Before Wen Chou came, Li Jin was shocked three times, after Wen Chou came, the good news was frequent, he didn't need to be military anymore, he suddenly felt relaxed, he was very happy to see Wen Chou break the yellow hair and triumph, at this time, Wen Chou suddenly said this, he was nervous, and said: "How can the lieutenant say this?" ”

"Although the left beard and yellow hair are broken, there is still a king in the territory When I heard that the thief Chu Feiyan and Wang Dang colluded privately, those who intended to enter Zhao Di Chu Feiyan, the big thief in Jizhou, if you can't break Wang Dang as soon as possible, and sit back and watch Wang Dang lead Chu Feiyan into Zhao Realm, then I am afraid that Zhao County will suffer another big chaos"

"Chu Feiyan?" Li Jin has been in Jizhou for a long time, and when he heard of Chu Feiyan's name, he was shocked and said, "Chu Feiyan is a giant thief in Chen, I heard that he is very capable of fighting, and the soldiers of Chenjun can't break it after many conquests?" He's coming to Zhao County? ”

"This is the news that Peng Guojia heard in my house"

"Is this information reliable?"

"Infallible"

Li Jin got up, stroked his beard, turned around the hall a few times, and said to Wen Chou: "You must not sit back and watch Chu Feiyan enter my Zhao realm!" My Zhao County is not better than Chen and other counties, there are only five counties in total, and the place is narrow, once Chu Feiyan enters my territory, there will be no more peace! ”

"yes, that's what I thought too"

"Then I don't know when the lieutenant plans to send troops again to attack Wang Dang?"

The text is ugly and stops

"Why did the lieutenant hesitate? Could it be that there is a problem? ”

Wen Chou smiled bitterly and said: "I also want to defeat Wang Dang as soon as possible, but I can't ......"

"But what?"

"However, my department is righteous from many plains, and they are not accustomed to mountain warfare, although they won this time, they won a tragic victory! The soldiers suffered heavy casualties of nearly 2,000 paces and rode out of the Yuan clan, and only 35,600 people returned ......, Xiangjun and Huang Fei were new thieves. The foothold in this county is not stable, and it is still easy to attack, but Wang Dang is an old Kou, and there are many of his eyes and ears in each county, and there are far more outlaw thieves under him than Huang Yan, almost more than 3,000 people. It's not that I don't want to hit it as soon as possible, it's really not easy to hit it."

Wen Chou said that this is an objective situation

Why did Wen Chou hit the left beard first and then hit the yellow hair, putting Wang Dang at the end? One is because the left beard and yellow hair are close to the Yuan family, and the other is precisely because the left beard and yellow hair are a little easier to fight

Li Jin knew that what he said was the truth, sighed again and again, and said, "How is this good?" Seeing Wen Chou'an sitting still, his heart moved, and he said with a smile, "The lieutenant must have a countermeasure." Don't sell it, talk about it."

"What can I do? At the end of the day, it's nothing more than recruiting new pawns."

"Recruit new pawns? ......, the lieutenant mentioned this to me before"

"Yes, the king has more than 3,000 troops, not only far more than the Yellow Hair Division, but also more than the existing soldiers and horses in my county, if you want to attack him, you have to recruit new soldiers. And these recruited recruits must also be people who are fighting in the mountains."

"It is easy to recruit new soldiers, and the number of displaced people in the county is increasing, and many of them are from the county such as Tatsunayama. Chenzhongshan and other counties are mountainous, and it is not difficult to recruit some mountain people who are hard-working and can walk the mountain road, but the difficulty is food."

Wen Chou was waiting for his words, and said: "If Xiangjun can make up his mind, I don't think this food is a problem."

"Not a problem?"

"Yet"

"What is the lieutenant's plan for raising food?"

"The county treasury and county treasury are short of grain, but the people are not short of grain"

"Lieutenant wants to?"

"Exactly. I want to ask people to borrow food."

Li Jin was originally a long-winded person, but when he was so surprised that he forgot about his verbosity, he said, "Has the lieutenant ever thought about the consequences of doing this?" ”

Wen Chou pretended not to know what he meant, and asked with a smile: "What can be the consequences?" ”

"After the chaos in Montenegro. Not only the grain of the county treasury, but also the grain of the people's houses has been looted, and now the counties and counties of Jizhou are short of grain, this time the rebellion in Montenegro started in February, although it was pacified in August and September, but it delayed the spring planting, most of the people's grains were short of grain, and this year there was no harvest, lieutenant, you are going to grab food from their mouths and grab your life."

