After everyone left, Tian Yu, Xian Yufu brothers and Liu Kuan stayed to talk. It turns out that there is a small Mang Mountain at the junction of Yuyang and Jixian County, and in recent years a group of robbers have gathered, there are hundreds of people, the leader is called Gao Ai, this person is very strong, and often plunders in Jixian County and Yuyang.

In the early hours of yesterday morning, several bandits from Xiaomangshan returned to the cottage from Yuyang, and when they passed by Zhaojiabao, they were teasing a passing woman on the official road outside Zhaojiabao, and they were seen by Zhaojiabao Township Yong, and there was a conflict. There were many brave people in the village, and one bandit was killed and several people were wounded. When the bandits fled, they threatened that they were the subordinates of Xiao Mangshan's high master, and they would slaughter Zhaojiabao within three days.

Zhao Taiweng knew that the situation was serious after getting the report, so he sent his grandson, that is, the white-faced scholar to Yuyang to report to Yuyang Ling, and the white-faced scholar knew that his cousin Tian Yu was brave and wise, and he was good at making friends with rangers, so he also rushed to Tian's house and informed Tian Yu, and Tian Yu invited his friend Xian Yufu brother to come to help.

"Do you have a solution?" Liu Kuan asked after hearing this.

"The soldiers will block the water and cover the earth, fight!" Xian Yuyin said proudly.

Tian Yu looked at Xian Yufu and said, "I discussed a strategy with Brother Xian Yu, Liu Gongzi will see if it is feasible?" First of all, we have reported to the official, but we can't pin all our hopes on the government, today we have asked for help from several surrounding villages and forts, and several surrounding villages and forts have agreed to send villagers to help in the war. In addition, we have few people who cannot fight hard, we can only outwit. If we rely on the earthen wall outside the village to hold on, we have few people, the earthen wall is low, sooner or later it will be breached, and when the time comes, the strongman climbs the earthen wall and attacks from all directions, and the whole village will be in danger. I think the only way to lure the strongman in through the gate is to lure them in, and when the strongman enters the road into the village, we will block both ends of the avenue and use the terrain to annihilate them. ”

"Yes, we will ambush the villagers of the neighboring villages on the mountains outside the village, and once the strongmen enter the village, they will block the entrance of the village and attack them from both sides." Xian Yufu added.

After hearing this, Liu Kuan got up and paced, thought twice, turned around and said: "This strategy is good, but this battle is related to the life and death of the whole village, and you can't spare your property and houses, so it's better to supplement it slightly......" Liu Kuan said his thoughts, and after everyone heard it, they all agreed.

After agreeing, they went to rest.

Early the next morning, the neighboring Liujiazhuang, Lijiabao, and Xiaogaozhuang each sent thirty or fifty Zhuang Han, a total of nearly 140 people, and Tian Yu also summoned nearly 200 hundred villagers from 15 to 50 years old in Zhaojiabao, a total of 350 people gathered on the village field, assigned tasks, and let each team be familiar with the sound of gongs and drums. After the assignment was completed, the whole village was busy for a long time according to the strategy set by Liu Kuan, and in the afternoon, Zhao Taiweng took the women and children of the whole village to go up the mountain to hide.

After dinner that day, not long after dark, the villagers who had been stationed three or five miles outside the village came to report that a large group of people came from the northwest. Tian Yu hurriedly ordered the people in the village to take their positions and took Liu Kuan to the gate of the village fort.

As soon as I arrived at the gate, I saw a group of people and horses holding torches from the northwest mountains to the entrance of the village, there was a commotion, there were more than 200 people, and the three people led by three people rode horses.

Liu Kuan and Tian Yu also raised torches to greet them, standing up from about 20 steps, Tian Yu kept shaking at a few people on horseback: "The small people of the mountain village have offended the kings, and they are willing to give the whole village materials to the kings, and ask the kings to leave a way for the whole village to live." ”

"Hahaha......", immediately a strong man in his forties with a black face and yellow beard burst out laughing, and the rest of the bandits also laughed.

At the entrance of the village, a dozen or so villagers were standing scattered, and when they heard the crowd laughing, they threw away their torches, turned around and fled to the village, and some of them fell to the ground, got up and ran, very embarrassed.

When everyone saw it, they laughed even more.

The black-faced man drove forward and said, "You wait for the boldness to kill my brother Gao Ai, hand over the murderer first, and give the master a sacrificial knife!" As he spoke, he whipped Tian Yu, Tian Yu hid and fell to the ground, Liu Kuan looked very scared, pulled Tian Yu and ran towards the village.

