stubborn thief

Chapter 349

Chengyun wears a large red-tasseled hat with a round top, a pair of small sapphire glasses made of corundum under the brim of the hat, a Hetian jade pipe in his mouth, a blue satin robe with dark patterns, and a necklace of Southwest gemstones around his neck. A tall and strong gray-haired Hequ horse was walking along the official road in the Hehuang Valley while reading the ledger.

If you wear a big hat, you won't be cold; if you wear glasses, you won't look; if you hold a pipe, you won't light it.

The whole person has been out of pragmatism.

The reason for this appearance is because Liu Chengyun discovered for the first time in his life that it is nice to be rich.

Chengyun is not a person who has never seen money. As the chief steward of the Lion Army, he has handled more wealth than most people in the world in a few lifetimes.

He buys and sells 30 taels of cattle and sheep; he takes out [-] taels of gold and puts them in the warehouse; [-] taels of silver is handled by him.

But the money is not the carrier's own, and cannot be moved, and the carrier has never thought about it.

Only this time, when the new factory was about to be completed, Shicheng and I issued rewards for inventions and creations to craftsmen, and the carrier was awarded 500 taels of rewards for creating anti-counterfeiting lion tickets.

He is rich!

Everyone in Xining knows that the fabric used to make lion tickets is woven by a special flower weaving technique, supplemented by dyeing and printing. It is a royal skill, and almost no one among the people can imitate it.

But even if the palace on the east side imitates the lion ticket, the weaving process is exactly the same, it will still be seen through by the Juerwan market, and every one is counted as one, as many as there are will be seen through.

In the Juerwan market, only the three orphans who were transported and raised could check the authenticity. No one knew why, but the three dolls could be checked for authenticity by hiding them in a dark room.

Even Wang Kun, the father-in-law of the carrier, didn't know the principle. He only knew that when exchanging large amounts of more than 50 taels, the ticket should be handed over to a veteran, and the veteran would give it to the baby, and it only took a moment to know the authenticity.

Wang Kun was worried that the veteran and the doll would be bribed, and Cheng Yun said with a smile: "The veteran doesn't know anything, he only knows how to protect the doll; the doll also doesn't know anything, only knows the method, what's the use of buying them, let alone..."

"What kind of riches, can you be richer than being with me, Liu Chengyun? Then he can only go to my second brother."

In fact, the second anti-counterfeiting method of the carrier is very simple. The lion ticket is a cloth ticket. The carrier has mixed wool into the cotton raw material of the cotton thread. It is not visible on the outside, but the cloth ticket is smoked on the fire, and there will be a burnt smell of roasted wool. .

No, it's fake.

The real anti-counterfeiting is the common sense of the carrier. People who often deal with wool do not have the ability to let top weavers make fabrics; people who have the ability to dispatch top weavers do not have wool in their minds.

After being rewarded by the Marshal's Mansion, Chengyun's savings finally broke through three digits in the four years since the incident, which made him very happy.

She was extravagant, spending 48 taels to buy a whole outfit in Juerwan, and left 450 taels to give to Juerwan's mother-in-law and aunt, so that she can honor her husband and second uncle and aunt in Juerwan.

After finishing all this, Chengyun took the pocket money of two taels of silver in exchange and started to do business.

The real thing is to change the post into a town, and build a set of shelves to convey information to every corner based on the Baojia system in the Hehuang Valley.

This was the mission entrusted to him by his second brother. Putting on the newly purchased outfits, the carrier vigorously pulled up an army of 500 people and marched eastward from Xining.

He recruited [-] infantry soldiers from Wang Wenxiu's infantry battalion from Xincheng, [-] banner troops from Feng Ruo from Xiningwei, and [-] miners from Shangtian Monkey from Riyueshan Iron Works to form five The town team, take them to take office.

Ever since he got this team, Chengyun had planned to divide the team. He planned to let two infantry commanders lead two banner army households, and add forty postmen as messengers to form a town garrison.

In this way, from Xining to Shangchuankou, with the structure of five towns and ten shops, each town is responsible for the [-]-mile valley, and an express shop is added in the middle, so that news can be sent back and forth from Xining to Shangchuankou twice in one day.

And if any town is attacked, at least [-] soldiers and horses can be assembled within half a day, and [-] soldiers and horses are enough to deal with any rebellious landlord regiments and tribal armies in Hehuang.

Even in the future when a regiment is formed for training, the five towns will continue to send recruits to the training camp every year.

In fact, Chengyun believed that Hehuang must train the people to be strong, so he asked Wang Wenxiu for soldiers. All the sergeants in the training camp could be militia officers, and Chengyun had even written a plan.

The [-] township security guards, men of the right age in each township practice three days a month, and concentrate on training for one month in winter. Learning basic military knowledge is only secondary.

Usually, these young people have the opportunity to contact generals and officials. They can report from another angle how the local officials are doing and whether there are people who monopolize power and profit;

Chengyun was full of confidence, but before he reached the first town, he saw several cavalry soldiers running from the east, with a small yellow flag on their backs, looking hurried.

