Outside, the cold wind howled, mixed with snow seeds hitting the window paper, making a crackling sound, and the long ice cubes above the eaves hung upside down, reflected in the windows under the dim light of the dead wind lamp, in different shapes. This is the twentieth day since Zhou Wenlong arrived in Shayang County, and the cold wave has swept in again, and the entire Shayang County seems to be frozen. This is not a season suitable for human activities outside, but in Shayang County, there are still many people wandering around every night, these people are homeless people who have lost their homes and fled to Shayang County, without houses and food, so they can only look around for a chance to live like a lonely ghost.

Outside the city, a large number of grass huts built according to the city live more such displaced people, these days the heavy snow is raging, I heard that the shed and crushed a lot of people, the whole county is a panic, the county guard Quan Yun is busy with his feet on the ground, but the increasing number of deaths, still makes him sad.

On the contrary, Zhou Wenlong was very happy, every time one more person died, it could prove the incompetence of the county guard Quanyun, and added a heavy bargaining chip to pull him off the horse, he held a list in his hand that was increasing day by day, which was provided to him by the long history of the county guard's mansion, this guy who was excluded in the county guard's mansion, under the slightest indication from Zhou Wenlong, he threw himself into his door without hesitation.

After staying in Shayang County for twenty days, he has used various means to receive more and more evidence that is unfavorable to the county guard Quan Yun, if it is changed to other places, with these things alone, it is not a problem to pull Quan Yun off the horse at all, but here, Zhou Wenlong knows that it will not work at all, because there is still a big Buddha here, Old Lady Liu.

These days, Quan Yun doesn't seem to care at all that he, the superintendent of the imperial history, is trying to deal with him, and the old lady Liu has not seen Zhou Wenlong again, although he has come to the door several times, but he has been turned away by this old guy because of his physical condition. The other gentry in Shayang County were the only ones who looked forward to Old Lady Liu, and they were really like an iron plate, so that Zhou Wenlong couldn't speak.

Old lady Liu and Quan Yun's indifference made Zhou Wenlong a little panicked for no reason, he didn't believe that Changshi could hide from them by providing him with information and his own small actions, but they didn't react at all, and if something went wrong, it was a demon, and Zhou Wenlong, who had been immersed in intrigue and tricks all year round, was naturally a little uneasy.

They look busy. These days, in the city of Shayang County, there has been a non-stop shipment of grain to Feng County, and the carriages full of grain have set off in the harsh environment of the wind and snow, and the county guard Quan Yun has generally comforted the dead outside the city, while vigorously recruiting young people among these people, and letting these people act as people's husbands in exchange for food.

This trick is extremely effective, at least, the number of displaced people outside the city has decreased a lot these days, and although it is very hard to travel in such weather, at least there is food to eat, such an extremely hard errand for ordinary people, for these displaced people, it is a pie that has fallen from the world.

As long as they can live, these people are willing to do anything.

But what puzzled Zhou Wenlong was that there was inevitably too much grain shipped out. So much so that he almost thought that what was now fighting in Fengxian was not an army of 5,000 people, but an army of tens of thousands. And the situation in the past two days has been even more wrong, in addition to food, there are all kinds of weapons, tools, and so on.

"What's going on?" He stared at Wang Zhijun in Changshi. "How can there be so much food shipments? If there is so much food, why not give it to the victims? And watching these people starve to death en masse? ”

Shi Wang Zhijun, the magistrate of Shayang County, as the second-in-command of Shayang County, is a completely ******** figure in Shayang County, he was sent to Shayang County a year ago, and in Shayang County, which has long formed a fixed circle, he is an outsider who cannot be accepted. Of course, this made him extremely dissatisfied, so when Zhou Wenlong threw an olive branch to him, he took it without hesitation, Zuo Xiang is now in full swing, if he can help Zuo Xiang succeed, why not worry about glory and wealth?

"I've inquired about this. I heard that a large part of it is going to be given to the Qi people. Wang Zhijun explained: "This time the Qi people died a general in Feng County, you know, even His Majesty the Emperor was also angry, for fear that something would happen to Qi people again, this Qi people stationed in Deng County, a general surnamed Liang, opened his mouth and extorted money and food from Shayang County. These grains are not from the treasury of the county government, but from the pockets of the major gentry families in Shayang County. ”

"When did these inferior gentry put the interests of the country so seriously? It's not a small amount, and they're willing to take it out? Zhou Wenlong was puzzled, in other places, the imperial court wanted to take out real money from the mouth of the wealthy gentry, it was really not an easy task, but in Shayang, it was the opposite, but it was strange.

"How well-behaved people are the right county guards, he doesn't know what method he used, to serve Mrs. Liu comfortably, I heard that he made an IOU, led by Mrs. Liu, calling on everyone to give food, you know, as soon as Mrs. Liu opened his mouth, who would dare not take it? Then does he still want to mix in Shayang? Wang Zhijun shook his head and said. Lord Zhou, with all due respect, if you want to take down Quan Yun, you must first take down Old Lady Liu, otherwise, even if this Shayang County is replaced, it will still be a change of soup and not a change of medicine. ”

Hearing Wang Zhijun's words, Zhou Wenlong's face was gloomy as if he was about to drip water. He didn't know that Wang Zhijun was telling the truth, but for him, this was something he couldn't do, that is, Zuo Xiang, but he was afraid that it would be difficult to do. The person standing behind Old Lady Liu is not easy to move, unless he has the evidence of erection, he will either not get it, or beat him to death with a stick.

