The retreat of the Song army alarmed the people of the whole county. The streets of Linyou County were deserted, and tens of thousands of people came to see off the Song army with their young and old.
Chen Qing has repeatedly told the people in the city that they must leave. They have too few troops to defend Linyou County. Once the Jin soldiers capture Linyou County, they will definitely massacre the city.
Only if they leave first can Linyou County be spared the disaster.
Although the common people understood their evacuation, when the day came, tens of thousands of people in Linyou County cried loudly and knelt on the ground reluctant to let them go.
Dozens of elders knelt in front of Chen Qing's horse and cried loudly, "Once the general leaves, we will all become pigs and sheep. Who can protect us!"
Chen Qing's eyes turned red.
"Fathers and fellow villagers, please rest assured, I promise that I will definitely come back!"
Amidst the cries, the team walked farther and farther, and tens of thousands of people gradually turned into small black spots. This really made Chen Qing very sad. When can he come back?
If we follow the trend of history, this departure should be a farewell forever. Can we change history?
After walking for several miles, the team stopped again, and Zhao Xiaoyi shouted: "It's Master Xu!"
Chen Qing saw Xu Ning on the side of the road. He took a few apprentices and said goodbye to the soldiers. He was not only the instructor of the new recruits, but also Chen Qing's cavalry and archery master. He led Chen Qing into the door of cavalry and archery.
He has been recommended as the new county magistrate by the squires in the county and has taken over the seal of county magistrate from Wei Qing.
Chen Qing turned over and dismounted, walked forward quickly and said: "I didn't expect to see Master Xu again before I left!"
"The archery hall has been closed. From now on, you have to call me County Magistrate Xu!"
Xu Ning said bitterly: "Although I really don't want to be this fake county magistrate, for the people of Linyou County, my personal honor and disgrace are no longer important."
"Senior, bear the humiliation and bear the burden. I will definitely explain the situation clearly to the Xuanfu envoy."
"Actually, it doesn't matter, I just need to have a clear conscience!"
Xu Ning added: "Although the commander's riding and archery has barely entered the second level, it is still slightly inferior to Liu Ziyu, Yue Fei and other famous generals. The key is practice. Practice makes perfect. With the commander's understanding and foundation, as long as
If you persevere, you will continue to improve in riding and shooting!”
Chen Qing said sincerely: "Chen Qing will remember every word of senior!"
Xu Ning laughed, "Remember what I said is correct, come on! I offer you a glass of wine to Commander, and I wish Commander to make new achievements!"
Xu Ning took a glass of wine from his apprentice and brought it to Chen Qing. Chen Qing took the glass with both hands and drank it in one gulp.
"Senior, we will meet again later!"
Xu Ning was solemn and bowed solemnly with his severed hand, "Commander, we will see you later!"
Several apprentices followed their master and said goodbye to the soldiers with fists in their hands.
Chen Qing got on his horse, clasped his fists in salute, said goodbye to Xu Ning, and the team headed west in a mighty manner.
…………
Qianyuan County in Longzhou, which is the second largest county in Longzhou, has a relatively remote terrain and was not damaged by the Jin soldiers.
At noon that day, two men were sitting together drinking in a restaurant next to the city gate of Liyuan County.
One of them was obviously drunk, and said in a verbose voice: "To be honest, my old man used to celebrate his birthday, and it was packed with guests. Senior officials from Longzhou and Pingliang Prefecture came to support him. Now I want to keep a low profile. On July 7 next month
It’s my tenth birthday, but less than a hundred invitations have been sent out..."
The thin young man opposite is Zhao Xiaoyi. He is currently the deputy commander of the scout battalion and is a subordinate of Zheng Ping. He came to Qianyuan County to carry out an important mission.
The drunk man's name was Jiang Fu, a steward of the Jiang family, a wealthy family in Longzhou. He was also from Linyou County, the same hometown as Zhao Xiaoyi.
