Throwing the money back into the car, Li Qing asked, "Why is there no sign of the third child when you come back?"
Hearing this, Li Wangsong couldn't help but smile: "The third child has always been a prodigal, and it's not like my father doesn't know about it. I haven't seen him since the last time I went to Jishan to help Zhang Boyu... Come to think of it, it's been too long?"
"Hmph! This kid is good at everything, but his personality is too wild!" Li Qing showed dissatisfaction: "He is good at killing enemies on the battlefield, but not enough to lead a family. He is not the material at all!"
Hearing this, a smile flashed in Li Wangsong's eyes.
Yes, no one would ever think that his younger brother would threaten his status.
However, Li Qing's words obviously made him more satisfied: "Although Wang Bai disappears and often loses contact, this is also his method of intimidating various families."
"Yes! I just wanted to use him to scare people, so I asked him." Li Qing nodded.
Li Wangbai's eyes flashed: "Father is saying..."
"The assets of the Salt Gang are nothing more than three points. The first is money and food, the second is the salt mines purchased, and the third is the salt factory and the included population."
Li Qing's tone was unhurried: "I am mainly responsible for the money and food, and Guo Denglin gets the bulk of the salt mine. But the most valuable thing is to take over his salt factory and population!"
"It's difficult to share this kind of thing equally. How much you can eat depends entirely on your methods."
"Whether it's to intimidate people in the salt factory or snatch an extra piece of meat from the Guo family's mouth, the third child is more suitable than you and me."
Li Wangbai suddenly realized: "I will send someone to step up contact."
"Hmm... Also tell your father-in-law and ask him to help. Although Shen Xin is a coward, he is fairly well-informed."
After hesitating for a moment, he said: "Continue to receive money and food today and tomorrow, and don't make any changes for now. The morning after tomorrow, go directly to take over Shen Xin's headquarters! In addition, I will inform him about this matter tomorrow night."
Li Wangbai thought for a moment and realized: "Father is really tall!"
Notify him tomorrow night and kill him the day after tomorrow, catching Shen Xin off guard.
Even if he really had an idea, he wouldn't dare to make any changes overnight!
The Salt Gang is scattered all over the place. How many people can he mobilize in one night? At most, it is where the headquarters is located. With the strength of the Li family, it can be swallowed up in one bite!
"Sect Master! Young Master!"
A fast horse galloped up, and he held his hands on the horse and said, "Miss, please go back and tell the story."
"Come right now!" Li Qing responded immediately.
Although Li Qing is Li Cuiluo's father, the rule of the world is to discuss the king and his ministers first, and then the father and son.
In terms of status, Li Cuiluo is higher than her father.
Furthermore, after all, her identity is sensitive and she is not suitable for being exposed in public all the time.
It is reasonable to use a daughter to call her father.
Soon, the father and son rushed back to Li's house.
"Is there something urgent?" Li Qing asked as soon as he entered the door.
"That's right." Li Cuiluo nodded slightly: "His Royal Highness sent a message to ask the Li family to do two things."
"First, discuss with Guo Zhenyue and prepare to accept the imperial court's recruitment."
"Second, defeat the Sixth Prince's troops outside Jiguan, or even..."
In those charming eyes, a cold murderous intention flashed: "Let him die!"
Li Qing was slightly surprised: "For recruitment...what conditions is His Highness willing to offer?"
"My father will be the intermediary for this matter. Please invite the Guo family over and I will talk to them personally." Li Cuiluo said.
"That's fine." Li Qing nodded and said, "How can we start talking about defeating the Sixth Prince outside Jiguan?"
"Although the sixth prince is cowardly and incompetent and only dares to stand by and watch, after all, his subordinates are all the elites of the imperial court and they are guarding the outside world."
"If we take the initiative to cross Jishan and attack Jiguan, wouldn't we be asking for trouble?"
Li Cuiluo smiled: "The imperial court has issued an order to move the troops, and the Sixth Prince will withdraw his troops soon."
"There are internal agents in the army. As long as Zhang Boyu seizes the opportunity, he can take the opportunity to kill Jiguan and catch the Sixth Prince by surprise!"
It is difficult for any army to maintain combat effectiveness when withdrawing - it is easy to be chased and kicked in the butt!
In his jade hand, he shook out a piece of paper: "Give this thing to Zhang Boyu, and you will naturally win."
After the father and son stepped back, Li Cuiluo smiled coldly: "My dear brother, don't blame my sister-in-law for being cruel~"
——Beiyang City, northeast——
A lone Qingqi army was resting at the foot of a mountain.
Huangfu Chaoyi leaned against a boulder, his face full of exhaustion and helplessness.
Not long after the troops were divided, news came from his sentry: the camp had been breached and had been completely occupied by Guo Zhenyue.
At this point, Huangfu Chaoyi knew that everything was over.
Huangfu Longting must be doomed.
