Early the next morning, Liu Cui's army took over the defense of the county. After a night of cleaning up, the Xixia army and government forces in Didao County were basically wiped out, and there was no possibility of cooperation between inside and outside.
But Didao County was occupied by the Xixia people for two years after all. Even if the official forces were eliminated, there were still a large number of private forces.
Chen Qing led soldiers to patrol the streets. Martial law was still enforced on the streets. People were not allowed to go out. There were patrolling soldiers everywhere. There was a tense atmosphere in the city.
Teams of soldiers were searching house to house, mainly targeting large homes and large shops of the Xixia people, demanding that they hand over their weapons, otherwise they would be severely punished.
Chen Qing first arrived at the hole in the city wall in the southeast corner. After a night's work, the hole had been filled with soil, the outer wall had been rebuilt, and dozens of soldiers were building a wall in another area.
Chen Qing accidentally saw the county captain Huang Yaozong was also there. What was he talking to Liu Cui?
"Everyone is here!"
A soldier whispered a reminder, and Liu Cui hurriedly stepped forward to greet him, "See the capital!"
"Didn't it get repaired last night?" Chen Qingxiao asked.
Liu Cui said quickly: "The one last night has been repaired. Just now Huang County Cheng told me that there is another hole with a width of two feet. I just asked the soldiers to repair it."
Chen Qing glanced at Huang Yaozong and said with a smile: "The county captain also knows that there is a hole here?"
"The hole in the city wall here was first discovered by Bei Zhi, who told Wuzhi County. In fact, many Han officials in our county knew about it, but everyone kept silent."
Chen Qing nodded approvingly, "I want to know about the situation in the city. Let's go to the top of the city and talk!"
Chen Qing smiled at Liu Cui again and said, "You come too."
When everyone went to the top of the city, Chen Qing asked slowly: "How many party members are there among the people in the city? Is it difficult to cure them?"
"Reporting to the Jiedushi, there are about 30% Dangxiang residents in the city."
"There are so many?"
"There are two types of Dangxiang people. One is the old residents who have lived there for more than ten or twenty years. There is no danger to these Dangxiang people. The other is the new immigrants who have migrated here in the past two years. They have seized the best land.
They have the best properties and the best houses, and they have also established a Party Xiang Fuxing Society, which is equivalent to a militia like the Bow and Arrow Society in the Song Dynasty. It has weapons and armor and is very dangerous."
"Is there a list of these new immigrants?" Chen Qing asked.
Next to him, Liu Cui said: "The county government has a roster, and Huang County Prime Minister has given him a humble position. The humble position arranged for soldiers to go from house to house to search for weapons."
Chen Qing nodded and asked, "How much do you know about the silver mines in Guichuan County?"
Huang Yaozong smiled bitterly and shook his head, "I know that there is a silver mine there, but there is no record in the government. I really don't know much about it. I only know that the silver mine is relatively secretive. It has always been a taboo in the officialdom. It is not allowed to mention it or ask questions.
."
"Then who knows better?"
Huang Yaozong thought for a while and said: "The former Wuzhi County should know that he was transferred from Guichuan County."
"Wu Hongwei?"
"Yes! It's him. He should know it very well."
Speaking of Cao Cao, Cao Cao arrived. At this time, a soldier came forward to report: "To report to the capital, the former magistrate of Wuxian County said that he has come to report on the order of the capital."
Arriving just in time, Chen Qingxiao asked: "Where is he now?"
"Waiting at the government office."
Chen Qing turned back to Liu Cui and said: "The top priority now is to clear out the new immigrants in the party. Searching for their weapons may not necessarily lead to finding them. The key is people. We must be more decisive. First, we must clear out all the men above the age of fourteen and below the age of fifty."
Detain them until the Xixia army withdraws, and then deal with them slowly."
"I understand the humble position!"
Chen Qing said to Huang Yaozong again: "You will fully assist General Liu and handle this matter well. I will appoint you as the county magistrate!"
"You must do your best for your humble job!"
Chen Qing hurried to the Imperial Envoy's office. Wu Hongwei was sitting in the lobby waiting, looking a little nervous. At this time, Chen Qing walked into the lobby, and Wu Hongwei quickly stood up and saluted, "See you at the capital!"
"Sit down and talk!"
Chen Qing smiled and asked him to sit down, and asked the soldiers to serve him tea.
"I didn't expect that Dutong would capture Didao County so quickly."
