Chapter 106: Xuyi Suppression of Bandits

Cui Ping's face turned slightly red and he hurriedly said, "I heard that he is still secretly controlling the fleet, so I guess he is making a living by this!"

Li Qingan smiled faintly. No wonder the former county magistrate refused to submit a report to the court. I don’t know how much benefit Du Boyun had taken over. He glanced at Cui Ping. Seeing that Cui Ping’s expression was a little unnatural, he understood a little. He didn’t say it out loud, and asked with a smile: “Then why did he threaten to wash Xuyi County?”

Cui Ping sighed and said, "Because something happened five days ago, Du Boyun wanted to slaughter Xuyi County, so he naturally turned to the horse."

"What happened?"

"Half a month ago, a flower-picking thief was active in Xuyi County. He had been tyrannical in the daughters of three wealthy families, which made the people of Xuyi County panic, but we also found some of his rules. Five days ago, we were ambushed in a wealthy family. Sure enough, at the second update, the thief came again and we immediately arrested him, but he was very cunning. He was about to escape, so we made a quick decision and shot him to death with an arrow on the spot. Unexpectedly, this thief turned out to be Du Boyun's only son Du Xi. Du Boyun lost his only son, so he wanted to slaughter the county town."

"I see!"

Li Qing'an pondered for a moment and asked again: "I remember that there is also a military palace in Linhuai County, your neighboring county. Why don't you ask them for help?"

"Hey! Only the Ministry of War has the power to mobilize the military administration of Linhuai County. How could they come? Besides, I heard that there are only 300 soldiers left in the Linhuai Military Administration, all of whom are old, weak and disabled soldiers. It would be better to ask Yangzhou for help than to come. I happened to meet General Li and ask General Li to save us once anyway."

"I see!"

Li Qing'an stood up and said, "The top priority now is that we need to do one thing."

He turned around and ordered a follower and said, "Go and call He Yanming!"

After a moment, He Yanming strode into the room, clasped his fists and said, "Please give me the order!"

"Taking twenty brothers to Duliangshan quickly and intercept the people who came to report the news."

Li Qing'an said to Cui Ping again: "You arrange a yamen runner who is familiar with the terrain to lead us."

"I'll make arrangements now!"

Cui Ping called a yamen runner and gave him a few instructions. He Yanming immediately set off with twenty cavalrymen.

At this time, Li Qingan glanced at Cui Ping again and said with a smile: "Only by knowing yourself and your enemy can you win every battle. Now I need to know the details of Du Boyun. Should you tell me, or should the county magistrate or county magistrate come to tell me."

Cui Ping's face turned pale. He understood what Li Qing'an meant. Li Qing'an had already seen that they had a relationship with Du Boyun. Cui Ping said: "General Li, I have nothing to do with Du Boyun. It's just that Liu Taishou of Sizhou did not allow me to report the affairs of Liangshan. He returned the report I wrote. This Liu Taishou is my former county magistrate."

"Then dare you say that you didn't get the benefits of a penny?" Li Qing'an stared at Cui Ping with a stern look.

Cui Ping's face swelled into pig liver again. He lowered his head and said, "Mr. Ding sent fifty taels of gold later, saying it was the filial piety of the wealthy families in the county. In fact, I know that this gold has something to do with Liangshan, but I dare not take it home."

As he said that, Cui Ping took out a heavy cloth bag from the crack in the bookcase, opened the cloth bag, and inside it was a square piece of gold, about the size of a book.

He put the gold on the table and said in shame: "That's all, I really don't dare to take it home."

Li Qingan picked up the piece of yellow gold and looked carefully. He saw a row of numbers engraved on it: Du: No. 899, this is the gold cast by Du Jia.

“When did this piece of gold be given?”

"Half a month ago." Cui Ping himself was stunned for a moment. He suddenly realized, "Is this gold delivered by Du Boyun's son from the mountain?"

“It’s very possible.”

Li Qing'an put down the gold and immediately ordered: "Go and capture that county magistrate Ding!"

As Li Qing'an judged, He Yanming grabbed a panicked man on the official road ten miles west of the county town, and found a quick letter written by the county magistrate Ding Yi to Du Boyun from him. There was only one sentence on it: "Five hundred horses of the Tang army entered Xuyi County."

The atmosphere in Xuyi County immediately began to tense. The city gates were strictly controlled, only entry and not exit. The official road was crowded with people who fled from neighboring villages to seek refuge. The yamen runners also mobilized young men to participate in the city protection and defend their homes. The garrisons of the regiment camp were even more lively. Carriages loaded with pigs, sheep, vegetables and fruits came in a constant stream. Nearly a hundred wealthy gentry crowded at the door, begging the soldiers of the regiment camp to defeat the horses for them.

"Pu!" With a sound, two Tang soldiers pushed the fat County Magistrate Ding to Li Qing'an's feet. County Magistrate Ding was so scared that he trembled all over and said a word.

