What? Sentries?"

On the main road at the foot of the mountain, after receiving the report by the spy, Xu Gan and Huang Yongtu stared at one another in shock. From the start of the mission, they had never taken these weak bandits seriously.

They thought that the numerous times they had failed was due to a series of coincidences working against them. While they did clear away the sentries they met en route to the dens, never in their wildest dreams had they expected those simple bandits to go to the extent of planting a huge bunch of them around their camps.

"So that's the case! To think that the fellow didn't warn us about that!" Huang Yongtu was enraged at this discovery.

Had that fellow informed him of this matter, he wouldn't have failed so tragically, to the point where he even nearly lost his life to a poisoned saber.

But considering how they had treated Wang Chong during the past few days, Huang Yongtu also knew that there was no way the other party would be so kind as to enlighten them on this point.

"Hmph, so that's the case!" On the other hand, after learning Wang Chong's "secret", Xu Gan flung his sleeves and stood up decisively. "And here I was wondering what kind of secrets he had up his sleeves. Now that I know what is going on, his smug days are over."