Just when Chief Zhang was struggling with the complicated internal factional struggles, the meager autumn tax revenue, the specious organizational system, the corrupt and degenerate cadre quality, and the complicated daily work, at the busiest time of the autumn tax work, someone
Arrive at Jiangling.lan as scheduled as agreed.
"General Zhang, after seeing you for the past few years, how are you?" In front of the noisy blacksmith shop in the north of Jiangling City, Xie Minghe saw the person coming and bowed his hands from a distance.
"Ashamed, ashamed, how dare you let Chief Xie come to pick you up?" Zhang Gongshen went south alone. After entering the territory, only a team of patrolmen escorted him here. He was looking at the huge military camp on the roadside, the bustling roads, and the scale of the blacksmith shop when he suddenly heard
When he heard the voice and saw it was Xie Minghe, he quickly rolled off his saddle and dismounted, and returned the greeting with his hands raised. "How dare you call yourself a general in front of Chief Xie?"
"I was a prisoner in the past, but now I am a guest. Now that I have come, I will make peace with you." Upon seeing this, Xie Minghe thought that the other party was recalling his previous posture when he was captured. At that time, he, Wang Zhen and Chen Bin were the prisoners of Xilihutu.
After seeing the other party, he came to laugh and said, "General Zhang is here today. He just wants to stay in the city. The residence has been arranged. Should we go to the residence first or go to see Chief Zhang first? Or maybe we should visit Jiangling City first.
?”
Zhang Gongshen didn't dare to pick a fight, but he just responded modestly.
Naturally, Xie Minghe was not a newbie, and since it was the autumn tax period, he, the person in charge of foreign affairs, had nothing else to say, so he simply took care of everything. After bidding farewell to the sentries who had gone to hand over the task, he first asked for
Take the other person to visit Jiangling City.
In fact, there is nothing special about Jiangling City except for its convenient transportation and wide open fields. The only explanation may be that the local smoked chicken was a little famous before, but since the Three Expeditions and the wars, this kind of roast chicken has become rare.
This year it has been a little more stable, and you can see about one or two, but after Chief Zhang established his business platform here, the surrounding business gathered, and there were more specialties in other places, but it was still not obvious... so much so that the merchants who came and went were...
It is said that the sour plum soup here is comparable to that of Dongdu, but no one knows about smoked chicken.
In fact, many people are wondering why Chief Zhang built his platform in Jiangling. After all, there are too many famous cities in the Bohai Sea and the plains.
At first, everyone’s explanation was that Chief Zhang took things as they came and chased Xue Changxiong’s army to Qingzhangshui that day, then avoided the front line, retreated, and stopped. But soon, a new theory gradually emerged, which was probably
It was precisely because this city was too unremarkable that Chief Zhang chose this place because it could showcase his abilities.
"I am of good faith." Zhang Gongshen, who was leading the horse, sighed with emotion on the official road. "I followed the Hejian Army here that day and saw what it was like back then. When I passed by here when I returned to Youzhou after the spring, I was already shocked in the field.
The scale of the main camp and the military camp is huge, and it is even more impressive to see that the spring plowing has not been missed at all. But who would have thought that in less than a year, we would reach this point, and the streets would reach outside the city? The blacksmith shop also
It's so big, there's everything from farm tools to pots, pans, and spoons; the cattle and horse camp is also great, with so many livestock and so well-managed; and there are these few outer streets, which only sell goods from the east.
, there are actually goods from Jin, Youzhou, Beidi, and Jiangnan, it’s really amazing.”
Xie Minghe listened to what the other person said, and he seemed extremely down-to-earth... Including the slightly weird exchange in Pingchang County last time, it also showed that the other person was indeed a somewhat honest person... and he felt somewhat proud.
"Although it's a bit self-proclaimed, but in terms of appeasing people's livelihood, I have traveled to too many places and met many so-called heroes, but I'm afraid they are not as helpful as us." Xie Minghe smiled, twisting his beard. "Most of the rebels once seized power.
They often feel at a loss, and the court officials, who used to be perfunctory, now look at the generals of the Wei Dynasty, but they feel a little unscrupulous or self-destructive."
"That's true." Zhang Gongshen thought for a while and nodded seriously. "But it's also appropriate... Ever since General Manager Li was in poor health and our general was ordered to supervise the fourth east county of Youzhou, he has been very concerned about the local area.
I frequently check money and food and check for corruption, but I'm just not as good as your family."
Xie Minghe immediately laughed out loud - some words were really unnecessary to say.
