Changqing County, Qi Prefecture, is the county closest to Yunzhou in Qizhou. In the morning, an army of hundreds of people slowly arrived at the Changqing River under the leadership of Li Yanqing. This river is the boundary between Qizhou and Yunzhou. After crossing this river, the other side is Yunzhou.

Li Yanqing was immediately by the river, staring at a barren wheat field with thousands of acres in the distance, which was covered with weeds half a person tall. Now the wheat has reached its peak. There should be yellow wheat waves everywhere, and busy farmers can be seen everywhere. But now not only is there no people in the fields, but even the official road is empty and there is no pedestrian.

Although the military discipline of the Liangshan Army was pretty good, the war was so cruel and the society was so fragile. After several years of rebellion, the prefectures on the east and west roads of Beijing, Daming Prefecture, Bozhou and other places in Hebei became depressed, with a sharp decline in population and land in wasteland. The taxes in Qizhou alone were reduced by 80% compared with the previous year, which made Li Yanqing feel quite heavy. I don’t know how many years it will take to gradually regain vitality.

Li Yanqing only got the news the afternoon after Song Jiang broke through. He was not surprised by this news. Even as he expected, taking advantage of Tong Guan's foothold and breaking through was the only opportunity for Liangshan Army to take advantage of Tong Guan's foothold but not firmly. Song Jiang obviously seized this opportunity.

However, even though he had thought of this consequence in advance, Li Yanqing still felt an indescribable anger in his heart. Their efforts for nearly half a year were destroyed overnight by Tong Guan. Since they were released from the mountain, let’s see how Tong Guan swept Liangshan and how to deal with the funeral?

At this time, a young passerby riding a donkey finally appeared on the official road. When he approached the wooden bridge, he saw the army on the other side, and immediately waved his hand and shouted with excitement.

Li Yanqing also recognized this young passerby. It was Yang Guang who sent to Xucheng County the day before yesterday, but he didn't expect that he would come back so soon.

After a moment, Yang Guang was brought up by the soldiers. He bowed to Li Yanqing and said, "When I met General Wang Gui, he wrote a letter to the general."

After saying that, Yang Guang took out a letter and handed it to Li Yanqing. Li Yanqing took it and read it. Wang Gui was very angry in the letter and scolded Tong Guan for being despicable and shameless. He clearly let Song Jiang and others go, but he was even awarded the title of emperor.

Seeing this, Li Yanqing couldn't help but snorted coldly. Tong Guan's shamelessness was not only reflected in Yunzhou. A few years later, his shamelessness in the Northern Expedition was the pinnacle.

Li Yanqing continued to read the letter again. At the end of the letter, Wang Gui made a clear statement that he would never want to be a general under this traitor. He had decided to leave. If Li Yanqing did not agree to accept him, he would go to Jeju to join Zongze.

Li Yanqing laughed. Wang Gui has been upright since he was a child and could not rub any sand in his eyes. Since he had made up his mind, he should not force him to stay in the army anymore.

Li Yanqing pondered for a moment, then turned over and dismounted and asked the soldiers to raise a table. He then picked up a pen and wrote a letter to Liu Qi and Wang Gui.

At this time, he remembered something again and asked Yang Guang: "I asked you to find the shopkeeper of Shunfeng Inn. Have you found it?"

Yang Guang shook his head, "The inn closed a few months ago. I climbed over the wall and went in. A thick layer of dust fell on the lobby. There was no one inside. I asked the people around me. It seemed that they were no longer in Xucheng. The last time the people left the city, he also left. The inn owner was in Hebei, so he should have gone to Hebei."

Li Yanqing knew that a few months ago, in order to reduce the population in Xucheng, Wang Ying let out a group of people, about 20,000 to 30,000 people. Many people who were not from the Liangshan Army's family left Xucheng County one after another. This made Li Yanqing feel a little regretful. If it weren't for the inn shopkeeper helping him, he would have been caught by Liangshan Army. He wanted to repay the shopkeeper today, but the person was no longer aware of where he was going.

Li Yanqing had no choice but to put this matter temporarily and hand over the two letters he had written to Yang Guang, "You go to Xucheng County again, find General Liu and Wang Gui, and give them my letter."

