It turned out that it wasn't like that.

Li Xian said that 1,000 people were not enough, not because they couldn't defeat the horse bandits, but because they couldn't take away so many supplies.

When the regular army appeared, the horse bandits fled, and a lot of materials were backlogged in the warehouse, and they couldn't be taken away at all, and now they all became Li Xian's. There are not so many cars, and they can only be carried by cavalry, but they can't be taken away at one time, so Li Xian decided to hold Horsehair Mountain first, and when the support troops came, they would get things together.

After Tang Hu came, he was surprised when he saw the horse bandit warehouse, it was all good things, and he could be regarded as making a fortune now. If these materials are sold in Chang'an City, there will be at least tens of thousands of taels.

After they brought the supplies back, Tang Yuan was also eye-opening.

"Oh my God, how many things did these guys rob?"

Tang Yuan scratched his head and said, "It's also strange, since there are horse bandits here, why are there still a lot of caravans?" ”

Zhang Junshou ran over and said: "The horse bandits here actually still talk about some rules, they rob, they only ask for money and not for human life, and they will not rob all the things of the caravan, each caravan only robs one-tenth of the goods." Then he would give the caravan some notes telling the horse bandits behind not to intrude. In other words, it's actually a kind of protection in disguise. These well-behaved horse bandits killed the vicious horse bandits in the past, and the caravan felt safer. Some didn't even use horse bandits to rob them, and took the initiative to send supplies to Horsehair Mountain, seeking long-term protection from Horsehair Mountain. ”

"And that kind of thing?" Tang Yuan was surprised.

"That's not it, otherwise why are there horse bandits, there is still an endless stream of caravans here?"

"Makes sense." Tang Yuan thought for a while and said, "In this case, these horse bandits are still more benevolent, go, send someone to find the leader of the horse bandits, and let him come to Jiuquan City to see me." ”

"This ......"

"Don't worry, you can let your men go down and tell him that I will not arrest him, but negotiate with him."

The county order sent people to see the horse bandits, but no one in the official mansion dared to go, and then there was no way, Zhang County Ling found the Jianghu people who had a good relationship with the horse bandits, and the Jianghu people said, Zhang Junshou must not play the trick of inviting the king into the urn, and when the time comes, the horse bandits carry the handle into Jiuquan, and you immediately turn your face, then I will want to mix in Jiuquan in the future.

Zhang Xianling promised and said that this would never happen.

On the third day, the boss of the horse bandits led ten people to Jiuquan.

Tang Yuan set up a banquet to entertain the horse bandits.

When I saw the head of the horse bandits, a good guy, five big and three thick, he was a person with extraordinary strength at first glance.

Tang Yuan said: "With such a good physique, why don't you join the army, but do such a thing?" With your ability, if you come to our army, you can directly be a captain. Manage a regiment. ”

The leader of the horse bandits is called Ma Defang, and he is only one word different from Ma Bufang, the governor of the national recruits.

Several of his subordinates are surnamed Ma, and he himself says that he is a descendant of Ma Chao of the Three Kingdoms. Speaking of which, complacent.

Jin Ma Chao, Wei Zhen Liangzhou, once killed Cao Cao to abandon his robe and cut his beard, of course, this is a legend in the history of some barnyard officials, and there is no such detail in the official history.

Ma Defang said that he has a few lives on his body, and he has been a bandit since then, in fact, the life of a bandit is not easy, and the bandit groups often fight to the death because of the competition for territory, and he debuted with dozens of brothers, and now there are only ten people left who are still alive. Although the team is growing day by day, and now there are six or seven hundred people, but he himself feels panicked, and wants to secretly contact Jiuquan Zhonglang General Dianxiao, but there is no reliable way, so he has not been contacted.

"When a real person doesn't tell lies, if he wants to have long-term peace and stability, the smart magistrates understand the truth of the official and bandit family. If we can contact Mr. Nakagawa, we will be able to live for a long time. The general can even help me eradicate dissidents, and when the time comes, the credit will be all his, and I will give him real money. My position is secure, and I can control the size of the bandits. I don't need to pay for my life when I kill someone, and I don't have to worry about all kinds of laws. If the general of the middle lang encounters something difficult to do, we can also help with it. Everyone uses each other to make a fortune together. Ma Defang said.

Tang Yuan blinked his eyes and said, "Very good." As long as you don't make trouble, I can still take care of you, and I can also arrange a liaison around you. In addition, your share of robbery should be lowered, and there are some small traders, so don't rob them. They wouldn't have made much money either. The size of your army must not be too large, it must not exceed five hundred, and you just said that you have seven or eight hundred now, which is certainly not good. You're going to hand over some people. ”

"What will General Tang do with them?"

"Charge the army."

"Well, well, I'll talk to the brothers when I get back."

Sending Ma Defang out of the city, Tang Yuan said to him: "You don't think about thinking about joining the army? When a horse bandit is also licking blood on the tip of a knife, it is better to accept the army's recruitment, and from now on get rid of the title of thief, and your family descendants will follow you. ”

Ma Defang said: "I'm used to being a wild person, I am not restrained by others, if I am allowed to join the army, I often run into officials, and my head will not be long before I move." ”

"Do you have a son or nephew who would like to get rid of the name of a horse bandit?"

"Yes!" Ma Defang said: "My son Ma Ben has always had the heart to serve the country, can General Tang give him a way to join the army?" But I can tell you in advance, if I let my son be a soldier, then I won't do it. My son is known as a little pony, don't look at his young age, his martial arts have long surpassed me. ”

"Okay, you can let your son be an officer directly, but how big an officer he can be depends on how many soldiers you can send."

"A word?"

"It's a deal!"

After another three days, a team of horse bandits came to Jiuquan with a brush, and the soldiers of the militia defending the city saw it and mistakenly thought that there were horse bandits who had the audacity to attack Jiuquan City and pulled up the drawbridge.

When the news reached Tang Yuan's ears, Tang Yuan laughed at Zhang Xianling and said, "Look at your subordinates, they look like they have never seen the world, and there are only a few hundred people, and they are scared like this." ”

Seeing Ma Ben, the young man was really good, his skeleton was similar to his father's, but he was still young and his muscles didn't come out, but this young man gave people a feeling of dragon horse spirit.

"Which one is Uncle Tang?"

"Hey, in fact, I'm not very old, just call me General Tang." Tang Yuan said embarrassedly that in recent years, Tang Yuan has begun to grow beards, and some of them look old, but in fact, he is only twenty-three years old now.

"That's not going to work." Ma Ben said: "My father said that after coming here, you should treat the general as an uncle, not as an officer." ”

"You listen to your dad so much?"

"No, I only listen to what I think makes sense."

"Haha, okay. Chen Bao also joined the army at your age, you bring 200 people, and I will arrange another 100 people for you to be a captain. ”

"Captain Caidu?"

"What's wrong? Suspicious of small officials? ”。

"The last time you can't give me a captain?"

"You are new to the city, you don't know the rules, you can be a captain just after you enter the army, it's rare, this general still started from the centurion level, you have already surpassed me."