On the Huanxian school field of Qingyang Mansion, there were a large number of thieves brought back from Dongchuan by the imperial army at this time. The supervisor and discipline were working together with Liu Sangu, the magistrate of Huanxian County, Li Kezuo, and many officials, students, soldiers and civilians of Huanxian County to identify the identity of the head.

"Ah, I know this, I know this. He is Marshal Hu, the deputy general under the thief Ke Tianfei, and his real name is actually Bai Chengzai. I've seen him more than once before, and this damn thief has robbed our village of a lot of food. ”

"Master Jun, you just said that he is the deputy general of Liu Wu's subordinate Lama Ren, right? I think I've seen this guy, he's from my township. The name seems to be called Ren, Ren or something. Oh, by the way, his name is Ren Shouzheng. ”

"My lord, the student knows the name of this thief. He was nicknamed Chief Officer Zhang, his name was Zhang Yicheng, and one of his students' old friends died at his hands. This time the official army can kill this fang, and the students' old friends can also be blinded under Jiuquan. ”

"My lord knows who this thief with the nickname of carving arrows is, he is Li Wenju, and he used to be a hunter in this county. In the past, my lord had bought prey in his hands, but I haven't seen him in the past few years, so he went to be the king of the mountain. ”

"Lord Qi Zhi County, he once hunted down this thief. His name is Yin Shicai, and he also committed crimes in his early years, but he didn't expect that he was now mixed in the Dongchuan thief's nest with a starry nickname, and he thought that he was assigned to the army. ”

"My lord, I know that this person who is known as the Great Heavenly Master is from our village. I don't remember the exact name, but most of us used to call him Zhao Si. ”

"I've seen this Drill Monkey before, he's from the township next door to me."

"I know who this thief who is nicknamed Red Wolf is." ……

Huanxian County has been repeatedly plundered by Dongchuan thieves, and the thieves in Dongchuan are familiar with the affairs of Huanxian. The people of Huanxian County also know a lot about the Dongchuan thieves, and they hate it so much. So when they heard that the imperial army had wiped out the Dongchuan thieves, they returned to Huanxian with a large number of heads.

Many people who have enmity with the thieves rushed to Huanxian County with the old and the young to identify the thieves. There were even some people from other counties who received the news and came to identify their blood feuds.

Some people laugh when they learn that the revenge has been avenged, and they are crazy when they meet people. Some people wept bitterly, knelt down and kowtowed to the officials and gentlemen, and happily some of them were incoherent, not knowing what they were talking about.

Among them, there are also many people who watch the excitement, pointing around the head. I think it's not a big deal when the usually feared thief turns into a bloody head.

Occasionally, however, there are a few of these people who look sad but are careful to hide, because they find their relatives and friends among the heads.

But these have nothing to do with the two leaders, Guan Zhiqing and Li Yang, who are busy handling the final handover procedures for transporting the head at this time.

In this task of transporting the first level, because of the poor mountain road, a box containing a lot of heads fell into the ravine. Although this ravine is not too deep, it took Zhang Mengjin and his gang a lot of effort to find it on the second day, but fortunately, there was nothing wrong with the head in the box.

"Now that all the heads have been successfully recovered, I won't care about your mistakes this time. The Governor is pleased with your performance these days, and you need to work harder. ”

Tongzhi Liu Sangu knew that Hong Chengchou admired the combat power of Zhang Mengjin and his gang, so he didn't pursue their mistakes too much when transporting the head.

"This is all thanks to the good words of the Lord for us in front of the Governor, this is a little bit of our heart, and I hope that the Lord will be subordinate." Guan Zhiqing saw that Liu Sangu did not pursue it, and his heart was also relieved. So Guan Zhiqing also flattered Liu Sangu a few words, making the atmosphere more harmonious. At the same time, Li Yang quietly handed over a few ingots of silver as a filial piety for their group.

