Although there is a slight friction, but on the whole, Zhao Yu is still very happy to see his brother who has been separated for eight years, but it is a pity that the current situation does not allow Zhao Yin to continue to stay in Yingchuan County, otherwise Zhao Yu will definitely invite this brother to Kunyang and talk about it well.

"Let's go back too."

After seeing Zhao Yin, A Zhu and his party leave in a carriage, Zhao Yu also secretly returned to Kunyang with Jingnu, Niu Heng, He Shun and his entourage, and returned to the main village of Heihu Mountain.

Knowing that Zhao Yu and his party had returned to the main village, Guo Da immediately came to meet Zhao Yu.

Of course, Guo Da knew where Zhao Yu went, but he didn't mention it, but discussed with Zhao Yu about the future of Black Tiger Village.

There are many things involved, but first of all, we must determine the positioning of the Black Tiger Village - what is the positioning of the people of the Black Tiger Village now?

Originally, Black Tiger Village was a proper bandit, but who made their big leader Zhao Yu the captain of Yingchuan?

On the other hand, since Zhao Yu has become the captain of Yingchuan, he must let the people under his command further get rid of the identity of the 'thief' in order to hide it.

In response to this matter, Zhao Yu made a series of decisions, for example, changing the Black Tiger Village to the 'Black Tiger Society', and the main village to the 'Chief Helm', he took the position of the chief helmsman, and let Guo Da serve as the deputy helmsman.

Under that, each county has a branch hall and appoints the head of the church.

All in all, it is to change the image, dilute the image of the 'bandit', and strive to become a local power.

For example, in Kunyang, Zhao Yu decided to change it to 'Kunyang Branch', and the head of the hall was Ding Chong, the former head of the Black Tiger Righteous House.

Ding Chong is Ma Hong's subordinate, that is, when Zhao Yu was not in control of Kunyang, he was arrested by Shi Yuan, who was still catching the head at that time, because he sent a 'token' next to the Black Tiger Righteous House, since Ma Hong was transferred to Changshe County as a county lieutenant, Ding Chong became the chief steward of the Black Tiger Righteous House in Kunyang County.

According to Zhao Yu's idea, this kind of 'branch hall' should be slowly expanded to every county in Yingchuan County.

When the time comes, the county lieutenants of each county are his people, and the local forces are also his people, even if the county order and the county commander are sent separately, they will not be able to shake him Black Tiger Society.

"What about the fraternity that was set up earlier?" Guo Da asked humbly.

Zhao Yu thought for a while and said: "Absorb it slowly, if you can't absorb it, just let it go, it's not a big problem." ”

"Understood." Guo Da nodded and said, "Then I'll do it immediately......"

"Hold off for a moment." Zhao Yu shook his head and said, "In a few days, that Taishi Chen and Xue Ao may pass by Kunyang, so let's postpone this matter first, so as not to be seen by them that something is wrong." ”

"I see." Guo Da suddenly realized.

At the same time, in Xuchang County, Yingchuan County, Xue Ao, a cavalry general, and Li Meng, the governor of Henan, had led their respective armies to arrive at Xuchang County.

Because Zhao Yu, who was the lieutenant, was not in Xuchang, Li Min, the county guard, after learning about the incident, sent Chen Lang, the county captain, Xun Yi, who joined the army, as well as Wang Qing, who had just been promoted to the upper lieutenant, and Chu Yan, the lieutenant of the ministry, to go out of the city to greet them.

Although Xue Ao didn't recognize the others, he recognized Wang Qing, and after seeing him, he asked, "Where is Zhou Hu?" ”

Wang Qing replied: "The lieutenant went to Kunyang to transfer troops. ”

"Uh-oh."

Xue Ao suddenly realized, but Li Meng smiled and said, "You didn't mean to avoid us, right?" …… I have 50,000 troops under my command, isn't it enough to recover Yanling and other counties for your county? ”

Of course, Li Meng was just joking, but it was undeniable that he also felt that Zhao Yu's move to Kunyang to transfer troops was really redundant.

At the moment when the rebels are defeated on all fronts, how can the remnants of the rebels in Yingchuan County still have the will to resist? He even felt that they could help Yingchuan County recover all the lost counties without spending a single soldier.

How did he know that Zhao Yu had just done something in the name of 'troop transfer'.

After a few words of greeting, Xue Ao and Li Meng led the army to be stationed outside the city, and the Yingchuan army under Wang Qing was stationed together, and immediately, Xue Ao took Li Meng into the city to meet Li Junshou, after all, Li Junshou was born in the Li family, and his personal relationship with Chen Taishi was not bad, and he was also Xue Ao's elder, Xue Ao naturally wanted to give Li Junshou a little face.

