After the Taiping Station, it was not far from the north and it had entered the territory of Tongyu County of the Weisheng Army. In the past, Xiao Tang's hometown of Zhang Di, who was the first to conquer Kou, revisited, and the magistrates, county lieutenants, capitalists, and officials of all sizes in the Tongluo County Ya who had already been notified by the military officials also immediately went out of the city and greeted Xiao Tang and his party at the long pavilion ten miles south of the county to the court officials and generals who went to Hedong Road on business.

The current magistrate of Tongyu County, surnamed Gong, is a fat literati with a big belly. When the officers and soldiers appeared in the eyes of the officials of Tongyu County, Gong Zhixian wiped off the sweat on his head again, and moved his fat body with great effort to meet Xiao Tang.

Although the officialdom of the Great Song Dynasty emphasized literature over martial arts, Gong Zhixian was just a seven-grade Zhixian County, and Xiao Tang was a member of the imperial court who signed the Privy Council from the second rank and was also the envoy of the Xin'an Army, not to mention that Gong Zhixian also knew that Xiao Tang was a celebrity around the official, how could he dare to slack off easily? And the magistrate of flowing water, the iron-beaten Xu official, the county lieutenant in the Tonglu County Ya, is still the county lieutenant Li who once held a banquet in the restaurant in the county to entertain Xiao Tang and other court officials.

In addition to this Li County Lieutenant, Xiao Tang saw an acquaintance he hadn't seen for a long time, he was the one who rushed to the Hebei Daimyo Mansion for a banquet when Xiao Tang and Su Jinniang were married, and helped Xiao Tang capture Wu Li, a wealthy family of the Weisheng Army who was a traitor Lei Ben in Xiao Jiaji's mansion.

Wu Li's Zhuangyuan is not far from Tongyu County, the previous conquest of Zhang Di's thief was completed, Xiao Tang was also sent by the military, and Wu Li was not convenient to go to the army to find Xiao Tang to talk about the old feelings. And now that the bandits in Hedong have risen again, Xiao Tang is in charge of the military power in Hedong, and Wu Li, who was born as a local squire in the Weisheng Army, naturally wants to take advantage of this time to come to visit in person.

"Grass people Wu Li, see Xiao Jieshuai!"

As soon as Wu Li saw Xiao Tang, he immediately bowed his sleeves forward, and it turned out that he had the intention of doing business with Xiao Tang in Hedong Weishengjun and Hebei Daimyo's mansion and cooperating with each other. Now Xiao Tang has a prominent position in the court, and Wu Li's attitude towards him is naturally more respectful, and then I heard Wu Li say again: "Xiao Jieshuai was a famous hero in the rivers and lakes back then, and now he has repeatedly made contributions to the country, and the grass people are as happy as they hear it." I didn't expect to finally have to pay a visit here today, how lucky, how lucky! ”

"Master Wu Zhuang, you are also my respected elder in terms of seniority, not to mention that you and I have our own affection, don't be so polite."

Xiao Tang hurriedly stepped forward to help Wu Li, it is said that Wu Li helped him capture Lei Benna, who betrayed Xiao Mansion, and led his henchmen to go all the way to the Daimyo's Mansion to participate in his wedding. Since he still owes Wu Li a favor, Xiao Tang naturally treats him very kindly in terms of etiquette.

Wu Li Mansion steward Xu Wei and Tang Xian also stepped forward to greet Xiao Tang, the two of them were also angry because their master deliberately showed favor to Xiao Tang, but they didn't expect that after a few years, Xiao Tang was in the middle of the court, and the power on the white road was not necessarily less than that of a feudal official, it was Xu Wei and Tang Xian who praised their master Wu Li for really having the name of knowing people, and at the same time, they were also downright respectful to Xiao Tang.

After some greetings, Gong Zhixian, Li County Lieutenant and other officials in the Tonglu County Ya hurriedly invited Xiao Tang to rest in the county government again. On the way, Gong Zhixian learned that Xiao Tang led several officers and troops to defeat 6,000 thieves who were causing trouble at the boundary of Taipingyi in Longde Mansion, and captured another 1,000 bandits.

Now the soldiers and horses in the command department of the Weisheng Army and some garrison officers and generals were either defeated by the thieves, and their whereabouts are unknown, or they abandoned the officials and fled, and they disappeared. Now the thieves in Hedong are very arrogant in Mianshang, Qinyuan and other places in the east of the Weisheng Army, and they can't tell when they will fight to Tongluo County.

