The rain wet the raincoat on his shoulders. Pixiu stared at the yard in front of him. He took the big bow wrapped in oilskin to keep it dry from his subordinates, strung the arrow and charged up for a shot.
The arrow was firmly nailed to the courtyard gate with the paper tube. Pixiu waited quietly until he saw someone taking the arrow away. When he saw a panicked figure appearing in the courtyard, the corner of his mouth raised an arc.
"Let's go to the next one!"
Pixiu turned around and shouted. Because of the cover of the rain, he didn't have to worry too much when moving. His men followed him and headed to the next target.
Not long after they left, the traces left behind were blurred by the rain until they were no longer distinguishable.
Lingzhou, Liehong County.
It is more than 200 miles away from Congxing Mansion, the seat of Lingzhou Government, about two or three days' journey.
At this time, in the county government office of Liehong County, the person in charge was not the magistrate of Liehong County, but Tang Hao, the magistrate of Lingzhou.
"Take good care of these people, and we will set off tomorrow to escort them back to the city. We must not make any mistakes!"
Tang Hao ordered to the sergeants and clerks in the yamen. After he came out of the city, he went straight here and easily captured the magistrate of Liehong County, and then arrested half of the people in the yamen.
.
Later, because the location of Liehong County was well connected in all directions and it was a good place to command, Tang Hao stayed here and sent his sergeants to other counties to arrest the bandits. The reason why he was so confident that no one would resist was because of the bandits.
It is only a small crime, but resisting the government is a major crime.
Although the imperial court is currently unstable, these low-level officials are not the ones who have the courage to resist.
It's just that the other party was quite cooperative when arresting people before, knowing that they couldn't escape and that as long as they confessed honestly, they wouldn't be guilty of much crime. However, these people seemed to have got some news in the past two days. They tried every means to delay the time and even went into hiding.
Tibet gives Tang Hao a headache.
That's not the only annoying thing. Tang Hao had a mission, and the situation in Lingzhou changed several times in a short period of time. He sent four or five letters to the capital in more than a month, but none of them got the answer.
Reply.
This made Tang Hao wonder, could something have happened to the capital?
Before he could come up with any clues, his subordinate Jun Jun rushed over and told Tang Hao about the water leakage in the city.
"What a ruthless thief!"
Tang Hao suddenly stood up, the armor on his body colliding with each other making a sound of gold and iron, and he was extremely indignant at this unscrupulous evil.
Although he is not a farmer like Chen Ping, he has experienced hardship and received cold looks. He knows the importance of food, and even if the one hundred thousand shi of food was taken from the hands of thieves, it is indeed enough to fill people up.
Food for the belly.
Now being burned by such a fire, anyone with any conscience will feel heartbroken.
"By the way, sir, the prefect Yang also asks you to go back quickly, saying that the matter involves the safety of Lingzhou."
Tang Hao looked suspicious when he heard this. He guessed that this might be Pi Xiu's group of thieves who wanted to cause trouble, so he turned around and gave the order without saying anything.
"Stop what you are doing and ask the brothers from other counties to gather in Liehong and then return to the city!"
"Let's go! I'll leave tonight. If it wasn't a big deal, Mr. Yang and Chen Ping wouldn't urge me to go back like this. It's definitely Pi Xiu who wants to cause some trouble!"
Although the causes and consequences of what happened in Zhoucheng are still unclear, Tang Hao is also keenly aware of the dangers involved.
Compared with this, these officials who are colluding with thieves are not that important now. Anyway, we have arrested a lot of them, which is enough.
When he called the army recruiters and was about to leave Lihong County, Tang Hao felt palpitations for no reason. He had a vague feeling that something was wrong. He thought about it carefully but couldn't think of it. He paused and finally decided to continue taking action.
It is true that he is the governor of Lingzhou. In theory, all the soldiers and horses in the state obey his orders. However, in fact, the number of people Tang Hao can mobilize is only a thousand people. Compared with the tens of thousands of officers and soldiers in Lingzhou,
Very few.
This is because the workload of the Lingzhou army is much greater than that of its counterparts in the mainland. For example, the border between Dayu and Dali is not directly adjacent, but is served as a buffer zone by a group of chieftains.
Dayu's laws do not apply to these chieftains' territories, and Dayu's military officials cannot control them. This leads to the fact that counties bordering the chieftains often need to station some officers and soldiers for prevention.
As for other dangerous places in the passes, officers and soldiers are also required to be stationed. If this is allocated to Tang Hao, more than a thousand people can be mobilized at any time.
However, Tang Hao still has a standard battalion at hand, which is composed of elites he brought from Qingzhou. The number is only a few hundred, but not only can they perform miraculous effects at critical moments, the most important thing is that Tang Hao can trust them more.
.
The situation in Lingzhou is special here. Compared with the prosperous Jiangnan and other places, this place can even be said to be indifferent. However, we have to beware of harassment by the Dali Kingdom, so we stationed troops in the prefectures and counties bordering the Tusi. Instead, they were inside and close to
The places in the inland states are relatively empty.
In the past, Lingzhou was considered one of the most inconspicuous states in the entire Dayu Dynasty, but who would have thought that Pixiu and the others would choose this place to make a fuss.
Tang Hao felt the pressure, but he didn't like to be defeated by others. Even if he lost and let Pi Xiu succeed, he would still have to bite off a piece of the opponent's flesh. If he didn't feel good for himself, he wouldn't want to feel good for the enemy.
Looking at the sparse drizzle outside the county town, the increasingly muddy roads, and the unknown dangers, Tang Hao did not hesitate anymore and ordered the team to set off.
What Tang Hao didn't know was that a group of people had been waiting for him on the road from Liehong to Zhoucheng.
......
In the mountain forest in the northwest of Lingzhou, a figure shuttled between the tall trees. The speed was incomparable even to the hunters who walked the mountains all year round.
As the dark clouds on the horizon gradually approached, Nangong Ming suddenly stopped, looking at the gradually scrawled traces in the distance and fell into deep thought.
Not long after that, Nangong Ming turned around and looked around, and found that the place was filled with ancient trees that even a few people could not surround. The Marquis snorted coldly.
"What a thief!"
With these words, Nangong Ming turned around and rushed in the direction of Zhoucheng, feeling a surge of unknown anger in his heart.
He didn't realize it when he was chasing him at first, but as he chased more and more, there was no way out. When the surroundings were completely barren mountains and mountains, it was impossible for a large group of people to walk, Nangong Mingcai woke up from his dream.
There is no doubt that he fell into the trap.
Normally, Nangong Ming would not feel angry, he would just continue to muster up his strength to catch the enemy who deceived him, and then defeat him.
But today is different from the past. This time he came with the intention of revenge. Now that he has been teased for several days, how can he not be angry?
The most important thing is that he is not in Zhoucheng these days. I don't know what Pixiu and others will do.
Thinking of this, Nangong Ming increased his speed again, and his eyes burst out with a chilling look.
Since he was wrongly imprisoned many years ago, he has traveled almost all over the world in order to find opportunities and wait for the opportunity. Today, the situation in the world is becoming more and more turbulent, and so are the battles in the court. Nangong Ming has been silent for a long time in his heart.
The fire can finally burn again.
But relying on his own strength is naturally not enough, so nothing can happen to Lingzhou and nothing can happen to Chen Ping!