Li An looked up at the sky above his head and found that he could only see a small piece, and the rest was obscured by branches and leaves, that is to say, they were now in a dense forest, and even observing the blue sky and white clouds had become a luxury, and it was difficult to determine the direction through the natural environment.

"It seems that it is not possible to use the compass, but it is good to bring it."

Li An took out the compass from his pocket, shook it casually, and carefully observed the direction the pointer pointed.

"Map, bring the map."

After reading the compass, Li An asked his subordinates to bring the map, and he had to combine the map to roughly judge the direction in which the remnants of the pirates fled, and then launch a reasonable pursuit according to the direction indicated by the compass.

"The pirates must have fled from here, this is the only escape route for the pirates, and the whole army immediately pursues them."

Li An opened his mouth and ordered.

Hundreds of people stumbled along a rough and difficult road, stumbling in pursuit.

"Li Shilang, I found a turban, there was no dew on it, it should have been just dropped, we didn't chase the wrong direction, the pirates ran from this direction."

The subordinates ran over excitedly with the turbans that the soldiers had picked up.

Li An took the turban, put it in front of his eyes and sniffed it gently, it was a very bad smell, which was indeed in line with the situation of pirates.

"That's right, we really didn't make a mistake in chasing, the soldiers continue to pursue, we must catch these guys."

The pirates were not far ahead, and Ang Lee was completely sure of this, so he ordered the soldiers to speed up the pursuit.

Because the canopy is relatively large and the trees are relatively dense, the Tang Dynasty soldiers and horses in the dense forest do not feel much sunlight, but their bodies are still sweating, which is a very uncomfortable stuffiness.

Occasionally, a breeze blows through the cracks in the trees and blows on the soldiers' bodies, so that the soldiers can be much more comfortable, but this breeze is intermittent and uncertain, just like an ethereal pirate, which can be met but not sought, and the heart of the person who scratches it itches.

Under the continuous pursuit all the way, several clues left by pirates were found one after another, which made the pursuing soldiers even more excited.

Ang Lee picked up the map and ordered the soldiers to slow down and expand the search area.

Because from the map, these pirates have entered a place with more complicated terrain, and they must expand the search range in order to find them more confidently, in addition, leaving this area, the pirates are likely to bump into the soldiers and horses who search the mountains all the way, in short, these guys can't run away at all.

In Li An's opinion, after these pirates pass through this area, it is very likely that they will encounter another way of Datang Soushan soldiers and horses, they have no ability to break through the defense line of Soushan soldiers and horses, so they can only choose to retreat, but there are also chasing soldiers behind, in this case, using the complex terrain to hide with Datang soldiers and horses has become the most effective way.

As long as these pirates are hidden enough, the Tang Dynasty soldiers and horses are likely to miss it, so they can return the same way and return to their secret camp, of course, they can also take the rest of the path to escape, in short, as long as they are not caught, there is a glimmer of life.

"Li Shilang, the forward soldiers and horses have already converged with the other way of soldiers and horses, and they have not found any trace of the pirates, but they have blocked all the passages, it is certain that the pirates have not escaped, and should still be hiding in the nearby dense forest."

A subordinate came over to report.

Li An nodded and said: "Order, let the soldiers and horses under the mountain not move recklessly, don't give the pirates a chance to escape, the remaining soldiers and horses are scattered to search, and these pirates must be found." ”

As soon as they heard that the pirates were in this dense forest with complex terrain, the soldiers were all very excited, they started a careful search with a large group of fifty people and a group of five people, and the remaining three hundred soldiers and horses were deployed on both sides, ready to support at any time, as long as someone found the location of the pirates, a large number of soldiers and horses would immediately rush over and annihilate all the pirates.

The last remaining pirates, the stronger they are, they are the core force of the pirates, and they are also the most evil pirates, who must be killed after being caught, and must be publicly executed to cheer people.

Of course, if they came out and surrendered early, Li An might choose to let them go, but they have always refused to surrender, and the soldiers who have been harmed have suffered such a big crime, of course they can't let these guys go, otherwise the soldiers will be very unhappy.

