Cheng Biting Jin and Niu Jinda is really a man of his word, Chen Yingliang led the army of Qian County to return to Yongcheng in triumph not a few days later, Cheng Biting Jin and Niu Jinda took some family members and two hundred famous Jibei Xiangyong came to Yongcheng to return, Chen Yingliang heard the great joy, personally led the city's civil and military officials out of the city twenty miles to greet each other, Cheng Biting Jin and Niu Jinda were flattered, the chief thanked him, Chen Yingliang personally picked up the second general, Cheng Biting Jin was named a cavalry captain, Niu Jinda was named an infantry captain.

At this point, Chen Yingliang's civil and military team is basically finalized, and the military generals mainly include Cheng Yanjin, Niu Jinda, Ma Sanbao and Kan Liang Four generals, and the Wenchen is the eldest brother-in-law Sun Wuji, the super god Yuan Tiangang and the greedy Qian Xiangmin, who is afraid of death, and there is also Wei Zheng, who was ordered to go south to investigate the case but was temporarily unable to complete the task, was also forcibly entrusted by Chen Yingliang to the important task of Fa Cao, and asked Wei Zheng to help him handle military and civilian judicial affairs. The number of people in this team is small, but it is capable and has its own strengths, and it is also the basic team that Chen Yingliang relied on to start and develop.

As the new deputy commander-in-chief of the 12 counties to suppress bandits, the 12 regiments under Chen Yingliang are of course not enough to deal with, in order to deal with the next counterinsurgency war, Chen Yingliang can only decide to expand the strength to 30 regiments, and the composition of the troops is four regiments of cavalry, eight regiments of heavy infantry, and eighteen regiments of light infantry and crossbowmen.

Time waits for no one, Chen Yingliang's army expansion action has been launched as early as before Cheng Yanjin and others arrived in Yongcheng, fortunately, there is a lack of everything around Qian County, that is, there is no shortage of homeless and hungry people, the recruitment notice has just been posted, and the recruitment point set up on the border of Qian County has been crowded with displaced people, and the generals of the Sui army have selected the young and strong, and they have recruited qualified soldiers in just three days. At the same time, after taking up the post of deputy commander-in-chief of the bandits, Chen Yingliang no longer needed to force the poor Taishou Xu Minlian to pay money and food, he only needed to temporarily advance some money and food to support the training of the new army, and then he could blackmail and extort the four counties of Pengcheng, Xiapi, Donghai and Langya to supply money and food.

At the same time, Chen Yingliang finally had the first direct intersection with his old neighbor Dong Chun, and Yang Wang was worried, Dong Chun, who was old enough to be Chen Yingliang's grandfather, stayed in Pengcheng and left guard general, and was obviously unconvinced Chen Yingliang, the young boss, not far from Yongcheng, Dong Chun not only did not come to meet Shangguan, but even the notice sent by Chen Yingliang was also in charge of the official document, Dong Chun also delayed several days to give the reply, and the palindrome was very simple and only written. Knowing the three words, he expressed his disdain and dissatisfaction with Chen Yingliang with a very contemptuous attitude.

Of course, Chen Yingliang knew that he would have to spend some effort and time to make Dong Chun obey his orders, and his contempt and disrespect for Dong Chun could only be temporarily recorded in the black account book, and he would slowly clean it up when he had the opportunity, Chen Yingliang was most concerned about the situation of thieves in the four counties, as well as the specific situation of the officials and troops in the four counties. Fortunately, Dong Chun didn't dare to play tricks for Chen Yingliang in this regard, and at the same time as the palindrome, he still truthfully reported all kinds of military information, and at the same time, the three counties of Donghai, Xiapi and Langya, which were pinched by Chen Yingliang, did not dare to slack off, and all truthfully reported their respective situations, so that Chen Yingliang had a general understanding of the four counties under his supervision.

Judging from the report of the four counties, Chen Yingliang found that Peng Xiaocai, the big thief that Zhang Xutuo was most worried about, was actually not in great danger, because the reason why Peng Xiaocai, who was entrenched in the Yimeng Mountains, was repeatedly suppressed was not because Peng Xiaocai's team could fight well, but because the terrain of the Yimeng Mountains was too complicated. It was not difficult to break him or even annihilate him, and there was no need to worry about it at all.

