So, Zhang Tonghan stood up, bowed to Liang Wensheng and said: "My lord, the terrain of Nama Mountain is dangerous, surrounded by water on three sides, and the mountain peak is steep, only the northwest side can barely go up the mountain. It can be said that one husband is a pass, and ten thousand people are not open. According to historical records, the Red Turban Army was less than 10,000 people, and the 100,000 troops of the Yuan Dynasty were never broken, which shows the danger. ”

"Now the three bandits have gathered in Ma Qi Mountain, not to mention more than 200 people. In order to be safe, his subordinates thought that it was the best policy to ask the court to send troops to encircle and suppress it. ”

After Liang Wensheng heard this, he snorted coldly and said to him: "I have heard similar words many times, and today I mainly want to hear other methods." ”

Then, he asked He Zhiyuan again: "He Gongzi, I watched the Ding Zhuang drill in your village today, the movements were neat, sonorous and powerful, and the training was also quite orderly. I don't know what I think about the bandits? ”

In fact, He Zhiyuan has been thinking about how to suppress bandits since Zhuang Wenxuan learned the news. In his previous life, he had climbed Mount Ma several times, and he was still very familiar with the topography of this mountain.

As for how to suppress bandits, he currently has at least three methods, listening to Liang Wensheng asked, he thought for a while, organized the language and said: "For the suppression of bandits, I have three strategies for adults to decide. The first is lure, the number of people on the mountain increases, and the consumption of food is bound to increase, and if the bandits want to survive, they must go down the mountain to rob. We pretended to be a grain caravan and lured the robbers to a dangerous area. The second is sleepiness, that is, thousands of soldiers are mobilized to besiege and not attack, and when they run out of food, there will inevitably be chaos. At that time, it will not take much effort to easily take Ma Qi Mountain. The third strategy is to attack, there is only one mountain road in the northwest of Maqi Mountain to climb to the top of the mountain, which is not suitable for a large number of soldiers to attack, and can only organize elite soldiers to forcibly climb the mountain. ”

Liang Wensheng thought to himself that the first two strategies required a large number of troops to participate in the war, and it was impossible to complete them with the existing forces in the state. The third strategy, although it does not require a large number of troops, is also the most risky. The slightest mistake can lead to heavy losses. After thinking for a moment, he said: "If you storm Maqi Mountain, although it is risky, it is the fastest, and once it succeeds, it will definitely be able to wipe out all the bandits in one fell swoop." Soldiers have a cloud of 'knowing oneself and knowing one's opponent, and not being defeated in a hundred battles', no matter what, we must first understand the situation in Ma Qi Mountain. Can you know the specific situation of Maqi Mountain? ”

Xu Tangyi stood up and said, "My lord, many of these Ding Zhuang family members are hunters around Ma Qi Mountain, and they must know a lot about Ma Qi Mountain. Your lordship may send them to hear what they have to say. ”

Liang Wensheng agreed: "Okay, Captain Xu will quickly send a few familiar soldiers over." ”

After Xu Tangyi left, He Zhiyuan said to Liang Wensheng: "My lord, we have recently developed a cannon that can fire live ammunition and scattered bullets, and live ammunition can fire more than 300 steps at the farthest. As long as this cannon is transported halfway up the mountain, it is guaranteed that the bandits can be blown to the ground with this sharp weapon, and it will be easy to take Maqi Mountain. ”

Liang Wensheng was shocked when he heard this, this is not a trivial matter, in the Ming Dynasty, it was forbidden for the people to cast artillery. Then he was surprised: "Can you cast artillery?" ”

"It's not an artillery, it's steam-driven, developed by my apprentice." He Zhiyuan explained.

"Oh, where is the cannon? Why didn't I see it in today's review? ”

"That kind of cannon has just been made, and it is in the test site in the east of the village, so you can go and see it later."

While he was talking, Xu Tangyi took Ma Wu to the living room and introduced Liang Wensheng: "Lord Zhizhou, this is called Ma Wu, his family lives near Ma Qi Mountain, he used to hunt in the mountains with his father, he has been to Ma Qi Mountain, and he is very familiar with that terrain. ”

Ma Wu bowed forward: "Little people Ma Wu, meet Lord Zhizhou!" Meet the Fellow Scholars. ”

"Excuse me, since you are familiar with the terrain around Ma Qi Mountain, please tell me in detail." Liang Wensheng commanded.

"The little people obeyed. Six years ago, there were no bandits in Maqi Mountain, and Xiaomin had been to Maqi Mountain many times. I am familiar with the topography of this mountain. There is a dilapidated cottage on the top of the mountain, it is said that it is left by the Red Turban Army, the wall of the village is more than six feet, the cottage is built according to the mountain situation, the cliff is behind the cottage, the gate of the village faces northwest, and it is facing the road up the mountain. ”

After Liang Wensheng listened, he continued to ask: "I heard that there is a danger in Ma Qishan that a husband should be closed, is this really the case?" A cottage on the top of the mountain alone can block the attack of the army under the mountain? ”

"There is a road to the northwest corner of the hill below, and the rest of the place is a cliff that is difficult to climb. There is a flat and open land in the middle of the mountain, and there is a half-circle wall built according to the mountain, and a large number of rolling wooden stones can be stacked in the wall, as long as this place is held, it is difficult for the army under the mountain to deploy, and it is impossible to attack the cottage at all. Ma Wu said.

"How far is that flat open area from the cottage?" Liang Wensheng asked.