The soldiers searched for a long time, but they still didn't find the slightest result, and these damned pirates seemed to have suddenly disappeared from the world, and if you searched for them, you couldn't find any trace of them.

"I actually forgot to bring a dog this time, and I was so angry with my own officer."

Li An sighed very angrily.

If there are dogs, it is much easier to find pirates in hiding, after all, dogs have very smart noses, and people can only rely on their eyes to observe, and their search ability is naturally not comparable to that of dogs.

"Li Shilang, there are soldiers and horses with dogs all the way down the mountain, why don't they send them over."

The subordinate said.

Li An roared: "What are you still doing in a daze, go and lead the dog." ”

I really obeyed these subordinates, since I knew that the team under the mountain had brought a dog, and this side was searching for pirates, so I should have made a suggestion a long time ago, but I didn't say it, if it wasn't for Li An mentioning the dog, it is estimated that the subordinates would not have said it.

Soon, two large dogs that had been trained were led over and appeared in front of Ang Lee.

"Bring the pirate's headscarf and other things, and give the dog a sniff."

Li An opened his mouth and ordered.

After smelling for a long time, the two big dogs began to look for the smell of the owner of the hat.

With his most elite soldiers and horses, Ang Lee followed the two big dogs all the way, circling around the woods, keeping an eye on the surroundings at all times, and immediately encircling them as soon as they found any trace of pirates.

"Li Shilang, what's going on with these two dogs, why have they been going around in circles!"

Some of the subordinates couldn't stand it, and felt that there was something wrong with these two dogs, if not, why didn't these two dogs lead the way well, but went around in circles in a forest.

Ang Lee also felt a little strange, the behavior of these two dogs was very abnormal, and a trained dog would not do this.

"Could it be that pirates are hiding in this circle?"

One of his subordinates pointed to the dense forest in front of him and spoke.

Li An raised his eyes and took a look, this circle is not big, the radius is only thirty steps, the circle includes only a few hundred trees, they have circled around three times, if the pirates are hiding in the middle, they should have found it a long time ago.

However, in order to verify whether there were really pirates hiding, Li Ang asked his soldiers and horses to enter this small area and launch a three-foot search, every inch of land had to be searched, and they could not be searched with their eyes, but with the weapons in their hands.

The ground is covered with a thick layer of leaves, and it is difficult to say what exists under the leaves, and it is only with a few more punctures with a weapon that you can rest assured.

Many strange trees have roots underneath, and the inside of the roots is also stabbed with weapons to prevent people from hiding.

This area is not flat, and although the territory is not large, the terrain is undulating, and it is entirely possible for Tibetans to be found.

More than 100 soldiers carried out a detailed search from different directions, and even the two dogs were forcibly led into the circle.

"Woo ......"

At the base of a large tree, two large dogs barked.

"See what's going on?"

One of the lieutenants asked the two soldiers behind him to go down and see what was going on.

Behind the roots of the tree was a spindle-shaped crack, only five or six meters long, and less than three feet wide at its widest point, which looked like a very inconspicuous mountain crack.

Moreover, the crack was covered with small shrubs and weeds, so that the crack was so tightly covered that it was difficult to detect from a little distance, at least, before they walked to the tree, the soldiers did not notice that there was a large crack behind the tree.

The two soldiers walked over and stabbed the hole with their spears a few times.

"Poof......

Li An heard a familiar voice, the sound of a weapon piercing into the flesh.

"There's a situation down there, fence it off."

The subordinates reacted very quickly, and hearing a special sound was enough to prove that there was something below, even if it was not a pirate, it was a beast or something.

"Woo Woo ......"

Maybe it was because they smelled blood, and the two big dogs seemed quite excited, desperately rushing towards the cracks, and the soldiers behind them couldn't control it.

Li An felt something, smiled slightly at the corner of his mouth, and said, "Untie the dog chain and let go of these two dogs." ”

When the soldier heard the order, he immediately untied the chain around the dog's neck, and the two big dogs, who had taken off the control ropes, ran to the crack with a wild scream, and jumped into it without hesitation.

