Bozhou is very small, the length of the walled city is less than two miles, the width is less than one and a half miles, the walled wall is only the gate and the corner is made of stones, and the rest is just an earthen wall. But it is such a small walled city, and the place between the left and right rivers is already one of the few large places where the mountains are continuous.

Although the city is small, it is easy to defend and difficult to attack. There are fewer people coming, and this village is extremely difficult to break, and the hundreds of soldiers in the village are not good-looking. There are many people coming, as long as the wall is clear, and the people in this small mountain dam where the stockade is located are withdrawn into the village, the people who come to attack will starve to death first.

The mountains are not as good as the plains, and the plains can be requisitioned everywhere, and there are not many people in the mountains for a hundred miles. Not to mention that once there is a harvest, the local officials will take most of it first, and it is not enough for the rest of the farmers to eat by themselves, where is there surplus grain for outsiders.

It is precisely because of the barrenness that for many years, only a few local officials around it have been killed and killed, and if it is not a blatant rebellion, the army of the imperial court will not enter the mountain. Come and go here once, and the money and food spent can't be scraped out of this place for many years.

Taipinglai's command of the township soldiers can be said to be the first time in the world, the imperial court soldiers and horses are not to quell the rebellion into the mountains, and the dragon is not the end of the head, the Li family in Bozhou has been worried about the news.

On the morning of this day, Li Chengrui, the governor of the prefecture, was talking with his eldest son Li Dao about the current situation in Bozhou, when a family member ran in in a panic and reported: "The main family, there is a large group of people from the mountains who have come out of the mountain and are rushing to us, and it is estimated that they will be outside the village at noon. ”

"What's going on? These mountain people don't stay in the mountains well, come to Bozhou at this time, do you sincerely make trouble for us? Li Chengrui stood up tencently. Pacing back and forth in the hall. "Hateful. I had already told my subordinates that if those mountain people wanted to die, let them die in the mountains! When we come to Bozhou, we have to take care of the grain, and now according to the Bracket Law, can't we use them as domestic slaves and find a grandfather to raise them? ”

Li Dao said in a deep voice: "I didn't come to Bozhou, so I don't care what I do!" Since they are here, let's make them all into our house! The people of the Nong family in Guangyuan Prefecture burned, killed and robbed in Bozhou. When they finish tossing and returning, a lot of land will be vacated, just enough for them to plant! ”

"You, thinking about things so simply, how can I rest assured that Bozhou will be handed over to you in the future?" Li Chengrui sighed, "I just think that Bozhou can't bracket the law, don't want to think about why?" The Nong family in Guangyuan Prefecture will not fall, we are a place outside the law, and once something happens to the Nong family, our good days will come to an end. ”

"That's it! I don't believe that Xu Tong's sentence can still level Guangyuan Prefecture? He won't be able to stay in Yongzhou for many days. As soon as he leaves, I don't believe that the imperial court can send another one so ruthlessly! Now this time. He has the strength to find Guangyuan Prefecture to toss, what else can he do with us? ”

"Oh, you're just thinking simple! He has to settle the Nong family before he troubles us? What's going on with so many people coming now? How many people don't even tell us! As long as he gets his hands on it this time, it's useless for us to keep it! It's useless, you know it or not! At this juncture, you dare to accept the family again, and provoke him to find his own hardship! If he can drive away the Nong family, he will be able to arrest our father and son to Taiping! ”

Only then did Li Dao know the seriousness of the matter, he couldn't sit still anymore, stood up and pressed the table, gritted his teeth and said with a dark face: "Daddy's meaning, let the officers and soldiers who came to Bozhou this time have no return!" ”

Li Chengrui glared at his son: "I think, can it be done?" They don't touch our side of Bozhou at all, who has the courage to go to the mountains and forests to fight with them! If you accidentally get caught, don't forget what happened to Shang Sizhou! Extinguish this thought before it's too late! ”

"Could it be that you just watched the person surnamed Xu take over our inheritance?"

Li Chengrui sighed: "Now I just hope that the people of the Nong family will fight for breath, and the officers and soldiers will suffer hardship, so we can be stable for a few more days." Otherwise, he still honestly learns from Huang Tianbiao to be a rich man. ”

"What about these people from outside the village?"

"What can I do? Desperately spend some food to fill their stomachs and let them go back to the mountains. ”

"These people are all money, and the fat sheep sent to the door are always unwilling to eat in their stomachs!"

Just as the father and son were sighing, the family came to report again: "Lord's house, the people who came were originally watched by people from the imperial court, and they stopped three miles away from our walled city. A person came, saying that he was a general in the official army, and he wanted to enter the village to see Zhizhou. ”

Li Chengrui stopped and said to the family who reported the news: "Quickly invite people to the official hall!" ”

When the family went out, Li Chengrui said to his son: "Look, what do I say!" Fortunately, there was no chaos just now, if this collided with the official army, that Xu Ping would be holding a grudge, and we would be in big trouble! ”

Li Dao's face darkened, and he said coldly: "I don't know what tricks they are doing!" ”

After a short time, the family led the forestry to the official hall, and the forestry said: "A few days ago, we broke a nest of thieves in Guangyuan Prefecture in the mountains and saved many mountain people. These people have nothing to do, their homes have been ransacked, and they can't live in the mountains, so they are willing to go back to Chongshan Village with us. However, we didn't have much grain and grass with us, so we didn't have enough to use on the road, so we came to the state to borrow a little. ”

Li Chengrui said: "It's polite, what's the matter with a little grain and grass?" Just report how much you want, and I'll send it to you later. ”

Forestry took out a piece of paper and handed it to Li Chengrui: "You can just follow what is written on the list, remember to bring the list when you send grain and grass, I will give you a charge, and I will raise the division to you in the future." ”

"What's the trouble? Tihar just take it, and don't bother to raise the priest! ”

Forestry smiled: "Zhizhou has good intentions, but the former military envoy explained clearly, and the borrowed money and grain must be left in writing, otherwise it will be punished." Zhizhou take it well, anyway, it is the money of the lifting division, you are welcome. ”

"Then I'll take it." Li Chengrui took the order with a smile.

