Wei Ze, who was far away in Chengxian County, rushed back to Feng County non-stop after receiving the report sent by Zhang Jian's fast horse, and at this time Zhang Jian was sorting out the Yue people literature collected from everywhere.

As soon as Wei Ze returned to the county summer, he went straight into the inner hall in a hurry, and asked bluntly without being verbose: "Daozhen, what is the matter with the report you sent?" What a real person is a dummy, let's talk about it in detail. ”

Before Zhang Jian could see the ceremony, Wei Ze pulled Zhang Jian to sit down.

Seeing this, Zhang Jian directly repeated what Ji Chi said to himself that day, and Wei Ze muttered: "You have me, I have you, no wonder my cousin came back from Zhuang County and said that this thief army has different combat forces, so what do you think we should do next?" ”

Zhang Jian's face was embarrassed, and he lightly raised his fingers on the case and tapped it: "Shizi, this time I thought about things simply before I fell for Peng Cao, but it's not too late to make amends." I have expressed my intention to appease Ji Yue in the name of the county office, it seems that it is difficult for these mountain bandits to be sincerely attached, if we can get Ji Yue's help, we will attack Yanshan and level this gang of thieves, it will be much easier. ”

Unexpectedly, Wei Ze, who has been advocating for tough measures, hesitated this time, "If it is as you said, I am afraid that it will be difficult to appease." ”

Zhang Jian said: "Otherwise, I feel that this is a rare opportunity, this group of mountain bandits is from Yangzhou to the south and has a grudge against Xi Yue, this time it can be said that there is no harm in uniting with us, the difficulty is how to make Xi Yue sincerely attached." ”

Wei Ze looked at Zhang Jian and said firmly: "If you can appease Ji Yue to eradicate the mountain bandits and stabilize Jin'an, as long as the conditions proposed by Ji Yue do not touch the bottom line of the government, as long as it is within this Jin'an, there is no inaccuracy, and the specific matters can really be weighed by yourself and then reported to me." ”

Saying that, Wei stood up and lowered his head and paced a few steps, sighing: "Dao Zhen, you haven't seen the tragic situation in Chengxian, these mountain bandits are really making people kill them and not relieves their hatred, this time the situation is clear, I am relieved, you let go and do it, I believe you." ”

Wei Zeyi's words Zhang Jian's heart was warm, but when he looked up, he felt that this young man he had only known for less than half a year was not the same as when he first met.

Since Zhang Jian received full authority from Wei Ze, he quietly sent spies near Yishan and continued to pretend to try to contact the mountain bandits in Yanshan in order to paralyze the other party and buy time for himself.

On this day, Zhang Jian was checking the report of the secret agent, and an official outside the door suddenly came to report: Taishou recruited the master book to the back hall to discuss the matter.

As soon as he entered the back hall, Zhang Jian saw Wu Yue chatting with Wei Ze.

"Ziyuan, it turns out that you are back."

The two of them were not polite when they saw Zhang Jian coming, and Wei Ze laughed directly: "You came just in time, let's listen to the training together." ”

Zhang Jian looked at Wu Yue with a blank face, and Wu Yue also said helplessly: "This time I was ordered to go back to Linchuan to report on my work, but I was scolded by the prince. ”

After that, Wu Yue cleared his throat and said in a long voice: "You boys who don't know the height of the sky, act recklessly. This time the king was lucky enough to have nothing to do, and he couldn't spare him lightly, and he would make a plan when he returned to Linchuan. ”

"It's definitely not me who is training me, I'm just a little doorman, and everything is the aether guarding the head of the horse."

Wei Zebai glanced at Zhang Jian, who was not righteous, "Did my father say anything else?" ”

Wu Yue shook his head: "Now there are many things in the state, although the floods in Fuzhou have subsided, the progress of the dam construction project is still slow, and the Nanling mountain bandits are often harassed. To add insult to injury, the emperor on Jiankang's side was clamoring to become a monk again, and the Manchu Dynasty had no choice but to donate money to the temple to cast a statue so that His Majesty could return to the palace, so that the financial situation of Yuezhou was even more worrying. ”

Wei Ze couldn't help but smile after hearing this: "It seems that my father didn't mean to blame me this time, otherwise I would have been asked to go back to Linchuan to confess, this time thanks to everyone's help." ”

Before he could be happy, Wu Yue seemed to remember something and then took out a letter from his arms: "This is a secret letter from the prince to the prince."

"MeMessage?" Wei Ze did not shy away from disassembling it on the spot.

"Cousin." Wei Ze handed the letter to Wu Yue: "You have to do this." ”

Wu Yue took the letter and read it again in confusion, "My subordinates understand, I will inform Fourth Brother Wu now, don't worry." ”

"Cousin, what does my father think about the Yue Ren matter?"

"I mentioned to the prince the intention of appeasing the Yue people, and the prince agreed to the appeasement policy, but repeatedly ordered us not to start a war even if the appeasement fails."

Wei Ze listened for a long time and was silent, "It seems that what Daozhen said is right, now is indeed not the time to talk about war easily." That's it, Dao Zhen still appeases Ji Yue, and his cousin is responsible for training the army to cope with the war. ”

The next thing we have to wait for is the news of Yishan Jiyue and the news of the Yanshan bandits.