Zhao Xiaoyi deliberately curry favor with the guests, and within a few days, the two of them talked about everything.
"I wonder what your master's hobbies are?" Zhao Xiaoyi poured a full glass of wine for the other party and asked with a smile.
"Hobby? Let me think about it. By the way, my father likes stones. He is very obsessed with them. When he was young, he often went to Bianliang to buy stones. His stone treasures are all in the backyard of his house."
"Where will your grandpa celebrate his birthday? Liyuan County or Liyang County?"
"Of course the prefecture governs Mianyang County. There is also a mansion there. We will set off in a few days."
Zhao Xiaoyi calculated the time in his mind, and it was time for him to set off south.
...........
Jianxiao Pass is located on the Jiankuo Ridge, about 20 miles south of Liyang County. The terrain of Jiankuo Ridge is relatively high, and there is a canyon more than ten miles long in the middle. There are high mountains on both sides. This canyon is where Longyou goes to Fengxiang.
The only way to pass through the canyon was that the narrowest part of the canyon was only thirty feet, so the Song army built a pass at the narrowest part, which was Jianxiao Pass.
Jianxiaoguan actually only has two city walls in the north and south, one mile apart, and there are cliffs on the east and west sides.
The interior of Guancheng is long and narrow, but it is actually not very big. It covers an area of only thirty acres. However, although the sparrow is small, it has all the internal organs. It not only has military camps, warehouses, but also a tiled building surrounded by wooden fences. There are more than a dozen people inside.
There are wooden houses, brothels, hotels, inns, gambling houses, grocery stores, etc. all available.
Jianxiaoguan is such a military city with a dangerous terrain. At most, a thousand Song troops were stationed there.
But it was such a dangerous pass. When the Jin soldiers and cavalry came to kill them, the guard general Wang Lian led his troops out of the city and surrendered, giving the pass to the Jin people in vain.
There are currently more than 300 troops stationed in the pass. In addition to the 300 Han troops, there are also 30 Jurchen soldiers.
The task of the Jurchen soldiers was to monitor these Han soldiers. They did not care about patrols, and the daily patrols were left to the Han army.
The pass currently allows caravans to pass through, but each caravan is not allowed to have more than ten people and is not allowed to carry any weapons. Once discovered, they will be executed on the spot.
According to the temperament of the Jurchens, merchants were definitely not allowed to cross the military pass, but merchants were not allowed to cross the border, and Han soldiers had no salaries. How did they make a living?
Therefore, after Wanyan Loushi began to visit Shaanxi three years ago, he also combined with the actual situation of Shaanxi Road and Qinfeng Road, set rules for merchants to pass. There are three main rules. The first is the number limit. The caravan cannot exceed ten people;
The second is the restriction on weapons. You are not allowed to carry weapons through the customs. The third is the time limit. You are not allowed to pass through the customs at night.
Of course, there are some details. For example, the city does not allow the entry and exit gates to be opened at the same time. You can only close one door and open the other. Another example is that you must pay taxes to pass the customs. As for how the soldiers guarding the city extort merchants, then don't care.
These regulations also apply to Jianxiao Pass. The defenders at Jianxiao Pass have nothing to do every day. What they look forward to most is the arrival of the caravan.
At noon that day, a dark, fat middle-aged man rode a donkey and galloped towards the south gate of Jianxiao Pass. The soldiers all stuck their heads out.
"Du Tou, here comes a fat guy!"
Another soldier said: "Looking at the way he is dressed, he looks like a butler from a wealthy family!"
"He was running in such a hurry, as if he was on an outpost. The rat was dragging the wooden wedge with its big head behind!"
The soldiers had very poisonous eyes. With every word they said to each other, they basically guessed the identity and origin of the fat middle-aged man.
The man wears a black satin dark coat and an octagonal hat on his head. This kind of dress is either a big shopkeeper or a big housekeeper. He has a certain status, but his status is not high. If he has money to wear silk and satin, he can only wear black.
