"The villain Bai Nongchuan came to see Lieutenant Li on the orders of Marquis Yue."
"You've been working hard all the way, drink some water and eat something."
"Thank you, Lieutenant Li." Bai Nongchuan sat down in no hurry, took off the baggage on his back, and handed a letter and a small purse to Li Xia.
"This is what the Marquis of Yue and the Princess brought to Lieutenant Li."
Li Xia reached out and took it without looking at it in a hurry, and asked, "What is your relationship with Mr. Bai Cangshan?"
"He is the villain's cousin."
"Well, they look somewhat similar. What is your purpose here?"
Bai Nongchuan said: "The villain went north to find out about the death of Wu Liang Hetai. He learned that it was Lieutenant Li who killed him, and he admired him greatly."
"I will discuss this with you in detail later." Li Xia first asked, "Which way did you come from?"
Bai Nongchuan said: "On the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth lunar month, we set off from Tongyacheng. We took a boat from the Yupao River to the Jinsha River, went down to Xuzhou, and then rushed to Qingfu County. We arrived on the thirteenth day of the first lunar month. I heard that the county captain was not there.
, waited for two days.”
"The water in Jinsha River is very fast. Are you afraid that it will be difficult to sail?"
"Yes, there are too many dangerous shoals, and I almost hit the rocks several times."
Within a few words, Li Xia also made a general judgment about the Bai Nongchuan in front of him. He could see that he was good at swimming, had good martial arts skills, and spoke clearly and logically.
"Brother Gao said he returned to Jianchuan, why did he go to Tongyacheng again?"
Bai Nongchuan then told Gao Changshou's experience in detail after returning to Jianchuan. Li Xia asked a few questions in detail from time to time, and he also got a little understanding of the current situation in Dali.
At that time, the Gao family was the actual ruler of Dali. There were also internal conflicts among the Gao family, and they were divided into two factions, the Western Yunnan faction and the Eastern Yunnan faction.
The battle between Gao Taihe and the Mongolian army in Lijiang was very fierce, and only a few remnants were hiding in Shibaoshan south of Jianchuan.
Most of these remnants were sick and disabled, women and children, and it was difficult to cause trouble. Therefore, Gao Changshou went northward at that time. After he returned to Jianchuan this time, he was quickly surrounded and suppressed because he was recognized, so he had to flee to Tongyacheng with his people.
.
When Gao Changshou broke through the Jianchuan siege, sixty-seven out of ten of his already small remaining troops were killed or wounded, leaving only less than a hundred people.
When Bai Nongchuan said this, he couldn't help but cursed in front of Li Xia.
"Duan Xingzhi didn't do well as an emperor, but he had a great time being a dog for Meng Ta. As soon as he got the news of Yue Hou's return, he bit him and wouldn't let go..."
This night is the Lantern Festival, and there is a full moon hanging in the sky.
After Li Xia had a long talk with Bai Nongchuan, he sat alone in the small courtyard of the county government office, seemingly lost in thought.
He was holding a purse in his hand, and in the purse was a peace charm.
Gao Mingyue didn't bring him a single word, but Gao Changshou mentioned at the end of the letter that in order to pray for the efficaciousness of this peace talisman, she had eaten fast and practiced Buddhism every day for several months.
People say that Dali people worship Buddhism, but Li Xia never thought that Gao Mingyue believed in Buddhism in the past, but now the peace symbol in her hand told him that she had concerns.
…
After a long time, Han Chengxu and Han Qiaoer came from the corridor. Han Qiaoer was holding a bowl of glutinous rice balls and placed them on the stone table in front of Li Xia.
"Brother Li, let's eat glutinous rice balls."
"Okay, why didn't you go see the lanterns with the magistrate's family?"
"I want to be with you and my grandfather more. I don't want to guess flower riddles, it's too much trouble." Han Qiaoer looked at the peace charm in Li Xia's hand, thought about it, and whispered: "I miss Sister Mingyue too."
Li Xia scooped up the glutinous rice balls and ate them, then handed Gao Changshou's letter to Han Chengxu.
"Mr. Han, let's take a look."
Han Chengxu read it and saw that except for the last few gossips in the letter, everything mentioned in the letter was Gao Changshou's plan. He wanted to take advantage of Wu Liang Hetai's death to ask his cousin Gao Qiong to summon all the tribes to start another incident.
"It seems that the Dali uprising against Mongolia has never stopped in recent years."
Li Xia said: "I'm not optimistic about it. It's true that the Dali people can't bear the oppression, but if they can't defeat them, they are really far apart in strength. At the beginning, brother Gao Taixiang was very determined to fight. The Mongolian army persuaded them to surrender many times, and Gao Taixiang killed their envoys."
