There are too many big tigers in Xiazhou City, Lao Guo is the one who leads the troops, and it stands to reason that he is not qualified to deal with these things, and Li An's position is also not for this matter, according to the regulations, these letters should be handed over to the officials in charge of the administration of officials in Xiazhou, but these officials in charge of the administration of officials are not necessarily reliable, in case they themselves have a share, wouldn't it be very bad.

Therefore, Li An planned to pack up these captured letters and take them away, and directly hand them over to the emperor as trophies, so that the emperor could personally order the matter to be dealt with, so that it would be difficult for the people below to hide from the world, and the moths in Xiazhou could be cleaned up.

Of course, it would be very bad to just bring back the letters, and the valuable treasures seized from the thieves' lair should also be brought back with them.

"Isn't it too much to let Your Majesty personally ask about such a trivial matter."

Lao Guo said.

"So what? I really can't trust those guys in the ministry, I'm afraid that if these letters reach their hands, this matter will sink into the sea, so it's safer to hand it over to Your Majesty to take a look, even if you only read one, those guys in the ministry's department don't dare not deal with it quickly. ”

Li An said.

Lao Guo nodded and said: "It makes sense, but it's hard for Your Majesty, these moths, I will watch them, and I will never let them run away." ”

"Wang Thorn History, isn't the Xiazhou Thorn History surnamed Wang, he also has a share."

Li An saw the contents of the letter and spoke.

Lao Guo attached great importance to it, and hurriedly took it to look at it, and said: "This can't prove that it has anything to do with Wang Tingshi!" The person who wrote the letter reassured the leader of the horse thieves that Wang Tingshi would definitely help, and this news alone could not convict Wang Tingshi, but there were still suspicions. ”

"Yes! These moths are very careful, they should all let their henchmen contact the horse thieves, but, judging from the situation in the past few years, they should be inseparable from these guys, if there is no help from these moths, how can the horse thieves be prepared to avoid the encirclement and ambush of the imperial court soldiers and horses every time, especially before you come here, the local officers and soldiers are in the air every time, it is just a show, there is no casualty, and even, there is no photo with the horse thief. ”

Li An said.

This situation is a very common phenomenon in ancient times, officials and bandits are often a family, that is, the so-called family of officials and bandits, they cooperate with each other to take what they need, can get a good win-win situation, and the loss is the businessmen and the common people.

The family of officials and bandits, raising thieves and self-respect has become the unspoken rule of the ancient border bosses, and many selfish guys will adopt this method to consolidate their position, and this is a very bad thing for the court and the people.

For this kind of behavior, Li Ang hates it very much, and what he hates most is this shameful behavior.

Lao Guo agrees with Ang Lee's analysis, but if there is no conclusive evidence, he still can't convict others, these are not things that he should consider as a general, and this bad matter is pushed to the imperial court.

In a hidden place not far from Xiazhou, a thousand soldiers and horses are quietly stationed here, this is the soldiers and horses transferred from the capital, although the number is not large, but they are all equipped with the best weapons, and the combat effectiveness is extremely strong, which is more than enough to deal with horse thieves.

"General, there seemed to be signs of mobilization of the soldiers and horses outside Xiazhou City last night, and early this morning, there were more than 2,000 elites rushing to Qiwu Mountain in the northwest direction, it seems that there is a big battle to be fought."

A soldier spoke.

Chen Xuanli opened his mouth and said: "It's been a few days of rest, what's the matter, others go to war and leave us here, no, our army is also going to the northwest to join in the fun, since we have come here, we can't come in vain!" ”

"General, but we haven't received any orders, if we go rashly without an order, I'm afraid that Li Shilang will blame."

The subordinate spoke.

"Blame, what else do I blame him? Come all the way and leave us here, what's the matter, it's okay, listen to the general, the whole army immediately marched and went to Qiwu Mountain. ”

Chen Xuanli was unhappy and opened his mouth to order.

The subordinates had no choice but to let the army pack up as soon as possible, and then rush to Qiwu Mountain as fast as possible.

