Outside the city of Jizhou, there is a broken limb and ruins.

Xia Cheng, the governor of Jizhou, was riding alone at this time, struggling to kill the rebel army besieging the city.

Encouraged by Xia Cheng, the blood of all the officers and men of the Jizhou Army was instantly ignited, and their prestige was greatly boosted for a while.

With the pursuit of the Jizhou army, the rebel army has fled in a hurry, and there is no longer the majesty of the siege of the army.

Previously, the cannons on the city tower frightened their courage, and now the Jizhou army is like a butcher under the leadership of Xia Cheng, and every time they wave the weapon in their hands, they will take away a life.

With the passage of time, tens of thousands of rebel troops have been killed by the Jizhou army chasing behind.

The overall situation has been decided, Xia Cheng looked at the corpses outside the city, there was no sadness or joy on his face, but he couldn't catch the key figures of the rebel army, and he inevitably felt some regrets in his heart.

The city of Jizhou has been defended, and after attacking and defending the alien shape, it is the encirclement and suppression of the rebel army flowing in Jizhou.

For these chaotic ministers and thieves, Xia Cheng only hated in his heart.

When the Jizhou army, which led out of the city to kill the enemy, returned to the city, Xia Cheng's prestige was in full swing for a while.

Those who were once dissatisfied with Xia Cheng's ruling also put away their careful thoughts at this time.

The undercover officer who had previously reported to the rebels was even more frightened that the matter would be exposed.

But Xia Cheng didn't think about it so much for the time being, and only thought about how to make a plan to encircle and suppress the remaining rebels.

And Mr. Ye, who had escaped from Jizhou City, was following the remnants of a hundred-man squad to rest in a wood.

"Mr. Ye, where are we going next?"

A rebel leader asked Mr. Ye with a face full of black ashes and a dejected face.

Mr. Ye glanced at the embarrassed soldiers beside him, his brows twisted into a lump, but in the end, he could only sigh helplessly and did not answer.

Now that the plan to besiege Jizhou City is bankrupt, the rebel army has lost its initial edge, and it is good to be able to save its life now, and it is even more unthinkable to take Jizhou.

It's just that he didn't expect that there would be such a powerful weapon in Jizhou City, and it seems that the information he got before is not a lie.

The war ended with the defeat of the rebels, and news soon spread throughout the north.

……

Kyoto, the Imperial City.

Qin Yu listened to the front-line battle reports from his subordinate officials, and the dark clouds covering his heart dissipated slightly.

The suppression of the Jizhou rebellion was the first good news Qin Yu heard this year.

But the devastated Great Xia has experienced too many tribulations, and how many people will be displaced because of this, Qin Yu can't count it at all.

Through the battle report, Qin Yu knew that in this Jizhou defense battle, in addition to the Jizhou defenders' hatred of the enemy, they also had to rely on powerful artillery.

Qin Yu had great expectations for this new weapon, and immediately ordered to send people to Lingshui County to purchase a large number of cannons and shells, so that Xiao Jiu also obtained a lot of money and food.

Speaking of Lingshui County, the current Lingshui County is also very lively.

Although the war in Jizhou did not burn here, Xiao Jiu has been urgently expanding his army since hearing the news of the fall of Yuzhou.

The previous sale of arms to Kyoto and Jizhou made Xiao Jiu make a lot of money, in exchange for a large amount of money and food.

Subsequently, Xiao Jiu sent people to set up a conscription office at the junction with Jizhou and Yuzhou to absorb the young and strong people from the two states to join the army.

For this reason, Xiao Jiu opened a very high military expenditure, allocated a large amount of food for conscription, and a small part of the people affected by the war in Hebei and Henan also went to Qingzhou when they heard the news.

But in general, most of these people were reluctant to leave their homeland, so the soldiers of the Xiao Zi Battalion who went to the two states to spread the news received little feedback.

……

Yuzhou.

Outside Yangcheng County, which borders Lingshui County in Yuzhou, a group of dozens of victims formed a temporary team fled from farther away.

Most of these victims were young and strong, and the elderly in the original team had already died on the way to escape the famine.

With the fall of Yuzhou, they were unable to join the rebel army because of the destruction of their families due to the ravages with the rebel army.

But now that the whole of Yuzhou has been captured by the rebels, they have no choice but to leave their hometowns and go to other places to find a glimmer of life.

"Brother Liang, are we really going to Jizhou?"

A thin man with a scruffy beard looked at Xu Liang, the temporary leader of the team, and the other party only nodded lightly when he heard this, but did not speak.

Their team originally planned to take refuge in Qingzhou, but after hearing the news that the rebel rebels were being surrounded and suppressed in Jizhou, they planned to go to Jizhou to join the army.

Now the group has arrived in Yangcheng County on the border, and it is only one step away from the destination.

Just when they were full of confidence and planned to join the Jizhou army to kill the enemy to take revenge, they were stopped by the doorman at the border of Jizhou.

"Who are you, what are you doing in the city?"

An obscene-looking Jizhou official asked Xu Liang and his party who came to Jizhou.

Xu Liang, who was the leader, naturally did not dare to slack off, and respectfully said that they were all from the people of Yuzhou, and they had to go to Jizhou because they were affected by the war.

But when Xu Liang mentioned that their group planned to join the army to take revenge, there was a hint of playfulness on the face of the Jizhou official.

"Oh, revenge?"

