In the next few days, the news of the Battle of Liangzhou frequently spread to all parts of Southern Chu through post stations.

In the first battle, Zhang Chi under the Wenbo account led 70,000 soldiers and horses to launch a surprise attack on the Northern Liao Iron Cavalry, but this round of raids did not take much advantage, and the two sides fought for less than half an hour, and the Northern Liao Iron Cavalry quickly gathered the cavalry, set up a formation, and launched a charge against Zhang Chi's 70,000 soldiers and horses.

Under this battle, the Southern Chu army was at a disadvantage.

On the afternoon of April 11, Zhang Chi's second round of attack was launched, but this, the Northern Liao Iron Cavalry went to the city of Liangzhou, Zhang Chi scolded outside the city for an hour and did not get a response from the Northern Liao Army, and then he collected the troops in a stupid manner, at that time Zhang Chi thought that the Northern Liao Army was afraid of them and did not dare to fight, so he also let the soldiers in the army celebrate for a long time at night.

Unexpectedly, in the early morning of April 12, Zhang Chi's military camp was attacked by the Northern Liao Iron Cavalry, and the left side of the military camp was quickly broken open a gap, and the Northern Liao Iron Cavalry rushed into the military camp and slaughtered the Southern Chu Army who were still in a drunken dream.

It was not until the morning, after a night of fighting, that Zhang Chi led the remaining 50,000 soldiers and horses to withdraw fifty miles away.

On this night, the Northern Liao army won a great victory, and Zhang Chi lost 20,000 horses.

Then news came from the Xuanzhou Mansion that the privy envoy Wenbo was furious and sent 50,000 soldiers and horses to garrison Chongguan first.

In just four hours, several unfavorable war reports came one after another, and cold water was poured on the heads of the people of Southern Chu, so the people fell silent.

……

On the night of 13 April, the patrol officers and men of the Caoyun Wharf in Pingzhou caught three more beggars who tried to steal grain.

The officers and soldiers of this group pushed and shoved the three beggars who were tied up with flowers and shoved them in front of the escort officer Pang Bo.

Pang Bo's face turned pale, these days, this is the fifth batch of beggars who have tried to steal grain.

He didn't pay much attention to the first batch before, just sent someone to teach him a lesson, and then let him go.

When he caught the second batch, he was supposed to send it to the government office, but he happened to meet the transfer envoy Lord Fang to accompany the prince to inspect, and the prince was benevolent and righteous, not only let him let those thieves go, but also bought some steamed buns for them with silver.

It wasn't until the third and fourth batches were arrested again that he realized something was wrong and threw him into the government prison.

There are beggars in this Pingzhou City, but why did so many pop up all of a sudden? And they are all thinking about stealing food.

After some inquiry, these beggars all said the same thing, they were too hungry and had no food at home, so they took the risk to steal it.

After asking for a while and not asking anything, Pang Bo waved his hand to his subordinates: "Escort down first, scold twenty with a cane, and hand it over to the government office tomorrow, let Lord Zheng interrogate, when will you be honest, when will you be released, aren't you hungry?" There was something for them to eat in the government prison. ”

After throwing the fifth batch of beggars to Zheng Wei again, Pang Bo thought about it, then got up and went out.

After a while, Pombo arrived at the residence of the transit envoy Fangtai.

After meeting Fang Tai, Pombo gave him all these things.

After hearing this, Fang Tai said with a smile: "General Pang, all the military grain on the Jiangnan East Road is placed in the granary of Caoyun Wharf, such a big granary is placed there, for the beggars, it is a golden mountain, Pingzhou City is so big, it is reasonable for these beggars to come over."

Pang Bo arched his hand and said: "Lord Fang, the last general just thinks it's too strange, even if these beggars go to steal the food of other people's homes, it is safer than stealing this military food!" ”

These days, he has accompanied the prince, and the relationship with the prince has become a lot closer, which has caused Fang Tai's mood to be particularly good, for these beggars, he didn't care too much, and continued: "The door of the people's house is closed, and they can't steal it if they want to, but this granary is different, it's too big, there is always a lack of care, maybe these beggars just saw the loopholes in this granary, and wanted to try their luck!" It's okay, General Pang, you just send more people to guard it, and if anyone comes to steal food, they will all be thrown into the government prison. ”

Since this lord has no objections, then Pang Bo is nothing good, and nodded: "These days, the lower officials have doubled the number of people in the granary, and the current entire granary is solid, and no matter how many beggars come, they will not be able to steal military rations." ”

Fang Tai nodded: "It's hard for General Pang over there in the granary, this official has been discussing the escort plan with the prince these days, and he doesn't have the energy to go to the granary for the time being, if something like this happens again, General Pang will deal with it himself." ”

"Then the general will retire first." Pang Bo surrendered his hand and retired: "Lord Fang, rest assured, the last general will definitely live up to his mission, and before the military rations are escorted, the military rations will be guaranteed to be foolproof." ”

As he turned to leave, Pombo saw an elegant scholar walk in.

