For the tenth time, Li Xian read the silk book sent by the county city ten times. After he was sure that he had remembered almost every word on it, he threw it into the brazier and burned it, watching the silk slowly twist in the flames.
It deformed and turned into coke. After making sure that no residue was left, he pushed the door open and walked out.
He now lives in the small courtyard of the other officials in the official temple in Anlu County. He has a separate room of his own. After going out, Li Xian greeted his colleagues in the same courtyard as usual, and after casually being a little late for breakfast, he
Arrive at the county lieutenant's office where the office is located.
These days are the critical moment for recruiting troops, so the county lieutenant's office is very busy. Many pavilion chiefs and village officials are waiting outside, holding slips in their hands, preparing to submit the recruitment status of their townships and pavilions. The county lieutenant requested that five
The recruitment task must be completed in the month of June. The formation must be completed in the township and ting according to the place of origin. After the summer harvest is completed in June, the training must be gathered in the county.
Li Xian bypassed these village officials and entered the official office. He first went to a room at the door. In front of a janitor, he picked up a pen and wrote the names and dates of the 28 officials in the county official's office on one side.
On the large wooden slip, the column corresponding to today was circled...
In the Qin State, every official in the county had his own file, and the number of days of attendance must be recorded every day, and business trips and leave requests must be noted. If there were too many absences, the chief official would be blamed at the end of the year.
This is equivalent to clocking in at work in future generations.
"Liu Zuo still hasn't come today?"
After punching in, Li Xian asked the clerk calmly.
"No."
Li Xian is now the most respected military official in Youwei, so the clerk said with a flattering smile: "I have been missing seven or eight days this month. It is said that I am sick at home."
Li Xian nodded and looked at the offices of the two county lieutenants. The right lieutenant Zheng Shou was in the main hall, and the left lieutenant Yunman was in the side hall. Originally, Zheng Shou was an outside official. Although he was a full-time official, he had to compete with local gangsters in everything.
Yun Man discussed it. Until half a year ago, Heifu returned with many young people from the county who had made meritorious services. Most of these people were recruited into the lieutenant system. Now, the situation changed, and the Yun family could no longer cover the sky with one hand. Zheng Shou began to take back
There is a lot of power, and Yun Man may have noticed something. He has been sick at home in recent days and has not come to the board of directors.
"Liu Zuo's days are numbered." Li Xian thought of what was said in the letter.
However, Zuo Wei's family has a tall mansion and compound, which is like a fortress. There are also servants and nearly a hundred guests. It would be difficult to attack by force. What's more, nearly half of the county soldiers are descendants of the Yun family.
"The pavilion chief said he will arrive in Anlu tomorrow. I only have one day to prepare in advance..."
With this in mind, when Li Xian was in Moshi, he made an excuse to inspect the training situation of the county soldiers and walked to the school ground near the south gate.
There was a wooden fence and a sentry outside the school grounds. Li Xian was a familiar face here. After a few casual questions, he was let in. When he arrived at the edge of the school grounds, he heard a burst of cheers...
However, I saw that the archery target area in the school field was crowded with spectators, and the county soldiers clapped their hands and cheered while watching.
When I took a closer look, I saw a village commander who was not very tall, standing sixty steps away. Unlike most people who took aim for a long time, he barely aimed at it, and the arrows were already shot out. One arrow followed the other, and then the other.
The arrowhead of one arrow followed closely the tail of the previous arrow. The onlookers could only hear "pop, pop, pop" and three bowstring sounds, followed by people in the distance reporting the target, saying that all three arrows hit the bullseye!
This chain of arrows is really powerful, and what is even more rare is that it can hit the target sixty steps away. The new soldiers in the Caiguan Archery were very surprised. Seeing that Xiao Tao Tun Chief was usually quiet and stammered, and even
I need someone to help me explain it, but I didn't expect him to be quite capable.
The veterans on the side began to brag to the newcomers about the deeds of Chief Xiao Tao, from the sound of an arrow in Blind Mountain that shocked hundreds of people, to the arrow attack on Xu Yang in Linyang City to quell the chaos, and to the accurate arrows on the battlefield to stop the Chu general.