"It's not very far, it's about a hundred steps away. It can be seen from the wall of the wall, as long as there is a tight place, reinforcements can be sent immediately in the village, so it is easy to defend and difficult to attack. ”

Liang Wensheng twisted his beard, pondered for a while, and said: "So as long as you occupy that flat area and lift the steam cannon up, you can use the steam cannon to bombard the cottage, so that all those bandits will be buried under the cannon." ”

Everyone sitting here couldn't help but secretly admire, it was rumored that Lord Zhizhou was good at catching bandits and thieves, and it seemed that the rumors were true, so they found a way in just a few words.

At this time, He Shaoyun, who had been sitting on the chair and had not spoken, had been thinking in his heart, looking at this posture, Lord Liang had taken a fancy to the three hundred people in the village. Ready to let them fight the front peak, the village protection team that he had worked so hard to build, if he lost too much in this crackdown on bandits, he would definitely be distressed. Thinking of this, he said: "Lord Liang, it is not so easy to attack from the foot of the mountain to the halfway up the mountain, so you should gather some more people and take turns to attack." ”

Liang Wensheng twisted his beard and nodded slightly: "Well, what Chief He said is reasonable, let me think about it." Then he asked Ma Wu: "Ma Wu, do you know what terrain is on both sides of the road up the mountain?" ”

"Back to my lord, there are dense pine forests on both sides of the road."

"How tall is the woods, can people be hidden? Can a person walk in it? ”

"It's less than a person tall, and you can't hide people at all. A man can walk in it, but he can't carry a long weapon. ”

"Oh, so it's impossible to carry a cannon up the mountain in the woods?"

"Impossible, the forest is too dense to be unleashed."

Hearing this, He Zhiyuan had an idea and came up with a brilliant idea, he hurriedly said: "My lord, I have an idea, I don't have to worry about the rolling wood and stones on the mountain, and I can boldly raise the cannon up the mountain." ”

Then, he laid out his plans and plans. After hearing this, Liang Wensheng discussed it with everyone and felt that this plan was feasible. At this time, Zhuang Wenxuan said to Liang Wensheng: "In order to be more secure, Xia Guan thinks that he can take advantage of the opportunity when the bandits are eager to expand the number of people, send people to go undercover, and then come to cooperate with the outside and ......."

"Okay, if there are Death Warriors who go undercover, then the whole plan is perfect." Liang Wensheng praised.

Ma Wu quietly pulled He Zhiyuan's sleeve and whispered, "Young master, can I go to Ma Qishan to be an undercover agent?" ”

He Zhiyuan whispered, "Are you willing to go?" It's dangerous. Are you sure? ”

"No problem, I promise not to disgrace the young master." Ma Wu whispered confidently.

He Shaoyun saw the two of them whispering, and couldn't help but say angrily: "You two are whispering in front of adults, what kind of system!" ”

Ma Wu hurriedly explained: "Boss, the young master and I are discussing my going undercover. Then he said to Liang Wensheng: "Lord Zhizhou, Xiaomin is familiar with the situation in Ma Qishan and is willing to go undercover." ”

Liang Wensheng saw that he volunteered to go alone, and said a little uneasy: "You go alone, it's too dangerous, and you can't take care of each other if you have something, it's best for several people to go and take care of each other." ”

"I can take ten of us Xiaoqi there." Ma Wu hurriedly said.

Xu Tangyi said: "With your kid's cleverness, it's appropriate to be an undercover agent, but your family lives near Ma Qi Mountain, how do you deal with someone you know on the mountain?" ”

"It's easy to do, I make a fake beard and glue it so that people will be hard to recognize. Besides, the people in our village know me, so how coincidentally did they meet acquaintances? Ma Wu said.

He Shaoyun said: "Ma Wu, when you get to the mountain, you must act at the opportunity. If you encounter danger, you must find a way to get out. ”

Liang Wensheng was naturally happy when he saw that He Liangchang also promised Ma Wu to go undercover. I told him again, and the matter was settled.

Subsequently, Liang Wensheng left He Mansion and went to the martial arts arena in the east of the village. At this time, Liu Xing and his son had already cast four cannons, and Wang Zhixue and Liu Xing, who had already received the news, were already ready. The muzzles of the four cannons are facing east, lined up, lying on the martial arts arena like four-headed monsters.

An earthen wall two feet thick and three feet wide has been erected on the east side of the martial arts arena as a target for testing artillery. Xu Tangyi gave an order, and the four groups of gunners began to add water to ignite the fire, and lit a pillar of incense to calculate the time. After the half-pillar incense was burned, the four families loaded the stone cannonballs into the barrels, and the other four families pulled the steam switch of the cannons, and in an instant a puff of smoke came out of the muzzles of the four cannons, followed by four loud bangs, and four puffs of smoke and dust rose from the wall in the distance, and the earthen wall collapsed.

Liang Wensheng shouted "Okay, good!" With this sharp weapon, why worry about the bandits! At the same time, he was secretly frightened, fortunately the He family had no dissenting intentions, otherwise with this siege, the state city would be in danger.

Next, more than a dozen Ding Zhuang planted dozens of straw dummies on the east side of the martial arts arena. The gunners added coal to the fire again, and after a while, the four cannons roared again, and four shotshots erupted from the muzzles, and the dummies in the distance were beaten to the ground, all covered with iron nails.

When the officials saw the divine power of this cannon, they were excited and full of confidence. Liang Wensheng said again: "With this sharp weapon, why worry about the bandits!" ”

He Zhiyuan took the opportunity to say: "My lord, the cannonballs are not well prepared now, and more cannonballs are needed to be prepared before the power of the cannons can be brought into play. ”

Liang Wensheng promised on the spot: "After we go back, we will immediately order the workshop to make shells according to the rows of craftsmen." Half a month later, send troops to attack Ma Qi Mountain! ”