In recent times, barbarians have often appeared around the county. In order to expel the barbarians who invaded the county, Wang Xun is now recruiting people. The arrival of Liu Yan and his group has just alleviated his shortage of manpower. How can you let Liu Yan go?
After listening to the introduction by the county magistrate Wang Xiang, Liu Xiu asked curiously: "Master Wang, are there many barbarians around the county?"
Wang Xiang nodded, shook his head, and said with a wry smile: "The number of barbarians is not large, but they appear mysteriously and appear from time to time to harass the people. The surrounding areas of the county are now unsafe. For this reason, the prefect is now also I’m so worried.”
Liu Xiu nodded and said: "Master Wang, we will stay in Xunyang tonight and go to the county town early tomorrow morning. We hope that Master Wang can help us arrange the inn."
The rebels entered Yizhou to help them fight the barbarians. Naturally, Wang Xiang would not make it difficult for Liu Xiu and immediately sent someone to take Liu Xiu and others to the inn.
There was no talk all night, and the weather was calm. After a night's rest, Liu Xiu felt much better, not as tired as yesterday. But what worried him was that Long Yuan didn't arrive in Xunyang all night.
Just when Liu Xiu was in a state of confusion, Li Tong ran into his room excitedly and said loudly: "Uncle Wen, Uncle Zhong is back!"
Liu Xiu immediately stood up and walked out quickly. When he saw Long Yuan, Liu Xiu took a closer look, as if he was seeing a native.
Long Yuan's head was covered with dust, and his cheeks were streaked with white streaks of sweat. He stepped forward and asked, "Uncle Zhong, what happened on the road?"
After receiving the water bag handed over by Li Tong, Long Yuan took a sip of water and then said: "Uncle Wen, there was no accident on the way. I found the hiding place of Manzi."
As he spoke, he took another sip of water and continued: "Those barbarians have all fled to Ganyou Mountain. There are still more barbarians hiding in the mountains. I estimate that there should be no less than five hundred people."
Hearing this, everyone present was shocked. There were no less than five hundred people? What were so many barbarians doing hiding in Ganyou Mountain?
Ganyou Mountain is located sixty miles northwest of Xunyang. The distance from Qianyou Mountain to Xunyang is about the same as to the county town.
Li Tong rolled his eyes and thought, "Didn't Mr. Wang say that barbarians often appear near the county town? Could it be this group of barbarians hiding in Ganyou Mountain?"
Liu Xiu nodded thoughtfully, it is possible!
He asked: "Uncle Zhong, are you sure that the barbarian army in Qianyou Mountain is five hundred people?" If it is five hundred people, with the one thousand people in the eldest brother's group, plus the local army in the county, it is capable of generals. This barbarian army was wiped out in one fell swoop.
Long Yuan shook his head solemnly and said: "The place where the barbarian army was hiding was heavily guarded. I was discovered while sneaking deep into the depths. In desperation, I had no choice but to escape first. A conservative estimate is that the barbarian army's The number of people is upwards of 500, and it may actually be more."
To put it bluntly, Long Yuan couldn't tell the exact number of the barbarian army. In short, the opponent's number would not be less than 500.
Liu Xiu frowned slightly, tapped her forehead lightly, and was silent in thought.
Li Tong murmured: "Qianyou Mountain is neither a strategic location nor a major transportation road passing through it. There is no reason for the barbarian army to ambush heavily in such a wilderness!"
Liu Xiu said quietly: "Perhaps it is because Qianyou Mountain is located in a remote area and can be easily concealed that the barbarian army chose to station there!"
Li Tong frowned and asked: "Uncle Wen, what are the barbarian troops hiding in Qianyou Mountain? What do they want to do?"
Liu Xiu shook his head and said, "The devil knows." He took a deep breath and said, "Let's forget about this matter for now. Let's get ready and set off for the county seat immediately."
After breakfast, Liu Xiu and his party left Xunyang and headed for the county town.
Hanzhong City is the county seat of Hanzhong County and the largest and most prosperous city in the county.
At noon, Liu Xiu and his party finally arrived at Hanzhong City. After asking the local people, Liu Xiu and others easily found the location of the rebel army.
Currently, there is not one rebel army stationed in the county town, but several groups, and Liu Yan's army is one of them, stationed outside the north city of the county town.
Liu Xiu and others went directly to Beicheng to meet Liu Yan.
The area of the camp in the north of the city is not small, but the inside and outside of the camp are in chaos. Several rebel armies are mixed together, and the entire camp looks chaotic.
The rebels don't have military uniforms, and they all dress similar to ordinary people. With so many people stationed here, they need to eat and drink every day. The local people also see the business opportunities and often bring some food and drink to sell. Everyone comes in and out, and no one checks them. , it looks like a military camp, more like a large vegetable market.
Liu Xiu asked Wang Ping to enter the camp first and report to his elder brother.
They waited outside the camp for half an hour before Liu Yan, Zhu Yun and others hurried out of the camp.
Seeing Liu Xiu and his party, Liu Yan quickly stepped forward, pulled Liu Xiu, looked him over first, and asked: "Axiu, I heard that you were attacked by barbarians on the way to the county town, and you were injured. Already?"
Liu Xiu smiled at Liu Yan and said, "Brother, I'm fine. I'm much better now." As he spoke, he patted his chest to show that he was fine.
Seeing this, Liu Yan was relieved a lot. He looked behind Liu Xiu and saw that they had brought all the hijacked women. Liu Yan secretly frowned and asked: "Axiu, you didn't hand them over." The government office of Jing County?"
