Royal road

"The corpses in the courtyard belong to Wang Hu and Wang Bao?" Hearing the report from the servants below, Liang Feng couldn't help frowning.

Whether it was Tian Chang or the Wang family brothers, Liang Feng had never committed any murderous intentions, and those crimes did not constitute a capital crime at all in his eyes.However, he forgot that this is not a society ruled by law more than 1000 years later, but the Western Jin Dynasty where courtiers can usurp the throne and princes can control the government.In this era of disintegrated rituals and music, a small "disobedience" heart can also cause such terrible troubles.

What's more terrible is that the side around me is too careless.He didn't have the habit of being served by others, and Liang's mansion was extremely short of manpower, so he had abolished the number of servants in the inner courtyard several times.As a result, the security measures full of loopholes have given opportunities for people with unruly intentions to take advantage of.

It seems that my previous thoughts were still a little naive.Liang Feng sighed lightly, and ordered: "Drag the body out and bury it."

Logically speaking, whipping corpses and hanging heads are not too much for this kind of evil servant who betrays his master, but now that the weather is getting hotter, epidemic prevention is more important than that illusory deterrent.

At this time, Luzhu also came back slowly, not only wiped his face clean, but also changed into new clothes, and persuaded him with an expression of wishing to drag him away: "Master, you should take a bath! Doctor Jiang ordered you to take a rest quickly." It is!"

The smell of blood is really uncomfortable for people who are smoked, Liang Feng is kind: "Go to the hot water..."

■

When they returned to the camp, the soldiers were greeted not only by the doctors who made the diagnosis, but also by the hot water that had just been boiled.This was originally intended to be used for city defense, but now it is poured full into wooden barrels to let the bloody soldiers clean their bodies.In addition, there are clean bandages and strong salt water, both for healing.

Having been instigated by the team just now, seeing these thoughtful arrangements, the soldiers were naturally pleasantly surprised, and felt more and more that they were following the right person.Yiyan didn't stay to take a bath, but got up and went to the courtyard where Liang Feng lived temporarily.There were servants standing guard at the gate of the courtyard, but no one would stop Yiyan, he strode to the door and pushed the door open.

A burst of steaming water vapor rushed towards the face, the air exuded the fragrance of petals and herbs mixed, behind the screen, there was the faint sound of water.Yiyan's footsteps stopped immediately, he hadn't washed up yet, his body was covered with dust and blood, it seemed that just walking into the room had added a stench to the air.

However, Liang Feng had already heard the voice outside the door, and asked, "Is it Yiyan? The part has returned to the camp?"

"Already returned to the camp." Yi Yan couldn't help taking a step forward, and replied loudly.

Feeling weak from being soaked in hot water, Liang Feng forced himself to ask, "How are the casualties?"

"Two people injured their legs, a few were cut on their backs, and the others were minor injuries." Yi Yan replied.Of course, he didn't count himself.

Liang Feng heaved a sigh of relief, it was much better than expected.With Jiang Da around, these minor injuries shouldn't be a problem, and these precious arms can finally be kept.

"Where are the enemies? How many died?" He continued.

"Kill more than [-] bandits and soldiers, and the enemy chieftain will bestow their heads."

70 people?This is more than half!Why is the casualty rate so high?Liang Feng asked: "Where are the others? Fleeing or surrendering?"

After a pause, Yi Yan said coldly: "Only two people were caught alive, and the rest fled in all directions."

It's a little different from what I imagined, but in the first battle, there will always be some omissions.In the future, it seems that all matters must be sorted out and documented to facilitate execution.Liang Feng nodded lightly: "It's not bad to have such a victory. This time you have made a great contribution, and I have ordered that all the land allocated to soldiers will be exempted from taxation for three years."

Unexpectedly, Yiyan simply refused this time: "This should be announced by the lord himself."

oh?Did he remember to let himself be kind?Liang Feng couldn't help laughing, this kid is really not the stunned young man he was back then, it seems that the recent history books are not in vain.

"Well, let's wait for two days. I will personally review the parts and issue rewards. By the way, where are the bandit soldiers captured? Have you asked about the origin of this group of bandits?"

"It's from Qingyangzhai! Those who attacked the lord before are also their men. Five days ago, this group of bandits captured Tian Shang and was encouraged by him to attack Liang Mansion. The brothers Wang Hu and Wang Bao were the internal support."

