Ding Cheng comforted him a few words, and Zhou Rouqiang said, "I'm fine, Brother Ding go back and rest." Hundreds of refugees are waiting to settle tomorrow. Ding Cheng saw that there was nothing else to do, so he returned to his room.

Early the next morning, Zhou Rouqiang took Cong Fei and others to deal with the refugee affairs again. Ding Cheng saw that Zhou Rouqiang's eyes were red and swollen, but he was still in good spirits.

On this day, Zhou Rouqiang asked people to continue to prepare food and clothing for those refugees, and on the other hand, he led Cong Fei to go to the homes of major squires and wealthy families with Ding Cheng and Yunying to raise money and food. The local squires were grateful to Zhou Rouqiang for seeking a lot of benefits for the people of Jiangchuan on weekdays, and they donated generously.

In the evening of that day, Zhou Rouqiang, Ding Cheng and others came out of a landlord's house outside the city and walked to a barren mountain. Zhou Rouqiang stopped, looked at this barren mountain, and suddenly said happily: "I have an idea!"

Ding Cheng asked, "What did the adults think of?"

Zhou Rouqiang said: "I'm worried that I can't resettle those refugees, now it's okay." As long as they reclaim this barren mountain and plant crops, within two or three years, it will be a prosperous village again. ”

Ding Cheng saw that Zhou Rouqiang had always been frowning for the past few days, but now that there was a solution to this problem, he finally saw Zhou Rouqiang stretching his brows.

Zhou Rouqiang returned to the yamen and told the refugees what he meant. Those refugees used to be people with families and jobs, and they didn't want to have food, clothing, and peace. So the refugees readily agreed.

Now that you have a plan, you have to find a way to implement it. So Zhou Rouqiang recruited craftsmen to build houses under the barren slope, and the refugees also participated in the labor of building new homes.

But to build such a large project at once, it takes a lot of money. Although Zhou Rouqiang collected thousands of taels of silver from the rich squires in the county, as well as a lot of wood and iron tools, he was still overstretched.

Zhou Rouqiang didn't want to increase their burden, so he discussed with his wife and took out all the savings of a few hundred taels of silver in his family. Mrs. Zhou also handed over all her jewelry to Zhou Rouqiang and asked Zhou Rouqiang to pawn it.

During this time, Ding Cheng has been busy with Zhou Rouqiang's refugee affairs. During this period, a lot of news was received, first Shi Kefa and others supported Zhu Yousong, the king of Fu, as the Hongguang Emperor in Nanjing, and established the Southern Ming regime. Zhou Rouqiang felt a little relieved after getting the news, as if he saw hope again. Then he learned that Wu Sangui, the chief soldier of Shanhaiguan, switched to the Qingqing, and the Qing army took advantage of the chaos to enter the customs. Zhou Rou slapped the table angrily and said, "Wu Sangui is really a traitor!"

On this day, the matter of refugees was settled, and Zhou Rouqiang's mood was rarely relaxed, so he took Ding Cheng, Yunying and others to Fuxian Lake to play. After swimming around the calm lake in small boats, several people returned to the shore.

Zhou Rouqiang said: "There is a fish in this lake called anti-wave fish, which is a unique fish species in Fuxian Lake, and its meat is delicious, which is the best among fish. Let's catch a few of them today. With that, he set up a fishing rod on the shore.

Ding Cheng saw that Zhou Rouqiang was rarely so happy, so he sat on the shore and fished with him.

Several people were talking while fishing, and just as they were talking about the happy place, a messenger came to report that someone from Li Dingguo's army had come to see Zhou Rouqiang. Zhou Rouqiang knew that Li Dingguo was Zhang Xianzhong's favorite general, but he didn't know why he sent people here? But since he sent people, he couldn't help but see them, so he hurried back to the yamen. Ding Cheng and Yun Ying continued to play by Fuxian Lake.

Zhou Rouqiang returned to the yamen and saw a big man sitting in the living room waiting for him, so he hugged his fist to the man and said: "It's too late to come back, so I have waited for a long time, and I hope your Excellency will forgive you." ”

The man sat there with a big grin, glanced at Zhou Rouqiang and said, "Zhou County is busy with official business, and the envoy has forgiven you for your disrespectful sin." ”

Zhou Rouqiang saw this person talking like this, and said in his heart: You are just a rogue messenger, how dare you talk to me like this? But on the surface, he did not have a seizure, and still said calmly: "I don't know what Your Excellency is called, why are you here to see me?"

The man said: "The original envoy is Murong Feihu, the guard of General Li Dingguo. I came to see you on the orders of my general, and I came to discuss with the Zhou County Commander about the matter of taking over Jiangchuan County. ”

It turned out that this person was Murong Feihu, after he escaped from the Ma Gang, he wanted to escape back to Guanwai, but he met Li Dingguo when passing through Sichuan. However, Li Dingguo was leading his men and horses to engage the local Ming army. Murong Feihu was secretly observing the battle situation.

Later, Li Dingguo's army was defeated in the battle, and when he saw that Li Dingguo was besieged by more than 100 Ming troops, he rushed out to fight for a while and rescued Li Dingguo in the chaos. Li Dingguo was grateful for his life-saving grace, so he left him by his side to be a personal guard.

At that time, Li Zicheng invaded Beijing, Emperor Chongzhen hanged himself, and the Qing army took advantage of the chaos to enter the Guannei, and the situation was chaotic. Li Dingguo didn't want the Han people to fall into the hands of the Manchus, so he wanted to seek Yunnan and Guizhou as his base camp to resist the Qing army. When he heard that the Jiangchuan area was rich in products, he wanted to take Jiangchuan first and use it as a granary for the army to ensure his own logistical supplies. Therefore, Murong Feihu was sent to negotiate with Zhou Rouqiang.

Zhou Rouqiang listened to Murong Feihu's words and said inexplicably: "What do you mean by taking over the affairs of Jiangchuan County? ”

Murong Feihu said: "You still don't understand this, that is, my general has taken a fancy to your Jiangchuan County and wants to lead troops to enter Jiangchuan." But the general is a generous and merciful man, and he does not want to hurt his life. He knew that if he led his troops to forcibly attack the river, he would inevitably have rivers of blood and countless casualties. Therefore, the general sent me to tell you that as long as you are willing to obediently open the city gate, welcome the general into the city, and offer 200,000 taels of silver and 20 beauties, the general will not kill a single Jiangchuan soldier and civilian, and still let you be the county commander of Jiangchuan. ”

Zhou Rouqiang didn't wait for Murong Feihu to finish speaking, and slapped the table angrily and said, "Shut up! When the life and death of this nation is at stake, he does not think about helping Mingjun and protecting the Han people, but is greedy for pleasure and cannibalism. It is worthy of a group of rogues and robbers. ”

Murong Feihu also scolded loudly: "Zhou Rouqiang, you dare to insult my general like this, I think you are tired of it." With his hand on the hilt of the sword, he glared angrily at Zhou Rouqiang.

Zhou Rouqiang also stood up suddenly, his hands clenched into fists. The two are tense, and the big battle is about to break out.

After a while, Murong Feihu's face softened, and he said, "According to Lord Zhou's intentions, there is no need to talk about this matter?"

(End of chapter)