"The whole army sets off!"
Following Zhu Renxia's order, melodious horns echoed outside Jinping County. Nine hundred Chang'an troops lined up to the west, their flags fluttering in the wind in the morning light.
Liu Gongfu and Wu Huaijie led more than a hundred official servants to escort them five or six miles, but were stopped by Zhu Renxia.
"We have to say goodbye after a long journey, so let's end it here! You have this time, why not go back to the county town early to handle some business."
"In that case, let's stop here."
Liu Gongfu clasped his fists with emotion, "Mayor, Commander Jiang, and Miss Jin, you have worked hard. I, Liu Gongfu, regret that I cannot fight side by side with you. I wish you all success and success!"
Wu Huaijie also clasped his fists: "I wish the county magistrate a victory and a triumphant return!"
All the officials congratulated him: "We look forward to the county magistrate's early triumphal return!"
"Go back!"
Zhu Renxia waved his hand on his horse and led the team to march westward. The smoke from the stampede was billowing and going further and further away.
The distance from Jinping County to Liping Mansion was over a hundred miles, and the team could only cover eighty miles a day on foot, which was much slower than yesterday.
There is only one reason. The cement road from Chang'an Town to Jinping County is flat and wide, making it easy and comfortable to walk. It's not as uneven as the post road made of lime mixed with gravel, which makes the soles of your feet hurt when you walk on it.
"The whole army is encamped on the spot!"
It would take more than an hour to reach Liping Mansion, and the sun in the west had already set, so Zhu Renxia had no choice but to order the entire army to camp.
While the people were digging holes and setting up camps, Zhu Renxia decided to go to Liping Mansion to meet with the prefect Li Yao and exchange information.
"Captain Pang, ask Commander Jiang and Commander Jin to follow me into the city to meet the prefect, and you will be in charge of the camp."
Zhu Renxia patted Pang Feihong on the shoulder and warned him with a smile.
I have to say that this guy is really tall. He is nine feet tall, which is equivalent to about two meters in Zhu Changan's world.
Even though Zhu Renxia is over 1.8 meters tall, it is still difficult to pat him on the shoulder.
Pang Feihong patted his chest and said, "Keep it with me. It's already dark. You three can stay in the city after you enter the city. Don't run back and forth."
Zhu Renxia decisively refused: "I am the magistrate of Jinping County, and the county government office is my administrative office, so I will stay there overnight and take care of official business. I am a guest in Liping City. Should I let the soldiers camp outside? I'm going to stay in an inn by myself? There's no such reason. No matter whether it's sooner or later tonight, we will definitely return."
Jiang Guanjun deeply agreed with Zhu Renxia's words: "The county magistrate's words are reasonable. We should share the joys and sorrows with the soldiers."
At that moment, Zhu Renxia got on his horse, took Jiang Guanjun and Jinzhu with him, under the escort of more than a dozen elite guards, and rushed to Liping Mansion overnight with torches.
Riding fast all the way, they arrived at the east gate of Liping City half an hour later.
It can be seen from a distance that the torches on the city wall are obviously much denser. This shows that the prefect's Yamen has recruited new people and the number of troops in the city is increasing.
Seeing more than ten horses galloping from a distance, the defender on the city wall fired a loud arrow and shouted: "Who is coming? Reiner your horse and answer!"
Zhu Renxia, who was dressed in official robes, held a torch and said loudly: "I am Zhu Renxia, the magistrate of Jinping County. On the order of the magistrate, I led Minzhuang to Guiyang for support. The team has arrived and set up camp twenty miles away from Liping. I am here to report back to Lord Li."
"Do you have proof?"
The leader of the guards on the city wall shouted loudly, looking quite cautious.
Zhu Renxia replied: "There are arrows and letters of appointment as evidence."
"Please ask the county magistrate to send someone up for inspection." The leader cupped his fists and made a request.
"I go."
Jin Zhu volunteered, "Hehe... this scene seems familiar. We used this trick to help Yang Yinglong open the city gate two months ago."
Zhu Renxia handed the order arrow and the letter of appointment to Jin Zhu, and asked him to take it to the city gate for verification, and told her to talk less, "My sister Jin, don't talk nonsense, be careful of trouble coming from your mouth."
"Know it!"
Jinzhu promised and urged his horse forward, and came to the bottom of the city wall in a flash, "The voucher is here, how can I give it to you?"
The guard on the city wall said: "We put down the basket and pull you up, or you put the voucher in the basket."
"No need to bother!"
Jin Zhujiao scolded, waving her arms fiercely, "Take it!"
I saw the baggage wrapped with the command arrow and the letter of appointment rising into the air and falling into the hands of the guard accurately.
"I have offended you so much, don't blame Master Zhu!"
After checking that everything was correct, the guard leader ordered the drawbridge to be lowered, the city gate to be opened, and people outside the city to be let in.
Zhu Renxia rode his horse forward and asked as he passed through the city gate: "The prefect went to the provincial capital, but has he ever come back?"
