"County Lieutenant, don't look at the city. It's so close. It's still a long way to go." Xiong Shan raised his hand and pointed, and said: "The guard over there is Wu Xingjian, Mingtong, who has led more than a hundred people.
Miao soldiers."
The so-called "inspection inspection" is not much different from the official position of county captain.
The county captain belongs to the civil defense and is generally held by civilian officials;
Inspection inspections belong to the military defense and are held by military attachés with a long term. They are set up at important places along the border or at passes and lead troops to guard the border. However, they "are not allowed to have any contact with state or county affairs."
Li Xia asked: "As you said, if you give Wu Tong some money, can he let us cross the border?"
Xiong Shan grinned and said: "I have dealt with Inspector Wu a few years ago. He is a Miao, but he is no different from a Song. In the past, I took merchants across the border and paid some money.
"
Afraid that Li Xia wouldn't believe it, he added, "Do you know that Junlian Prefecture produces salt?"
"Salt?"
"Yes, Junlian produces well salt. Although Wu Xingjian is a military attache, he is also a private salt seller." Xiong Shan said: "He produces salt in Junlian Prefecture, passes through Wuchi Road and Shimen Road, and sells it to Wumeng
Various places. In the past, when merchants traveled, some road tax was collected for them."
"It's okay to say it so blatantly?"
"It's not a big deal. As long as the Miao soldiers and village soldiers obey him, the prefectures and counties will turn a blind eye. After all, this is the territory, and the court can't control it. This is Wu Inspector, and all the ministries of Yunlian have not done anything in these years.
There has been trouble. Besides, even if he doesn't sell it, the court won't be able to collect salt taxes from this land."
Li Xia also understood that it would not be easy for Wu Tong to suppress the various ethnic groups here, sell salt, and collect taxes.
If any meddlesome official wants to control the smuggling of salt by the generals of the Jizhou Prefecture, he will cause a big mess instead, and the gain outweighs the loss.
"Then Inspector Wu is very rich?" Li Xia asked.
"I don't know. I'm not familiar with Inspector Wu either..."
"Qingfu County Lieutenant? Why did you come to my territory? There are more than 180 people..."
After hearing the report, Wu Tong thought for a while and said in a deep voice: "Stay outside and let Lieutenant Li come in."
After he finished his instructions, he walked a few steps in silk clothes without wearing any armor, put down his wine glass, and went out to greet him.
There are more than dozens of people in Guancheng, from all ethnic groups, with the largest number being Miao people, gathering in the hall to throw pots.
Wu Tong shouted and ordered these people to stop.
After a while, some village soldiers led Li Xia, Xiong Shan, Lu Hu and others in.
"Hahaha, County Lieutenant Li is so young and handsome." Wu Tong came up to greet him and said loudly: "I didn't know that Qingfu County had such a charming county captain, good! Good!"
"I've seen Inspector Wu."
"Li County Lieutenant doesn't need to know each other too much. We are brothers if we know each other... Let's buy some wine. I'll have a few drinks with County Lieutenant!"
Xiong Shan also stepped forward and greeted Wu Tong. Both of them were Miao people, so they didn't use too many etiquette.
While talking, Xiong Shan handed over a cloth bag.
That was the money Li Xia gave him to pay bribes.
Wu Tong did not answer, waved his hand, and said with a smile: "Li County Lieutenant, how about we have a drink and talk later?"
"good."
After a while, the wine was placed, and Wu Tong was quite enthusiastic. He drank a large bowl first, but he didn't try to persuade him to drink.
After exchanging a few pleasantries, we turned to the topic.
"Li County Lieutenant, I am eighteen years older than you, haha, do you mind if I call myself 'brother'?"
"It's natural."
"Haha, brother Li, why did you bring people to my brother's place?"
Li Xia asked: "Does Wu's inspection know that Wu Lianghetai has led his troops to attack Shu, and Zhang Dutong has gone to Mahu County to fight?"
"Of course I know. I received the letter two days ago." Wu Tongtong said, "I didn't expect that in the past, the Shu troops were all in the north of the Yangtze River facing the enemy, but now the south of the Shu River is also facing the enemy."
