The fire was raging and the smoke was rising.

The mountain village, which was as calm as a paradise, was reduced to ruins in a sea of fire. This fire did not come from external forces, but the owner of this place did it himself, and from the point of view of the solidity of the house, it was built with great care, and it was by no means a hastily built level that was destroyed at will.

Outside the fire, the women and old people with bags on their shoulders or piles of belongings on the car looked at the fire, their eyes were quite reluctant, only Wu Shishi's face was silent, as if it was burning someone else's industry and had nothing to do with him. "Don't look at it, if we don't burn it, outsiders will have to burn it too. This house was built by us little by little, and it is better for us to come by ourselves than to let outsiders destroy it. And when they had money and food, they hid themselves in the mountains and waited for their men to come back and come out. If you don't come back within half a year...... Just find someone to remarry yourself! ”

Wu Shishi waved his hand and gave the order, and behind him, one-third of the men in the village had already assembled into a team, and there were more than a dozen women. There are not only the three girls who married Fan Jin's guards, but also the granddaughter of the Wu family, Xinghua, and a few good friends of Xinghua. Some of them are married, and some of them serve as guards in the Fan family's house, which is the best future for the people in the village. Among these men, some of them were caravans, and the other part was the escort recommended by Wu Shi to Fan Jin.

In the ranks there were also two dozen wheelbarrows, which were piled high with goods. Although there are no armor bows and arrows prepared by Wang Bangping, there are also hot goods such as iron pots, wound medicine, and cloth. As a caravan that had traded with the Mongols for many years, Wu Shishi naturally knew what goods sold well and when they would not go out of style.

The steppe tribes were short of supplies and had an almost endless demand for trade goods, and even when war was imminent, the Mongols would not refuse the arrival of small caravans, but at such times they usually chose to kill people and sell goods rather than trade normally. However, in order to burn the pasture and destroy the water source to spy on the offensive intentions of the Mongol soldiers, these caravans with names in the military headquarters can only grit their teeth and persist in moving forward, completing this mortal mission at the cost of human lives. When the thirty-six Tiangang was in its heyday, there were not a few people who disappeared forever in this kind of task, and after Wu Shi entrusted his relatives, he already had the consciousness to embark on this path, so he was not too sad about the destruction of his homeland.

"What's home? Home is where there are people. A house is always just a house, and anyone can live in it. My old Wu originally pretended to be dead here, and others wouldn't pay attention to me. Now that I have chosen to go all the way with the eldest master, the other side will not let me go. Instead of them burning down houses and killing people, I should come myself. Fortunately, we still have some food in the mountains, enough to support us for a while. These surrounding villages can also help one or two, when a group of guest soldiers from Shandong came here to collect grain, livestock, and women, I led people to kill them all to keep these villages and towns. Everyone will give me a face, I won't let people suffer, as long as I keep people, I will have everything. ”

Fan Jin looked at Wu Shishi: "This village is what I owe you, and I promise to pay you back a better one in the future." ”

"It's not that cheap! The debts of Shanxi merchants are not so easy to owe, and they are profitable, and the life of a village plus the old man is not a village. You have to make Shanxi like Shangyuan to pay off this debt, otherwise the old man will have to block the door and ask for debts no matter how big an official you are, and you will not be idle! ”

"This old man is a scoundrel, and you do the same with the Mongols?"

"Not really. If you are as soft as the merchants in the south, you have already been eaten and wiped clean by the northern captives, who cares about you. To do business here is to be more horizontal and domineering, otherwise you will not even be able to go back with people......"

As he spoke, he walked forward, and in the daylight, a team like a long dragon left the mountains and gradually walked onto the official road. Compared with when he came, the size of the team has expanded more than ten times, and it can't be covered up if you want to, because most of the people have no foot strength and the speed of action is limited, and even in order to wait for them, Zhang Shunqing had to let the team stay in place for half a day before waiting for Fan Jin to join him.

Several young women knelt down in front of Zhang Shunqing and saluted, looking at this group of women with thick hands and feet and waists as thick as buckets, Zhang Shunqing was more relieved about her husband's two days in the mountain village. Just looking at Xue Wu and Zheng Chan's radiant appearance, they were slightly pantothenic. Seeing those ragged military children again, her brows furrowed even tighter, and she pulled Fan Jin back into the car and said angrily:

"Recruiting such a group of reinforcements in two days? I thought I was a strange soldier, but it turned out to be a group of peasants. If you want them, you can say anything, as long as you are willing to give them food, thousands of people can find them in two days. ”

"The lady has good skills, she has seen the crux of Shanxi in such a short period of time, and knows that they are short of food here?"

