It was very quiet above the Shuai Hall, and the sound of the boots of the soldiers walking in the courtyard came, and the Shuai Hall became a little dull and depressed.

Duan Cizong was a little distracted, recalling the detailed conversation between the Son of Heaven and him before leaving Beijing, and the Son of Heaven intended to wait for him to complete the disaster relief and return to Beijing, and let him leave Beijing the next year to serve as the governor of the state, and then announce his entry into Beijing after three or five years, when the six ministries and nine secretaries will definitely have a seat for him.

I remember that the Son of Heaven looked at him with a smile and confided in a sentence that made him feel his blood boiling when he thought about it: "Duan Qing, I have high hopes for you, and the six departments and nine Qing are not the end. ”

The words of the Son of Heaven clearly told him that he would be able to worship the prime minister in the future, and what was the ultimate goal of a scholar, that is, to visit the church. Duan Cizong was a loyal, upright, and dignified gentleman, and he couldn't keep his calm mind when he heard the words of the Son of Heaven.

Knowing that the grain ship for disaster relief was robbed, Duan Cizong knew that the opportunity to make great contributions had come, and if he could pacify the water bandits and rescue the captured Zuo Weiwei soldiers, he would inevitably leave a strong mark in the eyes of the Son of Heaven, and he would be a big step away from the goal of worshipping the prime minister.

If you do what Zhu Dudu said and blindly seek stability, then the attack on the bandits will at least start spring next year, and by then he will have returned to Beijing, and he will pass by this achievement. No, the opportunity is not always available, Duan Cizong decided to seize this opportunity.

"Zhu Dudu", Duan Cizong arched his hand and said with a smile: "If you follow the arrangement of the governor, you will not be able to move troops in a few months." Duan heard that 'the soldiers are noble and fast', and immediately cleared the water bandits, maybe they could catch the water bandits by surprise, and after several months of training, the water bandits got the news, or they were ready to fight or absconded, so they would not let the army lose. Moreover, the five hundred Zuo Weiwei guards are the guards of the Son of Heaven, and if they are not rescued in time, they may be killed. Duan is a literati and doesn't know anything about military affairs, so if you say something wrong, please don't blame the governor. ”

Zhu Zipu's face sank, and he didn't make a sound, with his prestige, he was not afraid of anyone except the Son of Heaven, even if the disaster relief envoy in front of him was a believer of the Son of Heaven. Duan Cizong's words are not unreasonable, especially Zuo Weiwei's five hundred people, it does bring a lot of pressure to Zhu Zipu, many of these old soldiers are the sons of powerful people, if they are killed by water bandits, they are afraid that they will have a lot of hidden enemies.

However, Zhu Zipu also has pain in his heart, and it is inconvenient to speak to others. There is no doubt that the Zhu family has the trust of the Son of Heaven, and even Huazhou did not blame the Son of Heaven for losing the winch crossbow. In the secret decree to himself, the Son of Heaven asked him to cooperate with Long Wei, who was investigating the case, to investigate the cause of the loss of the winch crossbow. The winch crossbow is the weapon of the country, and as a commander, the responsibility for negligence cannot be shirked.

The terrible thing is that when Long Wei investigated Ning Jingxiu, the town general of Cumulus Pass, Ning Jingxiu was actually assassinated in the town general's mansion, and the clues were interrupted. The Son of Heaven was furious, and the Huazhou Longwei Prefecture, who investigated the matter, was demoted to a warden, and he was strictly ordered to continue to investigate thoroughly. This incident will not shake the status of the Zhu family in the mind of the Son of Heaven, but it makes the Son of Heaven question the power of the four Protectorates, and from the will of the Son of Heaven, Zhu Zhipu sensed that the Son of Heaven intends to take back the civil power of the Protectorate and separate the military and the government. As a result, Zhu Zipu began to leave the civil affairs to Lu Liangzhen to deal with, rarely asked, and Lu Liangzhen never pointed fingers at him. Since Lu Liangzhen served as the assassin, he has gotten along well with Zhu Dudu.