On the contrary, it was Zhang Xutuo who did not mention Donghai County at all, which made Chen Yingliang vigilant, because Yin Weng, the Taishou of the East China Sea, reported to Chen Yingliang that after Du Fuwei's team fled east into the East China Sea, not only did the team expand rapidly again, but also designed to kill Zhao Po's formation, the head of the East China Sea, and annexed Zhao Po's team, becoming the first hegemon in the East China Sea; At the same time, another historical bull, Li Zitong, also took advantage of the opportunity of Zhang Xutuo's main force being restrained by Meng Rang and Meng Haigong, and led more than 10,000 people to the south via Langya, and has now invaded the northernmost Huairen County in the East China Sea, echoing with Du Fuwei in the south of Shuyang, and threatening the safety of the entire county in the East China Sea, where the official army is empty.

After carefully reading the reports of each county, and marking the enemy's location on the sand table of the map of the four counties made by Yuan Tiangang himself, Chen Yingliang pondered for a long time, and then said: "I think we can't send troops to Langya first, we should send troops directly to the east, first sweep away the small group of thieves in the south of Pengcheng, and by the way, train the recruit team, and then send troops to the East China Sea in a timely manner, and break the two thieves Du Fuwei and Li Zitong to ensure the safety of the East China Sea, otherwise, once these two thieves sit big in the East China Sea, not only the county town of the East China Sea will be difficult to protect, Xiapi County, the richest county in Xuzhou, must also have no peace. ”

"What about Peng Xiaocai?" The eldest grandson Wuji asked: "He is the big thief named by Ambassador Zhang, if we can't exterminate him, it will be difficult for Ambassador Zhang to explain?" ”

"Peng Xiaocai asked Dong Chun to deal with it." Chen Yingliang replied: "Dong Chun's strength is enough to clean up Peng Xiaocai, but there is no chance to fight with Peng Xiaocai, so that Peng Xiaocai is free until now, as long as we come up with a way to let him get out of the Yimeng Mountains, Dong Chun can easily deal with him." ”

"Of course, what my brother said is a good idea, but how can we get Peng Xiaocai out of the Yimeng Mountains?" The eldest grandson Wuji asked.

Chen Yingliang frowned and didn't answer, and couldn't think of any way to create a decisive battle for Dong Chun for a while, but Yuan Tiangang, who gradually shifted his energy to military affairs, opened his mouth and put forward the idea of "Deputy Envoy, why don't you interrupt the idea of interrupting the grain?" The area around Langya is vast and sparsely populated, the land is barren, and the grain production is scarce, Peng Xiaocai's team is not engaged in production, it all depends on looting and supply, and there will definitely not be too much grain in stock, if we can cut off his source of grain and grass, it won't take much time, Peng Xiaocai can only obediently roll out of the Yimeng Mountains to get grain, and then Dong Chun will not be much easier to fight with him again? ”

"It's the right idea, but it's hard to do." Chen Yingliang frowned and said: "It's already early July, and another month is the time for the millet harvest, once the autumn grain is in the warehouse, the people will have a large amount of grain in stock, Peng Xiaocai can get grain just by plundering the township, how can we cut off his source of grain and grass?" ”

"Forgive the students for not being clear, this year's Qingzhou area is not a bumper year." Yuan Tiangang shook his head and said: "Students love Zhou Yi astronomy, often collect weather weather in various places, from the students learned about the weather situation in Qingzhou, this year's rain in Qingzhou is very scarce, no locust plague is already extremely lucky, but the grain failure is a foregone conclusion, so as long as we try to let the people keep the little grain in a centralized manner, it is not difficult to lure out Peng Xiaocai." ”

After listening to Yuan Tiangang's construction, Chen Yingliang's face was expressionless, and he said after a long time: "It seems that this method can only be used, Wuji, write an official document for me to Langya Taishou Dou Xian, ordering him to build a people's warehouse in the seven counties of Langya, after the autumn harvest, immediately ask the people to transfer the grain into the city for preservation, register and make a book, let the people receive their own grain in batches and go home to eat, before Peng Xiaocai is exterminated, the people are not allowed to store more than ten days of grain at home." ”

"In the countryside that is too far away from the city, build a dock fort to preserve the autumn grain, and then arrange the officials to supervise and take care of it, in case of enemy attack, once the dock fort is in an emergency and the reinforcements do not arrive, the officials immediately set fire to the grain storage, and the officials who do not make the dock fort store grain opponents will be rewarded according to the law!"

