In November of the 22nd year of Jian'an, Wuling County Sheriff's Mansion.
The weather has turned colder in winter, and even in Wuling County, a place slightly south of the country, the first snow of the year has already fallen.
Xu Shu, the prefect of Wuling, Xi Hong, the county magistrate, and Li Qiu, the governor, were handling various official affairs in the lobby of the governor's house.
"The autumn harvest taxes have been put into the treasury, and the winter snow has fallen on Wenbo. Have the winter taxes been arranged for the county residents?!" Xu Shu asked Xi Hong while handling official duties.
The so-called winter aid is the collective name for the disaster preparedness and relief supplies specially set up by Xu Shu in Wuling County after the locust plague the year before last. Those distributed in winter are called winter aid, which is considered a special measure to save the people.
Xi Hong didn't even raise his head, and answered while handling official duties, "The winter supplies are still in the warehouse. This year is a good year. The county people should spend the winter without any serious problems. Why don't we stay temporarily and wait until April and May when there is no business, and then we can make further arrangements." .”
Xu Shu paused his work for a moment, looked at Xi Hong, thought for a moment, nodded, and said, "That's fine. But you can't use it for other purposes."
Xi Hong nodded, but said nothing and continued to deal with government affairs.
Xu Shu didn't take it seriously. After all, he has been working with Xi Hong for so many years. He knows that once he is at work, he is absolutely focused. You can ask him anything and he will answer you in an organized manner. But things don't matter. He will not put down his work and seek some unnecessary vulgarity before finishing it.
Xu Shu was already used to this.
Therefore, he ignored Xi Hong and turned to look at Li Qiu.
Li Qiu noticed Xu Shu's gaze, immediately raised his head, raised his hands and asked, "What advice does the prefect have?!"
Well, this is the etiquette we should have in this era.
Xu Shu just smiled and said, "Zixiu, everything is well in the army?!"
Li Qiu immediately handed over his hand and answered, "Back to the county guard: everything is fine in the army, they are practicing regularly, and there are no mistakes in rewards and punishments. The end-of-year assessment has been completed, but there is something wrong with Qiu. I am not sure yet, I don't know."
"Huh?!" Xu Shu was slightly surprised and asked, "Zixiu has something to do, but it doesn't hurt to talk."
When Li Qiu heard this, he immediately stood up and went to the cabinet behind him to find several volumes of files, both paper and bamboo, and placed them all in front of Xu Shu.
Of course, the efficiency of paper production in Chengdu is quite high now. Even Wuling County has been using a large amount of paper to record government affairs in the past two years. However, people in this era are still more accustomed to making it like a page-turning book for later generations. The files are rolled up and stored.
What's more, what Li Qiu brought out was not only this year's files, but also records from previous years. Those were all serious bamboo slips.
Opening these files and spreading them in front of Xu Shu, Li Qiucai said, "Guardian, these are the usual records of the activities of the barbarians around Wuling. They are archived after accumulating reports from each county. At this time in previous years, the Wuling barbarians had long been hiding in the mountains for the winter. There are no traces of them. It is rare, but only this year, that many counties have discovered signs of barbarian activities outside, and the world thought that something might happen."
Xu Shu frowned slightly, picked up the file, and read through it carefully.
After probably looking at a stick of incense, Xu Shu put down the file in his hand with a solemn expression, looked at Xi Hong, and asked, "Wenbo, you have lived in Jingnan for a long time and have had a lot of dealings with barbarians. Do you know why the barbarians are behaving like this this year?!"
At this time, Xi Hong also put down his official duties and came over to read the bamboo slips and scrolls. While reading, he began to think seriously.
"There is indeed something fishy about this matter!" Xi Hong thought for a while, then put down the file and said, "Hong has an old relationship with Shamoke, the barbarian king of Wuling. Let's send a letter from Hong to that place and find out the truth. "
After hearing this, Xu Shu nodded and said, "Then there is Lao Wenbo."
Then, Xu Shu said to Li Qiu, "Zixiu, I have recently sent an order to all counties to strengthen their vigilance and not to let down their guard. You will also go to the military governor for training tomorrow to prepare for emergencies."
Li Qiu agreed, then handed over the government affairs to Xu Shu, left the prefect's mansion, and prepared to go to the military camp the next day to take charge.
After Li Qiu left, Xi Hong asked, "Why is Yuan Zhi so cautious?! The Wuling barbarians have always been disobedient to the king. Even if there is a moment of chaos, he only needs to warn the counties to guard the city. In winter, when there is no food to plunder, they will cause trouble. It won’t last long, so why order the army to be on heightened alert? This might shake people’s hearts.”
Xu Shu shook his head slightly and said, "Zhang Yuanchang wrote a letter the day before yesterday, saying that Nanjun's defense is currently empty, and he is afraid that Jiangdong will take advantage of it. Yuanzhang and the prince are still in Xiangyang, and they are afraid that they will not be able to return reinforcements for a while. If we are not prepared, Nanjun will be in danger."
Xi Hong shook his head with a smile and said, "We all know the heart of Jiangdong. However, now that Jiangdong's army failed to attack Hefei, it is an opportunity for cultivation. Moreover, Lu Meng, the guard of Jiangdong Lukou, is recovering due to illness, and Lu Xun has no prestige. , How could Jiangdong betray the alliance and attack us at this time?!"
Xu Shu also frowned, not knowing what to say.
Xu Shu felt that Zhang Xi's reminder was reasonable, but the current situation in Jiangdong was indeed not suitable for an expedition. After all, they had just been defeated again under the city of Hefei, and the morale of the army would be greatly affected.
As for Zhang Xi's worry that Lü Meng was pretending to be ill, Xu Shu could conclude through careful working channels in Jiangdong and Pan Jun's letters to test that Lü Meng was really sick.