"Who are you?" the defenders asked with their heads on top of the city.
The middle-aged man was sweating profusely, jumped off the donkey, raised his head and shouted, "I am the head of the Jiang family in Lianyuan County. My surname is Wang. I have an expensive and large object to pass. I came to say hello first."
Everyone in Longzhou knows that the Jiang family in Qianyuan County ranks second among the three major families in Longzhou, second only to the Wang family in Qianyang, with hundreds of hectares of land alone. The original Sima Jiang Huan of Longzhou was the eldest son of the Jiang family.
When they heard that they were from the Jiang family, they didn't dare to neglect them and ordered the city to be opened and the middle-aged stewards to come in.
Not long after, the steward was brought to the city tower, and the defenders all raised their heads and asked: "What big object needs to pass?"
The chief steward lowered his voice and said, "It's from Bianliang, Tokyo. It's the Emperor's treasure, a stone."
"A piece of broken stone, or the emperor's treasure?"
"The general doesn't know, so doesn't the emperor like to play with this kind of charm? It's the Taihu stone transported from the south of the Yangtze River to Bianliang. To be honest with the general, my old man also likes to play with this kind of strange stone. This is to show his filial piety and spend a lot of money.
I bought it from Bianliang and had to go through a lot of trouble to transport it to Guanzhong. Alas! If Bianjing hadn't been captured by the Jin soldiers, how would our old man have the chance to play with the emperor's things!"
A soldier next to him said: "The one I know is Hua Shigang!"
"Yes! Yes! Yes! It's Hua Shi Gang. It costs tens of thousands of taels to transport a strange stone from the south of the Yangtze River to Tokyo."
I'm all tempted, tens of thousands of taels of silver, this means that I will have an income today, who cares about the Jiang family and the Wang family, if the geese pass by, they must be plucked.
"As long as it is not transporting weapons, general cargo can pass the customs, but Manager Wang should also know the rules of customs clearance."
"I know the rules. How much tax do I have to pay?"
"The maximum tax is 50 guan, calculated based on the value of the goods of 5,000 guan, and the price for passing the tea is 20 guan. Your items are worth tens of thousands of guan, so the tax is already very low."
"It can't be calculated like this. The emperor spent tens of thousands of taels of silver, and there was a lot of false money in it, but we only spent 2,000 taels of silver, so we should pay 20 taels of tax!"
Everyone shook their heads, "I'm afraid not!"
The steward pulled everyone's head aside and whispered: "How about this! I will give the general ten taels of silver, and the value of the goods will be calculated as two thousand taels."
This is a typical case of harming the public and enriching one's private life. Dutou nodded happily, "This is just this one time, it won't be repeated in the future!"
The steward quickly handed him a piece of silver and everyone weighed it, it was almost ten taels.
He put it in his arms and said loudly to the soldiers: "Pay the tax first. The goods are worth two thousand guan, so pay the tax of 20 guan!"
........
Not long after, a dozen mules pulled a flatbed cart slowly towards the city gate. There were ten men on both sides helping to push the cart. On the cart was a huge stone, weighing seven or eight thousand kilograms.
Du Tou came out of the city, lifted up the oilcloth on the stone, looked up and down, and couldn't help but widen his eyes, "You guys are so damn funny, is this called a strange stone? There are such stones all over the mountains and plains!"
The steward chuckled and said, "The general doesn't understand. This is called the Xishan Traveling Stone. It is exactly the same as the Xishan Traveling Picture drawn by the great painter Fan Kuan. This strange stone was sent to Tokyo in the second year of Xuanhe. It caused a sensation in the government and the public and was rated as the strange stone of the year.
First place."
"Oh! There is also such a saying. I, a big guy like me, can't understand it. Just pass it!"
At this moment, a general hurried over with dozens of soldiers. They were all startled and hurriedly stepped forward to salute with clasped fists, "General, please see the commander!"