Time back to the morning of the previous day, Kou Zishi looked out from the highest two-story building in the village, and he couldn't see clearly in the dense fog, but he saw that there were many shadows around the village, and there were a lot of people.

The dense fog increased the suddenness of the Huzhou soldiers' movements, but it also made the Huzhou soldiers dare not attack in a hurry to avoid too many casualties before the sun came out and the dense fog dissipated. However, it is also possible to wait for the results of negotiations with the Xuanzhou locality.

One of them climbed up the ladder, and without looking outside, he pressed his throat and asked, "Do you want to rush out?" ”

Taking advantage of the fact that the dense fog has not cleared at this time, gather troops in one place, rush to the village and the mountain, and nine times out of ten can rush away. It's just that the 100,000 catties of salt that I worked so hard to get have to be cheaper for these Huzhou soldiers.

At that time, the price of salt was high, and the core was that under the official system, salt became a hidden tax. According to the Song Dynasty, salt was boiled on the seashore, and the government collected no more than a few wen per catty, but the people ate it cost 60 wen per catty. There is no shortage of salt in the coastal areas of Wuyue, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang, but the people also need more than 50 wen to buy salt.

And the people of the Southern Tang Dynasty were miserable, after the loss of Huainan, there was no salt production land in the Southern Tang Dynasty, so they could only "beg for salt" to the Song Dynasty, and the Song Dynasty also used salt as a means of clamping. The court of Li Yu of the Southern Tang Dynasty doesn't care if the people live or die, anyway, it is to increase the price and sell it again. Therefore, if the people of the Southern Tang Dynasty bought the official salt, it would cost more than 80 wen per catty, and when they met a card of Song Tingka, they could sell it for about 100 wen per catty.

Therefore, the fierceness of the private salt in the Southern Tang Dynasty cannot be reached by various dynasties. In Southern Tangzhou County, however, the smuggled salt dealers are used as a source of extra money, and once they catch the smuggled salt, they must seize their salt, and killing their heads is not the most important thing. Moreover, Li Yu is a soft-hearted person, who cannot see killing, and often presses the death penalty and does not carry it out, so that there are always some illicit salt dealers who have been sentenced to death in the prisons of Nantangzhou County.

Illegal salt dealers are not afraid of death, but here in Nantang, even if they are caught, they may not die for a while, as long as they do not die, they will have a chance to live. Therefore, for the vast number of illegal salt dealers such as Song and Wu Yue, the Nantang market is vast and the law enforcement is "humane", and they are embarrassed to say that they are mixed in the industry if they do not come to expand the market.

Since Kou Zishi "went to the sea", he has always boasted of being cautious and exhaustive, but this time he made the second big one, and he didn't want to plant it in the ditch at once.

"This 100,000 catties, throw it away, it's just the foundation of this hengwu, can you give it up?"

The person who came up was none other than Zhao Kai from Hengwu. Hengwu is just a small mountain village, with less than ten households in the village, all surnamed Zhao. Hengwu is backed by the general mountain, separated from a mountain in Huzhou, the mountain people are strong, Hengwu is more to prevent bandits and rebuild a few times, the wall, the watchtower are readily available. The so-called relying on the mountains to eat the mountains, Hengwu is an ordinary village on the surface, but in fact, it relies on the Kongdao of Jiangjun Mountain, and the whole people sell smuggled salt. Therefore, if you want to defend to the death, you must mobilize dozens of men in the mountain village, and then rely on the terrain of the village, and also have the strength to fight; If he wants to break through, Zhao Kai must carry the crime of selling smuggled salt on his head, and then flee with his family.

"You can't let the whole village be buried together." Zhao Kai didn't answer directly, "If you go down to the house, you will definitely be able to say that the big people in the mansion will come to the rescue, how sure are you?" ”

Actually, I don't know for sure. Kou Zishi thought so in his heart, but he didn't say it in vain, hurting his own anger in vain. I could hear the commotion outside the village, and I couldn't hear what was going on from afar.

