At the third hour of the fifth day of the sixth month, Yang Dingqin led the officers and soldiers of the five counties back to the foot of the Black Tiger Mountain and launched a night attack on the Black Tiger Mountain.

This night attack can be roughly divided into two directions: Huang Ben, the lieutenant of Runan County, and Zou Bu, the lieutenant of Xiangcheng County, each led 100 people to attack the eastern slope of Heihu Mountain; Ding Wu, Wei of Luyang County, and Wei Ma Gai of Kunyang County, each led 100 people to attack the eastern slope of Heihu Mountain.

At first glance, this seems to be a sneak attack like 'striking from the east to the west', but in fact, whether it is attacking the east slope or the south slope, the officers and soldiers are all feints in Yang Ding's strategy, and the real main attack is Wei Chi, who is already lurking on the west side of Heihu Mountain at this moment, and more than 100 Yexian officers and soldiers under his command.

According to Yang Ding's request, Ma Gai and Ding Wu, who attacked the southern slope, took the lead in launching an offensive.

The vanguard of the sneak attack under Ma Gai was naturally the county soldiers led by Ishihara, Chen Gui, Yang Dang and other headhunters, but when it came to the will to fight, even Ishihara, who maintained a strong resistance to the black tiger thief, did not support tonight's night attack.

The reason is very simple, because Ishihara and Ma Gai have the same opinion, and he doesn't think that exterminating the black tiger thieves in the north of the county can save Kunyang, after all, the real threat of the black tiger thieves now lies in the brotherhood in Kunyang County.

If you really want to deal a heavy blow to the black tiger thief, you have to find a way to let the people of Kunyang who were deceived into joining the brotherhood recognize the true face of the black tiger thief, and only by losing the support of public opinion can the black tiger thief be uprooted - about this aspect, he and his companion Chen Gui have been discussing for a long time.

As for the black tiger thieves on the Black Tiger Mountain in the north of the county, in fact, even Ishihara hasn't paid much attention to it recently, because he also knows that it is just a 'shell', as long as those black tiger thieves don't act harmfully and don't offend the county seat, he doesn't bother to pay attention.

Therefore, Ishihara couldn't understand why the Ye County Commander insisted on attacking Black Tiger Mountain at night, and even disregarded the safety of Liu Yi and Wang Yong, the two county commanders who were captured by the Black Tiger Thief, as if the Yang County Commander naively thought that as long as the Black Tiger Thief in Black Tiger Mountain was eliminated, the Black Tiger Thief would be uprooted.

I have to say that in this night attack tonight, everyone can't guess Yang Ding's intentions, including Zhao Yu.

But there is no way, who made the Yang County Commander of Ye County prominent.

"Go up the mountain."

As Ma Gai gave the order, Ishihara and his companion Chen Gui glanced at each other, and worriedly led the county soldiers under his command to quietly touch the hillside.

In all fairness, although neither of them thought that a night attack could completely wipe out the Black Tiger Thief and uproot the latter in Kunyang County, it didn't seem like a bad thing to take this opportunity to kill a few Black Tiger Thieves, and the Black Tiger Thieves weren't good guys anyway.

This idea is true, but the problem is that Ishihara and Chen Gui have two companions who have had a fateful friendship in the mountains, and they are mixed in the group of black tiger thieves to do internal responses, in case ......

"Officers and soldiers attack the mountain! Officers and soldiers attack the mountain! ”

After a short time, the black tiger thief who was patrolling the mountain noticed the whereabouts of Ishihara and the others, and shouted and sent out a warning signal.

Originally, at this time, Ishihara, Chen Gui and others should hurry up the mountain to kill, but now......

"Advance carefully, beware of the cold arrows of the Black Tiger Thief."

With a bit of weakness, Ishihara shouted the order.

Under his order, the county soldiers of Kunyang raised their shields one by one and advanced at a snail-like speed.

The natural result of this is to miss the best raid opportunity.

Soon, the black tiger thieves on the mountain launched a fierce counterattack, condescending to shoot arrows one after another, and several of Kunyang's catchers were not to be outdone and also ordered a counterattack.

