The war has begun.

When the Tibetan troops on the outskirts of Toyosu were attacked by unknown enemy troops, Han Gang knew that the flames of war had been rekindled.

Three villages were destroyed in three days, two of them were destroyed, and the attackers burned down two villages. According to officials who went to investigate, the two villages were almost completely empty. The things that could be eaten and the things that could be taken were gone, and the men were killed, and the women were raped. Lewd, corpses can be seen everywhere in the village.

Two villages were destroyed in a row, and another time was an attack that failed to resist and voluntarily gave up. And all chose to attack at night. Such an enemy is clearly here to harass the place and spread panic.

"I don't dare to show people head-on, which shows that he is weak, and even women and children do not let go, which shows his tyranny. But more importantly, it seems that they don't want people to find out what they do. ”

Han Gang glanced at Huang Shang. He is still inexperienced, and he has already seen some things, but he doesn't get to the point when he speaks, but he can find that the criminals in the two tragedies are hiding their identities, which can be regarded as a bit of insight.

"But it's so clean and neat, it's hard to do it for years of habitual bandits, and this kind of situation is very rare in the border areas." Zhi Keshi answered the phone on the side, and for this matter, Zhi Keshi became a soldier sent to report the news, and when he arrived in Taiyuan, he was led to Han Gang, "...... When the uncle of the last general went to see it in person and came back, he said that it was definitely not the western thief, and several of the people who escaped said that after the group of thieves invaded the village, they did not speak to each other like a party item. ”

Exactly. Han Gang nodded approvingly.

The Tibetan tribes living in the mountains on the outskirts of Fengzhou are all Dangxiang tribes. Over the past few decades, the Western Xia has attacked not ten times but eight times, but it has never been said that they will be killed. If you go back a few generations, you can connect with the sect, and they are all party clans, even if they are hostile, they will always keep a little incense between each other, and they will not do things absolutely. Just like the general of the Zhejia family, the army of Tonglin Mansion went to Western Xia, he would hardly rob the local party tribes, but for Hengshanfan, he would attack very hard.

It's okay to fight on the battlefield, after winning, robbing money and food and even robbing women to go back, it is also normal, but without hesitation, slaughtering the village, chickens and dogs are not left, such a vicious. incidents, but there are almost no occurrences. However, the joints in it, Zhe Keshi still didn't dare to say it clearly, so he could only say it vaguely, otherwise the truth would spread, and the fold family would only bring trouble.

"Then according to Lingzun's opinion, who did it?" Huang Shang asked Zhe Keshi, "Is it Khitan?" ”

Han Gang shook his head secretly. Although it is an obvious thing, those who will attack the Great Song Dynasty, except for Western Xia, only the Khitan remains. But Han Gang always felt that this answer was too natural, and there was always something wrong.

When they were in Daizhou before, the Liao people also broke through the two villages, and they were very ruthless, but there was still a difference in style between the same killing. It's like two serial killers, unless it's a deliberate imitation, they'll all have their own style.

As if hearing the negation in Han Gang's heart, he turned back to Huang Shang and said, "It's not like a Khitan, the arrows found in the village are all in the style of Western Xia." And as far as Keshi knows, since the official army began to inlay horseshoes on a large scale, whether it is Western Xia or Khitan, there have been more and more horseshoes for war horses in the past two years, but from the hoof prints left by the thieves this time, no horse with horseshoes has been found. ”

Zhi Keshi said, stealing eyes to pay attention to Han Gang's expression. Now there is a saying in the world that the horseshoes for war horses are also the invention of the master in front of him, so that the officials and soldiers who have not had enough horses do not have to worry about the war horses being unable to come in handy because of the wear and tear of the horses. But a series of recent inventions have been attached to Han Gang, and they have become more and more common recently, and even the Divine Arm Bow has become his credit since I don't know when, which makes Zhi Keshi doubt this.

Han Gang pondered this information carefully. A very useful piece of information explained a question that was haunting his mind, basically confirming the identity of the mysterious army that attacked Fengzhou and Linzhou before, and at the same time, it could be regarded as having a little bit of an eyebrow about the methods that Yelu Yixin intended to use.

raised his eyes, but heard Huang Sheng sigh: "It's a pity that because it was a night attack, the people who escaped didn't see the clothes clearly." The cavalry of Fuzhou failed to catch up with the gang of thieves. Otherwise, they would have been identified long ago. ”

Fold Keshi's face was up. But this time, it really made the Zhe family lose face.

The land of Yunzhongfeng, Lin, and Fu is the fundamental territory of the Zhejia, and it was suddenly attacked by an unidentified opponent, like a tiger that was trampled on its tail, when even if it was mobilized up and down, it sent elite soldiers to pursue, and also sent knowledgeable officials to visit the local area, but there was no progress in the investigation of the identity of the invading enemy until before Zhe Keshi left for Taiyuan.

"Originally, for this matter, the ninth uncle of the last general's family led the army to investigate, but the group of thieves fled into the desert, and suddenly disappeared, leaving no trace."