The leader replied: "In response to Mr. Zhu, Magistrate Li came back at noon and is sitting in the government office at the moment."
"What a coincidence!"
Zhu Renxia swung his horsewhip and lightly tapped his horse's belly with his feet. The horse neighed and galloped forward.
Jiang Guanjun and more than ten people followed closely behind, walking straight to the government office along the street where the lanterns were lit and the wine flags were fluttering. In about a stick of incense, they crossed the bustling streets and arrived at the prefect government office.
"This magistrate's office is a bit shabby. It looks like a private residence."
Jiang Guanjun felt a little ashamed when he remembered that he had burned down Tian Zongren's prefect's office, forcing the new prefect to rent a house outside.
"Xu..."
There was a sound of reining in the horses in front of the door, and the guard at the gate reported to Li Yao who was eating: "Master Magistrate, County Magistrate Zhu has arrived."
Li Yao hurriedly put down his bowls and chopsticks and took Lou Dongfang out to greet him: "Haha... Brother Ren Xia came so quickly. You are really a soldier with great speed!"
Zhu Renxia clasped his fists and returned the salute: "Rescuing troops is like putting out fire. Guiyang is in danger. How can we do it if it's too late?"
After the greetings, Zhu Renxia introduced Jiang Guanjun behind him to Li Yao.
"This is what I told you, Captain Jiang, who was originally named Jiang Champion by General Qi Jiguang."
Jiang Guanjun cupped his fists and saluted, with a calm look on his face: "Jiang Sanli, a common man, has met the prefect."
"I learned about your deeds from County Magistrate Zhu, and it was really thunderous. When I saw you today, you really deserved your reputation."
Li Yao hurriedly clasped his fists in return, looked at Jiang Guanjun up and down, and was full of praise, "This burly figure, this tough body, this calm temperament, it seems that it can be tempered by long-term experience in the battlefield! It seems that this is the legendary You have such a great general style, having a general like you in our army in Liping is really more powerful than a tiger!"
"Haha... Mr. Li is ridiculous. I just followed the Qi army in the north and south, and I have more experience on the battlefield." Jiang Guanjun clasped his fists and was humble, neither humble nor arrogant.
Zhu Renxia then introduced Jin Zhu: "This is Miss Jin Zhu, the battalion commander of our Chang'an Town Minzhuang Regiment. She is a heroine with strong martial arts skills. The twenty or thirty elite men under Tian Zongren can't do anything to her. This time Also go out with me to help Guiyang."
Jinzhu cupped his fists and saluted: "Jinzhu, a citizen girl, has met the prefect."
"Haha... Miss Jin doesn't need to be polite!"
Li Yao clasped his fists in return, "Miss Jin participated in the war as a daughter, rushed to the aid of the provincial capital, defended her family and country, killed the enemy and punished the thieves. It will definitely be a good story in the future, and it will also let the world see the determination of our Guizhou officialdom to punish thieves!"
Lou Dongfang announced his name: "My surname is Lou Dongfang, and I am Mr. Li's staff. This is very polite."
"I've met Master Lou." Jiang Guanjun returned the greeting.
After Jin Zhu returned the gift, he subconsciously teased, "Master Lou is full of righteousness. He is much better than our Fifth Master in Chang'an Town. He is a resourceful person at first glance!"
"Haha... Miss Jin is so ridiculous. I just run errands and do odd jobs for Mr. Li." Lou Dongfang laughed, feeling very satisfied.
After getting to know each other, Li Yao brought the three of them into the magistrate's office, and asked the cook to add some more dishes and bring a jar of wine to help Zhu Renxia and others.
After taking his seat, Li Yao first asked: "Ren Xia, how many people did you bring this time?"
Zhu Renxia said: "I took 900 elites with me and left 300 strong people to guard the home."
"Not bad, interesting enough!"
Li Yao was very happy and raised his glass to everyone, "I heard that Tongren Prefecture, Shiqian Prefecture, Sizhou Prefecture, and Zhenyuan Prefecture all sent about five or six hundred people, and only Duyun Prefecture in western Guizhou sent one. A thousand people are strong. In this case, even if our Liping Mansion does not send the most troops, it will still be among the top few, so that I will not be unable to explain to Mr. Futai."
Lou Dongfang took a sip of wine and said: "Can the people's strength in these prefectures be compared with our army in Liping? Our people's strength has veterans of the Qi Army in the army. This time they rush to rescue Guiyang, and they will definitely make a great contribution. .”
"I hope so, everyone, eat your food."
Li Yao looked very happy, with a smile on his face, completely different from Zhu Renxia's frown when they first met.
Jiang Guanjun said: "As far as I know, the number of people in each city is only about two thousand, right? They can draw five to six hundred people, which is already very good."
"We have a total of eight prefectures under our jurisdiction in Guizhou. Excluding Guiyang Prefecture, the remaining seven prefectures have only about 4,000 reinforcements in total, which is not enough compared to Yang Yinglong's rebels!"
Zhu Renxia drank down the white wine in the glass and showed a worried look.
