Chapter 94: Inexplicable

People like Ma Gang who came out of the family of real military generals were different. After the two sides met, the camping and camping were completely followed by Ma Gang, and the arrangement was arranged in an orderly manner. Li Meng did less, and he just arranged restorative training for his subordinates, and took turns to stand guard.

According to the Xiazhuang people who led the way to report the news, the group of horse thieves came to Xiazhuang almost once every half a month, and the next time they came, it should be five days later, and there are still a few days to prepare.

Li Meng has 600 stairs and more than twenty horses. It is impossible to chase horse thieves with such mobility. They can only make trouble in the farm.

The terrain of Gaomi and Jiaozhou is similar, surrounded by hills. Xiazhuang, built on flat ground, does not rely on the garrison and county town, so naturally it cannot be completely defenseless.

Hundreds of families in Xiazhuang are surrounded by high walls, and deep trenches are dug around the high walls. During the day, people in the village need to go through two suspension bridge gates in front and back. In addition, there are their own viewing building in the village, and people always take gongs to watch and guard.

The person in Xiazhuang said, as long as it is wrong, the gong will be beaten without a single incense stick, five hundred villages will be gathered immediately. There are stone troughs to ignite beacons in the open space in the center of the village. As long as the fireworks are ignited, the Zhuangzi will support three hours, and the support of other villages will be reached. The Zhuangzi is equipped with spears, knives and axes, and there are even five crossbows. There is no danger to guard on this flat ground and no force can rely on. It is not surprising that there is such a capital to protect yourself.

Even if Li Meng didn't know the situation outside, he knew that such a small fortress-like Xiazhuang would be able to move more than 100 horse thieves, not to mention that they would not move more than 100 horse thieves.

According to what Ma Gang said, he no longer needs to arrange many things in this village. He only needs to place the salt dicks at a few necessary points. Without siege equipment and firearms, it will take a lot of effort to fight even if the soldiers come to fight. Such a farm is better than a fortress, so why should salt dicks be invited to suppress the bandits?

During dinner in the evening, Ma Gang, Chen Liu and Wang Hai talked about their experiences everywhere. Shandong has never had peace since the Hongwu period. From the rebellion of King Zhao to the Buddha's mother Tang Sai'er, Liu Liu and Liu Qi, who were later, and the White Lotus Sect's rebellion more than ten years ago, apart from these chaos, there were constant horses and bandits in the local area. Therefore, all the villages and forts with scale were built into such a fortress.

The villagers in these turrets also have the idea of ​​defending their families and their hometowns, and they dare to fight to the death when the bandits attacked.

I thought Wang Hai and Chen Liu would have any thoughts when they saw Ma Gang joining the Yanding team later than them, but they didn't expect that they would chat and laugh at dinner, which made Li Meng feel relieved. He made up his mind that when this matter was over, he must go to more places. He practiced in Jiaozhou with a narrow vision and could not see many things at all. He could not imagine what he saw in a small small city in Laizhou Prefecture was really too narrow.

After calming down, Li Meng and Ma Gang walked around in Xiazhuang, watching the construction and construction of the village. These were just miniature and simple cities, and there was not much to watch. For example, Shuijing did not think of some film and television dramas, but was near the edge of the village wall. The reason was that if there was a fire attack outside, the fire was the most needed near the village wall.

However, Li Meng discovered a very interesting situation. Although they were Gaomi County Magistrates who invited Gaomi to eliminate the bandits through private messages, and he was not guilty of his own side. Apart from asking the other party to provide accommodation, they would never take advantage of it. However, the people of Xiazhuang were still very cold.

No matter what, the salt deers are here to do good deeds, so they shouldn't be so kind! The owner of Xiazhuang Village showed his side when he started to greet them. The rest of the time was the Li Zheng of Xiazhuang, who was said to be the nephew of the official. The reason why he was accompanied with a warm attitude was because he was a local private salt dealer. He knew that it was Li Erlang who came here and flattered him diligently every day, hoping to get cheap salt goods.

The master in the county town also had a smile on his face, but he spent more time with Mr. Xia, so they were more interested in dating each other. One was a local tyrant and the other was a literary man from the yamen, so they were naturally more willing to communicate.

The salt dicks were also quite frustrated in Xiazhuang. After all, they came with passion, but they were facing the cold and even slightly ridiculous attitude of Zhuang people, and no one would be happy.

After two days, Li Meng felt something was wrong. He issued strict orders to Ma Gang and the leaders of the Salt Ding team at all levels, and he had to restrict his subordinates from clashing with Zhuangmin. The Salt Ding team was invited to save the people, not to harm others.

