Lei Hong glanced at Sun Ping, turned his head to Jiang Baolin and ordered, "Reward him with one hundred wen." ”

Liu Ximing arranged an agenda of three thousand taels for each member of the Iron-blooded Datong Society, and such a small amount of money Lei Hong was naturally not a problem.

Sun Ping didn't expect to be rewarded for such a while just now, and excitedly took the money and kowtowed on the ground, "Thank you, thank you, thank you." ”

Lei Hong looked at the people at the city gate with a smile on his face, "Master Ben took office to bring peace to the people in the inner countryside, and there are people who are willing to do things with this official, and this official is indispensable to his benefits." ”

Leaving a group of scriveners and white servants at the city gate, Lei Hong and the others entered the city on horseback.

The county seat of Neixiang County is not big, and Lei Hong has just learned from Sun Ping that there should have been 10,000 people in the county, but now there are only 7 or 8,000 people, and those who have the ability have basically gone to the big cities to take refuge.

As for the homeless people outside the city, they were naturally not allowed to enter the city.

Therefore, the scene of the inner countryside that Lei Hong saw was already a depressed color, because of the thieves' attack on the city, the entire inner countryside city wall was also damaged, and it looked crumbling.

In the county office, a group of scribes completed the verification of Lei Hong's documents several times, and hurriedly knelt down again.

Lei Hong asked directly to Peng Jin, the household clerk who had led before: "Clerk Peng, the county's money and grain roster and all the Xu officials' roster and other items should be submitted as soon as possible, and how is the payment of grain this autumn?" ”

This magistrate didn't look like he had just become an official, Peng Jin was shocked, and he took two steps forward with a sneer.

"County Zun, at the moment, thieves are raging, and the people of this county are fleeing to death, where is there any autumn grain."

Lei Hong raised his eyebrows, and his face was not angry and arrogant, "Since the people are in exile, why doesn't the county recruit displaced people from outside the city to reclaim the famine, does it really want the people to starve to death?" ”

Peng Jin and the others didn't dare to say much, and Lei Hong immediately knew that there was something else when he saw everyone's watch.

He pointed to the other scribes who were still standing, and shouted: "Go down, and report the information of each room as soon as possible, and the official will read them one by one, and the scribe Peng will stay." ”

"The little ones obeyed," and the other scribes responded.

Seeing that Peng Jin was the only one left in the main hall, Lei Hong frowned and walked down the court, "Say, what do you say about autumn grain?" ”

Peng Jin gave up his hand helplessly, "So that the county can know that the land that can still be cultivated in the county is basically bought by the big households in the county, and if you want to collect grain, you have to move them, where can I wait for the little officials to do these things." ”

Lei Hong sneered, "Then if you say so, this Neixiang County is just an empty shell, so what else do you want to do with this master?" ”

Peng Jin opened his mouth and didn't know what to say, since your old man dared to come to such a place, wouldn't he just be an empty shell.

Lei Hong asked Peng Jin a few more questions about the situation in the county, but seeing that he couldn't ask anything, he had to wave his hand to let him go.

The clerks in each room walked quickly, and after a while, several large piles of materials were moved to the lobby, and with the eyes of the scribes looking at jokes, Lei Hong sat in the main hall all night.

In the afternoon of the next day, Lei Hong, who had rested a little, instructed the Liu family's guards in the backyard to "go and invite Jiang Tunchang over."

After a while, Jiang Baolin, who was wearing the uniform of the Long Xiang Division, walked in.

"Chief Jiang Tun, please go and inquire and see where the people arranged by the president are?" , Lei Hong asked Jiang Baolin with both arms.

Jiang Baolin frowned, "Okay, I'll contact you right away, but is the situation in the inner countryside already so bad?" ”

Jiang Baolin is also a member of the Iron-Blooded Datong Society, and the Guards Battalion is the Liu family's training battalion, and the rank of the officers in the battalion is generally two levels higher than that of other troops.

Along the way, he had already discussed with Lei Hong the countermeasures to go to the inner countryside, but he didn't expect Lei Hong to be so eager to let the Liu family's people play.

Lei Hong smiled bitterly and shook his head, "The inner countryside has been hollowed out by the gentry now, and it is impossible for us to rely on the county government to control the whole county, so we can only follow Plan B, you should contact it quickly." ”

Jiang Baolin nodded, Lei Hong, as a member of the Central Committee, has full authority to handle the affairs of the inner countryside.

