Chapter 418: Although Xu Lai had found a hiding place for Luo Mingru, he was not in a hurry to let Luo Mingru's whole family go there.
According to the weather conditions and physical strength, Xu Lai asked Luo Mingru to select a group of strong laborers and set off with him.
The rest of the women, children, old and weak are temporarily settled in Qingfeng City, and will come back to pick them up when Luo Mingru's town improves.
Luo Mingru is not afraid of Xu Lai embezzling these people. Even women with certain working ability, there are many in Qingfeng City.
As for the other old, weak and young people who were not even able to work, if Luo Mingru was not worried that those young people would fall out with him, he would have wished that Xu Lai had always been in charge.
Xu Lai personally led the team. First, he was unable to determine the current situation of the village.
After all, besides Xu Lai, many horse thieves also knew about that place.
If Luo Mingru and the others arrived, they would find that the place had been taken over by horse thieves again, or even if the fortress was re-established, they would be embarrassed to death.
So, Xu Lai wanted to go there personally, so that if those horse thieves really took over again, he could attack them directly.
It doesn't matter even if a stronghold is set up. Although the cavalry is not good at attacking cities and he does not carry siege equipment, he now has nearly a squadron of angels.
30 Seraphim, plus 54 Archangels, also enjoy Xu Lai’s terrifying bonus.
If this angel team of nearly 100 people can't even defeat the horse thief camp that Xu Lai defeated so many people at the beginning, why should they argue with Count Aini?
On the other hand, Xu Lai remembered that he had left some of the family members kidnapped by the horse thieves here.
Horse thieves, thieves, the most troublesome thing is that they come and go like the wind.
Just like when Xu Lai went to the stronghold, the orcs dispatched so many troops but still failed to contain Xu Lai.
The same goes for these horse thieves. Their level is not high. Even a group of trainee knights can defeat them head-on.
However, horse thieves usually don't wear armor, their weight is much lower than that of knights, their horses are of a similar level, their speed is no slower than that of regular knights, and their physical strength is even better.
So, the nobles have always had a headache in clearing these horse thieves.
It often takes a long time to work hard, but in the end it has no effect, and it will also attract the revenge of the horse thieves.
These horse thieves also have a boss.
You have angered the prairie king. He is keeping an eye on your territory and the caravans coming to your territory. Not many nobles can stand it.
Large caravans usually take the initiative to provide filial piety to the prairie king.
Then, the grassland king will issue a passing flag. This flag is better than any noble passing order on the grassland.
But it was a large caravan or business group. They had connections, connections, and financial strength.
The Prairie King also understands that you can't dry up the lake for fishing, so if someone is willing to worship, he is more willing to accept this kind of business that can make the water flow slowly.
However, Qingfeng City has only been established for a short period of time, and the caravans have only just become familiar with the surrounding towns. There are no such connections and relationships at all.
Even if there were, Xu Lai would not be willing to part with it. He was not stingy, but he was not generous either.
The caravans in Qingfeng City have never worshiped, so naturally they will be tricked by horse thieves.
The two trade routes developed by Wei Yihong have recently encountered horse thieves. One of them was led by Urdola himself, but they failed to let the horse thieves succeed.
But there was no news about the other small team, the goods and the transport personnel.
This is something Xu Lai cannot tolerate. Stronghold, Hell, and the two super camps have not been able to take advantage of him. A mere horse thief is even more intolerable.
Xu Lai made this trip specifically to eliminate the hidden danger of horse thieves.
As for how to prevent it, it is very simple.
As the saying goes, kill the chicken to scare the monkey. Xu Lai might as well kill the monkey to scare the chicken, and kill that bullshit prairie king directly. It should be enough to shock him.
In the entire grassland, the only thing the horse thieves dare not mess with is Count Aini's caravan.
Why, because Count Aini is gifted with cavalry, and his cavalry are the highest in both quantity and quality.
If you offend him, you really want Count Aini to take action. The horse thieves will not be able to escape the fate of being captured.
Now that Xu Lai has the idea of taking action with Count Aini, he must let other nobles see Xu Lai's strength and let them think clearly when choosing sides.
The horse thieves did not dare to offend Count Aini, but they dared to harass Xu Lai's caravan.
This shows that in the eyes of the horse thief, Xu Lai is far worse than Count Aini.
Since the horse thieves think so, other grassland nobles must also think the same way.
Xu Lai disdained the speed that the horse thieves were proud of.
But the horse thieves have another advantage. Their familiarity with the terrain is far superior to that of Xu Lai.
Horse thieves can easily find secret places to hide on the grassland, but Xu Lai cannot find them.
Therefore, Xu Lai visited the former stronghold of the horse thieves to see if those who had lived with the horse thieves for a long time could provide some clues.
