Three large ships went upriver on the Bianhe River and headed straight for the Yellow River.

Looking at the wildflowers and spring trees slowly crossing the two banks, Cao Bin reclined on the deck rocking chair, took the wine glass handed by Hu Sanniang and drank it up, his face full of comfort.

"Master Hou, does Pan Renmei really know how to calculate the Yang family?"

Cao Bin closed his eyes and leaned back on the back of the chair, and said casually:

"The Yang family has made it clear that they are against Pan Renmei this time, with new grudges and old hatreds, and he will most likely make some shady tricks."

"But as long as the Yang family doesn't trust others and is greedy for merit, there should be no problem, in the final analysis, it's just to deal with a group of anti-thieves."

After speaking, he straightened up and groaned, shook his head, and said:

"Forget it, forget it, notify the time to move, and let Yanzi pay attention to the war in Hebei."

"If the war is not cooperative, the eighth sister's life must be saved......"

Although the Great Song Dynasty has not yet fallen apart, the thieves in Hebei are not unknown, and two of the four major Kou of the Water Margin are also a bit of destiny.

In addition, there are too few soldiers and horses in the imperial court, and it is very close to the Liao State, so it is not uncommon for some accidents to occur.

Cao Bin can't do much, and he doesn't want to do thankless things, but it's still okay to give Yang Bajie insurance.

After chatting about the war in Hebei for a while, Hu Sanniang pouted and concluded:

"If Hou Ye goes on the expedition, where is there such trouble? I'm afraid that the Liao people won't dare to act rashly......"

She poured another glass of wine and was about to hand it to Cao Bin, but when she saw that he had already made a slight snoring sound, she couldn't help muttering:

"When I am honest all night, I am not afraid of dying of exhaustion."

As she spoke, she saw Qiong Ying coming up with a thin blanket and helping her gently drape Cao Bin over ......

In this era, water transportation was much more comfortable and convenient than land transportation, whether it was going to war or to do business and transport goods, water transportation was very important.

It can be said that a waterway is the tentacle of a state's control area.

It's a pity that the waterway of the Yellow River is not very friendly to boats, so Cao Bin and others got off the boat in Hezhongfu, changed into a carriage and drove slowly to Xixia.

More than half a month later, the mission had passed through Yanzhou, the terrain of the Loess Plateau, the ravines and ravines, desolate and heroic.

"Hou Ye, after a little justice to build a village on the front line of Hengshan, just wait for the imperial court to allocate money, you can expand the village as a city."

"However, now the border is short of troops, supplies are scarce, and robbers are often scratched, so the progress is very slow......"

Gao Wang, the current guard general of Yanzhou, led the way for the mission and introduced the situation in Western Xinjiang to Cao Bin.

He was born in the Gao family of the White Horse Silver Spear and Gao Qian's father, who had been serving under Yang Zongbao and had just been transferred to Yanzhou not long ago.

However, he was also stationed in the northwest a few years ago and is very familiar with Yanzhou.

Looking at Cao Bin's young face, he was quite emotional.

I didn't expect that back then, I had become a few existences in the court, and when I thought of myself and my son, my mouth was a little bitter.

However, although he had not met Cao Bin a few times, he had already known his stakes, but he didn't expect him to be promoted so quickly.

Ma's, this is a thunderstorm!

Cao Bin pondered for a moment and asked:

"Are there a lot of robbers these days?"

Chong Shiheng also talked about this issue in the recital, and now he heard Gao Wang talk about it, which immediately attracted his attention.

When Gao Wang heard this, he immediately came to his senses, and hurriedly said:

"Don't hide it, there are many robbers here in our country, not only the Xixia tribe, but also many Song people."

"Because of the lack of food and clothing, the people can't survive, so they can only fall into the grass."

"Some robbers come and go like the wind, and even the government dares to rob them."

Gao Wang looks honest, but he is also a shrewd person, and now Cao Bin is in charge of the three divisions and is a bigwig of the court, of course he has to complain.

If some money and grain can be allocated, the situation in the northwest will be greatly eased.

Not to mention anything else, as long as there is enough food in hand, the Northwest Jingluo Mansion will be able to suppress and use it, and there will not be the current situation of exterminating a batch and raising another batch.

Maybe it can also recruit the Western Xia tribe and increase the population.

Hearing his words, Cao Bin just nodded and didn't say much.

The allocation of money and food is not Cao Bin's final say, even if he can decide, he will not casually agree.

However, Gao Wang's words also reminded Cao Bin of Sima Guang's reason for cutting the land.

He said that the occupation of Hengshan by the Great Song Dynasty would attract constant harassment from Western Xia, although this was a bit weak, but it was not unreasonable.

The Song people could see the value of Hengshan, and the Xixia people could naturally see that they would not watch Chong Shiheng build a city in Hengshan.

Although they dare not and cannot afford to send troops now, it does not mean that they will be captured.

I'm afraid that those Western Xia robbers will have the reason for the deliberate indulgence and guidance of the Western Xia court, and they will live a miserable life because of the lack of food and clothing anyway.

It's better to use waste and let them make trouble for the Great Song Dynasty, but they can't let the Great Song Dynasty really build a new city and completely kill themselves.

Even if they annoy the Great Song Dynasty, they can be said to be rampant robbers and push them all away.

Just as he was thinking wildly, a spy suddenly came to Pegasus:

"Report, report to the master."

"Three miles ahead, a brigade of horse bandits is galloping towards the mission."

"Look at the number of people, not less than eight hundred."

Cao Bin was stunned when he heard this, and couldn't help laughing:

"Sure enough, there are so many horse bandits, isn't this just a bump?"

Gao Wang shook his head suspiciously and said:

"It's impossible, there is no more than three hundred horse bandits nearby......

Speaking of this, his face suddenly changed greatly, and he said in a panic:

"It's not good, I'm afraid it's a combination of several horse bandits, specially for Hou Ye, I'm afraid we will be targeted as soon as we leave the city."

"Wait for the master, go away! The end will stop them. ”

On this mission, Cao Bin only brought 100 personal guards and iron cavalry, and the rest had dozens of officials and servants who followed the envoy.

It's not that he doesn't want to bring more, it's just that it's not necessary, it's just an envoy, a hundred guards are enough to ensure his safety, and it costs money to bring too many people.

He's not the last time he was on a mission, he didn't know anything.

Although Gao Wang knew the benefits and disadvantages of Cao Bin leading troops, after all, he had not seen it with his own eyes, and the other party was eight times the enemy, so he was naturally very worried.

The horse bandits here are different from ordinary grass bandits, many of them are from the Western Xia tribe and have participated in wars.

If Cao Bin is injured a little, the court will have to push him to the end, and he may not even be able to keep the title, and he can't afford to take this responsibility.

Cao Bin shook his head with a smile and said:

"This is treating Benhou as a fat sheep."

Gao Wang said that he came for Cao Bin, but it was not that someone recognized Cao Bin and deliberately prepared some conspiracy to rob and kill him.

Instead, I saw Cao Bin's team carrying property, dressing up gorgeously, and treating him as a fat sheep.

In this way, it can also be seen that the arrogance of the horse bandits really dared to rob and kill the official mansion.

As he was talking, the sound of horses' hooves like thunder was already ringing in his ears, Cao Bin waved his hand and ordered:

"Prepare for war, Cao Zheng commands."

Seeing a fourteen or fifteen-year-old boy riding forward with a hundred iron prancing horses, Gao Wang was already dumbfounded, this Cao Houye was too arrogant?

In this kind of life and death time, let a child command the army......