In this way, the two of them walked around the city first, and then had a bowl of new noodles somewhere in the south of the city. They just entered the city in the afternoon, but they pointed to the general area of the city and introduced it, and then led the other party to Cangcheng
At the back door, I found a woman in charge of logistics. The latter came out and introduced the other person to a nearby alley, a house that was simply divided into a front and a backyard. After making an introduction, he told the other person where he lived, and then left.
Moreover, although Zhang Gongshen only came here privately because the two families were official thieves, according to what Luo Shu said privately before coming here, if this year's success comes true, General Luo is likely to take off in one fell swoop and take over Youzhou.
In the land of twenty counties, he will be regarded as one of the top powerful masters in Hebei... Under such circumstances, Bang's attitude towards himself, a confidant of General Luo, is also strange... On the one hand, he sent someone with Xie Minghe's background, qualifications and
The leader with real power came to welcome him in person, which was surprising. On the one hand, he was only given such a small house, and there were no servants or servants. It seemed to be a deliberate humiliation, which was really strange.
However, Zhang Gongshen was honest and prudent and would not show it. In addition, he was also a low-level military officer and could more or less take care of himself. He just nodded.
Immediately, after Zhang Gongshen tied his horse and got a bucket of water, he followed Xie Minghe out and prepared to do the most important thing today - to meet the chief of the Ye Gang, the so-called leader of ten counties and one state, one of the best in Hebei
The leader of a large force, even the greatest rebel in the world, and the recognized leader of the rebels, Zhang Xing Zhang Sanlang.
"correct."
The two walked out, and Xie Minghe pointed to a courtyard diagonally across the alley that was obviously much larger. "That is the residence of Chief Jia Runfu. If you want to see Chief Zhang in the future, even if you can go directly, you'd better go to Chief Jia first."
Just to make a report, he is our chief guard leader."
Zhang Gongshen was startled for a moment, suppressed his dissatisfaction, and nodded quickly: "It should be like this."
Xie Minghe didn't care, and just continued to emphasize: "In the future, when General Zhang is here, apart from rewards for military exploits, his daily treatment will be the same as that of an ordinary single leader."
Zhang Gongshen was even more surprised and confused, but he still hurriedly answered.
While talking, the two of them had already left the alley and returned to the tightly guarded Cangcheng City, but this time it was the main entrance. After Xie Minghe once again showed the sign made of jade, ivory or whale bone, he led Zhang Gongshen
Went in.
After entering Cangcheng, he did not go to any large main hall, but turned into a row of ordinary public rooms. Zhang Gongshen had nothing to say about this. In the current situation, the most feared thing for Zhang Gongshen was to be beheaded. So Zhang Gongshen
It is normal for the chief executive to choose the most ordinary public house, or even change his office location on a daily basis.
In fact, when Luo Shu realized that Li Cheng was about to die and began to try to fight for control of Youzhou, he seemed to have reached the point of becoming a pill, but he was also so cautious, fearing that someone would stab him somewhere.
That's how it is for those who are in a superior position.
However, what surprised Zhang Gongshen a little was that the interior decoration of this public room was actually just ordinary, with a table, two shelves, three or four chairs and stools, one of which looked like the legendary whale bone chair, but it was
In the guest seat, there was a person sitting under the back window of the room, just sitting on an ordinary wooden chair. When he saw the person coming, he raised his head from the chair, his eyes were bright, and it turned out to be Zhang Xingzhang, the gang leader whom he had met that day.
Saburo.
"General Zhang came just in time." Zhang Xing also smiled after seeing the person coming, and stood up and stretched out his hand. "How about it? Can Xie make it clear to you? Do you have any other requirements? Just ask." Lan.
"Everything is in order. There is nothing unnecessary. Please rest assured, Chief Zhang." Zhang Gongshen looked a little embarrassed, nodded immediately, and then hurriedly stepped forward to shake hands. His behavior was obviously a bit awkward.
While he was at a loss, he was still a little hesitant. He wanted to ask about the other party's residence. Why did he keep saying that he was being treated like a leader, but it was just such a small courtyard? It wasn't that he couldn't bear it, but that he was afraid of losing it.
Luo Shu's face, or doubts about the other party's attitude.
"That's good." Zhang Xing didn't want to get into trouble, so he just shook his hand and sat back. "If General Zhang has something urgent, you can ask Xie to take charge of it, or you can come to me... Since you are here today, is General Luo there?
Verbal explanation?”
