In the next few days, Li Yan inspected the counties, and the official gentry families in various places were quite honest, even if he began to collect taxes, there was no major movement. Although the officials in various places have nothing to do, they can be officials and leaders in peace and stability, and most of them are relatively satisfied with the various subsidies given by Li Yan.

In Henan, that is, the official of Guide Mansion is easy to do. In other places attacked by thieves, the incumbent officials were basically killed by the thieves, and the newly appointed people stayed in Kaifeng or other places, and did not dare to go to their posts at all. Of course, there are also those who are unwilling to be left in power, but they are just watched closely by Li Yan's people and do not hand over the impeachment note.

However, Li Yan, an official in the Guide Prefecture, could control it, but Li Yan, an official in Bozhou, could not control it. Because Li Yan's troops were well-trained and well-armed, those small bandits were no match at all, so the bandits in the territory of Guide were either exterminated or fled to the neighboring Bozhou.

At this time, the public security in Bozhou is very bad, and I thought that a dragon would be able to settle down a little after the big thieves left, but in more than a year, Bozhou has gathered tens of thousands of thieves. However, these thieves are scattered, and they attack and swallow each other, making Bozhou a mess. Even the state city has been attacked several times, but these thieves dare not set foot in Guide Mansion.

The governor of Bozhou wrote a letter to impeach and return to the German government to beggar-thy-neighbor and bring the thieves to Bozhou. But at this time, Zhang Xianzhong and other big thieves were also attacking and plundering everywhere in Nanzhili, and no one cared about these small things at all, so they could only let the local people find a way to train and suppress the thieves. However, the thieves are rampant, agriculture is naturally damaged, and natural disasters make it impossible to collect taxes, so naturally there is no way to train soldiers. As for the commercial tax, it is simply an ornament, and it can't collect a few hundred taels of silver a year.

The officials and gentry of Bozhou had no choice but to ask Su Jing to come. They scraped together some money and food, and wanted the Guide Mansion to send troops to help. But Su Jing couldn't even transfer a single soldier, so he could only take advantage of the opportunity when Li Yan came back to ask him face to face.

"General Li," Su Jing asked Li Yan in the yamen, "You see Bozhou's request for help, how to reply?"

Li Yan was thinking about whether to take the opportunity to control Bozhou at this time, but he immediately dispelled this idea. Bozhou is under the jurisdiction of Nanzhili, although Zhang Xianzhong and others were also attacking the city and plundering land in Nanzhili at this time, but there were still troops of Huang Degong and Liu Liangzuo. What's more, he can't make enemies on all sides, it's better to focus on Henan first.

"This," Li Yan politely refused: "Although the thieves have retreated from Kaifeng, I still have to send troops to recover the lost territory." Moreover, the thieves are still near Xuzhou, so there are really no extra troops to deploy. ”

Su Jing did not give up, and persuaded: "It's just a little thief who was driven out of us, as long as there are a thousand soldiers, they can be cleaned up." ”

Li Yan shook his head and said, "The troops in Luyi, Xiayi, and Yongcheng are only two thousand, how can one thousand soldiers be transferred?"

"Isn't there still a thousand elite soldiers in Fucheng," Su Jing reminded: "This is also to help us." While those thieves are still attacking and killing each other and have not been integrated, they can naturally be decided in one go. If they are consolidated into a large share, and we have food here, they will come and loot sooner or later. ”

Li Yan frowned, feeling that what Su Jing said made sense. Although he asked his subordinates to pay attention to the situation of the thieves, he did not give clear instructions, and it was better to remedy it. So he asked, "How much food does Bozhou give?"

"Fifty stone of grain, four thousand taels of silver." Su Jing felt that Li Yan was ready to agree, so he replied happily. He finally has some credit this time, this time Li Yan went to the rescue of Kaifeng and was promoted again, and he was already a chief military officer, so he also had to accumulate some credit. In today's troubled times, military merit is the heaviest, and it is the practice of the court to lead the troops of Wenchen, as long as he shows some military talent, the official position can still rise.

Li Yan weighed it for a while and said, "Let them add two hundred war horses." ”

"This, this is too much," Su Jing pleaded, "They may not have so many." Even if you do, you can't give it all to you."

Although Li Yan knew that Bozhou could get together these war horses, he really wanted too much. So he nodded and said: "Then let's do it, a hundred war horses, and the remaining one hundred, let them exchange them for other big animals, but one war horse for two big animals." When they are ready, I will send troops. ”

"General Li, you want too much, can you have less" Su Jing is still trying his best to let Li Yan ask for less payment, if it is according to Li Yan's request, it will not be helping, but taking advantage of the fire to rob. Don't say let your colleagues give him credit, it's good not to impeach him.

Li Yan looked at Su Jing and said with a smile: "Su Fuzun, we are our own people, aren't we?"

Su Jing had no choice but to agree. He is now completely dependent on Li Yan, and Li Yan's troops have taken care of all the following things, even if the people are in lawsuits, they all go to the barracks to ask the officers for help. The officials and servants in the yamen also received Li Yan's salary, if he didn't get along well with Li Yan, maybe he would have been under house arrest in the yamen like Dong Zhixian.

He also felt that Li Yan had really done it. But even if Li Yan really wanted to be a feudal town or rebel, he, as Li Yan's previous protector, would also be implicated. So he could only pray silently that Li Yan would never have any dissenting intentions. As for persuasion or anything, he was powerless.

After Li Yan left the mansion, he went to the barracks and asked Qian Er: "How much do you know about the thieves in Bozhou?"

"It's all small shares, and there are only a thousand people in the most, and only twenty or thirty in the few." Qian Er reported: "They are now fighting for territory and attacking each other, and there is no threat to us." ”

Li Yan instructed: "You send someone over and find a group of thieves to cooperate, just one or two hundred people." Let them provide us with information, we will not fight him, and give him some food and weapons. The point of the intelligence is who has the most power, and let them lead the way when necessary. ”

Qian Er asked: "Dashuai, only fight the thieves and don't take Bozhou down together."

Li Yan said with a smile: "We can't move Bozhou for the time being, but the thieves there have to be controlled, lest they become big and make trouble for us." ”

"Understood, whoever is big, we will fight whomever is bigger. Let them maintain the balance of power and attack each other, and they will not come to our side. Qian Er nodded and said.

Li Yan praised: "Well, yes, that's what it means." Then he ordered: "You get ready, gather a battalion of 1,000 men, and I will send you three more Frankie guns." ”

"Three hundred men in two wings is enough." Qian Er said confidently.

Li Yan taught: "Don't underestimate the enemy, if the intelligence is wrong, you can all come back safely." ”

"Humble duty understood."

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