Another day passed, and the "returns" promised by Cao Dan and others were delivered one after another. Two county towns were fought one after another, and all the heroes did not get a share of the spoils, so they were very generous. Gold and silver are fine and soft, grains and silk linen, and a dry daily necessities, everything is available. Through various means, individual heroes also accumulated a lot of clumsy tables, hu*, footstools, iron pots, etc., and they also sent people to send them to the Zhaozhou camp with their own trouble. No matter whether the gifts sent by everyone were expensive or cheap, Cheng Mingzhen accepted them with a smile, and then registered and made a book, preparing to bring them back to Ping'en for the purpose of relocating the displaced people and compensating his subordinates who died in battle.

After a few busy days, I finally got through the turmoil caused by the change of careers. Seeing that the time was almost up, Cheng Mingzhen resigned to Dou Jiande and prepared to take office. Dou Jiande was also preparing to move to Liaocheng for rectification, so he happily agreed to Cheng Mingzhen's request. made an appointment and personally took Song Zhengben and other civil and military personnel to the edge of the canal.

At the time of parting, looking at the sparse team of the Zhaozhou battalion, and looking at the black army behind him, Dou Jiande also felt sorry in his heart. Grabbed Cheng Mingzhen's horse reins and whispered: "When you take office, even if you let it go, I will take care of everything." If you lack money, food, or baggage, just write to me and I'll do my best to make it up for you. If any fortress or Zhuangzi dares to contradict you, write to me and tell me, and I will immediately send Fu Bao to level it! ”

"When the minister arrives in office, he will try his best to pacify the people, so that the people everywhere know the benevolence of the lord." Cheng Mingzhen bowed his body and responded with a smile.

Dou Jiande nodded with satisfaction, then thought about it for a while, and continued to advise: "Although the local officials are responsible for guarding the territory, the situation in Xiangguo County is special, so you don't have to force yourself too much. Whether the enemy from the north or the west is coming, although it is forced to strike. Afterwards, I will naturally lead the army to take back the territory for you! ”

Cheng Mingzhen secretly said in his heart, "If you lose all the nests, what else will I use to gain a foothold under you?" Even if I take it back, will it still be mine? But on the surface, he still smiled and agreed: "The lord is loving, and Weichen always remembers it." If there is two years of peace, Weichen promises that he will definitely create a land of fish and rice for the lord! ”

After that, the two said goodbye, and kept turning back and waving to each other as they walked. It wasn't until the brigade had crossed the river that they quickened up and headed straight for Ping'en.

When the soldiers of Zhaozhou left their lair last time to crusade against Yang Shanhui, they were at the end of summer, but at this moment, it was already the cold winter moon. Along the way, there was silver snow, dead trees and withered grass, and broken walls. It wasn't until I got close to the Qingzhang area that there was finally some life in front of me. Smoke fills the sky over a few of the tuntians, and although the roof is covered with thatch, it feels very warm.

When the team approached the county seat of Ping'en, the people who got the news had already welcomed out of the city. The old and weak women and children supported each other and looked forward to their children. Many people saw their loved ones at a glance, and their faces were full of tears with excitement. There are also many people who have been looking for the front of the team until the end of the team, but they didn't find the haunting faces, knowing that they and their husbands have been separated forever, and they can't help but hold their children or elders, crying bitterly on the spot.

Seeing this situation, Cheng Mingzhen was overwhelmed with emotion. Secretly glad that he took a step back and didn't become the chief manager. Otherwise, even if Dou Jiande doesn't doubt himself in the future, after one battle after another, I don't know how many orphans and widows will be created. If you don't have good luck in this life, you won't be able to achieve any general climate. There is really no need to drag down so many fathers and villagers, and let them follow their families to ruin together.

The little compassion he had in his heart seemed insignificant, but it benefited the people under his rule a lot. The baggage given by Cao Dan and others was originally relatively rich, and Dou Jiande deliberately told Cheng Mingzhen to keep all the decrees as before. Therefore, all the money and grain that should be exempted from the heads of the people were exempted, and some of the credit loans at the beginning of the Tuntian government in the previous two years were greatly reduced due to the relatively generous treasury of the government.

In this way, at the end of this year, in addition to sadness, there is more festive color. Some people who had no funeral to do at home took out some of the savings they had at hand, bought furniture and utensils, and bought some linen for girls and candy for boys, so that bursts of innocent and simple laughter could be heard from time to time in the streets and alleys.

Cheng Mingzhen was deeply encouraged by these festive atmospheres. Cheer up and send letters to several dilapidated counties under the original rule of Wu'an County, as well as Handan and Yongnian, which had long been in collusion with the Zhaozhou battalion, ordering the local officials to surrender to Dou Jiande as soon as possible, so as not to resurge after the beginning of spring and ruin the lives of the people. The position of those officials was already very embarrassing, they had no strength in their hands, and they had to bow down when they saw bandits, big and small. I wanted to ask the court for help, but because the roads to the west and south were blocked by Li Yuan and Li Mi, I couldn't even send a letter, let alone get a response. When he was spending his days, he suddenly saw Dou Jiandeken come out to rebuild order, and he didn't care if this person was a thief, so he received Cheng Mingzhen's letter, and immediately handed over the official seal without hesitation, and returned to his hometown to live in seclusion with the gold and silver he had accumulated over the years.

Therefore, just after the New Year, the county towns and fortresses under the rule of the former Xiangguo and Wu'an armies have basically been taken over by Cheng Mingzhen. According to Dou Jiande's order, he merged the two counties into one, abandoned the county towns that had been dilapidated and uninhabited and the county towns with less than 10,000 people as townships, and then roughly drew on the map according to the density of people, and classified the original dozen or so large and small county towns into Ping'en, Handan, Yongnian, and Longgang, respectively, by himself, Wang Ermao, Duan Qing, and Han Gesheng concurrently serving as county commanders. When the weather gets warmer, we will immediately start a new round of reclamation.