Somewhere in the Qiwu Mountain, One-Eye and a dozen pony thieves were resting, and he took a dozen pony thieves to prepare to join the leader of the horse thieves, because there were no horses, so they moved very slowly, and they did not reach the position of the lair for a long time, after all, the speed of people is too slow, and it cannot be compared with the speed of horses.

"Let's eat some salted meat, drink some water, and rest before leaving."

One-eyed really couldn't walk anymore, took a few breaths, and spoke.

More than a dozen pony thieves are very tired, they have only walked more than twenty miles, they are already a little unbearable, after all, the mountain road is not so easy to walk, walking ten miles on the mountain road, and walking ten miles on the flat road is a big gap, the two are not comparable at all.

"I'm tired, how long will it take!"

A pony thief grumbled.

"Before leaving, I didn't give a horse, if there was a horse, I guess it would have arrived a long time ago."

Another horse thief scolded.

"It's good to be able to leave smoothly, but you still want a horse, it's really wishful thinking."

A horse thief retorted.

"One-eyed brother, how long will it take to arrive!"

The foal asked, snapping off a branch.

The one-eyed horse thief opened his mouth to reassure everyone: "Everyone, cheer up, there are still more than ten miles to go, and now we have walked sixty percent of the way, and there are still forty percent left, and we will definitely be able to get there before this evening." ”

After saying that, he looked vigilantly into the distance behind him, he was very worried that the officers and soldiers would send people to follow them, if so, the horse thief's lair would be exposed, and he would become a sinner of the horse thief group.

He kept staring behind him, and after a long time he didn't notice anyone following, so he closed his eyes and took a nap.

"There are still more than ten miles, hey, it seems to be lying on horseback!"

"It would be better if there was a carriage, I could sleep beautifully, but I haven't slept for two days and one night, and I'm really sleepy."

"You didn't sleep, we didn't sleep all night, we're all sleepy!"

"Why don't you get some sleep and then go! It's so tiring. ”

The pony thieves had not slept since they had been captured last night, and they were all very tired, and they all wanted to lie down on the ground at once, get some rest, and then go on the road again.

"In this wilderness, be careful of being bitten by the wolf cubs, let's go back and rest again! Rest for a moment and set off. ”

The one-eyed horse thief spoke.

In the hidden nest of horse thieves more than ten miles away, the spirit of the leader of the horse thieves seemed very bad, he did not rest all night, because he couldn't sleep at all, he originally planned to teach the officers and soldiers a lesson, but in the end he cut off his main force, even the nest that had been painstakingly operated for many years, most of it was lost, and all kinds of food and materials were lost.

Only three or four hundred soldiers and horses were rescued, and there were two months of surplus food, but the loss of treasure was not large, and the most valuable things were basically brought out, and they were not left to the officers and soldiers, which was the only thing that made the leader of the horse thieves feel gratified, if he even lost these, then he really had nothing.

The main force suffered heavy losses, this is only secondary, the most important thing is that the confidence of the remaining horse thieves was lost by the officers and soldiers, one by one they are like lost dogs, they seem to be very spiritless, and the fear of the future is the most fatal, there is not much food left, although it can last for more than two months, but time flies very quickly, two months is a blink of an eye, if the officers and soldiers continue to blockade Qiwu Mountain, they will be starved to death, the most important thing is that they are not chic enough, not what they want to do.

Before Lao Guo came to Xiazhou, the horse thief here had a very comfortable life, not only enjoyed the delicious food and drink, but also often went to Xiazhou City in groups of three or five disguises to hang out, went to the restaurant to buy drunk, and went to the Qinglou to find the girl he liked.

There are many difficulties in front of him, which makes the leader of the horse thieves retreat, his plan is to escape from Qiwu Mountain, take the horse thieves under his command to develop in other mountains, and have the opportunity to come back in the future, but it is difficult for the leader of the horse thieves to open this mouth like this.

Now his second brother and many henchmen have been annihilated by the soldiers and horses of the imperial court, this can be regarded as a common hatred, if he can't avenge his brothers, but flees from Qiwu Mountain in disgrace, his prestige will be greatly affected, and these horse thieves under his command are likely to disobey him, so that his dominance will be greatly threatened.

