On the thirtieth day of the lunar month, Chen Xin's dungeon fort shook the sky, only the new twenty military households were relatively quiet, peach charms and spring couplets were pasted in front of each house, and portraits of Fushen and Zhong Kui were hung in the house, and everyone said goodbye in the village at night, except for a group of soldiers on duty, everyone ate and drank, and around the time of the arrival, Chen Xin asked four pro-soldiers to replace the soldiers on duty, and everyone was happy and happy for a Chinese New Year's Eve.

On the morning of the first day of the first lunar month, just five watches, everywhere was lively again, Chen Xin and Liu Minyou also got up early, Wang Daixi and others helped burn incense and paper, and three livestock fruits were placed on the table to honor the ancestors and the god of the stove, and a firecracker was lit.

Chen Xin held his latch and threw it three times in front of the door, which was called "falling a thousand gold" to show good luck in the New Year.

Then a group of pro-soldiers and followers went to the barracks canteen together, everyone cooked water snacks (dumplings), and had breakfast together, Chen Xin was in the canteen to greet everyone collectively. After these were done, Chen Xin and the others went out with their own soldiers and went to the Acropolis to pay New Year's greetings to Shangguan.

Because he heard about the bandits robbing that day, Chen Xin changed Yang Yunnong's gift to twenty taels of silver, and the two of them packed the silver separately, and came all the way to the Acropolis.

When the two entered the city, there were already a lot of people on the streets of Weihai, all of whom went out with their families, and they greeted each other on the way, and they congratulated each other. The two of them first arrived at the Health Department, and the palm seal commander generally lived in the back hall of the Health Department, and the officials of the Ming Dynasty often served in different places, and the back hall of the official office basically had residences, which solved their housing problems.

When I arrived at the gate of the Health Department, I saw that Yang Yunnong's housekeeper had set up a table at the door, and a pen, ink, paper, and inkstone were placed on it. "Hello Lord Chen." When Yang Yunnong's housekeeper saw Chen Xin, he greeted him politely, he had seen Chen Xin and knew that this person had some background.

"Happy New Year, Steward Yang, the next official is here to greet Lord Yang for the New Year." After Chen Xin saw the ceremony, he said while taking out the silver of the New Year's sticker and the red silk bag.

Steward Yang is Yang Yunnong's old family, and he also followed the surname Yang, probably knowing about the robbery, with a worried face, he barely squeezed out a smile, bowed and took the things, and said to Chen Xin: "Lord Chen, the commander went to Dengzhou to pay New Year's greetings to all the adults and has not come back, you know, Ninghai Prefecture and Wendeng County are also going, and they have been gone for many days, and it is estimated that it will take a few days to come back. ”

Steward Yang said, pressed a blank paper on the table next to him with a paperweight, and then put the inkstone in his breath, and handed the pen to Chen Xin after grinding it a few times.

Chen Xin skillfully wrote his name on the white paper, he was also ready for the absence of the main master, these Shangguan also have Shangguan, and people are also going to pay New Year's greetings, like Yang Yunnong's palm print command, Shangguan are in Dengzhou and Wendeng, and they must wait for the first day of the new year to visit the New Year, and even New Year's Day is only spent in other places, which is hard enough.

Steward Yang didn't mention the bandits, Chen Xin naturally couldn't spoil the scenery at the beginning of the year, and went to Jiang Tongzhi's house after saying goodbye in a hurry.

Wang Yuanzheng is still there, Chen Xin happened to meet him when he was about to go out, after Chen Xin gave the gift, Wang Yuanzheng invited the two of them to sit in the main hall, Chen Xin saw that his brows were still tightly locked, and persuaded: "The bandit matter adults don't have to worry, when Commander Yang comes back, let's lead the troops to kill his mother's Tongtianliang." ”

Wang Yuanzheng's face softened slightly, but he still sighed: "At present, the autumn class army has not returned, and there are not many people in Weili, I inquired yesterday, and I heard that there are more than 300 people in Tongtianliang's hands, many of them are the officials and soldiers and rebellious people who fled when Xu Hongru was in chaos. ”

Liu Minyou interjected: "Lord Yang is not here, Lord Wang, can you transfer troops to fight them first?" ”

Wang Yuanzheng shook his head: "I only have six or seven family members, and more than fifty military households in my hands, and the other Tongzhi, Shi Shi and Qianhu will not obey my command without Lord Yang's orders." The soldiers can't be transferred, how can they kill him. ”

Chen Xin is very enthusiastic about suppressing bandits, his team has practiced for two months, and he should also go to see the blood, this bandit is the best to practice, he said to Wang Yuanzheng: "There are more than 60 soldiers in the hands of the lower officials, although they are here to patrol the sea, but that Tongtianliang dares to offend Lord Wang, it is bearable, which is unbearable, as long as Lord Wang speaks, listen to the dispatch of the Lord at any time." ”

Wang Yuanzheng's eyes lit up, then darkened again, shook his head and said: "We add up to only a hundred, if we can beat the more than 300 bandits in Tongtianliang, if we lose, we will provoke Yang Commander to punish him, Chen Qianhu has good intentions and the official understands it, or wait for Lord Yang to come back, light up the soldiers and horses in the guard, and smash the bandit's nest in one go, and also remove this harm for Wendeng County." ”

Chen Xin was actually panicked in his heart, just now he just expressed a little favor, after all, there are hundreds of bandits, his own soldiers have never fought, and he doesn't know what the effect is, seeing that Wang Yuanzheng didn't dare to go, he just came down the steps, just asked Wang Yuanzheng to call him to send troops together.

