The battle failed, but Tan Guoyuan did not dare to hide it in the slightest, and a battle report was soon handed over to Liu Ziqiu.

Liu Ziqiu glanced at it twice and said in a deep voice: "These two battles against bandits have also illustrated some problems, and it seems that some changes need to be made. ”

Yu Shinan was puzzled: "What does Your Majesty mean to change?" ”

Liu Ziqiu said with a smile: "In the past, in the war, the soldiers charged ahead, and the common people transported grain and grass behind. Needless to say, the reason why this time to clean up Yushan failed was that there were spies among the people. These people are all the people of the Han Dynasty, and they are all my people, and they want to help the bandits, so they don't care about him for the first time, but the army will have to train special baggage soldiers in the future for the transportation of heavy grain and grass. ”

After a pause, Liu Ziqiu said again: "Besides, ballistas and trebuchets are both sharp weapons for attacking fortifications, but they are inconvenient to transport, especially in the mountains, but they have become a drag. Let He Hou and them think of a way, first, if they make these devices smaller under the premise of not reducing their power, and second, they must be able to be disassembled and installed, which can be easily carried. ”

Yu Shinan nodded and said: "Your Majesty is still thoughtful, and the minister will draw up His Majesty's opinions into a Chen, and send someone to Luoyang in the starry night." It's just that the Yushan thieves have already escaped, can you let the soldiers withdraw first? ”

It was not easy for him to follow Liu Ziqiu to the south of the Yangtze River this time, in addition to helping Liu Ziqiu draw up some documents, there was also an important task, that is, to find ways to let Liu Ziqiu return to Luoyang as soon as possible. Of course, this important task was not given to him by Liu Ziqiu, but was privately arranged by Wei Zheng and others, who were in charge of the cabinet. Now that he has been delayed here for more than half a month, how can Yu Shinan not be in a hurry? Although the Yushan bandits are a disaster for the canal, it is only a small section compared to the emperor's return to the capital after all, Yu Shinan of course hopes that Liu Ziqiu will end the operation to clean up the Yushan bandits.

Liu Ziqiu waved his hand and said, "Let them continue to clean up, when will they completely clean up the fish mountain bandits, and when will they collect the troops." As for how to clean it up, it depends on their ability, let's just look at it, don't talk about it. ”

Yu Shinan had no choice but to write Liu Ziqiu's request into a document and order someone to send it to Qiao Wei and others.

……

Just when Tan Guoyuan was anxious, Ji Mingliang was also busy in that town. More than 1,300 households in the town were almost interrogated twice by Ji Mingming, but they did not find a single suspicious person. In fact, it is no wonder that in the entire town, except for Lu Xingxing and his dozen or so cronies, there is no one who has a relationship with the Dangshan bandits. This was originally a back road arranged by Lu Xingxing for himself, and he usually strictly ordered his bandits that no one was allowed to enter this town. And the house he owned in the town was also used by locals.

Since they are all locals, their identities are naturally innocent. If there is anyone else who is suspicious, only Lu Xingxing himself. It's just that Lu Xingxing and more than a dozen of his cronies were disguised when they came to the town, and even those captives confronted each other face-to-face, and they couldn't recognize a single person. And the people in the whole town praised Lu Xingxing as a great benevolent person, because in the past six months, Lu Xingxing has contributed a lot of money to the town to repair roads and take care of the sick and dead. Almost the people of the whole town spoke for him, and even if Ji Ming had doubts, he didn't dare to use force.

However, Ji Mingliang really admitted his death, anyway, the battle on the side of Yushan was also in trouble, and he couldn't help him when he went, so he simply spent time with this town, and the situation in the town where people were allowed to enter and leave had lasted for twenty days, and there was no sign of change. This caused panic among the townspeople, but they were afraid to speak out in the face of the soldiers with sharp blades.

After enduring it for a few more days, some people finally couldn't hold on anymore, ran to Lu Xingxing's house, and said repeatedly: "Lu Yuanwai, you can help us, it's not a matter to go on like this." ”

Although Lu Xingxing's current identity is just a businessman, he claims to be from Luoyang, he should be a person who has seen the world, and when the people in the town are cornered, he is the first person to think of him. Faced with the bitter begging of dozens of people, Lu Xingxing suddenly had an idea, stood up suddenly, and said loudly: "Okay! For everyone's sake, I'll go out of my way! ”

He also has his own wishful thinking. Although Dangshan was finished, the officers and soldiers stayed in the town, apparently to track down his whereabouts. It would also be a good thing for him to let the officers and soldiers end the blockade as soon as possible. Of course, he also needs to take a great risk when he goes to reason with the officers and soldiers, but he must take this risk. Because he is a "businessman", if a "businessman" is trapped here for many years but is not in a hurry, it seems very abnormal, but it is easy to arouse suspicion. At this time, he took the initiative to come forward, maybe it would be easier to clear up his suspicions. So Lu Xingxing didn't say a word, and came to ask to see Ji Mingming.

