On the fourth day of the fourth month of April, Xun Yi returned to Xuchang again and reported to the county guard Li Min the results of his negotiations with the black tiger thief.

“…… Zhou Hu didn't realize that it was a fake pardon, and promised to release Liu Yi and Wang Yong, the two county magistrates and their families, and to ...... Cheng Pei Sui of Runan County."

If it were someone else, I am afraid that most of them would take advantage of the situation to flatter the county guard in front of him at this moment, praising the latter for playing the stupid black tiger thief leader around with a fake pardon, but Xun Yi did not.

On the one hand, it is of course due to Xun Yi's character, and on the other hand, it is because he actually rejects this kind of fraud in his heart - he thinks that using deception to deceive a group of thieves who can obviously recruit An, it seems to be a victory, but in fact, it is a curse for himself.

Because the other party will inevitably retaliate fiercely after being deceived in consciousness, and then it will inevitably cause even greater chaos and implicate many innocent people.

This is also one of the reasons why he revealed the truth to Zhou Hu, trying to avoid letting Zhou Hu be deceived and have the idea of antagonizing the government, after all, once Zhou Hu is forced astray, it is far from being as simple as one more wicked person in the world.

But Xun Yi didn't flatter, it doesn't mean that no one does it, no, when he lowered his head and reported at this time, Li Min's staff and guards flattered Li Min for him: "The adults are wise, and with a little tricks, they will turn the tiger around that week." ”

"Huh."

Li Min chuckled lightly and twisted his beard with his two fingers, looking quite complacent.

Probably he had a strong sense of superiority in his heart at the moment: what if he was Zhou Hu, the leader of the Black Tiger Thieves? In the end, he is just an uninformed country bandit, who can be played with a little trickery.

In a good mood, he immediately asked: "Xun Yi, since Zhou Hu got the pardon decree that day, when will he release him?" ”

Xun Yi arched his hand again, and said with a straight face: "Back to the lord, this is also another reason for the humble post to return to the county this time: in view of the fact that the officers and soldiers who crusaded against the black tiger thieves and the county soldiers are still under his mountain, Zhou Hu hopes that the adults can let them retreat first, so as not to have a misunderstanding, and then he will release them." ”

“……”

Li Min frowned and twisted his beard.

He was very unhappy that the bandits had put forward any conditions to him, but he also knew that now was not the time to calculate, and after a little thought, he nodded and said, "This government will send someone to inform the county troops stationed in Kunyang and order them to withdraw to ...... Yingyang. ”

“……”

Xun Yi glanced at Li Min quietly, and immediately lowered his head again.

Based on this sentence alone, he guessed that the county keeper in front of him was still ready to turn around and eliminate the black tiger thief afterwards, because Yingyang was in the northeast of Xiangcheng, and from there he could reach Xiangcheng in half a day, and he could return to the foot of the Black Tiger Mountain in one day.

But he didn't mean to debunk it, after all, he knew that this county guard would not be able to wait for the opportunity to 'turn his face', because Zhou Hu would delay the release of people for various reasons in the future, until the rebel army invaded Runan County and posed a threat to Yingchuan County, which was next to Runan County—at that time, could this county guard still take care of a group of bandits?

Thinking of this, he pretended not to know Li Min's thoughts, and said, "There are ...... officers and soldiers from the five counties."

"Hmm."

Li Min touched his beard and pondered for a moment, then said, "This government will write to Yang Ding and ask him to ...... Tell him to retreat. ”

In the last sentence, he said very vaguely, which made Xun Yi feel that this county guard would not just let Yang Ding retreat.

But it doesn't matter, it's still the same sentence, as long as the rebel army threatens his Yingchuan County, whether it is this Li County Guard or that Yang County Commander, there will be no time to stare at a group of bandits.

After a while, Xun Yi got the letter that Li Min asked him to pass on to Yang Ding, and left the county guard's mansion.

After walking out of the gate of the county guard's mansion, he looked up at the bright sky and sighed secretly in his heart.

Once upon a time, he hated those who concealed and bullied his subordinates, but he didn't expect that he would do a similar act today, hiding from the county guard Li Min and secretly helping Zhou Hu.

『…… Don't disappoint me, Zhou Hu."

With a secret sentence in his heart, Xun Yi walked to the carriage and returned to his mansion by car.

After resting at home for a night, Xun Yi embarked on the trip again the next day and went to Kunyang.

