The last time Huo Bao and his entourage came to Python Village, it was from Quyang County through Nanshan Village to Dongshan Temple, and from the direction of Dongshan Temple into the mountain thirty miles into the village.

A total of 90 miles of mountain road, walked for two days, and rested in Nanshan Village for one night in the middle.

This time I went down the mountain, but I took another direction, and the seventy-mile mountain road went directly to Quyang County.

In addition to the two mule carts of the Scouts, Shui Jin and the others also used four mule carts, and two carts of copper coins were pulled on them, which was to find out the news in the city under the guise of purchasing.

Shui Jin came to the Scout's side early and squeezed to Huo Bao's side, and the two sat on the wheel, without saying a word.

In the depths of the Black Python Mountain, because of the water veins, you can see the green.

Out of the depths of the mountains, the green becomes scattered.

Large tracts of farmland began to appear, with scattered farmsteads and cottages. Now that spring and summer are at handover, it is the season when farmers are working hard, but what everyone sees is dilapidated and desolate.

Dry and abandoned farmland, only broken and ruined cottages abound.

Shui Jin is also from a peasant family, and he looks at this situation and directly smokes air.

"Everyone has run away, and even if it rains, it's too late for the crops."

"Where are you going? Can't they all go to Bozhou? Huo Bao was puzzled: "Did they all go to Lingshui?" ”

It is 500 miles away from Bozhou, and it takes more than ten days to walk on the road, and for the people who have been cut off from rations, it is impossible to walk alive at all.

Shui Jin shook his head: "No, we passed by Lingshui with the third brother before, and we didn't see how many more people in the county, will they all flee to the south of the Yangtze River?" ”

"Who knows." Huo Bao thought of the sporadic ferries on the river, and did not think that these people had really fled to Jiangnan: "When we went south in early March, we also saw a lot of unoccupied villages...... There are those who have been plagued by bandits, and those who have been wiped out, and there are those who have not been seen and desolate. ”

"It is estimated that they have fled the famine, God does not rain, the dealer can't count on it, and he can't wait for death." Shui Jin sighed.

The same people are from Quyang County, and the Qikeshu Village where Tusan, Shuijin and others are located is in the northwest of the county, 30 miles away from the county seat, next to the direction of Bozhou, and there are tributaries of the Huai River outside the village, and the drought situation is much better than that of Nanshan Village and Black Python Mountain.

If it weren't for this, the third disciple was ordered to return to his hometown last month to recruit soldiers, and he would not have recruited 800 villagers.

Marshal Liu claimed to have 50,000 troops, but in fact 50,000 was an imaginary number. The entire Bozhou had less than 50,000 soldiers, and it was under the command of five marshals.

Marshal Liu had only eight thousand real troops on hand.

These 800 Xiangyong are eye-catching, originally Marshal Liu said before that how much of the good levy would be under Tusan's men, and he didn't mention this matter when he was told by the people around him.

Don't do anything else, so you have to "take the initiative to ask for help" to go south to recover Quyang.

Of the 800 villagers, only 23 people were selected.

As for Jiang Ping, under the command of Marshal Liu, he was the commander of the capital, and handed over hundreds of people in his hands, so that he could be "deputy" and follow the three disciples to the south.

Huo Bao is not an outsider, Shui Jin chatters about this, but he just wants Huo Bao to know that it is not easy for his uncle, and his uncle and nephew work together to make a career.

Huo Bao listened, but felt more and more that his first decision was right.

The right to independently command the armed forces is the fundamental principle for developing forces.

If the third apprentice hadn't taken this step, he would have been just an ordinary general under Marshal Liu, where would he have the capital to compete for the country?

Huo Bao drove, and listened to the words of both of them intentionally or unintentionally.

After knowing that the famous Marshal Liu actually only had 8,000 soldiers in his hands, Huo Bao couldn't help but pout, and felt a little contempt in his heart.

The three stockades in the Black Python Mountain have been integrated, with 1,070 regular soldiers and 500 auxiliary soldiers, adding up to 2,002.

That Marshal Liu, who cautiously took the 800 people of the 3rd Expedition, will he attack more than 2,000 people?

The third apprentice is a good-tempered person, but those village owners don't eat rice, and they can't say that they will have to fight again.