Liu Xiu whispered: "The county government is short of manpower and cannot send people to send them home. They can only ask us to bring them to the county town, and then the county town will send people to escort them home."
Liu Yan smiled bitterly, shook his head and said, "The county government doesn't have many manpower."
Liu Xiu asked: "Brother, why don't we place them in the military camp first?"
Liu Yan waved his hands repeatedly and said: "There is a mixture of dragons and snakes in the military camp. Letting these women live here is tantamount to harming them. It is better to settle them in the county town."
As he spoke, he called Zhu Yun back and asked Zhu Yun to take them into the city and find the county officials to settle them.
When Zhu Yun led a group of women to the city, Liu Yan led Liu Xiu and others into the camp.
Liu Xiu didn't know what a regular military camp looked like. Anyway, the current camp didn't look like a regular military camp no matter how you looked at it.
People in the military camp were wearing all kinds of clothes, and the rebels and the vendors were mixed together, and it was hard to tell who was who.
After seeing clearly the situation inside the camp, Liu Xiu, Li Tong and others were greatly disappointed.
Liu Yan also saw the disappointment of Liu Xiu and others, and he said helplessly: "The local rebels in Hanzhong all live in the city, but we, the outside rebels, can only live outside the city. This camp was also set up temporarily. , the county government only sent a batch of food and wages, and then no one took care of it. The entire camp was set up by several of our rebels. It is not easy to make it what it is now. .”
After talking all the way, Liu Yan led Liu Xiu and others to his tent.
Liu Yan's tent is located in the center of the camp.
Here, there are a total of four camps of similar sizes. Except for Liu Yan's camp, the other three camps belong to the leaders of the other three rebel armies.
The number of rebels in the entire camp is almost 5,000. Among them, Liu Yan's first division has one thousand people, Zhao Jie and He Tu's two divisions each have less than a thousand people, and the largest number is Feng Yi's first division, with two More than a thousand people.
Feng Yi was from the father city of Yingchuan. He once served as a military officer in Yingchuan County. The military officer in the county was just a minor official with no specific duties. He could stay at home when he had nothing to do, but he had to work for the government when something happened.
Among them, the rebels, Feng Yi's rank is considered to be the highest.
After entering the camp, Liu Yan asked someone to pour several bowls of tea for Liu Xiu and others. He said, "Everyone has worked hard along the way."
Liu Xiu picked up the tea bowl. There were no tea leaves in it, only tea foam. Under the current conditions, it was pretty good to be able to drink tea foam.
He took a sip of tea, then put down the bowl, and said seriously: "Brother, the group of barbarians we encountered on the way to the county town were not simple. After beating them away, I asked Uncle Zhong to follow and investigate, and found that they were doing There are more barbarian soldiers hidden in Youshan, and their number must be upwards of five hundred."
After hearing this, the expressions of Liu Yan and others changed. They had never heard that there was a barbarian army of more than 500 people in Hanzhong. What they had encountered and heard of was more than 100 barbarians. The number of human barbarian soldiers is very small.
Liu Yan looked at Long Yuan and asked: "Uncle Zhong, is the information you investigated accurate?"
Long Yuan nodded and said seriously: "The number of the barbarian army will only be more than five hundred, never less than five hundred."
The combat effectiveness of the barbarian army is stronger than that of the rebel army. With a barbarian army of more than 500 people, they have to mobilize all 5,000 rebels to have a chance to win.
Liu Yan squinted his eyes, pondered for a moment, and said, "This information is very important. I must inform the Captain as soon as possible."
Duwei, also known as county captain, is an official in charge of military affairs in the county government, and his rank is second only to the county prefect.
Liu Xiu nodded. This matter was of great importance, and the county government should indeed be informed as soon as possible so that countermeasures could be taken.
Liu Yan looked around at the people present and said: "Everyone has completed the task very well this time. Let's go back and rest first." As he spoke, he asked people to arrange tent accommodation for Liu Xiu, Long Yuan, Li Tong, Li Yi and others. .
Li Tong, Li Yi and others stood up one after another and said goodbye to Liu Yan. Liu Xiu and Wang Ping sat in their original positions and did not move. If Liu Xiu did not leave, Long Yuan would not leave either.
After everyone left, Liu Yan arranged for two more confidants to guard outside the camp.
Then he looked at Liu Xiu and then spoke to Long Yuan. Seeing Liu Xiu nodding, Liu Yan took a deep look at Long Yuan, withdrew his gaze and asked, "Axiu, how did things go?"
Liu Xiu said: "Brother, according to the map provided by the barbarian soldiers, we found the gold and silver jewelry hidden by the barbarian soldiers in a small cave. It is estimated to be worth millions of dollars."
Liu Yan's eyes flashed and he said in surprise: "There are so many!"
Liu Xiu said: "We have moved the gold and silver jewelry and hid them again." As he spoke, he handed the linen cloth with the map to Liu Yan.
The latter took it and looked at it carefully, but he couldn't quite understand what the painting was. He folded the linen cloth, put it in his arms, and smiled at Liu Xiu: "Axiu, well done! We now have these With this capital, you can do a lot of things in the future!”
Having said this, Liu Yan rolled his eyes and said faintly: "Last time, we only annihilated more than a hundred barbarians and seized a million coins. This time we found more than 500 barbarians in Ganyou Mountain." , the money in their hands is probably far more than one million dollars, right?"
