Early the next morning, Qin Xiao bowed a few more times before leaving.
He took food and drinks with him, wrapped himself in a cotton jacket and hat, and walked north through the snow for a long time before he finally came across a small village.
There are only a dozen households in the village, and no one goes out in the freezing cold winter.
Qin Xiao inquired to determine his location. After receiving the answer, he realized that he was still in Liaoxi County.
This village belongs to Minghai County. Qin Xiao had seen a map of Western Liaoning when he was in Guangning, and he was familiar with the counties in Western Liaoning. Minghai County is one of the thirteen counties under the jurisdiction of Liaoxi County and is located in the southeast corner of Western Liaoning.
, although it is close to the sea, it is not considered a wealthy place because there is no dock.
However, although it is in western Liaoning, it is still two hundred miles away from Guangning City. In the cold winter, it will take a lot of time to walk back to Guangning City with just two feet.
There were no horses in the village, only two old oxen for plowing the fields. Of course Qin Xiao could not ride the oxen back to the city.
He thought about getting a mount to speed up his speed, and he learned that Minghai County was less than forty miles to the northwest. If he walked fast, he could reach the county seat when it got dark.
Forty miles is certainly not that far for the current Qin Xiao. He has strong energy and full endurance. He left the village and went straight to Minghai County in the northwest direction. He thought that even if he could not buy horses in Minghai County, he would at least
It is not difficult to hire a car to return to Guangning.
Before dark, we rushed outside Minghai County. Compared with the counties within the pass, the county towns in the four northeastern counties are not large in size. Minghai County is located in a remote place in the southeast. At this time of year, there are not many people entering and leaving the city.
After entering the city, I wanted to look for the horse market in the city and asked passers-by, only to find out that there was no horse market in the city at all. However, there were two carriage and horse shops in the south of the city where you could hire carriages. However, the carriage and horse shops were usually employed by merchants.
To transport goods, few people hire carriages and horses for the journey.
Qin Xiao asked where the carriage and horse shop was, and after walking two streets he arrived outside the carriage and horse shop. He saw that the so-called carriage and horse shop was also very simple, and like the atmosphere of the entire Minghai County, it seemed cold and depressing.
When Qin Xiao saw a shop assistant in the horse racing shop, he stepped forward to ask.
Naturally, the war horses of the Tang Dynasty could not be traded, and even agricultural livestock such as cattle were subject to government supervision. Whether they were bought, sold or slaughtered, they had to be registered with the government.
The same is true for private horses.
Any horse needs to be reported to the government, but it can be bought and sold freely, but the buyer and seller need to go to the government together to sign a contract. This stipulation actually allows the government to know the identity of the buyer and seller to prevent someone from secretly amassing horses.
Qin Xiaoxun thought that although the carriage and horse shop was a place where carriages were hired, there must be horses. He did not need to hire a carriage, he could just pay a lot of money to buy a horse directly from the carriage and horse shop.
As long as we can buy horses, we will rest in the city tonight to recharge our batteries and leave on horseback early tomorrow morning. We will definitely be able to reach Guangning within one day.
When the carriage and horse shop heard that Qin Xiao wanted to buy and sell, he was about to refuse, but Qin Xiao claimed that he could offer a high price, so the shop assistant wanted to report it to the shopkeeper of the carriage and horse shop. At this moment, Qin Xiao saw a man in gray robe.
He hurried to the carriage shop and shouted loudly into the shop: "Hurry up and close the door. Everyone, follow me. Don't wait, hurry up, hurry up...!"
The shop assistant immediately ignored Qin Xiao and shouted loudly. In a moment, seven or eight people from the carriage team came out and asked: "What's going on?"
"My boss has ordered that everyone gather at the gate of the county government office." The man in gray robe said loudly, "Hurry up and follow me."
Qin Xiao watched helplessly as a group of people closed the door, left him alone, and quickly left with the man in gray robe.
