Delong

Chapter 188 Raising Arms (1)

On September [-]rd, East County, Baima City, just two days after a light rain that did not last, the temperature was warm, dry and wet.

Just after noon, Dou Bing, the captain of the county, received an invitation from Li Tingwen, the resident black ribbon in the county, saying that the chrysanthemums in the back house were in full bloom, and it was a good time to watch them, so he held a temporary banquet and invited Dou Duwei to come and enjoy the flowers and drink together.

Dou Bing didn't want to go at first, because as the county's deputy officer in charge of military affairs, he has clearly noticed the commotion of the county soldiers in the city these days. From the most important Baimajin to the city guards, the atmosphere is a little tense.

In this regard, Dou Bing, who was born as a descendant of a wealthy family in Guanlong, of course knew what was going on... At the beginning of the month, hundreds of thousands of bandit troops captured Dengzhou, and then they attacked the city with recklessness. The news spread along Dahe and Jishui, so naturally It had a severe impact on Dongjun, which also belonged to the hometown of the Eastern Qi Dynasty.

But how?

The days are getting sadder every day, and it didn't start from the past few days. Compared with the impact and impact of the million-dollar march against Dongyi in the spring and the saint's sudden southern tour in the summer, this news, on the contrary, was as early as most people. As expected.

Probably because of this, after hesitating for a while, Dou Bing accepted his wife's advice, chose to suspend his inspection tour to Baimajin, and went to Li's house instead.After all, what Fa's wife said was right. The geographical location of Dongjun basically guaranteed that it would be assigned by Dongdu, and Uncle Cao was in Dongdu arbitrarily. It's awkward, even if the other party is from Hebei.

After making up his mind, he changed into casual clothes, washed up a bit, and the [-]-year-old Dou Duwei bid farewell to his wife, rode on a horse and armed with a sword, and headed proudly to Li's house with only three or five soldiers.

Dou Bing arrived first, and Li Tingwen immediately opened the middle door to welcome him in. The etiquette was proper, which made Dou Bing feel a little relieved.

However, after the two exchanged pleasantries, Li Heishou did not personally lead the people to the backyard, but instead just pointed to a family member to lead the way:
"Trouble Captain Dou, go to the backyard to sit idle for a while. I also invited Zhou Juncheng and our Liu Junjun here, so I have to wait here with courtesy."

Dou was a little surprised, if according to the other party's words, this is considered to have invited a county sheriff and military and political deputy from the East County in Baima City, plus Li Tingwen himself, wouldn't it be that the army, government, and special officials of the same county gathered together? ?
Is there a big deal?
Why don't you go to the county hall to discuss important matters?
Reminiscent of the recent situation, although Dou Bing still followed the other party's servant to the backyard of Li's house, he couldn't help but hold the saber, and when he walked to the screen wall, he stopped suddenly and looked back at his accompanying general through the porter, frankly. Say:

"I didn't know that the Junjun was coming. It was just an ordinary preparation. It would be impolite. Dou Qi, you go back and tell your mistress about this, and ask her to bring the altar of 'Clear Water and Spring Moon', and chat to add to the fun."

Dou Qi was originally a trusted subordinate of Dou and his father who fought on the battlefield. When Dou's children go out to be officials, there is often such a general accompanying him. His status is unusual, and he has always been aware of important secrets... It sounds natural at this time It was his master who became suspicious, so he responded immediately, then got on his horse and walked away.

The whole process was so fast that there was no time for people to react.

However, when Li Tingwen, who was standing outside the door, saw this scene, he just smiled awkwardly and didn't say much.

Dou Bing was relieved again, and went directly to the backyard. Seeing the simple seats and some tea and snacks set up, he sat down in a hurry, looked around, but did not see any chrysanthemums...but still had nothing to say, because it was very It may be a potted plant, or even bought temporarily from the real flower owner's house.

After waiting for a while, Zhou Weishi, the county magistrate who was born in the southeast, also arrived, and the two chatted freely.

