stubborn thief

Chapter 199
On the afternoon of July [-], Jiang Yingchang, the county magistrate, was reading the residence newspaper at the Heshui yamen.

During this period of time, Jiang Yingchang's life was difficult.

In the small county of Heshui, there have never been many households. The north is three hundred miles away from the wall. The common people live in the northern mountainous area outside the city and live in the fields. There are only about [-] households in the city.

The city is so small that it is often forgotten by the imperial court's Shaanxi Chief Envoy.

Jiang Yingchang was just a scholar. He used to be the magistrate of Anhua County in Qingyang Prefecture. In the past two years, because the four chief officials in the county had been transferred away one after another, the people went to the chief envoy to ask for an official. That's why he was promoted to magistrate.

Due to the incompetence and lack of prestige of the officials, the city has always been in a semi-autonomous mode. In the absence of a chief official for four years, all the affairs of the county were managed by Master Yuan and the gentry in Xicheng.

There are not many things that the county magistrate needs to do. His daily activities are just to manage education, pay attention to sacrifices, go for a walk in the countryside, and help the people solve some farming problems.

More things are not whether he wants to do it or not, but that he is not able to do more, and this is the case for three seasons a year.

Only in winter, Heshui County has a habit that has continued since Yingzong's time. The people who lived outside with the fields would return to the county seat.

That was the time when Jiang Yingchang was the most tired and also the happiest. Only then was he the magistrate in power.

But looking at the current situation, I am afraid that there will be no way to organize the people this winter.

Jiang Yingchang was very excited by the report delivered two days ago.

The imperial court has elected general Du Wenhuan as the admiral of Shanshan to assist in hunting down the bandits, and transferred Cao Wenzhao, a guerrilla general who has made great achievements in the capital, as the deputy commander of Yansui East Road. Yang Yanchang, the Yan'an general, was the vanguard, and the guerrilla general Wang Ziyu was in charge of food transportation. , led [-] Guan Ning troops into the pass to suppress the rebellion.

Jiang Yingchang has heard about the four chief generals. General Du Wenhuan needless to say, Cao Wenzhao is from Datong, Shanxi. , without defeat.

As for Yang Yanchang, I am more familiar with him. The rising star of Yan'an Guard, who was born in the suppression of thieves, is also famous for his bravery. Half a step near Fucheng.

It's for the king's own use, Jiang Yingchang didn't know that there was such a person in Yan'an Mansion before, but this time the king's army entered the capital and made great contributions by mobilizing the militia.

Right now, this elite team of heroes has already marched towards Shanxi.

Thinking of this, Jiang Yingchang finally breathed a sigh of relief, it's great that the court can make such an arrangement, great!

After reading the mansion newspaper, he immediately rubbed his ink, intending to write a letter to the Trilateral General Mansion in Guyuan, asking Governor Yang to send troops to Qingyang Mansion, especially his Heshui County.

This is the east gate of Qingyang Mansion. The entry of the Guan Ning Army will definitely bring great pressure to the Shaanxi bandits, and they will move from Yan'an Mansion to Qingyang Mansion.

Once Heshui County is breached, let alone Qingyang Mansion, even Pingliang Mansion, where King Han's Mansion is located, will be safe.

A mere four hundred miles away, a group of thieves can go down along the valley of the Jing River in five days, who can bear the responsibility of trapping the feudal clan?

After the ink was finished, Jiang Yingchang picked up his pen and started writing. He had just written dozens of characters when he heard the chaos outside, and the yamen servant hurried over and said, "My lord, something is wrong, the north of the city is flooded!"

"North of the city?"

Jiang Yingchang thought to himself that no one lived in the north of the city for a long time, and there were trees growing on the mountain, how could there be a fire?
He didn't care about writing at the moment, and ran out of the yamen with his sleeves up, without his official cap on, and saw the mountains in the north of the city ablaze. At this time, the east wind was blowing, and the fire was blowing westward along the uninhabited thatched tile roofs. In parallel with the vegetation in the mountains, the fire was unstoppable in an instant.

"Quickly beat the gongs to gather the people to put out the fire... No, demolish the houses, rescue the people first, and demolish the houses on both sides along North Street."

There is no hope of saving the fire. The county does not lack buckets, hooks, ladders, and water guns, but the river is almost dry, and there is no firefighting ability with so little water.

We can only separate the city and let the north of the city burn.

Anyway... the people in the city were able to escape the famine, and there were not many people living in the house or yard.

"There are still strong people in the city. Let people close the gate of the city, and leave a few people to guard each other, so as to prevent thieves from entering the city in disorder. The others will put out the fire first!"

Afterwards, on his way to North Street, the country gentry in the city gathered together with their children. After hearing his method, they all applauded, and a team of hundreds of people to demolish houses quickly set out on the road.

This is almost men, women and children in battle.

Race against time in North Street, race against the fire, while sending people to remove thatched roofs in areas where the fire has not yet spread, and spray water to prevent the fire from spreading, while tearing down a zone on North Street to isolate the flames.

The sky was getting dark, and the fire was raging in Heshui County, which is high in the north and low in the south.

