The leader of the horse thieves was still dreaming of his spring and autumn season, fantasizing that after he arrived in Hedong, there would be a better development, but he was surrounded by officers and soldiers before he saw the Yellow River, and it was a sudden siege, which was simply without warning, so that he had no time to prepare at all, and the whole person was stupid.

When he reacted, he heard the foal and the fat man shouting to surrender, which shocked him, it turned out to be an inner ghost, no wonder he was suddenly surrounded.

"Chief, they are all surrounded, don't hurry up and surrender, surrender to avoid death."

"Brothers, more than 100 of us have surrendered, don't resist, surrender quickly!"

The foal and the fat man shouted to surrender.

Before the leader of the horse thieves spoke, the tired horse thieves around him all put down their weapons, no one is a fool, everyone can see that if they don't surrender, it is a dead end, in this case, there is only one way to go.

"You ......"

The leader of the horse thieves was surprised, he also dismounted and surrendered, he is also a cowardly man, he does not want to die, and he wants to live a few more years?

"Everybody listen, put your hands up, line up and go forward, hurry."

A lieutenant ordered.

The last hundred or so horse thieves were easily captured, and none of them could escape, and all of them became prisoners of officers and soldiers.

At this point, even if the plan to exterminate the horse thieves in Xiazhou is completed, it can be said that it is still quite perfect.

As the leader of the horse thieves, he naturally had to take special care of him, and the other horse thieves were all locked up and rested, and only the leader of the horse thieves was escorted over.

The leader of the horse thieves, who is usually powerful, can only kneel down and reply honestly at this moment, looking quite down.

"How can the great chief be kept on his knees? Get up and speak! ”

Li An said with a smile, and motioned to his subordinates to let the leader of the horse thieves get up.

"I want to die, or I want to live!"

Ang Lee asked.

"I want to live, of course I want to live."

The leader of the horse thieves said.

Li An nodded and said, "That's good, then I'll give you a chance to make meritorious contributions, you have to grasp it!" As long as you can make meritorious contributions, you can not only save your life, but also reduce your punishment. ”

"Yes, so willing."

The leader of the horse thieves said happily.

"Come, take a look, who sent these letters to you, and do you still have any impressions?"

Ang Lee took out a few copies of the letters he had found from the horse thief's lair and gave them to the leader of the horse thieves to read.

"Remember, this is naturally remembered, however, some people are anonymous, what is the real identity, the villain is really not clear! can only speculate, but can not make a conclusion, naturally do not dare to say nonsense. ”

The leader of the horse thieves spoke.

"And how many can you be sure of?"

Ang Lee continued to ask.

"Ninety percent, at least more than ninety percent of them know, villains can write all these people, or they can testify in court to help the court dig out moths."

The leader of the horse thieves spoke.

In order to save his life, he doesn't talk about any morality, as long as it is beneficial to himself, he dares to do anything, and any friend can be betrayed by him.

"What a man without faith! However, he is also very knowledgeable about current affairs, and it is quite useful to us, and he can use him to dig out many moths in Xiazhou, and it can be regarded as a stable party. ”

Lao Guo said.

Li An nodded and said, "That's right!" The horse thieves in Xiazhou City can be so arrogant, these moths are indispensable, without these moths, where can they, the horse thieves, intercept so many treasures, these moths must all be punished, and no one can be let go, and absolutely no one can be spared. ”

Lao Guo said angrily.

"Yes, what the general said is so right, none of these moths can be let go, the villain must fully cooperate with the general and dig out all the moths in Xiazhou City."

The leader of the horse thieves became a villain in seconds, and said timidly.

"Alright, you go down!"

Since the leader of the horse thieves is so obedient, where is there any need for further interrogation.

"Li Shilang, this horse thief leader can't be fake! Why do I always feel like it's a fake? ”

After escorting away the leader of the horse thieves, Lao Guo said suspiciously.

