Soon after, Yang Congyi urged Ma to leave Chuzhou and rush to the next stop, Longquan County.

Li Senjun sent out ten miles, stopped at a gazebo to rest, after a few excuses, he still handed a small box to Yang Congyi, looked at the other party to give gifts, and then said: "Lord Yang, the last general still has some things, so I won't accompany the adults, the road ahead is long, be more careful!" ”

Yang Congyi smiled: "Okay, please tell the Lord of the Commander on my behalf, please rest assured." Let's go first. With that, he turned over his horse and whipped away.

"Lord Yang has a good journey." Li Senjun saw the other party go away, and rode back to the dragoon army to control the yamen.

"My lord, he took the things." Li joined the army and returned.

"Okay, just take it. You personally go to Longquan and Qingyuan, and then stare at it, and report anything at any time. The ruler's expression was calm, and after a moment's thought, he commanded.

Li joined the army and said: "Yes, the last general will go to Longquan." He turned around and left.

After galloping for two hours, Yang Congyi arrived at a post station between Chuzhou and Longquan County, where he rested for the night.

The small box I received in the afternoon was not opened on the way, and it was fluttering in my hand, and it did not contain precious metals, not gold and silver jewelry. He wanted to open it and take a look, but he knew that the inn was not a safe place, and if the small box was really valuable, it would not be easy to show it in front of people.

It wasn't until noon the next day, when he passed by a barren mountain and dense forest, a land of few people, that he opened the package while he was resting, took out the small box, and as soon as he opened it, his heart pounded.

I saw that there was a pile of paper inside, but it was a valuable thing, all of which were silver banknotes with a denomination of 100 taels, and counted carefully, no more, no less, exactly 20 pieces, that is, 2,000 taels of silver banknotes.

After seeing it clearly, Yang Congyi quickly put the box away, his mind fluctuated, and it was difficult to calm down.

The forbidden army will not pay more than 50 taels a month, and it will only be 600 taels a year, and it will only be 300 taels of silver, and if you accumulate 2,000 taels of silver, you will have to go without food or drink for seven years. At the age of the rule, a large family had to be raised, and fifty yuan a month was estimated to be not enough for the whole family's expenses, and he could only come up with so much silver, which could only be given to him by others, or deducted the soldiers' salaries.

After accepting this money, Yang Congyi felt uneasy, but if he didn't accept it, he really didn't know what would happen, after all, it was not an easy thing to sit in the position of the forbidden army at that age, the relationship behind it must not be simple, he could give him the silver today, and he could give it to others at any time, if he wanted to be an alternative, I am afraid it is unlikely.

If you can't resist, then obey, anyway, if he doesn't accept this silver today, he will give it to others tomorrow.

Yang Congyi comforted himself a little, and his mentality gradually calmed down, so he turned over and continued to the Longquan County Forbidden Army Station.

The dragoon army stationed in Longquan County has only one command, and the number is not large, and the location of Longquan County is important, and the rest of the place under its rule is mountainous, so the garrison is stationed in the city.

After Yang Congyi arrived at the county seat, he went straight to the military camp in the south of the city without any delay.

After identifying himself, the commander of the Longquan County Forbidden Army, Wang Bu, will personally go out of the camp to greet him.

This royal general is in his thirties, with a bearded face, and looks like a rough and rough man.

Time is limited, Yang Congyi didn't want to delay time, and after a brief greeting, he went straight to the point: "General Wang, I came from Lin'an to Longquan County to verify your meritorious deeds reported to the front of the palace at the beginning of the year. One of the feats you reported was to exterminate a group of thieves entrenched in Longquan County, the number of thieves was 38, and all of them were killed on the spot, and there was no one alive. It's weird and unreasonable, what do you think? ”

When General Wang heard this, he was immediately a little nervous, and replied with a squeak: "My lord, we did exterminate a group of thieves last year, and that group of thieves has been entrenched in the trade road leading to Pucheng in Longquan County for many years, robbing and killing people, and doing all kinds of evil. Last September, when we went out of the city to practice, we happened to encounter this gang of thieves in Shangyan, so we annihilated them in one fell swoop. If you don't believe it, you can go to Shangyan or the county government to ask, this is a big deal, the local people and the yamen know, if you don't believe it, you can ask them. ”

Yang Congyi said: "I don't doubt that you didn't annihilate the thirty-eight people, but I doubt the identity of these thirty-eight people." How many of you participated in that battle of annihilation? ”

General Wang thought for a while, and replied: "Normally, we go out of the city to practice with three teams of people, that time we had a lot of people, when we found them, they were armed with sharp blades, and they were plotting to rob the merchants, and we had more than 100 people, and we directly surrounded them, and a fierce battle was fought to annihilate them all." ”

"More than 100 people annihilated a group of habitual thieves and bandits armed with sharp blades, or on their familiar territory, this vicious battle is not easy." Yang Congyi replied along with his explanation.

General Wang said: "It's really not simple, that gang of bandits is really difficult, we fought with them for half an hour before we annihilated them all." ”

"Half an hour of fierce fighting, do you have any casualties among the forbidden army?" Yang Congyi continued to ask.

