Ma Gang, a real military general, is a different person, after the two sides converged, the matter of camping was completely followed by Ma Gang, and the arrangement was in an orderly manner, Li Meng did less, just arranged restorative training for his subordinates, and took turns to stand guard.

According to the Xiazhuang man who led the way to report the news, the gang of horse thieves came to Xiazhuang almost once in half a month, and the next time they came should be five days later, and there were still a few days to prepare.

Li Meng's side has 600 foot soldiers and more than 20 horses, and it is impossible to chase down horse thieves with all horses with such maneuverability, so he can only make a fuss in Zhuangzi.

The terrain of Gaomi and Jiaozhou is similar, they are all surrounded by hills, and Xiazhuang, which was built on flat land, did not rely on the garrison and the county seat, so naturally it could not be completely defenseless.

Hundreds of households in Xiazhuang are surrounded by high walls, the high walls are surrounded by deep ditches, during the day, the people in the Zhuangzi go to the fields to cultivate, all need to pass through the front and back two suspension bridges Zhuang Gate, and the village also has its own watchtower, there are people holding gongs to watch and guard all the year round.

Listening to the name of Xia Zhuang said, as long as it is wrong, the gong is struck, without the effort of a pillar of incense, five hundred Zhuang Ding can be gathered immediately, and there is a stone trough for lighting a beacon fire in the open space in the center of Zhuangzi, as long as the fireworks are lit, Zhuangzi supports it for three hours, and the support of other Zhuangzi can arrive. Zhuangzi is equipped with spears, knives and axes, and even five crossbows. Zhuangzi, who has no danger to defend on such flat land and has no power to rely on, is not surprising that he has such a capital for self-protection.

Even if Li Meng didn't know much about the situation outside, he knew that such a small fortress-like Xiazhuang, not to mention that the horse thieves with more than 100 horses could move, it would be good if they didn't move the horse thieves with more than 100 people.

According to what Ma Gang said, many things in this Zhuangzi no longer need him to arrange, and only need to place the salts at the necessary points, and there are no siege equipment and firearms, even if the soldiers come to fight, it will take a lot of effort. Such a Zhuangzi is better said to be a fortress, where it is necessary to invite Ding Minzhuang to come and suppress bandits.

At dinner in the evening, Ma Gang, Chen Liu and Wang Hai all talked about what they had seen and heard in various places, Shandong has not been peaceful since the Hongwu period, from the rebellion of King Zhao to Tang Sai'er, the mother of Buddha, Liu Liu Liu and Liu Qi in the back, the White Lotus Sect more than ten years ago was in turmoil, in addition to these chaos, the local ringing horses, bandits are constant. Therefore, all the village forts with scale are built into the appearance of such a fortress.

The villagers in these earthen forts also have a strong sense of defending their families and hometowns, and they dare to fight to the death when bandits attack.

I thought that Wang Hai and Chen Liu would have any thoughts when they saw Ma Gang, who entered the Yanding team later than them, was now prosperous, but he didn't expect that it would be natural to talk and laugh at dinner, so that Li Meng could put his mind at ease, he made up his mind, and when this matter was over, he must go to more places, and the training in Jiaozhou was too small, and many things could not be seen at all, and he couldn't think of it. What a small state city in Laizhou Mansion sees by itself is too narrow.

After settling down, Li Meng and Ma Gang walked around in the inside of Xiazhuang, looking at the deployment and construction of this Zhuangzi, these are miniature and simple cities, but there is not much to see, for example, the well does not want to be like some film and television dramas, in the middle of the settlement, but near the edge of the village wall, the reason, but because if it is a fire attack outside, the vicinity of the village wall is the most important place to fight fires.

However, Li Meng found a very interesting situation, although they were Gaomi County Commander invited Gaomi to suppress the bandits through a private message, and he did not commit any crime in Fang Qiu, except for asking the other party to provide a place to stay, he would not take advantage of it, but the attitude of the people of Xiazhuang was still very cold.

In any case, the salters are also here to do good deeds, so they don't have such an attitude! The owner of Xiazhuang is outside the staff, that is, when he began to greet him, he showed his face, and the rest of the time he accompanied them was Xiazhuang's Lizheng, who is said to be the nephew of the outside, and the reason why he was enthusiastic was because he was a local smuggler of salt, knowing that it was Li Erlang who came over, and flattered him every day, hoping to get cheap salt.

The master in the county town also had a smiling face, but he spent more time with Xia Laoyuan, and the two of them were more interested in interacting with each other, one was a local hero, and the other was a well-known person from the yamen, so he was naturally more willing to communicate.

The salters were also quite depressed in Xiazhuang, after all, they came full of enthusiasm, but they were faced with the cold and even slightly ridiculous attitude of the villagers, and no one would be happy.

After two days, Li Meng felt that something was wrong, and gave a strict order to Ma Gang and the leaders of the Yanding team at all levels, and he must restrain his subordinates and not to clash with the villagers.

