"These Xiang troops are too useless and have no intention of fighting at all. When I return, I will report it to the emperor and simply cancel the Xiang troops in various places." Wen Zhang said angrily.
"Brother Wen Zhang is right. The Xiang army will only waste the treasury's food and grass." Shen Mo said with a smile.
The village closest to Fenghuang Mountain is called Songjia Village. Song Kui, the bandit leader in the mountain, was originally a gangster in Songjia Village. He was kicked out of the village because he had a bad relationship with the villagers in Songjia Village. Two years ago, he went up the mountain and became a bandit. This man was good at speaking and speaking.
At that time, the leader of the mountain liked it, but later the leader died unexpectedly, and Song Kui became the master of the village.
Seeing that it was already late, Wen Zhang arranged to camp in an open space outside the village, and went to the village chief's house with Shen Mo and his guide Li Yuan.
Songjia Village is not a big place, and most of them are descendants of the Song surname. The village chief is also the head of the Song clan, named Song Kanghao. In terms of seniority, he can be regarded as Song Kui's uncle.
The guide Li Yuan had been here several times with the Xiang army. He was familiar with the road and soon arrived in front of Song Kanghao's house.
When Song Kanghao saw another group of officers and soldiers arriving, his attitude was very cold. He ignored Wen Zhang and Shen Mo, and only exchanged a few words with Li Yuan.
Li Yuan hurriedly said: "Village Chief Song, these two are not Xiang soldiers, they are sent by the emperor from the capital to suppress bandits."
Song Kanghao panicked: "Sent by the emperor?"
Wen Zhang said: "Yes. Village Chief Song, we are sent by the emperor to suppress bandits."
Song Kanghao looked at Wen Zhang, then at Shen Mo, and then said to Shen Mo: "General, are you really from the capital?"
Shen Mo pointed at Wen Zhang with a smile and said: "Village Chief Song, this is General Wen Zhangwen, the commander of the Young Guards. The emperor specially ordered him to come to suppress the bandits. I am Shen Mo, the commander of the imperial guards, and I am here to watch the battle."
"Imperial guards? They are really sent by the emperor. It's just General Wen, how can he be so young?" Song Kanghao seemed not to believe it, but his expression began to soften.
Li Yuanlan's atmosphere became a little more harmonious and he said, "Village Chief Song, why don't you invite the two generals to sit down?"
"Yes, yes, two generals, please take a seat."
"You're welcome." Wen Zhang sat down and said straight to the point, "Village Chief Song, who later learned from Wen Zhang, was ordered by the emperor to lead three hundred young guards to Fenghuang Mountain to exterminate this group of bandits. I hope the village chief will cooperate."
Song Kanghao saw that Wen Zhang claimed to be a junior scholar. After entering the room, he did not ask for food or drink like other officers and soldiers, but went straight to the topic. He couldn't help but feel good about him. He did not dare to neglect at that moment and said: "Young general, please give me your orders."
"Song Village has lived here for a long time, so he should know the topography of Phoenix Mountain and Song Kui's gang of bandits very well. Wen Zhang would like to ask, what good advice does the village chief have?"
"It's not a good idea. Song knows that there is a small road that leads directly to Song Kui's stronghold. If he attacks at night, it should be easy to wipe out these bandits. However, the road is rugged. I wonder if the general's team can do it?"
Wen Zhang said happily: "It doesn't matter. Our military camp in the capital is also at the foot of a mountain. All the young guards will climb up the mountain twice at night."
"I can show you the way."
In the early morning, Wen Zhang led a hundred young guards with martial arts skills under the leadership of Song Kanghao to Song Kui's cottage in Fenghuang Mountain. It was said to be a cottage, but in fact it was very crude. Most of the surrounding areas were surrounded by fences. This cottage was like this.
, according to Yuan Ji's words, Wen Zhang could handle it himself. There was deathly silence in the village, everyone was obviously sleeping soundly, and the two sentries at the door were also lying down and taking a nap, seemingly unprepared.
