At the beginning of November, the Jingjing Pass of Taihang Mountain, in the "Lu's Spring and Autumn Period", said: "There are nine stops in the world, and one of the wells is the path." "This Jingcheng Pass is also called Tumen Pass by the locals.

Jingcheng Pass, since ancient times, is the only way for Jizhou and Merge State, choke the water in the east, and control the territory of Yan Zhao. Its southwest 10,000 peaks are inserted into the sky, and the sheep intestines are a line. The throat of honesty and things, and the rush of coming and going.

As early as the Qin period, it was a pass, and the troops were stationed in the same level, and they were almost at the same level as Tongguan, Puban and other dangerous places. The huge Zhihe River flows by, and it is also the famous battle site of Han Xin's last battle in the early Han Dynasty.

A gallop road repaired by Qin Shi passed through the customs, and the gallop road has not been overhauled for many years, and it has been dilapidated. At its widest, it could accommodate five carriages running alongside. And on both sides of the road are hills of different heights, and they continue to lead into the distance.

If it weren't for the fact that this gallop road was paved with stones of the same size, and the stones showed different degrees of wear and tear, those who didn't know would have thought that it was a deep mountain wasteland. Fortunately, every Changshan King who sat on the ground to collect customs duties has renovated it, but it can still drive.

It's just that the current Changshan King Liu Song's life is not very good, most of the counties in Changshan are controlled by black mountain thieves, there are Zhang Leigong, Li Damu, Guo Taixian, Sun Qing, Huanglong, Greentown and other departments in the north, Wang Dang in the east, Zhang Yan, Du Chang, Zuo Xiao, Zuo Zhangba and other departments in the south, so that Changshan King Liu Song does not know the taste of food, and he can't sleep at night.

However, Liu Song, the king of Changshan, had the responsibility of abandoning the country and fleeing once during the Yellow Turban Rebellion, and finally got the understanding of the emperor and the court, but he did not dare to abandon the country and flee again. can only sit in fear and be trapped in the country, hoping that the black mountain thieves will not make trouble again. Fortunately, the Montenegrin thieves led by Zhang Yan have been quite honest in recent years, and Liu Song, the king of Changshan, has been the master of his own country.

"Report ...... Oh, something is wrong. An official rushed in a panic, and was in the palace of the Yuan City of Changshan Kingdom, and Liu Song, the king of Changshan, who was watching the song and dance, immediately jumped up like a conditioned reflex, and turned around and fled without a muffled voice.

The official seemed to know Liu Song's actions and was not surprised, so he shouted to stop Liu Song and said: "King, it's not the Black Mountain thieves who are making trouble, it's the Black Mountain thieves who robbed the Taiyuan Governor of Taiyuan to give the family of the Liaoxi Commander Gongsun's family. ”

When Liu Song, the king of Changshan, heard this, he immediately stopped his escape, turned around and slowly paced back to the throne and sat down, before scolding: "Prime minister, don't make a fuss when reporting in the future, otherwise what kind of system will it become, where is the majesty of a country's prime minister, and you will lose the face of the court." Well, this matter has its own Taiyuan Governor looking for the theory of black mountain thieves, or playing the court, but what do you do. ”

Changshan Guoxiang hurriedly took a few deep breaths of air, and after calming down his breath, he bowed and said: "King, He Bai, the governor of Taiyuan, was noisy outside the palace, saying that when he passed through the Jingjing Pass, he was forced to pay the 200,000 yuan of customs clearance tax paid by the merchant to the king, and he should be blessed by the king in Changshan Kingdom. However, not long after Fang left Puwu County, he was plundered by black mountain thieves, and his goods were looted, and even the personnel suffered many casualties. So ......"

It turned out that most of the cities in Changshan were occupied by black thieves, and after losing most of the tax revenue, King Changshan imposed heavy taxes on the only intermittent commercial artery in the country. Even if it was given by He Bai to Gongsun Zhan to marry Gongsun Linglong, it was not a normal business dealing, and it was also heavily taxed by Liu Song, the king of Changshan.

Liu Song, the king of Changshan, waved his hand reluctantly and said: "A county lieutenant, don't care what he does, just send him away." ”

Prime Minister Changshan hurriedly bowed his hand and said: "I can't help it, I can't make it ......."

Liu Song, the king of Changshan, asked strangely: "How can this not be done?" Could it be that this He Bai's family background can't afford to offend? ”

"No, no." Chang Shan shook his head and said: "This He Bai is just a mere martial artist, his family background is poor, why can't he afford to offend." It's just that this He Bai is the governor of Taiyuan, and my Changshan country is trapped by black mountain thieves on three sides, and the west is safe. In the future, if there is a change in this black mountain thief, Taiyuan will be the only place for the king to retreat. The king must not make friends with He Bai, the governor of Taiyuan. This is one of them. ”

Liu Song, the king of Changshan, couldn't help but nodded. This He Bai holds the soldiers of Taiyuan County, if He Bai leads troops in the state to respond, he can also be safer in the future. If He Bai is bad and cuts off the way to Taiyuan, it will not be good. So he asked, "What is the second one?" ”

His subordinate said that no one else knew about it, except that when he passed through the Jingjing Pass, the king and his subordinate officials learned that he had a huge dowry of 3 million yuan. However, the horse team was plundered outside Puwu City, and the timing was too coincidental, so he suspected ......"

Liu Song, the king of Changshan, was stunned for a moment, and soon jumped up angrily and scolded: "He Bai Pifu, what does it mean?" What does it mean? Do you think that this lowly servant will command a man to do such evil deeds of plundering what is good? The widow wants to play the court, play the emperor, and ask the emperor to punish this servant and give birth to a son who commits a great crime against the reputation of my Liu royal family, and wants to exterminate his three clans......"