The two groups of men were shooting at each other on the hillside, in the dark, blinding environment, and neither of them knew whether the arrows hit the target or not, and only occasionally could be heard the screams of a few unlucky ghosts after being hit by the arrows.

"Immediately inform the county lieutenant Ma that we have been fiercely counterattacked by the black tiger thieves."

Grabbing a county soldier under his command, Ishihara shouted with a bit of guilt, and his shouting made his companion Chen Gui on the side couldn't help laughing.

However, none of the nearby Kunyang officers and soldiers broke down Ishihara, probably because Ma Gai's 'opinion' on the black tiger thief won the hearts of these officers and soldiers: they didn't want to completely anger the black tiger thief for the merits of a certain county magistrate, so that the black tiger thief would finally take revenge on them Kunyang people.

They Kunyang people can be safe with the black tiger thief.

Soon, Ishihara's words reached Margay's ears.

Since Ding Wu, the lieutenant of Luyang County, was by Ma Gai's side at the moment, Ma Gai gave a serious instruction: "Order Shi Yuan and the others, tell them to insist!" The Black Tiger Thieves' counterattack will not last, so they are ready to attack at any time. ”

On the side, Ding Wu watched Ma Gai say these words seriously, wanting to laugh but not daring to laugh.

Although he knew that Ma Gai was the internal response of the Black Tiger Thief, he didn't want Ma Gai to be mistaken for his own - at least not in his own hands.

In the final analysis, Ding Wu only cares about the second son, except for this, he actually doesn't have much affection for the Black Tiger Thief, after all, the Black Tiger Thief is still a thief who started by robbing, and there is a conflict with the position he holds.

In view of Ma Gai's 'releasing water' and Ding Wu's 'not breaking the story', although the night battle on the southern slope of Heihu Mountain seemed to be fierce, but in fact the casualties were not serious, obviously, Chu Yan, who was in charge of the defense of the southern slope, also recognized the officers and soldiers of the two counties, and intended to show mercy to his subordinates, as long as the officers and soldiers of the two counties did not attack strongly, he did not order the throwing of rolling stones, sassal wood, which are extremely difficult to dodge at night, and only asked the Black Tigers under his command to shoot arrows down the mountain with crossbows, so that those officers and soldiers could not approach.

Compared with the southern slope, the night battle on the eastern slope is much more intense, just the first round of attack, Wang Qing ordered people to put rolling stones, sassal wood, and also pushed down the mountain with torches lit round bamboo cages, which can be used for lighting, to assist the black tigers to shoot and kill the attacking officers and soldiers, these round bamboo cages like fireballs, themselves also have a certain lethality.

When these mountain guarding equipment were exhausted, the two sides began a white-knuckle battle.

I saw that under the moonlight with only a little light, the black tiger thieves led by Wang Qing personally and the officers and soldiers led by Huang Ben and Zou Bu were killed together.

"How could the Black Tiger Thief expect us to wait for a sneak attack?!"

Because of his arm injury, Huang Ben was protected by several loyal county guards and retreated, scolding angrily.

In this regard, Zou Bu, the governor of Xiangcheng County, was also full of doubts.

In their opinion, the Black Tiger Thief's defense was too tight, as if they knew they would come to attack tonight.

Obviously, someone must have informed the Black Tiger Thief beforehand.

The problem was that the only people who knew about this night attack were Yang Ding and his generals, as well as the county lieutenants of their five counties, and the rest of them didn't know at all—at least not before the night raid team set off.

"Huang Ben, Huang Ben, my brothers can't hold on......"

In the distance, Zou Bu's panicked shouts were heard.

Seeing that the matter could not be violated, Huang Ben decisively gave the order to retreat: "Retreat!" Remove! ”

At the same time, Yang Ding's general, Wei Chi, had also led more than 100 Ye County officers and soldiers to launch a sneak attack from the west side of the Black Tiger Village.

