Three days later, Li Yan set off with two wings and two artillery pieces and advanced towards Suizhou City.

It's not that he doesn't want to transfer more troops, it's that he doesn't have any troops to transfer. The news that Luoyang was captured and King Fu was killed is now known throughout Henan, so there are many unknown small bandits popping up all over the country. These new thieves were even more daring, and two or three hundred of them dared to go around the county, and thirty or fifty of them were going to loot the villages.

The soldiers and civilians in Kaifeng City were busy repairing the city walls and did not send troops out to maintain order. Li Xianfeng also returned to Kaifeng with his troops, but the angry King of Zhou refused to open the city gate, and Li Xianfeng had no choice but to lead his troops to pursue Li Zicheng. However, he was defeated by Li Zicheng in Baisha, and he was also stationed in Zhengzhou and did not dare to move.

The defenders in the other county towns were only three or five hundred, and they were all cowering in the county seats, not daring to go out of the city to suppress the thieves. And the village soldiers outside the city are also huddled in the village, and they can only try to protect the safety of the personnel, and they can't take care of the rest.

Therefore, Li Yan also had to leave enough troops to deploy defenses around Qixian County to prevent thieves from spreading wild on his territory. It is also necessary to leave a little soldier for each village to guide the training of the people, so that these people can become real village soldiers to protect the stability outside the city.

Li Yan did not take the big road, but took the country road. Fortunately, this is a plain area, the road conditions are okay, and it does not pose much difficulty for the march of the troops, especially for the artillery.

As they marched through the countryside south of Suizhou, they found that there were not many inhabitants left, and many houses had been burned down. Only a few half-dead old men hid in the ruins, and after glancing at the marching procession, they went back into the dilapidated houses.

A scout rode over. He came to Li Yan and reported loudly: "General Yu, a mile ahead, there are thieves gathering, there are about two hundred. ”

Li Yan waved his hand and said, "Explore again." After that, he instructed the other soldiers: "Order the troops to be on guard and watch the formation at any time." ”

The pro-soldier immediately went to give the order. Then the troops continued to advance, but the soldiers were on guard, and the captains kept reminding the soldiers to follow orders. The drummers, on the other hand, adjusted the position of the drums, took out the drumsticks, and followed behind the captains, ready to be called at any time.

And when they had gone a little while, they saw the thieves who had come out in front of them. Li Yan looked through binoculars, some of these thieves were also holding weapons, but more of them were farm tools such as hoes, flat shoulders, forks, and sickles.

Li Yan instructed: "Spread the team and prepare to fight"

"Spread the team and prepare to meet the battle" The soldiers rode away and passed on Li Yan's order.

Under the orders of the captains, the team quickly lined up in formation. The shield spear is in front, the crossbow bolt is in the back, and the two sides in the middle make room for the cannon. The crossbowmen quickly bent down to wind their arrows and put their bolts in the arrow slots, ready to fire.

The drummers began to beat the drums, and the soldiers, under orders, began to move in place.

After all the drummers had adjusted to almost one point, Li Yan waved his hand behind him and ordered: "Forward"

"Advance," Li Yan's personal soldiers ordered loudly.

The big drums on the side began to beat, and the sound of "dong" and "dong" drums spread throughout the field. After three sounds, it came to an abrupt end.

After that, the soldiers began to advance step by step to the beat of the drummer next to the ranks, under the command of the captain. They are on the road, in the fields, and they are moving forward with indomitable steps.

The thieves who had appeared in front of them stopped, and they all looked in horror at the troops that were approaching them like a wall. Eventually, several of the older men reacted, took the lead and knelt down, and made the others kneel as well.

Li Yan looked a little strange, so he ordered: "Let the troops stop." ”

"Stop advancing" The pro-soldiers quickly conveyed Li Yan's order. The trumpeter not far away blew a few notes with his horn, "Woo~Woo~Woo~", and the majestic sound of the horn penetrated the drumbeat, so that the soldiers on the march could hear it.

"Stop advancing and defend in place," the captains quickly ordered.

The flag bearer in front of him stands the flag diagonally forward and stands still. The whole team stopped.

Li Yan saw a few people kneeling in front of him stand up, raised their hands above their heads, and then slowly leaned over to this side. As he walked, he shouted: "Don't release arrows, we are good citizens." ”

Li Yan ordered: "Let them come over." If there is any change in the person behind you, immediately release the arrow."

The soldiers rode over and personally delivered orders to the captains.

After a while, several of the leaders of the outcasts were brought in. They knelt on the ground and kowtowed to Li Yan.

"But General Li from Qi County?" One of the men with a long beard asked.

"It's the general." Li Yan said immediately.

The long-bearded leader kowtowed to Li Yan, and then said excitedly: "Finally, I am looking forward to General Li coming, I and the people have suffered the poison of thieves and bandits, and we are waiting for General Li to come and relieve the people from hanging." ”

Li Yan asked, "How many thieves are there here?" Where did they set up camp? ”

The longbearded leader replied, "There were four bands of thieves before, the largest was two hundred people, and the least was more than thirty people. They are all fierce people, and they don't blink an eye when they kill people. Come to the village to ask for food, ask for women, and if you don't give it, you will attack. ”

"There are so many of you, are you still afraid of them?" Li Yan frowned and asked.

The bearded leader explained, "They have swords, guns, and bows and arrows. There were some soldiers, some of them with shotguns, and we couldn't beat them. These are the young and strong of the four villages, and the single village is not the opponent of those bandits at all. ”

"Do you know where they are now?" Li Yan asked again. This time, he came here to defeat all the thieves and bandits, otherwise the local security would not be good, and he would not be able to let the people farm and produce with peace of mind.

The longbearded leader thought for a moment and replied, "The villains don't know where they are staying. The thieves hadn't been seen for days, probably somewhere else. ”

Li Yan frowned and said, "Since the thieves have left, then you can go home." ”

"General," the long-bearded leader hurriedly kowtowed, "I want to join the grange under the general's name, please take the general in." ”

Li Yan smiled slightly, it seems that his grange is still very popular.

He said, "Do you know my rules?" Even if there is land, it must be redistributed. There is no family in the army, there is no land. ”

"Yes, yes." The long-bearded leader hurriedly pointed to the back and said: "These young and strong men are all good guys, and half of them can serve as soldiers and follow the generals to fight. Just leave half of the people to take care of the fields. ”

Li Yan nodded and said, "You guys go back first, and after a while, I will send someone to register your population and acres and establish a fortress and tuntian." ”

"General Xie took it in, General Xie took it in" Several leaders kowtowed to Li Yan to thank him.

In the next few days, wherever Li Yan went, he encountered the same thing several times, and the people were willing to belong to Li Yan's name. Li Yan came to Suizhou City without fighting.

...