Li Jin's words were a bit upside down, but the meaning was very clear

In short, his words are saying: This year's harvest was confiscated, and most of the grain stored in previous years was snatched away by Montenegro, and the people were afraid that there was not much surplus grain in their hands, and the people took food as the sky, and those who did not eat would starve to death

"Ordinary people are also short of food, but the strong family surnamed Hao Qiang is not"

Emperor Guangwu of this dynasty is borrowing the power of the powerful family to rise the Han family, so the local power of the dynasty is much stronger than the former Han Dynasty, not to mention those good land and thousands of servants and thousands of people, that is, the ordinary small Haoqiang often also build their own manor, the formation of the Zongbing, there are dock walls and arms, when the army is in turmoil, there is the power of self-protection compared to the large county town, the rebellious soldiers and horses are more inclined to attack the county in the early stage, because these dock walls are dotted all over the countryside, there are too many, if you want to fight, you will divide the troops, and the division of troops will disperse the forces, again, even if these dock walls are knocked down, the harvest may not be as much as the next county

For this reason, after the rebellion, many ordinary people in Zhao County were indeed short of food, but most of these wealthy families did not suffer much loss

"Does the lieutenant want to borrow grain from the Yuan clan's Wei Leyang Zhu?"

Wen Chou saw Li Jin's embarrassment, and said: "I know that this matter is not easy to do, as long as I can get Xiangjun's consent, then I don't need Xiangjun to come forward, just leave it all to me."

Li Jin pursed his lips tightly, doing a fierce ideological struggle, on the one hand, there is a possible chaos in the whole county of Zhao County, on the other hand, it is to offend the local powerful surname, which may lead to the consequences of infamy, he is in a dilemma, bowed his head and thought for a long time, then made a decision, and said in his heart: "Wang Dang has more than 3,000 people, only his thief, this county will be difficult to exterminate, in case Chu Feiyan comes again, then this county will inevitably become a thief domain, I am the minister of state, a' The responsibility of being weak and incompetent' is that he can't run away, not only can he not run away from this responsibility, but he will also insult his relatives and friends, children and nephews, and ......, since the lieutenant is willing to come forward to do this, let him go! ”

If the two Han Dynasty are strong and become officials, if they are called "weak and incompetent", then not only will they be disgraced, but they may also be looked down upon by their families

Because the ideological struggle was too fierce, his fingers holding his beard unconsciously exerted too much force, and he pulled off two of his beards. He asked Wen Chou and said, "I wonder how sure the lieutenant is about borrowing grain?" ”

"Yuan Shirong, the chief bookkeeper of my house, told me that he was very sure"

"Good!"

Wen Chou is a lieutenant and has no right to participate in civil affairs, and the matter of collecting grain from the people of the county must be approved by Minister of State Li Jin<-"

After getting Li Jin's consent, Wen Chou said goodbye and returned to the lieutenant's mansion

Tian Yuanhao, Yuan's Rong, Xunyu, Guo Jia and others have been waiting in the house for a long time

See him return. Yuan Shirong asked eagerly, "What did Xiangjun say?" ”

"Xiangjun agreed" Wen Chou took out the grain collection document written by Li Jin and handed it to Yuan Shirong

The Yuan family Rong watched it, was overjoyed, and asked Wen Chou: "I don't know when the lieutenant plans to pass this text to the Yuan family surnames?" ”

Wen Chou's grain collection is not only to collect grain from the surname of Yuan's county, he has to raise grain from all five counties of Zhao County, but this matter is too big, but he can't pass this text to the five counties at the same time at the beginning, so he plans to test the water in Yuan's first, and after Yuan's is done. Then he didn't answer Yuan's Rongzhi's question, but asked with a smile: "In the opinion of the public ruler, when is it appropriate to pass on this text?" ”

"Sooner rather than later!"

"Then according to the will of the princess"

Yuanshi Rongxi said: "No! Rong will go to the homes of the Yuan family to announce this order now."

"This matter is not trivial, and the public must not be in a hurry."

