Beihai County is the third largest county in Qingzhou after Qi County and Lu County, with a large population and abundant products, and has been a rich land since ancient times.

However, in the tide of rebellion that began in the eighth year of the Great Cause, Beihai County, like other counties in Qingzhou, was also swept away by hundreds of thousands of bandits and rebels.

In just two years, the population of Beihai County has been reduced by more than half, the city has been reduced to rubble, countless villages have been razed to the ground, tens of thousands of hectares of fertile land have been wasted, and millions of people have been displaced.

At present, most of the population of Beihai is concentrated in Yidu County and Linzi County, although Zhang Xutuo's army has successively swept away the four bandits entrenched in the Shandong Peninsula, but the two bandits in the south and north are still in trouble, and the people's palpitations have not disappeared, and no one dares to return home easily.

Zhang Xuan's army was stationed in the north of Yidu County, and his army had been divided into two, Pei Xingyan led 1,000 men to garrison Donglai County, and Zhang Xuan led 2,000 men to garrison Yidu County, Beihai County.

In the second campaign against Goguryeo last year, 5,000 Beihai soldiers were transferred to Liaodong and never returned.

The barracks, which had been abandoned for nearly a year, were renovated and now house Jang Hyun's 2,000 troops.

In the early morning, the cold wind blowing from the sea swept the two large flags on the flagpole of the big camp, and the big flags were blown crackling in the cold wind.

But on the school field, it was in full swing, the sound of horses' hooves was like thunder, the yellow dust was rolling, the soldiers shouted to kill, and 2,000 soldiers were practicing fierce spear formations and cavalry confrontations.

Zhang Xuan crossed his hands on his chest and stood on the edge of the school field to watch the army's actual combat drills, but he didn't seem to be too attentive, and his mind wandered from time to time, and his eyes kept glancing towards the gate of the camp.

At present, Zhang Xuan's top priority is to recruit 2,000 troops, so that his strength will increase to 5,000 troops, and Zhang Xuan intends to recruit 2,000 soldiers from Beihai County.

It's easy to recruit soldiers, but it's not easy to recruit brave soldiers, to be exact, he was one step late, three months ago. With the covert support of the local government, the Teng family, the Deng family, and the Liu family, the three major scholars in Beihai County, recruited more than 2,000 elite soldiers from the former military government, turning the soldiers of the military government into the private soldiers of the wealthy families.

In fact, this was also a countermeasure of the local government, and the imperial court did not allow each county to form a local army. Liang Zhi, the Taishou of Beihai County, secretly entrusted the three major families to form a private army of 2,000 in the form of family members to deal with the thief commander Zuo Xiaoyou of Donglai County.

Zhang Xuan not only wants to co-opt these two thousand elite private troops, but more importantly, on the side of the couch, how can others be allowed to snore? How could he tolerate that there was another army in Beihai County.

Then. A pro-soldier ran over and whispered: "General, Liu Sima is back!" ”

Zhang Xuan also saw Sima Liu Ling enter the camp, and he hurriedly ordered: "Please Liu Sima come to the big tent to see me!" ”

Zhang Xuan no longer looked at the soldiers' drills, and turned around and walked towards the big tent.

After a while, Liu Ling hurriedly came to the big tent and bowed down, "See the general!" ”

"How? Did Teng Xuan agree? Zhang Xuan asked unhurriedly.

The three major families in Beihai County are headed by the Teng family, as long as the Teng family agrees to hand over the army, the other two families are not a problem, Zhang Xuan asked Liu Ling to negotiate with Teng Xuan, the head of the Teng family, today.

Liu Ling shook his head in frustration. "Ren Beizhi said it badly, but they refused to agree."

Jang Hyun's eyes narrowed, "Why?" ”

"Teng Xuan also told me clearly, this matter has to be too Shou Liang Zhi to agree, because the army is nominally a family member, but in fact it is controlled by Liang Taishou, if Liang Taishou is willing to agree, then they will not insist."

Zhang Xuan couldn't help sneering, he had only found Taishou Liang Zhi two days ago, but Liang Zhi pushed the army to the three major families. said that it had nothing to do with him, in the final analysis, it was the government and the family that colluded with each other to jointly control the private army.

In fact, it is not impossible to snatch 2,000 private troops. It's okay to force his move, but in that case, he will turn against the three major families and the local government, Zhang Xuan has just entered Beihai County, and he doesn't want to have a stiff relationship with the local wealthy families in Beihai County for the time being.

Zhang Xuan pondered for a moment and then asked, "What is the relationship between Liang Zhi and the three major families, does Liu Sima understand?" ”

Liu Ling said with a smile: "I have inquired carefully. The relationship between them is still a bit complicated, Liang Zhi is the protégé of Qinghe Cui, Teng Xuan's wife was born in Qinghe Cui, and Qinghe Cui's is like a link, linking Teng Xuan and Liang Zhi. ”

"It seems that only by looking for Qinghe Cui can we solve the problem!" Jang Hyun sneered to himself.

Liu Ling suggested: "Why doesn't the general look for the marshal, maybe the marshal can convince Liang Zhi." ”

"Impossible!"