In fact, Liu Ximing had already sent a letter to his family as early as April after the first meeting of the reorganized Iron and Blood Datong Society.

In order to support the actions of Dou Yuquan, Lei Hong and others, in the five months from April to September, the Liu family had already transported a large number of personnel and materials to several strongholds in batches.

In particular, the stronghold of Hanchuan Village has a great stake because it is related to the three regions of Dengzhou, Neixiang and Guanghua.

Fortunately, not only Liujia Village in Hanchuan Village can transport materials along the Han River of the Yangtze River, but also Sujia Village in Yangxian County, which has entered the right track, can also transport materials through the Han River, so the preparation of materials has not been delayed.

Jiang Baolin took a few guards all the way out of Neixiang County to the south, and arrived at Hanchuan Village in only two days.

Here, a brigade of 6,000 people from the newly dispatched Longxiang Division has been waiting here for a long time.

According to the plan, Jiang Baolin took a battalion of 2,000 troops and cooperated with the 1,000-person Hanchuan villager group, brought a little supplies and began to return to the inner countryside.

In Neixiang County, Lei Hong has not been idle in the past few days, on the one hand, he once again checked the fish scale yellow book and other information in Neixiang County, which are naturally useless, but it also gave him a not very accurate understanding of the situation in the county.

On the other hand, he and the squires in the city began to make a fool of themselves, but as soon as he talked about the problem of money and food, the gang all pretended to be stupid.

Lei Hong didn't look dead, he just shook his face and left directly.

The gentry of Neixiang County still sneered in their hearts one by one, saying that Lei Honglai is called a nerd, and now Neixiang, without their gentry, who can mobilize the power in the county.

However, the situation was soon broken on September 16.

Sun Ping, a white servant who was still guarding the gate at the city gate as usual, was awakened by the startled sound of his companions, and there were bursts of dust rising from the road in the distance, obviously a large army had arrived outside the county.

This frightened a group of people into a horrific spirit, but fortunately, the county government also sent people to follow, saying that these were all people's troops borrowed by the county lord from Linxian, which appeased Sun Ping and others.

It's just that when these people approached the city gate, Sun Ping's eyes suddenly widened and his face was full of incredulity.

Judging from the size alone, there must be at least a thousand or so people in this gang.

And these people are all wearing black collared robes, wearing scarves on their heads, and holding either big knives or spears in their hands.

"Jiang, Master Jiang", Sun Ping recognized the team leader, who was the one who followed the county master, and said hello in a trembling manner, and watched them walk into the county town with neat steps.

In the inner countryside and city, there was a sudden burst of chickens and dogs, and the neat pace of the 1,000th militia made the residents of the city think that the thieves had entered.

Fortunately, Jiang Baolin led people to shout all the way, "This is a militia borrowed by the county lord, and it is to protect our inner township, so you don't have to be afraid." ”

Thousands of residents in the county town kept poking their heads out and were relieved to see that the gang had indeed not looted.

"The county lord is too capable, we are not afraid of these inner villages."

"Where did the eldest master find the money and food, doesn't it mean that the yamen is so poor that he can't even open the pot."

The same question also appeared in the hearts of the gentry in Neixiang County, but no matter how they inquired, they did not find out any news.

As for the source of these militia groups, money and food, it seems that they have become a mystery, just like the county government that has been silent these days.

Just 50 miles south of Neixiang County, a battalion of soldiers and horses led by Wei Jingguo had already taken off their military uniforms and changed into miscellaneous costumes to dress up as thieves.

In front of them was a rather large Wu Fort.

Dong Jie'an, who was in charge of leading the scouts to find out the news, ran back to the woods where Wei Jingguo and the others were hiding, out of breath.

"Brigade Commander Wei, find out clearly, this is Li Jiazhai."

Wei Jingguo, who had been tempered for several years in Hanchuan Village, had faded from the immaturity on his face, and was replaced by a resolute face.

Hearing Dong Jie'an's report, he rubbed the map in front of him vigorously, turned his head and ordered everyone.

"Okay, let's act tonight, everyone remember, this is the first operation of our gang of thieves in Nanyang, we must be clean and neat, understand?"

"Understood!"

"Rest in place and wait until it gets dark."