Fortunately, Xiao Tang led several state officials and troops to be stationed in Tongba, and the sky is pitiful, for Gong Zhi County, Xiao Tang is not only a senior member of the court who must be carefully served, but also a fateful nobleman who can keep his official position and life! Thinking of this, Gong Zhixian was even more respectful of Xiao Tang as his own father, and no matter what Xiao Tang commanded, he agreed very happily.

After Xiao Tang and Xiao Jiasui, Luo Jian, Hu Yanzhuo, Guan Sheng and other officials and henchmen came to the county government hall in Tongyu County, he did not beat around the bush and said to Gong Zhi County straight to the point: "Gong Zhi County, bandits in Hedong Prefecture are becoming more and more rampant, causing the people of Li everywhere to suffer from banditry and military disasters. And I was ordered to go to Hedong on business, firstly, to recruit the rogues who plagued the villagers, and secondly, to select brave men and train new troops in Hedong.

And I heard that the people of Hedong are forced to make a living, and many of them go against thieves to avoid officers and soldiers, and even the government can't take care of those displaced refugees, and teach them to go to the outlaws and murderers to join the gang. Since the people in Hedong are now exhausted and confused, the official intends to recruit and settle the displaced people in Tongluo County, so that not only can they choose the brave ones to practice, but also teach the displaced people to have a place to live, so that they will not be forced to be helpless and go to thieves.

If you are not careful, you also have to bother Gong Zhixian to send officials in the yamen to register the origins of the homeless people and temporarily sort out the household records, teach the homeless people to settle their lives, and stabilize the people's hearts. Of course, at that time, the displaced people from all over the country will only temporarily settle down in Tongluo County, and when the official has issued documents to several military prefectures such as Taiyuan Prefecture and Anding Army, he will accept refugees in batches, re-register them and make a register, and be able to perform their own business. ”

"This ......"

Gong Zhixian muttered in his heart when he heard this, although when there were floods, droughts, bandits and other disasters in various places, according to the practice of the Great Song Dynasty, the imperial court usually went to the local area to recruit displaced people and incorporated them into the Xiang Army. But Gong Zhixian said in his heart that Tonglu County is just a county seat, how many displaced people can be settled?

Under the rule of Hedong Lu, 17 prefectures, including Tonghe, Dai, Xin, Fen, Liao, Ze, Lu, Jin, Jiang, Ci, Xi, Shi, Lan, Feng, Lin, and Fu, as well as the six armies of Pingding, Huoshan, Dingqiang, Ninghua, Qilan, and Weisheng, as well as the two prisons of Yongli and Datong. Although the Weisheng Army was also the relatively wealthy state capital in Hedong Road in the past, but now Hedong is seriously troubled, and there are tens of thousands of refugees who have no fixed place to live, and there are all kinds of people who are homeless.

Thinking of this, the fat on Gong Zhixian's face seemed to shake a few times, he laughed dryly, nodded to Xiao Tang and said: "Xiao Jieshuai has an order, and he should do it according to his humble duties, but ...... The people in the county are scarce and there is not much money and grain, although some grain is accumulated in the warehouse, taking care of the people in the county is already stretched. However, bandits are rampant in Hedong, and the suffering homeless people are only afraid that there will be tens of thousands of people, but they are not willing to work hard, but they are afraid of delaying Xiao Jieshuai's major event. ”

Xiao Tang was slightly stunned, he said that no matter whether the magistrate had concealed it or not, if he really waited for a large number of displaced people in the county, the consumption of daily rations alone would indeed be very huge, but Weisheng Army's Tongqi County was not only located in the center of Hedong Road, but also very close to the range of the Hedong thieves' rebellion. Nowadays, several military states in Hedong have lost their troops and generals, and the yamen of various state capitals are also accustomed to sweeping the snow in front of their doors on weekdays, for fear that they will disobey the yin and yang, and refuse to spend the money and food of their own state capitals to carefully settle the displaced victims. Moreover, although Xiao Tang now holds great power, after all, he also knows that he is sent by military duties, and according to the division of ministries, it is indeed inconvenient for him to meddle in the finances of the local state capital. Could it be that they really have to send people back to Bianjing to invite the imperial court, and then send money and food to come to the disaster relief? How much time will it take to go back and forth, and the process will be too cumbersome.

Wu Li, who was sitting on the side, suddenly laughed loudly: "What's so difficult about this? Although I can't compare to Xiao Jieshuai's wealth, but there are thousands of hectares of fertile land in the territory of Weisheng Army, and I can be regarded as a rich party, since Xiao Jieshuai is worried about the livelihood of the displaced people in Hedong, although Wu is not talented, he is also willing to help Xiao Jieshuai! ”8)