On the eighth day of the first month of April, Xun Yi arrived in Kunyang again and came to the five-county coalition army camp in the north of Kunyang County, please see Yang Ding, the county commander of Ye County.

After seeing Yang Ding, he took out Li Min's letter from his arms.

Yang Ding opened it and looked at it twice, then looked up at Xun Yi, and said quietly: "Li Junshou hopes that Yang will retreat, and don't break the agreement reached between the superintendent and Zhou Hu......"

Xun Yi bowed his head slightly, but said nothing.

Seeing this, Yang nodded and said, "Okay, Yang will do it." …… By the way, I wonder if the superintendent is willing to enjoy his face and eat here this time? ”

Xun Yi said lightly: "The kindness of the Yang County Decree is in my heart, but I will go to the Black Tiger Mountain again to inform Zhou Hu and urge him to release the two county ......commanders Liu and Wang as soon as possible."

Speaking of this, he glanced at Wei Chi who was standing in the tent, and said with a slight sarcasm: "When the time comes, maybe Zhou Hu will stay in the lower mountain to eat, and he will have to keep his stomach in the lower part." ”

Rao is Yang Ding, and he was also a little embarrassed.

After all, Wei Chi's actions that day were instructed by him, the purpose was to see if there was a secret collusion between this Xun Du Post and the Black Tiger Thief, but he didn't expect this Xun Du Post to be so upright that he would sarcastically mock this matter to his face.

He is not surprised by this, after all, most of the hard-headed scribes are like Xun Yi who turn around and curse people.

After Xun Yi left, Yang Ding shook his head and said, "It seems that we have really offended this superintendent......

I have to say that he rarely encounters this situation, after all, he has a noble status, and ordinary officials can't even stammer when they see him, how dare they ridicule him in person? Even Li Min, the commander of Yingchuan County, and Wang Shangde, the general of Nanyang, had to sell him a little affection.

Unexpectedly, a postal inspector dared to ridicule him in person three times and twice.

"This Xun Duyou should be glad that the young master will not be as knowledgeable as him." The old general, Wei Dong, said with a smile, praising his young master's strength in disguise.

Not to mention, Yang Ding's weight is not small, at least he didn't get angry at all because of Xun Yi's sarcasm, he just felt a little embarrassed.

For this alone, Yang Ding is indeed very good compared to many high-ranking officials born with a golden soup spoon in the world.

On the contrary, Wei Chi, who was also young, was a little unaccustomed to Xun Yi, and said with a frown: "But this Xun Yi has offended the young master several times, and he really should be punished, so it is better to guard the ...... to Li Jun."

"Forget it, don't do it."

Yang Ding raised his hand to interrupt Wei Chi's words.

Because he knows very well that he doesn't have a deep friendship with Li Min, the commander of Yingchuan County, the latter is completely looking at someone's face, and he, Yang Ding, actually doesn't want to borrow that person's face.

After Wei Chi dispelled the idea of punishing Xun Yi, Yang Ding picked up the letter handed to him by Li Min and Xun Yi again, and said to the Wei family and his son: "Li Junshou is more ...... than I thought Well, wise, he promised to pardon Zhou Hu and the black tiger thief's previous crimes, but he gave Zhou Hu a fake pardon order, and deceived Zhou Hu into promising to release Liu and Wang, the two county magistrates, and the rest of the people......"

Hearing this, Wei Dong was not surprised, stroked his beard and smiled: "This is not strange, the black tiger thief robbed the official, burned the government, and committed the crime of great rebellion, how can Li Junshou forgive?" If this kind of crime can still be forgiven, am I afraid that people who have committed crimes in the world will attack the county and rob the officials in the future, and threaten the county and the court? ”

Yang Ding nodded, and then said suspiciously: "So I'm very strange, why did Zhou Hu think that he could get Li Junshou's pardon?" ”

After hearing this, Wei Chi laughed and said, "A group of bandits, what knowledge can they have?" ”

Although Yang Ding did not agree with Wei Chi's point of view, he felt that there was something wrong with this, but at the moment he couldn't say why, after glancing at the letter in his hand, he said to Wei Dong, Wei Chi and his son: "In short, Li Junshou hopes that we will temporarily withdraw to the county seat of Kunyang and repair it, and he will already order Tian Qin to lead the two thousand county soldiers to withdraw to Yingyang, once Zhou Hu releases the two county orders of Liu and Wang, he will immediately unite the county soldiers and wipe them out!" ”

"Understood." Wei's father and son clenched their fists to lead their lives.

