When Liu Xiu and others first entered Weicheng County, they were relatively wealthy, with horses and carts, and all kinds of food and daily necessities.
As a result, just after crossing the river, not only the horses and carriages were gone, but most of the food and daily necessities were also lost.
After boarding the north bank of the river, people packed up the luggage they had brought to the boat. Except for some food and clothes, there was nothing else.
Looking at everyone who was helpless, Liu Xiu smiled nonchalantly and said in a brisk tone: "If something is lost, you can buy it back in the future, as long as everything is fine."
Deng Yu said helplessly: "I'm afraid the next trip will be much more difficult for us."
There are horses and carriages to travel with. Even if you are tired all the way, you can still persevere.
Now they can only walk on two legs. They are strong men and there is no problem. The key is that the female relatives may not be able to endure it.
Before Liu Xiu could speak, Shi Luo stepped forward and said seriously: "Mr. Deng, don't worry about me, I can persevere."
Deng Yu smiled at Shi Luo and didn't say anything more. Some things cannot be accomplished with determination. In this situation, there is no other way but to take one step at a time.
Liu Xiu turned around and called the boatmen over, then asked Zhu You to get the money bags and distributed them to them, saying: "Brothers, thank you for saving us. The Tanxiang Army will not let you go.
You’d better go to the county town with us!”
Several boatmen looked at each other, but none of them took the money bag handed over by Liu Xiu. Instead, they all bowed and saluted, saying: "We are all willing to follow Mr. Liu, and please take me in!"
Liu Xiu's original intention was to send them to the county town and let the county government settle their future lives. Unexpectedly, they were all willing to follow him.
Seeing that Liu Xiu was hesitant, several boatmen knelt down in unison and said in unison: "Sir, you may not think that we are all a bit old, but we all have the strength. We are willing to do things under your hands, no matter what.
We are willing to serve as soldiers or servants for you, we just ask you to take us in!"
Liu Xiu pondered for a moment, then stepped forward to help several boatmen up one by one, and said seriously: "Since you are willing to follow me, then you can work by my side from now on. This time, Xiu came to Hebei to carry out recruitment work.
, the future is uncertain, but as long as there is a mouthful of food to eat, I won’t wait for you to be hungry!”
"Thank you, sir!" Several boatmen knelt on the ground again and kowtowed to Liu Xiu.
Liu Xiu got into trouble with the Tanxiang army in Dengcun and fled all the way. Although he lost all his horses and carriages, as well as a lot of things, he also accepted six boatmen as his dependents.
There are many waters in Huangze area, including Dangshui, Jiangshui, Huanshui, Weihe, Qinghe, etc. With so many waters, the local land is naturally fertile, but at present, large areas of fertile land are abandoned and cannot be seen.
Someone is plowing the land.
The boatmen couldn't help but sigh and shook their heads and said: "In the past, there were many villages here, but now all the people have fled. If we didn't have boats and could barely make ends meet, I'm afraid we would have left here long ago.
.”
The Tanxiang Army is terrifying enough, but in the whole of Hebei, there is more than just the Tanxiang Army as a rebel army?
Today this insurgent army came and looted and just left, and tomorrow another insurgent army came and looted again. Ordinary people could not survive at all.
People can't live anymore and still want to survive, what can they do? They can only join the rebel army.
As a result, the scale of each rebel army is growing rapidly. The larger the scale, the more resources are needed, and the plunder becomes more frequent. The life of ordinary people becomes more difficult, and more people turn to the rebel army.
The Hebei region has now completely fallen into such a vicious cycle.
Liu Xiu has a deep understanding of this along the way.
After passing Huangze, the rest of the journey was much smoother. Although the place they passed was still devastated and the fertile fields were abandoned, they did not encounter anyone from the Tanxiang Army again.
It can be felt that the rebels are still quite afraid of the county and city. The closer they are to the county and city, the harder it is to see the rebels.
