Unexpectedly, Fan Rui was quite strategic, and in order to show his sincerity, he would rather let the people in the cottage starve and freeze than spend the looted Jeju silver.

Fan Rui said: "The meal has also arrived, let's eat first and then talk about other things." ”

Fan Rui entertained Chao Gai, Gongsun Sheng, Li Kui, and Bao Xu in the cottage hall, and the responsibilities of Jiao Ting and Luo Yun have always stood behind Chao Gai.

After the meal, the cup and plate hall was removed and the dining room became a meeting place again. Chao Gai said: "I am very happy that Brother Fan Rui can come, whether it is Fan Rui, Li Gon or Xiang Chong, they will make good arrangements, as for the subordinates who are willing to join the army or join the army, as for those who are not physically well, the old and infirm are willing to farm the arrangement to farm, and the land can be distributed." If you don't want to farm, you can go to the factory to work, in short, you don't have to worry about food and clothing. ”

Fan Rui said: "There are a total of 2,950 people in the cottage, and the maximum number of people who are suitable for serving as soldiers is 1,000, and the other 1,950 people have to go to farming, but Jeju is densely populated, and it has also taken in a lot of refugees over the years. ”

Chao Gai said: "The arrangement in Jeju can only be a factory, farming has to go overseas, there is a large island above the ocean, where the soil is fertile, the land is vast and sparsely populated, let alone 2,000 people, even 200,000, 2 million people can have enough land." ”

"Oh, there is this place." Fan Rui's eyes lit up. If Chao Gai only relies on Jeju to be a soil overlord at most, everything is under the nose of the imperial court, and it is difficult to really become bigger, but now Chao Gai has a foundation overseas, it is different, the vast natural enemy, there will be Chao Gai's biggest backing.

Gongsun Sheng said: "Governor Xu has always been concerned about the robbery of taxes in Mangdang Mountain, and he will definitely not agree to this matter, so we have to find another way." ”

Chao Gai said: "The area of Heilong Island is huge, and the new development is in need of manpower, why don't you arrange Fan Rui and others to Heilong Island at the beginning of spring?" ”

Fan Rui said: "Since I have sincerely followed my brother, how to arrange it is all up to my brother, and there is no complaint in Daoshan and Huohai." ”

Gongsun Sheng took out the map, pointed to Mangdang Mountain and said: "The location of Mangdang Mountain is very important, Xuzhou was originally an important place for soldiers, if Mangdang Mountain and Jeju Mansion echo each other, it is enough to control the entire Jingdong." ”

Fan Rui listened and said: "The location of Mangdang Mountain is very important, there is no doubt about this, the mountain is steep and easy to defend and difficult to attack, but there is no depth, it is easy to be besieged." ”

Chao Gai thought for a long time, and said: "What Daoist Gongsun said is reasonable, Brother Fan is more useful to stay here than to go to Black Dragon Island, and some things that are inconvenient for us can also be arranged for you to do, as for what Brother Fan Rui said without depth, it is easy to do, as long as there is water and food in the mountains, what depth do you need." ”

Li Gon said: "Ah, let us be in the mountains, I almost vomit when I eat sorghum, rice porridge, and cabbage every day." ”

After discussing for more than an hour, an agreement was finally reached, Fan Rui, Li Gon, and Xiang Chong led all the minions of Mangdangshan to join the Jeju regimental training, Fan Rui gave the battalion commander treatment, and Li Gon and Xiang Chong were treated as two deputy generals. The people of Mangdangshan are temporarily retained, but in order to be able to deal with Chao Gai, they want to take away some people, and Mangdang Mountain leaves 2,000 elites, and Chao Gai provides 1,500 sets of conventional weapons in Mangdang Mountain, such as knives, spears, etc., and 2,000 sets of cotton clothes, single clothes, and cloth shoes. There is no military salary for the minions of Mangdang Mountain, but the grain and grass are secretly supplied by Chao Gai. This kind of co-optation actually took a big risk, but Chao Gai agreed.

After discussing everything, Chao Gai and the others went down the mountain, Wu Song was walking back and forth in a hurry, and when he saw Chao Gai coming, he hurriedly came over and said: "My brother is finally back, seeing that the sun is in the west, I am planning to kill and go up the mountain to save my brother." ”

Chao Gai said: "Let the Wu Song brothers worry, it's getting late today, and it will continue tomorrow." ”

Chao Gai went back and told Wu Song about the matter, but Sun An and Niu Gao didn't mention it, not that they didn't believe them, but that there was no need to tell them that the cavalry was in charge of the periphery and didn't enter the mountain at all.

Early in the morning of the second day, the Jeju regiment trained the soldiers and horses to eat and drink enough, and even the camp was withdrawn, which was still the old tactic, and Niu Gao and Sun An led the cavalry to be responsible for the periphery. Chao Gai led his own soldiers and more than 1,000 infantry from Li Kui and Wu Songbu into the mountain. This time, there was no more fighting, clean and neat, Li Kui's and Wu Song's artillery were very few, only twenty guns, and they smashed the wooden door of the checkpoint as soon as they were erected, and the cannon door was smashed open in a few rounds.

The infantry swarmed in, only to find that there were no resisting minions at the checkpoint, and hundreds of minions knelt down and said, "Willing to surrender." ”

The soldiers were in a hurry with their weapons, and they couldn't kill the minions who surrendered, and the military law was strict, so everyone started to tie the surrendered minions into strings with ropes.

Li Kui, Wu Song and others supervised beside them, and kept saying to the soldiers: "Since these minions have lost their way and put down their weapons, they are no longer enemies. ”

The battalion commander said so, which one dared to mess around, and naturally accepted the prisoners in a proper manner. Soon arrived at the main village of Mangdang Mountain, the terrain here is dangerous, the light steps are afraid that there are hundreds of steps, although the snow is gone, but the steps are slippery and slippery in autumn.

