On the third day of the ninth month, Xiao Ruxun, who had entered Shaoyang City, received a letter from the official office in Shaoyang City that had been delivered to him from many places.

The letter came from Zheng Ying, who had captured Shen's hometown, and was sent by Zheng Ying on August 19, and Xiao Ruxun was very curious about it and read the letter overnight.

The content of the letter is not much, it is very simple, first to greet Xiao Ruxun's current situation, care about Xiao Ruxun's safety, exchange feelings between generals, etc., and then change the conversation and mention his confusion and problems.

The area occupied by Zheng Ying is Ningbo Prefecture, and the entire Ningbo Mansion is currently under his control, and he began to attack the outside world, and the army under his command has more than doubled, and there are now more than 11,000 people, most of whom are newly surrendered troops, and their power has expanded rapidly.

According to Xiao Ruxun's instructions, he raided the Shen family and several big families who used private soldiers to violently fight against the Zhennan Army, and then took away the money and property, and distributed the land and houses to the tenants and some landless peasants, which received a very good response in the local area, and many farmers were grateful to the Zhennan Army.

Within the scope of Ningbo Mansion, those big families have also settled down and don't dare to let go of their mouths.

However, when Zheng Ying pulled the main force out of Ningbo Mansion to continue to attack other elite areas in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, an incident broke out in the rear of Ningbo Prefecture, which had just stabilized, in the rural areas.

Specifically, a small number of soldiers of the Zhennan Army who stayed in the local town were defeated by the local big families and used private soldiers, and many people died.

Although the incident was calmed down, there was one thing that made Zheng Ying very puzzled.

Some of the surviving soldiers of the Zhennan Army fled back to protect the Burmese officials and told Zheng Ying that when the big landlords attacked them with their own guardians, they were surprised to find that among the private soldiers who attacked them were tenants and landless peasants who had previously been allocated land.

Obviously received such a great favor from the Zhennan Army, but turned around and was about to attack the soldiers of the Zhennan Army, which made Zheng Ying very puzzled, and at the same time resentful, if it weren't for Xiao Ruxun's repeated orders not to harm civilians, Zheng Ying really had the idea of killing.

Zheng Ying realized that the rear army was not strong enough, so he planned to divide a part of the elite of the Zhennan army into various places to maintain stability and deter the local clans, and at the same time asked Xiao Ruxun to give him some support.

The headquarters of 5,000 people is really overstretched to attack other county towns while maintaining stability, and those newly surrendered troops are not very reliable.

All in all, Zheng Ying said that he had no aggressive strength for the time being, and needed to be reinforced by Xiao Ruxun.

After receiving this letter, Xiao Ruxun fell into deep thought.

The long contemplation did not end until Xiao Ruxun's newly recruited staff member Xie He, who handled the paperwork, came to Xiao Ruxun with some processed documents for instructions.

Xie He was curious about the reason for Xiao Ruxun's contemplation and asked Xiao Ruxun about it, so Xiao Ruxun showed him the letter.

After reading the letter, Xie He looked at Xiao Ruxun and asked, "How is the big handsome going to deal with this matter?" Do you want to increase the troops of Zheng Ying's department? ”

Xiao Ruxun looked at Xie He.

Xie He's name Qingquan is a staff member he got after he was stationed in Guilin City, and he is also one of the very few scholars who took the initiative to serve him.

Although he was only a poor and sour talent, he began to take the imperial examination at the age of fifteen, and after ten years, he only had the fame of Xiucai, his parents died of exhaustion in order to support him in studying, and the family's land was sold cheaply, and he himself could only be reduced to the point of writing and copying letters for people to eat.

In order to survive, he has also done a lot of other things, basically he has tried to do serious work that can make ends meet, he has a strong desire to survive, he is basically dead to the imperial examination, and he has a deep jealousy of those proud sons of heaven.

After Xiao Ruxun led the army into Guilin City, he knelt next to Xiao Ruxun's war horse and asked Xiao Ruxun to give him a bite to eat, he was literate and could write.

Knowing how to write is a good advantage, since Xiao Ruxun entered Guangxi, he has also paid attention to recruiting some scholars to do clerical work for him, mainly facing poor and sour talents, the poorer the better, and it is better if there is no property at home.

These people are all eating outside, and the mood of being a scholar has been almost polished by the cruel reality, it is easier to recruit to do things, and their thinking is more practical, and they belong to a group of people who can absorb unity among readers.

Now there are more than 100 poor talents in Xiao Ruxun's main army, and there may not be no people who can do things.

In these years, except for some scholars who came out of really big families, most of the scholars were confused at the beginning, they were not diligent and did not distinguish between grains and grains, they only knew how to read and make articles, and they did not know anything about civil affairs, agriculture and water conservancy.

If you really want to talk about the understanding of the people, these poor scholars are much stronger than them, and those proud saint disciples, these down-and-out disciples who are willing to take refuge in Xiao Ruxun are more practical, not to talk about twists and turns, a little training, and some specific errands are very handy.

This is Xiao Ruxun's strategy, he doesn't expect more than a scholar to come to serve him, there is only a poor show in the world, there is no poor talent, what he can win is the most bleak poor talent these days.

Xie He is one of the pieces of jade that is not too good in color, but after all, it is also a piece of jade, the characters are beautiful, the response is sensitive, the things given to him are well organized, he is serious and responsible for his work, and he is a good cadre seedling.

Although the desire for money is not ordinarily large, it doesn't matter, there is nothing wrong with liking money, and as for the hatred and jealousy that is difficult to conceal for those who are high-ranking scholars, this is better, but there is no better existence than this.

So Xiao Ruxun transferred him to his side, as a confidential secretary-like existence, helping him deal with some things, transcribing some official documents, and Ping Suli also had more contact with him and trusted him more.

At this moment, Xiao Ruxun looked at Xie He, and a special and bold idea emerged in his heart.

"Qingquan, I want to ask you a question."

Xie He nodded: "Boss, excuse me." ”

"Do you know why those peasant households who have received the favor of our army want to help those high-ranking families who have encroached on their land to attack our army?"

Xiao Ruxun looked at Xie He, wondering his answer.

Xie He has been at the bottom of the society all the year round, and he has read books and is unwilling to sink, so he has his own unique views on the people at the bottom of the society, which is different from most readers, which is also what Xiao Ruxun likes about him.

Sure enough, Xie He shook his head helplessly.

"According to the subordinates, they can only see the land in front of them, and cannot see anything else, they have been driven by the high-ranking families as slaves for many years, and they have even become accustomed to it, and feel that there is nothing wrong with this, as long as they have a mouthful of food, they feel that it doesn't matter.

When our army first arrived, they gave them land, and although they were grateful, the habit of many years was not so easy to erase, and they were more accustomed to being enslaved by high-ranking families than to be rescued by our army and become yeoman farmers.

When our army is strong, they feel that there is someone to protect, so they obey our army, but once our army is frustrated or weakened, these people are very unreliable, and they will change their position after being threatened at the slightest bit. ”