Ming Dynasty man

Chapter 36 Conducting Intelligence Work

Although this Taoist temple is big, it can't accommodate so many people under Li Jing's men. However, there are many houses built around the Taoist temple. It seems that they were built for pilgrims at the beginning. A considerable part has been solved, after all, the house is not so easy to build.

If Taoist Guan solved the problem in Li Jing's heart, then what Li Jing saw next was an even bigger surprise.

Standing on the top of Hongshanling, Li Jing looked around, and saw two mountain ridges in the northwest direction, and a large wasteland suddenly appeared.

It is not easy to have such a large piece of flat land in this kind of hilly area with mountains and mountains. What's even better is that there is a river farther away.

Where there is land and water, this will be a fertile field in the future.

The only pity is that the mountains here are not very high, and there is no danger to defend, but the mountains here are rugged and the roads are bad, so it is completely possible to make a temporary base.

But what Li Jing was worried about was the mountain road leading from the Taoist temple to the northeast, and he needed to beware of the officers and soldiers in the direction of Zhangde.Fortunately, the mountain road is not wide, and it is not easy for large-scale officers and soldiers to enter.

Moreover, Li Jing only wanted to find a place to stay temporarily, and did not intend to stay for a long time.

When Chongzhen became emperor and the people everywhere rebelled, that was when he left.

After setting up the personnel, Li Jing called everyone together and began to register again.

Although the stronghold of Jinniuling was lost this time, Li Jing's strength has grown a lot.

Li Jing now has more than 300 bandits under his command, not counting the family members of the bandits and the craftsmen who stayed in Wangjiazhuang. There are thousands of people.

When the Red Mountain Ridge was ready, Li Jing asked Sun Meng to bring some officers and soldiers down the mountain.

The officers and soldiers led by Sun Meng have been out for several days, and if they don't go back, there will be troubles.

Sun Meng also knew that although Li Jing asked him to go down the mountain, the task he handed over was not light, so he didn't hesitate, so he ordered about twenty soldiers and went down the mountain.

After Sun Meng left, Li Jing asked everyone to rest, leaving Ma Wu alone.

For Ma Wu, Li Jing was not very relieved before.

In fact, apart from Old Man Chen, his father and son, Zhuzi and others, since they went up the mountain with Li Jing, Li Jing knew them better and knew that they would never betray him, so he was not at ease with Li Jing.

This time Li Jing left Jinniuling, leaving Ma Wu to watch the house was actually a test, and old man Chen also got Li Jing's order to pay close attention to Ma Wu, and if Ma Wu made any changes, he would be asked to kill him .

Even Dahu, Erhu and others didn't know about this matter, only old man Chen knew about it, and no one on the mountain thought that Li Jing still had a backup.

He did it so secretly, because he was afraid that once the bandits knew that Li Jing was still guarding them, they would be chilled.

Li Jing didn't think there was anything wrong with what he did, but looking at it now, Ma Wu's performance was remarkable, his loyalty was beyond doubt, and he could be entrusted with important tasks.

Although Ma Wu is no longer the team officer, everyone knows that he is actually the second leader of the cottage.

Li Jing attaches great importance to Ma Wu. It seems that Ma Wu was punished by Li Jing in the battle of Jinniuling, but in fact he just took away his status as a team officer, which has no effect on his status as the second leader of the cottage. It can be seen from the heavy reward that Li Jing gave him.

Li Jing refused to let Ma Wu be the team officer because he had more important tasks to entrust to him. This person is quite talented in scouting news, and this job is more suitable for him than training.

Li Jing is going to ask Ma Wu to select a group of smart and capable people from among the bandits to form an intelligence team.

"Fifth brother, although we have suffered a bit this time, we have learned a lesson. We can't just focus on the movement of the Qi County government, but also on several nearby counties, and even further away. You pick twenty or so clever and capable brothers from the stronghold, and spread all these people out to inquire about the news, and gather any news for me. You people are my eyes and ears. It is a matter of life and death for the brothers. , I don’t worry about other people doing this, but I can only rest assured if I leave it to you.”

"Brother, can you be more specific? What kind of news do you need brothers to inquire about?" Ma Wu scratched his head and said.

Intelligence work has been very developed in modern times, but in this ancient time, especially for bandits like Ma Wu, they simply didn't understand anything. Li Jing organized the language and said bluntly: "You people not only want to inquire about nearby What are the actions of the officers and soldiers in the prefectures and counties, and what is the trend of the court. For example, which minister was dismissed, where there was a disaster, where the people changed, which officials in the court are honest and good people, which ones can fight, which ones are The rice bucket and so on."

"Brother, don't you want to play me to death? As far as the information you want to inquire, let alone these few people, even if we send all the people from the cottage, it will not be enough?" Ma Wu smiled wryly.

