The person who arranged to go to Liangzhou to inquire about the news had just left for more than half a month when someone from Juyi Village came to report that Du Fei had received Zhang Yan's order and returned to the village to mobilize troops. Zhang Mo hurried back to Taihang with Xu Chu.

"What's going on? Why do we need to take people there again? The work is not finished yet?"

Du Fei explained: "It's done. This time we captured Lunu County, the Zhongshan State Administration. We gained a lot of property. Zhang Yan didn't want to go too far, so he planned to lead his troops back to the mountain. The team hadn't reached Shangai yet.

Huangfu Song left Julu's elite cavalry and overtook them.

After a stranglehold, the Black Mountain Army suffered heavy casualties and entered Shangai. The officers and soldiers did not make unnecessary sacrifices and had no intention of attacking the city and had already retreated. However, Zhang Yan was defeated and his anger could not be suppressed. He wanted to get rid of this elite team that was like a knife in his throat.

, specially ordered all ministries to go back and recruit more people."

Du Fei added: "I heard that Zhang Yan suffered two losses from this army when he attacked Jizhou before. I'm afraid he won't be able to do well this time."

"How many casualties will our troops have?" Zhang Mo asked.

"It's not much. We don't lack food, so we don't have to risk our lives. When Huangfu Song's elite overtook us, a dozen people were killed or injured."

"How many more people do we need to take? He doesn't lack people like us, right?"

Zhang Yan has tens of thousands of soldiers of her own, and there are many large villages nearby, so it stands to reason that her small village should not be inferior to the number of men.

"Four hundred." Du Fei said, "Zhang Yan is in a hurry to use troops. Isn't it because we are so close?"

He further explained, "Before leaving, Zhang Yan told all the commanders that if any troops dare to take the opportunity to annex friendly troops, they will disappear from the world. Except for us, other troops nearby will basically come out in full force."

Disappeared from the world, rather than disappearing from Taihang. There are millions of Black Mountain bandits, including two to three hundred thousand young men. If they really anger this big boss, even if he surrenders to the government, he may also send troops to attack. Therefore, there is no

It is a good place to go, and the commanders from all sides will not dare to attack and annex friendly forces at this time.

Zhang Mo felt relieved and asked some other information: There are currently 70,000 bandit soldiers gathered in Shangai, and Huangfu Song has left 5,000 elite troops. In addition, Quyi has 3,000 troops and troops from nearby counties that can be mobilized.

There are about thirty thousand officers and soldiers in total.

Heishan had a large numerical advantage, but after all, they were soldiers and horses from various ministries. Coordinated operations would definitely not work. In addition, the weapons and armor were not as good as those of officers and soldiers, and their combat effectiveness was weak. Zhang Yan planned to send out surprise troops and asked deputy general Sun Qing to lead reinforcements directly to the vicinity of Zhao Guozhongqiu.

If there was an ambush, he would lead people to lure out the officers and soldiers and attack them from both front and back.

"The elite officers and soldiers are led by Qu Yi?"

Du Fei nodded.

Zhang Mo frowned, Qu Yi was not easy to deal with. He had defeated Han Fu and Yu Fuluo, the southern Xiongnu chanyu. After he took refuge with Yuan Shao, he fought for Gongsun Zan for him. He defeated this northern hero several times and lost his armor. Later, because he was too powerful,

Because of his arrogance, he was killed by Yuan Shao, and his subordinates were also annexed.

Although Qu Yi at this time has not experienced a hundred battles, he should not be underestimated. Judging from how he can make Zhang Yan, a big bandit, suffer losses again and again, it is remarkable.

Zhang Mo is not worried that Zhang Yan will lose the battle, but she only cares about her own troops and is afraid that if she is not careful, she will be ruined in the hands of Qu Yi. However, no matter how worried she is, she will not be able to influence the situation of the battle and can only take good care of her home base.

Now there is a weapons forging factory and other factories built in Laochao. Whether it is attacked by bandits or soldiers, it will be a huge loss. Zhang Mo does not dare to send people back to Jinyang to transfer people, fearing that if the news leaks out and Wang Yun finds out, he can only let

Go and call Zhang Chang and others. One more person will give you more strength.

…………

Zhongqiu County in Zhao State is located at the western foot of Taihang Mountain. Black Mountain bandits have been rampant in recent years. Many city gates in the county on the side of Jizhou adjacent to Taihang are closed. Officers and soldiers cannot easily come out without absolute certainty.

When Zhang Yan reported that Sun Qing's 30,000 reinforcements had been ambushed in the woods twenty miles outside Zhongqiu, he led his troops and horses across the border in a swagger, surrounded Zhongqiu County, and waited for the officers and soldiers to come and suppress them.

Zhongqiu is not far from Litao, the Julu government office, and is only separated by Bairen, a county town. If Zhongqiu and Bairen are captured, Litao will be the next one? This is simply a naked provocation.

