On the twenty-first day of the winter lunar month, several days had passed since the pay day, but the soldiers of Long Rui Army did not receive their pay on time, which had already caused dissatisfaction in the camp.

Although nothing unexpected has happened yet, the soldiers in the camp have already begun to discuss it privately.

At dusk, Qin Xiao summoned all the soldiers in the army and said loudly: "I know that everyone has been in a bad mood these past two days. I have been serving as soldiers to eat food. When the time comes, I don't have military pay. I am not happy either. There are some things that I don't want to hide from you.

Today I’m calling you all to come over and make it clear.”

After this period of training, the soldiers were in good order, and the queues were very neat, and nearly ten thousand people were silent.

"You may not know that our grain, grass, military supplies and military pay are all allocated from the Armament Department." Qin Xiaodao: "And the supplies for the Armament Department are allocated by the Ministry of Household Affairs. A few days ago, a batch of military pay was transported from the pass.

When we came here, we were robbed by bandits halfway up the road. The bandits killed people and stole money. This also resulted in the Department of Arms having no money to use, so there was no military pay to be sent here."

As soon as this statement came out, many soldiers who knew nothing about the matter were shocked.

"General, who dares to rob our military pay?" Someone couldn't help shouting: "If we find those bandits, we will have to cut them into pieces."

"Yes, Tai Sui is stirring up trouble. Are those bandits looking for death?"

The officers and soldiers yelled and cursed, and the crowd became excited.

Gu Baiyi, who was beside Qin Xiao, raised his hand. When everyone saw it, their voices immediately became silent.

"This is indeed the most difficult time for our Long Rui Army." Gu Baiyi said loudly: "Zhong Lang will lead everyone out of seclusion. He hopes to lead everyone to a bright future and treat you as his own brothers. What happened?

General Zhonglang has been trying his best to resolve such a major matter these days. He did not tell everyone because he was worried that everyone would panic. However, General Zhonglang has already figured out a way. Within five days, General Bihui will pay everyone the full salary."

Qin Xiao nodded and said: "I hereby promise to everyone that if the salary cannot be paid to everyone in time within five days, I will immediately resign from the position of Zhonglang General and apologize to everyone."

"Since the general said so, we can just wait for five days." Jiang Xiaochun was at the front of the team and turned around and said: "Brothers, we all know the character of General Zhonglang, and he means what he says. If the military pay cannot be paid in full by then

, I am also willing to resign from my official position and apologize to everyone together with General Zhonglang."

Qin Xiao was highly regarded by the saint and had outstanding strength. Not to mention his prestige in the army, Jiang Xiaochun was also a capable general and his prestige in the army was not low. At this moment, the two of them made promises at the same time, and the officers and soldiers immediately calmed down.

In Shunjin Fucheng, Liang Zongyi heard the report from Zhou Jingshan, the county magistrate, and couldn't help laughing: "The military pay will be distributed within five days?"

"To be precise, there are only four days left." Zhou Jingshan said with a smile: "This is what he said when he summoned all the officers and soldiers of the Long Rui Army yesterday evening. It happens to be dusk now, and one day has passed."

Liang Zongyi stroked his beard and smiled and said: "Jingshan, the two informants you bought from Long Ruijun are also useful. We can keep track of every move there."

"Sir, there is already a problem with the source of Long Rui's army." Zhou Jingshan chuckled and said, "Half of them are the remnants of Qingzhou who rebelled in the past, and the other part are the Queen Mother's congregation who made trouble in the south of the Yangtze River. In the eyes of the imperial court, these two groups of people are all

They are traitors to the party. The lower official thinks that the fact that the court did not punish them immediately is not because the saint really valued Qin Xiao, but just to win people's hearts and want the world to know that as long as they submit to her, she can be forgiven for her previous sins." Fu Xu said.

: "If this is really the case, our saint is really broad-minded. Unfortunately, in the eyes of this official, this is not the case."

Liang Zongyi said "Oh", and Zhou Jingshan said: "Sir, think about it, if it is really a saint who is lenient, why did Qin Xiao immediately organize these two groups into the Long Rui Army after the Jiangnan Rebellion, and directly sent them

Come to the Northeast?"

"Do you think this is a saint who wants to kill someone with a borrowed knife?"

"When Long Rui's army came out of the border, many people in the Liaodong Army felt that the imperial court wanted to use Long Rui's army to restrain us." Zhou Jingshan said with a smile: "I think those people are too short-sighted and have too little knowledge. I have always felt that

, the saint may also have this intention, but his real intention is to kill people with a borrowed knife. Several thousand good people in the Longrui Military Region were immediately placed in a remote place in the north by us after they came out of seclusion. They will never be able to become a saint anyway.

Naturally, she is extremely shrewd. She can certainly think that Long Rui's army will not succeed in the Northeast. In this case, why should Qin Xiao lead the troops out of the border? Doesn't he just want to use our hands to eradicate these rebels in the eyes of the imperial court? "

Liang Zongyi nodded slightly and said: "Jingshan, what you said makes sense. The list you gave me before contained the information about the generals of Long Rui Army. I looked over it and found that except for Jiang Xiaochun who was a soldier, there were still some

Others are not worthy of mentioning their abilities. Gu Baiyi was just a small clerk in Kyoto Prefecture before, and Yuwen Chengchao was a descendant of an aristocratic family in Xiling. When Xiling was occupied, he was a lost dog. By the way, I still remember

Among them, there is a captain named Chen Zhitai. I heard that he is still a bandit in Xiling. Hahaha... Look what Qin Xiao has under his command. If the saint really wants to use Long Ruijun to check and balance us

How could the Liaodong Army arrange all these crooked men and women in the Long Rui Army?"