Li Qingan looked down at him, narrowed his eyes and said, "The dignified eighth-rank imperial official actually went to collude with Xiangma. This is the crime of raiding the family and extermination of the clan. Are you afraid?"

"General, please spare me. I did not collude with Xiangma. The one who colluded with Xiangma was Liu. I just helped them pass the message, just ran errands!" County Chief Ding burst into tears and his head was pounding on the ground, begging hard.

"Hmph! When you do things for Du Boyun, you will become a soft boy if you are caught. If you don't collude with him, then what do you do to send him a letter? If I'm right, Du Boyun will attack the county town tomorrow. You will be the first to open the city gate. County Chief Ding, am I right?"

"General Li, I am willing to make meritorious service and atone for my sins. Please spare me once!"

Li Qingan glanced at him and said, "Tell me! Tell me what you know about Du Boyun."

Under strong pressure, County Magistrate Ding finally gave everything honestly.

In fact, two years ago, the three brothers of the Du family bought a large area of ​​forest on Duliang Mountain and began to build temples and Taoist temples. In the name of monks and temples, they built at least hundreds of houses on Duliang Mountain. All monks and Taoists were dressed by the Du family's confidant family. At the same time, they bought 60 hectares of land at the foot of the mountain as temple property. They claimed to be the property of the Jin family in Sizhou.

Under the deliberate protection of his former County Magistrate Liu, the Du family developed smoothly in Liangshan, and was extremely hidden. If Du Boyun's only son had not been accidentally killed by Cui Ping this time, Du Boyun would have planned to spend another 500 taels of gold to bribe Cui Ping and continue to cover up for them.

Li Qing'an paced back and forth in the room with his hands behind his back. He was considering Du Bosheng's whereabouts. Du Bosheng was kidnapped by a group of mysterious people at that time. It seemed that these mysterious people were most likely done by Du Boyun. So would Du Bosheng hide in the capital Liangshan?

Li Qingan pondered for a moment, but denied his guess. It should not be there. If it were there, Du Boyun would not be so impulsive and threatened to slaughter Xuyi City. At least Du Bosheng would persuade him. Moreover, Du Boyun recruited two thousand refugees from Henan within one month. What should he do? Are he preparing to confront the encirclement and suppression officers and soldiers?

Li Qingan vaguely felt that things should not be that simple. How could a horse attack the city be released publicly? Isn’t this a warning to the enemy?

At dusk, Li Qing'an returned to the military camp. Along the way, he saw the yamen runners mobilizing the people from house to house. Suddenly, he discovered something strange. The yamen runners wore different public uniforms. Most of the yamen runners wore black and red public uniforms, but a small number of yamen runners wore blue public uniforms, but the same style.

He strangled the horse and asked a yamen runner in blue public uniform, "Are you the yamen runners in Xuyi County?"

"General, our yamen runners from the Xuyi Inspection Office, after hearing that there was a horse attack tomorrow, we retreated into the city."

Li Qingan was stunned, "Then are there anyone else on your office?"

"There is no one for the time being, wait until you avoid this sensation before going back."

In an instant, a light flashed in Li Qing'an's heart. He seemed to have thought of something, but he couldn't see clearly. At this time, another yamen runner said, "I'm worried that if the more than 200 public ships in our office are stolen, our jobs will be lost."

"Public ship!"

Li Qing'an suddenly realized in his heart, and he made a big fuss to attack the east and the west, and Du Boyun was so cunning!

He sucked his war horse hard and galloped towards the barracks.

The Transportation Office of Jianghuai Metro is in Jiangdu, but it has branch offices in some important transshipment places. Sizhou is the node where the Huaihe River enters the Caohe River, and the transfer status is very important. Therefore, it has branch offices in Sizhou, with two subordinate inspection departments, one is the Linhuai County Inspection Office and the other is the Xuyi County Procuratorate Office. One is responsible for checking the Caohe River boats and the other is responsible for checking the ships coming from the west of the Huai River. During this period, Liu Changyun was working hard to hunt down Du Bosheng's whereabouts, so the inspection on the river surface was very strict. Except for public ships, all other civilian ships entered the port for inspection.

But today, because of the news that the bandits in Liangshan were attacking in Duoliangshan and the staff of Xuyi County were insufficient, Cui Ping asked the yamen runners of the Inspection Office to help. The Inspection Office was empty and there were only two veteran officials guarding the ship.

The branch office is located in a small tributary of the Huai River, about half a mile away from the Huai River. A row of five houses were built on the riverside. A narrow path extends from the official road. There are dense willow forests dozens of steps away from both sides of the road.

At this time, in a room at the edge, two old officials were hiding in the room to drink. One of the green-faced men sighed: "We are in trouble. They are all hiding in the city. If a horse comes, where can we hide?"

"Do you know how you died? I'm so stupid!" Another man knocked him hard, "More than a hundred boats outside, and horses are coming. Wouldn't it be safer for us to hide in the river?"