A day later, Taishi Chen also came to Xuchang County, with only twenty guards with him, only Mao Zheng, the son of his old friend.

Compared with Xue Ao's high profile, this Chen Taishi is much more low-key, and it was not until he was interrogated when he entered the city that Xu Chang knew that this Taishi had arrived.

This time, even Li Min, the county guard of Yingchuan, couldn't sit still, supported his body, and took Chen Lang, Xue Ao, Xun Yi, Wang Qing, Chu Yan and other people out of the city to greet him. ”

Master Chen smiled and waved his hand, "It's that I don't want to disturb." …… I didn't want to alarm Li Gong, and asked Li Gong to drag his sick body to greet him......"

"Where, where." Li Min said with a smile: "When I saw the Grand Master, my condition had already been cured. ”

During the greetings, Li Min invited Taishi Chen to the county guard's mansion.

After coming to the county guard's mansion, Taishi Chen saw that he couldn't see Zhao Yu, so he asked curiously: "The commander of your county, isn't that Zhou commander here?" ”

Li Min explained truthfully: "Although I have to help Yingchuan County recover the lost city, how can I Yingchuan be embarrassed to sit back and enjoy its success? Zhou Hu went to Kunyang to transfer troops to ......"

"Oh."

Taishi Chen suddenly realized, and then said with a smile: "Actually, Guijun doesn't have to be so vigorous, the rebel thief leader Chen Miao was defeated and retreated to Liangcheng, and now he has retreated to Chen County in a hurry, I think the remnants of the rebels in Guijun will not dare to ......resist anymore."

Speaking of this, he seemed to think of something, and said: "In fact, I handed over the matter of helping Gui County to recover the lost county to my son Xue Ao, but I didn't come here because of this matter. ”

"That's?" Li Min asked in surprise.

Seeing this, Taishi Chen summoned Mao Zheng, who was following him, and introduced: "This is my old friend, the eldest son of Mao Gong, the county commander of Qianye County, Mao Zheng, is also my newly accepted god...... Zizheng. ”

Mao Zheng understood, and immediately saluted Li Min respectfully: "Meet the county guard." ”

"It turned out to be the son of Mao Gong of Ye County, and he was really a talent."

Sensing Taishi Chen's liking for Mao Zheng, Li Min naturally did not hesitate to praise him, and he suddenly said to Taishi Chen: "Taishi Chen has to go to Ye County to worship Mao Gong?" ”

"Yes, yes."

Taishi Chen nodded and said with a smile: "I came this time, one is to visit Li Gong, and the other is to worship Mao Gong. …… However, I don't know much about your county, and it would be best if I could have Zhou Duwei as a guide. ”

"Call Zhou Hu to be a guide?"

Li Min glanced at Taishi Chen in surprise, feeling that there was something strange about this matter.

After all, there is such a thing as a guide, just send someone casually, why does this Taishi Chen in front of him have to make his Yingchuan County Governor Zhou Hu?

Could it be ......

After thinking for a moment, Li Min asked hesitantly: "It's okay for the Taishi to want Zhou Hu as a guide, it's just ...... Didn't Zhou Hu offend the Taishi? ”

Taishi Chen immediately smiled and waved his hand: "Gong Li misunderstood, Zhou Duwei is not offended, but I want to take advantage of this journey to see who he is...... After all, this Zhou Duwei once went astray, but now he is in a high position, which makes me have to be cautious. ”

"I see."

Li Min suddenly realized, nodded and said, "Since this is the case, I will immediately send someone to Kunyang and summon Zhou Hu to return to Xuchang immediately." ”

"There's Lao Ligong."

Taishi Chen arched his hand with a smile, and then said: "In addition, I don't know if the grain and grass in your county are still abundant, if you are rich, please allow you to borrow some ...... on credit."

Li Min asked in surprise when he heard this: "Taishi led the army this time, but the imperial court did not prepare enough military rations. ”

Hearing this, Taishi Chen also sighed, shook his head and said: "Last year, the river burst its banks, flooding millions of acres of fields downstream, and several counties in the east and plains had no harvest...... Alas, I don't know how many people will starve to death. ”

At this, his face showed a deep worry.

He was worried about the disaster situation in Dongjun, Pingyuan and other places, and he was also worried that the victims there would be lured by the Jiangdong rebels occupying Shandong, thus strengthening the Jiangdong rebels.