Yiyan had indeed "examined" the two survivors, and he knew very well that the Wang family brothers were already dead.However, in his opinion, simply dragging people to bury will not relieve hatred at all. All these thieves should hang their heads and hang their corpses, and their bones will be thrown into ashes!

Unexpectedly, he had such a "relationship" with this group of bandits, Liang Feng immediately became vigilant, and asked: "How many bandits are there on the mountain?"

"It is said that all of them were dispatched this time, and only a few captive refugees remained on the mountain."

"What? They also captured the refugees?!" With a splash of water, Liang Feng sat up, "Do you still have enough energy in the trilogy? Can you capture the stronghold?"

"My lord!" Yi Yan couldn't help frowning, "It's just refugees, why waste troops for them? What if someone attacks the Liang Mansion if the trilogy is dispatched?"

He just suffered a big loss from Tian Chang, is it possible that he is still fighting to the death for those lowly refugees?Yiyan knew that his master was kind-hearted, but he never imagined that this kind-hearted person could be so kind-hearted!If the trilogy is dispatched, what will the Liang Mansion do?Who will guard his safety?

Behind the screen, there was a low voice from Green Bamboo: "Mr. Lang, your hair is not dry yet, so you can't go out like this."

However, she did not stop the figure.Wearing a robe and with wet hair, Liang Feng stepped out of the screen, and said with a solemn expression: "That's not the reason. Qingyangzhai must be wiped out. If it is left alone, it will revive in a short time. Why don't you take advantage of their vitality Seriously injured, eradicate them in one fell swoop! Those refugees are innocent people, and we cannot just sit and watch them fall into the hands of thieves. If we want to stop the good people from being thieves, we must give them a way out!"

It seemed like a loss-making business to save refugees with family soldiers, but he couldn't just sit back and watch those ordinary people being trapped in a den of thieves.Not to mention that the escaped bandit soldiers are likely to return to the villa and force these refugees to follow the bandits.If the refugees turned into bandits, Qingyang Village would never disappear, and there would be an enemy in front of them that could never be killed.And the refugees are not completely useless. Now the village has a small number of people, whether it is farming or training soldiers, it is better to gather some refugees and use the manpower in the most appropriate place.This meaning is much more important than simply repelling bandit soldiers.

Caught off guard, Yiyan was nailed to the spot.The person in front of him hadn't dried his body, his outer robe was half open, revealing his fair skin, and there were looming bruises on his chest and abdomen.The wet hair was draped over the shoulders, black and soft, a few strands got into the collar and wet the thin coat.That person is so beautiful, so beautiful to the extreme, but he won't make people feel half-blasphemy.Just because of his sharp eyes and dignified expression.What moved him so much was human life, the life of innocent people.

As if his eyes were burned, Yi Yan quickly lowered his head and said in a low voice: "Tomorrow, I will capture Qingyangzhai for my lord."

"Let A-Liang pick out some young men to go with you. The enemy village is no better than the Liang Mansion, so you have to be careful. By the way, if there are refugees who don't want to come, just let them go, don't use tricks Press it hard." Liang Feng couldn't help but instructed again carefully.Although Zhan Yiyan handled this encounter well, it is not at all difficult to attack the camp and gather refugees, and it is always right to ask more.

At this time, Green Bamboo chased out with a cloth towel in his hands: "Your Majesty, dry your hair to avoid the wind!"

Only then did Liang Feng realize that Yiyan still looked as embarrassed as before, and he couldn't help saying: "Yiyan, you should also go take a bath and let Dr. Jiang take care of the wound. Don't be careless."

Whether it is tetanus or bacterial infection, it can kill people. Injuries are no joke in this day and age.

Yiyan didn't say anything, and after bowing his head again, he exited the room.Seeing the figure who was pulled to the side of the couch by the green bamboo and began to wipe his long hair, he took a deep breath and strode towards the barracks.

■

Early the next morning, Yiyan set off with his troops.The old nest of Qingyang Village is on the nearby Daqing Mountain, more than [-] miles away from the Liang Mansion. It would take a long time for an ordinary soldier to walk, but the soldiers of the Liang Manor family have the habit of long-distance running. Such a distance can only be regarded as an outing. .