Lu Liangzhen saw that Zhu Dudu was embarrassed, and as a subordinate, of course he had to break the siege, so he thought about it and suggested: "Lord Duan said that Jiang Anyi, a member of the Ministry of Rites, risked his life to sneak into the water village to find out the news, this matter is very important, if you can get in touch with Lord Jiang, find out the situation of the bandits, know this and know the other, you might as well take the lead." ”

Zhu Zipu nodded and said, "If you want to contact Jiang Anyi, you have to send someone from the Longwei Mansion." Come here, please ask Zhang Shantong, the governor of Longwei Prefecture, to come to the meeting. ”

The kung fu was not much, and a capable man about thirty years old strode into the handsome hall, bowed down and saluted: "Zhang Shantong, the governor of Longwei Prefecture, has seen the governor of the capital. "Long Wei, the government and the opposition have changed their complexion when they hear it, and the governor of Longwei Prefecture doesn't even have to sell face, but he is respectful in front of Zhu Zipu.

Zhu Zhipu motioned for Zhang Shantong to sit down, directly explained the situation, and asked, "Does Longwei Mansion know anything about these three water bandits?" ”

Not to mention, Zhang Shantong really said one, two, three, and reported the names of the leaders of the three water bandits, the approximate number of people in the water village, and the number of warships to Zhu Zipu. Hearing that the three water bandits together were no less than 4,000 people, Zhu Zipu's face was extremely ugly, and he said, "Why didn't Long Wei report it to me about such a large-scale bandit?" ”

Zhang Shantong said: "A few years ago, the state government also sent troops to clean up, but the water bandits were cunning, or abandoned the village and fled or hid with the help of the terrain, and the soldiers returned to the same after the clearance. Later, there was a change of personnel, and the matter was only filed once a year. ”

Lu Liangzhen hurriedly continued: "No wonder this mansion doesn't know anything about these water bandits. ”

Zhu Zipu's heart was secretly shocked, the northwest has been quite peaceful in recent years, and he is a little tired of things, thinking about doing nothing, but he didn't expect things in the northwest to be so erosive. First of all, the winch crossbow was stolen, and after his own strict investigation, he found that there were also people smuggling ordnance and grain and grass, and there were actually three groups of water bandits lurking on the side of Wuyang Mansion in Bingzhou, and they were so bold that they dared to rob the money and food for disaster relief. Anyway, just take advantage of this incident to train the troops, and some people might as well take the opportunity to get rid of them.

Thinking of this, Zhu Zhipu asked: "Zhang Shantong, how many people are there in the Longwei Mansion, this governor ordered you to send someone to infiltrate the Mixed Water Village, contact Master Jiang, find out the situation, and report to me quickly." ”

Zhang Shantong hesitated slightly, got up and said: "The handsome man has a life, and he doesn't dare to shirk his position, but recently many Yuantian disciples have been found in the territory of Bingzhou, inciting the victims and having bad intentions. The lowly officials have already sent their subordinates to the counties, leaving only the necessary manpower around them, and they are afraid that they will not be able to send people to infiltrate the water village. ”

"What? Yuan Tianjiao? Zhu Zipu was taken aback again, and asked urgently: "Have you ever found out?" How many Yuantian Sect members are there? ”

"Governor Yudu, according to the current situation, there are no less than 100 Yuantian Sect disciples."

The matter involving the Yuan Tianjiao is not trivial, Zhu Zhipu asked: "Zhangzhoutong, do you want the Anxi Protectorate to send troops?" ”

Zhang Shantong thought for a while and said: "The Yuantian Sect took advantage of the flood to launch a rebellion against the victims, and the lowly post has already been aware of it, and has already sent Long Wei to keep an eye on the Yuantian Sect, and the disaster relief grain ship was robbed, and the victims became more and more panicked. Unexpectedly, Lord Duan arrived with the second batch of supplies, and together with the government, the situation was quickly stabilized, and the restless victims in the counties calmed down a lot, and the signs of rebellion were not obvious. So he planned to keep an eye on the discovered Yuantian Sect disciples to see if he could follow the vine and bring out some big people. ”

