Because as early as when he reached an agreement with the eldest prince Qianmingde, Chen Wu had already ordered people to make preliminary preparations in advance, so after the Songjiang army launched the operation, the progress of various items was amazing. "Words * love * first * hair

The day after Zong Hanlin fled back to Bohai with the Second Garrison Brigade and announced the establishment of the Dominion, the two infantry brigades of the Songjiang Army crossed the border between Yuanshan County and Donghai County and officially entered Fengquan Province, the westernmost part of Donghai County.

Here, the army of eight thousand divided into two wings.

One of the wings drove directly to the capital city of Fengquan Mansion, and when he got the news of the arrival of the army of His Royal Highness the King of Thailand, Ma Chang, the city lord of Fengquan Mansion, chose to surrender in Kaesong with interest - perhaps Ma Chang himself preferred to take the initiative to surrender the city to describe it.

The lord of the city, who had participated in the secret meeting of the Governor's Mansion of Tokai City, was the first to speak up and ask everyone to unite against the Matsue Army. But after Zong Hanlin decided to go north and entrench himself in Bohai Mansion, Ma Chang was unwilling to retreat to that small place and squat, thinking about it left and right, and finally became the first powerful figure in Donghai County to openly defect to the Songjiang Army.

In response, the Songjiang army that entered the city really did not embarrass him.

Wang Chang, deputy director of the Administration Bureau, who accompanied him, carried two different orders in his hand, both of which were signed by Chen Wu himself and stamped with the seal of the King of Thailand. Seeing that Ma Chang himself was interested, Wang Chang took out the commendation document placed on it, announced the order of His Royal Highness the King of Thailand, let Ma Chang continue to stay in Fengquan Mansion, and gave him 10,000 gold coins and a pair of glass cups.

To be honest, these things are not such an amazing wealth for an official of the level of the city lord of Fengquan Mansion, but this act itself is enough to explain the attitude of King Chen Wu of Thailand.

Although he guessed that this stay was just an expedient measure, and he might be transferred away and appointed to a noble idle post after a while, Ma Chang was still a lot more relieved. With these rewards and recognition, I have gained a firm foothold here with His Royal Highness the King of Thailand. In the future, as long as there is no chaos, it will not be liquidated, and it is not a problem to be comfortable and rich.

After taking this commendation order, Ma Chang warmly invited Wang Chang to the banquet, and invited the gentry and officials of the whole city to clean up the dust for him, obviously making up his mind to tie up the second-in-command of the administrative department. In addition, Ma Chang also gave sufficient cooperation to the Songjiang Army in taking over the affairs of Fengquan Mansion.

This undoubtedly gave a positive signal to the local forces in Donghai County, and also made a good start for the Songjiang Army to take over the East China Sea.

At the same time, another detachment headed to the northern part of Phuengquan Province, where it took over the camp of the 2nd Garrison Brigade of Tokai County, which had just left. Due to the haste of leaving, coupled with Zong Hanlin's reluctance to offend His Royal Highness the King of Thailand to death, the original camp was retained extremely intact when it was evacuated. Not only that, but there is also a batch of military materials that are inconvenient to carry inside!

This greatly facilitated the Songjiang Army, which came from afar.

At the same time, he mastered the Fengquan camp and the Fengquan Mansion City, and the basic plan of the Fengquan Mansion was to take it. The remaining 6,000 soldiers only replenished some water and food, and continued to advance in the direction of Bao Xin and Teng Lai Province without stopping. Riding Xuanhuang.

At this time, the cavalry of the 2,000 Tongguò Qingjiang Waterway who took the lead in entering Donghai County and quelled the rebellion in Longhezhuang also took the lead in taking half of their troops under the county seat Donghai City after initially controlling Yongshun Mansion.

Because the news of the Songjiang Army's northward march had long been spread, all kinds of rumors of truth and falsehood had caused Donghae County to fall into a very complicated situation such as being at a loss, panic, and expectation. However, out of instinctive evasion from the war, the people and merchants of Donghai County basically suspended their outings, and the cavalry barely encountered too many people on the way forward, until the banner walls of Donghai Castle appeared in sight.

Located on top of the eight-meter-high city walls, the four thousand defenders of Tokai Castle spotted each other earlier than the Matsue cavalry.

The defenders were initially a little flustered about the army coming from the south. The news they paid attention to was mainly on the infantry army on the side of Fengquan Mansion, and they were not mentally prepared for this cavalry that came over. Someone seemed to want to ring the alarm bell, but was stopped by the captain. In the end, the defenders on the walls were only slightly more vigilant - not even prepared to fight back.

At the same time, Cen Wukun, the protector general who stayed in Donghai City, specially sent his personal guards on the city wall, and after determining the banner of the Songjiang cavalry, he went down the city wall and rode back to the Protector General's Mansion in Donghai City.

