Chapter 45: Entering the City
Kuaiji County.
The streets are crisscrossed, and there are many restaurants and shops. The long streets are crowded with people, and the shops are filled with various unique toys and goods, which are displayed in a dazzling array.
Zhang Xuanning was very surprised and said, "Huiji is still very prosperous?"
Jiao Lie, the attendant, said with a wry smile: "A place of maritime trade is of course prosperous."
His family has also been controlled in the past few days. It seems that this person may not have the courage to be loyal to Boss Qin and sacrifice his life for him, so he has to obey orders.
As soon as these words came out, Zhang Xuanning really looked at him differently. At this moment, Zhang Yi came over and whispered, "Sir, they are all in."
In fact, the name Zhang Yi is really bad, but there is no other way. Zhang Yi is not a real subordinate, but a subordinate of Qiu Ran Ke, so he cannot change his name, nor can he be called "Lord".
At this time, the autumn light was bright, and the evening sun cast tiny spots of light between the shadows of the trees. Zhang Xuanning nodded and walked along the ancient road of Kuaiji County. The history of Kuaiji County can be traced back to the Qin and Han Dynasties, so the vicissitudes of ancientness can be seen everywhere.
They went straight into a residential area, which was a relatively remote backyard with not many houses nearby. It was the place where the business was held. Inside, fifty people were already prepared and lying in ambush in various courtyards.
Seeing that everything was arranged, Zhang Xuanning smiled and said, "Jiao Lie, it's time."
Jiao Lie couldn't help but feel bitter in his mouth, but he couldn't disobey at this time, so he smiled bitterly and said, "Yes!"
Zhang Xuanning watched him leave, and then stopped in the main room. At this time, a table was opened with dishes on it. Zhang Xuanning said to Li Bo leisurely, "Uncle, please come in!"
Li Bo saw a dazzling array of grilled and fried dishes on the table. Although most of them were beef, fried chicken, lamb and the like bought in the city, they were indeed very fresh, and the aroma wafted straight up. He couldn't help but smile: "My dear nephew, you are really thoughtful."
After saying this, he sat down without any pretense, picked up the wine pot, and said, "Your ancestor was once the governor of Kuaiji, and this city was built by him by cutting through the mountains and taking stones. Now that you have returned to revive this city, it is also God's will!"
Zhang Xuanning had never thought that this was actually related, so he smiled and said, "It must be that our ancestors in heaven are blessing me and reviving my family!"
Li Bo nodded and said with a smile: "However, when it comes to extravagance, you are not even a fraction as extravagant as your father and grandfather!"
What he said was indeed justified, Yang Suli was an extraordinary minister. Whenever ministers came to speak, or guests came to pay a visit, he would summon them while they were sitting or lying on the bed, and he would have beauties brought out, and maids lined up, many of them stunningly beautiful, with an unusual pomp and ceremony.
Then I thought of the huge amount of wealth and weapons in Yang Gong’s treasure. It was really incredible. Probably, no one could compare to it except the emperor!
However, now all of this was attributed to Zhang Xuanning, so he said with a smile: "It is easy to go from frugality to luxury, but it is difficult to go from luxury to frugality. Military and national affairs cost a lot. If you want to accomplish great things, how can you not be frugal? The more you spend on soldiers and scholars, the more luck and strength you will have, and the more people will respect you."
As soon as these words came out, Li Bo put down his chopsticks and sighed, "My dear nephew, you really have the ambition to rule the world!"
"Uncle, I have inherited the greatness of my father and grandfather, how dare I not be attentive? Even if it is a rain of swords and arrows, I will not avoid it. Uncle and my family have a deep connection, so please help me."
"You have such great ambitions. If I don't help you, who else can I help? If you can take Kuaiji County this time, I will worship my nephew as my lord to preserve the righteousness of our two families."
"How dare you do this? My father and grandfather are gone, and my uncle is my father. I hope you can be more considerate." Zhang Xuanning stood up personally, filled his glass with wine, and said.