Forestry arched his hand: "If there is nothing else, I will say goodbye, and I will be inseparable from the outside." ”

"Why don't you sit down and have a cup of tea? Besides, although the Bozhou walled city is small, it can accommodate hundreds of people, so Tishi might as well bring people into the wall. Rest before you go. ”

"Don't bother. The envoys did not allow us to disturb the place. Military orders are hard to disobey! ”

After saying that, Forestry said goodbye and left.

Looking at the back of Forestry, Li Dao gritted his teeth and said: "Hate, this person is so careful!" If you enter our walled city, they will be killed in the night! The people outside were all arrested by Guangyuanzhou, and they must all be strong men and young women, who can be sold for a good price. ”

"Shut your mouth, how can one or two hundred people not leak the news? I don't want to be beheaded like Huang Chengxiang. Honestly prepare food and grass! ”

Li Dao took the order. Hatefully went.

There is a large amount of horse trading with the sugar cane business, Li Dao learned to read and write like Huang Kai, although he can't read two pages in a serious book, but he knows the general accounts, and he is a rare knowledgeable person in Bozhou.

Outside the city, Sun Qilang sat down against a tree, touched the head of the yellow dog squatting beside him, looked at the Bozhou walled city not far away, and muttered: "The officials are too careful, and they are not allowed to enter outside the wall." Don't believe that these local officials dare to eat so many of us? ”

The woman sitting next to her said, "You don't know, these masters are really good at eating people." Be careful. ”

Sun Qilang looked at the woman and asked her, "Do you know again, could it be that you have been here?" ”

The woman shook her head: "I'm a mountain person, I don't have to go out of the mountain to see if I live so big, where can I get to such a big place?" However, my father's family was beaten to death by the main family and fled to the mountains by himself. ”

Sun Qilang was obviously not interested in the woman's family history, and said to her happily: "It turns out that in your eyes, Bozhou is a big place? Then you must follow me back to Taiping County, where there are ten Bozhous as big! When it comes to population, it's more than ten times more than here! ”

The woman just laughed: "You don't have a word of credibility when you speak, how can there be such a place in the world?" With so many people together, what to eat? I don't believe there are so many fields growing food! ”

"Oh, Taiping County is still a small place! Don't you think that the world is the same as you in the mountains! If you go to the Central Plains, you can't see the end of the flat land! After a month of riding a horse, all I saw was flat land, not even a hill! There are tens of thousands of hectares of land in our officials' villages, which is more than Taiping County! ”

"The more you talk about it, the more boundless it becomes, you just deceive me that the people in the mountains don't know!"

"I don't lie to you, but you really don't know anything! Yongzhou, a small remote state, is not a prosperous big place, you still think it's amazing. If you go to Bianliang City, dozens of miles of city walls, millions of people live in it, and there are many people on the road who can't be crowded, you don't think you're in the sky! ”

The woman just laughed, and didn't bother to talk to Sun Qilang again.

In the afternoon, Li Dao led people to send grain and grass, and the forestry industry put a flower on the list, and said to Li Dao: "Yanai can put away the list, and then you will be paid with the list of cane sugar!" ”

Li Dao looked at the people around him, they were all in the prime of life, and he was indignant in his heart, these more than 100 people were sold to Jiaozhi for thousands of dollars, and the result was so in vain. Forestry handed over the list, Li Dao took it casually and put it in his arms, the person was gone in vain, this grain and grass could not be given in vain.

Watching Li Dao leave, Forestry ordered everyone to camp and rest, and assigned people to collect firewood for cooking.

Li Dao returned to the official hall in the village, saw that his father was still waiting there, took out the list and said: "The team called forestry has placed a bet on the list, and I don't know if I can get money from the lifting division." ”

Li Chengrui didn't look at the list, leaned back in the chair and squinted his eyes: "Don't care about this little money, you told me, there are more than 100 people outside, how many people from Guangyuan Prefecture do the officers and soldiers have to kill to be saved?" ”

"There must be dozens of people, their luck is so good!"

"Son, the more I think about it, the worse it gets! They would rather camp outside than come into the village, this is not to believe our Li family, but they seem to be able to really win Guangyuan Prefecture in this posture! ”

Speaking of this, Li Chengrui patted the armrest of the chair, stood up and walked a few steps, and made up his mind: "Tomorrow, you go to Taiping County to raise the division, and when you see Xu Tongju, you will use the excuse of reporting today's incident to probe his tone, what do you want for our Li family!" ”

Li Dao was at a loss: "It's really come to this point?" ”

Li Chengrui said: "You can't prepare for everything in advance, you leave early tomorrow morning!" ”

Two days later, Li Dao rushed to Taiping and went to the Yamen of the Tiju Division to ask to see Xu Ping, but he didn't expect Xu Ping to leave, and rushed to Pingxiang Pass with Sang Yi and his accompanying soldiers.

(That's all for Bozhou, I feel a little thin, but what should be explained is also explained, and then turn to the story of the protagonist in Pingxiang, and the story of Taiping County will come to an end.) (To be continued.) )