If he stayed where he was, he would most likely die at the hands of Guo Zhenyue.
If he backs down from the battle, not only will he die, but he will also bring down the entire Huangfu family... My uncle will never do this.
Therefore, Huangfu Chaoyi, who had no choice, could not foolishly attack Beiyang City.
With the thought of living one day at a time, he ran along the outskirts of Beiyang City.
Fortunately, Guo Zhenyue's attention was entirely on Tang Jiye's defeated army, and he had no time to deal with Huangfu Chaoyi.
Until now——
"General!"
A sentry rider rushed over: "An enemy army is approaching us, suspected to be coming from the enemy's camp. If there is no accident, it should be Xu Ponu who discovered us and sent a separate force!"
"how many people?"
"There are ten thousand people!"
"Ten thousand people... ten thousand people!"
Huangfu Chaoyi murmured.
His eyes flashed crazily, but were quickly suppressed again.
If he had three thousand Qingqi in normal times, he would never take the thousands of thieves and bandits into consideration.
But now, they have become alone.
There is no logistical supplies, no stable military morale, and not even a safe place to rest!
"General..." Just when Huangfu Chaoyi was hesitating, someone hesitated and said, "How about we... surrender?"
"Huh?" Huangfu Chaoyi raised his eyebrows and said with a smile: "What did you say? It doesn't matter if you speak louder."
Seeing that Huangfu Chaoyi's attitude softened, the man became bolder and raised his voice: "I say, there is no way for us to survive, so we might as well surrender!"
Qiang——
As soon as he finished speaking, Huangfu Chaoyi reached out his hand, pulled out his saber, and then swung it across his neck.
"Well!"
His neck was licked open by the cold blade. The man covered his neck in pain, but he couldn't hold back the blood that was pouring out crazily.
It's cold on both sides.
Swish——
Before the man died completely, Huangfu Chaoyi swung his knife again, chopped off his head and held it in his hand.
The man held a sword in one hand and a head in the other. He looked around at the troops and shouted:
"Everyone, I know that this person is not the only one who holds this idea!"
"You are all sons of good families in the six counties, and you all come from military service families.
"Although we are trapped now, we are in the east of the river and cannot go back. Do we have to surrender to the bandits?"
"If you surrender, what will happen to your parents, wives and children at home?"
"If you surrender, will future generations still want to eat this bowl of rice?"
"If you surrender...count up to three hundred years! Are you worthy of your ancestors who have been in the army for a long time?!"
"You will not be expelled from the family tree, but you will definitely become a shame to every family!"
"Your wives will not be able to receive pensions from the imperial court, and your descendants will be pointed at and scolded on their spines - you are a traitor!"
After saying this, he threw his head to the ground and said angrily: "Is there any more chance of surrendering!?"
Wow——
Everyone knelt on the ground: "I am willing to follow the general and never surrender!"
Seeing that the situation was stable, Huangfu Chaoyi took a deep breath.
Fortunately, those selected to perform this task are all from clean families.
In other words, each of them is a miniature version of Huangfu Chaoyi.
Their family may not be as prominent as the Huangfu family, but their family will never allow them to be tainted by being a traitor.
"We will not surrender."
"But I won't stay here and wait to die."
Huangfu Chaoyi drew a map on the ground with his bloody saber.
"To the south is the camp we came from. We can go back across the crossing."
"But the camp has been lost, and this road is dead."
"Let's go east to Hedong County, then take Jishan Road and get out of Jiguan!"
Everyone was shocked when they heard this: "There are still bandits in the county and there are bandits in Jishan."
"Where in the east of the river are there no thieves!?" Huangfu Chaoyi asked back: "On the contrary, the thieves here are scattered and the fewest... And outside Jishan, there are still six princes' garrison."
"If we rush fast enough, we can use his power to fight our way out of Hedong!"
In everyone's desperate eyes, a glimmer of hope burst out again.
Huangfu Chaoyi couldn't help but sigh in his heart: In the end, would he still have to rely on his strength to escape?
It's just that that guy is unreliable... He may not dare to answer me!
At this point, he had no choice but to rely on this plan to stabilize the morale of the army.
"Let's go eastward!"
"yes!"
--midnight
After discussing with Huo Zeyou and others, Zhou Che and everyone were planning to take a rest.
Shen Xin came in a hurry.
"It's urgent! Just now, Li Qing sent someone over again and made a new request - he will send someone here tomorrow to take over the entire Salt Gang, starting from the headquarters!"
Huo Xi frowned worriedly: "What does he mean? After taking away the money, grain and salt mines, he is so eager to take action against the management of the Salt Gang?"
To directly garrison and take over the management would mean to eat up all the people gathered by Zhou Che - to be under the control of Li Guo!
If the Qianliang Salt Mine is lost, it can be regained. If the population is lost, everything will be empty talk.
In this matter, Zhou Che had limited room to make concessions.