The man with green face was stunned for a moment, and couldn't help but laugh and said, "I'm so stupid, haha!"

"Come on! Drink."

"drink wine!"

Just as the two were drinking, hundreds of black shadows quietly approached the inspection office, with a cold light shining in their hands, and behind them, more than a hundred carriages were followed from afar.

A tall man waved his hand and dozens of people rushed into the room. After two screams, the lights in the room went out, and the black shadow rushed into the office and rummaged through the cabinets. In a moment, he found more than a dozen of yamen runners' uniforms, and more than a dozen people immediately changed to them.

"Quick! Carry the boxes on the carriage onto the boat, be careful!"

The carriage drove in, and the black shadows put down the knife in their hands and began to unload the nanmu box on the carriage.

Opposite the river, in the willow forest dozens of steps away, Li Qingan looked indifferently at the busy black shadows. As expected, Du Boyun's bloody slaughter of the county was fake, and transporting wealth was real. With the public ship and uniforms, no one would check them along the way.

They transported away a lot of things, more than a hundred carriages filled with wooden boxes of all sizes, and it seemed that they had wanted to leave long ago.

Li Qingan waved his hand gently, and the three hundred soldiers of the regiment training camp raised their bows and arrows, and the sharp tips of the arrows aimed at the black shadow dozens of steps away.

Li Qingan pulled out an arrow and put on the black bow. The bow string slowly opened and became a full moon shape. When the string was loosened, the arrow shot out instantly, with a strong and fast speed. One arrow shot through the back of the black-clothed leader.

‘Ah!’ A shrill scream broke the quiet night. This scream was a signal. Arrows were suddenly fired in the willow forest, and arrows were like dense rain. The black shadows were caught on the narrow path and were shot down. A large area was shot down. The archery technique practiced by the group training camp was powerful at this time. The arrows were strong and different from ordinary archers. Those who were shot were either dead or seriously injured.

Dozens of people driving behind the carriage saw that the situation was not good, turned around and fled. Li Fei Shouyu led a hundred cavalry Tang army to intercept the retreat. The Tang army waved their spears and slashed and assassinated them. These grooms were not real robbers. Suddenly, they found that the Tang army appeared. They were so scared that they urinated and threw the carriage and ran away in scattered.

"The officers and soldiers are here! The officers and soldiers are here!"

"Run!"

The horses were scared by the Tang army's killing and wished they could grow their ribs and run away with their heads in their arms. If they really couldn't escape, they lay on the ground and kowtowed and begged for mercy.

After three rounds of arrows, most of the black shadows on the dock died and injured, and those who were not dead ran away. In the end, more than 20 people were surrounded by the Tang army, and hundreds of bows and arrows were aimed at them.

"Give me your life! Get me your life!" More than twenty people knelt on the ground together, kowtowing desperately to beg for mercy.

"Where is your leader? Who is it?" Li Qing'an pointed at the long bow and shouted sternly.

"June, our third master was the first to be shot to death!" A man said tremblingly.

"What's his name?"

"Report to Jun Ye, the third master is Du Boyuan."

It turned out that the third brother of the three Du family brothers was shot to death by himself. Li Qingan grabbed the man's neck and said angrily: "Where is Du Bosheng? Are you on the mountain?"

"June, the master is not on the mountain."

“Where is that?”

"We don't know either."

Suddenly a stench came, and the man was so scared that he was incontinent, "Damn it!"

Li Qingan threw him on the ground and strode towards the carriage.

Li Fei Shouyu was leading dozens of brothers to check the boxes. Li Qing'an walked up and asked, "Did you find anything?"

"Qiro, I'm just about to find you, come with me."

Li Fei Shouyu led Li Qing'an to the last few carriages. The last few carriages were different from the carriages in front, and they were packed with iron boxes. Li Fei Shouyu pointed to the line above and said, "Qilang, look at this, this is actually King Qing's thing."

I saw that the four words "Qingwang Artifact" were engraved in the lower right corner of each iron box.

"What's in the box?"

"Guess!" Li Fei Shouyu couldn't help but say the excitement on his face.

Cui Ping's gold nugget flashed in Li Qing'an's mind, and he smiled and said, "I guess it's gold nuggets, right?"

"It's almost a little bit, but it's very close."

Li Fei Shouyu opened a lid and saw that it was filled with temple bronze ware, one-foot-high Buddha statues, copper bowls, copper bells, copper chimes, copper wooden fish, etc., which were made in a small size.

Li Qing'an picked up a Buddha statue, approached the torch and looked carefully. It was indeed a bronze statue. According to the market price of Chang'an, this 10-pound copper Maitreya Buddha statue weighing five stakes of coins.

"Qiro, look carefully."

Li Fei Shouyu pulled out his dagger and slashed it at the bottom of the bronze statue. At the gap, the red copper color disappeared, but the yellow and golden color.
To be continued...