In the middle of the night on April 12, the King of the East Heaven Zhu Wu, according to the plan, sent his subordinates Yang Ji and Liao Ju to lead more than a thousand thieves to Guangxian and Changle counties, pretending to destroy the farmland outside the two counties.

Although Zhu Wu's purpose was not to destroy the farmlands of the two counties, he made a false act when he issued the order. After all, he knew that it was still mid-April, and even if the farmlands of the two counties were destroyed, the county town had time to replant - these were also the food for Taishan Yishi in the future, so Zhu Wu naturally would not really destroy it.

That night, Yang Ji and Liao Ju led the thieves to Guangxian and Changle, respectively, preparing to destroy the farmland outside the city.

To be honest, destroying the farmland at this time is a laborious job - if they only need to set a fire in the fields to burn the crops in the fields, so that the two counties cannot cry. In contrast, the seeds in the farmland have just been planted, and most of them have not even grown seedlings. If they are destroyed at this time, they must dig out the seeds. Isn’t this equivalent to plowing the fields again?

Fortunately, most of the soldiers of the Taishan Yishi were from poor families and were not unaware of farming. For example, they knew that in order to facilitate seed germination, these generally have shallow farming.

In this case, Yang Ji and Liao Ju and others discussed a trick in advance: set fire.

The trick is very simple. Just ask each thief to carry some straw, branches and other ignition-enhancing objects, and wait for the smear to be spread on the farmland, then set the fire to ignite the fields. The flames burn the fields and roast the seeds buried underground, so that the seeds will naturally not grow.

Not to mention, this method is not too smart. The only problem is that doing so requires a lot of straw, branches and other things to aid in combustion. If it is just the extent to which each thief carries a bundle of straw or branches, the 2,000 thiefs can destroy the fields that can be destroyed by this area may not be more than 5,000 acres.

The fields of a county are all in 10,000 mu, and the smallest county is 50,000 to 60,000 mu.

Of course, considering that their original intention was to lure the Jin army, this level was enough.

Speaking of Guangxian, the county troops of Changle and the two counties are not fools. During the spring plowing, the two counties will naturally send county soldiers to stay at night, which will quickly reveal the whereabouts of Yang Ji and Liao Ju, the two bandits of Taishan.

Look, the alarm bells sounded immediately in Guangxian Town.

Immediately, many county soldiers rushed up to the city wall and raised torches to shine outside the city.

Even the following conversations were vaguely circulated:

"What's going on? Why is the bell ringing warning?"

“…It seems that someone is destroying the fields outside the city.”

"What? Are the bandits of Mount Tai?"

Yang Ji, who saw this scene from afar, didn't care. First, they could hide their movements with the help of the night, and second, the other party was just ordinary county soldiers. If they really fought, these ordinary county soldiers might not be the opponents of his brothers.

As expected, although Guangxian had noticed that there might be bandits outside the city that were destroying their fields, they did not dare to leave the city.

Maybe they think it's unnecessary. At worst, they can just replant tomorrow. Why risk going out of the city to fight with those Taishan bandits?

Some time ago, the county army led by the county magistrate of Zhuxu County, Zhang Xi, was ambushed by the Taishan bandits and wiped out the entire army. This incident had already spread throughout the counties in Shandong, making the counties in Shandong deeply realize the difficulties of the Taishan bandits again. If there were no forced orders from the superiors, no county army in various places wanted to take the risk.

The inaction of the Guangxian County Army led to Yang Ji, a bandit of Mount Tai, igniting a fire in several farmlands outside the city.

Looking at the fire outside the city, the county army on the city became increasingly convinced that it was the Taishan bandits' destruction, and immediately sent someone to report to Linzi.

On the other side, the situation is similar.

Around the Chou Times, the messengers from Guangxian and Changle counties quickly arrived in Linzi and reported to Zhangjing that the attacks of the two counties were reported.

At this time, Zhang Jing was still deducing the battle situation in his study, and suddenly a soldier came in to report: "Report to General, Guangxian sent someone to send news."

Zhang Jing glanced up and said casually: "Call him in."

"yes!"

A moment later, the soldier led the envoy sent by Guangxian to Zhang Jing's house and clasped his fists and reported: "General, two hours ago, our Guangxian was attacked by the bandits of Mount Tai. They set fire to the farmland outside the city, trying to destroy the fields in our county..."

