To the south along the Zuojiang River, there are a number of military villages, as well as a series of towns. Guwan, Taiping, and Yongping are all stockades set up on the banks of the Zuojiang River or on the border, such as Tuoling, Wuli, and Luobai, which are all towns rich in business and travel, and were the most seriously destroyed during this northern invasion of Jiaozhi. From the report sent by Han Gang to inspect, these military villages and towns have almost all turned into white land.

Several military villages are the buffer zone in the south of Yongzhou, a line of defense, and a strategic base point to deter the surrounding Xitong barbarian forces. The re-establishment of the walled fort was also the restoration of the rule of the Great Song Dynasty on both sides of the Zuojiang River.

Han Gang summoned the 36 Xitong of the Zuojiang River, the main purpose of which was to first rebuild the walled fort from the south of Yongzhou to the border, and at the same time prepare the roads and carry out tentative harassment attacks on Jiaozhi, so as to prepare for the southward movement of the army.

It's a pity that his order didn't attract all the Xitong cave masters.

Back in the state office, Han Gang met with the three Xitong cave masters who came from afar, said a few words of encouragement, and asked the officials to take them to settle down and entertain them.

In the empty official hall, Li Xin walked in: "Twenty-nine Xitong, a total of twenty-seven." Among them, even if Sicheng Prefecture, Si'en Prefecture and Sudden Evil Mountain are added, only eleven are led by the lord of the mountain. And the two Xitong Zuoju and Chungju that did not arrive, there is no explanation until now. ”

"Aren't there still sixteen small cave masters?" Han Gang had a smile on his face, but there was no smile in his eyes.

Li Xin also had a cold face. These sixteen are all rare smart people, and it is indispensable to pay off when they are posted at this time. But they are not of practical use: "None of them count, and they don't add up to a big stream." ”

Indeed, although there were only twenty-seven Xitong barbarians with official titles in the city, in addition, Xiaoxidong, who had not been summoned, took the initiative to go to sixteen, but all of them were brought by the cave master to report to the dozen, seven or eight people.

The left and right rivers area is said to be 36 Xitong, but in fact, there are hundreds of large and small Xitong, but the Xitong cave owners who are listed on the Yongzhou register and have received official titles are 29 in total. These cave masters who have obtained official positions in the imperial court are either in control of strategic routes, or they have a large number of household registrations under their command, and they are all big clans with names and surnames. And those small streams are small villages with only a few hundred or even hundreds of households, which are almost negligible.

"Most of the people who come from Youjiang are led by the cave master, but Zuojiang is not like this, they are all entrusted to others to receive it on their behalf, and the excuses are the same...... Call the sick! Han Gang sneered again and again, how could he not know what the cave master of Zuojiang Zhutong was thinking, "They are all afraid of being recruited to fight to the death with Jiaozhi, Jiaozhi is barren, and there is no money to make by working hard." ”

Youjiang is going to Baise Yunnan, Zuojiang is going to Jiaozhi and Guangyuan, and what Han Gang needs is the full support of Zuojiang Zhutong, so that he can rebuild the destroyed Yongping, Taiping, and Guwan Zhuzhai.

"This thief is barbaric, and he is all underbeaten! If it is in Jingnan, an official letter from the state will come down, which one would dare to shirk half a point!? Li Xin said viciously, "Wuling also said that there are thirty-six in Xitong, but in fact there are forty-five, and none of these forty-five dares to disobey the government. ”

"Xitong is different from Xitong! Who let the knives of the officials and soldiers not cut them in the past hundred years? I can come to twenty-seven houses and eleven cave masters present, this is still for my sake of winning Li Changjie! Han Gang snorted coldly, "In other words, it is the thirty-six Li Tong of Qiongya, and Qiongzhou sent someone to summon the cave master, I'm afraid that the family will not be present in person." ”

Xitong is another name for the southern barbarians, as far as Han Gang knows, not only Guangxi, Jingnan, but also the Li people on Hainan Island, also have the name of Xitong, known as Li Tong, there is also a number of thirty-six families, it seems to be a convention.

Several major merchants in Qinzhou, who cooperated with Han Gang to establish cotton cloth trading, once sent their cronies to find the legendary Li people who were good at weaving Jibei cloth and went to Hainan Island. But I went to more than a dozen, and only half of them came back. However, a few of them have the ability, and they have taken a look at the spinning wheel and loom treasured by the Li people, but the machine built after coming back is far inferior to the spinning machine and loom that have been improved several times and increased in efficiency dozens of times.

However, the local customs of Qiongya have been spread. One of them also deceived the daughter of a cave owner, and finally opened up the trade route of Qiongya seafood.

In the evening, Han Gang ordered a banquet to entertain the cave masters and their representatives who had already arrived.

"Don't wait for Chungju and Zuoju?" Han Gang ordered, and Huang Quan asked in surprise. There was no banquet for a few days before, but as soon as the banquet opened today, it means that the guests have arrived, and the business is about to be put on the table.

"Will they still come?!" Han Lian asked rhetorically.

"But why will Zhongzhou and Zuozhou not come?" The newly appointed military judge was puzzled. Relying on the credit of rebelling and persuading Huang Jinman together, He Yi picked up a big bargain.

The two big streams of Chungju and Zuozhou are on the edge of the Zuojiang River, and they are not too far from Yongzhou, and they have never arrived, which is strange in itself.

Han Gang defeated the nearly 100,000 Jiaozhi invading army, so that Li Changjie lost his armor and left, he relied on this record, as a Guangxi transit envoy to speak, it stands to reason that the left and right Jiang 36 cave owners did not dare to refute Han Gang's face, so he sent a person to respond to the Mao, but Zuozhou and Zhongzhou still did not arrive.

