On the tenth day of the fifth month of the tenth year of Tiansheng, Xu Ping officially sent a letter to Guangyuan Prefecture, asking him to restrain his subordinates and not to harass the Bozhou locality, otherwise Taiping County would take measures.

Guangyuan Prefecture replied, saying that he did not know what happened in Bozhou, and replied after investigation. Although the reply was not written in style, it was well-behaved and fully in line with the requirements of the official documents at that time. Xu Ping looked at it and sneered, this kind of letter was by no means written by the group of illiterate barbarians in Guangyuan Prefecture, and he couldn't help but think of Huang Shimi, a jinshi in Guangzhou, since Liu Xiaomei's incident, there has been no news of their brothers, and the whole family has moved to Guangyuan Prefecture.

On May 20, Xu Ping sent another letter, demanding that Guangyuan Prefecture immediately report the results.

On 25 May, Xu Ping sent a letter to Guangyuan Prefecture for the last time, explaining the situation reported to him by Bozhou and demanding that Guangyuan Prefecture must restrain the localities and not harass other Tuzhou territories. If Guangyuan Prefecture ignores this warning, the Taiping army will take measures, and then do not say that the imperial court will punish them for not teaching.

On 28 May, Guangyuan Prefecture sent a letter belatedly, saying that it had been ascertained that all the subordinates in their prefecture had been kept in peace, and that no one was disturbing everywhere, that the affairs of Bozhou had nothing to do with Guangyuan Prefecture, and that Xu Ping could deal with it as he wanted. This is said in the vernacular, I just did it, you can do whatever you want, and bite me if you don't accept it.

Xu Ping read the letter and threw it aside.

The Taiping army had already set out on the 20th, and the waste of these pen and ink was just a fictional story, which could be used to gag some people's mouths in the future. The result was already doomed, if Xu Ping could use one or two letters to make Guangyuan Prefecture rein, they would not dare to come out and cause trouble, and the two sides simply talked nonsense back and forth a few times.

agreed that Duan Yunjie would go to Pingxiangtong next month. Before that happens, the predicament of the state of Ponta must be changed. Otherwise, Xu Ping just walked on the front foot. The back foot Guangyuan Prefecture will attack Bozhou. Even if it is blocked by Chongshan Village, it will greatly affect Xu Ping's layout in the entire Zuojiang Road area.

Xu Ping's original intention was not to intervene in the conflict between Bozhou and Guangyuan Prefecture, although Li Dao was very respectful when he came a few times, but that was only because the situation in Bozhou is really difficult now, as long as the predicament passes, their attitude may not be like this. Whether it is Bozhou or Tianzhou, they have made a lot of money from Xu Ping in recent years by selling horses, but their independence has been strengthened after they have money. Don't take the Left River and Right River Province Lifting Division seriously.

People are like this, when the wind is smooth, they all think that it is my own ability to make money, and without me to earn your money, you can't send it out if you go out and beg for it.

The only way to make them realize the reality is to make them suffer enough.

Since Guangyuan Prefecture made trouble, Xu Ping and Feng Shenji have the same attitude, Bozhou and Tianzhou begged to be promoted, and they all said good words to comfort them, but they never interfered. It is better to let their stockade be breached by Guangyuan Prefecture. The Lifting Division sent troops to send them back, and it took a little more effort to make them realize the reality.

In the end, it was Xu Ping who broke this tacit understanding. Took the initiative to send troops to help Pozhou.

In desperation, Xu Ping made this decision, and Xu Ping also strengthened his determination to attack Guangyuan Prefecture. As long as Guangyuan Prefecture is pacified, there will be no need for Bozhou to exist as a Tuzhou, and the Li family will be erected by the same law.

Tianzhou is not only facing Guangyuan Prefecture, but also Temo Dao, Ziqi State, and the border with Dali, and the Yongzhou government has not figured out how many local small forces there are, of course, Dali State. The situation there is more complicated than here in Zuojiang Province, and the imperial court power only extends to Tianzhou, and then there is a blank outside, so the situation in Tianzhou is much more flexible than that of Bozhou.

In the Yali of Taiping County, Duan Fang sat under a banyan tree in the dark night, and a kerosene lamp was placed on the table not far away. His body shrunk in the chair, looking at Ashen's letter in his hand, his expression was blank, and he didn't make a sound.

Duan Yunjie stood not far away, looking at his father's appearance, and after a long while, he said softly: "Xu Tongjie told me that he is going to Pingxiangtong next month. I heard that the last time I met with the local officials in Qianlongtong, Menzhou also sent someone here, and he should have gone for Menzhou. Menzhou is already bordering Jiatong, maybe it will be too late to bring Grandma back, Daddy, you don't have to worry too much. ”

Duan Fang carefully put the letter away and said lightly, "What am I worried about?" I've never been worried about it for more than ten years, and now that you've grown up, you won't have those thoughts. ”

Duan Yunjie grew up with his father and knew his mind better than anyone else, but he didn't know what his father thought about his mother at all. I never saw him mention it, and I never heard him say it, as if it was someone else's business and had nothing to do with Duan Fang.

After being silent for a while, Duan Yunjie said again: "Mother said that the illness may not be a serious illness, she is in the prime of life, and it will be good to raise her." She also said that she wanted to see what I looked like. ”

"I hope there is this opportunity, I hope she will not be disappointed after watching it, you still suffer with me." Duan Fang stood up and slowly walked back to the house.