Zhang Jing was calm when he heard this and asked casually: "Can any county soldiers be sent out of the city to expel them?"

The envoy hesitated for a moment, lowered his head and said, "Prince Liu was ambushed by the bandits of Mount Tai when he was afraid that he would leave the city late at night, so he dared not act rashly."

"Um."

Zhang Jing nodded and ordered: "You go back and tell County Magistrate Liu to ask him to guard the city. As for the Taishan bandits who were destroyed outside the city, I will deal with it..."

"Yes!" The messenger bowed and retreated.

After glanced at the person's departure back, Zhang Jing turned his gaze to the marching map in front of him again.

To be honest, he was not in a hurry at all - it was just that some seeds were destroyed by the Taishan bandits. It was no big deal. It would be replanted tomorrow. The climate in Shandong would be too late before May.

The key is, how many people did the Taishan bandits send to destroy the farmland in each county this time?

"Do you want to notify General Wang?"

Next to him, Zhang Jing's escort Xu Fu reminded.

Zhang Jing thought for a moment, frowned slightly and said, "Let me send someone to inform Shaoyan, but tell him not to act rashly for the time being. Now it is not the time to alert the snake, so I will first find out the whereabouts of the bandits of Mount Tai first."

"Yes!" Xu Fu frowned.

Soon, Changle County also sent envoys to send news to Linzi, reporting that Zhang Jingchang Le County was also attacked by the bandits of Mount Tai, and the situation was exactly the same as that of Guang County.

Zhang Jing comforted him and sent the envoy to return to Changle overnight, asking the soldiers in Changle County to guard the city, and ignored the others.

After the envoy left, Zhang Jing continued to wait in the study, waiting for news from other counties. However, he waited around and waited until the second hour of Yin, and no third county town had been attacked to send people to send news.

"It seems that only Guangxian and Changle are there tonight..."

Zhang Jing picked up his pen and drew a circle in the position of Guangxian and Changle on the marching map. He then hugged his arms and thought. After a while, he sneered: "It seems that our opponent is quite cautious..."

The escort Xu Fu was right next to Zhang Jing, so he was naturally familiar with Zhang Jing's speaking habits. He heard this and asked in surprise: "What does the general mean is to guard against us on the other side?"

"ah."

Zhang Jing nodded slightly and murmured: "At first, I thought that the Taishan bandits might cause us some trouble while the counties were busy with farming. Therefore, I wanted to use the tricks and severely hurt them. Now, when I see, the Taishan bandits may not have guessed our reaction..."

After a pause, he sneered: "Knowing that I am waiting for them to take the bait, I still dare to come and harass me. Haha, if it is not a simple provocation, then it is ulterior motives..."

"Is there any ulterior motive?" Xu Fu's face showed a little suspicion.

However, Zhang Jing didn't care about solving his escorts at this moment. He ordered in a deep voice: "Xu Fu, please send someone to Shaoyan again and tell him that he didn't have to send his Hebei army immediately. Let the Tai bandits destroy him for a few days first and be arrogant... In addition, you can send someone to Gaoyuan County in the north and ask General Xue to wait for a few more days..."

Xu Fu smiled bitterly and said, "General Xue is afraid he can't wait..."

"Then you have to wait, too." Zhang Jing said seriously: "Tell my second brother and say that I will definitely give him a chance to attack the bandits of Mount Tai."

"...Okay." Xu Fu nodded helplessly and turned around and left.

Seeing this, Zhang Jing once again set his eyes on the marching map in front of him and muttered something.

After dawn, Zhang Jing sent general Xiahou Lu to lead the three thousand Grand Tutors to Guang County. After a walk around Changle, Yang Ji and Liao Ju, the bandits of Taishan, had already evacuated the two counties with their subordinates, so Xiahou Lu naturally had no gains.

During this period, Guangxian and Changle counties began to remedy the farmland that was destroyed yesterday, re-turn the soil and re-soil it in an orderly manner.

When the bandits of Taishan lurking in the distance saw this scene, they immediately reported the reactions of the two counties and the Jin army to Zhu Wu, Lu Liao and Zhang Zhai.