"The Xuanzhou soldiers have arrived. Wait a day, the two families will have to discuss for a while today. Today, if the villagers are allowed to hide, the officers and soldiers will be tempted, and we can deal with it. Tomorrow morning, I will surprise and stand out. ”

————

Cai Deyun of Guangde Zhi County was very annoyed.

The Huzhou soldiers crossed the border to besiege the villages under the jurisdiction of Guangde, which can be big or small.

To make trouble in Dali, it was the Huzhou army that attacked the territory of Xuanzhou; To put it mildly, it can be that the Huzhou soldiers and the Xuanzhou soldiers join forces to suppress the bandits. The former is a political event, with blessings and misfortunes; The latter is simple, it is a matter of paper afterwards, and maybe it can be commended.

However, these Huzhou soldiers deceived people too much, and there were only two plans given: one was that the Huzhou soldiers attacked alone and allowed the Huzhou soldiers to plunder the village; The second is that the Huzhou soldiers and the Xuanzhou soldiers each attacked from one end, and each took the spoils of war according to their ability.

Regarding Cai Deyun's proposal to persuade him to surrender, and then divide half of the private salt obtained by the Huzhou soldiers, Yang Tongfang, the commander of the Huzhou soldiers, scoffed at it. "Lord Cai, you brought people out, saying that in fact, we are looking at the fault, there are good people inside, there is not a pound of private salt, and I can't blow you flat or stretch you. You understand what I mean? ”

Cai De was so lucky that he blew his beard and glared, and then brushed his sleeves and left.

But Li Xin, the battalion commander who came with Cai Deyun, couldn't give him the slightest confidence.

"Lord Cai, think twice, this group of Huzhou soldiers may be the elite transferred from Hangzhou, and we can't beat them when we see them. This should be talked about. If they really want to do it first, we will be even more passive. ”

Cai Deyun was so angry that he said: "You brought someone over, and you can't just watch it, so you have to squeeze out a way so that the official can contact the villagers, right?" ”

When Li Xin heard this, he cried out, saying that the fog was too heavy, and in order to prevent misunderstanding between the two armies, it was necessary to wait for the fog to dissipate.

Yang Tongfang was not in a hurry, he just hoped that the smuggling salt dealers in the village would not be able to bear it first. He only ordered the deputy general to keep an eye on the back of the village, as long as someone ran into the mountains, it meant that they had given up resistance, and they must run fast at that time, and rob him when they should rob him.

But there was no movement in the village.

As the sun rises, the fog gradually lifts. Under Cai Deyun's repeated urging, Li Xin led his soldiers to the village. That Yang Tongfang didn't dare to really draw a knife and slash, the two sides just pushed and shoved, and shouted endlessly. At noon, Li Xin reasoned that the soldiers were very hungry, and retreated back to bury the pot to cook.

Cai Deyun has nothing to do.

After lunch, Cai Deyun had no choice but to go to Yang Tongfang again.

This time, Yang Tongfang asked Cai Deyun to watch the situation of Huzhou soldiers feintting to attack the cottage. A team of Huzhou soldiers followed the road, approached the walled gate, and then erected three large shields to cover the front, and two more people pulled out two long hooks, and then went to pull the walled gate, the walled gate was very firm, and it was fruitless for a long time.

Yang Tongfang ordered two ten-person teams to step forward, protect their bodies with nine big shields, and when they arrived at the gate of the village, they worked together to push down the gate and went in. As soon as the wall fell, it suddenly lost its strength, and there was a gap in the shield array, and a few swishing sounds were heard, and a few screams were heard. Yang Tong conveniently collected his troops and saw that three soldiers were injured, but none of them were critical.

When the dust at the gate of the village cleared, I saw that there was still no one in the village, the street in the village turned around, and I couldn't see the depths, the doors of several courtyards were closed, only a dozen or so small windows were pitch black, looking at the infiltration people, I don't know where the arrows just shot from.

