In the hurried footsteps, the bearded voice sounded outside the line: "General, it's a horse thief." ”

Wang Pu took the helmet from Chen Yuanyuan's hand and put it on, then kicked open the door and walked out.

Outside the gate, Da Huzi, Xiao Qi, Zhen Youcai and others had been waiting for a long time, and Wang Pu asked, "Do you know how many people and horses there are in the horse thieves?" ”

Xiao Qi said: "At least four or five hundred horses, all in the east." ”

"What about the west?"

"There's no movement in the west yet."

"Where's Scarface?"

"Staring at the east wall."

Wang Pu said: "Big beard, you take fifty brothers to the west wall to strengthen the defense to prevent the horse thieves from sneaking up from behind, Xiao Qi and twenty brothers stay behind to guard the line, and the rest of the brothers go with me to the east wall to pick up Scarface." ”

"Yes."

The bearded man and Xiao Qi suddenly received the order, and each led his family to leave.

When Wang Pu and Zhen Youcai rushed to the east wall with people, it was pitch black, but the air was already filled with the smell of choking gunsmoke, and Scarface stepped forward and said: "General, the Ringing Horse Thieves wanted to steal the pass, but they were discovered by our secret card, and they attacked if the sneak attack failed, and now the first attack of the Ringing Horse Thieves has been repelled by the brothers." ”

"What about the casualties?"

"Only one brother was slightly injured." Scarface said, "But the sentry and dark cards left outside the pass are dead." ”

Wang Pu looked up at the dark night sky outside the gate, and asked in a deep voice, "How many people have died in the Xiangma thieves?" ”

Scarface said, "It's too dark to see clearly." ”

"Where is the Ringing Horse Thief now?"

"It's not far ahead." Scarface stretched out his hand and pointed to the dark night sky in front of him, and said in a deep voice, "General, listen carefully, you can still hear the sound of horses." ”

Wang Pu listened attentively for a moment, and sure enough, he heard the slight sound of horses snorting.

At this time, hundreds of torches suddenly lit up under the night sky in front of the gate, almost illuminating the open space in front of the gate as bright as day, under the firelight, hundreds of horse thieves were waiting in strict formation, although there was no neat queue, and there were no mighty robes and armor, but this group of horse thieves still gave people a strong sense of "murderous".

Since the founding of Emperor Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty, the implementation of horse politics, forced the people of Shandong, Henan, North Zhili, Shaanxi, Shanxi and other provinces to raise horses for the imperial court, the implementation of horse politics for the Ming Dynasty to provide a large number of war horses, but at the same time to the horse households brought a deep disaster, many horse households because of horse breeding and bankruptcy.

The bankrupt horse households have no support, and some of them have become horse thieves, which is the origin of the horse thieves in the first place.

Because the children of the horse family have been in contact with horses since childhood, most of them are skilled in bowing horses, so the horse thieves who have become broken horses have been more dangerous than any other thieves from the beginning, more difficult to deal with, and more elusive.

Later, the composition of the horse thieves slowly became complicated, in addition to the bankrupt horse households, many non-bankrupt horse households also began to do the business of robbing houses and houses, because they were all serious people of the Ming Dynasty on the surface, and they often killed people after the robbery for fear of revealing their identities.

Ringing horses, bow thieves, skilled and murderous without blinking, over time become a formidable elite army.

Wang Pu thought for a while and shouted: "Scarface, raise the torch to show the flag!" ”

Zhen Youcai, who was standing next to him, was his heart jumping, did the general want to appease this group of horse thieves?

What a risky move! It is not difficult to recruit thieves or horse thieves, but it is difficult to make them loyal. Chongzhen once, since the thieves started, there were not a few local governors who appeased the thieves, but in the end, the thieves who were appeased all turned back, and those governors and generals either committed suicide or were killed, and none of them seemed to have a good end.

Scarface hurriedly dissuaded: "General, the horse thief is skilled in bow and horse, and the villain thinks it is better not to raise torches, lest the brothers become the target of the horse thief." ”

"Raise the torch!" Wang Pu turned his head and glared at Scarface viciously, and shouted, "Bright flag!" ”

"Yes." Scarface agreed, turned around and shouted, "The general has an order, raise the torch and show the flag!" ”

Scarface gave an order, more than 100 people guarding the wall have polished the fire fold and ignited the torch, Scarface is to personally show Wang Pu's general army flag, the night breeze is blowing, the flag hunting, the flag is embroidered with a big "king" word, clearly visible in the light of the fire.

Under the banner, Wang Pu stood proudly wearing heavy armor.

The torch was suddenly raised and the banner of Wang Pu's general army was displayed, which seemed to surprise the horse thieves outside the gate, and there was a small confusion between them, but it quickly calmed down, and then two masked horse thieves came out of the crowd and approached the gate along the main path.

Wang Pu shouted: "Brothers, listen well, don't let arrows be fired, and don't fire." ”

Soon, the two masked horse thieves approached within twenty paces of the gate, and the horse on the left raised his head and asked, "Driver, is it Wang Pu, the chief soldier of Datong?" ”

Wang Pu replied loudly: "Yes, it is this town." ”

The two masked horse thieves shook their fists respectfully to Wang Pu on horseback, and then the rider on the left said: "General soldier Wang, you smashed the old nest of Jiannu and captured the slave chief with a single army of thousands of horsemen, this alone is enough to be compared with Yue Wangye, you are a real hero, a big hero, the little ones respect you, and make amends to you for today's offense!" ”

"No need." Wang Pu said coldly, "As long as you have the court in your heart, you can serve the people with peace of mind from now on, and no longer gather in the mountains and forests to do evil, and this town will not be blamed in the past." ”

"Mr. Wang misunderstood." The tone of the ringing horse thief suddenly turned indifferent, and he shouted, "The villain's words are not finished yet." ”

Wang Pu said proudly: "Speak." ”

The horse thief said: "The little ones respect that Wang Zongbing is a big hero, and today they will make an exception and no longer see each other with swords, but the small ones want to live, and please understand our difficulties, please give us a part of the gold, silver and jewelry you captured from Liaodong, we don't want much, 100,000 taels of silver is enough." ”

"Dreaming!" Scarface shouted, "There is no such thing as asking for money!" ”

Wang Pu Huoran raised his hand to stop Scarface, and asked the horse thief: "Do you think you have won the battle?" ”

Under the wall, the horse thief on the left replied proudly: "The villain doesn't need to hide the general soldier of Wang, in addition to the five hundred horses behind the villain, there are five hundred horses on the west side of Futuyu!" This time, we are here for you, Mr. Wang, and we have already inquired about your details, and there are less than 300 of you in total! ”

The ringing horse thief on the right said: "We didn't say that we wanted all one million taels of silver, but as long as one hundred thousand taels, it is already very polite, if Wang Zongbing insists on refusing, then the brothers have no other way to live, we can only rob it!" When the time comes, the sword soldier will hurt General Wang without an eye, and that is also the will of heaven. ”

"Hahaha." Wang Pu Yangtian laughed three times and said coldly, "The tiger is not powerful, you really treat it as a sick cat!" Thousands of Jiannu iron horsemen have been cleaned up by Lao Tzu, just rely on your hundreds of horse thieves, and you are also worthy of threatening Lao Tzu? Come, let the horses come, if you can't get in, your grandson will raise you, and if you have the ability to get in, all the silver will be yours. ”

The two horsemen shouted fiercely: "Since General Soldier Wang insists on going his own way, then don't blame the little ones for being presumptuous." ”

Wang Pu Huoran turned around and shouted, "Scarface, the whole team!" ”

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