He also knew this elegant scholar, named Kong Fu, was the private school of Lord Fang's mansion, and had served as the governor of the country, and returned to Pingzhou after being deposed by the imperial court.

Lord Fang also valued him very much, and he would ask him about any problems he encountered, and he did not avoid him when formulating the Cao Yun plan, and always asked him to help with advice.

"Mr. Kong." Pombo greeted him.

That Kong Fu also nodded in return: "Is General Pang leaving?" ”

At this time, when he saw Kong Fu walking in, Fang Tai said to him: "Mr. Kong, you came just in time to help the official send General Pang." ”

Kong Fu nodded, then turned around again and walked out of the house with Pang Bo.

After coming out, Kong Fu said: "I heard that General Pang caught a lot of beggars who came to steal military rations? ”

Pang Bo nodded, thinking of this, he also had a headache, he didn't want more, and said with a smile: "It's okay, it's just some thieves, don't worry, come and catch one by one, I want to see, how many beggars will there be in Pingzhou City?" ”

Kong Fu sighed: "Get up, this imperial court collects grain, only a small number of people can afford to donate, although Pingzhou City is much richer than other places, but this big Pingzhou City, there are a lot of ordinary people, in order to be able to get the military food for this war, in fact, even if some people have little food left at home, they are still willing to take it out, they would rather be hungry, but also let the court be able to win this battle." ”

Pang Bo nodded: "Mr. Kong has to be, compared to these people who have great righteousness in their hearts, those businessmen with a lot of wealth are too angry, and taking an extra cent of their food feels like scraping their skin, and the court bullies people." ”

"People are not for themselves, the land is destroyed, there is a country and a family This truth is not something that many people can understand, businessmen pursue profits, for these wealthy businessmen, they are willing to do things that can benefit them." Kong Fu smiled.

"Hey......" In this regard, Pang Bo only sighed speechlessly.

Kong Fu said again: "General Pang, these beggars who came to steal military food are not big treacherous people in the end, such a big granary is placed there, for them to come, they are not moved, it is fake, they are just to fill their stomachs to make this decision, General Pang arrested them, and I hope not to kill them." ”

Pang Bo showed a simple smile: "Mr. Kong, don't worry, Pang is not that treacherous person, although these beggars steal military rations, they are not guilty of death, hand them over to Lord Zheng, Lord Zheng has his own conclusion, locked up for a period of time, and when these military rations are taken away, they should be released." ”

"I heard that these beggars were all captured by Feng Zheng, a very profitable soldier under General Pang." Kong Fu asked again.

"I didn't expect Mr. Kong to hear a lot of things." Pombo smiled.

Kong Fu said: "I am a gentleman in Lord Fang's mansion, and I will have a lot of conversations with Lord Fang, and when Lord Fang makes a plan for the military ration parade, he will also let me say a sentence or two, of course, these things are all done by Lord Fang." ”

Pang Bo nodded and said: "This Feng Zheng is really good, he is very energetic, and he is also motivated, before catching these beggars, he has been observing for many days, if he hadn't caught them, I don't know that these beggars in Pingzhou City have the idea of hitting the granary of the wharf, and he does things, but it saves Pang a lot of heart." ”

"That General Pang has to be rewarded for his meritorious deeds!" Kong Fu made a joke.

Pang Bo patted his chest: "This is not necessary, when the military rations are escorted away, Pang will ask for credit for these soldiers under him." ”

……

On April 15, Li Yanzhi returned to Pingzhou.

He first came to the Horse Mansion to see Zhang Xiang, and then reported the matter to him.

After going out for so long, I have inspected many counties under Pingzhou Mansion, and I have already set up branches in ten counties.

Zhang Xiang has always been relieved of his work efficiency, and he is quite satisfied after listening to his news, how much silver is needed to go directly to the money shopkeeper and take it from him.

Then Zhang Xiang also told him about leaving Pingzhou, and decided to set off with the slave on April 20.

Li Yanzhi also wanted to go with Zhang Xiang after hearing about it, but Zhang Xiang wanted to stay to deal with the affairs of the Ming Society, and he was the only one who was most familiar with the situation of the Ming Society

Then seeing his tired appearance, Zhang Xiang asked him to go back to rest first, and then take him to the Four Seasons Garden tomorrow, after he left, Li Yanzhi was responsible for moving the Ming Society into the Zheng of the Four Seasons Garden

Li Yanzhi walked for a while, and Chen Qi also came.