There was a fierce battle yesterday, although not many people were injured, but a few of them exerted too much force and hurt their waists and tendons.In addition, the Liang Mansion also needed guards, so Yiyan only brought ten family soldiers with him, and twenty young and strong men from the farm.Compared with the family soldiers who had seen blood and killed people, this group of young and strong aura was much inferior. Because of this, they didn't even dare to show their air, and followed closely behind the family soldiers, not falling behind by half a point.

It only took an hour, and the team arrived at Qingyang Village.Yi Yan didn't order troops to attack immediately, but sent sentries up to check.After a while, the spies ran back excitedly: "The team is upright, no guards were found, and the village is quite quiet, maybe those bandits haven't woken up yet!"

Yi Yan looked coldly at the soldiers who led the way beside him.Trembling with fright, the man hurriedly knelt down and said, "General, please forgive me. I didn't lie. The village was full of people yesterday. Even if some escaped, there would not be too many."

The battle yesterday really frightened him out of his courage, and now he definitely has something to say, and he dare not speak nonsense.Those little bosses were basically dead in this person's hands, even if some escaped back, they wouldn't be any powerful characters, let alone dare to stand up to Liang Mansion's soldiers!

Only then did Yiyan turn his gaze back, and rushed to the soldiers behind him and said, "Go up the mountain!"

A team of 30 people, no matter how concealed it is, there will be disturbances.However, they walked very quickly, and before the bandits guarding the gate could react, the team had already rushed to the gate of the cottage.Looking at the guard post upstairs in the corner of his eye, Yi Yan said coldly: "Sun Jiao!"

Sun Jiao stepped forward in response, drew his bow and set his arrow.After hearing a few swishing strings, the panicked sentry was shot down the stairs.Yi Yan waved his hand lightly: "Gulong, come on!"

A Jie man immediately led four or five people to the gate of the village. One squatted at the base of the wall as a foothold, while the other, with a dagger in his mouth, stepped on his companion's shoulders and quickly climbed up the wall.In the blink of an eye, two or three people jumped into the village, and after a few howls, the wooden gate creaked open.

"attack!"

Following this order, the family soldiers raised their spears and strode towards the gate of the village.The footsteps of the young and strong who followed were slightly scattered, but it didn't affect their momentum at all, just like a sharp knife, piercing into the village.

At this moment, the only bandit soldiers left in the village have blown up their nests, and those who escaped yesterday have all seen the power of those spears.Those who screamed, those who knelt down and begged for mercy, and those who fled over the wall were numerous.However, Yiyan didn't show mercy, everything he passed was full of blood.It only took less than a quarter of an hour, and there was no bandit in the village who could breathe.

Yi Yan shook the spear in his hand, shook off the blood stains on the point of the gun, turned his head and asked, "Where is the refugee prison?"

The surrendered soldier was already trembling, trembling, and said: "New, the new ones are locked in the cowshed to the west. There are more than a dozen families of farmers and women who have been raised in the backyard. .”

Yiyan didn't talk nonsense, and asked Sun Jiao and Gulong to lead people to look for them separately.After a short while, driven by the two corporal leaders, these people came out of their cages one after another and gathered on the square of the cottage.

Looking at the cowering and skinny refugees, Yi Yan frowned and said loudly: "I am ordered by my lord to attack Qingyangzhai! Now that all the bandits have been wiped out, you can follow me down the mountain and join my lord. Get out now!"

The group of captured refugees couldn't tell who was coming, they only thought that the bandits had started a fire, and they were so frightened that their legs were weak when they saw the corpses all over the ground.Suddenly found that this group of people did not seem to be bandit soldiers, and everyone was a little dazed.A bolder farmer asked, "Where is this general's lord from?"

"Lord of the Liang Mansion, Marquis of Shenmen Ting!" Yi Yan cast his sword-like eyes over him, making the farmer tremble in fright.

However, he was also taken up the mountain by bandits, and he was able to avoid participating in the robbery because of his good farming skills, which was a bit of a wink.After taking a peek at them for a moment, he found that the temperament of this group of strong men was somewhat different from that of bandits.Not to mention those men holding long guns, even the young and strong behind them don't look evil, but they all have ruddy complexions and neat clothes.

