Fucheng is adjacent to the Wenjing River. The city wall is nearly two feet high and made of rammed earth covered with blue bricks. It is more than three miles long on all sides. It has a population of 10,000 and a garrison of 2,000. Before the food collection team approached the city gate, they saw Liu Zhong far away.

He ran over and shouted to Yu Zhu: "Master Yu, we encountered water bandits on the way back. Master Li was injured and has been carried back to the barracks."

The barracks are in the west of Fucheng. On the way back to the barracks, Liu Zhong told about the encounter with water bandits. Because he was going down the river, taking the water route was much faster than the land route. Below the confluence of the three rivers in Yongqu Township, the river suddenly widened.

, so that this section of water

The flow was shallow and slow, and the river banks and the sandbanks in the river were covered with dense reeds. When the boat arrived here, Liu Zhongzheng directed everyone to carefully avoid the shoals. Several brisk boats suddenly appeared in the reeds in front.

How many people are sitting on the boat?

Most of these men were naked, with dark and lean bodies, and their eyes were full of fierceness. Seeing that the situation was not good, Li Shuang called someone to shout, but the other party did not respond and just sailed the boat.

Come straight over. Needless to say

, this group of people were water bandits who relied on the river to eat. Liu Zhong ordered the two grain ships to come closer. The soldiers held swords, shields and spears on both sides, and ordered the oarsmen to paddle hard in an attempt to rush over. But the water bandits

He was obviously more proficient in boat handling skills, and he gave chase after a short time.

Come up. When they got close, the water bandits threw short spears at the grain transport ship. Although most of them were blocked by wooden shields, two people were still hit. Li Shuang was also hit by a spear in the thigh because he couldn't avoid it. He was immediately hit by a spear.

He fainted. Then the water bandits jumped towards him one after another.

The grain transport ship came over and killed them. Fortunately, although the water bandits were large in number, they were thin. In addition, the small space of the ship limited the water bandits' numerical advantage. In addition, Liu Zhong, a fire soldier, was also proficient in water warfare, so the soldiers who protected the grain in the close fight were

Although two more people were lost,

Several of the water bandits were also stabbed to death with spears. The bravery of these food transport soldiers was obviously beyond the water bandits' expectations. Normally, the officers and soldiers could only fight with the wind, but in today's situation they often dropped their weapons and dispersed.

.And fearing that food would be lost, the water bandits

They did not use fire attacks or ship-cutting attacks, so they did not gain any advantage in the physical battle. After several attacks, the water bandits still could not succeed and could only watch the grain transport ship go down the river without pursuing it.

Although food is precious, life is even more precious.

When he walked to the barracks where Li Shuang lived, he was lying on the bed. A military doctor was treating his wounds next to him. When he saw Yu Zhu, Ouyang Xuan and others coming, Li Shuang supported him and lay down half without waiting for anyone to say anything.

He raised his pale face and looked at

Yu Zhu said hurriedly: "The water bandit who killed a thousand swords missed me! Go and report the situation of this trip to Pan Tongzong." Yu Zhu's identity was not qualified to meet Pan Tongzong, but after hearing the order, he did it to Li Shuang

We bowed deeply and took Huang Dagen to the government office.

When the doctor in the army was tying the wound on his leg, everyone gathered around Li Shuang to inquire about his welfare. Ouyang Xuan and others learned from the doctor that Li Shuang's thigh bone had been injured by a short spear and he could only lie in bed for several months. Even if he recovered, he would not be able to survive.

Perhaps it was a disability, which made Li Shuang's eyes

His expression became sad and gloomy, and everyone tried to comfort Li Shuang. Just as everyone was trying to comfort Li Shuang, Huang Dagen, who had just followed Yu Zhu to report the situation, opened the door and walked in. He was ordered by Pan Tongzhi to come back and take Ouyang Xuan to the government office.

This made everyone shocked and puzzled.

On the way to the government office, Huang Dagen explained to Ouyang Xuan, who was confused, why he was called. It turned out that when Pan Tongzhi saw Yu Zhu coming to report on the grain requisition, he angrily asked Li Shuang why he didn't come? After hearing this

Even more so when the line only collected 2,000 kilograms of grain.

He was furious. When Yu Zhu presented the heads of the two Mongolian rangers, the anger on his face faded slightly. As for Li Shuang's injury and how many soldiers died, he did not ask.

After Pan Tongzhi carefully inspected the two heads, he said to Yu Zhu

: "Although he is a returnee among the Tatars with yellow hair and blue eyes, this head with black hair and black eyes may not be so. Are you killing good people and taking credit for it?" Commander Pan had always had a bad feeling for Li Shuang, and the soldiers in the army

Ruffians often kill civilians to show off the number of enemy kills.

When it appeared that some of the enemy heads reported for credit had white hair, so he argued hard and refused to listen to the explanation, leaving Yu Zhu and Huang Dagen speechless. The two did not dare to argue, so they had no choice but to

Petition to Governor Pan to allow Ouyang Xuan to testify.

