When Meng Tong was in Baiyangdian Water Village, he was very stubborn and fearless.
But when he finally arrived in front of Li Xia, he took a sneak peek and saw the Tang troops around him wearing armor and holding weapons, in neat formation, and with an awe-inspiring appearance.
The murderous spirit was so strong that even a small water bandit leader did not dare to express his anger.
He lowered his head and stared at the tips of his shoes. He could not hear the conversation in front of him at all, and his mind was in a blur.
Suddenly, someone tapped him on the shoulder. "Master Meng, Master Meng?"
Meng Tong looked up and saw that it was Shen Kai, the general beside Zhang Hongdao, calling him.
"Mr. Meng, the old commander asked you to go to the front."
"Shhh." Meng Tong was startled and said quickly: "What a boss? I'm not a boss, I'm just an ordinary citizen."
Shen Kai couldn't help but sneer slightly when he heard this.
A few days ago, Jingjie wanted to recruit Baiyangdian Water Village several times. Unfortunately, Meng Tong refused at that time, and his attitude was very arrogant, threatening, "You, Grandpa Meng, have been in this Daze all your life. Who cares about you, the Great Khan Emperor?" Now that I'm here, I can't even think of asking Grandpa to give in."
"Grandpa Meng has become an ordinary citizen again today?" "Don't dare, don't dare."
Meng Tong's voice was weak. As Shen Kai moved forward, he raised his eyes and caught a glimpse of Zhang Rou's back.
Zhang Rou is tall and tall, but she lowers her head slightly and looks very respectful. The person standing in front of her is obviously the emperor. She is wearing gilt armor with dragon patterns and is actually taller than Zhang Rou.
"Cao Cao Min Meng Tong, long live His Majesty the Emperor!"
Meng Tong didn't dare to take a closer look. With a "pop" sound, he knelt down and kowtowed.
When he heard a young voice say something, he could vaguely tell that it was asking him to get up, but he didn't dare to confirm it, which made him feel embarrassed.
In fact, the official dialect of the Song Dynasty in the south is also Kaifeng dialect. Meng Tong, a man from Hebei, can't understand it, but he is too nervous.
"Get up, you are a wild hero after all, don't lose your prestige." "It's not a wild man, he's not a wild man, he's a grassroots man." Meng Tong responded quickly.
He took advantage of the situation and stood up tremblingly. At this moment, he realized deeply that Zhang Rou came to recruit him, which really saved his life and gave him a chance to meet the saint.
"Mr. Meng is quite interesting."
"Your Majesty." Zhang Judao said, "The men, women, old and children of Baiyangdian Water Village, plus the people in the surrounding mountains and fields who are 'protected' by it, have a population of nearly 5,000." "Oh?"
Li Xia was quite surprised when he heard this. He wanted to farm in Hebei, but there was indeed a shortage of people.
Zhang Rou continued: "In addition, there is some food stored in the water village." Li Xia was even more surprised.
Meng Tong was shocked, opened his mouth, had a lot to say, and looked at Zhang Rou with an innocent expression.
"this"
Zhang Rou then bowed her hand to Li Xia and said, "Master Meng is willing to bring all the villagers to surrender and offer the grain stored in the village."
"It seems that Meng Qing has the heart to serve the country." Li Xia nodded and told the officials around him: "We will discuss merits as appropriate and offer Meng Qing an official position."
"I obey the decree."
Meng Tong wanted to speak but didn't dare, and his already dazed mind felt even more confused.
But no matter what, he finally became an official. The Meng family has never had an official in several generations.
He couldn't help but feel more grateful to Zhang Roulai.
As for what Zhang Rou said to Li Xia later, he couldn't understand it.
"Your Majesty, bandits are everywhere in Hebei, not just in Baiyangdian, but also in the Taihang Mountains."
"Does the Mongolian and Yuan court not care?"
"If we talk about the Meng Yuan's governance of the Central Plains, it should be described as 'rough'. This is like herding. There are princes who work as shepherd boys to herd sheep for them. How can they care about how many mice there are on the grass."
