Su Qi'an stayed in Zigui County Mansion long enough this time. With the assistance of Fang Jingzhi, Master Liu and other review officials, it took more than a month to finally convict the eight county guards Zeng Mo and Han Cheng.
The eight people, together with the Zigui County Magistrate and about twenty other officials, were all sentenced to exile, execution and other serious crimes.
Especially the eight people Zeng Mo and Han Cheng were all executed. Considering what they had done in various counties, not killing them would not be enough to anger the people.
Killing these eight people also gave some warning to other officials who had not dealt with them.
At least for a long time, other local officials will restrain themselves a lot, and the Houjiu County of Dongzhou will not fall into turmoil.
This cleanup caused a great sensation in Dongzhou. Fortunately, the state capital fully supported and cooperated with Su Qi'an in dealing with it.
Even though there is a lot of commotion in Dongzhou, the handover of officials within Dongzhou is still stable.
After a month of review and getting rid of these officials, Su Qian's job was obviously much easier.
At the same time, good things came one after another. Not long after Zeng Mo, Han Cheng and many other officials were blamed, news came from the convoy transporting to the front line.
After a long journey, Su Qi'an raised 100,000 grains and grass from the rear and successfully delivered them to the front line.
Seeing this news, Su Qian's anxious heart finally relaxed.
He was originally worried that something would happen on the road, but now it seems that he was overthinking it.
The successful transportation of 100,000 grain and fodder to the front line is Su Qian's top priority. Next, it depends on how Wu Dingguo arranges the deployment.
After staying in the rear for two months, the officials in the rear had basically cleaned up, so they had to find time to go to the front to have a look, Su Qian thought in his mind.
This time when I came to Dongzhou, in addition to rectifying the corruption of officials within Dongzhou, I also had to deal with the Japanese pirates on the front line as a general.
After two months of staying in the rear, if we continue to stay, the Dongshan and Split Mountain armies in our hands will no longer be able to stay.
As soldiers, the battlefield is their destination. They have been living in the rear for a long time. If they stay there for a long time, they may end up like these state soldiers in the rear.
I have been lazy for a long time. I can deal with local bandits and maintain order. But if I really go to the front line, I will probably suffer heavy losses.
To maintain the combat effectiveness of the Dongshan Army, we can't be too comfortable, Su Qian's eyes flashed.
After handling the case of officials from the nine rear counties, they did not stay long before leaving Zigui County with Xie Cang, Fang Jingzhi and others, preparing to return to the state capital.
Zhou Zibin, Feng Nan and others asked them to stay in the city for a few days and not go straight to the front line later.
This was Su Qi'an's plan, but unexpected events occurred and the plan could never keep up with the changes.
On the way Su Qian's motorcade returned to the prefecture, two or three days after the motorcade had traveled, bad news suddenly came from the front line.
The frontline soldiers led by Wu Dingguo, who fought against the pirates and Japanese pirates, were ambushed, lost two counties, and lost more than 10,000 people, and returned in defeat.
Now Wu Dingguo ordered soldiers from all counties to shrink and stabilize the defense line, which was barely able to stabilize the position. The two sides fell into a confrontation.
When the news came back, Su Qian's face was indifferent. This was considered a big defeat, and a very painful defeat.
In previous battles with pirates, even if Wu Dingguo defeated the pirates, he would suffer at most four to five thousand casualties and lose one county. xь.
And they will lead their troops to come back as quickly as possible to regain the lost counties, thereby forcing the pirates and Japanese pirates back to the island again, and the two sides will form a confrontation.
But this time, there were more than ten thousand casualties, and the land of two counties was lost in one breath, allowing the pirates and Japanese pirates to stand firm, and the two sides formed a confrontation.
No matter how you look at it, Wu Dingguo and other frontline soldiers are at a disadvantage. Su Qi'an still understands the combat effectiveness of frontline soldiers.
Not to say they are powerful in combat, but they are definitely not like the comfortable state soldiers in the rear. They have been fighting pirates and Japanese pirates for so many years, and the two sides have come and gone, so their combat power should not be weak.
But this time there was an inexplicable defeat, and there was definitely something intriguing behind this ambush.
If you want to figure this out, you have to go to the front line quickly.
Thinking of this, Su Qi'an accelerated his return to the state city, just in time to have a good chat with Zhou Zibin, Feng Nan and other state officials.
If people are unlucky, they will happen one after another. About a day after Su Qi'an sped up and returned to Zhoucheng, another piece of bad news came from the front line.
This bad news is not about the defeat of Wu Dingguo's army, nor is it about the pirates and Japanese pirates taking a step further, but about food and grass.
Su Qi'an was transporting grain and grass on the front line, but the pirates and Japanese pirates discovered the hiding place. Although Wu Dingguo responded quickly and sent people to support him, the two sides fought fiercely all night.
In this battle, the pirates and Japanese pirates suffered a lot of losses, but the granary they found was still burned. Almost none of the 100,000 stones of grain and grass were burned.
The successive bad news made Su Qian's face gloomy. He clenched the letter in his hand with both hands and stared at it intently.
