Metasequoia City Guard Ma Mu is standing on Tianquan Street at this time, laboriously directing the baggage carriages to and from the city.

At this moment, the whole Metasequoia City was fully mobilized, and the various merchants seemed to be going to do some big business, and everything that could be used for war was poured out of the warehouses like flowing water, loaded and shipped; Ordinary people contributed to the work and took the initiative to help the defenders carry supplies.

In the ghost desert of Western Xinjiang, horse bandits are undoubtedly the biggest public enemy.

And a horse bandit regiment like the Ghost League can destroy the city and destroy the village at every turn, and everyone hates it.

As long as they can resist the invasion of the Ghost Alliance and keep their homes peaceful, people will not hesitate to pay no matter what the price.

Ma Mu stood on the street for a long time, and was already tired and sweating, when he suddenly saw Li Jiangyao hurrying towards him with a few officers from a distance, and couldn't help but hurriedly greet him: "Captain, are the horse bandits coming?" ”

Li Jiangyao waved his hand: "Not yet!" I've just sent out scouts to guard all directions outside the city, and if the Ghost Alliance horse bandits come, I'll know in advance. ”

As he spoke, he stretched out his hand and pulled Ma Mu to a secluded place on the side of the road, and said in a low voice, "Have you had any fresh faces entering the city recently?" ”

"Fresh faces?" Ma Mu was confused by his question: "Metasequoia City is an important trade town, from Middle-earth in the east to Persia in the west, and it is estimated that there are thousands of merchants coming and going here every day, and the fresh face you are talking about ......"

Li Jiangyao secretly scolded himself for being confused, and quickly changed his statement: "Is there a caravan with a Che Chi accent, the kind whose behavior is slightly suspicious?" ”

Ma Mu was still a little embarrassed: "It's too much, I haven't paid much attention to it." ”

Time was pressing, Li Jiang hurriedly grabbed Ma Mu's collar: "Are there people from the official city bureau here, will they pay attention?" ”

Ma Mu was a little flustered by his appearance: "Yes, yes, Qiao Xi, the trade official of the official and municipal bureau, is specially responsible for registering caravan information and random checking of prohibited goods. He probably knows something! Your Excellency, let go, and I'll send someone to call him at once!" ”

In less than a meal, the defenders led a shrewd and capable Shengtang official who looked to be in his thirties. The official intervened when he was far away: "Lord Captain, the lowly position is Qiao Xi, the official of the official and municipal bureau stationed in Metasequoia. ”

Li Jiangyao nodded in return, and then asked Qiao Xi about the question just now. Qiao Xi listened carefully, and frowned slightly: "These days...... Well, there seem to be two groups of caravans that have entered the city in the past few days, and the number of people is about forty or fifty. One of them is a silk merchant from Liangzhou, and I know their handles, which are considered old acquaintances. The other came from Persia, where they sold mainly Persian carpets and silverware, but they were all new faces. ”

He groaned slightly, and then added: "Moreover, their behavior is indeed somewhat unusual. ”

Li Jiangyao: "What's an unusual method?" ”

Qiao Xi: "Hmm...... If it were in normal times, it wouldn't be too much of a problem. In the past, all caravans from Persia usually stayed at the Hu merchant inn next to the market. If you are a little more particular, just take a few more steps and choose the Persian guild hall not far from there. Because these two places are all business trips between Persia and Middle-earth, it is convenient for everyone to make friends and make friends on the same road, so they all live there. But what about the group of people I am talking about, after settling the carriage and horses in the market, they went straight to the Shahai Inn, which was three blocks away, and it was not too far. ”

Hearing this, Li Jiangyao smiled faintly: "If I'm not mistaken, that Shahai Inn should be very close to a certain city gate in Metasequoia City." ”

Ma Mu answered on the side: "That's right, next to the Shahai Inn, is the north gate of Metasequoia." ”

Li Jiangyao's eyes showed a grim gleam: "I dare to conclude that these businessmen, Bacheng are the spies of the Ghost Alliance." However, in order not to let go of a bad person, and not to wronged a good person, I still need to go and find out for myself. Lin Feng, you go back and continue to command the city's defenses, and be prepared for the other party's possible use of siege weapons; Lao Du, you take two hundred brothers, wearing only light leather armor, knives and axes and crossbows for close combat, and secretly arrive at the Shahai Inn, waiting for my orders. Lord Ma Mu, please command the garrison of Metasequoia City, help us clean up the streets near the north gate, and keep a close eye on the intersections! ”

Ma Mu was a little worried: "My lord, will it be too dangerous for you to go in person?" Or ......"

Lin Feng tugged at Ma Mu's sleeve: "Don't say more, we are Pegasus scouts, Lord Captain, this is a mistake, no one can stop it." ”

As soon as the sky was dark, the scouts who had been outside to investigate the enemy's situation reported that they had found traces of a large number of horse bandits ten miles outside the city. Those bandits did not stop, and were heading straight in the direction of Metasequoia City, with a scale of nearly tens of thousands of people, and they also carried a lot of large weapons for siege of the city.

All of a sudden, the alarm bell at the head of the city rang out, and the nerves of everyone in Metasequoia suddenly tensed.

Lin Feng hurriedly commanded the soldiers of the Zhenjiang Capital Protectorate, as well as the local garrison, so that everyone was in place and ready to face the ghost alliance horse bandits at any time.

And at this time, Li Jiangyao was quietly coming to the roof of the Shahai Inn.

His location is an independent guest house. There is a circle of flat-roofed wing houses built around it, and a relatively spacious courtyard is enclosed in the middle, and the courtyard is set up with grape trellises, which belongs to the typical Western Xinjiang style.