When Yuan Rongchu was dismissed by Wen Chou as the lieutenant master, he volunteered to raise food for Wen Chou, but Wen Chou refused because he considered that he had come to Zhao County and had just arrived, and he had no foundation in this county. endured to this day, on the one hand, with the power of two "thieves" victory. On the one hand, he relied on the support of He Yan and Yuan Shao in the court, so he decided to make a move, but although he decided to do it, he did not want to cause the strong clans in the county to unite and resist because of this matter, so he told Yuan Shirong: Don't act rashly

For Yuan Shirong, since he was opened by Wen Chou as the lieutenant's main book. Although Wen Chou treats him very kindly, he consults with him in everything, all the talents he recommends are used, and all the suggestions that he puts forward that can be adopted are also adopted, but compared to Tian Yuan Hao Xun Yu. Even Li Xuantian Chou, an old friend of Wen Chou, Yuan Shirong has always felt that he is inferior, thinking that he has not yet been able to integrate into the inner circle of Wen Chou, and he has long been full of energy to complete the big thing of raising grain, so as to establish his position in the Wen Chou circle

He had been preparing for this for a long time, and had discussed it with his father many times, and he had a mature plan, he got up from his seat, walked into the hall, faced Wen Chou, pressed his body, and said in a loud voice: "Lieutenant, rest assured, this matter will be done without fail!" ”

Wen Chou smiled: "Okay, then I'll wait for your good news"

Yuan Shirong didn't talk much nonsense, bowed down, withdrew from the hall, put on his shoes, and went to collect food

Tian Yuanhao looked out of the hall, saw him go far away from the hospital, turned his face and said to Wen Chou with a smile: "Lieutenant, the prince is strong and daring, and his family is the crown family of this county, and he personally handles it under the prime minister's court, and the matter of raising grain is like a backhand, and he is caught" paused, and said, "But then again, you can't be careless."

Just like Li Jin said, there is no harvest this year, food is already in short supply, those wealthy and powerful families are not good men and women, asking them for grain is the same as cutting their flesh, the Yuan clan Wei Le clan may be good to say, with the Yuan clan Rong coming forward, even if they are unwilling, they will probably not be in chaos, but such as the Yang clan and the Han clan are not necessarily

Especially the Yang family, because of the incident of Wen Chou Shati County soldiers, the patriarch of the Yang family has been very dissatisfied with Wen Chou, and has privately visited Huang Ming and other county officials many times to connect with the big and small heroes in the county, and there is a faint intention to gather people to fight against Wen Chou

Xun Yu thought so and said, "Lieutenant, do you want to summon Li Cangzilong?" ”

Before Wen Chou hit Huang Beard, he received the security of Yuanshi County in his hands, and handed it over to Tian Yuanhao to be responsible for Tian Yuanhao followed Wen Chou to Zhao County for a long time, if you want to control the local security, you have to have the cooperation of the local county lieutenant, Yuan's right lieutenant Zhou Liang is humble and cunning, not available, Tian Yuanhao is to reuse the left lieutenant Li Cang Zhou Liang with Huang Ming as the backstage, usually holds the power of Li Cang, Li Cang's title hated for a long time, after getting Tian Yuanhao's support, he then in turn usurped Zhou Liang's power, and now has controlled most of the public security in Yuanshi County

The security in the county is now mostly under the control of Li Cang, and the defense of the county seat and the security outside the county are under the control of Zhao Yun

Xun Yu proposed to summon Li Cang and Zhao Yun to come, but he was taking precautions, and suggested that Wen Chou should prepare his armaments first, so as not to really cause rebellion by powerful surnames such as the Yang family

The surname Haoqiang is already powerful in the local area, and this dynasty has been in the middle since the rise. There have been many cases in various prefectures and counties where the local strong clans have besieged the county officials and even the county temples, and now it is a new break in Montenegro, and there are many thieves in the county

Wen Chou shook his head and said: "Wen Ruo is very worried"

Immediately ordered Dian Wei, Li Dian Wei and other guards outside the guard hall to send people to summon Li Cang and Zhao Yun

……

However, it was said that the Yuan family was honored out of the lieutenant's mansion and went to the homes of the surnames in the county to convey the order

During this time, he had already found out how much grain was stored in each of the big families in the county, and after conveying the order. That is, the amount of their grain is requested from each household, and this amount is one-fifth of the amount of grain stored by each household

Although the scholars like the Wei Le clan were really dissatisfied, they didn't say anything to their faces, just perfunctory promises

Yuan Shirong didn't talk to them much, and after reading the edict and saying that he would ask them to give out the amount of food, he said goodbye and left, and rushed to the next family

The lieutenant officials who followed Yuan Shirong to each house to read the orders couldn't help but ask Yuan Shirong on the way, and said, "Master book, although the two families of Shicai Wei Le did not refuse in person. You can see the color and hear their words, but they are all perfunctory,......, what if they refuse to give food? ”

Yuan Shirong sneered and said, "Don't you hear about 'killing chickens and making an example of monkeys'? Find a chicken out and kill it, and they'll know what to do."

