Just as Jiang and Qin were talking, Wang Jiuxing hurriedly came to the small courtyard, and when he saw that the two were still eating, Wang Jiu bowed, looked at Jiang Min with his eyes, and stopped talking, Jiang Min understood and said:

"Mr. Qin is not an outsider, he has something to say."

"No." Wang Jiu wiped the sweat from his forehead and breathed through: "My lord, this morning I sent someone to buy a cold ice servant and returned to the mansion to report that Tunken Village was attacked by horse thieves last night, with nearly 100 casualties, and more than 60 horse thieves were killed and wounded, and seven people were captured alive. ”

Jiang Min was taken aback when he heard the news of the horse thief attack:

"There is such a thing." He looked at Qin Han and said, "Brother Qin, it must be the horse thieves who have been entrenched in Guangxin, Dingyang, and Lincheng all year round. ”

Qin Han said thoughtfully:

"The deserted village has been established for less than four months, and there is neither food hoarding nor money, so why did the horse thieves attack the deserted village? The strange thing about this matter is that it has something to do with yesterday's royal guest? ”

"Yuke? Brother Qin meant that the horse thief was rushing to the royal guest. ”

At this time, Wang Jiu interjected:

"Lord, Wei Xian said that more than 200 horse thieves who attacked the deserted village last night were all led by Huo Xing, the leader of the horse thieves, and said that someone spent 300 inches of silver to ask for other people's heads."

"In this way, the horse thieves who attacked Tun Village last night were instructed by someone, so who could it be?"

Jiang Min couldn't think of anyone who could pay a horse thief to rob and kill Wei Xian. Wei Xian made a living by practicing medicine on weekdays, and never offended anyone. There is neither an entanglement of interests nor a stake, who will want his head.

At this time, Qin Han slapped the case with his palm and shouted:

"It's them!"

Jiang Min was puzzled and hurriedly asked:

"Brother Qin, who is it?"

"Guo Peng, Zhang and the second son, who else can there be besides them."

"Brother Qin's words are reasonable, Marquis Ding Yang led the army to quell the rebellion back then, and it is difficult to guarantee that he will not collect the mob as a disaster. No wonder in recent years, horse thieves have been repeatedly banned, and they never thought that Ding Yanghou would also secretly communicate with the thief army. ”

"No, Marquis Dingyang is a marquis, and his Duan does not dare to be a thief, and his young son Zhang does not have the courage to do so. I am afraid that Guo Pan, a eunuch, will raise thieves, so that Guo Peng will be restrained for his own use. ”

Qin Han concluded that Guo Peng did it, and Jiang Min said suspiciously:

"Guo Peng is a concubine, can he be ruthless because of this?"

"Hmph." Qin Han smiled coldly: "Horse thieves have been rampant for seven or eight years, but in the past four years, they have passed through the commercial goods near Dingyang City, and they have encountered horse thieves in one out of ten, losing tens of thousands of goods, can it really be so coincidental?" ”

About four years ago, the rebellion of Xianguo was quelled, Guo Pan was reused by the queen mother, and acquiesced in his land accumulation in the territory of the Marquis of Dingyang, that is, from that time, horse thieves in Dingyang, Guangxin, and Lincheng began to be active, and the frequency of plundering caravans skyrocketed.

And before that, this horse thief did not dare to rob the road during the day, and they all plundered the caravan after dark.

Every time the officers and soldiers went out to suppress the thieves, most of them returned in vain. Jiang Min wanted to exterminate the horse thief several times, but because the horse thief fled the territory of Dingyang City, he could not be exterminated every time. This time, he suddenly attacked the deserted village and went directly at Wei Xian's head, just because the deserted village was located at the boundary of Lincheng, and the horse thieves dared to make waves

Jiang Min then hurried back to the mansion to see Bailiyan, and when the seven captured horse thieves were pressing on the front hall compound, allowing the heat to be exposed.

"Wei Xian has seen the lord."