"So fast?"

Cen Wukun was obviously a little surprised, but his reaction was not slow at all. As early as the day he parted ways with Governor Zong Hanlin, he had thought about what to do now. Immediately summoned the high-ranking officials of Donghai City, and then personally went out of the city, preparing to welcome this Songjiang cavalry into the city.

No one knew that at this time, a conspiracy had already hung over the county.

………

Time rewinds to half a day ago.

The Cao family, a big grain merchant in Donghai City.

This Cao Laocai is not too big this year, he is in his early forties, but he is one of the best people in the entire Donghai County business district. He has been in the grain business since his ancestors for three generations, and later he also bought some other industries, but unfortunately he did not take care of them very well. Only this grain store, which spreads all over the East China Sea, almost monopolizes a quarter of the circulating grain on the market, and is also inextricably linked with the Chamber of Commerce in Songjiang County.

Of course, in addition to his own strength, Cao Laocai is also very powerful locally. Except for the governor Zong Hanlin, the other officials had to give him a little bit of thin noodles more or less when they saw him.

It stands to reason that such a big businessman has no worries about food and clothing, and his status is also high, so he should live a very comfortable life. What's more, in time for this great drought that affected more than half of the empire, food prices soared, and business was unprecedentedly prosperous, Cao Laocai had no reason to worry. But his face was very ugly.

"Do you really want to do that?"

After a long period of uncertainties, Cao Laocai asked in a trembling voice.

The man sitting in front of him was dressed in a brown cloth shirt and a square scarf, and looked like an ordinary merchant. But Cao Laocai knew that the other party was not an ordinary person, but the current emperor, the one in Zhongzhou, the secret agent of the Military Intelligence Bureau in the East China Sea.

If it's just like this, then it's nothing, Donghai County is far away from the emperor Tiangao, and Zhongzhou is busy with war, so he has no time to take care of his side. But what he was embarrassed about was what the agent told him to do.

Assassinate Cen Wukun!

When he first heard this request, Cao Laocai was almost paralyzed. Who is Cen Wukun? The general of the Protector Army of Donghai County, with 4,000 soldiers of the garrison division in his hands. After the governor Zong Han retreated to the Bohai Autonomous Territory, Cen Wukun was the first-class big man in Donghai City. [Summary] the monster hunt is not successful, but it is pressed GL. Not to mention the hands and eyes, at least it is not Cao Laocai, a grain merchant, who can make up his mind.

But this spy asked him to assassinate the other party, and planted the blame on the head of the Songjiang army, provoking a war between the two counties!

Is Songjiang Jun easy to mess with? The fierce Omanis in the south went north twice, but were beaten back by the Songjiang army and the king of Thailand. I heard that on the side of the Nanfeng Fortress, the corpses were all over the field, and the ground was dyed crimson with blood, and the loss of soldiers was more than 100,000. The other party actually wants to use this little force in the East China Sea to confront and anger the King of Thailand!

If it really angered His Highness, I am afraid that the entire East China Sea City will be reduced to ruins.

However, the agent sitting in front of him did not seem to see his weakness and fear, and commanded forcefully: "You must do this!" ”

Cao Laocai stopped talking, his eyes flickered, and he secretly had murderous intent in his heart.

The profession of a big grain merchant is not something that anyone can do. Cao Laocai's subordinates have hundreds of thugs and nurses who watch the field, and the swordsmen who dare to kill can also call more than a dozen people. Although most of them were scattered all over the place, there were at least thirty people in this mansion, and there were even four bows!

It is definitely not a problem to quietly kill this MIA agent.

After that, as long as the body is buried in a mass grave, spend some money to seal it, and ensure that the gods are not aware of the ghosts.

"You want to kill me?"

Just when Cao Laocai was about to make up his mind, the military intelligence agent on the opposite side suddenly spoke, breaking his mind and shocking Cao Laocai. He looked at the position of the other party and himself, and then realized that the distance was a little too close, and his heart suddenly rose uneasy.

But it was clear that he underestimated the agent.

The other party didn't mean to take him as a hostage at all, and the fear of being alone could not be seen on his face, so he said lightly: "I don't have any weapons, and I don't have any accomplices, so it's naturally not difficult to kill me." But what about after that? After the Songjiang army entered the city, I was afraid that you would be the first to liquidate. ”

There was mockery in his tone.

This made Cao Laocai very unhappy, but he couldn't refute him. Because I know in my heart that the other party's words may not be alarmist, but true.

The root of a qiē lies in what he does.

As early as two months ago, when the harbingers of this drought first appeared, Cao Laocai realized that there was an excellent opportunity to make a fortune. Together with the officials in charge of the grain depot in Donghai City, a large amount of grain was stolen by means of guò tampering, mixing sand, and exaggerating losses. At the same time, his grain shop also worked with other grain merchants to hoard grain, raise the price of grain, and profit from it.