And Li Min, who was in front of him, also showed an emotional look, perhaps because he didn't expect the harm of the river bursting to be so serious.

In contrast, his Yingchuan County is quite good, although it has suffered from the rebels, but last year it also harvested at least 2 million stone of grain.

That night, in the upper room prepared by Li Junshou for Taishi Chen, Mao Zheng asked puzzledly: "Taishi, why did you call that Zhou Hu as a guide?" ”

Master Chen stroked his beard and said, "I want to see him as a person." ”

It turned out that because of the incident of 'Liangcheng Governor Tong Yan was killed by the rebels', this Chen Taishi had a little suspicion of 'Yingchuan Commander Zhou Hu', coupled with the thief background of 'Zhou Hu', which deepened Chen Taishi's suspicions.

But as Zhao Yu guessed, although Chen Taishi has a transcendent status and can easily dismiss 'Zhou Hu' with his own power, he doesn't want to do that, firstly, this is a violation of the rules, and secondly, 'Zhou Hu' has made a lot of contributions so far, especially in the fight against the rebels, unless the evidence is conclusive, Chen Taishi does not want to make such a capable local lieutenant lose his office.

Therefore, he proposed that Zhou Duwei be his guide, so that he could find out this person's temperament.

In his opinion, as long as this person's moral character is not lost, then there will be no big problem.

On the fifth day of the first month of March, the envoy sent by Xuchang County hurriedly came to Kunyang County.

At this time, Zhao Yu knew that Xue Ao, Li Meng, and that Chen Taishi had all arrived in Xuchang.

And what made him feel a headache was that the Taishi Chen actually asked him to be a guide, and the county guard Li Min also agreed to this matter.

"I'm suspected? But why? Isn't it because of Tong Yan?'

Zhao Yu frowned secretly.

He finally realized that although he had never fallen behind in the matter of Tong Yan, Taishi Chen suspected him, but he didn't need any evidence.

"I can only see the moves."

Thinking in his heart, Zhao Yu returned to Xuchang that day.

Accompanying him were 5,000 Kunyang soldiers led by Shi Yuan, the lieutenant of Kunyang County.

Two days later, on the seventh day of the first month of March, Zhao Yu took Niu Heng, Jingnu, He Shun, and Gong Jiao to return to Xuchang first.

After entering the city, Zhao Yu instructed Jingnu to go back to the mansion first, while he took Niu Heng and others to the county guard to meet Chen Taishi and Li Junshou.

When Zhao Yu saw these two, these two were playing chess in the backyard of the county guard's mansion, and Mao Zheng, the eldest son of Mao Gong, stood from the side.

Seeing this, Zhao Yu immediately stepped forward and said, "Zhou Hu will meet the county guard and meet Master Chen. ”

I have to say that this order is quite surprising even for Li Junshou.

In addition to the surprise, he was naturally very happy in his heart, after all, this reflected the loyalty of the subordinate in front of him.

During this period, Taishi Chen raised his eyebrows and glanced at Zhao Yu with interest.

He didn't mind that Zhao Yu put Li Junshou in front of him, he just felt that this young man was quite cunning - no wonder when he tried this son with Li Min in the past few days, Li Min defended it many times, intentionally or unintentionally.

"Ahem."

Coughing lightly, Li Junshou quietly revealed the 'faux pas' for his subordinates, and Zhengse said to Zhao Yu: "Zhou Hu, Taishi Chen is going to Yexian to worship his old friends, and he will inspect my Yingchuan by the way...... I ordered you to protect the Master along the way, understand? ”

"Humble duty understands." Zhao Yu hugged his fists respectfully.

From the side, Taishi Chen also smiled and said, "Then it will trouble Captain Zhou." ”

"Don't dare to be."

Zhao Yu lowered his head and clenched his fists.

Realizing that he had been suspected by this Taishi Chen, he became more and more cautious in his words and deeds.

The next day, Taishi Chen set off for Ye County, accompanied by Zhao Yu, Niu Heng, He Shun, Gong Jiao and others in addition to his twenty guards.

As for Wang Qing and Chu Yan, including Shiyuan, who arrived in Xuchang one day in the late Zhao Yu, they temporarily obeyed the orders of Xue Ao, the general of the chariot cavalry, and the latter led the recovery of Yanling, Dingling, Zhaoling and other counties.

The team walked slowly and arrived in Yingyang a day later.

At the request of Taishi Chen, Zhao Yu took the old lady around Yingyang City.

During this period, the old lady carefully inspected the security in the city and did not comment on it.

On the tenth day of March, the group arrived in Kunyang.

