"Mr. Chen, don't come unharmed?" Long Qian stepped into Chen Chao's courtyard again, and in a trance, it seemed to go back in time.

Chen Chao did not show up, and in addition to Jiang Yun, it was Chen Chao's long-term worker Chen San who greeted Long Qian.

"The master is in the house," Chen San whispered with a hunched waist.

"Ha Luha, what's the matter, don't want to see the old man?" Long Qian lifted the curtain and walked into the hall where he was chatting and playing chess with Chen Chao.

The light in the room was not good, but Long Qian still saw Chen Chao sitting at the table of the Eight Immortals clearly, half a moon was gone, and Chen Chao seemed to have lost a lot of weight.

Chen Chao didn't move, staring at Long Qian who broke in.

Long Qian waved his hand to let Jiang Yun exit the room, "Mr. Chen, after two busy days, I finally have time to come and see Mr., I know that you hate me to death, if you have anything to say, you might as well say it all!" Long listened attentively. After speaking, Long Qian sat down at the guest seat of the Eight Immortals Table.

I always wanted to see this refreshing friend again, but I never thought that in this situation, Chen Chao had a lot of things to say, but he couldn't say a word.

"Mr. Chen, since you don't speak, then I will tell you everything. At the beginning of this year, as soon as Yuan Shikai's new army entered Shandong, he sent Cao Kun and Cao Zhongsan, the guards of Caozhou, to lead the army to clear Mengshan. The clothes on my body are still favored by Cao Kun, Ha Luha, when the war is over, I will lead the rest of the troops back to the mountain, and the whole army will go through the military until we meet for the first time__"

"That's just you," Chen Chao snorted.

"At that time, we were enemies, but now we naturally don't hide it from Mr. Since I decided to go on an expedition to Guizhuang, I naturally wanted to listen to the geography and people's feelings__However, I didn't expect to meet Mr. and talk very pleasantly. Long doesn't hide it from you, and he does regard Mr. as a friend. Only then did he order his subordinates not to invade Guizhuang at will. In the past day and a half, my men and horses have been stationed in Guizhuang, can there be robberies and harassment of Guizhuang? ”

Naturally, this is not the case, except for the fact that they cannot enter and leave the village at will, and the residents of Chenjiaya are not disturbed in any way.

"A friend like you, Chen can't afford it! However, Mr. Long never thought that if you openly rebelled like this, would it come to an end? ”

"Ha Luha, how many years have you not seen the so-called Wang Shi in the mountains and villages? Do you think the officers and the army will be recruited because of us? ”

"I heard that the owner of Zheng Zhuang has escaped from the sky, the owner of Zheng Zhuang is not comparable to Chen, if you know the current affairs, I advise you to return to the court as soon as possible, maybe you can end up."

"Ha Luha, don't scare me with the title. In China today, the most well-trained and best-equipped army is the new army stationed in Shandong. It's not like this new army hasn't fought before. What I was wearing was the uniform of the captured New Army. Mr. Chen doesn't think that Master Yuan Shikai will send me a military uniform, right? To tell the truth, he's the best to come here, but it's just to be a convoy again. ”

Chen Chao was stunned. Since the Mengshan Army was stationed in Chenjiaya, Chen Chao was surprised that this bandit was wearing all the same military uniforms, and Chen Chao was puzzled by this. In addition, he had heard of the name of Sun Dewang in Mengshanzhai, and he had also heard of the battle of the new army to conquer Mengshan.

"Hmph, you are scheming, and you may indeed be better than one or two battles of the official army, but with the strength of the whole army, I don't believe that you can't destroy a small ringing horse."

"Ha Lu Ha. To tell you the truth, the total number of new troops in Yuan Shikai's small station is only 7,000. Hundreds of people were lost in the battle to conquer Mengshan, and the number should be no less than 20,000 after the great expansion. But the problem is the decline in combat effectiveness. This is like a jar of old wine, which originally tasted mellow and fragrant, but when mixed with too much water, the taste became dull. What's more, how could Yuan Shikai be so stupid as to disregard the safety of the whole province and concentrate the whole army against me? If he is so stupid, how can he sit firmly in the position of governor of Shandong? For example, if a mouse enters a china shop, will the owner destroy all the porcelain in the house by killing the mouse? ”

Chen Chao couldn't take care of his anger anymore, and he felt amused at Long Qian's analogy, "Do you know that Lord Governor won't kill chickens with a knife?" Mount Tai presses the top, ploughs the court and sweeps the holes, and a drum swings Pinger, etc. ”

Long Qian smiled slightly, "That's okay." Even if Yuan Shikai comes with the whole army, I will have a good chance of winning. ”

"Don't be ashamed." Chen Chao snorted coldly.

"If I can come here, of course I can leave. The legs are long on me, and they are free to walk. Am I stupid enough to wait for him to destroy me? At the beginning, if Sun Dewang had listened to my kind words and persuaded him not to let the mountain go, his head would not have hung on the gate of Yizhou City. Mr. Chen, if Yuan Shikai had come with the whole army, it would not have been me who would have been unlucky, the first would be the villagers of Guizhuang and Zheng and Baierzhuang, and the second would be his ambitious governor. ”

"How?" Unconsciously, Chen Chao was attracted by Long Qian's words again.