It's really watertight, Li Bo thought so, raised the cup and drank it all in one gulp.
As they were talking, they heard the footsteps of more than ten people approaching and stopping outside the courtyard gate.
With a bang, the door opened, and Jiao Lie's voice was heard saying, "Boss, Zhang Duozhu of the Bamboo Flower Gang is here."
Both of them were masters who had seen countless scenes. Of course, they didn't take these mere dozen people seriously and didn't even turn their heads.
At this time, a deep male voice said, "Is this Master Zhang from the Bamboo Flower Gang? What brings you here?"
At this time, Jiao Lie had been silent, but Zhang Xuanning waved his hand and the door slammed shut again.
At this moment, more than fifty people rushed out from each room and surrounded the dozen people.
Zhang Xuanning then calmly said, "Is it Captain Qin? Will you submit to me?"
Qin put his hand on the hilt of the knife and shouted angrily: "Jiao Lie, you have been with me for so many years, and I have always been kind to you. Tell me, who did you bring in, and what do you want to do?"
Seeing Qin Baotou's fierce gaze shooting at him, Jiao Lie's heart sank. Now that the matter had come to an end, he was not afraid at all. He said in a deep voice, "This is the emperor's personal army, the fifth-rank lower commander Zhang, the great master, why don't you greet him?"
Commandant Zhang? No matter how hard Qin thought, he could not have imagined this answer. He originally thought that a gang had invaded and betrayed him.
After an awkward silence, Zhang Xuanning said slowly: "Boss Qin, will you surrender?"
"Bullshit, you little kid, you don't even have any hair, yet you call yourself an official. Even if you are an official, I don't care. Brothers, follow me out."
Zhang Xuanning smiled faintly, but shouted decisively: "Kill him!"
This shout contained internal force, which was enough to make everyone's eardrums hurt. Immediately, the soldiers holding long swords rushed in like wolves and tigers without saying a word.
A big man suddenly rushed forward, as if trying to grab the young and weak Zhang Xuanning. Zhang Xuanning smiled and slapped him with his palm. The palm seemed simple, but it hit the target immediately. The sound of broken sternum was heard thrillingly. Blood gushed out of the big man's seven orifices, and the weapon fell out of his hand and was thrown backwards. It was obvious that he was doomed.
Almost at the same time, there were two more screams. Zhang Yi, Zhang Zhang and San drew their swords almost at the same time. Immediately, the swords of the two enemies fell out of their hands, blood splattered, and they were killed instantly.
When Qin saw this, he was terrified. It was not that he had no defense at all. He brought his trusted aides with him. They dared to fight and kill. They were usually very arrogant in Kuaiji County. How come three of them died in the first battle? They couldn't even resist one round?
Knowing that something was wrong, he shouted wildly and rushed towards the door with all his strength, trying to escape.
As soon as we reached the door, five archers appeared on the wall.
There were continuous "chi chi" sounds, and five strong arrows pierced into his body at close range. Only short arrowheads trembled in his chest. Qin looked at the arrows in disbelief and rushed towards the gate but stopped.
He paused for a moment, then fell heavily to the ground with a bang.
Suddenly, everyone who was resisting was stunned, and a big man rushed forward, shouting: "Boss!"
After taking a few steps, he heard another "swish" sound. The man was hit by several arrows and fell down, dying on the spot.
Jiao Lie took the opportunity to shout, "Listen, brothers. This is the emperor's personal soldier, the fifth-rank lower commander, Lord Zhang. As long as you lay down your weapons and surrender, Lord Zhang will not pursue any responsibility."
As soon as the words stopped, the other ten men looked at each other. After a few breaths, some of them threw down their weapons and knelt on the ground, obviously knowing that they could not resist.
“Jiao Lie, go gather all the original people here. If they don’t obey, kill them immediately.” Zhang Xuanning snorted coldly and said, “Also, don’t shout everywhere that I’m a fifth-rank lower-level commander. Send the families of these ten people to me. If anyone talks too much, I’ll kill his entire family. Do you understand?”