"What the Lord said is absolutely true." Zhou Jingshan also laughed and said: "Knowing that his logistics supplies need to be sent from within the pass, Long Ruijun was unprepared. More than 200,000 taels of silver were robbed as soon as he said they were robbed. Hehe

Yesterday, Qin Xiao boasted to his officers and soldiers that if he could not pay the military salary within five days, he would resign from the post of Zhonglang General. It seems that he still knows himself. If the time comes and there is no money to pay, then

The gang is a proud soldier with a background of rebels and bandits and will not let him go easily."

Liang Zongyi waved to Zhou Jingshan, and Zhou Jingshan came closer. Liang Zongyi asked in a low voice: "Qin Xiao dares to boast about Haikou. Naturally, he is counting on the money from Youzhou to be delivered in time. He said that it can be delivered within five days."

Pay silver, in this kind of weather, it will take at least five or six days to transport the silver after leaving Yuguan. Does this mean that the silver team sent by Youzhou has already left Yuguan?"

"Your Majesty is waiting for news." Zhou Jingshan said: "In a few days it will be the first lunar month, and the weather is freezing. There are not many caravans coming and going from Yuguan. Hu Xuan has been paying attention to the movement in the Armament Department. He had

It is certain that Youzhou will send two hundred Youzhou sergeants in disguise to escort the silver car out of the customs. This time they will bring one hundred thousand taels of silver and at least a dozen trucks. As long as you keep an eye on such a team, you will not go wrong.

.”

Liang Zongyi nodded slightly and sneered: "Jingshan, later you can collect some money and send someone secretly to Long Ruijun to bribe a few more people and let them secretly encourage them. Once the military pay cannot be paid in four days, let him

They took the lead in provoking trouble." Fu Xu smiled and said, "This time I want to see if Qin Xiao dies there, or returns to the pass in disgrace."

Panshan County is adjacent to Linhai County in the west. Entering Panshan County, less than eighty miles to the east is Yingzui Gorge.

It was evening, and a team had just entered Panshan County from Linhai County. The official road was also open. It had snowed for several days in the past few days, but it had been stopped for several days. However, there was still a thick layer of snow on the official road.

In the snow, about two hundred people, all wearing thick cotton robes, were meandering forward in a dozen carriages.

"Everyone, hurry up. There is an inn more than ten miles ahead. Get there before dark." The leader turned around and shouted loudly: "There is wine, meat, and hot stoves. Let's take a good rest tonight.

Let’s go on our way again tomorrow morning.”

When the season is good, there is an endless stream of caravans coming and going on this official road, so there are many inns on both sides of the official road dedicated to the business of these caravans.

It seemed that the wine, meat and stove had lifted everyone's spirits, and the team was filled with laughter.

"call out!"

A loud arrow suddenly shot into the sky from the dense forest not far from the roadside, it was extremely clear and piercing.

The leader turned around and looked over, and saw many figures suddenly emerging from the woods, and then heard someone exclaiming: "No, are there thieves ambushing you?"

"There's one over there too!" Someone pointed to the other side.

So everyone saw that densely packed cavalry rushed out of the woods on both sides of the road almost at the same time. They all raised their arms and waved swords in their hands, rushing towards the convoy on the official road.

"Everyone, hurry up, there are so many of them." Someone in the convoy shouted, turned around and ran back to the road. When the others saw this, they also yelled and turned around and ran away. The leader shouted loudly,

But he couldn't stop him at all, and watched helplessly as hundreds of people under his command abandoned their vehicles like a tide and scrambled to flee.

"Whoosh whoosh!"

The cavalry on both sides hadn't arrived yet, but the arrows had already arrived. Although most of the ambush soldiers rushed towards them with their swords, there were also dozens of archers who fired arrows continuously. Among the random arrows, several of the fleeing convoy guards were hit by arrows.

His companions did not leave him alone, and they pulled him onto their horses and fled.

The leader obviously knew that the situation was over, and had already turned around and fled back the way he came.

By the time hundreds of cavalrymen on both sides rushed to the official road, no one was left guarding the convoy, and they had all run away. Just seeing their backs, some cavalrymen wanted to catch up, but they heard one person say in a deep voice: "

There is no need to fight, just drive them away."

Dozens of cavalrymen followed the fleeing guards with shouts and did not speed up to catch up, only bluffing behind them.

"A group of wine bags and rice bags, it turns out that the Youzhou Army is so vulnerable." A cavalryman dismounted, walked to the side of the vehicle, tore open the thick canvas covering the vehicle, turned around and ordered: "Come here, pry open the box

, see if there is any silver inside."

Immediately two people jumped on the car, lifted a box and placed it on it. They used a knife to pry open the lock and opened it. Sure enough, there was a layer of silver ingots neatly arranged on it. They said to the person who spoke: "Your Majesty, Lord Commander,
Chapter completed!