Yongcheng is more than 60 miles away from Pingshan Ridge, Guo Qi led the Ya Junwei all the way to the rapid march to arrive in just one hour, when Guo Qi came to the mine, although this place has been cleaned up, but it still looks very messy, the houses where the miners live have been burned down, and the bodies of the killed miners are neatly placed aside.

"What about the person in charge here? and bring him to the king. ”

"My lord, he is dead, and there are a total of three hundred and seventy-two people in the entire mine, all of whom have been killed by bandits." Song Yiming reported to Guo Qiyu; "According to the autopsy, they all died last night, and it has been five hours now."

"Five hours." Guo Qi clenched his fists very tightly, and asked angrily: "It's been five hours, why did you only get the news now?" ”

"My lord, because Pingshan Ridge is far away from Yongcheng, and the people in the mine are dead, everyone goes to report it! The people who came to the mine this morning to pull the coal came back to report the news. Song Yiming said with a sad face: "This matter is all caused by negligence in his duties, please punish the lord." ”

After Guo Qi listened to Song Yiming's explanation, his anger had disappeared a lot; "It's not all your fault for this, this king didn't think that this place would be attacked by bandits before, and this incident also taught us a lesson, in the future, we must send troops to garrison mines and strongholds like this in the mountains."

"The lord is wise."

"Why don't there be any charcoal in this mine! What about the coal that was dug up? ”

"My lord, all the coal, grain and grass have been robbed by the bandits."

"It's understandable that bandits are robbing food, but what are they doing with so much coal? How much coal was robbed from the mine? ”

"It's almost four thousand pounds!"

Guo Qi frowned with doubts on his face, and then ordered: "Li Wu, order the army to camp here today and enter the mountain tomorrow." ”

"No! Commanded by humility. ”

After Li Wu left, Ma Cheng rode a horse to Guo Qi quickly, and after dismounting, Ma Cheng reported to Guo Qi: "Lord Yu, a large number of rut marks have been found on the path into the mountain to the west of the mine. ”

"Let's go, let's see."

Guo Qi rode a horse and followed the horse to the West Pass, where the terrain is still dangerous, it is the only mountain road to the west of the mine, and the rut marks on the ground are messy.

"Ma Yin, what can you tell from these rut marks?"

"My lord, among these carts are horse-drawn carts, ox-carts, and wheelbarrows, and these carts are all carrying heavy loads, and they have been walking for more than three hours."

"Ma Cheng, give you a task, you take the probe horse along these ruts to this king to chase, see where to go for them, after finding the place, don't startle the snake, immediately send someone back to report to the king."

"No! Commanded by humility. ”

Guo Qi surveyed the terrain around and returned to the camp, Song Yiming is dealing with the aftermath of the mine, first of all, these corpses must be transported back to Yongcheng, so that their families can collect them, and the palace of these dead people will also give a certain amount of pension, of course, this pension is not gold and silver, but some grain, cloth or meritorious value, after all, gold and silver are useless in Yongzhou now.

At night, the lights in the big tent of the Chinese army are brightly lit.

"Yiming! This king has never asked, are there many bandits in Yongzhou? Guo Qi asked.

"My lord, it's hard to say."

"What's hard to say? What do you have to say? ”

"The territory of Yongzhou has been in turmoil since more than ten years ago, and the reason is that the people of Yongzhou can't survive, and they have taken refuge in the mountains and forests.

Since the lord entered Yongzhou, the lowly post posted a notice, most of the mountain people have gone down the mountain, but some still stay in the mountains, and now the situation is much better than before. ”

"In other words, the people who stay in the mountains now are all bandits."

"It's not all, it's just that some mountain people don't want to leave their homes."

"Are there any bandits in Yongzhou?"

"Yes, there are three main strands, which are a mountain carving, a mountain wind and a pangolin."

"What's your name?" Guo Qile said.

"Lord, these are actually the nicknames of the bandit leaders, and there is no way to verify the real names of these bandits."

"Do you know where these three bandits are?"

"I don't know this lowly office; However, it is said that each of these three bandits has a population of 1,000 people, among which several mountain carvings are the most powerful, followed by mountain winds and pangolins; It's just that although the mountain wind and pangolins are also bandits, they are much better, only robbing the landlord's old wealth, and never strong the common people, also known as righteous bandits;

And the reputation of the mountain carving is much worse, he has seen what to rob, whether it is the government, the landlord and the old wealth, the common people, and even Xirong have been robbed by him. ”

"Oh! Speaking of which, this mountain carving is still a character! Dare to plunder Xijon. Guo Qi said with interest.

"Lord, this mountain carving is a ruthless man, killing people like hemp, even the newborn child will not let go." Song Yiming said resentfully.

"It seems that we will take this opportunity to calm down the bandits in Yongzhou."

In the early morning of the next day, when the sun has not yet come out of the mountain, the tooth guard entered the mountain under the leadership of Guo Qi, although it was the first time to formally lead the army to fight, but Guo Qi was very cautious, in order to prevent the bandits from sneaking up on both sides, Guo Qi arranged all the sword and shield soldiers on both sides of the army, in the middle of the mountain from a high altitude, the marching tooth guard was like a long snake, and the marching team was as long as two or three miles.

The army had been marching in the mountains for a morning, and while they were burying a pot to cook, a scout horse galloped in from the north.

"I have found the lair of the bandits." The spies came to Guo Qi's side to report.

"Great, where is the bandit's lair?"

"Lord Wang, go around the mountain in front of you and arrive."

"After half an hour, the herald army will continue to march."

"No! Commanded by humility. Li Wu immediately conveyed it after receiving the order.

When Guo Qi led the army to arrive, he stationed the army by the small river ten miles south of the bandits' lair, and Guo Qi led a group of captains to the bandits' lair to explore the camp; When Guo Qi saw the bandits' lair, he could only describe it as shocked.

"Ma Jiu, are you sure this is the bandit's lair?" Guo Qi asked Ma Jiu.

"My lord, you can't be wrong." Ma Jiu said affirmatively.

"This is a fortified city." Guo Qi sighed.

"My lord, if I am not mistaken, this place should have entered the boundary of Jingzhou, and the place occupied by the bandits should be a small city of 100 miles in the southernmost part of Jingzhou; The town is located in a valley and runs east-west, and there should be only one way to get into it. ”

"They built the pass at the entrance to the valley, and if they wanted to enter it, they had to force it, and the army would have suffered heavy losses; If the attack fails, it seems that you can only outwit it. Looking at the hundred miles of city in the distance, Guo Qi muttered to himself.