Taking advantage of the chaos of the group of thieves, Liu Guanzhang had already led the cavalry team to outflank and kill.

"Yun Changyide, don't leak any of them! It's going to bring disaster to the village! Liu Bei decisively drank the order and demanded that the evil be eliminated.

Even if you don't kill them all, you must make sure that the prisoners are not left alive to go back to ventilate and report the news.

"Big brother, don't worry!" Guan Zhang roared violently and led five cavalry to outflank each from the flanks, and backstabbed the gang of thieves like chopping melons and vegetables.

There are only thirty or fifty of these Black Mountain thieves. There were only a dozen or so donkeys and horses, and the rest were on foot.

Given the poverty of the Black Mountain bandits, it is estimated that the scout troops in charge of the raids have so many horses.

In the darkness, I only heard Guan Yu's knife whirring and the wind flying up and down, and the screams around him were repeated.

The last few Black Mountain cavalry, hearing Liu Bei's command in the dark, jumped over the wall and followed the sound to kill, trying to capture the thief and capture the king: "Rush over and kill the one who shouted!" He is the leader of the official army! ”

Liu Bei was also accompanied by two cavalry guards, who immediately met him with swords and shields to block and contain. Liu Bei seized the opportunity, and made a roundabout backhand sword, cutting the major artery of a black mountain thief's arm, and blood gushed like a spring for a while.

Another black mountain thief was caught off guard, and it seemed that he didn't expect Liu Bei to suddenly attack with a backhand from such an incredible angle, and he was also cut off by Liu Bei.

Li Su hid behind and watched, only then did he notice that Liu Bei's martial arts in cavalry were really good.

The main thing is the long arms of "hands over the knees" and the field of vision of "eyes and ears", which is really advantageous in this kind of dip-and-go fighting situation.

Of course, a person like Liu Bei, in fact, even if his eyes are mediocre, he can also take care of his ears - who let him "hang his ears and shoulders" at the same time, and take care of it by lifting his earlobes over his eyes?

After Liu Bei personally stabbed the two thieves, the distance gradually quieted down.

More than a dozen captives surrendered on their knees, and the rest were killed by Guan Zhang.

"Are there any casualties in our army?" Liu Bei cared.

"There are only two or three minor injuries, such a little thief, Yide and I are enough, how can it be dead." Guan Yu's face was flushed and excited.

In his opinion, the minions under his command are all picking up people's heads with the wind, and it is very easy.

"It's good if you don't die in battle, and bandage the lightly wounded brothers." Liu Bei nodded in approval.

The thieves who were injured and surrendered saw that Liu Bei was the leader, and knelt on the ground and begged for mercy:

"The general spares his life! We were also people, captives and thieves. Those leaders on horseback are the bandits who have been accumulating for years, and we are all forced!

They found out that the county soldiers had recently withdrawn, so they came to plunder. In previous years, we only dared to be active in Jingcheng, and we didn't dare to come to Zhending. ”

Liu Bei wanted to inquire about the thieves, but it was not good to kill them all immediately, so he tortured and asked: "If you really have the sincerity to abandon the darkness and turn to the light, then tell me that I am going to Yecheng, how many thieves and how many people are there along the way?" ”

The captives didn't dare to disobey, and they poured beans into the bamboo tube: "Let's say everything!" I am under Chu Yan in this county, and there are more than 10,000 people in total, including the old and weak.

Further south is the territory of Zhang Niujiao, the leader of Chu's alliance, with a total number of soldiers and civilians counting 10,000 people. After crossing the county boundary to the south, there are Guo Daxian, Zhang Baiqi, Zhang Baqi, Lei Gong, Baique, Wulu, Li Damu, at least the leaders of the seven or eight roads, in order to reach Yecheng. The powerful ones have 10,000 households, and the small ones are thousands. ”

The Montenegrin thieves in the four years of Zhongping have not yet formed a huge force twisted into a rope, but dozens of small leaders have gone their own way, dividing territory and plundering and farming.

Listening to the captives report the names of so many leaders, Liu Bei didn't feel anything, but Li Su, who was listening, felt a little numb.

