By the evening of the same day, the Kunyang County Ya had recruited more than 900 young and strong people from among the refugees outside the city, and almost all of the young and middle-aged refugees in the current batch of refugees had been selected.

If nothing else, these more than 900 young men will join the county army in Kunyang to assist the Kunyang County Ya to guard the city, so as to obtain the qualification quota of 'allowing family members to live in the city'.

In exchange, more than 3,000 refugees related to these 900 young adults were allowed to live in the city, although these people may not be allocated houses in the city, and most of them can only live in makeshift shacks, but in any case, they are within the city walls, and the safety is guaranteed.

However, what about the rest?

After removing more than 900 young people and their families, there were still 2,000 or 3,000 refugees outside Kunyang City that day, most of whom were orphans, widows, old and weak, sick and disabled, and could not meet the qualifications for 'being allowed to enter the city'.

This is a very cruel thing, because the head catchers and county officials like Shi Yuan, Chen Gui and other county officials all know that these remaining refugees have actually been abandoned by him in Kunyang County, even if he Kunyang County will more or less distribute some rations to these people out of moral spirit, but at least these people have to be left to fend for themselves.

At this point, even Ishihara couldn't accuse that Zhou Hu of being cruel, because he also understood that he didn't have enough space or food in Kunyang City, unless it could help him resist the rebels in Kunyang County, otherwise, every extra refugee would be equivalent to one less ration for the people in the city - Kunyang County, after all, still has to protect the locals.

In despair, some lonely women, knowing that they would pay the price of their bodies, could only take refuge in the Black Tigers.

In this regard, Ishihara, Chen Gui and others neither supported nor hindered it.

Because they also know that they can't help those women, and those women want a safe place to stay, even food, and 'committing to thieves' may be their only option.

Otherwise, they will continue to starve outside the city and wait for the Kunyang County Government to admit them, but the cruel thing is that Kunyang must give priority to those who are good for them, which means that these women will not be able to get shelter in the end.

And this is also the reason why Ishihara, Chen Gui and others did not inform the leader of the black tiger thieves, Zhou Hu, about the behavior of Le Gui and others - these things cannot be done by their county officials, but the black tiger thieves can.

However, even though Ishihara, Chen Gui and other county officials were silent one by one, Zhao Yu quickly learned about the behavior of Le Gui and others, and learned that this group of black tigers accepted a group of lonely and helpless women out of selfishness.

That night, Le Gui was summoned to Zhao Yu to explain the matter.

Don't look at Le Gui's giggling when he was outside the city during the day, he was a little nervous in front of Zhao Yu at this time-he even ignored that he had also seen Zhao Yu's true body, and knew that it was only a sixteen-year-old boy.

It's no wonder, after all, Zhao Yu's prestige in Black Tiger Village is getting higher and higher, not to mention that in this 'joint fight against the rebel army', Zhao Yu is strong above Kunyang and has become the 'main general' of Kunyang County, whether it is the county lieutenant Ma Gai, or Ishihara and other headhunters, including the county commander Liu Bi, they must temporarily obey Zhao Yu's instructions.

Is this something that ordinary bandits can do?

Just because Zhao Yu was able to make them black tiger thieves act in the streets and alleys of Kunyang, it seemed that Legui and the others had already admired this big leader.

Glancing at the boss Wang Qing beside him with a pleading look, Le Gui explained to Zhao Yu with a sincere face: "Great Chief, what I did today is indeed inconsiderate, but I am also thinking about the brothers in the village...... Most of the brothers in the village are alone, and they dare not go down the mountain to rob women because of the rules of the village, but the brothers still have that kind of ...... If the great chief is able to answer this, I think that the brethren will be happy to give their respective rations to the women, and it will not affect the chief's plans......"

From the side, Wang Qing also helped his henchmen: "It's what you and I want, it's not a big deal." ”

“……”

Zhao Yu pondered for a moment when he heard this.

In all fairness, he didn't object to the approach of Le Gui and others, after all, as Wang Qing said, it was a 'exchange' that you and I wanted, he sheltered those women in the Black Tiger Village, and those women acquiesced in using their bodies as payment, although it was morally untenable, but in the secular aspect, it still made sense, at least those women and their children got the hope of life - this is also the reason why Ishihara, Chen Gui and others did not protest and oppose him.