When passing by the 'Beitun' in Kunyang, Taishi Chen saw many subordinate soldiers who were turning the soil in the vast fields.

He asked Zhao Yu: "The old man heard that you have recruited many rebel soldiers, are these people?" ”

"Yes."

Zhao Yu respectfully explained: "When the rebel thief Guan Shuo led the army to attack Kunyang, although I Kunyang finally held on, but also sacrificed nearly seventy percent of the young and strong, which had a serious impact on spring ploughing, so the lowly position will recruit the rebels into the 'Liken Army', and reach an agreement with them, as long as they honestly cultivate for Kunyang County for five years, they will dare to call the shots and pardon their crimes." ”

He secretly glanced at Taishi Chen's face, and added: "Thanks to the hard work of these young people, Kunyang obtained a harvest of more than 300,000 stones last year. ”

Taishi Chen smiled when he heard this, and said with a smile: "You don't have to be nervous, the old man didn't mean to blame you, on the contrary, the old man thinks you did a good job...... I heard Li Gong say that if you hadn't overridden the public opinion and used these surrendered rebels to farm, even if Kunyang repelled Guan Shuo, it would have been in trouble the next year because there was no one to farm. ”

Speaking of this, he looked up at Beitun on the other side of the Beiru River, and asked, "How many subordinate soldiers are there?" ”

Zhao Yu turned his head and glanced at it, and estimated: "There are probably more than a thousand people." ”

"How many guards are there?"

"Twenty or thirty estimates."

"Twenty or thirty?" Taishi Chen stroked his beard and asked with a little surprise: "With only twenty or thirty prison officials, can you control these more than a thousand people?" ”

Seeing this, Zhao Yu explained: "In fact, the twenty or thirty supervisors are probably only responsible for providing food to those subordinate soldiers, and due to the lack of manpower, the lowly officials have adopted the method of 'subordination and subordination', so that those subordinate officers supervise each other: if one of the soldiers escapes, the captain will be punished, and if the first army flees, the chief will be ......punished."

"I see." Taishi Chen nodded abruptly, and then asked, "So far, have anyone escaped?" ”

Zhao Yu nodded and said: "Yes, but very few, in the whole year of last year, only a few hundred people escaped from nearly 10,000 people......

"That's pretty good." Taishi Chen nodded approvingly.

A moment later, the group entered Kunyang County.

According to Taishi Chen's careful observation, he found that the city of Kunyang County can be described as depressed, and many shops have been closed, but in such a depressed county, the atmosphere is very good, and the people who come and go are not as numb as Chen Taishi thought.

While walking past a closed shop, Taishi Chen asked Zhao Yu, "Hasn't Kunyang lifted the 'wartime control'?" ”

"This Taishi Chen knows a lot...... Did you hear about it from Li Junshou?'

Zhao Yu muttered to himself, and explained respectfully: "According to the expected plan, it will be lifted one after another this year, but because the county guard decided to borrow a sum of grain to relieve Henan, the Kunyang County Ya was ordered to lend a part of the grain to the county, and the county government has no surplus grain in its hands, so it must be implemented slowly, and the money owed to the people and the county guards must be returned little by little......

"Is Kunyang sure that it will not cause resentment among the people?" Taishi Chen asked solemnly.

"Please rest assured, the prestige of the Kunyang County Ya is still not low, as long as we strictly implement it, the people will also understand the difficulties of the government."

"Yes." Taishi Chen nodded slightly.

That night, the group stayed at a post house in Kunyang City for one night.

It is worth mentioning that Liu Bi, the commander of Kunyang County, and Li Xu, the county magistrate, learned from somewhere that this Chen Taishi was coming, and asked someone to ask Zhao Yu to come here, hoping to treat this Chen Taishi with the friendship of the landlord, but when Zhao Yu conveyed this matter to Chen Taishi, the old lady still politely refused.

This made Liu Bi, Li Xu, Ishihara and others, who only hurried to see Taishi Chen, feel very regretful.

That night, Taishi Chen chatted with Mao Zheng about what he had seen and heard in the past few days.

Taishi Chen asked Mao Zheng, "Zizheng, what do you think of this Zhou Hu?" ”

Mao Zheng Zhengse said: "Very capable. …… I thought that this Captain Zhou was only good at marching and fighting, but I never thought that this Captain Zhou would actually govern Kunyang in an orderly manner after the war......"

I remember that when he was in Xuchang a few days ago, he already knew that Kunyang was the general stronghold of the Black Tigers, and in Kunyang County, the words of the county commander Liu Bi were not as effective as the words of the Black Tigers, and Mao Zheng certainly did not think that Kunyang could be restored to this extent after the war, it was just the credit of the local government.

