Early the next morning, the government army began to assemble, the prefect Tian Younian led the main envoy of the expedition, and the other three county commanders were deputy envoys.

The Yichun squires also contributed money and efforts, among which Yuan Yesi and Pan Shiwen contributed the most.

Yuan Yesi gave 2,000 stone of grain, and gathered 50 people from the countryside to accompany the officers and soldiers on the expedition.

Pan Shiwen gave 1,500 stone of grain, and 30 members of his family also went out with the officers and soldiers.

These two families are both big families in Yuanzhou Mansion and have a pivotal position in the Yuanzhou gentry world.

As early as the third year of Chongzhen and the fourth year of Chongzhen, Yongxin's rogue soldiers entered Yuanzhou Mansion, and the two families contributed money and food to help the government resist the rogues.

At that time, the prefect of Yuanzhou was Tian Younian, and after repelling the Liukou, Tian Younian recommended the children of the two families in order to repay the two families.

Yuan Yesi's eldest son, Yuan Yaohui, was recommended to serve as a magistrate in the Huguang area.

Pan Shiwen's second son, Pan Zhongjie, was transferred to Renxian County, Guangdong.

This time, Tian Younian is going to send troops to suppress bandits again, and the two families will not hesitate to contribute money and efforts, if nothing else, there are still many children in the family who are well-known and have no place to arrange it.

As long as the suppression of bandits is successful this time, the prefect of Huitou Tian will hand over the list of meritorious services, and he will have all the fame, fame, and wealth.

As for the rest of the squires, they were all a group of masters who had searched to the extreme, and if it weren't for the prefect's death order, these bastards would not be willing to contribute money and efforts.

At the end of the morning, the 2,500-strong army was finally lined up in the grinding and chirping.

Tian Younian stood in front of the school field and looked at this group of 'imposing' teams, and couldn't help but feel high-spirited.

Last time, Yongxin's Liukou passed by Yuanzhou Mansion, and he didn't dare to go out of the city to suppress thieves because of the lack of troops in his hands, but he was wiped out by Governor Xie Xuelong with 3,000 troops, resulting in him not getting any credit.

But this time it was different, although Tian Younian had reported the matter of the anti-thieves in the territory to the governor, he reduced Mo Qian's strength in the letter.

He reduced the anti-thief army of more than 1,000 people to less than 500, and he did not mention the fact that the city was captured and three officials of the government were taken captive.

Even the death of the county commander Zheng Qiuping and the commander of the guard, Liu Shizhong, said that the two were greedy for merit, but they were ambushed by the thieves and died in battle.

Tian Younian swore in the Tang newspaper that he would exterminate the Mo thief in seven days, and even said in a letter to the governor that he was willing to make a military warrant.

At this time, in Tian Younian's heart, Mo Wen, a thief with thousands of people, could not be the opponent of his 2,500 officers and soldiers.

As long as his army arrives, the anti-thieves will inevitably surrender when they hear the wind, and the thief leader Mo Wen will inevitably be captured by himself.

Tian Younian was really full of confidence at this moment, he briefly held a swearing-in meeting, slaughtered a cow, a sheep, and a fat head, and the official army officially set out.

The road was really immense, the officers and troops stretched for three or four miles, in front of them were 2,500 village warriors and regular troops, and behind them were 3,000 people who were responsible for transporting grain.

The whole team looked majestic and murderous.

At the beginning of noon, the army arrived at Wentang Town, the anti-thief den, but saw that the town was empty, and the people of the surrounding villages could not see a single person.

Not long after, the scout who inquired in front of him came to report: "My lord, the anti-thief has cleared the wilderness, and the people of the surrounding villages have followed the anti-thief to Mingyue Mountain!" ”

"Hmph, this group of rats, I know that they are afraid of death, do they think they will be fine if they hide in the mountains?"

The surrounding officials all said that the anti-thief was cowardly, and as soon as the prefect's army arrived, the anti-thief retreated without a fight.

Only Cao Guoqi of Fenyi Zhi County didn't think so, he said to Tian Younian: "Lord Fuzun, I see something strange, anti-thieves coerce the people up the mountain, and the terrain of Mingyue Mountain is very steep, although we have a large army, but it is not easy to attack no matter how many people there are!" ”

Tian Younian laughed and said: "Cao Guoqi, you are too worried, according to this mansion, this Mo Wen Xiao'er was obviously frightened by my army, and now he must be huddled in the mountains waiting to die!" ”

"Hahahaha~~~" Tian Younian's words caused everyone to laugh.

Cao Guoqi couldn't help but have a bad premonition in his heart when he saw Tian Younian and other officers and soldiers underestimating the enemy so lightly.

He sighed and said, "I'm afraid this time there will be more luck and less luck!" ”

Although Cao Guoqi is only a small Fenyi county order, his brain is much more sober than Tian Younian.

Along the way, he found that all the rice in the fields had been harvested, and the people's homes were empty, and there were no pots and pans left for eating.

In addition, the anti-thief Mo Wen not only ran away, but also took the people up the mountain, which clearly showed that he was going to fight an offensive and defensive battle with the official army.

In the past, the rogues were all shot in the east and one in the west, and after robbing this town, they went to rob the next town after resting, and they were crazy among the people, and the officials and soldiers couldn't find anyone if they wanted to beat them.

But this Mo Wen did the opposite, and actually set up camp on Mingyue Mountain, which is already different from ordinary rogues.

But Cao Guoqi's exhortation did not help.

Tian Younian confidently commanded the army to advance, and at two o'clock, the army arrived at the foot of Mingyue Mountain.

Tian Younian rode a horse and looked at the mountain from afar, only to see that the mountain was full of flags and crowds.