The servants of the civil servants in the city stepped back to help, but two black-clothed figures climbed up the horse path and marched from the north wall to the Suiding Gate in the east of the city.

Outside the city, a team of mules has been assembled, and they are passing through the shallow river, like a black cloud gradually moving across the land.

The left-behind Minzhuang was worried that the fire in the city would burn his house, and felt that something was wrong with the dark forest outside the city. He was leaning on the battlements and squinting to the east, when he suddenly heard footsteps behind him, and before he could turn around, he was knocked overturned.

Bai Liuxi put away the fire stick, looked down the city, the black cloud was moving, she turned her head and said: "Yun Niang, hurry up, they are marching."

There are no buildings, sculls and heavy pavilions at the top of the city of Heshui County. There are only three houses above the east and west gates, which control the city gate suspension bridge.

Yun Jiaoyue nodded in response, looked towards the room, threw a short spear, drew a short knife from the fallen Min Zhuang's hand, and walked towards the room with his long legs and head bowed.

Moments later, the drawbridge fell.

Wang Wenxiu's troops entered the city first, rode mules from the horse trail in the city, climbed up the city wall first, and then galloped along the north and south sides of the city, heading straight for the east gate.

Yang Yao and Wei Qian'er led their troops westward from the official road outside the city, crossed the city, and headed westward to the Malian River in case Qingyang Mansion sent reinforcements.

The fire is still burning, but its spread has been stopped due to the county's quarantine measures.

Jiang Zhixian, with smoky marks on his face, sat wearily on the stone house foundation, taking a breath with difficulty.

Looking up, it was already dark, and it was time to leave the office, so he asked the servant to go back to the office, and asked his wife to make some soup. There should be some Nan'ao seaweed left at home. It is best to have an egg and some sesame oil.

The servant ran away, and Yuan San, who was in a panic, rushed over: "My lord, it's not good, the city defense is occupied by the officers and soldiers!"

Jiang Yingchang tilted his head and stretched his head slightly forward, frowning with a very surprised expression: "Huh?"

"Front Army! Hundreds of those idiots guarding the border wall have occupied our city defense, and horse soldiers are running around on the wall!"

Yuan Sanmo could also see that Jiang Zhixian's brain could not accept the amount of information at this time, so he simply ignored him, raised his hand and pulled a yamen servant and asked, "Where is Master Yuan?"

"It was still there just now, it seems that I have nothing to do and went back to the west of the city."

"This old bastard ran away blindly."

Hearing that the officers and soldiers entered the city, Jiang Zhixian couldn't react, but other big households in Beijie had already been bombed.

Frontier troops entering the city are much more terrifying than thieves entering the city.

Yuan Sanmo saw that there were frontier soldiers rushing up the city when he was at the bottom of the city, so he ran away.

Intuitively, he thought that this was the helper called to drive away the banner army today, or it was the letter sent to the county magistrate, which reminded the frontier army to rebel.

He still doesn't know what was written in that letter. The scholar went to escort his mother-in-law and aunt and didn't come back. It must be that stupid guy who sneaked ahead of him and ate it.

Yuan Sanmo made up his mind to kill that bastard when he saw Xiucai again.

It's just that the situation has become like this, he will not send the letter to the magistrate no matter what.

On the contrary, he planned to run away, and wanted to grab another sum of money before he ran away, so he rushed into the courtyard with the big family members who ran away with his helpers and asked money: "You old dog, the officers and soldiers entered the city, your money Who is not cheap when silver is cheap, where do you hide all the gold and silver?"

For a while, those who ran home ran home, and those who wanted to run out ran out, and suddenly there were no people on the North Street, which was still full of people.

Jiang Zhixian, whose face was full of charcoal marks, stared at several yamen servants around him, and the yamen servant asked, "My lord, what should we do?"

Jiang Yingchang didn't know what to do, he had never experienced the situation where the officers and soldiers sneaked into the city, let alone the frontier army?
Feeling confused, Jiang Yingchang still pointed to a yamen servant and said, "You go, go to the city wall, ask where they are from the frontier army, who are the generals, and tell the county magistrate Jiang Yingchang to see him, and if there is any law, who will allow it?" They entered the city!"

The yamen servant had the courage to go, and not long after, Wang Wenxiu, who was closing the Xicheng Gate, saw this fool.

He raised the iron pot above his head, and walked cautiously towards the city gate, shouting as he walked, "Don't shoot arrows, don't shoot guns! The villain is a messenger!"

The order Wang Wenxiu received was to occupy the city wall, at least the south wall, so as to cover their grain trucks and gun carts moving westward.

Because Liu Chengzong believed that it would not be difficult to capture the city's defenses, but it was meaningless to fight with the common people after occupying the city, so he had to post a list to calm the people before occupying the county government.

Wang Wenxiu felt that this messenger might be an opportunity to occupy the city, so she leaned on the battlement and said, "Who are you sending the message to?"

"The magistrate asked me to come! I asked where you are from the frontier army and who is the general. The magistrate wants to see him!"

Wang Wenxiu listened to the music, and co-authored the magistrate of the city, thinking that the frontier army had entered the city, so if he fell asleep, he would give him a pillow?

