Time flies, and two days have passed in the blink of an eye. After this period of recuperation, the situation in Baoding Mansion has completely returned to its previous state, and the influence of Zhang Heng and Zhuomai has been forgotten.

In a series of incidents, Li Yi's power not only was not weakened, but became even stronger, especially his popularity among the people.

In the cold winter weather, Li Yi has been in Anxin for five days.

In the past five days, in addition to accompanying her mother Wang, she spent more time in the Iron Brigade. On the one hand, she practiced martial arts, and on the other hand, she also strengthened her sense of presence in the Iron Brigade.

In the past period of time, he had not asked about the Iron Brigade for a long time.

This morning, Anxin suddenly became very lively. As the other big households in Baoding Prefecture surrendered, Anxin had purchased a large number of workshops on a large scale. Now the productivity of Anxin's goods has increased nearly eight times compared to before.

Without the previous cooperation with Xue Lian, Li Yi would have spent a lot of effort to find a channel to digest this batch of goods as soon as possible. But there is no need now. Xue Lian, on behalf of Xungui, began to send people to pick up the goods from Anxin.

On their own, they digested nearly 30% of the goods.

On the other hand, the rest of the goods also began to flow into the previously opened trade routes. As Anxin's large and small caravans went to various parts of the Ming Dynasty, and in distant countries, Anxin did not have the strength to do business yet, so he spent 30%

The cooperation with large and small maritime merchants for goods is naturally digestible.

These things are unfolding steadily with the cooperation of Mr. Zhang and shopkeeper Tian. In order to strictly control these, Li Yi sent Xiaoyu and Ma Hewen, who were busy in Anmin District, to manage the accounting documents and make careful calculations.

On this day, Chen Hongyan led the guards of the Han camp to patrol in Anxin. This was a normal task of the Anxin Railway Brigade, and it needed to scare some young people.

The personal guards of this fierce camp are actually Chen Hongyan's own personal guards. There are no male soldiers in this personal guard, all of them are female soldiers.

These female soldiers were the miserable women rescued by Chen Hongyan when she was a bandit. These women practiced martial arts with her and worked like sisters. Because they all wore red armor, they were nicknamed the Women's Army by An Xin.

Today, the Detachment of Women patrols Anxin, and it is naturally like a beautiful scenery that attracts the villagers coming and going in Anxin. Of course, this beauty does not mean that every female soldier of the Detachment of Women is beautiful. In fact, they often train like male soldiers, and they are also very big and round.

They are burly and beautiful. The reason for their beauty is that they are all female soldiers. There is no difference in other aspects.

Anxin is patrolled by brave men, which everyone is accustomed to. Although Baoding Prefecture is very stable, there are constant natural and man-made disasters, and there are bandits spreading rumors everywhere, so we have to be on guard.

Chen Hongyan was wearing a bright red armor and riding a tall horse. She looked full of energy, and her original heroic temperament was even stronger.

When they patrolled to the checkpoint north of Anxin, they suddenly heard someone arguing loudly.

Chen Hongyan clapped her horse and stepped forward, watching several people gathered around and arguing with Yong Ding who was guarding the sentry post.

Chen Hongyan stepped forward and asked, "This is Anxin Checkpoint, why are you making so much noise here?"

An old man with a kind face came out among these people. When he saw Chen Hongyan wearing armor, he quickly bowed and said: "General, you are well. I didn't mean to make noise, but my caravan was robbed in Hushan. Now it is in danger. I hope the general can help."

To lend a helping hand.”

When she heard the word Hushan, Chen Hongyan frowned unconsciously.

When there was a big disaster in Henan, there were horse thieves mingling among the victims and looting. She also knew about it. As a result, the victims were properly resettled. The horse thieves not only did not retreat, but also stopped in Hushan. They are a hidden danger in Baoding Prefecture.

However, when Zhuomai came to harm Li Yi later, An Xin focused all his attention on this matter and did not go to deal with these horse thieves.

Chen Hongyan looked at the old man's clothes stained with blood and the others with varying degrees of injuries. She frowned and said, "The bandits are gathering in Hushan. Why didn't you know about it since you came to Anxin to do business?"