Zhang Xuan immediately vetoed this idea, "The fundamental reason why the Flying Eagle Army does not get the support of the local government is that the relationship between the marshal and the county guards is very bad. ”

Since Zhang Xuan was stationed in Beihai County and gradually got to know better, Zhang Xuan found that the relationship between the Flying Eagle Army and the local government was really bad, and they basically did not communicate with each other, except that Gaomi County was slightly better, and that was also because Gaomi County was too guarded to ask for the Flying Eagle Army.

Only then did Zhang Xuan understand why after defeating Meng Rang's army, Zhang Xutuo threw the aftermath to himself, because he really couldn't communicate with the local government, so he didn't bother to ask.

Moreover, he came to Qi County to report for duty more than two months, and he had never seen the magistrates of other counties report the situation of the bandits, so you can imagine how bad the relationship between Zhang Xutuo and the local government is, no wonder the military rations have been tight.

Zhang Xuan pondered for a long time and said, "It seems that this matter has to start with Liang Zhi, forcing him to cooperate with us." ”

Zhang Xuan whispered a few words to Liu Ling again, and Liu Ling smiled and said: "I understand my humble position, I will rush to Donglai County now!" ”

Zhang Xuan also laughed, no official is clean in troubled times, as long as he has a heart, he will always be able to catch the other party's handle.

Since Liang Zhi didn't want to eat a toast, he could only give him a penalty drink

Yidu County is the county of Beihai County, and it is also the largest county in Beihai County, with a population of more than 100,000 and a circumference of more than 30 miles, but after a war, the population of Yidu County has skyrocketed to 500,000, and the population of another Linzi County has reached 300,000, and the surviving population of Beihai County is concentrated in these two counties.

Since the Changbai Mountain bandit Wang Bo was exterminated by Zhang Xutuo last year, both Zuo Xiaoyou of Donglai County and Meng Rang of Gaomi County were afraid of Zhang Xutuo's army and did not dare to come to Beihai County to plunder, so that Beihai County was stable for more than a year.

Some basic businesses are gradually beginning to recover, and some inns, liquor stores, and green buildings in Yidu County, as well as shops selling daily necessities and food, have also appeared, and these businesses are mainly concentrated on both sides of Qingzhou Street, the central axis of Yidu County.

Doing business in Yidu County requires not only courage, but also backstage and relationships, such as the largest wine store in Yidu County, Qingzhou Restaurant, which was opened by Tai Shou Liangzhi's brother-in-law.

This restaurant covers an area of about five acres, and in Yidu County, where the population has skyrocketed, it is difficult to find an inch of land, and there is only one shop covering an area of five acres.

The business of the liquor store is really good, although a few months ago the Son of Heaven Yang Guang issued an edict to strictly prohibit the use of grain to make wine in all counties, so that fruit wine began to prevail.

But in fact, the prohibition of alcohol promulgated by Yang Guang only controlled a few big cities such as Luoyang, Chang'an, and Jiangdu, and the counties in the world simply ignored it.

At noon on this day, the Qingzhou restaurant was full of drinkers as usual, and the three floors were full of guests, although the people's livelihood was withered due to the banditry, and the people at the bottom were poor, but because the rich families of Beihai County were concentrated in Yidu County, there were still many people who could enter the wine shop.

Tables were full of guests, whispering about the recent changes in the situation, and Zhang Xutuo's army wiped out the bandits in Qingzhou counties in one fell swoop, so that most of the people could not adapt to it for a while.

One of the most discussed and controversial issues is whether they can return to their hometowns, because nearly eight adults in Yidu County have fled from all parts of Beihai County, and if they can return to their hometowns, they will certainly not have to suffer from crowding.

At a table by the window on the second floor, several drinkers were chatting.

"Zuo Xiaoyou was exterminated, Meng Rang was exterminated, Xu Yuanlang was also exterminated, in fact, I think I can go home, crowded in Yidu County, it's not even convenient to go to a toilet, how can I have my own home!"

"Don't talk about going to the toilet when eating, it will affect your appetite!" A person next to him said dissatisfied.

"Don't say it! Don't say it! In fact, everyone has counted, in the past year and a half, basically no bandits have invaded Beihai County, and now the three major bandits have been exterminated, and there is no problem, why not go home? ”

"You said it simply, there are Zhang Jincheng, Gao Shida and Dou Jiande in the north, Dou Jiande is a little better, Zhang Jincheng and Gao Shida are both brutal, now that the Yellow River has frozen, they can kill Beihai County at any time, as well as Sun Xuanya and Wang Bo of Langya County, didn't Wang Bo swear to kill and come back to take revenge? Who can guarantee that Beihai County can hold on? ”

"If you want to fight, you will also fight Qi County, and if you capture Licheng County, that is when the bandits will make a fortune, I don't think you will fight Beihai County, if you want to fight, you will fight it a long time ago."

"Who do you think you are?"

"What do you say?"

A table of people began to choke when they spoke, and at this time, a person came next to him and smiled: "What are you talking about?" (To be continued.) )