"Woo Woo ......"

"Ah......h

The cries of large dogs were heard beneath the cracks, followed by the cries of people in pain.

"There are people down there, pirates are hiding underneath, and they have finally been found."

The subordinates were all quite excited, they had been busy for so long, and they had finally found these pirates, of course they were happy in their hearts, and they were very happy, unusually happy.

The two big dogs were very brave, but the pirates had weapons in their hands, so in a short time, the two dogs were killed by the pirates, and they let out a helpless cry.

"Li Shilang, the pirates are actually hiding here, the situation below is complicated, there must be a lot of space, and there will definitely be casualties if we go down rashly."

One of the subordinates said.

From above, the crack is really small, and the soldiers can only go down from the widest position, and they can only go down one by one, so it is estimated that they will be stabbed into hedgehogs by pirates just after they go down.

Li An smiled, looked at the fallen leaves all over the ground, and said, "There seem to be a lot of leaves here!" If it burns, it must be a big fire. ”

His subordinates were not fools, and immediately ordered the soldiers to collect leaves and pile them together at the location of the cracks, preparing to burn the cracks and smoke these big villains.

The pirates below obviously heard the movement outside, and knew that there were a lot of Tang soldiers and horses outside, they would definitely not be able to get out, and if they went out, they would die, and if they stayed below, they would wait for death, and this desperate mood could be imagined.

The leaves soon piled up a lot, and the Tang soldiers immediately lit the leaves, and when the fire was relatively strong, they pushed a large number of leaves into the cracks, and continued to add new leaves.

After the burning leaves fell into the crack, due to the lack of air, as well as the effect of the fall, a large amount of smoke was produced and quickly filled the entire crack, and a very thick smoke could be seen from the top.

"Ahem, cough, cough, ......"

There was a very violent coughing sound and a very painful howl from beneath the rift, and it was clear that the remnants of the pirates hiding under the rift could no longer stand it.

The Tang soldiers didn't feel sorry for these guys, the louder the coughing sound became, the more excited they became, and they gathered more leaves and threw them all down.

The human body is very fragile, how can it withstand the smoke of the smoke, the coughing sound below was very loud at first, but as the smoke continued to smoke, the sound became smaller and quieter, and finally, the slightest sound could not be heard at all.

"Li Shilang, there is no movement below, are all these pirates smoked to death?"

The subordinate said excitedly.

Li An is still not sure about the following situation, but even if he is not smoked to death, it is estimated that he is not far from death, and the syncope is 100%.

"Here, dig me and make the hole bigger."

Ang Lee opened his mouth and gave the order.

The soldiers brought a lot of farm tools, in order to open the road in the mountains and build bridges in the water, and immediately began to dig up when they heard the order.

The cracks were surrounded by soil, which was a crack in the soil structure rather than a hard rock, so it was not difficult to excavate, but because there were many trees here, the soil was covered by roots and grass roots, so it did not continue to expand.

The strength of the roots and roots of the grass is very limited, and it does not stop the excavation of the shovel, unless it encounters a thicker trunk, which requires some effort.

The soldiers were all like chickens, and they worked very hard, and soon dug the original entrance, which was only less than three feet, several times wider, and the original narrow place was also dug wide enough for people to go down.

Some of the soldiers were digging the ground, while others were using the tools they had to build ladders long enough for them to descend to the bottom of the crack.

The leaves in the crack are still smoking, but as the opening of the crack is opened wider and wider, the smoke can already easily float out, and it will not gather in large quantities in the crack, which satisfies the Tang soldiers to go inside.

"The smoke is already a lot smaller, go down and see what is going on, and get these guys up."

Seeing that the ladder had been built, Li An opened his mouth and ordered.

A dozen soldiers immediately put several ladders into the crack and walked down the ladder.

"Ahem......"

Although there was a lot less smoke on the underside, it was still a bit robbing, and the soldier's eyes were a little painful, and he couldn't open them anymore.

"They all fainted, I don't know if they were dead."

The next thing said.

"Dead or alive, pull it up."

The captain commanding above spoke.