It's a bit of a prickly attack on the robbers' den. Yang Tongfang was also secretly surprised. His face remained silent, "Lord Cai, such bandits should be eradicated as soon as possible!" ”

Cai Deyun saw that a soldier was shot in the shoulder, and half of his body was red and dragged down, his feet were already weak and his throat was dry. But he didn't want people to see the joke, so he just snorted coldly at the moment and returned in vain.

When he returned to the camp, he saw that Li Xin had gotten a hare out of nowhere, and asked his soldiers to skin it, which was roasting fragrantly. was also angry, but Li Xin said: "Lord Cai, don't be anxious, I think this Huzhou soldier also wants to make money, not to make trouble." Then the Huzhou soldiers can wait, what can't we wait for. It's consumed. ”

————

In the afternoon, Yang Tongfang really took the initiative to find Cai Deyun.

Cai Deyun was not afraid of what these salt sellers would do to him, so he went in to persuade him to surrender.

If this is in Huaishang, the smuggling salt dealers and the government's anti-smuggling team have already killed the red eyes, and the two families are both blood feuds, which county dares to send the smuggling salt dealers to the door alone, it is likely to be in and out piecemeal.

Nantang doesn't have to worry about these here.

Zhao Kai's condition was to confiscate the private salt and let himself and others leave. With such relaxed conditions, Cai Deyun obviously couldn't agree to it. In the end, after talking, they agreed to allow other families in the village who had nothing to do with it to leave first.

This means that the smugglers still have to run, but they are in everyone's mind. Before dark, he supervised the villagers to leave first.

Without irrelevant people, officers and soldiers can attack more freely; And the smugglers of salt have also lost a lot of help. Then there was only one way to escape after dark.

Cai Deyun and Yang Tongfang repeatedly pulled the evidence, Cai Deyun demanded that in addition to private salt, Huzhou soldiers were only allowed to loot the house of the person involved (that is, Zhao Kai); Of course, Yang Tongfang did not agree, and Cai Deyun also threatened to flank the rebels, and Yang Tongfang finally agreed to only loot a few large houses in the village, and small courtyards were not allowed to enter.

After such a negotiation, Yang Tongyi ordered the soldiers to take turns to rest, and to stay until the next day, so that he could rob. Unexpectedly, before dawn, I heard that the Xuanzhou soldiers' position was lively, and the noise was softer after a while, but Yang Tongfang always felt that something was wrong, so he saw the deputy general open the tent: "Commander Yang, the Xuanzhou soldiers are making rice."

Yang Tongfang rushed out with an arrow and looked towards the Xuanzhou military camp, at this time the morning fog rose again, but the fire was dotted in the fog. The Xuanzhou soldiers are really evil.

Yang Tongfang hesitated a little in his heart, after all, he really wanted to make a fight between the two armies, but he was afraid that he would not be able to save his head. didn't dare to be careless at the moment, so he ordered the Huzhou soldiers to also get up and make food.

After the Huzhou soldiers finished eating, they heard the four military whistles sound, and the Xuanzhou soldiers had already pressed up in the dark.

At night, the Huzhou soldiers could not surround a cottage like during the day, so they could only use a small group of soldiers as a sentry and a large group of men and horses to rest in the camp. At this time, the Xuanzhou soldiers took the lead, and they could only see that many sentry guards were forced to retreat under oppression. However, seeing that the Xuanzhou soldiers did not mean to be ruthless, the two sides could still hold on.

Dozens of smuggled salt dealers in the village, some in the attic, some on the courtyard wall, and some in the small windows of the houses near the village, looking out, but the fog is getting thicker and thicker, and they really don't know what is happening outside.

"Do you want to withdraw as planned?" Seeing Kou Zishi coming back, Zhao Kai asked again.

"I don't know what's going on, but in the Xuanzhou barracks, there must be a bigger official. Let's wait a little longer. Don't worry, we will leave empty-handed, that is, we will withdraw after dawn, and I don't think these officers and soldiers will chase after them seriously. ”