Since it was still morning, there were not many guests in the tea shed, only three or four people, the young merchant walked up to an old man in cloth and sat down, and a man lazily stepped forward, "What do you want?" ”

"A bowl of water, a dry biscuit. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info"

"Water doesn't cost money, bread costs five cents, say good first, don't take rotten money."

"Didn't you just pay three pennies for the first two days?" The merchant frowned.

"Do you want it?" The guy is getting a little impatient.

The merchant took out a small cloth bag from his arms, slowly counted five coins to the man, and only covered the money bag, for fear that the man would take a look at it and lose two coins.

The man snorted, took the money and left, and in a moment brought him a bowl of water and a small dry biscuit, and the merchant skillfully broke the dry biscuit and put it into the water bowl, and then he found that the old man opposite was looking at him intently, so he smiled at the old man honestly.

The old man immediately had a good impression of him, and said with a smile: "Listening to your accent, it doesn't seem to be from Wu County." ”

"I'm from Piling County, and I've only been here for a few days to make a living in Wu County."

"How did you come to Wu County?" The old man asked.

The merchant sighed, "After the slaughter of Piling City, the people of Biling County have almost run out, but life has to go on, thinking that since Wu County is the capital, so come to Wu County to try their luck." ”

"You shouldn't come to Wu County, it should be Danyang County, Wu County is not much better than Biling County, you are carrying so many goods, if you are seen by the soldiers, you will be miserable."

"No, it won't!"

The merchant was a little surprised, "Didn't you say that King Wu had already restrained military discipline?" ”

The old man snorted, "You also believe this, can a dog change his **** temperament?" He just didn't allow the army to massacre on a large scale, but he couldn't stop those tiger and wolf soldiers from looting in private, and now young women don't dare to go out, even in Wu County, under Meng Haigong, there are generals who rob people on the street, it happens every day, has Meng Haigong been in charge? ”

The merchant didn't speak for a long time, and after a pause, he asked again: "I heard that Meng Haigong exempted all taxes, is it true?" ”

The old man asked rhetorically, "Are you exempt from Biling County?" ”

"It seems that no one collects taxes, but food is still being snatched away."

At this time, the man came over and filled his bowl with water, and said coldly: "If you don't collect taxes, what will his hundreds of thousands of troops eat?" ”

The old man laughed, "Little brother hit the nail on the head!" ”

He said to the merchant again: "No taxes, the army does not settle the fields, what does Meng Haigong use to feed them, we Wu County people all say that he still has a little surplus grain, so he still pretends to buy the hearts of the people, but when he eats up the surplus grain, when the hundreds of thousands of troops are going to rebel, I am afraid that he will not even have time to collect taxes, and go directly to each household to grab grain, he is originally a man-eating tiger, and pretend to be merciful, young man, listen to me, hurry up to Danyang County, you can't live in Wu County." ”

The merchant was a little panicked, ate the cake in two bites, drank half a bowl of water, wiped his mouth and bowed to the old man: "Thank you for reminding me, I'm leaving!" ”

"Let's go! Try not to take the official road and leave by the side road. ”

"Juniors don't know the path."

The old man hesitated slightly, then took out a folded book of hemp paper from his arms, "This is for you, there is a trail mark on it!" ”

After saying that, the old man threw a few pennies on the table, got up and walked away.

The merchant was in a daze for a while, the man came over and picked up the money, and the merchant hurriedly asked him, "Who is this old man?" ”

"You don't even know him, this is our former county commander Jiang Yuanchao, Meng Haigong forced him to come out to be an official, but he refused, Meng Haigong had to pretend again, so he didn't kill him, otherwise he would have been - "

The guy slashed his neck with the palm of his hand, "Got it? ”

"It turns out that he is Jiang Juncheng, I don't know where his family lives?"

"I live in Jiangdun Village, not far from the front, why are you asking this!"

"Just ask."

The merchant hurriedly carried the burden and hurriedly left, the guy looked at him walking away, and couldn't help shaking his head, he actually carried the load of goods on the official road, and was not robbed and killed, he was really lucky.

.......

The wharf of Danyang County was busy, one after another large ships kept docking, unloading bags of grain and weapons tied with wheat poles, the materials on the wharf were piled up like a dozen hills, and thousands of boatmen on the wharf drove small boats to transport grain and materials into Jiangning City through a small canal.

The docks have been renovated and lengthened to allow more ships to berth at once, and two watchtowers have been built along the river, with sentries watching the river with vigilant watching.

At this time, Zhang Xuan was inspecting the dock under the escort of hundreds of cavalry, Zhang Xuan had arrived in Jiangning three days earlier, early spring had arrived, and their war preparations had been carried out to the last moment.