The order was conveyed to the Wei family, the Le family and other scholars who lived in the county, and Yuan Rong and others went out of the city to the Yang family

entered the Yang family's manor. After passing the edict and saying the amount of grain required from the Yang family, Yang Shen, the head of the Yang family, pulled down his face in front of Yuan Shirong. Tie Qing blushed and didn't say a word

Yuan Shirong said: "Yang Gong is unwilling to give food? ”

Yang Shen was dissatisfied with Wen Chou's damage to the interests of the Yang family, these days with Huang Ming and other county officials are very close, and with the county's big and small Haoqiang also have close contacts, he originally planned to move Huang Ming to gather the strength of all the families, Wen Chou drove away, the local Haoqiang expelled the 2,000 stone chief officials in the early years of this dynasty and Haoqiang to besiege the county officials yīyàng. It's not uncommon, although this kind of thing is rare in the past twenty or thirty years, it also happens occasionally, but unexpectedly, before he could say that Huang Ming was moved, Wen Chou first came to the door to ask for food

If it is said that Wen Chou Shati county soldiers placed the Yang clan in the county soldiers, and the officers were almost eliminated, it only damaged the Yang clan's strength in the county. So now Wen Chou asks for grain, and one is one-fifth of the grain stored by his Yang family, which is already harming the fundamental interests of the Yang family

He said to Yuan Shi Rong with a cold face: "Master Yuan, don't you know how many people the lieutenant will offend by this move? The main book is from this county, so why bother offending the county people for the lieutenant? ”

Yuan's Rong Zhengse said: "Although Rong is from this county, but now out of the lieutenant's mansion, that is, the lieutenant's lieutenant Peng Lieutenant raised food to fight the thieves in the mountains, and to paralyze the peace of the county.

"The state commander is stationed in Gaoyi, there is something in Zhao County, Gaoyi is coming at night, a little bandit, why be afraid? Today, the Yu people sell wine, why do they ask for a price from the Zhao people in vain? ”

"Yu people sell wine, why ask for a price with Zhao people", that is: it is Yuzhou people who buy wine, why ask for a price from Zhao people?

Yang Shen is ironically sarcastic, which means: You want to be promoted, so you lead troops to fight, but why do you ask us for food?

Yuan Shirong was furious, Huo Ran left the table, pressed his body, and until Yang Shen was opposite, he reprimanded with disgust: "Although the lieutenant is from Yuzhou, the thief is in Changshan country!" Although Gaoyi is close, Zhongshan Chen also has thieves, if Zhongshan Chen Changshan Country has something to do, how can Zhou Bo take care of this and lose the other, how can he save me in time? Moreover, Gaoyi is hundreds of miles away from our county, and the thieves are less than fifty miles away from our county. Now the king is a thief, and he wants to lure Chu Feiyan into my Zhao land, invade the counties, Yang Gong does not think about self-protection, and fights hundreds of rabbles on a dock wall, thinking that he is safe, does not make the wise and the brave laugh? ”

Yang Shen didn't mean that Yuan Shirong was suddenly angry, his face changed slightly, his body moved back a little, and then he straightened his waist again, met Yuan Shirong's angry eyes, and said: "When it comes to raising grain, if there is an edict from the imperial court, I will go with it, but do you have an edict from the imperial court?" Just rely on a letter from the Prime Minister to ask my family to pay food? Did my grain fall from heaven? I only know the edict of the imperial court, and I don't hear the document of the prime minister."

The so-called "imperial court edict", when encountering border turmoil and need to fight a war and the treasury is empty, the imperial court will often issue an edict and ask the local gentry to borrow grain, such as the previous year, and the imperial court borrowed grain

Even words like "I only know the edict of the imperial court, but I don't hear the documents of the prime minister's house" can be said. Yang Shen has made it clear that he will resist to the end

Yuan Shirong stared at him for a long time, smiled back, and said: "The Zun family prides itself on being a strong sect, and it is usually in the counties and counties, and it is raging in the township pavilion, which attracts the resentment of the people. Now there are groups of thieves and homeless people all over the wilderness, and they are stingy with grain, and they regard their wealth and goods as more important than their lives, and the public is self-defeating! ”

Although Yuan Shirong said this with a smile on his face, his tone was cold, like yīyà squeezed out of his teeth, he turned around and strode away with the servant

Yang Shen's sons were also in the hall, and when they saw that Yuan Shirong was so "domineering", they were all discolored. One person said: "The lieutenant has been in the country for less than three months, and he has broken the yellow hair of the left beard, and his prestige is vibrating, Ah Weng, just refuse his order to raise food, will you?" ”

Another person said: "Yuan Shirong is also reasonable, there are many bandits in the mountains west of the county, if you don't break them as soon as possible." It will eventually become a big trouble for my county."