If Zhao Yu can acquiesce to this matter, I believe that the people of his Black Tiger Village will support him more and more, the only problem is that in this way, he must additionally consider the safety of the Black Tiger Village, and he can no longer easily give up the cottage.

"What do you think, Grand Commander?" Zhao Yu turned his head and asked Chen Modao.

Hearing Zhao Yu's inquiry, Chen Mo thought for a while and said: "The key is whether the cottage can be kept, and whether it can get enough food without relying on the county seat." …… As long as these two things can be achieved, there should be no gossip on the county side. ”

Chen Mo deserves to be Chen Mo, and he can see the key at a glance.

Glancing at Le Gui and the rest of the Black Tigers who were respectfully in front of him, Zhao Yu said calmly: "You wait to go down first, I'll think about it." ”

"Yes."

Le Gui and the others cautiously walked out of the room and down the stairs.

Seeing a few of them coming down, the Black Tiger people who were waiting on the first floor of the Black Tiger Righteous House surrounded them one after another and asked nonsense.

"How's that, how's that?"

"Did the chief agree?"

Le Gui glanced back at the second floor, and said in a low voice: "The leader said, he thinks about it. ”

Hearing this, the Black Tigers surrounding them showed surprise on their faces, raised their hands and cheered loudly: "Long live!" ”

Le Gui was taken aback, and hurriedly signaled to everyone: "Be quiet, be quiet." ”

Zhao Yu, Chen Mo, Wang Qing and others naturally heard the cheers downstairs clearly.

Shaking his head, Zhao Yu knew that he couldn't object, otherwise his subordinates would have a grudge against him as a leader, which would be detrimental to his prestige.

After thinking about it, he said to Chen Mo: "Send someone to contact the cottage and ask Brother Guo Da to come to see me tomorrow, I have something to explain to him." ”

"Okay."

The next day, Guo Da hurried from the Black Tiger Mountain in the north of the county to the county seat, and came to the Black Tiger House to discuss countermeasures with Zhao Yu.

This guy is not stupid, as soon as he saw Zhao Yu, he smiled and said, "Ah Hu, you called me here because of those women who came to the cottage yesterday, right?" ”

"yes." Zhao Yu smiled bitterly and said: "I asked them to go to the refugees to collect people, but they took in a group of women. ”

"Haha." Guo Dahaha laughed.

After laughing, Zhao Yu Zhengse said to Guo Da: "I know that the brothers in the village have that need, but on weekdays, I don't allow them to go down the mountain to rob women, I think they also have grievances about it, this time it coincides with the meeting, I can't stop it, but in this way, we can't easily abandon the cottage......

Guo Da understood what Zhao Yu meant, and immediately made a guarantee: "As long as there are enough people, I will immediately organize them to repair the cobweb narrow roads on the south slope and the east slope, as long as the mountain roads on these two slopes are completed, even if there are thousands of rebels or green forest thieves, they may not be able to break through our Dazhai ......"

Of course, Zhao Yu knew that Guo Da's guarantee carried all kinds of water, after all, although the cobweb narrow passage was useful, it was not exaggerated to that extent, if there were really 10,000 rebel troops attacking Black Tiger Mountain, how could they defend it with just those few people in the village?

After pondering for a while, Zhao Yu Zhengse said to Guo Da: "In addition to repairing the cobweb narrow road, I think that when we build a few more cottages in the mountains on the west side, as a way out, in case the main village is captured, we can retreat to the second village and the third village, and resist the rebels and green forest thieves in the deep mountains. …… Let Chu Jiao go, you sit in the main village. ”

Guo Da nodded, and then said with a little worry: "I'm afraid that there is not enough grain and grass in Runan County......

Zhao Yu said without hesitation: "Ask Liu Yi to send people to Yangcheng, Ruyang, and Rushang counties to borrow grain, this time the rebel army is probably from the southeast, Kunyang, Xiangcheng, and Runan counties bear the brunt, in comparison, the impact on Rushui counties is not great, you ask Liu Yi to tell the county order of Rushui counties, if the counties want Runan to block the rebels, they will provide enough money and food!" …… Regardless of the other counties, Yangcheng County ordered Zhengzhou and Zheng Zixiang, he is a smart person, and he will definitely support Runan. ”

"Good!"

On the same day, after a detailed discussion with Zhao Yu, Guo Da immediately returned to the cottage and sent Chu Jiao to Runan County.