Now that the world is so chaotic, going out to flee the famine is really bad luck, instead of taking risks, why not vote for this group of people!It's better than being kidnapped by bandit soldiers again!

After hesitating for a moment, he knelt down: "The villain is willing to follow the general down the mountain!"

This kneeling, the rest of the hesitant refugees also knelt down one after another, and all kinds of voices rang out in chaos.Yi Yan didn't pay attention to the group of refugees, turned to the soldiers and said, "Where is the warehouse in your village?"

■

After watching the trilogy out of the courtyard wall, Liang Feng returned to the room, and fell asleep again in a daze.It was really exhausting yesterday, especially killing two robbers with this body, which made half of his body ache.Gone are the good old days when it was easy to pick five out of five. Don't talk about exercising, let's talk about recovering from illness first.

After sleeping like this for a long while, when Liang Feng opened his eyes, he found a little radish kneeling upright in front of the couch.Liang Rong didn't know when he came, so he just looked at him with tears in his eyes, with a pitiful appearance of his dying father.

"Rong'er is here?" Liang Feng coughed lightly, trying to stand up.Unexpectedly, this action immediately pulled his shoulders, causing him to gasp involuntarily.

"My child heard that my father was caught by gangsters yesterday!" Liang Rong sobbed and grabbed Liang Feng's sleeve, "Is my father injured?"

Yesterday was a war and an attack, afraid of scaring the children, Liang Feng didn't tell Liang Rong the details, but asked Zhao Yu to comfort the little guy, saying that he was busy with business, so Liang Rong didn't have to come to pay his respects.Unexpectedly, this little thing did not know where to find out about the robbers, so he came to block the door early in the morning.It was also the harmonious relationship between father and son that allowed Liang Rong to run into his bedroom smoothly.

Liang Feng stretched out his hand and stroked Liang Rong's soft black hair comfortingly: "Didn't Rong'er see it? He was doing well for his father, how could he be injured? There were bad guys who attacked Liang's residence yesterday, but they were all chased away by the family soldiers." Let’s go out, Rong’er needn’t worry.”

"Are those bad guys really powerful? How can we fight them off? Rong'er also needs to learn, to protect Father!" The tears in his eyes clearly hadn't receded yet, but Liang Rong gritted his teeth and said fiercely.

Liang Feng couldn't help laughing.But the little guy is a bit aggressive, which is not a bad thing.

"These Rong'er will naturally have to learn in the future. They must ride horses, archery, and lead troops in battle. But now, Rong'er, do you have time to have a meal with your father?" Liang Feng smiled and squeezed Liang Rong's tender lips. Little face, joked.

How could Liang Rong refuse such a request, and immediately nodded vigorously.It seems that this kid has been staying here since he got up, maybe he is starving?

"Green Bamboo, go to the kitchen to get some morning food, prepare more goat's milk, and steam an egg custard." He ordered the kitchen to make the egg custard, and it was used as a complementary food for Liang Rong. The little guy liked it very much.

After a while, the hot food was put on the table.Unlike ordinary people, Liang Feng didn't let the nurse serve Liang Rong's meals, but let him do it himself.Liang Rong has a stubborn temper, and he doesn't want to use a spoon. He uses short chopsticks like a young adult, and his technique is quite steady, and he eats gracefully.

It may be that yesterday's activities were too intense, Liang Feng was actually a little hungry, and he needed to replenish his energy. He drank a bowl of goat's milk and half a bowl of bean porridge before putting down his chopsticks.Liang Rong ate all the food in front of him. Ever since Liang Feng said that eating more would help him grow up faster, he was no longer picky about eating.

Such an obedient performance naturally won Liang Feng's praise again.After comforting the little guy again, and promising to teach him riding and archery immediately, Liang Rong obediently followed Zhao Yu and left.Without interruption, Liang Feng's mind was naturally on the matter of attacking the cottage.After all, it was Yiyan's first time leading the army, and there were only about thirty people, so it would be bad if something happened.

However, it was quicker than he had imagined. Just after noon in the sun, the first team returned home.

"All these were confiscated?" Liang Feng looked at the seven or eight carts parked outside, as well as all kinds of cattle, horses and livestock, and he was a little stunned.