Yang Shen had a gloomy face and said, "That's why. You can't borrow food! ”

"What do you mean by that?"

"Although Montenegro is broken, a group of thieves are swarming, and the roads of the county are full of groups of homeless people sooner or later, and I don't know how long it will take for this world to be peaceful! At this time, grain is life, what is he Wen Chou for? It's for recruitment! If my family had lent him food, he would have been able to recruit soldiers. But what about my family? Most of the clansmen and guests placed in the county soldiers of my family were driven away by him, and now the only thing I can rely on is the one hundred and ten Zongbing who has finally pulled up, if my family lends him grain, my family's food is not enough, I am afraid that the Zongbing will disperse tomorrow! As soon as they dispersed. Who will protect our lives? ”

Yang Shen stood up from the seat, walked to the door of the hall, watched Yuan Shirong wait out of the gate of the manor, pointed to the outside of the village, and then said: "Not to mention the group of thieves in the west of the county, just those homeless people on the road outside the village day and night can destroy our lives!" ”

"That being said, but what if the lieutenant is angry about it? He has more than 2,000 foot riders in his hand."

"How about more than 2,000 riders? How dare he send troops to destroy my family? If he dares to do this, it will arouse the anger of the people, unless he doesn't want to stay in Zhao County anymore, he will never dare to do this."

Yang Shen is right, not to mention that the Yang family lives in the Yuan family, relatives and friends are all over the county, if Wen Chou dares to do this, he can't stand it if the powerful rabbits and foxes of the counties in the county attack him

"Ah Weng is right"

"However, I heard Lang Zhongling and others say that Wen Chou, the past deeds of Yuzhou, this person looks elegant, but he is very decisive and ruthless, he dares to ask the prime minister to borrow grain, there will be a backhand, but my family also has to prepare as soon as possible."

"How do you prepare?"

"I'm going to the county to meet Lang Zhongling Duan Jun now, and you will go to the Han family and other families as soon as possible to invite their parents to come to our house tonight, and I will discuss with them to deal with this.

Yang Shen drove into the county seat of Yuanshi and paid homage to Huang Ming.

Today, Huang Ming was in the official temple, and when Yang Shen arrived, Zhou Liang, the right lieutenant of the Yuan family, was also there

Huang Ming is the nephew of Zhongcheng Duan Jue, as the lieutenant commander of Qianshi, his status in Zhao County is not low, second only to Lieutenant Fu Xiang, quite powerful, and there is a group of sycophants on the Pinghou side, among these county officials and county people who flatter him, Zhou Liang Yang Shen is the most liked by him

Zhou Liang is more than 50 years old, he has been a prostitute in the officialdom for decades, he is good at observing words and feelings, he is very good at saving people's minds, he is a good hand at flattering people, Yang Shen's family has a big business, and he is generous, every time he comes to see Huang Ming, he will bring some precious gifts, and he is very courteous to Huang Ming, who doesn't like to be flattered, and who doesn't like money? It is normal for Huang Ming to have a special affection for Zhou Liang and Yang Shen

Huang Mingzheng and Zhou Liang were drinking in the hall, watching singing and dancing, and when they heard that Yang Shen was coming, they invited him in

Yang Shen left his entourage in the courtyard of Langzhong Lingguan Temple, and entered the hall alone, holding a gift box with red paint on a black background

"Today is a beautiful warm breeze, Yang Gong is not enjoying happiness at home, why did he come to me again?"

Yang Shen knelt down in the hall, presented the gift box, and said: "It is because of the warmth of the wind and the beauty that I miss Huang Gong, so I come uninvited, and I am presumptuous!" ”

The attendant in the hall took the gift box and handed it to Huang Ming

Yang Shen's gift to Huang Ming was either an expensive treasure or a novelty from the Western Regions, which made Huang Ming very satisfied every time Huang Ming saw the gift box, and a smile appeared on his face, but he didn't open it in front of Yang Shen, waved his hand, signaled the attendant to step aside, asked Yang Shen to get up, ordered to sit down, and said with a smile: "Yang Gong is really too polite, every time he is so polite" (to be continued.) )