Liu Sangu did not accept the silver handed over by them, but said very seriously: "There is no need to play these bad habits of officialdom in front of this official, and I also understand the embarrassment of you degrading." As long as you are loyal to the court, you naturally don't need to worry about anything, the court will see it and give you a chance. ”

"Adults can also understand our hardships, and we brothers naturally want to help adults share some of our sorrows. But we are all coarse people, and we don't know what we can do for adults, so we can only use these mundane things for the hearts of our brothers. Li Yang grew up in a military fort and was used to the hypocritical routines of civilian officials, so he handed it over in a more covert way.

"In this case, this official is reluctant to make it difficult for his subordinates. But next time, use the money to buy some wine for your soldiers. Liu San looked at the silver handed over by Li Yang, saying that he only made an exception once, and he didn't need to fix these fictitious things in the future.

"It's our sin to embarrass adults, hehehe. It's really hard for you to run an errand here. Dare to ask how many bandit leaders have been recognized by the people? "Running away after giving the money is too formalistic to do so. Although Guan Zhiqing was not very interested, he still used Liu Sangu's work to arouse the topic of their small talk.

"Now the identities of forty-three bandit leaders have been recognized, like the one who is nicknamed Tie Lei, but it is actually called Ma Wenli. The one named Liu Huangying is called Liu Yanju and so on. The official took a look, and among the eighty-three heads you captured, the identities of the heads of the five famous thieves have been confirmed. You have done a good job, so I will thank Zhang Dusi (Zhang Mengjin) for the people of Qingyang Mansion. After Liu Sangu finished speaking, he bowed to Guan Zhiqing.

"I can't do it, I can't do it. My lord, this is to kill us, and we are officers and soldiers, so we naturally have to listen to the dispatch of the imperial court. Therefore, it is our duty to kill thieves, and you don't have to do it, my lord. Regardless of whether Liu Sangu was sincere or false, Guan Zhiqing did not dare to accept Liu Sangu's salute.

A total of 859 officers and soldiers in the battle of Gaojiapan were killed, and the combat exploits of Cao Wenzhao, the general soldier of Lintao, were still the first among all armies as always.

And Hong Chengchou's other favorite general, the guerrilla general Ma Ke is in the second, and Hong Chengchou's own pacesetter is in the third. Another general soldier, Yang Jiamo, ranked fourth this time, and the credit of Zhang Mengjin's department this time was under Yang Jiamo. (Note 1)

This is already a good result among the officers and soldiers who participated in the war. And it should be noted that Zhang Mengjin's position is just a capital division. Therefore, the ability of Zhang Mengjin's department has once again been confirmed, and Liu Sangu has given them such a face-saving face, most likely because he also wants to befriend this group of vigorous officers and military stars.

Li Yang thought that it didn't matter if they could identify the true identities of the famous thieves they had captured, anyway, in the merit book of their gang, the names of the leaders of these thieves could already show their merits. But Liu Sangu was so polite, he could only follow the second master and keep being polite with him.

"My lord, the identities of the four leaders of the thieves, Liu Poison Tiger, Heavenly Dragon, Flying Stone, and Eye-Opening Thief, have already been identified." After several people made friends with each other, Liu Sangu's subordinates came to report the news in a timely manner, saying that a new identity of the thief had been recognized.

Guan Zhiqing felt that his work was completed, and there was no reason to stay. So he said to Liu Sangu: "It's not too early, and we can't continue to bother, so let's talk about it here." ”

Li Yang also saluted respectfully at this time, and said that it was time for them to return to the camp.

Liu Sangu saw that there was another official business, so he no longer chatted with Guan Zhiqing and Li Yang, but said politely: "Then the official will not force you to stay, Zhang Dusi will say hello for the official." ”

Guan Zhiqing and Li Yang saluted Liu Sangu again, and then left here directly.

……

"This time I stuffed thirty taels of silver, if I did this routine a few more times, Xiucai would really go crazy. Let's sell a bird gun, and only make two taels of silver after deducting the cost, this time the income of the fifteen-pole bird gun is gone, and it is almost a workshop in the village that has been busy for more than a month. ”

After leaving Liu Sangu's place, Li Yang began to sigh at the communication expenses just now.