So, on the eighth day of the fourth month, the officers and soldiers of the five counties, led by the officers and soldiers of Ye County led by Yang Dingsuo, pulled out the camp and retreated at the foot of Heihu Mountain.

In order to prevent the black tiger thieves from becoming suspicious, Yang Ding originally planned to let Huang Ben and Zou Bu lead his officers and soldiers back to Runan County and Xiangcheng first, after all, since they had to pretend to retreat, then the officers and soldiers of Runan County and Xiangcheng could not withdraw to the county seat of Kunyang with the officers and soldiers of the other three counties, otherwise the black tiger thieves were very likely to be suspicious: Isn't it going to retreat? Why did the officers and soldiers of Runan and Xiangcheng counties still get together and not return to their respective county seats?

But his proposal would be opposed by Huang Ben and Zou Bu, both of whom wanted to personally welcome their respective county orders back to the county seat.

After some discussion, Yang Ding reached an agreement with Huang Ben and Zou Bu, Huang Ben and Zou Bu each led 100 people to stay in the team of thieves, and the rest of the officers and soldiers returned to Runan County and Xiangcheng.

As for the 2,000 Yingchuan army led by the soldier Tian Qin, they also withdrew to Yingyang on the same day.

Speaking of this Yingchuan County Army, they did not fight in Kunyang this time, and of course no one was damaged, and many soldiers in the army felt inexplicable and did not understand what they were doing in Kunyang.

The officers and soldiers and the county army retreated one after another, and the crisis faced by the Black Tiger Village was naturally alleviated.

As a result, Chu Yan, who was hiding in the East Wing Mountain, and Wang Qing, who was hiding in Fengshou Mountain, also returned to Heihu Village one after another, taking Liu Yi and Wang Yong, the two county commanders, and Pei Sui, the county commander of Runan County.

And this is also what Zhao Yu meant-Originally, he was not ready to immediately act on the two county orders of Liu and Wang, but since these two county orders have now fallen into the hands of his black tigers, how could he miss the opportunity to make friends with these two county orders?

So, Zhao Yu personally came forward, made alarmist remarks to the two, bluffed the two county commanders, turned pale, signed a confession very familiarly, and became the 'friend' of the Black Tiger Thief and the leader of the Black Tiger Thief, Zhou Hu.

Thinking about it, the whole family, including himself, is in the hands of the other party, how dare Liu Yi and Wang Yong resist this notorious leader of the black tiger thief?

After becoming friends with the Black Tiger Thief, Liu Yi's family and Wang Yong's family lived in the Black Tiger Village in fear, including Cheng Pei Sui of Runan County, who also gave in to the Black Tiger Thief.

They didn't know that Li Min, the county guard of Yingchuan, was trying to rescue them, and they didn't know that in order to rescue them, the officers and soldiers under the mountain and the county soldiers had pretended to retreat, otherwise, I believe they would never have fallen to Zhao Yu so easily.

So in the past few days, Liu Yi, Wang Yong, and Pei Sui have asked Zhao Yu several times, hoping that Zhao Yu can put them back, and they think they have a good reason to convince the latter: if Zhao Yu releases them late, there will inevitably be people who doubt whether they have surrendered to the black tiger thief, and they will definitely send someone to interrogate them at that time.

Not to mention, this reason is indeed quite sufficient, but unfortunately, Zhao Yu was not moved at all.

Because he knew that Li Min, the county guard of Yingchuan, had murderous intentions against his Black Tigers, and Liu Yi, Wang Yong, and Pei Sui were the life-saving cards of his Black Tigers, how could he be stupid enough to take the initiative to give up this life-saving faction?

As for the reasons put forward by Liu Yi and Wang Yong, Zhao Yu didn't care at all, because once the rebel army invaded the territory, the situation would change greatly, not to mention that he and the Black Tiger could use this to get out of trouble, who would have the time to track down Liu Yi, Wang Yong, and Pei Sui? It must have been for these three people to return to their original positions first.

Even if it is to be investigated, it will have to wait for the rebel army to pass.

And wait until the rebel army is over...... Hehe, Yingchuan County may not dare to touch his Black Tiger Crowd, but it is not Liu Yi, Wang Yong, and Pei Sui who secretly protect him Black Tiger Village, but he Zhou Hu in turn protects Liu Yi, Wang Yong, and Pei Sui.

Combining these two points, Zhao Yu had no reason to release Liu Yi, Wang Yong, and Pei Sui immediately.