"Now that we have decided to take action, it is inevitable to take over the management of the Salt Gang. It's just that at this time..." Zhou Che's eyes flashed coldly.
There was sweat on Shen Xin's face: "He wants to catch us off guard!"
"good."
Zhou Che glanced at him and nodded: "In that case, then I will make him even more unable to deal with it."
"How to do it?"
"Kill him!"
Even though they were mentally prepared, everyone still couldn't help but take a deep breath: This man's methods are always so simple and crude...
Patriarch Wu's throat was stiff: "That's Li Qing..."
Li Qing, the head of the powerful Li family in Hedong, the father-in-law of the fifth prince of the current dynasty, and the second most powerful figure in Hedong after Guo Zhenyue.
Before the civil strife in Hedong was closed, among the high-ranking officials in the court, who could not treat Li Qing with courtesy?
"What's wrong with Li Qing? We still want to kill Guo Zhenyue." Zhou Che did not get angry, but asked with a smile: "The head of the Wu family is afraid?"
"Of course not!" The head of the Wu family immediately shook his head and said with a wry smile: "I just think that we may need to make more careful plans and preparations to deal with such a person?"
"I don't know when I will be perfectly prepared. I only know that the first step will be the best!"
Zhou Che walked to the open map and said, "The two strongholds adjacent to the headquarters are Jiangyi and Yicheng branches."
"Xiyou is going to Jiangyi, and Zhao Chuang is going to Yicheng. We will gather people immediately tomorrow and rush to the headquarters."
"Once Li Qing is killed, we will completely break up with Li Guo and rise up!"
In addition to Huo Zeyou, Zhao Chuang is a rare military talent in every family.
Moreover, he is a serious military officer and has very rich experience.
"yes!"
The two clasped fists and retreated.
After making some other arrangements, each family head withdrew one after another.
Everyone's face was filled with excitement and... nervousness!
After everyone retreated, Zhou Chefang said to Qian Hongxue, "Hongxue, add two more informants to each of you."
"If there is any abnormal movement, just get rid of it!"
Qian Hongxue nodded: "Okay."
"Master Shen, I want to ask you to do something."
"That's your order."
"Use your means to send the news to Huangfu Yun outside Jishan, and tell her: regardless of the cost, ignore all orders, march to Jishan!"
"yes!"
Gai Yue waited with his sword in his arms, and couldn't help but ask: "What about me?"
Zhou Che put away his serious expression and couldn't help laughing when he looked at him: "Do you want to deal with these chores, or do you like to kill people?"
Gai Yue was stunned for a moment: "Then let's kill him."
"Let go of the chop tomorrow!"
The next day, early.
There was another round of discussion near the porridge tent of the salt factory.
"The porridge is thinner than yesterday."
"That's right, don't we wrestlers still have pancakes to eat?"
These days, Zhou Che has formulated strict treatment for them:
Salt-negative people eat three meals, and one or two extra meals depending on their workload, mainly in the afternoon and night;
The elderly, weak, women and children have two meals a day and need to be responsible for some light manual work;
——This kind of treatment, for the people of Hedong who are in the famine, is a sage who can truly save all people!
Everyone was extremely grateful.
As a result, people who are still in remote areas east of Hedong, or who have not joined due to various reasons, are extremely anxious.
At this moment, the land east of Hedong is already filled with people rushing to where the Salt Gang is.
They carried their children and elders together as a family; those who still had the strength to load the salt ore in carts.
For them, the Salt Gang is their hope for survival!
Since he started sending money and food to Li Guo, his treatment has dropped sharply.
At this time, a person in charge of distributing food came out and sighed softly:
"Everyone, starting from today, the food supply will change."
"The old, weak, women and children will only be provided with a bowl of porridge for one meal a day, and the rest will be taken care of by themselves."
"Salt-negative warriors, eat two meals a day and cancel all extra meals!"
As soon as this statement came out, there was an uproar.
Some people who didn't have enough to eat were so frightened that they cried.
The strong man shouted loudly: "Manager Liu, why did you suddenly reduce so much food?"
"Yes, a bowl of porridge a day is enough for my wife and daughter to survive."
"Did Leader Zhou and Gang Leader Shen encounter any difficulties?"
After everyone finished shouting, Manager Liu simply said: "This is the intention of the Guo and Li families... They demand that the money and food be theirs, and the salt mines should be taken away."
"There is nothing we can do!"
boom!
The crowd that was still seeking answers suddenly became agitated, and their anger was clearly visible. Swearing, gnashing of teeth, and even a few shouts of killing gradually began.
"quiet!"
"avoid!"
At this moment, a group of cavalry galloped into the Yan Gang gate.
A group of guards entered with their heads held high.
The walkers whipped their whips to drive away the approaching people; the people on horseback used their scabbards to continuously slap the crowds on both sides to squeeze out a passage.
Lee Sin is here!
