When Ang Lee arrived at the ruins of the old White City, it was not yet dark, but the sun was already setting very strongly in the west, and the time was close to dusk, and soon after, when dusk came, spies of horse thieves began to appear around.

Although these spies were careful and dismounted from a long distance, the guards under Li An's command were equipped with binoculars, and as long as they found a small black dot moving in the distance, they would habitually pick up the telescope to observe, so as to detect possible dangers as soon as possible.

Therefore, when the horse thief spies just arrived, they had already been discovered by the guards, but at first, they didn't know that these people were horse thieves' spies, and thought they were passing by, but when these horse thief spies quietly sneaked into the vicinity and peeped at the ruins of the old White City, the guards found that the situation was wrong, and they were just about to report, and they learned that the horse thieves were likely to launch a surprise attack at night, and then, they fully understood, knowing that these peeping guys were the spies of the horse thieves, and then reported it.

Knowing oneself and knowing one's opponent can survive a hundred battles, since they already know that the horse thieves are scouting nearby, then things are very easy to do, keep an eye on these horse thieves, and at the same time, send a small number of guards to the surrounding commanding heights to reconnoiter the main force of the horse thieves, so that you can have an advantage.

Therefore, although the walls of the White City were dilapidated, all the eighteen guards had their eyes wide open, so if the horse thief spies wanted to enter the ruined city to investigate, it was simply wishful thinking, so naturally, they would not be able to discover the tense preparations going on inside the ruins of the White City.

After scouting for a while, these horse thieves and spies found that they could not get close to the city wall, so they could only take turns retreating, probably to report the news! In this way, it is very likely that the main force of horse thieves will come to sneak attack in the middle of the night.

In a hidden ditch less than fifteen miles away from the old white city, the leader of the horse thieves and many horse thieves under his command quietly hidden, this ditch is deep enough, even if it is a horse, it can be well hidden, and nothing can be seen from a distance, which can be called an excellent hiding place.

In the past, horse thieves would often hide here, so as to avoid the search of officers and soldiers, and when they encountered a small group of officers and soldiers, they would suddenly kill from this ditch, and the officers and soldiers were taken by surprise.

At this moment, they are hiding here, waiting for the best opportunity to attack, they plan to annihilate Li An and his party in one fell swoop, and then bury them under the yellow sand, so that the Tang officers and soldiers will never find the corpses of these more than 100 people, so as to cooperate with them to spread the rumor that the yellow sand is buried in the yellow sand.

"Big brother, the spies are back."

A small leader said excitedly when he saw the spies who were returning from horseback.

Soon, several spies sent out arrived at the leader, threw the horse and came to report the situation.

"Tell me, what's going on?"

The boss is a little nervous, and if the information is wrong, things will be in trouble.

"Chief, there are officers and soldiers on the three city gates and the city wall, each city gate is defended by four officers and soldiers, two at the gate below, and two more at the city head, there are a total of six soldiers on the city wall, and only eighteen people are seen in total, by the way, there is a tent outside each city gate, and there seems to be no one inside, as for the situation inside, we can't get in, and we can't find out."

A horse thief scout reported.

"You can't get in, so you don't know anything about what's going on inside."

The leader of the horse thieves frowned.

The spy replied: "Chief, the officers and soldiers are so closely guarded, eighteen people, almost the entire ruined city is monitored, we don't dare to approach at all, once they find out, wouldn't it be a big deal to ruin the leader." ”

"Big brother, the officers and soldiers are so tightly guarded, it seems that there are really big officials inside, otherwise they wouldn't be so strictly guarded, and even our spies can't get in."

"Big brother, it seems that the intelligence is not wrong, this is definitely a senior official of the imperial court, this vigilance is too strict, it seems that the senior official is going to spend the night in the old Baicheng tonight, this is a good time for us to sneak attack!"

"Big brother, if we sneak attack in the middle of the night, we will definitely be able to kill them by surprise."

