At the beginning of March, at the request of Yang Ding, the county commander of Yexian County, Li Min, the county guard of Yingchuan, decided to send Cao Suo, the county commander, to lead 2,000 soldiers to assist the former in encircling and suppressing the black tiger thieves.

On the fifth day of the first month, Cao Suo, the county lieutenant, led 2,000 soldiers to Kunyang, and joined Yang Ding and the allied forces of the five counties in the north of the county.

Yang Ding, who learned the news in advance, took five county lieutenants, including Ding Wu, Ma Gai, and Huang Ben, out of the camp for ten miles to greet him.

When they saw this county army holding high the banners of 'Yingchuan County' and 'Xuchang', the five county lieutenants including Ding Wu, Ma Gai, and Huang Ben were quite shocked, because they never thought that Yang Ding would actually invite the county army of Yingchuan County.

Among them, the most shocking, or inexplicably panicked, are undoubtedly Ding Wu and Ma Gai, fortunately, both of them were calm and did not show their panic.

"County Lieutenant."

"County Lieutenant."

Under the leadership of Yang Ding, Ding Wu, Ma Gai, Huang Ben, Gao Chun, and Zou Bu, the five county lieutenants, took the lead in saluting Cao Suo, among which Ma Gai, Huang Ben, and Zou Bu were the most respectful, which is no wonder, after all, their three counties are all subordinate to Yingchuan County.

County Lieutenant Cao Suo knew at first glance that he was a rather arrogant person, but for Ding Wu and the other five county lieutenants, his attitude was quite kind, but this kindness did not include treating Yang Ding.

A moment later, when Yang Ding invited Cao Suo to the military tent in the military camp of Yexian County, Cao Suo said to Yang Ding expressionlessly in front of everyone: "I have 2,000 county soldiers in Yingchuan County, and today I will bring half of the old troops, and the other half are new soldiers who have been recruited for a short time, a total of 2,000 people, all of them are here." Cao still has urgent matters to return to the county, and it is inconvenient to stay for a long time, so if there is anything to do with the Yang County Order, I can discuss it with my subordinates...... Tian Qin! ”

"In!"

As soon as the words fell, a burly general walked out from behind Cao Suo and stood with his fists clenched.

Cao Suo pointed at this person and said to Yang Ding: "This is my subordinate Tian Qin, who holds the position of Shishi in the army, and the matter of suppressing thieves, Yang County Commander can discuss with him." ”

After speaking, he instructed Tian Qin again: "Tian Qin, when I am away, you must obey the dispatch of Yang County's order, and you must not disobey!" ”

"Obey." Tian Qin responded with a fist.

After the explanation, Cao Suo didn't stay any longer, and immediately got up to leave.

Although Yang Ding came forward to save Cao Suo, he failed to keep Cao Suo, so he had to go out of the camp with everyone to bid farewell to Cao Suo.

After a few moments, Cao Su left on horseback with only a few retinues, and everyone returned to the camp.

Taking advantage of this gap, Ma Gai approached Tian Qin and said hello to the latter.

According to the county system of the Jin State, Shi Shi is a subordinate directly under the county lieutenant, who is responsible for running the army on weekdays, and the rank of the official is higher than that of the marquis who is in charge of five hundred people, that is, the military marquis and the qu marquis, and is on an equal footing with the other type of direct official of the county lieutenant, the 'Wei Shi'.

The difference between the history of the scholar and the history of the captain is that the former is often in the county army and directly commands the county army; The county historian is mostly in the county guard mansion and directly obeys the dispatch of the county lieutenant.

Whenever there is any major event, the county lieutenant generally sends the lieutenant to the army, conveys the order to the scholar, and then the scholar and the county historian work together to complete various tasks.

Because he knew this, Ma Gai treated Tian Qin very politely, and after greeting him respectfully, he took the opportunity to ask Tian Qin: "Regardless of Captain Cao's words and deeds, it seems that he doesn't like Yang County Order?" ”

Ma Gai is the county lieutenant of Kunyang County, which belongs to Yingchuan County, so Tian Qin does not regard Ma Gai as an outsider, but after glancing at Yang Ding who was walking in front, he said in a low voice: "Recently, due to the relationship between the rebel army, the county lieutenant is in a hurry to recruit new soldiers to expand the county army, and also to train those new soldiers, how can he have time to draw troops to deal with a group of bandits who are not very harmful?" It's just that the county guard gave an order, and the county lieutenant can't do anything ......"

"Oh." It dawned on Ma Gai.

Indeed, in the non-war era, even if it is a county, it will not retain a large number of county troops, and generally retained a certain number of soldiers according to the area of the county, ranging from seven or eight hundred to two or three thousand, and there are many townships and counties under the jurisdiction of Yingchuan County, but only 2,000 permanent county troops are retained.