In front of the door of the small courtyard, several big men were guarding and looking at each other with vigilant expressions.

Li Jiangyao crept on the roof, sometimes bent down, listened to all kinds of movements around him, and sometimes suddenly jumped up on the spot, quickly changing his position, agile as a civet cat.

Soon after, he came to the main room of the small courtyard silently.

Li Jiangyao looked around vigilantly, and saw that there was nothing unusual, and then flashed to the side of the roof outside the courtyard, hooked his feet to the eaves, and slowly hung his body upside down.

Through the open window on the wall, Li Jiangyao peeked into the room.

At this time, the sunset had completely set, and it was completely dark outside, and a few oil lamps were lit in the main room of the small courtyard, and the indoor light flickered on and off.

Seven or eight men were sitting together and talking in low voices.

The strong man at the head of the group, with a crimson scar on his face, only heard him speak: "It seems that Ma Mu's rabbit cub is planning to resist." Fortunately, the eldest brother had the foresight to send us into the city one step ahead of schedule. ”

Everyone next to him nodded yes, and one of his subordinates joked: "That's right, as long as we wait until the third watch tonight, we will definitely be able to give that guy who doesn't know whether he is alive or dead a big surprise, hahaha." ”

The scar-faced man raised his hand to silence everyone: "According to the arrangement of the eldest brother, tonight, Chidun, you will take a dozen brothers and set fire to the city separately to disrupt their formations." The rest of the people followed me to take advantage of the situation to take the north gate and welcome the main force outside into the city. If all goes well, we'll have a good time in the middle of the night. ”

When the horse bandits heard what he said, they immediately understood what they meant, and their faces showed evil smiles.

The horse bandit named Chidun asked, "Brother Hai, at noon, a team from the Metropolitan Protectorate entered Metasequoia City, shouldn't it be a bad thing?" ”

The scar-faced man shook his head disdainfully: "It's okay, at most, it's just a dish for us." The small town and the territory are all guards, and they can't get into my eyes to come to the sea! Let's take Metasequoia City tonight, and then retake the car with the eldest brother in the future, and protect the mansion with any bullshit, it's all okay! ”

A horse bandit next to him hurriedly touted: "That's it, Brother Hai is a first-class master of our ghost desert in Western Xinjiang, and it is absolutely trivial to clean up a few Tang Man." ”

Hearing this, Chidun didn't say anything more, and discussed tonight's actions carefully with Laihai and other companions, unaware that someone outside the house had heard all this clearly.

Li Jiangyao, who changed into an armored uniform, Shi Shiran walked to the east of Metasequoia City, Lin Feng saw him, and hurriedly ran over to report to him the latest situation of the ghost alliance horse bandits outside the city.

Li Jiangyao looked calm: "How is it?" Nothing happens, right? ”

Lin Feng nodded: "Boss, after the horse bandits arrived here just now, they only set up a formation outside the east gate, but there was no trace of the enemy at the other three gates. They came running and scolding, and I put down a few of them with bows and arrows, so they became angry and launched two attacks on the city in succession. However, the scale is not too large, and it is still mainly tentative. Fortunately, you told us in advance to prepare for the siege weapons, so I arranged a large number of stones and fire oil at every fifty paces of the city wall. Chief, look over there, one of the carts that the bandits wanted to use to ram the city gate fell into the pit we had dug a long time ago, and was smashed and burned by the oil jar. ”

At this time, Li Jiangyao had already overheard the plan of the ghost alliance horse bandits from Laihai, and knew that the other party was now deliberately feint to show weakness, so as to paralyze the defenders, and wait until the third watch tonight, they will send the main force to launch a real onslaught on Metasequoia City with the cooperation of the spies in the city.

Looking at the city truck that was burned into black charcoal in the distance, a thought suddenly popped up in Li Jiangyao's head, and he turned to Ma Mu next to him and said, "When I came over just now, I saw a lot of big bluestones in the North Gate Stone Yard, right?" ”

Ma Mu said: "Yes, it is used in the city to prepare for the expansion of the Flower God Temple. ”

Li Jiangyao smiled: "Since it hasn't been expanded yet, then borrow it from me first." ”

"How do you use it?" Ma Mu was stunned for a moment: "Lord Lieutenant is not planning to throw them out and smash the horse bandits, right?" ”

Li Jiangyao: "Throw it out?" Even if you're not afraid of waste, I'm tired. Go and get some helpers, and pile up the stones in the openings of the gates, and stuff them tightly. ”

Ma Mu couldn't help but be a little stunned: "You want to block the city gates?!" ”

Li Jiangyao bowed slightly: "Don't worry, I just need you to block the door on the east side, and don't worry about the other three sides." ”

Ma Mu thought about it for a while, and felt that if it was just to block the east gate, it would not be a big deal. He was about to turn around and arrange manpower, but Li Jiangyao shouted him again: "Have you heard of this person who came to the sea?" ”

Ma Mu said in a deep voice: "Of course I have heard of it. He is Gelhan's own brother and is nicknamed Scar. This guy is cruel by nature, his hands are stained with the blood of people of all ethnic groups, and one of my distant nieces was destroyed in his hands in the first place. Alas, it's just that Laihai's martial arts are extremely high, and no one has been able to help him...... What do you ask him for? ”

Li Jiangyao did not answer positively: "Have you ever seen Laihai?" ”

"I've dealt with Che Chi's court before," Ma Mu shook his head, "This demon is not a good thing before or after he defected. This time to attack Metasequoia, he must be indispensable. If the horse bandits succeed, the people of the city will suffer. ”

Li Jiangyao heard the words slightly: "Later, I'll catch a live Laihai and give it to you, how about it?" ”