stubborn thief

Chapter 149 Offensive
Fenzhou City.

Li Shi'en, deputy envoy of military preparations and roads in southern Hebei, walked out of the state government office quickly.

He thought to himself, eating soft nails again.

The full name of Bingbeidao is to rectify a certain way Bingbei, only Guanfang has no official seal, it can control the army of the guard, but it is controlled by the governor.

The duties are to train the army of the guard and the local people's express, arrest thieves and suppress civil unrest, and manage the soldiers, horses, money and grain of the guard, and farmland.

At first, they were all set up for occasions, but to strengthen local defenses, they have now become permanent.

Li Shien has been busy with one thing recently, asking for food.

His position is military preparation, but the position of this military preparation in Shanxi is very embarrassing. The guards in Fenzhou Prefecture were originally the herds of the feudal king, and they still listen to the feudal king.

Simply listening to the palace is not a problem, it is easy to solve.

However, the corruption of the army field made Weisuo very dependent on the palace financially, so there was no way to do it.

As for Li Shien, although he is from Northern Zhili, he studied in Xizhou with his father in his early years and knew the situation in Shanxi very well.

Therefore, when he took office, Li Shien knew what he was supposed to do as a soldier.

Don't count on tidying up the guards, that's not what he, a fourth-rank official, can do.

Bing Bei Dao Bing Bei Dao is mainly set up to suppress civil uprisings, so his mission is to prevent civil uprisings in Fenzhou Prefecture.

The drought has lasted for several years, getting worse every year. Only this year, the drought in Shanxi has eased slightly, but people's livelihood in the west of Luliang Mountain is still in decline.

Fenyang, where Fenzhou City is located, is to the east of Luliang Mountain, but it cannot be said that the west of Luliang Mountain is not the capital of Fenzhou.

Therefore, after discussing with many officials of the state government, he took charge of the construction of water conservancy and the construction of the city wall. For the time being, he planned to build the long-abandoned water conservancy facilities in Ningxiang, Shilou, and Linxian County, and increase the city wall to prevent Shaanxi bandits. into Jin.

It's a great idea, but it takes money to do it.

This is difficult, the three counties are so poor that they can't even get thousands of taels of silver out of the county government's households, and there is no way to start.

And the government office of the state government did nothing, and things fell into an endless loop.

Today he once again went to the government office of the state government to discuss the construction of water conservancy projects and the training of the people in the three counties. When people heard it, they knew that they were asking for money, so they started crying poorly before he could open his mouth.

In the end, I had no choice but to stay up until evening, so I could only come out of the yamen in despair.

After get off work, he planned to have a drink or two to relieve his depression.

Unexpectedly, as soon as he walked out of the yamen, he heard someone shouting: "Brother Shi En! Brother Shi En, don't go!"

Thinking about which friend came to Fenzhou Mansion, Li Shien turned his head.

It was a slightly old middle-aged gentleman, wearing a cloud brocade square scarf on his head, wearing a light blue dark pattern Taoist robe, a jade pendant and a sachet around his waist, he was handsome, but his clothes were dusty, and there was a sword hanging on his waist , walking quickly.

No matter what Li Shien thought, he couldn't recall this person, so he couldn't help raising his hand and asked, "I don't know who you are?"

"Brother Shien, it's me. You and I were studying together in Xizhou. The earthquake in Wanli 42 years, the county school collapsed. You were studying in the back mountain. It was I who called you out and ran down the mountain road with my arms, and then the landslide Like thunder."

The old gentleman was very excited, walked up to him and said, "Forgot? Che Cai, a freshman from Xizhou!"

Following his words, memories gradually emerged in front of his eyes. Li Shien's expression relaxed, and then he raised his hand to hold the car and said, "It's Brother Che! I haven't seen you in how many years! Are you still in Xizhou?"

In fact, Che is almost ten years older than Li Shien.

"I was still in Xizhou, and later you passed the Juren and Jinshi exams. After you left, I worked as a Confucian teacher in Xizhou for two years, and then... oh, it's hard to say."

When the old friends met, Li Shien turned around and asked someone to get off the carriage, took the arm of the carriage and walked forward: "Let's talk slowly if you can't say anything. You have plenty of time tonight. You are in Xizhou but you don't come to look for me. You can ask me later." Drink more glasses!"

When the coachman arrived, the two drove out of the city and went straight to Wenhu Lake in the east of the city. They found an elegant restaurant by the lakeside, ordered three meat and three vegetables, and two pots of Fenjiu.

After drinking for three rounds, the car slowly recounted the experiences of these years: "My family has been passed down for three generations. The old father always wanted to have a grandson earlier. I have been married to my wife for more than ten years. I don't have a baby. I don't know whose business it is. I also want to Marry another, but just think about it."

"Brother Shien also knows that my family has been farming in Zaowang Mountain for generations. It used to be not rich, and it was only in my generation that I went to school. When I was studying in the state, the students in the same dormitory often laughed at my poor family, but I have not yet After being admitted as a scholar, Su Niang followed me."