Hearing Mao Zheng's words, Taishi Chen also nodded and said, "You are right, this Zhou Hu is very capable and courageous...... Ordering the local government to raise debts to support the people of the county and fight against the rebels was not a decision made by ordinary people. What's more, Zhou Hu had already thought of a way to repay the debts of the Kunyang government...... I think that Zhou Hu was only in his twenties, and it was rare to have this insight and ability, no wonder Li Min entrusted him with a heavy responsibility. Just ......"

"Just?" Mao Zheng's face showed a little puzzlement: "Just what?" Taishi. ”

Taishi Chen shook his head slightly: "It's not early, let's talk about it tomorrow." ”

"Yes."

At dawn the next day, Zhao Yu got up early and had some breakfast casually with Master Chen in the post house.

According to Taishi Chen's meaning, everyone's breakfast was very simple, just like the other people in Kunyang City, a bowl of broth, a plate of pickled vegetables, and a few cakes.

Despite the monotonous taste, it can at least fill your stomach.

During this period, Taishi Chen asked Zhao Yu: "The people of Kunyang County, can everyone eat these?" ”

As if guessing Taishi Chen's thoughts, Zhao Yu replied respectfully: "Please rest assured, Taishi Chen, although I have had a difficult period in Kunyang, so far, no one has died of hunger. ”

As soon as these words came out, not to mention that Mao Zheng's eyes widened in surprise, even Taishi Chen was quite moved and nodded heavily.

It was clear that he was satisfied.

After a while, when everyone was full of food and drink, and was about to leave for Ye County, Taishi Chen suddenly said: "Zhou Hu, I won't go to Ye County today, you take the old man to the main village of your Black Tiger Village to have a look." ”

Hearing this, not to mention Zhao Yu's complexion under the mask changed slightly, Niu Heng, He Shun, and Gong Jiao from the side also showed uneasy.

Taishi Chen naturally noticed the different colors of Zhao Yu and the others, and said with a smile when he heard this: "Is there anything difficult about it?" ”

"Don't dare to ......" Zhao Yu lowered his head.

When he walked out of the post house, Taishi Chen chuckled and said to Zhao Yu: "Zhou Duwei, you don't have to be nervous, the old man knows your past, and he won't blame you for this, the old man asked you to be a guide, just to see who you are." …… Of course, this matter is not enough for the old man to be believed, and the old man only believes in his own eyes. ”

In fact, Zhao Yu had already guessed, but the old lady said it so bluntly, it still surprised him.

So at the request of Mrs. Chen, half a day later, the group came to the main village of Heihu Mountain.

When the people walked up the mountain, before they came to the main village, they saw a group of children playing and playing.

Taishi Chen turned his head to look at Zhao Yu and asked, "Who are these little babies?" ”

Zhao Yu glanced at it a few times, but didn't recognize any familiar faces, shook his head and said, "I don't know about my humble position." …… Maybe it's the children of the villagers, or the orphans who have been adopted. Don't hide it too much...... Don't hide it from the boss, I haven't been here for a while. ”

"Oh." Master Chen nodded and looked at the children with interest.

Through the shouts of these children, it can be understood that they are playing the game of 'officials and thieves', a group of children play the black tiger thief, the leader is 'Yingshan Tiger Zhou Hu', and a group plays the Kunyang officers and soldiers, the leader is 'Kunyang County Lieutenant Shiyuan', Zhao Yu is very embarrassed to hear.

But Taishi Chen seemed to find it quite interesting, carefully watching the group of children playing, and at the same time secretly observing the complexion of these children and the clothes on their bodies.

As far as he could see, the children looked good, not like they were starving, and their clothes were shabby, but they were also seen to have been mended, but the children were so naughty that they were covered in mud and looked dirty.

The only thing that made Taishi Chen dissatisfied was that the group of children who pretended to be 'Kunyang officers and soldiers' were defeated by the 'Black Tiger Thieves' without much resistance, and they were simply defeated without a fight.

How can officers and soldiers be defeated by thieves?

As officers and soldiers, it is only right to defeat the thieves and protect the family and the people.

So, Taishi Chen stepped forward and joined the team of children pretending to be 'officers and soldiers', and screamed at the group of children pretending to be 'black tiger thieves'.

“……”

Seeing this scene, Zhao Yu couldn't help but be a little dumbfounded.

After all, as far as he could see, it didn't look like a high-powered old lady would do it.