Fenghou

Chapter 407 Longxi
Longxi County can be said to be the essence of the entire Gongzhou. Seventy percent of the population of Gongzhou lives in Longxi County. County and Qin'an County are the three major grain-producing areas, while Gongzhou has only one major grain-producing county, Longxi County.

Apart from Longxi County, Tongwei County, Dingxi County, and Anxi County have harsh environments, barren land, and naturally have a small population. There is also Tongxi County, which can no longer be called a county because of its small population.

Longxi County is a different scene. The city has a large population, prosperous commerce, and a large city area. Almost all Gongzhou clans are concentrated in Longxi County, but the Puppet Qi Army's garrison in Longxi County is not many, only [-] people.

But it also shows that the puppet Qi army is not interested in the west of Guanzhong. Their troops are mainly stationed on Shaanxi Road, and Qinfeng Road and Xihe Road are both Jinbing's sites. It's just that the Jinbing needs to concentrate its forces to attack Hanzhong, so they except Fengxiang. The prefectures of Qinfeng Road and Xihe Road outside the government were entrusted to the puppet Qi army, and they were asked to appoint officials, station troops to maintain order, and raise food and grass.

Since it was entrusted to maintain order, of course the puppet Qi army would not station heavy troops, and all states only stationed a thousand troops symbolically.

Therefore, there are only a thousand puppet Qi troops stationed in Longxi County, patrolling the city and the streets every day.

In the east of Longxi County, there is a mansion covering an area of ​​[-] mu. This is the ancestral home of the famous Li family of Longxi. In the Tang Dynasty, the Li family of Longxi was one of the five surnames in the world. It is also necessary to cling to the Li family of Longxi, which shows how famous it was back then.

It's just that at the end of the Tang Dynasty, Huang Chao killed all the famous families in the world, and the reputation of the Li family in Longxi was also wiped out with the wind. However, there are many branches of the Li family in Longxi, and there will always be one family that will revive. The Li family in Longxi County is a relatively famous one.

In the hundred years of the Northern Song Dynasty, the Li family in Longxi County produced four Jinshi. Ten years ago, Li Qiao, the governor of Gongzhou, was a member of the Li family. Now Li Qiao is also retired at home. He basically does not go out because of his old age and illness. , nor official.

Li Qiao's younger sister is Wang Huai's mother, and Li Qiao is also Wang Huai's uncle.

In the afternoon, Hu Yanlei brought two of his men to the gate of Li's house, knocked on the gate, and handed a letter to the housekeeper, "We came from Qinzhou, and this is a letter written by Wang Huai, the judge of Qinzhou. , please hand it over to your master!"

Of course the housekeeper knew who Wang Huai was, and hurriedly said: "You three, please come in and wait, I will report to the master!"

He invited Hu Yanlei and the others into the gate, and then hurried to the back house to report. After a while, a middle-aged man came and clasped his fists and said, "My name is Li Ziheng, and I am cousin Wang Huai. Which of you is the leader of the Song Army?"

Hu Yanlei took out his bronze medal and handed it to him. Li Ziheng looked at the bronze medal and said solemnly: "Commander Huyan, please follow me!"

Hu Yanlei told his two subordinates to rest and wait. He followed Li Ziheng to the inner courtyard. After a while, he came to a small courtyard. He saw a tall old man with white beard and hair waiting at the door.

"This is my father, the head of the Li family in Longxi."

This old man is Li Qiao, Hu Yanlei stepped forward and clasped his fists and said: "My next Huyanlei, Xihe Road Jiedushi Chen Dutong is the commander under the tent, and according to the order of the Dutong, send a letter to Li Patriarch."

After speaking, he took out another letter from his pocket and presented it to Li Qiao respectfully.

Chen Qing gave Li Qiao enough face, and wrote a letter to him in his own hand. Li Qiao immediately smiled, and took the letter and hurriedly said: "General Huyan, please come to my study to explain!"

The three came to the study and sat down. A tea boy served them tea. Li Qiao asked, "General Huyan, where is Chen Dutong now?"

"He is on his way to Longxi County now, and he will arrive in two or three days."

Li Qiao was taken aback, and quickly said: "I heard from my nephew that Li Dutong will not enter Gongzhou until autumn, why is it a few months earlier?"

Hu Yantong bowed slightly and said, "Patriarch Li, have you heard of Xia Baihu?"

"The gangster back then, how could I not know that he committed all kinds of crimes and killed people like hemp. He has been missing for many years."