After waiting for another quarter of an hour, the local owner Li Tingwen finally turned back, but he was alone, then hurriedly took his seat, and said directly:
"The Junjun sent someone to take care of him, saying that the Junjun himself is not feeling well recently, so he won't come..."

Dou and Zhou Zhou were completely relaxed after hearing the words, so they wanted to joke and steal half a day's leisure.

However, Li Tingwen's next sentence left them stunned on the spot:
"To tell you the truth, I don't have chrysanthemums in my house, and this banquet is just to hide people's eyes and ears. I want to avoid some people, and I will talk to the county lord and the two of you about one thing... either today, or tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow at the latest. , the powerful families in this county are going to join forces to rebel!"

Dou and Zhou Zhou were stunned for a while, looked at each other, and were silent for a moment. Although they were obviously shocked by the news, no one reacted violently.

"If you say they don't rebel, it will look weird." Dou Bing sighed and broke the silence first. "The key is that the information is accurate? Who wants to oppose it?"

"That's right." Zhou Juncheng came to his senses, and with a gesture that he knew he would be like this, he picked up a piece of sweet-scented osmanthus cake and kneaded it there. "This year's autumn grain will be planned for transshipment soon, and the calculation should be reversed... The key is who is there?"

"It was Sun Cheng, the little warden at Baimajin, who came to sue him. He was urged to rebel by Zhai Qian, the governor of the county. Brothers Qian and Zhai Kuan are the leaders... and Sun Cheng and Huang Junhan have always had a grudge against each other, so they thought about it all day yesterday, and in the early hours of this morning, they suddenly came to my house and sued me." Li Tingwen was serious. Yes. "I did an urgent investigation...Three or four out of ten of the local county officials have already made an oath with Zhai Qian. It is precisely for this reason that they dare not go to the county government."

"Thirty to four out of ten..." Zhou Juncheng muttered half a sentence.

"Where's Xu Dalang?" Dou lowered his voice and mentioned a character. "Is Xu Dalang involved?"

"It is said that there is, but there is no real evidence." Li Tingwen said one thing. "However, six or seven days ago, when Zhai Qian and Huang Junhan asked for leave together, Xu Dalang was not in the city. I have some doubts..."

"Although I don't know anything about military affairs, I also know that if Xu Dalang is here in Dongjun, he will rebel. In addition, the Zhai brothers and the officials in the city are in such a league, I'm afraid it will really be unstoppable." Zhou Weishi squeezed Osmanthus cake is awe-inspiring. "Looking at the results of tax collection on weekdays, you can see how powerful these families are in the countryside. They were all princes of the Eastern Qi Dynasty two or thirty years ago. They really have soldiers, generals and food. Since this year , and there is no shortage of ordnance.”

"It's fine if it's just Xu Dalang." Li Tingwen hesitated, but continued. "According to what Sun Cheng said, Zhai Qian and the others claimed to be the leader of the Dragon Clan. I just remembered that when I caught a prisoner before, I thought he couldn't stand the punishment and said some stupid things... Now that I think about it, it may not be true. So... and according to that person, this Dragon Clan is no ordinary gang, and the two on the black list, the third and fourth, are all among them..."

"Gushui killed Zhang Xing, Mr. Zhang, and Li Shu, the former master of Yang Ni's conspiracy?" Dou Bing raised his head in surprise.

"Yes."

Dou Bing immediately picked up the wine cup in front of him, took a sip, and then said: "If so, maybe it's not just Xu Dalang and the Zhai brothers, and it's not just the white horse, right? However, this is right, I wanted to say before So, Xu Dalang and the Zhai brothers, who is the leader? If Zhang Li and the two thieves are there, I am afraid that Xu Dalang, the Zhai brothers and other local tycoons will all pay their respects, and the rest of the county should also do the same."

"Could it be that the whole county is going to rebel?" Zhou Weishi asked with difficulty, leaning on his body, as if he was swallowing the sweet-scented osmanthus cake in his hand.