Zhu Zhipu looked at Duan Cizong and Lu Liangzhen and said with a smile: "The two adults have turned into rain and wind, and the merit of moistening the people cannot be erased. Zhang Zhoutong, as you said, it is indeed not appropriate to startle the snake, Lord Lu, after you go back, you will order all counties to strengthen their vigilance, and not to be taken advantage of by thieves. The Governor will send troops to garrison the counties to guard against incidents. ”

After a pause, Zhu Zhipu continued: "This governor thinks that this time the Yuan Tianjiao encouraged the victims, it is very likely to be related to the hijacking of grain ships by water bandits, this matter is very big, it cannot be ignored, this governor will immediately play the son of tomorrow, Zhang Zhoutong, Long Wei will deliver the news faster, and you will submit the report of this governor." Wait for the will of the Son of Heaven before proceeding. ”

The three of them agreed to leave, Zhu Zhipu thought about it, beat the drum and gathered the generals, the Anxi Protectorate heard the wind, dozens of teams of soldiers and horses rushed to the county seat, and selected soldiers who knew how to train first, preparing to exterminate the water bandits.

In the evening, Zhao Liangcai returned to his water village by boat. When I went, there was one boat, but when I came back, it became three, loaded with knives, guns, bows and arrows and other weapons sent by Qingshan Water Village, as well as two boats of food.

Zhao Lianghan and Zhao Liangtie heard the sound and came to greet him, and Zhao Liangcai was instructing his minions to send things into the warehouse in the back mountain. Zhao Liangtie said with a smile: "Brother, King Li Tianwang has given us so many good things, and these grains are enough for the cottage to survive this winter." ”

The three brothers went up the stairs and came to the gate of the wall, and it was already dark. Zhao Liangcai stood and looked down the mountain, the entire mixed water village was lit up, calm and peaceful, and it was really like a paradise.

Taking a deep breath of cool breeze, Zhao Liangcai sighed in a deep voice: "I'm afraid it won't be long before this place will become a mass grave." ”

"What's the matter, big brother, what did you see when you went to Qingshan Water Village this time?" Zhao Lianghan asked.

The square behind the gate became empty, and the practicing minions went back to rest, and Zhao Liangcai said: "Let's go for a walk and make trouble." As he spoke, he walked forward. Zhao Lianghan and Zhao Liangtie both sensed the heaviness in the eldest brother's tone, glanced at each other, and followed closely behind the eldest brother.

"At the beginning, we were just not bullied by the government's servants, and the uncles and brothers in the village teamed up against the government, more than ten years have passed, from the original three or four hundred people to today there are nearly a thousand people, more than forty warships, and it can be regarded as a little famous. Our brother is a fisherman, and he didn't do anything harmful when he had people, and he still fished and farmed to live, but he didn't have to pay the government's taxes anymore, and everyone's life was quite passable. ”

Zhao Liangtie said with a smile: "The old and young masters of our water village are very supportive of the eldest brother, in Mr. Zhao's words." "Mr. Zhao is the gentleman who teaches children enlightenment in the water village, and he is also a person in distress.

Zhao Liangcai smiled bitterly: "I'm afraid that the lives of the old and young masters are going to be cut off in my hands now." ”

Zhao Lianghan said in a deep voice: "Brother, if you have anything to say, what else is there to hide from your brother." ”

"Today, I went to Qingshan Water Village to find out that Li Qing is actually a descendant of the Yuantian Sect. I pretended that I hadn't heard of Yuan Tianjiao, and patted my chest and said that I obeyed the dispatch of Qingshan Shuizhai, and Li Qingcai gave us these things. At the beginning, I planned to kill the grain ships for disaster relief, and I planned to fight the officers and soldiers as soon as they could, but if they couldn't beat the old and young masters, they would hide everywhere and come back in a year and a half. Now that he is contaminated with the Yuan Heavenly Sect, I am afraid that there is no place to hide. ”

"Yuan Tianjiao? What is it? "Zhao Liangtie is young, and he really hasn't heard of it.

"The one who plots rebellion", Zhao Lianghan spit out two words coldly in his mouth, the sky above the cottage square suddenly became cold and awe-inspiring, and Zhao Liangtie's smile froze and became heavy.