Niu Yan has lived a very fulfilling life these days, and even has a kind of masochistic pleasure.

He is like a tireless machine, doing his best to raise food for the Chu army, as long as there is a glimmer of hope to find food, he will not hesitate to pounce on it, and use all his resources to pry out the grain from the hands of those cunning big merchants. Under his construction, the officials of the Manchu Huangzhou prefect Yamen were all requisitioned by the Chu army, tied to the same chariot, and Niu Yan lectured his subordinates in a loud voice, the goal of 5,000 quintals of grain must be completed, otherwise everyone will die together, and they will definitely die in front of him.

Of course, those big farmers who stocked grain refused to give it up, but tried every means to delay and conceal it, but those officials and officials were at stake, so they didn't care about leaving any way back, and they did not hesitate to expose the details of the other party, and they must get their hands on the grain.

When the grain in Huanggang City was finished, they went out of the city to the nearby towns to raise grain, these officials and officials were all local snakes, and they knew the local situation well, and the Chu army followed behind with knives as accomplices, which was almost invincible. Of course, there were many rice merchants in such a large prefecture city, and they had many contacts with grain chiefs in the countryside, and there were also warehouses for storing and collecting grain.

There are already more than 2,000 quintals, will 5,000 quintals be far away? Niu Yan and others saw the hope of life, and even forced all their potentials out, and with the cooperation of the Chu army, they attacked overnight, intercepted two rice merchants who tried to transport the grain away, and got thousands of loads of grain at once.

As soon as the sky was bright, Niu Yan and the soldiers of the Chu army returned to Huanggang with grain, transported them to the army, and then made a request to Jingliang, who led the team, to meet Wang Kefan, and his task had been completed for the most part. On the contrary, I felt a little uneasy in my heart. Getting thousands of loads of grain at a time is also a major event worth reporting, Jingliang hesitated, then agreed to his request, let him wait here first, and go to see Wang Kefan by himself.

After a short time, Jingliang sent two military academies to the Zhongjun camp with Niu Yan.

The atmosphere in the barracks was a strange one, and the soldiers were busy packing up all sorts of stuff and things. Niu Yan's heart couldn't help but chuckle, and when he arrived at the door of the Chinese military tent, he still looked back from time to time.

The soldier went in to report, and there was an order inside, and Niu Yan hurriedly went into the tent and kowtowed, and when he got up, he saw a stranger sitting next to Wang Kefan. About forty years old, dressed as a scribe. The physiognomy is correct. Although there was no expression on his face, he also looked a little stern.

As a cow, it is impossible to get close to this stranger, so he only said in a proper manner: "Thanks to the might of the military gate, the prisoner has been running for several days, and more than seventy percent of the five thousand loads of grain have been raised. If there is no other fork, it will be possible to get it together in another three or five days, and then please ask the military gate to take it in, and the villain is willing to serve as a pawn. Even if the liver and brain are smeared, there is no complaint! ”

Wang Kefan shook his head: "This can't be done, the army is about to start, and there is not so much time." ”

Niu Yan's face suddenly turned white, and he didn't dare to inquire about military secrets, so he asked for a long time: "Then, how will the military gate deal with the prisoners?" ”

Wang Kefan said: "Although the five thousand quintals of grain have not been gathered, but thinking that you have contributed a lot this time, I will spare you for the time being, and when the army is drawn, you can flee for your life." ”

Niu Yan knelt on the ground again with a pout, and cried: "Please spare your life from the military gate, the criminal officer has offended the Huangzhou father and elder by raising food for the army, everyone hates me to the bone, if the military gate refuses to take me in, the criminal official will definitely die without a place to be buried!"

After the fall of Huanggang, Niu Yan should have been martyred as a magistrate, and he surrendered to the Chu army to help them raise food, and he has become a traitor in the eyes of the Manchu Qing Dynasty...... In order to save his life, he spared no effort to raise food for the Chu army, almost turned the Huanggang area upside down, and formed a mortal enmity with the gentry and merchants.

The Manchus and the gentry and merchants were his enemies, and he had to follow the Chu army to have a way to live, but Wang Kefan blocked this road.

"You know what? I really want to kill you, I have to spare your life, so you can do it yourself. Wang Kefan waved his hand and said to Jingliang: "Escort him down!" ”

Jing Liang took a few personal soldiers, like a wolf and a tiger, to put Niu Yan out of the Chinese military tent, Wang Kefan turned around and smiled, and said to the middle-aged scribe: "Do you think it is appropriate for Mr. Zheng Zheng to deal with Niu Yan like this?" ”

"Very good, the military gate is as good as a stream, and it is really the bearing to do great things, this cow is harmless to stay, and it is useless to kill it, but it pollutes the sword of the military gate......"

This scribe's name is Fang Zhengzheng, a talent strongly recommended by Quan Xi, Wang Kefan saw Du Yinxi in Changsha, and asked him for Fang Zhengzheng, this person is not the same as a traditional civil official, just a white-clothed guest in the Yamen of the Huguang Governor, Du Yinxi does not pay much attention to him, and he agrees very happily.

When Fang Zhengzheng arrived at Yuezhou Mansion, Wang Kefan had already led the army to the battle, so he chased him to Huangzhou Mansion, and he just arrived in the army last night. Wang Kefan is short of management talents, Fang Zhengzheng understands the art of things, the two of them talked all night after they met, and they talked together again this morning, and happened to run into Niu Yan.

According to Wang Kefan's original intention, Niu Yan would definitely be eliminated in the end, but Fang Zhengzheng put forward a different opinion.

Regardless of whether the task of the 5,000 quintals of grain was completed or not, Niu Yan had already done his best for the Chu army, and there was a lot of uproar in the Huangzhou Mansion, if Wang Kefan insisted on killing him, he would have a reputation for being mean and unrighteous, and the other Manchu officials would not dare to surrender lightly, so it was best to let him go.

Niu Yan offended the gentry and merchants, and also offended the Manchu Qing Dynasty, he was desperate there, he was already a waste, and there was no way to do evil again, so just leave him in Huangzhou Mansion and let him fend for himself.

The phrase "let him fend for himself" moved Wang Kefan, Chu Jun did not kill Niu Yan, and his chances of surviving were also very slim, so Wang Kefan agreed.

……

After Niu Yan was taken back to the barracks, he was imprisoned by Jingliang.

The Chu army has stopped raising food and began to prepare for the transfer, although it is not ready to kill Niu Yan, but it cannot release him in advance.

Niu Yan was secretly glad that he had picked up a life when he got the errand of raising grain, and he had already thought about this matter repeatedly, thinking that as long as he did his best to help the Chu army raise food, and it was known to everyone, Wang Kefan would spare him in order to avoid the suspicion of rabbit death and dog cooking.

"All things are in my applause!" Niu Yan admired himself very narcissistically, what he didn't expect was that it was Fang Zhengzheng who really saved him. (To be continued......)