"I always feel that these things are a little strange in Shayang County now." Zhou Wenlong frowned, "But I don't know what the problem is." ”

Wang Zhijun shrugged his shoulders and spread his hands, although he was the nominal second-in-command in Shayang County, but if he really wanted to talk about it, he might not even be as good as a master beside Quan Yun.

There was a rhythmic knocking sound outside the window, Zhou Wenlong's eyes flashed, and he glanced at Wang Zhijun, Wang Zhijun arched his hand knowingly, "Lord Zhou, it's getting late, and there are still a lot of official affairs to deal with in the county government, so I will leave." ”

"Hmm." Zhou Wenlong nodded, "I've worked hard for Wang Changshi, and I ask Wang Changshi to keep an eye on Quan Yun for me to see what kind of medicine they sell in the gourd?" Wang Changshi doesn't have to worry about anything, behind us, there is Lord Zuo Xiang supporting us, and I am not afraid that they will turn the sky upside down. ”

"The lower official knows." Wang Zhijun said in a loud voice: "The lower officials are willing to serve the Prime Minister Zuo, and there is no second heart. ”

As soon as Wang Zhijun left, Zhou Wenlong immediately opened the window, and a figure wrapped in a cold air swept in, and with a snap, the window was quickly closed, isolating the chill outside the window.

"Warm up with a sip of hot water." Looking at the almost soaked clothes of the masked man in front of him, Zhou Wenlong poured a cup of hot water and handed it over, and pushed the brazier to his side.

Drinking the hot water in one go, the masked man sat down and took off the masked towel, but it was an extremely thin middle-aged man, "Lord Zhou, something big has happened." He said in a deep voice.

Zhou Wenlong's heart jumped, "Something is wrong, what's wrong?" ”

"After receiving the token from Master Zhou, I dispatched all the people in my hands to listen to the news, but in the end, I could hardly believe the news." The thin middle-aged man stretched out his hand to roast on the brazier, but his eyes still showed a look of disbelief. "But seeing what has happened these days, I feel that I am afraid that this thing is true."

"What the hell is going on?" Zhou Wenlong was a little impatient, and asked impulsively, the other party was not his subordinate, but the person in charge of Dayue's self-contained intelligence agency in Shayang County, and he was also one of the very few people in Shayang County who was not controlled by Old Lady Liu. Strictly speaking, this person is only loyal to the imperial court.

"Liu Xingwen, the commander of the county soldiers of Shayang County, led 5,000 county soldiers into Yanshan to suppress the bandits, but when the bandits failed, they were suppressed by the bandits, and 5,000 soldiers and horses were wiped out." The thin middle-aged man stared at Zhou Wenlong, word by word.

"How is this possible?" Zhou Wenlong jumped up suddenly: "The bandits in Yanshan, there are only more than 100 people, how can they eat an army of 5,000 people, even if Liu Xingwen is carrying 5,000 pigs, it is impossible to be caught and killed by more than 100 people." Where did you get this information, ridiculous! ”

"I think it's ridiculous, too." The thin middle-aged man shook his head, "But this news came out of the old lady Liu's mansion, over the years, I have worked hard to send a person to Liu's mansion, and now it is a maid in front of Mrs. Liu Xingwen, this news, that's how it came, according to this girl, these days, Mrs. Liu is very sad and worried every day." ”

"Maybe this girl has been bought, and this news is purely used to lure us in." Zhou Wenlong said with a calm face, the news came unbelievably and couldn't be believed.

"I don't believe it either, so I went to confirm it from another channel, Lord Zhou, this is also the reason why I haven't contacted you for more than ten days, and now from the confirmation information I get, I'm afraid it's true. The people I sent out did not get any information about Liu Xingwen's army suppressing bandits. This army of bandits seems to have disappeared into the mountains, and my people have found nothing. Unexpectedly, he found that Liu Bao, the chief housekeeper of the Liu Mansion, had entered the mountain, and then Liu Bao went to Feng County, and then Liang Da withdrew his army inexplicably. Lord Zhou, how could an army of thousands of people disappear like this? Even if they pursued the bandits into the mountains, there should always be a logistics supply point, there should always be a contact point, there should always be a trace of the march, but there is nothing. ”

"Anything else?"

"Absolutely." The thin middle-aged man said: "I got another person's certificate, this person's name is Lu Yifan, from his mouth, I know that some Yanshan bandits are by no means what we know, they have two ninth-level masters." ”

"What else does this Lu Yifan know?"

"He also knew that Liu Xingwen had indeed failed." Thin middle-aged humane. "When this person was in Feng County, he offended Lu Feng, the county lieutenant of Feng County, and thought that it must be a sure thing for the army to enter and suppress the bandits, so he also quietly followed, originally wanting to pick up some credit and then defect to Liu Xingwen, so as to get rid of Lu Feng's threat to him, but he didn't want to witness the defeat of the army with his own eyes. This person was so frightened that his soul flew away, and after escaping from the mountain, he sneaked all the way to Shayang County, and it seemed that he wanted to report to Mrs. Liu to invite credit, but it happened that I was ordered by the adults to investigate some things about Mrs. Liu, and I fell headlong into my hands. ”

"Investigate, investigate." Zhou Wenlong said fiercely, a biggest opportunity to solve the problem of Shayang County finally appeared in front of his eyes. (To be continued.) )