He was even looking forward to the fact that other horse thieves leaders would take a fancy to that place, and it would be best if they had already occupied it.
He is not used to forcing others, especially those weak women who seem to be powerless.
But if the targets were replaced by those horse thieves who did all kinds of evil, Xu Lai would not have any psychological pressure at all.
This place is relatively far from Qingfeng City, far beyond Qingfeng City's 100-kilometer patrol limit. If you don't take a detour and go straight, it will be about 120 kilometers.
In order not to delay the marching speed, Xu Lai never left, using his talent and specialization to increase the marching speed.
At the same time, he also sent Yan Feng to lead his gale knights to sweep away the resurrected skeletons along the way.
Unfortunately, the situation Xu Lai expected did not occur, and this place was not taken seriously by other horse thieves.
But it’s not all bad news. The women who live here and have no other means of making a living are all living well and nourishingly.
Not only that, Xu Lai remembered that there should only be a few dozen women living here at the beginning, but now there are nearly a hundred.
The huge mountain stronghold has many handmade buildings that were not directly destroyed by the Heart of the Castle. Naturally, it can accommodate these women.
But, where did these sudden extra people come from?
On the grassland, not all land is suitable for farming, otherwise it will become a plain area instead of a grassland area.
A place suitable for farming must have a water source. The horse thieves do not make a living by farming, so the village is not built near a water source.
The village is several kilometers away from the nearest branch of the water stream. If you can fetch water every few days for washing and drinking, you can still survive.
However, it is impossible to support more than 100 people farming at such a long distance without opening canals to divert the water.
Of course Luo Mingru's town does not need to be built on the original site of the village. It can be rebuilt near the river.
If these women dare to leave these villages, they may be picked off by wolves at night.
In fact, when they refused to leave with Xu Lai, Xu Lai suspected that they could still get in touch with other horse thieves.
Looking at it now, this is indeed the case.
Although no horse thieves were found here, it must be a place where the horse thieves settled their families.
The sparse farmland is completely insufficient to support these more than one hundred people.
Moreover, not even a trace of a predator was found near the village where there were no young and strong men. This could not be a natural formation of the grassland.
Just because Xu Lai doesn't want to be rough with them doesn't mean he can't let them go.
It's just that when he's gotten to this point, there's no need for him, a great lord, to get his hands dirty.
He didn't even need to bring these women back to Qingfeng City, he asked professionals like Brother Aboka to do it.
Even at the scene, there is someone who can help Xu Lai find out the information he wants to know.
Luo Mingru quickly gave himself the first credit for joining Xu Lai's camp.
He didn't even use force, he just took his big werewolves and lizard people around in a circle, and threatened to marry them.
Not long after, the answer Xu Lai wanted was delivered to his desk.
It was already dark, and although these women knew the location of the horse thief, few of them could draw.
Xu Lai asked Elvi to hold a snitch in her arms, put on two night vision goggles, and take advantage of the darkness to find the hiding place of these horse thieves.
Not to mention, these horse thieves are pretty good at hiding.
It was obviously not too far away from Xu Lai and the others, only 3 or 5 kilometers away at most, which was equivalent to being right under the noses of Xu Lai and the others, but they didn't notice it.
Of course, this cannot be blamed on Yan Feng and the others for not doing enough investigation.
After suffering a loss before, Yan Feng and the others have always spread out several kilometers in their investigation.
Mainly these horse thieves are hiding in a wild building called the Hideout.
Outdoor buildings usually have their own functions.
Just like the shelter where Wei Yihong was hiding, the building was not big, but the noble army was helpless.
This is because these outdoor buildings have additional space inside.
For example, the hiding place itself is not a big building. It is covered with soil and covered with a layer of turf. It looks like a small slope.
Unless someone who has been there takes the initiative to point it out, it is impossible for an outsider to notice the slightest clue even if they climb the slope.
Only by actively lifting the layer of hidden soil can you see the small entrance and exit.
You can't go to this kind of hiding place with too many people at once.
Only one unit can pass through his entrance and exit at a time, and there must be someone guarding the other end.
Xu Lai is very interested in this place.
Ignoring everyone's dissuasion, he held a sword in one hand and a shield in the other, and insisted on being the first to rush into the horse thief's hiding place.
Except him, no matter who goes in first, he will be a little worried.
No way, don’t look at Elvi as a Seraph, she is very powerful in combat.
But entering a place like this where there are bound to be traps, if someone knocks you out, you may not even have a chance to wake up.
Xu Lai is not afraid anyway. His physical and magical defenses are terrifyingly high, and with the Medal of Honor from the God of War, it is almost difficult to control him.
Coupled with more than 1,000 health points and specialized skills, if he can't wait for help to arrive, then no matter how many people he sends in, they will just die.
(End of this chapter)