In Gongchang City, as soon as the sun peeked halfway through the mountains in the distance, heat began to surge throughout the world.
Outside the city gate, except for a few people who still need treatment, the city has basically returned to its former appearance.
In the fields, there are also people's activities.
In the village close to the stream, the people have organized themselves spontaneously and begun to dig trenches and canals, preparing to lead the stream into the village's fields.
Villagers further away, sitting in the shade of trees, sighed as they watched the large tracts of cultivated land being turned into scorched earth by the sun, unable to do anything.
In the Guanyi compound, everyone in Dongchang has just finished drinking porridge and is getting ready to start a busy day.
Wei Li, the magistrate of the government office, walked in happily with a handful of green vegetable leaves in his hand.
Seeing Xiao Chen arranging tasks for everyone, he hurriedly clasped his fists and saluted.
"Wei Tongzhi, what are you holding in your hand? Green vegetables?" Xiao Chen was a little surprised and asked with a smile.
"It's been a few months, and there is no more vegetables to eat in Gongchang City. Just now, when I came over, I saw someone setting up a stall selling vegetables on the street. I was so excited that I bought some." Wei Li said with a happy face.
Said with a smile.
Although Gongchang Prefecture is generally dry, there is still some land that can be watered.
However, a large number of refugees were lost, and almost all of them flocked to Gongchang City.
Even if there are vegetables at home, who would dare to sell them on the street?
Besides, my family has no food at all, so I rely on vegetable leaves to survive. A while ago, as soon as a small leaf sprouted from the green vegetables in the field, someone would pinch them and stuff them into their mouths.
Now, some people come out to sell vegetables, which shows that the people's food supply has been solved, and it also shows that the panic caused by the disaster to the people has basically stabilized.
He handed the green vegetables in his hand towards Xiao Chen: "My lord has also been eating dry rice for a long time. I'll give you this green vegetable."
"Okay, okay." Xiao Chen smiled and took the vegetables, "The appearance of a common person selling vegetables means that our hard work for so long has achieved significant results. If there is one common person today, there may be two tomorrow.
The lives of the three people in Gongchang are gradually returning to normal."
"Outside the city near the water source, the people have spontaneously started digging canals to divert water. A little further away, the people are still at a loss." Wei Li said.
"Master Wei, do you mean to start building water conservancy projects?"
"The disaster situation has stabilized, and the next step for the government should be to prepare for water conservancy. Today, I plan to go to a place far away from the water source to conduct an on-site inspection and come up with a practical and feasible planning strategy. I would like to ask, sir, if
We need to arrange for manpower to go together with the manpower from the government office."
"I'll go, I'll go." Before Xiao Chen could say anything, Little Plum beside him volunteered and called out.
Xiao Chen smiled softly: "Okay, then you can go with Wei Tongzhi. Remember, draw a picture of the local water source layout and let me take a look when you come back."
"Okay." Xiao Lizi nodded excitedly.
Waiting for Wei Li to take Xiao Lizi out of the door, Xiao Chen's expression turned serious: "Has Gong Changwei had any unusual reactions in the past few days?"
"No, it's just that the calmness is a bit unusual." Duan Tianming beside him whispered.
A few days ago, on the day when Gong Changwei Commander Zhang Xing was captured, Xiao Chen took people to the Gong Changwei Commander's Department.
Not only did they take away all Zhang Xing's military records and the mysterious record book he kept privately about the military situation in the cave south of the city, they also took control of all Zhang Xing's immediate family members.
Unexpectedly, when he was about to leave, he was stopped by a Qianhu leader.
It stands to reason that when the imperial envoys handle affairs, the thousands of households in the guard office do not have any right to dictate.
However, given that it was the time of disaster relief, Gong Changwei had indeed made a lot of efforts in disaster relief. Xiao Chen patiently explained Zhang Xing's problem and the reason for arresting him.
In fact, what Xiao Chen did was not to show weakness, but had a deeper meaning.
The commander of Gong Changwei, Zhang Xing, confessed that all those who participated in the concealment of armaments were buried in the mountains, but Xiao Chen did not believe it.
Perhaps, in order to gain the reassurance of the Marquis of Dingxi, Zhang Xing sacrificed most of the participating soldiers.
But he must have left this matter to his most trusted people.