"It's not that everyone in the county is against it." Li Tingwen smiled wryly. "But after the Three Expeditions, half of the world in the east of Liang County will be rebelled!"

Dou and Tuesday were completely silent.

After waiting for a while, it was Dou Bing's family general, Dou Qi, who broke the silence. He came straight in with a jar of wine, but Li Tingwen obviously had an explanation, and his family members did not stop him along the way, so the latter came directly to the backyard, and then embarrassed Put down the drink and stand aside.

Dou Bing looked at the wine jar in front of him, so he had no choice but to continue to ask Li Tingwen:

"Brother Li, in this situation, can there be salvation? You asked us to come, if there is a way, why not teach us? We will do our best."

"I originally expected the Jun Jun to come over." Li Tingwen spoke with difficulty. "With his righteousness, we will attack from three directions... But if the county lord does not come, some things are arbitrarily asserted."

"Counting on him?!" Dou Bing suddenly sneered, inexplicably having an attack. "I personally doubted him. I knew the situation was not good, but I was greedy for life and afraid of death. I was incompetent and ineffective, so I hid in the county mansion and waited for death! His elder brother was also like this back then. He said that his elder brother Liu Yelong was "always proud and unprofessional, and the military aircraft was so important that he couldn't bear it, so he lived in Nanya just because of marriage"... Think about it today, how similar is the younger brother to the older brother? If you don’t marry a woman surnamed Sima, how can you live in the city?”

Dou Bing is from Kansai, and he is from a wealthy family with a bright future. Naturally, he can ridicule Liu Yezhong, the prefect who is also from Guanlong. , venting itself is meaningless at this time.

"If he doesn't come, we'll be on our own. I'll talk about everything from the east!" After venting, Dou Bing showed his background as a disciple of Guanlong and gritted his teeth. "Brother Li, tell me, what was your original plan?"

"What's the plan?" Li Tingwen smiled wryly. "It's nothing more than a preemptive move to take down the four leaders Xu Dalang, the Zhai Brothers and Huang Junhan first, and stop the boiling."

"Who are you going to get?" Dou Bing couldn't ask. "Who am I going to get?"

"I will take people from Jing'antai to take Zhai Kuan among the Zhai brothers, and you go to take Xu Dalang...Xu Dalang must use troops, and only you can go." Li Tingwen continued. "After the matter is completed, you go to maintain the city defense... Zhou Juncheng, your task is extremely heavy, you have to call the county officials first, and delay in the name of autumn grain, and then I can dispatch with Dou Duwei. Zhai Kuan, look for you again, and then we can take down Zhai Qian and Huang Junhan in turn."

"That's all!" Dou Bing stood up suddenly. "Do you want to imitate Liu Yezhong and wait for death?"

Li Tingwen also got up silently, and together with Dou Bing looked at the prefect Zhou Weishi.

The latter smiled wryly, and had no choice but to throw away the sweet-scented osmanthus cake and stand up.

When Dou saw this, he was about to leave.

"Hold on." Li Tingwen suddenly called to stop him. "Captain Dou... the wine is here, let's have a drink!"

Hearing this, Dou Bing was also stunned for an instant, but became serious again. He personally cut open the mud and picked up the wine jar to serve the wine. words, but they were speechless for a moment.

In the end, Captain Dou looked around and sighed for a while: "Not much nonsense, Dou is thirty this year, and one of you is five years older than me, and the other is seven years older than me... I will make a promise here, if you can Get over it, and I, Dou, will treat you and me as brothers... Blessed and afflicted together!"

As he spoke, he lowered his head and drank a glass of wine, dropped the glass and went directly, the other two also quickly drank the wine, and then hurried out.

Can go out.

Dou Bing naturally went to the camp where the county soldiers were located in the city first. Halfway there, he suddenly turned around with a heavy heart, but was a little surprised:
"How come all the warriors in the family follow?"

Dou Qi was speechless: "It's not that the young master wants wine... the young lady understands?"