He laughed heartily and added: "This is the first time since the Mongolian army captured Dali that they went north to attack Sichuan and Sichuan from the north and the south. The situation is different, it's different."
Li Xia thought this was quite reasonable. The army and people of Sichuan and Sichuan had resisted the Mongols for more than ten years, and there were famous generals such as Yu Jie. The defense line in the north of the Yangtze River was tight, and many mountain cities were built to station troops to confront the Mongolian army.
From Zhang Shi's ability to quickly mobilize 30,000 naval troops, we can see that the northern defense line is stable.
But in the south, when the Mongolian army moved north from Dali for the first time, the Song army's response seemed to be slow. At least there was not much defense on the Sichuan-Yunnan strategic road.
Wu Tong in front of him also looked unconcerned.
Li Xia asked: "Isn't Inspector Wu worried about the Mongolian army heading north along Shimen Road?"
"Haha, is Brother Li afraid of this? You are worrying too much, worrying too much. When you came here, you took the five-foot path, right?"
"good."
Wu Tongtong: "This road is not easy to walk, isn't it? Further south, it is even more difficult to walk. One man is in charge of the barrier, and ten thousand people are not allowed to open it. What are you afraid of?!"
"The strength of Inspector Wu..."
"Don't look at my brother, there are only a few dozen people here." Wu Tongtong said: "There are many soldiers in each village. They don't usually have to guard this city. It's so boring."
Li Xia held the wine glass and didn't drink much. He looked around the city and saw that there were only a few dozen soldiers, and they were not wearing armor. They were all lazy.
Seeing him thinking deeply, Wu Tong laughed again.
"Brother Li, do you look down on people like my brother? Let me tell you, even these people are enough to guard the Five Feet Dao. Haha...Hai Jinliu! Show your skills to Brother Li."
He suddenly shouted loudly, and a lazy Miao soldier stood up, picked up his bow and arrow, and shot an arrow outside the hall.
"Whoosh!"
The arrow was nailed directly to the flagpole more than eighty paces outside the hall.
Luhu turned his head to take a look and couldn't help but praise: "Awesome."
Wu Tong didn't even look at it, and said: "My brother's soldiers were all unearthed here. The high mountains and deep valleys are like walking on the ground. When the Mongolian army comes, just this small road is blocked. No matter how many people they come, they will all be buried."
Down."
Li Xia asked: "No need to send people to explore the way ahead? What if the Mongolian army makes a surprise attack?"
"We have already set up sentry posts along the way to the south. As soon as the Mongolian army comes, there is smoke and smoke, and they are left here directly. There are also various villages that will notify themselves, hahaha... How many people can the Mongolian army come? More than a thousand people left.
This trail is as high as the sky, and the black barbarians robbed them all."
Wu Tong said, glanced at Li Xia, and smiled: "Looking at brother Li's age, I'm afraid he has never fought in a war, right?"
"Indeed."
"You can tell at a glance." Wu Tongtong said: "Brother, I know what you are thinking. You think that the Mongolian army is conquering Shu, and we have to guard this mountain road and wear armor every day... Hahaha, too young, too young to fight.
That's not the case, that's what laymen think. Most of the time in a war, there are two things, one is to leave, and the other is to wait. The Mongolian army is walking, and my brother is waiting. When the Mongolian army arrives, my brother will close the door and let everyone know.
open."
Li Xia said: "Inspector Wu is familiar with the terrain in this area, so he can lift things with ease. But I am a county captain for the first time. I want to walk more and see more. I plan to go a little further. I wonder if I can be allowed?"
Wu Tong was still laughing, looking quite cheerful. He pointed at Li Xia and said: "Be cautious, Brother Li is too cautious, too cautious. The officials of Yingfu County are not only familiar with the terrain as well as my brother's land, but also more
Going to Dian?"
"Be careful and you won't make a big mistake. Please ask Wu to inspect it for convenience."
"Easy to say, easy to say. Let's talk about something else today."
Wu Tong was a little happy. He blushed, leaned forward, and said, "Brother Li, come closer. I want to ask you something...Jiang Chun, I'm afraid Fang Yankai is not easy to get along with, right?"