The cold gradually subsided, but Baling, located in the upper reaches of the river, did not ease the atmosphere of slaughter with the recovery of heaven and earth.

Baling is not a big city, and although Jingzhou has moved to this town and expanded slightly, with the dispatch of a large number of people and horses last year, it has become overcrowded. The city, which was not already majestic, had long been overwhelmed by layers of fortifications, but after the beginning of spring, this trend continued unabated.

A large number of soldiers gathered here, and as far as the eye could see, there were swords and knives, and ordinary people were inevitably frightened and stayed at home. You can see it on the streets, people who are half of the armor.

An ox cart, escorted by several armor soldiers, passed through the many camps and slowly drove along the winding road towards the city. The outside of the car was full of all kinds of military horns and shouting noise, and it was very noisy, but the people in the car were holding the brochure and reading it carefully, and they were not distracted by the interference outside the car and the bumps in the body.

"Ah Lang, we have arrived at the city gate."

There was a low call outside the car, and Pei Rongzhi in the car took his eyes off the bamboo slips in his hand, and he stacked the bamboo slips he had read in the wooden box in the car, and then got up and got out of the car. Probably because he sat for a long time and worked hard, his mind felt dizzy after his feet touched the ground, and he stood holding on to the wheel for a while before he could be considered stable.

The city gate is more chaotic than the side, in addition to all kinds of cars, there are also various servants, generals and soldiers, etc., each occupying a small position, knives and guns and other equipment are placed on the side of the road, so that people have little place to stand.

After taking the big tie handed by his family and putting it on, Pei Rongzhi turned his head and ordered: "There are many affairs for today's assembly, so you should go home first and come back in the evening." ”

With that, he led an old servant to check his identity at the city gate before entering the city.

The inside of the city was relatively orderly compared to the outside of the city, and from time to time there was a group of guards with a line of guards on the streets and alleys, and occasionally officials or lieutenants hurriedly passed by, conveying military orders everywhere, and the whole city was filled with a tense and serious atmosphere.

The Thorn Mansion is located in the northeast of the city, occupying almost half of the city's area. Pei Rongzhi was about to go around to the side door to enter the house, but there was a rush of horses' hooves on the left, and at the same time, a loud voice was calling his name: "Pei Changming!" ”

Pei Rongzhi followed the prestige, and saw that the person who came was actually Li Yang, so he hurriedly turned around to meet him, and said: "I didn't know that the envoy returned to the town, and I didn't come out to greet him, which is really rude." ”

Li Yang rode his horse and galloped closer, reined and turned over and dismounted, the armor on his body collided, and fell heavily in front of Pei Rongzhi. He raised his hand and patted Pei Rongzhi on the shoulder, lifted off his pocket, his face was full of joy, and said with a smile: "I have returned to the town the day before yesterday, and I have been doing business, and I have not made you humane." Changming, you look good, and it seems that you are doing a good job in the town. ”

Seeing his old superiors again, Pei Rongzhi was also quite happy, but when he heard what Liyang said, he couldn't help but show a wry smile on his face: "Mediocre talents are just for the state." ”

When Li Yang heard him say this, he couldn't help but sigh, looked at the grand court of the Assassin Mansion, and said: "I can't speak up on the past, and I know you ......."

"Don't say this, the old deeds don't need to be discussed deeply, thanks to the Taiwei not abandoned, I am already very lucky, how dare I work hard again."

Pei Rongzhi hurriedly waved his hand and said, he knew that Li Yang was still guilty of the fact that he had angered Tao Gong and was then demoted to a stable envoy the year before last, but he also understood that at that time, he took the opportunity to contact Shen Gong without authorization when he used those Taiwanese ministers to embarrass Shen Hou, which was really an offense to Tao Gong, and he should be degraded. Even if Li Yang interceded for him at that time, the result may not change, but it may double the anger of Tao Gong.