He knew that the so-called Chu Yan was Zhang Yan, the most famous Montenegrin boss in later generations, but he had not changed his surname at the moment - he now respects Zhang Niujiao, and later Zhang Niujiao died in battle, and Chu Yan changed his surname to Zhang in order to win people's hearts and inherit the territory. Later, he took advantage of the opportunity of Yuan Shao and Gongsun Zan to compete for hegemony in Youji, so that he completely unified the Montenegrin Army and became the overlord of Bingzhou, claiming to have 100,000 troops and dominate Taihang.

In addition, Zhang Yan, like Zhao Yun, is a native of Zhending County, Changshan, so it is normal to meet Zhang Yan's people here.

Liu Bei didn't know this, his immediate priority was just to find out if the thief army would have reinforcements, so he continued to ask sharply: "Since you are Chu Yan's people, do you have a mission here?" Are there any reinforcements waiting for you to return? ”

The thief trembled and said, "We were just ordered to come to the surrounding villages to collect grain, and the goal is uncertain. If you get money and food, you have to repay it, and now that you have been caught, there will be no accomplices to search for you within two or three days. ”

Liu Bei breathed a sigh of relief, and secretly thought in his heart: "Fortunately, I didn't meet Chu Yan's army." However, Zhang Niujiao in front is also a strong force, and he must rush out at full speed as soon as possible, and it is best to pass through Zhao County within one day and rest in Guangping. In this way, you can avoid the hardest stubble in the Montenegrin army. ”

Liu Bei was thinking about countermeasures, but Guan Yu was already worried about how to deal with the prisoners, and he couldn't help asking, "Big brother, how to deal with these pawns?" ”

Liu Bei frowned slightly, he was in a hurry now, he couldn't collect the strong, and he couldn't bear to kill them all.

After thinking about it for a while, Liu Bei took Village Chief Zhao aside and quietly discussed: "Uncle, if these black mountain thieves let them go rashly, I am afraid that they will report the news and bring people back to slaughter the village."

It's better to confiscate the blades and armor, and go to the county seat to ask for merit, you are afraid of being hated, just leave a certain name, and say that it was captured by Liu Bei, the lieutenant of Anxi County. ”

"Thank you for the reward." Village Chief Zhao felt that there was no risk, maybe he could get a bit of the official bounty, so he agreed.

On the other side, Guan Zhang cleaned up the battlefield and captured more than a dozen donkeys and horses, and more than 40 sets of armor and weapons, all of which were relatively simple and old.

Liu Bei ordered that the spoils of war be sold to the villagers at a discount—these peasants could not use donkeys, horses, and weapons even if they asked for them, but they could sell them when they sent the prisoners of war to the county seat in two days to make meritorious contributions.

It is equivalent to letting the villagers act as middlemen to make a difference.

Village Chief Zhao discussed with the other elders in the village and felt that it was also profitable, so he agreed.

It's just that the village is poor and weak, and the village chief led people to work hard to negotiate and scrape the hard currency in the village, and there are only hundreds of catties of copper coins and dozens of pieces of cloth, which is far from enough for the price of this batch of loot.

At this time, Li Su, who had been playing soy sauce just now, finally seized the opportunity to give full play to his talent, and hurriedly admonished in his ear: "Lord, there is Feng Tan in ancient times for Meng Weijun City. Today, we have no time to deal with the war profits, so it is better to follow the city's righteous plan and let the villagers preach the benevolence of the lord in the countryside here.

In this way, if the imperial court grants the official position to the lord in the future and makes the lord participate in the crusade against Zhang Chun's rebellion, the lord will also be able to recruit more volunteers in this Changshan countryside. ”

Li Su's purpose is actually very intuitive: when he came to this village surnamed Zhao today, he didn't meet Zhao Yun. But it doesn't matter, there are only a few villages surnamed Zhao in Zhending County, as long as Liu Bei's reputation for benevolence and love for the people spreads in the countryside, why worry that he will not be able to recruit warriors like Zhao Yun in the future.

This simple truth is easy for Liu Bei to accept, although he doesn't know that there must be Zhao Yun yet.

