Large-scale rebellions began in various localities in the seventh year of the Great Cause, and the first stage was mainly killing and looting, such as Wang Bo, Zhang Jincheng, Lu Mingyue, Liu Badao, and other bandits were ruthless and vicious, killing people like numbness, and extremely destructive to society.

When the first wave of rebellion was extinguished and the rebellion entered the second stage, many bandits understood the principle of releasing water to raise fish, reduced killing, and instead exploited labor and collected taxes to maintain their long-term rule.

Meng Haigong also belongs to this type, and he has been a Taishou in Donghai County for a few months, which makes him understand a lot of things, and more importantly, there is a lot of grain in the official warehouses in Xuzhou, and after he seized the four counties of Xuzhou, the grain has been greatly replenished, and there is no need to continue to plunder the people's wealth, so that the society has not fallen into turmoil to a large extent.

The houses in Pengcheng County are no different from those before Meng Haigong's occupation, and they have basically remained the same, but the atmosphere has obviously become solemn, and the smell of war permeates the streets and alleys.

There were few pedestrians on the streets, and groups of patrol soldiers with red scarves on their left arms patrolled the streets, and the city gates were full of soldiers, and everyone who entered the city was strictly interrogated to prevent Sui army spies from entering the city.

But for experienced spies, this kind of investigation was of little significance, and at noon that day, a small caravan consisting of a dozen mules arrived in Pengcheng County.

This caravan is the Sui army spies sent by Zhang Xuan, and the leader is the scout general Shen Guang, but in the caravan he pretends to be a buddy, and the temporary leader is a fifty-year-old short and fat merchant, his name is Yan Shou, he is indeed a medicinal herb merchant, except for him, the other four guys are Sui army spies.

Yan Shou is a native of Xiapi, who has traveled south and north for decades, has a lot of experience, and has experienced a lot of winds and waves. This kind of entry into the city is only a trivial matter for him.

"Stand!"

As soon as they arrived at the city gate, they were stopped by the soldiers, and a thief lieutenant stepped forward and asked, "Where are you from, and what are you doing in Pengcheng County?" ”

Yan Shou hurriedly nodded and said, "The villain is from Xiapi, and he came from Jiangdu to send a batch of medicinal materials. ”

"Herbs?"

The lieutenant stepped forward and pinched the sack, and waved back. "Come and check!"

A group of thieves and soldiers rushed up, Yan Shou hurriedly stuffed a small ingot of gold into the captain's hand, and said in a low voice: "Small business, please take care of the military master!" ”

The gold is only two taels, which is also in line with the scale of his business, the captain pinched the gold, and said to the soldiers with a smile: "It's not easy for people to do business, don't damage the goods." ”

The soldiers carefully searched for medicinal herbs, at this time. The thief captain walked up to Shen Guang, looked at him and said, "It looks like he has practiced martial arts?"

Shen Guang is of medium stature, not burly, but very athletic, several soldiers are also specially selected lean type, Shen Guang bowed and saluted, "Qi military master, the soldiers are in chaos." If you don't practice a little martial arts, it's hard to eat this bowl of rice. ”

"That's right!"

The thief lieutenant was still a little suspicious in his heart. He turned around and pretended to walk away, but he suddenly turned around and punched Shen Guang in the shoulder, Shen Guang guessed from the way he turned around, the other party would return the pistol, he didn't dodge, and took a punch from the thief military captain. He pretended to be a stumbling man, and almost fell, looking frightened.

The lieutenant nodded, his skills were very average, and the doubts in his heart were dispelled. At this time, the soldiers stepped forward to report, "Captain Qiyu, the search has been completed, and there is nothing contraband!" ”

The lieutenant waved his hand, "Let's go into the city!" ”

"Thank you for your care!"

Yan Shou hurriedly beckoned a few men to pack up their things and drove the mules into the city.

Walking into the county seat, Yan Shou suddenly breathed a long sigh of relief, and whispered to Shen Guang: "Do you know? The thief was already a little suspicious of you. ”

Shen Guang nodded, "I know, but I can handle it!" ”

"It's good luck, where are we going next?"

Shen Guang was not in a hurry to do things, and said with a smile: "Find an inn to live in first." ”

"I know an inn that is very nice, every time I stay there, it's clean and comfortable, everyone comes with me."

Yan Shou led everyone to walk briskly towards the county seat, and gradually disappeared at the end of the street.

．．．．．．．．

Shen Guang and his entourage settled in the inn, and he left the inn with an entourage and came to the most famous overlord platform in Pengcheng, which is actually a small hill more than 20 zhang high, and there is a point general platform of Xiang Yu, the overlord of Western Chu, on the mountain.

