In the following two days, Zhang Yan stayed in Xiapi and began to deal with Xiapi's political affairs, basically taking over Xiapi.

Zhou Kui actively cooperated with Zhang Yan's work, using his local influence and social connections to assist Zhang Yan to take over Xiapi in a very short period of time.

On this day, Zhou Kui walked in from outside the hall with several bamboo slips in his hand, and bowed to Zhang Yan, who was sitting in the center, and said: "The things that the adults have entrusted to their subordinates to handle, the subordinates have completely done it, and all the household registrations in Xiapi and the money, grain, weapons, equipment, horses, etc. in the treasury are all here, please take a look." ”

After speaking, Zhou Kui put the bamboo slips on the table in front of Zhang Yan.

"Thank you for your hard work, Lord Zhou." Zhang Yan said a word lightly, then opened these bamboo slips and browsed them one by one.

Under the rule of Xiapi State, there are a total of 17 cities, large and small, except for Xiapi City, the rest are county seats, the whole Xiapi Kingdom has more than 136,000 households, the total population is about 610,000, and the existing military strength is nearly 20,000.

The territory controlled by the Xia Pi State was far larger than that of Pengcheng, and the population was twice as large as that of Pengcheng.

However, during the few years of his reign here, many people were even enslaved by monks, except for the land around the monasteries, a large number of fertile fields were deserted.

Zhang Yan once witnessed that those people who believed in Buddhism were used by monks and gradually became slaves to cultivate for them.

After that, Zhang Yan looked through the statistics of money and grain, and only in the treasury of Xiapi Mansion, there were 10,000 gold, 6,000 silver, and even hundreds of millions of five-baht coins. And the existing grain in the granary actually has 300,000 stones, which shows that the dirong has been in Xiapi for several years, and there is no shortage of people's fat and ointment.

However, Zhang Yan is very grateful to Zhenrong, all this money and grain are now at his disposal, and he will no longer have to worry about money and food in the future.

In addition, there are more than 10,000 weapons of various kinds, about 130,000 arrows, and 2,300 pieces of equipment used for siege and defense of the city. These weapons are enough to equip more than 10,000 new troops.

In contrast, the horses in the stables were pitiful, just over a thousand. After all, there is no natural pasture in Xuzhou, and its water and soil are not suitable for raising horses, so the horses needed are generally purchased from Youzhou, Liangzhou, Bingzhou, Jizhou and other places, and the price is very expensive.

Therefore, in the entire territory of Xuzhou, the number of cavalry added together does not exceed 10,000. But in Zhang Yan's army alone, there were more than 2,500 cavalry, which shows how much Tao Qian attached importance to Zhang Yan at that time.

When Zhang Yan opened a roll of bamboo slips, a letter suddenly appeared inside, he glanced at it hurriedly, his brows couldn't help frowning, and a wave of anger arose.

Zhang Yan suddenly became furious, and in a fit of anger, he overturned the table in front of him, and roared angrily: "I really didn't expect that Tao Qian'er would be so insidious!" ”

Zhou Kui saw Zhang Yan's reaction so violently, which was expected, because the letter was secretly placed in the bamboo slip. It can also be said that he deliberately let Zhang Yan see this letter.

"You put this letter in?" Zhang Yan's sharp gaze fell on Zhou Kui's body, and a cold light shot out of his eyes.

Seeing this, Zhou Kui didn't dare to look at Zhang Yan directly, lowered his head, hugged his fists and said: "This letter was written by Tao Yuanjun to Zhenrong, that morning Zhenrong went to Futu Temple, it was I who received this letter for Zhenrong, and I was going to wait for Zhenrong to come back and then show it to him, who knew that Zhenrong had been killed by adults." I think that Zhenrong is dead anyway, and he can't see this letter, so I'll open it and see what is written in it. Who knows, after I finished reading it, I broke out in a cold sweat. At that time, I was still hesitating whether to show this letter to adults. I think that since I have followed the adults and regarded them as my lords, I should think about them everywhere. But I haven't found a suitable opportunity for the past two days, and it just so happened that everything was counted today, so I took this opportunity to stuff this letter into the bamboo slip......"

"You should have shown me this letter a long time ago. I really didn't expect that Tao Yuanjun would secretly ask Zhen Rong to get rid of me......"

Zhou Kui said in a timely manner: "The adults are loyal to Tao Envoy, but Tao Envoy Jun treats adults like this, which is really chilling. With the adult's Wen Tao Wu strategy, both Xiapi and Pengcheng, and nearly 30,000 soldiers and horses, it is completely possible to divide the land with Tao Envoy Jun. As far as I know, Zang Ba, who is stationed in Langya, is obedient to Tao Envoy Jun on the surface, but in fact he is also a hegemon, as long as the Lord and Zang Ba get in touch with each other, and jointly march under the city of Tancheng, forcing Tao Envoy Jun to abdicate and make way for Xian, and replace him with an adult, with the wisdom of the adult, he will definitely be able to do a great cause. ”

After listening to Zhou Kui's words, Zhang Yan was impressed by Zhou Kui. Although Zhou Kui said what he thought, he didn't plan to make a move on Tao Qian so soon.

