The process of interrogating the captives was very smooth, and the bandits who had been frightened happily explained their origins, saying that they were originally ordinary people on the Han side of the Han-Liao border, because the Khitans often came to the village to fight grass valleys, and everyone really couldn't survive, so they had to run up to Taihang Mountain to become robbers.

The scale of their bandits is not large, there are only more than 100 people in total, this time because their spies found this caravan from the Liao country led by the crossing people, seeing that this caravan is not small, and there are so many carriages and horses, they think that the cart must have valuable goods on it, and the spies follow far behind.

After following the scout for some time, he saw that the caravan was living in such a small village, and immediately returned to the bandits' hiding place to report. The leader of the bandits felt that the village was small and had few villagers, so it was easier to attack, so he decided to carry out a sneak attack at night. It's just that what they didn't expect was that the guards of this caravan were extremely alert, and they were discovered before they could even get close to the village. Moreover, the caravan guards were also extremely strong in combat, not only using weapons they had never seen before to kill from a distance, but also occupying an overwhelming advantage in hand-to-hand combat with them. As a result, after a fight, none of the 100 people ran away. It can be said that except for a few old and weak people who stayed on the mountain and did not come down, their group of men and horses has been wiped out.

Liu Jiye, Yang Xin, Zeng Zhilin and others interrogated all the captives, and the confessions obtained were basically the same, indicating that the captives were telling the truth. In this way, whether it is Liu Jiye, Yang Xin, Zeng Zhilin and others, they can leave the small mountain village with peace of mind, and they don't have to worry about the rest of the bandits coming to retaliate.

After the interrogation, the captives were asked to draw a prisoner on their confessions, and Zeng Zhilin asked the guards to take them out and guard them carefully, and wait for the official messenger from Fanzhi County to come the next day to hand them over. At this time, it was already three or four o'clock in the morning, and everyone was busy for most of the night, and they were also a little sleepy, so they all went to rest after saying goodnight to each other.

Liu Jiye returned to his room, read the prisoner's confession again, and after making sure that there was nothing suspicious, he put it aside. He walked over to the bed and sat down, rubbed his sore eyes, and prepared to close his clothes and take a nap. As a result, as soon as he lay down, the door was pushed open, and Yang Sheng walked in from the outside. When Liu Jiye saw him come back, he sat up from the bed again and asked, "What's the matter, the battlefield has been cleaned up?" ”

"Yes," Yang Sheng replied respectfully, "The subordinates and the head of the guard named Chang Shengjun have already cleaned up the corpses of the bandits with the caravan guards and villagers, and concentrated them in a place that does not obstruct the passage of official roads. The subordinates counted a total of ninety-eight corpses. In addition, according to the observation of his subordinates, none of the guards of the Liao caravan were killed, only four were injured, and all of them were slightly injured. ”

Liu Jiye nodded and said, "Ninety-eight have been killed, it seems that these caravan guards from the Liao Kingdom are quite capable." Although the three of us can't kill more than a dozen, with more than 30 of them dealing with more than 100 bandits, we can kill so many people on the other side, but only four of us are slightly injured, which is indeed a bit extraordinary. ”

"Who said it wasn't," Yang Sheng agreed, "The subordinates didn't believe that these well-equipped and well-trained guards were really the owners of the caravan, but when the subordinates were cleaning up the battlefield just now, they took the opportunity to chat with the constant guard for a long time, and found that in addition to not wanting to talk more about the firearms they used, he didn't seem to have hidden his identity." ”

Liu Jiye said: "In this way, they are really caravan guards. With such a strong guard, the owners of this caravan are afraid that they have invested a lot of money. Not to mention anything else, the long knives they use in their hands are by no means comparable to the standard weapons in ordinary armies. A certain family has also secretly observed these long knives, and it is certain that they are definitely made of the finest steel. Watching them slash and kill the bandits with their knives, it's really like chopping melons and vegetables. The knife slashing at a person is like cutting tofu, and there is no sense of hindrance. If the soldiers of our Han army can also have such a sharp blade, their combat effectiveness will definitely increase a lot. ”

Although Liu Jiye was very envious of the weapons guarded by the "Qingyuan", he hoped that the soldiers under his command could also have such good knives. But he knew very well that this could only be a luxury, after all, the guards of this caravan were only a few dozen people, and the army of the Han State was tens of thousands. With the financial resources of the Han State, it simply could not supply such an army with such well-equipped weapons. Not to mention the Han State, even the Zhou State and the Tang State, which were much stronger than the Han State in terms of territory, population, financial resources, and material resources, and even the Liao State where these guards were located, were unable to equip most of their armies with such weapons. ,

Yang Sheng agreed very much with Liu Jiye's statement, and said: "The general is right, his subordinates also borrowed a long knife from Chang Huwei just now, and it is indeed made of stainless steel, which is extremely sharp, and it is only on par with the general's ancestral treasure knife." With such a haode long knife, coupled with the sharp firearm called a flintlock pistol in their hands, as long as they train diligently, they will definitely be an elite soldier, and it is no wonder that these guards can kill more than a hundred bandits so easily. ”

