The Mengshan bandits, who had seized a large amount of military funds, had more than one gun in their hands, and they wrapped up their sturdy captives (the wounded soldiers of the official army did not violate as promised, let alone take them away), drove a dozen carts full of things, and withdrew from Maoyang Town with torches at the end of the day. They walked from the south gate, and under the complicated gaze of the residents of Maoyang Town, they walked along the official road towards Pingyi Village. He did not return directly to Mengshan in the east, but walked more than ten miles to the south, deliberately letting the villagers see the direction of retreat, the purpose of which was to create a false impression for the officials and troops about the origin of this army, and whether they could deceive Cao Kun and Longqian did not know whether they could be deceived.

As a result of the great victory, the mood of the troops was high. Several squad leaders heard Long Qian pretending to be a man holding calves in the town, and at this moment he was out of the town from the south gate, and everyone knew that this was Captain Long's suspicious plan, so no one asked about the purpose of this trip. But along the official road all the way south without stopping, some people became suspicious.

Ning Shijun's Shi was in charge of guarding the prisoners, but this guy ran over and asked Long Qian, who was walking at the head of the team, where he was going. Long Qian intended to test the only talent on the team, "Oh, that's a good question." Tell me, where is the right place for us to go? ”

"Ah," Ning Shijun obviously didn't think deeply about the whereabouts of the troops, "Well, although we won a big battle, we still don't have to fight hard with the officers and soldiers." Where there are few officers and soldiers, we will go there. ”

"Well, that makes sense. It looks like you've really read the book of soldiers. Then tell me, where are there few officers and soldiers, suitable for us to settle down? ”

"This ......" Ning Shijun couldn't answer. He suddenly realized that when he left Mengshan, it was really difficult to find such a place, and Maoyang Town was used as a place to be stationed for a long time, and everyone didn't even think about it, what was it for? Because the local government will never tolerate bandits. In the same way, the Pingyi village not far ahead, even worse. In fact, Pingyi Village is more prosperous than Maoyang Town, and the reason why the official army chose Maoyang Town as a supply base is entirely because Maoyang Town is closer to Mengshan, "Pingyi is definitely not good." ”

"Reading military books should be linked to reality," Long Qian carried a rifle on his back and marched forward in steady strides, and Ning Shijun had to trot to keep up, "The rebels in ancient times, there are only two methods, just like Liu Bang and Liu Xiu, to establish their own consolidated base to fight against the imperial soldiers." If you have a base area, you will have food and money, and if you have money and food, you will not have to worry about recruiting troops and buying horses. What about the second? It's Huangchao Li Zicheng, a rogue faction, like a locust crossing the border, eating it up and then looking elsewhere. Which one do you say? ”

"Let's be better than Huang Chao Li Chuang, right?"

"The government looks at our Mengshan bandits, is there a difference between them and Huangchao Li Chuang?"

"It would be good if the three masters didn't provoke the government......"

"You're still a showman!" Long Qian snorted, "The official word has two mouths, it says that you are Huangchao Li Chuang, you are Huangchao Li Chuang." Besides, if I were the imperial court, I would not be polite to the copycat strongman. If you don't have time, you can't do it, you have to kill it. Why not dye your red top with the blood of bandits? ”

Ning Shijun was dumbfounded.

"So, go up the mountain to be a strongman, or wait for the day when you will be wiped out by the official army, or go to be Huangchao Li Chuang, oh, there is still a way ......"

"You mean Zhao'an?"

"Yes. If you want to be an official, you will be recruited to kill people and set fires. This has been a shortcut since ancient times. However, if you don't have the strength, who will recruit your An? ”

Ning Shijun has already learned Long Qian's sharpness, since he knew Long Qian, Ning Shijun found that he had great doubts about the history books he had read in the past, he knew that Long Qian did not have half of the respect for the imperial court, but he had never revealed it for the flag rebellion.

"Captain, in front of you is Pingyi." Feng Guozhu caught up. It's in this area, and I'm quite familiar with the road.

"Oh, then find a place to rest. Jiang Yun," Long Qian called Jiang Yun, "You go and scout and see if there is a place to rest nearby." ”

Before Long Qian left Maoyang Town, he strictly ordered that he should not mistreat the prisoners, let alone kill the captive soldiers at will. He handed over the task of guarding the prisoners to the two teams of Feng Guozhu and Wang Mingyuan, because Feng Guozhu was obedient, and Wang Mingyuan was much gentler than the somewhat tyrannical Lu Shan.

"Guozhu, you go and check the prisoners, they are not allowed to connect in tandem, and you should be vigilant, especially those officers!"

"I'll be relieved to tie up the dogs later."

"Yes."

The team stopped on the avenue, the team of more than two hundred people formed a long snake formation, Long Qian walked from the front of the team to the end of the team and inspected it, the first was Lu Shan's team, followed by Feng Lun, in the middle was Wang Mingyuan and Feng Guozhu looked at the prisoners and more than a dozen carts that exceeded their own strength, and Ye Yanbing's team was delayed, and no major problems were found.

Long Qian found the baggage team officer named Liang Huada in the group of prisoners, "Liang team officer, let me make it clear to you, I am different from ordinary bandits, and my words count." Make it clear to your brothers, don't have any bad ideas, otherwise, you will definitely be hurt. ”

"I hope Mr. Long keeps his promise." Liang Huada replied coldly.