Since Zhang Xiang asked him to keep an eye on Kang Yu, Chen Qi has disappeared these days, but once he appears, he must have come with major news.

After saluting Zhang Xiang, Chen Qi reported the news he had received in the past few days: "After following this Kang Gongzi, his subordinates found that he had been traveling very frequently these days, and he had to go out almost every time. So the subordinates were curious and followed for a while, and found that he had come into contact with a lot of different people these days, and each time it was about two hours. ”

"Oh? Who are they? ”

Chen Qi said: "Tong Jingchu and Xia Dinghe, these two people are the ones he has the most contact with, in addition, there is also a person named Kong Fu, and another person named Jiang Yufeng, this Jiang Yufeng is also known as Jiang Niang." ”

"Tong Jingchu, Xia Dinghe, Kong Fu, Jiang Yufeng?" Zhang Xiang's brows furrowed, and he always felt that something was wrong.

Chen Qi then said: "Don Ma, judging from the people he has come into contact with, his subordinates have found a common denominator, these people are the same as Kang Gongzi, they all have the son of Chongguan Tan Niu Tong Jingchu whose family died two years ago, Xia Dinghe's younger brother, Kong Fu's son, and this Jiang Yufeng's husband, who was killed in Chongguan as a delegation to the Southern Chu Honglu Temple and Northern Liao. ”

Chen Qi's reminder, Zhang Xiang came back to his senses, so it was, no wonder he always felt that something was wrong.

He said solemnly: "What else is the news, all come out." ”

Chen Qi nodded: "On March 28, April 10, and 13, Kang Yu met Xia Dinghe three times in total, and on March 28, it was what he saw when he ordered his subordinates to follow Kang Yu for the first time. And on the tenth day of the fourth month, there was also an officer and soldier who saw Kang Yu with Xia Dinghe, named Feng Zheng, this Feng Zheng I know, he was under General Pang Bo, and now he is guarding the military rations in the granary of Caoyun Wharf. I don't know what happened to them, because I was hiding at the head of the Kang Mansion wall, and the Kang Mansion was tightly guarded, and I didn't dare to be too far apart, so I couldn't hear their conversation at all. ”

"On the seventh day of the fourth month, Kang Mansion met Kong Fu, who was in a restaurant outside Lord Fang's mansion..."

"Lord Fang?" Zhang Xiang interrupted him and asked.

Chen Qi nodded: "Don Ma, this Kong Fu is the teacher in Lord Fang's mansion, that Kang Yu went to the restaurant first, and then sent a family member to Fang Da Rao's mansion, and then Kong Fu followed this family to the restaurant, after the two met, it was also this Kang Yu who sent him back to Lord Fang's mansion in a carriage." ”

"And this Jiang Niang, Kang Yu only went to her house once on April 11, when she was outside the door, her subordinates heard Kang Yu call her Aunt Jiang, but when she went to the house, the two of them didn't know what their subordinates were..."

"As for Tong Jingchu, Gongzi Kang will go to Tongfu every three or five times, this Tongfu is a big family, and the tightness is stronger, and it is not easy to climb over the wall..."

After listening to Chen Qi's report, Zhang Xiang finally felt that things were not so simple, and he always felt that there was an invisible black hand who wanted to do something, but this feeling was fleeting, and he couldn't catch a trace.

On the surface, it's just a simple meeting of friends.

But thinking about it deeply, he can't help but blame him for thinking too much, why did Kang Yu suddenly associate so closely with so many people who were sick and sympathetic to him? According to Chen Qisuo, in the past, they rarely met.

Chen Qi is a native of Pingzhou, and he has been doing bags for many years, so he knows a lot of things in Pingzhou City.

Zhang Xiang asked: "In addition to the three fathers and sons of the Kang family, there were twenty-five people in the Honglu Temple mission back then, how many such family members are there in Pingzhou City?" ”

"Just these five, Kang Yu, Tong Jingchu, Xia Dinghe, Kong Fu and Jiang Niang, in addition to Pingzhou, only Linzhou Mansion and Shunzhou Mansion have the most of the twenty-eight Rao family members of the Honglu Temple Envoy Group, and there are four people in Linzhou Mansion, Bai Shiguang, Zhou You, Hou Yin and Ruan Sanniang, it is worth mentioning that this Hou Yin is also one of the four famous people in the south of the Yangtze River. In addition, there are also four people in Shunzhou Mansion, and the rest of the subordinates don't know much, after all, the death of the Honglu Temple envoy group in the Chongguan negotiation caused a sensation in the entire Southern Chu, which was the biggest thing except for the fall of Liangzhou, so the subordinates naturally knew so much about this matter after many inquiries..."