However, to Wei Chi's surprise, before they could get close to the Black Tiger Village, they were ambushed by the Black Tiger Thieves, and the first burly reckless man laughed and mocked them: "A group of rats, sneaky sneak attack from behind the village, think I don't know?" ”

Seeing this, Wei Chi was shocked.

He also didn't understand why the Black Tiger Thief would see through his plan: considering that at this time, Ding Wu, Ma Gai, Huang Ben, and Zou Bu were launching a sneak attack on the front of the Black Tiger Village, the Black Tiger Thief would not have time to consider the threat behind him, let alone set up an ambush in advance.

Someone must have reported to the Black Tiger Thief in advance!

A thought flashed in his heart, Wei Chi turned his head to look at the Ye County officers and soldiers beside him, and saw that they all showed panic and anxiety on their faces, he hurriedly boosted his morale and said: "At this moment, there are officers and soldiers from the four counties attacking the Black Tiger Village in the front, and the number of Black Tiger Thieves deployed here is definitely not much, let's kill them in one go!" ”

It is undeniable that Wei Chi's judgment is very prepared, and the Black Tiger Crowd deployed by Zhao Yu, Guo Da, Niu Heng and others on the west side is actually only fifty or sixty people, which is less than the number of Ye County officers and soldiers under Wei Chi.

The problem is that the lights are blinding, and those officers and soldiers of Ye County don't know how many black tiger thieves are ambushed here, and they have lost their sharpness subjectively.

On the other hand, the black tiger thieves opposite them were all Guo Da, Chu Jiao, and Niu Heng's subordinates - this means that they are all old people in the village, and even the villagers who have experienced several encirclements and suppressions have long been accustomed to seeing life and death.

A group of officers and soldiers who had lost their spirit encountered such a group of vicious criminals who were not afraid of death, and although the latter were small in number, they really did not have much chance of winning.

No, just one wave of confrontation, more than two dozen officers and soldiers fell, and this death made the rest even more afraid; On the other hand, the Black Tiger Thieves only had a few casualties, and these casualties only stimulated the ferocity of these evil thieves, making them more and more ferocious.

Especially on the side of the Black Tiger Thief, there is also Niu Heng, a reckless general.

I saw that this strong and reckless man was wearing two layers of armor, and the swords in the hands of the officers and soldiers of Ye County could hardly hurt him, but he could rely on brute force to split the person in half with a sword, even if there were officers and soldiers of Ye County who raised their swords to resist, he could also cut off the opponent's weapon with one sword, and cut that person to the ground with only his spare strength.

This ferocious lethality greatly boosted the morale of the Black Tigers, even if Niu Heng once again broke the weapon in his hand and did it with his bare hands, no Ye County officers and soldiers dared to take a step forward.

"Haha! I am the general of the cow, and the cow is also! ”

Niu Heng laughed and reported his thief number, and the shout like thunder frightened the officers and soldiers of Ye County in front of him, and retreated again and again, and was immediately killed by the black tiger thief.

Seeing this scene, Wei Chi secretly sighed in his heart: relying on these officers and soldiers who have been deterred by thieves, they will definitely not be able to enter the Black Tiger Village.

Thinking of this, he really ordered: "Withdraw!" ”

However, how could Niu Heng let Wei Chi and these officers and soldiers leave so easily?

You must know that since he became Zhao Yu's guard general, he has almost never encountered this kind of opportunity to kill the enemy, and now he was finally sent to resist Wei Chi because of the lack of manpower in the village, how could he let go of the opportunity to show his skills?

"Where to go!"

With a loud shout, Niu Heng immediately led the Black Tigers behind him to kill, and he himself faced Wei Chi directly.

With the faint moonlight and the light of the torches, Wei Chi clearly saw Niu Heng.

Although he was shocked by Niu Hengfangcai's ferocious lethality, Wei Chi was not afraid, and clenched the weapon in his hand to meet him head-on.

only heard the sound of "bang", and the sword in his hand and the sword in Niu Heng's hand collided fiercely, bursting out a few sparks.