Knowing that the most suspicious "businessman" in front of him begged him to lift the blockade of the town, Ji Mingliang couldn't help but squint his eyes: "Lu Yuanwai, it's not up to you to decide on military affairs!" ”

Lu Xingxing arched his hand and said: "The general is angry, and Xiaomin is also good for the general." Although Xiaomin is a foreigner, he has not been here for a day or two, and he is quite familiar with the people in the town, and he dares to guarantee his life with his net worth, and absolutely no one colludes with the thieves. If the small people expected it was good, then the thief leader on Dangshan would have long since fled the country. The longer the general lingers here, the more difficult it will be to make contributions. Xiaomin has a plan, I wonder if the general would like to hear it? ”

Ji Mingzheng had nothing to do, so he couldn't help but nod and said, "Let's hear it." ”

Lu Xingxing smiled and said, "When those thieves are here for a long time, they must have families." As long as the general captures the families of those thieves, why worry about the thieves not being destroyed! ”

Ji Mingming's face showed a look of contempt: "The carving insect has a small skill, and he dares to show off in front of this general!" The Dangshan thieves are all from Hebei, Shandong and other places, how can they have any family members? In the end, a few of them got married, and they were all captured by General Ben on the mountain. I heard that the thief leader is also unmarried, and where will he go to capture his family! ”

"That's it!" Lu Xingxing showed a look of disappointment, shook his head and sighed, "I thought that thieves were the same as ordinary people, but who knew that if they didn't marry a wife, it would be difficult to do." General, I also heard that there are not only thieves all the way to Dangshan here, but also that fish There are thieves on the mountain, could it be that the thief head went to someone else? ”

"Then don't think about it. General Ben has inquired clearly, Dangshan and Yushan are incompatible, and it is impossible for Lu Xingxing to defect to Yushan! Suddenly, Ji Mingliang seemed to remember something, and slapped his thigh suddenly, "Yes, this method can be tried!" ”

Lu Xingxing looked at Ji Ming and was startled, and couldn't help laughing, but said on his lips: "I don't know what the general's clever plan is, Xiaomin may help?" ”

"Alright, alright, there's nothing for you here." Ji Mingliang waved his hand impatiently, but warned again, "You go back and stay well!" Don't leave here until the lockdown is lifted! ”

Lu Xingxing pretended to be distressed and retreated, but he secretly snickered in his heart, this trick to lead the water to the east seemed to be effective.

……

After Lu Xingxing left, Ji Mingliang hurriedly explained and took five hundred people to Yushan. As for the blockade of the town, it has still not been lifted, and Ji Mingliang always has an intuition that Lu Xingxing should still be hiding in the town. It's just that he doesn't know what to do, and the person who often faces him face-to-face is Lu Xingxing. Of course, although the blockade continued, the search and interrogation had stopped, and the people of the town were somewhat calmer.

At this time, Tan Guoyuan was still searching around on Yushan, and a large number of soldiers and horses almost turned over Yushan, but they didn't even find any trace of half of the thieves. And the Lord Yu who was sitting on the edge of the canal had already spoken, when he would finish clearing the thieves in Yushan, and when he would be able to collect his troops. Just when he was depressed, Ji Mingliang came up with a plan to arrest all the people on the banks of the canal and interrogate them one by one, and always find out a few thieves hidden in them!

This method is very stupid, and it is easy to arouse public anger, Tan Guoyuan couldn't help but hesitate, and said, "Let's discuss it with Qiao Wei." ”

Qiao Wei stayed on the boat all day long, not to mention the thieves, even the people along the coast refused to go into the water, and they couldn't even catch a single hair. Life on the ship was not as good as on the shore, and he couldn't even sleep well, and after nearly a month, the weather was getting hotter and hotter, and his soldiers were all complaining. After listening to Tan Guoyuan and Ji Mingming's approach, Qiao Wei also rushed to the doctor, gritted his teeth and said, "Okay! That's it! ”

Of course, this kind of thing is also indispensable for the cooperation of the local government, Wu Junwu, Quan Tonghua and others were also involved, and the entire canal was suddenly jumped.

……

Although this operation was not reported to Liu Ziqiu, Liu Ziqiu's camp was set up on the edge of the canal, and dozens of cavalry scouts would be arranged to patrol everywhere every day, and the news soon came back. Hearing that the government actually began to arrest these river workers and their families along the canal, regardless of men, women and children, they were all taken away first, Liu Ziqiu was furious and took the case up: "What nonsense! ”

Liu Ziqiu is well aware of the truth that water can carry a boat and also capsize a boat, how can he tolerate such an act that seriously disturbs the people?

Yu Shinan had never seen Liu Ziqiu so angry, so he shuddered with fright, and hurriedly said: "Your Majesty is angry, and Weichen will send someone to stop them." ”

Liu Ziqiu was overly angry, his heart calmed down a little, shook his head, and said, "No need, I will go on a trip myself to appease those frightened people." ”

Gao Xiu'er turned out from behind the tent: "Husband, the concubine will go with you." ”

"I'm going too, I'm going too!" It wasn't a few children who were noisy in the back, but it was Tuoba Qianyu who still had a childish face. In the past few days, she has been bored in the barracks, except for comparing arrows with Mu Duoli, she is really bored. But in the archery competition, she still lost to the end.

Liu Ziqiu nodded and said, "It's okay, with the two of you going together, I'm afraid the effect of appeasing those women and children will be better." ”