The sound of horses' hooves faded away, and several figures turned out from the back of the dirt slope near the camp, looking in the direction of the bandits' distance and talking softly.

"These traitors actually recognize the thief as their father, and are willing to be the lackeys of the thief; The lower officials don't understand, my dignified Song people actually have bad things that have fallen to this point. ”

"Isn't it normal for the king to eat a hundred kinds of people with the same rice? There must be good and bad when people are divided into high and low, in fact, if you want me to say it, there is no good or bad, it is nothing more than a good word; Others should consider the morality of cause and effect when taking profits, and this group of people does not care about the teachings of the sages who 'take it in the right way'. ”

"There is some truth, dare to ask my lord, now is it time for us to take the next step?"

Su Jin nodded and said: "Without further ado, the dynasty will lead people to guard around, from this moment on, everything done in the camp cannot be watched by others, and the king will immediately mobilize the rest of the soldiers and coachmen to hurry up." ”

Everyone agreed and immediately went their separate ways.

……

The next morning, before the dew on the blades of grass had dried, the brigade set out to continue onward, and the convoy stretched for miles as always, slowly advancing on the winding mountain road; At first glance, the team is no different from yesterday's team, but if you take a closer look, you will definitely see some clues.

The drivers driving the cattle were much lighter, the vehicles seemed to be much lighter, and the whole procession, though still very long, always felt like there were a lot fewer people. However, this may seem inconspicuous to outsiders.

From time to time, there will be sneaky little black dots on the mountain beams on both sides, and Su Jin and the others all know that it is the large and small cottages entrenched in this mountain, and they have discovered the whereabouts of their team. Although they coveted the hundreds of carts that were tightly covered by the oilcloth, in the face of this huge team of more than 4,000 people, these small bandits could only sigh dryly, and had no desire to do anything.

Walking like this, the speed of the team is amazingly slow, three days later, the team of people and horses finally want to get out of this lofty mountain range, and then more than ten miles to the north will go out of the mountain pass, out of the mountain pass is the loess avenue of a horse and a flat river, leading directly to the nearest Jiezhou City.

When the sun was setting in the west, Su Jin ordered to camp in a col three miles away from the mountain pass, in the middle of the night, the sound of horses' hooves broke the silence, more than ten horsemen galloped to the scene, and the officers and soldiers on duty at night hurriedly met the check, but it was Zhao Hu who sent the letter back.

Su Jin calculated the time and knew that Zhao Hu would rush back tonight, so he didn't fall asleep, only lay in the tent with his clothes and waited.

Zhao Hu was sweating profusely, and entered the tent with a dusty face, and without saying a word, he first picked up a pot of herbal tea on the small table and poured it to his heart, and then wiped his mouth and said, "Son, I'm back." ”

Su Jin smiled and said, "Is it going well?" ”

Zhao Hu said: "It's okay, I've seen Master Fan." ”

Su Jinxi said: "What did Master Fan say? ”

Zhao Hu said: "I can't say clearly, I asked someone else to come and tell you, Master Fan sent a few generals to come with me." ”

Su Jin hurriedly said: "Where is it?" Please come in yet. ”

Outside the tent there was a sound of footsteps, and as soon as the curtain was lifted, three officers in armor stepped in, and the first one had a handsome face under the armor, thick eyebrows and bright eyes, although he had traveled a long way, except for the armor and some dust on his face, he was not tired; What is striking is that there are actually two lines of prisoner tattoos on his cheeks, which completely destroy his heroic face and add a bit of toughness.

"Hello Master Su, the lowly Di Qing has come to disturb you." The man saluted with his fists and said loudly.

Su Jin was surprised, and hurriedly hugged his fists and returned the salute, it turned out that this person was the famous Di Qing, Su Jin knew a little about this person's current situation, he was appreciated by Fan Zhongyan At this time, he had been promoted from an ordinary soldier to the commander of the Yanzhou Zhangwu Army, and he was already the rank of Wupin military attaché.

"It turned out that it was Commander Di who arrived, and I have heard for a long time that Di commanded the heroes of the world, and his prestige shocked the northwest, and my brothers have admired it for a long time, and I don't want to see it today, which is really a great honor."

Su Jin is not polite, at least half of these words are sincere, there are a lot of deeds about this Di Qing in later generations, although most of them are apocryphal, but Di Qing always appears as a big hero in cartoon film and television dramas, so that Su Jin admired at that time, and he didn't want to see him alive, and his excitement was naturally revealed.

Di Qing didn't expect that he was so famous, and even the new champion of the Jingshi came to take up the post heard about his deeds, and was a little flattered, and said: "My lord praises him falsely, why is Di Qing so good." ”

Su Jin hurriedly ordered someone to bring the futon, everyone sat down one after another, ordered someone to serve tea, and took dry food for a few people to fill their stomachs first.

Di Qing didn't rush to talk about things after seeing Su Jin meet, but considered that the people who were running all the way were sleepy and tired, so he got some food and tea to entertain, and he suddenly felt good in his heart.

