The two khanates, plus Zhu Yaoshi's men and horses, confronted the Liang army in the river for more than half a year, but only drowned more than ten people. Both sides were in full position and did not dare to attack easily.

The people of Hebei wanted silk and salt and hemp medicinal materials from the south, and the south also needed corn, cattle, sheep, horses, and all kinds of other things from the north.

Under the pressure of the army, the price of all kinds of materials has increased, and the smugglers naturally make a lot of money. But the good times did not last long, and the guards from all over the country also joined in, sending troops to kill the smugglers, and on the other hand, using building boats to pull goods to patrol the river. In the name of enriching the treasury and purging the dynasty, the emperor ordered the emperor to send tax supervisors to various places to strictly investigate the involvement of generals and officials in various places.

Xiaoshan Xiao Ding insisted on sending tax supervisors in all states, counties and counties across the country, while Xie Rui only agreed to send tax supervisors on the line from Chang'an to Xinli in Dahe and opposed sending tax supervisors in the mainland, Chen Hongda only agreed to send tax supervisors in the north, but Lingnan could not send tax supervisors, and Yuan Kang also opposed the dispatch of tax supervisors in the mainland. Several families fought for a while, and finally agreed to send tax supervisors across the country, but Lingnan and the mainland were sent by Chen Xie and Yuan's three families, and along the river, the Xiao family sent people.

Xie Rui hated and left, after all, the most profitable place was controlled by the Xiao family, and the tax supervisor sent by the Xie family to Shuzhong was lucky not to be killed by Wang Xian's men, where could he collect the money. The more Xie Rui thought about it, the more angry he became, so he told his subordinates to save their lives and marry the local officials and guards after they arrived in Shudi, and then waited for his instructions, and then wrote a letter to Wang Xian and Chen Hongyi to send it to his confidants.

After Wang Xian got the letter, he laughed: "Those fools in Jinling City also want to get a piece of the pie, this Xiao family wants to swallow the good things alone, the Xie family brought a letter to me to be careful, haha, is it that my tens of thousands of horses are no match for a few tax supervisors, with a large army in hand, who can help me?" ”

Wang Daozhi frowned: "General, if you don't let some profits go to them, I'm afraid they will cut off our army's food and grass, and it will be dangerous at that time."

Wang Xian put away his smile: "What you said is reasonable, just send some gold and silver to the person sent, and you prepare a letter to Chen Hongyi for me, just say that we have done things according to the will of the imperial court, and see what he does?" ”

Wang Daozhi was a little surprised: "As far as I know, Chen Hongyi's subordinates are not involved, how can he act?" ”

Wang Xian smiled again: "Yes, the old man just wants to put Chen Hongyi in a dilemma, he didn't go to smuggle, but the court doesn't see it that way, so the tax supervisor sent by the court will definitely have a conflict with him, if there is a mess, we just borrow a knife to kill people, and then this profitable deal will not be returned to us?" ”

Wang Daozhi was also a little worried: "Now that the enemy is present, we are so busy with internal fighting, I am afraid it will not be beneficial to the country."

Wang Xian touched his beard: "The old man is not thinking about the country, in my opinion, there is not much hope of counting on the Northern Expedition to regain the lost territory." Only by gathering wealth to redeem the land, then maybe you will have to exchange some cities back. Now we don't have a single line of soldiers and horses in Daliang to compete with several enemies in the north, but fortunately, in the past six months, the enemy has not crossed the river to attack."

Wang Daozhi sneezed: "It's almost summer, this pollen is everywhere, as long as the weather is hot, the Mobei cavalry in the north will naturally retreat." The good intentions of the great general will soon bear fruit."

After Chen Hongyi received the letters from Xie Rui and Wang Xian, he sent a message to the generals, and the generals were filled with righteous indignation and said that they would kill the tax supervisors sent by the imperial court. Chen Hongyi was silent and looked at Chen Kuan.

