Chapter 617 Officials are worse than thieves

"I've seen him, but I'm not familiar with him!" Li Dagui said with a smile, "But he was a disciple of the Martial Arts Pavilion fifteen years ago."

Yang Mingzhao's eyes lit up, "A disciple of the Martial Arts Pavilion!"

Yang Ze also smiled faintly.

The others were puzzled. They didn't understand what use it was for them that the commander of the Shangwu Division was a disciple of the Martial Arts Pavilion.

"What is his origin?" Yang Mingzhao asked.

"The Li family of Baoning Mansion!" Li Dagui said.

Origin is the key. All the disciples of the Martial Arts Pavilion more than ten years ago have a master-disciple relationship with Yang Zhengshan, but this relationship may not necessarily make Li Baoshan surrender to Yang Mingzhao.

For example, those disciples of the Martial Arts Pavilion who came from noble families would definitely not surrender to Yang Mingzhao easily, after all, they still have families behind them, and their families are still in Kyoto.

But if Li Baoshan was just born in an ordinary martial arts family, it would be different.

He doesn't need to worry too much, and it is even possible to bring the entire Li family to surrender to Yang Mingzhao.

In fact, Li Dagui had only met Li Baoshan once, but Li Baoshan had another special feature. He was the first disciple of the Martial Arts Pavilion who came from a local martial arts family.

When the Martial Arts Pavilion was first established, most of the disciples came from the nobles of Kyoto. It was not until the second year of the Martial Arts Pavilion that disciples from the Jianghu Sect joined the Martial Arts Pavilion. It was not until the third year that the children of martial arts families from all over the country gradually joined the Martial Arts Pavilion.

And Li Baoshan happened to join the Martial Arts Pavilion in the second year of the Martial Arts Pavilion. At that time, Yang Zhengshan went to the Martial Arts Pavilion quite diligently, and Li Dagui would occasionally follow Yang Zhengshan to the Martial Arts Pavilion.

When Li Baoshan was in the Martial Arts Pavilion, Yang Zhengshan had instructed him many times, and his qualifications were also very good, and Yang Zhengshan had a very good impression of him.

However, Li Baoshan's background limited his development. The Li family of Baoning Prefecture was just a small family. After Li Baoshan graduated from the Martial Arts Pavilion, although he was recommended by the Martial Arts Pavilion, he only got an official position of a small flag of the Shangwu Division.

In the first few years, Li Baoshan's development was pretty good. He was promoted several times in four or five years, from a small flag to a general flag, and then to a centurion.

But later it was not so good. After Zhang Luan resigned from the post of Shangwu Temple, Shangwu Temple gradually changed. Now the disciples of the sects in various places control the Shangwu Division and use it as a tool for personal gain.

It is difficult for a warrior with a relatively small background like Li Baoshan to continue to be promoted in the Shangwu Division.

In this way, Li Baoshan served as a centurion for five years. In the end, he had no choice but to find a way to transfer himself back to the Shangwu Division of Baoning Prefecture, and also wanted to use the power of the Shangwu Division to seek some private benefits for the family.

The commander of the Shangwu Division at the prefecture level sounds like a big official position, but in fact it is similar to a centurion. There are only dozens of martial guards in the Shangwu Division at the prefecture level.

Yang Mingzhao listened to Li Dagui's proposal and smiled, "Then ask this Senior Brother Li to help!"

"The subordinates can sneak into the city!" Li Dagui said.

Yang Mingzhao laughed and wrote a letter.

"Did you bring our family badge?"

Li Dagui shook his head, "How can I bring that thing out! If someone knows about it, it may cause a lot of trouble!"

Every family has its own identity symbol, and the Yang family also has one. The guards and servants of the Yang family used to have an identity token.

But now I am rebelling in Darong, how dare I take the identity token of the Yang family?

Yang Mingzhao thought about it, took out his private seal, and stamped it on the letter.

"Go tonight. If Li Baoshan is willing to remember the friendship in the past, let him help open the city gate. If he is not willing~~"

Yang Mingzhao did not say the rest.

What should I do if Li Baoshan does not recognize the Yang family?

Li Dagui said: "I understand. If he is not willing, I will take the opportunity to save his life!"

Yang Mingzhao nodded slightly and handed the letter to him.

Since Li Baoshan did not recognize the Yang family, it meant that he had no friendship with the Yang family, and the relationship between him and Yang Zhengshan as a master and apprentice was over, so the two sides could only become enemies.

In order to ensure that his identity was not revealed, Yang Mingzhao had to kill him, and he had to make a decisive move and kill him at that time.

…

In the city of Baoning Prefecture.

