In the early morning of the fourth day, Lingshikou Pass (later Shiyitang Town).

Autumn is strong, and the north wind is bleak.

1,400 cavalry, two pikemen, gunners, artillerymen, and nearly 4,000 men and horses stood in front of the gate.

And Li Zhanchun was going to take four hundred horsemen as a pioneer this time to go out to explore the road first.

"Black Harrier"

Long 13 looked at Li Zhanchun, who was only nineteen years old like himself, and said.

"After you go out, you go along the Fen River all the way to the north, if you encounter a large force of enemy troops, don't pay attention to it, on the one hand, you will tell me, and on the other hand, you will retreat to the east and retreat to the western foot of Mianshan Mountain."

"If you encounter a small group of enemy troops, you can annihilate them on the spot, don't forget, you are confusing the enemy this way, and you can only reach Qingyuan County as far as possible."

(Qingyuan County, later Qingxu County)

"Why is that?"

"Qingyuan County is close to Taiyuan, and the enemy troops in Taiyuan City must be fully aware of the news of your group at that time, and they have already prepared, and most of them have also informed Zhenwuwei and Shanxi Town, if there is no enemy obstruction on the way, after arriving near Qingyuan County, they will go directly to the east and move towards Taigu County."

After Li Zhanchun left, Long 13 led a large group of men and horses to the east at the northern foot of Taiyue Mountain between Lingshi County and Jiexiu County.

He was going to drive dozens of miles to the east, and then stick to the Mianshan Mountain to the north, until he reached Qi County.

Jiexiu County.

Cao Wenzhao, the third, watched with a complicated expression as Li Zhanchun's four hundred horsemen rode north from the west side of the city, and in the end, his eyes seemed to be about to erupt into flames, and they also seemed to bulge out, which looked very terrifying.

However, after a cold wind blew, he calmed down.

"There are hundreds of thieves, but there are only more than 100 horses in our department at the moment, and this group of thieves is very powerful in both walking and riding, and even the firearms are in good shape, so we can't ignore them."

In the middle of the morning, his nephew Cao Bianjiao also came up.

"Uncle......

"Are there more thieves than these soldiers?"

"Yes, the secret agents we have arranged near Lingshikou Pass have found out that the thieves still have at least three thousand steps to ride east at the northern foot of Taiyue Mountain."

"Where's the dragon?"

"I've seen his banner."

Cao Wenzhao nodded, "Then I'll act according to the plan."

......

The Xiaoqiang brigade arrived at Mianshan Town, an important town in the south of Jiexiu County.

Since the thieves entered the Jin Dynasty in a big way, the small forts outside the city have all suffered without exception, and it is good for them to encounter a small strong brigade, if they encounter other battalion leaders or officers and soldiers, it is naturally good to be able to rely on the fortress to defend, and those who can't hold and resist stubbornly will inevitably be slaughtered by the city.

Even if it was "recovered" by the official army, the surviving people in the fort were either beheaded as the remnants of the thieves, or were killed and buried indiscriminately, and as for the good-looking young women and children, they were naturally sold as treasures.

For Long Thirteen, he also admitted that the disaster was caused by the thieves, and the tragedy caused afterwards was that the thieves, the officials and the army were responsible.

Therefore, it is his duty to bring back those who have been taken away.

He is a thief, but he is a different thief, he has to fight against the government, and he has to "be a thief and be a little strong", and it is not easy to take every step.

In the end, it is very likely to end up with the hatred of the government and the jealousy of the thieves.

But he didn't hesitate.

He once occupied Jiexiu County and absorbed a lot of Dingkou in the county, but when he left, out-of-town forts like Mianshan Town had been scourged by the officials and soldiers, and only ruins remained......

Looking at Mianshan Town, where there were traces of smoke and fire, Long Thirteen was sighing for a while, when some people suddenly came out of it.

I saw that those people were old and young, men and women, about more than ten people, and they all knelt down with a bang after seeing Long Thirteen and his party.

"The king will save me......

"What's going on?"

"King, we were originally from Mianshan Town, and when the king first came to Jiexiu County, we also received money and food from the king, but we waited for the king

After the king left, the money and grain were snatched away by Zhang Yingchang, and all the accounts that got the money and grain were also labeled as thieves."

"However, Zhang Yingchang did not further harm us, but only asked me to chop wood, carry water, carry dung, feed horses, wash and cook for his army, etc., then after the arrival of King Cao Yan, it will be different, he not only completely included us in the family of thieves, but also registered the register, and the court classified us as 'eternal slaves'."

"We confiscated all our land and distributed it to his soldiers, and we cultivated it for his soldiers, and he reported to the court that it was 'Tuntian', and I waited for these families to run away before the officials and soldiers came, and waited for the officials and soldiers to leave before they returned, but the fields were gone, and the homes were burned, so I had to survive in this ruined fort."

It was an old man of about ten years of age, with a ravine-covered face, gray hair, trembling, and an old appearance, and looking at the others, all of them were ragged and thin.