Baili Yan saluted, and Jiang Min comforted and said:

"I know what happened last night. Wang Jiu has been asked to take 500 guan from the inner government and transport it to the deserted village with 100 stone polished rice. In the future, the Lone Society ordered the night patrol cavalry to cross the border to patrol the defense in order to increase the armament of the deserted village. ”

The lord is kind to the people, and Wei Xian is grateful. The motive of the horse thief this time is clear, and he is worried that it will be unfavorable to the government, especially at the moment, and he implores the lord to send troops to exterminate this horse thief. ”

"This matter has been ordered by Wang Jiu to investigate quickly, and as for the matter of sending troops, it is a big matter. Although the government raised 2,000 troops, it was likely that the rash dispatch of troops would make the Lingling suspicious, and this matter should be considered in the long run. ”

"Not really. This group of horse thieves entrenched in Guangxin, Dingyang, Lincheng three places for more than seven or eight years, notoriety, if the lord can send troops to exterminate the horse thieves, in the future can also be in the name of the thief name to cross the border. If this opportunity is missed, I am afraid that the opportunity will not come again. In the next has been plotting with the royal guest Song Jie and others to exterminate the horse thief, and the lord is also invited to learn from it. ”

"What, join forces with the Royal Guest." Jiang Min was stunned for a moment, and then thought of what Qin Han said, and his face sank: "Wei Xian, the matter of using troops is a big matter, a slight mistake, the alarm is small, and the casualties are big for no reason, so you must not act rashly." ”

"Lord, this matter was originally planned by Song Jie and other royal guests, and it was not an impromptu idea. Just because Song Jie and others stayed in the deserted village last night, they happened to bump into it, if this matter is ignored, it will be extremely unfavorable to the reputation of Yuke. Moreover, it is not a bad thing for the lord to make good friends with the royal guests, if the lord is inconvenient to send troops, he can also solve the urgent needs of Song Jie and others with food and grass. ”

Sending troops to suppress thieves is beneficial to Guangxin Baixin without any harm, which can not only train troops, but also exterminate horse thieves to win the hearts of the people, and at the same time, the soldiers will cross other subordinate areas in the future and launch a surprise attack, so they can surprise the thieves in the name of suppressing them. But listening to Jiang Min's meaning, it seems that he has no intention of exterminating the horse thief.

"There are no disadvantages in this matter, and I ask the lord to make a clear decision."

"There is no need to mention the matter of Guangxin soldiers. As for the grain and grass, you can consider it at your discretion, so you can step aside. ”

Jiang Min decisively refused to send troops, which made Bailiyan feel disappointed, and when he left the mansion, Chen Yunfeng came to meet him.

"I heard that my brother was attacked by horse thieves last night, so I rushed back to the mansion non-stop, I don't know what the casualties were in the deserted village last night, but I was caught alive."

"Don't hide it from Brother Chen, more than 100 people were killed and injured in the name of the village, more than 60 horse thieves were killed and injured, and 7 people were captured, so the deserted village was saved."

told Chen Yunfeng in detail about the attack last night, and heard that Jiang Min refused to send troops to suppress the thieves, Chen Yunfeng shouted that he had missed the opportunity:

"I hurried back to the mansion to persuade the lord to send troops to suppress the thief, how could the lord suddenly refuse?"

Bailiyan faintly smelled a hint of smell and asked:

"Could it be that Brother Yunfeng has already intended this."

"Not long after the rise of this group of horse thieves, he persuaded the lord to suppress the thieves, and the lord has indeed spared no effort to suppress the thieves over the years. First, it can be used to train troops, and secondly, it can also justifiably enter the surrounding territories of other cities, and it will be much easier to mobilize troops and horses in the future. How can such a good thing be missed, let alone by the royal guest, there is no reason to refuse. ”

However, all those who are knighted are allowed to raise private soldiers, and even the doctors, lords, etc., as long as the financial resources allow, can also raise private soldiers, private soldiers are stationed in fiefdoms in peacetime, and the battle can be transferred to the front line by the lord commander with the army to fight together, and the battle results obtained can be converted into gold and silver or food for war merits.

However, in peacetime, in addition to the accompanying guards, the private soldiers of the whole system and the upper scale are not allowed to leave the fiefdom, and they are not allowed to dispatch to garrison other places to govern the land without authorization.

