After deciding on the next plan, Zhu Renxia decided to send troops immediately.
The distance from Chang'an Town to Liping Mansion is nearly two hundred miles, and it takes at least three days to reach it on foot.
The distance from Bozhou to Liping is more than 300 miles. The Yang rebels led by Lu Xiong have already set off a day and a half in advance, and it will also take about three days to reach Liping Mansion.
Zhu Renxia did not want Lu Xiong to lead his team to Liping and withdraw his troops and return to Bozhou because he did not see reinforcements, causing his plan to drive away tigers and devour wolves to go to waste.
"Jinzhu, you stay and guard the town."
Zhu Renxia patted Jin Zhu on the shoulder and gave her a difficult task, "Leaving two companies of housekeepers for you should be enough to ensure the safety of our home base."
"I'm going to fight." Jin Zhu shook his head like a rattle, "I don't want to stay at home."
Zhu Renxia explained: "The purpose of our going to Liping is to bluff and lure Lu Xiong to attack Liping City. Do I really want to risk my brother's life to help Yang Yinglong attack the city? So, there is no fight to fight, so you can rest assured It’s better to stay in Chang’an Town to look after the house.”
Jin Zhu puffed out his proud chest and said: "I am the bandit leader of Wulong Mountain, nicknamed Hua Bodhisattva. If I don't go to Liping, how can I make the people of the Tian family and the Yang family believe that this group is from Wulong Mountain? What if? Wouldn’t it be self-defeating if the court suspected us in Chang’an Town?”
"What you said seems to make sense."
Zhu Renxia was finally persuaded by Jin Zhu and agreed that he would follow the main team to Liping City, leaving Lu Buping and Zhu Junjian to lead two companies to look after the house.
"The main team is not at home, and the eight hundred old, young, women and children in Chang'an Town will fall on your second and third companies."
Lu Buping cupped his fists and said, "Mayor, please rest assured, as long as I, Lu Buping, am still breathing, I will never let anyone step into our Chang'an Town."
"Chang'an Town will be fine."
Zhu Junjian made a confident analysis, "Our city wall in Chang'an Town is very tall. Even if there are only 150 people guarding the city, it will be impregnable. I think we only need to leave one company to look after the house."
"Our trip to Liping is just a bluff, and there is no need for real fighting. We leave two companies to look after the house, so that the brothers who are out can feel at ease."
Zhu Renxia patted Zhu Junjian's strong shoulder and said with a smile: "Good brother, there will be many opportunities for meritorious service in the future!"
Under the leadership of Zhu Renxia, a team of more than 400 people headed towards Liping City along the post road under the banner of Wulong Mountain, facing the sunset in the west.
The sky soon became dark, and more than 400 people all lit torches, which looked like a fiery snake in the night, winding westward along the post road.
After walking for an hour, the team was approaching Yinma Town.
After getting the news, the townspeople turned off their lights and closed their doors. The mayor of the town, Ma Laowai, hurriedly sent people to the county seat to ask for help from the county magistrate.
Although there is a militia group in Yinma Town, the total number is only fifty or sixty. It is okay to fight against a small group of bandits, but to fight against a large bandit of 400 people is tantamount to self-destruction.
Moreover, bandits generally do not kill because their goal is to rob, but if the bandits encounter fierce resistance during the robbery, they may kill instead.
Therefore, when ordinary towns are not sure of winning, they will choose to compromise to protect themselves and let the bandits leave after a wave of robbery.
If someone's gold and silver treasures are robbed, or someone's golden daughter is ruined, then consider yourself unlucky. You can only blame you for not hiding the money and women well.
Of course, the common people are very poor these days. Except for some landlords and profiteers, not many have surplus food at home, let alone gold and silver.
The town of Yinma was pitch black at night, with no light at all, and only the occasional barking of dogs.
In order to create the impression that bandits were crossing the border, Zhu Renxia decided to send a team to "rob" Yinma Town at night.
"Let Ding Xiao and Hou Jie come to see me."
Zhu Renxia reined in his horse in the night and shouted.
This team of more than 400 people was divided into five companies and marched as a unit according to the company.
The fourth company led by Xu Le is composed of thirty experienced veterans of the Qi Army as its backbone. It can be called the "sharp knife company" of Chang'an Town, so it walks at the forefront of the team.
Following the fourth company was the first company led by Ding Xiao. Because of his non-sexual behavior in Wulong Mountain, he was praised as the "Gentleman Company" and was promoted as a moral model by Zhu Renxia.
Following the Junzi Company was the Fifth Company, led by old man Chen Daoming. The main body of the team was composed of young men from Jiangjiacun and Chenjiacun. Although they are powerful, they lack experience and skills. They are considered to have the lowest combat effectiveness among the seven companies in Chang'an Town, so they mock themselves as the "Old Bazi Company".