Zhang Gongshen did not dare to sit down on the whalebone chair. He just leaned over and held hands with each other, saying honestly: "No, I just want you to keep in touch with Chief Zhang."
Zhang Xing raised his eyebrows slightly, then nodded, and asked again: "Is there any big event in Youzhou, Beidi, or other places? If my mother has to worry about keeping it secret, General Zhang must inform me."
Zhang Gongshen thought for a while, looked at Xie Minghe again, and then answered: "There are some things, but I told Supervisor Xie on the way today..."
Zhang Xing suddenly understood and nodded immediately: "That's good, it happens to be evening soon. We are going to eat on the porch. General Zhang might as well go to the porch to wait for a while and have a meal together later." Zhang Xing pointed with his hand and dismissed it.
the other party.
As soon as Zhang Gongshen handed over his hand, he left immediately. When he came out, he realized that he had forgotten to ask about his residence.
"How do you say it?" As soon as the person left, Zhang Xing looked at Xie Minghe.
"Either he is a very honest and steady person, or he is a very serious-minded person who is good at hiding things, and I thought it was the former." Xie Minghe once said. "Because I took him to eat new noodles in front of the restaurant opened by a Youzhou native.
, he acted calmly, as if he had no idea that it was the property of the Hakka family of Luoshu Xinfumen; and after I took him to his residence, he saw that the residence was simple, and he obviously thought that we were mocking him, and he almost didn't cover it up... However, he
His cultivation level is pretty good, I think he is almost ready to condense his elixir."
Zhang Xing nodded: "It's natural. Youzhou has always been a martial artist and it's so big. There are always some heroes. Luo Shu is also ambitious. The Wei Dynasty suppressed the local people before. It's unusual for him to hook up with these heroes so early."
.”
"I have done some research on Luo Shu these days. No matter how I look at it, I feel that he is always a cunning thief... He must not be trusted. It's just that we are not bordering each other at the moment, and we are just making friends from far away and attacking close by." Xie Minghe reminded seriously. "Don't be credulous."
Chief Zhang was non-committal: "Actually, no matter what, why don't we make friends from far away and attack close by? If we don't capture Hejian, what's the point of talking about Youzhou?"
Xie Minghe nodded, but smiled and said nothing.
"What do you mean?" Zhang Xing was confused for a moment.
"Are you really prepared to endure it for two or three years and wait until the situation becomes clearer and the opportunity arises before moving to Hebei?" Xie Minghe asked seriously, clasping his hands.
"Why two or three years?" Zhang Xing said disapprovingly. "The situation is going too fast. I estimate that something will go wrong in Jiangdu and Dongdu within a year and a half... And we really shouldn't attack Xuzhou. Attacking Xuzhou is not only a waste of money and food."
, and seriously catalyzed the situation, which I did not expect... So now I am only worried that the situation is developing too fast, but we have not accumulated enough strength and have not completed what we should do."
Xie Minghe shook his head: "Your worries are right. The situation is obviously accelerating now. According to Zhang Gongshen, the Eight Dukes of Beidi and the Seventh Guards of Dangmo have completely broken up. There seems to be an incident in Tingtao City in the north recently.
What kind of chaos happened, and then there was a direct conflict between the Gao family in Lelang City and the White Wolf Guard who were close to Youzhou. People in Youzhou said that it was the White Wolf Guard who got our support..."
"What does it have to do with us?" Zhang Xing said disapprovingly. "The Seven Demon Guards are restrained by the Black Water Guards' Commander Heishui, so why should we get involved? Besides, I heard that there was trouble in Tao City.
It must be that the conflicts within the Northland have been aroused to a certain extent."
"But it is normal for the people of Youzhou to think this way. Although they have no direct conflict with us now, including Hengshan and Daijun, we have obviously tolerated it, but what we are most afraid of in our hearts is probably that we will attack them from the north and the south with the Northerners in the future."
"That's true..." Zhang Xing had nothing to say. "The people of Youzhou won't really trust us. They are just acting for the occasion." Lan
"Besides that." Xie Minghe hesitated for a moment. "They are also some of the rumors that Zhang Gongshen just said, but they have not been verified yet. I guess we have to wait for news from northern Shanxi... It is said that there are many traditional Guanlong military towns on the south side of the Dumo Desert.
They all turned against each other, and everyone said that the news came from Xuzhou."
Zhang Xing snorted coldly: "This is just a crime. It's obvious that the Wu clan is going south, okay? What does it have to do with us?"
