Under the repeated urging of Guide City, Li Yan finally left Suizhou City with the cavalry who were already basically familiar with their new war horses and marched eastward.

Of course, Li Yan didn't take all the soldiers away, he left Feng Cheng's hundred-man team behind and asked him to guard the city. The fort outside the city has already begun to be built, and nearly 2,000 recruits have all been sent to Qixian County for training. The safety of the fortress is the responsibility of the young people among the people, and the soldiers drawn from Qixian County are responsible for the simple training of these people.

Li Yan and Li Mu walked in the position of the Chinese army, and the scouts were released three miles away. They had already explored before, and found that there were not many thieves near Suizhou, but there were many thieves east of Ningling.

At this time, they were marching on the main road to Ningling County. Their purpose this time is to defeat a few large bands of thieves, and for those small bands, they are not going to pay attention to them. After controlling the place, it will be slowly wiped out. Of course, if you bump into it on the road, that's a good thing.

A scout rode over and left his two bloody heads on the ground, and then reported: "General, two thieves were found dead, and they died without asking where their brigade was. ”

Li Yan frowned and said: "Your duty is to detect the enemy's traces, not to kill people, and not to punish you this time, and continue to investigate." Don't be reckless when you encounter enemies, scare them away and follow them. If you encounter a large number of enemies, you must come back as soon as possible to report it."

The scout clenched his fists on his horse: "It is his subordinates who understand", and immediately beat his horse and ran forward.

These scouts were all served by Li Yan and Li Mu's personal soldiers, so Li Yan was also very unceremonious. They also didn't have extra horses for the scouts to use, and if the scouts didn't have horses, the back and forth time would be too long, and there would not be enough time for warning.

After the scouts left, Li Mu frowned and said, "Where did all these thieves go?" Why didn't you meet a strand along the way? ”

Li Yan shook his head and said, "I don't know." If we can just scare these thieves away, that's a good thing. ”

"How is that possible?" Li Mu said with a smile: "I guess they must have all gathered somewhere, we are a little bit of people, but we can't scare them." ”

"That's not bad, let's look for them everywhere. Solve them all at once," Li Yan said with a smile.

Although they are speaking lightly, they are becoming more and more careful in their actions. When passing through the woods and crossing the hills, people were sent to explore the road again before the brigade could pass.

They didn't encounter a group of thieves along the way, and they arrived in Ningling County all the way without incident. Here happened to meet a few people who came out of Guide City to deliver letters to Li Yan, so they immediately handed over the letter urging the troops to Li Yan, and then went back together first.

Li Yan asked them about the situation along the way, and these messengers also said that they were safe and sound. The thieves suddenly stopped, and no more news was received from them where they were attacked. But where the thieves were, they didn't know.

With Li Yan's dismount in Suizhou, Ningling's guards were much more obedient, and they recruited themselves how much they ate. and prepared a garrison and grain and grass for Li Yan and his troops, showing respect.

Li Yan didn't have time to deal with the affairs of Ningling County, he didn't care whether this sand was always true or false, as long as he dealt with the thieves well, there would be no problems here.

They did not stay long, and after resting for a day, they continued in the direction of Guide City.

At noon that day, when they were about to rest and eat, the scouts came to report that a large group of enemies had been found in front of them.

Li Yan immediately ordered: "Hurry up and eat dry food." ”

The team left the main road and entered the fields next to it. The trees on both sides of the official road are relatively dense, which is not suitable for battle in formation. However, in the wilderness everywhere in the fields and the number of enemies, in order to prevent the thieves from besieging from all sides, Li Yan deliberately set aside enough troops on both flanks to facilitate the formation of a hollow quadripartite formation at any time.

The team sprang into action immediately, and it took only half an hour to line up in the barren field. The artillery was also ready, first on standby on the front, and if necessary, then moved to other directions. After that, the soldiers began to gulp down dry food and drink cold water from water bags.

The team waited for two quarters of an hour, but did not find the enemy coming.

"What's going on?" Li Mu frowned and asked, "Did they run away?" Or are you waiting for us to attack? Why didn't the scouts come to report anymore? ”

Li Yan also felt strange, anyway, the scout should have sent someone to report the situation.

He commanded, "Send two men to see." Be careful, don't walk together, and see what's going on ahead. ”

"Order" Sun Sifu agreed, and he rode a horse with a personal soldier.

A quarter of an hour later, Sun Sifu returned. He replied: "There is nothing unusual in the front, the thieves are resting and eating, and there is no intention of attacking." ”

"How many enemies are there?" Li Yan asked.

Sun Sifu immediately replied: "There are about two thousand, and there are many mules and horses, all of which are strong, and I didn't find any old and weak." ”

Li Yan nodded and said, "It's a little strange, since they have so many mules and horses, it is conducive to raids. Why didn't there be a raid, but instead a good meal? ”

"That's right," Li Mou also said, "It's weird." But we can't wait forever. Why don't we lean in? ”

There was no way, they were mainly infantry, and the pace of the march in the formation was slow. If the thieves didn't want to fight them, they would have run away by the time they passed.

Li Yan frowned and said, "There are a lot of trees on the roads in this area, which is not conducive to our development. If you go through the fields, it is not conducive to the movement of the cannons. It's better to wait, if they are willing to fight, they will come sooner or later. If they don't want to fight, it's useless for us to go over. ”

Li Mu thought about it and reminded him: "Let the troops relax, take turns to go to the thatched house, don't wait for the thieves to come, we are all exhausted and have no strength." ”

Li Yan nodded and asked his soldiers to pass the order according to Li Mu's proposal.

The "fierce Zhang Fei" before the "Zhang Cripple" who was two miles away was also waiting.

"What's going on? The officers and soldiers haven't come over yet? He asked impatiently.

His subordinates replied: "We have more than a dozen people in front, as long as the officers and soldiers come, we will definitely be able to run back one or two." Rest assured, Chief. ”

"Cripple Zhang" looked at the sky and said helplessly: "Wait for another two quarters of an hour, if the officials and soldiers can't come over, we will take the initiative to pass." Tell the brethren that if we pass, don't rush too hard, and run away at any time. The big bosses are still waiting in the woods to the south. ”

"I have told them many times, and the brothers have written them down." The subordinate nodded.

And "Zhang Lame" recalls the fierce rain of arrows in Qi County, and when he thinks of that scene, his injured leg aches faintly. That's why he repeatedly instructed his subordinates not to rush too hard, otherwise it's really hard to say how many of them will come back.

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