Unlike the famous and dangerous mountains in the Central Plains, most of the Changguang Mountains at the junction of Donglai County and Changguang County are covered with hills, and many peaks are less than a hundred feet high.
There are many scattered flatlands between these low mountains.
When King Wu of Zhou enfeoffed the kingdom and Jiang Taigong founded the country in Yingqiu, the Donglai area was still full of Lai Yi people who did not accept the transformation of King Ji Zhou. It was not until more than a hundred years after the founding of Jiang Qi that these mountain Yi people were completely conquered.
The rugged and broken terrain made the Changguang Mountains a place outside the imperial government's jurisdiction during troubled times.
In the past few years, taking advantage of the opportunity of recruiting refugees, several groups of bandits in Changguang Mountain have grown in strength. The strong ones have gathered nearly ten thousand people, and the weak ones have thousands. Each group of bandits has occupied the top of the mountain, and surrounded them. Farming in the flat land, it looked like a paradise at the beginning.
However, since the beginning of autumn, several powerful thieves have called themselves generals, and several wars have occurred in order to compete for territory.
The strongest among them is Liang An of Heidu Mountain. After annexing two big thieves one after another, the number of his men has reached nearly 20,000. Although there are many old, weak, women and children among them, there are still six to seven thousand young and strong men. .
Liang An was a devout believer in Taoism before he became a bandit. He was able to channel spirits and make talismans, and he quickly won people's hearts with some magical means.
Just waiting for the spring to go south to Changguang County to occupy a city, the beautiful separatist side is also waiting for the court to recruit troops like Liu Jixing of Donglai.
As for why we don’t go north to Donglai County, of course it’s because Donglai County is not as wealthy as Changguang County, and it seems that the soldiers in Donglai County are all former rebels. Speaking of which, these people are all Liang An My seniors are all the kind who cannot be offended.
Liang An didn't want to mess with Dong Laibing, but it didn't mean that Dong Laibing didn't want to mess with him.
In a mountain depression more than ten miles away from Heidu Mountain, there is a large village.
Unlike Dongnae County, which has already been covered with heavy snow, there is only a thin layer of snow here.
"General, the guide in the village has been found and it's time to set off." Li Feng said to Liu Yu.
Li Feng, Liu Yu's old brother when he joined the rebel army, is no longer a cavalry bodyguard, but has become a military prince of one of Liu Yu's six songs.
"Okay, go and send the order, and the whole army will march out." Liu Yu ordered one of the soldiers who sent the order.
In this so-called bandit suppression, Liu Yu sent four troops, totaling 2,000 people.
After repeatedly confirming and verifying the information provided by the bandits, Liu Yu determined before setting off that most of the bandits in Changguang Mountain were farmers who did not even have decent weapons. In other words, the bandit leaders had more than a hundred capable of fighting. The old gangsters who dared to charge, the rest were just bluffing mobs.
Moreover, with the guide's guidance, Liu Yu and his army saved a lot of time along the way. When they arrived at the village in the mountain col, they got better news. Because of the sharp increase in the number of his men, Yi Shou on Heidu Mountain The difficult-to-attack stronghold could no longer accommodate so many people, so Liang An built another temporary stronghold on the plains at the foot of the mountain, and he personally took charge there.
In this way, the Donglai Army saved a lot of trouble and could launch a sneak attack on the bandits in the plains.
Liu Yu led the entire army forward in the shallow snow. As they got closer and closer to the target Heidu Mountain, the sky became darker and darker, and a heavy snow seemed to be coming.
Finally, after getting rid of a few bandits patrolling the mountain, a heavy snowfall began to fall.
"General, after passing the mountain in front, you will find Liang An's camp." said a guide beside Liu Yu.
Liu Yu looked at the hills in front of him. From the top, he could overlook the surrounding areas. If there were bandits there, Liu Yu and his troops would be discovered as soon as they appeared.
Seeing that the sky was getting darker and darker, and the snow was falling heavier and heavier, Liu Yu ordered the entire army to rest on the spot, and planned to send an elite force to feel the situation on the hills first, so as not to frighten the enemy at this last distance.
Because a large amount of materials were seized from the Buyeo people in Baekje, including a lot of fox skins, deer skins and other fine cold-proof items, almost everyone in the Dongnae Army had a leather robe this time. The slight cold can't do anything to them.
"General, there is nothing on the mountain. You can see the bandit's village in the plains above. The village is newly built and doesn't even have a wall."
A guard who went to inquire brought back news that reassured Liu Yu.
"Okay, these stupid thieves don't even have anyone to guard them. God is going to kill them."
"Send the order to the whole army to advance immediately. As long as they rush down the mountain, the thieves will be captured without any help."
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Donglai County, Yinxian County.
Liang An regretted it very much, very much.
He regretted why he had not died impassionedly in battle when the Donglai army raided Heidu Village.
In that case, even though he is dead, if someone mentions him again in the future, he will definitely say, "The boss of Heidu Mountain back then was a well-known strong man who was not afraid of death."
Rather than like now, no matter where you go, you will be called a "dung man".
When Liang An was caught by the Donglai Army, Liang An, who was usually fierce and fierce, was paralyzed with fear.
When he heard the incomparable Liu Jixing said that because he had done many evil things and harmed the people, Liang An immediately burst into tears. He cried bitterly and said that he had no choice but to live in the forest as a bandit. He was proficient in it. "Thirty-six Water Methods" contains the art of alchemy passed down from family. As long as Liu Yu spares his life, all these secrets of elixirs that can save life and death will be enshrined to Liu Yu.
Liu Yu didn't believe it at first, but when he found a large amount of alchemy copper furnaces, cinnabar, mercury and other alchemy materials from Liang An's room, he had to believe that this bandit brother was still an aspiring person. A Taoist disciple of the elixir sect who pursues immortality.
Moreover, Liu Yu found a lot of fire salt powder in Liang An's elixir raw materials. After asking and learning that these were actually refined by Liang An himself, Liang An not only saved his life, but also got a special person arranged by Liu Yu to personally protect him. Protect.
"Boss, come on, there's a lot of saltpeter next to this cesspit." A shout with a broken voice brought Liang An back to reality from his memories.
"Get out of the way and let me see."
Liang An used his fingers to twist some white spots on the wall of the cesspit and put it in his mouth.
"It tastes bitter and cool, and it is exactly the kind of stone that disappears. Go and get more grass ashes."
Liang An nodded and ordered the two helpers.
Liang An used thin iron sheets to carefully scrape the surrounding soil with white spots into a wooden box. After collecting it, he covered it with a layer of grass ash to prevent it from being scattered by the wind.
They collected it in the city for most of the day. When Liang An returned to the workshop, several other apprentices who had gone out to "make shit" also came back.
Liang An directed his apprentices to start pouring the salt, extracting the juice, and boiling the salt step by step. After a series of steps of making the salt, the whole workshop was filled with a pungent smell.