He committed suicide and everyone was amazed.
Xiao Tao, on the other hand, just smiled and told everyone to stop making noise and stand together to listen to him teach archery skills.
The art of archery used on the battlefield does not have to be like the aristocrats of the Spring and Autumn Period who learned archery. There are so many details, and they also have to be honest and correct. Xiao Tao directly taught everyone the skills of eyesight, body and foot...
The so-called eye training method is of course impossible to see lice as big as wheels as in the legend. The most basic requirement is to keep the eyes "not blinking", that is, not turning away or blinking. As for the foot technique, it is "left foot vertical, right foot
"Horizontal", while talking, Xiao Tao also slowed down his movements to demonstrate to everyone, keeping his right foot straight, placing his body weight on the back foot, and pointing his left toe towards the target...
It was at this time that he saw Li Xian.
"Left...the left hand is like a stone, and the right hand is like a tree branch. The right hand shoots, but the left hand doesn't know. This is the way to cover the shot. You can learn and practice it again..."
After saying that, Xiao Tao asked everyone to contact each other on their own, and walked over to Li Xian and bowed his hands.
Li Xian smiled and said: "In the army, ability really speaks for itself. These talented officers and archers have already convinced you."
Xiao Tao said sheepishly: "I... I just secretly learned some of the techniques of leading troops from the pavilion chief."
"Among the old men who follow the pavilion leader, you are the only one who has learned some skills in military training." Li Xian knew that he could not treat his soldiers with sincerity, and Dongmen Leopard was a reckless man. He could charge and kill the enemy, so let him
Leading troops must be a mess, but it is a pity that Xiao Tao has a stutter, which limits his options, otherwise he will be more than one commander and hundreds of generals in the future.
"Speaking of which, Xiao Tao, the archery method you taught the county soldiers is not the same archery method you taught the pavilion chief when you were in Wei."
Speaking of this matter, both of them couldn't help but laugh. Heifu was good at martial arts, but his shooting skills were extremely poor. After two years of training, he had not made any significant progress and could only reach the passing mark of an average military officer.
After chatting about their current situation, Li Xian lowered his voice: "The pavilion chief will arrive tomorrow..."
Xiao Tao was happy, and then he was surprised: "What...what's going on here?"
Li Xian did not answer, but first asked: "Of the two hundred Anlu County soldiers in the city, how many of them can act under the tiger talisman of the county?"
"Everyone can respond to orders..."
"What if the order from the county is to surround the Yun family and arrest Yun Man? There are also many Yun family descendants in the county... How many people can follow the order then?"
Xiao Tao understood clearly and pointed to the officials who were practicing archery: "I dare not say anything else, but my men... these fifty bows and crossbows, they can aim wherever the pavilion chief points!"
…
After leaving the school grounds, Li Xian went back home first before arriving at the door. Ji Ying, who he had arranged to meet at this time, happened to be nearby.
"You go and deliver the letter first, and I'll go to Liwei Shi's house to ask for some water!"
Ji Ying, who was already in charge of a rural post office, came over with a smile. It was not until he entered Li Xian's house that he handed Li Xian a slip containing a lot of things.
"This is something newly discovered."
Li Xian took a look and saw that what was written on the slips were all one by one, one after another about the Yun family's children and old stories. Although they were all chronicles, each one had a time, place and person, and they were not random.
Nonsense.
Ji Ying said helplessly: "Adultery, private fights, buying slaves from Chu, killing cattle, drinking, and playing games. If these crimes are added together, although they can make several people of the Yun family lose their official positions in the county,
, but to Yun Man, it is of no consequence. At most, it is useless to teach the tribesmen. In the past few months, although I took advantage of my position to open a lot of Yun family's letters, I found nothing. Recently, they seem to be alert.
I wrote a lot, and even the private messages were not included in the official document.”
It could be seen that Yun Man seemed to smell something unusual and started to become cautious.
"That's enough." Li Xian put away the slips and said with a smile: "The pavilion chief has verified Yun Man's major crime. If this crime is proven, it will be enough to kill him! Add the crimes of these clan members, the Yun family will surely fall!