Wu Song said: "In front is the old nest of Mangdang Mountain, do you dare to attack it with me." ”

The soldiers shouted: "Dare." ”

Of course, tactical coordination is still required, the artillery first fired a few cannons inside, and then the shield bearers scattered to try to attack, there was little resistance above, at this time Wu Song took the captain of the sword soldier with a chopping knife and smashed in, the situation was similar to just now, there were more than 500 minions inside, and they all put down their weapons and knelt on the ground to beg for mercy.

Wu Song said: "Why are you so ordered? What about your big boss, second boss, and third boss? ”

One of the leaders said: "The three masters heard that your artillery is powerful, and they were very scared, so they ran away with their henchmen overnight, leaving us people to block the army, and we couldn't do this substitute for the dead ghosts after discussion, so we decided to surrender." ”

Chao Gai and Gongsun Sheng also killed under the protection of Jiao Ting and Luo Yun led their own soldiers, and successfully found the warehouse of the bandits, and opened the organ to see that the seal was lost by Jeju. Immediately, Chao Gai ordered Gongsun Sheng to inspect it, and then sent his own soldiers to seal it and prepare to transport it back to Jeju.

The big guy was tired from a busy morning, and after eating in the cottage, he went down the mountain. Niu Gao and Sun An were not surprised, the training team of the Jeju regiment and the equipment to subdue a thief were not the same, but Xu Wu, the head of Xuzhou, was very surprised, and after entering the mountain in just one morning, he came out with a thousand prisoners, and what was even more strange was that there were few wounded soldiers in the troops.

Xu Wu looked for the soldier and asked, "How did you fight, so fast." ”

That looked at Xu Wu with disdain, and said, "How to fight, you don't have to fight at all." Did you see my father-in-law's grandson Daochang, and the heavenly soldiers and generals came down from the sky in a flash of dust, and the ability to send out the five thunder righteous law frightened the bandits, and they surrendered immediately. ”

Xu Wu pointed to the side of Mangdang Mountain and said, "Why didn't you see the fire, didn't you burn the cottage?" ”

The soldier said, "Go burn it, maybe you can meet a thief who has slipped through the net, and catch dozens of him and come back to make meritorious contributions." ”

The soldier didn't pay attention to Xu Wu after speaking, Xu Wu had the heart to go over and take a look, but first, there were people around him who followed him inch by inch, and secondly, he was also afraid of the thieves who slipped through the net, this is not a joke, he knows very well what kind of goods these dozen or so under his own hands are, and it is not ambiguous to fight, but it is not good to say that he will go into battle to kill the enemy.

Xu Wu immediately went back and reported to the prefect of Xuzhou, saying that Mangdang Mountain had swept away Chao Gai, and the soldiers said that it was the Five Thunder Righteous Law, but according to careful observation, it was caused by the power of the artillery in their army, and the minions on the mountain had never seen artillery, and they were frightened and surrendered this time.

The prefect of Xuzhou secretly decided to file a complaint, and it was too bold for the local regiment to practice with artillery.

Of course, Chao Gai didn't know about these things, and by this time they had already begun to return.

Chao Gai immediately ordered the team to take the captives and leave, all the way north. It's just that the speed of the captives is affected, and they only travel sixty miles a day, but Chao Gai has already sent a fast horse to Jeju to report the good news. Along the way, Li Kui bragged to Wu Song, which was nothing more than saying that when he was single-handed, he overturned Li Gon and Xiang Chong by himself, and when he was drinking, the whole cottage was scared and the minions were colorless.

On the canal, Ruan Xiaoer took the big guy around in a circle, and he didn't have a chance to go into battle to kill the enemy, so he withdrew after receiving the order.

Two days later, at the Yamen of Jeju Prefecture, the housekeeper walked into the prefect's study with his clothes in his hand.

"My lord, I am very happy, I am very happy."

Xu Lin was practicing calligraphy, and frowned: "What is the matter of shouting." ”

"Our Jeju regiment has won the battle and exterminated the bandits in Mangdang Mountain." The butler said happily.

When Xu Lin heard this, he was like a monkey with his tail stepped on, and said, "What are the results, has the bandit leader been caught?" ”

The butler said, "I didn't ask about this, the herald is outside, so please ask." ”

Xu Lin sent the soldiers in and asked about the battle, and the soldiers said that he was a herald, and the details were not clear, and there was a letter here.

Xu Lin took the letter and read it, and his heart immediately bloomed. It turned out that the letter went smoothly in Chao Gai, the military operation went well, the generals used their lives, the soldiers were brave, all the way through the Mangdang Mountain three pipe cards, captured more than 900 minions, but the bandit leader saw that the situation was not good and went into the deep mountains, because the snow road was slippery and difficult, it was difficult for the army to enter the mountains and it was inconvenient to pursue, and the troops were used again in the spring after the year.

Xu Lincai doesn't care about what bandit leader is or not, Fan Rui, Li Gon, and Xiang Chong are not familiar with any of them, it's just that the money is recovered, and the face of Jeju Mansion is recovered, and everything else is not important.

Three days later, the brigade returned. Governor Xu gave Chao Gai enough face, and led a cadre of officials out of the city to greet him, Chao Gai didn't dare to hold it up, so he got off the horse from afar, and gave Xu Lin a salute with Gongsun Sheng, Chao Gai was ashamed and said: "I can't catch the bandit leader, I'm really ashamed, just wait for the beginning of spring and then enter the army to arrest him." ”

Xu Lin said: "Then there is no need, the local officials and soldiers in Xuzhou will take care of it, let's just chase the taxes back and forth, but you need to bother you to send someone to the capital." ”

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