(Thank you all for the monthly tickets, I am deeply grateful)
Although Lu Song led five hundred horses out of Anlu City in order to intercept the bandits, of course he would not directly lead them to meet them. The official document from Huguang Dusi was ominous. At present, only the number of refugees is known. As for the five brothers Jiang
The number of people in the party is still unknown.
A group of advance spies were sent out last night. After leaving Anlu in the early morning this morning, five small banner men and horses were sent out to take the first step to find out the route of the bandits and other information.
Everyone followed the official road south and waited for more than forty miles. When they arrived at the boundary monument between Anlu Prefecture and Yunmeng County, Lu Song sent a message and ordered everyone to dismount and rest, waiting for news from the spies.
This place is not only the junction of the two places, but also a natural traffic chokepoint. There are dense forests on both sides of the official road, and behind the dense forests are mountains, which is the best place for an ambush.
Dao Chi and Lu Bing dismounted and took off their helmets. Although it was early in the morning and the sun was rising, it was midsummer after all, so they were still covered in sweat.
The five hundred people in the palace were divided into five hundred-household teams by Lu Song. Except for Xing Baihu, who was in charge of one team, each of the three officers of the Yiwei Department was in charge of one team. The remaining one hundred people were directly controlled by Lu Song.
Among the one hundred people, fifty were spies and the remaining fifty were crossbowmen.
If you want to stop the rogue bandits outside Anlu Prefecture, now is the best battlefield.
Dao Chi touched his mount and looked around at the people around him.
Everyone's temperament was completely different when the order was issued. When the prince was escorted out, everyone was solemn, but now they are in awe.
Lu Bing whispered: "How many arrows can the second brother shoot?"
Both of them used a stone bow. Although they could pull it open, they were exhausted after shooting a few arrows. Dao Chi thought for a while and said: "Six or seven arrows are no problem, but ten arrows can't be passed."
Although the two of them were first with the army, they also knew that cavalry travel mainly focused on speed and agility. They would probably not get trapped in a formation and attack. There would not be many opportunities for close combat with knives. If there were no accidents, they would mostly shoot arrows to intimidate.
Lu Bing touched his bow and said: "I have to force four or five here. If I shoot again, I won't be able to cross fifty steps. I don't know how many bandits I can hit."
As he was talking, he heard the rapid sound of horse hooves in the distance.
At the end of the official road, smoke and dust were rising all the way.
Everyone looked together and saw several horses galloping towards the horizon from far away.
Even though they were wearing the uniforms of the Royal Guards, everyone still did not slack off. Dozens of crossbows were already aimed at the intruder. Looking at the posture, if there was anything wrong in the slightest, the crossbows and arrows would be fired immediately.
Before he could get closer, the leader shouted: "Xiao Qi, Xie Dali, has a military report!"
Lu Song also recognized the person and waved his arm before the crossbowman put down his crossbow.
The few people who arrived dismounted their horses more than ten meters in front of the station. When they saw Lu Song's position, they ran over: "Master Lu, the bandits arrived in Xiaogan County, De'an Prefecture last night and spent the night in Zhengjiazhuang, ten miles away from the county seat. After dawn today, there will be countless
Hundreds of bandits have gone to Xiaogan County!"
Xiaogan County is sixty miles away from the boundary of Anyun. If Jiang Wu and others follow the hundreds of refugees, they will arrive here at the earliest tomorrow afternoon; if there are horses, they will arrive in less than two hours.
The spies who came back were the same group sent out last night. There were ten people in total. Five of them continued to stay near the refugees, and five of them came back to deliver messages.
When he heard that the bandits had divided their forces and headed for Xiaogan County, Lu Song knew that something had changed.
I just don’t know whether these people are interested in Xiaogan’s gold and silver or something else.
The distance between Xiaogan County and Yunmeng County is too close. The two counties are less than fifty miles apart.
Lu Song thought for a while, took his badge, called Xiaoqi out, gave some instructions, and ordered him to deliver the news to Yunmeng County Government.
If the bandits only want money, or if they want to enter the county to search for horses and weapons, then they cannot be tolerated. Otherwise, it will be more difficult to resist later.
How they deal with the rogue bandits will have to wait for the rogue bandits' next move before they can make a corresponding judgment.
The sun rose higher and higher, and after waiting for more than an hour, two more spies rushed back to report the worst news.
This morning outside the city gate, the rogue bandits entered the city in disguise and subdued the defenders at the south gate. Hundreds of rogue bandits entered Xiaogan City.
After hearing this, Lu Song's eyes turned black. In addition to gold and silver, there were also weapons and horses in the county. It would not be a problem to equip a hundred or so men and horses. In addition to the refugees going north and affecting several other counties, how many armed bandits are there now?
how many people?
Lu Song gritted his teeth and said, "Let's explore again!"
If there are a large number of armed bandits, the five hundred of them may not be able to deter the desperadoes. If the other party has a large number of armed bandits, then they can only send people back to the palace to ask for help.
By noon, another spy came back to report that some refugees had entered Xiaogan City, and some continued to go north. The bandits who entered Xiaogan County had not yet come out of the county.
After the fourth batch of spies who delivered the letter reported back, they finally had accurate information. After the bandits entered the county, they blocked the wealthy households in the government offices and searched for horses and weapons.
