Xin Yan sat in the main hall of the county government, patted a stack of papers on the table with one hand, and was rarely angry: "In just three days, I received seven reports, all of which were attacked by captives and cavalry in the township!" ”

Li Yanzhi looked at the stack of documents on the table in Xin Yan's hand, frowned and stared for a moment, and then said: "The foot soldiers sent to the townships and the ferries have already set off, and our cavalry has already gathered and merged with the reconnaissance cavalry of the Xie Master Book, and is trying to group them. At this time, no matter how anxious you are, it will not help. Listen to me, and when the ministries arrive everywhere tomorrow, this matter will be clear. ”

Xin Yan got up and paced back and forth a few times beside several cases, and said indignantly: "I can't kill the thief and avenge the villagers!" Although I have an order from a county, this is the only way to do it. Neither can he plan for the long history, nor can he be stubborn and stubborn, and go into battle to kill the enemy. Dingdong, a lifetime, don't learn from Confucian students like us, it's useless......"

"Mingfu's words are wrong." Li Yanzhi said: "My generation of warriors can defend the land and open up the territory, but the matter of governing the place and stabilizing the people must be Confucian students like the Ming Mansion." ”

He paused, and then said, "Five hundred soldiers are left in the city, and the rest are sent everywhere." I also led the cavalry to chase down this group of thieves and rangers, thinking that the villagers who died in vain would take revenge! ”

"With Dingdong's words, Yan is relieved." Xin Yan said: "Yan sat high in the county mansion and waited for Changshi to return. ”

When Li Yanzhi left the county government, what he immediately thought of was to return to the camp first and release Lei Rong who was locked up in the confinement room behind his house. Lei Rong was locked up for more than ten days, and his whole person looked a little decadent. His hair and beard were knotted in strands because they hadn't been cleaned for a long time. The soldiers who escorted him were to turn their heads aside as they walked along the road, trying to avoid the smell that emanated from him.

Li Yanzhi led the soldiers, took Lei Rong to his house, and then ordered the soldiers to retreat. The two escort soldiers were relieved and quickly withdrew. Li Yanzhi turned his head to look at Lei Rong, and said softly: "Lei Bairen will be wronged, and it is quite a last resort to act like this, and I hope that Lei Bairen will be able to understand Li's hardships......"

When Lei Rong heard this, he snorted coldly: "Li Changshi is so majestic. It's just that I'm alone, and I don't have much to say. However, Li Changshi, I don't know what you are trying to do if you forcibly relocated the people in the outer city and incorporated the military families and their dependents into the township? Could it be that we are the Di people and Qiang people, and in the eyes of Changshi, they are also the guinea dogs to be slaughtered? ”

Lei Rong used to be the leader of a small tribe, but he could also speak Chinese, but he was not very fluent. Therefore, in Li Yanzhi, there seems to be an inexplicable sense of joy. However, for these questions he threw out, Li Yanzhi also resolutely did not dare to ignore them, and hurriedly explained: "Lei Bairenjiang, Li is not unreasonable, please allow me to explain it to Bairenjiang in detail." ”

Lei Rong was noncommittal, his eyes were still staring directly at Li Yanzhi.

"The people in the outer city were in turmoil before, which was much more than I and Xin Mingfu expected. At that time, there were few soldiers in the city, and the chaos was sudden, so we had to close the inner city gates, and the whole city was closed. The reason why Lei Bairen and Wang Bairen were forbidden to enter the city was because they were afraid that the people would instigate the generals of the army to rise up together. If the rebels and the rebels are allowed to merge together, the situation will be more difficult to control......"

After this incident, as the general of the festival order, it is difficult to escape the blame. He and the envoy handed over the seal and asked the envoy to punish him. The people of the outer cities in the county, although they are Qiang, do not have much Huayi in their hearts, and they are scattered and sent to the villages, and they are also divided into fields, cattle and sheep, in order to find a place for the people of these tribes. ”

"Bing knows that the people are in chaos, mostly because of lack of food and food. Before the chaos, Bing and Mingfu had already purchased a lot of grain, cattle and sheep, and when they arrived at the county government, they would be allocated to the people in the outer cities. Unexpectedly, a few bandits in the tribe actually listened to the provocation of the thieves and spies, and caused chaos. It's really not the original wish of the fire. ”

Li Yanzhi raised his head and looked at Lei Rong, but saw that he still looked skeptical and unbelieving, so he had to smile bitterly and said: "If Lei Bairen doesn't believe it, he can go to bathe and change his clothes first, and then go to the township with Yan to inspect it, and ask the hundred generals to see if the situation of the various Qiang households in the township is as Beng said." ”

Lei Rong nodded slowly: "If Changshi has different hearts, like a thief, and treats the people under Lei's rule coldly, Lei will remind Changshi that such a mess in the past will be repeatedly banned in the future!" ”

When Li Yanzhi heard this, he smiled bitterly again, and arched his hand: "Lei Bairen will rest assured, if there is a difference between words and deeds, the hundred people will be able to pull out the sword at their waist and behead me!" ”

Li Yanzhi waited outside for a while, and then saw that Lei Rong, who had finished bathing, had changed into a clean soap coat. Li Yanzhi got up and picked up the helmets placed on several cases, and then led Lei Rong out of his room, walked for a while, and came to the arsenal in the camp.

