Pei You snorted heavily, ignored Yang Yuanqing, turned the ox cart and drove away, Yang Yuanqing and the others were stunned, and it was only after a while that they were awakened by Cheng Biting Jin's moan, and hurriedly surrounded him, "Old Cheng, how are you?" ”

Cheng Biting Jin's head was swollen with a big bag, his eyes were scattered, and he couldn't say a word for a long time, Pei Qingsong was sorry in his heart, after all, Pei You was his clan sister, but he was also a little frustrated, and his clan sister didn't pay attention to him at all.

He hurriedly helped Cheng Bingjin with two personal soldiers, Yang Yuanqing looked at Pei You's ox cart and walked away, he suddenly had a good impression of Pei You in his heart, once a woman is self-reliant, she has a soul......

Coming out of the city, his five hundred personal soldiers still occupied several greenhouses, all of them were full of wine and food, sitting together and chatting, the only bitter face was the shopkeeper of several tea sheds, they had no way to do business.

When Yang Yuanqing and others walked out of the greenhouse, the pro-soldiers led their horses to meet them, and the pro-soldier general led by Han Xiaoguo, who was the grandson of Han Baohu, was about twenty-seven or eighteen years old, and was the first to join the army in Youzhou, and went to Fengzhou with Yang Yuanqing, and gradually accumulated merit as a captain, and finally became his pro-soldier general.

He stepped forward and saluted, and said in a low voice, "Chief, I have something to report." ”

"What do you say?"

Han Xiaoguo turned his head and pointed to the shopkeeper of the tea shed from afar, "When I was eating just now, I heard a strange thing, saying that the worship of Maitreya in Pingyuan County was extremely prosperous, that is, it had only developed in the past two months, and I heard that the government was also involved. ”

Yang Yuanqing's heart suddenly became vigilant, worshipping Maitreya is often a prelude to rebellion. A few years ago, Song Zixian, a native of Hedong County, was good at illusion, could conjure Buddha statues, claimed to be the reincarnation of Maitreya, and had tens of thousands of followers, calling on the people to rebel.

There is also a monk from Fufeng County, Xiang Haiming, who also claimed to be the reincarnation of Maitreya and founded Maitreya Buddhism. Tens of thousands of believers rebelled, and the harm was severe.

Why did the worship of Maitreya also appear in Plains County? Moreover, the eastern part of the plain is the famous rebel stronghold Douzigang, but don't break out again in an uprising.

Yang Yuanqing immediately beckoned to call a personal guard. He handed him a silver medal and instructed him, "You go to Hejian County immediately and order Yang Taishou to mobilize 10,000 troops." Hurry to Pingyuan County and stand by"

"Yes!"

The soldiers took the silver medal and urged the horses to gallop away.

Yang Yuanqing pondered for a moment, he originally planned to go directly to Hengshan County to return to Taiyuan, but now he has changed his mind, he must go to Pingyuan County to check the situation, if he is a little careless, and then set off a wave of rebellion, this will be a fatal blow to Hebei's economy, which has just begun to recover.

Yang Yuanqing's mood that had just relaxed suddenly became tense, and he had experienced war. He knew very well that this kind of rapid development of believers with religion could sweep the whole county in just a few months, and that his slightest carelessness would inevitably lead to irreparable losses.

He couldn't help but be extremely dissatisfied with the Pingyuan County Taishou Koji Liang, and the worship of Maitreya had been developing for two months. He didn't even report it.

"Let's go!"

He whipped his horse and led his soldiers to the northeast......

Pingyuan County is located between Qinghe County and Hejian County, with Bohai County to the east, Qi County across the Yellow River to the south, and Douzigang, the most famous rebel center in the last years of the Sui Dynasty, to the southeast.

Like Qinghe County, Pingyuan County was also devastated by the war. The population of the once rich and densely populated area has plummeted by 70% after years of war.

With the end of the war, Pingyuan County began to gradually regain its vitality, and at this time, a wave of Maitreya worship swept through Pingyuan County.

In the early morning, Yang Yuanqing, dressed as a businessman, entered the territory of Pingyuan County with more than 20 subordinates, Yang Yuanqing was very cautious, if he led five hundred cavalry into the territory of Pingyuan County, he would inevitably be discovered by the Maitreya sect, and if it was not good, it would cause them to rebel in advance, which would be called more than worth the loss.

Generally speaking, the best way to deal with this kind of rebellion through the use of religion is not to suppress it by the army, but to expand the matter, and even if it is suppressed, it will suffer heavy losses, and the best way is for the local government to arrest the core believers.

In the ninth year of the Great Cause, Song Zixian of Tang County, Hedong County, initiated the worship of Maitreya, and tens of thousands of believers were discovered by the government in time, killing Song Zixian and more than 1,000 of his faithful believers, and stopping the outbreak of a large-scale rebellion in time.

But what annoyed Yang Yuanqing was that not only did the Pingyuan County government do not stop it, but it was even rumored that some officials also participated in the religion, which made the problem a bit serious.

It was late spring, and it rained all night, and by dawn the rain had not stopped, and the sky was gray with a fine and dense light rain, which shrouded the whole plain in a cloud of rain and mist.

Because of the rain overnight, the official road looked a little muddy, and a caravan composed of more than 100 mules and horses was walking on the official road, and the mules were loaded with goods, carefully wrapped in oilcloth, most of which were necessary for life, such as salt and sugar.

