Chen Zhitai rarely heard Geng Shao praise him, and said with a smile: "That must be the case. It's not that there are several leaders in Montenegro. There must be one leader's wife among them who is particularly beautiful and is remembered by others. Therefore, the brothers are at odds with each other.
Fight."
Everyone smiled.
"General Gu, what do you think?" Qin Xiao looked at Gu Baiyi.
Gu Baiyi was awarded the rank of fifth-rank Ranger General. Although his rank was not very high, everyone present already knew that Gu Baiyi and Qin Xiao had a close relationship. Moreover, Gu Baiyi took the most credit for the suppression of the rebellion in Suzhou, and no one dared to do so.
I underestimated this gentle and gentle Ranger General.
Gu Baiyi said with a smile: "I have suggested to the general before that if we want to train troops in Songyang Grassland, the threat from the Black Mountains must be eliminated. In the previous battle, the Black Mountain bandits returned with a huge defeat, and their morale must be low. They had fought with the Liaodong Army before.
Not to be outdone, now after the defeat, people's hearts are floating, and the people on the mountain are also panicking." After a pause, he said: "Now that they are at odds with each other, and they are fighting each other, it should be the best time for us to conquer Montenegro."
Qin Xiao nodded slightly, and Yuwen Chengchao thought for a moment and said: "The last time the Black Mountain bandits attacked at night, we received a secret letter that explained in detail the Black Mountain bandits' plan. I discussed it with the general and decided to send that letter
Superstitious people are by no means ordinary characters in the mountains. The Black Mountain Bandits would try to keep it secret beforehand in advance of their night attack and not let too many people know about it. The secret letter clearly stated in detail the strength of the troops sent by the Black Mountain Bandits and the intelligence of the generals. Write this
The person who wrote the letter must be an important figure in Montenegro, probably one of the leaders."
Jiang Xiaochun immediately said: "Since he is the leader of Montenegro, why did he send a secret letter? What is his motive?"
"Kill someone with a borrowed knife!" Yu Wen Chengchao said solemnly with sharp eyes: "After repelling the Black Mountain bandits, we interrogated several bandits and learned from them that the Black Mountain bandits were always led by their second leader Xuanyuan Chong, but
That night, it was Du Zitong, the fourth leader, who was the fourth leader, which puzzled many Black Mountain bandits. I thought about it carefully, but I still can't figure out why the Black Mountain bandits didn't let Xuanyuan Chong lead the troops, but according to common sense, Du Zitong led the troops.
Going out to fight may have angered Xuanyuan Chong."
"You are saying that it was Xuanyuan Chong who wrote the secret letter. He wanted to use Long Ruijun's help to get rid of Du Zitong, so he revealed the Black Mountain bandit's plan in advance so that we could lay a trap. It would be better if Du Zitong died here.
Even if he narrowly escapes death, if Du Zitong loses the battle, his reputation in the mountain will naturally plummet?" Jiang Xiaochun immediately understood what Yuwen Chengchao meant.
Yu Wencheng nodded and said, "I guess it's possible, but I'm not sure."
Qin Xiaodao: "Before that night attack, I met Xuanyuan Chong. Xuanyuan Chong led people to visit outside the camp. I had a conversation with him, and I didn't feel that he had any deep hostility towards us. I didn't know at the time
Who is he? Later, after asking the prisoners about their appearance and appearance, they confirmed that it was Xuanyuan Chong who they saw that day." He said to Gu Baiyi: "General Gu, I have told you this in detail.
Pass you."
Gu Baiyi nodded and said: "Captain Yuwen just said that he didn't know why Heishan didn't let Xuanyuan Chong lead the troops. I think there is a possibility."
"oh?"
"Recruitment!" Gu Baiyi said: "If the Black Mountain bandits are not at odds with the imperial court, Xuanyuan Chong will not be able to go down the mountain to meet the general alone. He came to test, not to know the deployment of Long Ruijun, but to know the relationship between Long Ruijun and
Is the Liaodong Army a fellow traveler? If I guessed correctly, at least Xuanyuan Chong did not have any deep hostility towards the imperial court. He just regarded the Liaodong Army as an enemy." After a pause, he continued: "Black Mountain is located in a remote place.