After Chen Yingliang finished reading the official document, before the eldest grandson Wuji picked up the pen, Wei Zheng next to him was already shocked and objected: "No, never!" Deputy Envoy Chen, do you know? If you do this, how many evils will be generated, how many corrupt officials will take the opportunity to enrich their own pockets and extort money, and how many people's food rations will be deducted by corruption? ”

"It's better to be detained by corrupt officials than to be robbed by bandits." Chen Yingliang said coldly: "Wei Facao, of course I know the disadvantages you said, but if I send a large army to Langya to suppress the bandits, how many disadvantages will it produce, how much food will it cost, and how much burden will it add to the people?" I can only choose the lesser of two evils, and I can only choose the one that will do the least harm to the people. ”

Wei Zheng was a little silent, but he still groaned again: "But if you do this, the people will be too bitter." ”

"The people are suffering, but it is better than starving to death after the food is robbed." Chen Yingliang sighed and ordered: "Wuji, give Dou Xian a text, let him act according to the plan, this is an opportunity for him to make oil and water, I believe he will do his best." By the way, he gave Dong Chun an order, asking him to send 6,000 troops to Linyi to rest and stand by, ensure communication with Langya counties, and once the enemy situation is discovered, immediately send troops to kill the thief. ”

The eldest grandson Wuji agreed, and immediately put pen to paper, and then Chen Yingliang ordered to train and prepare for war, prepare for the expedition, and immediately send troops east to the south of Pengcheng after the autumn harvest, sweeping away the small bandits there to train recruits. At the same time, Chen Yingliang naturally had to report the situation to Zhang Xutuo, explain the situation and introduce the pros and cons, and asked Zhang Xutuo to arrange a team to pick up Xintai, Dong'an and other counties in the north of Langya, so as to prevent Peng Xiaocai from plundering the northern part of Langya.

As Chen Yingliang expected, after receiving Chen Yingliang's considerate subordinate order, Langya was simply ecstatic to guard Dou Xian, and was busy ordering the seven counties under his rule to build a people's warehouse to prepare for the hoarding of autumn grain, and at the same time build a dock fort in a remote area to store people's grain, Langya officials at all levels who smelled the smell of oil and water were also ecstatic, while cheering and praising the new boss for his proper and considerate subordinates, while working hard to implement the order, and at the same time it was very rare to go deep into the people, publicizing the various benefits of centralized storage of grain, instigated, bewitched, intimidated, and coerced the people to hand over the autumn grain to the government for safekeeping.

The officials of Langya were cheering, but Peng Cheng was too shou Dong Chun to be angry, while scolding Chen Yingliang for acting absurdly, while impeaching Chen Yingliang for his misdeeds, and at the same time sending a letter to Zhang Xutuo to protest, asking Zhang Xutuo to come forward to discipline Chen Yingliang. It's a pity that Zhang Xutuo was bewitched by Chen Yingliang's letter, and felt that forcing Peng Xiaocai to fight a decisive battle was far better than sending a large number of troops and Peng Xiaocai to play hide and seek in the Yimeng Mountains.

At the same time, Dong Chun received news from the imperial court, saying that someone impeached himself in front of Emperor Yang of Sui, accusing himself of being ineffective in suppressing bandits, cowardice and war, and being extremely incompetent in governing a mess, and asked Emperor Yang of Sui to deal with it according to the law! In order not to give others more excuses to accuse himself, Dong Chun could only scold Chen Yingliang for commanding indiscriminately, and at the same time obediently led the army to the north, stationed in the Linyi battlefield designated by Chen Yingliang, and waited for the fighter to appear.

After asking Zhang Xutuo for a short delay, Dong Chun angrily led the army to rush to the outside of Linyi City, the autumn harvest in Langya has begun, and it is the same as Yuan Tiangang's crow mouth predicted, this year's autumn grain in Langya County is indeed a poor harvest, because of the lack of rain, usually an acre of land can harvest more than 200 catties of millet, this year can only be 134 catties, the yield is almost half, the next year's grain shortage is almost a foregone conclusion, even if it is the autumn harvest season, the price of private grain is still rising.

In order to let the people store the autumn grain in a centralized manner, the Langya officials simply dispatched the army to forcibly collect the grain. was so angry that Dong Chun couldn't help but give another piece to Emperor Yang of Sui, scolding Chen Yingliang's move to harm the people, but it was useless to work the people and hurt the money.