After going out, Chen Xin said to Liu Minyou: "Tomorrow I will have another day off, and the day after tomorrow will start training, and the logistics team will stop civil labor and practice weight-bearing marching." Also buy some mules. ”

Liu Minyou knew that he was going to fight, so he had to agree, he thought about it and said: "The mule is expensive, it costs five or six taels for one head, and the strong mule for a long distance costs nearly ten taels, and it can't plough the land, so it's better to buy less." ”

Chen Xin was a little surprised that the mule was so expensive, and the horses in the future were not even more expensive, so after thinking about it, he still said: "Buy five, let Tang Zuoxiang and them think of a way to see if they can improve some plows." ”

Liu Min said: "I also asked about the price of cattle, about seven or eight taels, we need at least a few heads, those military households tried it, and now the cultivated land can be cultivated, I plan to buy the cattle first in a few days." ”

"Well, you are responsible for the civil affairs, you can arrange it."

Chen Xin called a few pro-soldiers and said to them: "The conference and Shifa, the day after tomorrow, I will start to inquire about the situation of the Tongtianliang near the Acropolis, the number of people, weapons, and the address of the cottage, and report back within three days." Gouzi and Nie Hong, you wear civilian clothes, go from the Acropolis to Qishan, look at the terrain along the road, you don't need to enter the mountain, and it will start the day after tomorrow and return within five days. ”

Everyone responded in unison, although the holiday was gone, but they knew that there might be a war, and they were a little looking forward to it. Chen Xin didn't have much confidence in the Weisuo Army, so he still arranged for his own people to collect information, so as not to be used as cannon fodder and not know.

A few people continued to go to a few affairs, pacification, and experience the New Year's greetings at home, and finally went to the left thousand households, Weihai's left two thousand households were in the Acropolis, only the back was in the hundred stone cliffs to guard the thousands of households, Zeng Qianhu had returned to the house, warmly received Chen Xin and the two, he did not shy away from the command of the envoy was robbed. also asked if Chen Xin was willing to send troops together when he arrived, Chen Xin of course said Fang Cai's words again, and asked about Tongtianliang's situation by the way.

"That Tongtianliang was originally a private household, he was a soldier in Dengzhou, and there were many heads when he heard the Xiangjiao, and then he was afraid of less silver, and he fell into the grass as a thief, first in Kunlun Mountain (Wendeng's), Dengzhou suppressed once, and fled to Qishan, this side is not the main road, except for Weihai and Chengshan, other businessmen have not been from here, he himself is also careful, and rarely kills people during robbery, so he has not paid attention to him."

"I see, then why did he rob Lord Yang's goods again."

Zeng Qianhu shook his head and said: "I don't know, I heard that he swallowed two small bandits this year, maybe he didn't eat enough." He lowered his voice again, pretending to be mysterious: "I heard that Lord Yang's family has died, this time Lord Yang is afraid that he will not give up, sooner or later he will send troops to suppress him, since Lord Chen has the heart, he must prepare earlier, then Tongtianliang's subordinates are very gangsters." ”

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When the group returned to the dungeon, it was almost dinner time, lanterns were hung in front of the house, most of the people were under the wooden platform in the northeast corner to watch the invited troupe singing, even the pockmarked pier also came a lot of people to join in the fun, and the children were running around in the crowd.

Chen Xin called all the officers above the captain level, plus Liu Minyou, all of them into the barracks and held a meeting in the official room of the battalion headquarters.

After all the officers saluted Chen Xin, Chen Xin sat down and briefly talked about the situation of Tongtianliang, and then said directly: "In the near future, I may have to send troops to suppress bandits with the commander, the original holidays have all been canceled, and the training plan has also been adjusted. ”

All the squad leaders only found out about it now, and it was easy to have a vacation, and it was canceled again, and they were a little frustrated, but when they thought that they had been training for a long time, they could finally see how many catties and taels they had fallen to the ground, and they were eager to try.

"The people have, you organize other military households, women and children to make rice and dried meat, the quantity is according to each soldier to bring five days, and the logistics team to carry the whole army for ten days."

Liu Minyou asked while remembering: "Rice needs to be exposed to the sun, and now the sun is not strong, and I am afraid that time will not be in time." ”

"If you can't dry it, dry it with a fire and prepare it within five days."

Liu Minyou's farming plan was all disrupted, but the war was a big deal, so he nodded and agreed. The rice they are talking about is to use rice to hull and soak in water, steam ten times in a row, the weight becomes one-fifth of the original, each stone is only close to thirty catties, and then soak in boiling water when eating, it is the dry food used by the army of the Song Dynasty for marching, and the Ming army also uses it a lot, this thing is easy to carry, can effectively supplement calories, and the jerky is to supplement protein. Although it was sent with the guards, there should be auxiliaries to transport military rations, but what the guards in the late Ming Dynasty could reach, Chen Xin did not have any expectations.

"Zhou Shifa is responsible for leading the soldiers to collect information on Tongtianliang and the water source, terrain, and camping conditions along the way."

"Yes, my lord" Zhou Shifa is good in Dengzhou, Chen Xin arranged for him to do this, there is a meaning to reuse him, Lu Chuanzong is now back to the war team, Zhou Shifa's competitors are only Zhang Dahui and Nie Hong, Zhang Dahui is estimated to go to Beijing soon, Zhou Shifa began to think about how to do this matter well in his heart, overpowering Nie Hong.

The situation of Tongtianliang was very brief, and the others couldn't ask more questions, Chen Xin finally said: "Starting tomorrow, it is forbidden for the soldiers to go out, tell the soldiers that they are going to fight immediately, and if they want to live, they will give me a life-long practice, and the specific combat objectives are not allowed to be disclosed, otherwise they will be punished for disobeying military law. Now, dissolve. ”

"Yes, sir."