The prefect Li Wenchun, the co-prefect Xu Fusheng, the commander of Lizhou Guard Sun Derong and the commander of Shangwu Division Li Baoshan sat in the lobby to discuss the defense of the city.

Although there were only more than 40 martial arts guards in the Shangwu Division of Baoning Prefecture, it represented the underworld forces in Baoning Prefecture.

Let’s not talk about anything else, just say that there are three martial arts families in this city.

These three martial arts families are nothing in the whole of Darong, but they represent the highest level of martial arts in Baoning Prefecture.

There may be only a dozen or twenty martial artists in a county, but there will not be only one or two hundred martial artists in a prefecture.

Again, there is a clustering effect in the distribution of martial artists.

The more prosperous the place, the more warriors there will be.

The number of warriors in a prefecture city may gather more than half of the warriors in the entire prefecture.

The residence of a sect can be chosen in the deep mountains and old forests, but the address of a family must not be placed in the deep mountains and old forests. Because the disciples of the sect are all warriors, and a large part of the children of the family are actually ordinary people.

Li Baoshan is 38 years old this year. He is thin and has a regular face. He is not handsome, but not ugly. He looks like an ordinary person.

Being able to graduate from the Martial Arts Pavilion proves that his cultivation and qualifications are not bad.

Graduating from the Martial Arts Pavilion requires the fourth level of the acquired cultivation, and now Li Baoshan's cultivation has reached the seventh level of the acquired cultivation.

This is already one of the best masters in Baoning Prefecture.

Therefore, he is qualified to sit in front of the prefect Li Wenchun and the commander of Lizhou Guard Sun Derong.

The prefect Li Wenchun is a dry old man. He has been the prefect of Baoning Prefecture for seven years. It can be seen that he is just an official without background in the court, otherwise he would never stay in Baoning Prefecture for seven years.

Li Wenchun is very experienced in doing things. The decision to close the city gate and defend the city for help was made by him.

In the hall, Li Wenchun looked at Sun Derong and Li Baoshan and said in a hoarse voice: "Lord Sun, Lord Li, do you have a way to repel the enemy?"

Sun Derong looked at Li Baoshan. He, the commander of Lizhou Guard, was actually a decoration, and the military households under him were a group of farmers.

The entire Lizhou Guard should have 5,600 soldiers, but in fact he could only gather more than 2,000 soldiers, and these more than 2,000 soldiers took turns to garrison in the prefecture.

It was not easy for him to achieve this step.

As for repelling the enemy, don't joke. Most of the soldiers of Lizhouwei have never fought in a war, and have never even seen blood. It is better to recruit young and strong men from the city than to expect them to fight.

At least the young and strong men in the city are willing to fight to protect their families, and the soldiers of Lizhouwei are probably thinking about how to escape now.

Sun Derong knew that he was not capable enough, and he also knew what kind of soldiers under his command were, so he placed his hope on Li Baoshan.

Li Baoshan looked solemn and asked, "May I ask if the prefect knows about the bandit army outside the city?"

To be honest, he didn't know the origin of the Taiping Army, and he didn't know much about Taiping County, because there were several groups of rebels in Bashu, and Yang Mingzhao of Taiping County ranked last among these groups of rebels.

Therefore, even if Li Baoshan would pay attention to the rebels on weekdays, he would focus on the Black Tiger King and the Nine Heavenly Kings in the south of Bashu.

However, Li Wenchun was more familiar with the situation in Taiping County. He said, "The bandit army outside the city came from Taiping County. Its leader is named Yang Zhao. This man's origin is very mysterious. Not to mention outsiders, even their internal staff do not know the origin of this Mr. Yang."

"Some people speculate that he comes from a wealthy merchant family, and some speculate that he has the support of martial arts forces behind him, because there are many martial arts masters around him!"

"He distributed land in Taiping County, repaired irrigation canals, trained farmers, and built forts. In just over two years, he managed Taiping County in an orderly manner, allowing the people to have enough food and every family to have surplus food!"

After hearing his words, Li Baoshan and the other two looked at each other.

"This is not a thief!" Li Baoshan said with some doubt.

Li Wenchun's expression was also quite complicated. "To the gentry and rich families, he is a thief because he distributed the land of the gentry and rich families to the poor people, but to the poor people, he is a good man, a great master!"

The four fell silent.

Thieves, they all hate them.

But they don't know how to evaluate the rebels in Taiping County.

"Ah~~" Li Wenchun sighed and said, "I have been an official for thirty years and have served as a county magistrate for several times, but I have never made the area under my jurisdiction as peaceful as Taiping County!"

No mistake, one sentence, one post, one content, one 6, one 9, one book, one bar!

Li Wenchun is a capable official. Whenever he takes office in a place, he will definitely build water conservancy projects and encourage agriculture.