Seeing Yu Zhu and Huang Dagen kneeling on the ground, Ouyang Xuan, although he was extremely reluctant, still knelt on the ground and told Commander Pan in the high seat in the hall the story of the night attack on the Mongolian Rangers. After a while, Pan

control

Then he twirled the few beards on his thin and yellow face and said: "Although your statement does not seem to be a lie, it cannot prove that this black-haired and black-eyed man is a Tatar soldier, and there is no evidence of weapons and clothing account numbers.

Let’s put this matter aside for now.”

"Listen to my orders," Commander Pan said solemnly to Yu Zhu, who was kneeling on the ground.

"The food collected for this trip is very small, and it is not enough for the army to last for a month, but you still come here with a shy face! Although you have achieved some success by killing the Tatar soldiers, you have also lost a few soldiers. I have decided to remove Li Shuang.

It is the duty of inspection. The merits and demerits of the others are equal to each other, so there will be no punishment for the time being. Tomorrow your team will leave the city and collect food again to make up for the faults..."

"As for you," Commander Pan turned his attention to Ouyang Xuan, "in view of your ability to kill the Tatars, I think you are somewhat clever, so I will leave you to take over the position of the dead support team. We will go out to the city together tomorrow to collect grain.

"

After walking for a while out of the gate of the government office, Yu Zhu and Huang Dagen were congratulating Ouyang Xuan on his promotion to the position of supporting the team. Ouyang Xuan was called back to the government office by Pan Tongzhi's personal soldiers. In the side room of the government office's main hall, there were

A clerk handed a document and said: "Are you Ouyang Xuan? You still need to complete the procedures to be promoted to the position of supporting the team." Ouyang Xuan put the document in front of the weak light of the oil lamp and followed it.

He saw that "Chongqing Prefecture killed nearly a hundred Tatar soldiers, and hundreds of Tatar soldiers were defeated. Their heads were rotted due to the heat, and only two were left..." When the clerk saw this, he pointed impatiently at the end of the document.

Part of him said: "Just sign your name here." Ouyang Xuan secretly scolded Pan Zongzong for being so shameless. His subordinate dared to falsely claim credit for killing two Mongolian soldiers.

When the signature painting was escorted out of the gate of the government office, Ouyang Xuan still heard the clerk nagging behind him, scolding him for not knowing etiquette and etiquette. He pretended not to hear, buried his head and walked forward quickly, and found Yu Zhu Huang Dagen who was waiting.

As he walked, he narrated the situation to the two of them. Yu Zhu said with a smile: "Brother Xuan, you don't know something. If you are promoted in the army, you have to bribe your superiors, and you also have to manage the minor officials. This time, Controller Pan did not do it in order to falsely report his military exploits.

according to

Regularly asking for money and things from you, then the clerks in charge will lose their jobs, so how can I not blame you?" Huang Dagen next to him said: "In the past few years, the Chongqing Prefecture's Xiang army has suffered repeated defeats under Pan Tongzhi. I heard that they were hunting and killing.

Thieves disguised as Tatar soldiers

The head was sent to Master Pu Ze and was discovered again. He has been reprimanded by Master Pu several times. This time Huang Fa returns his head and sends it to Chongqing Mansion. He will definitely be praised by Master Pu. If not, it will definitely be difficult for you this time.

"

While walking and talking, Ouyang Xuan learned from the two people that corruption was prevalent in the army in the late Southern Song Dynasty. Soldiers and generals had to bribe their superiors if they wanted to be promoted. Especially the implementation of the "generation system" caused the army's combat effectiveness to plummet. The so-called "

"Jidai system" means that the general in charge of the army can recommend people to the court to serve as his subordinate generals, and he only needs to report to the prime minister.

It only needs to be filed with the relevant department. In actual practice, those who have merit are often not rewarded, and those who have no merit are promoted. Those who have money to bribe their bosses are promoted quickly, while those without money have difficulty in promotion even if they have military exploits. Therefore, lieutenant generals in the army are either incompetent people.

, or they are relatives and cronies. Especially the leading generals in Sichuan, which is located in a remote area, have often become warlords with a large party membership.

The three of them went straight back to the barracks and informed Li Shuang and the people of his team of Pan's order. After hearing this, Li Shuang looked calm. After retreating everyone, only Yu Zhu and Ouyang Xuan were left in the room. After a long silence, he said to Yu Zhu:

"After we attack and kill the Tatar soldiers, they will definitely retaliate. Pan will not allow them to rest and then forces them to go again."

Requisitioning grain is a common method used by Tatar soldiers to get rid of disliked people. I am no longer useless, so you must take care of your brothers! This time in Hengyuan Town, I did not

I used all the salt in exchange for food, but hid most of the yellow roots in a nearby cave, so you can put them to good use."

"Brother Xuan, you are knowledgeable and resourceful, and you will certainly make great achievements in the future. Brother Yu Zhu and I have been working together for many years. We are brave but not refined enough. We are good at charging into battles but not good at planning. I hope you can help me a lot..." Li Shuang's heartfelt words

, let Yu Zhu on the side not

Jin choked up with sobs. They have been together for more than ten years since they were under Lord Yu Jie's tent. Tomorrow Yu Zhu will go to collect food again, and his life or death is uncertain. Although Li Shuang is not in danger of his life in the city, but
Chapter completed!