The cold wind swept through the fields, and the iron hooves broke through the thin ice.

When a cavalry team of more than a thousand people galloped into the wilderness, the desolate picture of the wilderness suddenly multiplied, and even the sound of the wind became a little sharper.

Although the picture of the thousand horses rolling Pinggang is magnificent, when the wind and sand are blowing in the face, who knows who is cold.

Although Li Tai was already wearing a thickened hakama and a robe tightly wrapped around his body, he galloped all the way as if he was in an ice cellar, his hands and feet were numb from the cold wind, and although his face was covered with facial grease and a face towel, he was also a little cold and unable to make an expression.

Although it was very hard to rush in the cold winter, when he thought of the purpose of this trip, he was full of heat, and when he looked back at the team behind him was already a little scattered, he shouted loudly: "Hurry up again, and arrive in Liyang in the evening to rest again!" ”

In order to get a piece of the pie in the extermination of Buddhism, he brought out the old bottom this time, more than 600 veteran pawns plus more than 300 new pawns, as well as 500 soldiers and soldiers, and nearly 2,000 war horses.

Many of the new pawns who had not yet learned to ride horses were led by the old pawns to ride two of them, and they came all the way west from the shore of Luoshui.

Liu Min, who was traveling with him, also brought all of his more than 300 parts with him, he didn't know the evil thoughts in Li Tai's mind, only to see Li Tai because of his plea and mobilization of people, his heart was full of gratitude, and he didn't know how many times he thanked Li Tai along the way.

The group did not avoid the severe cold and marched against the wind, and finally rushed to the vicinity of Liyang Fangcheng, where the big parade was held last year, in the evening.

At present, Liyang Defense is not as crowded as last year, but there are still tens of thousands of horses gathered inside and outside the city, and it is an important town on the Weibei Plain.

"The Legend of the Fairy Tree"

When Li Tai and the others were still more than ten miles away from Fangcheng, they were stopped and questioned by the scouts here, and Li Tai asked Liu Min to hide in the ranks and come forward to contact him.

After he revealed his identity, although the scouts' vigilant posture was slightly restrained, they did not completely relax their vigilance, and invited Li Tai to enter the city to meet the city guards, Shangguan, and his subordinates had to dismount and walk slowly under the supervision and guidance of the scouts.

So Li Tai led ten followers by himself, followed by a few scouts to beat horses to the Liyang defense city, and when they came to the defense city, there was already a marching army standing at the city gate waiting.

"The lord of the city still has affairs to work, so he ordered the humble to go out to welcome the governor of Li. May I ask Governor Li, is it for official business or private affairs to bring the soldiers into the country? ”

The man who joined the army in his thirties, although his attitude was quite kind, but the eyes that looked at Li Tai were still quite scrutinizing.

"In accordance with the mission of Lu Shaoqing, the central director of the DPRK, he inspected the situation along the Zhengguo Canal, and if there were bandits who injured the canal and killed him, he would be killed immediately. Passing through Liyang, temporarily borrowing the accommodation, I implore the city lord of Baitu Gongxin to give convenience. ”

Li Tai turned over and dismounted, pulled down his scarf, and smiled at the subordinate officer.

When the army member learned that Li Tai's headquarters was just passing through, he no longer asked where he was going, and respectfully invited Li Tai and his attachés into the city and introduced the city lord's mansion.

Liyang Fangcheng guard named Xin Wei, in his early thirties, stood in front of the door of the straight hall and saw Li Taixing entering, so he walked down and said with a smile: "A month ago, Bai Shui saw Li Cheng's heroic appearance, which is still unforgettable, and I don't want to meet again in the city." The winter is bitter and cold, and he is still working on the way, and his loyalty and diligence are admirable! ”

Li Tai also hurriedly returned the salute with his fists and said with a smile: "Although there is a morning and a night, there is no difference in grace. Bai Tugong and others are all in the seniors, outstanding achievements, and the younger generations are fortunate to be in the same column, only by making up for the clumsiness with diligence, can we not be ashamed to see each other! ”

Xin Wei's ancestral home is Longxi, but the family has been living in Beidi County several generations ago, when He Bayue entered the customs, he led his troops to rise up in the township, chased after the rebellion, and later returned to the Daxing Taiwan command with the generals, the Western Wei Dynasty has participated in several battles, and is also a brave general with great achievements. Now he is also the governor of the capital, but his own official rank is much higher than Li Tai.

Although Xin Wei is known for his bravery in battle, he is not an ordinary warrior who is rough and wild, and he is also very polite to Li Tai, a guest who suddenly arrives, and the staff prepares a simple meal in the hall to entertain him.

When he heard Li Tai's excuse for his trip, he sighed and said: "The folk customs of Guanxi are simple and righteous, but Zhengguang has been repeatedly disturbed by thieves, and the nostalgia has collapsed in military disasters, and it is difficult to get together. Engaged in worrying about the chaos of the countryside and jealousy and hatred, it really moved me and other people on the surface. ”

"Where the road is, the masses are vying, and if they are united, they are not far away. I took the liberty to visit today, and I also want to ask Bai Tugong, can there be rampant harassment of thieves in the near realm? ”

Li Tai said kind words, and he was also carefully observing Xin Wei's expression. Although he felt in his heart that this matter was mostly a self-theft, he did not rule out the possibility of a powerful army leader in the situation. Xin Wei has the greatest momentum in the realm, and he naturally knows what is going on.

"If you talk about thieves, there are indeed a few, there are often thieves and miscellaneous people wandering in the north of Fuping Realm, villagers form fences to protect themselves, and there are soldiers and horses in the city to parade and expel them, but it is not a big trouble. There are also a few ......"