"The premise is that you obey orders. I didn't talk about unconditional promises. ”

Long Qian returned to the head of the team and waited for a while, Jiang Yun came back, saying that there was a forest in front of the left that could hide the team.

"Can the cart get in?"

"You should be able to get in, the ground is still frozen."

"Okay, let's go there. You lead the way. ”

After placing the team in the woods, Long Qian decided to spend the night here, arranged the order of sentry and duty, and ordered the team to eat as a unit, and then sleep well. When he came out of the town, he collected as much dry food as he could, and he also brought enough water, so Long Qian ordered that no fire be lit, and he was unwilling to expose the target.

"Captain, where are we going?" Lu Shan asked.

"Shi Jun has already asked just now, there is only one place to go, go back to the mountain!"

"Okay." Lu Shan replied cheerfully.

"Back to the mountain?" Feng Lun was a little surprised.

"A man cannot stand without faith. There are still our brothers on the mountain, and I can't talk about it. But I don't know if the officials and soldiers of Lu Dao have left, so I have to send someone to go back and explore first. Which of you would like to take a trip? ”

At that moment, several people agreed in unison that they were willing to go back to the mountain to explore the way.

"You don't need a lot of people. In this way, Erhu will take two safe brothers, plus Jiang Yun back, you will work hard, and you will set off to rush back now. If the official army is still on the mountain, don't be alarmed, and don't go to the aggressive village to find Lao Song, find out if they are permanent or resting on the mountain, and then Jiang Yun stayed to observe, and Erhu rushed back. I see? ”

"Don't worry."

"Okay, bring dry food and water, and let's go. The brigade is not in Pingyi and will not go far. Long Qian admonished.

Waiting for Cheng Erhu and Jiang Yun to leave, Lu Shan asked, "Shall we fight Pingyi?" ”

"At least let the people of Pingyi Village see us! I asked the prisoners, but there were no officers and soldiers there. Since you pretend to be a good man holding calves, you have to pretend to be a little ......," Long Qian replied.

"Why do you go back to Mengshan? Finally stood out__" The one who spoke was a chief named Xiong Xun.

"Let's find a place where we can stay for a long time, in addition to Mengshanzhai, do you know where Ludao can accommodate us?" Xiong Xun's face couldn't be seen clearly in the dark, but with his voice, Long Qian couldn't be mistaken.

"Otherwise, let's just go and hug the calf, I heard that there is a lot of prosperity over there. With our belongings, they will definitely take us in. ”

Xiong Xun is a member of the Fengguozhu team, and he has some brains, not the kind of reckless man who only knows how to fight and kill.

"Hundreds of miles of mountain roads, can you guarantee that we will get there safely? In addition, I have never heard of the truth that I would rather be the head of the chicken than the queen of the cow? In the dark, Long Qian smiled, revealing his white teeth, "I know that you are worried that Mengshan is not safe. But I'm sure that the officers and soldiers will not stay on the mountain, what are they staying on the mountain for? ”

Wang Mingyuan was active, and since Long Qian lied in Maoyang Town in the afternoon, he guessed that he would have to go back to the mountain nine times out of ten, "What the captain said is true. Officers and soldiers will not stay in the mountains. But now, isn't it too early? ”

"Hmm__" Long Qian hummed and didn't speak again. He looked at the time and calculated, during the day, Cao Kun must attack the mountain, when he found that the Mengshan brigade was missing, Bacheng would search the cottage and chase it down the east road. Therefore, he estimated that there were no officers and soldiers on the mountain now. The only thing I was worried about was the safety of Lao Song and the others.

There's no way around it.

"You say, will the news of our defeat of Maoyang Town reach Pingyi?" Long Qian threw out a very critical question, "In addition, how long does it take for the town to send the news to the nearby officials and soldiers?" ”

"Pingyi won't get the news over there," it was Feng Guozhu who spoke, "From Maoyang to Pingyi, as long as this avenue under our feet, let's go from this side, the people in the town don't dare to go to Pingyi to report the news, besides, why are they going to report the news?" ”

"There are naturally relatives on both sides, why don't you report the news?" Lu Shan asked rhetorically.

"If we rob Mao Yang in the afternoon, eighty percent will risk death to deliver the message. But now, I don't think I can __" Wang Mingyuan's voice, "The captain thinks really far__"

"You are wrong, from now on, as long as I am your leader, I am not allowed to rob the people again." Long Qian's voice, "Everyone is from a bitter background, robbing the people, do you feel good?" ”

If you don't rob the people, what do you eat in the cottage? Several squad leaders didn't refute it, but they didn't think so.

"There is food and drink, of course I don't want to rob the people and merchants__" Wang Mingyuan muttered, "But how can we have such a good opportunity to rob the official army." ”

The battle in the afternoon was something that everyone had never seen before, and only one person was wounded, more than a dozen carts of supplies were looted, and so many foreign guns were captured, and now everyone was carrying foreign guns and bullets were bulging. However, what Wang Mingyuan said is that this kind of opportunity will never be met for the second time in eight lifetimes.

"This is the level of leading soldiers," Long Qian smiled, "Don't worry! Follow me, you may not eat, drink, and have fun, but you won't be hungry, and you won't make a living by robbing travelers, merchants, and people. Everyone be vigilant, pay attention to the checkpoints, have a good rest, and talk about some things tomorrow. ”