Yuwen Chengchao moved his lips slightly, but did not say anything.
He knew that although Yuan Shangyu's attitude was tough, what he said was not wrong.
The White Tiger Camp is the strongest troop among the three guards of Xiling, or in other words, the most elite troop in the entire Xiling.
The victory or defeat of such a cavalry is closely related to the Yuwen family.
As the strongest troops in Xiling, if they are unable to exterminate even one group of bandits, or are even defeated at the hands of the other party, then not only will the momentum of the officers and soldiers plummet, but the prestige of the Yuwen family will be severely damaged, and the reputation of the Yuwen family will definitely suffer.
If more bandits become ambitious, the stability of Yuwen County and the entire Xiling will be threatened.
Yuan Shangyu claimed that the White Tiger Camp would be fine if they didn't take action. Once they take action, they must win. The reason is very simple. The White Tiger Camp's suppression of bandits is not just a military operation, but also involves many more factors behind it.
"Actually, it's not impossible to figure out the situation in Jigong Gorge." When there was silence in the tent, Qin Xiao suddenly said.
Yuwen Chengchao and Yuan Shangyu looked at Qin Xiao at the same time.
"Wang Xiao, do you have any idea?" Yu Wencheng's eyes lit up.
For some reason, although the young man in front of him looked plain and simple, Yu Wen Chengchao always felt that this boy had unexpected abilities.
Qin Xiao said respectfully: "My lord, you just said that Ding Zixiu occupies a dangerous place. With his caution, he will beware of encirclement and suppression by officers and soldiers."
"That's natural." Yuwen Chengchao nodded and said: "He hates me to the core, and he also knows that I can't tolerate him. Not to mention whether they robbed the Qilian Mountain Racecourse, even if there is no such thing, as long as I get news about him,
He will definitely not be able to let him go. He knows this very well."
"So the eldest son said that he would store a large amount of grain in the mountains to prevent the officers and soldiers from being surrounded." Qin Xiaodao: "Only when he has grain in hand can he and the officers and soldiers consume it."
Yu Wen Cheng nodded and said, "This is of course, he will definitely do this."
"Young Master, according to this, he will definitely search for food everywhere." Qin Xiao said: "It is September now, and it is also the time of autumn harvest. Of course Ding Zixiu knows that it is best to collect and plunder food at this time.
timing."
Yu Wen Chengchao and Yuan Shangyu looked at each other. Yuan Shangyu seemed to have understood. He raised his eyebrows and said with a smile: "Wang Xiao, you are saying that Ding Zixiu will send people to rob food, and this is our opportunity?"
Qin Xiao nodded and said: "If it were me who wanted to store grain, I would never miss this season. When the common people collect grain, they can plunder it, and when the rich store grain, they will also take action. Anyway, as the eldest son said, the more grain, the better.
The more, the better. If he has enough food stored, he can rest easy. If the mountains cannot produce food, they have no choice but to go down the mountains to grab food."
"That's right." Yu Wen Chengchao said excitedly: "As long as their people take action, we will set up an ambush and capture their people, and we can learn about the situation on the mountain from the prisoners' mouths."
Fat Fish also smiled, walked over, patted Qin Xiao on the shoulder, and said with a smile: "Brother Wang, you are really good, your brain is brilliant."
Yu Wencheng said to Yuan Shangyu: "Commander Yuan, Brother Wang's idea is feasible." He walked to the map, looked at it carefully, and then said: "Only forty miles to the west of Jigong Gorge is Pingqiu County, and the surrounding area of Pingqiu County
Every village and town will send grain to the county, and then send people to escort it to the capital. Recently, the autumn harvest has begun, and there is a lot of grain in Pingqiu County. Will Ding Zixiu send people to the county to rob the granary? "
"I don't think so." Yuan Shangyu shook his head and said: "Although Ding Zixiu wants to rob grain and store it, he dare not expose his whereabouts, let alone jump out and become the target of the government. To plunder Pingqiu County, more than a dozen people
It's impossible to do it individually. You have to organize at least forty or fifty people to succeed. With so many people coming to the county to grab food, Ding Zixiu shouldn't have the courage. Even if Ding Zixiu really has such a plan, we can't tell when they will take action.
