Fenghou

Chapter 437

Early the next morning, Liu Cui's army took over the defense of the county seat. After a night of cleaning up, the Xixia people's army and government forces in Didao County were basically wiped out, and there was no possibility of cooperation from inside and outside.

But Didao County was occupied by the Xixia people for two years after all. Even if the official forces were eliminated, there were still a large number of private forces.

Chen Qing led the soldiers to patrol the streets. Martial law was still enforced on the streets, and people were not allowed to go out. There were patrolling soldiers everywhere, and there was a tense atmosphere in the city.

Teams of soldiers searched from house to house, mainly targeting the big families and shops of the Xixia people, asking them to hand over their weapons, otherwise they would be severely punished.

Chen Qing first came to the cavity in the southeast corner of the city wall. After a busy night, the cavity was completely filled with soil, and the outer wall was rebuilt. Dozens of soldiers were building another wall.

Chen Qing accidentally saw the County Captain Huang Yaozong was there, what was he talking to Liu Cui?
"Everyone is here!"

A soldier reminded him in a low voice, and Liu Cui hurried forward, "See Du Tong!"

"Did you make it up last night?" Chen Qingxiao asked.

Liu Cui hurriedly said: "Last night's patch has already been repaired. Just now Huang Xiancheng told me that there is another hole that is also two feet wide. I just asked the soldiers to patch it up."

Chen Qing glanced at Huang Yaozong and said with a smile: "The county captain also knows that there is a hole here?"

"The hole in the city wall here was first discovered by Beizhi. Beizhi told Wuzhi County. In fact, many Han officials in our county government knew about it, but no one said anything."

Chen Qing nodded approvingly, "I want to know the situation in the city, let's go to the top of the city and talk!"

Chen Qing smiled at Liu Cui again and said, "You also come together."

When everyone went to the top of the city, Chen Qing slowly asked: "How many Dangxiang people are there among the people in the city, are they difficult to rule?"

"Reporting to Jiedushi, there are about [-]% of the Dangxiang residents in the city."

"There are so many?"

"Dangxiang people are also divided into two types. One is old residents who have lived for more than ten or twenty years. This kind of party people is not in danger. The other is new immigrants. They have migrated over the past two years. They have taken the best The best property, the best house, and the formation of the Dangxiang Fuxing Society, which is equivalent to the Song Dynasty bow and arrow society and other militia groups, with weapons and armor, which is very dangerous."

"Is there a list of these new immigrants?" Chen Qing asked.

Next to him, Liu Cui said, "The county government has a roster, and the county magistrate Huang has been assigned to a lowly position. The lowly position arranges for soldiers to go door-to-door to search for weapons."

Chen Qing nodded and asked again: "How much do you know about the silver mine in Guichuan County?"

Huang Yaozong smiled bitterly and shook his head, "I know that there is a silver mine over there, but there is no record in the government. I really don't know much about it. I only know that the silver mine is relatively secret. .”

"Then who knows better?"

Huang Yaozong thought for a while and said, "The former Wuzhi County should know that he was transferred from Guichuan County."

"Wu Hongwei?"

"Yes! It's him, he should be very clear."

Said Cao Cao, and Cao Cao arrived. At this time, a soldier came forward to report: "Report to Dutong, the former Wuzhi County said that he was ordered by Dutong, and came to report."

It happened just in time, Chen Qingxiao asked, "Where is he now?"

"Wait in the government office."

Chen Qing turned to Liu Cui and said: "The most urgent task now is to clear out the new immigrants from the party. If you search for their weapons, you may not be able to find them. The key is people. You must be decisive. First, all the men over the age of fourteen and under the age of fifty must be removed. Detain them, wait for the Xixia army to withdraw, and then deal with them slowly."

"Humble job understands!"

Chen Qing said to Huang Yaozong again: "Assist General Liu with all your strength to deal with this matter well, and I will appoint you as the county magistrate!"

"Humble job must do its best!"

Chen Qing rushed to the office of Jinglue envoy in a hurry, and Wu Hongwei was sitting in the lobby waiting, looking a little nervous, at this moment, Chen Qing walked into the lobby, Wu Hongwei hurriedly stood up and saluted, "See Dutong!"

"Sit down and talk!"

Chen Qing smiled and asked him to sit down, and then served tea to the soldiers.

