Mei Xiaoren led 500 men and horses to Xuandong, and the further east he went, the more sparsely populated he became, and the closer he was to the county seat of the Evil Tiger Village, the more barren it became.

The evil tiger village is entrenched here, robbing the caravans that come and go all the year round, and the government has suppressed it several times to no avail, so that the merchants dare not come here to do business.

Three days later, they arrived at a place two miles away from the Evil Tiger Mountain.

Mei Xiaoren ordered the team to stop and repair in place.

The government soldiers began to set up camp, and Mei Xiaoren rode on his horse and looked into the distance.

Captain Wu, a military general, guided her to look at the mountains in the distance: "My lord, that is the Evil Tiger Mountain, with many cliffs and cliffs, and the terrain is notoriously dangerous. ”

Mei Xiaoren looked into the distance, several mountains were undulating, although not high, but the mountain walls were as steep as a knife. There are few trees on the bare rocks, but the col between the two peaks is verdant and verdant.

Captain Wu said that the evil tiger village is entrenched in the col halfway up the mountain.

At night, Mei Xiaoren stood in the camp tent and took a map to look at it carefully. Several generals and catchers stood beside her, discussing how to capture the mountain.

"My lord, although the Evil Tiger Mountain is dangerous, there is more than one way up the mountain, of which the west road is the closest. Captain Wu stretched out his hand and pointed to three places on the map.

Mei Xiaoren looked sideways and asked, "Scatter the troops, you are worried that they will set up an ambush on a road"

"My lord, since the Evil Tiger Village dares to openly provoke the state capital, it must be ready to fight us this time, and we must guard against it."

"It makes sense, then according to your wishes, the soldiers will be divided into three routes, you and Sun Zhutou will each bring 200 men and horses, and they will go up the mountain from the north and south, and I will bring 100 from the west." Mei Xiaoren said.

Captain Wu is still worried: "My lord, I have sent people to investigate, but I only know that there are hundreds of bandits on that mountain, but I don't know how many there are, because they don't plan to escape, I am worried that the five hundred people ordered by the adults are not enough."

"If you don't plan to escape, it doesn't mean that you won't escape, they are bandits, not heroes in the world, no one will take their lives, if we go with thousands of soldiers and horses, I'm afraid we won't even see a ghost shadow." Mei Xiaoren closed the map and walked a few steps in the tent, and said, "After all, there is a saying that you can stay in the green mountains without worrying about running out of firewood." ”

"But if we really fight, we may not have a chance of winning, my lord." Captain Wu gave up his hand in amazement.

Mei Xiaoren looked back at the few people in the tent, and none of them looked relaxed. She turned to face them and said, "Since we have reached this point, I hope that you will go all out tomorrow, and you will have to fight if you can't beat it, otherwise we won't be able to explain it to the prefect." ”

Several people said in unison: "I understand. ”

Late at night, Mei Xiaoren was still standing in front of the window looking outside. She brought five hundred men with her, and she didn't have much strength to set up camp here, and she couldn't help sighing: "If I were the head of their family, I wouldn't have to be afraid of seeing these men and horses." ”

"That's why the adults took the risk and ordered only five hundred men and horses, in order to let them stay behind the enemy."

"Otherwise," Mei Xiaoren shook the folding fan, the corners of his lips raised slightly, "I admire Lord Tongzhi, how did he scare the mountain bandits away with two hundred people?"

When the sky was light, Mei Xiaoren ordered the camp to be pulled. According to the platoon's arrangement last night, the 500 troops were divided into three roads up the mountain.

The mountain road was rugged, and Mei Xiaoren and Ye Zhi led a hundred people to hike up the mountain from the west road. This road is a shortcut up the mountain, and it is very likely that there will be an ambush, so in case the brothers are worried, Mei Xiaoren decided to take them on this road himself to boost their morale.

Before noon, they arrived near the Evil Tiger Village, and they only saw some birds on the road, and there was not even a ghost of a mountain bandit, let alone a sneak attack.

When they arrived outside the Evil Tiger Village, everyone lurked in the jungle nearby. Mei Xiaoren hid behind a tree and looked at the village not far away, which were all walls and walled buildings made of bamboo and wood, not small in scale but deserted.