At this time, Runan County also had the impact of refugees, but the situation was much better than that of Kunyang County, and Huang Ben, the county governor of Runan County, was also trying to recruit young and strong people from among the refugees to expand the county army to resist the invasion of the rebel army.

And in this case, Chu Jiao clearly played the banner of Black Tiger Village and asked to enter the city to see Liu Yi, the county commander.

I have to say that the county lieutenant Huang Ben was simply stunned.

He said in his heart, you black tiger thief just committed the evil deeds of 'robbing officials' and 'burning the government' in my Runan County, and you still dare to swagger to ask for a meeting?

But anger is anger, but Huang Ben does not dare to assert himself, after all, his current situation is not optimistic.

Since he supported the Yexian county commander Yang Ding's night attack on Heihu Mountain, the county commander Liu Yi has an opinion on him, although it is not difficult to talk about all kinds of difficulties, but Huang Ben obviously feels that he is no longer trusted by this county commander, if it is not for the entry of the rebel army, the lack of manpower in the county, Huang Ben does not dare to guarantee whether he can still sit in the seat of the county lieutenant.

It is precisely because of this that he was cautious during this time, and only the county order Liu Yi was the first to look forward, hoping to regain the trust of the county order in this crisis.

Therefore, he did not dare to advocate the expulsion of Chu Jiao, but sent someone to inform the county commander Liu Yi of the matter.

Half an hour later, Liu Yi, the commander of Runan County, learned about this and met Chu Jiao with surprise.

There is no way, he still has a handle in the hands of the black tiger thief, how dare he resist the black tiger thief?

With Liu Yi's permission, Chu Jiao successfully entered the city, and then came to the county office.

At this time, the county government of Runan has not been renovated, and the front office has been burned beyond recognition, Rao is Chu Jiao felt a little embarrassed when he saw this scene, after all, all this was done by his Black Tiger Village.

A moment later, Chu Jiao was in Liu Yi's house and saw the county magistrate of Runan County.

After Wang Qing, the second leader of the black tiger thief came to his room, I have to say that Liu Yi also had some mustard in his heart, after all, when Wang Qing came last time, it made him lose face - his dignified county order of Runan County was dragged out from under the desk, which was a great shame!

But hate to hate, because there is a handle in the hands of the black tiger thief, Liu Yi did not dare to make a mistake, and had to meet Chu Jiao with a pleasant face, get up and greet the latter, after all, Chu Jiao is also one of the big leaders of the Black Tiger Village, and if he doesn't give him face, that is, he doesn't give Zhou Hu face.

"Isn't this Chu Zhai's vice-president? Why did Chu Zhai come here? ”

"Liu Gong."

Chu Jiao also greeted Liu Yi with a smile, as if something had never happened, and he said to Liu Yi with a smile: "Chu came here this time to ask Liu Gong. ”

"Oh?"

Liu Yi looked Chu Jiao up and down, and secretly complained in her heart.

He barely managed to squeeze out a few smiles and asked, "I don't know...... So what's going on? ”

Seeing this, Chu Jiao expressed his intention: "This time the leader sent me, hoping to borrow a batch of grain from the county warehouse in your county. ”

Borrowing food?

Seeing that Chu Jiao's intention was just to borrow grain, Liu Yi secretly breathed a sigh of relief in her heart.

But this does not mean that he will agree - it is undeniable that the one he hates most in his heart is Yang Ding, the county commander of Yexian County, but this does not mean that he will have any good feelings for Zhou Hu, the leader of the Black Tiger Thieves, don't forget, Wang Qing, who kidnapped him that day, was sent by Zhou Hu.

Do you want to say no?

Tapping his fingers on the table, Liu Yi secretly pondered.

In all fairness, it is not crucial that he fell into the handle of the black tiger thief, after all, it was the black tiger thief who forced him to sign, and if he wanted to come to the county and the imperial court, he would not not accept his explanation, the key was Zhou Hu's reaction......

That's a crazy guy who can do anything!

What kind of madman dares to commit such evil deeds by robbing officials and burning officials?

Liu Yi had no doubt that after he 'betrayed' Zhou Hu, Zhou Hu would definitely send people to assassinate him, including his family.

For this kind of madman, Liu Yi thinks it's better not to offend.

