In the hotel with the door closed, Li Yi and the waiter were sitting at the table. One was frothing and the other was listening with great interest.

There were only a few peanut skins left on the plate of peanuts on the table, and the bottom of the half-pot of glutinous rice was also gone.

Compared to the calm atmosphere inside the store, the streets in Duliang City are now filled with a tense atmosphere.

A faint air of chillingness spread across the empty streets as if it had taken on a physical form.

Many people in the houses on both sides of the street were hiding in corners and shivering.

Because in this era, the bandits who entered the city were basically no different from the ghosts in the underworld.

Soon the sound of chaotic footsteps sounded on the street.

Li Yi ignored the waiter's dissuasion and approached the door panel to look out from the crack in the door.

I saw many people walking towards this side quickly from the far side of the street.

Li Yi originally imagined that these people should be fierce and strong men, each of them carrying weapons like a rainbow.

But the people in front of me were nothing like that.

All of these people were dressed in rags, and many of them had their clothes in tatters hanging on their bodies.

There were many people in the crowd who were topless, and the sludge mixed with sweat smeared their entire bodies into a black-grey color.

The skinny skin clings tightly to the bones. From a distance, Li Yi looks like these people like walking mummies.

Their steps were frivolous, and many of them were shaky as they walked. They did not have the ferocious aura of the bandits at all.

Looking more carefully, Li Yi found that what they were holding were not swords but bamboo poles or wooden sticks.

A group of people walked towards the city in a chaotic manner.

"What kind of bandits are here? Are you sure they are grassroots soldiers and not refugees?"

Li Yi lowered his voice and asked the waiter behind the door.

"Sir, these people are the grass army. Do you see if these people have straw sticks stuck in their heads?"

Li Yi followed the waiter's instructions and looked at the heads of these people.

Sure enough, these people all had long straw sticks stuck in their heads.

Many people have unkempt hair and their straw poles are stuck crookedly.

These grassroots soldiers walked on the street but did not spread out to rob the shops on both sides of the street.

They seemed to have a purpose from the beginning and were collectively moving in the same direction.

Seeing these people walking past the store entrance, Li Yi couldn't help but sigh that this is the world-famous grass army?

According to Li Yi's estimate, there were about two to three thousand people in this wave of grass-roots troops. The imperial court only needed to dispatch one or two hundred regular troops to completely wipe them out.

If all the grass-roots troops were like this, then the imperial court should be able to wipe out them easily.

But judging from the current situation, the imperial court not only failed to wipe them out, but also allowed them to develop better and better, and the places where they wreaked havoc were getting bigger and bigger.

When most of the ragged grassroots walked through the store door, bursts of kicking sounds could be heard in the street.

This sound sounded very familiar to Li Yi. It should be the sound of horses walking on the stone road.

Looking through the crack in the door, I saw five horses strolling down the bluestone street.

These five horses also looked as skinny as the grass army marching in front.

Several short, lean guys were sitting on horses with their shirts off, looking like skinny monkeys.

However, there is still a clear gap between the weapons they hold in their hands and the beggar-like grass army in front of them.

They were talking and laughing while riding on their horses, and when they got excited, they waved their weapons several times.

The weapons in their hands were not standard weapons. Two of them had rusty long knives, two others had pumpkin hammers, and the last guy had a quiver hanging on his horse.

Among these five horses, a strong man over eight feet tall was walking with his head held high, carrying a Xuanhua ax.

Although this guy was walking among five horses, he was still taller than the five skinny monkey-like guys sitting on the horses.

Although this man was also shirtless, his figure was at two extremes from the five guys on the horse.

The curved muscles are like cast iron, full of explosive beauty.

The scars did not destroy the man's beauty at all, but instead added to the man's barbaric aura.

Li Yi took a closer look at this man's broad-spoken man, and his leopard-like head and beard trembled slightly as he moved around.

A ferocious aura hit my face.

Li Yi immediately felt that this guy was definitely a vicious person, and he was a difficult guy to deal with.