Now bandits are rampant, but it provides an excuse to send troops, especially this time the deserted village was attacked, and the people of Guangxin Mansion were attacked, Guangxin Gong sent troops to suppress thieves, how can there be a reason not to send troops when the head of the turtle is the reason. What's more, the royal guests are involved, the government does not act, and what is the face of Guangxin Gong.

Don't pass Bailiyan, Chen Yunfeng rushed to the study:

"Chen Yunfeng has seen the lord." Chen Yunfeng gave a slight salute and continued: "I just heard Wei Xian's words, the lord intends to give up the thief, I don't know what the lord means, please make it clear." ”

Jiang Min had a cold face and said in a deep voice:

"It's still useful for me to keep the horse thief, and it should be a big deal to destroy me at this time."

Chen Yunfeng was surprised, thinking that Jiang Min intended to buy this horse thief.

"The lord has to buy this horse thief for his own use."

"Why does Mr. Chen think so?"

Jiang Min asked rhetorically, Chen Yunfeng felt that Jiang Min didn't seem to mean this, but he didn't know whether Jiang Min was suitable for his intentions, so he asked tentatively:

"Could it be that the lord wants to use this as bait and use the topic to play?"

"If the horse thief was originally raised by Guo Pan, Mr. Chen thought that it was time to suppress the thief at this time."

"Hiss......"

Chen Yunfeng was stunned, Guo Pannai was a dignified Xianwang Inner Palace Huangmen Order, and he was already a powerful person under 10,000 people, so why did he have to raise horse thieves thousands of miles away.

Even Ding Yang Hou Zhang Junfeng raised horse thieves, which is more reasonable than Guo Pan's horse thief. And with Ding Yanghou's self-esteem and nobody's temperament, Zhang Jun will never be with horse thieves, and Guo Pan's raising horse thieves is logically unreasonable.

Thinking of this, Chen Yunfeng asked again: "I don't know the news of the lord?" ”

"A few days ago, Wei Xian had a bad relationship with Guo and Zhang, Guo Peng must have murderous intentions, Mr. Chen won't even think of this."

"This ...... It was indeed thought of below, but it was just that the Yellow Gate ordered the horse thief to breed, which was still incredible. Could it be that the lord intends to connive at the horse thief, so that he will be brought down together with Ding Yang Hou in the future? ”

Perhaps there is only one explanation.

The Marquis of Dingyang is a relative, and the Queen Mother is not dead, so she can't bring down Marquis Zhang Jun of Dingyang. If you wait for ten or eight years, after the death of the queen mother, Jiang Hai, the king of Xian, is also nearly fifty years old, and at that time, Guo Pan's biggest reliance on the queen mother to return to the west, it will be much easier to overthrow the Marquis of Dingyang. As soon as the Marquis of Ding Yang fell, it was effortless to blow off the seal and abolish the seal, so it made sense.

After Bai Liyan left the mansion, she went to the Chengdong Pharmacy to purchase a large amount of medicine, and after loading the horses, she prepared to return to the deserted village.

After this battle, Bailiyan began to consider the need to establish his own armed guard.

After several months of observation, Guangxin Gong Jiang Min is really as Li Zhu said in his heart, this person is very suspicious, and his heart is not right. How can there be a reason not to fight the bandits, even if they want to rush to the territory of Dingyanghou to smash it, and take political risks, there is no reason for their own people to be deflated and silent.

Moreover, this matter has been guaranteed by the royal guest, and the royal guest has come forward, even if Ding Yang Hou does not cooperate in every way, he can't help this matter.

If you want to form your own Grange Guard, you must have a legitimate name and source of equipment if you don't have money and food.

With Zhao Xun's support, it is not a big problem to buy salt, farm tools, and cattle, but Zhao Xun's approval is required to equip blades and armor, and raising soldiers after recruiting troops is also a big expense.

Excluding the purchase and depreciation of equipment, a person's annual ration must be at least three or more stone of polished rice, and the soldiers even need four stone, which can be converted into cloth, meat, and other expenses, and six or seven copper coins a year cannot be stopped, and this is still an expenditure under the condition of stable grain prices. In a famine year, raising a soldier requires at least ten times a year.