"Thanks to the information you provided! Otherwise, I don't know how many people would have died in the street fighting in the city."
"In my humble position, I hope not to harm innocent people."
The two chatted for a while, then Chen Qing changed the topic and asked: "I really want to know about the silver mine in Guichuan County, and I hope Wuzhi County will tell you everything!"
Wu Hongwei was silent for a moment and asked: "Is this silver mine important to the capital?"
"Yes! It's very important. It will affect the source of my future military expenditures."
Wu Hongwei nodded, "This silver mine has actually existed for more than ten years. It was discovered by Liu Fa, the Xihe Jinglue envoy. At that time, the Western Army was also facing the dilemma of poor treatment and low military salary. In order to raise money and food, Liu Jinglue
They also racked their brains. After discovering this silver mine, the top generals of the Western Army unanimously agreed to mine silver privately to supplement military expenditures. However, they also knew that this was a taboo. In the military records, it was just a lead mine, so they classified it as a lead mine.
The matter of this silver mine was concealed.
In the third year of Xuanhe's reign, officials from the Mining Department of the Third Envoy came to check, but were fooled by the generals with lead ore prepared in advance. However, they still did not dare to mine on a large scale. The amount of silver mined every year was about 200,000 taels. At that time,
The silver was worthless, so it was only 200,000 guan, all of which was used to make up for the lack of military expenditure, buy mutton, improve food for the soldiers, etc.
Later, Liu Ziyu took over as the military envoy of Xihe Road. He was very cautious and advocated that the mine should only be mined but not smelted, and then smelted when the time was right. As a result, we hoarded a large amount of ore and never had the chance to smelt it."
Chen Qing had realized in his heart that it was exactly the same as his guess. The silver mine should be mined secretly by the Western Army, so the government did not know the existence of the silver mine. The 100,000 kilograms of crude silver obtained by the Xixia people was also smelted from the ore they had hoarded for many years.
come out.
"You are also one of the participants!"
Wu Hongwei nodded silently, "The humble position is actually the second mine manager and the magistrate of Guichuan County at the same time."
"The Xixia people are mining silver now, you know it, right?"
Wu Hongwei sighed, "There is nothing you can do if you know the humble position. The Xixia Army is good at collecting intelligence. They should have known about the existence of the silver mine for a long time. Xixia's peek at Lintao Mansion may also be related to the silver mine!"
Chen Qing walked a few steps with his hands behind his back: "I have a general understanding of the situation. You first take over the county government and work with Huang Yaozong to stabilize the people of Didao County."
In the afternoon, the latest news came from the Song Army scouts. When they arrived forty miles north of Didao County, more than 7,000 soldiers of the Xixia Army turned around and headed west, with their destination unknown.
This news made Chen Qing alert. He immediately opened the map and sent someone to find Wu Hongwei.
Not long after, Wu Hongwei, who had changed into the uniform of a county magistrate, hurried over and bowed: "Is there anything wrong with Jiedushi looking for a humble position?"
"I want to ask you about the traffic conditions!"
Chen Qing pointed at the map and said: "The scouts just sent the latest news. Seven thousand troops of the Xixia Army turned westward from forty miles north of Didao County, but I didn't find any road on the map. How did they get back?
thing?"
Wu Hongwei hesitated and said: "The road mentioned by Jiedushi is probably the old official road. After the new official road was built, no one walked on the old official road. It has been abandoned for at least twenty years. This
This map was drawn later, so the old official road is not marked."
"Can you still leave after being abandoned for twenty years?"
"It's definitely possible to walk. The cavalry road was built back then. The rammed earth is very solid. However, it is at least a hundred miles farther north than the new official road. It is very inconvenient. It is mainly to intersect with the official road to the north."
"You mean it's a hundred miles away?"
Wu Hongwei was stunned, "Of course the humble position is Dangchuan County. Doesn't the Jiedushi Commander know that?"
Chen Qing shook his head. At this time, he already understood that after the Xixia reinforcements failed to support Didao, they changed their strategy. They must have gone to take over the silver mines in Sichuan County, and Yang Zaixing's army might be in danger.
Chen Qing thought for a moment, and then he said to his soldiers: "Go and pass on my order quickly, and assemble three thousand cavalry immediately!"
A quarter of an hour later, Chen Qing personally led three thousand cavalry to leave Didao County and rushed along Xinguan Road towards Dangchuan County.
