Chapter 233 Entering Caozhou

A Jing took the royal soul from Ximen Sanzang and sent it to Shangguan Mei. She told her, "My sister is leaving now. My sister should take good care of her second brother in the future. It's better to have a bunch of children as soon as possible."

Shangguanmei blushed and looked at Zhao Ze. Seeing that he was talking to Ximen Sanzang, she turned her head and said to A Jing, "Sister is joking. If my sister has a lot of children, I won't be tired. If I have one, I will be satisfied."

Before Shangguan Mei finished speaking, Shangguan Baoer interrupted: "Sister-in-law, you don't know anything. Shangguan is worried that if you have too many children, you will become a yellow-faced woman, but I'm not afraid of my sister. I will give birth to a bunch of children."

"It's still Baoer who is understanding." A Jing praised Shangguan Baoer, which was so beautiful that a red tide flew on her cheeks.

The gifts were still exchange. After Shangguan Mei received the royal soul, Zhao Ze also sent several big gifts to Ximen Sanzang.

Starting from Taocheng Town, he accompanied him with a Seiko watch; a box of silverware, a short musket, and several boxes of projectiles.

Ximen Sanzang reluctantly took the silver watch, but he didn't want the box of silverware, nor did he accept the short musket. His reason was very simple: "This watch is what you want, the second brother. As for the silverware, the musket, it is still left to the brothers. The second brother may need it when he returns to Beijing this time, and the eldest brother has returned it at home. I have to go. I'm not short of money and food. If I can't open the pot in the future, I will ask my second brother for it. I hope the second brother will remember this."

Ximen Sanzang said jokingly. Zhao Ze understood, agreed, and chattered for a moment before he arched his hand to see him off and went his own way in a village.

At this time, there are three more Zhao Ze's brothers, three green forest heroes from Jingyanggang, Yanggu County, Yunzhou - Xiangma Muyunhan, Yizhou people Di Ning, and Yanzhou people Lu Jun.

Since they submitted to Zhao Ze, they have also made a lot of contributions. In the past half month, the war has continued. The army of Juye Maitreya has besieged the place where they settled several times, and the hotel has become a hornet's nest.

More than half of their people were killed and injured, and Zhao Ze's brothers also lost more than 100 people.

If it hadn't been for the large number of weapons from the gun store, it is estimated that Zhao Ze's brother would have been killed by Maitreya several times, and there were still many casualties.

After this battle, Zhao Ze also woke up. Why did these brothers work so hard to follow him? It's not that Zhao Ze is good at kung fu or always has a plan to defeat the enemy, but the promise he once made to take everyone back to Beijing to meet today, ask for an official and a half, eat royal food, and have a place to seal his wife in the future.

Even if Zhao Ze was the most determined supporter at the beginning, the old man Li Yu or the blacksmith Chao Fang also had an official position for Zhao Ze, and now Mu Yunhan, Di Ning and Lu Jun also have this intention. After all, they can't be a thief for a lifetime, and they also need to be born together.

When Zhao Ze's people passed by Puzhou, they did not disturb the local government and did not intend to disturb them. Instead, they took the countryside between Hucheng and Leize in Puzhou and quietly passed through this place.

Puzhou Shaolin trees are extremely cold in winter. Zhao Ze and others have to use the tents they bring out to keep out the cold. They only eat a hot meal a day, and usually rely on compressed dry food or canned meat to satisfy their hunger.

It took five days to get out of Puzhou and go down the Yellow River to the southern border of Xingrenfu, Caozhou.

A few days ago, the imperial army went east to Jeju to calm down the chaos, and also passed by Xingrenfu. Sima Guang, the county magistrate of South China, also received the news, and specially sent someone to send a truck of water and wine to reward the army. Chen Zhizhong, the supervisor, knew that Sima Guang was very appreciated by Pang Ji, so he politely returned a letter to Sima Guang, which meant to thank him. Water and wine, thank him after returning from victory in the future. In the letter, Chen Zhizhong inadvertently mentioned one thing, that is, the chaos in Jeju this time may not be small, so that South China is also prepared to prevent thieves from taking advantage of the opportunity.

Sima Guang also has this intention. In the past few days, he has issued several orders in a row. The first is to recruit a new group of people to join the team to patrol the city at night, increasing the number of archers of less than 100 in Nanhua County to 150, which is enough to cope with the general rebellion. Although the number of archers However, it has increased a lot, but the good and bad are not the same, and people have to pay attention to the training. At least they have to distribute bows and arrows to practice archery when the weather is sunny. Even if they are grinding guns, they have to be arranged in this way.

Secondly, government officials were sent to visit and attack all kinds of dark forces in the city, expelled or captured many thieves and bullies, and made the people in the city happy.

This is only the first step. Before winter, before the land was frozen, Sima Guang mobilized nearby villagers to repair and strengthen several embankments to prevent the water from overflowing the river in the coming year and harming the people on both sides.

There are still a lot of things to do behind, but when I was halfway through, I was interrupted by a smoky snow.

People temporarily withdrew back to the city and sat around the stove to keep warm.

It was at this time that Zhao Ze's people and horses came to the boundary of South China. They planned to sleep in the wild, but everyone couldn't stand it. They walked slowly towards the north gate of Nanhua City in the wind and snow.

The gate is open, and there is wind and snow outside

The old official guarding the door shrank into a ball with cold, and his feet couldn't help jumping in the snow and complaining, "This damn day, I'm freezing to death. If it goes on like this, I will become an old man."

"Come on, who doesn't know it's cold today? Officials are hiding in warm quilts to enjoy happiness. We still have to suffer," said the recruit standing next to the old official.

"Bah, this is not a human job. I can't stand it." The old official held the Tongyou whistle stick, and his cold teeth trembled.

"What can we do? Our magistrate lord gave a death order. Whoever dares to make a little basket in front of the Pingkoro in Jeju will be hit by a hundred boards. I can't stand that scout." The recruit stood back coldly and just hid behind the door.

"Oh, you son of a bitch, you actually went behind the door and let me drink the northwest wind here." The old official squeezed in and stuck with the recruits, talking nonsense and was time.

There was no one in the gate cave, and it was the same in the city. Originally, there were five soldiers looking at the wind, who took turns to stand guard, each with a stilt of incense. Later, the wind and snow became tighter and tighter, from one incense to half a column of incense. Later, the half-pillar incense could not hold on, so they had to wait for the snow to stop before going out, and temporarily hide in the watchtower to make a fire for warmth.

The wind and snow covered up the footsteps and hid his whereabouts. When Zhao Ze went to the city with his brothers, Sima Guang was sitting on the fire kang and looking at the official document. The sun sprinkled on his young face through the window paper, and a handsome young man appeared in the bright light.

The fire is booming, and the room is warm, which makes people tired, but Sima Guang is particularly excited, because the news from Beijing is that Xixia is seeking peace, and there will be no more war at the border this winter.

"It's better to maintain the status quo. It's always unfavorable to talk about war with the country and the people. The people in the world are already very difficult. All kinds of handymen burdened by South China alone are already very heavy. The strong people have been selected to join the army. The rest are just the old and weak who guard the city. As the parents of a city, they can That's all that has been done. Everything should be entrusted to next year..."