In May of the fifteenth year of orthodoxy, Gongchuan Mountain.

For the past few days, Liu Juntao has been paying close attention to the movements of the bandit army on Gongchuan Mountain, and the general Dai Jingkui has also been constantly sending people to investigate the reality of the thief army.

Combined with the news sent from all sides, at this time, Liu Juntao was already able to affirm that the plague must have broken out in Ye Zongliu's department!

So, Liu Juntao rushed to the Beijing camp and met with the general Dai Jingkui.

"General, the men and horses guarding the mountain roads to the east and north have been completely reduced, and there has been no action from the thieves these days! I think that the thieves must have broken out of the plague, and at this time, the army of thieves is unstable, and Ye Zongliu can only shrink his defense and maintain the status quo! ”

Staff General Dai Jingkui frowned and thought for a while, and asked, "Could it be that Ye Zongliu did it on purpose and wanted to lure us up the mountain?" ”

Liu Juntao said: "There is a possibility, but I still think that the outbreak of the plague in the army of thieves is more likely!" After all, once our army rushes up the mountain, the occupation is not something that Ye Zongliu can control, it is too dangerous to lead our army up the mountain, I don't think Ye Zongliu has the courage to do this! ”

"That's right!"

Staff General Dai Jingkui breathed a sigh of relief and said, "In this case, how should our army act?" Does Guerrilla Liu have a belly case? ”

Liu Juntao smiled and said, "General, I think we should wait for a while, and when the army of thieves is in chaos, we can annihilate it in one fell swoop." But ......"

"But what?"

"General, our army also needs to prepare some good medicine to prevent cold and fever, just in case of emergency!"

Staff General Dai Jingkui nodded uncontrollably when he heard this, and said: "It's still Liu Guerrilla who is thoughtful, and I will immediately send someone to the surrounding prefectures and counties to transfer!" ”

Then, General Dai Jingkui asked: "There is still one more thing about Liu's guerrilla, there is not much grain and grass left in the army, I don't know when the next batch of grain and grass will arrive?" ”

Liu Juntao pondered for a moment and said: "General rest assured, the next batch of grain and grass is already on the way, and it is estimated that it will be transported to the camp in as little as three or five days, or as many as ten days!" ”

"That's great!"

After returning to the camp, Liu Juntao summoned the commanders of the battalions and ordered the officers and men of the battalions to continue to strictly guard the camp, and at the same time mobilized the medical craftsmen, doctors, and nurses in the army to seize the time to prepare medicines for the prevention and treatment of cold and fever, and if there was any shortage of medicinal materials, they should be purchased as soon as possible.

After the meeting was dismissed, the commanders of the battalions hurriedly returned to the army and seized the time to deploy Liu Juntao's order.

All of a sudden, the medical craftsmen, doctors, and nurses of each battalion with the army became the busiest people, and the fragrance of grass medicine continued to waft from the Yushan Town Guard and the battalions of Yanzhou Mansion, which lasted for a long time.

At the same time, Ye Zong remained restless in the camp on Gongchuan Mountain, and the thieves and soldiers under his command were already ready to move, and the firefights between the various departments continued to occur, and the army of 170,000 thieves was like sitting on a volcanic crater, and they would die at any time without a place to bury!

Ye Zongliu has hardly slept for the past few days, and has been thinking about countermeasures in the big tent of the Chinese army, wanting to get out of the current desperate situation.

But as the number of sick soldiers in various units increased, the situation began to take a turn for the worse, and there was no room for turnaround!

In just over ten days, thousands of people in the camp of thieves have fallen ill, and although they have been strictly ordered by Ye Zongliu to isolate, they still can't suppress the spread of the plague.

Every day, hundreds of thieves and soldiers were found to be infected, and the rest of the thieves were also panicked, and everyone was worried that they would be infected with the plague, so that deserters began to appear in all departments, and Ye Zongliu spent a lot of effort and couldn't stop it!

At this time, Liu Juntao also received news that there were constantly thieves and deserters running down the mountain.

"Immediately mobilize the birds to guard the various roads down the mountain, and mobilize the soldiers of the Iron Cavalry Battalion to patrol everywhere to prevent the thieves and deserters from escaping from the encirclement!"