At least half of the reason for the fact that the price of food in Donghai County has tripled is due to him. It can even be said that even the occurrence of the Longhezhuang rebellion is indirectly and inseparably related to him.

This kind of making black money is actually nothing to businessmen. Cao Laocai didn't pay attention to it originally, some ordinary people were just a few ordinary people, even if they starved to death, it was nothing. What's more, this drought has not been severe to that point, at most it is very difficult. It's really not okay to flee the famine to the south, anyway, the grain production in Songjiang County is so high, even if it is affected, it is still not worried.

As for the possibility that this kind of behavior will attract dissatisfaction and backlash from the government?

What are you kidding, Cao Laocai's three generations of connections and relationships in the East China Sea are not vegetarians. Ordinary officials, who would dare to deal with him? What's more, the price of grain can be so smooth and too high, and some officials in Donghai City also intervene and share the profits. Everyone's interests are one, and naturally there will be no problems.

At least before the Songjiang Army entered the East China Sea and Zong Han left, Cao Laocai thought so. Qingjun.

Even if he changes his master, in his opinion, it is nothing more than a new stutter. As long as the gold coins are in place, he still has the final say on the price of grain in Donghai County.

But this idea changed after the Matsue Army entered the East China Sea.

Cao Laocai ignored one point: the entry of the Songjiang Army is completely different from the normal replacement of officials!

The rotation of officials in the past is a change within the empire itself, and whoever holds the position is the same. But in the current situation of the empire, the Songjiang army seems to be a three-third of the group, a nominally unified but in fact independent and secession. Before the outbreak of the civil war, the Songjiang army still had nominal taxes and tribute to Zhongzhou. After the outbreak of the civil war, the Songjiang army decisively severed its ties with Zhongzhou.

In this case, the entry of the Songjiang Army into the master is very tasteful.

Whether it was to stabilize the political situation of the people, to consolidate their rule in the East China Sea as soon as possible, or other considerations, the Songjiang army needed to take a few evil people.

There is no doubt that in the eyes of the common people, he Cao Laocai is the most hated one, and there is no one!

They will not see the chain of interests behind the push up of grain prices, there is only a simple and simple thinking logic: the grain is bought in the Cao family's grain shop - the price of grain has skyrocketed - Cao Laocai has made a black fortune!

If he kills the anger of the people and then lowers the price of grain, the Songjiang army will not only be able to win the hearts of the people of Donghai County in an instant, but also reasonably collect the wealth of the three generations of the Cao family. Moreover, the Songjiang Army is an external force, and its fist is big enough, so there is no need to mind Cao Laocai's local network.

The secret agents of the Military Intelligence Bureau took a fancy to this, so they decisively came to the door alone, and they were not afraid that Cao Laocai would have different intentions.

In order to better deter the other party and make it obedient, the spy also shook out the behavior of the Songjiang army in Fengquan Mansion to calm grain prices that had just been reported, and the words were quite exaggerated and intimidating. There is only one purpose, to make Cao Laocai convinced that after the Songjiang army enters the city, it will inevitably be the first to liquidate itself, and it is the kind that robs the family and exterminates the clan, and there is no room for retraction!

Is the Songjiang Army terrible?

The answer, of course, is yes.

But if he knew that he would definitely die, would Cao Laocai still be afraid?

It is definitely not possible to escape, and Cao Laocai is reluctant to give up his family business for three generations. Second, the news of the city lord of Yongshun Mansion had already spread, and everyone knew that there were already people from the Songjiang Army staring at them in secret. If you really escape from the city, unless you fly out of Tokai County in a short time, it won't be long before someone catches you up and takes it.

In this case, it seems that only the secret agent in front of him said that he assassinated Cen Wukun and detonated the war between Donghai and Songjiang.

Although Cao Laocai did not report hope for the result, he could not stand the eloquence of the secret agents of the Military Intelligence Bureau, and analyzed a beautiful possibility for him: the main force of the Songjiang Army was sent to the border between Yuanshan County and Anqing County and participated in the Middle Route Army; Only less than 10,000 troops were sent to Donghai County, and they did not bring many siege weapons. Relying on the city wall of Donghai County, as well as a garrison brigade in the city, it may not be able to support it for a while.

As long as the situation remains deadlocked and sees an opportunity, Governor Zong Hanlin, who is entrenched in the Bohai Sea, may send an army south to attack the besieging troops from behind!

In that case, the crisis in Donghai City will be automatically resolved, and his three generations of Cao Laocai's industry will also be preserved!

Even if this analysis is too ethereal and illusory, as long as there is one or two possibilities, Cao Laocai has no choice but to do it this way!