In the land, most bandits live one day at a time and do not make foresight. However, since Xuanyuan Chong was able to defeat the Liaodong Army repeatedly, it proves that this person has outstanding abilities and is very smart. He can do things that others cannot think of.
It may not be unexpected.”
Qin Xiao said: "You mean he hopes to be recruited?"
"Long Rui's army is training in Songyang Grassland. The longer the time goes by, the stronger the control over this area will be." Gu Baiyi stood up and walked to a map hanging in the big tent. This was a map.
A very simple map of the Northeast, with many places not very detailed. He raised his hand and pointed to the Black Mountains on the map and explained to everyone: "North of the Black Mountains is the territory of the Xilezhen Yu tribe. With the strength of the Black Mountain bandits, they don't have the courage to go there."
Provoke the True Feathers. There are mountains to the east and west, and it is impossible to cross." Sliding his finger down: "So the direction of their activities can only be to the south. The supplies in Black Mountain are limited, and there are tens of thousands of mouths on the mountain. They only rely on food and clothing.
Montenegro is definitely unable to supply, so we must plunder supplies to the south from time to time to replenish what we need on the mountain. To the south is Songyang Grassland. Before we arrived, it was a flat plain with no garrison. The Black Mountain bandits could come in and out freely and plunder at any time through Songyang Grassland.
, but if given time, we fortify the entire grassland, for the Black Mountain bandits, they will encounter a wall as long as they go down the mountain, and every robbery will have to pass through Long Ruijun's territory. In other words, every time they want to
To replenish the supplies on the mountain, we have to risk our lives on the grass. Other bandits may not have thought so much about this situation, but Xuanyuan Chong must have thought of it."
Yuwen Chengchao nodded and said: "A few days ago, I led people to circle around the grassland. Although the environment here is not good, the grassland is indeed not small, with a total length of more than a hundred miles from east to west. At present, we have not completely spread it out.
Therefore, they may be able to find a breakthrough in this more than 100-mile defense line and sneak over to plunder. However, once we block the entire defense line, they will not be able to cross the pasture at all. If they want to plunder, they will have to go north and plunder.
We take a detour to the west from Yu Grassland, to the northern part of Liaoxi County, and then go south into Liaoxi County. This journey is extremely long, and it also requires traveling through Zhenyu Grassland, so the risk is even greater."
"Xuanyuan Chong naturally understands the key. He should have thought that if the situation continues like this, the Black Mountain bandits will have only two options." Gu Baiyi smiled and said: "Either Long Rui's army can be annihilated and Songyang can be killed.
The Caochang garrison disappeared. But do the Black Mountain bandits have the ability to annihilate Long Rui's army? Long Rui's army is a sect of the saint. Once they are enemies of Long Rui's army, they are truly enemies of the entire Tang Empire, and the Black Mountain bandits become
A true rebel. Xuanyuan rebelled against the Liaodong Army, but he did not necessarily want to be an enemy of the Tang Dynasty."
Jiang Xiaochun understood and said: "Xuanyuan Chong doesn't dare or doesn't want to move Long Ruijun, but he can't just watch the people in Heishan being trapped and die in the mountains. The other way is to be recruited by the imperial court."
Chen Zhitai grinned and said: "To tell you the truth, after being turned into a bandit, in fact, as long as the court can comfort him, the brothers on the mountain still want to be recruited. At the beginning... Hehe, life in the mountain was like licking blood from the edge of a knife.
In those days, they might be wiped out by the officers and soldiers one day. If the imperial court can give them a half-office position with no worries about food and clothing, who would be willing to be a bandit?" He also had an idea and asked: "Since they want to be recruited,
, why didn’t you request the court earlier and had to wait until now?”
"If the Black Mountain bandits had requested recruitment from the imperial court early, the imperial court would certainly not refuse to agree." Gu Baiyi was kind to others and said with a smile: "The Black Mountain bandits are the most powerful bandit in the four northeastern counties. If they actively requested recruitment, the imperial court would not be satisfied.
