At the beginning of Song Nan's tenure as the governor of the thief suppression, he had already replaced the new Ningbo Bo Tan You who had taken over Gu Dayong from the imperial court and took over the post of the governor of the West Road to suppress the thieves. But this person is the sworn friend of Xu Guangzuo, the Duke of Dingguo, Song Nan naturally couldn't let him be the governor of the West Road, so he casually gave a reason and replaced. At that time, Xu Guangzuo was unlucky because of his ineffective suppression of bandits, and he couldn't stop it.

Dingbian Bo Jiangbin was already the third governor of the West Road Thief Suppression, and the Chinese officer sent by the Inner Court was Ma Yongcheng, so the entire West Road Thief Army was firmly controlled in the hands of Song Nan.

According to the strategy originally agreed upon by Song Nan and Jiang Bin, the Western Route army mainly besieged the mountain passes in the southwest and southwest of Wuhui Mountain, and in the lofty mountains of the Taihang Mountains, it was indeed too difficult and impractical to send a large army into the mountains to exterminate these 5,000 thief soldiers.

However, although the thieves are easy to hide, it is also difficult to escape by maneuvering in a large area. There are only three ways for them to get out of the mountain, one is to return to Daoyi Prefecture and Bauhinia Pass according to the original road into the mountain, one is to move southward and seize the Douma Pass to enter the boundary of Zhendingfu, and the third way is to go directly to the west, crossing the Taihang Mountains and entering the Shanxi boundary.

When the battle against thieves on the eastern road was in full swing, the western front was very calm, Liu Qi and Zhao Qi looted a large number of grain and materials when they entered the mountain, and they were supplied in a short period of time, and they would not show their heads lightly; Naturally, the officers and soldiers would not enter the mountain lightly, so the two sides were safe.

At the pre-war meeting, Song Nan saw several familiar faces, Bauhinia Guanwei and Maoshanwei commanded Tan Zhang and Liao Ping, and one was the former Ulzhou Wei Qianhu Ma Ming, who was rewarded for his meritorious service in the battle of Xinpingbao, and was transferred to the Datong General Military Office with Jiang Bin to be promoted to Datong guerrilla general.

Acquaintances meet naturally a pleasantry, Song Nan is still the same, Ma Ming and Tan Zhang Liao Ping are very restrained, when I met Song Nan before, he was still the commander of the Jinyi Guard, although he is also a senior official, but after all, he is not a military person, and there is no need to be too restrained. Now goodbye, Song Nan is already the top boss to suppress the thieves, and he came with the power of sweeping 50,000 or 60,000 thieves on the east road, which is even more unforgiving.

"Let's talk about the situation, what have been the changes of the thieves in the mountains in the past month or so?" Song Nan saw everyone's nervousness, and asked Wen Yan.

Liang Chong, the commander of the Shenwu Right Guard of Zhending Mansion, who led 3,000 soldiers and horses to garrison the Fallen Horse Pass Guard, was the first to speak: "Yu Dadu, since September, as soon as the humble duty was ordered to garrison the Fallen Horse Pass, there was calm in the gorge, and the thieves never showed their heads in the pass canyon. However, most of the people after I fell the horse pass relied on the mountains to eat the mountains and hunt and log for a living, and issued a notice ordering them to pay close attention when they entered the mountains, but there were traces of thieves and haunts, but a lot of news was gathered, because it was not confirmed, but the people orally learned that it could be useful, but I don't know. ”

Song Nan's eyes widened and said, "Oh? What did you find? ”

Liang Chong took out a small notebook from his arms, opened it with his thick fingers dipped in spittle, and read: "On the fourth day of the tenth month, Yu Dabao, a hunter in Shankou Village, found dozens of suspicious people north of Lotus Mountain, carrying weapons, tents and other things, and Yu Dabao did not dare to come close to observe. Wu Erhu, a hunter in Houpo Village, found traces of people camping in the Lotus Mountain Col in early October, and judging from the number of bonfires, there should be many people who once camped there. ”

Liang Chong closed the pamphlet and said: "It seems that there were many such witnesses before the middle of October, and the lowly officials also sent people to verify them, and what they said is true; According to the judgment of the inferior position, this must be the front team of the thief soldiers who arrived close to our pass to reconnoitre, and the humble duty strictly guarded the pass according to the instructions of Lord Jiang and did not dare to send troops lightly, but after mid-October, there was no news of the thief soldiers. ”

Song Nan thought for a moment, nodded and said: "You did a good job, judging by these information, this is the reconnaissance team of the thief soldiers, the Doumaguan Canyon is narrow and steep, and the city pass is strong and tall, the thief soldiers must have wanted to fight here, but they found that this is not a good way, so they retreated." ”

Liang Chong nodded and said, "I think the same way. Anyone with a little common sense knows that although my Fall Pass is a small pass with the least garrison, it is the most difficult place to break through. ”

Song Nan nodded, turned to Tan Zhang and Liao Ping, and said, "You two defenders of the thieves entered the mountain pass, can you find that the thieves have traces of returning to the horse to kill?" ”

Tan Lu arched his hand and said: "Returning to the Metropolitan Governor, the lowly and Liao commanders were ordered to strictly guard the mountain pass of Wuhui Shandong, and the army was stationed in Jinpo Town, where the thieves entered the mountain, and we hope that the thieves will kill them back the way they came, so that the two of us can also avenge the looting of Yizhou; More than 20 days ago, Liao led thousands of people to go deep into the mountains for more than 30 miles to investigate, and there was no trace of thieves in the valley and dense forests within a radius of 30 miles. ”

Song Nan frowned, this Liao Ping rashly led his troops into the mountain to violate the order, but Song Nan could understand him, when Yizhou was broken by thieves, Liao Ping's wife and children were all lost in the fire, and his desire for revenge was not difficult to understand.