"The thieves are on the mountain, soldiers, line up, ready to attack!"

Tian Younian immediately ordered the officers and soldiers to attack.

The candidate in charge of this attack has already been decided, Deng Zhiping, the Qianhu of the Pingxiang Guard, is the main general, and Qian Dayou, the lieutenant of Fenyi County, is the vanguard.

The two of them each led 1,000 troops to be responsible for the attack, and the remaining 500 Xiangyong were personally led by Tian Younian, as a reserve force, ready to support the two roads at any time.

The first to fight was a thousand township warriors led by Qian Dayong, the lieutenant of Fenyi County, who was responsible for taking the lead.

Qian Dayou took the youngest and strongest 300 people in the team as the vanguard of this mountain attack, and all of them were equipped with shields and long knives.

The next 700 people were divided into the second and third echelons, and once the first echelon was physically exhausted, the teams of the second and third echelons would take turns to attack the mountain.

In order to stimulate the courage of the officers and soldiers to fight, Tian Younian shouted to the officers and soldiers before attacking the mountain: "Soldiers, this government does not talk nonsense, this time to suppress thieves, kill one thief, reward one or two silver, kill two thieves, and reward three acres of land!" Those who kill ten thieves are flag officers! ”

The villagers were originally quite unhappy about coming to attack the peasant army, but when they heard that there was a reward for silver and an official seal, they suddenly surged.

"Brothers, defend Yuanzhou, exterminate the traitors, and kill me!"

Qian Dayou pointed at the long knife in his hand, and the three hundred people rushed up with a roar.

In front of the silver and the land official position, the courage of these three hundred people was instantly aroused.

The three hundred men quickly rushed forward two hundred paces, and at once they rushed to the foot of the mountain.

When I looked up, I saw that there was a fence set up by the thieves just a dozen feet above my head.

"Brothers, rush!"

Three hundred men mustered up their courage and raised their shields and rushed upward.

Soon, a dozen or so people at the forefront rushed to the location of the fence.

As soon as he looked up, he noticed that the stones above his head were raining down on top of his head.

In an instant, the front troops of the team were defeated by Shi Yu.

Seven or eight unlucky people were stoned on their heads and killed on the spot.

When the villager Yong in the back saw that the peasant army was actually playing tricks, he couldn't help but be extremely angry, and continued to rush up with the shield in his hand.

Now in their eyes, the thieves on the mountain are not people at all, but a group of white silver and acres of fertile land.

If there are many thieves killed, you can still be an official.

Being an official, this is something that many people dream of.

After the assault of the first platoon was repulsed, the men of the second platoon immediately stepped on.

This time, the villagers learned to be smart, and when people didn't come to the fence, they didn't show their heads when they were killed.

Soon their methods worked, and it was not long before the peasant army at the first pass could not hold it, and three of them suffered stab wounds of varying severity.

Mo Qian stood not far away and watched the 'vicious battle' at the bottom of the mountain, and said to Lu Zhao beside him: "Call the brothers of the first pass to withdraw up, and let's fight with the official army at the second pass!" ”

"Yes!"

Soon the order was delivered, and the twenty men who were in charge of guarding the first pass immediately retreated behind the second pass, and the three wounded brothers were also dragged down for treatment.

When the villagers saw that the first pass was captured so easily, their morale was immediately high, and they rushed up directly without a brainless rush, regardless of whether there was an order from behind.

At this time, Tian Younian, who was at the foot of the mountain, also received the news of the victory of the troops in front.

Qian Dayou reported that the first pass set up by the thieves was successfully captured.

When Tian Younian heard the joy, he patted his legs and praised: "Okay, it's a beautiful fight, pass the order, rush up for me, and wipe out all the thieves before dinner!"

When they came to the second pass, the villagers couldn't help but be stunned.

The second pass is steeper than the first, and only three people can pass side by side on the road.

However, at this time, the military order of the rear prefect had already arrived, requiring the offensive to continue.

The villagers can't attack at this time, and there are hundreds of large troops behind them, and they can't retreat if they want to, so they can only rush up without brains.

However, this attack was much more difficult than the first one, because it was so steep that the officers and soldiers could not even touch the face of the anti-thief, and they were smashed by the stones thrown from above.

Finally rushed to the pass, trying to fight the thief closely, but he didn't want to rush up, only to find that the thief suddenly took out a bamboo pole three times longer than their weapon and stabbed it.

For a while, the officers and soldiers suffered heavy casualties, and after the vanguard attacked a pillar of incense, not only did they not touch the pass of the officers and soldiers, but also left behind more than 80 corpses.

This can be a big blow to morale, the villagers suddenly feel that the silver and Tian are not fragrant, looking at those sparse heads that were smashed by stones, they still feel that life is the most important.

The attack was frustrated, and Qian Dayou, who was responsible for commanding the attack on the mountain, was also anxious.

He personally took out the long knife on his waist and shouted: "Don't mess up, don't mess up, come here, rush with me!" ”

Qian Dayou personally took the lead in the charge, and only then did he pick up some of the morale that had been knocked out by the peasant army just now.

Although Qian Dayou is a small county lieutenant, he has been practicing martial arts since he was a child, and he is a northerner, and he is taller than the southerners.

Qian Dayong used his skills to dodge the stones thrown from the mountain continuously, and soon entered the second pass.

With a single slash from left to right, the peasant army was killed and wounded seven people in an instant.

When the remaining dozen or so people saw that there were such powerful people in the official army, they were instantly frightened and fled to the mountain.

Qian Dayou didn't chase the fleeing peasant army, but pointed to the top of the mountain and said, "Brothers, rush!" ”