Unlike Niu Heng, who was only in a flickering figure, Wei Chi was forced by the huge force of the shock to take two steps back, and then looked at the other party with some incredulity.

The arm strength of this thief is far above him?!

Of course, the strength of the arm is not the only criterion for judging the level of force, but also the criterion for judging the victory or defeat of the fight.

As soon as he saw the burly figure of Niu Heng, Wei Chi immediately thought of a way to deal with this person - reduce hard work and win by skill!

So, he no longer fought with Niu Heng, every time he saw Niu Heng swing his sword and cut him, he would jump and dodge, and then take advantage of Niu Heng's return to make a counterattack.

I have to say that this method is still very effective, and it didn't take much effort to cut the sword in Wei Chi's hand on Niu Heng's body several times.

Niu Heng was not injured, because he was wearing two layers of armor, but he was still yelled at by the agile Wei Chi, eager to chop the guy in front of him who jumped around like a mouse into a pulp.

But it's a pity that Wei Chi, as Yang Ding's general, has practiced martial arts since he was a child, and his martial arts are naturally excellent, how can he be easily defeated by a barbarian like Niu Heng who relies on force alone and basically hasn't learned any orthodox martial arts? - Although he won't be able to get rid of Niu Heng wearing two layers of armor for a while.

However, the rest of the Ye County officers and soldiers did not have the same martial arts as Wei Chi, these people were originally panicked because they were ambushed by the black tiger thief, and Wei Chi was dragged by Niu Heng and could not command in time, so that he was quickly killed by the black tiger thief led by Guo Da and Chu Jiao.

During the scuffle, even Jingnu knocked down several Ye County officers and soldiers who rushed towards Zhao Yu's side because of panic.

Seeing this situation, Wei Chi didn't dare to continue to fight with Niu Heng, and while trying his best to parry Niu Heng, he shouted loudly and commanded the officers and soldiers of Ye County under his command to retreat in an orderly manner.

But despite this, there were still many Yexian officers and soldiers who were chased by the black tiger thieves, or dropped their weapons and surrendered in time, or were cut down to the ground by the black tiger thieves, and in the end, only a few dozen people fled into the mountains with Wei Chi.

"Not happy! It's not happy! ”

Niu Heng shouted unhappily and tried to chase after him, but was stopped by Zhao Yu, Guo Da and others.

After all, in the eyes of Zhao Yu, Guo Da and others, as long as Wei Chi and others are repelled, there is no need to chase after them, after all, there is a shortage of manpower in the cottage now, and the defensive force cannot be easily dispersed, so as not to be succeeded by Na Yang - this person will not succeed in a sneak attack tonight, and he will definitely try to attack tomorrow during the day.

So, everyone guarded and returned to the village.

Although he felt that it was impossible for Wei Chi to go back and return, for the sake of prudence, Zhao Yu still instructed Guo Da to arrange more than 20 people to patrol and guard on the west side of the cottage, and once he found the whereabouts of officers and soldiers, he would immediately report to the cottage.

However, it turned out that Zhao Yu was too cautious, and the officers and soldiers of Wei Chi's team who were ambushed had lost the ability to sneak attack the Black Tiger Village again.

At the same time, Yang Ding, the county commander of Yexian County, stood on the flat ground in the southeast direction of the Black Tiger Mountain, looking up at the main village of the Black Tiger Thieves, even if Ding Wu, Ma Gai, Huang Ben, and Zou Bu were repelled by the Black Tiger Thieves one after another, he did not distract himself.

Unfortunately, after waiting for an hour, he didn't find any signs of riots in the Black Tiger Village on the mountain, let alone a sign of fire.

Yang Ding immediately realized that Wei Chi had failed, and he failed to take the opportunity to attack the Black Tiger Village and kill Zhou Hu, the leader of the Black Tiger Thieves.

At the risk of being accused of 'disregarding the safety of his colleagues', but in the end he failed to get rid of that Zhou Hu, Rao is Yang Ding was also very disappointed.

But at this point, he can only accept it.