Li Shien put down his wine glass and nodded, sighed, and asked, "Brother Che, you still have no heirs?"

"I adopted a distant nephew, but who doesn't want to have a baby of their own? Last winter, Su Niang allowed me to take a concubine. I found a woman from Lehu in Fanjiashan, Yonghe County. She looked like Zhou Zheng knew how to play and dance. It's time to lead them into the house."

Hearing what Che said, Li Shien cupped his hands and smiled enviously, and said, "Since that's the case, brother Che has a beautiful woman to accompany and enjoy the blessings of all people, what more can I ask for!"

There was not much joy on Che Cai's face, instead, there was unspeakable sorrow, and there was even deep hatred in his eyes: "But on the night of the seventh day before, soldiers from Zaowang Mountain entered, soldiers from Fenzhou Guard!"

Li Shien was holding up his wine glass and wanted to clink glasses with Che Cai, but he stopped when he heard the words, and the smile on his face also froze: "Soldiers of Fenzhou Guard?"

"The Fenzhou Guard Banner Army sent troops to cross the border, and the military constitution didn't know about it?"

There seemed to be raging anger in Che Cai's eyes: "My concubine's surname is Du. There is a younger sister who has not yet left the court, and her family is really poor. Her older sister will go home three days after entering the house and invite relatives and friends to a banquet. I promise my younger sister will find a good one for him. I went to Lin County to visit my friends because of my relatives."

"If it weren't for this, if you want to have a drink and talk today, you will sleep in your dreams in plain clothes!"

The wine glass falls.

Li Shien shook his head hastily and said: "I, Brother Che, I really don't know that the Fenzhou Guard crossed the border, and the commander Zhang Zhan was stationed in Shilou half a month ago to defend against the defeated army returning from King Qin of Northern Zhili, how dare he cross the border? "

After a short period of panic, Li Shien came back to his senses, and hurriedly asked: "How is Zaowang Mountain now?"

"It's gone. Stove King Mountain and Fanjia Mountain are gone. There is no one left. The house on Stove King Mountain was burned down. I can't recognize any of the corpses as Su Niang; Fanjia Mountain was also slaughtered." So clean, Yueniang will still be wearing the makeup I made for her until she dies."

The old scholar was sitting on the top chair, his fists were firmly pressed under the table, in fact, he didn't know why he came to Li Shien.

The military turmoil in his hometown was not the first bad thing he encountered.

In fact, in Lin County, he failed to find his old friend, and there was also a military riot there.

The big thieves from Qin didn't get into the mud. They led the crowd to snatch civilian ships from Jiazhou, and bombarded the ferry of Kehuzhai with small cannons. Puxing County.

When Checai came out of Linxian City, he heard that Kelan Shixi was leading the garrison to mobilize troops. However, the northern Hequ General was defeated by Wang Jiayin, and the two bandits attacked Kelan Prefecture together. The defense may not be able to stop it.

When the car was heading south, it was heard that Gao Yingxiang, a giant bandit from Shaanxi, captured Wubao first, forcing the guards of Mengmen Pass to abandon the pass and flee, and then the inspection department of Qinglongdu was killed. Thousands of people swept Yongning Prefecture.

In fact, he was tied up once on the road, and more than a dozen thieves rushed over, tied him up and wanted to ask his family for property, but then, for some reason, he heard that he was from Yonghe County, Xizhou, so he was released. .

Only his pocketbook was taken.

At that time, Yu Sheng was quite happy after the car robbery. How could he know that when he returned to Xizhou, his family was ruined and his family died.

In the past few days, he has been in a state of despair, he doesn't know what to do, he can't even collect the corpse.

He tried to find the Yonghe county government the day before yesterday, but before he walked a few steps to the south, he heard villagers discussing in the village where he was resting.

It is said that General Liu from Shaanxi defeated the Fenzhou Guard Banner Army in Yonghe County, and executed more than 400 banner troops who participated in the massacre of Zaowang Mountain and Fanjiazhuang.

Che didn't believe it, and didn't dare to go to Yonghe County.

In Lin County, he still had some money on him, but now that his house was burned, he had no money left in his body. If he ran over there and was caught by thieves, he would have no money to give to others this time.

It was only later that he realized that Bing Beidao of Fenzhou Prefecture was a classmate when he was a scholar in the past, so he approached Li Shien.

Che told Li Shien about these things one by one, and Li Shien was dumbfounded.

Why did it suddenly become like this?

So General Liu came from Xizhou, General Gao entered Yongning Prefecture, General Ni went to Kelan Prefecture, and General Wang fought Hequ.

The Yellow River in Shanxi is almost undefended.

And the most important thing is what Che Cai said, the matter of Fenzhou Wei.

"That bastard, Zhang Zhan, just killed the soldiers I was in charge of?"

One thousand seven hundred flag troops, Li Shien's heart is bleeding.