A mountain in the north of Jin'an County is crossed, and it is named after the 'wild goose mountain' that is said to stay here when the autumn geese return. Looking at the peaks of Yanshan Mountain, if the hibiscus is inserted in the sky, the pieces are eyebrow-catching, and the scenery is excellent. In the past, one of the three parts of the Yue Yue lived in this mountain, but it was such a wonderful place, but now it has become a gathering place for mountain bandits.

Panlong Ridge, one of the main peaks of Yanshan Mountain

At this time, a group of people in tattered clothes were moving with their steps, and these people were the captives who were released by Zhang Jian. After these people were released, fearing that the government would use them as a guide to march behind, they avoided the avenue and circled the path for several days, suffering a lot along the way, but finally returning to their lair.

The leader of the bandits in Yanshan was named Peng Cao, and he and several other bandits were originally active near Qiantang. Although Peng Cao is not a giant bandit in it, it is definitely one of the more cunning, at that time several mountain bandits and thieves entrenched in the land of Sanwu, and this land of Sanwu is the foundation of the Cheng family, Xunyang County Gongtai Cheng Yi personally mobilized the army to encircle and suppress on three sides after learning of this, and this Peng Cao is one of the few escapees, and then went all the way south to this Yanshan.

Although the two counties were heavily rewarded by the soldiers, Peng Cao also wanted to take the opportunity to provoke the Yue people to fight with the government, but Peng Cao was insatiable and saw that the defense of the county town was lax and he had the heart of plundering, and then because of hesitation, he confronted Wu Yue outside Zhuang County, which led to the defeat of Zhuang County later.

In the past few days, Peng Cao has been angry because of this incident, but just now someone suddenly reported that the captured people in his army had been released, which was really unexpected.

In the big tent, Peng Cao sat high and stared coldly at the people kneeling below: "The government just let you come back so casually?" Did you explain anything to the government? ”

Everyone below knelt deeply on the ground, bowing their heads and not daring to breathe, "Dashuai, we didn't dare to say anything nonsense at your orders, it was the government that wanted to appease us and let us back." ”

"Fund?" Peng Chao couldn't help laughing when he heard this, "What conditions did the government say?" ”

The following replied: "There is a senior official surnamed Zhang in the government who said: As long as the marshal agrees to be appeased, the conditions can be negotiated slowly. ”

Peng Cao squinted and turned his head to ask Wang Mian, the strategist beside him, "What do you think this should do?" ”

This Wang Mian, as the first strategist under Peng Cao, is also the only one, who was originally a scholar in Qiantang and has a quick mind and a strategy, but it is a pity that he was born poor and is almost fifty years old, and it is still difficult to make achievements. In a robbery, he was caught by Peng Cao into a thief's den, and later in order to survive, he simply became a strategist by Peng Cao's side, and as one of the few scholars among the mountain bandits, Wang Mian also became popular.

Wang Mian couldn't help but shake his head when he heard Peng Cao's inquiry: "Dashuai, this matter is not so simple. Is the appeasement proposed by the government to appease us or the Yue people? This time, we pretended to be Vietnamese people to attack the two counties, so the government didn't care how it could be like this. I think they must have thought that we were the Yue people, and this appeasement may be for fear of not properly handling the chaos in the southeast, or it may be that they may delay time and actively prepare for war. ”

Peng Cao frowned, as if he understood a little: "You mean, whether their appeasement is true or not, it will not be good for us." ”

Wang Mian nodded.

Peng Cao scolded with a smile: "Grandma, what do you have to do with them, Lao Tzu doesn't pay attention to them, just drink wine and eat meat." ”

As soon as these words came out, the thieves in the tent all shouted happily. Wang Mian originally wanted to offer advice to Peng Cao to show favor to the government in order to paralyze the government, and then seize the opportunity to kill and injure the officials and soldiers. But when the words came to his mouth, he swallowed it back, although he was born poor and had no achievements, and now he was forced to succumb to bandits, although he had not participated in the killing, but whenever he saw this group of thieves killing people, he also had a sense of guilt, and he was really fed up with being a tiger.

Looking at the people laughing wildly in the tent, Wang Mian could only retreat to the corner and shake his head and smile bitterly.

At the same time, Ji Chi and Ji Qing had also returned to the village with Zhang Jian's appeasement documents, and Zong Shuai You couldn't help but fall into deep thought after reading the letter. I have to say that the friendship, equality, and respect expressed in this letter are very novel, and the previous Han people have not appeased them, but they are all condescending and completely insincere. However, the division and merger between the Yue and the Han Dynasty is not a sincere letter that can say peace and harmony, not to mention that now Ji Yue is divided into three and leads one to live in Yishan, and his younger brother Ji Kuang, that is, Ji Chi's father, leads one to live in Yanshan, and the rest is led by his cousin Ji Jiang to live in Dafeng Mountain south of Yishan, and he can't make a decision.

Ji You came back to his senses and asked Ji Chi: "Since the government made a mistake this time, I will believe it, but this matter of appeasement is not trivial, and it needs to be decided after the heads of the various ministries have discussed, so you are afraid that people will inform Dafeng Mountain." ”

"Obedience"

Ji Chi was about to retreat but was stopped by Ji You, "Wait first, you go and call your father first." ”