"Yes! They prepared tents at the gate of the city, it seems that they are for these soldiers guarding the gate, after dark, these soldiers guarding the gate, will probably take turns to guard, the remaining half will enter the tent to rest, most of the people inside must be resting, there will not be many guards, we will rush in together, first deal with the officers and soldiers at the city gate, and then, from the three gates at the same time, all the officers and soldiers will be wiped out, let them fall asleep and go to see the king of Hades. ”

"Big brother, tonight I can finally let out a bad breath, if something happens to such a big official, will the officers and soldiers who encircle and suppress us be implicated? Will they be executed? ”

"Whatever? We must kill us happily tonight, and there will be no blood, and the officers and soldiers still think that we are easy to bully? ”

The little bosses were all excited, and they looked very excited.

The leader of the horse thieves frowned and said, "Tell me, how did such a big official run to the ruins of the old White City for no reason?" We've been to this ruin more than once, and there's nothing of value in it! Isn't it strange what the hell he's doing in there, and besides, spending the night in there? ”

The more critical the moment, the more nervous the leader of the horse thieves becomes, and he has to think about all the abnormalities so as not to encounter a terrible trap.

"That's what the big brother said! How could this official of the imperial court have such a habit, and run to the ruined city in the middle of the night to spend the night, this seems really abnormal, could it be a trap! ”

"Big brother, second brother, you think too much! Since he is a senior official of the imperial court, his thoughts must be different from ordinary people, and he is tired of living in the palace for a long time, and there is nothing wrong with living in the ruins! ”

"Big brother, no matter what he does, it's already on our lips now, don't eat for nothing! Do you want to let it go? ”

"If the eldest brother is not at ease, when it gets late, let's find a way to go inside and have a look, to see how many people are in it, how many tents there are, isn't that okay."

"Yes! Big brother, our people are deployed in all directions, as long as there is a change in the officers and soldiers, we can get the news in advance, and the big brother does not need to worry too much. ”

Several small leaders said.

The leader of the horse thieves thought for a moment, nodded and said, "Okay! Now that they have made up their minds, they will not care so much, and immediately send people to closely monitor the every move of the officers and soldiers, and as long as the vigilance of the officers and soldiers is slightly relaxed, you will find a way to enter the city and see what is going on inside, and if everything is normal, we will kill all these officers and soldiers tonight, and sacrifice our brothers who died in battle. ”

"Big brother, when the time comes, we will break through the three city gates together, kill the officers and soldiers by surprise, and soon end the battle."

"Big brother, hurry up and assign tasks! How we fight. ”

The little leader asked.

The leader hurriedly said: "Second brother, third brother, the three of us will each lead two hundred brothers, and we will fight together from the three city gates to solve the battle as quickly as possible." ”

"How can you let the eldest brother go on the adventure himself? The younger brother is willing to kill the officers and soldiers on behalf of the eldest brother, and the eldest brother can just wait for news here. ”

A small boss spoke.

"Yes! Big brother, why do you need the eldest brother to go out in person for such a trivial matter, it's okay to have our brothers, and the eldest brother is here to wait for the good news. ”

The one-eyed dragon and horse thief boss spoke.

"Chief, let's go, you can wait here for news! Unless the Emperor Lao'er comes in person, you should do it yourself. ”

The leader of the horse thieves was originally a little worried, and when he saw that his brothers said so, he naturally borrowed the donkey from the slope, so he simply did not charge into the battle in person, he thought for a moment, and felt that he would leave fifty men and horses, and let the three small leaders each lead less than two hundred horse thieves to attack the Tang officers and soldiers at night.

The horse thief was thinking about how to eliminate the officers and soldiers of the Tang Dynasty, but in Xiazhou City, Lao Guo was sweating profusely, he was already taken aback when he received the news that Li An went to the old White City, he was worried that he would meet the horse thief, and the news he received at night made him even more afraid, Li An actually knew that the horse thief got the news, and actually ventured into the old White City, which was really too dangerous.

But after thinking about it, he couldn't annihilate the main force of the horse thieves for three months, and if he took advantage of this opportunity to wipe out the main force of the horse thieves in one fell swoop, it would be a bad thing to turn a bad thing into a good thing.

However, the only thing that made him uneasy was that it was Li An who acted as bait, if it was just his general, he would not frown, and Li An's current identity is too special, in case of an accident, the consequences are unimaginable, so when formulating a rescue plan for the thief, it is difficult for Lao Guo to make up his mind.

