Fenghou

"Buy some more buckets of good rice, and we will cook for ourselves." Wu Miao beside him said very unhappy.

It's really unkind for these farmers to feed them stale rice.

The old boatman agreed, gave his son a money purse, and whispered to him what to buy. His son nodded repeatedly, and jumped into the water without going to the shore. Not long after, he swam ashore and ran away.

The old boatman wanted to wait for his son to come back, so the fishing boat moved slowly. About half an hour later, the fishing boat arrived in Yang'an County, and the city wall of Yang'an County could be faintly seen in the distance.

At this moment, more than a dozen small boats approached the fishing boat quickly, and everyone became nervous. Suddenly, the old fisherman took two quick steps, jumped into the river, and disappeared without a trace.

Almost at the same moment, Li Jinxiao suddenly saw the boatman's son, who was sitting on Song Jun's boat, looking at them with pride.

Li Jinxiao's heart sank. He knew it was over. The boatman's son was not going to buy vegetables, but to report the news.

The cunning father and son tampered with the meals to give them an excuse to leave the boat to buy vegetables. At this moment, Li Jinxiao felt that all thoughts were lost and his death was approaching.

Wu Miao was also extremely annoyed. They shouldn't have left in such a hurry. They hid in the mountains for ten days and midnight. When the limelight passed, it would not be too late for them to leave quietly.

Dozens of crossbows were aimed at them, and the leading general was Tang Qian. He received a report from the fisherman's son and personally led more than 100 men to intercept and arrest them.

"General, it's him, Li Jinxiao!"

A Hezhou soldier recognized Li Jinxiao and reported loudly.

Hearing that the other party was Li Jinxiao, the old fisherman smiled very comfortably. He has never been so happy today. He got the reward of [-] guan, and these bastards only gave him [-] guan to send them away. It's a dream!

A general jumped onto the bow of the opponent's boat, raised the curtain with a spear, and shouted sharply: "Come out with your hands up, otherwise we will shoot arrows, and no one will survive."

"Don't shoot the arrows, we surrender! Surrender!"

A few of his confidantes raised their hands and ran out, Li Jinxiao had no choice but to walk out of the cabin with his son and son-in-law.

After stepping out of the cabin, Li Jinxiao looked at the blue sky and white clouds in the sky, and said with a long sigh, "I am Li Jinxiao!"

Chapter 834 Micro Interview

Chen Qing moved to Chengdu. After several days of continuous suppression and search, the Song army arrested more than [-] people. After rigorous interrogation, they released more than [-] people who were arrested by mistake. The remaining [-] people have all pleaded guilty.

"I don't know how to deal with this group of people, please show me the county king!"

Zheng Ping asked Chen Qing for instructions helplessly. You said that this group of people were criminals and they had done nothing, but you said they were innocent, but they all hid their weapons and were fully prepared to start a riot. I don't know how many ordinary people have suffered.

Chen Qing took a sip of tea and said in a calm manner: "Treat them as prisoners of war, send them to the mines for three years of hard labor, and let them go home after three years."

"Humble job understands!"

Zheng Ping hesitated, but still didn't say anything.

Chen Qing glanced at him and said, "Is there anything you can't say?"

Zheng Ping was a little embarrassed and said: "It's about the appointment of the new prefect of Chengdu. Is there anyone for the county king?"

Now that Zheng Ping can speak, he knows how to ask himself if he has a candidate. Chen Qing smiled slightly and said, "Do you have a suitable candidate?"

"If there is no candidate for the county king, I recommend Zheng Ainong, the governor of Jianzhou. Let me explain first that his surname Zheng is just a coincidence and has nothing to do with me."

Chen Qing smiled and said, "I thought you would recommend Li Xuemin, the general judge of Chengdu."

Zheng Ping shook his head, "Li Xuemin, like Li Yi, is a centrist, full of compromises in his bones. If it weren't for their indulgence, how could there be nearly four thousand traitors lurking in Chengdu? He is better for the people, and he can continue to be a general judge, but he can't Be the magistrate again."

"What about Zheng Ainong?"

Chen Qing asked lightly: "Li Miao has killed more than a dozen salt lords anyway, how many did he kill?"

