Fan Ting led a cadre of cavalry to cross the Huangshui from the wooden bridge, and then arrived at Linqiang County, where the soldiers entered Linqiang, which had been burned by the thief army, and saw the ruins and broken walls in the city, a scorched earth, and their hearts were unbearable.

As soon as the thieves passed, the scorched earth was everywhere, and how many people were homeless.

Fan Ting has sent a number of sentinels to reconnoiter everywhere. Li Yanzhao based on the thief army stayed in Linqiang for nearly ten days, judging that the thieves' families would not be far from Linqiang, although Fan Ting saw that he was full of confidence, but Fan Ting himself felt that this matter was not completely certain, so when he sent the sentry cavalry, he sent a lot, and when the sentry cavalry demarcated the reconnaissance range, Fan Ting also ordered the sentry cavalry to go forward fifty miles and then return. Even so, Fan Ting was still uneasy in his heart.

The dwellings in the city had been completely destroyed, and the soldiers who saw that there was no place to live in the city climbed the city wall under the leadership of their respective military officers. The horses were concentrated in the urn city, and the cavalry of the two shes were assigned to guard them full-time.

The horsemen were on the city wall, and from time to time they saw an army of thieves fleeing from the upper reaches of the city. Those thieves fled here, and just as they were about to catch their breath, they saw a group of officers and soldiers poking out of Linqiang City, holding bows and crossbows, and shooting at them. These scattered thieves were like frightened birds, and when they saw this, they dared to stay for a long time, and they didn't care about being tired, so they got up and continued to flee. When the horsemen at the head of the city saw this, they couldn't help laughing.

"Anyway, sitting here at the moment, who wants to go with a certain person to catch a few back?" One of the horsemen lowered his bow and arrows and suggested loudly.

The horsemen laughed at the thieves outside the city, but no one responded to him. The proposed knight found himself bored, and went on to the battlement with his bow and arrows in his hand, and stared out of the city.

However, Li Yanzhao, who was not far from him, heard the words of this horseman, and instantly had an idea. He couldn't help but shout: "Who just said that you went out of the city to catch thieves?" ”

When the rider heard that someone responded, his eyes couldn't help but light up, and then he turned his head to look at Li Yanzhao and said, "Why are you willing to go?" ”

Li Yanzhao immediately smiled: "That's nature." With that, he took the cavalry down the city wall and went to find Fan Sima.

Fan Ting listened to Li Yanzhao's report, and his eyes changed: "You want to follow those scattered thief armies and find the camp of their dependents?" ”

"That's right, Fan Sima Mingjian. After these thieves are scattered, there is no way to go on the north shore, where will they go? Li Yanzhao couldn't help but ask, "Where else can they go except for the camp for their dependents?" ”

"What if they don't go there?" Fan Ting couldn't help asking.

"Fan Sima, you might as well give this method a try, anyway, even if those fleeing thieves don't go to the camp of their dependents, we won't have anything to lose, right?"

Hearing this, Fan Ting nodded slowly. Then he said to Li Yanzhao: "Bring more people, and once you find the camp of the thief's family, report it immediately." And immediately I gathered together all the armies, and slew them over. ”

Li Yanzhao hugged his fists and saluted: "Sima, don't worry, if you find out any situation, we will report back immediately." ”

Fan Ting nodded, and saw that Li Yanzhao had summoned more than a dozen of his own horsemen. Li Yanzhao turned around and found Cao Jian, Liu Jiwu and the others, and ordered them to go to Wengcheng to find their war horses, and follow him to investigate the enemy. The horseman who had just beckoned people out of the city to capture the thieves on the tower was also a companion. The horseman's name is Cheng Min, and he is also a veteran of the Guangwu Army for four or five years. I heard that Li Yanzhao was willing to call him to go with him to track down the remnants of the scattered thief army in order to find the hiding place of his dependents. Cheng Min was also excited, so he packed up his swords, guns, bows, arrows, dry food and other things, draped them neatly, turned around and followed Li Yanzhao to the city of Deweng, found his war horse, and a group of twelve people passed through the city gate, jumped on the war horse, and then galloped, and disappeared into the woods.

Tracking must be concealed first. After Li Yanzhao led everyone into the woods, he ordered everyone to give them a good head on the horse, wrapped the horse's hooves in cloth, and walked forward without saying a word all the way. After walking about two incense sticks, I saw that in the depths of the woods more than 30 zhang away, three or four thieves who had broken up and fled for their lives supported each other and staggered away. Li Yanzhao made a silent gesture to everyone. Immediately, a group of people hung far behind and followed.

I walked for about half an hour. From time to time, the team of thieves was joined by people, and before long, there were dozens of them. The thieves routed like frightened birds, glancing back from time to time. Li Yanzhao didn't know if the thieves had found out about his group, but he only found that the speed of the thieves' escape was getting faster and faster.

So, Li Yanzhao ordered the other eleven to follow a little farther away, dismounted himself, handed over the horse to Cao Jian to lead, and he cautiously went forward, following the thieves and soldiers who fled dozens of feet away in front of him.

The other eleven people were hung more than a dozen feet away from Li Yanzhao, so that they could support at any time in case of emergency. Li Yanzhao gently pulled out the knife and held it in his hand. He was so nervous that his hands were sweating, and the sweat gradually soaked the strip of cloth around the hilt. Pinching the damp hilt of the knife, Li Yanzhao carefully concealed his whereabouts while following those thieves.