"It's simple. Not to mention the 20,000 army, even if there are 5,000 people, the grain and silver taels of your three Zhuangzi will all be requisitioned for military purposes. Do you know how much an army of 5,000 people costs a day? As the saying goes, bandits are like combs, and soldiers are like grates, and I have never believed in the discipline of officers and soldiers. Secondly, if he mobilizes the armies of Yizhou, Yanzhou, and Caozhou to encircle our army, it will be difficult to cover up the news, and of course I will jump out of his encirclement before he forms a circle, or fight Yizhou, or fight Caozhou, once his rear is empty, it can be said that I can come and go. Think about it, if Yizhou or Caozhou falls, the news will definitely reach the imperial court, how to explain to the imperial court that Yuan Shikai lost the famous city? It must be him who is unlucky. And the loss of a Zhengjiazhuang is different from Chenjiaya, who knows where Zhengjiazhuang is? So, eighty percent of the officers and soldiers will pretend to be deaf and dumb__"

"Do you want to stay here forever?" Chen Chao couldn't care less about getting angry.

"Why not? I think it's pretty good here. Long Qian smiled. The conversation had already entered its own tune, and Long Qian was in a good mood.

"Mr. Long," Chen Chao probably felt that anger or insults would not solve any problems, so he used honorifics, "I tell you the truth, you are the most experienced and eye-catching person I have ever met. Why do you want to be a thief? Haven't you considered doing things for the court seriously? With all due respect, maybe you have defeated the official army, or maybe you really have a way to deal with the conquest of the official army, but you don't think you can go against the imperial court, right? ”

"I didn't want to act like Hong Yang." Long Qian gently tapped on the spotless tabletop that had been wiped off the paint to reveal the true color of the wood, "Look, how good this is, we can communicate with each other easily, and we can talk about anything." Long Qian pondered for a moment, "Mr. Chen, do you think I, a bandit who has fallen into the grass and mountains, have a chance to serve the imperial court?" ”

Chen Chao was dumbfounded.

"The imperial court, not only the Manchu court, but also the dynasty headed by the Han people is also a virtue. Those who do not meet their employment standards will naturally not be included in the system. To deal with thieves like us, one is to suppress them, and if they can't be eliminated, they will be appeased. Is there any other? But the princes don't want to think about it, the beacons are burning everywhere, smoke is coming from all directions, and external troubles and internal worries are coming, whose fault is it? When I was in Mengshan, Mr. Chen must not know the reason for the people who fell into the grass, right? ”

Of course Chen Chao didn't think about it. But if you haven't thought about it, it doesn't mean that you don't know, and before you can speak, Long Qian continued, "I have an officer under me, who is from Zhengjiazhuang, who grew up here, and is an honest hunter, and also cultivates a few acres of thin fields. But in the end, it fell into the grass, do you want to hear what the reason is? ”

What can be the reason, Chen Chao thought, it is just the story of forcing Liangshan. After Zheng Jing returned to the village, Chen Chao was not ignorant. But it is his own Chen Jiaya, in recent decades, especially in recent years, I have heard and witnessed that the river is really declining, and a year is not as good as a year. There are so many miscellaneous donations from the imperial court, I am almost uncountable, and the famous hall can stand on its feet, and in the end, it is the people who are exploited. If it weren't for his indifference in money, there would be many people who broke the house and destroyed the family. But with one pair of hands, how many neighbors can you protect? Every time I read the history of the Ming Dynasty and cover the volume and sigh, I deeply feel the difficulty of the current situation, just like the emperor back then, without paying for military training, it is difficult to deal with external and internal strife, and increasing salary for military training, but it has led to more intense civil strife__This dead end, I really don't know how to solve it. Thinking of this, I couldn't help but let out a long sigh.

"Mr. Chen, you are a good person, not only Chenjiaya, but also the villagers of Zhengjiazhuang, and when you are mentioned, they also praise you in unison. Although I, Long Qian, have fallen into the grass, I have to distinguish it, so I ordered that you are not allowed to harass your village, let alone your family. This time, I came to visit Mr. and apologize for my last behavior. Second, I want to ask Mr., what is the discipline of our army? Is there any bullying and robbery? If so, please tell us bluntly, Long governs the army, pays attention to an order to prohibit, and will never shield his subordinates. ”

Chen Chao wanted to say something, but the words came to his mouth and swallowed back, and finally spit out a few words, "Those things you said, no." But then he shouted, "But, I heard that your soldiers robbed Zheng Jing's house, right?" ”

"Listen to my soldiers, right?" Long Qian smiled, "Yes." Because the food eaten by those people stationed in Guizhuang was brought from Zhengjiazhuang. Zheng Jing is a good housekeeper, and he has taken good care of my belongings__Because of Zheng Jing's grain, good gold and silver, I will not collect grain and taxes from Guizhuang and Baiwei Town for the time being. ”

Chen Chao's eyes widened, and then he became gloomy, "Mr. Long, do you think this kind of robbery is right?" ”

"I'm sorry, I don't know. Since you think I'm a bandit, you're right. Have you ever seen a bandit who doesn't rob? Long Qian had obvious sarcasm on his face.

"It's a shame." Chen Chao's voice became louder, "Your subordinates don't look like bandits, really." I'm worried about whether you're going to keep your word when my people surrender their guns, and to be honest, I'm very worried. Zhengjiazhuang can't hold it, I know that my Chenjiaya is over. So you can only gamble. The good thing is that your words count. Your people have entered Chenjiaya, how to say, discipline, discipline is indeed very good. So far, I haven't heard anything disturbing__but__"

Chen Shu suddenly barged in, "You're a liar!" Shameless liar! Her left hand raised, pointed at Long Qian, who was sitting on the chair in a big way, and scolded loudly.