Yuan Yao took Ji Ling, and after entering Anhui County, he directly identified himself.

After learning the identities of Yuan Yao and Ji Ling, several soldiers guarding the city naturally did not dare to stop them, and led the two of them to Liu Xun's mansion in Anhui County with great interest.

Liu Xun had actually already gotten the news, after all, Yuan Shu sent his son to Lujiang to suppress the bandits, and he would definitely send people to inform Liu Xun.

The suppression of bandits is just to accumulate military merits for Yuan Yao and learn from experience.

Although Yuan Shu didn't like to see his son, Yuan Yao was his sister-in-law after all, and Yuan Shu didn't want to see Yuan Yao encounter any danger.

Therefore, it is also appropriate to order someone to inform Liu Xun and let Liu Xun help one or two.

After Liu Xun got the news, he waited for Yuan Yao's arrival half a month ago, but he waited and waited, but he didn't wait for Yuan Yao's appearance, and he was a little puzzled.

I was still wondering if Yuan Yao didn't come to Lujiang and went somewhere else.

ordered the guards, if there was news of Yuan Yao, he would come over immediately to report it, who knew that Yuan Yao appeared again.

After getting the news, Liu Xun didn't dare to slack off, after all, Yuan Yao was the former prince, although he was no longer the prince, but no matter what he said, he was the concubine of the Yuan family, and the influence was still there.

Although Liu Xun was an important minister under Yuan Shu, he couldn't despise Yuan Yao too much.

Before Yuan Yao and Ji Ling entered the mansion, Liu Xun had already walked out of it and waited at the gate.

As soon as Yuan Yao and Ji Ling arrived, Liu Xun hurriedly approached and stepped forward to salute.

"Yuan Gongzi, General Ji."

"Liu Xun is too guarded in the lower Lujiang River."

Although Liu Xun is too guarded, he is still inferior in front of Yuan Yao and Ji Ling.

Whether it is Yuan Yao's identity or Ji Ling's position, in front of him as a taishou, it is higher.

"Liu Taishou, don't be polite. Presumably, you already know the purpose of our visit this time. ”

Yuan Yao and Liu Xun are not very familiar with each other, at best, they have met a few times, and they can't talk about much friendship, so they have nothing to talk about, so they went straight to the point and got down to business.

"Your Majesty has already sent someone to tell me in advance, and the general will know about it."

Listening to Liu Xun's answer, Yuan Yao nodded.

While following Liu Xun and continuing to walk into the mansion, Yuan Yao opened his mouth to ask Liu Xun about the situation of the mountain bandits in Lujiang County.

"Liu Taishou, since you know everything, then I won't beat around the bush, and I hope you will carefully introduce the situation of the mountain bandits in Lujiang County."

"Don't be in a hurry, I've ordered someone to set up a banquet in the mansion to catch the wind and wash the dust for the son, and we will talk slowly while drinking."

Liu Xun quickly led the way to introduce Yuan Yao and Ji Ling into the inner court, and a table of banquets had been set up here, although the dishes had not yet been served, but it was enough to show Liu Xun's sincerity.

After Yuan Yao and Ji Ling sat down, Liu Xun began to talk to Yuan Yao about the mountain bandits in Lujiang County.

The land of the Lujiang River is vast, close to the Yangtze River and Poyang Lake.

The transportation between the north and the south is convenient, and the water transportation from the east to the west is convenient, which is not only a good place for merchants to trade between the north and the south, but also a water transportation artery connecting Jingzhou and Yangzhou.

Both the transportation and the terrain are very good, and because of this, this place has become a gathering place for many thieves and bandits.

Around Lujiang County, there are dozens of bandits, large and small.

The small force is more than ten people, specializing in plundering the passing merchants, and even the people passing by, and the large power, there are thousands of people, entrenched in the mountains and mountains, not only raising troops to rob homes, slaughtering villages and destroying villages, and even have their own fleet, crisscrossing rivers and lakes.

Among them, there are three more famous bandit forces.

In a few simple words, Liu Xun described the current situation in Lujiang County to Ji Ling and Yuan Yao.

When Ji Ling and Yuan Yao heard this, their brows also furrowed.

Although Yuan Yao knew from the beginning that the mountain bandits in Lujiang were rampant, he didn't expect that the bandits in this place would be so serious.

Without waiting for Liu Xun to continue, Yuan Yao couldn't wait to ask.

"Liu Taishou, which are these three thieves?"

Liu Xun glanced at Yuan Yao, not only slack, but continued to speak.

"One of them is the Chaohu water thieves led by Zheng Bao, Zhang Duo, and Xu Gan, who gathered thousands of people and had huge power, often plundering the township and doing evil. Among them, Zheng Bao is the most courageous and decisive, and his talent and strength are outstanding, which is feared by the locals. ”

Liu Xun introduced one first, made Ji Ling and Yuan Yao nod, did not interject, and just waited for Liu Xun to continue to speak.

"The second is a group of bandits led by Chen Ce, defending in a dangerous place in the southwest of Lujiang County, with nearly 10,000 soldiers, the former Lujiang Taishou Lu Kang once led soldiers and horses, and fought against it, but unfortunately this thief is extremely fierce, not only cunning, but also rough soldiers and horses, occupying dangerous places, unable to directly exterminate them."

When Liu Xun said this, Ji Ling, who was sitting next to Yuan Yao, had some impressions, and quickly interjected.

"I've heard of this thief, too."

"I heard that this thief has been entrenched in Lujiang for some years, Lu Kang once led three thousand soldiers to crusade against this thief, but unfortunately he did not succeed, but was defeated by this thief, which made this thief even more arrogant."

"It is said that it was the repulsion of several encirclements and suppressions by the imperial court that made Chen Ce's reputation famous, and at the same time attracted more thieves who did not accept the king's rent and had no king's law to defect."

After all, Ji Ling has been under Yuan Shu's command for some years, and Yuan Shu has been entrenched in Huainan for some time, and he has also heard of the nearby thieves.

It's not that a big thief like Chen Ce can't be exterminated by the imperial court, it's just that the current Han court has no time to take care of itself, so where can there be effort to suppress any bandits.

And these responsibilities fell on the Taishou in various places, and the Taishou itself had a limited number of troops, at most a few thousand, at least one or two thousand, and it was also a fool's dream to exterminate the bandits who gathered tens of thousands.

Only powerful princes have the ability to exterminate this kind of bandit that has become a climate, but near Huainan, only Yuan Shu has this strength, and Yuan Shu is the most forgetful person who sees small profits.

Suppressing bandits is nothing good for Yuan Shu, but he has to transfer money and food, lose troops and generals, and no matter how you look at it, it is a loss, so Yuan Shu has not paid attention to these thieves in the territory.

This time, if Yuan Yao hadn't taken the initiative to bring it up, he wouldn't have cared about these bandits.

"There is another group of thieves, who is it?"

After Yuan Yao nodded, he continued to ask Liu Xun curiously.

"This last group is the river and the thief, the last general is not very clear about their situation, this group of river and thief has just emerged in the past two years, and they are active in the area of Qianxian County, specifically targeting the merchant ships that come and go, but they act in a friendly style."

"Generally, only a certain amount of money is charged for road purchases, and merchants who often promise to come and go will give some protection."