Zhang Rou no longer looked at Meng Tong. She only regarded Meng Tong as a greeting gift and as a step to a higher position in the New Tang Dynasty. She continued to say to Li Xia: "Mengyuan doesn't care about these bandits and bandits, but the local princes can't care about them."
, veteran
We have also exterminated a few batches. Now the remaining ones have some friendship with the old minister, and the old minister is willing to help His Majesty."
I have to say that Li Xia is very satisfied with Zhang Rou's statement.
We met again after so many years. This time, this Hebei tycoon seemed very knowledgeable in his speech and actions, and even looked a little too nice to Li Xia. "As soon as Mr. Zhang came back, most of the people in Hebei were settled." Suddenly
, there was a little commotion in the crowd.
Everyone turned to look, but among the young water bandit leaders who came with Meng Tong, one of them walked forward without being summoned. He poked his head to look at Li Xia, so he was held down as an assassin.
.
Even though Meng Tongdang became nervous, he turned around and looked around, and said quickly: "He only came to the water village two years ago. He doesn't understand the rules. Common people, ah, I don't know what he wants to do."
Li Xia glanced over there, waved his hand indifferently, and was about to calm down this trivial matter, but then glanced at the little leader of the water bandits who was being held down.
"bring it here."
At this point, not only Meng Tong, but also Zhang Rou felt a little uneasy.
Fortunately, after the young water bandit leader was brought forward, he remained honest and just looked at Li Xia in a daze without any excessive behavior.
"Have I seen you?"
The little leader of the water bandits shook his head and nodded, as if he wanted to deny it at first, but then he didn't dare to deceive him.
"Your Majesty, don't you remember the grassroots?" "Do you remember me?"
"Shi Hui, a grassroots man, has a nickname on the road called 'Wonderful Abacus'."
Shi Hui paused for a moment when he said this. Seeing that Li Xia didn't react much, he carefully reminded him: "The common people used to do business on the Yangtze River, and they were released once by His Majesty."
Li Xia glanced at Shi Hui again and vaguely remembered something.
Shi Hui reminded him in a low voice: "In the fourth year of Xingchang's reign, the Yangtze River came to Caishiji." "It was you." Li Xia said, "The first one to escape from my hands."
"Yes, yes, the grassroots are very honored."
Li Xia smiled and thought it was a coincidence that in such a big world, he could meet someone he had met more than ten years ago.
"It's been all these years and you're still a water bandit?"
Shi Hui was stunned, thinking that he had no other skills, so what else could he do if he was not a water bandit.
When I thought about it more carefully, I realized that the other party had transformed from a small officer and soldier into an emperor. I really didn’t know what to say.
"The common people are ashamed, ashamed."
"How do you get from the Yangtze River to Baiyangdian?"
Shi Huidao said: "After being annihilated by your Majesty, the common people went to join Liu Shixiong, the big bandit in Jiangling area, 'Fan Jianglong'. Later, your Majesty's army attacked the Song Dynasty and annihilated Fan Jianglong along the way."
Li Xia had never heard of a big thief who wanted to steal a river.
At his current status, one decision can change the fate of countless small characters like Shi Hui. Just like a person sweeps with a broom, he will not see every dust raised.
"Afterwards, the grassroots people ran to Xiangyang and followed the smuggling caravan to Baozhou." Shi Hui said, "When passing by Gaoyang, they were robbed by the boss, so they followed the boss to Luocao."
"Wonderful plan!" Meng Tong said anxiously: "You are a water bandit to begin with, don't make it sound like I'm forcing you to fall into the trap."
Li Xia had already asked Zhang Rou: "There is also smuggling between the Zhang family and Xiangyang?" He recalled that when he first went north, he had heard about the Zhang family's smuggling.
At this time, Zhang Hongji stepped forward and responded: "Your Majesty, yes, but after the peace talks between the Song and Yuan Dynasties, the scale became smaller."
"But the connection is still there?" "It's still there."
Li Xia nodded slightly, glanced at Shi Hui again, and said: "Stop being a water bandit, you should also make progress. People like you who are good at water and are both civil and military can easily achieve great achievements."
Shi Hui opened his eyes and was very excited.