After eating and drinking, Di Qing patted his stomach and smiled: "Thank you, Master Su, you're full, let's talk about business." ”

Su Jin smiled: "Don't be busy, eat some more tea." ”

Di Qing said: "The lord treats people like a spring breeze, Di Qing is grateful, the letter sent by the lord to Yanzhou Fan Gong has been informed, Fan Gong fully agrees with the adult's proposal, and praises the adult's plan, so he ordered the humble post and the two subordinates to come to assist the adult; Fan Gong led 5,000 elite generals to come quietly, this time to let the western thieves taste the taste of being dumplings, and revenge the ambush of the Shuichuan army. ”

Su Jin knew that Fan Zhongyan sent Di Qing to help, but he was afraid that he would not be able to command this battle, and he was afraid that something would go wrong; Although Su Jin is confident that he can arrange it properly, he has the assistance of Di Qing, who has rich experience in actual combat, to ensure that nothing goes wrong; It can also be seen how much Fan Zhongyan attaches importance to this matter.

"It's my honor to be praised by Master Fan, but I don't know how to implement it and how to proceed? Can Master Fan make it clear? ”

Di Qing stretched out his hand and took out a piece of paper stacked together from his arms, unfolded it under the light, and the circles on it were densely marked with various place names and symbols, which turned out to be a military map.

Everyone met their heads and gathered around the map, their eyes moved along Di Qing's fingers, and they heard Di Qing say: "Lord Su, this official road has crossed eighty miles of mountain roads, three miles away in front of it is the mountain pass, and then there is the loess plain of Pingchuan, more than forty miles north of Shaanzhou, and there is a place called Eagle's Beak Cliff at the junction of the southwest of Shaanzhou and the northwest, which is the last mountain pass of the official road on the Yongxing Military Road; What Lord Fan meant was that in order not to let the horse army of the Western Thieves have something to play, they must not fight on the plains, otherwise even two thousand cavalry will not be able to win, and even if they win, they will be a miserable victory. ”

Su Jin stared at the map and frowned, and said slowly: "This is not difficult, there are a large number of grain and grass materials as bait, and I am not afraid that the western thief will not take the bait; If it was according to Master Fan's design, I thought that either we would stop here and wait for the enemy to come, and then surround the mountain pass; Or they will be encircled at the Eagle's Beak Cliff. ”

Di Qing suddenly asked, "What do you think is appropriate?" ”

Su Jin saw that Di Qing had the intention of taking the school himself, and said with a smile: "If you set up an ambush here, there are advantages and two disadvantages, the advantage is to go deep into the hinterland of the Yongxing Army, even if the western thieves break and flee, the border towns can also send troops to surround and intercept them, and the probability of the western thieves escaping back is very small; The disadvantage is that if you wait for the Western Thieves to arrive, the brigade must camp here and wait, which is unreasonable and may be understood by the Western Thieves; Second, if the western thieves go deep into the hinterland, they will definitely be more careful, and there are mountain roads on the retreat route, they will definitely step up their efforts to find out the news, and our actions are meticulous to send messages to the enemy, and they are afraid that they will not take the bait. ”

Di Qing stroked his palms and praised: "Master Su is really an all-round talent in civil and military affairs, this analysis is thorough, convincing, and it is exactly the same as what he thinks of his humble position." ”

Su Jin rolled his eyes and said in his heart: Are you praising me or yourself?

"Therefore, I suggest that the best ambush location be placed in the area of the Eagle's Beak Cliff, the closer to the border, the easier it is to attract the western thieves; The disadvantage is that there is no mountain after the eagle's beak cliff, and the enemy cavalry can easily escape, so I may have to spend more brains on the layout, and I don't know the terrain there, and I don't dare to make rash conclusions. ”

Di Qing hurriedly said: "My lord, look at the map, the topography of the eagle's beak cliff is marked on the map, please see, this hook is like the eagle's beak is the canyon of the eagle's beak cliff, here is a natural canyon, so the valley is very wide, narrow at both ends and wide in the middle, it is an excellent place to tie pockets." ”

Su Jin said: "How big is the inside of the cliff valley?" ”

Di Qing said: "It is more than 100 zhang wide, and thousands of cavalry can also come and go in it, which is a disadvantage." ”

Su Jin's eyes lit up, and he said: "Not really, this is exactly the advantage, otherwise how could the western thief be willing to enter the cliff?" How can we catch turtles in the urn? ”

Di Qing smiled and said: "The lowly position is really accepted, Lord Su forgives the disrespect of the lowly position, the lowly position is just ordered to test the wisdom of Lord Su, just with the words of Lord Su, there is no doubt about the lowly position." ”

Su Jin said with a smile: "Why do you need to be like this, I'm just talking on paper, and I still need Commander Di to assist in commanding during actual combat." ”

Di Qing said: "Do your best and never dare to slack off; It's just a little difficult that although the valley is wide, it is not enough for the western thieves to dispel their guard, they must not rush into the eagle's beak cliff valley, the tricky part of the matter is here, if the western thieves refuse to enter the cliff, then they can only start a war at the mouth of the cliff, and then it is indeed possible to catch up, if they are determined to run. ”

Su Jin laughed and said: "This matter is left to me, let's invite you into the urn, I only hope that Lord Fan will not alarm the West Thief, if there is no accident, the West Thief's soldiers and horses have already entered, I hope no one will disturb them." ”

Di Qing said with a smile: "Fan Gong's mind is a hundred times more detailed than that of adults, Master Su, you put one hundred and twenty hearts, it will definitely be appropriate, so that the West Thief can go all the way unimpeded." ”

Su Jin laughed and said: "That's the best, and let them go proudly, the best one to come back this time is Li Yuanhao himself, let's have a hundred." ”

Although everyone knew that Su Jin was joking, they were also full of expectations, and the possibility of Yuan Hao coming was very small, but if he really came, it would be a good show.