The rebel army's foremost master craftsman forged a million iron pylons!

Li Tian glanced at him and, seeing that apart from the serious injury on his shoulder, he was otherwise unharmed, said indifferently.

"Your brothers have already gone to Wolf Head Fortress ahead of time. You should go there too. I won't be back to Wolf Head Fortress until tonight."

"Let's have a proper chat tonight."

With that, Li Tian looked at Zhao Yong and said, "Zhao Yong, go and cut off those people's right ears!"

"Since Old Master Zhou wants our lives, we can't go to Zhou Family Village empty-handed."

Zhao Yong chuckled, pulled a dagger from his waist, and walked toward the corpses scattered on the ground. It was a military rule to count heads as military merits, and if it was inconvenient to carry heads, ears would count too!

Zhao Yong began cutting off people's ears one by one, putting them in a bag. Soon, blood began to seep out of the bag.

Although One-Eyed Dragon was fierce, he was also frightened by this scene—the soldiers of Wolf Head Fortress were really different from before.

Weren't the soldiers at Wolf Head Fort supposed to survive by paying protection money to the imperial army?

They're a bunch of spineless cowards!

Immediately afterwards, the one-eyed man grinned.

Such soldiers are good, fierce, just to his liking. Such generals are even better; following such generals may lead to death, but fighting will never be cowardly.

"Sergeant Li, I'll head to Wolf Head Fortress to report now." One-Eyed Dragon stood up from the ground and said to Li Tian with a smile.

One-Eyed Dragon staggered toward Wolf Head Fortress.

Li Tian and Zhao Yong harvested a bagful of ears and then continued their leisurely walk towards Zhoujiazhuang.

Zhoujiazhuang is only three miles away from here, so news travels faster than warhorses.

Just as Li Tian finished harvesting, the spy responsible for keeping watch brought the news to Master Zhou.

"Master, something terrible has happened! That band of refugee soldiers is ruthless. They not only killed more than a dozen of us, but also recruited four of us. Even our instructor, Sun Sheng, was persuaded to join Wolf Head Fortress."

Old Master Zhou was so angry that his face turned ashen.

That's strange! This is really strange!

It's one thing if their own people can't kill Li Tian, ​​but how could they be turned by him?

This matter has a mysterious air about it.

"Zhao Liu, did you really see that clearly? Those two really killed more than a dozen people. Even Sun Sheng was no match for them?" Old Master Zhou suddenly turned around and asked the servant in blue behind him.

"I saw it clearly. Those two did kill more than a dozen militia members, especially Li Tian. He killed more than half of the militia members."

hiss!

Old Master Zhou couldn't help but gasp, his face turning deathly pale instantly.

This is a killer coming to our door!

If he had known that the soldiers at Wolf Head Fortress were different from before, he wouldn't have sent his local militia to ambush them on the way.

Immediately afterward, Old Master Zhou ordered, "Quickly, close the gates of Zhou Family Village, and have all the militiamen climb onto the walls and load up their bows and arrows!"

"We must not let these two people come near my Zhou Family Village."

……

Although Zhoujiazhuang is called a village, it is actually located on a hillside with a mountain behind it. The village is surrounded by a three-meter-high brick wall.

The militia climbed to the top of the city wall, which was high up and easy to defend, making it no exaggeration to call it a small castle.

When Li Tian and Zhao Yong arrived, this was the scene they saw.

The gates of Zhoujiazhuang were closed, and more than thirty militiamen stood on the city wall, each holding a bow and arrow aimed at the ground.

Not to mention people, even stray dogs passing by would be driven away by their arrows.

Li Tian and Zhao Yong did not rush to show themselves, but instead hid under the shade of a tree in the woods, observing silently.

"Corporal, these guys seem to have been prepared."

"The mountain gate is closed, and there are archers on the city wall."

"This battle will be tough."

Zhao Yong looked at the setup set up by Zhoujiazhuang and silently shook his head.

Li Tian sneered.

"What's the big deal? We'll just wait until their defenses loosen."

Zhao Yong asked curiously, "How long are we going to wait? Are we going to have to wait two or three days? We don't have enough dry rations on us."

Li Tian smiled slightly, "No need to trouble yourself. Zhao Yong, go and walk around the whole manor now and see which side is the most lax in their defense."

"Besides scouting out defensive positions, are there any other routes into Zhoujiazhuang? Remember to draw a map!"

As Li Tian spoke, he handed a deerskin and a charcoal pencil to Zhao Yong.

These are the most basic training courses for reconnaissance soldiers. Although Li Tian is not very proficient in them, he has studied them extensively online in his previous life.

It is sufficient to guide the war thinking of ancient people.

Zhao Yong took the deerskin, nodded as if he understood, and asked, "And then?"

"Then you hide in the shadows and observe them, see how many hours they change shifts, remember that, and then come and tell me."

"Remember, the map must be drawn accurately; it's our lifeline."

Zhao Yong nodded and quickly ran into the depths of the dense forest, disappearing in no time. Li Tian then planted his broadsword in the ground, sat cross-legged under a large tree, and waited silently.

About two hours later, Zhao Yong ran back, covered in sweat, with a hint of excitement on his face.

"Sergeant, it's all done. There's a river west of Zhoujiazhuang. I jumped into the river and swam a bit. I think I can cross. They installed an iron gate underground. As long as we pry open the iron gate, we can sneak into Zhoujiazhuang without anyone noticing."

"The easternmost edge of Zhoujiazhuang is a cliff, not very high, about five meters high. There are tree branches in the crevices of the cliff, and if we really want to climb it, we can manage to get up there."

As he spoke, Zhao Yong handed a wet deerskin to Li Tian. Although the map on the deerskin was a bit blurry, the surrounding environment of Zhoujiazhuang could still be vaguely seen.

The locations of rivers, mountains, and underground rivers are all clearly marked.

The city walls clearly marked out which areas were most heavily guarded, which were least guarded, how many people were defending each direction, and what weapons they were using.

"This kid is quite talented!" Li Tian thought to himself, and silently put the deerskin scroll into his pocket.

The situation is now clear: there's either a cliff or a waterway, and one of them must be able to sneak into Zhoujiazhuang.

"Sergeant, what should we do now? Should we storm Zhoujiazhuang right now?" Zhao Yong asked excitedly.

Because he had served in the military before, he was basically used as cannon fodder, and no one had ever taught him any military skills.

Now he's by Li Tian's side.

He finally felt that he was being truly treated as a human being.

"No rush!" Li Tian said calmly. "Let's talk about it after dark."

"So what do we do now?" Zhao Yong asked instinctively.

"Now?" Li Tian smiled slightly. "Let's sleep now and make our move tonight."

The two walked around in the woods and found a relatively clean cave to go inside. They leaned against the cave walls on either side of each other.

Just as Zhao Yong was about to close his eyes and doze off, Li Tian suddenly threw two strips of cloth in front of him.