Liu Tingzhou sat on a big bamboo basket to hang on the head of Xuzhou City, looking at the generals on the city wall in rags, with yellow faces and thin muscles, if it weren't for the swords, guns, swords and sticks in his hands, and the tattered armor on his body, it was worse than calling Huazi, his eyes were blurred, and he apologized to Yue Lengqiu, who was still well-dressed: "The lower officials have been entrusted by the commander, and they failed to lead the army to help, so they are ashamed to see the soldiers and civilians of Xuzhou!" I was ashamed and ashamed, and old tears hung down from my thin cheeks.

From Taochun to break out of the city, Yue Lengqiu trapped Xuzhou for more than a month, although he sent people to break through several times, but they were all intercepted and killed by the exile army, and he didn't know how the situation outside developed.

Since Tao Chun broke through to the rescue, Yue Lengqiu has been trapped in Xuzhou for more than a month, and there is no internal and external news, and he doesn't know the development of the external situation at all.

Seeing Liu Tingzhou sitting on a bamboo basket and hanging up to the city, without saying a word, tears had already gone down in two lines, Yue Lengqiu sighed in his heart, only when Huai'an City was broken, Liu Tingzhou was captured and surrendered.

Yue Lengqiu's heart was desolate, and he sighed secretly: It's over, it's completely over now, Liu Tingzhou can still surrender, but he worships the governor of Jianghuai, but there is no room for the bandits. Even if the bandits are lowered, they will only survive for a few days and be humiliated for a few more days.

Liu Tingzhou wiped away the tears on his cheeks and said: "Although the lower officials failed to lead the army to help, the siege of Xuzhou is not without a turnaround......

Yue Lengqiu became more and more convinced that Liu Tingzhou was coming to surrender, drew his sword angrily, and scolded: "You old horseman, you have surrendered to the thief, but you have come to humiliate the governor, and the governor would rather die than give in to the thief!" ”

"Ahh Liu Tingzhou was stunned, and immediately understood that Yue Lengqiu had misunderstood him, and felt that Yue Lengqiu was fierce and loyal to the imperial court, and he could not be compared to the Lin Tie thief. In the middle of the system, Lord Lin led his troops to recover Suining, and the cities of Huainan were also well, but after the system made the recovery of Suining, he had no intention of enterprising, and intended to make peace with the bandits and recruit the bandits. No one in Jiangning could decide this matter, so he sent someone to Beijing to ask for an order, and the request in Beijing was delayed for a long time, and the lower officials borrowed from the bandits and entered Xuzhou to discuss an idea with the governor......"

"What, it's been half a month since Suining was recovered?" Yue Lengqiu turned sad into joy, but he didn't expect it to be this news, he was a little wrong for a while, and he didn't know what to say when he stood there; The generals on the left and right were also surprised and delighted.

"Yes." Liu Tingzhou said.

Yue Lengqiu immediately asked Liu Tingzhou to go to the South City Gate Tower to talk about things, and only let the three or five cronies and generals and Xuzhou prefect Yao Sicheng be present, but halfway through, Yuan Hancheng, the king of Chu, ran over.

King Yuan Hancheng of Chu and Emperor Qingyu are cousins, and they are the distant uncles of Emperor Delong and the current saints, who served as the commander of the Zongren Mansion and have a high reputation in the royal family. Emperor Qingyu was assassinated and died, and he came to Xuzhou to become a vassal and never returned to Beijing.

Liu Tingzhou immediately told everyone in detail about the latest situation in Huaisi in the past few days, and in order to avoid extraneous branches, he did not say anything about Lin Lian's desire to attack the Ma family.

"This guy is hateful, there is a situation to break the thief, but the thief returns to the mountain, makes peace with the thief, and has the heart to raise the thief to respect himself, what is the difference between it and Liang Cao's generation?" The king of Chu was a sixtieth year, and when he spoke, his gray beard trembled, and he looked angrily, "We must not obey his wishes......"

In his early years, the king of Chu presided over the Zongren Mansion in Beijing, and among the kings, he was considered to be a rare talent. Since the siege of Xuzhou, the king of Chu personally led the palace guards to the head of the city to fight against the exile army.

Although there are only a few people in the palace guards, the king of Chu can take the lead and be not afraid of arrows, swords and spears, and he can boost the morale of the soldiers and civilians defending the city more than Yue Lengqiu appearing in the city.

Yue Lengqiu didn't say anything, his hand pressed the saber on his waist, and thought secretly.

He didn't recognize Lin Tie today, between this Huaisi, the elite in Lin Tie's hands is the only one who can decide the trend of the battle, Lin Tie is unwilling to fight, even if he pours more dirty water on his head, it is useless, and this Xuzhou has been surrounded for too long.

