Chapter Fourteen Hao Yaoqi

After leaving Xishan Tower, Ying Yi walked quickly and walked into an alley diagonally opposite.

There are not many people left in Ye County now. Zheng Yunzhi, the county magistrate, restricted his entry and exit, so the people all knew how to live a secret life, and all those with connections left. From Zheng Yunzhi's behavior, Ying Yi can see that he is a good official, but not a qualified official.

As the county magistrate, he has the responsibility to protect the land. The people in the county seat were allowed to flee, leaving the county seat completely depopulated. This seemed to be a good thing, but it pushed Ye County to the edge of the cliff. How to defend a county with no one? The people fled, and the officers and soldiers who might have been somewhat determined to hold on were already in panic. Maybe it will all break up at some point.

In the end, he was left alone, living and dying with the city. The reputation and integrity were preserved, but it did not help the current situation.

Sun Xiucai said that he was a Jinshi in the twelfth year of Chongzhen and was quite talented. But in Ying Yi's view, it was nothing more than that. Of course, maybe Zheng Yunzhi has seen through the world and has already given up.

From Ying Yi's perspective, since Zheng Yunzhi has become an official, he must shoulder the responsibilities of being an official. The thieves are ruthless and natural disasters happen year after year, so what? Isn’t this exactly the problem that officials should solve? Not solving problems, but reacting passively, is not considered a talent.

Work hard to solve the problem, even if you can't solve it in the end, you still have to do your best, so that you can live up to your official status and die with a clear conscience.

Ying Yi also knew that this was probably an ideal state. Many officials may know this truth in their hearts, but doing it is another matter. There are not many people who can unite their words and deeds, and unite their knowledge and deeds. Whether it is this time and space or the era hundreds of years later, they are essentially the same.

Ying Yi hid in the alley, feeling the atmosphere of decadence, negativity and emptiness in the air. This was probably a common phenomenon in the late Ming Dynasty. However, Ying Yi didn't have that much energy to feel it. He stared at Xishan Tower. From his position, he could just see the table of people in the front window of Xishan Tower.

There are five people in total. They are all neatly dressed up. Three of them behaved in a reckless manner, but the other two were not, especially the one with a tender face, who gave off a ladylike air - that was a woman disguised as a man!

Ying Yi can tell it at a glance.

When leaving the inn, Ying Yi overheard their conversation, which seemed to be about the pay of officers and soldiers. He was also involved with the intruder. And they call the intruder King Chuang, which shows that they are not from the same family as the Ming Dynasty. Especially the word 'tribulation' made Ying Yi have some thoughts.

"These people are related to break-ins and may be able to be exploited."

Originally, Ying Yi decided to leave the city early in the morning, just like when he came in last night, he found a remote place and jumped away.

But now, he decided to wait and see before talking.

About a moment later, five people walked out of Xishan Tower, looked around for a while and entered an alley. Ying Yi followed from a distance and saw the five people arriving at a remote place at the corner of the city wall. They opened a broken door panel, revealing a hole no more than two feet in size.

Ying Yi was surprised!

Look at the size of the hole, which is enough for one person to pass through.

The three men were on guard, and the fake man and another middle-aged man who was very respectful climbed out first. Then two of the remaining three people went out, and the last one didn't go out. He covered the hole again with the door panel and left. But unexpectedly, a hand stretched out from behind, covered his mouth, and dragged him aside.

The man was taken aback and struggled desperately, but how could he get away? Ying Yi's hands were as steel as he restrained him, dragging him into the alley a few steps, and punched him in the abdomen. His body bounced like a boiled shrimp, and he couldn't even cry out in pain. Ying Yi squatted down and asked him, "Tell me, who are you?"

The man gasped for a while, looked panicked, and weakly shouted: "Who are you? Why did you hit me?"

Ying Yi sneered: "Are you pretending to be with me?"

The backhand was a slap that made him spit out half of his bloody teeth: "Tell me, who is that fake man? What happened to the military salary from Ganxi? What is your relationship with the intruder? What is your plan?!"

When the man heard this, his face turned pale with horror. He roared, turned over and jumped straight at Ying Yi. Ying Yi's slap was like lightning, and he knocked him to the ground again: "You fell into my hands, but you still want to resist. ? If you explain clearly, I will give you a happy life. If you don’t understand, I will make your life worse than death!"

As he spoke, Ying Yi cruelly stepped on one of his hands, and before he could scream, he covered his mouth again.

After a moment, Ying Yi let go of his hand and said, "Say."

This man seems to be a tough guy, but in reality he is nothing more than that. The thieves and bandits have suffered a lot, and they tell everything they know as if they were pouring beans.

They are indeed gathering here to pay for the soldiers from Ganxi. The three Cao Mang, including this person, were all members of General Hao Yaoqi under the command of the intruders, and they were old thieves with many years of experience. Although Zheng Yunzhi closed the city gate tightly, a few of them sneaked in.

This Goudongzi is what they have been doing these days.

The woman disguised as a man was named Yuan. He didn't know her specific name, so he only called her Mr. Yuan. The news about the military pay in western Jiangxi came from Mr. Yuan. Mr. Yuan was determined to join the intruders, so he contacted Hao Yaoqi and used the news that the Six Ministries of Nanjing had secretly transferred military pay from western Jiangxi as a certificate of surrender.

This batch of military pay is quite large, with a total of two million taels of silver.

The information revealed by Mr. Yuan said that this batch of military pay was exactly the pay for the army that suppressed thieves. It was a trump card used by the Ming court to boost military morale. The Ming Dynasty is now about to overthrow. It took a lot of effort to mobilize these two million taels of silver, but it was ruined by a woman.

When Ying Yi heard this, he didn't know what he felt in his heart.

The bandit also said that this batch of two million taels of military pay would arrive in Ye County soon. And they followed Hao Yaoqi's order and came here to take a stand. Mr. Yuan and the middle-aged man are Mr. Yuan's entourage. They went out this time to contact Hao Yaoqi in real time and prepare to take action as soon as the military pay arrived.

"Where is Hao Yaoqi now?"

Ying Yi asked him.

"In Yuzhou."

After hearing this, some information came to Ying Yi's mind. Ye County belongs to Nanyang Prefecture and is located at the junction of the three prefectures. To the northwest is Ruzhou Prefecture, and to the northeast is Kaifeng Prefecture. There are two counties nearby, Jiaxian County in Ruzhou Prefecture and Xiangcheng County in Kaifeng Prefecture. Yuzhou is located in the north of Xiangcheng County and adjacent to Xiangcheng.

The last time the officers and soldiers failed to suppress the bandits, Wang Qiaonian was defeated and died in Xiangcheng. It is less than 150 miles away from Ye County.

Ying Yi thought a lot in that moment. If the military personnel were mobilized to Ye County, it only meant one thing, and that was that the war against bandits was about to begin again. Maybe Yang Wenyue and Zuo Liangyu, who were licking their wounds in Huguang, had already set out with their troops.

In the midst of his thoughts, Ying Yi asked him again: "I heard that Yihu and Luo Ru just passed through Ye County. And with the momentum of your bandits, it is not difficult to conquer Ye County. Why are you doing so many small tricks?"

The man said: "The boss doesn't want to scare off the enemy."