"I didn't expect Dutong to take Didao County so quickly."

"It's also thanks to the information you provided! Otherwise, I don't know how many people would die in the street fighting in the city."

"Humble officials also hope that innocent people will not be hurt."

The two exchanged a few words of pleasantries, then Chen Qing changed the subject and asked, "I really want to know about the silver mine in Guichuan County, and I hope that the county magistrate will tell you everything!"

Wu Hongwei was silent for a moment and asked, "Is this silver mine important to Dutong?"

"Yes! It's very important, it's related to my future military expenses."

Wu Hongwei nodded, "This silver mine has actually existed for more than ten years. It was discovered by Liu Fa, who was led by Xihe Jinglue. At that time, the Western Army was also facing the dilemma of poor treatment and low salary. They also racked their brains. After discovering this silver mine, the senior generals of the Western Army unanimously agreed to mine silver privately to supplement military expenditures, but they also knew that this was a big taboo. The matter of the silver mine was concealed.

In the third year of Xuanhe, officials from the mines of the Sanshi Division came to check specially, and were fooled by the generals with the lead ore prepared in advance, but they still did not dare to mine on a large scale. The annual silver mined was about [-] taels. Silver is worthless, only [-] guan, all used to supplement military expenditures, buy mutton, improve food for soldiers, and so on.

Later, Liu Ziyu took over as the economic envoy of Xihe Road. He was very cautious and advocated that the mine should only be mined and not smelted, and that we should wait until the time was right to smelt it. As a result, we hoarded a large amount of ore and never had a chance to smelt it. "

Chen Qing realized it in his heart, exactly as he guessed, the silver mine should be secretly mined by the Western Army, so the government didn't know the existence of the silver mine, and the [-] catties of crude silver that the Xixia people got was smelted with the ore hoarded for many years come out.

"You are also one of the participants!"

Wu Hongwei nodded silently, "Humble job is actually the second mine manager, and he also serves as the magistrate of Guichuan County."

"The Xixia people are now mining silver mines, you know it too!"

Wu Hongwei sighed, "There's nothing a humble official can do if they know. The Xixia army is good at collecting information. They should have known the existence of the silver mine a long time ago. The Xixia's spying on Lintao Mansion may also be related to the silver mine!"

Chen Qing walked a few steps with his hands behind his back and said, "I understand the situation, you take over the county government first, and work with Huang Yaozong to stabilize the people's hearts in Didao County."

In the afternoon, the Song army scouts sent the latest news. When more than [-] soldiers of the Xixia army arrived forty miles north of Didao County, they turned west and went westward, and their whereabouts were unknown.

This news made Chen Qing vigilant. He immediately opened the map and sent someone to find Wu Hongwei.

Not long after, Wu Hongwei, who had already changed into a county magistrate's uniform, rushed over, bowed and said, "Is there anything wrong with the Jiedu envoy looking for a lowly position?"

"I want to ask you about the road conditions!"

Chen Qing pointed to the map and said: "The scouts just sent the latest news that the [-] Xixia army turned westward from the forty miles north of Didao County, but I didn't find any roads on the map. How did you get back?" thing?"

Wu Hongwei hesitated for a while and said: "The road mentioned by the Jiedushi, the humble position is probably the old official road before. After the new official road was built, no one left the old official road. It has been abandoned for at least twenty years. This map was drawn later, so the old official roads are not marked."

"Abandoned for [-] years, can you still leave?"

"You can definitely walk. The cavalry road was built back then. The rammed earth is very strong, but it is at least a hundred miles northerly than the new official road, which is very inconvenient. It is mainly to meet the northern official road."

"Where does it mean that it's a hundred miles away?"

Wu Hongwei was stunned, "Of course the humble job refers to Dangchuan County, doesn't the Jiedushi know?"

Chen Qing shook his head. At this moment, he already understood that the Xixia reinforcements had changed their strategy after failing to support Didao. They must have gone to take over Yingchuan County's silver mine. Yang Zaixing's army might be in danger.

Chen Qing pondered for a moment, and he really said to his soldiers: "Quickly pass on my order, immediately assemble three thousand cavalry!"

A quarter of an hour later, Chen Qing personally led [-] cavalry to leave Didao County, and rushed towards Dangchuan County along the Xinguan Road.

(End of this chapter)