This little force is naturally unable to resist the rebel army, so after getting the news that 'the rebel army may launch a large-scale counteroffensive', Li Min, the county guard of Yingchuan, ordered the recruitment of new soldiers to expand the army, almost to more than 10,000 soldiers and horses, until the crisis of the rebel army is resolved, and then dismiss most of the county soldiers.

The fastest and most convenient way to train new pawns is undoubtedly to bring new pawns with old pawns, but when Yingchuan County was busy expanding the county army, Yexian County Commander Yang Ding asked Yingchuan County for help and borrowed troops, but the county guard Li Min also did not refute Yang Ding's face for some reason, and could only draw out half of the old pawns to assist Yang Ding in encircling and suppressing the black tiger thief, which made Cao Suo, the county lieutenant responsible for recruiting and training new pawns, very angry, and it is no wonder that after he joined Yang Ding and others today, he didn't even stay too long, and left the army to return to the county with a calm face.

Ma Gai sighed to Tian Qin intentionally or unintentionally: "I have said to that Yang County Commander many times, saying that the black tiger thief is just a disease of ringworm, and this year's rebel army's large-scale counteroffensive is the top priority, but that Yang County Commander insisted on suppressing the thief and refused to listen to persuasion." ”

Tian Qin nodded thoughtfully, but did not respond.

After a while, the group returned to the vicinity of the camp, and at this time, Yang Ding walked towards Tian Qin, clasped his fists and said: "Tian Shishi, your army has just arrived, it is better to set up camp and build a village first, and repair it." ”

"Okay." Tian Qin did not shirk, and after saluting Yang Ding, he turned around and walked towards the two thousand county troops who were resting in the distance in the distance.

Looking at Tian Qin and the two thousand county troops in the distance, Wei Chi, who was beside Yang Ding, said with a smile: "With the help of the two thousand county troops, there will be no defeat in defeating the Black Tiger Thief this time." ”

Hearing this, Yang Ding smiled faintly.

With 2,200 allied troops from the five counties, plus 2,000 county troops from Yingchuan County, if this total of 4,000 people is not enough to exterminate a group of bandits with only a few hundred people, then he Yang Ding will no longer have the face to continue to serve as the county commander of Yexian County.

But having said that, he didn't actually plan to directly involve these county troops in the suppression of thieves, let alone let this county army be the main attacker.

He instructed Wei Chi: "Wei Chi, you lead a team of county soldiers to the foot of the thief's village to shout, just say that our party has 5,000 new county troops to help today, and persuade the thieves on the mountain to surrender early." …… If I surrender at this time, I can still not be held accountable, but if I am stubborn and continue to help that Zhou Hu abuse, then the crime is the same as Zhou Hu, and I cannot be pardoned! ”

"Five thousand?"

Wei Chi was stunned, but quickly reacted, with a slight malicious smile on his face, and said with a fist: "Understood, I'll go now." ”

Watching Wei Chi leave quickly, the old man stroked Wei Dong's beard, and said to Yang Ding with a chuckle: "I see. …… The young master's 'borrowing soldiers' is actually just trying to take advantage of the situation. ”

Yang Ding nodded slightly.

As Wei Dong guessed, Yang Ding never thought of relying on the county army of Yingchuan County to encircle and suppress the Black Tiger Thieves, he just wanted to create a momentum of 'a large number of thieves and soldiers' to scare the Black Tiger Thieves on the mountain, so as to achieve the goal of surrendering the soldiers without a fight.

He had no doubt that after learning of the reinforcements sent by Yingchuan County to suppress the thieves, the gang of black tiger thieves would inevitably put themselves in danger and think of a way out, so that he would have a greater chance to defeat them and even persuade them to surrender.

After a while, Wei Chi came to the foot of the mountain with more than a dozen county soldiers, and shouted towards the mountain: "Listen to the black tiger thief on the mountain, today Yingchuan County sent 5,000 reinforcements to help us and others to suppress the thieves, and there is no longer any chance of victory, and those who know each other will surrender quickly, and the Yang County Order of our county promises not to pursue the crimes of accomplices; But if someone is stubborn and continues to help Zhou Hu abuse, then the crime is the same as Zhou Hu! ”

He shouted these words three times in a row, but there was silence on the mountain.

Didn't the black tiger thief on the mountain hear it?

Of course not, in fact, when Wei Chi shouted for the first time, Liu Tu, Xu Bai, Wang Ping and others, who were squatting at the end of the narrow passage of the spider web, clearly heard the content of the shouting, and were stunned by this content.

In fact, occupying the high place, they did see that a reinforcement army had arrived at the joint camp of the five county armies, but none of them thought that the reinforcements sent by Yingchuan County would be full of 5,000 people?!