Julu Zeli has a humid climate and poor living conditions. Therefore, Cheng Mingzhen moved all the people left in Zedi into Ping'en County and scattered them to various places to arrange a settlement. Later, he sent people to the center of Zedi and set a small fire, destroying all the former camps, warehouses, watchtowers, and arrow towers.

When that's all done, spring is here. While assigning tasks to officials in various places, Cheng Mingzhen wrote a letter to Dou Jiande to report on his many arrangements in the past few months. Dou Jiande has heard of Cheng Mingzhen's actions through various channels. At this moment, seeing that he was humble and polite, and took the initiative to destroy the old nest left by Zhang Jincheng, he knew that the young man only wanted to protect himself, and he had no idea of competing with himself in his heart. So he was even more relieved, and praised him in his reply, and solemnly told him that he followed the advice of the young man and Song Zhengben and was ready to become the king. For the time being, the name is Changle, in order to rule the meaning of long-term peace.

When Cheng Mingzhen saw the reply, he had to be busy again, and Zhang Luo gave Dou Jiande a promotion gift, and quickly sent someone to send it. When the envoy came out, he finally settled down, so he began to wander around with his entourage, starting from the ancient battlefield of Julu in the north, inspecting the terrain and planning the reclamation area for the new year.

After years of war, the place is desolate. The good riverside water waters, and sometimes there are not a few people who walk for half a day. However, there are many wild wolves, wild dogs, wild boars, elks and other animals, and when they see people, they don't know how to be afraid, and they stand not far away and look curiously.

The cuckoo saw that his hand was itching, and he took out his bow and arrow from behind the saddle, and flapped his mount in pursuit. A dozen arrows were fired, and a bunch of prey was shot. It's just a little earlier in the season, and the beasts have experienced a cold winter, and they have long been hungry and skinny. The fur and meat were unusable, so they had to be chopped up to feed the hounds.

The cuckoo is a heroine on horseback, how can she enjoy this kind of inferior goods. looked back at Cheng Mingzhen and proposed loudly, "It's all hungry and dizzy guys, and they don't have any oil and water at all." I'm going to get a big one and I'll get you a drink tonight!" ”

Cheng Mingzhen was afraid that something would happen to her, so he hurriedly rode his horse to catch up, and while galloping, he whispered advice: "How can there be good prey in this season." Be careful, don't let the horse's hooves get down the rat hole! ”

"I know there's a big guy in this neighborhood around here." The cuckoo looked up at the surrounding terrain and shouted. "You must not have been to that place, it's on the edge of Juluze. I can't see it in the distance, but when I walk in, it's a big mountain! ”

There has been no fight in recent times, and Cheng Mingzhen is also bored. Hearing what his wife said, he agreed to the situation, and beckoned the soldiers and guards behind him not to lose them, and to go first with his horse and wife.

I ran for nearly fifty miles in one go, and sure enough, I arrived at a wonderful place. The horse's hooves kept going down, but the terrain in front of him was getting higher and higher. "This place is called Yinyangling, and Zhang Erbo took me to fight the black blind here. That thing has thick meat, and you may not lose much fat if you are hungry for a winter! ”

"It's a great place!" Cheng Mingzhen raised his head and looked around, and saw the big mountain rising from the ground in front of him, and the hugging trees were standing in a forest, covering from the foot of the mountain to the top of the mountain. Looking farther away, the clouds on the top of the mountain peak are level with the withered grass on the horizon, and it is impossible to distinguish the difference between heaven and earth.

"I guess it used to be a big lake, but I don't know how the water dried up, so the small island in the lake became a high mountain, and the bottom of the lake became land. So it looks like a tall mountain, but it may actually be lower than the ground elsewhere! With some experience in the book back then, he vaguely guessed the cause of Yinyangling. I was amazed by the magic of nature, when I suddenly heard an angry roar in my ears, "Woo-woo"

"Not good!" Cheng Mingzhen was so excited that he almost fell off his horse. Look at the mount under the crotch again, the two forces are trembling, and they refuse to leave no matter how much they urge.

Such a majestic voice will surely come from the mouth of the beast. Cheng Mingzhen was worried that his wife was in danger, so he quickly drew his bow and arrows, jumped off his mount, and went to join the cuckoo on foot. The cuckoo not far away was caught off guard, and he didn't have time to pump the long guy. Bent the bow and arrow pointed straight at the hillside, but the war horse under the crotch dangled around, saying nothing and refusing to let the master aim at the target with peace of mind.

"Beast, come at me!" Cheng Mingzhen was shocked and rushed forward with a roar. He could already see clearly that a tiger was rushing down the hillside and pounced on his wife.

At this critical moment, suddenly, a crisp bowstring sounded in the distance, "Collapse!" Immediately after, the tiger that pounced on the cuckoo suddenly froze in mid-air, rolled and fell to the ground, got up and struggled and wailed, trying to escape, but it was crooked, and could no longer take a step.

"Collapse!" Another string cracked like a silk. A feathered arrow broke through the air and hit the tiger in the right eye. The unfortunate beast wailed in pain, but with a feathered arrow stuck in each eye, he became completely blind and could no longer hurt anyone.

The husband and wife looked at each other. Such accurate archery is more than poked compared to Hao Laodao's peak moment. If the hunter deliberately injured someone just now, the husband and wife would definitely have to bury their bones here. Just as he was startled, another exclamation came from a distance, "Ah, Sister Du Juan, General Cheng, how did you find here!" ”