The two deputy commanders of the Youth Guard, He Quchen and Wang Hong, led one hundred and fifty soldiers to the stronghold from the front according to the agreed time and surrounded the main entrance. Shen Mo and other hundreds of imperial guards just followed behind.
No intention of taking action.
Wen Zhang heard the bird song signal sent by He Quchen and knew that they were all in place. He also sent out the bird song as an attack command. Wen Zhang waved his right hand and said softly: "Attack."
At the command, the hundreds of young guards beside Wen Zhang moved like rabbits, quickly climbing over the fences from all directions and entering the village.
At the same time, He Quchen and Wang Hong led their subordinates and rushed into the mountain stronghold. Before the two sentries could react, they were restrained by He and Wang.
The battle at Phoenix Mountain was very simple and ended in about a quarter of an hour. The sleeping bandits didn't even have time to put on their clothes, so they became prisoners of the young guard. Song Kui woke up and tried to resist, but was swarmed by the bandits.
The young guard beat him violently and then tied him up with a rope.
When I heard Wen Zhang say this, I nodded to show my approval. At the same time, I was also angry at Xiang Jun's inaction.
"Your Majesty, this Phoenix Mountain bandit is vulnerable to a single blow. My young guard is unharmed."
Shen Mo also echoed: "That's true. Although they are not as good as the bandits, the young guards are well trained and have strict military discipline, which is very good."
I smiled and said: "Then the battle of Daliu Mountain will not be so easy."
Wen Zhang replied: "Yes, how does the emperor know?"
"Forty-three injuries to the young guard probably occurred on Daliu Mountain. You continue to talk."
After the battle at Phoenix Mountain, Wen Zhang sent thirty young guards and ten imperial guards to escort Song Kui and others to Jinhua Mansion.
After returning to Songjiacun for a short rest and saying goodbye to the grateful Song Kanghao, we immediately marched towards Daliu Mountain. The two places are not far apart and we arrived at the foot of Daliu Mountain at noon.
There used to be a few hunters living at the foot of Daliu Mountain, who called Tianzhanshan their queen, and they all moved away.
Gai Jiaotian was a captain in the northern frontier army of the Song Dynasty. He had a violent personality. When Mongolia went south, his army was defeated. Gai Jiaotian fled south with the refugees. He ended up in Jinhua area a year ago because he had no identity documents.
, he also committed violence and beat people, and was arrested by the Jinhua government officials. He could not bear the humiliation of the government officials, so he injured the government officials and fled to Daliu Mountain. He picked up dozens of people and engaged in banditry. Although the number was not large, Gai Jiaotian's background
The military camp knows how to lead troops, so the bandits in Daliu Mountain are far from comparable to Song Kui and his ilk. In the past, those Xiang troops dared to show off and rush forward when they arrived at Fenghuang Mountain, but when they arrived at Daliu Mountain, they just screamed at the bottom of the mountain.
After a while, no one dared to go up the mountain to suppress the bandits.
Wen Zhang arranged for He Quchen and Wang Hong to set up camp on the spot, while he and Shen Mo quietly sneaked up the mountain.
Daliu Mountain is steeper than Phoenix Mountain, but with the martial arts skills of Wen and Shen, it is no problem.
Climbing halfway up the mountain and passing through a sparse forest, you can see the sky-high cottage. Looking from a distance, the cottage gate is tightly closed. The fences on both sides of the gate are made of trees as thick as a bowl. There is a faint shadow inside the gate.
It can be seen that a dozen bandits are wandering around, and there are two tall arrow towers in the village gate. There is a bandit on each of them looking around. There is a distance of about one hundred meters from the woods to the front of the village. If an attack is launched from the woods, it is inevitable.
They would be attacked by the opponent's bows and arrows, causing casualties to the young guards. This was not a big deal in a war, but Wen Zhang remembered the emperor's words that it was best not to die.
Wen Zhang and Shen Mo continued to observe at the edge of the woods. It seemed that only the front of the cottage could be attacked. Behind the mountain, a thin stream flowed into the cottage. Wen Zhang visually inspected that the mountain at the back was no less than a hundred meters high, and there were cliffs on both sides of the cottage.