The terrain in the middle of the river is mountainous, and at this moment there is snow on the road, making it even more difficult to travel. Yang Sichang insisted on riding his horse. Zhou Xian was very worried that he would accidentally fall from above. Fortunately, the journey was smooth, and the army divided the troops about thirty miles from the Monkey Pass.

Ma Xianglin led 5,000 white-rod soldiers to the north, and Yang Sichang led Zhou Xian and Cao Zhiyao's remaining 5,000 people to run south, and divided his troops to block the valley entrances on both sides of the Monkey Pass.

After a continuous day of rapid march, all the soldiers were extremely tired. But they could not rest yet. Zhou Xian led fifty elite soldiers to find Jimu under the guidance of Li Kai. Under the guidance of the latter, they easily cleared all the peasant soldiers patrolling outside.

After clearing them, the army continued to advance and quickly occupied the key pass of the valley entrance. Some soldiers occupied high places on both sides to monitor the movements of the peasant army in the valley. Another part set up defenses on the spot to prevent the peasant army in the valley from breaking out. Some people simply started working as bricklayers. They carried stones and built them at the entrance of the valley, and established simple lines of defense. Although the defense line was very weak, it could save countless lives at critical moments.

Yang Sichang looked at Ji Mu with a serious face and said in a deep voice: "Did you say that at night, another group of thieves entered?"

"Yes, the commander. There are about 3,000 people. They have pulled dozens of large carts. They should have been sent by the thief leader to plunder things. After careful investigation by his subordinates, the thief army in the valley should be at 25,000, not the 20,000 people reported initially. I hope the commander will forgive the crime for any previous untruth."

Yang Sichang waved his hand and said, "It's no wonder you. Forget it,..."

Yang Sichang called out twice, and Zhou Xian realized that he was calling him and hurriedly replied: "Sir, you said."

"Jikimu has made great contributions to the investigation of the enemy situation this time. From now on, he will be promoted to the chief of the army. The specific matters will be arranged by you after you go down!"

Ji Mu quickly bowed to thank him. Yang Sichang waved his hand and signaled him to go out first. Then he turned to Cao Zhiyao and Zhou Xian and asked: "There are 25,000 thieves in the valley, and our army is located on the north and south sides of the canyon, with only 5,000 people on each side. How do you think we should fight this battle?"

Cao Zhiyao bowed and said, "Supervisor, although we have fewer troops, we occupy the dangerous land at this moment. The combat effectiveness of the bandits is low, far from comparable to our army. There will definitely be no problem with holding on with 5,000 soldiers for a few days. Moreover, Wan Jianjun is leading his troops to come urgently. As long as tomorrow afternoon, the remaining army will definitely arrive in time. At that time, these bandits will be in a turtle in the jar and it will never be difficult to escape again. Please besides, Wan Wang, the supervisor, is worried about this."

Zhou Xian frowned, not as optimistic as Cao Zhiyao thought. He was silent for a while and said, "Sir, we may not be able to all our troops stationed here. Jimu said that in addition to the main roads at the passes on both sides, there are several mountain paths that lead to the valley. Although there are not too many soldiers who can go out from those places every time. But I am afraid that the thief army will send elite troops out of those roads after failing to attack the valley entrances on both sides. If they attack our rear after gathering, the situation will be unfavorable to us."

Yang Sichang nodded and said, "What you said makes sense. According to you, what should we do?"

"Sir, please give me a thousand soldiers, and I promise to block all the bottom lanes."

Yang Sichang's face changed slightly. After thinking for a moment, he waved his hand and refused, "This is something to do, but there must be no one around me at this moment. Just stay here and work with General Cao to stop the thief army from breaking through! First of all, don't you have two thousand generals? Tear out a thousand people from the personal military camp and let one of them go on your behalf."

After Zhou Xian was promoted to a guerrilla general, he had two more Qianzong under his command to help him deal with the property. One of them was named Wang Shi, a native of Hubei, who was assigned to him by Yang Sichang from the Central Army. The other was named Zhao Feng, a native of Sichuan, who was one of the more than a thousand defeated soldiers that Zhou Xian had collected in the past. On that day, when Zhou Xian and Ma Xianglin worked together to defeat Luo Rucai, he fought extremely bravely. Later, Zhou Xiansheng became a guerrilla general and transferred him to his side to serve as Qianzong.

Zhao Feng is able to fight and dare to fight, and is as strong as iron. However, although he is good at leading troops, he is not good at controlling troops. In other words, he can lead the soldiers, lead the soldiers to rush fiercely, and encourage the morale of the entire army with one person's strength. However, he is not good at commanding and coordinating soldiers, and does not know how to coordinate the battle between each other's teams. Wang Shi is just the opposite of this. He is weak and rigorous, but he is well-organized and has a strong ability to coordinate.

There are many paths leading out of the valley. If you lead a thousand people to block it, you must divide it into multiple teams and hand it over to different team leaders to control it. At this time, it is obviously more important to know the abilities of these team leaders and coordinate their support for each other than to rush forward in person.

Zhou Xian thought for a moment and knew who should be sent, so he bowed and said, "Sir, I will ask Wang Shi to lead a thousand soldiers to intercept them. In addition, Ji Mu will be transferred to him to help him find out where those paths are as soon as possible."

Yang Sichang waved his hand and said, "You can just make the decision on these small things yourself. At that time, leave Yu Zhenlong and lead all the remaining guards to the front line to help General Cao Shen. This time, you must not let Zhang Xianzhong escape."

"Sir, there is one more thing. Now that the bandits have been blocked here, should we find some reinforcements? After all, the number of the bandits is more than our total force. If we force them into a desperate situation, they will definitely burst out with a much higher than usual standing force in order to survive."

Cao Zhiyao expressed his words to support Zhou Xian and said, "Yes! Supervisor. Whether our army wants to force them to surrender or completely annihilate them, we need to occupy an absolute advantage in our troops."

Yang Sichang pondered for a moment and said, "I will go to Chengdu and ask Qin Liangyu to lead another 10,000 white-rod soldiers to come. But she is far away in Mianzhu now, and it will take at least ten days to get here to go."

"Sir, ten days are too long, and we cannot completely count on this reinforcements. You see, can we transfer some county soldiers or government soldiers to come. Although their combat effectiveness is low, they should be able to play a significant role in defense alone."

"But this bandit is not the only one in Sichuan! Once they are transferred, will other bandits be given an opportunity?"

"Sir, please adjust a little in each county. As long as there are not too many, students believe that there should be no problems."
Chapter completed!