When Huo Bao thought of this, he faintly gloated. He didn't realize that he had singled out the Scouts and the law enforcement team, and had not been brought under the three forces.

Seventy miles of mountain roads, everyone has not stopped, even the dry food is eaten directly on the road.

At the time of Shen Zheng, the group finally arrived outside Quyang County.

At the gate of the city, there were two lines of teams, one walking pedestrians, and the speed was quite fast; In a line of mule carts and horse-drawn carts, there were officers and soldiers who inspected the goods and asked a few questions, which seemed to be collecting the entrance tax.

In recent years, there have been continuous party disputes in the imperial court, and the magistrates have also thought of all kinds of taxes to scrape the land, and everyone is not surprised.

"When we passed by in late March, no one had collected taxes." Huo Bao noticed the difference, and looked back at the mule cart: "There are too many people, so let's divide half into the city and stay outside to pick up the half." ”

Shui Jin had no objection, left half of the manpower, ordered a few small hats in green clothes and pretended to be servants of large households, and led a mule cart loaded with copper coins to line up at the gate of the county seat.

Huo Bao's side divided the ten scouts into several groups, made an appointment with the meeting place after entering the city, and each lined up.

By Huo Bao's side, there were only Shui Jin and Huo Bao.

Pedestrians pay a penny per person to enter the city, which is not much.

There was no money in front of him, and the county soldiers did not drive him away, but only asked him to register the purpose of entering the city, looking for relatives, visiting friends, or begging for a living, and also showed him the way, and the yamen was calling people to pass the drainage ditch, manage food and housing, and pay five cents a day, and if he couldn't find a job, he could deal with it over there for a few days.

The man thanked Dade and thanked him, and went away rejoicing.

Huo Bao couldn't help frowning.

A penny to enter the city? Five-penny wages?

Have the prices in Quyang come down?

Ten wen a bun, two hundred wen a pound of sauce meat, one hundred and fifty wen a sauce duck, and a thousand dollars of rice, this is the price in early March, almost the same in late March, he still remembers it clearly.

The drought is still continuing, and there are only few grain reserves in various places, and there are not many channels, so how can this price come down?

If it weren't for the high prices, everyone wouldn't have loaded two full cars of copper coins down the mountain as cover.

A cart of copper coins, more than 100 yuan, if you really want to exchange for food, it is only more than 1,000 catties.

In order to collect money, Quyang County will collect "city entry tax" at the city gate, but the city entry tax for this person is too cheap, unless it ...... The purpose of the card is not to collect money.

Huo Bao couldn't help but look at the mule cart.

It was already Shui Jin's turn over there, and a county soldier opened the curtain, looked inside, said a few words to the people around him, collected a string of money, and waved his hand to let them enter the city, which looked no different.

It's just that after the mule cart entered the city, two young men were attached to it.

Huo Bao's heart was raised, but his face was not obvious.

Huo Bao had already paid three cents, and the three of them also entered the city smoothly.

"Now this Quyang County order is good, and the entrance fee is only charged for one penny...... I came here the year before last to collect three articles. Shui Jin said with a grin.

Huo Bao was puzzled: "I don't have two dollars at the end of this day, why are you bothering like this?" Worth staring at a dozen people? ”

Both of them looked at Huo Bao, but Huo Bao didn't speak immediately, and only when they were far away from the city gate did they whisper to the two: "Our mule cart is being targeted." ”

When Shui Jin heard this, he was not surprised, but a little excited: "It must be the ruffian staring at the gate of the city, staring at the people who enter the city to make a profit." Hmph, these grandsons, bump into our hands, clean them up! ”

Huo Bao thought about the price: "No wonder the county soldiers charge such a low entry tax!" They did not collect taxes, but found out at the gates of the city, and designated them to collude with the ruffians. ”

Shui Jin said angrily: "It's the collusion of officials and bandits again, there are no good officials in this world!" Hmph, who is afraid that they won't make it? Let's go to the meeting point and bring our brothers over, we can't let them succeed! Before the words fell, he was leaving.

"You don't have to go over, let them rob!" Huo Bao pulled the water in and said.

"Huh?!" Shui Jin's eyes widened, and he didn't know why.

"This Quyang County is wrong......"