"Hehe, you got the point. These few people are indeed not enough, far from enough! You can go out and recruit people. There are many people who can't eat these days, and you still can't find people who work? You put your men These people are sent out and let them open brothels, teahouses, and wine shops. Anyway, whichever industry is the most well-informed, we will do whatever industry. Surrounding counties, Kaifeng, Luoyang, Xi'an, and places like the capital will send people. I Let me teach you another way. For example, if you want to know the details of the county magistrate of Qi County, then you can bribe his servants. As long as you spend money, the boy who is in custody can even tell you what kind of toilet the county magistrate uses. "Li Jing laughed.

"Understood, but to do so many things, the money needed will be gone, and our cottage can't afford such a large fee." Ma Wu hesitated.

"You don't have to worry about Yinzi. You should select people first these few days. Remember, you must choose smart and capable people who are also loyal to us. It is best to have family members on the mountain. The people you choose must be strict in their mouths. Confidentiality measures are very important! Only you and I know this matter, and other brothers don’t need to know. After the personnel are selected, let Zhuzi take you to the farm of Zhengzhou Wang’s treasurer. Er Zhuang and the others are there. You go and raise 3 taels The money comes out, and then you take these people to the places I just mentioned, open a few businesses as I said, and ask the people from the Shen family to help you with the business in the early stage."

Speaking of this, Li Jing paused, and then solemnly said: "You have to remember, you can't use the name of the Shen family, and don't use your name, you can be the boss behind the scenes. The leak of what we do is to get rid of it." Head, you must protect yourself, come to me if you don’t have enough money, and I will arrange for someone to give it to you.”

"Brother, don't worry, brother will try his best to handle this matter beautifully, and will never disappoint brother." Ma Wudao.

"Well, I can trust you as a person, but there are two things I have to tell you. First, find someone to teach you how to read and write in your spare time. In the future, you must write to me frequently, and you must write by yourself. Don't Find someone to write for you. Second, don’t forget your background, help the poor if you can, and take in those who can’t make it, especially the children.” Li Jing patted Ma Wu and said.

"En!" Ma Wu nodded heavily.

"En..." Li Jing thought about it for a while, and felt that it would be inappropriate for Ma Wu to make the stall too big all of a sudden, so he hesitated and said, "This matter is very urgent, and it is not urgent. Urgent, you have never done this kind of thing before, you still need to be more steady. How about this, don’t go too far for now, just focus on the surrounding prefectures and counties, wait for you to get familiar with it, and then Spread the manpower out," Li Jing said.

"Hey, I'm really a little bit bold what my brother said just now. I really don't know what to do when I'm asked to do such a big thing all of a sudden. Now I'm only active in a few surrounding counties, and I can get advice from my brother from time to time. My heart is more secure." Ma Wu scratched his head and laughed.

"Go and rest, take good care of your injuries, and start acting after your injuries are healed." Li Jing said with a smile.

Ma Wu nodded and stood up to say goodbye.

. . . . . .

In the next few days, Li Jing ordered people to go to Xiaomazhuang to bring the family members of the dead bandits to Hongshanling and resettle them properly.

Seeing that Li Jing did what he said, the gangsters were very moved, and they all felt that it was worth dying to follow such a boss.

Immediately, some bandits asked if they could bring their family members up the mountain, and Li Jing naturally would not refuse anyone who came. He was worried that no one would cultivate the wasteland to the west, and it was exactly what he wished for someone to go up the mountain.

The family members of the bandits went up the mountain one after another, and Sun Meng's work was also very effective. To show his loyalty, Sun Meng first arranged for his own family members to go up the mountain, and then sent the soldiers' families and craftsmen up the mountain in batches. With the addition of people, Hongshanling's power suddenly grew.

It is a good thing that Hongshanling has a strong team, but Li Jing really doesn't have any effective helpers, and he has to do everything by himself, which is really too busy.In desperation, he had no choice but to ask Shen Zheng to help with some chores, such as building a new house and so on, all of which were handled by Shen Zheng.

Due to the increasing number of people, the area of ​​Hongshanling is gradually not enough, and the wasteland needs to be reclaimed, and it is impossible to go up and down the mountain in the future, so Li Jing asked everyone to arrange their families to the wasteland.Then all the bandits over the age of 40 were ordered to help build houses, open up wasteland and practice Taoism.

These people are a little older, even if they train hard, they are not as good as young people. It is better to let them work on the land.

With a large number of craftsmen, it is not a problem to make tools to open up wasteland, build houses and cultivate Taoism, which saves Li Jing a lot of trouble.

The older ones have been arranged, and the younger ones have to be arranged.

Which of these bandits, soldiers, and craftsmen has no children?

The adults are working, and these children are left unattended. They are like monkeys, and they can be seen everywhere.

The children are used to being wild all day long, and some of them can't even control their adults.

Among them, the two children are the most unlucky children. One is Hutou, 13 years old, the son of Sun Meng, and the other is Shi Shi, 14 years old, the son of a soldier under Sun Meng.

(End of this chapter)