"Yes!" Since he had already killed the original boss, Jiao Lie knew there was no turning back. He was also a leader, so after he responded, he naturally gathered the other gang members one by one, and even told Zhang Xuanning one by one which ones were Qin's confidants who should be killed immediately, and which ones could be recruited.
In just a few days, Qin's internal affairs were cleansed. Among the eighty people, fifty were employable, and the other thirty were killed immediately. Perhaps it was for personal revenge, but Zhang Xuanning ignored it and immediately appointed Jiao Lie as the fire chief, allowing him to select his confidants. The others were all disbanded and dispersed into other teams. In this way, the team immediately expanded to more than a hundred people.
Of course, the news of Qin's tragic death could not be concealed for long. It was just that people were misled into thinking that it was Jiao Lie who rebelled. Many people who knew the inside story were a little depressed and puzzled. Although Jiao Lie had some prestige in this small gang, it was far from comparable to Qin's. How could he usurp the throne?
A few days later, Jiao Lie walked into this courtyard quietly.
"Lord?" he shouted. He was an experienced man, so within a few days, he had figured out the rules and called the captain in front of him, who was not even a young man, "Lord."
"What's the matter?" Zhang Xuanning looked at a scroll and said without raising his head. In the past few days, the group of young men had been released to find out the truth about the city and buy some goods and food. They were relatively unfamiliar faces, and most of them were young fugitives selected from the rebellions of bandits. Although they were young, they had killed many people. They also learned martial arts. Although they had not practiced for a long time and were not very useful, others could not figure out their details for a while.
"In the past few days, the Wuyi Society has been very active, and it seems that they are coming to attack me." He reported.
Although the Wuyi Society has a population of up to a thousand, they are personnel from various fields, and there are only three hundred real combatants. The eighty Qin leaders are all brave men who can fight to the death, so the balance is achieved.
Now that they heard that Boss Qin was dead, they would naturally annex the area. However, Zhang Xuanning didn't care about these few people at all. He just asked, "Why are you here?"
The savings that Qin Baotou has accumulated over the years are actually quite good for the head of a small gang.
Not to mention some gold and silver, there is also a piece of farmland outside the city, which is about 300 acres of land. I also heard that there is a small lake in front of the door with a very nice scenery.
It was decided immediately to pull out all the capable combat personnel and train them in the manor. It would be too conspicuous to attract attention in the city, especially when the decision to capture the city had not been made.
Although he didn't care about the Wuyi Society, he still investigated it. He found out that the Wuyi Society was a typical urban gang. They rarely made a living by directly resorting to knives and blood, but instead controlled some shops in the city and collected protection fees.
Just by asking directly, I found out that the Wuyi Society has more than a dozen businesses of various kinds in the city, including breweries, inns, wine shops, cargo warehouses, grocery stores, rice shops, etc., and it is really doing good business.
Jiao Lie said softly, "My lord, they asked us to negotiate at Hejiakou outside the city tomorrow night. They actually want to swallow us up in one gulp. My lord, what should we do?"
"What can we do? The leader of the Wuyi Society is Yuan Zong, right? He is fifty years old and has been in the underworld for thirty years, but he is just like this. What threat can he pose?" Zhang Xuanning said nonchalantly. After fighting in the army and killing extremely powerful Turkic masters, these gangs, no matter how ferocious they are, are nothing compared to him.
"Yes, then I will."
"Okay, you can go out now." Zhang Xuanning said.
At this time, everything was done in accordance with military procedures, with patrols and drills. No one dared to speak out, and the atmosphere was extremely solemn. The gang members had already been complaining about their suffering, but they dared not say a word.
After waiting for a while, he put down the documents in his hand in distress and said to Li Bo who just came out of the room with a sigh: "Uncle, these things are really tedious. When can you find someone to help me?"
"My dear nephew, I have already sent a letter to ask a group of my servants to come and help you. This is a big matter, and I cannot make the decision on my own. Even within my family, all branches must agree. As for recruiting others, such as your father's and grandfather's old subordinates, my dear nephew, you must take over Kuaiji County and accomplish the task."