The old man smiled bitterly and said: "It's not that we don't know. We have already taken a detour to the mountain road west of Hushan this time. However, the horse thieves suddenly arrived. Now more than a dozen horse thieves are attacking my caravan. I hope the general will save me."

The distance to the west of Hushan from Anxin is more than sixty miles, and it would take two hours to get there at a fast pace. Chen Hongyan had no doubts in her heart.

When the old man saw that the female general in front of him was so talkative, he knelt down and begged for mercy: "General, we have been exchanging goods with Anxin for a year. I also know Mr. Zhang. Now if the caravan is robbed, we will lose everything."

Ah, I hope the general will come to my rescue."

Chen Hongyan felt soft-hearted. When she saw the old man kneeling down to pray, she thought for a moment and said, "Since you are doing business with An Xin, you will naturally be protected by An Xin. I will lead my troops to rescue you. Just wait in peace and choose someone to follow me."

road."

After speaking, he said to the person behind him: "Go and tell Zhang Sanyingzheng that I will lead troops to rescue him, and ask Zhang Yingzheng to send troops to help me later."

After saying this, without waiting for a reply, he made a move with his right hand and galloped away with more than 20 of his troops.

The Anxin Railway Brigade is well-equipped and is naturally confident in dealing with ordinary horse thieves.

Not to mention that they had to gather troops and horses to deal with a dozen horse thieves. Even if they had twice the number, they could be defeated in one blow.

At that moment, a group of cavalry galloped for an hour and entered the mountain road west of Hushan Mountain.

The horse's speed dropped slightly, and the accompanying man pointed to the distance and said: "The caravan was attacked, just ahead."

Chen Hongyan nodded slightly, rested her power, and led the troops forward.

Sure enough, as soon as she got closer, she heard shouts of killing in the distance. Chen Hongyan took a closer look and saw a dozen horse thieves in the distance constantly attacking the caravan, and the fighting was very fierce.

Nowadays, only two or three of the caravan crew members were covered in blood and desperately resisted. The remaining horse thieves thought they had a chance to win, so they dragged out the family members of the caravan and humiliated them wantonly.

When Chen Hongyan saw the bodies of two naked women being abandoned casually, she clenched her silver teeth in her mouth and led her troops up the wall with an angry face.

When she led the crowd forward for a conflict, a group of cavalry suddenly rushed in. The horse thieves obviously did not expect that their formation was completely disrupted in their haste.

How could Chen Hongyan miss this good opportunity? She drew her spear and said: "Assault and defeat them."

The cavalry screamed, speeding up their horses and sprinting forward.

The horse thieves turned a little slower, and their faces were all red. At this time, the few remaining guys in the caravan saw the reinforcements coming, and their morale was high. They even beat the horse thieves back repeatedly. At this time, the cavalry clashed among them, and the horse thieves were hit.

Seven or eight were killed, but the rest, seeing that the situation was not good, hurriedly reined in their horses and fled in a hurry.

This situation was expected. Chen Hongyan was not too surprised. When she saw the horse thieves heading towards the mountain, she could not have been more stupid. She just killed them. Chen Hongyan was immediately overjoyed. Regardless of the brutality of the battlefield, the leader rushed after him.

Abandon.

There were only mountain and forest roads along the way, and the horse thieves could not escape at all, so they could only continue to flee north. Their horses were short, and their speed was naturally not as fast as Anxin's horses. After the two parties chased each other for more than ten miles, the distance between the two parties gradually narrowed.

, in order to reduce the burden on the war horses, the horse thieves actually threw away all the looted property.

Chen Hongyan was originally full of anger, but now she was even more relieved after seeing her, and she was eager to chase her. However, the terrain suddenly changed, and there were hills and hills. From time to time, the view was blocked by the hills. The horse thieves could not be seen, and the cavalry had already fired.

They couldn't shoot the horse thieves, they could only speed up their horses and pursue them. Fortunately, the horse thieves' horses were getting worse and worse, and they had to stop the team from time to time to rest to recuperate their power. Chen Hongyan and others chased them desperately regardless of their horse power, and the distance between them was only getting closer.

Going further north, the surrounding terrain gradually began to rise. When a valley seven or eight feet wide appeared in front of them, the two sides were only a few hundred paces away. When they arrived, the horse thieves shouted in unison and fled into the canyon.