As long as they came, the gate was closed, there were no guards outside the door, and there were no guarded bandits upstairs, like an empty village.

; Ye Zhi was puzzled: "Last night, the spies reported that everything was normal in the Evil Tiger Village, and there was no sign of leaving, how could it be empty today?"

Lin Zhu quickly asked: "My lord, let my subordinates go down and take a look." ”

Mei Xiaoren nodded and told him to be careful.

Lin Zhu quickly paid attention to the left and right all the way, walked quickly to the front of the walled gate, and with a slight push, the two bamboo doors opened.

He poked inside, turned around and said, "My lord, there's no one inside." ”

Mei Xiaoren came out of the forest and led people into the Evil Tiger Village.

The scene in front of me can only be described by the words "people go to the empty building".

Mei Xiaoren asked people to search all the houses here, but they didn't find any money left.

"My lord, they won't run away again," Lin Zhukuai's face was sad. In the past, if the mountain bandits ran away, they would be able to go back to restore their lives, but this time the prefect gave a death order, if the bandits could not be suppressed, the general judgment would not be able to explain, and they would not be able to explain.

"Repair and repair here, and wait for Captain Wu and Sun Zhutou to come and discuss it."

Mei Xiaoren found a low stool in the courtyard and sat down, and saw that there was a pot in front of the stool, and there was still unscooped broth in it, and the soup was brighter, not like it had been shelved for a long time. She concluded that the people here should not have gone far.

After sitting for about half an hour, Captain Wu and Sun Zhutou arrived one after another. Captain Wu shook his head and sighed, and Sun Zhutou was also disappointed.

Captain Wu looked around and spread his hands helplessly, "My lord, how can this be good?"

"They didn't go far, and there were clear rut marks at the door, most of which were left by them when they were transporting things." Mei Xiaoren got up and walked towards the gate of the village, "Come and have a look." ”

Five hundred people gathered in the Evil Tiger Village, looking for traces of the mountain bandits along the rutted marks on the ground, and the rut marks seemed to lead to the top of the mountain.

The further up they went, the more sparse the trees became, and the scorching sun shone unobstructed, making everyone sweat profusely.

There are very few major cases in Xuanzhou Mansion, and the officials only patrol the city and guard the government on weekdays, and they rarely suffer such hardships as suppressing bandits, but no one has ever been tired along the way.

"The boss said, we have to guard this place today, don't ask those officials to find it."

When the human voice reached Mei Xiaoren's ears, they had already seen the person who spoke. It was two mountain bandits in rough clothes, each leaning on two big trees, guarding the path under their feet and talking.

"Okay, I'm hiding here, I'm really nowhere to find my iron shoes," Captain Wu said with a smile.

The two mountain bandits were dumbfounded when they saw the menacing officials, and after looking at each other, they pulled out their legs and ran.

Sun Zhutou clenched his fists: "My lord, let's see my subordinates tie them all up"

Mei Xiaoren nodded, and Captain Wu and Sun Zhu quickly chased after each of them.

She stayed where she was, leaned into Ye Zhi's ear and whispered a few words to him, and then left a dozen or so catchers for him, and she took the others to catch up with him.

"Beware, Adults"

Ye Zhi's shout came from behind her, and Mei Xiaoren turned around and smiled at him, "Don't worry"

After a chase, they ran into a chaotic forest of rocks, surrounded by craggy rocks, blocking their view, and even if they looked around, they couldn't see far, and directly in front of them was a huge stone wall, which had cut off the way.

The two bandits stopped when they ran to the stone wall, and when they turned around, their faces no longer had the fear they had before, not only were they not afraid, but they also had a little smile.

"There will be no fraud, right?"

I don't know who muttered behind Mei Xiaoren, and then the footsteps came and went, and when she turned back, the surrounding rocks were already full of bandits, each carrying a big knife, and the number was no less than them

Sun Zhutou slapped the head of the catcher, "crow's mouth"

"Looks like we've got it." Mei Xiaoren held the folding fan in his hand and knocked on the palm of his hand.