The next morning, Zu Zhao got up early, and with the help of several maids, he put on his heavy scale armor for the first time. The style of this set of armor is very old, and the armor on the upper body and the bell armor on the lower body weigh almost twenty catties. If it weren't for the solid physical strength he had cultivated on weekdays, he would have been afraid that it would be difficult to fight for a long time wearing such medium-sized armor.

This set of armor did not have a matching helmet, and most of the Han army was based on leather helmets and curtains, and only generals would wear helmets.

The ancestral family did not have any serious generals, so there were very few helmets stored in the warehouse. Even Zu Zhao just randomly found a leather jacket that he often wore on weekdays and put it on, then fastened his saber and walked out of the door. He still had some calculations in his mind, not only to design a set of harnesses, but also to find ways to improve the armor, improve the skills of smelting and forging as much as possible, and make more practical, more protective, and more economical plate armor.

When I came to the backyard, there were already more than 50 armed children of the ancestral family. Most of these children wore leather armor, and a few were relatively simple iron armor common in the Han army. Although the ancestral family has a big business, it is very taboo to hide armor privately, let alone forge armor and weapons privately. Most of the armor stored in the warehouse was collected opportunistically when the ancestors were in the army, such as taking advantage of the army to renovate equipment, falsely claiming that some armor was damaged by insects, or the harvest when fighting with Huma to clean up the battlefield. Of course, there are also some leather armor that was made by Zhuang Shang later.

However, in terms of weapons, it can be regarded as a standard, except for swords and sabers, almost everyone has a short horse halberd. The short halberd is equivalent to the long halberd, and most of the long halberds used by the cavalry of the Han army are five to eight long in a battle, and they are commonly used by the cavalry as a long weapon. Although the short halberd is not that long, it is also nearly ten feet long, which can be said to be suitable for foot riding.

Yesterday, I explained that several uncles who actually led the team also got up early. Zu Ling was dressed in scale armor similar to Zu Zhao, and was loading his quiver with feather arrows, and after seeing Zu Zhao appear, he nodded his head and signaled.

Zu Zhao called one of his subordinates and instructed him to equip his mount with a modified harness, and asked another subordinate to go and urge the others who had not arrived to hurry up and get ready. After the explanation, he came to the ancestral tomb.

"Uncle, I plan to bring some people to Lingzhi at noon first, and meet Ah Cheng and Ah Bao."

"Why does the eldest prince need to convene like this, didn't he say that he would have to wait for news from the county government?" Zu Ling heard what Zu Zhao meant, he immediately put down the work in his hand, straightened up and said very seriously.

"Sooner or later, there will be a response from the county government, I'm just worried that Ah Cheng and Ah Bao won't be able to take care of them. Uncle rest assured, with Han Zhuangshi leading, there will be no mistakes. Zu Zhao replied calmly, he deliberately made his tone appear very calm, not only highlighting personal information, but also revealing a bit of unquestionable meaning.

"Ah Zhao, I know you are anxious, but it was agreed yesterday that you should act according to the plan. Wouldn't it be better to say that there will be some mistakes, and the soldiers will be divided into two ways rashly, in case they cannot take care of each other? Zu Ling said without giving in at all, and even showed a little bit of the attitude of the elders' earnest teachings.

Just as Zu Zhao was about to continue talking, a call from a disciple suddenly came from outside the gate of the backyard.

"Aji is back."

After a while, a figure appeared outside the gate. After riding his horse through the gate, before his mount could come to a stop, he jumped down. He handed over the reins to a handyman at the horse farm, and then, under the guidance of several disciples, he took three steps and two steps to Zu Zhao and Zu Ling. He greeted Zu Ling first as usual, and then turned to Zu Zhao in a hurry.

"Eldest prince, yesterday I summoned Ah Cheng and them, and the words were passed on. Ah Cheng found a few local acquaintances and set off for the outskirts of the county last night. I waited for them all night, and they didn't come back by the early hours of the morning, so I rushed back to Xu Wu first. Zu Ji was out of breath and reluctantly made his words clear.

"What? Ah Cheng and they went to find the thief at night, so risky, it was really unusual. When Zu Ling heard Zu Ji's words, his face suddenly changed, and he said solemnly.

"Huh?" Zu Ji was a little stunned, and he was stunned for a moment and didn't know what to say.