Gao Ai was stunned when he saw this, and laughed, "Brothers, go happy!" After speaking, he led the men and horses to chase Liu Kuan and Tian Yu, and rushed into the gate that had not had time to close. Liu Kuan and Tian Yu ran wildly all the way, ran along the pond and ran through the village road for several hundred meters, turned over and crossed the heavy wooden piles and fences erected at the end of the road, and the bandits all flocked in.

Suddenly, the sound of gongs and drums was loud, mixed with the sound of pots and pans pounding.

After a jagged sound, torches lit up everywhere on the roofs of the village and village roads, and the villagers threw torches on the village road one after another.

At this time, Gao Ai clearly saw by the light of the fire that the village road had already been covered with hay and leaves, and the original grass roofs on the houses beside the road were all gone, all piled up at the base of the wall, and many villagers were standing and lying on the houses throwing stones at them, some of them were also holding bows and arrows to shoot at them, and the space between the houses was also filled with wood and hay. Some of the plants and trees on the ground were poured with oil, and the fire was rising, and crackling and popping sounds were heard everywhere.

Gao Ai watched the fire burn and knew that he had been fooled. The thieves were crying and howling, and they were in chaos.

Knowing that something was wrong, Gao Ai couldn't turn around in chaos, so he shouted: "Rush forward!" Rush in and kill the whole village! ”

The two horsemen around him immediately led people to rush to the village, and suddenly the road collapsed, and more than 20 people who rushed in front fell into the pit, and a few were squeezed by the bandits behind and fell.

Seeing this, Gao Ai turned his horse's head and waved his big knife, "Little ones, kill it!" With that, he led everyone back to the gate, and most of the thieves were on fire, panicked, and jumped into the pond, which was the best way to extinguish the fire.

Some of the bandits who were close to the gate of the village saw that they were about to escape from the gate, but they saw the brothers Xian Yufu and Xian Yuyin rushing from the mountain with hundreds of people, blocking the door, and greeted them with knives, forks, swords, halberds, dung forks, and wooden sticks.

More than a dozen people who escaped the net fled outside, and when they saw Liu Lei and Liu Dian rushing in with thirty or forty people in the small jungle outside the village, they beat them to death without saying anything. The remaining bandits were powerless to resist, and they surrendered on their knees, and were tied up by Liu Dian and others.

At this time, inside the gate, Liu Kuan and Tian Yu commanded the people in the village to lift the fence and kill outside.

Gao Ai's clothes were on fire, and the big horse he was riding neighed and jumped wildly, and ran towards the gate, trampling many bandits. Seeing that he was unable to return to the sky, Gao Ai brandished a big knife and killed all the way, and those who had never caught fire on his body, except for the bandits who jumped into the pond, followed Gao Aima and fled for their lives.

When he came to the door, he happened to be holding a spear and leading people to kill off the first wave of fleeing bandits. Gao Ai swung his spear with his knife, Xian Yufu walked, and did not guard against Gao Ai's fast horse escape, and was left behind by Gao Ai and couldn't catch up. Gao Ai fled to Xiaomang Mountain with more than a dozen scarred bandits.

The Xian Yufu, Xian Yuyin brothers, and Raiden who were outside did not ride horses, so they had to watch Gao Ai escape.

Tian Yu saw that the battle situation was one-sided due to the fire, and now the fire was about to be extinguished, and the villagers were in a mess, untrained, and worried that the villagers and the bandits would fight hard and increase the number of casualties, so he shouted: "Gao Ai is dead, and those who surrender will not be killed!" ”

The villagers also shouted. The bandits were already frightened and surrendered on their knees, while those in the pond did not dare to move anymore and watched blankly.

The villagers rushed in all directions, punched and kicked more than 40 bandits who were kneeling on the ground, tied them tightly, and ordered more than 70 bandits hiding in ponds and pits to come ashore and tie them up together.

Tian Yu commanded everyone to start extinguishing the embers, dealing with casualties, and cleaning up the battlefield.

After the First World War, in addition to the dozen or so bandits who escaped, a total of 125 bandits were captured, 63 bandits were burned, drowned, and killed, and 8 villagers in the four villages were killed and more than 40 were injured, many of whom were injured by falling from the roof themselves.

As soon as the cleaning was completed, a villager came to report that the county lieutenant of Yuyang County came to support with more than 300 county soldiers. Liu Kuan just shook his head after hearing this, and said in his heart that this county lieutenant is probably where the cat is, and when he saw the end of the battle, he picked up the credit.

Liu Kuan didn't want to talk nonsense with him, so he went back to the house to rest.