On the grassland on the north bank of Qingliu River, more than thirty thieves on horseback were galloping from west to east.
If Xu Wukun hadn't been quick-sighted, jumped off his horse, grabbed the bridle, and forcibly held the horse that Xu Huai was riding, Xu Huai might have charged at the thieves again single-handedly.
Xu Wufu, Xu Zhongyu and others standing on the wall could not help but slap their foreheads when they saw this scene, and they all screamed in their hearts:
Does this fool know what is enough? Why does he have to play in such a thrilling way every time?
If having an iron head was effective, the entire Tongbai Mountain would have been occupied by those thieves who lick blood from their swords and want money rather than their lives.
Of course, Xu Huai's daring to kill and be reckless is not completely ineffective.
In the past twelve or three days, Xu Huai killed seven more enemy thieves.
Ten days have passed since Pan Chenghu led a group of thieves to investigate, and more than 20 Xu clan members were harassed and injured.
Twenty bandit soldiers were also killed.
However, half of the results achieved by the Xu family were killed by Xu Huai alone.
Sometimes I have to admit that such a brave and reckless fool can still play some role at critical moments. At least a small group of thieves no longer dare to run out of Shangliu Village alone.
Pan Chenghu's band of thieves only had fifty or sixty horsemen. By this time, he had lost a dozen of his cavalry. Most of the remaining ones were now attracted to the north bank of the Qingliu River. The Lutai villages were all on the south bank of the Qingliu River.
And near the middle peak of Yuhuang Ridge, the impact on life and production has been reduced; the construction of Xinzhai on the east slope of Shituoling has never stopped from beginning to end.
Xu Huai was on horseback, pretending to fight with Xu Wukun for a while, but he saw the thief riding a horse slowing down three hundred steps away. He first divided a small team to seize the hilly land to the north, and sighed to Xu Wukun: "Now the thief soldiers have really learned their lesson.
, and I wasn’t fooled.”
Xu Huai and Xu Wukun pretended to be fighting, mainly because they wanted to lure the thieves to rush out of the narrow valley between Qiudi and Qingliu River to surround and kill them.
Not to mention that the terrain of the valley is narrow, there are rugged rocks on the shore, and the beach is mostly soft mud that is difficult to walk on. The thieves are not familiar with the terrain. If they rush to grab that valley, the front line formation will definitely be pulled apart. Xu Huai
They will have the opportunity to launch a counterattack, kill two or three thieves and then retreat calmly.
But he didn't expect that the bandits had been entangled with them on both sides of Qingliu River for eight or nine days, and after losing several good players in his hands, he also learned to be shrewd.
There were only five people on their side. The two small teams of cavalry led by Zhou Jing and Xu Chen were on the south bank of Qingliu River at this time. They were unable to wade over for a while. With this good opportunity, the cavalry were no longer in a hurry to surround them.
Xu Huai was helpless when he came to kill him.
"Pan Chenghu has been able to gain a foothold in Xiema Mountain for all these years, and the major clans around him have been unable to do anything to him. How could he and his subordinates be idiots? There is no way he will fall into your trap again and again." Xu Wukun gestured and pulled two horses.
He walked towards the east with his bridle, and from time to time he used the corner of his eye to observe the reaction of the thief rider.
Xu Wukun dragged Xu Huai to the east and retreated from Yijidian. After meeting with Xu Wuliang and others, he mounted his horse again.
This is a shoal of the Qingliu River. They can retreat to the south bank of the Qingliu River at any time.
However, after the thief cavalry took control of the hillock on the north side, they did not approach quickly again. The dozen riders parked on the hillock kept looking towards the northwest.
The view of Xu Huai and others was blocked, but the sentries set up by Beizhai and Xinzhai on the north bank of Shituoling all signaled that a group of people was approaching from the north. Xu Huai, Xu Wuliang, Xu Wukun and others did not know who was coming, so they
First retreat to the south bank of Qingliu River.
At this moment, their field of vision was wider, but they saw a group of people coming out from behind the wild persimmon forest in the north. There were about a hundred people, and in the front were more than 20 horsemen.