It's just that Liu Bei didn't understand Li Su's mentality that he was still eager to prepare for war: "Could it be that Boya thinks that after we denounce Zhang Chun this time, he still has a chance to expose and become bigger?"

We acted so quickly, when Jia Tingshi sent troops back to arrest him, Zhang Chun was definitely caught off guard, even if he didn't die, he would be greatly injured, how could there be a protracted war? ”

Li Su knew that in the rebellion of Zhang Ju and Zhang Chun in history, Zhang Chun, the prime minister of Zhongshan, could only be regarded as the second person - after all, he was only called a general later, and Zhang Ju, the former Taishan Taishou, claimed to be the Son of Heaven.

Therefore, even if the best result is achieved this time, and Zhang Chun's forces are really strangled in infancy, it will only cut off about half of the main force in the early stage of the rebellion, and it is impossible to completely extinguish the rebellion without a fight.

But he couldn't tell Liu Bei about these reasons, so he could only embellish them: "Lord, it will take us three days before and after we get to Yecheng, and when we see Jia Tingshi, most of the news of the death of the post supervisor has been discovered." Even if Zhang Chun misjudged that the post supervisor was killed by you because of a conflict of interests, he would probably be alert.

And if Jia Tingshi wants to transfer troops to arrest him, it is impossible for a large force of men and horses to march more than 200 miles a day like us. When the news is delayed, it will be very good to be able to hit Zhang Chun hard and weaken his power. As long as Zhang Chun broke through to the north and entered the boundary of Zhuo County in Youzhou, Jia Tingshi did not dare to pursue without the authorization of the imperial court. ”

Although since the Yellow Turban Rebellion, the imperial court has allowed all localities to prepare their own defenses, but the procedures for pursuing this kind of thing in Yuezhou are still very troublesome. For the history of assassination, in the event of a thief, it is good to expel him from the territory of this state. If you rashly chase after you, you may be suspicious of the imperial court and think that you are expanding your territory.

This is also one of the important reasons why Liu Yan, an important minister of the clan, wanted to advise Emperor Ling to "abolish history and change pasture".

……

Liu Bei listened to Li Su's analysis, and his brows suddenly locked.

I have to admit that at the beginning, he was really not mentally prepared to "fight a tough battle after successfully denounce Zhang Chun":

What Boya saw was far-reaching. That being the case, from today onwards, we must be prepared to be sent by the imperial court to beg for thieves in the future. If there is any property obtained by the thief on this trip, it will be disposed of at a low price, and the right of the people will be righteous. ”

After thinking about it, Liu Bei was a little eager to try.

After three years, I have to recruit Xiangyong again to suppress thieves for the country.

As a result, he no longer bothered about the price, and disposed of most of the thieves at a very low price.

Liu Bei only left five horses in good condition to carry supplies.

Then he left the remaining horses, all the donkeys, and dozens of sets of shabby weapons and armor to the villagers, and exchanged them for three or four hundred catties of copper coins (about seventy or eighty thousand yuan) and forty or fifty pieces of cloth.

If these things are taken to Changshan County and sold slowly, they can be sold for at least two or three hundred thousand yuan, so at least they are discounted.

For this reason, the village chief Zhao thanked him with a thousand thanks: "The envoy really loves the people like a son, I have been here all my life, and I have never seen the officials and soldiers who killed the thieves to seize and give the benefit to the people, and our whole village will always feel the benevolence of the general." ”

After all, Liu Bei not only disposed of the loot cheaply, he also helped the village survive the catastrophe - if they didn't stay here last night, they would have been successfully sacked by the Black Mountain Thieves. Even if Liu Bei didn't capture anything, the villagers should be grateful to the filial piety of the Lao Army.

Li Su saw that people's hearts were available, and persuaded on the side: "If the old man has a heart, he can praise the kindness of my lord in the neighboring villages of this county, and remember clearly, my lord is Anxi Liu Xuande." ”

Village Chief Zhao: "It must be certain, the old man should lead his children and spread praises everywhere." ”

Li Su secretly thought in his heart: I hope that this benevolence can reach the ears of Zhao Yun and others.