On the eighth day of the first lunar month, dressed up in disguise, Zhao Yougong and A Zhu accompanied Dongfang Jin out of Tongzhou City. After a day and a half of running, the three of them passed through Shangnan and entered the boundary of Xichuan County, which is located in the southwest of Dengzhou, and Shunyang County is fifty miles to the south. When they arrived in Xichuan, although it was noon, the three of them were not in a hurry to go to Shunyang, but found an inn in Xichuan to stay.

Wang Qing started the army in the first year of Xuanhe, and it has been more than two years since then. Although the same is the Great Song Dynasty thief, this Wang Qing is still much worse than Song Jiang and Fang La, occupying most of Dengzhou, but only knows how to loot, and does not know how to sympathize with the people under the rule, only two years, most of the merchants in the south of Dengzhou have fled north, and the rest have become some small traders and refugees who have not enough to eat. The southern part of Dengzhou, which was originally a very prosperous place, is now extremely depressed, especially in Xichuan County, which is close to Shunyang, obviously it has not yet come out of the Shangyuan Festival, but the streets are deserted, and they can't feel the slightest taste of the year, and there are occasional pedestrians, and most of them are all dishes, a few rough men wrapped in blue cloth strips walked through the street, their eyes glanced at it, and the pedestrians quickly turned their heads to the side.

These men in blue cloth and rough clothes are the men and horses of Du Bai, the general under Wang Qing, this Du Bai and Li Zhu are known as Wang Qing's right-hand men, among which Li Zhu is shrewd like a ghost, and has many ideas, and Du Bai is brave and extraordinary, a Zhangba snake spear has few opponents in the territory of Dengzhou, and there are a group of warriors under Du Bai, such as Yu Tai, Yuan Lang, and Liu Yuan. Because of this, Wang Qing relied on Du Bai even more, and in the spring of the second year of Xuanhe, he named him as the commander of the expedition to the north and stationed in Xichuan. Although it is said that it is a general expedition, it is just a good sound, and now there are only two or three thousand people in Du Bai's hands. It's mostly a rabble. Since coming to Xichuan. In order to support the gang of soldiers and horses under his hands. Du Bai has robbed the territory of Xichuan, and as for taxes, it is even more varied, so that the already depressed Xichuan County has become even more deserted.

Most of the inns in the Great Song Dynasty are a collection of accommodation and food, and after checking in, Azhu ordered a few dishes. The store is not bad. The dish was quickly served, Dongfang Jin was also hungry and panicked, picked up the chopsticks and sent them to his mouth, but after taking a bite and spitting it out, he wiped his mouth, his face was as black as the bottom of the pot, "Bah, the shopkeeper, what kind of dish are you stir-frying, take a bite." To be able to fade out of a bird, this is the craft. Dare to stir-fry? ”

The shopkeeper had already seen that these guest officers were not like ordinary people, so he didn't leave, seeing Dongfang Jin complaining, he hurriedly gave up his hand and said, "This guest officer, can you bear with it for the time being?" In this way, it is also helpless, since August last year, King Du grabbed the salt road, the price of salt is soaring, and now it has been a pound of salt. Where can I afford it in a small shop, even if I can afford it, the price of this fried dish is also high, and several guest officials have also seen the situation in Xichuan, who can afford to eat sky-high fried vegetables? ”

The shopkeeper's face was painful, it didn't look like a lie, Dongfang Jin couldn't help frowning, a pound of money, this is the price of a hundred pounds of salt, what kind of situation can make the price of salt a hundred times? Hehe, this Du Bai is poor and crazy, he actually oppresses the people under his rule like this, but this also shows that Wang Qing is short of money in his hands, otherwise, Wang Qing would not let Du Bai come in such a mess. Although Wang Qing is a thief and has no great wisdom, he will not understand the importance of salt.

Dongfang Jin didn't eat vegetables, but Zhao Yougong couldn't help but eat two bites, just like the Dongfang officials, he also frowned when he ate, but it was really not salty at all, how could this be swallowed? With a look, Azhu took it into her arms and took out a handicap of children, and then, she pinched her rough voice and said hoarsely, "Shopkeeper, you take this money, don't do it again for dinner at night, in short, we won't let you suffer." ”

"Hey, thank you for the guests!" The shopkeeper hurriedly thanked him, but he refused to leave, he thought for a while, and then whispered, "A few guest officers, are you from outside?" This Xichuan is no better than other places, and after the unitary time, it is best for a few people not to go out. ”

"Hey, shopkeeper, what is your reasoning? When there are a lot of people, you don't let people go out? ”

"Don't worry, you don't know, our Xichuan is not an ordinary place, King Du gave an order, no matter who it is, stay at home honestly after the unitary time, and dare to wander around the streets, all of them will be arrested in the camp, unless they pay enough ransom, they can be put back. It's not like you're short of money, but when you're out of the house, why bother with this kind of trouble? ”

Listening to the shopkeeper's words, Zhao Yougong shook his head and laughed, this Du Yi is really a bandit, even after occupying Xichuan County, he still can't change the style of the mountain king. I don't think about how to prosper the Xichuan market, but I want to arrest people and collect ransom, from this point of view, I know what kind of person Wang Qing is, such a person will never become the climate.

"Thank you for the shopkeeper's reminder, you should step back first, we won't make trouble for ourselves" Zhao Yougong said, and the shopkeeper retreated with interest.