"Don't go around in circles with me, you recruited them as horse bones? But even if it's a thousand golden horse bones, this is too unproductive, there are not many people, and it looks dirty, so it's useless. As for being a female bodyguard...... Don't talk about your skills, you really can't get on the stage, and it's too embarrassing to stay at home. I'd rather you use the female dart master of the Ming Feng Dart, at least they look better than them. ”

Fan Jin nodded and said, "I also know that these people are actually not very useful to follow us, and most of them are meaningless to us. You can just think of this as paying off your debts. ”

"Paying off debts? Who owes the debt? ”

"Imperial court. The court owes them too much, and if they don't pay it back, people's hearts will become cold. It doesn't matter the overall situation if the hearts of one or two people are cold, everyone's hearts are cold, and it is time for the court to repay its debts. This debt is too big for the court to repay, and as an official of the court, he has to repay some for the court, so that everyone still has some hope for the court. ”

Zhang Shunqing sighed helplessly, "You always have a point, even if I can't talk about you." But the Seventeenth Road Merchant Gang, visiting all the way to the past, when will it take to get to Datong? The roads in Shanxi were rough, the carriage was bumpy and bumpy, and the bones were about to fall apart, but I couldn't stand it anymore. You are an official of the imperial court, they are just some military households, there is no need for you to make friends in such a low voice, send a turn card to let them go to Datong to listen to the order, who dares not to clean up one by one in the future. ”

"No, there is only one way left for the Seventeen Road Merchant Gang. After this trip to Shanxi, there may be a few more merchant gangs in the future, or even this last road will be gone. These people are the real dead soldiers, similar to those in the Spring and Autumn Period, the only difference is that the imperial court has not raised them much. ”

Listening to Fan Jin's statement, looking at the camphor wood box in front of him and the information in it that had been exchanged for blood and life, Zhang Shunqing's brows furrowed into a pimple again.

"That's not right...... It shouldn't be that way. Since Daddy took charge, he has always paid attention to side affairs, even if Taicang is nervous, he has tried his best to move it to make the nine sides abundant. The treatment of the soldiers was also very important, for fear that they would suffer from hunger and cold. How so? Zheng Fanxi's family of three soldiers is not a stubborn person, how can he be so confused? ”

"It's not my father-in-law's problem, just like it's not Zheng Fanxi's problem. In fact, even these people have never put their hatred on Zheng Luo, this matter is procedurally correct, no one has done anything wrong? Is it wrong for the border army to ban smuggling? As a military gate to prevent captives and cavalry, is it wrong to strictly prohibit the border? According to the caravans themselves, the goods they transported were indeed mainly forbidden items, including iron materials that could be refined into arrowheads by the northern captives, as well as grain and medicinal materials urgently needed by various parts of the grassland. It can be said that if these materials flow into the grassland, the northern captives will be able to kill many people, and in turn, we will have to kill many more people. If this matter is known to the students of Kyosato, they will definitely say that these merchants are innocent of death, and it is cheap to cut off their heads. ”

In a nutshell, it's not a question of who is right and who is wrong, but whether the truth makes sense. The big truth is taught at home, and when you go out, you must recognize the reality. The reality at the moment is that the existence of these people is blocking the way of some people, and then those people find a big reason to attack them as weapons and murder their lives. Although I am a patrolman, I can't stand up for them in this matter, and if I dare to say that smuggling contraband is okay, I will immediately be caught and attacked. It is already very troublesome to protect Wang Bangping, and it is impossible to explain for the sake of those dead people. So I can only treat them a little better, which is kind of compensation for them. ”

Zhang Shunqing said: "Okay, I know what you mean, don't beat around the bush." I don't lose my temper with them, and the girls are willing to be guards, just tell them not to get too close to me, the smell is too strong, and they have to wash themselves when they enter the city. ”

Fan Jin leaned his head against the wall of the car and said to himself: "It's not just them who should wash well, but also the land under our feet." You don't feel that the whole Shanxi is like an iron bucket, no matter how much effort we use, it is difficult to affect everything in the iron bucket. There is no feedback on how much material we put into it, or what policies we use. They have their own rules of conduct, and if you follow theirs, the situation may be bad, but it can be maintained on the surface. If we insist on changing, maybe the future will be good, but what will happen now is something that no one can guarantee. Qingqing, let me tell you the truth, I am actually not sure in my heart. If I mess up, I'm not alone, my father-in-law will also be implicated, and you are also by my side, in case the wave hits you......"