There are rules in the Marshal's Mansion, no one can stop Tang Qi, even if Chengyun is leading an army, he must get out of the official way, when he saw Tang Qi crossing his team, he turned back, and the leader got off his horse and bowed down: "Third Master , a letter from the Marshal."

Cheng Yun accepted the letter cheerfully, presumably because he was overdressed too much, Tang Qi didn't recognize it, he smiled and said: "Yo, it's the handsome looking for me."

After opening the letter and just reading the beginning, the expression on his face was already serious.

Xining Wei Qianhu Feng Ru who accompanied him noticed his expression changed, and asked nervously in a low voice, "What's the matter?"

Chengyun didn't speak, looked around, pulled Feng Ru aside and said, "Brother Feng, the second brother said that the Lintao border army and Hezhou native soldiers are over [-], marching westward from the south of the Yellow River, either to attack Xining Mansion directly, or We must form an encirclement from the rear of the commander-in-chief's army."

"Then what are you waiting for, hurry up and save the Marshal!"

Feng Ru glared, and Cheng Yunguang was so frightened that he wanted to give him a taste of the two children, so he stretched out his hand and said, "No, brother Feng, wait a moment, let me... think about it."

Hearing suddenly that most of the officers and soldiers were attacking him, Cheng Yun was frightened a little bit bewildered.

Chengyun still has the official position of the general of the supply battalion on his body. Speaking of which, he is also the number one general in the marshal's mansion, and he has been on the front line of the battlefield for a long time.

But he has always been responsible for how to move the army, and has never been responsible for where the army moves.

In the past, there was either Liu Chengzong, Liu Chengzu, or even Cao Yao by his side. They were all people who could make big decisions, and he didn't need to worry about such things at all.

At this moment of panic, he instinctively wanted to ask the people around him who knew the soldiers for advice, but Feng Ru's voice rushed to save the commander, and Chengyun forced himself to calm down instead.

Feng Ru was too impulsive to ask him. '

He was thinking hard here, when soldiers came to report that Tang Qi ran west again, and they had other missions.

Chengyun just responded hastily, then stammered and said to himself: "First...if my eldest brother and second brother are here, what would they do? Yes, we must first send a knife, and if there is no horse, we have to send a detective." Ride a scout horse, right? Know where the enemy is first."

"Then... find out where to report, report to Xining, we retreat and return to Xining."

"Back to Xining?" Feng Ru asked, a little in disbelief: "He, doesn't he care about the handsome?"

"My elder brother and my second brother command an army of [-]. Even if the officers and troops are encircled, it may not be a problem. What if the officers and troops attack Xining?"

Chengyun's thoughts became smoother and smoother, and his tone became more and more firm: "Even if we kill 500 people, we can only piss on the house and cannot put out the fire... Back to Xining, my second uncle, second aunt, and military family members all In Xining."

As he spoke, Cheng Yun's eyes lit up, and he rubbed his hands confidently and said, "I know what I should do in this battle."

He figured it out.

Whether it is going east to support the main force or defending Xining, he doesn't count. It depends on the scouts to detect the enemy's movements. If the enemy attacks Xining, they will defend Xining;

But the general's talent is insufficient, and Chengyun thinks that he is too difficult to take on the big task, so he wants to hand over the soldiers to the general Wang Wenxiu, and let Wang Wenxiu command the battle.

Chengyun is very aware of his own strengths, and he should do what he can, and not do what he can't do recklessly.

He calculated that his commanding power greater than zero and less than one was not intended to hold back the soldiers on the battlefield, and he could play some role outside the battlefield.

Cheng used his left fist to lightly hit the heart of his right hand: "It's decided, let's go back to Xining!"

Feng Fu was persuaded by Liu Xiangyu and Mrs. Cai's reasons for being in Xining, so he stopped persuading him, and followed Chengyun and led the army back to Xining.

He agreed with what Chengyun said, the grandpa and wife are in Xining, and the family members of many generals and soldiers are also in Xining. Their property and even the military salary that they said they would pay but have not been paid are also in Xining - that city cannot be lost.

When Chengyun returned to Xining, the city of Xining had already been under martial law under the control of Liu Xiangyu, all the markets were closed, and every house was closed.

The martial law in the city was not lifted until 370 soldiers were stationed in the city. This martial law was mainly aimed at the chieftain family living in Xining. Before they were transported back, Xining City had only [-] soldiers and [-] yamen servants.

However, even if Chengyun brought the troops back, the government office still issued a wartime notice to the city, issuing orders such as no climbing, making noise, lighting cannons, lighting fires, drying clothes, etc., and those who violated it would be executed immediately.

As soon as Feng Ru entered the city, he was given the task of digging pits and burying water tanks on all sides of the city wall to monitor the enemy's tunnels during wartime, and built watchtowers one foot higher than the city wall at the northeast and southeast corners.