"I've known this for a long time. However, it's not bad to have more servants. My uncle's servants can also be used." Zhang Xuanning thought this polite refusal was natural. Rebellion means risking the lives of an entire family. It's impossible to send people to meet the lord and serve with nothing, especially those from such a big family. Therefore, he said calmly.
Although he had played countless strategy games in the modern world in his previous life, it was not until now that he truly experienced the incomparably strange and satisfying feeling that this "game of dominating the world" brought.
The only difference is that this is a one-time game and there is no chance to turn back, so even at the beginning, you must plan ahead and reorganize the distribution of various forces. Whether it is selection, organization, training, or setting up a simple government hall, as well as reconnaissance and buying and selling goods, they are all factors that determine future victory or defeat and life and death.
"Fourth Master, the horses have arrived, sixty in total!" Just then, Zhang Yixing came in excitedly and said.
"Really? We'll go right away."
As soon as Zhang Xuanning gained his foothold, he immediately ordered the war horses that were originally transported to the south to be shipped here. Although he had only been in the army for one year, he also deeply understood the strength of the cavalry.
Immediately, he ordered everyone to leave the city in batches.
When they arrived at the manor of Qin Baotou, they saw a group of war horses. At this time, Zhang San came with a good horse. Zhang Xuanning quickly got on the horse and said with a smile: "Although I haven't ridden for only a month, I feel uncomfortable all over. As long as I ride on the horse, I will be full of energy."
Of course he couldn't gallop so fast and attract attention, so after turning around a few times, he jumped off the horse.
The soldiers originally in the army were cavalrymen, so most of them jumped up and tried their best. Although there were only fifty people and they could barely form a team, they were still powerful enough.
Zhang Xuanning smiled and said, "Fortunately, the horses are coming soon. With these fifty riders, I dare to charge head-on into the five hundred men! We are now more confident of our success."
Zhang San stepped forward and said, "Young Master is brave and heroic, so he is naturally extraordinary."
At this time, Zhang Yi also mounted his horse and rode in the manor with fifty men. Although they could not fully display their power, the fifty riders brought the dense sound of horse hooves and had the power to destroy everything. All the gang members present were pale and obviously frightened.
"Okay, everyone, get familiar with each other, and we will destroy the Wuyi Society tomorrow." Seeing this, Zhang Xuanning knew that his deterrence tactics had been achieved, so he said with a smile.
Although tomorrow there will be 120 people against 300 to 400 people, but let alone other things, these 50 riders are enough for us to destroy them, so victory is certain.
Originally, Kou Zhong's biggest problem was that he was too conspicuous. He went to various places to cause trouble, forcing local tyrants to pay attention to him. In fact, this was nothing at all. Without fame, how would people come to join him?
But the problem was that they made such a big fuss that both Yang Gong's treasure house and the imperial seal were the most important things in the world, so they became the target of public criticism.
Therefore, no matter whether it was Xiao Xin, Li Zitong, Li Shimin, or Dou Jiande, Liu Wuzhou and others, once they came into contact with Kou Zhong, the first thing they would do was to eliminate Kou Zhong's young marshal's army, and even created a situation where everyone was plotting against him.
In addition, when the rebellion started, it was already very late and there was no time to accumulate strength. Under such circumstances, it was incredible that Kou Zhong was still able to sweep the south. It seemed that there was an omnipotent God who favored him in every way.
However, this is not a novel after all, but a world. Zhang Xuanning dare not gamble that he has such a strong fortune, so he started the rebellion early and seized the opportunity, and in fact not many people paid attention to him.
Even though the Li family still pays attention to him now, they only regard him as a talented general. Although there are not many talented generals in the world, there are still quite a few. They will not use all their strength to deal with him at any cost. This is not the same as the past.
For a moment, my heart was filled with emotion. I took a deep breath and looked up at the blue sky.
What is the future like?