"But you have to know that my Jizhou Army is not something that cats and dogs can enter, and you have to have something that others don't have."

Listening to the other party's words, Xu Liang in front of him was a little confused, and stepped forward to continue to ask: "What do you mean by what the adults say?" ”

Who knew that the official smiled and didn't speak, but the soldier next to him stepped forward and whispered a few words to Xu Liang.

Listening to the whispers of the soldiers beside him, Xu Liang only felt that there was a wave of anger building in his chest.

"Now you have to pay to be a soldier?"

Xu Liang whispered to himself in disbelief, and the officials on the side were not in a hurry, looking at the tattered young men in front of him with interest.

As a feudal dynasty, all conscriptions in the past basically relied on robbing to pull strong men, and almost no one wanted to be a soldier if they could.

Enlisting in the army is naturally to pay military salaries, but now not only do you not give money, but you also have to spend money, how can there be such a reason in the world?

In fact, it is no wonder that Xu Liang was surprised, now that the Jizhou Army has suppressed the rebellion in the territory, it has been prestigious for a while.

Moreover, there is no shortage of strong men at all in the influx of a large number of victims in Yuzhou, and now that there is a drought, there is no surplus money and grain in the county government for military expenditure.

As Xu Liang was stunned for a long time, the Jizhou official also lost his patience to wait, shook his head and prepared to leave.

"A bunch of poor sticks want to be soldiers? Let's prepare a mixed meal. ”

Listening to the words of the official when he left, Xu Liang only felt a sense of humiliating anger in his heart.

Just as Xu Liang was about to turn around and leave, a calm voice slowly came into his ears.

"I wonder if the strong man has ever considered Lingshui County, Qingzhou?"

Xu Liang slowly turned his head and saw a man dressed as a soldier walking slowly towards him.

"Dare to ask Your Excellency?"

Looking at the strange man in front of him, Xu Liang asked a little suspiciously.

The man also hugged his fist at Xu Liang: "A soldier under the command of Xiao Ziying in Xialingshui County, this time I came to Jizhou to find people of insight to join our army." ”

Listening to the man only reporting to Lingshui County and not to Qingzhou, Xu Liang was a little puzzled.

He knew that Lingshui County was a small border county in Qingzhou, but the rest was not known to him.

Now that I came to Jizhou to join the army and was rejected, this Qingzhou is a place to go.

Then Xu Liang talked with the Lingshui County soldier.

After a simple exchange, Xu Liang learned that Lingshui County was now recruiting soldiers on a large scale, and the salary offered was unprecedentedly high.

In addition, after becoming a soldier, they can guarantee three meals a day, and they can eat meat every other three or five days, which makes them feel a little incredible.

After listening to the story of the soldiers of Lingshui County, Xu Liang prepared to take his subordinates and his brothers who fled all the way from Yuzhou to this Lingshui County to find out.

Anyway, they have nothing left, nothing to lose, even if they become cannon fodder, at least they can eat a full meal.

Just when Xu Liang and his entourage followed the soldiers of Lingshui County to the direction of Qingzhou, they inadvertently said a shocking news.

"Are you sure that person is from Qingzhou?"

The soldiers of Lingshui County, who were traveling with Xu Liang, heard the shocking news that the other party had inadvertently exposed, and asked with some emotion.

And Xu Liang saw the Lingshui County soldier in front of him react like this, and gradually came back to his senses and nodded heavily.

It turned out that this Xu Liang was a handyman at a post station before he became an outcast, and he sent a letter to a strange man to the rebel army before the fall of Yuzhou.

He didn't know the contents of the letter, but a few days later, a large-scale civil uprising broke out in Yuzhou, and even his own family was destroyed in that disaster.

Now hearing the accent of the soldiers of Lingshui County, Xu Liang, who was originally uncertain, knew that the person who had contacted the Yuzhou rebel army before must be someone from Qingzhou.

The group rushed from Yangcheng County to Lingshui County non-stop, and on the way, they explained some rules and systems of Lingshui County to Xu Liang.

When they heard that the county order Xiao Jiu evenly distributed the fields in the county to the poor people, they opened their mouths in surprise.

In troubled times, there are still people who care about the life and death of these fart people? It sounds a little incredible.

Two days later, Xiao Jiu met Xu Liang who came from Yuzhou at the county government of Lingshui County.

After listening to Zhang Liang's dictation, Xiao Jiu stroked his chin and looked at the roof thoughtfully, while Zhou Jin on the side asked Zhang Liang directly.

"Does the epistle have a fire paint of this style?"

With that, he took out a piece of letter paper from the table next to him and drew a piece similar to a copper coin.

As soon as Xu Liang saw the pattern on the paper, he immediately pounded garlic and nodded again and again.

"My lord, that's exactly what it looks like."

After confirming with Xu Liang, Zhou Jin motioned to the soldiers who brought the other party to lead them back first, and then stepped forward and whispered to Xiao Jiu.

Xiao Jiu listened to Zhou Jin's eloquent words, and also changed from the initial calm to a touch of surprise.

"Baoyu Qianzhuang?"

When this word was spoken, Xiao Jiu had great doubts in his heart.

Through Zhou Jinyan's words, it is known that this Baoyu Qian Zhuang cannot be said to be a force, but more like an alliance formed by the entire Great Xia landlord and bureaucracy.

Now behind the chaos in Jizhou and Yuzhou, what role is this Baoyu Qianzhuang playing?