Before Liu Tingzhou came to Xuzhou, he also firmly believed that he wanted to fight, but when he saw such a situation in Xuzhou City, he also hesitated. The soldiers at the head of the city have yellow muscles and thin muscles, as if they are called Huazi soldiers; The head of the city has collapsed in several places, and the siege platforms of the displaced people are almost all surrounded by the southern city; The city has become a big lake, the black and heavy roof, the eaves float on the water, almost no place to stay, it is hard to imagine how long Xuzhou can hold on.

At the moment, the bandits took the opportunity to adjust their deployment, and Xuzhou did not take this opportunity to breathe a sigh of relief.

"Now it seems that it is expedient for the bandits to be willing to accept surrender," Liu Tingzhou said, "Jiangdong County also wants Governor Yue to stand up and preside over the overall situation......

"Then surrender." Yue Lengqiu said.

"How? How can the thieves outside the city be willing to be recruited? Chu King Yuan Hancheng asked.

This is a problem, the bandits have not been beaten or disabled, and they even have an advantage in the situation, and there are not enough benefits, so how can they be willing to accept Zhao'an? However, since the bandits sent Liu Tingzhou into the city, it means that they are still willing to accept Zhao'an.

"Let's talk about rewarding officials first, and see how much appetite they have......," Yue Lengqiu said, as the governor of Jianghuai, he has the power to deal with Zhao'an affairs, but he doesn't have to wait for the order of the capital to come down before he can talk about Zhao'an.

"Xia Guan has no other ability, run and run, be a microphone, it's okay." Liu Tingzhou said.

"Don't be in a hurry, Lord Liu will come over, rest for one night, and then go outside the city to recruit bandits." Yue Lengqiu said, and said to his subordinate generals, "When you go out to motivate the soldiers, you will say that the Wang Division has repeatedly broken the bandits, annihilated tens of thousands of enemies, and the soldiers are about to lead the troops to Xuzhou in the near future, and other things should not be leaked, so as not to make the will of the soldiers to defend the city slacken." ”

Since Liu Tingzhou entered Xuzhou, he has eaten and lived in the South City Gate Building, and the command post is also in the South City Gate Building. The others dispersed, and Liu Tingzhou asked about Tao Chun's situation: "Why didn't General Tao come with Lord Liu?" ”

"When Siyang was besieged, General Tao was seriously injured, and at this time he was recuperating in Shanyang, and he was not good at walking," Liu Tingzhou took out three secret folds from his arms and handed them back to Yue Lengqiu, "Yue Du's three secret folds were not used in the ...... after all."

"It's good if there's nothing to do, it's good if there's nothing to do," Yue Lengqiu said as he took the yellowed sweat-soaked notebook, looked through it and confirmed it, and then put it in the corner of the table and said, "Rewarding officials may not be able to satisfy the appetite of thieves." The thieves are greedy for Xuzhou, and Lord Liu also thinks that Xuzhou can be ceded to them? ”

"If you want to support troops in Huai'an, I'm afraid that you are also fighting in Xuzhou to raise thieves," Liu Tingzhou said helplessly, "I'm afraid that the system will make fornication thieves, and there is no good plan here!" ”

"I'm afraid it's not necessarily," Yue Lengqiu opened the third book of secret folds, crossed out Huaidong with a pen, and added the word "Xuzhou", "Lord Liu, you go and talk to the thieves about recruiting security, and see if the Xuzhou system can satisfy their appetites......"

"Do you really want to make their wishes come true?" Liu Tingzhou asked.

"What can I do?" Yue Lengqiu opened his eyes and looked at Liu Tingzhou and asked rhetorically.

"Liu An'er is not a female being, and her strength has not been damaged, and if she wants to raise a thief, she is afraid that she will become a big trouble!" Liu Tingzhou said.

"I'm afraid that it may not be," Yue Lengqiu sneered slightly at the corner of his mouth, and said without going into details, "The thieves may not be willing to stop the army and sit down to talk about surrendering. I can bear to abandon Xuzhou for the time being, but I need the thieves to give way to the southwest passage to ensure that our army can safely exit Xuzhou and cross Surabaya. Surrender Xuzhou to the thieves, and our army will set up camp on the east bank, but it is not too late to sit down and talk about Zhao'an......"

"Before the negotiation was settled, Xuzhou was given to the thieves, and the thieves were afraid that they would not give in easily!" Liu Tingzhou dissuaded.

"I only have a plan, otherwise it is not enough to win the trust of the thief." Yue Lengqiu said, "I still have to send someone to Shanyang." Lin Tie was reluctant to lead his troops to fight, our army crossed Surabaya and camped on the east bank, and he would never be stingy to lend me a few boats! ”

***********

Zhang Yan entered Shanyang County on the 27th.

Raid the Ma family, although it was Shanyang County, who is behind the scenes, this is a matter that is self-evident, Zhang Yan only hopes that Lin Lian's appearance will not be too ugly.