Zu Zhao's face was also very grim, he didn't expect Ah Cheng to be so anxious, although he asked Ah Cheng and Ah Bao to investigate the clues first, but he would not choose to travel at night.

"When did you arrive at Lingzhi yesterday?" He immediately asked Zu Ji.

"It's noon. But at that time, Ah Cheng and they went out, only Ah Bao was there, and I waited until the afternoon to see Ah Cheng and them. After saying the words of the eldest prince, they couldn't wait to go to the outskirts of the county. Zu Ji hurriedly said.

"Ah Cheng is really urgent." Zu Zhao restrained the emotions on his face and said seriously.

Zu Ji looked at Zu Zhao and then at Zu Ling, and he didn't know what to say for a while.

"Uncle, this matter is my misarrangement. Although I don't know what happened to Ah Cheng and them now, but for the sake of safety, I think we still have to rush over immediately, and there is more or less a response. Even if things have gone wrong, there may be room for redemption. After thinking for a moment, Zu Zhao said decisively.

Zu Ling sighed helplessly, he knew that it would be useless to say more now, in order to ensure the safety of Ah Cheng and Ah Bao, he could only set off in advance now. In fact, he also knew that whether there were official documents or not did not affect the actions of the ancestral family, and since it had been determined that Chen Xianjun had sent documents to the Lingzhi County Government, according to common sense, the Lingzhi County Government would not sit idly by. It's just that the official face has to go through some formalities.

"That's it, that's it. The eldest prince gathered everyone first. I'll go to the courtyard and let me know.

With that, he turned and hurried away.

Zu Zhao turned to Zu Ji and asked, "How are you, either go back and rest for a while."

Zu Ji patted his chest, with a serious attitude, and said: "It's okay, don't worry, don't worry, I'm looking forward to today."

Zu Zhao nodded and said, "Okay, you hurry up and change into your armor."

Zu Ji responded excitedly, and was about to leave, but Zu Zhao said again: "Go and invite Brother Han over."

Zu Ji nodded: "Got it." With that, he ran quickly to the backyard porch.

Not long after, Zu Li, Zu Ke and others, who heard the news, followed Zu Ling to the backyard. These uncles all had gloomy faces, and there was unconcealed blame in their eyes when they saw Zu Zhao. Although Zu Zhao's recent performance has many surprises, not only outstanding, but also increasingly obvious arbitrariness. But after all, they are the eldest sons of the ancestral family, and as uncles, it is inconvenient for them to speak too ruthlessly.

For Zu Zhao, on the surface, it seems that he did miscalculate, but even so, there is no difference in the outcome of the development of things.

The reason why he asked Ah Cheng, Ah Bao, Ah Zhong and others to find out the news first was that in addition to finding out the specific whereabouts of the thieves as soon as possible, he also hoped to use the news obtained from their actions to urge Zhuang Shang to organize actions as soon as possible. He expected that Chen Xianjun was a sleek person who did not like right and wrong, and he also guessed that his grandfather was conformist and step-by-step, and if this matter was delayed a little, it would be full of flaws.

After introducing the situation to several uncles and taking the initiative to admit his mistake again, he changed the topic to business and began to arrange in detail the route of the horse and the deployment after arriving in Lingzhi County. At this moment, Han Dang followed Zu Ji and rushed over. Zu Zhao introduced Han Dang to the uncles, only saying that he was a righteous man who had recently met in Anyang Pavilion, and said nothing else.

The map of Lingzhi County brought by Zu Fan yesterday is still on the village, and it is spread out in front of everyone at this time.

Han Dang only glanced at the map, gestured with his finger, and pointed out a shortcut. He said: "This place is mostly plain, and you don't have to pass through the county seat and nearby villages and towns along the way, so you can generally hide your whereabouts. He pointed to a place outside the northeast of the county seat of Zhixian County, and continued, "From here is a dense forest, the forest is very large, and the thieves must be hiding in it, but it is extremely difficult to search. Once the thieves are alarmed, they scatter and retreat, and unless there are enough men, it will be difficult to chase them.

After listening to Han Dang's words, everyone pondered.

Zu Li sighed slightly, and said worriedly: "What I said is extremely true, it seems that it is necessary to ask the county government of this county and the county government of Lingzhi County to join forces to support, so that it is possible to wipe out all the thieves."