His breathing was rapid, and his gloomy face was rosy. After a while, the driver driving the carriage heard a cry of surprise, and Su Qian passed out without taking a breath.
This matter quickly spread throughout the entire convoy, and everyone in the convoy was very anxious and panicked. In this panic, several of them looked at each other.
While everyone was surrounding Su Qian, he took the opportunity to disappear into the woods nearby.
At the same time, the news about Su Qi'an's fainting reached Zhou Zibin and Feng Nan in about half a day.
Wu Xian and Jiang Kun were the happiest after hearing the news. What Su Qi'an did in Houjiu County of Dongzhou directly damaged the vitality of the two families.
It would be false to say that he didn't hate Su Qi'an, but Su Qi'an was the supervisor appointed by the imperial court, and it was basically impossible to touch him.
The two of them could only turn to Zhou Zibin for help. Zhou Zibin was worthy of being a state shepherd. He didn't even have to do anything himself. He only had to move his fingers and give orders.
The month of waiting was indeed not in vain, Su Qi'an became so angry that he fainted. .Ь.
This was the Zhou Mu they knew. How could they allow Su Qi'an to act haphazardly on their territory.
Although this attack failed to seriously injure Su Qi'an's vitality, it at least caused Su Qi'an to suffer a great loss.
Not to mention anything else, the loss of one hundred thousand stones of food and grass was enough to give Su Qi'an and Wu Dingguo a headache.
At least in the short term, it should be impossible for Wu Dingguo to lead a large-scale counterattack.
More importantly, nearly 100,000 grains and fodder were burned this time. In addition to Wu Dingguo himself, Su Qi'an, the inspector appointed by the imperial court, was also responsible.
As he enjoys taking over the supreme jurisdiction of Dongzhou, he also has to bear all major responsibilities within Dongzhou.
Two months after coming to Dongzhou, he had not yet led his troops to fight a beautiful battle, but instead suffered a tragic defeat.
Tens of thousands of soldiers were lost, two counties were lost, and one hundred thousand grains and grass were burned. This random incident was enough to give Su Qi'an a headache.
Wu Xian and Jiang Kun looked excited and flattered Zhou Zibin while smiling.
"Hmph, it's the inspector's turn this time to taste the bitter consequences of taking responsibility."
"No, he just fainted. I really hope this guy can pass away in one breath. Compared with the serious damage to our family's vitality, this time he is really at an advantage."
The two of them were talking with a bit of indignation on their faces. They always thought that because Su Qi'an had purged half of the officials in Houjiu County of Dongzhou, the vitality of his family was severely damaged, and they became angry at each other.
Their eyes flashed, they clasped their fists and were about to say something, when they were stopped by Zhou Zibin.
"This state knows what you two want to say. Don't think about taking advantage of this opportunity to strike again. It's best to punish this inspector to death."
"If you really do this, I will take you two down without mercy and hand them over to the court for justice."
The two were startled and just about to explain, Zhou Zibin didn't give them a chance and said calmly.
"You two are also prominent figures in Dongzhou. Use your brains to think about it. If this inspector died inexplicably in just two months in Dongzhou, what would the court think?"
"Do you really think that the imperial court is a fool and sent inspectors here just to pacify those pirates?"
Zhou Zibin's words changed the expressions of the two people who wanted to argue. They quickly thought of something and said quickly.
"My subordinate was stupid and almost made a big mistake. I hope you will forgive me."
Seeing the attitude of the two admitting their mistake, Zhou Zibin looked indifferent, nodded slightly, and said softly.
"It's good that you two understand. It's easy to kill this inspector, but if one dies, there will be another one. What we have to do is not to let this person die in Dongzhou, but to take the blame for us and let him The imperial court took him down."
"Then we can use him to quell the pirates and take over Dongzhou's affairs. This will truly kill two birds with one stone."
"Thank you for your advice, sir. I understand." Wu Xian and Jiang Kun looked sincere.
Then at Zhou Zibin's signal, he immediately resigned and left.
Watching the two people leave, Feng Nan, who stood silently beside him, said softly.
"Sir, I feel that these two people will ruin our affairs, otherwise..."
Zhou Zibin shook his head and said, "Although Wu Xian and Jiang Kun are a little stupid, after all, they have been trained by this state for so many years, so they still have loyalty, and keeping them is still useful."
"Shen Wanfu, on the other hand, although he did a great job in the one hundred thousand grain and fodder matter, he still needs to be careful. He is too smooth. Nothing he has been asked to do for so many years has been worry-free. Only this time, it went so smoothly, no matter how you look at it, it’s wrong.”
"The frontline has to take responsibility this time. We always have to have some people here, so we can test the waters with him to see if he is that loyal to Dongzhou."
"Xiaoguan understands, so he will do it now, but he is worried that if he is pushed out, will Shen Wanfu be dissatisfied, rebel on the spot, and push us out?"
"After all, there are frequent letters between us and him, which is somewhat of a trouble."
Feng Nan's worries are not unreasonable. He has already been tested on the matter of food and grass, and this time he is pushed out again, which is somewhat like killing the donkey.
No matter how good-tempered Shen Wanfu is, it would be difficult to treat him as a scapegoat, and he might even cause a big fuss.