Long Thirteen sighed, "Okay, I didn't bring any food this time, only dry food, foal, give each of them a copy of the extra dry food from the guards."

This portion of the fried corn was sent to these people one by one, and then he said, "You wait here, and I will bring you when my army returns."

"Great king," said the old man, "I know that we and other old and weak women and children are not of good use and cannot help the rebels, but there are still three or four young men, bring them, they can help set up camp, carry water, collect firewood, etc., and be somewhat useful."

Long Thirteen was about to refuse, but he thought, "There are probably a lot of forts or villages like this along the way, and it wouldn't be good if they all refused, even if they have this heart, they won't be able to eat much food."

So, he picked two young men who looked good and brought them with them.

That night, the brigade stayed overnight in Qinglong Town (later Qinglong Village) in the south of Pingyao County, and hundreds of people followed them along the way.

After setting up a large camp in the ruins of Qinglong Town, Long Thirteen was sitting in his big tent and meditating - since he came to the late Ming world, he had developed the habit of practicing martial arts for an hour before meals and continuing to practice martial arts for half an hour after meals.

Then go over the daytime and recent events in your head before going to bed in case anything slips through.

After that, he will fall to sleep.

"The Great Master......

Just as he was thinking about what the enemy would do to his army, Long Xiaoshi's soft call came from outside the tent.

"Little Stone? What's the matter at such a late hour?"

"Big boss, there is one thing that I feel more and more inappropriate......

"Come in"

Long Thirteen's tent was covered with a thick carpet, and both of them sat cross-legged on it.

"Big boss, I think things are very strange."

"You're talking about the people who came with me?"

Long Xiaoshi was shocked, "Big Master, you already knew?"

Long Thirteen nodded, "It's all an old fort, usually there are either the remnants of thieves, or the patrolling officers and soldiers appear, where will there be scattered households here?" Even if there is, it is in a hiding place on the mountain, not under the mountain, and even if you are bold enough to come down, how can you find food with these people?" qδ.o

"Why is the big boss ......?"

"Let's not talk about that, let me ask you, what do you think they are all about?"

"Looking at the appearance of these people, they don't look like spies of the official army, but they have followed all the strongest people in their respective teams with us, who will protect them and the old and weak? It seems that the strangeness is in that young man."

Long 13 smiled and said, "I asked Li Zhong to interrogate carefully, and there are also soldiers from the local area, these people are indeed villagers from Jiexiu County and Pingyao County."

"That ......"

"Moreover, those old and weak women and children are indeed their family members."

"That ......"

"Little Stone," Ryujusan continued, "Don't just look at things, these people seem to be fine at first glance, but you don't see it

How few of them have a complete home? There is no family with both parents, no children and daughters, not even most of the young wives."

"Could it be that the officers and soldiers captured and killed?"

"It's possible, but it's most likely not the official army."

"That's ......"

"Xiao Shi, what do you think, these people are all villagers in the countryside, who controls them on weekdays?"

"The leader of the bunk? Squire, elderly?"

"Hehe, what you said is right, but even if these people do, they won't come out now, they must be nested in the mansions in the city, not to mention that these people don't have the ability to force these villagers to do what they want."

"I know", Long Xiaoshi said suddenly, "It must be those Jin merchants, only those Jin merchants, once we raided their homes and killed them, they must have a great hatred for us, and besides, only these Jin merchants can reach the government and meddle in the township."

"Their respective families have people in the government, so they seize the family members of the villagers, release other family members, know the benefits, coerce and induce, and force the villagers to do things for them, naturally in order to give the officials and soldiers a message at all times."

"That's right, that's pretty much what it means."

"Then I'll ...... it."

"Don't worry, I have my own precautions, when it is supermanlike, although it comes from all towns and villages, it will be easy for me to plant a few people here, once they go to report, we can follow the vine and touch the melon."

"And these people from now on?"

"I won't blame them, speaking of which, the rebels hurt them, if it weren't for the rebels coming to Shanxi, although they were in hardship, they wouldn't have reached the point of ruining their families, if this is the case, we can take as much as we can."

In the middle of the night, Long Thirteen was woken up again.

"Big Boss"

"Say it"

"There are three people, one to Fenzhou, all the way to Qi County, Taigu County, and the other to the Longzhouyu Inspection Division!"

Dragon Thirteen nodded, "So I'm right to discuss it before we wait?"

"It should be, there are the most people who go to Fenzhou, obviously this time it is Shanxi Governor Xu Dingchen who presides, and the Longzhouyu Inspection Department naturally reports to the fierce tiger stationed there, as for Qi County and Taigu County, it must be Wang Pu's people."

"And Cao Wenzhao's department, apparently, had already gone north when our department passed through Jiexiu County."

"Well, is there any news of the Black Harrier?"

"Not yet"

"Oh?" , Long Thirteen's eyes couldn't help but become solemn.