Before Lei Rong could doubt, Li Yanzhi had already written and drawn on the treasurer's book at the entrance of the arsenal for a while, and then led Lei Rong into the arsenal, and with the cooperation of the two scribes, he went to the arsenal, took a pair of full-body iron armor used by the battle front battalion on the armor, turned around and handed it to Lei Rong.

Lei Rong frowned and looked at the iron armor in Li Yanzhi's hand, and said with a little disgust in his eyes: "This thing is too heavy, I'm afraid I won't get used to it......"

Li Yanzhi looked at Lei Rong seriously: "Recently, in the state border, there is not much peace between the townships, so it is better for 100 people to wear them." After that, Li Yanzhi had already untied the silk silk and belt of the armor, and his hands and feet were a little clumsy to put on this sturdy but bulky armor for Lei Rong.

"Between the villages...... Not so peaceful? Lei Rong furrowed his eyebrows and asked suspiciously, "What does Changshi mean by this?" ”

Li Yanzhi sighed and said: "Two days ago, Master Xie received an urgent report from Jincheng Zhang Fujun, saying that the thieves had sent rangers to wreak havoc in the countryside under his rule. Zhang Fujun wrote a military report to warn us that the thieves might have crossed the river and came to the territory of the state. I discussed with Master Xie and decided to close the door and fight the dogs, and planned to send foot soldiers to guard the farther townships, and at the same time send additional troops to block the nearby ferries so that they could not cross south. ”

"Unexpectedly, these captives and cavalry moved so quickly, and before we could complete the deployment, in three days, seven villages had already been attacked by captives. Some of the unsuspecting villages were devastated by the disaster, and most of the villagers were slaughtered. And the township that survived was also spared thanks to the fort built by the wealthy clans in the township near the left, and the villagers hid in it one after another. ”

After Li Yanzhi finished talking about what happened, he said with a wry smile: "This time, Li is about to go down to inspect the garrison of various generals. The road is far away, and it is difficult to say whether you will encounter captives. Let the hundred people put on the iron armor, it is also for the sake of the safety of the hundred people. ”

When Lei Rong heard this, his expression couldn't help but tighten, he didn't move, and let Li Yanzhi put on that iron armor for him. Then he picked up his helmet and put it on his head.

Li Yanzhi then went to the camp to gather the remaining nearly 100 cavalry, each put on armor, prepared weapons, bows, and arrows, carried dry food and water bags, etc., and when all preparations were in place, the cavalry went out of the city.

Not long after leaving the city, Li Yanzhi and Lei Rong saw several waves of horsemen on duty or patrolling the sentry one after another. As soon as the two sides heard the sound of horses' hooves, they were all nervous, and they didn't relax until they saw each other's banners of the Wu Wei army. Li Yanzhi talked with the generals of various departments, but he did not get much valuable information. In desperation, he continued his journey to the villages far away from the city.

The hundred-dozen horsemen galloped on the road, and the sound of horses' hooves could often be heard far away around the mountains. Under the guidance and guidance of the sentinels, the people walked for only about two hours before it was dark, and came to a village.

And when the sentry holding high the banner of the Wuwei army entered the village, they found that the village was empty. However, there was no trace of blood, corpses and other robbers. In confusion, I saw that hundreds of steps away in the distance, there was an earthen fort built on a small high slope. It was getting late, and many torches were lit in the fort, reflecting the outline of the fort in the deep twilight.

The sentry lit his torch and, with a few waves, signaled for the group behind him to stop, and then he went under the fort alone, and shouted to the fort for a while. When the villagers guarding the earthen fort heard that it was not Hu Qi, their hearts were also relieved. After a while, the sentry gave a signal that the rear team could come forward.

Seeing this, Li Yanzhi slowly moved forward with the remaining cavalry, and after a short time, he was already under the earthen fort. The villagers guarding the fort wall took advantage of the torches and carefully observed for a while before opening the fort gate and letting the cavalry into the fort.

The owner of the fort is surnamed Koji, and his name is super, which is a local hero. Yesterday, a survivor of an attack on his hometown rushed here to inform him that a captive cavalry was wantonly attacking the township in the state, so he gathered the villagers into his family's earthen fort. This morning, when a captives were coming, they saw that there was no one in the township, and they saw this earthen fort, so they approached to observe it carefully, and Xu saw that the villagers guarding the fort wall drew their bows and swords, and knew that it was difficult to overcome, so they gathered the crowd and left. However, before leaving, I did not forget to set a few fires around the village. After the captives rode away, they were immediately extinguished by the villagers.