From such a distance, it was difficult to see clearly the faces of the people and the flags carried by the horse and infantry, but from the clothes of the people and horses, it was obvious that the soldiers of the Inspection Department came out in full force.
Lutai Village is only twenty miles away from the Huaiyuan Inspection Department. Pan Chenghu occupied Shangliu Village and harassed Yuhuang Ridge for more than ten days. Deng Gui had not moved earlier and later, but at this time he led the soldiers of the Inspection Department.
Come over here?
Did he rush over to reinforce Lutai Village to fight against the bandits? Or did he think that both sides were losing and he had a chance to take advantage of it?
Seeing reinforcements coming from the Inspection Department, the thieves did not dare to stay in the wild on the north bank of Qingliu River.
The Inspection Department has only a hundred soldiers, but as the only official military organization in Tongbai Mountain, it can invite rural soldiers to encircle and suppress bandits in times of emergency.
Moreover, Pan Chenghu led a group of thieves to harass Yuhuangling for more than ten days. Who knows what conditions the inspection department has negotiated with Jin, Tang and other large clans under the instructions of the prefecture and county? Who knows whether there will be a larger scale in the future?
Are the country soldiers gathering?
No matter how courageous Pan Chenghu was, he would not dare to swim down the north bank of Qingliu River at this time. Dozens of thieves hurriedly gathered in the direction of Shangliu Village.
Xu Huai, Xu Wukun, and Xu Wuliang did not leave in a hurry. They stopped on a high ground on the side of Qingliu River. Soon they saw twenty horsemen led by Tang Tiande, surrounding Deng Gui and another man.
A middle-aged man wearing a ninth-grade new green military robe walked to the Qingliu River Bridge.
He was far away and couldn't see the person's face clearly.
Liu Qiong'er, carrying her skirt and accompanied by Xu Xiaohuan, hurried over from the north bank of Shituo Ridge.
There were no extra war horses in Shituoling Xinzhai. Xu Xiaohuan sat on the back of his father Xu Wuliang's horse. Xu Huai stretched out his hand and pulled Liu Qiong'er in front of him to share the saddle.
"So fast!" Liu Qiong'er said with a gloomy face.
Xu Huai spied on Chen Tong's secret message to Deng Gui, and had long known that Zheng Hui and others would arrange a new inspector to replace Deng Gui, thus putting Wang Xun's fate completely under their control.
Although Xu Wujiang had mentioned the possibility of Wang Zhen's comeback in front of the soldiers for more than a month, he only used this to keep everyone's spirits up and did not take any more actions.
In fact, everyone knows in their hearts that the power behind the assassins is too great and too persistent. Wang Zhen's death, the assassins' successful withdrawal, and the restoration of Tongbai Mountain's former peace are the best choices for everyone.
And Wang Zhen died in Huaiyuan, and Privy Councilor Cai Zheng arranged for a scapegoat to bear everything. When the time comes, the government and the public will be disturbed, and in comparison, Xu Wujiang's surrender to the bandits will become insignificant.
Perhaps the state and county will not take the initiative to mention this matter from now on.
Why did you mention it?
Just treat people like Xu Wujiang as newly emerged bandits occupying Xiema Mountain.
If you can suppress it, suppress it; if you cannot suppress it...
There are so many recalcitrant bandits in Tongbai Mountain, and one more bandit will not turn the tide.
Xu Huai didn't say anything. He saw the gate of Beizhai slowly opening, and Xu Wufu, accompanied by Xu Wuqi, Xu Zhongyu, Zhou Jing and others, went to Qingliu River Bridge to greet him.
Obviously, Xu Wufu was also looking forward to the arrival of the new inspection envoy, hoping that Wang Zhen's head would be missing, so that Tongbai Mountain could return to its former peace.
"Let's go back!" Xu Huai said with waning interest, as if the outcome was already decided and he didn't want to struggle anymore.
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"These short-sighted guys probably thought that Guo Caoling would succeed Deng Gui as the inspector and Wang Xun would be killed in the Huaiyuan military camp, and everything would return to peace!"