"Fake, it shouldn't be fake, it's just that the leader of this horse thief is too weak, so it will give Lao Guo an illusion, and horse thieves are not necessarily fierce, and some horse thieves are more timid and weak, and this horse thief belongs to the type that is particularly timid and weak."

Li An said.

Lao Guo nodded and said: "I also know it's not fake, but this horse thief leader is too timid and cowardly, and he trembles when he speaks, such a person can be the leader of horse thieves for so long, and so many horse thieves can obey him?" ”

Obviously, the horse thief group is a strong group, in this group, violence is the most effective means of rule, a strong leader can better unite the horse thieves, and the weak people, it is difficult to gain a foothold in the horse thief group, and the leader is even more inadequate.

However, this is just a general situation, some leaders can do high positions, it is completely because of the early start, at the beginning he pulled the team, and later, with the addition of more people, his status was raised step by step, in fact, it may not be really any leadership ability, once the team is more growing, such a straw bag will be exposed, but just to be a horse thief leader, then there is no difficulty, manage hundreds of people, live a life of robbery, and do not need how high leadership skills, As long as the original small boss supports him, his position will always be secure, and no one can shake his position.

"Most of the horse thieves, I will leave them for you, the leader of the horse thieves and a few small leaders, I plan to bring them back to the capital After all, these people are human witnesses, and if you only have letters and no such witnesses, it is not easy to convict the moths in Xiazhou."

Li An said.

Lao Guo nodded and said: "No problem, these horse thieves will be temporarily arranged to work in the quarry near the barracks, working for five hours a day, two hours in the morning and three hours in the afternoon, they can eat a horse meat stew every day, and they can sleep for four hours every night, as long as they behave well and don't make trouble, the guards will not beat and scold them." ”

Li An is very satisfied with Lao Guo's arrangement, which can be regarded as making the best use of everything, rather than killing these horse thieves, it is better to use their labor force to work and create economic value for the Tang Dynasty.

"Okay, then that's it, I'll go back to the capital early tomorrow morning, and the surrendered horse thieves here will be handed over to the general."

Li An said.

After a little preparation, Li An left the Lushui River Valley with a small number of small leaders, such as the leader of the horse thieves and One-Eye, and went to the horse thief's lair to meet Lao Chen there, and then he could go home.

This time, not only did all the horse thieves be wiped out, but also a large amount of gold and silver treasures were seized, and in addition to most of the treasures to be taken away and handed over to the imperial court, a part of the rewards should be left for the soldiers who participated in the extermination of the horse thieves, so as to encourage the soldiers to continue to serve the imperial court.

After arriving at the horse thief's lair, Li An first sent a telegram to the imperial court, telling the imperial court about the situation here, and said that he would return to the capital immediately, and he could arrive in the capital in two days at most.

When he set off, Li An did not notify any officials in Xiazhou City, only Lao Guo came with some soldiers and horses to see him off.

"Lao Guo, don't send it, go back quickly! After all, the horse thieves are fierce, and there are five hundred people caught this time, so they must be managed separately, and they must not be put all in the same place to prevent them from rebelling. ”

When Li An was leaving, he opened his mouth to admonish.

Lao Guo nodded and said, "Li Shilang, don't worry!" I know what to do with these horse thieves, and I'll be fine. ”

"Don't be so long-winded, it's time to go, Old Man Guo hurry up and go back and rest!"

Lao Chen was a little impatient, and said with a smile.

"Okay, I'll go back, you guys go all the way, go well."

Lao Guo responded with a smile.

This time when he went north, Li An did not have many guards, only a few hundred people, and Lao Chen came later, and there were more than 1,000 people, but one train was not enough, and it took three trains to pull everyone and supplies.

"Hanlu, see what this is?"

Li An casually took out a few treasures collected from the horse thief's lair and gently placed them in Li Hanlu's hand.

"Is this a treasure seized from a horse thief? The quality looks very good! ”

Li Hanlu opened his mouth and said.

"Here, put it around your neck and let me take a good look."

Ang Lee said with a smile.

"The jewelry seized from the horse thief is not suitable for me to wear!"