Chengyun was arranged by Liu Xiangyu to take people to count the demolitionable courtyards in the city, house beams, walls, earth and rocks, and even the trees in the courtyards, all of which were counted.

If the siege begins and there is insufficient supplies to defend the city, Liu Xiangyu must make a plan for where to start demolition.

Chengyun had been busy all day, and in the evening he was called to Daofu Yamen. The scout horse he sent to the bank of the Yellow River came back. The scout horse saw the enemy army camping all over the mountains and plains on the south bank of the Yellow River south of Nianbo. The goal is Xining.

Liu Xiangyu in the government office was not as nervous as Chengyun imagined, instead, he broke off the yellow-faced steamed bread, ate a bite by himself, and broke a piece to feed Xiao Zhuanfeng, very leisurely.

Seeing Chengyun enter the back house of the yamen, Liu Xiangyu patted the crumbs on his hands, sat casually on the stone in the yard, and said: "I asked General Wang, we have never defended the city, he thought that the chances of winning the city are not great, field battles... ...General Wang dared to fight, he only said that he had a better chance of winning than defending the city."

When Cheng Yunxin said this, he sounded like a general from the Marshal's Mansion, who was so mad that there were [-] generals against a total of more than [-] soldiers in a town, with one against three, saying that the odds of winning in a field battle were greater than that of defending the city.

He asked, "What does Second Uncle mean?"

Liu Xiangyu rejoiced: "All the best soldiers and strong generals will be sent out, thanks to the lion who left General Wang, but this battle is difficult. Carrier, you bring your family and return your pockets. If the battle goes bad, you can still keep a seed at home." .”

"Second uncle, if you don't leave, the morale of the army will not be improved if the army overwhelms the border; but if I take my family away, the defense of the city will definitely not be able to continue, and the morale will plummet."

"Besides, it's not that the second brother has never beaten the general soldier. A general soldier will not take over the old Liu family." Cheng Yun pretended to be relaxed and smiled, and also picked a stone to sit down, and said: "If General Wang still has reinforcements? , three thousand more, how about one to block two?"

Liu Xiangyu froze for a moment: "There are reinforcements, you mean...Haixi Haibei?"

Chengyun nodded and said: "I made my own decision and wrote letters to the two county magistrates Chen and Liu, General Zhonghu of Nanshanbao, General Baohu of Guide Qianhusuo, Chieftain Chen of Bajiaocheng, ordering them to lead all their troops back to Xining."

"You!" Liu Xiangyu looked at Chengyun, stretched out his hand and paused for a moment before smiling, "You are so bold."

Liu Xiangyu also thought about doing this, but he has been assessing the development of the situation, if it is not a last resort, it will be difficult to make this decision.

On the one hand, this means giving up the territory outside Xining and shrinking it back, which is still small; more importantly, it will make him, a father, offend two sons at the same time.

Their family has rolled like a snowball, everyone is standing in a position that they are not familiar with or surpass their talents, and they need a lot of learning to be able to match their virtues, but they are finally matched or even not matched, and their status and power have become more and more serious. big.

This makes everyone walk on eggshells, and the easiest one is Liu Chengzong who only needs to win and praise.

As long as he does not fail, as long as his prestige is not frustrated, Liu Shizi will be able to sit firmly as the generalissimo.

But for others, for example, now, Liu Xiangyu would rather not be the prefect of Xining, because the prefect has no power to mobilize the soldiers of Xining prefecture, and there is Liu Chengzu, the deputy general of Xining, but Liu Chengzu went to war.

If Liu Xiangyu was just an old father without an official position, he could stand up and replace him, but he is also the prefect of Xining, who not only became Liu Chengzu's man, but also changed Liu Chengzong's rules.

In fact, this matter is easy to solve, just pass a letter to Liu Chengzong on the front line, but Liu Xiangyu is also an old father, and before the battle started, he threw away all the land his son had laid down, which made him feel very ashamed.

"Second Uncle, I thought about it. A lion needs to fight a rabbit with all its strength. General Wang knows the soldiers. We will transfer all the soldiers back and support General Wang to win this battle with all our strength. As long as we win, the places released will not fly."

Liu Xiangyu sighed, nodded slowly, and Chengyun heaved a sigh of relief, and said with a wry smile: "It's a pity that I only wore this outfit for a day."

Liu Xiangyu asked, "What's wrong?"

"I have to take them off. A rule is a rule. Second brother can't be merciless. I want to dress fancy again. I'm afraid that second brother will beat me up."

"Not at all." Liu Xiangyu thought what was going on, shook his head and smiled, "However, it makes sense for the imperial court to have one officer, two officers, and three commanders in one town. We still need to improve the system, and we can't just point at you every time. "

After all, Liu Xiangyu clapped his hands excitedly: "Okay, now that we have reinforcements, I'll go and invite General Wang. Let's figure it out, how should we fight this battle!"

　good evening!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)