"
"Seriously!" Ji Ying was overjoyed and said with a smile that the director of the pavilion was still the best.
Li Xian said: "The pavilion chief will arrive in Anlu with the county soldiers tomorrow and pass through Beijiao Township first. You will have someone send a message to Dongmen Bao tonight and ask him to take the soldiers from all the pavilions in the township to prepare.
"
Ji Ying was very excited after hearing this. They had been planning for half a year since they came back, and they also listened to Hei Fu's instructions to be careful not to do anything illegal and not be used by the other party. It can be said that they have put all their efforts into it, and now it finally came into use.
"Are you going to take action?"
Li Xian followed Xiao Tao's example and made a bow-like gesture, pointing in the direction of Yun's mansion: "The arrow is already on the string!"
…
After sending Ji Ying away, Li Xian thought for a moment and found that he had arranged everything. As soon as Heifu arrived in Anlu, he could use the soldiers from the northern suburbs and county soldiers to cooperate with the county soldiers to control the situation.
Suppress the possible resistance of Yun family.
"Then there is only one thing left..."
When Hei Fu's silk letter arrived last night, Li Xian hesitated for a while. Is there a way to not only live up to Hei Fu but also preserve the clan?
Li Xian knew about his clan. As a family of officials who had served the Fu Ao family for four hundred years, the elders in the clan had always been obsessed with their old master.
During festivals and Mingshi ceremonies were held, the clan chiefs of past dynasties also had close ties with the Dou clan.
It is a joke to say that the Li family is a member of the Chu family and some are traitors to Qin. The whole family together does not have the courage to do so. They are just nostalgic for the past, so if they are implicated for this, it is really unfair.
So Li Xian also thought: "Maybe I can fly back to my hometown, meet with the clan leader alone, and ask him to quickly destroy the past letters, and then commit suicide in advance..."
In this case, the blame can be placed on the head of the clan, and the clues can be cut off without involving too many people.
But Li Xian immediately gave up the idea.
"If a ruler doesn't keep secrets, he will lose his country; if ministers don't keep secrets, they will lose their lives; if a few things are not kept secret, it will cause harm."
The clan can try to save it later, but what we have to do now is to save our own career and future, as well as what Hei Fu ordered!
So, he has one last thing to do!
It was already time to get off work in the afternoon. The officials in the official temple had finished their busy day and were walking outside talking and laughing. Li Xian also greeted them as usual.
It wasn't until he entered the hall of the county right lieutenant's office that Li Xian took a long breath and put on a look of panic and horror. He deliberately didn't even take off his shoes, so he hurried in and bowed down to the man who was about to go home.
In front of Zheng Shou, the right lieutenant of the county, he got a big jump!
"Wei Shi, what happened!?" Zheng Shou thought it was the Chu army on the other side of Yunmengze who was attacking!
Li Xian burst into tears and said, "I have something to report to Youwei!"
"What's the matter?"
"When a subordinate, Xiu Mu, returned to his hometown, he accidentally discovered that the leader of the Li family in Jinshui Township had correspondence with the Chu State! It may also be between the Chu State!"
"ah?"
Zheng Shou was shocked. The Li family was the second largest lord in the county. His descendants occupied half of the positions in Zhenshui Township and had always been relied upon by him. However, his Wei Shi was originally from the Li family, so he would not frame his own clan.
?
"Every word I tell you is true, and I will never deceive you."
"What should we do?" Youwei was a little panicked. He had always relied on the children of the Li family to maintain the balance with the Yun family. Now that something happened to the Li family, half of his men would be unable to use them.
"In order to avoid alerting the enemy, it is better to bring the leader of the Li clan to the city first, and then arrest him after he enters the county captain's hall."
Li Xian lowered his head to cover up his cunning eyes and true purpose.
"This matter is not trivial. Can You Lieutenant inform Zuo Lieutenant, Mr. Yun, that we will come to the county temple tomorrow to interrogate the leader of the Li family? I heard that the Yun family and the Li family have always been at odds. I think Zuo Lieutenant will be happy to help You Wei capture the Li family!"