Because of the superior quality, the bird guns of Jinding Mountain are sold for six taels of silver, and some people are still willing to buy them. The cost of labor and materials in Jinding Mountain actually only needs four taels of silver. Jindingshan can make a net profit of two taels of silver by selling bird guns, so this is a very profitable thing. (Note 2)

Zhang Mengcheng, who is in charge of various entries and exits in the cottage, has also been using this business income to balance the various expenses in the cottage. So I take these things more seriously, and for the expenses of some officialdom, Xiucai has always felt pain in his heart.

Although Jinding Mountain now produces bird guns every month, it is about eleven or two strokes. However, the amount of silver earned from selling these bird guns was about twenty taels of silver, which was already a lot of income for the main Jinding Mountain.

Guan Zhiqing was actually quite reluctant in his heart, but some of the money should still be spent, and he could only reluctantly agree to give away so much silver.

"I don't think there will be many times, and then we will have to go back to the west road, and then we won't have to break the bank. This money is spent, it can save us a lot of trouble, if Xiucai wants to make trouble, let him make trouble, and the eldest brother will settle it. ”

"I heard that Xiucai seems to be with Cai Lao Er at the top of Artemisia, and the two of them worked together to settle the magistrate Hou Sanguang. After that, they quickly swept away a few local tyrants who were not long-sighted, and all the silver they had thrown out to set up a set for Hou Sanguang doubled and earned back. Speaking of Zhang Mengcheng and Yinzi, Li Yang told the news he had heard recently.

"There is indeed such a thing, and Xiucai also passed the news to the big boss before. Some of the silver we made this time was brought over by the big boss, so we went back to the village to show off and talk about it again. Guan Zhiqing naturally knew about this, because he was the one who cried poverty to the big boss Zhang Mengjin at the beginning.

"Then I'll talk to Xiucai for a while, and see who can cry more poor, me or him, hahaha." Hearing that the cost of his business trip this time was actually pulled out of Xiucai's mouth, Li Yang was looking forward to seeing Zhang Mengcheng's expression after that.

Guan Zhiqing will also smile heartily, the appearance of Li Yang and Zhang Mengcheng when they cry poor to each other can indeed amuse the other leaders in the cottage. Guan Zhiqing, who thought of this, said to Li Yang: "In this case, let's go back to the camp as soon as possible now, and we can also go back to the village as soon as possible to see the good show." ”

Li Yang suddenly became interested, and planned to try to see if his recent riding skills had improved. "Then on the way back to the camp, let's compare how well we ride, and you ride first. I'll try to see if my riding skills have improved and if I can catch up with you from behind. ”

"Okay, if you win, I'll invite you to drink my treasured corn wine. But if you lose, please let me go to the next restaurant. Guan Zhiqing did not object, but added a colorful head, and then rushed out.

"Okay, you just look at it, I'll drink your corn wine." After Li Yang finished speaking loudly, he also waved his horsewhip and rushed out after Guan Zhiqing's figure. And the soldiers accompanying them had to follow the two leaders and start galloping wildly.

PS: Note 1: According to the "Historical Materials of the Peasant Uprising in the Late Ming Dynasty", it is recorded in the "Military Department's Title of Gong Bao and Suppression of Qu Kui and Other Matters", in the actual history, the officers and soldiers of Ningxia Town were cut down by 145 ranks, which were below Cao Wenzhao (292) and Ma Ke (165). In this book, most of the beheading of Zhang Mengjin and his gang is the share of Ningxia Town in the original history, so Zhang Mengjin occupies the fifth place.

Note 2: In the third volume of "Xu Guangqi's Collection", "Training Manuscript 1", Xu Guangqi calculated that it would take four taels of silver to build a bird's gun. Although the cost of materials may be different in different places, the author still unifies that this price is more intuitive.