"Ladies and gentlemen, the thieves are cowering in the mountains and do not come out, I am afraid that we will wave our army into the mountains and drive them out of the mountains." Song Nan smacked the hot tea and said.

Everyone was stunned, and after looking at each other for a long time, Lu Wan said tentatively: "Governor, it is taboo to enter the mountains to suppress thieves, the mountainous terrain is complex, which is not conducive to the action of our army, and if the thieves set up ambushes skillfully, it will be even worse; If it is not a lowly and cowardly enemy, the thieves are already at the end of their crossbows, and they can be trapped alive by only trapping them in the mountains, so why bother to take risks? ”

This statement also expressed the hearts of many people, everyone's eyes were on Song Nan's face, although there were only 5,000 thieves, but in the mountains, what is the difference between 5,000 people and 50,000 people, there are only a few people on the narrow mountain road, and some places can be firmly occupied, and no matter how many people and horses are useless.

Song Nan didn't pay attention to Lu Wan's words, glanced at everyone and said slowly: "Everyone, on the way before coming, the emperor sent Yang Tinghe, a cabinet scholar, to come to the labor army to commend him, and the emperor also asked Yang Tinghe to ask me, when will the thieves be completely wiped out?" At that time, I asked Scholar Yang to bring a message to the emperor and say that the thieves on the West Road were retreating into the mountains, and I was afraid that they would not be able to be exterminated for a while. I think, after Yang Ting and the emperor played, the emperor must have been a little disappointed, although the affairs of the soldiers are not diverted by the emperor's wishes, and I will not lead the troops and make decisions indiscriminately, but the emperor has ordered us to suppress thieves, how can we ignore the king's worries? ”

Everyone was silent, the emperor's wish was naturally to exterminate the thieves as soon as possible, this is Song Nan in charge, the emperor just asked tentatively, if it is someone else, I am afraid that the strict order will be exterminated; But that's easier said than done.

"The strategy I had in the past was to trap them, but now that the situation has changed, we have to make adjustments. Before, I thought that in the middle of winter, when the weather was cold and the mountains were covered by heavy snow, the thieves would not be able to stay in the mountains, so they would take the initiative to attack, which would give me a chance to destroy the enemy, and save us from going to them. But it has been snowing for ten days this winter, and the thieves have not moved, which shows that they have not been knocked down by the cold and ice as we hoped, and may have built houses in the mountains to protect them from the cold. There is plenty of firewood and grass in the mountains, and it is said that there are many wild things infested, so it is not surprising that the thieves can hide in the mountains and become savages, and choose not to go out of the mountains to fight our army. ”

Song Nan knocked on the table and paused and continued: "If we insist on trapping the thief soldiers, we will exceed the thief soldiers by more than ten times just by fighting for it, and you also know that after this catastrophe, hundreds of county and state capitals have suffered a catastrophe, and the imperial court has been making great efforts to help and rebuild, and there are countless goods and food needed; I led the army to the north, passing through many states and counties, and after the heavy snowfall, the people were hungry and cold, and they starved to death on the road, which I really couldn't bear to see. I think we have to do everything we can to end this qiē and put the imperial court on the right track, instead of consuming food in vain and waiting for the thieves to destroy themselves. ”

Everyone whispered, and some people began to nod.

"The strength of our troops around these 5,000 thieves, nearly 40,000 soldiers and horses in this pass, 13,000 men and horses in the two guards of Jinpo Town, and nearly 25,000 soldiers and horses in the four guards of the Taihang Xijiang Bin Department, a total of nearly 80,000 troops trapped in these 5,000 thieves is really not worth it; If the thieves can hold out until the spring of next year, 80,000 horses will consume 200,000 or 300,000 stone of grain more than that of the troops stationed in the dependent territory, and these hundreds of thousands of stone grain alone can live countless people, not to mention the extra pay and rewards for the army. ”

Zhang Yong nodded and said: "What the Metropolitan Governor said is yes, the Metropolitan Governor thinks much farther than me, it is really unwise to spend so many soldiers and horses for several months, the imperial court now continues to save money and food to help the people, and the army can save the province, and it is also for the imperial court to share worries." In addition, it is also a major event that the army can return to the garrison as soon as possible, and it can also participate in the reconstruction of the local state capital as soon as possible. ”

Song Nan nodded and said: "What Gonggong Zhang said is very true, I just don't want to be dragged by these 5,000 thieves until next spring, maybe sooner or later the thieves will not be able to survive the mountain, but we can't afford to survive, and we can't let these 5,000 thieves have another chance to go out of the mountain as a disaster, I don't want to come to the New Year, when the whole country celebrates the New Year, my heart is still blocked by the knots left by these 5,000 thieves, so we must completely exterminate the thieves before the year." ”

Liao Ping raised his hand and said: "The lowly position is in favor, and the lowly position is willing to lead the army into the mountain." ”

As soon as Liao Ping took the lead, all the generals immediately expressed their intention to lead the army into the mountain, but Lu Wan frowned tightly and his lips were tightly closed, unwilling to say anything, he disagreed with Song Nan's risky approach.