Zu Ke nodded and said approvingly: "That's right." Although there are many children in my ancestral family, there are no more than 100 people who can go on this trip, and it is difficult to climb to the sky with these children to encircle such a large forest.

Zu Ling said helplessly: "It's just that the situation is urgent, I'm afraid that I won't be able to wait for the county government to send someone."

Zu Li said: "If you can't wait, you have to wait."

At this time, Zu Zhao on the side said unhurriedly: "There are only more than 40 thieves, and I have more than 100 people, well-equipped, so there is no reason to throw a rat bogey like this." Although it is true that we want to catch them all, the thieves are just some country women, and we can win by surprise with just a little tricks. "

Everyone present, regardless of their status and status, are all children of a family, and their personal quality is naturally much superior to those ordinary people. Everyone also knows that those who believe in the Tao of Taiping are almost all poor peasants of the lower class, who are honest and lack cultural knowledge, and are completely at a disadvantage in all aspects.

Zu Li subconsciously glanced at Zu Zhao and asked, "Ah Zhao, in this way, you have a plan.

Zu Ke couldn't wait to follow and asked, "Will the plan come out?"

Zu Zhao was not in a hurry, pointed to the place in the woods on the map, and said: "I waited for the big suspicious soldiers to make a momentum, set up suspicions on three sides, and set up an ambush on the other side, driving the thieves to flee to the ambush circle. It

was a very simple few words, but it made everyone present shine.

Since the forest is deep and the number of thieves is small, it may not be possible to see the situation more clearly than they do. In addition, most of the thieves are from peasant backgrounds, and there is almost no possibility of seeing through the tactics of the suspicious soldiers, so this plan is very promising.

Zu Zhao continued: "There is no other way to do this, it is nothing more than turning the passive into the active, and turning the dark enemy into the open enemy. Even if there will be a few mistakes that cannot be wiped out, it is not a problem to hit the thieves hard.

Zu Ling sighed and said: "The eldest prince's plan is very clever.

Although Zu Li also thinks that this is a feasible method in his heart, many years of practical experience have taught him that everything should not be taken for granted, and it must be done without leakage in order to achieve results. It is often expected that the effect of ten percent, the actual implementation is only sixty percent at most, and if you want to achieve the effect of ten percent, you must preset the effect of more than 12 percent.

So, he said, "Although the forest is dense, but the thieves are more familiar than we are, how can we not say whether we can succeed in forcing the thieves to flee to the ambush place, and if they have another way out, then we will not waste our efforts?"

Everyone looked at each other, and suddenly felt that Zu Li's words were not unreasonable, although there are many places that are not accurate, but since this possibility is raised, then we must come up with a perfect way to completely prevent accidents from happening. The current situation is by no means child's play, and if it is not done well, it will be a big battle, and someone will die at any time.

Han Dang, who didn't speak much on the side, spoke unhurriedly at this time: "In my opinion, the thieves chose to hide here in order to facilitate their escape to the desert Gobi to the north. The northern part of the country is vast and sparsely populated, and it is not easy to be contained, and it can escape across the border to Hudi at any time. Even the officers and soldiers did not dare to pursue rashly, for fear of causing an attack by the Hu people. After

a slight pause, and before everyone could react, he then said, "If it were me, I would set up an ambush circle in the north." In addition, there must be a team of men and horses from the south. In other words, in order to successfully force the thief to comply, there must be two suspicious troops and two actual troops. Once the thieves enter the ambush circle, the men and horses chasing from the south cooperate with the ambush soldiers, which is enough to annihilate them in one fell swoop.

Zu Zhao subconsciously glanced at Han Dang, revealing a divine light of great appreciation, it seems that the famous generals of Eastern Wu in history really deserve their reputation.

Zu Ling, Zu Li, Zu Ke and several other uncles were also amazed by this seemingly rude man. They expected that Han Dang was a local of Lingzhi County, and they knew the local situation well, and it was not fabricated to make this analysis, and they somewhat approved of this arrangement in their hearts.

Zu Zhao looked up at the sky, and then said, "Later, the Zhang family brothers from Anyang Pavilion will come and join their people." At this time, we will inform Ah Fan, and Ah Fan will also go to Lingzhi with us. In this way, 150 people are not a problem. What's more, it is high autumn now, and there will be fog in the morning and night.

