Su Qi'an had been in Dongshan Village for more than 20 days. In addition to rehearsing this drama and appeasing these outside villagers.
He was not idle at other times. He trained the Orion team well and absorbed some young and middle-aged people from outside. This time the Orion team doubled in size than before.
There are about fifty people, and these newly absorbed outsiders have been specially screened by Su Qi'an before they can join the Orion team.
After all, the Orion team is related to the safety of Dongshan Village, so Su Qi'an will naturally be particularly concerned about it. If nothing else happens, this fifty-man Orion team will be Su Qi'an's confidants.
Moreover, for those selected for the Orion team, Su Qi'an will receive an extra tael of silver every month, all of which is contributed by Su Qi'an.
Now Su Qi'an is not the ordinary poor scholar he was back then. Not to mention his reputation as a civil servant, he still earns fifty taels of salary every month.
The bandits that were suppressed some time ago were allocated to Su Qi'an with more than 3,000 taels. If Su Qi'an stayed in Dongshan Village peacefully, he would already be a rich man.
After more than twenty days of training, this fifty-man Orion team has developed certain combat capabilities.
Although it cannot reach the level of a battle-hardened soldier, it is still more than enough to defend the village.
Dongshan Village is not only the Orion team, Li Xiaomei's women's team also plays a considerable role in intelligence.
In the entire Dongshan Village, if there is any disturbance, it will reach Su Qi'an's ears within a few minutes.
Moreover, after joining this group of outsiders, intelligence work was extended to nearby villages.
Although it's not very subtle, it's at least a good start.
There is an Orion team patrolling outside day and night, and Li Xiaomei's women's team inside to find out the news. In addition, Su Qi'an and Fang Jingzhi greeted each other this time.
The safety of Dongshan Village is now second only to wealthy families such as Lingbei County Government.
The village kept several more heavy ballistas that had been hastily built during this period, as well as five explosives that Su Qi'an secretly handed over to Li Hu.
With so much support, Dongshan Village should not have any problems during Su Qian's absence.
Su Qi'an and Qin Ziyin hugged each other and said goodbye, then got on their horses and raised their hands to Fang Jingzhi.
"Sir Fang, after Su leaves this time, Dongshan Village will be taken care of by you. Su is very grateful here."
"Su Juren, this is too polite. This is what this county should do. This county is here. I wish Su Juren a smooth expedition and look forward to Su Juren's triumphant return."
"Xiehou, Su Juren, take care along the way."
Su Qi'an and Xie Cang nodded, then reined in their horses and turned around. They galloped wildly, raising a cloud of dust and disappearing in the blink of an eye. A hundred soldiers behind them ran to follow.
This time, Su Qi'an and Xie Cang were going to Ningzhou, an important town on the northern border.
Ningzhou is in the northernmost part of Daliang, and Xizhou in Lingbei County, where Su Qi'an is located, is at least a thousand miles apart.
Even if they didn't eat or drink, it would still take a week. Fortunately, the military order came in a timely manner, giving Su Qi'an and Xie Cang enough time to travel.
Xie Cang did not go straight to the Ningzhou border at the first time, but diverted from Lingbei County to Lingdong County.
Lingdong County is Xie Cang's fiefdom and the station of his mountain-splitting army.
This time, Xie Cang will definitely take away the Splitting Mountain Army. Only with the army in hand can he feel truly confident.
Xie Cang had just stepped into the territory of Lingdong County, but before he reached the county seat, suddenly, thick smoke rose in front of him, and at the same time, there was a low sound of horses trampling on the ground.
The sound was low, and after a while, at the end of the line of sight, groups of soldiers wearing black armor and riding horses were approaching quickly.
From a distance, it looks like a majestic giant mountain. Its momentum makes people feel an inexplicable impact on their hearts.
The mountain of black-armored soldiers stopped in time when they were less than ten meters away from Xie Cang.
Then he turned over and dismounted, placed his right hand across his chest, signaling a military salute, and at the same time, a shocking low roar sounded.
"The entire Split Mountain Army has been assembled. Please review by the Marquis!"
Xie Cang sat on the horse, waved his hands in return, nodded with satisfaction, and then chuckled at Su Qi'an beside him.
"Mr. Su, how is my mountain-splitting army?"
"Mighty, domineering, and as steady as a mountain. As the saying goes, it is as motionless as a mountain, as moving as a stray rabbit, and as powerful as a broken bamboo."
Su Qi'an was silent for a while, glanced at the black-armored soldier, and gave his own evaluation.
This mountain-splitting army gave Su Qi'an a very different feeling. Compared with the soldiers from the county and city behind him, they were incomparable in terms of momentum and strength.
The soldiers in the county and city were most involved in suppressing bandits and partially quelling uprisings and unrest.
The mountain-splitting army in front of them has actually experienced the baptism of iron and fire on the battlefield.
From the outside, it seems that there is only the calmness of thick smoke on his body, but the murderous aura is much less.
But this is just an appearance. Once this mountain-splitting army really moves, its powerful killing aura is enough to frighten most people into immobility.
This is the difference between the regular army and the local army.