Are you sure, we can't always arrange for people to ambush in the county town waiting for them to show up?"
"It's easy to mobilize troops and horses to ambush in the county town. It's easy for the news to leak out." Qin Xiao said: "Ding Zixiu had learned the lesson of the disastrous defeat back then, so he must be extremely cautious. If he really wanted to rob the county's grain depot, he would definitely be in the county town beforehand.
Arrange spies to get a clear picture of the situation in the city. What the Commander-in-Chief said is true. To catch them all, we cannot have fewer people in ambush, otherwise we will not be able to achieve the purpose of wiping them out. But if there are more people, we will definitely attract attention.
, those spies will also notice that something is wrong."
Yu Wen Cheng nodded and said: "As long as they find anything wrong, Ding Zixiu will not dare to take action."
"When Ding Zixiu sends people down the mountain and where to grab food, we can't guess what he has in mind." Yuan Shangyu frowned and said: "Even if we set up a trap around Jigong Gorge and wait for their people to go down the mountain to grab food,
If we get the news and rush there, the bandits will have already withdrawn."
Qin Xiao lowered his head in silence, thought for a while, and then said: "We don't have to go to them, just let them go to us."
"Looking for us?" Yuwen Chengchao was startled.
Qin Xiao also walked to the map, pointed to Pingqiu County on the map, and drew it to Fenggan City, saying: "From Pingqiu County to Fenggan City, there is more than a hundred miles. The eldest son has said that Pingqiu County will take in the surrounding areas.
Then send people to Fenggan Fucheng." He raised his finger and said, "Young Master, Lord Commander, you see, the south of the road from Pingqiu County to Fucheng is Jigong Gorge.
It's only thirty or forty miles down the mountain to this official road."
Yuwen Chengchao was also a shrewd person. As soon as Qin Xiao finished the first half of his words, he immediately understood what Qin Xiao meant. He looked at the map and said slowly: "Escort food from Pingqiu County to Fucheng. When Ding Zixiu gets the news, he may send
People just robbed grain trucks halfway along the road."
"If we set a trap and wait for them to take the bait, we can capture them on the spot." Yuan Shangyu said with a faint smile: "After capturing these prisoners, we can learn the details of Jigong Gorge from their mouths."
Fat Fish worriedly said: "If Ding Zixiu's people are captured, he will definitely be alert. If he wants to attack quietly, it will be even more difficult."
Yuan Shangyu said: "They are guarding the suspension bridge. It is difficult to attack them from the beginning. In this case, we can only understand their situation and make arrangements."
"Lord Commander, actually...it may not be impossible to launch a sneak attack." Qin Xiao hesitated before saying, "I have an idea, but I don't know if it is feasible."
Yuwen Chengchao was quite excited and said: "Let's all sit down and discuss, there is no need to rush."
That night, the lights in Yuan Shangyu's tent stayed on until early in the morning. Before dawn, Yuwen Chengchao came out of the tent and left quietly with his men Fat Fish and Zhao Yi.
Yuwen County has nine counties under its jurisdiction, and the Yuwen family is responsible for collecting taxes in the nine counties.
During the autumn harvest every year, each county will successively transport grain taxes to Fenggan City. Pingqiu County has a lot of cultivated land, and the amount of grain paid each year is among the best among the nine counties.
The county seat in Xiling is naturally far from comparable to the county seat in Guan Nei.
The average county town is larger than the towns in Guan Nei, and Xiling is a vast area with sparsely populated areas. Although Fenggan City has a large population and is very lively, the population of each county town is not large.
At dusk, a team escorting vehicles from Pingqiu County walked slowly on the official road and headed towards Fenggan City.
There were more than thirty carts of grain, but not many people were escorting them.
In the early years, escorting grain required a lot of strong men, and some counties even hired people from escort agencies to escort them.
After all, after the Wutuo Rebellion, bandits were rampant in the land of Xiling for several years. Every convoy traveling through the land of Xiling would face attacks by bandits at any time.
Many caravans interrupted trade, causing a huge blow to Xiling's prosperity.
