Eight years of Daye.

March.

Qi County, not far outside Zhangqiu City.

Zhang Xutuo, who had just been promoted to the garrison of Qi County by the imperial edict, took five cavalry soldiers from Licheng to Zhangqiu to inspect. On the official road, a large group of people and merchants followed him together.

Since the second half of last year, thieves have emerged from all over the country.

Large thieves gathered 20,000 to 30,000, and the small ones were as numerous as cows, everywhere. The people were both suffering from the heavy workload of conquering Liao, and were also frightened and uneasy about the rise of bandits. They were suffering and fell into dire straits and bandits.

Because Henan and Hebei were the main recruitment places for Liao soldiers and civilians, the people became more and more miserable, and the more thieves were. In the twelve counties in Henan, the county and county bandits rose everywhere, and most of the prefecture soldiers in Henan were summoned to Liaodong. Even many of the original county soldiers were added to military prefecture soldiers last time, so the counties in Henan were empty.

Thieves rose everywhere, and officials could not fight, which led to the thieves' power becoming stronger and stronger. Only Zhang Xutuo, Qi County, was the most eye-catching among the twelve counties. Although the strength of the Qi County troops he led was greatly reduced, they could barely maintain peace in the county.

However, now the bandits and bandits from the surrounding counties are moving closer to this side, which makes Zhang Xutuo very worried. In desperation, he can only strengthen the defenses of the counties and has to take time to inspect from time to time.

"Tongshou, Zhangqiu County has performed well. Since the New Year, they have repelled three waves of thieves and killed nearly a thousand thieves, which is very impressive."

A personal soldier said.

Zhang Xutuo rode on the horse, looked at the team behind him, and sighed, "Zhangqiu has such achievements, but it is actually the foundation left by Luo Cheng. With the two hundred soldiers in Changbai Mountain, although the few soldiers are now unable to take care of the whole county, at least Chai Xiaohe has ensured that Changbai Mountain has not become a nest of thieves."

"Although Luo Cheng left behind the county soldiers, although the county soldiers were newly built, with his brothers, they were still stronger than the soldiers of other county soldiers. What's more, he still had a Yier camp with 300 people. It seems that there are only a group of children, but it is said that he is the most fierce when fighting a war."

A personal soldier said, "Indeed, I heard that even the female members of the Luo family are very good. Several times the thieves attacked, they all brought swords and guns to fight, and the thieves and bandits were killed. Now the title of the Luo family's tigress is very famous."

"Hahaha." The few people burst into laughter.

"If you want to say, the most powerful person is our disciple Luo Cheng, whom we met here three years ago, was just a middle-aged boy who had just returned from digging a canal. But who could have expected that he has now become the Marquis of Xiangyang and the Pioneer General."

After hearing this, Zhang Xutuo couldn't help but secretly praised the disciple. This disciple was really useless. Although he was young, he suppressed bandits in Qi County and fought in Liaodong, fighting one after another. He was a fierce record, and even his teacher was deeply impressed. To be honest, he was still a little bit of the disciple's glory.

"You said, will Luo Cheng directly be promoted to Duke when he returns from the Eastern Expedition?" said a man.

"It's very likely."

The few people were chatting and laughing, and they were in a relaxed mood.

There was a sudden loud sound of horse hooves behind.

Several people came on horseback.

"The thief is here, the thief is here."

A personal soldier stepped forward to stop him, "What thief is here?"

The man riding a horse said in panic, "There are a large number of thieves coming, it seems to be Pei thieves. They looted our village. We finally escaped and are chasing us now."

"How many people are there?" Zhang Xutuo asked in a deep voice.

"Thousands, boundless." After the man said that, he quickly rode his horse and continued to escape.

When the people on the road heard the news, they were panicked.

"I didn't expect that Pei Changcai, Shizihe suddenly came into our Qi County." Zhang Xutuo frowned. "Protect the people into Zhangqiu City first."

Passersby, who were originally quite relaxed, were now panicked and ran desperately.

Zhang Xutuo and his six people rode horses, and they could have left the people behind and entered Zhangqiu first, but Zhang Xutuo could not bear to leave these people behind, so he had to protect them.

He handed over his horse to a businessman who could ride a horse, and asked him to ride back to Zhangqiu City, so that Zhangqiu City would be ready for defense.

After running for a while, the sound of horse hooves could be heard behind him.

Pei Zhe's light cavalry forward has already caught up.

Seeing a group of people, I laughed and rode over and prepared to loot.

Zhang Xutuo took his bow and arrow, shot him with one arrow, and shot him directly to the front thief.

The five personal soldiers also turned around and shot arrows immediately.

Several bandits fell to the ground after being arrowed, and then they found that there were actually several officers and soldiers among the people. The leader was wearing armor. He looked like an officer and his level was not low.

"Kill them!"

Someone yelled.

The bandits roared and chased after him, but Zhang Xutuo was not panicked and turned around to shoot arrows while galloping. His archery skills were superb, one arrow was shot at each.

The thief was afraid and did not dare to get too close, so he shouted and shot arrows from behind.

But Zhang Xutuo could not bear to leave the people behind, so he could not get rid of the bandits and bandits. Both sides chased forward like this.

"Tongshou, the bandits seem to have sent people back to report the news. Why don't we go to Zhangqiu City first?"

"No, if we leave, these people will suffer. Zhangqiu City is not far away, so we have to take them over."

After walking forward for a while, seeing Zhangqiu City just one or two miles ahead, the gang of bandits had already arrived.

Zhang Xutuo turned his head and looked at Zhangqiu City in the distance, grabbed his horses and said to the fleeing people, "Hurry up and enter Zhangqiu City."

After saying that, he turned his horse's head and held a long spear toward the bandits.

The five personal soldiers behind him also turned around and turned around.

Six riders.

It stood like that on the official road two miles outside Zhangqiu City.

And opposite them, more and more bandits arrived, and smoke and dust rolled.

A thief coach looked surprised when he saw the six riders standing in front of blocking the road.

He looked at the team of vanguard light cavalry who was not afraid to move forward, and was so angry that he stepped forward and punched and kicked, "Damn it, are you still afraid of six cavalry?"

"Maintain, the six people were riding and shooting. The brothers had been shot to death by them along the way. They really dared not get close. Once they got closer, they would die within fifty steps."

"Oh, it's so so?" The thief coach was a little skeptical.

However, he looked behind him and saw that there were thousands of people and even behind him, there was a large army of Pei Shuai and Shi Shuai. This time they had a total of 20,000 people entering Qi County, so he didn't believe it. Just six cavalry could still stop them.

"Kill me!"

The thief commander led the thousand light cavalry behind him and rushed forward directly.

The six cavalry of Zhang Xutuo stood alone on the official road. Looking at the large group of bandits rushing towards the opposite side, he did not turn around. Instead, he raised his long spear and said, "Calendar with me!"

"Kill!" The five personal guards roared, and then instigated the war horses and followed Zhang Xutuo to retaliate towards the thieves.
Chapter completed!