Dongfang Jin was still pondering what the shopkeeper said just now, Du Bai's trick of making money was a bit excessive, he was standing in Xichuan County, and he had to arrest people to collect ransom, so Wang Qing didn't care? Touching his chin and short beard, his fingers tapped his lips, and after thinking for a while, he glanced at Zhao Yougong, "Brother Han, it seems that the life of the big leader Wang is not easy." ”

Hearing this, Zhao Yougong smiled and nodded, "Hehe, Leader Wang is having a hard time, isn't it just what Mr. wants?" ”

The two looked at each other and smiled, and didn't say anything more, Ah Zhu ate the dishes on the table with his head bored, as for this pair of wolves, she didn't care about it, these two people, if they don't count people anymore, it will be strange. There are five dishes on a table, and none of them have a salty taste, but they still have to be swallowed. People are iron and rice are steel, and if you don't eat a meal, you will be hungry and panic. After eating, Dongfang Jin stayed in the inn to rest, and Zhao Yougong came to the street with a knife and Azhu.

Now Zhao Yougong is the rough man Han Yongming in Guanzhong, but Azhu's appearance is even rougher than Zhao Yougong, with boring messy hair that is not bound at all, gray coarse clothes covering his body, and a patch on his shoulder.

The two of them naturally did not come to the street to observe the people's feelings, and they came all the way to the west along the main street of Xichuan County. This Du Bao is also poor and exquisite, just a broken county office, and he just changed a plaque, called "Marshal's Mansion". Standing not far from the county office, you can see four men with blue cloth on their heads standing lazily at the door, one of them yawning with a spear exposed.

"Pot lid, have you heard of it, there were more than a dozen of them last night, and it took a lot of effort for Boss Du to catch seven."

"But it's not, there were more than a dozen last night, I don't know how many there are in the future, now we want food and no food, we have no money, who wants to be such a soldier? As soldiers in the imperial court, no matter how greedy those who are officials, how much can they take care of a full meal, what about us now? After eating the last meal and not the next meal, whoever runs for it. ”

"You keep quiet, so that Boss Du hears it, and I have to scold you again. Hey, let's just get over it, if it weren't for Boss Du's presence, I would have run away a long time ago, and Wang Lingguang asked to recruit troops and buy horses, but he didn't give money or food, it's just nonsense. It's also embarrassing for Boss Du, when were we on the mountain before, when were we so aggrieved? ”

A few rough men in blue cloth all fell into Zhao Yougong's ears, and in just half a pillar of incense, an idea popped up in his head. As soon as his mind moved, he pulled Azhu and rushed back, Azhu was still wondering, and when he saw that there was no one left and right, he asked urgently, "Brother Han, what are you doing?" ”

"What? If you have an idea, hehe, as long as this idea is completed, the person surnamed Wang will obediently be a pioneer officer for us! ”

Zhao Yougong and the others returned to the inn not long after leaving, which made Dongfang Jin wonder, he filled a cup of tea, rolled his eyes and asked, "Why did you come back so soon?" What's the news? ”

Let Dongfang Jin poke his head over, Zhao Yougong said what he had just seen word by word, and then Dongfang Jin also opened his mouth and said, "This haha, Du Yan has been in trouble to this extent?" ”

"It shouldn't be fake, whether it's true or not, just go and confirm it tonight. However, this matter of digging and fishing will be left to Mr. Zhao Yougong raised his eyebrows and smiled, and simply shook his hand as the shopkeeper, Dongfang Jin stood up very simply, stroked his chin with his hand, and said with a smile, "Don't worry, my subordinates will write a letter to the eldest lady." ”

Damn, Zhao Yougong stared at Dongfang Jin hatefully, this Wang Ba calf is really good at learning and selling, just pushed the matter to him, he pushed the matter to Zhu Lian, this handshake shopkeeper deserves it, one is more profitable than the other.

Ah Zhu gritted his teeth from the sidelines, how could there be a shameless person like Dongfang Jin in this world, is this the legendary going out and forgetting his face?

Feeling the two pairs of hot eyes, the Oriental official didn't realize it, gathered his hair, shook his head, and went to his house to write a letter.

For a cheeky person like Dongfang Jin, Zhao Yougong has no way at all, if you want to blame yourself, find such a person as a dog-headed military advisor. That night, Zhao Yougong and A Zhu visited the Marshal's Mansion at night, and at the same time, a letter was also delivered to Bianliang.

Bianliang is not far from Dengzhou, and it will arrive in four hours, and the next day, Zhu Niangzi received the letter, looking at the so-called six-hundred-mile expedited letter, Zhu Niangzi's pink lips opened slightly, shook her head and smiled bitterly. Zhilan looked very curious on the side, leaned over and glanced at her, her expression was as helpless as Zhu Niangzi, hey, this Dongfang Jin really knows how to use chicken feathers as an arrow.

"Zhilan, you go and prepare, find ten thousand stones of grain to send to General Huyan. This day is set on the Shangyuan Festival! ”

"Oh, the maid is going to prepare. But, lady, are we really giving Wanshi grain to others for nothing? ”

"Giggles, don't worry, the benefits that His Highness has reaped in Luoyang City are far more than this ten thousand stone grain."

Zhu Lian was very relieved, there were too many good things hidden in Luoyang City, if he could really take it as his own, let alone 10,000 stone of grain, even if 50,000 stone was thrown out, he would not lose money. (To be continued......)