The entire Qin land is very large, with more than twenty counties under its jurisdiction, and Qinzhou is the capital, which is equivalent to the current provincial capital, and is also where Xiao Yuan will take office.
After Xiao Yuan left Shanyuguan, a young general under Wang Lin came up and asked curiously: "General, how is our new prefect doing?"
"It's hard to say." Wang Lin shook his head: "I just made contact, so I can't see anything yet, but as soon as he came, he directly mentioned armaments and military pay, which surprised me..."
In a few days, Xiao Yuan will arrive in Qinzhou.
This is a dirt road. If you look down from a high altitude, it looks like a valley between two mountains. Looking up, you will see steep mountains on both sides. The terrain is dangerous, but it is the only way to Qinzhou.
When they got here, Xiao Yuan also asked the soldiers below to be more careful, but when they were halfway there, a shout suddenly came from the front:
"Help! Help -"
With a cry of terror, a man dressed as a businessman appeared in the field of vision, running towards Xiao Yuan for his life.
"Uh-" Seeing this situation, Xiao Yuan tightened the reins, and the soldiers below also immediately became alert.
"Help! Help -"
The man was still screaming, and when he saw the army, he ran even more panicked. He looked embarrassed, as if some evil spirit was chasing him.
"Stop!" a sergeant shouted.
Before the man could get closer, Peng Shuang had already jumped off his horse, quickly stepped forward and grabbed him, stared at him and yelled: "What's going on!?"
"General, save me, general, save me -"
The man said in a trembling voice, while turning his head in panic and looking behind him.
Xiao Yuan followed his gaze, and sure enough, before long, someone chasing him appeared.
It was a group of strong men holding swords and axes, about dozens of them, dressed in commoners, all with fierce looks. They were chasing the men, but when they saw the army, they immediately became timid.
A strong man swallowed first, then approached the leader and whispered: "The second boss has officers and soldiers, what should we do?"
The leader first looked at Xiao Yuan, and then without saying a word, he shouted: "Run!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the group of people immediately turned around and ran away.
The crowd dispersed in a hurry. In such a situation, no need to ask, they must be bandits. When Peng Shuang saw this, he immediately reacted, raised his knife and shouted: "Where are you running!"
He raised his sword and pursued, Xiao Yuan also waved his hand, and two thousand soldiers followed, and soon met the bandits again in front.
On the road ahead, many people were lying on the ground in a pool of blood. They should all be the businessman's servants.
Carloads of goods were also parked there. Due to the sudden encounter with the army, the bandits dared to stop and did not care about it. They all fled without a trace in an instant.
At this time, the hunted businessman also rushed over. Looking at the dead body on the ground, he couldn't help but said sadly: "I should have listened to my friends' advice a long time ago. I shouldn't have come to Qin to do business. It's all my fault. From now on." , I will never come to Qin again..."
Hearing this, Xiao Yuan frowned.
Obviously, this was a businessman who encountered bandits on his way to Qinzhou.
Afterwards, Xiao Yuan casually checked the goods on the car, which were all brocade and cloth.
After seeing it, he walked up to the merchant and didn't know how to comfort him. He could only say: "Don't worry, sir, there will be no more banditry in Qinzhou from now on. You can do business with peace of mind. Businessmen from all over the world are welcome to come to Qinzhou to do business. "
"The general is joking," the merchant said sadly.
Xiao Yuan sighed slightly and said, "Your Excellency, please take a look at the damage to the goods."
"All my servants were killed by the bandits, and I am the only one left. I wonder what use these goods are. I wonder if I can leave Qin alive..." the merchant continued to cry.
"Help him." Xiao Yuan could no longer comfort him, so he could only raise his head towards his soldiers.
"Yes!" The soldier received the order and began to allocate a group of people to help the merchant collect the goods.
The merchant said that he would never dare to do business in Qin again. This was understandable to Xiao Yuan's ears.
Liu Yuzhi also shook his head and said: "Qin is already bitterly cold and bandits are rampant. Merchants dare not cross. This has a huge impact."
"Goods cannot circulate, and merchants from all over the country do not enter Qin, which directly leads to the sluggish business in Qin. This is only one aspect, there are many other problems." Xiao Yuan sighed.
At this time, Peng Shuang also came over, clasped his fists and said, "Sir, if you encounter mountain bandits today, since you are a weak general, why not just kill them all!"
After hearing this, Xiao Yuan first raised his head and looked at the surrounding environment, and then said: "The terrain here is dangerous. Not only are we not familiar with the terrain, but we also don't know how many people there are in this gang of bandits, nor where their lair is, so we rashly If you take action and don’t tell anyone, you will most likely be ambushed.”
As he spoke, he said coldly: "But these bandits must be eradicated!"
He is not a reckless person and has always been calm in doing things. He wants to suppress the bandits, but not now, because he has just arrived in Qin and has not understood anything about the situation.
After a pause, he looked at Liu Yuzhi again and said: "In my name, I will send a letter to Shanyuguan to tell Wang Lin that during this period, merchants will not be allowed to enter the pass until the banditry in Qin is completely eliminated!"
"Understood." Liu Yuzhi responded.
What he did was undoubtedly the wisest decision. Banditry in Qin was far more than just this one place. If we wanted to suppress the bandits, we had to eliminate them completely.
After explaining this, Xiao Yuan ordered the soldiers to bury the servants on the spot, and then the army escorted the carts of goods, which was regarded as an escort for the merchants.
For this, the businessman couldn't help but thank him, and Xiao Yuan also chatted with him intentionally or unintentionally on the way.
Through conversation, we learned that the merchant’s name was Jia Ming, who lived in the Jinyang area, not too far from Qin. The reason why he entered Qin was because he saw that Qinzhou was in urgent need of things like brocade, so he took the risk to do business. .
As the saying goes, things are rare but valuable. If Qinzhou is short of something, it will definitely be multiplied several times. After listening, Xiao Yuan nodded and said:
"Mr. Jia was robbed by bandits when he first arrived in Qin. I don't know how to comfort him. The only thing I can guarantee is that such a thing will never happen again in the future. Of course, when the banditry is completely eliminated, I sincerely invite Mr. Jia will go back to Qin to do business. When the time comes, Mr. Jia, don’t forget to tell your business friends that Qin is free from banditry.”
"Completely...completely eliminate the banditry?"
Jia Ming swallowed first, and then asked cautiously: "Dare you, dare I ask who the general is..."
"Prefect of Qinzhou," Xiao Yuan said, "I will do what I say."
ah! ? Unexpectedly, this person was the governor of Qinzhou. Jia Ming was in disbelief and opened his mouth in surprise.