This caravan was dressed up by Yang Yuanqing, including Cheng Yanjin and Pei Qingsong, a total of twenty-five subordinates, all of whom were strong guards in martial arts.

At this time, they had entered the territory of Pingyuan County, which is the southernmost county of Pingyuan County, close to Qinghe County, and it is not a county, and Pingyuan County is Ande County, located in the south-central part of Pingyuan County, about eighty miles away from Pingyuan County.

On the left side of the official road is a dense forest, stretching for dozens of miles, while on the right side of the official road is a large area of farmland, overgrown with green wheat seedlings, and in the distance is a small river, and on the edge of the small river is a small village.

"Big proprietor, go to that small village and ask about the situation!"

Wearing an octagonal hat, a black silk robe, and a bookkeeper, Pei Qingsong pointed to a small village not far away and suggested with great interest.

Yang Yuanqing nodded, he glanced at the lazy and godless Cheng Biting Jin again, and asked him with a smile, "What does the second proprietor think?" ”

Since being knocked over by Pei Youyi, Cheng Biting Jin is like a defeated rooster, he no longer has the spirit, and he doesn't bother to say a word, "It doesn't matter!" He replied lazily.

"Oh well! Just go to the small village and see if there is any wine to sell. ”

Yang Yuanqing deliberately mentioned wine, Cheng Biting Jin's eyes lit up, and then dimmed again, although he was good at wine, but how could wine heal the scars in his heart, he wanted to go back to the capital to find his wife to talk to him, but Yang Yuanqing was coming to Pingyuan County again, so he was helpless.

The group left the official road and walked along a mudier ridge path towards a small village about three miles away.

In the past, most of the villages on the Great Plain of Hebei were dead villages with no people, but with the end of the war, the peasants who were hiding in the county began to return to their homes one after another, and the dead villages gradually appeared to be alive again.

The small village was clearly inhabited, the barren land had been cleared, irrigation ditches had been dug, and a cloud of blue-white cooking smoke had appeared on the outermost roof tiles.

As soon as they approached the village, they heard a barking of dogs, and a dozen dogs galloped out and barked around them in all directions.

Several women who were washing clothes by the river also rushed into the village, and soon dozens of villagers warmly greeted them, and they welcomed the arrival of the caravan with great enthusiasm.

Yang Yuanqing specially bought a lot of groceries, needles and threads, oil, salt, sauce and vinegar, cheap jewelry, and some sickles and hoes to wait, just to make it easier to find out the news from the villagers.

Yang Yuanqing asked a few soldiers to buy and sell goods with the villagers, and he walked under a large dense locust tree and sat down next to an old man.

"Uncle, may I ask who is the village chief in this village?"

The old man was full of white hair and a kind face, he glanced at Yang Yuanqing and asked unhurriedly, "Is there something wrong with the proprietor?" ”

Yang Yuanqing realized that this old man was the village head, and he hurriedly smiled: "Actually, it's nothing, just some curiosity, I passed by here last year, this village seems to be uninhabited, and now it has vitality again, which is very gratifying." ”

The old man smiled slightly, "Last year, everyone was still hiding in the county seat, and now that the war is over, everyone naturally wants to return to their hometown, hey!" At that time, there were 80 families in the village, but now there are only about 20 families left. ”

"It's the same everywhere in Hebei, basically they all died in the war, old man, did your village divide the fields?" Yang Yuanqing asked again.

"Divide the field?"

The old man shook his head, he pointed to the crowd: "We are called Chenjia Village here, everyone is basically surnamed Chen, and they live in harmony, if the government does not divide the land, then our average family can have 200 acres of land, but I heard that a field is divided, a family will only have 100 acres, and the rest of the government will be taken away, do you say we are willing to divide the land?" ”

Yang Yuanqing smiled bitterly, in fact, he also knew that dividing the land is actually a false proposition for Hebei, there are too many dead people, and there are ownerless fields everywhere, if the fields are not divided, the peasants can indeed occupy more land, and the division of fields is actually to limit the land of the peasants.

But Yang Yuanqing is not concerned about the issue of dividing the fields now, he is concerned about the Maitreya Sect, and he has seen that many villagers have embroidered a Maitreya Buddha on the placket of their chests.

It's just that how should he open his mouth to ask about Maitreya's teachings? If this village chief is a small leader, the question is too direct and will arouse his suspicions.

"How many people are there in my father-in-law's family?" Yang Yuanqing asked in a twisted and obsessed manner.

The old man sighed, "I originally had four sons, one went to Gaojibo, and the other went to Douzigang, but they never came back, and the third child became a soldier of Dou Jiande, and was released back a few months ago, that's it!" ”

The old man pointed to a man who was buying a sickle, and a kind smile appeared on his face, "That's my third son, and there is a fourth son, who is now in the army in Taiyuan and is still a Sui military commander." ”

When Yang Yuanqing heard that his son was actually the commander of the Sui army, he immediately perked up and said with a smile: "Uncle, we are from Taiyuan." ”

The old man was also interested, and he was about to ask, but a young man rushed into the village and shouted: "Village chief, Zhang Fosun is here!" ”

The old man's face changed, and he shouted to the people in the village: "Don't panic to buy things first, follow me to welcome the arrival of the Buddha!" ”

More than 100 villagers knelt down in front of the village entrance, only to see a few young men carrying a pavilion to come from afar, the pavilion sat a young man dressed in white, wearing a silver crown, and holding a law cane, his eyes were indifferent, he was carried into the village, and he saw Yang Yuanqing at first sight.