There was always a smile on Lu Song's face. After discussing with several hundred households and Dianzhan, he ordered the 1st, 2nd and 3rd teams to move forward one mile and start digging horse pits, and the 4th team was deep in the jungle.
After cutting down the branches, five teams of crossbowmen took turns to keep watch. The twenty or so men who were not on guard also dug horse pits.
Hutou and Chen Daochi followed Xing Baihu in the fourth team and went into the forest to cut branches.
Although Dao Chi and Hu Tou followed Lu Song, they were neither spies nor crossbowmen. However, at this time, Erxiao had no intention of being lazy and followed Lu Song to dig a horse pit without waiting for Lu Song's instructions.
Hundreds of people took action, but within an hour, the mile-long road was already densely covered with horse traps.
The sun is blazing in the sky, and even under the shade of a tree, it feels extremely hot.
Another spy came back, and the bandits and others took over Xiaogan's weapons storehouse.
Lu Song and several Dianzhang and hundreds of households also discussed countermeasures.
Except for the fifty crossbowmen who are on guard, the other troops work as a team and go into the dense forests on both sides to find temporary camps. They hide in the forest to rest. They can remove their armor and are not allowed to be more than a hundred feet away from other teams.
Dao Chi and Lu Bing are alone again.
Lu Song glanced at the second child and said to Xing Baihu: "I can't take care of these two children for the time being. Please take care of them, Mr. Xing."
Xing Baihu was a little impatient, but after looking at Dao Chi and Lu Bing, he nodded.
Dao Chi and Lu Bing took their horses and went to the station of the fourth team. They found Hu Tou and Chen Chizhong, and the four of them settled down together.
The armor that they were so happy to get yesterday, now Dao Chi and Lu Bing want to throw it away far away. The clothes in the armor are already soaked with sweat.
After tying the mount at the chosen place, the Taoist did not forget to remove the saddle and let the mount loosen up easily.
After finishing everything, Dao Chi found an open space and lay down. He got up too early, and his energy had been tense all morning. Now that he had some free time, he felt a little tired.
Hutou came over and lay down next to Dao Chi. After a while, he started snoring.
The Taoist idiot was so envious that he fell asleep unconsciously.
"Second brother, wake up quickly, Second brother, wake up quickly!" Lu Bing's urgent voice sounded beside him.
The Taoist idiot opened his eyes and saw Lu Bingdao: "The bandits left Xiaogan County and divided their forces to ride north. Wear your armor quickly. My father just sent the order. Everyone is here to ambush the bandits."
The Taoist idiot stood up and was about to touch the armor. Hu Tou had already brought his armor over and helped him put it on.
It is good news that the bandits and refugees have separated their forces. Otherwise, the bandits would hide among the refugees, and the number of people they would have to face would be tens of thousands.
Although it was necessary to fight hand to hand, since Lu Song ordered an ambush instead of letting them go, there was room for a fight.
Chen Chizhong had already dressed up and said to Dao Chi: "The horse can't move, but the saddle is still on."
Dao Chi nodded, saddled his mount, and then followed the third team to the ambush ground of the fourth team.
Four teams of men set up ambush in the dense forest before and after digging the horse trap section. The position of the four teams was on the southwest side, where the road was intercepted.
When the fourth child arrived at the ambush site, they found that Lu Song was also there, bringing with him twenty crossbowmen and a dozen spies.
Dao Chi's hand holding the bow was dripping with sweat. Lu Song came to the fourth team and obviously regarded the fourth team as the main force of the attack. Think about it, among the four centurions, only the fourth team could be the main force.
Dao Chi raised his head and looked ahead. There were horse traps for a mile. Four teams were responsible for ambushing this area, which was nearly a hundred feet away. Excluding the distance from the sheltering woods to the official road, he was within thirty feet of the shooting range.
The afternoon sun was blazing, and the leaves were drooping and lifeless. The surroundings were quiet, and the sound of chirping insects slowly sounded. People everywhere began to hide, waiting for an ambush.
A lieutenant lay on the ground, listened for a long time, raised his head and said softly: "Here he comes!"
Everyone held their breath and concentrated, walking along the official road and looking into the distance.
Faintly, smoke and dust were seen rising from the sky, and a bunch of small black dots appeared.
As if in the blink of an eye, smoke and dust roared in, and the rapid sound of horse hooves sounded in my ears.
The leading captain was still lying on the ground, raised his head again and said: "More than a hundred horses!"
Lu Song finally breathed a sigh of relief after hearing this. Five hundred versus one hundred, prepared versus unprepared, there is no need to worry too much.
Dao Chi watched with concentration as the men and horses got closer and closer. He had already drawn an arrow, put it on his bow, and aimed it at himself within range.
More than a hundred cavalry came galloping, and the horses were mixed, good and bad, causing the team to pull apart. However, there were also twenty or thirty cavalry in front.
Under the gaze of everyone, the bandits were getting closer and closer.
In the blink of an eye, everyone arrived near the boundary monument, and the leading people had already fallen off their horses.
The horses that followed followed closely and tripped several horses. The people behind felt something was wrong and hurriedly reined in the reins.
At this time, Xing Baihu had already waved his arms, and everyone fired out in unison. The twenty crossbowmen beside Lu Song were not idle either, and followed suit.
The Taoist idiot also began to draw his bow and aim, and shot his second arrow.
His first arrow was aimed at a man who fell off his horse, aiming at the chest, but his hand still sank when he shot it, and it only hit the abdomen...