According to the field knowledge learned during the modern PLA, the salt dicks under his command were arranged to guard at various intersections and key points outside Xiazhuang for warning, which was considered as an early warning checkpoint.

This behavior was also ridiculed by the villagers. Li Meng and his entourage who were inspecting the village felt a little uncomfortable. They were not offended. They were not military uniforms, but were just strong local people. Such people really made the conscious and powerful monks look down on them. Why, those who have force but are not domineering? That is a soft boy. Although this logic is strange, many people think this way unconsciously in their hearts.

The actions of Xia Zhuangmin made Li Meng more and more sure of his judgment. However, since he came, he should do his best, even if it was a practical exercise. However, he was also a little depressed. It is true that there are people in the court who are good at being an official, but it is really embarrassing to be an official like this.

On the third day of staying in Xiazhuang, the Xia family was bringing a righteous man over, saying that he knew the movements of the nearby horse thieves and came to report the news.

The man came over, which was rare among the civilians. He saluted Li Meng and several captains of Salt Ding. Then he said that when he was going to collect firewood, he happened to be near the horse thief's camp and hid in the dark. He heard several horse thieves coming out to wander around and said that he would come to attack Xiazhuang in two days, just around the morning Si hour.

A villager could meet a horse thief when he went to pick up firewood, and happened to know when to attack. Moreover, the villager knew where Xiazhuang was and gave himself more preparation time.

Li Meng now felt weak all over. Ma Gang, Wang Hai, Chen Liu and others all felt something was wrong. After Xia's family was leading people back, Ma Gang asked in a deep voice:

"Mr. Li, this matter is strange everywhere. You have seen the usual performances of people like Xiazhuang. I suspect that they may have colluded with the horse thief. Maybe it was a trap set by those who had conflicts with us on the Yan Road. We must be careful."

Chen Liu and Wang Hai also saw this scene. When they heard Ma Gang express his doubts, they all matched them. Li Meng shook his head and said with a wry smile:

"If we are trapped, and in the middle of the night, the villagers of Xiazhuang suddenly rise up and surround us, we will suffer heavy losses. The food, drink, and water from Yan Ding are all provided by this farm. If we want to do it, we will have already moved."

Seeing that the following people were all confused by him, Li Meng didn't want to explain anything, his face turned solemn and said coldly:

"Don't think about it all. Since you are here, you must fight this war well. Don't worry, our enemies will never be in this Xiazhuang. No matter how big or small the war is, they are all major issues. You must not slack off. You must do your best."

The news that the horse thief was coming was also spread in Zhuangzi, but Zhuangmin looked like he was not surprised. Only a few hundred salt ditches were prepared to prepare for the war under the command of the big and small leaders, which was also a resonance.

On the day that was set, 600 salt dings began to get up early in the morning to have dinner, and then strengthened their strength in various defensive positions. Originally, Li Meng asked the clan leader of Xiazhuang to provide manpower to assist in defense, which was also a must-have when defending the city. In addition to soldiers, strong men and even strong women were also needed to help.

However, Li Meng's very reasonable request was rejected by the clan leader, with a very talented reason, saying that "it is the busy farming process at this time, and it is a serious crime to delay spring plowing and sowing." The master sent by the county government said coldly, "I'm here to suppress bandits, not to hurt farmers, we must distinguish the right degree."

Li Meng probably understood what happened to the bandit suppression this time, so he could only respond with a wry smile, and also had to educate the people below seriously:

"The situation of this bandit suppression is special and cannot be handled in the future."

The salt gins got up early, and the villagers only started to leave the farm to plow the fields and farm at dawn. They were not afraid of the so-called horse thieves who were about to come at noon. They seemed to have finished their farm work before the horse thieves came to attack Xiazhuang. The salt gins who were busy everywhere looked at the scene with silence.

When the sunlight passed the fort wall around Zhuangzi, the checkpoints set up by Li Meng around Zhuangzi began to gradually shrink back. The sentries in the other directions said that they had found nothing. Only the sentries in the west said that they were looking at a large amount of smoke and dust from afar. The weather was very good and the wind was not strong. It was obviously a sign of people and horses gathering to move.

I think these horse thieves would not have any tricks. They should have fought in the west. Wang Hai and Chen Liu were guarding Li Meng while checking weapons. Li Meng and Ma Gang issued orders loudly. In addition to defending in necessary positions, the salt ditches were divided into three waves, with 150 people in front and back doors, and 150 reserve teams were left in the center of the village, ready to replenish at any time.
Chapter completed!