In addition to being busy with industrial and mining construction, Ouyang Xuan did not forget to prepare for war, he always paid attention to the movements of the mountain bandits. It's been a few days since the last time the bandits were repelled, but the Wanjiaping mountain bandits didn't come to retaliate. According to the secret whistle report sent by Cao Ergou, the mountain bandits in Wanjiaping have obviously strengthened their vigilance during this time, and the personnel of Liulizhai can only sneak near the bandit village to detect before, and now they will be expelled by the mountain bandits on the mountain road more than ten miles away from Wanjiaping, and they will accidentally attract the mountain bandits to chase with knives and bows, and they can't detect the intelligence of Wanjiazhai at all. Cao Ergou had no choice but to send people to lurk outside the patrol range of the mountain bandits, and closely monitor the mountain road from Wanjiaping to Liuliba, in order to learn the news as soon as the mountain bandits attacked.

Six days after departure, Huang Dagen and Dong Hu returned to Liuliba. In just six days, the two of them have lost a lot of weight, and they have become dark and haggard. In addition to sleeping in the open and crossing the mountains and mountains, they also met the Mongolian army rangers on the plains below the mountains. It was early in the morning, not long after the two of them descended the mountain, and when they were about to head towards Hengyuan Town in the plain ahead, the sharp-eyed Dong Hu spotted a herd of horses grazing in the river beach in the distance, and the scale was about twenty. Huang Dagen estimated that the 100-man team that attacked the bandits in Wanjiazhai Mountain had dispersed, leaving this 10-man team here to reconnoiter and plunder.

In order to prevent extraneous branches, the two did not enter the Hengyuan village, but avoided the Mongolian cavalry far away, and found a remote path until Chongqing Fucheng. On this trip, the two brought back two news, one good and one bad. The good news is that although Pan Tongzhi was skeptical of the report of the two, after Huang Dagen presented the mink, he saw Dong Hu's full Qiang face, so he rolled his eyes and confirmed the content of the report letter. At that time, Pan Tong appointed Ouyang Xuan as the Liuli Patrol Inspector, and renamed the grain collection team as the Liuli Village Capture Team, which was assigned to its control, and took charge of the surrounding mountain affairs, and reported to the department for the record. Yu Zhu was still the escort of the arrest team, and an additional team was added, Huang Dagen and Cao Ergou were the supporters, Yang Xiucai was the scriven who accompanied the inspection, and Lu Dezhi and other mountain people were commended for their loyal and patriotic hearts, and the rest of the meritorious personnel were rewarded by Ouyang Xuan himself. Pan ordered the scribes to further expand Yang Xiucai's brilliant letters, such as: "Our envoy led the mountain bandits and the Tatar soldiers to fight, and the mountain bandits killed and wounded hundreds of people, and the Tatar soldiers killed and wounded dozens of people; Our department newly opened up a hundred miles of land, and the giant bandits in the mountains came to attack and were also defeated, killing more than 200 prisoners. And asked Huang Dagen to sign his name on it and sign on behalf of Ouyang Xuan. Pan's operation really opened his eyes, and he couldn't help but sigh in his heart, it turned out that it was so easy to be an official of the imperial court, and he only needed to brag.

Ouyang Xuan took the official documents of Chongqing Mansion brought back by Huang Dagen and read them carefully. He understood that he was "in charge of all matters in Liuliba and controlling the grain collection team", that is, he was fully responsible for the affairs of Liuliba and the grain collection team, but he was very puzzled about the position of Liuli inspection, and Yang Xiucai explained: "Brother Xuan, this inspection is the official in charge of public security in the state and county. The county lieutenant is in charge of the safety of the city, and the patrol is responsible for the security of the countryside, and the main responsibility is to patrol the township and arrest bandits. The imperial court mostly set up patrols in the prefectures and counties and forts at the junction of the two countries, and it is now set up in this place where the Han and Han people live together, and they are also responsible for patrolling the border. With this appointment, Pan's commander still asked Xuan Ge'er to exterminate the giant bandits, pacify the mountains and resist the invasion of the Western Tibetan tribes."