"Reporting to the king of the county, this is why I recommend him. It's not that he doesn't kill the salt lords, but that under his rule, there are no salt lords or private salt in Jianzhou. He cut off private salt from the source, and all salt wells are It is controlled by the government and private salt mining is strictly prohibited. I deployed a thousand troops in Jianzhou before, and he always sent people to borrow troops from me to fight against private salt dealers. I simply helped him build a militia last year, so he did not borrow soldier."

"This person is not bad!"

Chen Qing praised: "Just brazenly borrowing troops to attack private salt dealers time and time again, this person's courage is very good, he can do great things, where is he?"

"In Chengdu, when the rebel army came to Zizhou, he had a bad prediction and led a thousand militia soldiers overnight to protect tens of thousands of people from Jianzhou and fled to Chengdu."

"Let me tell you! Why is there a large refugee camp outside the city? It turns out to be the people of Jianzhou. Don't call him or inform him. I'll take a look in private."

Chen Qing changed into ordinary clothes, took a fan, and led a dozen of his men to the temporary camp outside the city.

……

The temporary camp outside the city is the Sichuan-Shanxi Bazaar founded by Zhao Kai. To put it simply, it is the Sichuan-Shanxi bulk goods trading market. Through this market, sheepskins, livestock, wheat, briquettes, leather products, copper coins, etc. After transporting to Sichuan, the tea, cloth, sugar, oil, cured meat, chicken, duck, vegetables, fresh fruit, koji and other materials rich in Sichuan were transported to Shaanxi Road.

It can be said that the construction of this market has greatly promoted the circulation of materials between Sichuan and Shaanxi, and also guaranteed the logistics materials of the Western Army, and the means of transportation is the growing camel fleet.

In the past few days, due to the rebellion of the rebels, the Sichuan-Shaanxi market has been suspended, and the large open space in the market is just used to accommodate tens of thousands of people who escaped from Yang'an County, Jianzhou.

Zheng Ping's introduction made Chen Qing quite interested in Jianzhou governor Zheng Ainong, but seeing is better than hearing a hundred times. No matter how good the words are, it is better to see how he resettled the tens of thousands of people in Jianzhou with his own eyes.

When Chen Qing walked to the market, it was like walking into a small county town. The gates were densely packed with vendors selling all kinds of food, vegetables, melons and fruits, and they should all be farmers nearby.

There were also quite a few customers shopping, all of whom were from Yang'an County, Jianzhou, and it was quite lively to bargain.

Just as Chen Qing was about to enter the gate, a village general walked up to him and saluted Chen Qing, "Is this brother from Jianzhou?"

Chen Qing shook his head, "No, I just went in to visit a friend."

"We know that the state has an order that all foreign visitors are not allowed to bring weapons. Otherwise, your men will put the weapons outside, or you can go in alone, and your men will wait outside. We guarantee your safety."

The leader of the village soldiers was very polite, not because of Chen Qing's well-dressed clothes, but because he was followed by more than a dozen guards with knives, and he was not an ordinary person at a glance.

Chen Qing smiled slightly: "Tell me a reason, why are you not allowed to bring weapons inside?"

"Because now is not a normal period, all kinds of unexpected things will happen, and the people are easy to be out of control. If there is a conflict inside, it doesn't matter if you move your fists. If blood is seen on the weapon, then the people around will become angry, and there will be a lot of trouble." Life is in danger, so Zhizhou said, we must take precautions before they happen."

It is a good reason to take precautions before they happen, and Chen Qing asked again with a smile: "Is there no room for flexibility?"

Chen Qing waited for the village soldier to ask for money, but he thought for a long time and said, "Why don't you go and ask for a military permit to carry weapons, because there is only one special situation, the military can enter with weapons."

Chen Qing chuckled, he didn't ask for money, it was beyond his expectation!

Chen Qing closed his fan, turned his head and smiled and said, "Show them!"

Yan Jun and a dozen of his subordinates took out their military badges, and the township soldiers were startled, and quickly clasped their fists and said, "I'm sorry! Don't put down your weapons, please come in!"

Chen Qing took off his saber, threw it to Yan Jun behind him, and said with a smile: "I don't have a military badge, so I have to follow your rules, so that I can enter in a fair manner."

After finishing speaking, Chen Qing led his men into the temporary camp.

Looking at the group of people walking away, they all scratched their heads and said to their opponents: "That's not right! Why did I see the silver medal just now?"