Zu Ling nodded yes: "That's right, we don't necessarily have to act in the daytime.

Zu Zhao made a decisive decision: "In this way, let's do it according to this plan." Uncle Ling and Uncle Li, led by the two of them more than 50 people as the first real army, and I joined forces with Zhang Yuan and Zhang Yu as the second real army, and set up an ambush in the desert in the north. With Brother Lao Han leading the way, he followed my team.

Han Dang nodded in agreement.

Zu Zhao continued to arrange: "Uncle Ke will lead a virtual army to build momentum from the east, and when the time comes, Ah Fan will lead another virtual army and return to the west to echo each other. There are few soldiers, but the forest is vast, and it is possible to tie branches to the horse's tail and run back and forth repeatedly, creating obstacles with dust, hooves, and firelight. "

Changbanpo Zhang Fei's way of setting up suspicious soldiers is easy to come at this time, no matter what, this battle gathers so many people and horses, and calls all the sophisticated equipment of the ancestral family, if you can't clean up a few thieves, it will really be shameless.

Several uncles were originally dissatisfied with Zu Zhao's unauthorized arrangement of the team, but after listening to Zu Zhao's method of setting up suspicious soldiers, they also felt that this was indeed a simple and easy method. So everyone did not have many objections and agreed one after another.

After the arrangement, several uncles went to gather the children of their ancestors to distribute the team. Zu Zhao sent another disciple into the city to find Zu Fan, and asked Zu Fan to take people directly to the Heyang Pavilion on the official road in the east after noon. Through the contact with Zu Fan in the past few days, he believes that Zu Fan is by no means a pedantic person, and he will definitely come as promised.

Not long after, someone came outside the backyard door again to spread the same word, saying that the Zhang brothers of Anyang Pavilion had arrived.

After all, it was a righteous help, and Zu Zhao made a special trip to greet him outside the gate. The two brothers, Zhang Yuan and Zhang Pre, were all fully armed, and there were less than thirty Anyang Pavilion rangers who came with them, but all of them were fully dressed and equipped with mounts and long-handled cavalry weapons. Although it is not as iron-clad as the children of the ancestral family, this kind of formation is more than enough to deal with ordinary thieves.

"Brother Wenyi, Ah Yu, you have worked hard all the way. This time I was able to get the help of all the gentlemen, and Zu was grateful, and thanked him in advance. Zu Zhao stood still in front of the gate and bowed his hand to greet him.

The two brothers, Zhang Yuan and Zhang Pre, were the first to dismount, and the rest of the followers also jumped off the horses one after another, standing straight one by one, quite heroic, not at all like idle people who wander in the towns and villages on weekdays.

"Brother Zu, since you have invited us, we have nothing to say. It's a pity that there are always some rats, who call themselves brothers and sisters on weekdays, but when they really want to contribute, they disappear. It's really embarrassing for me to lose face in Anyang Pavilion, and Zhang is ashamed. Zhang Yuan said very proudly, but when he said the last sentence, his tone seemed a little embarrassed.

Zhang Yuan is a well-known ranger in Anyang Pavilion and even in the entire Xu Wu County, and with the momentum of the Zhang family, he has made a lot of friends. This point can be seen at a glance from the practice at Xihe Bridge on weekdays, and those who responded to Zhang Yuan's call all brought their own horses. Although the north is still martial and aggressive, and most of them are herders, not everyone can travel around on horseback. This is evident from this.

However, when gathering at Xihe Bridge on weekdays, Zhang Yuan recruited a lot of companions, often thirty or fifty people. Although there are more than 30 people today, it is obvious that more than 10 people are fresh faces, but those rangers who are familiar with each other on weekdays are very absent. Compared with some righteous people of the Zhang family, when they heard that they were going to hunt down horse thieves in neighboring provinces, they volunteered to come with them.

"As the saying goes, people have seen people's hearts for a long time, and Brother Wenyi doesn't need to pay more attention to it. Chivalry and righteousness, our generation does it, and does not force others. Gentlemen, follow me into the village first. Zu Zhao was not too polite in this matter, and said very directly. For him, there is no need to be hypocritical in distinguishing people, those who can be with the same traveler are fellow travelers, and those who cannot be fellow travelers are strangers.

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