After thinking about it, he said to Chu Jiao: "Since it is the request of the leader of Zhou, Liu should give it conveniently, but ...... Your identity is somewhat embarrassing, my teacher is unknown, and it is not good to donate food. ”

Chu Jiao was a little surprised by Liu Yi's cooperation, and said with a smile: "This matter is not difficult. …… Liu Gong may not know that when the rebel army invaded the territory, after the persuasion of Xun Yi and Xun Duyou, the leader had decided to assist Kunyang County to resist the rebels......

“…… Liu Bi, Ma Gai and others were willing to agree? Liu Yi listened incredibly.

Chu Jiao said with a smile: "Liu Bi Liu County Order, as well as Ma County Lieutenant, after all, they know the righteousness, they know the ability of the leader of my family, as long as they can hold Kunyang County, Liu and Ma are willing to make sacrifices." ”

"Sacrifice? I'm afraid that Liu Bi and Ma Gai have long been controlled by the black tiger thief, right?"

Liu Yi secretly sneered in her heart.

He hadn't thought about this matter originally, but until he was forced by the black tiger thief to sign a letter of surrender, he inevitably thought of Liu Bi and Ma Gai in Kunyang County - since Zhou Hu dared to force him Liu Yi to surrender, how could he let Liu Bi and Ma Gai go?

Considering that the last time Yexian County ordered Yang Ding to organize a five-county coalition to crusade against the Black Tiger Thieves, Kunyang County violated Yang from beginning to end and refused to cooperate, Liu Yi was very suspicious that Liu Bi and Ma Gai had actually been controlled by the Black Tiger Thieves.

Of course, this is just his speculation, he has no evidence, and he does not dare to denounce Liu Bi and Ma Gai, after all, he also has a handle in the hands of the black tiger thief.

Putting aside her position, Liu Yi also felt that it was really a good idea to win over Zhou Hu to fight against the rebel army, after all, Zhou Hu did have some ability.

Perhaps, Zhou Hu will be able to pull him in the future - Zhou Hu took the risk to make a 'friend' with him Liu Yi, and he will never watch his 'friend' being broken by the rebels, right? That is not in the interests of the Black Tiger Thief and Zhou Hu.

Thinking of this, he hurriedly said to Chu Jiao: "Okay! Good! Leader Zhou really understands the righteousness, so that Liu's donation of food to you has a legitimate name. Deputy Chu Zhai can rest assured that this matter is on Liu, but it is just ...... In Xia Youzong, I hope that the leader of Zhou can pull me to Runan in the future. ”

"This is a smart man who knows the times!"

Chu Jiao secretly praised in his heart, agreed, and said with a smile: "Don't worry about Liu Gong, Liu Gong is my friend of Black Tiger Village, Black Tiger Village will not watch Liu Gong being persecuted by the rebel army, if Runan is in danger in the future, my Black Tiger Village will definitely come to help!" This is the Chief's promise! ”

"That's good, that's good."

Liu Yi nodded again and again.

Before leaving, Chu Jiao said to Liu Yi again: "Liu Gong understands the righteousness and is willing to donate food to us, and Chu Mou thanked Liu Gong on behalf of the head of my family." Considering that your county is in danger of suffering for this reason, when the leader came, I asked me to convey to Liu Gong that Liu Gong might as well send people to Yangcheng, Ruyang, Rushang and other Rushui counties for help, and the other counties should not be left alone, Yangcheng County ordered Zhengzhou, this person has foresight and reason, and the leader thinks that he will definitely support your county. ”

"Huh? Zhou Hu knows Zheng Zixiang?'

Liu Yi was very puzzled in her heart, and nodded to tell the truth: "I have sent someone to ask for help from Rushui County. ”

The next day, Liu Yi sent a team of county guards to escort the grain, along the valley road east of the West Wing Mountain, to the west side of Fengshou Mountain, Black Tiger Mountain and other mountains, and delivered it to the Black Tiger Thief Chu Ben who came to meet him.

Chu Ben hid this batch of grain on a mountain at the southern end of the West Wing Mountain, which was named after the thief number of Guo Da, the second in command of the Black Tiger Village, called 'Modiao Mountain', where the Black Tiger Thieves hurriedly built the second village, not only as a place to stock up on grain in the rear, but also as their way back - if the Black Tiger Mountain in the east was captured, they would retreat to the Modiao Mountain and retreat to this second village.

This second village is now built and guarded by Chu Yan's brother Chu Ben.