Several subordinates also said: "We also saw that it is a silver medal, and the first subordinate behind that person is a silver medal."

The silver medal is only for generals above the commanding officer, and the silver medal for the personal guards, so this man must be a general above the general, but they all know that even the leader of the personal guards who command Zheng Ping does not have a silver medal, and who else has a higher status than Zheng Ping? high?

Everyone suddenly thought of a rumor that Chen Qing was here.

Could it be that the person just now was...

Everyone's faces turned pale with fright, and they all nodded quickly: "I'll go and tell Zhizhou immediately, don't miss out on important matters."

They all ran to the temporary government tent in the north...

Chen Qing and a group of his men were walking leisurely in the camp. The ground was clean and there was no sewage flowing across the river.

There are thousands of big tents in the temporary camp, basically one big tent for each household, it is very lively, near noon, every household is busy cooking, they actually use briquettes stove, and the used briquettes are still in the next one In the big wooden box, it looks like a trash can.

"Ma'am, why don't you burn firewood?" Chen Qing squatted down and asked an old woman who was cooking with a smile.

"Now firewood is expensive, it's not worth it."

Another old woman next to her said with a smile: "We can burn firewood in the countryside, but we can only buy firewood when we live in the city. After all, honeycomb coal is more economical. To cook a meal and boil a pot of water, you only need one piece of honeycomb coal for five yuan. Firewood is at least ten Wen."

"But kindling coal is expensive! It costs twenty Wen!"

"Break a small piece of kindling coal and go to someone's house to borrow a light."

It was only then that Chen Qing realized that ordinary people would live their lives, why use a whole piece of kindling coal, that was something only scouts could do, and ordinary people only used a small piece of coal.

"Where to buy? I mean is honeycomb good?"

"Of course it's easy to buy, just go to the Pingcang store to buy it."

The Pingcang store is run by the government, and almost every county has one. It mainly sells wheat, coarse cloth, salt, sugar, and honeycomb coal. These are the materials that guarantee the minimum living standard of the people in the city, so that the poor can eat and wear warm clothes. clothing.

But even though it is called Pingcang store, almost all the people in the county will line up to buy things. Salt is a must, and everyone likes red brown sugar.

So one store is not enough, generally there are three to four stores in the county.

Chen Qing nodded, and asked again: "Excuse me, ma'am, where is the toilet?"

The old woman stood up, pointed to the distance and said: "See, there are more than a dozen wooden houses over there, surrounded by fences, the men are on the east side, and the women are on the west side, please don't mess around behind the tents. Those who are caught will be severely punished, and the tent owner will be implicated.”

Chen Qing feigned surprise and said, "Is it so strict?"

"Of course, our Zhizhou said that if it is not strict, once the plague breaks out, everyone will die, and the children will suffer first. We can't harm the children."

Chen Qing secretly praised: This Zheng Zhizhou is really good. He is not only tough, but also educates the people to consciously maintain hygiene and ensure that there will be no epidemics.

In fact, Zhizhou is upright and clean from the fact that the soldiers guarding the gate do not take money. A corrupt official will never train soldiers who do not accept bribes.

At this time, a middle-aged man came running panting with a dozen officials.

Chapter 835 Severe Punishment

The middle-aged man who ran over was Zheng Ainong, the governor of Jianzhou, about forty years old, a native of Zizhou, a Jinshi in the second year of Xuanhe, dark and thin, very prestigious in Jianzhou, and deeply loved by the people. So even Zheng Ping would recommend him.

Zheng Ainong got the news that there was a man guarding the gate with a silver medal. When Zheng Ainong asked about his age and appearance, his head went 'hum! With a click, this is the county king Chen Qing, and he rushed here with officials at the prefecture and county levels.

"Humble job... see the county king for humble job!"

Zheng Ainong ran forward and saluted out of breath, followed by the officials behind him.

The cooking lady next to me was stunned, and after a long while, she blushed and shouted: "My lord, my house has a toilet, so it's convenient to go to my house, instead of going to the latrine over there."

Chen Qing didn't know whether to laugh or cry, he waved his hands and said, "Thank you ma'am, I'm not going to the latrine, I just want to know about the situation of epidemic prevention."

Zheng Ainong groaned inwardly ashamed, as expected he came to Weifu for inspection, fortunately he did it more meticulously, so it shouldn't be a big problem.