It is said that even Sun Quan was worried about Lü Meng's illness. When he heard that Lü Meng was sick, Sun Quan was so anxious that he couldn't even eat. When he heard that Lü Meng's condition was getting better, Sun Quan was able to think about eating. If he pretended to be sick, even his master could do it. To the extent of worrying, this is really incredible.
Therefore, Xu Shu also felt that Jiangdong would not attack Jingzhou in the back at this juncture.
But Zhang Xi reminded him again and again, and Xu Shu had to be careful. What if Jiangdong and his family from top to bottom unite to act? !
Although I know that this possibility is unlikely, at least Sun Quan, as the leader of one party, should not be so shameless, but just in case.
Therefore, Xu Shu said to Xi Hong, "This matter is just a precaution. Although we will spend some food, grass and weapons, we should be prepared."
Since Xu Shu has said so, Xi Hong, as his subordinate, will not give any more advice. After all, he is the one who makes the decision.
But as time passed slowly, and about ten days passed, Xi Hong also felt that something was wrong.
Xi Hong wrote to Wuling Barbarian King Samoko to inquire about the situation, but it has been ten days and he has not received a response. Something must be happening.
Xi Hong hurriedly went to Xu Shu and reported this matter to Xu Shu.
Although there are as many as six so-called barbarian kings around Wuling, and Samoko is just one of them. However, Samoko, who has always had a good relationship with Wuling County, has not replied to the letter. There are also other barbarian kings. Credibility? !
Xi Hong suddenly felt that maybe the barbarian kings around Wuling would make big moves.
After reporting this matter to Xu Shu, Xu Shu immediately made a decision.
First, let Li Qiu order all the battalion sergeants to be on standby, ready to go out at any time.
Second, quickly write a letter to Pan Jun in Lingling, asking him to be on guard against Wuling barbarians invading the northern part of Lingling County and to take precautions.
The third one quickly sent out detective horses to Changsha County and Guiyang County to the east to conduct detailed operations.
To be honest, if only one or two barbarian kings took action, then Xu Shu could still think that a certain tribe had a bad harvest and had to go out to rob the mountain to survive.
But if even Samoko is unstable, it means that this is not a simple matter of not being able to survive, but that there is something else going on.
What Xu Shu is most afraid of now is that the six barbarian kings around Wuling County are making trouble together. With so many barbarian kings making trouble together, Xu Shu would not believe it even if he beat him to death. There is no interference from other forces.
As for the one on the ground in Wuling who has this ability to incite, Jiangdong is the only one.
But these were just Xu Shu's inferences, and there was no evidence for the time being, so he quickly sent out detectives to Changsha and Guiyang to investigate the troop dynamics in these two counties, and waited for reports before making a judgment.
However, Lu Meng didn't intend to give Xu Shu too much time.
In mid-November, the six barbarian kings around Wuling County all rebelled. At almost the same time, they attacked the county towns of Wuling County at the same time, and the magistrates of each county were in panic.
Xu Shu had no choice but to let Li Qiu and Xi Hong each lead a team of troops to go to the counties to provide emergency relief and suppress the barbarian rebellion.
Xu Shu, on the other hand, left a thousand troops behind to garrison Linyuan in Wuling County, just in case.
After being notified by Xu Shu, Pan Jun of Lingling sent his envoy Fan Min to the northern part of Lingling County to stop the Wuling barbarians from going south. However, they were defeated by the Wuling barbarians. Fan Min had to lead the remaining soldiers to retreat to Lingling County to govern Lingling County.
It was at this time that the Jiangdong Army suddenly marched westward from Guiyang under the leadership of Lu Dai and raided the eastern part of Lingling County. Shixie from Jiaozhou also sent troops to the north with the intention of going north to attack Lingling County.
Pan Jun was immediately furious and ordered Fan Miao to guard Lingling County. He only wanted to hold on and did not need to worry about the barbarians in the north. He led 2,000 troops and hurried to the east of Lingling, where he held a dangerous position and blocked Lu Dai's attack. .
Pan Jun was really angry.
These Jiangdong bastards really don’t deserve to be human! ! !
When I was in Changsha, I finally managed to get a lot of land, and I was planning to swallow some of it to expand my family business. How dare you, the grandsons of Jiangdong, make a sneak attack? !
Well, it's my fault for not holding on. In the end, Changsha was ceded to you. It was the lord's decision and I couldn't disobey it.
But in the past few years, I have managed to dig out a lot of farmland in Lingling. I have also managed to control the paper distribution rights of a county with the Liao family. I am planning to expand the family business. You gang of Jiangdong thieves are here again. ? !
What do you want to do? !
Do you think I, Pan Jun, is easy to bully, or do you think I, the Pan family of Jingzhou, are easy to bully? !
In the past few years, you didn't manage the place well, which resulted in a locust plague. This can be said to be a natural disaster, so it's hard to blame you.
It's good now, how dare you betray your alliance and attack in secret? !
Okay, let's see who has done this.
As for Lü Meng’s letter to persuade him to surrender, I have long seen that Lü Meng is a treacherous villain. I have long seen that he is not a good person, so why bother with him?
If you dare to rob me of my land and money, you have to show your true skills.
I couldn't find the names of Xi Hong and Li Qiu, so I made them up myself. Hong means vast, majestic, and broad. At the same time, I made a reference to Xi Hong's brother Xi Zhen, who was named Wenxiang, so I compiled a blog. There is really no basis for Li Qiu's name, it was just taken randomly. According to the explanation of "Shuowen", Qiu means jade. If you choose it by name, this is really difficult to choose. Moreover, Li Hui's son Li Yi (wei) did not record the words, so there was no way to refer to it, so he could only make it up casually.
(End of chapter)
