Flocks of birds in the sky "chirped" loudly, scolding the group below who disturbed their romantic conversations.
A neat military formation, robust soldiers, six thousand bandit-annihilating officers and men have arrived at the foot of Beishan Mountain.
"Wang Zhen, Liu Sheng, you two lead 2,000 soldiers from the left route to advance and set up a sentry array according to the map; Liu Jiang, Bai Yi, you two also lead 2,000 soldiers from the right route to advance and set up a sentry array according to the map." Qiu Fu looked at the map in his hand, then looked at the fork in the road ahead, and said solemnly.
"Yes sir!" The four hundred officials lined up to receive their orders.
"Brother Li, is there anything else you'd like to add?" Qiu Fu turned his head and asked Li Dan, the deputy commander of this large army.
"No additions, everything will be arranged by Brother Qiu." Li Dan said with a smile, although he was nominally the deputy commander of the army, but he knew that his position in Yan Wang's heart was far inferior to Qiu Fu's. He never interfered with major plans, but this did not mean he had no desire for merit.
"Li Jun, you go and help Liu Jiang arrange the manpower, okay?" Li Dan signaled to him.
"Yes!" Li Jun nodded and bowed, retreating from the camp. "Zhu Neng, you go too, lest Wang Zhen and the others cannot convince the crowd." With that, Zhu Neng also took his leave and departed.
The two old foxes exchanged a silent laugh, and at this time, the only one left in the account was Zhao Zhixian, who had been silent all along.
Qiu Fu spoke first, "Brother Zhao, have you arranged for your captors to be on standby?"
"Yes! I've already brought over all the captives, except for a few people left to maintain order in the county. There are 532 people in total." Zhao Chuhai said.
"Oh? Guixian actually has so many captives? I thought you had at most a little over 200 people, but it turns out there are more than twice that number."
"When I first took office, there were indeed 214 people, but unfortunately, my governance was not good, the people's livelihoods were not good, in order to maintain the city's law and order environment, plus the bandits outside the city making trouble, so over the years, I have recruited around 300 more people." Zhao Chuhai explained with a smile.
"With five hundred men, the encirclement will be even more secure. If this campaign against the bandits is successful, I'll make sure to report your merits to His Highness the Prince of Yan when I return. I'm sure he won't hesitate to reward you generously. Who knows, maybe by then, Zhao Know-County will have become Zhao Know-Prefecture!" said Qiu Fu with a smile.
Zhao Chuhai hastily got up and saluted, saying: "I would like to thank General Qian first. With these more than 500 men at your disposal, I guarantee that not a single bandit will be allowed to escape from the mountain."
"Alright, Zhao Zhixian, you send someone to find Zhu Nengqian, he will arrange for these five hundred people."
"Yes, Master Zhang, you'd better hurry up and go!" Master Zhang hastily ran out to look for Zhu Neng.
Qiu Fu Du looked at Zhao Chuhai's excited bow with a hint of a smile, nodding his head slightly in satisfaction with his humble attitude, but he didn't see the strange smile on Zhao Chuhai's face when he said not to let any thief down the mountain.
……
"Wang Zhen, you leave two hundred men at each of these places as sentries; Liu Sheng, arrange the soldiers in groups of fifty to patrol the mountain forests along the route..." Zhu Neng was giving detailed instructions to the two men. In fact, among the guards of the thousand households, although Qiu Fu was nominally the head of the thousand households, Zhu Neng's abilities far surpassed his. It was just that because he had inherited his father's position as deputy commander and was too young, he was not well-known. Even so, Prince Yan Zhu Di had privately evaluated Zhu Neng, thinking that he was the only one who could replace Tang Yun in the future.
Just then, Zhang Shiyeh rushed over in a hurry: "Zhu Qianhu, I have been ordered by Qiu Qianhu to bring the 500 capturers from our county to listen and dispatch."
Zhu rubbed his chin and thought for a moment, saying: "Alright, divide these 500 people into two groups. You take half of them to find Li Jun, the thousand-household leader, and leave the other half here for us to arrange ourselves."
"Understood." Zhang Shifu nodded and went off to arrange those captors.
"Commander Qianhu, since this Master is under the orders of our Lord Qiu to bring 500 captives to assist in the battle, why did he have to divide half of them to the Left Guard? The 500 men from the Yingzhou garrison were already divided among them, and now they're coming again. It's really too easy for them." Wang Zhen said indignantly.
"After all, we are colleagues. Although this time the competition is fierce, we can't be too thick-skinned and thin-skinned at the same time. If they lose this time and use the fact that we didn't give them a share as an excuse, wouldn't our faces also be lost? Moreover, can't our security team even spare 200 people?" Zhu Neng explained with a smile.
"It's only natural, I'll take the lead in this campaign to wipe out the bandits and bring honor to our commander, let these surrendered soldiers see!" Wang Zhen said with a solemn oath.
Zhu nodded and continued to instruct the two men on the matter of sealing the mountain.
Zhang Shifu arranged his own two groups of captors and then walked towards the direction of the main account, just arrived at the front of the account and saw his own master coming out from inside the account, hurriedly went up to greet him.
"Master, everything has been arranged properly by me, but Zhu Qianhu has dispersed these five hundred people."
Zhao Chuhai looked back at the camp with a cold smile, what kind of nonsense is this Yan Wang's personal guard, aren't they just a bunch of people fighting for merit and profit? Upon hearing Zhang Shifu's report, he said indifferently: "It doesn't matter, these 500 people were originally brought over by me to make up the numbers, the real trump card is Old Chen Wu Baozi and his men, using these 500 people as cover, I had them sneak into the mountains, let whatever mountain bandits or Zhu Jiu's gang come, they will all be killed by me."
"Master, Old Chen is easy to talk about, he has today's status thanks to you, Master. His family and children are all taken care of by you, but Wu Baozi and others are small and can't help but worry." Zhang Shifu said with a worried tone, rubbing his hands together.
"Don't worry, I've made arrangements. Wu Pangzi and his men are greedy for money and will do anything for it. I've also instructed Old Chen to take care of them if they make any moves at a critical moment. We'll just label them as mountain bandits. After all, they're fugitives too, and it's time they were put to good use after being fed for so many years." Zhao Chuhai said with a cold smile.
……
"Come on, put in more effort!"
"Boom!"
A wooden stake was stuck in the ground, and various sentry posts were set up on the two roads surrounding Beishan Mountain, facing the intersection of Pinggu County. The bandit-suppressing army's main camp was stationed here, gazing at the mountain with a stern expression. Soldiers patrolling everywhere had serious faces, and the intersecting patrol routes made all roads leading down from Beishan Mountain blocked off, making it impossible to get through.
At this time, Zhang Feng and Tie Shan were sitting in the front hall eating and drinking. Just after Zhang Feng had revealed his identity, Tie Shan also took the opportunity to point out Zhang Feng's origin. Both sides were frank with each other, and their relationship became even closer.
Tieshan was telling Zhang Feng about the reasons for robbing the military rations, and just as he was talking about Zhao Chuhai's various evil deeds over the years, a person rushed in from the door, who was a farmer from Tieshan village.
"Brother Tieshan is in trouble, there are Ming troops at the foot of the mountain, and the entire North Mountain has been surrounded..."
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