The Split Mountain Army is not only Xie Cang's most powerful trump card, but also one of the top ten most powerful armies in the Great Liang army.
If it was this army that wiped out the Dongzi Mountain bandits, even if Dongzi Mountain was made of iron barrels, the Split Mountain Army could poke a hole in it. This is the power of the Split Mountain Army.
The Split Mountain Army is not all infantry, but a comprehensive army, with a thousand cavalry, a thousand heavy armor soldiers, and a thousand special operations soldiers.
Such as death soldiers, assaults, scouts, logistics, etc., these are special operations soldiers.
It seems that the combat power has been weakened, but compared with those purely single armies, the Split Mountain Army in Xie Cang's hands has maximized its combat power.
Relying on the cooperation of this mountain-splitting army, Xie Cang's mountain-splitting army became more and more courageous in every battle, and it was also the key to breaking the deadlock.
This is also the reason why Xie Cang was able to be won over by the Duke in the court.
Xie Cang turned his head, smiled and said to the Splitting Mountain Army in front of him, "It is your honor to receive such evaluation from Mr. Su. In addition to me, protecting Mr. Su will also be one of your important tasks in the future."
"We will obey the order of the Marquis!"
"Set off!"
Xie Cang spoke, and the next moment, the soldiers of the Splitting Mountain Army mounted their horses one after another, and then formed a formation to protect the two of them. A long group of men and horses walked on the official road.
The Splitting Mountain Army did not cover their whereabouts along the way, they were very generous, and even displayed the military flag Splitting the Mountain.
That kind of appearance was completely arrogant, and it was impossible not to cause a stir.
This kind of momentum will basically attract the attention of every mountaintop after passing through every county, but the strange thing is that no matter how public it is, no matter how public it is, no one is looking for trouble along the way.
Su Qi'an glanced at the dense jungle around him. There were obviously many pairs of eyes watching in the jungle.
Su Qian smiled and looked away, not paying too much attention.
There is obviously a strong fear in the eyes hidden behind the jungle.
Even if you have never heard of the reputation of the Splitting Mountain Army, you can see the army's flag. Even if these bandits are losing their minds, they know that the official army below is not something they can provoke.
There are no more than fifteen armies in Great Liang that can have their own military banners. These soldiers are the real elites of Great Liang.
To rob them, it can only be said that they are out of their minds. These mountain bandits just hope that these disaster stars can leave quickly and never cause trouble for them.
This inadvertent intimidation was intentional by Xie Cang, who wanted to give these bandits in Sichuandu County a good beating.
Let them be honest during this time. After all, this trip to Ningzhou in the north is a long way, and they may have to be prepared for a protracted war.
Before leaving, it was Xie Cang's wish to do something for the people of Sichuandu County.
This kind of shock lasted for three days, after they stepped out of the territory of Sichuandu County.
Xie Cang and Su Qi'an stayed for a while, looked away, and looked at each other. With a flick of their whip, the Splitting Mountain Army was like a train, moving away in a mighty way.
The speed is completely different from what it was on the official road before.
Leave Sichuandu County, follow the official road in front of you, go all the way north, ignore the turns and just gallop on horseback. It will take at most three or four days to reach the border of Ningzhou.
The mighty army set out in this way, stopping at only three stations along the way for a brief rest. During this period, even at night, the Splitting Mountain Army was on its way.
Although there is plenty of time, it is not something that can be wasted casually. There is a war in Ningzhou. If you arrive earlier, you will know the progress of the war and make some plans early.
Such long journeys were commonplace for the Mountain Splitting Army, but Su Qi'an, on the other hand, made Xie Cang look at him with some suspicion.
After three long days of traveling almost non-stop, the word exhaustion did not appear on Su Qi'an's face at all.
This is not because Su Qi'an is gifted, but because Su Qi'an has experienced a lot of rapid marches in his previous life.
Su Qi'an had a lot of entertainment activities in his previous life. It was almost common to participate in military training camps. In one of the long-distance forced marches, Su Qi'an was almost in the top three.
When I came to Great Liang, although I couldn't compare with these soldiers, I could still keep up with them.
Xie Cang nodded to Su Qi'an in admiration. Su Qi'an didn't explain anything. He shook the reins a few times, and the horse under him became much faster.
Under the rapid march of Su Qi'an, Xie Cang and others, it took only two days to reach the boundary of Ningzhou after traveling more than a thousand miles.
As soon as I stepped into Ningzhou, I felt a sense of desolation.
There is only a desolate road ahead, some dead trees, twisted and scattered ground, a cold wind howling, and yellow sand blowing from time to time.
The sky is filled with yellow sand, and the indescribable loneliness makes people sigh.
This is Ningzhou, an important town in the north.
Two hundred years ago, after losing the two Qingyou states, these two natural lines of defense, the neighboring Ningzhou basically had its gates wide open.
It became the target of perennial looting by the Darong Cavalry. In order to protect the local people, ten important border towns were built in Ningzhou.
The purpose of Su Qi'an and Xie Cang's trip is to suppress the military city, which is known as one man can guard the gate and no one can open it!