Immediately said in the city: "Let the county magistrate come over and provide us with food and grass!"

Then he told the two teams of infantry to go down to the city and hide in the houses.

As soon as Jiang Yingchang rode over on a mule, he asked the infantry to take it, and when he pulled the mule down, he was still acting like an official, and shouted loudly: "I am an official ordered by the imperial court. If you dare to tie me up, are you trying to rebel?"

Wang Wenxiu laughed loudly: "My lord, we are rebels, we are the subordinates of Marshal Liu!"

Jiang Yingchang was like a crowing rooster whose throat was suddenly choked, he stared left and right, his excited expression immediately cooled down, cold sweat broke out on his forehead, and his back was wet.

A gust of wind blew through the official robe and shivered from the cold, and slowly swallowed: "Marshal Liu's subordinates?"

Wang Wenxiu was so happy that she just rubbed her hands together, commanding the left and right: "You take care of the city defense and wait for me to come back."

After finishing speaking, he took a look at the official seal from Jiang Yingchang's waist who was being escorted by the soldiers, and escorted him out of Dongguan happily.

The four army formations of the Lion Camp were set up against the water outside the Dongguan Pass, and Han Shipan and Han Shiyou were leading troops into the city to supervise the military discipline of the soldiers entering the city.

The two sides met at the gate of the city, and Jiang Yingchang was full of doubts. Aren't they all frontier soldiers?
When Liu Chengzong received the news from Wang Wenxiu, he was praising the two Bailiuxi who ventured into the city. He was overjoyed to hear that Jiang Yingchang, the county magistrate, had surrendered himself to Wang Wenxiu's army.

Immediately decided to ride to meet the magistrate at the gate of the camp.

When he saw the person, Fan Sanlang stepped forward with a torch to light it up, Liu Chengzong leaned over to look at it while supporting the saddle, and asked, "Are you the county magistrate of Heshui?"

Jiang Yingchang is very complicated from his heart to his facial expressions.

He thought it was the lawless frontier army that took the city defense, but it was indeed the lawless frontier army that took the city defense.

He also found out that they were actually thieves from Yan'an Mansion, so he threw himself into the arms of the thieves, and found out that the thieves were all frontier soldiers.

All kinds of unbelievable news crashed into his head in a short period of time, and he only figured out one thing so far, Heshui County was lost.

But exactly how it was lost, my mind is still dizzy, should it be said that Heshui County was broken by bandit soldiers, or was it robbed by mutiny?

He still doesn't know who Marshal Liu is.

However, Jiang Yingchang's spine was not bent, and he said with a stiff neck: "You are Marshal Liu? Why did you take my city defense?"

All of a sudden, he turned against the guest, and asked Liu Chengzong, why did you seize your city defense?
Liu Chengzong smiled on his horseback and said, "You don't know who I am? I am Liu Chengzong, have you heard?"

Jiang Yingchang blinked, when did Liu Chengzong call himself Marshal?
And there are border troops everywhere, which is not the same as intelligence. Don't they all say that Liu Chengzong is a thief.

He has seen thieves before, and they don't look like this.

Jiang Yingchang came to his senses, straightened his neck and was about to jump and scold, but Bai Liuxi next to him pointed at him and scolded him with the dirty words he learned during the day: "Quickly clamp the bird's beak!"

These words stunned Jiang Yingchang, and Liu Chengzong looked sideways at him, then turned his head to Jiang Yingchang and said: "Jiang Zhi County, Heshui County is within your reach now, tell me about some of the big lawless households in the city."

"I cleared them up and left. Heshui County was only temporarily affected by the military disaster. You were temporarily captured, but you persuaded the thieves to protect the environment and the people. The merits and demerits are roughly equal."

"Or you jump up and scold me a few words, get addicted to your mouth, I will not kill you, just take you away, you go wherever I go, my soldiers kill people, just write murder on the wall Jiang Yingchang, stand beside me when I go to attack the city."

Jiang Yingchang wondered how you, a marshal, use this?He stared anxiously and said, "You are despicable!"

"You've scolded me, why don't you let me torment you?"

Liu Chengzong asked a question of course, and then said: "You dance again?"

Jiang Yingchang lost his momentum, and said angrily: "Yuan Yuanwai in the west of the city has controlled the county for 30 years, I can't do anything with him, you go and deal with him."

"Yuan Yuanwai is not counted. I already know that there is such a person. His subordinates are not good people. He bullies the banner army outside the city, robs the women of the people, and throws the toothless old man in his 60s into the river. You can say a few more. "

This time it was Jiang Yingchang's turn to stare, he didn't even know it happened.

After thinking about it, Jiang Yingchang felt that the conditions proposed by Liu Chengzong were not bad, so he simply gritted his teeth: "Rice merchant Ding Guoen's family lives in Dingjiabao in the west of the city, driving up the price of rice to bully the market; There are a lot of illegal activities in the middle school; therefore, the county magistrate Nie chased the bandits, and he colluded with Chengxi Yuan, Chengdongfeng and others, and they should all be killed!"

Liu Chengzong clapped his hands and laughed loudly: "It's easy!"

　good evening!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)