When Chen Hongyan waited outside the mouth of the canyon, she saw that the canyon was very deep and had twists and turns, and no trace of it was seen.

Chen Hongyan wanted to chase her again, but the guards behind her quickly grabbed the horse's reins and shouted: "Calm down the camp, be careful of the thieves' schemes!"

Chen Hongyan hated the thieves who insulted women like this. Now that the thieves were right in front of her, how could she stop? She turned around and said angrily: "Why stop? We will soon catch up."

"The camp is upright, no more pursuit! Beware of fraud!"

The good opportunity was fleeting. Chen Hongyan had long wanted to kill these horse thieves and hurry up. At this time, she listened to the persuasion and thought calmly for a moment. She said: "We have chased all the way here, and we have probably not traveled more than ten miles. How can there be any fraud here?"

?And what we are dealing with are horse thieves, so why should we be so careful?"

Chen Hongyan's statement is indeed reasonable. Who would ambush an ambush more than ten miles away from the battlefield?

The guards just felt bad, but they couldn't say there was definitely an ambush.

At this time, the cavalry who was exploring the road came back and said: "The camp is in full swing, the thieves are passing through, and there is no one else but them!"

"Can you see anyone on both sides of the canyon?"

Although Chen Hongyan was angry, she still asked patiently. The detective horse replied: "It can't be seen in the valley. Unless you climb up to see it, you can't know!"

"It's just a little horse thief, don't be so cautious, just follow me and charge." Chen Hongyan shouted coldly and led the troops into the valley.

It only took a moment to pass through the canyon. When the cavalry filed in, when they came out, they saw towering cliffs on both sides and no ambush.

She felt relieved in her heart, and just as Chen Hongyan was speeding up her horse, the horse thief in front of her suddenly stopped slowly and turned the horse's head towards her.

Chen Hongyan was a little surprised. Before she could understand, nearly a hundred bandits had emerged from the dense forest on both sides, surrounding them.

At this point, Chen Hongyan finally knew that she had fallen into the trap, and she shouted loudly: "Everyone, let's go! Get out of here."

As soon as Chen Hongyan finished speaking, the thieves who came out of the forest were surrounded from all directions, and there were more than two hundred people in total.

The female soldiers were shocked. They turned their horses' heads one after another, but there was no way to retreat. They were surrounded. Chen Hongyan was extremely surprised. This was Baoding Prefecture and the Taihang Mountains. Anxin's strength was already everywhere.

, when did so many thieves appear here?

Chen Hongyan drew her sword and shouted: "Who are you?"

The ambushing thieves did not answer. They got closer and closer, gradually shrinking into a large circle, surrounding the thirty female soldiers. When they all got closer, Chen Hongyan saw that they were not holding thieves.

Instead of those crude weapons, they held spears and bows and arrows in their hands, all of them watching eagerly. And they rushed to support them. They only had spears, waist knives and other light weapons. In front of hundreds of murderous bandits, they seemed to be ready to be slaughtered.

of lamb.

At this time, a hole opened in the besieging black circle, and several cavalrymen came in from the outside. The first was a middle-aged man in brocade robes. He held a long knife in his hand and faced Chen Hongyan with a cold smile.

She nodded slightly and said, "Chen Hongyan, I've been waiting for you for almost an hour."

"It's you!"

Chen Hongyan recognized the middle-aged man in front of her, who turned out to be He Yaowu, the second master of the He family. She saw him staring at her with hatred on his face, and Chen Hongyan could feel his deep resentment.

Chen Hongyan's face sank and she said: "Master He, what are you doing?"

He Yaowu said with a smile: "Of course I'm waiting for you here. As long as I catch you, I will catch Li Yi. Li Yi's two confidante, I spent thousands of taels of silver to get the news."

Chen Hongyan was startled. It turned out that what happened today was a trap, designed by He Yaowu a long time ago.

She was furious, pointed the knife at He Yaowu and said: "You want to use me to threaten Li Yi, right or wrong?"

He Yaowu was not angry at all. He nodded and acknowledged Chen Hongyan's accusation.

Chen Hongyan restrained her inner anger and asked him: "Why are you doing this? The He family's assassination of Zhang Heng led to the conviction. It is your own fault. Don't you still give up?"
To be continued...