The confiscated gold and silver spot was transferred away to Lin Jian in the name of military borrowing, and it was quite polite to have a detailed account book left. Zhang Yan wanted to pursue it, but he couldn't pursue it, and the lawsuit was also a confused lawsuit, which could only be used to offset military expenses in the future.

Zhang Yan's face sank like water, sat in the hall, looked through the files, Shanyang County had found a mountain of incriminating evidence, the Ma family couldn't turn over, he secretly said in his heart: Lord Chu, Zhang Yan can't stand you? Instructed left and right: "Chen Jian Yuan, the Ma family is selling smuggled salt, the evidence of the crime is conclusive, and it is not allowed to deny it." He violated military orders without authorization, and he is suspected of being a bandit, so I order you to try this case together with Shanyang County, and never spare a criminal, nor wronged an innocent person......"

Lin Jian sat beside Zhang Yan and squinted at him to deal with the case.

In the first emperor or the Jin Palace, Zhang Yan was only an ordinary eunuch in the Jin Palace, but he had a good relationship with Yuan Hancheng, the king of Chu who was the great Zongzheng of the Zongren Mansion at that time.

This is also a factor that later King Jin ascended the throne, Zhang Yan failed to take charge of the Inner Service Province, and came to Weiyang to serve as the salt and iron envoy of the two Huai.

Unexpectedly, Zhang Yan rushed over neatly, did not argue anything for the Ma family, and directly sat on the charges of the Ma family and took over the case.

Of course, the case of private tyrants should be dominated by the Salt and Iron Division, and even if the Huaidong system envoy was formally established, it would only be from the official position of the fourth grade, which was one level lower than the salt and iron envoy of Zhang Yanzheng's fourth grade. Lin Jian sat on Zhang Yan's side head, of course.

Liang Wenzhan, Liu Tao, and the adjutants and subordinates of the Salt and Iron Division didn't even have a seat to sit on, so they stood in front of the hall to discuss matters.

Liang Wenzhan said: "Lord Zhang, when this official investigated and dealt with the case of the Ma family's private tyrants, they found that smuggling and selling salt was rampant in Shanyang, Huai'an and other counties, so that the salt and silver that should have entered the treasury fell into the hands of the salt lords. The salt lord made a profit and became a huge rich, but in the fish and meat township, he bullied the good and became a local moth. For the sake of the community, the official dared to ask Lord Zhang to strengthen manpower and crack down on private tyrants. If there is a shortage of manpower in the Salt and Iron Division, there are two battalions of county soldiers in Shanyang County for Lord Zhang to deploy. ”

"What a thought for the community, Liang Zhixian is really loyal to the imperial court and spares no effort!" Zhang Yan squinted his eyes at Liang Wenzhan, but his voice was gloomy and cold.

It was the duty of the Salt and Iron Department to crack down on illicit salt, and the Department of Salt and Iron was understaffed and had the right to request the assistance of the local government in the investigation of illicit salt.

Liang Wenzhan jumped out to say this, and took the initiative to ask for troops to be sent to investigate illegal salt, which was mainly anti-guest.

Zhang Yan has been in the position of salt and iron envoy for thirteen years, what is the situation in the two Huai salt areas, what kind of cat is hidden, and why is he not clear?

It is not only the private salt merchants who share the benefits of fertilizer and private salt. There are thirteen prisons in the Salt and Iron Division, and the officials of all sizes below, as long as they are involved with salt, which one is not a family with thousands of assets?

Zhang Yanzhen wants to crack down on the private tyrant ruthlessly, and his subordinates will first jump out and strangle him by the neck and rebel against him.

Liang Wenzhan pretended not to hear the sarcasm in Zhang Yan's words, and said with a shy face: "Serving the imperial court, the lower officials don't dare to take care of this body." ”

"Lord Lin, what do you think?" Zhang Yan looked sideways at Lin Lian.

"The imperial court has set the policy of 'salt and silver to protect grain', which is a good government for the benefit of the country and the people, and in order to protect the grain in Gyeonggi, the more salt and silver the better," Lin Jian smiled faintly and said lightly, "Cracking down on illegal salt, if you can increase salt and silver, it is naturally good governance and good policy, how can I oppose it?" ”

Zhang Yan sighed slightly in his heart, Shen Rong was worried that Lin Lian would control the private tyrant in Huai'an to profit from the illegal salt, but he didn't expect Lin Lian to be higher. To crack down on smugglers, as long as the policy of "salt and silver to protect grain" is not changed, the increased income from salt and silver will still fall into Chongzhou's pocket, but it can still block the mouths of people all over the world.

This knot is really difficult to solve, Yan Tiesi doesn't use his hands to fight the private tyrant, Lin Tie grinds his fists and explores his fists, and he can't wait to try.

At this time, someone came in to report that Yue Lengqiu had sent a messenger from Xuzhou.