Liu Juntao couldn't be sure whether the thieves who fled down the mountain were infected or not, if they were not handled well, the more than 20,000 soldiers under his command and the more than 20,000 soldiers of the Beijing battalion stationed on the mountain road in the north would be like the army of thieves, and the plague would spread and be wiped out!

Moreover, even if these thieves and deserters go around the official and military camps, once they bring the terrible plague to the surrounding state capitals, it will also be a huge disaster, and when the people everywhere will not be able to make a living, it will be the sin created by Liu Juntao!

Liu Juntao will never allow such a situation to happen!

If you want to prevent such a situation from happening, the best way is to completely block Gongchuan Mountain and exterminate all the 170,000 thieves under Ye Zongliu and his men on the spot!

As a result, Liu Juntao mobilized a large number of birdmen and iron cavalry soldiers to block various mountain roads, and even deployed troops on the sheep intestine trails and in the slower mountain areas.

Liu Juntao issued a death order to all the soldiers: when you see the escaped thieves, whether you surrender or not, shoot them immediately! After the shooting, the healers, healers, and nurses of each battalion commanded the heavy soldiers and soldiers who accompanied the army to bury the body of the thief on the spot, and never let go of a thief deserter!

Liu Juntao's order has basically announced the death sentence of 170,000 thieves on Gongchuan Mountain, staying on the mountain to die of illness, fighting with his accomplices, or going down the mountain to be killed by the official army, these thieves can only choose one of them.

On Gongchuan Mountain, Ye Zong stayed in the big tent of the Chinese army and sat still, and in front of him were a few thieves and deserters who ran back from the mountain, kneeling on the ground and crying bitterly.

"O king! We don't want to die of illness like this, but now that the official army has completely sealed off the mountain, we can't escape! ”

"King, instead of dying on the mountain, let's kill the mountain, even if we die, we have to pull a few cushions!"

Ye Zongliu listened to the deserters talking one by one, without any expression on his face.

After a long time, the deserters finally said that they were tired and tired of crying, so they knelt on the ground and were silent.

Ye Zongliu glanced at a few people, and then said coldly: "Since the brothers have finished venting, let's go on the road!" ”

After speaking, Ye Zongliu didn't care about how the deserters shouted, waved his hand, and asked the guards next to him to drag a few people out, beheaded them in the camp, and hung the heads of several people on the gate to show the public.

A few bloody heads hung on the gate, swaying slightly with the strong wind and drizzle, which calmed down the thieves and soldiers in the camp: It turns out that there is still a king in the army!

Subsequently, the number of deserters in the army of thieves was greatly reduced, and Ye Zongliu took the opportunity to vigorously rectify it, and all the leaders who were shaken in their minds and at both ends of the rat found excuses to execute, and annexed several troops and horses, which greatly consolidated the morale of the army of thieves.

However, Ye Zongliu knew very well in his heart that at this time, nearly 2,000 people in the army had been infected and isolated, and this number was still growing, and the army's morale would collapse sooner or later.

What Ye Zongliu lacks most now is time!

Now, the 170,000 army under Ye Zongliu is plagued by plague and unstable morale, and tens of thousands of officers and soldiers are blocking the mountains and besieging them, and they are already in a desperate situation.

For Ye Zongliu, it can be said that there is no way to enter the heavens and the earth, and even if Ye Zongliu racks his brains, he can't think of any way out of the predicament.

"It's over! It's all over! ”

Ye Zongliu sat alone in the big tent of the Chinese army, and couldn't help but burst into tears.

At this time, the only one who could save Ye Zong's army was the 100,000 army of Wang Neng's department, but at this time, Wang Neng's army was still fighting a bloody battle with Chen Zhengjing's department in Ganzhou Mansion, and the two sides were inseparable, and they couldn't take care of Ye Zongliu's side.

For Ye Zongliu, the only reinforcement under Wang Neng's department who could let him escape could no longer arrive, which was equivalent to announcing the death penalty of Ye Zongliu and his army!

"Liu Juntao! You can be so calm, do you want to wait for me and the hundreds of thousands of troops to die before going up the mountain! ”