After Liu Song, the king of Changshan, vented his anger, the prime minister of Changshan, who was buried in ambush, said: "Then He Bai has already sent more than a dozen people to wait for his life, saying that the king is unwilling to compensate for his losses, so he will spread this matter to the world, so as to teach everyone in the world to know the evil deeds of the king in Changshan country." ”

"This is slander, slander ......" Liu Song, the king of Changshan, became angry again, "the lord of a country ...... a widow"

The prime minister of Changshan hurriedly stopped Liu Song, the king of Changshan, and said: "These three people have become tigers, and they must be guarded against." Besides, with the emperor's love for money, maybe he will agree with this rumor, thinking that the king has done this to lose the royal face in order to accumulate wealth. If the emperor agrees, I am afraid that it will be disadvantageous to the king. Even if the emperor doesn't believe it, if the people of the world believe it, then the reputation of the king will be ...... And the scholars and doctors of the court are not very friendly to the king......"

Liu Song, the king of Changshan, couldn't help but shout indignantly: "Could it be that the widow only collected the tax money of 200,000 yuan from this maidservant's son, so he should compensate him for the bride price of 3 million yuan?" ”

Chang Shan shook his head and said: "He Baizhi's subordinates originally wanted to ask the king to send a large army to exterminate the plundering Black Mountain thieves, but they were categorically rejected by his subordinates, and then they ruthlessly put down this statement. ”

Liu Song, the king of Changshan, was stunned for a moment, and couldn't help but scold angrily: "Exterminate the Black Mountain Thief? Do you need to know that there are millions of thieves in Montenegro? Hey, why didn't he go? But to bully the widow? ”

Chang Shanguo's face showed a strange look and said: "That's what He Bai's subordinates said, one is compensation, the other is that the king sent troops to suppress thieves, and the third is that He Bai himself sent troops to fight against thieves. ”

Liu Song, the king of Changshan, couldn't help but let out a long breath, glanced at Changshan Guoxiang, and said dissatisfiedly: "Since He Bai Pifu is looking for death by himself, let him go." What is this bothering the widow again? ”

Chang Shan Guoxiang smiled bitterly: "Millions of black mountain thieves, I don't know who did it. Moreover, He Bai is the governor of Taiyuan County in Bingzhou, but Changshan Country is the land of Jizhou, but this cross-state county army needs the king to play the court, and after the court agrees, He Bai can send troops. There is also the fact that the Black Mountain thieves have already surrendered to the court, and there is nothing He Bai can do about the troubles, so they are all pushed to the king. ”

When Liu Song, the king of Changshan, heard this, he had a headache for a while, and said: "The black mountain thieves of millions of people are moving dozens of books, and maybe they will think that the court is a move to settle accounts after the autumn." At that time, the mountains and countries were in turmoil, and Jizhou was in turmoil, but the culpability was all widowed. This must not be done, and cannot be done. If it really can't be done, the widow will pay him three million dollars. ”

The two were silent for a while, and after a while, Liu Song, the king of Changshan, asked with some pain: "Prime Minister, you, is there any other way?" ”

Prime Minister Chang Shan shook his head and said, "This matter is too complicated, and it is not easy for your subordinates to decide. It's just that when he came, He Bai's subordinate once said that if it was really impossible, the king could go to the court or issue an edict to order the Black Mountain thieves to return the looted goods. Or this is the personal feud between He Bai and the Black Mountain thieves, and He Bai can seek revenge on his own. ”

"Okay." Liu Song, the king of Changshan, laughed and said: "Push this matter to the court, and see how the selfish scholars in the court react." After that, he immediately sent an urgent envoy of six hundred miles to report the matter to the court.

After the court received the recital, he couldn't help but secretly scolded He Bai for being troublesome, but a mere lieutenant used a dowry of three million yuan, which was really a big deal, but this matter was not easy to ignore.

First, since He Bai took over as the governor of Taiyuan County, he defeated tens of thousands of white wave thieves in less than a month, stabilized Taiyuan County, made the situation of the entire state very good, and allowed the court to calmly transfer troops to defeat the Southern Xiongnu.

Recently, it once again thwarted the large-scale invasion of the White Wave Thieves, trapped the White Wave Thieves in a corner of the east of the river, and laid a good foundation for the future Xiliang Army to suppress the thieves. This meritorious man has not yet been rewarded, and he can't force himself down because of the great power of the Black Mountain thief, and he will not be able to cool the heart of the hero.

Second, although the Montenegrin thieves surrendered, they still belonged to an independent force, and they took care of their own taxes, internal affairs, military, and personnel, and the court could not control them at all, so they did not regard the Montenegrin thieves as the people under their rule. There are generals who are willing to go to the trouble of the Black Mountain thieves, and the court is naturally happy to see it.

The third is that Liu Song, the king of Changshan, praised He Bai's ability in the book, but he did not say that He Bai was the only one in the sky and a peerless fierce general on the earth, and it was easy to defeat millions of black mountain thieves, and he guaranteed that He Bai would go to exterminate the black mountain thieves.

Although the imperial court did not believe Liu Song's vision, if He Bai could really make the Black Mountain Thieves suffer some hardships this time, it was impossible to say that the matter of the Black Mountain Thieves would really fall on He Bai's head in the future. After the Xiliang Army is transferred to Hedong early next year, the status of Taiyuan County is not as important as it is now, so He Bai can be transferred to Jizhou. If he can't do it, then this matter should not have happened, and the court will not lose anyway.

So within two days, the court issued an edict as quickly as possible, ordering the Black Mountain thief to return He Bai's dowry of 3 million yuan. Otherwise, the court will allow He Baitong to lead the private army to seek trouble for the Black Mountain thieves, and the court will not help each other and sit on the mountain to watch the tiger fight.