Zhang Shunqing smiled and leaned her head on Fan Jin's shoulder, "What kind of foolish words did you say?" Husband and wife are one and have the same fate, and naturally share the same glory and loss. No matter what you do, I will support you, and if there is a mistake, I will help you carry it. At the beginning, you did not hesitate to rush into the smallpox village for me, and did not hesitate to ruin your future, and since then I have decided that no matter what you do in this life, I will be by your side. As for Daddy, you don't have to worry, he has been an old man for so many years, what haven't you seen? Even if you really mess up, the old man can find someone to take the blame for you and keep you safe. Don't think too much about it, let go of your hands and feet and do what you want, even if you mess up, as long as you're okay, everything is not a problem. Besides, I believe that my husband is the dragon and phoenix among the people, just a Shanxi, nothing remarkable. ”

Speaking of this, Zhang Shunqing raised her eyebrows, "The local hidden dragon and crouching tiger, don't we have the means to subdue the dragon and subdue the tiger?" Joke! He Zheng Fanxi is usually quite deferential to his father, so I will allow him to be at ease in Xuanda. If he dares to go against Xianggong, he can go by Zhang Ziwen that day, how can he not help Zheng Fanxi today? When I am in Shanxi, there is no one available? Joke! Xia He, what are you looking at there, don't you bring the letter to Xianggong to see! ”

During the two-day operation, Zhang Shunqing marched under the banner of Fan Jin, and he did not show up in the carriage, and all the officials who visited him blocked the car. As the son-in-law of the first assistant of the current dynasty and the Qin Cha who has Shang Fang's sword, this kind of power is also normal. In addition, some officials belonging to the Gangneung Party camp will also send letters to express their closeness to Fan Jin, and everyone is their own person and cannot be treated as an outsider. Letters are generally based on greetings and self-reports, but some will write work reports or difficulties faced at work.

These letters have been classified according to the size and importance of official positions, and the first letter is from Jia Yingyuan, the governor of Datong.

Jia Yingyuan is a native of Zunhua, a native of Zhili, and Zheng Luo are fellow villagers, so it is said that the relationship should be closer, but this is not the case. Jia Yingyuan was a cadre promoted by Wu Dui, a native of Shanyin, the former governor of Xuanda, and belonged to Wu Dui's old subordinates.

Originally, this kind of normal personnel transfer was not surprising, but Jia Yingyuan was loyal to Wu Dui and did not get along with Zheng Luo, and the relationship between the two was indifferent. Many of Zheng Luo's propositions are contrary to Wu Dui, and he can't get along with Jia Yingyuan, but Jia Yingyuan also has roots in the court, and Wu Dui himself has been going up, and Zheng Luo can't help Jia Yingyuan. Jia Yingyuan himself also knew that he couldn't fight Zheng Luo, so he took the initiative to move closer to Zhang Juzheng, and in the past few years, he has sent some heavy gifts to Beijing to make points, and this time Fan Jin came, he naturally had to stutter.

The county officials are not as good as the current management, although Zheng Luo is the governor of Xuanda, but Jia Yingyuan is the governor of Datong, and the entire Datong is his one-acre and three-point land, with his support, Fan Jin has an arm in the officialdom of Shanxi.

Compared with Zhang Shunqing's pride, Fan Jin's mood was not so relaxed. With Zhang Juzheng's power, he doesn't have to worry about finding allies in Shanxi, but whether these allies are reliable and how long the friendship can last is a question. It is impossible for me to be resident in Shanxi, and when I walk on the front foot, I can't control the changes in the back. The ideal state is to bury a nail here, arrange an agent to operate here, and ensure that the system of the imperial court can be promoted.

But the problem is that this agent is not easy to find, the first must be loyal and reliable, the second must be able to be stationed in Shanxi for a long time, the third must be shrewd and capable, and the fourth must have enough status. People who meet these four requirements are not so easy to find. Even if they are found, the current environment in Shanxi is not suitable for this kind of people to survive. Even the situation of the officials sent to Shanxi to implement the new policy, Fan Jin began to worry.

Seeing that her husband was in a daze, Zhang Shunqing thoughtfully massaged Fan Jin's head, and said softly: "Don't think about it, let him go." This world is always surnamed Zhu, we can do as much as we can, and we don't have to be reluctant if we can't do it. It's a big deal, let's go back to Beijing after a few motions in Shanxi, and then send someone else here. ”

A few days later, the Taoist team stopped advancing, the front of the horn cannon roared gongs and drums, Datong governor Jia Yingyuan, Datong general Guo Hu and even the acting prince Shi Qi Shijun all came to Datong City ten miles outside the city to meet the Qin Cha patrol, Datong City finally arrived.