Because he was afraid of restricting the troops to fight, he only explained to Yiyan a few ways to attack the camp, and did not let him focus on property and fodder.In fact, in order to capture that mountain, setting fire was within the scope of Liang Feng's acquiescence, as long as the fire was controlled and the imprisoned refugees were not hurt.

However, it took only half a day to pull back a pile of loot like this carelessly, and they were all food and grass, even Liang Feng was surprised.

The person in charge of transporting the materials was Sun Jiao, the corps leader. It was the first time he met the owner alone, and he replied a little embarrassedly: "There are some valuables in the back, and the team is saying that he will personally escort them."

It seems that Qingyangzhai has really accumulated a lot of wealth, and there is nothing in this world that is better than making war money.Liang Feng suddenly asked: "Didn't Yiyan ask you to share some property?"

Sun Jiao suddenly became nervous, and shook his head again and again: "The team is saying that these belong to the owner, and the owner should deal with them."

Liang Feng's heart immediately relaxed.If private soldiers are indulged in looting, the character of the team will soon fall to the bottom, and it will be difficult to control it at that time.It is of course possible to distribute the spoils, but it must be controlled by him, the commander.This is what keeps the team at bay.

No longer entangled in this question, Liang Feng asked instead: "Where are the refugees? Are they all rescued?"

"All rescued! A total of 86 people. Follow behind the team, we will be there soon."

"Well, take me to see it."

Although I have seen images of refugees in many film and television works, the real refugees still made Liang Feng frown.These people have not undergone artistic processing, and all of them look like African refugees, with their chests stuck to their backs and skinny.Most of the women looked numb, bowed their heads, and kept silent.There were no old people or children in the team. I don't know if they were killed by bandits or starved to death on the way to flee famine.

After a moment of silence, Liang Feng said: "Take them to the nearby stream, and take advantage of the heat at noon to wash off the bugs and lice on their bodies."

Treating refugees like this seems to be overkill.But his team was running to bathe in the river every day, and Sun Jiao also knew that the landlord might not see people being too dirty, so he led the group of refugees down.

Liang Feng turned to Lv Zhu and said, "Go and call Ah Liang."

After a while, A Liang came to the main courtyard.Seeing the cartloads of grain and fodder, he couldn't help being overjoyed: "My lord, is this the grain and fodder that was seized? It's all right now!"

Liang Feng coughed: "I'm afraid these grains are not enough. I brought back more than 80 refugees from the bandits' village. I plan to resettle them outside the farm."

A Liang suddenly turned into a bitter face: "Master, there is not much food in the treasury, why are you recruiting refugees? These refugees can't work for a short time, at least ten days and a half months will be spent in vain. In order to regain their vitality. And most of them have fields and land in their hometowns, and they probably came out to flee famine due to a severe drought. What if we ate so much food for nothing and escaped back?"

Liang Feng pondered for a moment, then shook his head: "It's almost summer harvest now, so it's really unreasonable to go out to flee the famine. I guess I still suffered from a military disaster. If there is no one to rely on, even fleeing back will be useless. Liang's mansion now has parts, and there are others. As for the fields, as long as the land tax is similar to that of the farmers, it should not be difficult to keep them."

There is indeed some truth in what he said. The Liang Mansion can easily repel more than 100 bandit soldiers. Isn't it just a reliable tycoon?What's more, the Liang family said that they had the status of Tinghou, and the amount of Tian Fu was only determined by the owner of the family, and was not under the control of the government at all.In troubled times, there are countless refugees who are attached to wealthy families. These people may really become the shaded households of the Liang Mansion.A Liang hesitated for a moment: "What about the food? What should we do?"

"Let's use up some of the stored military rations first, so that this group of people can recover their strength as soon as possible. There is a lot of wasteland outside Liang's mansion, and there are some woodlands, which can also be reclaimed by cutting down trees. It just so happens that there are a few more cattle this time. Some iron plows that can plow the land deeply should not delay the summer planting."

"It's a huge expense again..." Ah Liang finally let out a long sigh and accepted it.

Liang Feng smiled: "What are you afraid of? Yiyan will return with other trophies later on. As long as there are people, there will always be money and food. You arrange someone to set aside a piece of land outside the village, build a hut, and register the refugees. Name. In the future, the Liang Mansion will be divided into two villages, inside and outside, and managed separately."