How could Song Nan care about his thoughts, he saw very clearly Lu Wan's psychology of not seeking merit but seeking no fault, and he didn't take his opinion to heart at all, so he raised his hand and said: "Everyone, don't fight, everyone's worries just now are also right, when you enter the mountain, there are too many people to be useless, this time I only plan to take my Jinyi Guard 5,000 soldiers and horses to accompany me, and the rest of the soldiers and horses are on standby." Five thousand against five thousand, if I am defeated by the thieves, it is my Song Nan who has no ability. ”

Everyone was stunned, and only brought 5,000 soldiers and horses into the mountain, which was too big, in case of failure, even the rescue could not be saved.

Song Nan waved his hand to stop everyone's discussions, and said solemnly: "This matter has been decided, Ma Ming, you can quickly return to Jiang Bin's camp in the afternoon, and let Jiang Da select 5,000 soldiers and horses to get ready, I will select 3,000 soldiers and horses to enter the mountain from the inverted horse pass, and General Liao Ping of Jinpo Town will select 2,000 soldiers and horses to enter the mountain. ”

Liao Ping was overjoyed and said: "Thank you to the Grand Governor, I will go back to prepare for my humble position." ”

Song Nan said: "Six days later, we must not make a mistake. ”

Ma Ming hurriedly said: "That humble post is going to leave now, from the Bauhinia Pass to the north to Ulzhou and then to the south, it will take four days on this road, but you can't miss a big event." ”

Song Nan said with a smile: "That's hard for you, seeing that Lord Jiang will bring a good one for me, you have to choose elite soldiers and strong generals, I estimate that my firepower is fierce, and the thieves will run to the west, I am afraid that I will encounter you head-on." ”

Ma Ming patted his chest and said, "Don't worry, don't you know Lord Jiang's ability?" ”

Song Nan laughed. Looking back, seeing that the rest of the generals puffed out their eyes and didn't speak, Song Nan knew what they thought, and said with a smile: "You don't have to show me your face, all the generals here must follow me into the mountain, and you can't let you watch it, but the soldiers and horses under your command will be spared." ”

Everyone cheered and thundered, secretly praising the Metropolitan Governor's knowledge, if he did not have the opportunity to participate in the final battle to exterminate the thieves, he would be a dwarf in the future when he was rewarded for meritorious deeds, which was a big loss, but fortunately, the Metropolitan Governor knew this, and everyone was on it, and no one could run away from the credit.

Ma Ming immediately left the Reverse Maguan and returned to Shanxi, Liao Ping and Tan Zhang also hurriedly returned to the Jinpo Town garrison and began to select soldiers, according to Song Nan's requirements, the soldiers entering the mountains did not seek to be strong, but to be flexible; The best way to climb mountains and trees like apes is to be able to climb mountains and trees, and you must not be afraid of the cold, and snow camping is not a joke.

According to this standard, Song Nan also selected 3,000 people in the army of Fallen Maguan, most of whom were Xuanfu soldiers brought by Xu Tai.

After careful preparations, six days later, Song Nan led 3,000 soldiers and horses accompanied by more than ten generals to the northwest into the mountain pass, in order to ensure the control of the terrain, Song Nan hired three old medicine farmers who were familiar with the terrain to accompany him.

Stay on the top of the Reverse Horse Pass and watch the valley in the flat river, the snow-covered ground is as flat as a felt carpet, but as soon as the army steps into the mountain pass, it knows the difficulty of traveling; Under the white snow are potholes, once the soft snow is stepped on, half of the body will fall into the cracks of the stone and cannot get out, and there are dozens of soldiers who hurt their feet, Xu Tai scolded them and drove them back.

In the end, three old medicine farmers stepped forward to identify the old road and marked the remains of the plank road a little more than a zhang wide with branches, which put the team on the right track; Beyond the mark, a flat area covered with snow, but an unwalkable rocky valley; Walking all the way in, after the valley closed, he escaped from the ground, and reached the innermost part of the canyon, although the road was narrow and steep, but it was already ground.

The old elders of the procession, 3,000 people, circled the nearest Fallen Horse Mountain for several miles, with a cliff on one side and a cliff on the other, and slipped to the bottom of the mountain if they were not careful; Everyone walked until noon, but after walking seven or eight miles of mountain roads, they were all exhausted.

Finding a slightly flat hillside, Song Nan ordered to camp on the spot to rest, such a road could not be walked without light at all, and it was only right to camp and rest earlier; The soldiers piled up the snow on the hillside into a windshield wall, set up tents behind the walls, lit bonfires, boiled dry food in the snow and drank a large basin of warm water, and then fell asleep one by one.

After the sun sets, there is a blurred black shadow in the mountains, looking at the mountains in the east, looking at the towering peaks in the west, in addition to the mountains in all directions, the mountains are the dark sky, which makes people feel small and powerless for a while.

The cold night wind carried the howls of unknown beasts from all directions, adding to the feeling of weakness and helplessness in my heart.

Song Nan stood on the hillside for a long time before entering the tent to rest under Wang Yong's urging.