Li Yang also knew that it was really inappropriate to talk about these things at the door of the Assassin's Mansion, although he was useful to the Tao Gong's Mansion, but he also received too much attention because of this, especially the inferior sons of Tao Gong, and it was not appropriate to say anything more many times. Skipping this section, he smiled again: "I heard that the Taiwei has promoted Changming into the palace and engaged in his position, which is a good thing." I'll see the captain later, and I'll ask you to invite me to a drink to celebrate. ”

"Even if there is no such thing, so that the king returns to the town, I should be treated with courtesy."

Pei Rongzhi also laughed when he heard this, and then said with curiosity: "Yes, at this time, the envoy should prepare for things in the county, how can he have time to return to the town?" ”

Jingling is located in the north of Jingzhou, bordering Xiangyang, which is the most heavily armed place in the state. In addition, since last year, Tao Gong has been preparing to use troops in the north, and ordered all the troops under his command to assemble in Jingling. At this time, Li Yang should have been at the critical moment of preparing for the battle in Jingling, why did he suddenly return to Baling?

"The captain is urgently called, the details are not yet known. By the way, this time I am a secret practice, and there are few people who know it, so you should remember it. ”

Pei Rongzhi nodded after hearing this, he also understood that whenever there was a war, the whereabouts of the commander of the army needed to be kept secret, even if Li Yang didn't say it, he didn't dare to publicize it. Now Baling City is surrounded by heavy troops and well defended, and it looks like a huge fortress in itself, and those who can enter the city are the core personnel of Jingzhou, and Li Yang appears in the city, but he is not worried about leaking the news of his whereabouts.

The two talked a few words, and then said goodbye to each other, Li Yang was going to see the captain, and Pei Rongzhi was transferred to the office.

Jingzhou is an important military town, and the subordinates in charge of people's livelihood and government affairs are not very high-status if they are not specially appointed. Not to mention that Pei Rongzhi supervised Ma Zheng in the wilderness earlier, although he has been promoted to engagement, he usually travels in his subordinate counties and counties, and this time he was called to return to the town to report on his work.

At present, before being summoned by the Taiwei, Pei Rongzhi waited in the inner courtyard of the mansion first, and he didn't even know that the Tao Guild would not summon him. The whole courtyard was a busy scene, and many officials walked almost without touching the ground, and the carts and carts of slips were carried here by ox carts, and then transferred to the specific houses.

Similar scenes, Pei Rongzhi has long been accustomed to them. Jingzhou is a military town, and all people and things must revolve around the military, and once people are superficial, the reaction is the difference between life and death in the military. Because there is such a clear goal, it is also clear whether everyone is responsible or not.

For example, Pei Rongzhi managed Ma Zheng earlier, and the number and horsepower of the stables can be seen at a glance whether they are good or bad. Once there is a slight slackness and the war is involved, it is really difficult to apologize!

Because everyone performed their duties, and no one came to chat with Pei Rongzhi, he sat down by himself, and by the way, he wanted to write and ink, and sort out the content that should be reported if he saw it later.

As a person engaged in Langzhong in the Assassin Mansion, Pei Rongzhi's current responsibility is the surrounding reclamation matters. Jingzhou has a large number of military households and officials directly controlled by the state government, and in the absence of a large amount of material imports from the imperial court, these households are entrusted with their own affairs to maintain the operation of the huge Jingzhou army.

Pei Rongzhi has not been engaged in it for a long time, but since he has been in office, he has seen that the reclamation of Jingzhou is really not optimistic. Through this period of visits, he found that there is a big discrepancy between the figures on the books and the actual situation. There are more than 5,000 households in the books around Baling, and the number of fields is tens of thousands. But in fact, in real production, the number of acres that can produce is less than seventy percent.

Moreover, there are still a large number of military registrations in these already serious shortages, and as the lieutenants are preparing to use the army, a large number of young and strong laborers have been drawn out since last year, and there is a serious shortage of labor. If you replant in the new year, you will not be able to reach even half of the expected output!

