Eight years of great cause.

March.

Qi County, not far from Zhangqiu City.

Zhang Xutuo, who had just been promoted to the general guard of Qi County by the Holy Decree, took five cavalry soldiers from Licheng to Zhangqiu to inspect, and on the official road, a large group of ordinary people and merchants followed him.

Since the second half of last year, thieves have swarmed everywhere.

Large groups of thieves gathered 20,000 or 30,000 people, and the small ones were even more numerous, and they were everywhere. The common people were not only suffering from the heavy work of the conquest of Liao, but also panicking and uneasy about the bandits, which can be described as unspeakably miserable and in dire straits.

Henan and Hebei are the main places for conscripting Liao soldiers and people, so the people are more miserable and there are more thieves. The twelve counties of Henan, the counties and bandits are everywhere, most of the soldiers in Henan are recruited to Liaodong, and even many of the original county soldiers have been added to the military government soldiers last time, so the counties of Henan are empty.

Thieves are everywhere, officials can not be defeated, resulting in thieves getting stronger and stronger, only Qi County Zhang Xutuo, is the most eye-catching among the twelve counties, although the strength of the Qi County soldiers led by him has also been greatly reduced, but the east and west are fighting, and they can barely maintain the peace of a county.

It's just that now the bandits in the surrounding counties are moving closer to this side, which makes Zhang Xutuo very worried, and in desperation, he can only strengthen the defense of the counties, and he has to take time to go down to inspect from time to time.

"Tongshou, Zhangqiu County has performed well, they have repelled three waves of bandits since the beginning of the year, killing nearly a thousand thieves, very good."

A pro-soldier said.

Zhang Xutuo rode on the horse, looked at the team following behind, and sighed, "Zhangqiu has such achievements, but it actually depends on the foundation left by Luo Cheng." There are 200 soldiers from Changbai Mountain, although there are few soldiers who can't take care of the whole county now, but at least Chai Xiaohe still ensures that Changbai Mountain has not become a den of thieves. ”

"And although the county soldiers left by Luo Cheng are newly built, they are still stronger than other county soldiers with a few of his brothers. What's more, he also has a 300-person Yi'er battalion, which seems to be only a group of dolls, but it is said that he is the most fearless of death when he fights. ”

A soldier said, "Indeed, I heard that even the female relatives of the Luo family are very good, several times thieves came to attack, they all carried knives and guns, and the heads of the thieves and bandits killed were rolling, and now the name of the Luo family's tigress is very loud." ”

"Hahaha." A few people burst out laughing.

"To say, the really most powerful is our disciple Luo Cheng, when we met him here three years ago, he was just a middle-aged boy who had just returned from digging a canal, but who would have expected that now he has become the Marquis of Xiangyang and the vanguard general."

Zhang Xutuo listened, and couldn't help but secretly praise this disciple in his heart, this protégé really didn't say, although he was young, but he suppressed bandits in Qi County, fought in Liaodong, and fought one battle after another, it was all a tough record, and even he, a teacher, had to admire it. Speaking of which, he was able to be promoted to the general guard of Qi County, and he still had a little bit of this disciple's light.

"You say, when Luo Cheng returns from the Eastern Expedition, will he be directly promoted to the Duke of the Kingdom?" One humanity.

"Possibly."

A few people laughed and were in a relaxed mood.

Suddenly there was a loud sound of horses' hooves in the rear.

A few people rode in disarray.

"The thief is coming, the thief is coming."

One of his own soldiers stepped forward to stop him, "What thief is coming?" ”

The man on horseback said in a panic, "A large number of thieves have come, it seems to be Pei thieves, they have sacked our village, we have escaped with great difficulty, and now we are chasing after us." ”

"How many are there?" Zhang Xutuo asked in a deep voice.

"Thousands, boundless." After the man had finished speaking, he hurried on his horse and continued to flee.

When the people on the road heard the news, they were alarmed.

"I didn't expect Pei Changcai, Shizihe suddenly came into my Qi County." Zhang Xutuo frowned. "Escort the people into Zhangqiu City first."

The passers-by, who were originally quite relaxed, were all flustered and ran desperately.

Zhang Xutuo's six people rode horses, and they could have left the people to enter Zhangqiu first, but Zhang Xutuo couldn't bear to leave these people, so he had to escort them forward.

He gave his horse to a merchant who could ride a horse, and asked him to ride back to Zhangqiu City, so that Zhangqiu City could prepare for defense.

After escorting the people for a while, the sound of horses' hooves could already be heard behind.

Pei Thief's light cavalry striker had already caught up.

When he saw a group of people, he laughed and rode over, ready to loot.

Zhang Xutuo opened his bow and set up an arrow, shot an arrow, and directly shot the thief who rushed to the front.

The five pro-soldiers also immediately turned around and shot arrows.

Several of the thieves were shot and fell to the ground, only to find that there were still a few officers and soldiers mixed among the people, and the first one was dressed in armor, and at first glance he was an officer, and his rank was not low.

"Kill them!"

Someone yelled.

The bandits roared and chased after him, but Zhang Xutuo was not in a hurry, he turned around and shot arrows while galloping, he was superb in archery, one arrow at a time.

The thief was afraid, but he did not dare to get too close, so he shouted behind him and fired his arrows.

But Zhang Xutuo couldn't bear to leave the people, so he couldn't get rid of the bandits, and the two sides chased forward like this.

"Tongshou, it seems that the bandits have already sent someone back to report the news, or let's go to Zhangqiu City first."

"No, if we leave, these people will suffer, Zhangqiu City is not far away, we have to bring them over."

After moving forward for a while, I saw that Zhangqiu City was just one or two miles ahead, but at this time, the team of thieves had already arrived.

Zhang Xutuo turned his head to look at Zhangqiu City in the distance, stopped his horses, and said to the people who were fleeing, "You hurry up and enter Zhangqiu City." ”

With that, he turned his horse's head and raised his lance to the bandits.

The five pro-soldiers behind him also turned around together.

Six rides.

Just like that, it stands on the official road of Erli outside Zhangqiu City.

And on the opposite side of them, more and more thieves arrived, and smoke and dust billowed up.

A thief commander looked surprised when he saw the six horsemen standing in front of him.

He looked at the vanguard light cavalry that didn't dare to step forward, and stepped forward angrily to punch and kick, "Damn, you dozens of riders are still afraid of six riders?" ”

"Chief, those six people have been shot by horses, and the brothers have been shot dead by them more than 20 times along the way, and they really don't dare to get close, if they get closer, they will die within fifty steps."

"Oh, how can it be?" The thief is a little skeptical.

But he looked behind him, it was thousands of horses, and further behind, there were Pei Shuai and Shi Shuai's large troops, this time they were a full 20,000 horses into Qi County, he didn't believe it, only six horsemen could still stop them.

"Kill me!"

The thief commander gave an order, and led a thousand light horsemen behind him to rush forward directly.

Zhang Xutuo's six horsemen stood a little lonely on the official road, looking at the large group of bandits rushing on the opposite side, he did not turn around, on the contrary, he raised his lance, "Follow me to kill the thief!" ”

"Kill!" The five guards roared, then instigated their horses and followed Zhang Xutuo to rush towards the thieves.

Although there are tens of millions of people, I will also go!

.。 m.