After a while, the sentry came back and said that the exiles were attacking a Zhuangzi, and stopped for a moment.

After waiting for a quarter of an hour, I saw several people running over.

"Why are you still here?!" A man who looked like a steward shouted: "Go to the front, those thieves are going to rob and eat up our master's Zhuangzi!" ”

Li Yan asked, "How many thieves are there?" All stopped at your place? He knew that the largest grange in the north belonged to Zhang Dian's family. This canonical historian is not big, but the family is rich, and there are more than 3,000 acres of grange in Beicheng alone. There are also some shops to buy and sell, and the family background is very thick.

But now that grain is king, all other businesses are basically closed, and only one grain store is still open. Although Li Yan has a lot of food in his hands now, he also has a lot of people to support, and other small and medium-sized families who have not joined Li Yan's team still have to buy food from the grain store to survive. Therefore, Zhang Dianshi attached great importance to this grange, and specially improved the treatment of tenant farmers and gave them a little more grain, so that they would not be attracted by Li Yan.

Usually on official business in the county, Zhang Dianshi and Li Yan have no intersection. Li Yan's troops raised their own salaries, and they did not need to be paid by the county, so Zhang Dianshi, who was in charge of the household, had no opportunity to exert influence. That is, the grain and rice distributed by the county to the more than 100 soldiers guarding the county seat were from Zhang Dianshi's hands, so thirty percent of the grain was taken away by him, and the rest was made up with old grain and sand.

Li Yan had known about this for a long time, but at that time, he was not strong enough and had no chance, so he didn't move them. Now that he has this opportunity, he naturally won't let it go.

"There are tens of thousands of thieves!" The steward said in a loud voice, "They rushed into the village, and they ate all the grain in the village, and they also cut the wheat in the field and boiled it to eat." Hurry up! If it's too late, they will ruin all my wheat!" ”

Li Yan nodded and said, "I know." ”

"Got it?!" The steward shouted unknowingly: "It's over if you know?!" Hurry up and give the order and let your people go to drive away the thieves! ”

Li Yan said lightly: "The thieves are powerful, and there is no danger to defend in the north, so we can only guard here." ”

"You, you," the steward looked at the neat arrays sitting behind him, and shouted, "There are so many of you and such good weapons, why are you not the opponents of the outcasts?!" You are dereliction of duty! I'm going to tell our master, go to the county and sue you! ”

"Please." Li Yan still said lightly.

The steward looked at Li Yan, flicked his sleeves, and immediately ran in the direction of the county seat with a few of his followers.

"General, I went to do them?" Qian Er was next to Li Yan and asked in a low voice.

Li Yan shook his head and said, "Let them go, this time we will solve all the big households in the county at once, and save the trouble in the future." ”

Qian Er didn't know how to solve it, but he didn't ask. He felt that he was with the right person, he had been a soldier in Yansui Town, and he had been a thief under Li Chuang, that is, he was most satisfied with Li Yan's troops. It can keep people alive and give people hope. He wants to take his family from Shaanxi over, but he doesn't know where his family is now? Are you still alive?

Li Yan looked at the sky, it was almost noon, so he ordered the soldiers to eat. The people had already brought the baked cakes, and the fireheads began to boil water. There is no need for hot soup, after all, it is wartime, and it is good to boil some hot water for the soldiers to drink. The cake has been mixed with oil, salt, radish, cabbage, green vegetables, etc., and the taste is not guaranteed to be liked by everyone, but it is both nutritious and hunger-resistant.

Li Yan and the other officers also have the same meal, and they must eat the same amount as the soldiers to determine the physical condition of the soldiers. If they don't understand the physical condition of their soldiers, they may be able to devise unrealistic tactical arrangements in battle, exposing their troops to losses outside of the combat factor.

Therefore, the famous generals in ancient times shared weal and woe with the soldiers, and this was not simply to boost morale. However, this also requires the military generals to be able to make plans independently, and not be influenced by the ministers in order to reflect the effect, otherwise, even if they share the joys and sorrows, they will also be inexplicably defeated.

By the time the soldiers had finished their lunch, the hungry people had not yet arrived. However, Zhang Dianshi and Su Jing came in a carriage, and other wealthy families in the county also followed, and a lot came.

Originally, Su Jing had always sat in a sedan chair, but under Zhang Dianshi's reminder, he also changed into a carriage. After all, the carriage runs fast, and if it is in danger, it is much better than a sedan chair.

"Mr. Lee!" Su Jing called Li Yan over and said dissatisfiedly: "This county keeps you in Qi County to protect the safety of the county!" With so many tigers, how can they allow thieves to wreak havoc in the county?! ”

Li Yan arched his hand and said: "The thieves are powerful, there are tens of thousands of people, and there is no danger to defend in the north, but there is the old road of the Bianhe River here that can be used." ”

"You should attack!" Zhang Dianshi said loudly.

Li Yan said with a smile: "Zhang Dianshi said that I am a little bit of a person, even if I attack, at most I can defeat the thieves." If the thieves turn in one direction, they will be able to plunder elsewhere, and we can only follow behind and run for our lives. ”

"What is the use of the imperial court raising you?!" Zhang Dianshi continued to question.

Li Yan said stiffly: "This is not right, I am self-raising food." ”

Su Jing saw that the two of them were not speculative, for fear that something would go wrong. He now needs Li Yan to defend the county border, and he also needs Zhang Dianshi to help run the yamen, so he relies on each other and can't let the two fall out completely. So he said, "Now is not the time for disputes, we must solve the problem first." ”

"Yes, solve the problem!" Zhang Dianshi said: "Please General Li immediately send troops to drive the thieves out of the county!" ”

Li Yan said coldly: "Li has enough troops, and the food is not enough, so he can only hold on, not attack." ”

"Huh?" Zhang Dianshi grabbed the conversation and asked, "Is it a lack of troops?" Or is there a shortage of food? ”

"It's both." Li Yan waited for him to say this, so he immediately replied.

"Good!" Zhang Dianshi said: "I will give 50 stone of grain, plus 200 taels of silver, to solve the problem of food and salary for Mr. Li." After that, he said to several other rich households: "Ladies and gentlemen, Li is always short of food and salary, should we help him?" ”

Of these people, only two of them have granges in the north, and the others were all pulled by Zhang Dian Shiqiang. These people pay grain and taxes to deal with Zhang Dianshi, so they have to come.

"I'll give you twenty stones."

"I'll give fifteen horses."

"I produce two hundred pounds of oil and one stone of salt."

……

Several businessmen reluctantly reported their donations. Zhang Dianshi knew their strength, and he didn't dare to report much, so he had to carefully calculate and report it.