To make a long story short, Liu Xiu and his party slept in the open and walked for more than ten days. On this day, they finally arrived at Yecheng, the county seat of Weicheng County.
This was the first time Liu Xiu and others saw a decent city since entering Weicheng County.
Compared with other places, Yecheng is much more prosperous. It is estimated that the population in the city is less than 100,000, but it is about the same. There are a large number of soldiers guarding the city gates and walls.
The county government has received news that Liu Xiu was ordered to patrol Hebei.
The prefect of Weicheng County was named Wang Yi. It seems that Wang Yi and Liu Xiu had some connections. Wang Yi's previous prefect was named Li Yan, a master of prophecy and a top student of metaphysics.
Later, a fortune teller, Wang Kuang, came to Li Yan and said that he had read the prophecies and that today, "the Liu family is in power, and the Li family is the assistant." This Li family should be talking about you, Mr. Li.
After hearing this, Li Yan was convinced, and then he and Wang Kuang wrote a book to predict the bad luck for the officials of the Xinmang court.
Not to mention, these two people are both good at writing. They wrote more than 100,000 words of books and almost predicted the bad luck of the court officials at that time.
Later, their actions were reported, and Li Yan and Wang Kuang were beheaded by the court.
The person who reported Li Yan and Wang Kuang at that time was the current prefect, Wang Yi. It was through this report that Wang Yi gained Wang Mang's appreciation and was promoted from a county official to the position of prefect.
Wang Yi was actually just a loser, very good at speculation, and he did reap the benefits of it. Now that Wang Mang is dead, the Xin Dynasty has been destroyed, and was replaced by Liu Xuan, the Gengshi Emperor, and the Han Dynasty Gengshi court.
Wang Mang is already dead, and the Xin Dynasty has been destroyed. How can Wang Yi continue to be loyal to Wang Mang? After Chang'an was captured, Wang Yi was one of the first batch of local officials to submit submissions to the Gengshi court.
Now Liu Xiu was ordered to come to Hebei to appease Wang Yi, and Wang Yi paid great attention to it. When he heard that the officers and soldiers guarding the city came to report that Liu Xiu had arrived in Yecheng, Wang Yi immediately summoned the officials of the county government, and then personally led a group of county officials out of the city to greet him.
At this time, Liu Xiu and others were all in a very embarrassed state. They were all dirty and dirty. If you didn't look carefully, you couldn't tell who was who. Fortunately, the stick tied with a yellow cloth strip in Liu Xiu's hand was quite eye-catching.
Wang Yi saw it at a glance.
Wang Yi rushed forward, knelt on his knees, kowtowed forward, and said loudly: "I am sent to Wang Yi, the prefect of Weicheng County, to pay my respects to Marquis Wu Xin!"
People around Liu Xiu never called him Marquis Wu Xin. For Liu Xiu, this title was simply a humiliation.
But Wang Yi didn't understand this. According to the rules, of course he had to call Liu Xiu by his highest title.
Liu Xiu did not show any displeasure. He stepped forward, pulled Wang Yi up from the ground, and said with a smile: "Prefect Wang, please get up quickly!"
Wang Yi stood up and said indignantly: "Wang Mang was rebellious and usurped the Han Dynasty. Fortunately, the British Lord came out of nowhere, and with the help of a hero like Wu Xinhou, he brought order to the chaos, killed the traitors, and restored the Han Dynasty. He is truly the best in the world."
Fortunately, the people of Li are so lucky! Every time the officials think about the evil deeds of the reckless thieves, they are heartbroken, mourning the misfortune of the world and the hardship of the people!"
After hearing Wang Yi's "heartfelt words", Deng Yu, who was standing behind Liu Xiu, almost laughed out loud. People who don't know Wang Yi probably would have thought what a great person he was after hearing his words.
Where is the most loyal minister of the Han Dynasty?
But who doesn’t know the bad things Wang Yi did back then?