Fenzhou Wei has always been dissatisfied with the establishment. In theory, there were less than 2000 banner troops, but many of these [-] banner troops were scattered in the East and West Wangfu and Wangzhuang in various places, and only [-] people could be normally mobilized.

Hard to count, maybe two hundred more.

They are all from commanders to hundreds of households, and there are no hereditary officers who are really lacking.

It's almost dead all at once.

Li Shien was no longer in the mood to drink, and the pleasing scenery outside the window also became strange in his eyes.

He knew that there were thieves in the west of Luliang Mountain.

But the experience of his former classmates made him feel an indescribable sense of confusion.

These people are doing weird things, what are they doing?
What are the soldiers doing, what are the thieves doing?
Relying on the protection of the royal palace, the Banner Army became more and more unscrupulous in an increasingly chaotic world.

The thieves defeated the officers and soldiers, and instead opened a government office in the valley on the spot, making their crimes known to the public for trial and punishment.

What happened just a few hundred miles away, but separated by a Luliang Mountain, became two worlds.

The fisherman's singing outside the window is a peaceful and peaceful scene. Is the false scene worth seeing now?

He turned to the car and asked, "Brother Che, what are your plans now?"

Che Cai shook his head with a gray face, what else could he have planned after enduring the unreasonable disaster and ruining his family.

"I'm very upset right now. I need to inform the government of this news as soon as possible, and let Taiyuan and Pingyang know, and cooperate to set up a defense line at Luliang Mountain. Since Brother Che doesn't know what the plan is, why don't you just stay with me and help out for a while. , Brother Che, what do you think?"

Now that the matter has come to this point, Che also knows that this is Li Shien's self-effacing words. He has nothing to help, but Li Shien can find him a place to stay.

After waiting for the car to thank, Li Shien got up quickly: "It's not too late, I'm going to Fucheng!"

It was the fourth day when Liu Chengzong annihilated the [-] Banner Army of the Fenzhou Guard.

March [-]th of the third year of Chongzhen.

The news was first reported to Li Shien, a student from Xizhou by Che Cai.

Afterwards, Li Shien conveyed the news to Fucheng. Fucheng's response strategy was to first send detectives into Luliang Shanxi to investigate the intelligence of the counties.

However, in Bingbei Road, Li Shien repeatedly asked and guaranteed the authenticity of the source.

The most important news was that at night, Fenzhou Fucheng dispatched fast horses and sent them eastward to Hongshan Horse Station between Pingyao County and Qi County.

However, because it was getting late and there were no boatmen on the Fen River, it took time to send the message to Ma Kuai to search for boatmen along the coast. It was already the morning of the [-]th when the news was sent by Hongshan Mayi to Taiyuan and Pingyang.

Still a step too late.

What was late was not the defense line set up by the government, but just the day before, forty flag troops from Ningshanwei, Zezhou, escorted two Hongyi cannons loaded on four-wheeled artillery carts, and had already passed the city of Xizhou. Enter the boundary of Yonghe County.

But the owner of these two red cannons, Mr. Huo, is no longer alive.

Liu Chengzong was sitting in the lobby of Huojiabao and counting together with Chengyun. The calculation was not how much money should be allocated to the eight sentry auxiliary soldiers under his command, but the vehicles needed for material delivery.

They want to establish a supply line between Yonghe County and Yanchuan County.

But instead of the rear supplying the front, the front reverses the supply to the rear.

Mr. Huo is an interesting gentry in this place. There are not many fields in his family, and there are only a thousand stones of grain in his family, but there are more than 2 taels of silver in his family.

Even if the money was distributed to the soldiers, Liu Chengzong's battalion kept enough silver to make a thousand-jin red cannon.

The officers and non-commissioned officers of the Lion Camp have received their share, and now the Lion Camp is still in a state of having money and not knowing what to do with it, so everyone has shown extraordinary dedication.

Below the head of the post, almost all the officers spent their money on buying ordnance for their subordinates, not only buying but also selling, and the exchanged supplies were sold to the post again.

Now there are mountains of various weapons, armor pieces, cotton clothes, military uniforms, etc. piled up in the work post.

They can't go forward with these things, and the baggage post can't carry them.

Liu Chengzong planned to transport these things back to Xingzihe, and asked Lin Wei to mobilize craftsmen in Wangzhuang to clean them up and repair the damaged armor pieces and weapons.

At this moment, Wei Qian'er announced in front of the door, walked into the hall with big strides, and said to Liu Chengzong: "General, the banner army from Zezhou has stopped at Sangbi Mountain. It has been detained."

Liu Chengzong put down his pen and said with a smile: "Haha, what did the person sent say?"

"They came here to ask Mr. Huo to send someone to pick up the cannon, but I was worried that they would know the news about Huojiabao from the common people, so I sent someone to watch them from afar."

"Then what are you waiting for, Cheng Yun will continue to count here and send someone to let Li Wanqing lead the troops into Yanchuan."

Liu Chengzong got up and rubbed his hands: "Let the left sentry pull out the battalion and go get my cannon back!"

　Good morning!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)