Two days later, Li Yan finally got the news that Yuan Shizhong was still in the county magistrate Hua, and the area around Yuan County was lingering. It was only close to Kaocheng, so everyone was panicked.

The news from Suizhou also made it clear that there were six or seven thousand thieves who did not attack the county town, but specifically plundered in the countryside. Since Yilong and Yuan Laoshan were defeated by Li Yan at that time and retreated eastward, the looting in the countryside of Suizhou was not serious, and the people still had some food reserves, so these thieves were active in the countryside.

As for the county town, Yuan Laoshan and Yilong did not defeat even one of them when they first joined forces. Now these scattered thieves have no confidence to defeat them. At this time, these thieves are less than five miles away from Mengzhuang where Li Mou is, but they have not yet made it clear where to move forward.

Li Yan and Li Zhong discussed it and decided that Li Zhong would stay to defend the city. Li Yan took a corps (the general's) troops to Suizhou to completely defeat the thieves who were close to their territory.

After Li Yan set out, he did not send anyone to inform Li Zhong. Although he had plans, there were too many variables in the process and there was no way to communicate in time. Now he would like to inform him according to the plan. Only God knows what he would be like at that time.

Before Li Mou came, Li Yan asked him to beat the bandits. So he learned from Li Yan's method of dealing with General Zhang Shen, intending to open the gate of the fortress and then fight the bandits outside the village.

Mengzhuang is their largest fortress in Suizhou. The circumference of the village wall is nearly 300 steps, one meter high, seven feet wide at the top and one meter wide at the bottom, made of rammed earth, with only one south gate. He has been paying attention to the movements of the bandits in the past two days, but the bandits have not moved to them yet.

In Zhangzhuang to the east of Mengzhuang, the thieves are resting.

"Chief Zhang," said one leader: "It's pretty good here. I have robbed a lot of food. Let's continue to go west tomorrow. I heard that Qi County is very rich, so let's take Qi County too."

Now "Shi Qian" is also considered a big leader, so you can also use your previous real name. His original surname is Zhang, so everyone calls him Zhang.

"Shi Qian" immediately said: "I remind you not to go to Qi County. Li Yan from Qi County is not an official army here, he can go out of the city to fight. We have been there in summer, and we still go with Yuan Dazhuan, so we are still no match for others."

"Is it really that powerful?" asked the leader. They came from Shandong and really didn't know the reputation of Li Yan in Qi County.

"Shi Qian" said: "We are in Suizhou, don't mess with Qi County. If you grab some forts, you can spend the winter. Let's go to the south of Xiayi, which is close to Yuan Da's house, so you can take care of anything. In a while, the imperial army will come. The officials and nobles in Guide are not vegetarians."

Leader Liu from Shandong nodded and said, "Okay, then let's listen to Leader Zhang."

Everyone decided to do it, and then they started to eat and drink with big wine and meat. Their subordinates also offered some meat and fucked. They rarely carried the people, and they could not afford to support them. They only took the young and strong ones who were single, making the team smaller, but had stronger combat power.

Early the next morning, they began to move towards Mengzhuang. Their old camp also followed, and the families of the thieves who joined very early still followed them. Although these old and weak were slow, they were their families, and they had to take them with them even if they were slow.

When it was almost noon, they finally arrived in front of Mengzhuang.

At this time, Li Mou had already led his troops to set up a formation outside the village gate. He led the artillery team and two troops of the regiment (the general manager) outside, and the remaining more than 300 people were guarding the city on the wall.

"Shi Qian" saw the array arranged outside the village gate from a distance. At the front was a spearman sitting with a cold spear. There were two cannons in the middle, and the cannon was yellow in the sun. At the back were several rows of crossbowmen. When he saw this formation, he knew it was the style of Li Yan, Qi County.

"Stop!" "Shi Qian" loud command.

Amid the shouts of the messengers, the team finally stopped slowly.

Liu Dangjia from Shandong came over and asked, "Captain Zhang, what's wrong? Let's go there, as long as we defeat the official troops, we can go in. Look, the gate behind them is open."

"Shi Qian" said: "Did you see this formation? This is the style of Li Yan in Qi County."

"So what?" Liu Dangjia said indifferently: "We have fought with the government army. As long as we approach, they will be finished. We have a trick, one lime bag for each person, so that they will not be able to see anything."

"Lime bag?" "Shi Qian" sneered and said, "Can your subordinates throw forty steps? Their crossbow arrows can string you into candied haws within forty steps."

"We have a shield." Another leader said dissatisfied.

"Shi Qian" pointed to the two yellow cannons in the distance and said, "Didn't you see someone with a cannon? Within a hundred steps, any shield must be broken into wood chips!"

"Is it that powerful?" Liu Dangjia frowned and asked, "The government army in our place also has cannons, and it takes half a quarter of an hour to fire a cannon. Moreover, the cannons of the government army are all small cannons, which are not very powerful. As long as we can entrust them for a round, we can rush over."

"Shi Qian" shook his head and said, "Li Yan's cannon is powerful. It can not only fire solid bullets, but also launch groups of people."

"There are even more pictures of the group." Liu Dangjia smiled and said, "That's all iron sand, and you can only take twenty or thirty steps at most."

"Shi Qian" saw that it was impossible to understand Leader Liu and the others, so he clasped his fists and said, "Everyone, I won't touch this tiger, you can do whatever you want. Say goodbye." After that, he ordered his personal soldiers: "Go and notify the old camp and the troops, and we will return the same way."

Leader Liu and the others were shocked, not expecting that "Shi Qian" was so timid. So they mocked: "Teacher Zhang, why are you so frightened by a military formation?"

"Yes, the government and army are all the same virtues, what's there to be afraid of?"

"Captain Zhang is really disappointing!"

...

"Shi Qian" was not angry at these ridicule. He reminded: "Everyone, I will give you another advice before leaving. If you can't defeat it, run away quickly. I see that there are not many cavalrymen and they can still preserve their strength if they run fast." After that, he left with his subordinates.

Everyone watched as the most powerful "Shi Qian" among them left like this, and their team was instantly reduced by half.

"What should I do?" asked a leader: "Will we still fight?"

Leader Liu looked at the troops arranged outside the village gate, which looked at the maximum of seven or eight hundred people, but even if they were half missing, they still had more than three thousand people.

"Such a big village has definitely not been broken. The good things inside are waiting for us. As long as we defeat the official troops, we can go in." Leader Liu said.

"Okay, listen to Leader Liu! Let's kill in! Take this village and we'll celebrate the New Year inside!"
Chapter completed!