Zheng Hui and others were hiding in the wild bushes. From a high position, they could clearly see the situation around the Qingliu River Bridge. Seeing Xu Wufu coming out of the stronghold to greet Deng Gui and Guo Caoling so neatly, they couldn't help laughing contemptuously.
"What should we do next?" Dong Qifeng asked.
"Deng Gui is so cooperative with us, of course we can earn some military merit for him before leaving!" Zheng Hui said with a smile.
"Why are there such extraneous matters?" Chen Zixiao asked curiously.
"If you don't defeat Pan Chenghu's group, if you, Mr. Chen, bring them into Hutou Village, won't you be afraid that Pan Chenghu will play the trick of occupying the magpie's nest in the future?" Zheng Hui asked.
Chen Zixiao slapped his forehead and said that he was stupid and didn't think so deeply.
Seeing Chen Zixiao like this, Zheng Hui was quite proud. He thought it was best to control such a person, so he patiently explained to him:
"In the past month, Hutou Village has secretly recruited more than 400 people, but nearly half of them are novices. If Pan Chenghu is directly invited to lead 300 thieves to join Hutou Village, even if Pan Chenghu is willing to submit to you, we will
I can completely rest assured that Pan Chenghu’s strength is still there, and you can’t be the only one to obey him! In any case, the worse Pan Chenghu is beaten, the more grateful he is to Hutou Village for taking him in, and at the same time, the easier it is to control him..."
"That's true. Sir, you can see through people's hearts." Chen Zixiao praised.
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The new inspection envoys have arrived at the Huaiyuan military camp, and they can officially hand over the order after Cheng Lunying, the magistrate of Biyang County, confirms the transfer order in the name of the Military Supervisor. This time, Deng Gui, on the eve of the handover, finally led his soldiers into the military camp.
The bandits were suppressed in Tongbai Mountain, and everyone still gave them a lot of face.
For three consecutive days, Jin, Tang, Qian and other families successively sent thirty or fifty soldiers from the village to help out. Together with the military soldiers from the army village, nearly 400 people were soon gathered at the camp on the north side of Qingliu River Bridge.
Deng Gui has no new transfer orders yet. He has made up his mind that even if he waits for a period of time, it will be better than continuing to get involved in this dangerous quagmire.
These were the last few days of his tenure as the inspection envoy in Huaiyuan, so he no longer needed to care about the face of the local clan gentry, let alone feel sympathy for his soldiers who mainly came from major clans.
When the troops and horses were gathered, he drove towards Shangliu Village and pressed forward.
Whoever dared to neglect or delay, Deng Gui would serve him with a stick without hesitation, and even killed two rural soldiers who disobeyed the order in front of the formation.
After being a sick cat for more than two years, I will be leaving in a few days, and it’s time to show off my power.
Whoever stops him from taking away the last military merit should not blame him for turning his back on others.
That is to say, fighting on the Xu family's territory requires the Xu family to provide a lot of supplies of soldiers and horses as well as the equipment to storm Liu Village, and the Xu family is also outnumbered here, so Deng Gui was a little more polite to the Xu family and did not dare to drive them away.
Soldiers from the Xu clan.
Pan Chenghu was dumbfounded by the scene in front of him, and felt extremely regretful.
The reason why he dared to stay in Shangliu Village before was that he expected that the inspection department's hundreds of soldiers would not be afraid, and none of the major clans would use their own soldiers to fight them head-on.
The Xu family was the most threatened by them, and the two sides struggled for more than ten days on both sides of the Qingliu River with so few casualties. The main reason was that the reckless man suffered the most losses, which was enough to prove that his judgment was correct.
Shangliu Village is not dangerous, and the walls are thin, but there are many villages on the left and right, so it is convenient to get food. More importantly, Pan Chenghu knows that the more critical the situation, the less he can rush.
Running around in a hurry, not only the major clans will not let him go easily, but also people's hearts are broken and the thieves disperse. How much capital will he have left to make a comeback?
He expected everything, but he didn't expect that Deng Gui would be transferred at this juncture, and that when Deng Gui was about to leave, he would gather his soldiers Xiang Yong to fight to the death with him...