When he learned about this, the former Jiangdong Yishi General Lu Liao sneered and said, "This Zhang Jing is so calm..."

He explained to Zhu Wu and Zhang Zhai: "The response of the Jin army is definitely not so slow. This is because Zhang Jing deliberately indulged us and tried to take us lightly."

"Well." Zhang Zhaishen nodded with consent.

But even so, they decided to continue to send people to attack Raoge counties that night, after all, their purpose was to lure the Jin army to the ambush place.

That night, the little king Yang Ji and Liao Ju and others went out again to Guangxian and Changle counties again.

Why are they only staring at these two county towns? The reason is very simple, because in addition to Linqu County, Guang County and Changle are the two county towns closest to the main village of Zhu Wu and Lu Liao. Zhu Wu, Lu Liao and Zhang Zhai were also guarding against being ambushed by the Jin army, so Yang Ji and Liao Ju should not be sent too far away to retreat to Mount Tai in time.

Not to mention Zhang Jing, even Wang Yan, the youngest among the five tigers, can see this clearly.

It was also the Chou Times, around the Yin Times, when Zhang Jing received the news of attacks from Guangxian and Changle counties again, Wang Su, who had been stationed in Zhuxu County, also received the relevant news.

He laughed and said, "San brother and the bandits of Taishan, are they testing each other? When will they test this?"

After thinking about it, he ordered the Hebei army under his command not to act rashly and rode his horse to Linzi overnight.

After dawn, Zhang Jing was also a little surprised when he saw Wang Su: "Shaoyan, why are you here?"

Wang Su smiled and said, "I saw the third brother and the bandits of Taishan test each other, and I was anxious to wait, so I came to see what happened."

Zhang Jing suddenly realized and smiled bitterly: "I thought the first day's indulgence would encourage the arrogance of the bandits of Mount Tai, causing them to send the two bandits to the county town far away from Mount Tai. I didn't expect Zhu Wu and others to be so cautious..."

Wang Su was not surprised by Zhang Jing's explanation. When he saw Zhang Jing's movement on the first night, he knew what the third brother wanted to do, but he didn't expect that the bandits of Mount Tai would not take the bait.

After thinking about it, Wang Su suggested: "If this continues, it may take a long time to delay it. It would be better to call the heart of the bandits of Mount Tai..."

“Um…”

Zhang Jing naturally understood what Wang Su meant. Hearing this, he showed a little hesitation on his face, and he paced back and forth a few steps in the room.

After a while, he seemed to have made some decision and sent someone to invite the general Xiahou Lu to the study.

Zhang Jing informed Xiahou Lu of the current situation, and immediately said to the latter: "The bandits of Taishan have provoked many times, and they must be the idea of ​​ambushing us. I want to send an army to pretend to be trapped and lure the bandits of Taishan to ambush them and take the opportunity to severely damage them. Among the various troops in Shandong, you and Chen Jie can take on the important tasks..."

Xiahou Lu understood as soon as he heard this, and he clasped his fists and sweared: "I will go there!"

"good!"

Zhang Jing patted Xiahou Lu's arm and reminded: "After being ambushed by the Taishan bandits, remember not to panic and just stand still. Jie Shi's second brother and Shao Yan will send troops to help. When the second army arrives, we and the three parties work together to severely damage the Taishan bandits in one fell swoop!"

"Yes!" Xiahou Lu responded with his fists, left the city and ordered five thousand Grand Tutors, and arrived straight to Guangxian.

This abnormal force mobilization will naturally be closely watched by the Taishan bandits in Guangxian. The Taishan bandits in Changle and the two counties learned that these Taishan bandits will naturally report to Zhu Wu, Lu Liao and Zhang Zhai immediately.

Upon learning about this, Zhu Wu said in surprise: "Is Zhang Jing unable to hold back?"

Zhang Zhai and Lu Liao shook their heads, and they didn't know what Zhang Jing was thinking.

But these 5,000 Taishi Army soldiers made the two of them quite moved. After all, there are only 20,000 Taishi Army troops stationed in Shandong. If the entire five,000 Taishi Army soldiers can be wiped out, I believe it is enough to inspire the morale of the army.

The problem is, isn’t this a trap when Zhang Jing deliberately puts this piece of fat in front of them?

"Do it!"
To be continued...