"There were no casualties." General Wang didn't think about it and replied immediately, but then retorted: "Misremember, we have casualties." ”

"Is there or not?" Yang Congyi grasped the problem and did not let go.

Wang Bu Jiang sweated on his forehead and anxiously explained: "Yes, that gang of thieves is a habitual offender, so we fought with them very hard, two brothers in order to prevent the bandits from escaping, they desperately fought back, seriously injured, and a few lightly injured. ”

"Since there are casualties, why don't you write them on the declaration materials?"

"This is indeed the last general's negligence." The beads of sweat on the forehead of the royal general became more and more.

"What are the names of the two forbidden soldiers who died, do you remember?"

"The last general remembers that one of them is called Wang Ergou and the other is called Wednesday Wa." General Wang didn't think about it, and immediately replied, obviously he remembered it very well.

Yang Congyi nodded slightly, and then asked, "Have they all been paid?" ”

General Wang said: "It's been sent back, and it's been sent back to their hometown to their parents." ”

"They also did their part to exterminate the thieves, and they could not be treated badly, and the hearts of other soldiers were chilled." Yang Congyi said softly.

"What the adults said is that the last general arranged the bereavement pension at the first time at that time." Wang will respond immediately.

Yang Congyi's face gradually relaxed, and after taking a sip of tea, he suddenly ordered: "General Wang, bring me the roster of your military salary distribution in the last three months, is it okay?" ”

When General Wang heard this, he was slightly stunned, and then asked, "What do you want to do with the military salary roster?" ”

Yang Congyi said casually: "I want to see if you have deducted the soldiers' salaries and whether they have been paid in full." ”

General Wang hurriedly replied: "My lord, our military salaries have always been paid in full, and my brothers are very fortunate and never dare to deduct them. ”

"Since it's okay, then bring it to me." Yang Congyi drank tea without raising his eyes.

Wang Bu will hesitate for a moment, but still respond: "Yes." Wait a minute, adult. ”

After a while, Wang Bu will come back with a roster and hand it to Yang Congyi.

Yang Congyi didn't say anything, opened the roster, carefully read the records of the distribution of military salaries in February, March, and April this year, and after reading it, he closed the roster, didn't say a word, and raised his eyes to look at the general Wang in front of him.

Wang Bu was a little flustered when he saw it, and asked carefully, "My lord, is there any problem?" ”

Yang Congyi said with a smile: "General Wang, you just said that there were two soldiers of the forbidden army who were seriously injured and died in the battle with the thieves in September last year, one was named Wang Ergou and the other was called Zhou Zhouwa, why are their names still on the military salary roster in February, March and April this year, do you want to explain." ”

As soon as he heard this, Wang Bu was shocked and hurriedly replied: "My lord, forgive me, the two of them are indeed gone." Both of them have a bad family background, and when they are alive, they have to send their military salaries home to subsidize their families, but after they die, if their families do not have their military salaries, they will go hungry and flee the famine, and it will be a disaster when they die, and if their families starve to death because of the lack of military salaries to subsidize the family, the brothers will be cold. So the last general kept their names on the roster, so that they could get a salary for their families. ”

Yang Congyi smiled and said in a straight voice: "Do you know that this violates the laws and military discipline of the Great Song Dynasty?" ”

"The last general knows, but the last general has no choice, the brothers are very happy, desperate to work hard for their families to survive, as soon as they die, the family will run out of food, the last general sees it in his eyes, and his heart is really unhappy, if the last general is punished, the last general has no complaints, I just hope that the adults will not recover the military salary issued to them." Wang Bu said with tears in his eyes, emotional and difficult to control.

"General Wang doesn't have to be like this, I didn't say that I wanted to pursue it, I just asked you to explain, since it is a good heart, it would be good to make it clear, and the court will be considerate." Seeing this, Yang Congyi, whether it was true or not, had to speak to appease the other party's emotions.

"Thank you, sir!" Wang will clench his fists and thank you.

"In this way, you gather all the soldiers in the barracks, I have something to say." Yang Congyi didn't bother with the issue of the two people who were no longer there, and they were still leading the army's salary, and instead put forward another request.

"Yes, sir, wait a minute." The royal general agreed, and then went out to give orders.

In less than a quarter of an hour, all the dragoon forbidden troops stationed in Longquan County had assembled in the school field, and Yang Congyi walked into the school field with the roster and accompanied by General Wang, standing in front of hundreds of soldiers in order.

"This official is from the front of the palace, and he came to the Longquan garrison of the Dragoon Army today, just hoping to get to know everyone. Next, I will roll out the list by name, and stand on the other side. ”

After Yang Congyi finished speaking, all the soldiers replied in unison: "Yes." ”

Immediately, Yang Congyi began to roll out the names according to the roster of military salaries in April.

About two quarters of an hour later, nearly 500 names were counted, and the entire ranks of the forbidden army were divided into two parts.

One on the left and one on the right.