Chen Kuan turned to face everyone: "Killing the tax supervisor is a blatant rebellion, and when the time comes, Wang Xian and Zhong Zhiming, plus the Mobei people opposite, will come to beat us, what are our chances of winning?" ”

Everyone looked at Chen Hongyi in silence, and Chen Hongyi stood up: "What the imperial court is really afraid of is not the enemies on the other side of the river, these enemies can be cut off in their eyes, and they can negotiate peace, and they are easy to deal with. The imperial court has always regarded us as a big trouble, Wang Xian is entrenched in Jingzhou Bashu, I have led troops to fight for many years, and even Zhong Zhiming, who they themselves have been watching. Being a military general in this day and age is our sin. But I don't care about these things, what I'm worried about is that we are fighting in this way, giving the enemy on the other side a chance. In the eyes of the imperial court, the Mobei people are uncivilized savages who can be bought and used, but the enemy is not a fool, and the enemy is also learning and pondering us. As far as I know, their national teacher is Hu Gao, a genius who had been imprisoned in the Central Plains for decades, and this person is now searching for craftsmen to make warships, and I am afraid that he will soon go south."

General Xu Youzhi asked: "The tax supervisor of the imperial court is here, but we don't have much money to send now, and it will be difficult to send it when the time comes, so we can't go to loot the people anymore."

Chen Hongyi sat down slowly and groaned slightly: "Didn't some children of the family come to us a few days ago to beg us to give them convenience and let them smuggle?" Let's give a favor, remember, if you want to sell them for a good price, you have to know their whereabouts. As soon as the tax superintendent arrives, let the tax superintendent ask for the money himself. This matter of borrowing a knife to kill people, the old man is not impossible"

As soon as Luoyang was released, it immediately attracted a lot of people to smuggle, and there was an endless stream of large and small ships, in fact, it was no longer smuggling, but trade all day and night.

Hu Gao saw that the officers and soldiers of the Black Flag Khanate were very inadequate, so he had to post a list and recruit the children of local big families to serve as county commanders and county guards.

Because the big families were hit hard in the north, and there were only some local families from poor families left, Hu Gao assessed everyone one by one, selected more than 100 people to serve in various places, and selected dozens of people from the generals of the Black Khanate to recruit displaced people to help appoint officials to guard the city and collect taxes and grain.

The Green Flag Khanate followed suit, and in Jinyang and other places, it also united with local large households to defend the city, collect grain and taxes, and recruit displaced people. Wang Xian was full of hope that the Mobei army on the opposite side would withdraw in the hot summer, and he didn't want the other side to take root, and even the envoys who came to deceive him into negotiating peace were gone.

After Murong Ling left, Li Xiaofei saw that Chang'an was peaceful and Wang Xian was also busy making a fortune, so he took leave and ran back to Shou County to see his wife and children.

When Li Xiaofei rode to Zhangjia Village, Murong Ling also arrived on horseback. The two were taken aback when they saw each other, Murong Ling thought that Chang'an was lost, and Li Xiaofei was surprised why Murong Ling still held a child.

The two led the horses and walked and said, Murong Ling told him about entering Jinling to take the little prince, and he didn't go straight to Shou County because he was afraid that the people from Zhongyitang would follow him and it would be unfavorable to the villagers, so he ran all the way north to Xinli City, and then ran back seven or eight times.

Li Xiaofei listened to Murong Ling playing thousands of troops in Jinling City, and his heart itched: "Murong, it's too boring for you to do such a majestic thing without me."

Murong Ling touched the little prince's forehead: "Take you, I can't keep you coming back alive, I can't be affected by you and ruin my prestige."

Li Xiaofei scolded with a smile: "You have also become a crow's mouth, am I so bad in your eyes?" I'm the one who will lead thousands of armies in the future."

Murong Ling smiled: "Yes, I'll go to Jinling another day, and let them send you to raise horses, and then I'll do half of it first."