It's just a matter of spending some money to resettle them, and the recruitment of the Black Mountain bandits must have a profound impact on the bandits in the entire four northeastern counties. Other bandits must also want to submit to the imperial court." He paused and sighed: "But the imperial court really
To recruit them beforehand, the only way is to let the Liaodong Army handle the matter. However, the Liaodong Army was repeatedly defeated at the hands of the Black Mountain bandits, and there must be resentment in his heart. Xuanyuan Chong knew this very well. If the Liaodong Army really recruited them, the Black Mountain Army would
The bandits will definitely not get any good accommodation, or even...!"
"It won't even allow the Black Mountain bandits to be recruited smoothly, and other traps will be created in the middle?" Chen Zhitai said immediately.
Qin Xiao smiled and said: "The third master has been following General Gu for a while, and his mind has become much more flexible."
Everyone laughed when they heard this.
"After Long Ruijun left the border, Xuanyuan Chong must have learned about the general's information in detail." Gu Baiyi said seriously: "He knows that the general is upright and highly respected by the saints. Perhaps because of this, he felt that the long-awaited opportunity has finally arrived, so he specially made a special trip for this purpose.
I went down the mountain to meet with the general just to test the general and see if he could recruit the Black Mountain bandits. Since he wanted to be recruited, he would definitely not agree to the Black Mountain bandits attacking Long Rui's army, but not everyone else in the Black Mountains did.
Some people have the same thoughts as Xuanyuan Chong. They feel that living happily in the mountains, free from government control and not paying taxes, is much better than the life after being recruited. Therefore, it is inevitable that there will be two groups of people with different positions in the mountains.
.”
Yuwen Chengchao sighed: "General Gu's words made me suddenly enlightened. Yes, if this is the case, everything makes sense. Xuanyuan Chong wanted to recruit An, but other people on the mountain, especially Zhou Hongji, the big leader of Montenegro, were unwilling
, in this case, it is naturally impossible for Xuanyuan Chong to lead his troops to attack us."
"So, the letter was not sent on the mountain to kill people with a borrowed knife?" Jiang Xiaochun said: "Xuanyuan Chong's purpose in sending this letter was to let the Black Mountain bandits return defeated and fear Long Ruijun, so he could
So that you can persuade others to accept recruitment?"
"Of course, it is possible that Xuanyuan Chong sent someone to deliver this letter, but I personally think that this possibility is not high." Gu Baiyi said slowly: "If Xuanyuan Chong doesn't want to associate with the Black Mountain gang, he can
As soon as he left, since he tried so hard to recruit people, he naturally wanted to think about the future of those people on the mountain. Leaking the plan of the night attack allowed us to prepare. The most terrifying result would probably be that the Montenegro who participated in the attack would be killed.
The bandits were all wiped out. General Ye was merciful that night and did not kill harshly. Even so, the Black Mountain bandits suffered heavy losses. If he really killed them, not many of the Black Mountain bandits would be able to come back alive. Xuanyuan Chong was helpless.
I am sure whether the general will show mercy. Since he wants to recruit the Montenegrin bandits for their future, he sends these people into a desperate situation. This is unreasonable and inconsistent, and it is difficult to explain."
Everyone thought that Xuanyuan Chong must be the one who sent the secret message. When Gu Baiyi said this, they were all surprised. Jiang Xiaochun couldn't help but said: "If it's not Xuanyuan Chong, who can it be?"
"No matter who it is, if this secret letter was not sent by Xuanyuan Chong, then there must be another leader on the mountain who also wants to be recruited." Gu Baiyi said calmly: "This person is well hidden. If Xuanyuan Chong wants to be recruited,
If it is in the open, then this person is in the dark. But no matter who he is, his existence should be beneficial to us." After a pause, he continued: "Right now, the Black Mountain is in flames. If I
You are right, the other leaders thought Xuanyuan Chong was a traitor and wanted to eradicate Xuanyuan Chong, so they met with each other."