Li Hanlu refused.

"You just think I bought it."

"How can this work, what you buy is what you buy, and what you take from the horse thief is what you take, isn't this different?"

"What's different, isn't it good to be free?"

"Not good."

"What's so bad about it, there's no mark on it, and who would know that it was captured from a horse thief? You'll just think I bought it for you. ”

"No, this is too insincere, if you want to buy it, you have to spend money to buy it."

Seeing that Li Hanlu actually had a small temperament, Li An said with a smile: "Yes! Who learned this from! They have all learned to be brutal and have a small temperament. ”

"I've always had a little temperament, but I didn't know how to use it before."

Li Hanlu glanced at Li An with a smile.

"Okay, when I return to the capital, I will definitely buy you a copy, and I will buy it with money."

Li An said helplessly.

Born with a small temperament, Ang Lee doesn't know if it's true, but even if he was born without this skill, he has been spoiled for a long time, and he will have a small temperament, which is completely the fault of being spoiled.

The basic situation of Xiazhou, Li An had already been transmitted to the imperial court when he set off, and this information spread in the capital at the fastest speed, and even made the front page headlines of the Datang Daily, becoming a very important news, although the extermination of more than 1,000 horse thieves is not a big deal, but the officers and soldiers did not suffer casualties, and it was a great thing to win the final victory.

In addition, what is even more concerning is that the leader of the horse thieves and others are going to be escorted to the capital, along with the letters of all the people who have dealings with the horse thieves in Xiazhou, these letters are physical evidence, and the leader of the horse thieves and the related horse thieves under his command are human witnesses.

The magistrate can sit firmly in the position, can cover the sky with one hand, and is generally inseparable from the backstage of the imperial court, the history of the king of Xiazhou, not only was born in the prominent Langya Wang family, but also has a backstage in the center of the imperial court, and he will take out a part of the money he has collected every year to honor the backstage of being an official in the imperial court.

And this time, his backstage naturally quickly got the news that the leader of the horse thieves was about to enter Beijing, and once the human and material evidence was confirmed, it would be irretrievable.

Although this backstage, it is not clear whether the assassin of Xiazhou has colluded with the horse thief, but the political sense of smell cultivated by the official for many years tells him that the highest governor of Xiazhou must have colluded with the horse thief, otherwise, Li An would not have made such a big deal of the matter, and actually brought the horse thief and the letter to the capital.

In this case, in order not to set yourself on fire, the best way is to clear up all the relationships between yourself and the history of the Xiazhou Thorn, but once some relationships are confirmed, it is not so easy to get rid of them, and it will be more troublesome once you are bitten.

It seems to be a very good idea to send someone to assassinate the leader of the horse thieves, or to snatch the letters obtained from the leader of the horse thieves, but Li An and Lao Chen personally escorted them, and there were more than 1,000 soldiers and horses guarding them.

In this way, leaving aside his relationship, it seems that there is only one last way left, that is, to keep his mouth shut forever, as long as all local officials such as Xiazhou Assassin keep their mouths shut forever, these people who are backstage can be safe and sound.

When Li An returned to the capital, the killers sent by some officials of the imperial court had already traveled to Xiazhou, and their task was to wait for the next instructions, as long as the imperial court finally convicted the Xiazhou assassins, they would immediately take action and kill all the Xiazhou assassins and others, so as to protect the officials in larger positions from being implicated.

For two whole days, Li An and his soldiers and horses were escorted by the leader of the horse thieves and others into Chang'an City, which had been separated for a long time.

Because when the railway was designed, the suburbs were not so prosperous, so, the construction of various supporting facilities was very imperfect, at the beginning because there was no guardrail, many people who broke into the railway were killed and injured, and then finally installed the guardrail, but the people had the demand for the road, so they began to build the culvert and overpass that can let people and cars and horses pass, but the number of construction was seriously insufficient, which led to the people on both sides of the railway, the travel was greatly hindered, and the crossing culvert was often congested.