The two laughed and arrived at the bamboo building where Hongrui was, Hongrui held the child and saw Li Xiaofei and Murong Ling coming back from a distance, so she got up and walked towards them with the child in her arms.

Li Xiaofei threw the reins, ran over and hugged Hongrui and the child, Hongrui retracted: "The child is asleep, don't scare her, you have no conscience, you are finally willing to come back", after speaking, he bit Li Xiaofei's shoulder, Li Xiaofei was afraid of waking up the child, so he didn't dare to scream, and leaned down to hug the child.

Murong Ling handed the little prince to Hongrui: "Feed him"

Hongrui let go of her mouth and looked at Murong Ling: "Your child is also so old?" Xiaofei, look at how Murong is a father, take the child with him wherever he goes"

Murong Ling blushed: "This is not my child"

Hongrui took the child and sighed: "Murong, you are really amazing, measured, my sister really admires you, if you feel awkward to raise other people's children, my sister will help you raise them." You and Xuehua can still live as they should, she has made a mistake, you should forgive her"

Li Xiaofei almost choked: "What nonsense are you talking about, it's not what you think." This is the little prince that Murong brought back from Jinling! ”

Hongrui unbuttoned the clothes on her chest to nurse the little prince and giggled: "I can't imagine that I, a maidservant of the Xiao Mansion, can actually be the prince's nurse, and I won't be the emperor's nurse in the future."

Li Xiaofei was holding Li Youran, who was looking east and west, and Li Youran was babbling and laughing, and didn't listen to Hongrui.

Murong Ling was quick to speak: "This woman forgets everything when she has a child." ”

This sentence reminded Hongrui, and Hongrui asked: "Isn't the prince Liu Jian, why did he become this child again?" ”

Murong Ling told Hongrui what happened, and Hongrui scolded Li Xiaofei after listening: "After a long time, you have been out for a few years, and in the end you still relied on Murong to become a titan in name only. ”

Li Xiaofei said with a smile: "The battle in the past few years has been difficult to fight, and the more I fight, the worse it is to Mobei, it is good that I can save this life." I kind of understand that what kind of meritorious service to the court has been decided by the family members a long time ago. I might as well be at home every day and be leisurely and happy, how good!"

Hongrui only said that Li Xiaofei was disheartened and said these words, and then softened again: "I don't want you to do much official and great credit, I married you because I liked that your newborn calf is not afraid of tigers and has great ambitions, if it were about money and family background, I would have married to Jinling a long time ago." It's idle for you to hide at home, but you can't just take care of yourself, and your daughter will have her life to live when she grows up. If our Liang Kingdom dies in the future, how will you live your idle life? ”

Li Xiaofei hugged Youran and continued to circle around: "I don't have Brother Murong's peerless martial arts, nor does I have Wen Taowu's martial arts, my sister asked me to come out to save the country and save the people, I'm afraid I don't even believe you!" ”

Murong Ling interjected: "Do you know why I keep saving you? Not for anything else, just because you are stupid, so stupid that everyone wants to believe you, you won't suffer a loss with you, and you don't have to worry about being calculated by you, you have the ability to gather everyone to do things together, and we can't do it even if we have more martial arts! ”

Hongrui had finished feeding the little prince, so she returned the little prince to Murong Ling and walked towards Li Xiaofei: "In my opinion, you really can't write splendid articles, and you can't go into battle to kill generals, but there is something in you that makes us all willing to follow you to protect you, I think this is your pure conscience." The reason why I follow you with all my heart is that I am very relieved when I am with you, I can beat you, scold you and laugh at you, you have always been very good to me, how many people in the world can marry a man who treats him like this? ”

After saying this, Li Xiaofei's eyes widened: "It turns out that you all see me like this?" I thought you guys always thought I was incompetent and useless? ”

Murong Ling walked over and touched his head: "Fool, we never felt it, just because you were incapable and useless, hahaha"

Even the two children giggled.