Unfortunately, he is subject to too many restrictions in the officialdom.

This cannot be done, and that cannot be done. The gentry cannot be suppressed, and the powerful cannot be offended.

This makes him feel constrained in doing things, and he always fails to get things done.

"Prefect, now is not the time to talk about this. Let's think about how to repel the enemy!" Tongzhi Xu Fusheng reminded.

"Well, let's talk about the strategy of repelling the enemy first!" Li Wenchun nodded.

Although he recognized many of Taiping County's policies in his heart, as an official appointed by the court, he had the responsibility to defend the city and could not hand over the city to the rebels.

Li Baoshan pondered for a moment and said, "If we want to repel the enemy, we may have to make a long-term plan!"

"The soldiers in the city are useless. The first thing we need to do is to train a group of young and strong people who dare to fight!"

"First, we need to ask for help from the Dusi Yamen. If the Dusi Yamen has reinforcements, we only need to defend the city."

"Second, we need to train young and strong people. If the Dusi Yamen has no reinforcements, then we can only rely on the young and strong people in the city to repel the enemy!"

Xu Fusheng said, "Will it be too late to train young and strong people now?"

Li Baoshan shook his head, "This is also unavoidable. I We need to prepare for both situations. Compared with the reinforcements from the Dusi Yamen, I think it is more reliable to train young and strong men. It only takes three months to form an army! "

Li Wenchun agreed and said: "That's right, it's just three months to defend the city. There are not many bandits outside the city. We should be able to hold on for three months."

This is the situation in Bashu Province now. The Dusi Yamen is unreliable. The prefectures, states, and counties in various places can only rely on themselves, but the prefectures, states, and counties do not have much money and food. So unless the situation is imminent, they can't do anything. Only when the enemy is at the gates of the city can they raise money and food as much as possible to train young and strong men.

"Money and food are a problem!" Sun Derong said.

Li Wenchun said: "I will visit the rich families in the city and ask them to donate money and food. I believe they will be willing to take out money and food to recruit young and strong men at this time."

If it is not imminent, those gentry and rich families will not take out money and food.

Now that the rebels are outside the city, Li Wenchun believes that he can persuade those rich families to donate money and food.

After the four people agreed, they went about their business. Li Wenchun and Xu Fusheng were responsible for raising money and food, while Li Baoshan and Sun Derong were responsible for recruiting and training young and strong men.

…

At night, under the dim moonlight, a residual shadow silently crossed the city wall and entered the city.

After Li Dagui entered the city, he immediately began to look for Zhang Mo and Li Cheng who had sneaked into the city ten days ago.

He searched for an hour and almost walked around the city before he found the marks left by Zhang Mo and Li Cheng.

In an ordinary house, Li Cheng, who was sleeping, suddenly sat up, "Who?"

"It's me!" Li Dagui entered the house quietly. After Li Cheng saw his appearance clearly, he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Hello, senior, but does the young master have an order?" Li Cheng quickly got up from the wooden bed and asked.

Li Dagui nodded and said, "Do you know where Li Baoshan lives?"

Li Cheng said without hesitation, "I know. He lives in the Shangwu Division Yamen. He went to the government office this afternoon. After leaving the government office, he returned to the Shangwu Division. The Shangwu Division is preparing to recruit young men for training."

They did not do nothing when they sneaked into the city. They watched the actions of various yamen, explored the defensive forces in the city, and found ways to break the city.

As the commander of the Shangwu Division and the person with the highest cultivation, Li Baoshan was naturally their key target.

Li Dagui did not say much, and left after leaving a word.

"Wait for you first, I'll go meet Li Baoshan!"

When he was wandering around the city just now, he had already found the location of the Shangwu Division Yamen.

After leaving Li Cheng, he soon sneaked into the Shangwu Division Yamen.

The Shangwu Division Yamen was not big. In addition to the military guards, there were also some clerks and strong men in the yamen.

Li Dagui quickly determined the room where Li Baoshan lived.

Li Baoshan's home is in the city, so his family does not live in the government office.

He usually lives at home, but today he is busy recruiting young men for training, so he lives in the government office.

Li Dagui sneaked into Li Baoshan's room quietly, and he found a chair and sat in front of Li Baoshan's bed.

"Since you are awake, get up. The visitor is a guest. Does Lord Li still intend to hide and not see the guest?" Li Dagui chuckled.

In the curtain of the bunk bed, Li Baoshan's hand was already on the handle of the knife.

He had already noticed that someone had sneaked into his room, just when Li Dagui was moving the chair.

To be honest, he was so scared that he almost jumped up and chopped someone.

However, he knew that the visitor's strength was far above his own, so he chose to pretend to sleep and see if there was a chance to counterattack.

But he didn't expect the visitor to wake him up!