After some quarreling between Jizhou Biejia Quyi and Julu Prefect Guo Dian, 30,000 horses charged towards Zhongqiu with great force. The two were naturally wary of Zhang Yan, who wanted to encircle the area for reinforcements. They ordered scouts and cavalry to go out on the march, but no one was found.

Nothing wrong.

Three days later, when the officers and soldiers arrived outside Zhongqiu, the Montenegrin Army had already captured the small town.

It was definitely difficult for all the 70,000 troops to be stationed. Zhang Yan set up camp not far from the city gate, leaving 60,000 troops outside, and the rest went in to loot. This time, he not only robbed the big families, but also the common people's food, money, cloth, and livestock.

Even the pots and pans are not spared.

The officers and soldiers were outside scolding the formation. Seeing that the supplies were almost in order, Zhang Yan did not stay in the city and went directly to carry the supplies out of the city to fight.

In such a small city, the walls are only two feet high, and the defense supplies are limited. No matter how many people there are, it is useless. If the officers and soldiers break through the city, it will easily lead to a panic and collapse.

Nearly 100,000 troops from both armies were waiting in formation outside the city. As far as the eye could see, there were so many human heads that one could not even see the end.

On the Montenegrin Army side, because different commanders held different flags, all they could see were colorful flags in the military formation covering the sky and the sun.

The war drums beat, and the military formations of both sides began to move, and they reached one place in a short time. The dust raised during the charge was several feet high, and the battlefield was covered with gray.

The soldiers shouted to kill, the clash of weapons, the rumble of horse hooves, all kinds of notes were mixed together, deafening.

After half a day of strangulation, there were casualties on both sides, but looking at the lineups of both sides, the Black Mountain bandits still had more dead. Zhang Yan saw that the time was about right, and pretended to be defeated. Along the way, he deliberately dropped the property he had robbed from the middle hill, creating the illusion of fleeing in panic.

Guo Dian deeply hates these Black Mountain bandits. In recent years, Zhang Yan's hometown, Changshan State, has been less harassed by attacks. Other counties such as Zhongshan, Julu, Zhao State, and Wei County have received a lot of attention from thieves. Seeing that the enemy was defeated and fled, he led his troops.

Chase after.

Qu Yi chased after him for a while, and saw that most of the discarded items on the road were flags, cloths, quilts, pottery, chickens and hogs, and almost no weapons or armor. He sensed a fraud and hurriedly sent someone to call Guo Dian back.

Guo Dian's vanguard had already caught up with some of the bandits who had fallen behind. Seeing that the enemy was just ahead, he was unwilling to go back.

Unable to call Guo Dian back, and not knowing what the ambush was ahead, Qu Yi could not lead his troops and the elite troops given by Huangfu Song to die, so he had to lead his troops to stop and rest while sending detective cavalry to follow him to check the situation.

About half a day later, the detective cavalry reported that there was an ambush ahead. Guo Dian's more than 20,000 men were surrounded by nearly 100,000 bandit troops, causing heavy casualties.

"One hundred thousand thieves?" Qu Yi was slightly surprised.

"Zhang Yan must have returned to his hometown to mobilize troops. Fortunately, we did not pursue him, otherwise we would have been surrounded by heavy troops. Even if we break through, we will definitely lose our troops and generals." Qu Heng, one of Qu Yi's lieutenants, said with concern.

Another deputy general, Qu Shu, nodded in agreement, "Although the rebel army is weak in combat, it has a large number of troops. It will be difficult for Mr. Guo Fu to break through. Can he be rescued?"

"Of course we need to save..."

Qu Yi frowned slightly, "It's just... we tricked the rebel army into a trap, and there were a lot of casualties. If we don't make some contributions, we won't be able to explain to our boss."

He looked at the endless mountains in the distance, a cold smile appeared on his handsome and evil face, turned to Qu Shu and said: "Lead the remaining royal elites to rescue Governor Guo, and then return after the siege is relieved. Don't do that."

Love war."

Seeing that his master did not go to rescue him personally, Qu Shu couldn't help but ask: "Where are you, general?"

Qu Yi pointed in the direction of Taihang and said, "I'll go and rescue him from the den of thieves."

Qu Shu disagreed and said, "Zhang Yan's old nest is near the Hutuo River. It's a long way to go. If he gets the news and leads his troops to rescue us, all our efforts will be ruined."

"Who said I was going to wipe out Zhang Yan's den of thieves?"

Qu Yi laughed and said, "Zhang Yan mobilized the ambush troops so quickly, so he must have recruited men from the nearby strongholds. At this time, all the strongholds on Jingxing Road were empty, and he just went to wipe out a few thieves' nests, and while doing meritorious service, he also looted some military supplies.
Chapter completed!