Another hour passed. The routs emerged from the woods and ran out into the wilderness beyond. Li Yanzhao walked to the edge of the woods and observed carefully, and there were indeed simple camps built of tents in the wilderness in the distance. There are also herds of cattle and sheep grazing near those camps, and as far as the eye can see, the fields that are no longer verdant are moving back and forth in black and white, so that it is a leisurely pasture scenery.

Li Yanzhao was not in the mood to appreciate this scenery, he beckoned to the people who were more than ten feet behind him, and after everyone saw it, they quickly came to his side. Li Yanzhao carefully observed the camp in the wilderness, and said to Liu Jiwu: "Ji Wu, you hurry up and go back to report to Fan Sima, just say that I have found the camp of the thief's family and ask him to come to help, Cao Jian, you go with him, you encounter the thief army on the road, don't fall in love, be sure to report this news to Fan Sima quickly!" ”

The two men took the order, got on their horses and set off. Li Yanzhao observed the camp in the wilderness, took out the Hu cake he was carrying, and thought about something while nibbling and drinking water.

It looks like it's not going to be peaceful tonight. Li Yanzhao beckoned to the other nine people beside him at this time and ordered them to hurry up and eat and drink. He climbed up to a tree beside him, and watched the camp in the wilderness for a long time.

Cao Jian and Liu Jiwu were ordered to return to Linqiang to report the news, and the two of them also worked fast all the way, and encountered some thieves on the road. It took less than half an hour for the two to return to Linqiang County.

Without taking a breath, the two found Fan Sima and reported to him that they had found the camp of the thieves' dependents. Fan Ting made a decision, immediately gathered all the horsemen, got on the horse and galloped all the way in the direction guided by the two. On the road, the thieves were encountered, and this group had no time to deal with it. Just keep pushing the horses under their crotches to reach their destination quickly.

Listening to the faint sound of horses' hooves in the east, Li Yanzhao jumped off the tree, ending his long and boring wait. Soon after, seeing more than 400 horses galloping, Fan Sima jumped off his horse panting, and then came to the edge of the woods under the guidance of Li Yanzhao. It was already dark, but piles of bonfires burned in the vast expanse of camp in the wilderness, outlining a camp in the darkness of the night.

Fan Sima looked at the boundless camp in the distance, and he had no idea for a while. In such a large camp, how many tens of thousands of people are in it? With these 400 or so people under his command, can't he be a sheep in the mouth of a tiger if he enters?

Fan Ting looked at the camp and said, "With such a large camp, I'm afraid there are no less than 10,000 people in it. If the families of the thieves in the camp resist stubbornly, I am afraid that these hundreds of people will not be able to die well. Fan Ting said slowly. Beside him, Li Yanzhao also nodded frequently.

"Looking at the camp, I don't see much vigilance, but it looks like a family living in it. The big tent in the camp, according to my guess, should be the residence of the chief of his tribe, and now the leader should be on the north bank of the Huangshui with the main force of the thief army. Presumably, at this time, the account should be his family members. If we do this, we should send two teams, 100 men each, to seal the two gates of this camp, and the rest of them will take the big tent and capture the family of the leader in the tent, so as to hold the rest of the camp hostage. After the situation stabilized, the soldiers were ordered to search for the weapons in the camp, deal with them in a centralized manner, and escort the families of the thieves in the camp away in batches. The families of the leaders and generals were escorted by me to the county seat of Changning, and Fan Sima was either here or escorted the rest to the county seat of Linqiang for care. Li Yanzhao pondered for a long time, and then said to Fan Ting.

Fan Ting thought for a while, and then said, "It's okay here." I should send someone to ask the Captain for help. ”

"Fan Sima, in fact, you can still try to ask Xiping for help." Li Yanzhao squeezed his eyes and said.

"Can this be done?" Fan Ting looked at Li Yanzhao, his expression full of doubts.

"Fan Sima sent General Liao of the Xiping Army a splashing credit, how could he not want it?" Li Yanzhao squeezed his eyes and smiled.

Fan Ting nodded, and then called the Zhiyang cavalry Sima Wang Mao and the Yongdeng cavalry Sima Wu Jianbin, and asked the two to lead the subordinates to guard the two camp gates to prevent the people from escaping. Both of them agreed, and then went to gather their subordinates.

Fan Ting gathered two hundred cavalry belonging to Ling Ju and Guangwu and finished the assembly. Fan Ting looked at Li Yanzhao, and then at the outline of the camp outlined by the bonfire. Immediately, the heart is horizontal, and success or failure is in one fell swoop!

As Fan Ting unsheathed his sword, he pointed to the camp in the wilderness and shouted, "Charge! More than 400 horsemen urged their horses and slowly accelerated towards the camp in the wilderness. After running out of ten zhang, the war horses accelerated to the fastest state, and the three cavalry, faintly outflanking, rushed straight towards the camp.

For a time, the momentum of more than 400 horsemen was also faintly wrapped in wind and thunder, although the rumbling sound of horses' hooves was small, but it was faintly heard in the ears of many thieves in the camp, but it was tantamount to a shocking thunder!

The camp was in disarray, and families stepped out of their tents and stared blankly at the dark night around the camp. The burning bonfire reflected faces mixed with fear.

In the blink of an eye, the horsemen were swept towards the camp like a hurricane!