The days passed, and in the blink of an eye, it was mid-April, and it had been six or seven days since Yang Ding led the officers and soldiers of the five counties to withdraw to Kunyang County, however, the black tiger thieves still did not release the two county orders of Liu and Wang.

Seeing this, the county guard Li Min summoned Xun Yi, who was in Kunyang, to inquire about it.

Of course, Xun Yi knew what was going on, but he still pretended to go to the Black Tiger Village, and when he came back, he sent someone to the county to interrogate: Zhou Hu said that he had lost contact with the Black Tiger thieves who kidnapped Liu and Wang, the two county commanders, and was currently sending someone to contact him.

After learning of this explanation, Li Min was angry and angry.

He couldn't have imagined such a ridiculous thing happening.

He didn't doubt Zhou Hu, after all, in his opinion, Zhou Hu had already obtained the pardon he wanted, and he shouldn't tease him in this matter and ruin the good situation - and this is why Zhao Yu told Xun Yi not to debunk the fake pardon.

In desperation, Li Min had no choice but to urge Xun Yi and ask Xun Yi to urge Zhou Hu, so that Zhou Hu could contact the black tiger thief outside as soon as possible.

And this delay dragged on for a few more days, until the end of April.

To tell the truth, at this time, Li Junshou was eager to immediately send troops to encircle and suppress the black tiger thief, but he hesitated, after all, the black tiger thief did not refuse to release Liu Yi and Wang Yong, but Zhou Hu lost contact with the black tiger thief outside, if he did it immediately, then Liu Yi and Wang Yong's two subordinates would definitely not survive.

You can let your subordinates come back alive, why do you want to drive your subordinates to a dead end?

And this is also Zhao Yu's cleverness - he did not debunk Li Min's tricks, and did not refuse to release Liu and Wang's conditions, which made Li Min throw a mouse trap in disguise, and did not dare to immediately use troops against Heihu Mountain, so that Zhao Yu bought precious time.

As of early May, Li Junshou waited patiently, waiting for good news from Kunyang County, but this expectation was disappointed day by day.

He couldn't help it, and sent a book to urge Xun Yi again: What the hell is going on!

On the ninth day of the fifth month, Li Junshou received a reply from Xun Yi: Zhou Hu had contacted the black tiger thieves outside, and had ordered the black tiger thieves outside to bring Liu and Wang and their party back to the main village.

Seeing this letter, the anger in Li Junshou's heart calmed down slightly.

That damn Zhou Hu, he finally got in touch with his group of damn men!

Then let them go.

Then, there was no more, and until mid-May, the black tiger thief still did not release the two county orders of Liu and Wang.

In all fairness, Li Min thought to himself that his temper was not bad, but this time he was angry with the black tiger thief.

In a fit of rage, Li Min sent someone to recall Xun Yi back to the county and question the latter in person.

Xun Yi pretended to be panicked and said: "My lord, I don't know what's going on, that Zhou Hu suddenly became suspicious of that pardon, suspecting that it was a fake pardon......

"What?!" Li Min was so angry that he almost vomited blood.

was almost kicked in the door, and Zhou Hu actually began to doubt the authenticity of the pardon?

Once upon a time, he was still a little proud that he used a fake pardon to turn around the Zhou Tiger deception, but he didn't expect this incident to hit his own foot today.

He was shocked and angry and asked Xun Yi: "How did Zhou Hu conclude that it was a fake pardon?" ”

Xun Yi shook his head and said, "Back to adults, Zhou Hu is not sure. ”

"Huh? So how do you know? ”

"Back to the adult's words, that Zhou Hu hoped to ask Kunyang County to order Liu Wei to hand over a few official documents sent by the county before, and the humble post thought that he wanted to verify the authenticity of the pardon decree."

“……”

This reasoned and well-founded explanation made Li Min feel shocked, and he hurriedly asked, "Has Liu Bi handed it over?" ”

Xun Yi shook his head and said, "Liu County's order was strictly refused, so Zhou Hu was very dissatisfied. …… He believed that this move might have deepened Zhou Hu's suspicions. ”

Li Min nodded, and then said in a deep voice: "I ordered the craftsman to forge a few official documents, you take them back to Liu Bi, and let him hand them over to Zhou Hu to read and dispel Zhou Hu's suspicions." ”

"Yes."

came and went, it took a few more days, and Zhao Yu deliberately delayed, so that in early June, Black Tiger Village still did not release Liu Yi, Wang Yong, and Pei Sui.