These confidants could not be cultivated overnight. It was impossible and unwilling for him to bury them underground together with the ordinary soldiers.
If Dongchang arrests Zhang Xing, those hidden cronies will definitely take action.
Either take the opportunity to escape, or secretly conduct a series of other operations to save Zhang Xing's life.
Xiao Chen was waiting for these people to lose their composure and catch them all when they jumped out.
"This shouldn't be the case." Xiao Chen frowned, "Even if they don't dare to take action against the armaments in the cave, it's still easy to leave Gong Changwei and find an excuse to go to Dingxihou Mansion to deliver a message. Is it possible?
What Zhang Xing said is true, and everyone involved in that year is dead?"
"No, absolutely not." Duan Tianming affirmed.
"You didn't see me back then, so why are you so sure?"
"Do you think, if you hide these armaments and need to kill someone to silence me afterwards, will you kill me?" Duan Tianming asked softly.
"No." Xiao Chen shook his head, "Not only will I not kill you, I will not kill anyone from Dongchang."
"That's right. Even if Zhang Xing gave up the lives of five hundred soldiers in order to gain the trust of Dingxi Marquis, he must not have killed the cronies responsible for the matter," Duan Tianming said.
"We didn't kill him. We should take action now. Are we just watching Zhang Xing being arrested and indifferent? Or maybe we are overthinking it. It is true that there is no one with knowledge in Gong Changwei. However, regardless of whether he has knowledge or not,
We still have to send people to monitor Gong Changwei. At present, we have a little manpower in Gongchang City. If they suddenly start a rebellion, they will catch us by surprise. Have the people sent to guard Longyou Road come back?
?”
"Not yet, but I guess I'll be back soon." Duan Tianming said.
Xiao Chen nodded and frowned.
When I came here this time, I only brought fifty Dongchang captains with me.
Although all of them are top-notch experts, after all, there are too few people.
The armaments in Nanshan need to be guarded, and the government prison also needs to be guarded. In addition, manpower has been sent back to Beijing to deliver letters, and now there is no one available.
If Zhang Xing's cronies in Gong Changwei jumped over the wall and took advantage of his absence to besiege the government prison, they might really be able to kidnap Zhang Xing and Dingxi Hou inside the prison.
Under urgency, Xiao Chen had no choice but to borrow troops from another imperial garrison near Gongchang to guard Longyou Road.
"Da da da da" a rapid sound of horse hooves came from outside the gate, and before everyone could recover, the horses had already rushed into the yard.
"The government compound is surrounded, and Gong Changwei's soldiers are forcibly attacking our outer defenses."
The captain on the horse turned over and dismounted, pinched his left wrist with his right hand, knelt on the ground with one knee, and said anxiously.
An arrow pierced the captain's left wrist, and blood dyed the entire left hand red.
"Sure enough, there is a ghost." Xiao Chen snorted coldly, "Bandage the wounds yourself, Captain Duan, follow me to kill people."
As soon as he finished speaking, his feet rose and fell, Xiao Chen had already jumped onto the wall, and flew from the roofs of the contiguous houses towards the government compound.
In the government compound, a dozen Dongchang school captains and fifty or sixty Gongchang city guards stood at the gate with weapons in hand, looking solemn and silent.
Since Zhang Xing's incident, Xiao Chen replaced all the Gongchang Guard soldiers guarding the government prison with Gongchang City Guards.
Judging from the current situation, the people in Gongchang Mansion are more trustworthy than the people in Gongchangwei.
Opposite them, stood a man in Qianhu uniform, with his hands behind his back, staring at everyone coldly.
And beside him were all archers, a total of three to four hundred.
The long bows in each hand were fully drawn, and the gleaming arrows seemed to have been aimed at everyone at the gate.
"Brothers from the garrison of Gongchang City, I just want to rescue our Gongchangwei commander this time, and I don't want to be your enemy. If you can get out of the way, I promise not to conflict with you."
Qianhu's eyes swept over the guards soldiers one by one.
"Is it possible to get out of the way of the important government office? Zhang Xing, the commander of Gong Changwei, is a serious offender of the imperial court. You are provoking the imperial court by using force to hijack him. If you put down your weapons and surrender, you may still have a chance of survival. If you continue to persist.
If you forcefully attack the government office, the nine implicated clans are waiting for you."
A Dongchang captain raised his sword and shouted loudly.