At this point, Chief Zhang paused slightly and couldn't help but sigh: "I wonder if this matter will be the final blow to crush Dongdu..."
"Whether it's the last blow or not, as you said, it's almost a year and a half away." Xie Minghe nodded. "But what I'm worried about now is that the trees want to be quiet but the wind doesn't stop... I understand clearly,
The current situation is like this. Our gang has become so big that we must be in trouble. All the rebels are attached to us, and the prefects and generals from various places are also looking at us. Even the traditional civil strife in the north is obviously caused by the Wu tribe going south.
The rebellion in Guanlongbian Town was all blamed on us... Zhang Sanlang, why do you think that when it comes time to force the emperor's uncle in Dongdu to fight to the death, we can survive alone? Why don't we take this responsibility?
Target, others are just sitting there and reaping the rewards? Is that emperor’s uncle really so stupid that he can’t see that we are the real thorn in his side?”
Zhang Xing had nothing to say, or he said calmly: "If this is the case, we must lay a solid foundation and work hard to lay the foundation. We can't stop eating because of choking... In fact, I have just woken up now. Although I have not weighed
Wang Zhuba, but emphasizing the leader of the rebel alliance is also a double-edged sword, but I will never regret it. If it does come, the Grand Master Hongshan will overwhelm us, and that will be our fate...
...However, I still feel that the imperial uncle is not that confused, or that with his vision, he must be more wary of the Bai family."
Xie Minghe smiled when he heard this: "You think clearly."
"The matter is there." Zhang Xing said disapprovingly. "Even if I am afraid and uneasy, I should have thought of it... I originally wanted to wait until the end of autumn or even the new year to talk about it. Since Brother Xie also mentioned this matter, I will first
Let me know, I want to ask Brother Xie to contact a few people privately." Lan.
"How many diamonds are there?"
A master from the North."
"Invite everyone and do your best... We also need to contact the fortune-telling ambassador, the brother of Prince Ji and the prefect, even the one holding the mirror." Zhang Xing said seriously. "Although there is still a need for blacksmithing.
You are tough, but it is a matter of life and death, so there is nothing to worry about. Do your best to do everything, and try every method."
Xie Minghe nodded.
The two talked about some more details, heard the noise outside, and walked out together carrying chairs.
"Thank you for your hard work, brothers."
After thanking the servants who had been released from the official slaves, Zhang Xing went straight to his meal as usual, and then talked with the surrounding staff officers, clerks, and other gang members who came to do official business. And those big leaders, chiefs, managers, division managers, and staff officers,
The clerks, county officials, and military officers were also impatient and took the opportunity to discuss and talk non-stop, as if they had long been familiar with this atmosphere.
On the other hand, Zhang Gongshen next to him was surprised and uneasy for a long time, obviously unable to adapt.
What surprised Zhang Gongshen even more was what happened later. After finishing the informative verandah meal, he saw Chief Zhang quickly clearing away the bowls and carrying back his chair. Zhang Gongshen, who had already become numb, came out with the crowd, but unexpectedly came back.
When he was staying at his own residence, he was actually traveling with Chief Zhang and several others.
Finally, when he arrived at his residence, he found that the other party actually handed over to him, and then pushed the door open and entered a courtyard that was exactly the same as his own. Several guards followed a young officer and handed him over to the large courtyard next door.
This also made Zhang Gongshen stunned again.
It turns out that Jia Runshi's big house was used for stationing troops for protection, and he really gave him the treatment of a leader, even the treatment of a chief.
In Youzhou, or in Luo Shu's place, although the Eighteen Cavalry are called brothers, they are typical personal attachments. They need to kneel down to be loyal and serve as the master's servants. The reason is to do big things.
After coming back to his senses, for some reason, Zhang Gongshen suddenly felt a little ashamed as he pushed the door in.
PS: It is indeed influenza A. I spent four or five hours the night before yesterday to confirm the diagnosis. The hospital was full of influenza A. My wife contracted an upper respiratory tract infection when she was 31 weeks pregnant. I was prescribed special medicine and a bunch of things. I am much better. It’s just that
You have sore throat, fever, cough and headache, but the fluctuation of symptoms is very interesting. You take acetaminophen, and within two hours you feel almost better, and then two hours later, the symptoms go up again, and then all the symptoms
It gets worse...repeatedly...work and life are still obviously affected. Fortunately, I can still manage to take care of my wife, and it is obviously getting better in this cycle. I hope it will get better as soon as possible.
Everyone should also take care and pay attention to protection.