It was also a coincidence that when the people of Langya were still working hard for the autumn harvest, it happened that the day after Dong Chun's second impeachment of Chen Yingliang was sent, Fei County, which was not far from Linyi, suddenly sent an urgent report, saying that it was found in the northern part of the county border that traces of Peng Xiaocai's team had been found. But Dong Chun, who had already suffered countless similar losses, was not fooled this time, and did not rush to send troops to conscript, but chose to stand still, and at the same time sent people to closely reconnoiter the movements of Peng Xiaocai's team.

Two days later, the news that made Dong Chun feel unbelievable came, Peng Xiaocai, who usually fled everywhere like a rabbit, seemed to be determined to make a big deal in Fei County this time, and even gathered troops to surround a newly built dock fort in the north of Fei County, threatening to pay grain and not kill, if they refused to hand over grain and kill everyone in the dock fort, the township soldiers guarding the dock fort hurriedly asked the county for help, and the county commander of Fei County also hurriedly asked Dong Chun for help.

At this point, Dong Chun would not be able to explain to the imperial court if he did not send troops, although he knew that Peng Xiaocai was likely to run away with a shot, Dong Chun still personally led 3,000 troops to rush to Fei County for reinforcements, and what made Dong Chun even more unbelievable was that when his army arrived at the scene of the incident, Peng Xiaocai's team not only did not slip away in advance, but also fought head-on with Dong Chun's team.

This is a decisive battle that Dong Chun is not prepared for at all, Peng Xiaocai's team, which is outnumbered, bullied Dong Chun's few soldiers, and at the beginning of the battle, they attacked the front of Dong Chun's banner formation, and once killed Dong Chun's team was a little difficult to parry - because the soldiers of Peng Cheng did not expect Peng Xiao to dare to fight a decisive battle with his own army, and said that Peng Xiao would collapse at the same touch as usual, and he was quite passive when he was caught off guard, and his position was a little loose for a while.

Fortunately, after all, the team under Dong Chun's command is a well-equipped division of a hundred battles, with very rich battlefield experience, and after surviving the initial dangerous moment, they gradually freed up their hands to carry out counterattacks, and gradually reversed the situation and began to occupy the upper hand on the battlefield. It was also at this time that Peng Xiaocai finally ordered to retreat and flee as usual, Dong Chun finally caught Peng Xiaocai's main force and was willing to give up, despite the fact that the front was already a mountainous area, he still pursued closely, and personally led the army to the front, biting Peng Xiaocai's tail and not letting go.

This pursuit lasted for a day and a night, and the key to victory and defeat was once again beyond Dong Chun's expectations, just when Dong Chun's team pursued for too long and the body fell, the Feixian Dock Fort that had been surrounded before actually delivered warm rice in time, so that Dong Chun's team could eat in time and resume the pursuit. And this time, Dong Chun didn't let his old opponent Peng Xiaocai slip away from him, and finally caught Peng Xiaocai alive next to a stream, and caught this big thief who had harmed Langya and Pengcheng counties for nearly two years.

When the soldiers of the Sui army cheered, Dong Chun was wondering why Peng Xiaocai didn't run away in advance this time, when Peng Xiaocai was escorted to the front, Dong Chun also asked Peng Xiaocai this question in person, Peng Xiaocai was also very arrogant, and replied directly: "You dig my stomach open, and you will know the answer." ”

Of course, Dong Chun was reluctant to let Peng Xiaocai, an old opponent, die so happily, but he ordered to open the stomachs of the corpses of several thieves, and what surprised Dong Chun was that the stomachs of several thieves were all bark and grass roots, and one of the thieves simply had Guanyin soil in his stomach, and he couldn't find any food. Shocked, Dong Chun blurted out to Peng Xiaocai, "How long have you been out of food?" ”

"Thirteen days!" Peng Xiaocai roared with red eyes: "Langya is already poor, the grain we robbed before was left and right, and it was not easy to survive until the autumn harvest, but you dog officials gathered all the grain to guard, and the people did not keep any grain at all, can I not work hard?" If we don't hurry up and grab some food to eat, my brothers and I will only be cannibalism! ”

Dong Chun was stunned, and said weakly for a while: "In the midst of strategizing, the decisive victory is thousands of miles away, and the old man has really seen it today." ”

Four days later, the news that Dong Chunsheng had captured Peng Xiaocai was sent by Kuaima to Chen Yingliang, who was still in Qianjun, and at the same time, it was sent to Chen Yingliang, as well as Dong Chun's handwritten letter of apology, not only apologizing to Chen Yingliang, admitting that he was a little disrespectful to Chen Yingliang, but also admitting that Chen Yingliang's arrangement and command were quite effective.

