Xishan Inspection Division, stationed in the southwest of Beijing forty-eight miles, is located in the west of the Yongding River Taihang Yumai east end, stuck in the contact between Taihang Mountain and Yanjing Plain, between Liangxiang and Fangshan, because it is located in the junction of the mountains and plains, the terrain is complex, since ancient times bandits are rampant, since the Taizu period has set up a patrol inspection department here, responsible for arresting bandits and appeasement places.

The inspection department is generally located in the traffic pass, and it is a remote place, and it is rarely located in the downtown market town, and the same is true for the Xishan inspection department. Here is an ancient road in the east-west direction, leading to the west to Puyin and leading directly to Shanxi, all four miles are low hills, seven or eight miles to the north is the Yongding River, the terrain is extremely complicated.

In the eleventh year of Chongzhen, the Qing army was divided into two wings, respectively from the wall of Ziling and Qingshan Pass to destroy the side wall and enter, the governor of Miyun Wu Aheng was killed in a hurry, the two armies moved to An, passed Fengrun, met in Tongzhou, along the Taihang Mountain and the canal, divided the troops into eight roads, and attacked to the west. West of Beijing to the boundary of Shanxi, within a thousand miles, mostly wilderness plains, good at galloping Manchurian and Mongolian cavalry thousands of thousands, galloping up like a storm swept the ground, arrows pointed to the place, the Ming soldiers were invincible, along the way through the six towns were all plundered. The Xishan Inspection Division was also broken by the Qing soldiers at that time, and the ordinary archers from the inspection to the Qing soldiers all died in the slaughter of the Qing soldiers, and since then the Xishan Inspection Division has been abandoned, until now.

The group arrived at the former site of the Inspection Division, looking at the ruins and desolation, Chen Yue couldn't help frowning. Covering an area of more than 20 acres of large courtyard, the courtyard wall is uneven, the two gates are gone, the plaque of the gatehouse is still there, but half of it is missing, and it can only vaguely see the word "inspection" on it. When I entered the courtyard, there were more than 20 houses in the two rooms, but almost all of them were in tatters, the doors and windows were gone, the roof was exposed, and there was no furniture decoration in the house, as if everything had been looted.

This is where the Inspection Division is located, and if you want to live here, you will need to spend a lot of effort to renovate it. But now that it's the middle of winter, it's freezing cold, so how can we rest and renovate the house? Chen Yue looked at the situation of the inspection department, and gradually had an idea in his heart.

I talked to Yang Zhengping, and asked him to take a few people who had learned to ride horses to take a look around, especially to Xishan Town, which is three miles away, to announce to the nearby people that the inspection department had been built again, and to establish a relationship with the village elders, and to hire nearby villagers to help renovate the houses in the future. This time, in addition to the large amount of materials he carried, Chen Yue also brought a full 1,000 taels of silver, and with this silver, the early expenses of the inspection department were not a problem. However, although there is silver, whether it can recruit enough people is a matter of two things, under the plundering of the Qing soldiers, I don't know how many villagers in the vicinity dare to stay in their hometowns?

Yang Zhengping agreed and took a few family members to go, while Chen Yue beckoned everyone and sorted out a few rooms for everyone to settle down for the time being.

There are still a few houses in the east wing that still have roofs, and it is easy to say that there are roofs, as for the disappeared doors and windows, you can find a few wooden planks and put them together, as long as they can block the cold wind.

Chen Yue directed the family members to be busy, cleaning up the accumulated debris in the house, looking for usable materials from the rubble, piecing together the broken wooden planks and nailing them with iron nails, blocking the empty windows and doors.

Knock down a few dilapidated houses that cannot be repaired, pick up the bricks and stones, and use them to build a soil kang, leaving a kang road in the middle to connect with the kitchen pot stove, the cold winter weather in the north is too cold, and the rural place is dripping into ice at night, and the fire kang without warmth is not enough to resist the severe cold at night.

Finally, five wings were sorted out before dusk, and the kang stove was erected. Three of the five wings served as housing for the families, one was the residence of Chen Yue and Yang Zhengping, and the other was the kitchen, where the Feng family and son also lived.

Unload the supplies from the wagon and place them in the room. Feng stood in front of the stove and made dinner for everyone. The rice porridge made with rice and dried meat and salt has a fragrant aroma that reaches the end of the nose. Feng's son, Xiaobao, squatted in the stove, adding some dry wood to the pot, his black eyes rolling slightly, staring at the steaming cauldron from time to time.

Before dark, Yang Zhengping rushed back with people and brought back details within a few miles of the neighborhood. There were more than 10 villages in the vicinity of the Xishan inspection, among which Xishan Town was the most prosperous, but a few years ago the Qing army entered the fortress and robbed, the countryside here was looted, most of the villagers were slaughtered, or were caught outside the customs as slaves, almost ten rooms and nine empty, only a small number of people fled into the mountains to escape a catastrophe, and only returned to their hometowns one after another after the Qing soldiers retreated to the outside of the fortress.

However, after a catastrophe, the Ming Dynasty at all levels of power was almost completely destroyed, the county officials were slaughtered, and it has not been fully restored until now, and the inspection department in various places is almost gone, without the control of the government, strongmen and bandits are rampant in various places, groups of three or five, dozens of people in a group, many times many people can not distinguish whether they are people or bandits, and the local heroes have also formed villages to protect themselves, and the situation is chaotic.

"In a word, the situation here is very chaotic!" Yang Zhengping concluded.

"Haha, it's a mess, isn't it the duty of our inspection department to arrest bandits and appease places, and only when the situation is chaotic can we come into play!" Chen Yue laughed.

"However, we people can deal with ordinary bandits, what if the Qing soldiers come? Our strength is far from being the opponent of the Qing soldiers. Yang Zhengping said worriedly.

"Hehe, Brother Yang don't worry, the Qing soldiers won't come here to attack this time." Chen Yue said with a smile.

"Oh? How so? Yang Zhengping asked suspiciously.

"Brother Yang, please think about it, what is the purpose of the Qing soldiers entering the customs?" Chen Yue asked.

"Of course, it is the robbery of the gold and silver wealth population, I heard that the bitter cold land outside the Guan, very poor, these damn Manchurians have only grown by robbing my Daming's wealth." Yang Zhengping thought for a while and said. The Qing soldiers have entered the customs several times to rob, but they have not tried to occupy the land of the Ming Dynasty, which shows that their purpose is to rob, and they are a group of shameful robbers.

"Brother Yang is right, the Qing soldiers entered the customs to plunder the wealth of my Ming Dynasty. But this place has been robbed a few years ago, and it has not recovered until now, how can you say that the Qing soldiers will come to this poor country again?

From the capital to the south, Hejian Guangping, the name of Dongchang, and even Yanzhou, the terrain is flat and suitable for iron horses to gallop, all of them are the land of our Ming Dynasty anointed fat, there is no Xiongguan dangerous pass, and there is no heavy army of the imperial court to guard, the Qing soldiers will definitely make noise to the south, and will never come to the west again to this poor country. Chen Yue's voice gradually increased, not only to analyze the intentions of the Qing army, but also to appease his subordinates. Following Chen Yue out of Beijing and coming here, everyone was frightened, for fear of encountering an attack by Qing soldiers.