After all, the reason why he was able to sit firmly in the position of the leader was because several brothers under his command had always supported him, and with the support of these big brothers, his position could be stabilized, and at this moment, the brothers who had always supported him were basically all hung up, and this time the heavy losses were also personally commanded by him, and his prestige and supporters were lost at the same time, and his position was naturally stormy.

At this critical time, if he behaves very weakly, unable to seek justice for his dead brother, and unable to satisfy his brothers, then it is difficult to guarantee that an ambitious guy will not emerge and replace him through various means, and even take advantage of the dissatisfaction of the horse thieves to kill him.

Therefore, at this moment, the leader of the horse thieves did not dare to act rashly, and he was now a little afraid of the people under his command, and this fear even exceeded the fear of the officers and soldiers.

Although the officers and soldiers are very powerful, he only needs to hide far away, and he is fully capable of dealing with it, but the people under his command are different, these people have always stayed by his side, and if there is a different heart, he can kill him every minute.

Seeing these horse thieves under his command gathering in groups to talk, the leader of the horse thieves had a feeling of a chill in his back, he couldn't hear what these people were talking about, could it be that they were talking about things that were not good for him? If this is the case, how long can the head of his neck be kept, in short, after most of his henchmen died, he has become suspicious, he doesn't believe anyone at the moment, and he doesn't know what to do.

"Chief, it's time to eat."

A pony thief brought the food with a blank face.

"It's hard work, go down and rest!"

The leader of the horse thieves has lost his courage, and he has become polite to a small person.

This made the little thief who had been serving him a little uncomfortable.

"Chief, you're too polite, slow to use."

The pony thief spoke, then slowly stepped back.

However, at this moment, the leader of the horse thieves really had no appetite, and when he saw that he didn't want to eat anything, he quietly looked at the food, and felt that it was very difficult to swallow.

"Big brother, haven't you eaten yet?"

A thin horse thief leader walked in, and he didn't look good.

"Hey! Seven or eight brothers of life and death, now you and I are left, it's all my fault! The second brother didn't say anything, if it weren't for my greed for money, I wouldn't have let the one-eyed brother risk going back, but he didn't come back until now, and he was almost arrested by the officers and soldiers, it's all my fault! ”

The leader of the horse thieves said remorsefully.

"Big brother, it's useless to talk about this now, let's think about what to do in the future!"

The skinny horse thief spoke.

The leader of the horse thieves looked at his brother, pondered for a long time, and said, "Brother Skinny Monkey! It's all my fault for the heavy losses this time, I'm afraid that the brothers won't obey me anymore, I'm the leader, it's better for you to be the leader, take the brothers out of the predicament, and the eldest brother will always support you. ”

This is an obvious temptation, it is the leader of the horse thieves who feels that his prestige is gone, and if he falls, this brother of his is the best heir, he has been the leader for so many years, except for seven or eight brothers, he has no big contact with the vast majority of the people below, and the elite horse thieves are also led by several brothers, so that the small leaders can contain each other, and his position can become more and more stable, and at this moment, almost all the small leaders are buried, leaving this thin monkey, and this thin monkey has more than 100 people, The rest of the more than 200 horse thieves are the men and horses of other brothers, and with the death of these brothers, more than 200 people have become a plate of loose sand, the largest group is only a dozen people, two or three hundred people are enough to have twenty or thirty groups, how can these plates of loose sand be able to fight against the hundred people and horses united by the thin monkey, so if this brother has a different heart, the leader of the horse thieves will be finished.

In the same way, if this brother can support him, then his position will be stable, and twenty or thirty small groups will not be able to make any waves, and gradually they will be able to get out of the crisis.

"What did the eldest brother say, now there are only two of us left, our brothers have to support each other, eldest brother just rest assured, as long as I am a thin monkey, no one will dare to disobey eldest brother, eldest brother will always be our leader."

The thin monkey thief is a thief, it's not that he doesn't want to be the leader, but he really doesn't know the bottom of his heart, if the knife and axe man is ambushed in this tent, his abrupt decision may cost him his life.