The Xiling Protectorate and the Xiling clans joined forces to attack the Xiling bandits with a heavy blow, wiping out countless bandits and causing many bandits to cease their activities, while the trade routes were reopened. Although there are still bandits in Xiling today, are there also caravans?
They were robbed, but all the bandits knew in their hearts that they could occasionally move the caravan, but it was best not to move the caravan of a wealthy family rashly.
The thieves like Guofeng Ding Zixiu attacked the grain team transporting to Fucheng. Yuwen clan was furious and mobilized troops to destroy them. Because of that battle, no one in the grain teams sent to Fucheng from various counties dared to do so.
With just one touch, the manpower required to escort the food team will be greatly reduced.
The Crown Road is not a smooth road. In some places, the road is rugged and undulating. The person escorting the grain team was the grain officer of the county. Seeing that the sky was getting dark, he turned around and said loudly: "Everyone, hurry up and rush to Fucheng in the evening. Hand over the grain. I'll find you later."
This is a big restaurant where you can have a good meal."
The crowd cheered and their spirits doubled.
Not far from the south of the official road, there is a high slope. At this moment, a group of people are leaning over the tall grass on the high slope, overlooking the convoy.
"Third Leader, do you want to take action?" One person looked at the motorcade and turned to look at a man beside him.
The man was in his early forties, with a strong back and a black beard, and his eyes were looking at the motorcade from a distance.
The dozen or so men under him were all holding knives, but the third master held a large ax in one hand.
"Wait a minute." The third master looked very cautious: "Are there still some of their manpower nearby?"
"Third Master, you are too careful." The subordinate said: "The day before yesterday, our brothers reported that Pingqiu County was going to transport grain to Fucheng. A group of grain trucks passed by that day. You said you couldn't act rashly. Later,
That team entered the city smoothly. Today is the second batch. If we let it go again, we may not have such a good opportunity in the future."
"Third Master, we transported more than a dozen carts the day before yesterday, and this time it was more than double the last time." Another person whispered: "There is only so much food in Pingqiu County, I'm afraid it's almost all shipped. The First Master said
, there is no shortage of anything else on the mountain now, the only thing that is lacking is food, let us try our best to save more food."
The man from before said: "We don't know how to grow food. Even if we can, where will there be land for us? You also said before that you would go to the county town to grab food. The boss repeatedly told you not to go to the city. That would be courting death. Since
If we don’t enter the city, we will only be able to rob food halfway.”
"This is the official ration sent to the city." The third head of the family was still a little worried: "Do you think that if we rob the official ration, will the government and the Yuwen family cause trouble for us?"
"Third Master, we are thieves. If we don't steal food, they will cause trouble for us." The man next to him opened his eyes wide: "Do we still want to be polite to the government? You also know that the First Master and the Yuwen family are incompatible.
He vowed to cut Yuwen Chengchao into pieces one day. Since these grains were delivered to the city and handed over to the Yuwen family, it is even more important to snatch them and avenge the big boss."
The third master was still hesitant, and the people around him even tried to persuade him: "Third master, if you really make a great contribution, the first master will be impressed. Haven't you always coveted the second master's little wife? If you snatch this batch of food, maybe the big master will look at you with admiration."
The master will reward you with that vixen, and you can play with it however you want, and you don’t have to think about it every day."
"Bullshit on your mother." The third boss scolded: "When did I covet that sexy fox? Every time he sees me, that sexy fox gives me a look, obviously trying to seduce me. Not to mention me and the second boss.
He is a good brother, how can he be loved by others?"
"The second master's health is getting worse and worse, and he is very sick. The third master is strong and strong, and is a man that all women like." The man next to him whispered: "Maybe the second wife really wants to be your wife, the third master
Master, let me say something that I shouldn’t say. If you make great contributions, let alone the second wife, I’m afraid that the position of second master will also be handed over to you.”
The third leader spoke righteously: "If you continue to talk nonsense, I will chop you to death with an axe. Who do you think I am? Brothers and wives should not be bullied. How can I, Chen Zhitai, be such a villain?" He hesitated and asked in a low voice.
Said: "You said that if you have made a contribution, the master will really reward that slut to me?"