The good news of Ouyang Xuan and others being added to the rank can boost the morale of everyone in Liuliba. The bad news is because of the desire for profit of Pan's system, it turns out that although Liuliba has been under the imperial court since the Tang Dynasty, it has only been nominally governed since the founding of the Song Dynasty, and the effective governance of the imperial court has never reached this place. At present, Pan's command has reported more than 100 miles in the mountains, including Wanjiaping, as his own exploits in expanding his territory. Since ancient times, it has been a great merit to expand the territory, but effective governance requires the mountain people to pay grain taxes as proof. But to levy a grain tax in this mountain, not to mention that the Wanjiapingshan bandits will never allow the imperial court forces to enter the mountain, and the rest of the mountain people in the village will obviously not agree, even the people of Liuli Village will not agree. The government's harsh taxes will definitely make the mountain people angry and unanimously opposed, and they will even stand on the side of the Wanjiaping mountain bandits.

After Huang Dagen finished speaking, Lu Dezhi, who was standing beside Dong Hu, asked Ouyang Xuan with a worried expression: "Brother Xuan, does your promise not to levy grain still count?" ”

"Count! As long as I, Ouyang Xuan, am here, this promise will be valid. However, taxes on industry, mining, commerce and trade still have to be levied according to the amount," Ouyang Xuan said.

"This is nature, this is nature," Lu Dezhi and Dong Hu hurriedly replied. For the mountain people, the food and prey are their own hard gains, and they need to keep their promises if they don't pay taxes, and there was no industry, mining and commerce in the mountains, but now Ouyang Xuan and others will rise up, and taxes should be levied. For Ouyang Xuan, although the grain in the mountains is abundant, due to the inconvenient transportation and extremely high transportation costs, if it is transported to the plains under the mountains, there is not much left after deducting the cost, which is really not cost-effective. In the future, the development of industry and mining will be a rolling source of money, such as grain in the mountains, directly with money to buy.

There was no mention of the food tax at the moment. After Ouyang Xuan and everyone congratulated each other, he ordered Huang Dagen and Dong Hu to rest, and then brought the herbs and Lu Dezhi that the two of them picked back to Yu Zhu's residence. On the return trip, because the items they brought had been sent to Pan to control the system, the drinking water was basically exhausted, and the weight on Huang Dagen and Dong Hu had been greatly reduced. The two of them spent more time in the mountainous area where the artemisia grows, and picked enough artemisia grass to bring back. In front of Yu Zhu's bed, Ouyang Xuan called Yang Xiucai to return to the faith of Chongqing Mansion. When he heard that Ouyang Xuan was promoted to the position of inspector, Yu Zhu struggled to get up and congratulate, but was supported by Ouyang Xuan, and he said emotionally: "Brother doesn't have to be so polite, because you humbly let me be fortunate to have this position, and you will need to help me when you recover." "Brother Xuan doesn't have to be humble, your appointment is what everyone expects, and we will serve desperately", Yu Zhu said. The sincere emotions in the words of the two were seen by Lu Dezhi on the side, and he couldn't help but sigh: "Brothers are of the same heart, their profits are gold, why worry about my Liuliba career!" ”

Previously, because Yu Zhu was bedridden to recuperate, Ouyang Xuan seemed to be the actual leader in the eyes of everyone. This time, Chongqing Mansion was appointed as the Liuli Inspector, although it was also a plan for Pan to control and drive away the wolf, if Ouyang Xuan and others were destroyed, it would fulfill Pan's wish to eliminate dissent; If the mountain bandits are destroyed, they are also led by the officials of Chongqing Mansion, and the credit is naturally indispensable. But it also legally confirmed Ouyang Xuan's status in Liuliba, which will bring great convenience to his next step to promote reform measures.