Just when Zhao Yu and Guo Da were about to try to contact Ma Gai, who was among their officers and soldiers, Zhang Jing had also returned to the camp with Huang Ben, Gao Chun, and Ma Gai.

The old village of the Black Tiger Village, they have conquered it today, and they have burned it down, but the main village of the Black Tiger Village standing on the top of the mountain, not to mention Huang Ben, Gao Chun, and Ma Gai, even Zhang Jing feels a little tricky, the reason is that the mountain roads in that area are rugged and steep, and the bandits as the defenders occupy the advantageous position, if they are forcibly attacked, the officers and soldiers are bound to suffer heavy losses.

Speaking of heavy losses, Zhang Jing also asked Ma Gai, Huang Ben, and Gao Chun about the number of casualties today.

Hearing Zhang Jing's inquiry, Ma Gai, Huang Ben, and Gao Chun looked at each other, quite uneasy.

It turned out that after the war, the number of casualties among officers and soldiers today exceeded 400, and this figure made Zhang Jing frown deeply.

You must know that the total number of officers and soldiers attacking the mountain today is only 1,000, and the casualties are more than 400, which means that 40% of the casualties are lost.

"More than 400 people?" He asked incredulously.

"It's a casualty." Gao Chun hurriedly explained: "The number of dead is about two hundred, and the rest are only wounded......

Hearing this, Zhang Jing's face turned slightly pale, but he was still very dissatisfied.

At this time, Li Ying interjected: "Is it because of those sassal trees?" ”

"Hmm."

Gao Chun nodded again, and said with a little annoyance: "Those sassal woods, the casualties of the soldiers are too great, and I personally estimate that at least more than three hundred people have been killed or injured because of this......"

Under Li Cheng's questioning, Gao Chun told the number of casualties caused by the sassal wood.

It is worth mentioning that the main one is that the officers and soldiers under him and Huang Ben suffered the heaviest losses, relatively speaking, the losses of the officers and soldiers under Ma Gai were relatively small, especially the head catcher named Ishihara, the Kunyang officers and soldiers he led with a wooden shield, only thirty or forty casualties, which was the best among all the head catchers present at that time.

Of course, Zhang Jing is still not satisfied with this.

Mulberry and rolling stones have been defensive weapons for the defenders on the battlefield since ancient times, but experienced veterans know how to avoid losses, such as Ishihara, Chen Gui and others, but if they lack experience, they will be like the officers and soldiers who fled with their backs at that time, and finally ended up rolling down the mountain and falling to their deaths - on a hillside with almost no obstacles, no matter how fast you run, can you run faster than the mulberry that rolls down from the mountain?

Many officers and soldiers did not even understand this truth, so that there were such heavy casualties.

In contrast, Zhang Jing and his group then led 500 officers and soldiers up the mountain to fight to the death with more than 200 bandits.

In Zhang Jing's view, this is the loss caused by inadequate training.

He asked Ma Gai, Huang Ben, and Gao Chun: "Don't the three of you train your soldiers on weekdays?" ”

As soon as they heard his tone, the three county lieutenants Ma Gai, Huang Ben, and Gao Chun knew that the general was very dissatisfied with the casualty figures this time, and his face was speechless.

To tell the truth, the soldiers in the county are mainly responsible for maintaining law and order on weekdays, arresting small evils such as ruffians and scoundrels, and it would be good to have a joint training once a month, how can it be compared with the soldiers in the army?

Perhaps seeing that the atmosphere was a little awkward, Zhang Jing's guard Li Cheng said: "Although the casualties are indeed a bit serious, fortunately, they are not without gain...... What about those thieves? ”

Huang Ben, Gao Chun, and Ma Gai glanced at each other, licked their lips and replied a little unnaturally: "According to statistics, nearly 90 thieves were killed this time, and more than 40 people surrendered......"

When Zhang Jing heard this, he frowned again.

However, he was about to speak, but he saw the guard Li Ying frequently glaring at him, so he pressed the unswerving in his heart, barely squeezed out a smile, and said: "The three of you have also worked hard today, so let's rest early, and tomorrow we will discuss how to conquer the thief village." ”

Ma Gai, Huang Ben, and Gao Chun also guessed that the number of casualties on their side today made the general a little unhappy, and they didn't dare to say more, so they left separately - oh, except for Ma Gai, because the place where everyone gathered was his tent.

Bidding farewell to Ma Gai, Huang Ben, and Gao Chun, Zhang Jing returned to his military tent sullenly.

Seeing that his general had a calm face and did not speak, Li Cheng smiled and said with relief: "General, you can't take the requirements for the soldiers in our army and ask for the county guards here. …… These county soldiers are mainly responsible for maintaining order in the county and township on weekdays, arresting thieves, and they must lack training, so how can they compare with the soldiers who practice every day in the army? Considering that the thieves of the Black Tiger Village set up a plan to kill the wood, and took advantage of the location, it is not bad to exchange 400 casualties for more than 200 casualties, after all, we are the side attacking the mountain. ”

Zhang Jing shook his head slightly.

Indeed, strictly speaking, attacking a mountain is almost the same as attacking a city, both of which are losses for the attacking side, and the casualty ratio of two to one is actually not a failure, and the reason why Zhang Jing is not satisfied is only because he compares the soldiers under his command, then he is definitely not satisfied.

Just like Li Cheng said, how can the county soldiers compare to the soldiers who practice every day? It is no exaggeration to say that under normal circumstances, the three county guards may not be able to kill a soldier, but will be killed by the latter, after all, the county guards are mainly responsible for maintaining order, and the soldiers are specially trained to kill people, and the duties of the two are inherently different.