Zhe Keshi felt that the group of thieves was like a morning mist, dissipating after sunrise. Otherwise, how could so many people be traced at all?

"It's not that it suddenly disappeared, but it retreats back into the desert and then circles south. Outside Liangu County in Linzhou, a village was attacked by a night attack just two days ago, and the situation in the village was the same as that of Fengzhou, and it was the same gang of thieves who committed it. Han Gang smiled, but there was no trace of warmth in his smile, "Linzhou's horse delivery is fast, and he arrived in Taiyuan one step earlier than Zunzheng." ”

"Linzhou?!" Fold can be suitable for silence. Before, they fled to the desert, but now they are in Linzhou again, and the elites of their own families chasing behind them must have been thrown off by them halfway, "Running really fast!" ”

"In your opinion, how big is this gang of thieves? What's next? Han Gang asked.

"The scale is very easy to calculate, there are thousands of war horses, but the number is only between three hundred and four hundred, which is very similar to the situation of one person and three horses of the Khitan cavalry, and today's iron harrier, because of the tribute to the Liao State for many years, can only barely match one person and two horses. It's just that their next target ......" Zhi Keshi shook his head in distress, "I really can't guess, whether it is to contain the soldiers and horses in Hedong, or to divert the attention of Jinglu, it is possible, and it can be explained." But ......"

"But what?" Han Gang asked.

Zhi Keshi hesitated, and said hesitantly: "It's just that the last general thinks that there is actually a possibility about the origin of this gang of thieves, which can make sense." ”

"Zunzheng also thinks they may be diviners?" Han Gang asked casually.

"After a little bit of your ......" Zhi Keshi really jumped up in shock this time, dumbfounded, "How ......"

Han Gang smiled slightly, and motioned for Zhi Keshi to do it, "Thank you for this, if you didn't say that the thieves used the arrows of Western Xia, but did not inlay the horseshoe with the hooves, I wouldn't have thought that this group of thieves might be the divination blockers on the grassland." ”

In the White Tiger Festival Hall in the Yamen of the Taiyuan Mansion Jingluo Pacification Envoy, there is the most elaborate sand table and map of Hedong Road. The potential forces around the east of the river are marked on it, and there is no omission of the northwest obstruction. More importantly, in the capital, on how to deal with the Liao people, the military chess deduction presided over by the Son of Heaven has been carried out many times, and shaking the foundation of the Liao State, starting from the foreign vassals of the Liao State is the simplest and most effective means, Goryeo, female straight, and divination are the most common words.

The Zhe family faced the Liao Kingdom and the Western Xia, and their minds were all occupied by these two behemoths, and it was difficult for their thinking to diverge out, and it was already commendable that Zhi Keshi could make bold guesses.

And Han Gang, a eunuch who came out of the capital, visited the military chess deduction of the Son of Heaven on the Wuying Hall many times. When he got the detailed information brought by Zhe Keshi, it was like being put together the last piece of the puzzle, but without too much guesswork, he deduced the most likely identity of the thief.

"I have the arrows of Western Xia, but I don't have the farriers that have spread in Western Xia and Khitan. The style of killing and plundering was very different from that of the Khitans. I also like to use night raids. These are a few of the characteristics of this group of thieves that we know of the Dao. Han Gang explained his thoughts to Zhi Keshi and Huang Shang, "Let's deduce from this. The Western Xia arrows they possess must have come from the arsenal of the Western Thieves. Without the shoes, it would not be the Iron Harriers and the Leather Room Army, and the crimes they committed in the village also confirm this. ”

"As for night attacks, there can be various explanations, concealing one's identity is one, and in order to reduce casualties, it is also another, and there is no way to be sure. Throw it aside. Just consider the previous points, then the answer is simple. The tribes close to Western Xia have enough strength to help Western Xia, so they can only block divination. Am I right? ”

"That's right." Zhi Keshi didn't know the reason why Han Gang said it in a word, and he added a bit of awe to his gaze: "The people who obstruct divination are trapped by the Khitan, there are very few iron weapons, and the arrows even use bone arrows. Sending troops to assist the Western Thieves must have obtained many weapons from the Western Thieves' arsenal, so the arrows are all from the Western Thieves. In addition, when they came to the aid of the Western Thieves, they must have first received orders from the Khitan, or at least approved. Without the benefits provided by the Western Thief, Divination would not have gone into battle shirtless, and there would have been no Khitan...... With the permission of Yelu Yixin, they did not dare to go south to aid Western Xia. ”

"Well, that's right." Han Gang nodded, "That's exactly the truth. ”

"In the opinion of the last general, the number of troops to block Bu from going south will not be less, too few, and it will inevitably be too embarrassing for the face of the great Liao Shang's father." Zhe Keshi said sarcastically, "But too much is not enough, firstly, the western thieves can't afford to raise them, and secondly, the divination people don't have that much strength." ”

Han Gang fully agrees with the judgment of Zhi Keshi, and the nickname of the general is not called in vain. He muttered: "From this point of view, there are at least 5,000 divination, and it should not exceed 10,000." ”