Even if Tao Qian was replaced by force, Tao Qian's old party may not be convinced. What's more, he is familiar with history, he knew that Tao Qian's life was short, he only needed to secretly develop his shili, and wait patiently, when Tao Qian died, Chen Deng, Mi Zhu, Wang Lang and others added fuel to the fire, he could take over Xuzhou logically, why use knives and guns?

Besides, outside Xuzhou, Cao Cao, Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu and others are all watching here. If something big happens in Xuzhou at this time, then these overlords who dominate one side will take advantage of the situation, and at that time, Xuzhou is likely to be in danger.

Zhang Yan is not a person who is eager for quick success, and he also smiled at Zhou Kui's proposal, and said lightly: "Although what you said is very right, now is not the time." Moreover, if it weren't for Tao Yuanjun's cultivation, I wouldn't have become Peng Chengxiang. You can't be ungrateful, the origin of this letter is unknown, it may not be written by Tao Yuanjun, and I will make a decision after I see it. ”

After speaking, Zhang Yan stuffed the letter into his arms, and seeing the slightly disappointed expression on Zhou Kui's face, he smiled and said: "Lord Zhou, don't worry, as long as you follow me to do a good job, I will ensure that you have a bright future in the future." It's just that the time is not ripe at this stage, and when the time is ripe, I don't need you to say it, I will replace Tao Yuanjun in charge of Xuzhou. ”

He walked as he spoke, came to Zhou Kui's side, grabbed Zhou Kui's shoulder, and said loudly: "Go, accompany me to the barracks, granary, and arsenal." ”

On the school field of the military camp, Xu Sheng and the more than 300 brothers brought out of the Futu Temple have put on a unified military uniform and are now practicing on the school field. And the original Xiapi soldiers, one by one, nested listlessly in the barracks to rest.

Zhenrong's henchmen all held important positions in the army, and after Zhang Yan was all beheaded, these soldiers were leaderless and unrestrained, and they became a plate of loose sand.

Zhang Yan, accompanied by Zhou Kui, inspected the barracks, and after discovering this situation, his brows tightened.

As the saying goes, the snake does not go without a head, and the top priority is to find a head for these soldiers as soon as possible.

"I don't believe it, this army of nearly 20,000 people is all a bad breed?"

Zhang Yan quickly ordered everyone to gather on the school field, preparing to select a strong and powerful warrior from among these people.

As soon as the order was given, the soldiers reluctantly walked out of the camp tent and stood on the school field against the cold wind of the angry howl.

On the platform, Zhang Yan's face was pale, and he glanced at the soldiers below, and saw that these soldiers were listless, and even the queue was standing crookedly, like a plate of loose sand, I really didn't know that Zhenrong Weishenme would recruit such soldiers.

Wherever his gaze touched, the soldiers were all the same, and just as he was about to withdraw his gaze, he suddenly saw a person among the soldiers, and his eyes couldn't help but light up.

This man was eight feet tall and stood upright, standing out from the crowd. He was about thirty years old, with a ruddy complexion, thick eyebrows, a square face, and a pair of bright eyes staring at Zhang Yan coldly.

Zhang Yan looked at him, as if he saw a hope, and immediately raised his hand to point at the soldier, and shouted, "You, come up!" ”

The soldier was called by Zhang Yan, squeezed out of the crowd, strode onto the platform, and when he came to Zhang Yan, he immediately hugged his fists and said, "What do you command?" ”

"What's your name?" Zhang Yan asked.

"Lu Dai." The soldier replied cheerfully.

When he heard Lu Dai's name, a message quickly flashed in Zhang Yan's mind: Lu Dai, the name Dinggong, a native of Guangling Hailing, an official and general of Wu during the Three Kingdoms period.

This person is also a famous general, but in the early days of the starry Three Kingdoms, his ability was not very prominent, and in the middle and late stages, Lu Dai's ability was slowly highlighted. This person has worked hard all his life to open up territory for Sun Wu, which can be described as a great meritorious achievement.

Moreover, this person has a relatively long life, according to historical records, when Lu Dai died, he was already ninety-six years old.

When Zhang Yan saw Lu Dai, he was very happy, and immediately pointed to Xu Sheng and said to Lu Dai: "You and Xu Sheng are fighting alone, if you can defeat Xu Sheng in force, or if it is a tie, I will appoint you as Sima." ”

Lu Dai glanced at Xu Sheng, raised his eyebrows, and asked, "Is this true?" ”

"A gentleman's word, the horse is difficult to chase!"

"Okay, my lord, just leave Sima's position for me!" Lu Dai's face was happy.

Zhang Yan called Xu Sheng to his side and whispered: "You go and compare with him, but remember to stop at the point, don't hurt him!" ”

Xu Sheng nodded, hugged his fists and said, "Don't worry, master, I have my own measure." ”

Lu Dai shook his spirits, had already set aside his jiashi, and shouted at Xu Sheng: "Let the horse come over!" ”