There is a mansion covering an area of more than 80 acres under Bawang Mountain, here is the residence of the Liu family of the Wang clan in Pengcheng County, because Pengcheng County is the hometown of Liu Bang, the ancestor of the Han Dynasty, so the Liu family of Pengcheng is actually the heir of the Han royal family, but now it is the Sui Yang era, there is only one royal family, and no one mentions this origin.

Although the glory has gone, the Pengcheng Liu family is still the first family and the first wealthy family in Pengcheng County, the family refers to its fame in the county, and there are children as officials in the court and localities, plus countless protégés, Pengcheng County has at least four county orders or county officials are protégés of the Liu family.

To say that it is wealthy means that it has a huge wealth, with 5,000 hectares of Shangtian in Pei County and Feng County, and more than 40 shops of various kinds, and a family house in the capital.

So the first thing Shen Guang did after entering Pengcheng County was to visit the Liu family, he knew that the Liu family would not betray themselves anyway, this kind of family has a big business, that is, it is usually said that the monk who can run away can't run the temple, so they will pay money and grain to support Meng Haigong, and at the same time, they will also support the Sui army's counterattack on Pengcheng County.

Shen Guang came to the door of Liu's mansion, and just walked up the steps, a middle-aged housekeeper walked up, "Who are you looking for?" The butler looked Shen Guang up and down and asked.

Shen Guang arched his hand with a smile, "May I ask if the old master of Liu Shenggong is there?" ”

The head of the Liu family in Pengcheng is called Liu Jie, but everyone respectfully calls him Sheng Gong, so calling him Liu Sheng Gong is also an honorific title.

"My lord is here, but you are"

Shen Guang smiled and took out a poster and handed it to the housekeeper, "Please give the post to your Liu Shenggong, if he is willing to see it." ”

The housekeeper glanced at the post, and the words 'Shangshu of the Ministry of War' were written on it, startled him, and hurriedly said: "Please wait, I'll go and report to the master!" ”

The housekeeper hurried into the house with the post, and after a while, he walked out with a puzzled face, clenched his fists and said, "This son, please follow me!" ”

Of course, Shen Guang knew that he would be puzzled, what he wrote on the post was Wei Shangshu of the Ministry of War, in fact, how could there be Wei Shangshu in the Ministry of War, only Wei Shangshu, this is a technique, which can not only meet the people he wants to see, but also prevent intermediaries such as housekeepers from knowing the truth.

Shen Guang followed the housekeeper into Liu's mansion, all the way to the small courtyard of the Guike Hall, and the housekeeper said at the door: "Master, he is here!" ”

"Let him in!"

Shen Guang walked into the guest hall, only to see a red-faced, energetic old man sitting in front of the table, and two men with knives stood against the wall on either side of him, staring at Shen Guang fiercely.

Shen Guang saw a striking scar on the old man's forehead, which proved the identity of the old man, Liu Shenggong, the head of the Liu family in Pengcheng.

Shen Guang didn't say a word, took out another prayer post and handed it to him, Liu Shenggong glanced at the worship post, was startled, and hurriedly waved his hand, "You guys retreat!" ”

The four family members retreated, and the old man stood up and waved his hand to the inner hall, "General Shen, please come to the inner hall to speak." ”

The second post is Shen Guang's true identity, Jiang Huai recruited Shen Guang to make Wu Yonglang under his account, Liu Shenggong realized that it was Zhang Xuan looking for him, he was a little nervous, and he didn't know what was going on.

The two sat down in the inner hall, and Shen Guang confirmed that he was safe, so he took out an letter shaft and handed it to Liu Shenggong, "This is a handwritten letter handed by the general of my family to the old master, please take a look." ”

Liu Shenggong hurriedly took the letter, read it with sincere fear, and then breathed a sigh of relief, but there was a look of shame in his eyes, he sighed and said to Shen Guang: "General Zhang is magnanimous and can understand the difficulties of our local families, but if there is a little choice, we will never be in the company of thieves, there is really no way, for the life safety of the family, we can only do some things against our will." ”

"Please rest assured, my general has always been lenient and benevolent, we have been suppressing bandits in Qingzhou and Jianghuai, I really know the difficulties of the family very well, don't say Pengcheng Liu, even Qinghe Cui has to talk to Zhang Jin about the false and wronged, we also believe in the bottom line of the Liu family, so I dare to come to the door to ask to see the family master."

Liu Shenggong nodded, "It's rare General Shen, I don't know if you are going to prepare to attack Meng Haigong?" ”

"There is indeed this plan, and it is being implemented, we have stationed troops in the Huai River, but we don't know the intelligence of Meng Haigong, so I went to ask the head of the family for help."

Liu Shenggong secretly breathed a sigh of relief, if he was asked to do something else, he might still be a little scared, but if he just asked for information, it would be easy, and his risk was not great.

Liu Shenggong smiled happily: "I don't know what General Zhang wants to know?" (To be continued.) )