"He may have appeared again. He is lurking between Tongwei County and Jichuan County. He has three hundred bandits under him. If it's just bandits, my family is not worried. Now I suspect that they are the Xixia army."

"Correct!"

Li Ziheng hurriedly said: "There was a saying back then that Xia Baihu was a general of Xixia, and he was ordered to destroy Xihe Road."

Li Qiao was more stable, and he stroked his beard slowly and said: "Although there is such a saying, there is no conclusive evidence, but whether it is from Xixia or not, Xia Baihu's reappearance will inevitably set off a bloody storm. Chen Dutong marched into Gongzhou as soon as possible. Sensible."

Hu Yantong said again: "This time I led a hundred men to Longxi County first. I have two tasks. One is to eliminate the Xixia spies in the city, and the other task is to cooperate with the inside and outside to assist the main force to capture Huaixi County."

Li Qiao nodded, "No problem, I have a big inn in the city, enough to accommodate two or three hundred people, and your subordinates can live in the inn."

"Will you not be interrogated by the army when you enter the city?"

Li Qiao thought for a while and said with a smile: "It's not a big problem. I can just ask the magistrate to issue a pass, saying that it is the Zhuang Ding in my manor who will carry the grain for me. Don't wear armor, and don't carry a long bag." Spears are fine, ordinary short weapons are fine, and everyone knows that there are two hundred men with swords in my manor."

"Old man, there is one more question. Are there any shops or restaurants in the city opened by Xixia people?"

Li Qiao sneered slightly and said, "Why not? There are several of them! The largest Baichuan restaurant in the city is run by people from Xixia. From the proprietor to the shopkeeper to the staff, they are all from Xixia and can speak fluent Chinese."

Hu Yanlei laughed, "Isn't it ridiculous to be a buddy who can speak fluent Chinese?"

"That's right, but the puppet Qi army doesn't care, and neither do we."

Hu Yanlei suddenly realized in his heart that Mr. Li Qiao probably knew that there was a problem with Baichuan Restaurant a long time ago, so he specially reminded himself with details.

"Understood, sir, please let my subordinates enter the city!"

Li Qiao wrote a note asking his son Li Ziheng to take Hu Yanlei to the county government to issue a permit.

"Who is the magistrate now?" Hu Yanlei asked after walking out of the gate.

Li Ziheng smiled slightly, "The current county magistrate is the original county lieutenant named Wu Shan. The Wu family is second only to our Li family. He must give my father face!"

Several people came to the gate of the county government office, Hu Yanlei and his men were waiting at the gate, Li Ziheng entered the county government office, soon he came out, handed a bronze medal to Hu Yanlei and said with a smile: "This is the card for entering the city, but you still have to take it No, I have to take you into the city, let's go! Simply go to the Li family's manor and change your clothes."

In the afternoon, Hu Yanlei and a hundred of his subordinates entered the city smoothly and stayed in the Li family's Shunfeng Inn.

The main force of the Song army is still a certain distance away from Longxi County. Huyanlei's current task is to clear the Xixia spies in the city.

But a strange thing happened at this moment. Hu Yanlei was discussing the action plan with the two capitals, but Li Ziheng hurried over and brought them a shocking news that the puppet Qi army was about to retreat.

"Li Ya Nei, is the news reliable?" a head asked in surprise.

Li Ziheng nodded, "It's absolutely reliable. They have looted [-] coins and [-] pieces of cloth in the county warehouse."

Hu Yanlei pondered for a while and said: "It should be that the puppet Qi army in the city got the news that the capital sent troops, so they gave up Longxi County and retreated urgently."

At this moment, the sound of running footsteps came from the street outside, and everyone hurried to the window, and saw a thousand puppet Qi soldiers running out of the city in line, with spears on their shoulders, dry food bags and water bottles on their backs, Hu Yan Lei is a scout, and he can see the number of dry food bags at a glance, which is enough to last ten days of dry food.

It seems that the puppet Qi army really retreated.

Each person was also carrying a very heavy package, which should be the copper coins and cloth they got from looting the warehouse. The copper coins alone weighed twelve pieces per person, weighing more than seventy catties!
It is estimated that several mules and horses at the city gate will suffer.

Li Ziheng reminded: "One of the three mule and horse shops is also run by Xixia people."

"Then go and have a look!"

Speaking of this, Hu Yanlei thought of an important matter, and asked Li Ziheng anxiously: "Can you bring the two hundred Zhuang Ding from your manor into the city?"

(End of this chapter)