In this case, even the old people around Liu Tu were panicked, not to mention those newcomers, who turned pale with fright, and asked again and again: "How is this good?" ”

Seeing this, Liu Tu shouted angrily: "What are you panicking about?!" …… What if the officers and soldiers of the mountain received 5,000 reinforcements? With this cobweb, they may not come to the ground......"

But unfortunately, his words didn't have much effect, after all, the number of five thousand is too big, beyond the tolerance of the black tigers present, especially for those newcomers who have just defected to the cottage.

Seeing this scene, Xu Bai exchanged glances with Wang Ping.

Others may have been deceived by Wei Chi's shouting, but Xu Bai and Wang Ping had the experience of working with the Jiangxia garrison to fight the rebels when they were in Jiangxia, and they could roughly estimate the number of new reinforcements under the mountain—no more than 3,000 people killed.

But Xu Bai and Wang Ping did not tell Liu Tu about this matter.

The reason is very simple, because Wei Chi, who shouted at the bottom of the mountain, mentioned 'pardon' - unless the big and small leaders in the cottage, the rest of the ordinary bandits can be pardoned as long as they are willing to go down the mountain and surrender.

In this case, Xu Bai and Wang Ping naturally preferred the Black Tiger Thief to collapse without a fight - anyway, ordinary villagers could be pardoned.

The only thing that made them hesitate was Chen Mo and Liu Tu......

Once upon a time, the 'winged tiger' Chen Mo was famous in the Kunyang area, Xu Bai and others regarded him as an enemy, knowing that this time the two of them mixed into the Black Tiger Village in order to find out Zhou Hu's intelligence, they knew that Chen Mo, who was famous for murder, was actually not a murderer.

On the contrary, Chen Mo's conduct and demeanor are very decent, as if he is a general in the army, although he treats the villagers very strictly, but in some inconsequential places, this person is quite tolerant.

Among them, what impressed Xu Bai the most was his 'sparring' with Chen Mo some time ago.

In order to demonstrate to the rest of the newcomers, Chen Mo often fought with him at that time - although Xu Bai didn't understand why Chen Mo specifically asked him and Wang Hire, probably to see that they were not weak?

As for the results of the sparring, the two of them naturally didn't win once.

Although they didn't win, Chen Mo told them where they lost every time, which benefited Xu Bai and Wang Ping a lot.

Since then, Xu Bai and Wang Ping have changed their views on Chen Mo, feeling that Chen Mo is too condescending to live in a den of thieves, and with the strength of this Chen commander, he is fully capable of serving as a county lieutenant.

If it is said that for Chen Mo, Xu Bai and Wang Ping still respect this person's strength and not bad character, then for Liu Tu and these people, I am afraid it will be a long-term love.

Of course, this love refers to friendship.

Compared with Chen Mo, the faintly 'high-up' commander, Liu Tu is the longest contact between Xu Bai and Wang Ping.

In their opinion, this Liu Tu is brave and unscrupulous, but he treats his brothers quite righteously - to be precise, most of the villagers in the cottage are righteous, especially those old people, as for the newcomers, they are more constrained by the rules of the village.

And now the trouble is that Yang Ding, the county commander of Yexian County, not only wants to arrest the thief Zhou Hu, but also Chen Mo and Liu Tu, the big and small leaders in the village, will not be pardoned, which makes Xu Bai and Wang Ping hesitate.

Taking advantage of the fact that no one was paying attention, Xu Bai whispered to Wang Ping: "Let's wait and see for a while to see the reaction in the village, especially the reaction of Zhou Hu." ”

"Hmm." Wang Ping nodded slightly.

While the two of them were discussing, the Black Tigers sent by Liu Tu had also quickly run back to the main village, ready to tell the big leader about Wei Chi's shout.

However, in fact, there was no need to wait for the Black Tigers sent by Liu Tu to deliver the news, because someone on the mountain had already seen the reinforcements sent by Yingchuan County, and then spread the matter to Zhao Yu's ears.

“……”

After receiving this news, Zhao Yu frowned and paced back and forth in his room, and from the side, Jing Nu looked at him with a worried expression.

I still remember that a few days ago, probably on February 28 and 29, Yang Ding ordered the officers and soldiers of the five counties to try to attack the mountain and were defeated, and since then, Yang Ding has not made any movement.

At that time, Zhao Yu also felt very puzzled, and concluded that Yang Ding must be planning some tricks, but he never expected that Yang Ding would invite reinforcements from Yingchuan County so decisively.

In Zhao Yu's opinion, this move is really a bit abnormal, after all, in the previous temptation, Yang Ding's command did not lose too many manpower, and there were still close to 2,000 officers and soldiers, more than three times that of his Black Tiger Crowd.