Liu Jiye heard Yang Sheng talk about flintlock pistols, waved his hand, and said disapprerovitically: "The long knives used by these guards are indeed very good, looking at their performance in battle, it is estimated that the training will not be bad, but when it comes to their flintlock pistols, in a certain way, they may not be much stronger than ordinary bows and crossbows." This kind of gun may be useful if it is used to defend the city, but when it comes to hand-to-hand combat, it is afraid that it is not as strong as a burning stick, and it is far less useful than a long knife. ”

Yang Shengsui's evaluation of the pistol was different from Liu Jiye's, he shook his head, and said carefully: "General, with all due respect to your subordinates, you only know one thing, but you don't know the other. The subordinates originally thought the same as the general, and also felt that this flintlock pistol was not much stronger than the bow and crossbow, but after talking to the guards, the subordinates no longer thought so.

Because from the few words that Chang Guard said about this firearm, his subordinates can be sure that the flintlock pistol we see is just a low-grade product made by his masters, and its function is relatively poor in all aspects. His masters also have weapons that are a hundred times more powerful than this kind of gun, but they usually don't use them in ordinary times. ”

Yang Sheng's words made Liu Jiye come to his senses and asked, "Why, that Chang guard has seen a weapon that is a hundred times more powerful than this flintlock pistol?" What did he say about what that weapon looked like, weishenme would be a hundred times more powerful? Didn't his master Weishenme make it for these guards? ”

Yang Sheng replied: "This subordinate doesn't know, Chang Guard didn't mention this. Moreover, the reason why his subordinates knew about the existence of such a powerful weapon was because Chang Guard, after hearing that his subordinates were not optimistic about this kind of flintlock musket, in order to prove that this kind of weapon was anything but ordinary, told his subordinates some stories about his master's use of more powerful muskets. According to Chang Guard, these stories are all seen and experienced by the old people in the guard's house, and they are definitely true.

One of the stories is about last year, when his owner was still living in a Taoist temple. Later, some bandits went to rob the Taoist temple, and as a result, only a few of the more than 200 bandits who participated in the robbery survived, and the rest died under the powerful muskets. Another story takes place at the beginning of this year, the same group of bandits, intending to sneak attack one of his master's mansions outside the service at night, but were repelled by a combination of flintlock pistols and powerful muskets, killing and wounding nearly half of the more than 100 bandits, and the rest were captured. ”

Liu Jiye couldn't help but be a little discouraged when he saw that the powerful musket that Yang Sheng said was all from the stories told by Chang Shengjun, and said: "It turns out that Chang Guard also heard from the stories told by others, so this is not believable. After all, most of these stories like to exaggerate, interpret, and be inaccurate. ”

Yang Sheng saw that his general didn't believe his words, and added: "My subordinates were like the general just now, and they didn't believe in these stories. But Chang Wei later gave an example to his subordinates, but his subordinates had to believe it. ”

"What example," Liu Jiye asked.

Yang Sheng said: "This example is about you, the general. ”

"About a certain family" Liu Jiye is even more strange.

"Not bad," Yang Sheng said, "According to Chang Guard, he saw with his own eyes that when the general was competing with the bandits just now, Yang Yuanwai and Zeng Yuanwai discovered that there was a bandit who was ambushed on the opposite mountain and wanted to disadvantage the general, and wanted to release cold arrows to plot against the general." So, Yang Yuanwai gave the thief a shot with that powerful musket, and as a result, his life was lost, and the crossbow arrow, which was supposed to be shot at the general, lost its accuracy and fell elsewhere. ”

After listening to Yang Sheng's statement, Liu Jiye finally figured out what was going on with the crossbow arrow that flew over everyone's heads during the competition. Combined with the scene he saw on the hill after the battle, he already believed most of what Yang Sheng said. It occurred to him that the ambushed bandit had a hard crossbow in his hand, and even at night, by the light of the moon, would not be wrong if he shot at a distance of no more than fifty or sixty paces. If he is shot by such a hard crossbow, he is afraid that he will be more than lucky.

Thinking of this, Liu Jiye was a little afraid, and asked with some hesitation: "You mean, the arrow that flew over our heads just now was originally aimed at a certain person." If it weren't for Yang Yuanwai's timely action, it is likely that he would have been plotted by bandits? In this way, isn't this Yang Yuanwai a certain life-saving benefactor? ”

Yang Sheng nodded and said, "My subordinates thought that what the guards said was true, and it was indeed that Yang Yuan who saved the general. ”

Liu Jiye stopped talking after hearing this, sat on the bed and carefully recalled the process of competing with the bandits and searching for the mountain bag just now, and finally determined that Yang Sheng was right, and that Yang Yuanwai really saved himself. So, he stood up and said: "As the saying goes, 'receiving the grace of a drop of water from someone should be repaid with a spring', Yang Yuanwai did not mention that this matter is a high righteousness of the outside, but a certain can't help but repay this great favor." So went to Yang Yuanwai and thanked him for saving his life. Yang Sheng, you go with so-and-so. ”

"Yes" Yang Sheng agreed, and walked out of his room with Liu Jiye, and went straight to Yang Xin's room.

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