Therefore, Pei Rongzhi has also been worried recently. He didn't dare to say anything about the military layout of the lieutenant, but it was conceivable that if the war really started, then the material consumption would be doubled. If it doesn't go well, it may be necessary to levy more dingli, which will make the farming pressure even greater. And no matter whether it wins or loses, the situation facing Jingzhou will only become more severe, and I am afraid that a large number of people will be lost out, driven out of the wilderness, and starved everywhere!

In addition to worrying about Jingzhou's future, Pei Rongzhi is also worried about his future. He was promoted from the original horse supervisor to the assassin to engage in Langzhong, which can be described as a prominent use. But not long after the excitement, he was poured cold water on the bad situation he faced. He even suspected that Tao Gong deliberately arranged him in this position, wanting to take the opportunity to get rid of him!

But why?

Even if he had seen evil to Tao Gong because of his friendship with Shen Hou, but this was just a trivial matter, and Tao Gong wanted his life because of this? Besides, if Tao Gong really wanted to kill him, why did he go to such great lengths? In the face of the dignified history of Shaanxi and Shaanxi, the border town is heavy, even if it is directly taken out and cut down, what waves can it produce?

sat in the room for a whole morning, and it was not until late afternoon that Pei Rongzhi finally waited for Tao Gong to meet him. He hurriedly threw away many distracting thoughts in his heart, collected his thoughts, and then hurried to Tao Gong's place.

It seems that a large military meeting is being held in the Assassin's Mansion, and a large number of elite soldiers with swords and swords are seen along the way, filling the various portal pavilions and corridors, and the atmosphere is solemn and silent.

Along the way, Pei Rongzhi hung his head, not daring to look around, and was soon led to a side room warm pavilion. When I entered the room, in addition to Tao Gong, there was also Tao Zhen, the captain of the Southern Barbarians, and Li Yang, who had been seen before.

After finishing the salute before Pei Rong, Tao Kan waved his hand to signal him to enter the table, and opened his mouth to say, "Pei ......"

"Pei Changming."

Li Yang reminded beside him, handed Pei Rongzhi a comforting look, and then smiled again: "After Pei Jun's famous family, his style is elegant and serious, there is no shortage of talents, and he has won the appreciation of Jingxiang celebrities in the south, and he has been quite effective in Jingling in previous years, and his father-in-law is ......."

"Shut up, Lao Tzu measures and uses, how can you not know what his talent is doing!"

Tao Kan pointed at Li Yang and scolded with a smile, then turned to look at Pei Rongzhi, and asked, "I vaguely remember, Pei Lang, you seem to have had a friendship with Shen Weizhou in the capital in your early years?" ”

When Pei Rongzhi heard this, his heart sank, and he hurriedly got up and told the truth about his relationship with Shen Hou. In fact, there is no deep relationship between the two, except that they have met once, and then to say, it is the involvement that can be traced from Duhe. And he has been traveling south for a long time, and he is really unfamiliar with Duhe's old relative.

After listening to Pei Rongzhi's narration, Tao Kan just nodded, his face could not show joy or anger, and then asked Pei Rongzhi to introduce the reclamation matters he was responsible for.

Pei Rongzhi was fully prepared for this, and after being questioned, he talked endlessly, only talking about the facts, not commenting on it, and not commenting on Tao Gong's soldiers in Xiangyang as almost exhausted.

"Alright, you go down."

After listening to the report, Tao Kan waved his hand, retreated Pei Rongzhi, and then looked at the two people in the room and asked, "That's the case, what do you two get?" ”

Li Yang was silent, and Tao Zhen was silent for a long time before he laughed and said, "Father, I don't know him, and I don't dare to speculate on my intentions." But the plot is too big, and I'm worried about ......"

"Worried...... What to worry about? Lao Tzu forged ahead to this day, why should he rely on the handouts of young people. He is as bold as a fight, shall I see people laughing? ”

Tao Kan sneered, then waved his hand and said, "Needless to say, tell Dachang to prepare to go east." ”