In this case, it stands to reason that Yang Ding does not need to invite reinforcements, and this is also the reason why Zhao Yu did not dare to move the county army of the five counties - it was precisely because he was worried that Yang Ding would invite reinforcements in a bad situation, Zhao Yu decided to take a thorough defensive position, on the one hand, to defend the cottage, on the other hand, try not to cause too serious casualties to the officers and soldiers under the mountain, hoping to support the rebel army with this situation and completely disrupt the situation.

But unexpectedly, Yang Ding very decisively invited reinforcements.

Just as Zhao Yu was pondering, suddenly someone outside the house reported: "Big leader, the officers and soldiers are shouting at the bottom of the mountain, Liu Tu and Liu Boss ordered me to report to the big leader immediately." ”

Hearing this, Zhao Yu put on the tiger mask, immediately summoned the thief into the house, and asked, "What are you shouting?" ”

So, the thief told Zhao Yu about Wei Chi's shouting.

After listening to this shout, Zhao Yu immediately understood.

At this time, he finally understood why Yang Ding unusually invited reinforcements, the reason was that Yang Ding wanted to defeat his Black Tiger Crowd with the slightest sacrifice!

At this moment, an urgent greeting came from near the door of the house: "Ah Hu." ”

Zhao Yu raised his head, and then saw Guo Da leading Chu Jiao into the house quickly.

After greeting each other, Guo Da sat down at the table and said to Zhao Yu with a solemn expression: "Ah Hu, you must have heard about it, right?" The officers and soldiers under the mountain invited reinforcements from Yingchuan County, a total of 5,000 people. …… I really don't understand, why did they bring in reinforcements? Obviously we barely did anything. ”

Zhao Yu nodded, and immediately explained: "Yes, we really didn't do anything, but Yang Ding may not think so." Obviously, the temptation a few days ago made Yang Ding realize that forcibly attacking the mountain would inevitably cause heavy casualties among the officers and soldiers of his five counties, so he changed his mind and decided to adopt the strategy of 'attacking the heart'......"

"Reinforcements are also invited? The number of borrowed reinforcements is exerting pressure on us? Chu Jiao said tentatively.

"Hmm."

Zhao Yu nodded and continued: "Yang Ding may not be able to use the reinforcements of the five thousand Yingchuan County, maybe he only needs this reinforcement army to be present...... As he spoke, he immediately asked the two of them: "How many people in the village know about this?" ”

Guo Da and Chu Jiao glanced at each other, and the former shook his head and said, "I guess I can't hide it, everyone in the village is talking about this now...... Although Wang Qing and Chu Yan's teams are still on the east and south slopes, I don't think the situation on their side will be optimistic......"

From the side, Chu Jiao also stroked his beard and sighed: "Five thousand county soldiers, this is not a small number......

The three of them were discussing, and suddenly another black tiger came to say: "Great leader, there are officers and soldiers shouting at the bottom of the mountain. ”

Hearing this, Zhao Yu summoned the black tiger into the house and asked, "What are you shouting?" ”

I saw that the black tiger looked up at Zhao Yu, and stopped talking.

Seeing this, Zhao Yu immediately understood, and said with good words: "But it doesn't hurt to say it." ”

"Yes."

The black tiger clasped his fists and said, "The officers and soldiers under the mountain shouted, if anyone kills ...... If you kill the Great Chief, instead of pursuing your past crimes, you will also receive a reward of 100,000 yuan......"

Zhao Yu nodded clearly, but Guo Da on the side was furious when he heard it, and slapped the table angrily and scolded: "How can this be reasonable!" ”

As soon as he finished speaking, he saw the black tiger swallow his saliva, and said: "Except for the big leader, the rest of the big and small leaders in the village have a reward, the village is 70,000 yuan, the deputy village is 50,000 yuan, and the grand commander is 80,000 yuan......"

“……”

Guo Da and Chu Jiao looked at each other when they heard this.

The feelings are not only Zhao Yu, but several of them have also been rewarded by the officers and soldiers, or rather, they have been rewarded by him Yang Ding......

After the black tiger retreated, Chu Jiao shook his head and said: "The officers and soldiers are intending to use profit to lure us and others, and the village must take action as soon as possible, otherwise, the big thing will be suspended." ”

Hearing this, Guo Da also nodded and said: "Yes, Ah Hu, if this continues, the people in the village will inevitably be disheartened, in my opinion, I should immediately try to contact Ma Gai and find an opportunity to kill Yang Ding's sharp spirit!" ”

“……”

Zhao Yu frowned and thought.

Previously, he didn't want to overstimulate Yang Ding, but he was worried that Yang Ding would invite reinforcements, so that the worst situation would occur.

But now that it's the worst-case scenario, what's there to worry about?

"Hoo ......"

Zhao Yu let out a long breath.

"Then ...... Let's just turn the world upside down! ”