Zhang Xuan stood in a pavilion, watching the small ship busy transporting goods from a distance, but his mind was thinking about some details of the Jiangnan Campaign.

Although most of the Jiangnan scholars are willing to submit to the Northern Sui, but Zhang Xuan does not dare to take it lightly, he knows that the situation in Jiangnan is very complicated, although these scholars have expressed their support for the Northern Sui, but it does not mean that they are happy and convinced of themselves or the imperial court, to a large extent, they were forced by Meng Haigong, and had to ask the Sui army for help.

Zhang Xuan has been thinking about this problem, as the territory he occupies is getting wider and wider, many county and county armies can no longer be controlled, once there is another army similar to Liu Heimin, I am afraid he will not have such good luck to nip the rebellion in the bud, another lesson of the Sui Dynasty is that the bandits were not exterminated in time, Yang Guang did not take these bandits to heart at first, which led to the intensification of the rebellion, and finally could not be cleaned up, he must learn this painful lesson, in order to minimize the loss of the rebellion, Jang Xuan decided to create a rapid reaction force directly under him.

From the 10,000 scouts, select the most elite 1,000 people, choose the best war horses, and equip them with the most sophisticated weapons, so that their combat effectiveness can reach more than 5,000 people, in fact, Zhang Xuan has ordered Shen Guang to select the army, and at the same time, he has also thought of the main general of this army.

At this time, a pro-soldier stepped forward and whispered: "Dashuai, he's here!" ”

Zhang Xuan turned around, only to see two personal soldiers with a tall and burly general walking up quickly, this person is Liu Lancheng who killed Liu Heimin, Shen Guang and Fang Xuanling praised him very much, and strongly recommended it to Zhang Xuan.

Liu Lancheng stepped forward quickly, knelt down on one knee and hugged his fists and said, "Humble Liu Lancheng to meet the handsome!" ”

Seeing that he had a very kind face and was a very sunny young man, Zhang Xuan couldn't help but have a good impression of him, so he smiled and asked, "Where are you from?" ”

"Returning to the marshal, the humble position is from Zouping County, Qi County."

"It turned out to be from Qi County, I look at your resume, you have participated in Zuo Xiaoyou's rebellion, right?"

Liu Lancheng's face was swollen and red, "I was only eighteen years old at that time, and I was not sensible!" ”

Zhang Xuan smiled slightly, "This is not a big problem, as long as I can change my mind, I will not blame the past, Zuo Xiaoyou, I don't appoint him as the Taishou of Donglai County?" I'm just asking. ”

"Humiliation will not disappoint the marshal again."

Zhang Xuan nodded and asked, "Have you ever practiced martial arts?" ”

"I've practiced for a few years, but it's a pity that I can't become a fierce general and serve the marshal."

"Even a fierce general may not be able to kill Liu Heimin! This requires courage, decisiveness, boldness, calmness and resourcefulness, you can do it, as for martial arts, I think it's just that the development direction of generals is different, like General Li Jing and General Xu Shiji, they don't have any martial arts, but they can be independent, you General Shen can't talk about any martial arts, you can also become the chief general of the scout army, your development direction does not need martial arts. ”

Liu Lancheng has always been worried about his low martial arts, but Zhang Xuan's words made him wake up like a morning bell and a dusk drum, the marshal is right, the development direction of each general is different, martial arts are not necessary, why bother yourself, Liu Lancheng was grateful, and hugged his fists and said: "Thank you for the teachings of the marshal, I understand the humbleness." ”

Zhang Xuan stretched out his hand, "Take the sword!" ”

A soldier handed over a sword, Zhang Xuan took the sword and slowly pulled it out, looked at the black Wuhua sword body, he handed the sword to Liu Lancheng, "I heard that you used a firewood knife to cut off Meng Haigong's head, and also relieved one of my henchmen, this Shenglu sword is given to you, don't use a firewood knife in the future." ”

Liu Lancheng took the sword with both hands, "The grace of the handsome man knows the encounter, and the humble duty is remembered in my heart!" ”

Zhang Xuan looked at him and said: "I have newly formed a special army, called 'Wind Thunder', from today onwards, you are the commander of this 'Wind and Thunder' army, you go to see General Shen now, he will explain the army and various matters to you." ”

"Obey the order!"

Liu Lan saluted and hurried down.

At this time, a soldier next to him stepped forward and said, "Marshal Qiqi, the military advisor and Ling Senjun are back, waiting for the marshal in the camp!" ”

Zhang Xuan had been waiting for Ling Jing's news, and he immediately led everyone to rush towards the camp.

(To be continued.) )