The barracks outside the city took only half a month to build, mainly houses and training grounds, and the walls were only fenced with wooden fences. Although this is simple, it is no problem at all for the lethal output of Li Yan's troops. Moreover, the barracks and the city are also horns of each other, which can play a good defensive role in wartime.

After that, Li Yan ordered Li Mu to send the recruits from Yucheng, Xiayi, and Yongcheng counties first. Each barracks can accommodate 4,000 soldiers to train at the same time, so the recruits from these three counties can still be put down for the time being.

The recruits soon began their training, and the gentry in the city began to visit the Hou Mansion again, because Hou Sui had returned. As a prisoner in custody, Hou Sui was allowed to go home for funerals by Ten, and he did not dare to come out and walk around except for keeping filial piety at home. Fortunately, there is still a long time before the funeral, and they have the opportunity to meet together.

Although Hou Sui was very sad about the death of his father, he could not be resurrected after death. And Hou Zhipu is also over seventy years old, and his life is rare for seventy years, so he calmed down after crying in front of the spirit.

In the flower hall of the Hou Mansion Annex, the officials and gentry were separated from each other.

"Brother Hou." Master Shen San arched his hand and said, "Congratulations on your freedom." ”

Hou Sui returned the salute, shook his head and smiled bitterly: "Where is it that you have regained your freedom?" It's just Your Majesty's grace that I came back to my father's funeral. When I wait for next spring, I still have to go back to the prison of the Criminal Department. ”

"Eh," Master Ye said with a smile: "Since Your Majesty can let Brother Hou come back to guard filial piety, it is naturally Jian Zai's heart." Maybe I won't wait for you to return to the Criminal Department Prison, and I'll be able to reactivate you. ”

"Alas!" Hou Sui shook his head and said, "At this time, I am still clean in the prison. If it is really used unusually, it will certainly not be a good errand. Just like Fu Zonglong, he was reactivated as the governor in order to deal with the fledgling Li Zicheng. He has no henchmen and soldiers under his command, and second, he does not have sufficient food and salary, so it is not easy to exterminate Li Zicheng. ”

Master Liu said: "Isn't there still a border army in Liaodong." When the Hong Governor Division defeated the Qing soldiers, as long as 30,000 or 20,000 border troops were transferred, what Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong and the like, but the local chicken. ”

Hou Sui still shook his head and said in a low voice: "When I left Beijing, I happened to send the news that Yang Guozhu, the chief soldier of the Xuanfu, died in battle. ”

"Ahh Everyone exclaimed in surprise. In their opinion, an army of more than 100,000 against 50,000 Qing soldiers, two or three against one, no matter how powerful the Qing soldiers are, they will definitely win. As the commander-in-chief of a town, the chief general who commanded more than 10,000 troops would actually be killed, you can imagine how unfavorable the battle situation was.

"Then, what happened to the army of Liaodong?" Master Shen San hurriedly asked.

Hou Sui persuaded: "You don't have to worry too much, the Liaodong army is still there, and there are still a few small victories." ”

"Whew~" Everyone breathed a sigh of relief again, and said, "That's good, that's good." ”

Master Ye said with a smile: "Brother Hou is really scary." If it weren't for the explanation, we'd all be scared out of half our lives. If anything happens to the more than 100,000 troops of the imperial court, wouldn't the imperial court be in danger? ”

"Yes, yes." Master Liu also spoke: "We are still waiting for the imperial court to transfer border soldiers to come over to exterminate the thieves and restore peace." ”

Hou Sui said strangely: "Don't say anything else, just what I have seen and heard along the way, the security of our Guide Mansion is the best." After entering Qixian County, I did not meet a single rogue bandit, nor did I see a group of homeless people who had no food or clothing. This kind of stability is better than it was 20 years ago. Why do you all want the border army to come over? When the soldiers cross the border, the food and salary supply is not a small amount. ”

Master Liu sighed and explained Li Yan's arrogance.

And Master Peng of Xia Yi also said: "And that Li Mu is also arrogant. He told us directly that in the future, we would be asked to pay 20% of the land tax every year, saying that it was their fee for raising soldiers. Even the imperial court doesn't collect our taxes, but he dares to stretch out his hand to us! If he wants to get some money to feed the soldiers, it doesn't hurt us to give him some, but he taxes the acres of land, isn't this a rebellion? The imperial court has been raising soldiers for 300 years, and we can't watch these armies become feudal towns! ”

"Yes, yes." Everyone nodded and said, "I will receive the grace of the country in the future, so I naturally want to share the worries of the court." The story of the division of the feudal towns at the end of the Tang Dynasty must not be repeated! ”

Hou Sui also nodded when he heard this, and said: "I have been in prison for a long time, and the news is not very convenient, I didn't expect that a small guerrilla would give birth to such wolf ambitions. ”

Master Song said: "Brother Hou, you have the grace of knowing Zuo Liangyu, can you let Zuo Liangyu bring troops over and bring this Li Yan to justice?" ”

"This, this is inappropriate." Hou Sui said embarrassedly: "I am a guilty body, and it is inconvenient to communicate with the general." Moreover, Li Yan is still an official of the imperial court, and you have no evidence, so if you act rashly, you will be discussed by the government and the opposition. ”

Later, he suggested: "If this Li Yan is really a traitor, you might as well write to the governor and the governor, or directly to the general secretary." There will be a judge, and Your Majesty should have a holy judgment. ”

Everyone was a little disappointed, and the relationship between Governor Gao Mingheng and Li Yan was good. And Li Yan did exterminate a lot of thieves, so that the entire Guide Mansion was stable, but it was not good for them to be big, I heard that Gao Mingheng still wanted to repay Li Yan. As for the General Administration, what's the use? It's better to use the silver directly and let the imperial historians come out. But now that Zhou Yanru has entered the cabinet, everything is still in chaos, and the imperial historians don't dare to talk nonsense, so they have to wait.

Guerrilla Yamen.

Sun Sifu saluted Li Yan with his fists and said, "Your subordinates will see the general." ”

"I'm back." Li Yan nodded and said, "Excuse me, tell me how things are doing." ”

Sun Sifu replied: "We have intercepted two batches of grain, a total of 1,124 stones, and all of them have been handed over to the grain merchants in Kaifeng. General Li Zhong let us be sent directly to Zhuxian Town by the silver money, which is the receipt given by Li Dong. As he spoke, he handed Li Dong's receipt to Li Yan with both hands.

Li Yan looked at it, nodded and said, "It's good." Then he asked, "Nothing is wrong, is there?" ”

"There is no living mouth, it is all solved on the way to Chenliu, and there will be no problems." Sun Sifu replied calmly: "Several big families in the county town are making a fuss and want to ask General Li Zhong to protect the business road, but General Li refused. Those big families are also honest and will no longer organize caravans to sell. ”

Li Yan said with satisfaction: "Very good." I'm giving you five days off, but don't get into trouble! ”

"General Xie is compassionate!" Sun Sifu happily hugged his fists and thanked him. He hadn't seen his mother for a while, and he didn't bother to go to his house to see it when he went to Qixian this time. Taking advantage of this holiday, they can all go home and have a look.

...