Not to mention that Li Junshou was so angry that the black tiger thief rebelled, Yang Ding, the county commander of Yexian County in Kunyang, saw a few clues.

He said to Wei Dong, Wei Chi and his son: "My hunch has been verified. …… I originally felt strange, strange that Zhou Hu obviously committed the unforgivable crime of robbing officials and burning the government, why did he dare to think that he could be pardoned by Li Junshou, now I understand that all this is just his delaying plan, and he has no intention of releasing people at all. …… Even I suspect that Zhou Hu probably knew that the pardon given to him by Li Junshou was fake, but he deliberately didn't say it. ”

Hearing this, Rao is hometown general Wei Dong didn't react, and asked in confusion: "But...... What's in it for him to procrastinate? Even if he guessed that Li Junshou would turn his face after he released him, he shouldn't feel that the crisis in front of him could be solved by delaying alone. ”

"I think he's waiting for an opportunity."

Yang Ding pondered and said, "An opportunity that can make me wait and make the county unable to take care of him for the time being......"

Speaking of this, his face changed slightly, a little shock flashed in his eyes, and he muttered, "Could it be ...... No way? ”

"Young master?" The Wei father and son looked at their young master in confusion.

I saw Yang Ding pacing back and forth in the military tent for a few steps, and asked in a deep voice: "Old man, this year, the rebel army south of the river is very likely to launch a large-scale counterattack, right?" ”

"That's right." Wei Dong nodded puzzled, and said, "That's why we have to seize this opportunity......

Speaking of this, the old general's voice stopped abruptly, and a little horror flashed in his slightly cloudy eyes, and he exclaimed: "Young master, you mean that the black tiger thief is waiting for the rebel army?!" …… This, this can't be, it's just a bunch of bandits, how can you know about such a thing? Could it be that the Black Tiger Thieves are secretly colluding with the rebels? ”

"I don't know." Yang Ding shook his head and said, "But I'm sure that Zhou Hu must know about it, otherwise I can't explain why he delayed time again and again." …… Obviously, he was waiting for the rebel army to stir up the situation, and only when the rebel army appeared near Yingchuan County, Li County Shou would not take care of him, and even he could take the opportunity to absorb the displaced people and gradually grow stronger...... If my guess is correct, then everyone underestimated this Zhou Hu. ”

"How could it be ......?"

"It's just a bandit......"

The Wei father and son looked at each other.

After a long time, the old general Wei Dong sank his face, lowered his voice and said: "The side of the couch will never allow others to sleep soundly, I thought that Zhou Hu was just a thief with a little strategy, but I never thought that it would be ...... The more this is the case, the sooner it is eradicated, if he really wants to take advantage of the rebel army to take advantage of the opportunity to grow stronger with the same idea as us, he will inevitably become a big problem for us in the future, and finally Kunyang and Yexian will be too close to each other......"

Yang Ding nodded solemnly, and was about to speak, when he suddenly saw the guard Yu Jian hurriedly walk in and handed a bamboo pipe to Yang Ding: "Young master, it's sent from the south." ”

Seeing Yang Ding's solemn expression, he immediately took the bamboo pipe, took out the paper inside and swept it roughly.

With a long breath, he lowered his voice and said, "Rebel army...... It has entered Runan County, and hundreds of thousands of soldiers have divided into three routes to attack Pingyu, Guling, and Ruyin, and the defenders of each county along the way...... Lookout. ”

Wei Dong changed color slightly, and said in a low voice: "If the peace is broken, then the rebel army can go straight to Yingchuan County...... Instead of sitting back and watching the Black Tiger Thief grow stronger and become a threat to us in the future, it is better to take advantage of his defenselessness now and act immediately! If Li Min asks in the future, it can be said that Zhou Hu is the internal response of the rebel army! If you don't get rid of it now, it will become a big disaster in the future! ”

Yang Dingding nodded, then shook his head again, and said, "Time is in a hurry, and it may not be able to get rid of Zhou Hu...... If you can't get rid of Zhou Hu, even if you break through the black tiger thief's cottage, it won't help......"

Hearing this, Wei Chi clenched his fists and said, "Young Master, I am willing to lead an elite night attack on Black Tiger Mountain and take Zhou Hu's life." …… My father was right, how could I allow others to snore next to the couch? ”

Yang Ding pondered for a moment with a uncertain expression, and finally nodded heavily.

"Good! …… You can go without worry, and I will lead a large army to support you. ”

"Obey."