The afterglow of the setting sun has long since lost the oppressive heat of the afternoon, although it still dyes half of the sky red, and scatters the glow in Padang County, Guizhou. Under the gentle evening breeze, the slightest refreshing coolness can no longer be stopped.

In the past, in Padang County, the people had long been holding their rice bowls, or in the alleys, or at the door of their homes, chatting in groups about this year's harvest, spreading anecdotes among neighbors. However, since May, the prince of Nanping sent troops to encircle and suppress the "seven villages" in Guizhou, and the rumors in Badong County have suddenly increased a lot, and the officers and soldiers have won for a while, and the kings of Qizhai have won for a while, and it is even rumored that the kings of Qizhai will lead troops to attack Badong County, which has made Badong County several shocks for a while. But these are all rumors after all, and the people have been relieved after experiencing several such "wolves", and after that, these rumors not only did not affect their lives, but created more topics for them to chat about.

Just when they thought the war was coming to an end, a large number of troops suddenly entered Padang County. These armies didn't have anything at the beginning just now, but they often went into the Padang Mountains to search for something, but then gradually sent troops to start the city gate and the various traffic arteries outside the city, and they had to pay the "city construction fee" when they entered the city, and they had to pay the "security protection fee" when they went out of the city, and they had to pay the "bridge fee" when they crossed the bridge, and they had to pay the "water fee" when they took a boat. That's why there is a cool breeze from the sky. Not only did the people in the city dare not go out of the city now that they had nothing to do; Even the people in the countryside can only work in the fields, and they can only withstand the scorching sun. It's a hard time!

Every family has a scripture that is difficult to read, and it is not only the people of Badong County who feel that life is difficult, but even the Jiangling commander and the current "commander-in-chief" Bao Tang, who is pacing around in the hall of the county government of Badong County, are also frowning.

When he was first ordered to exterminate the "Seven Villages", Bao Tang's life was quite easy. How could the rabble of the "Qizhai" be the opponent of the well-trained and well-equipped elite soldiers of Nanping, Bao Tang even thought that it would only take half a month to collect troops back to Jiangling (Jingzhou Zhishuo). The war at the beginning was indeed as he expected, and without much effort, he broke the five villages in the "Seven Villages" one after another, but as the war progressed, Bao Tang became more and more confused, on the one hand, where are the bandits, this is obviously the people! Who has ever seen bandits grow their own food, and who has seen bandits grieve over the trampled rice? On the other hand, every time he broke a walled gate, Gao Baorong, the son of Nanping, who usually hid far away when he saw a war, panicked like a rabbit, hurriedly ran in, commanded people to turn over boxes and cabinets, demolished walls and tiles, and looked like he was eager to dig three feet. Of course, Bao Tang knew what the prince was looking for - looking for the treasure of Qizhai! But how could those captives in Qizhai look like rich people. At the beginning, Bao Tang also persuaded the prince. But that lord didn't believe that there was no treasure in Qizhai at all.

Later, Bao Tang gradually heard some rumors, it turned out that this encirclement and suppression operation was originally Gao Baorong and Sikong Xun listened to and believed partially, thinking that Qizhai had treasures, so they sent troops to King Nanping. Gao Baorong couldn't find the treasure, and the captives of the seven villages could not get useful information by torture, so in desperation, on the one hand, he urged Bao Tang to find the other two villages as soon as possible; On the one hand, at the suggestion of Wang Baoyi, in order to let the people know their kindness and repay their kindness, they were grateful for the benevolence of the king of Nanping, and added a lot of novel taxes in Guizhou.

As a military general, Bao Tang couldn't bear it in his heart, but he didn't want to say anything, so he could only honestly find a way to completely exterminate Qizhai. He saw that Qizhai was vulnerable, so he spread out the army, from east to west, and slowly searched over, and searched all the way to Badong County. According to recent searches, these last two villages are located in Padang County.

Just when Bao Tang thought that the overall situation was about to be decided, the bad news suddenly came that the entire garrison was wiped out. Subsequently, several units suffered a similar fate. This gang of bandits seems to have suddenly learned to fight, not only is they sober-minded, they are good at using the terrain, they fight when there are few people, they run when they fight, and they never go head-to-head with the large army of Nanping; What's even more strange is that this group of people will suddenly fight, not only with amazing combat effectiveness, but also with orders and prohibitions, and there is a basis for advancing and retreating.

That's it, after all, the Nanping Army is also well-trained, and Bao Tang, as a veteran general in the army, faced with this situation, he was not panicked, but still thought of some ways and almost found this group of people. It's a pity that they, like rabbits, suddenly run away when they are about to be caught. Of course Bao Tang knows what's going on, someone has leaked the news. But he couldn't help it, because he knew that it was the people of Padang who leaked the news, but he couldn't take out his anger on these people. Wang Baoyi's miscellaneous came up with a bad idea of chaotic taxation, and the money was there, but the people of Guizhou were lost, and the people complained. Bao Tang didn't want to make any more sparks for this.

Bao Tang paced around the county hall and couldn't think of any good way to wipe out all the people in Qizhai after thinking for a long time, and couldn't help but sigh heavily.

Suddenly, there was a rush of footsteps, and then someone said, "General Bao, why are you sighing?" ”

Bao Tang turned around and saw a middle-aged man in a purple robe and jade belt walking in, followed by a few sergeants who wanted to stop but didn't dare to stop him, Bao Tang glared at them fiercely, and shouted: "It's embarrassing, it's not going down." ”

Turning to the middle-aged man, he said with a smile: "Lord Sikong, you are not strategizing in Jiangling City, why did you come to this small county in Guizhou?" "The person who came was an important minister of the Nanping Palace-Sikong Xun.

Sikong Xun didn't seem to hear the sarcasm in Bao Tang's words at all, and said with a smile: "General Bao, I was entrusted by the King of Nanping to escort some of the captured Qizhai treasures to Jiangling, by the way, come to see an old friend, what, General Bao is not welcome?" ”

Bao Tang rolled his eyes and said with a smile: "How dare you, how dare you." But I have a question below, and I want to ask Sikong-sama. ”

Sikong Xun said with a smile: "General Bao, please speak." ”

Bao Tang looked at Sikong Xun's smiling expression, and his heart was disgusted, and he said: "The last general has been fighting against the bandits of Qizhai, I don't know when this treasure was captured?" ”

It seemed that he had expected Bao Tang to ask such a question, Sikong Xun sighed and said: "It's not that the treasure hasn't been found yet, it's just that General Bao, you also understand, now that the treasury is empty, you have to borrow it from the people temporarily." The general's worries are also understood in the next, but at this point, in order to protect my Nanping Sanzhou, even if he is scolded by later generations, even if he is punished by the king of Nanping, he is willing. ”

Bao Tang stared at Sikong Xun for a long time, and said, "You come, you must not just tell me this." ”

Sikong Xun laughed and said, "General Bao, who knows me, is also." I have a plan to help the general exterminate Qizhai in one fell swoop. ”