He shook his head and looked around for another horse and carriage dealership. When he found the place, he found that the door was closed long ago. He was about to ask passers-by if there were any other carriage and horse dealerships in the city, but he saw a group of people.
Dozens of people hurriedly passed by on the street, each with a fierce look on their face, and some even carried wooden sticks in their hands.
"Hurry up!" The leader looked back and shouted loudly: "We, the Wan family, cannot fall behind others. We must advance and retreat together with Mr. Tang no matter what." He happened to see Qin Xiao on the roadside and glanced at it, but also
Without saying much, he led everyone away in a hurry.
Qin Xiao saw that this group of people seemed to be going in the same direction as the group of people who had just traveled in the carriage. He felt suspicious, thought for a moment, and followed that group of people.
After passing through two streets, I saw several people gathering from other streets. These people were obviously familiar with each other. After seeing each other, they all raised their hands to say hello, then gathered together and continued to move forward. After walking for a while, Qin Xiao
When I heard the noise coming from the front, and the flames soaring into the sky, the sky had already darkened, but countless torches were held high, illuminating the area ahead as bright as day.
Qin Xiao stepped forward and saw a dark group of people forming a large circle. Looking around, he realized that this was actually in front of the county government office.
The gate of the county government office was closed tightly. Hundreds of people formed a circle and blocked the outside of the county government office. There was a space in the middle. Only seven or eight officers and soldiers were seen forming a circle to protect the three people in the middle. Those people in the middle were Qin Xiao.
He didn't recognize them, but he recognized the uniforms of those officers and soldiers at a glance. They were the armors of Long Ruijun.
Qin Xiao was a little surprised to see that it was a soldier under his command, and for a while he didn't know what happened.
Everyone around was looking at the group of people in the middle with eager eyes. Suddenly they heard a "crunching" sound. Looking around, they saw the gate of the county government office slowly opening, and then a dozen government officials rushed out from the door, leading the way.
One man was tall and tall, holding a big knife in his hand, and all the government officials looked fierce.
Qin Xiao frowned and heard the man in front of him say: "I am Chen Zhimeng, the leader of the Minghai County team. I heard that there are officials in Guangning who want to see the Lord. I don't know where they came from?" The tone was very unkind.
But he saw a man in the middle who was guarded by Long Rui's soldiers and said somewhat uneasily: "I am the official Cao Shuli Huang Cong. I was ordered to come here to deliver the order. I have been waiting here for a long time. Why doesn't Lord Tang Xuntang of Minghai County come out?"
"Mr. Tang is busy with official duties and has no time to meet with people who don't know what to do." Chen Zhimeng, the squad leader, said loudly: "You are from Guangning, but as far as we know, the county guard was killed, and the county lieutenant was also killed.
You were framed and you said you were ordered to come here to deliver orders. Whose orders were you delivering?"
"Of course...of course it's an order from the imperial court!"
"The Imperial Court?" Chen Zhimeng laughed and said, "All the counties in the Northeast are issued orders by the Andong Protectorate. For many years, I have never heard that the Imperial Court would directly send people to deliver orders. This is false." He looked around and scanned.
Passing through the dark crowd, he loudly said: "Fellow fellow villagers, many of you are gentry and scholars from Minghai County, maintaining the order of the place. Now these few people suddenly appear, claiming to be ordered by the imperial court to deliver the order. You
Do you believe it?"
"Don't believe it!" There were shouts from all around, one by one shouting: "They must all be liars, arrest them."
The clerk Huang Cong saw the people around him staring at him with cold sweat on his forehead. Although several Long Rui Army soldiers did not draw their swords, they still held their swords tightly and were on full alert, lest these people make an attack.
Qin Xiao was extremely calm and looked on with cold eyes.
Huang Cong raised his arm, holding an official letter in his hand, and shouted loudly: "You have all seen that here is an order signed by two imperial envoys, Mr. Yun from Dali Temple and Mr. Song from the Ministry of Civil Affairs. It is absolutely true, whoever wants it.