From the first day of July to the ninth day of the first month of July, Runan County sent a total of three teams of men and horses to secretly transport grain and grass to the black tiger thief, and these grains and grass were piled up in the second village of Modiao Mountain, which made the black tiger thief hoard not have to be bothered by food for the time being, enough to eat for a period of time, even if the black tiger thief took advantage of the chaos to accept a group of women.

During this period of time, the Black Tigers who were responsible for collecting people in Kunyang County also recruited many people one after another.

Just like what Legui said that day, the Kunyang County Ya was dead, and it could only recruit 2,000 young men from the refugees, and no matter how much it was, it would not be able to manage it, so after recruiting 2,000 people, Ishihara withdrew the recruitment office and focused on training the county army.

However, during this time, there was still a steady stream of refugees flocking to Kunyang, and the Kunyang County Ya removed the recruitment point, which means that these refugees can only go to Black Tiger Village in order to survive.

Similar to the recruitment criteria of Ishihara and others that day, the Black Tiger Village also gave priority to recruiting people who had experience in resisting the rebels, such as county officials in various counties of Runan County, then strong and powerful men, and then widows with dead husbands or young women who were not yet married—the first two could expand the number of Black Tiger people, and the latter two were naturally the 'welfare' that Zhao Yu tacitly gave to the villagers.

In this regard, Zhao Yu also issued a special order: as long as he made contributions to this war against the rebel army, the cottage would arrange a marriage for him.

Knowing that a group of young and beautiful women had been newly accepted in the village, the old black tiger thieves who were still beating singles were screaming one by one, eager to fight the rebels or green forest thieves immediately.

Even the newcomers who had just been recruited from the refugees were mobilized by the order of the leader Zhou Hu, and their morale was greatly boosted for a while.

In this regard, He Feng, the head catcher of Kunyang County, said to his subordinates in private: "Damn, Lao Tzu wants to go to 'next door'!" ”

His county guards nodded enviously.

As for the drills of the Black Tigers and the Kunyang County Army, the former is mainly concentrated in Xiangcun, Fengcun, Xuxiang and other abandoned villages that have been moved out, while the Kunyang County Army is in the county seat, in the way of 'seeing the seams and inserting needles', whether it is in the open space in the city or on the city wall, the county army is being trained everywhere.

According to Zhou Hu's suggestion on the same day, the original county pawns of Kunyang County were all promoted to the rank of chief or chief, and managed five and ten people including himself respectively - among them, the weaker county pawn was the chief of the army, responsible for four newcomers; The more capable county magistrate is the chief, who is in charge of nine newcomers.

There is no subordinate relationship between the chief and the chief.

Then, 10 'Wu' troops were set up as cantons, with the less capable catchers serving as the main guards, and then 10 tithes as the 100-strong troops, with the chief of the more capable catchers, who were mainly responsible for fighting directly against the rebel army in the future.

Like Ishihara, Chen Gui, Yang Dang, etc., who have excellent strength and strong combat ability, they have all been promoted to uncles, and they have managed a total of 100 county pawns under their command, and these 100 county pawns have been carefully selected, although they may not all have combat experience, but they are all strong and powerful, and they know at a glance that they are very potential county pawns.

And the same is true of the Black Tiger Village, like Xu Bai, Wang Ping and others, all of whom are long; Like Liu Tu, Le Gui and others, they are all uncles.

Above the uncle, there are two generals, namely Chen Mo and Wang Qing, who are mainly responsible for taking the initiative.

As of mid-July, the Kunyang County Army and the Black Tiger Village were screening and absorbing refugees, while training soldiers and actively preparing for war.

Until July 16, among the refugees outside Kunyang City, some guys who were different from others appeared one after another......

Like ordinary refugees, these people were dressed in tatters and their hair was disheveled, but if you looked closely, it was not difficult to see that these people were not as thin as the other refugees, and their eyes were not as desperate and numb as the other refugees, but their eyes were sly attentive to their surroundings, and from time to time they approached the walls, wandering around them, as if looking for weak spots, or easy places to climb.

Even from time to time, these people will deliberately instigate refugees, aiming to provoke refugees' hatred of Kunyang County.

Seeing this, Ma Gai, who was paying close attention to the movements of the refugees outside the city, immediately reported these strange guys to Zhao Yu.

“…… The Green Forest Thief is here! ”