I... I couldn't beat you back then, and I can't beat you even more now."
"How did Alang consider it?"
"I asked Bai Nongchuan to tell Muru after he goes back, don't be too hasty, prepare more horses to trade with me, secretly accumulate strength first, prepare weapons and armor... I will prepare here for another month, prepare some tea, salt and silk, and go there
Dali."
Han Chengxu was stunned for a moment and said, "But...Alang goes there in person?"
"Well, I'll go there myself." Li Xia said firmly.
This time he did not discuss with Han Chengxu, but said: "Within this month, we must make arrangements for the celebration of the talisman."
Han Chengxu thought for a while and asked, "Did Alang think carefully instead of acting on impulse?"
"I have indeed considered it carefully," Li Xia said, "but it cannot be said that there is no element of impulsiveness."
Early the next morning, Bai Nongchuan followed Li Xia across the Fu River and entered the Qingfu military camp.
Now the Qingfu Army has just been fully recruited, but four hundred generals have just returned from Junlian and have not yet been reorganized. In addition to the hundred generals, the deputy hundred generals, and the generals, the armor of the ordinary soldiers has not yet been completed, and the weapons, bows and arrows are even more.
insufficient.
But the soldiers had all put on red military uniforms and looked in order.
Bai Nongchuan saw the neat array and the vigorous old soldiers. He felt that in front of such military appearance, the rebels in Dali were very careless.
He also saw nearly two hundred Dali prisoners building a camp, who were captured by Li Xia after he defeated Ni Ge.
After seeing this, Bai Nongchuan truly believed that it was just such a troop that killed Wu Liang Hetai.
Li Xia recruited Xiong Shan and asked Xiong Shan to choose one of the people to choose Bai Nongchuan and return to Tongya Mansion. He also asked them to stay with Gao Changshou when they arrived and wait for him to follow him.
After making this arrangement, at noon, Bai Nongchuan and more than ten people set foot on the road south.
"Captain Li, I have written down everything you brought to Marquis Yue."
"Um."
"Do you have something to tell the princess?"
"No need." Li Xia said, "I will go there."
Bai Nongchuan raised his hand and felt that Lieutenant Li was neat and courageous in his work, which made people feel at ease.
Li Xia watched him off for a while.
Xiong Shan was still standing beside him. Thinking of their meeting in Xuzhou, he finally couldn't help but ask: "County Lieutenant, is the woman you bought silver jewelry to propose to... the princess of Dali Princess?"
Li Xia did not answer, but said: "Continue training. By the way, make arrangements when you have time. I will go to Baiyan Village to meet your father tomorrow."
"yes……"
If Li Xia wants to go to Dali within one month, in addition to training soldiers, he also needs to prepare the goods to be smuggled. In addition, he needs Fang Yankai's support.
When he is away, Han Chengxu and his son, Jiang Fan, and Yan Yunyun may be able to protect his interests, but only Fang Yankai can take care of the entire county.
That evening he found Fang Yankai.
…
"What did Feiyu say?"
"I want to reopen the tea-horse trade route through smuggling."
Fang Yankai's eyes were blank for a while, as if he didn't react, and he said, "You want to take someone to visit Dali?"
"yes."
"Can you rest for a day, even just for one day? You just came back yesterday, and today you are making such a ridiculous proposal to me?"
"It's not a suggestion," Li Xia said, "I just want to ask the landlord to take more care of the county affairs after I leave."
"You are a county captain, not a merchant."
"Yes, I am a county lieutenant, and I have the duty of escorting tribute envoys. As the saying goes, 'when foreign barbarians pay tribute through prefectures and counties, and the order exceeds inspection, the county lieutenant will escort them.' Today, Dali's ministers want to pay tribute, and they need me to escort them."
"
Fang Yankai pouted and said, "You just said you were going for smuggling."
Li Xia said: "The important thing is that I can always find a reason, and you can't object to me, landlord."
"That's enough. Let me tell you, I have tolerated you too much. Even if you are selling illegal salt in the county, I will cover it for you. Don't push yourself too far. I am not your subordinate!"
Li Xia said: "I haven't sold smuggled salt yet."
"Don't prevaricate me, Yan Yunyun is selling illegal salt, isn't she one of yours?"
"Is there any evidence that she is mine? Also, what is the standard for the 'private relationship' in the landlord's book? Isn't it based on salt? I remember she has a salt."
"If you don't mix it with sand and sell it at a low price, you can become an official..."
"Um?"
Fang Yankai opened his mouth and swallowed back the rest of his words. He looked around blankly and was speechless.
Li Xia stood up, cupped his hands, and said, "Then it's settled, thank you for your hard work as the owner's bookkeeper."