Chen Qing smiled slightly and said, "Governor Zheng has worked so hard, and everyone has worked hard. Let me tell you another piece of good news. The rebels have been wiped out. You can pack up and go home."

The officials and the people around immediately cheered.Zheng Ainong said hastily: "The king of the county, please sit down in the big tent of the government office, have a sip of tea and rest for a while."

Chen Qing smiled, "I'm just looking for a place to drink water, let's go!"

One leaf knows the autumn, Chen Qing no longer needs to make detailed interviews, he followed Zheng Ainong and several state officials to the big tent, sat down on the main seat, and waved his hands, "Everyone sit down!"

Several state officials sat down, and Chen Qing asked, "Have your family members come out?"

Everyone was stunned, the king actually asked their family members first, everyone couldn't help being moved, Zheng Ainong quickly said: "Thank you for your concern, the family members came out together."

"That's good. I heard that Zizhou officials and their families were killed by the bandits. I was very sad and very angry. This time, I must make the bandits pay the worst price."

Zheng Ainong asked in a low voice: "The three rebel families have all been arrested, right?"

Chen Qing said coldly: "None of the three families can escape, and together with the thieves who killed Zizhou officials, they will all be executed. Not only them, but all the officials who support the thieves are not worthy of being officials, and they will all be dismissed from office. This time, the officialdom in Bashu will be completely liquidated, and they will no longer take into account the court's face as before."

Everyone understood that after this incident, Chen Qing would annex Sichuan completely and would not give it up to the imperial court. Several officials were secretly happy that they all supported Chen Qing, which meant that they would be promoted.

Chen Qing said to Zheng Ainong again: "Zheng Zhizhou, tell me what is your next plan?"

Zheng Ainong sighed and said, "Our Jianzhou's cured meat is very famous. Bacon, cured tofu, and pickled radish are special products of Jianzhou. Originally, I wanted to organize farmers to produce a large number of them this year and sell them to the military as military rations. The common people will also have income. Kill two birds with one stone." , but now the plan has been destroyed, and now all the thoughts are on relocating the people and resuming production, and there are no other plans for the time being."

Chen Qing nodded and asked, "Who is the judge?"

An official sitting on the left quickly got up and saluted, "Liu Qin, a low-ranking official, is the general judge of Jianzhou."

Chen Qing smiled slightly: "From now on, you will act as the governor of Jianzhou, and you must take all the people back and resettle them properly."

Everyone was stunned, looking at Chen Qing in confusion, Chen Qing said to Zheng Ainong: "From now on, you will officially take the post of prefect of Chengdu, and you will officially take office tomorrow, and I will arrange someone to go to the prefect office to announce."

Zheng Ainong was overwhelmed with surprises, and hurriedly got up and saluted, "The humble post will definitely live up to the love of the county king, and will definitely inherit the will of the prefect Li."

Chen Qing shook his head, "I don't agree with many of Li Yi's ideas, you don't need to inherit his legacy, just bring Jianzhou's attitude to Chengdu."

"Humble post obeys orders!"

After Chen Qing went down with other officials, he asked Zheng Ainong, "I know that Bashu is divided into Sichuan-Shaanxi faction, middle faction, royalist faction, and Chuanli faction. How many people are there in Sichuan-Shaanxi faction?"

When the king of the county asked this question, Zheng Ainong was not burdened, and even the tea drinkers in the Chengdu teahouse could speak clearly and logically, so how could he not know?

Zheng Ainong smiled slightly and said: "Reporting to the county king, which faction actually has a sign, that is, the opening of Qingcang stores in each prefecture and county, and the counties where the Royalist faction and Chuanli faction are located do not open liquid storehouses.

The more Pingcang stores open, the more inclined they are to the Sichuan-Shaanxi school. For example, we have opened a total of [-] stores in Jianzhou, but there are only six stores in Chengdu, which shows that Li Yi, the magistrate, is a centrist.

Another example is that there is no family in Hezhou, or it may be that the subordinate counties may be suppressed, and they dare not open it if they want to, so they can only see the state official level, and the county official level cannot see the real situation, so they have to investigate in detail . "

Chen Qing pondered for a while and said, "You mean that the number of warehouse closing stores in the county where the state capital is located can tell the tendency of the state officials, and the county officials have no autonomy."