If the thief Hu mentioned by Kansai is not specifically referred to, it is generally said to be Ji Hu. When Li Tai heard that there were actually Jihu tribes wandering in this realm, he couldn't help but sigh that these Jihu tribes were really pervasive, and there were tribes everywhere.

The Liyang defense has a very wide range of care, and the entire Weibei Plain and the junctions of Yongzhou, North Yongzhou, Huazhou, and North Huazhou are all inspected here, so several cases of thieves under Xinwei are also widely distributed, including the disappearance of Liu Min's other departments.

"Those who are capable work hard, fortunately there is Baitugong in this realm, otherwise the first-line thieves in Weibei will be more rampant, and the villagers will suffer even more!"

Li Tai first complimented, and then asked: "I want to ask Bai Tugong, the thieves in the territory are troubled, do the children of Fangcheng come out when they hear the news, or do they have another charter to go back and forth?" ”

"It is still the self-defense of all realms, and the defense of the city is coordinated in the center. If it weren't for the great danger of besieging the city and attacking the city, the state official must be alerted, otherwise it should not be lightly out of Jingyuan. When traveling to and from official business, it is also necessary to report for assistance in defense before sending troops to protect. Li is engaged in your order to append here, in case of danger, you can send an envoy to call for help. ”

Xin Wei patiently replied to this, and this does not involve any military secrets. If the defense city does not also hold the official position of the prefecture and county, it is generally not under the jurisdiction of the local government, and the defense of strategic places and large cities is mainly used.

"From this point of view, although the affairs of defending the city are difficult and complicated, there are also a lot of restrictions!"

Li Tai sighed after hearing this, and Xin Wei also said: "So I also envy Li for your career and achievements. Before Zhuang traveled to Beizhou, he gained a lot. Although I am on the job too much, I can't envy it. ”

Li Tai only smiled when he heard this, the rules are one thing, but the actual implementation is another. All kinds of personnel disruptions in Kansai, if everything follows the rules, small chaos can be dragged into a big disaster.

Before that, he didn't even have the rank of commander of the army, but he made a lot of achievements in northern Shaanxi, and it did not prevent him from making contributions afterwards.

Xin Wei's family background is already strong in the north, and the power of the tribe is only a lot more than that of Li Tai, although he himself has the restriction of being on the job, but he does not delay in sending the tribe to do any private work.

If you really want to do something big like Li Tai, even if you don't come forward to be rewarded, you can let the children of the clan talk about their merits with hometown righteousness. Of course, this is just polite, and it doesn't mean that he will really abide by the rules.

Regardless of whether Xin Wei and Liyang Fang were suspicious or not, Li Tai did not plan to reveal the true purpose of his trip too early, and asked about the bandits around Zheng Guoqu by the way, and then planned to get up and say goodbye and go outside the city to meet his subordinates.

But before he could say goodbye, Xin Wei looked at him eagerly and said, "Today's reception in the hall, I also have something to ask Li Cheng." The portable grain cake created before you engaged in it is indeed a good thing for the army, and it can be crisscrossed Beizhou before and is not expensive, so I think it is not shallow.

To tell the truth, I have made some of the house slaves imitate, but the finished products are not as good as those seen here last year. This summer, the cavalry department of Zhao Hussar, the mountain prince in the middle of the river defense, was tired of the army because of the moldy grain cakes, and it made people feel that the depth of the craftsmanship was difficult to copy. Therefore, I would like to ask if there is any surplus storage of this thing in the warehouse, can it be bartered and evenly given to a batch? ”

Li Tai couldn't help but be happy when he heard this, making and selling military rations was originally a business that he had planned, but unfortunately this place was disturbed by Yuwentai last year and put it on hold first.

Originally, he wanted to wait until the right time to restart, and the grain cakes produced by the manor are now only a few benefits for his own use, and recently, he was newly in charge of the military and played with war, and he had already left this matter behind, but he didn't expect a business to come to the door.

Although he is now full of calculations to pick up the golden bodies of the Buddhas, but in line with the principle of opening up financial resources and mosquito legs are also meat, he smiled at Xin Wei and said: "It's not that it's a clumsy skill, this method of making grain is indeed cumbersome, because it is more necessary to be cautious in the military, and the misfortune of the Zhongshan Gongsu Department needs to be deeply disciplined, so I don't dare to give this practice to others again." There is indeed a surplus of storage for the operation under the door, and if there is a demand for Bai Tugong, it can be taken directly. ”

"Personnel maintenance is difficult, and those who are involved are trapped in material resources. The materials are not obtained out of thin air, how can I be cheeky and beggar, and I can be evenly matched with Li to engage in your surplus and shortage, which is already a lot of benefit! ”

Xin Wei didn't take Li Tai's kind words seriously, and hurriedly said that he would send someone to Shangyuan to negotiate the sale, and sent Li Taili out of the city, and gave ten sheep for his subordinates to eat in the camp.

After Li Tai entered the camp, Liu Min hurried up to meet him and asked in a low voice: "What Yi Boshan saw, is Bai Tugong suspected of being involved here?" ”

Li Tai shook his head after hearing this: "Baitu is not shallow and powerful, so he should not be greedy for floating goods and damage his reputation and future." ”

The crime of robbing the losing official's materials is not small, and what Li Tai saw as Xin Wei was neither arrogant and forgetful, nor was he a greedy and greedy man, and he was already in a high position, and there was really no need to get involved in such dirty things.

Liu Min was quite convinced of Li Tai's judgment, and breathed a sigh of relief after hearing this: "As long as it is not a strong soldier involved, the matter is not dangerous, and there is still room for redemption......

Li Tai smiled and nodded in agreement, but in his heart he felt that Liu Min looked down on himself a little, do you think that I am not strong and not strong?