After another hour or so, a few rays of light gradually appeared in the sky, and the officers and soldiers of several counties who had retreated from Heihu Mountain gathered on the flat ground in the southeast direction of Heihu Mountain, resting in place.

Huang Ben, Zou Bu, Ding Wu, Ma Gai, and Gao Chun focused on Yang Ding and expounded their views on this night attack on Black Tiger Mountain.

During this period, Runan County Lieutenant Huang Ben took the lead in saying: "The news must have leaked, the black tiger thief has already taken precautions, and Zou Bucai and I took people up the mountain, and we were strongly counterattacked by the black tiger thief...... If he hadn't gotten the news in advance, how could the Black Tiger Thief send so many people to guard the mountain for no reason? ”

As he said this, he looked at Margay with that skeptical gaze.

I still remember that when the Black Tiger Thief was encircled and suppressed last time, Zhang Jing, one of the Five Tigers of Chenmen, once identified Ma Gai as the internal response of the Black Tiger Thief, and Huang Ben was suspicious of this at that time, although he was forced to agree to house arrest Ma Gai due to Zhang Jing's identity at first, but in the end he still thought that Ma Gai was innocent.

But now, Huang Ben is increasingly suspicious that Zhang Jing is right.

First, from the very beginning, Ma Gai resolutely opposed the encirclement and suppression of the black tiger thief, and spoke for the black tiger thief from time to time; Second, the Kunyang officers and soldiers under Ma Gai were the only two officers and soldiers in the five counties who suffered the least losses, and there were almost no losses.

And the other one is the officers and soldiers under the captain Ding Wu of Luyang County.

Considering Yang Ding's deliberate arrangement, the Kunyang officers and soldiers were in the front and the Luyang officers and soldiers were in the rear, and it was acceptable that Ding Wu's subordinates suffered relatively small losses, but why did Ma Gai's subordinates almost never receive losses? - You must know that on his side, more than 200 officers and soldiers have been lost.

It can be seen that there is only one answer: Ma Gai colluded with the black tiger thief!

Seeing that everyone's eyes were on him, Ma Gai shook his head with a smile.

If he was still a little panicked when he was identified by Zhang Jing last time, then this time, he is used to it, or rather, he has already prepared accordingly.

He deliberately said: "Huang Ben, what you say is too ridiculous! If it is said that I colluded with the black tiger thieves based on the number of casualties alone, then what can the county lieutenant of Ding say? Could it be that he is also the internal response of the Black Tiger Thief? ”

This guy ......

The corners of Ding Wu's eyes twitched a few times.

Just when he was about to refute, or pretend to bite Ma Gai back, Huang Ben explained for him: "Ding Wu is the rear team, you are the front team, the rear team has a small loss, and your front team is responsible for taking the lead in attacking, why only this casualty?" How do you explain that? ”

"Ridiculous!"

Ma Gai retorted: "The casualties of my officers and soldiers are low, and that is because I have dealt with the Black Tiger Thieves for many years, and several head hunters such as Ishihara, Chen Gui, and Yang Dang under my command are all familiar with the tactics of the Black Tiger Thieves. Besides, I wouldn't just ask my men to die for the sake of others' merit! ”

Yang Ding glanced at Ma Gai and asked calmly: "Does the 'other' in the mouth of the county lieutenant refer to Yang?" ”

"Who knows."

Margay chuckled.

Now, he didn't care if he would offend Yang Ding, shrugged his shoulders and said: "I still say the same thing, although the black tiger thief is a disaster in my Kunyang County, but compared with the thieves in other places, the black tiger thief at least does not kill innocents indiscriminately, and it is not impossible to recruit peace." …… Unless the Yang County Order can ensure that the Black Tiger Thief is wiped out, I don't want to overstimulate the Black Tiger Thief, lest the Black Tiger Thief retaliate against me Kunyang in the future. ”

Hearing this, Huang Ben was furious and scolded: "Ma Gai, are you still worthy of being the county lieutenant?" ”

Ma Gai glanced at Huang Ben, and felt a little embarrassed in his heart, after all, once upon a time, his relationship with Huang Ben was still quite good......