....Anyone who acts recklessly is committing rebellion...!"
Before he finished speaking, Chen Zhimeng interrupted: "Why don't we know Master Yun and Master Song?" He stepped forward, stretched out his hand and said, "Show me, what is this thing?"
"Tell Tang Xun to come out." Someone next to the official Cao Shuli Huang Cong said to Chen Zhimeng: "You are not qualified to see it."
Qin Xiao looked at the speaker in the crowd and saw that he was dressed simply, wearing an old cotton jacket and a cotton hat. Although his clothes were ordinary, his temperament was quite elegant. He stood tall with his hands behind his back, and
He was not frightened by the situation around him.
"Oh?" Chen Zhimeng smiled and said, "Who are you?"
"Li Qingyuan of Yingcaotang!" The man said calmly: "A disciple of Mr. Bai of Baiyulou."
The corners of Qin Xiao's eyes twitched slightly, and a faint smile couldn't help but appear at the corners of his mouth.
At this time, he already understood what happened tonight.
He led troops to control Guangning City, and then used tricks to capture Yuguan. The purpose of all this was to use western Liaoning as a foothold for Long Rui's army in the northeast.
He purged the forces of the Liaodong Army, but after purging the forces of the Liaodong Army, there would inevitably be a power vacuum in the thirteen counties in western Liaoning, and many official positions needed to be filled.
The reason why the families of the Tang Dynasty were so powerful was that they were at the core and controlled the power of studying. Even if there were children from poor families who got ahead through studying, they were quickly bribed by the families and became part of the power of the families. This is true in
The local states and counties were extremely serious, so if the imperial court wanted to govern the people of the world, it had to rely on local officials who were actually doing errands, and these officials either came from aristocratic families, or were educated children who were attached to aristocratic families.
The situation in the four northeastern counties is quite different from that in Guan Nei.
In the past hundred years, those who control the four northeastern counties are no longer family members, but warlords.
The Liaodong Army owns land and finance, which is completely different from the local garrisons in the prefectures within the Pass, and has the conditions to become a local warlord.
In order to protect the interests of the Liaodong Army, the Liaodong warlords vigorously suppressed the aristocratic families. Although the aristocratic families were not completely eliminated, the power and influence of the aristocratic families in the Northeast were far from being comparable to those of the aristocratic families in the prefectures of Guan Nei.
The sub-class no longer relied on aristocratic families like those in Guan Nei, but instead were won over by warlords.
For this reason, the scholars in the Northeast were divided into two categories. One category was naturally won over by the Liaodong Army and became a tool used by the Liaodong Army to assist the Liaodong Army in governing the four counties in the Northeast. The other category was represented by Yingcaotang and opposed the warlords' rise to power.
, this force is still willing to unite with the aristocratic families, but the Northeast aristocratic families are unable to protect them, and they disdain to associate with the warlords, and become lackeys driven by the warlords, thus becoming a special force in the Northeast.
Although they have fame and knowledge, they cannot gain actual power unless they join forces with the warlords.
If Qin Xiao wants to control western Liaoning, he must have a large number of scholars to help govern the local counties, and ask the court to mobilize officials to serve in the customs. Although it is simple, it will inevitably arouse the resentment of the local people in the Northeast. The best way is of course to find local people in the Northeast.
Scholars came to fill the vacant official positions. For Qin Xiao, the power of Yingcaotang was as if God had prepared it for him early, becoming his best choice to fill the power vacuum after purging the Liaodong Army.
There is no doubt that although he was kidnapped and disappeared, the strategy he formulated was not affected. Someone in Guangning still stabilized the situation and even quickly dispatched scholars from Yingcaotang to replace local officials. The name of Yingying in front of him was Li Qingyuan.
The scholar in the thatched cottage is naturally the key to what happened tonight.