What's more, the gangsters of Black Tiger Village are indeed fierce.

Suddenly, Zhang Jing thought of Chen Mo and Wang Qing who were fighting against him today.

He didn't spare his hand today, but he couldn't kill the two gangsters.

Thinking of this, he turned his head to Li Cheng and said, "Li Cheng, you call the head catcher named Ishihara under Ma Gai, and I will ask him about the situation in Black Tiger Village." ”

"Yes." Li Cheng clenched his fists and immediately gave orders.

Taking advantage of the waiting time, Zhang Jing sat in the tent with his arms crossed, recalling all the things he had fought with Chen Mo and Wang Qing today.

Purely in terms of martial arts, he really regretted that those two people had excellent martial arts, but they failed to serve the country.

Especially Chen Mo, who was holding a spear like him.

He was pondering it, and Li Cheng led the head-catching stone to the tent.

I saw Ishihara walk into the tent, clasped his fists and saluted: "In Shimoishihara, I have seen the general." ”

"Huh?"

Zhang Jing turned his head to look at Li Cheng, who hurriedly waved his hand and said, "I didn't say ......."

Seeing this, Ishihara explained with a smile: "Don't be suspicious, I don't know the identity of the general, I only know that the three county lieutenants are all respected by the general, but when I was attacking the cottage today, I happened to hear this general ...... the general."

Li Ying thought for a while, and then suddenly said: "Oh, it's ...... at that moment."

Rolling his eyes speechlessly, Zhang Jing smiled and said to Ishihara: "Zhang Mou didn't deliberately want to hide his identity, it's just that Zhang Mou didn't come to suppress the thief on the order of the imperial court this time, but it just happened to be his meeting, so he didn't want to make a noise." …… In the next chapter. ”

"Zhang, Zhangjing?" Ishihara opened his mouth and asked eagerly with a shocked expression, "Could it be Zhang Jing of the Five Tigers of the Chen Gate?" ”

"Don't make a noise." Zhang Jing reminded with a smile.

"Yes, yes." Ishihara nodded again and again in surprise, and immediately, he thought of the matter of Zhang Jing sending someone to call him, and asked puzzledly: "I don't know what the general sent someone to call him to come by?" ”

Zhang Jing raised his hand and motioned for Shi Yuan to sit down, and then said with a smile: "Before attacking the mountain today, I saw that only the officers and soldiers under Shi Zhutou in the army were holding wooden shields, and I guessed in my heart that Shi Zhutou must know a lot about the Black Tiger Village, and I don't know if I can tell Zhang in detail about the Black Tiger Village?" …… Don't hide it from Shi Zhutou and say that this gang of thieves, Zhang didn't pay too much attention to it......"

"I understand below." Ishihara sighed and said bitterly: "At the beginning, the companions who were under and below didn't take this group of bandits in their eyes, and said in their hearts that the five of me could survive fighting with the rebels in Jiangxia, so why should I worry about a thief in a corner?" I didn't think about it, but I lost a companion because of it......"

As he spoke, he realized his gaffe and hurriedly said, "I'm out of shape, I don't know what the general wants to ask?" ”

Zhang Jing didn't care, and asked with a smile: "Let's talk about the origin of this group of bandits first." …… As far as I know, there are no less than 500 bandits in this group, so why didn't your county exterminate them while they were weak, but let them develop to such a point? ”

Ishihara looked at Zhang Jing in surprise, and said in his heart that he shouldn't ask Kunyang County Commander Liu Bi and County Lieutenant Ma Gai about this? Why do you ask him?

As if guessing the wonder in Ishihara's heart, Zhang Jing said with a smile: "I want to hear Shi Zhutou's opinion first." ”

Hearing this, Ishihara faintly guessed a little reason, and said with a smile: "I'm not from Kunyang, and I can't talk about defending Kunyang, but the general misunderstood this, Kunyang County's encirclement and suppression of the bandits in this place is still very timely, as for why the Black Tiger Village Yang Tong and his gang can develop to a scale of more than five hundred, just because there are other Ying bandits who defect to ......."

"Huh?"

Zhang Jing asked in surprise: "There was more than one Ying Mountain Thief here before?" ”

"Yes." Ishihara nodded and explained: "When I arrived in Kunyang, it was said that there were fourteen bandits on the eastern side of Yingshan Mountain, and later, the county lieutenant of Ma ordered me to take the opportunity to enter and suppress six cottages, during which there was internal strife among the bandits, so that gradually only one ...... of the Black Tiger Village remained."

"Taking the opportunity?" Zhang Jing heard a little clue and asked, "Why do you say it's an opportunity?" ”

Ishihara explained: "At that time, the fourteen cottages in Yingshan seemed to have formed an alliance to jointly resist us, seeing this, Ma County Lieutenant set up a clever plan, pretending to feint to attack the Black Tiger Village first, and lured more than ten other bandits to send people to support the Black Tiger Village, taking this opportunity, I and Yang Dare Yang Catcher entered the six cottages in one fell swoop, but unfortunately failed to kill them all, and the escaped thieves defected to the Black Tiger Village, causing the Black Tiger Village to become a bigger ......."

『……』

Zhang Jing was surprised when he heard this.

He originally thought that it was the inaction of Kunyang County that caused the Black Tiger Village to gradually become bigger, but he didn't expect that the reason why the Black Tiger Village was strong was because the other bandits on Ying Mountain were forced to defect to the Black Tiger Village......

Wait, it doesn't look right.

Zhang Jing frowned imperceptibly.

"Please tell me more about it."