"Master Ma, tell me about it." Song Nan turned to Ma Ming with a smile and asked.

Ma Ming hurriedly saluted: "Master Nan...... Hmm...... The Governor ......"

Song Nan smiled: "If you like to call Nan Ye, you can call Nan Ye, I also love to listen to it." ”

Ma Ming's face turned red, this Nan Ye was the name that Song Nan mixed up when he was the general banner and the hundred households in Ulzhou, everyone called it smooth, and now Song Nan has left Ulzhou for four years, and he has also been named a marquis's official residence and a member of the third grade, although it is affectionate, but it is inappropriate.

"The Governor of Taihang, Lord Jiang and the two guards of Datong, as well as Zhenwuwei and Andong Zhongtunwei, are stationed in the west of Taihang, because the terrain west of Taihang is too complicated, there are too many hills, woods and ravines, and the army cannot reach the exit of the valley to station, so Lord Jiang ordered the army to be stationed in the area from Guangchang to South Black Stone Ridge in Ulzhou, which is thirty to forty miles away from the mountain pass. But my team never stopped monitoring the mountain pass, and the thieves did not show their heads. ”

Song Nan held his chin and thought for a while, "Which of you is familiar with the terrain from here to the Taihang West Pass?" I wonder where the thieves are most likely to hide in the mountains, and why they haven't been able to stay in the mountains after this heavy snowfall. ”

Liang Chong said: "I am familiar with the mountainous situation dozens of miles north of my Fallen Horse Pass, and I am not very clear further north. ”

Song Nan ordered someone to take the sand table, and ordered Liang Chong to mark the terrain on the sand table on the spot, and Liang Chong swung the terrain of the peaks and canyons within a radius of fifty miles from Maguan, but it was only a corner of the sand table, and further north was a blank.

Song Nan scratched his head, Liang Chong suddenly patted his forehead and said: "By the way, there are many local medicine farmers who often go into the mountains to collect medicines, and sometimes they don't return for several months. ”

Song Nan was overjoyed, Liang Chong ordered someone to invite, Song Nan and the generals drank hot tea and waited, half an hour later, three medicine farmers carried into the hall, and saw that the hall was a military master with a tiger's back and a bear's waist and armor, the medicine farmers were scared enough, Song Nan ordered someone to take thirty taels of silver as a reward, and ordered them to describe the terrain, Liang Chong took two thousand households on the sand table. Restore the terrain.

After a morning of revision, the three medicine farmers were really veterans, their footprints traversed the east and west of Taihang, and the terrain of the mountains within a radius of nearly two hundred miles was finally restored under the mutual memories of the three people, Song Nan and everyone stood on the side of the sand table with their hands and pointed and pointed, marveling at the majesty and depth of Taihang Mountain, and at the same time, they also saw the general terrain clearly.

This area of the Fallen Horse Pass is the interruption of the Taihang Mountains, the mountains and rivers are dense, the canyons are vertical and horizontal, and there are countless streams in the mountains; But the reason why the Fallen Horse Pass became a pass is because before the founding of the Ming Dynasty, there was a road built along the mountain valley along the west of the Fallen Horse Pass to the west, and the Fallen Horse Pass was built at the southern end of this road to defend against the northwest enemy who came through the Taihang.

In today's Ming Dynasty, the role of the Reverse Horse Pass is not large, but because the so-called passage across the Taihang has not been abandoned, the purpose of its storage may be with the worst intentions, in case the town of Shanxi falls and the Great Wall is broken through, at least there can be a series of passes in the southeast of Taihang Mountain, such as the Bauhinia Pass and the Reverse Horse Pass, which can effectively defend against the outside world.

From the sand table bird's eye view down, from the thieves into the mountain of Jinpo Town is a mountain road, from the inverted horse pass to the northwest is another one, two canyon mountain roads converge in the middle of Taihang is called the north side of the fairy peak by the locals, combined into one and then extended to the west, until extending to the Guangchang County in Shanxi.

It is possible that the thieves are hiding in the dozens of peaks and valleys of all sizes through which this herringbone passage passes, but it can be concluded that they will not climb too many peaks and leave the passage too far, because according to the medicine farmers, although the passage is deserted, after all, it was once a road and can be passed, and the dangerous peaks and canyons near the left must not be climbed and walked. The mountain people who have been collecting medicine and hunting for many years have to rely on ropes, flying and other objects to wade over the cliffs and valleys, and these thieves naturally will not take such risks.

After fully understanding all the circumstances, Song Nan made a bold decision.