After sighing, he said to Huang Ben with a straight face: "Huang Ben, I advise you to calm down, there are some things that I am inconvenient to say, I thought you could think of ...... Liu Yi, Liu County Ling and their families in Gui County are still in the hands of the Black Tiger Thief, and if you are instigated to attack the Black Tiger Thief like you, if you anger the Black Tiger Thief, how can you be responsible? ”

"You ......" Huang Ben was shocked and angry, glared at Ma Gai and scolded: "What do you want me to do?" Xun Duyou obviously negotiated the conditions with Zhou Hu, but Zhou Hu was treacherous, that is, he did not release the two county magistrates, what do you want me to do? Do you want to keep waiting? ”

Ma Gai spread his hands and said, "As long as we can ensure that the two county commanders are safe and sound, what does it matter if we wait a few more days?" The Black Tiger Thief can't drag it on forever. ”

“……”

Huang Ben and Zou Bu glanced at each other.

It was precisely because the Black Tiger Thieves had delayed the release of Liu Yi and Wang Yong's two county orders that the two of them would support Yang Ding's proposal last night and support the sneak attack on the Black Tiger Village, but now listening to Ma Gai's words, the two of them also realized that their decision was too reckless, and it was very likely that the two county orders would fall into an unfavorable situation.

After being silent for a long time, Huang Ben asked Ma Gai, "Ma Gai, have you ever reported to the Black Tiger Thief?" ”

How could Ma Gai admit it, and immediately denied it.

After the meeting was dispersed, Yang Ding called Ding Wu.

At that time, Magai saw this, but left as if nothing had happened.

After everyone left, Yang Ding asked Ding Wudao in private: "County Lieutenant Ding, do you think that Ma Gai reported to the black tiger thief?" ”

Ding Wu pretended to hesitate and said: "I have been paying attention to Ma Gai these days, and I haven't seen him make any abnormal moves...... In short, I didn't find the handle, maybe he was hiding deeply, maybe it was ...... I can't say it well. …… I'll keep an eye on him. ”

"Hmm."

Yang Ding nodded slightly, and immediately looked at the back of Ding Wu leaving, frowning slightly.

He can be sure that Ma Gai must be the internal response of the Black Tiger Thief, because the failure of last night's sneak attack is too strange - the Black Tiger Thief is on guard in the front, and it can be explained that he repelled Ma Gai, Ding Wu, Huang Ben, and Zou Bu, but the Black Tiger Thief even repelled Wei Chi behind the sneak attack, which is too weird, this is obviously someone who gave a message to the Black Tiger Thief.

But Ma Gai shouldn't know about the 'feint'......

The more he thought about it, the more he felt that something was wrong, Yang Ding called the county lieutenant Gao Chun and asked, "County Lieutenant Gao, about the feint of us to attack the front of Black Tiger Mountain last night and assist Wei Chi in the sneak attack on Black Tiger Village, have you revealed it to Ma Gai?" Or to others? ”

"Nope." Gao Chun shook his head in astonishment.

Immediately, as if he had thought of something, he frowned and said, "Wait, I seem to have mentioned it to Ding Wu......"

"Ding Wu?"

Yang Ding showed a slightly stunned look on his face, and immediately glanced at Gao Chun.

Is it a coincidence? Or is it that even Ding Wu, the captain of Luyang County, is actually the internal response of the black tiger thief? !

Taking a slight breath, Yang Ding frowned deeply.

If the guess is correct, two of the five county lieutenants he led are actually the internal response of the black tiger thief?

And embarrassingly, he asked one of them to spy on the other......

It should be a coincidence, the county lieutenant of Luyang should not have anything to do with the black tiger thief in Kunyang......

Shaking his head, Yang Ding felt a sense of despair in his heart.

If the five county lieutenants who assisted him in encircling and suppressing the Black Tiger Thief, two of them were really the internal response of the Black Tiger Thief......

He didn't dare to imagine.