Look at the loose trousers around this guy's waist. There is a long and thin thread tied to it, and there is a string of things strung on the thread.

It's just that the distance is a bit far and Li Yi can't see clearly.

Although the five skinny monkey-like guys were riding horses and this man was on foot, Li Yi immediately judged that this man should be the leader of this grass army.

Sure enough, when the group of people walked into Li Yi, he saw the five people on horseback nodding and bowing to compliment the walking man.

The man felt very benefited from the compliments from the five people, and he was so proud that he waved his Xuanhua axe.

The huge ax head blew out the air with a roaring sound. One can imagine the strength of this guy.

But when the man walked in, Li Yi saw clearly what was hanging on this man's waist.

It turned out that the string of things hanging on this man's waist was actually a string of human ears.

Li Yi once heard his master say that on the battlefield, sergeants would cut off the enemy's ears and take them back after the war as proof of killing the enemy.

In the army, the commanders will use the number of ears to evaluate the merits of the soldiers.

But this is the first time Li Yi has seen someone do this in real life.

This completely overturned Li Yi's original impression that the grassroots army was basically equivalent to refugees.

Although refugees and beggars can kill people, no one can cut off the other's ears.

Looking at the man's ears that were still bleeding from his waist, Li Yi knew that the soldiers guarding the city in Duliang County were probably in danger.

Seeing these grassroots troops leave the street in a mighty manner, the waiter behind the door finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Why didn't these grassroots soldiers break in and plunder people's property?"

Li Yi didn't understand very much. According to his idea, after these grassroots troops entered the city, they should go door to door and rob them.

But Caojun turned a blind eye to the surrounding residents, and behaved quite like Minqiu.

We must know that no matter which army in history can obey orders and prohibitions without complying with the rule of the people, this army will be the most powerful and invincible army.

"My lord, one look at you and I don't know the secret behind it."

The waiter still lowered his voice and explained.

"It's not that these grassroots soldiers don't want to rob small households like us, but they are worried that the big households in the city will hide or transfer their belongings if the time is delayed."

"So that's it!" Li Yi suddenly realized.

"These big families in the city have been developing in Duliang County for several generations or even more than a dozen generations. Without some means to prevent bandits, they would not be able to continue to this day."

"Besides, if we don't take advantage of the fact that we have just broken the city and attack these big households immediately, when these big households organize monks to protect the courtyard, the casualties of the grass army will double."

"So, the Cao army should be focusing on attacking those big households now."

Li Yi nodded, and after thinking for a moment, he asked the waiter again.

"In this case, why don't the people in the city use the Cao army to attack the big households and organize themselves to attack them from behind? In this way, if the big households in the city cooperate with each other, the Cao army will not be attacked from both sides."

"What are you talking about, sir? What does the life and death of those big families have to do with us, the common people?"

The waiter looked at Li Yi with a puzzled look.

At this time, Li Yi heard a rustling sound coming from upstairs.

Before Li Yi could ask any more questions, the shopkeeper's voice suddenly came from upstairs.

"Xiao Wang, why don't you come up quickly and clean up Xinrou!"

"Okay, shopkeeper, I'll be here right away."

As the waiter said this, he hurried up the stairs and warned Li Yi as he walked.

"Sir, you should pack up your belongings quickly. We can escape from the county while the Cao army attacks the big households in the south of the city."

At this time, Li Yi slowly sat back on the bench.

He began to think seriously about the current situation.

According to what the waiter said just now, the Cao army at this time must be rushing to attack the big households in the south of the city.

At this moment, I am afraid that there are not many grass troops at the city gate, and it is even possible that the grass army has no manpower left to guard the city gate.

Cao Jun has several advantages in doing this:

First of all, if the city gates are guarded, their forces will be dispersed and they will not be able to conquer each large house as quickly as possible.

Secondly, not guarding the city gates can allow the panicked people in the city to flee immediately, which will naturally reduce the power of resistance in the city.
To be continued...