Seeing the good news and Dong Chun's letter of apology, the eldest grandson Wuji, Yuan Tiangang and others were of course smiling, and Qian Xiangmin was also extremely excited to build yì Chen Yingliang in the other three counties and starve to death those thieves and rogues who lived by looting. It's a pity that Qian Xiangmin's sycophant slapped on the horse's hooves, Chen Yingliang's face changed on the spot, and he roared angrily: "You want to kill the people? Do you know how much of a disadvantage this is and how much sin the people have to suffer? There are too many mountains and forests here in Langya, and the terrain is too complicated and it is too difficult to suppress bandits, so I was forced to drink to quench my thirst! Doing so in other counties will do nothing but starve thousands of people to death and force countless desperate people to fall into the grass! ”

After drinking back Qian Xiangmin, who had slapped the wrong sycophant, Chen Yingliang quickly ordered the eldest grandson Wuji: "Wuji, immediately give an order to Langya County to stop collecting grain and return all the grain that has been collected to the people." ”

"There's no need to be in such a hurry, is there?" The eldest grandson Wuji said suspiciously: "Peng Xiaocai has just broken, and the remaining party is still scattered in Langya, and the grain has been returned to the people, what if Peng Xiaocai's remaining party takes the opportunity to make a comeback?" ”

"I can't care so much." Chen Yingliang replied: "It's not that you haven't seen the ruthlessness of those corrupt officials and corrupt officials, if the grain is returned to the people one day later, there will definitely be a group of people who will starve to death one day earlier, and it is just a helpless move to store the grain in a centralized manner. ”

The eldest grandson Wuji nodded, and then sat down to write and draft the order, but Wei Zheng next to him sighed: "It's a pity, this order of the deputy envoy, those magistrates in Langya, will not be so hard to implement." "All the food is gathered and guarded, and the people don't keep any grain left, can I not work hard? If we don't hurry up and grab some food to eat, my brothers and I will only be cannibalism! ”

Dong Chun was stunned, and said weakly for a while: "In the midst of strategizing, the decisive victory is thousands of miles away, and the old man has really seen it today." ”

Four days later, the news that Dong Chunsheng had captured Peng Xiaocai was sent by Kuaima to Chen Yingliang, who was still in Qianjun, and at the same time, it was sent to Chen Yingliang, as well as Dong Chun's handwritten letter of apology, not only apologizing to Chen Yingliang, admitting that he was a little disrespectful to Chen Yingliang, but also admitting that Chen Yingliang's arrangement and command were quite effective.

Seeing the good news and Dong Chun's letter of apology, the eldest grandson Wuji, Yuan Tiangang and others were of course smiling, and Qian Xiangmin was also extremely excited to build yì Chen Yingliang in the other three counties and starve to death those thieves and rogues who lived by looting. It's a pity that Qian Xiangmin's sycophant slapped on the horse's hooves, Chen Yingliang's face changed on the spot, and he roared angrily: "You want to kill the people? Do you know how much of a disadvantage this is and how much sin the people have to suffer? There are too many mountains and forests here in Langya, and the terrain is too complicated and it is too difficult to suppress bandits, so I was forced to drink to quench my thirst! Doing so in other counties will do nothing but starve thousands of people to death and force countless desperate people to fall into the grass! ”

After drinking back Qian Xiangmin, who had slapped the wrong sycophant, Chen Yingliang quickly ordered the eldest grandson Wuji: "Wuji, immediately give an order to Langya County to stop collecting grain and return all the grain that has been collected to the people." ”

"There's no need to be in such a hurry, is there?" The eldest grandson Wuji said suspiciously: "Peng Xiaocai has just broken, and the remaining party is still scattered in Langya, and the grain has been returned to the people, what if Peng Xiaocai's remaining party takes the opportunity to make a comeback?" ”

"I can't care so much." Chen Yingliang replied: "It's not that you haven't seen the ruthlessness of those corrupt officials and corrupt officials, if the grain is returned to the people one day later, there will definitely be a group of people who will starve to death one day earlier, and it is just a helpless move to store the grain in a centralized manner. ”

The eldest grandson Wuji nodded, and then sat down to write and draft the order, but Wei Zheng next to him sighed: "It's a pity, this order of the deputy envoy, those magistrates in Langya, will not be so hard to implement." ”