Longxi County can be said to be the essence of Gongzhou. 70% of the population of Gongzhou live in Longxi County. Gongzhou is similar to Qinzhou. The main grain-producing areas are in the Weihe River Basin with abundant water resources. Qinzhou has Chengji County and Qingshui County.
There are three major grain-producing areas: Longxi County and Qin'an County, while Gongzhou has only one major grain-producing county, Longxi County.
In addition to Longxi County, the other Tongwei County, Dingxi County and Anxi County have harsh environments, barren land, and naturally small populations. There is also Tongxi County, which has too small a population to be called a county.
Longxi County is a different story. The city has a large population, prosperous commerce, and a large city area. Almost all the Gongzhou clans are concentrated in Longxi County. However, the puppet Qi army's garrison in Longxi County is not many, with only a thousand 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 Jin Bing's territories. It is just that the Jin Bing needs to concentrate its forces to attack Hanzhong, so they except Fengxiang.
The Qinfeng Road and Xihe Road states outside the government were entrusted to the puppet Qi army, requiring them to appoint officials, station troops to maintain order, and raise food and grass.
Since they are entrusted with maintaining order, the puppet Qi army will certainly not station heavy troops. All states will only station a thousand troops symbolically.
Therefore, there are only a thousand Puppet Qi troops stationed in Longxi County, patrolling the city and streets every day.
There is a large house covering an area of 20 acres in the east of Longxi County. This is the ancestral home of the famous Longxi Li family. During the Tang Dynasty, the Longxi Li family was one of the five surnames and seven surnames in the world. Even the Li family, the ruler of the Tang Dynasty,
He also wanted to adhere to the Li family in Longxi, which shows how famous he was at that time.
It was 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 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, and the Li family in Longxi County is one of the more famous families.
During the 100 years of the Northern Song Dynasty, the Li family in Longxi County produced four Jinshi. Li Qiao, the governor of Gongzhou ten years ago, was from the Li family. Now Li Qiao also retires at home. He basically does not go out because of old age and illness.
, and he does not serve as an official.
Li Qiao's sister is Wang Huai's mother, and Li Qiao is also Wang Huai's uncle.
That afternoon, Hu Yanlei and two of his men came to the front door of Li's house, knocked on the door, and handed a letter to the housekeeper, "We are coming from Qinzhou, and this is a letter written by Wang Huai, the general judge of Qinzhou."
, please give it to your master!"
Of course the butler knew who Wang Huai was, and said quickly: "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, cupping his fists and saying: "My name is Li Ziheng, and I am Wang Huai's cousin. 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 solemnly said: "Commander Hu Yan, please come with me!"
Hu Yanlei asked his two men to rest and wait. He followed Li Ziheng towards the inner courtyard. Soon he came to a small courtyard and 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 was Li Qiao. Hu Yanlei stepped forward and clasped his fists and said: "I am Hu Yanlei. I am commanding the envoy under the command of Chen Dutong, the military governor of Xihe Road. On the order of Dutong, I am sending a letter to the head of the Li family."
After speaking, he took out another letter from his arms and respectfully presented it to Li Qiao.
Chen Qing gave Li Qiao enough face and wrote him a letter in his own hand. Li Qiao immediately smiled and took the letter and said quickly: "General Hu Yan, please come to my study to talk!"
The three of them came to the study and sat down. A tea boy served them tea. Li Qiao asked, "Excuse me, General Hu Yan, where is Chen Dutong now?"
"He is on his way to Longxi County now. He will probably arrive in two or three days."
Li Qiao was taken aback and said quickly: "I heard from my nephew that Li Dutong will not enter Gongzhou until the autumn. How come it is so many months early?"
Hu Yantong bowed slightly and said, "Has the Li family master ever heard of Xia Baihu?"
"Why didn't I know about the ruthless gangster back then who committed all kinds of evil and killed people like crazy? He has been missing for many years."
"He may have appeared again, lurking between Tongwei County and Jichuan County. He has three hundred bandits under his command. If they are just bandits, my family is not worried. Now we suspect that they are the Xixia army."
"right!"
Li Ziheng said quickly: "There was a saying back then that Xia Baihu was a Xixia general who was ordered to come and destroy Xihe Road."
Li Qiao was more steady. He stroked his beard and said slowly: "Although there is this statement, there is no conclusive evidence. However, regardless of whether he is from Xixia or not, Xia Baihu's reappearance will inevitably cause a bloody storm. Chen Dutong will march into Gongzhou as soon as possible.
Sensible."
Hu Yantong added: "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 is to cooperate with the inside and outside to assist the main army in capturing Huaixi County."
Li Qiao nodded, "No problem. I have a big inn in the city that can accommodate two to three hundred people. Your men can stay 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: "This is not a big problem. I can just ask the magistrate to issue a movement order, saying that the villagers in my manor are coming to carry food for me. They don't need to wear armor or carry long weapons."
A spear will suffice, and ordinary short weapons are fine. There are two hundred swordsmen in my manor, and everyone knows it."
"Old man, I have another question. Are there any shops or restaurants opened by Xixia people in the city?"
Li Qiao sneered slightly and said: "How could there not be one? There are several! The largest Baichuan Restaurant in the city is opened by Xixia people. From the proprietor to the shopkeeper to the waiters, they are all Xixia people and they can all speak fluent Chinese."
Hu Yanlei laughed, "Isn't it ridiculous to be a waiter when you can speak fluent Chinese?"
"That's absolutely true, but the puppet Qi army doesn't care, and neither do we."
Hu Yanlei suddenly realized that Mr. Li Qiao might have known that there was a problem in Baichuan Restaurant for a long time, so he specially reminded himself with details.
"I understand, sir, please let my men enter the city!"
Li Qiao wrote a note and asked his son Li Ziheng to take Hu Yanlei to the county government office to issue a pass.
"Who is the current magistrate?" Hu Yanlei asked as he walked out of the gate.
Li Ziheng smiled slightly, "The current county magistrate is the original county captain, 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 door. Li Ziheng entered the county government office. He came out soon, handed a bronze medal to Hu Yanlei and said with a smile: "This is the city entrance card, but you still have to take it."
No, I have to take you into the city, let’s go! Just go to the Li family’s manor and change your clothes.”
In the afternoon, Hu Yanlei and his hundreds of men successfully entered the city and stayed at the Li family's Shunfeng Inn.
The main force of the Song Army is still some distance away from Longxi County, and Hu Yanlei's current task is to clear out the Xixia spies in the city.
But something strange happened at this moment. Hu Yanlei was discussing a plan of action with the two captains, but Li Ziheng hurried over and brought them shocking news: the puppet Qi army was about to retreat.
"Li Yanei, is the news reliable?" a head of the capital asked in surprise.
Li Ziheng nodded, "Absolutely reliable. They have looted all the 12,000 pieces of money and 20,000 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 Dutong sent troops, so they urgently gave up Longxi County and retreated."
At this moment, the sound of running footsteps was heard on the street outside. Everyone hurriedly walked to the window and saw a thousand puppet Qi troops running in formation outside the city, carrying spears on their shoulders and carrying dry food bags and water bottles on their backs.
Lei was a scout, and he could see at a glance the number of dry food bags, which was enough to last for ten days.
It seems that the puppet Qi army has really retreated.
Each person was also carrying a very heavy package, which should be the copper coins and cloth they obtained from looting the warehouse. The copper coins alone were twelve guan per person and weighed more than 70 kilograms!
It is estimated that several mule and horse shops at the city gate will suffer.
Hu Yanlei thought of an urgent matter and asked Li Ziheng hurriedly: "Can you bring the two hundred villagers from your manor into the city?"
