Manbao pulled back the reins and looked back, Mr. Zhuang and the others saw them turn around and smiled, waving at them.

Liuhuan was worried, "Will they be in danger?"

Yin Huo wasn’t very concerned, saying, "If they can’t win, they can retreat. First they can run this way, and if that doesn’t work, they can head to Liangzhou City; it’s not far from here, you can get there with fast horses in half a day."

He said, "My family guards have assured me, there will be no issues."

Liuhuan was reassured, "That’s good. Are we still going to herd with them? I’m not much interested in herding now, just want to eat their meat."

Zhou Liru said, "I want to check their health. If you have nothing to do, you can assist me."

She felt being too idle wasn’t good for them as they might start overthinking.

Manbao and the others returned to their camp, and Assistant General Nie nodded when he saw them, saying, "I’ve sent people ahead to wait, and as soon as they spot the army, they’ll report back."

Manbao dismounted and looked at the distant mountains, asking, "They should be able to scout them out too, right?"

Assistant General Nie said, "It depends on how Governor Duan plans to fight this battle."

If he only wants to loot, he can just come over and frighten away the people in the mountains and then plunder; if he wants to wipe them all out, he will surely send scouts first, and then a night raid would be possible.

"By the way, some of them confessed." Assistant General Nie was quick to execute, chopping off heads and bringing them back to the tent to display in front of the remaining robbers. After executing two, they pulled out the third, prompting a confession.

Bai Erlang asked eagerly, "What did they confess?"

"The number of people on the mountain, the leader’s name, and the number of checkpoints since they entered the mountain..." Assistant General Nie said, "I’ve asked everything I could."

Bai Shan asked, "Interrogated separately?"

Assistant General Nie nodded, "Of course separately, otherwise giving them a chance to collude and many things would be hard to ask."

Manbao asked, "Did you ask where they hid the treasures?"

"Asked, they all claimed the places they knew were right in the stronghold."

Manbao said, "Impossible, even a cunning rabbit has three burrows. Governor Duan scattered them twice, and there’s clearly a mortal enemy like Governor Duan here, yet they still keep coming back. Isn’t it precisely because there are treasures they’ve plundered here?"

Assistant General Nie knew it was impossible too, but they just wouldn’t confess, or maybe they simply didn’t know. What could he do?

The remaining ones confessed to a lot of things, he couldn’t just keep executing people.

Manbao frowned for a moment, "Forget it, let’s fight a battle first and see."

Assistant General Nie: ...

Bai Shan also thought that they should fight first, and privately told Manbao, "If we can capture the bandit leader, we can naturally inquire about the treasures. If all else fails, we still have my little father-in-law to help. We can call on him then."

Manbao asked, "Is there a reward?"

"There is," Bai Shan winked at her, "if we find it, I’ll discuss with Assistant General Nie and Governor Duan to pick out more good items, and if we happen to find something little father-in-law wants along the way, we can buy it..."

Manbao then started planning, asking Keke in her mind, "Can you locate it?"

Originally, Keke wasn’t planning to involve itself in these matters of theirs, but with Bai Shan’s statement, it thought it might as well take part, saying, "I can."

Scanning underground or through stones for missing biological records is possible, but the cost of scanning stones is a little high.

So it listed an inventory and handed it to Manbao, saying, "You need to pay points."

Manbao looked at it, eighty points, she found it acceptable, so she nodded, "No problem."

A single sentence answered both Bai Shan and Keke.

Thus, both sides reached an agreement.

By lunchtime, scouts from the north and south directions came with reports, the northern scout said, "There’s movement in the mountains, they’re likely searching it."

The southern scout said, "Governor Duan has arrived twenty miles away with a thousand troops and invites the lord to discuss the bandit suppression."

Manbao asked, "Does he want to go up at night?"

Governor Duan indeed planned to go up at night. With four previous large-scale experiences against the horse bandits in this mountain, and numerous smaller skirmishes erupting while his men protected passing merchant caravans, they understand each other well.

He said, "The areas around this mountain have no cover, attacking during the day would be easily spotted, but at night, stealth is more achievable. My plan is to advance at night and ambush below the mountain, then attack the mountain the next day..."

Assistant General Nie asked, "Where does the lord plan to attack from?"

Governor Duan then discussed with him, the two conversed for half an hour, Manbao and the others listened from the sidelines. They understood but didn’t quite comprehend why the attack had to come from the left side, but it didn’t matter, military strategy wasn’t their forte.

Governor Duan finished discussing with Assistant General Nie and assigned him three hundred men, appointing him to lead the central force.

Bai Erlang looked around, raised his hand, and asked, "Then what do we do?"

Governor Duan paused, then smiled, "Young Master Bai Er is naturally staying with Lord Zhou’s group to await news in the camp."

How’s that different from going to the Tata Tribe?

Bai Erlang turned his head to ask Manbao, "Are we going to the Tata Tribe to find Mr. Zhuang and the others?"

Manbao replied, "No need, we can follow. Besides, if soldiers get wounded, I can also offer some help."

Bai Shan was keen on finding the treasure, nodding eagerly.

Injured soldiers are sent to the rear for treatment, and with that in mind, neither Governor Duan nor Assistant General Nie opposed.

Manbao planned further, "Tomorrow, let Liru come too, she just happened to learn suturing, this is a good opportunity for practice."

Bai Shan asked, "Did you bring enough catgut?"

"Plenty, several rolls, all stored neatly in a box."

If it’s not enough, she could buy a simulated version from the mall, which is so realistic that even experts can’t differentiate unless examined closely, let alone outsiders.

Such threads can also be used for suturing.

Though in Teacher Mo’s place, they’re meant for pet stitching.

Thus, both sides have set the plan, because the main camp is still over there, to stabilize military morale, these officers can’t all leave, so Manbao led Bai Shan and Bai Erlang back.

The horse bandits in the mountains searched most of the day but found no one, however, they did find two more headless bodies and two merchant caravan workers’ bodies. The latter were clearly hacked by their own men, just happened to roll down the hillside, landing directly into the grass pile, so they weren’t spotted.

Erge paced over, particularly examining the two headless bodies. Positioned with the headless bodies found yesterday, certain characteristics became more apparent.

"They’re soldiers of Great Jin!" he said with a sullen face, "Those two bodies you found yesterday you might say were by accident, but these two, in different places, similarly beheaded, is this still accidental?"

Only in the army would people deliberately cut off someone’s head, or ears, because it’s related to military merit.

The latter is done when the head is too large to carry easily, so ears are cut off instead, but it’s clearly not the case now, so carrying a head is better for military merit and reward.