Dou Bing was in a trance for a while, then shook his head immediately: "Send half of it back, let Madam guard the house from today on."

Dou Qi understood, and immediately brought half of the people back.

The journey was not far away, and Dou Bing arrived at Xiaojun City, located on the north side of the city, between Baimajin and Dacheng after a while, and then pretended to be innocent, patrolling as before... After turning around twice, he went to the army in the middle Sit upright in the city hall, just waiting for Zhou Juncheng to send a letter.

Only Dou Bing was young after all, so he couldn't help being impatient, knowing that it might take half an hour there, but he still couldn't bear it, sat for a while, then came out of the hall to look, looked for a while, He felt that this posture was too abnormal, so he had to turn back.

At this time, he suddenly noticed something, so he came to ask the local army general who was leading the team standing guard in front of the hall: "General Yuan, why do you have yellow flowers in your ears?"

The captain was stunned for a moment, as if he was a little nervous, but he immediately saluted and smiled: "To tell you the truth, Mr. Captain, it's a custom here to wear flowers in September, and to climb high... But I don't know where there are flowers in Guanlong. No?"

"Yes, yes." Dou was stunned for a moment, then smiled, and went back to the account.

Indeed there are.

Then, he didn't notice it at all, but after a while, the team turned around and went directly to the small gate of the military city leading to Baimajin in embarrassment.

Not to mention Dou Bingku and other signals, but on the other side, Zhou Juncheng is the oldest and a native of Jiangdu, so he really doesn't want to get involved in this muddy water, but when things come to an end, he has to agree, but the subsequent actions are inevitably procrastinated and hesitant.According to Li Tingwen's instructions, he came to the warehouse compound two streets away from the county mansion, and issued an order to call all the county officials to discuss the matter of autumn grain. Get up... Then, the officials from all over the town gradually gathered, but Zhai Qian and Huang Junhan were not seen alone, and the county magistrate was even more worried and worried.

For half a day, he was really helpless, so he could only carefully ask the other officials who came earlier: "Where is Zhai Facao? Where is Prisoner Huang? Why don't the two of them come?"

Not in front of the Guanlong people, he still couldn't help but use the word Cao that he was used to.

But no one answered for a while.

But after a long pause, suddenly a tall figure flashed in from outside the door, and asked from a distance, "Duke Zhou, did you come to look for Zhai Da just now?"

Hearing the voice, he knew Zhai Qian, and Zhou Weishi was relieved, but thinking that Huang Junhan hadn't come yet, he suppressed his posture, continued to put on his usual posture, frowned and asked, "Zhai Facao, why are you here so late?"

"Don't hide it from Mr. Juncheng." Zhai Qian came over boldly, and the surrounding county officials waved to both sides, but they came directly to bow their hands and salute. "I was drinking and wearing flowers at home just now. I didn't have enough flowers. I waited for a while and waited for new flowers from outside the city before I dared to come here."

Zhou Juncheng followed the other party's words, and of course saw a small yellow flower tied with a hairband by the other side's ear, and couldn't help nodding: "I see, I see... I know that the south also has this custom."

From now on, it seemed as if he just had to wait until Huang Junhan came again.

However, as Zhou Juncheng turned his eyes away from the yellow flowers beside Zhai Qian's ear and continued to look at other people, he suddenly froze on the spot, and then his whole body became cold, even trembling faintly.

Without him, the courtyard is full of low-grade officials, and almost everyone wears a small yellow flower, except for Zhou Weishi.

After a pause, Zhou Juncheng's hands trembled obviously, and he walked forward cautiously, holding Zhai Qian's hands with a strange expression in the afternoon sun, and then spoke earnestly:
"Zhai Facao, September is high in autumn, and there are yellow flowers all over the place. How can I be the only one missing? But there are still flowers, and I share one with my brothers."

PS: Thank you, Master Liuliqin, for the third alliance... How many dinners do you have to invite?

(End of this chapter)