He has been fighting for many years, and naturally knows the best strategy to suppress the thieves, but this best strategy cannot guarantee the absolute safety of Li An, in case something happens to Li An, even if the horse thief problem is solved, he does not have the slightest credit, on the contrary, he may be punished, but if he rushes directly to the old Baicheng, the horse thief will definitely learn the news one step earlier, so that Li An's safety problem does not exist, but the excellent opportunity to exterminate the horse thief is lost, which is too much to live up to Li An's good intentions, After reading the letter, he already understood what Li An meant, but it was really difficult for him to make this decision, although he knew that Li An was very strong, but there would always be accidents on the battlefield, and once there was an accident, how serious the consequences would be, it was conceivable.

Because of his absolute trust in his subordinates, believing that they would never collude with horse thieves, Lao Guo did not hide this matter, but truthfully told several capable subordinates.

"General, Li Shilang must not have an accident in our jurisdiction, we can't afford this consequence, welcome and rush to the old Baicheng immediately, and we can't delay for a moment."

"Yes! General, you can take your time to exterminate the horse thief, but Li Shilang must not have an accident, otherwise, we will all be to blame, this consequence is something we can't bear, in case Your Majesty knows about it, for example, he won't spare us. ”

"General, there is a chance to exterminate the horse thieves, they will be cleaned up by our army sooner or later, there is no need to rush for a while, and use Li Shilang as bait."

Several of his subordinates disapproved of Guo Ziyi's plan, which was obviously too risky, and they were worried about an accident that they could not afford.

Lao Guo looked helpless, looked at a few people who were not capable, and said: "This plan is naturally risky, but this is also what Li Shilang meant, he came to Xiazhou this time, nominally to inspect the coal mine, but in fact he came to exterminate the horse thief, in order to exterminate the horse thief, he used himself as bait, if we let down his hard work, I am afraid that ......"

"General, we have seen the combat power of horse thieves, the wound on my neck was cut by a saber, Li Shilang only has more than a hundred guards around him, how long can such soldiers and horses hold on to a broken city that has been abandoned for hundreds of years? Will it really be able to hold out until our army is reinforced? Wouldn't it be dangerous if it didn't last long. ”

"Think twice, general! The last general has fought with horse thieves many times, these horse thieves are extremely vicious, and they are definitely not so easy to deal with, and Li Shilang is afraid that he will underestimate the enemy. ”

"The general thinks twice, but the general will absolutely obey the general's dispatch."

Several subordinates commented.

Guo Ziyi thought for a while and said: "What you said is very reasonable, but since Li Shilang already knows that the horse thief is going to sneak attack, he must be fully prepared, and he will not let the horse thief succeed easily. We followed Lee's strategy. ”

Subsequently, Lao Guo and several capable generals under his command began to discuss how to quietly transfer the soldiers and horses to the vicinity of the old Baicheng, and then attack the horse thieves inside and outside.

Quietly transfer the soldiers and horses to the vicinity of the old White City, this is the key to exterminating the horse thief, because the horse thief has too many eyeliners, if the action of transferring troops is discovered by these eyeliners, and the horse thief in the mountain is notified in advance, then the whole plan set by Li An will be in vain, and when the horse thief smells something wrong, he will definitely evacuate quietly, so that everyone will work in vain.

"General, there are many people in the city, if it is a large-scale transfer of troops, it will inevitably be discovered by the eyes of horse thieves, it seems that only the soldiers and horses outside the city can be transferred, so it is not easy to be discovered."

"Yes! General, as long as the fire is not raised at night, the army quietly leaves in batches, which should not attract the attention of the horse thief's eyeliner, besides, the soldiers and horses outside the city themselves patrol every day, patrolling day and night, even if they are discovered, it is difficult to arouse the suspicion of the horse thief. ”

"The road leading directly to the Ancient White City will definitely have a large number of horse thieves' eyeliners, and it is difficult for our army to avoid being discovered, if you want to reach the foot of the Ancient White City without knowing it, you can only take a detour."

Several of his subordinates spoke.

Guo Ziyi thought for a while, and said: "What you are saying is that the soldiers and horses in the city do not move, so they will transfer troops from outside the city, there are up to 1,000 horse thieves, and our army will dispatch 800 to fight all the horse thieves. ”

。