Liu Xiu said with a calm smile: "Prefect Wang is so loyal to the Han Dynasty. If your Majesty knew, he would be very happy!"
Wang Yi immediately hit the snake and put it on the stick, and said with a smile on his face: "I am far away in Yecheng, so it is difficult to see the majesty of the emperor. I hope that Marquis Wu Xin can speak kindly to me in front of His Majesty Neng."
Liu Xiu smiled calmly and said, "Prefect Wang is too humble. Can we talk in the city?"
"Yes, yes, the lower official has been given a banquet by the county government. Marquis Wu Xin invites you!" Wang Yi nodded and bowed to the side.
Yecheng, the county seat of Weicheng County, is also the largest city in Weicheng County. There are many shops on both sides of the streets and there are many pedestrians on the streets. Compared with the desolation of other places, Yecheng can be called a fairyland on earth.
Liu Xiu and his party did not go to the county government first, but went to the inn first. They were all in a mess and needed to wash up first.
In the inn, after Liu Xiu took a bath, he changed into his official uniform. Then, he left Xu Xiling, Xi Cheying, Shi Luo and other female family members in the inn, and went with Deng Yu, Yao Qi, Zhu You and others.
County government.
At the county banquet, the participating officials were all of high rank, the lowest ranking being Hucao and Bingcao. Everyone exchanged greetings and drank a few glasses of wine before Liu Xiufang got to the point.
He said: "Since entering Weicheng County, most of the villages we have passed are deserted. Bandits such as the Tanxiang Army are running rampant and endangering the local area. I wonder if the county government has any countermeasures to deal with the banditry in the territory?"
Hearing Liu Xiu's inquiry, Wang Yi smiled bitterly and said: "I swear to God, I really want to control the banditry in Weicheng County. However, the bandit armies from all walks of life are numerous, and the county is unable to control them."
As for the government, it is really full of ambition but not strong enough!"
Captain Sun Ke responded: "Wu Xinhou is unaware that the Tanxiang Army alone, which frequently appears in Weicheng County, has more than 100,000 troops. With the current strength of the county, it is really unable to compete with them."
After a pause, he said seriously: "However, the Tanxiang army has invaded my Yecheng several times, but was defeated by our army and returned home in defeat. Now, the Tanxiang bandits no longer dare to take a step closer to Yecheng!"
Liu Xiu did not doubt Sun Ke's words. In fact, the closer to Yecheng, the fewer people from the rebel army were seen, and the number of local people gradually increased, and there were people in the fields everywhere.
Farming.
Liu Xiu asked: "Captain Sun, I wonder how many officers and soldiers there are in Yecheng?"
Sun Ke replied: "Reporting to Marquis Wu Xin, there are currently 8,000 soldiers in Yecheng. If there is an enemy attack, we can temporarily recruit about 4,000 strong men!"
In other words, once it enters a state of combat readiness, Yecheng can dispatch an army of 12,000 people.
After all, the Tanxiang army is not a regular army. Even if there are more than 100,000 people, it is not easy to storm Yecheng where more than 10,000 county troops are stationed.
Moreover, Weicheng County is closely related to Zhao Guo County to the north. Once Weicheng County is besieged by a large number of rebels, Zhao Guo County's county town Handan can immediately send troops to reinforce.
By then, the Tanxiang army would be attacked from both sides. Not only would it be impossible to defeat Yecheng, but it would also be in danger of being annihilated.
Seeing that Liu Xiu was worried about the increasingly rampant uprising, Wang Yi immediately showed his opportunistic skills. He sighed and said to Liu Xiu: "Right now, there are rebel armies everywhere in Hebei. It is really difficult to quell them with the power of one county.
Only by gathering the strength of all the counties can we eradicate the banditry! However, Jizhou Mu died, and now Jizhou is leaderless, and all the counties are fighting on their own. If Wu Xinhou can re-establish a Muzhou in Jizhou, the banditry in Hebei will surely be quelled!"
