Two days later, Li Yan finally got the news that Yuan Shizhong was still in the area of Huaxian County Magistrate and Yuan County. It's just that it's close to the test city, so everyone will panic in the test city.

And the news of Suizhou is also clear, there are six or seven thousand thieves, and they do not attack the county seat, but specialize in plundering in the countryside. Because Yilong and Yuan Laoshan were defeated by Li Yan at that time and retreated eastward, the looting of the countryside in Suizhou was not serious, and the people still had some food in stock, so these thieves were active in the countryside.

As for the county seat, when Yuan Laoshan and Yilong joined forces, they didn't defeat even one of them, and now these scattered thieves don't have the confidence to defeat them. At this time, these thieves were less than five miles away from Mengzhuang, where Li Mu was, but they had not yet made a clear advance there.

Li Yan discussed with Li Zhong and decided that Li Zhong would stay behind to defend the city, while Li Yan would go to Suizhou with a wing of troops (general) to completely defeat the thieves who were close to their territory.

Li Yan did not send anyone to inform Li Zhong after he set off, although he had a plan, but there were too many variables in it, and there was no way to communicate in time. Now inform the plan to come, and only God knows what it will be like when the time comes.

Before Li Mu came, Li Yan asked him to beat the thief. He then borrowed Li Yan's method of dealing with General Zhang, and planned to open the gate of the fortress, and then fight the thieves outside the fortress.

Mengzhuang is their largest fortress in Suizhou. The circumference of the walled wall is nearly 300 steps, one zhang high, seven feet wide at the top, one zhang wide at the bottom, rammed earth, and there is only one south gate. He had been keeping an eye on the bandits' movements for the past two days, but the thieves had not moved to their side.

In Zhangzhuang, east of Mengzhuang, the thieves are resting.

"Leader Zhang," said one of the leaders, "it's not bad here, we've grabbed a lot of grain, and we'll continue westward tomorrow." I heard that Qixian is very rich, let's go and rob Qixian as well. ”

Now "Shi Qian" can be regarded as a big leader, so he can also use his previous real name, his real surname is Zhang, so they all call him Zhang Leader.

"Shi Qian" immediately said: "I remind you, don't go to Qi County. Li Yan of Qixian County is not an official soldier here, but he can go out of the city to fight. We went there in the summer, and we still went with Yuan Da's family, so we are still not opponents. ”

"Is it really that powerful?" The leader asked. They came from Shandong, and they really didn't know the prestige of Li Yan in Qixian County.

"Shi Qian" said: "We are in Suizhou, don't provoke Qi County." Grab some more forts and you'll be able to survive the winter. Let's go to the south of Xiayi, which is close to Yuan Da's house, so we can take care of everything. After a while, the officials and soldiers of the imperial court should come, and the wealthy family of the eunuchs who returned to Germany are not vegetarians. ”

Leader Liu from Shandong nodded and said, "Okay, then listen to Leader Zhang." ”

The crowd finally settled down, and then they began to eat and drink with a lot of wine and meat. And their subordinates are also kind to eat a little meat foam. They seldom hold the people hostage, and they have too many families to support them. They only accept those who are single and strong, so that the team is smaller, but the combat strength is stronger.

Early the next morning, they began to move in the direction of Mengzhuang. Their old camp is also moving forward, and the families of the thieves who joined very early still follow them, although these old and weak are slow, but they are their families, even if they are slow, they must take them.

When it was almost noon, they finally came to Meng Zhuang.

At this time, Li Mu had already led his troops to line up outside the open gate. He took the artillery team and two wings (the general) troops outside, and the remaining 300 men were to defend the city on the wall.

"Shi Qian" saw the array lined up outside the gate of the village from a distance, and at the front was a sitting spearman, the spear shining cold. There are also two cannons in the middle, and the barrel of the cannon is yellow and clear in the sun. Behind him were several columns of crossbowmen. As soon as he saw this formation, he knew that it was the style of Li Yan of Qixian County.

"Stop!" "Time Shift" a loud command.

Amid the shouts of the heralds, the team finally came to a slow halt.

Liu Dangjia from Shandong came over and asked, "Boss Zhang, what's wrong?" Let's go over, as long as we defeat those officers and soldiers, we can go in. You see, the gate behind them is open. ”

"Shi Qian" said: "Have you seen this formation?" This is the style of Li Yan in Qixian County. ”

"So what?" Liu Dangjia said indifferently: "We have fought with the official army, as long as we rush closer, they will be finished." We have a trick, one lime bag per person, so that they can't see anything. ”

"Lime packets?" "Shi Qian" sneered and said, "Can your men throw forty paces away?" Their crossbow arrows can skewer you all into a sugar gourd at a distance of forty paces. ”

"We have shields." The other leader said unconvinced.

"Shi Qian" pointed to the two yellow and clear cannons in the distance and said, "Don't you see that people have cannons?" Within a hundred paces, any shield must be shattered into sawdust! ”

"Is it really that powerful?" Liu Dangjia frowned and asked: "Our officers and soldiers there also have artillery, and it takes half an hour to shoot a @ cannon." Moreover, the guns of the officers and soldiers are all small cannons, which are not very powerful. As long as we can bet on them for one round, we can rush through. ”

"Shi Qian" shook his head and said: "Li Yan's cannon is very powerful, it can not only fire solid bullets, but also fire groups. ”

"The group is even less filmed." Liu Dangjia smiled: "It's all iron sand, and you can take twenty or thirty steps at most." ”

"Shi Qian" saw that it didn't make sense for Leader Liu to lead them, so he hugged his fists and said, "Everyone, I won't touch this tiger, you can do whatever you want." Leave. After finishing speaking, he instructed his own soldiers: "Go and inform the old battalion and troops, let's go back the same way." ”

Leader Liu was stunned, he didn't expect that "Time Change" was so timid. So they laughed and said, "Leader Zhang, why are you a well-known man frightened by a military formation?" ”

"Yes, the officers and the army are all virtuous, what is there to be afraid of?"

"Leader Zhang is really disappointing!"

……

Completely offended by these taunts, he reminded, "Everyone, before you go, I have one more piece of advice. If you can't beat it, run away quickly, I don't think they have a few cavalry, and if they run fast, they can still save some strength. After saying that, he left with his subordinates.

Everyone watched as the most powerful of them went, "Shi Qian", just left, and their team was instantly reduced by half.

"What should I do?" One of the leaders asked, "Shall we fight yet?" ”

Leader Liu looked at the troops lined up outside the gate, at most there were seven or eight hundred people, but even if they were less than half, there were still more than three thousand people.

"Such a large stockade has certainly never been broken. The good things in it are waiting for us, as long as those officers and soldiers are defeated, we can enter. Leader Liu said.

"Okay, listen to Leader Liu! Let's get in! Occupy this village, and let's celebrate the New Year inside! ”

"That's right! Good idea! Celebrate the New Year in it! ”