When he came to Duan Yunjie's side, he stopped, and said softly: "There are some things that you won't understand, and Daddy also hopes that you will never understand, it's a good thing not to understand." Also, if you are helping to do things in the Yamen of the Promotion Division, it is inevitable that you will hear some news, and you will not hear it in the future, this kind of thing is taboo. Even if Xu Tong judges himself not to care, others will inevitably gossip, remember. ”

"I know, but I just told Daddy, I never mentioned it in front of others."

Duan Fang nodded, didn't say anything more, slowly walked into the night, and walked back to his room.

Duan Yunjie watched her father's background slowly disappear in the darkness, and the corners of her eyes couldn't help but moisten. She hadn't been with her mother for as long as she could remember, and she didn't know what kind of person she was, and what she meant by the trouble she had taken the trouble to send the letter. Maybe only fathers in this world understand, this is their business after all.

As a low-level candidate, Duan Fang's official position is not comfortable. The income is low, can only barely support the family, occasionally have the opportunity to be two county commanders when it is better, there is a minister money will not be that embarrassment, when the judge is a lieutenant, it is miserable, not the governor minister money can not be used casually. Most of the top bosses are military ministers, and they don't think much of him as a talented person. That is, in Lingnan, in other places, Duan Fang's backward people have to go home obediently to farm, where there is an opportunity to become an official, why can people afford it. You must know that after every imperial examination in the city of Tokyo, because there is no money to go home, there is never a shortage of people who ask for food, become thieves, and even sell themselves to others as slaves and servants, and commit suicide by throwing themselves into the Bianhe River.

The selection of people on Guangnan West Road can be directly sent by the local government to be officials, without going through Liuneiquan, otherwise, let people like Duan Fang go to the capital to guard the election for two years, plus the round-trip fee, he can't even pull Duan Yunjie much.

His father's back disappeared in the night, and Duan Yunjie sighed. I have suffered a lot, and my father has suffered in order to pull himself up, and he can still know how to read and write, so how much has he suffered?

For so many years, Duan Fang has not married, although he has a daughter Duan Yunjie, he was born out of wedlock, and he has lived his life alone.

Is there really someone in the world who can make another person wait stupidly for a lifetime?

Duan Yunjie couldn't say clearly, turned around silently, and walked into the night.

Taiping County to Chongshan Village fifty miles, Chongshan Village to Bozhou sixty miles, all the way through the mountains of the road, along the Heishui River rushed out of the valley. The road is narrow and the valley is deep, and it is difficult to walk.

After Bozhou, there are scattered small Tuzhou Tuxian everywhere, as well as countless villages. The big ones such as Shangxiaencheng Prefecture, Leizhou, Mingying Prefecture and Jinlongtong are all just villages with less than 1,000 people, and other small villages have even fewer populations, and dozens of households and hundreds of households occupy a small mountain dam abound.

It is completely impossible to defend this kind of place, there is no use if there are fewer people, there is no food to feed the local area when there are too many people, and it cannot be transported and cannot stay.

Xu Ping didn't want to defend either, the only way to calm down there was to attack against attack, just eliminate or capture the people who came to harass him, and ignore the local situation at all.

The one who went there to carry out the task was a special village soldier under the command of the cane sugar service, who specialized in fighting in the mountains. Xu Ping has also been in Zuojiang Road for several years, so it is natural that there will be such a team of men and horses who adapt to the terrain and perform special tasks, but there are not many people, and they are just used now.

Sun Qilang is in this township army, but unfortunately his temperament is not as tall and stable, Xu Ping is not at ease to let him lead an army, but he is a special person in it, and he does not lead the army.

Sun Qilang didn't care, he participated in purely to join in the fun, how fun it was to go around in the mountains and forests, like Gao Daquan every day to smash rocks and suffocate to death. As for the meritorious promotion, he didn't have to think about it at all, in fact, it didn't mean anything to Gao Daquan, Xu Ping didn't want the two of them to stay in Lingnan, and he didn't use his authority to make up for him, and he had to wait until he returned to the capital.

When the officials of the Song Dynasty reached the level of Xu Ping, they already had the opportunity to be officials with their relatives, but Xu Ping himself was a small family, and he had no relatives to let him come to Yin. Thinking about Xiuxiu, Xu Ping has always left a place for her younger brother Huzi, and the rest of the places will fall on Gao Daquan and Sun Qilang.

The qualifications of Enyin's supplementary officials are extremely wide, and servants and guests can do it, in fact, there is no restriction on identity, as long as the official looks pleasing to the eye, so Sun Qilang is not in a hurry at all.

In the reckless mountain forest, Sun Qilang ran all the way to the depths of the woods in front, and after a while he came back with a grouse in his hand, and shouted: "This chicken is so fat, it's a little oily and watery at night!" ”

Lin Lin sighed: "Brother Seven, we came out to fight, and the arrows we brought on our bodies have a fixed number, and if you use one branch, you will have one less branch, how can you use it to shoot grouse?" ”

Sun Qilang didn't care: "With you in the war, I just let you eat and drink well!" Brother Lin, the battle must be fought, and people can't be offended, just deal with a group of mountain barbarians! ”

Forestry listened, just shook his head. (To be continued.) )