According to the field knowledge learned during the period of the modern People's Liberation Army, the Yanding under his command was arranged to various intersections and key points outside Xiazhuang for vigilance, which was regarded as an early warning post.

This behavior was also ridiculed by the villagers, Li Meng and his entourage who were patrolling the village felt that their faces were a little unbearable, they did not commit any crimes, they were not military uniforms, but the local people, such people did make the Zhuang Ding who felt powerful look down on them, why, there is force but not tyrannical, that is a soft egg, although this logic is strange, but many people think so unconsciously.

Xiazhuang Zhuangmin's actions made Li Meng more and more sure of his judgment, but since he came, he should do enough kung fu, even if it was regarded as an actual combat exercise, but he was also a little depressed in his heart.

On the third day of the stationing in Xia Zhuang, Li Zheng of the Xia family brought over a nominee, saying that he knew the movements of the gang of horse thieves nearby and had come to report the news.

This man came with a rare calmness among the civilians, saluted Li Meng and several Yanding captains, and then said that when he went to collect firewood, he happened to be near the camp of the horse thieves, and then hid in the shadows, and heard several horse thieves who came out to hang out there say that they would come to attack Xia Zhuang in two days, just around midnight.

A villager can meet a horse thief when he goes to collect firewood, and he happens to know when to attack, and this villager also knows where Xiazhuang is, and gives himself more time to prepare.

Li Meng now has a feeling of weakness, Ma Gang, Wang Hai, and Chen Liu all feel that something is wrong, and after the Xia family is leading people to retreat, Ma Gang asked in a deep voice:

"Master Li, this matter is full of strangeness, you have also seen the ordinary performance of these people in Xia Zhuang, I suspect that they may have colluded with horse thieves, maybe it is a trap set by the people who have conflicts with us on the salt road, we must be careful."

Chen Liu and Wang Hai also saw this scene, and when they heard Ma Gang express the doubts in their hearts, they all agreed, Li Meng shook his head and said with a wry smile:

"If we are pitted, as long as the villagers of Xiazhuang surround us in the middle of the night, then we will suffer heavy losses, and the food, drink and water of Yanding are all supplied by this Zhuangzi, and we will already move if we want to do it."

Seeing that the few people below were confused by what he said, Li Meng didn't want to explain anything, his face was solemn, and he said coldly:

"Don't be cranky, since you are here, you must fight this battle well, you can rest assured, our enemy will never be in this summer village, no matter whether it is a big battle or a small battle, it is a major matter of swords, you must not slack off, you must go all out."

The news that the horse thief was going to attack was also spread in Zhuangzi, but Zhuang Min did not look strange, and only a few hundred salt dices were preparing for war under the command of the big and small leaders, which was also a good match.

On the appointed day, six hundred salt Ding began to get up early in the morning to eat, and then strengthened the strength in various defensive positions, originally Li Meng asked the Xiazhuang patriarch to provide manpower to assist in the defense, which is also a must when defending the city, in addition to soldiers, it is also necessary to mobilize strong men and even strong women to help.

However, Li Meng's very reasonable request was vetoed by the patriarch, and the reason was quite talented, saying that "at this time, it is busy with farming, and it is a big sin to delay spring plowing and sowing", and the master sent by the county government said coldly, "Please come to suppress bandits, but not to hurt the peasants, you must distinguish between proportions."

Li Meng probably understood what was going on with the bandits, and he could only deal with it with a wry smile, and said to the following people for serious education:

"The situation of this crackdown on bandits is special, and it cannot be handled in this way in the future."

The salters got up early in the morning, and the villagers began to go out of the village to plough the fields and cultivate the land at dawn, not afraid of the so-called horse thieves who were coming at noon, and they were busy with the farm work before the horse thieves came to attack the summer village.

When the sunlight crossed the wall around Zhuangzi, the sentry posts arranged by Li Meng around Zhuangzi began to shrink back gradually, and the sentries in the rest of the directions said that they had found nothing, only the sentry in the west said that there was a large puff of smoke and dust from afar, and the weather on this day was very good, and the wind was not strong, which was obviously a sign of people and horses gathering to gather activities.

Thinking that these horse thieves will not have any tricks, they should be fighting from the west, Wang Hai and Chen Liu are guarding Li Meng, while checking the weapons, Li Meng and Ma Gang are loudly giving orders, and the salt Ding are divided into three waves in addition to defending in the necessary positions, with one hundred and fifty people each at the front and rear gates, and one hundred and fifty people in the center of the Zhuangzi, ready to replenish at any time.

At this time, the front and back doors were still open, no matter what Wang Hai and Chen Liuzi said, the other party was unwilling to close the door, so they could only come back sweating profusely to ask Li Meng.

－－－－－－

Uncomfortable, some things can't be avoided, I have to be, the sadness and helplessness of adults (don't think about it ^_^), ask for a monthly pass, the update is late, but it still guarantees quality and quantity.