"Could it be related to the attack on Guwanzhai last year? At the beginning, my father suspected that they had heard the rumors, so he acted in advance to save ......" Huang Quan paused, skipped the words behind and continued, "Maybe they are the culprits, because they are weak-hearted, so they dare not come here." ”

Tong said: "It's also possible that you want to see the wind." But now that even the cave masters of Sicheng Prefecture have arrived, they should ...... soon."

Han Gang raised his hand to interrupt the sentence: "I don't care what they think, I just know that they haven't arrived!" ”

The eyes hidden in a pair of dark brown eyes were as cold as ice water, so that Yongzhou Tongju couldn't even sweat.

"Li Xin."

Li Xin clenched his fists: "The end will be!" ”

"Just do what you say!" Han Gang had already made arrangements, and he would not watch the orders he sent being treated as handwritten papers.

Of course, Li Xin understands Han Gang's plan, and he is also a participant. Finally waited for Han Gang to give the order, and drank coldly: "The last general will obey the order!" ”

“…… Be careful. ”

"Yes!"

At the banquet that night, Li Xin did not appear, and no one among the cave masters gathered in the state government hall knew what it meant that Li Xin was not there, let alone that there were 1,000 soldiers and horses missing in the city. They only knew that the wine and food served by Han Gang were extremely delicious, and the young Guangxi transit envoy was very kind to them, and the atmosphere at the banquet was also very exciting.

Drunk overnight, the next day, it's time to get down to business.

Once again, returning to the hall at last night's banquet, the joyful atmosphere was gone, and dozens of cave masters or cave master representatives were silent, waiting for Han Gang's speech.

Han Gang's speech was straight to the point: "The thieves invaded before, although they were beaten and abandoned their armor and retreated, but the Guwan and Taiping villages have been destroyed, and the people in the villages have been displaced...... But now that Cochins are gone, I think it's time for them to return home. ”

The cave masters from Youjiang have nothing to do with themselves, and they sit quietly. The representatives of the cave masters of Zuojiang exchanged glances with each other for a while, and Anpingzhou, who was the most powerful and powerful, stood up and spoke: "A few days ago, Taipingzhai was breached, and it was indeed a Han who avoided us. Now the Jiaozhi people have retreated, and most of them have left. There were still a few families left in the village, and after the villain returned, he persuaded them to return to the village. ”

"Good!" Han Gang nodded, regardless of whether what they said now was true or not, it was good to have this attitude, "The field on the Zuojiang River was in Guwan Zhuzhai in the old days, and business exchanges were also in the village, so I guess you and others are also looking forward to rebuilding it as soon as possible." ”

"That's it! Is that! All of them agreed.

"For the reconstruction of the villages, the official will arrange manpower, but he needs a group of guards to protect Ding Zhuang who built the village, which requires the righteous actions of the cave masters."

It is said that it is to protect the people of Xiuzhai, but in fact it is used to attack the team of Jiaozhi, which everyone knows. After a period of silence, it was the representative of Anping Prefecture who stood up, "Since it is the order of the Minister of Transshipment, how can I not listen to it." Although the hole of the villain's house is not big, it can produce a hundred strong children! ”

Anping Prefecture, which has tens of thousands of household registrations and can dispatch two or three thousand soldiers and horses casually, gave Han Gang a hundred people very generously.

Led by the representatives of the cave owners of Anping Prefecture, of course, the other Xitong also did the same, a hundred or fifty people. Looking at the painful expressions they squeezed out like cutting meat, the strong men sent later, I don't know how many old, weak, sick and disabled people will be mixed.

"One hundred and fifty." This is the number of cave masters in Xiashixi Prefecture, Ah Hanbao, and it is already the largest number of troops among the twenty-seven Daxi Mountains. On the contrary, sixteen small tribes have squeezed out more than 100 soldiers.

Yongzhou Tongju's face became more and more ugly, this is simply to ask for food, how can this poor soldier harass Jiaozhi.

It's just that Han Ganglai's face is as usual.

For a long time, the Great Song Dynasty had very little control over the 36 mountains of the left and right rivers, and they were all over the state, only nominally surrendering. Just like Guangyuan Prefecture, it is also nominally the territory of the Great Song Dynasty, but Liu Ji and others paid tribute to Jiaozhi, and the Great Song Dynasty court didn't care.

Even if Han Gang repelled Li Changjie, the old impression still remained in the hearts of these Xitong barbarians, probably thinking that it was just a war between Jiaozhi and the Great Song Dynasty, and it had nothing to do with their own family. Although he didn't dare to disobey Han Gang's order, he could do it perfunctorily. When fighting with the Jiaozhi people, the ones who died were their own sons, so why bother to fight for others.

"It's also a good thing, now these soldiers and horses taken out by the lord of the mountain are recruited by me, and Yongzhou still has to pay for these soldiers and horses." Afterwards, Han Gang said with a smile, "Wait for two days, let's take a look, maybe we can save the food." ”

In the next few days, Han Gang successively kept the cave masters to hold banquets and entertain them, and brought a load of wine from Pennsylvania. It was only a promise in exchange, that is, the total number of troops was increased from two thousand five or six to three thousand.

On the sixth day, Han Gang once again gathered the cave masters, the same place, the same characters, only a few more decorations.

A row of heads was placed in the center of the hall.

"Chungju and Zuozhou, if they don't follow the orders of their own officials, they dare not to move." Han Gang glanced around the hall that had fallen silent, "From now on, there will be no two families in Thirty-six Creek Pass." ”