As Jiang Guanjun's confidant, Hou Jie was appointed as the commander of the sixth company because of his meritorious service in stealing paintings from Yang Yinglong's house.
Moreover, according to Hou Jie's characteristic of being good at climbing, Zhu Renxia entrusted him to select a group of agile people who were good at climbing and jumping from the entire Chang'an Town to form a sixth company and named it "Ape Company".
At this moment, the Sixth Company led by Hou Jie followed Lao Bazi Company closely, walking in the fourth square formation of the team.
The team at the rear was the Seventh Company led by Ouyang Feng.
He was also a member of the general banner of the Qi Family Army. He was particularly accurate with the musket and had excellent riding skills, so he was appointed as the commander of the seventh company.
The composition of this company is the most complex. It includes the old troops of the Qi family, bandits from Wulong Mountain, and some common people who came from all over the country to seek refuge. They are a mixed bag, and there are often internal conflicts.
This gave Jiang Guanjun a headache. For a while, he couldn't find a suitable candidate to replace Ouyang Feng in management. He could only make do with it for the time being and make plans later.
After Zhu Renxia's order was passed on, Ding Xiao, the commander of the first company, and Hou Jie, the commander of the sixth company, immediately came to the center of the team to report.
"What does the mayor want from us?"
The riding whip in Zhu Renxia's hand pointed towards Yinma Town under the night sky, "You and the Sixth Company went to rob Yinma Town."
"robbery?"
Ding Xiao was stunned. Haven't they all changed their ways? Why did they continue to rob?
Hou Jie reacted quickly and immediately guessed the mayor's intention, "Is it to make the people along the way believe that we are bandits from Wulong Mountain?"
"Company Commander Hou is really quick-thinking." Zhu Renxia gave a thumbs up and praised with a smile.
Ding Xiao suddenly realized: "I understand."
Zhu Renxia warned: "However, you must pay attention to the scale of robbery. Don't kill people, don't set fires, use more threats and less harm!"
"clear."
Ding Xiao and Hou Jie agreed and returned to their own companies.
After a while, the 1st and 6th companies separated from the main force and approached Yinma Town with torches.
Not long after, bright torches entered Yinma Town, and the town was suddenly filled with shouts, begging for mercy, crying, dog barking, and chaos...
"I am a king from Wulong Mountain. If you don't want to die, hand over your money and food, otherwise you will kill your whole family!"
"Your Majesty, please spare your life, please spare your life. We only have these coarse rice left in our house. I'll give it to you!"
After a long time, the "bandits" who looted Yinma Town finally let go of the frightened people, and drifted away with the food and property they had robbed.
An hour later, the two companies caught up with the main force.
Ding Xiao and Hou Jie came together to report to Zhu Renxia: "Report to the mayor, we have completed the task according to your instructions. The people of Yinma Town know that our team is the king from Wulong Mountain."
Zhu Renxia nodded and asked, "Have you ever hurt people?"
"Brothers from our company slapped a few dishonest guys and kicked a shopkeeper a few times. Does this count as harm?" Hou Jie reported with a smile.
Ding Xiao responded truthfully: "We didn't even beat anyone. We basically used intimidation. At most, we just called a few vulgar words like bastard, damn, pauper, etc."
When Ding Xiao finished speaking, Zhu Renxia, Jiang Guanjun and Jin Zhu beside him all laughed.
"You are truly a company of gentlemen. You can be such a gentleman even if you are a robber. Is this the legendary gentleman who talks but does not act?"
Zhu Renxia suppressed his laughter and asked again: "What property was stolen?"
Hou Jie was the first to report again: "We robbed a sheep, fifteen chickens, eight dogs, as well as coarse grains and some copper coins."
Ding Xiao said: "We robbed more than a dozen shops, all of which were worthless things. There were cloth, liquor, vinegar, and even pickles and steamed buns."
Under normal circumstances, bandits would quietly approach villages and towns when committing robberies, catching their target by surprise. A high-profile march like today gave the residents of Yinma Town the opportunity to hide their food, poultry and property, but naturally they gained little.
For Zhu Renxia, as long as the people can be aware that the bandits are coming, and it's not really for robbery, it doesn't matter.
Jiang Guanjun reminded: "The idea of pretending to be bandits is indeed a good one. It can effectively protect our Chang'an Town. However, this will definitely alert the enemy. We have to be careful to prevent the vigilante groups from Jinping County from ambushing us."
Zhu Renxia smiled and said: "The total number of people and officials in Jinping County is more than 200. Deng Kewei was scared to death and he did not dare to come out to ambush us. If he really dared to go out of the city, I would respect him as a man." "
Although Zhu Renxia said this, he still followed his advice and ordered Hou Jie to select five scouts from the "Ape Company" to explore the road in advance and pay close attention to the movements in Jinping County.