After listening to Lu Chao talk about the chaos in the past few days, Li Yanzhi also had a lot of emotion. He looked up and saw that there were not only villagers on the fortress wall, but also his own foot soldiers who were dressed in strong and stubborn clothes and holding bows and knives.

Leading the infantry to guard here is a hundred commanders, under the command of Wang Cheng. Li Yanzhi saw that these soldiers were acting in an orderly manner, and the dry food, ordnance, and materials they were carrying were also sufficient, in addition, these soldiers also brought some shield carts that could fly and shoot short spears, and Li Yanzhi couldn't help but sigh that these middle and lower-level generals were thinking about things carefully.

Now is the critical season for summer grain production, and it is almost necessary to weed and catch insects for the crops in the fields. If it is not possible to work in the field at this time, the crop yield will be reduced by at least 30%. Originally, the harvest depended on God's face, and if the output was reduced so much, it would really give people a feeling that they couldn't survive.

However, the soldiers stationed here brought more than 30 axe and shield carts and set them up in the fields, so that the villagers could continue to work in the fields. If an enemy cavalry is attacking, the soldiers on the left can gather these oar-shield carts nearby and form a chariot formation to resist the attack of the captive cavalry, so as to protect the villagers from retreating calmly.

Li Yanzhi told the 100-person leader who led the team to strive for self-sufficiency in food and not increase the burden on the villagers. The commander of the 100 men said that the military rations he carried were enough for the 100 men to eat for more than a month. If the military rations are exhausted and they still need to be garrisoned, they can send people to the county seat to report to Sima Liu Xin of other departments, and they can receive the military rations again.

After a round of inspection, Li Yanzhi wanted to leave. And Lei Rong, who had been quietly observing for a long time, suddenly called out to the castle lord Koji Chao and asked: "I don't know if there are Qianghu people who fled from the previous time in the township of the lord of Koji Fort?" ”

Ko Chao looked at the tall Qiang general in front of him, and Ko Chao seemed to be aware of some subtle connections between him and those Qiang people. Ko Chao nodded and said, "There are indeed more than ten Qianghu people in the fort. If the general wants to talk to them, he can summon them here. ”

Looking at Lei Rong and nodding to indicate that it was okay, Koji Chao turned around and went to the castle, and after a while, he brought dozens of old and young women and children to Lei Rong in the open space in the castle. Among the old, young, women and children who saw Lei Rong in the marching queue, more than a dozen people saw Lei Rong and immediately rushed to the front and saluted Lei Rong next to him. Seeing that it was Lei Rong's previous tribesmen in the tribe.

When Lei Rong saw these more than ten people, his face was suddenly filled with a satisfied smile, and while beckoning everyone to get up, he looked at one of the older old men, and asked in Hu language: "Uncle, Li Changshi moved you here, are you living a good life?" If you have been wronged, tell me what you have done, and you don't have to worry about it. ”

When the old man heard this familiar language, his eyes fell into tears, and this reaction made Lei Rong's heart feel worried, only to say that this old man must have suffered a lot of grievances since he moved here, and continued to ask in nonsense: "But someone bullied the old man?" ”

The old man raised his arm, wiped his tears with his dirty and shiny sleeves, and then replied in Hu language: "The head is too worried, here the Ming Mansion and Li Changshi have arranged for us to cultivate the fields or grazing herds. Now the life of each family is much better than in Longxi, teaching Liu Yao, a thief, to oppress. In the homes of the cultivators, the county government is also equipped with ploughing cattle, which are used by each family in turn, and we are not treated differently because we are Qianghu. The county government officials have taken care of us and treated us preferentially, and we have been rebuilt. ”

"But now that the thieves are invading again, it is difficult for us to go down to the land to cultivate, and our hearts are anxious. But Changshi has sent soldiers to the village to protect us. Today, I saw that the leader had made great achievements in the army, and the old man was also very happy for the leader. ”

Hearing the old man say this call, Lei Rong felt a little relieved in his heart. He looked at the rest of the Qianghu people around him and continued to ask, "If you have any grievances, you can tell me at any time." ”

Seeing that everyone was silent, or shook their heads, they all said that they were having a good time now, and Lei Rong was finally a little relieved. He stepped forward to reassure the people, spoke of the thieves, and said angrily that he would destroy all the dogs who disturbed the peace of their lives.

A group of people waited to ride out of the fort, but Lei Rong suddenly ran a few steps on his horse, walked to Li Yanzhi's side, turned to him and said, "I don't know if there are enough military horses in Changshi?" If there is, among the soldiers under my command, I can choose those who are good at riding and archery and can be horsemen. ”

Li Yanzhi raised his eyebrows when he heard this: "If this is the case, Lei Bairen will be of great help." I wonder how long it will take for a warrior to become a pawn? ”

"They are all qualified warriors, they can be used as horsemen without training, if you don't believe in Changshi, you can try it!"