He was like a speck of dust blown up by the strong wind, drifting around, and this time he was finally going to land on the high mountain rising from the ground.
~~
The strong wind blows across the Yangtze River and joins the roar of the waves.
Jia Sidao Lingfeng
Standing on the bow of the ship, his red cloak fluttering. He had already spent the Lantern Festival on the Yangtze River. Finally, he was no longer impatient to watch the soldiers besiege Baidi City every day, so he personally led the navy to continue westward to see how the army faced the few soldiers upstream.
The offensive of the city.
This is the advantage of having abundant troops.
At this time, an ancient city gradually appeared in front of Jia Sidao.
"Pingzhang Gong, this is the former seat of the old city of Kuizhou, also called Yong'an City." Yao Min said: "In the second year of Zhangwu in the Shu Han Dynasty, Emperor Zhaolie of the Han Dynasty launched an army to attack Wu. He was defeated and retreated to Yufu, so Yufu County was changed to Yong'an County.
, named the palace Yong'an Palace. From then on, this was the administrative seat of Kuizhou."
"Is that Kuizhou City?" an official asked.
"It can only be said that it is the old city of Kuizhou." Yao Pian said: "In the second year of Chunyou of the Great Song Dynasty, the governor of Kuizhou moved Kuizhou to Baidi City on the grounds that 'the terrain where it was governed was quite flat and the situation could no longer be restored'. But in Li
After Xia became the commander-in-chief of Sichuan, he moved the administrative seat out of Baidi City. He also disliked the narrow terrain of Yong'an City, so he set up the administrative seat of Kuizhou in the new Fengjie County."
"Come to think of it, isn't this Kuizhou City already?"
"No, this is the ancient city of Yong'an ahead. Today's Kuizhou City is still fifteen miles upstream."
Jia Sidao frowned.
Apart from anything else, Yao Fan's words first meant that he wanted to capture Kuizhou and also wanted to capture one more Yong'an city.
"How is the offensive going?"
Liao Yingzhong stepped forward and said: "Ping Zhanggong has been surrounding Yong'an City for more than ten days, but the Tang army is huddled in the city, with complete defenses and sufficient firearms. It is still temporarily."
"Stop talking." Jia Sidao waved his hand a little irritably.
"Pingzhang Gong, this is the case with the cities in Sichuan and Shu. They are close to rivers and high mountains, and the terrain is easy to defend and difficult to attack. We can only besiege them and plan for them slowly."
"I can't wait any longer." Jia Sidao raised his eyes and glanced into the distance, turned his head, lowered his voice, and said: "Once Li Xia gives up the Northern Expedition and returns to attack Xiangyang, and if Lu Wenhuan is defeated, do you know what the army will do?
What are the consequences?”
"It's not like that"
"I don't care if it doesn't happen, we have to be quick."
"But there is a fortified city in front of us. I'm afraid it will be difficult to conquer quickly."
However, Jia Sidao had already made an idea, saying: "Pass down the order to surround Kuizhou City, Yong'an City, and Baidi City. Even birds are not allowed to enter or exit. Then pass my surrender letter to Zhang Qiyan in Kuizhou."
"
"What does Mr. Ping Zhang mean?"
"Tell Zhang Qiyan and Bai Emperor that the cities of Yong'an have fallen, and even Wanzhou upstream has surrendered."
Liao Yingzhong bowed in understanding and said: "Don't worry, Mr. Ping Zhang, the students will make arrangements for it."
"Reply another letter and send it to Lin'an." Jia Sidao considered it, played a word game, and said, "Let the Ministry of Rites send an envoy to tell the Yuan Lord that our army has captured Kuizhou City."
"Mr. Pingzhang, why is this?" "First of all, to stabilize the heart of the court.
Jia Sidao has been feeling uneasy lately, fearing that trouble will occur in Lin'an, so he thinks it is necessary to send some good news back as soon as possible.
Although the war is not going smoothly, he has many means.
"Second, let the Yuan Master think that Li Xia will return to the army soon, so the Yuan Master will take the initiative to attack and kill Li Xia."
"Will it cause the Yuan Lord to misjudge the situation?"
"Why bother? As long as these two dogs can bite harder."