"Neizhi is going to set off now." Li Yanqing gave him some broken silver, and Yang Guang rode on the donkey and hurried away.

Of course, Li Yanqing could understand Wang Gui's mood, but Wang Gui could not leave as he said that it would ruin his future and even be suspected of desertion.

Li Yanqing asked Liu Qi to help transfer Wang Gui to Qizhou. Wang Gui was just a small head. His transfer did not need to alarm Tong Guan. Zhang Shuye's power could be easily done. If Niu Gao was willing to come to Qizhou, he would of course be willing to accept it. He happened to have an important thing to hand over to Wang Gui.

Two days later, news came from Xucheng County that Tong Guan led an army of 50,000 to Liangshan Yuncheng to station, preparing to start attacking Liangshan. Just when Li Yanqing was a little worried, Wang Gui brought several soldiers to Licheng County.

"I thought you also followed the army to Yuncheng." Li Yanqing smiled when he saw Wang Gui.

When Wang Gui and Li Yanqing saw the ceremony, they scolded Tong Guan and said, "The eunuch is really not a thing. They actually said that Shouzhang County and Yuncheng were captured by him. I have seen many shameless people. This is the first time I have seen such shameless people."

Tong Guan took all the credits of Zhong Shidao for himself, and Yuncheng and Shouzhang were nothing, so Li Yanqing smiled and comforted him, "You don't have to worry about such a small thing anymore. The soldiers' eyes are bright. He can hide the emperor, but he cannot hide the soldiers of the three armies."

At this time, Wang Gui suddenly remembered something again and hurriedly said, "I heard that Zhang Sima is going to be transferred back to the court."

"How do you know?"

"I heard Lao Tang say this when I went to get the transfer order yesterday afternoon. He said that Zhang Sima impeached Tong Guan, but was retaliated by Tong Guan and wanted to drive him away. Anyway, the army said this, and I probably did it."

Li Yanqing no longer wanted to listen to Tong Guan’s affairs, so he said to Wang Gui: “I am going to send two thousand Xiangzhou Township soldiers back to Xiangzhou. There is no suitable candidate. Just go for me!”

Wang Gui was stunned, "This is your only army. If you send them away, you will not have any soldiers."

Li Yanqing smiled and said, "I was originally worried that the remaining bandits in Liangshan would attack Qizhou. Now it seems that the Liangshan army is exhausted and cannot become a climate. Since Song Jiang has broken through to Liangshan, there is no danger in Qizhou. Send them away as soon as possible so that Tong Guan will always worry about them."

Wang Gui nodded silently and smiled reluctantly, "Okay! I'm just about to go back to my hometown to see you. I can set off at any time."

Li Yanqing patted his shoulder and smiled, "I can't drink your wedding banquet anymore, so I'll make up for it later!"

Wang Gui's face turned red, and Li Yanqing actually hit his mind

The next morning, Wang Gui led two thousand Xiangzhou Township soldiers to leave Licheng County and return to Xiangzhou. Two Dutou Lu Fei and Wang Ping were accompanied by Dutou. Lu Fei was from Daming Prefecture, and Wang Ping was from Linlu County, Xiangzhou. It was time for them to go back.

Li Yanqing stood on the top of the city and watched the two thousand soldiers go away from afar. At this time, Mo Jun whispered: "It seems that the officials value Gui Ge'er and this army very much!"

Li Yanqing sighed slightly, "When the situation is unfavorable, the best way is to lurk and endure loneliness and injustice is to make a comeback in the future. As for Tong Guan and Gao Qiu and others' domineering arrogance, we might as well watch it coldly, watch him entertain guests, see who is the one who laughs to the end?"

"The official has plans?"

Li Yanqing nodded, "I have already written to the Privy Council to request that I be transferred from Liangshan to fight the bandits. I have also written to him on Tong Guan's side. I plan to go back to Beijing to visit my father and take a special leave for one month."

"Does the official think he will approve it?"

A sneer appeared on the corner of Li Yanqing's mouth, "I believe he will approve it. I will take the initiative to leave this place of failure, so why don't he do it?"

Mo Jun also sighed, "It's just that the officials have made so many contributions, and this time they leave, they will be thrown away in vain."

"That may not be."

Li Yanqing smiled faintly and said, "What is mine is mine after all, and Tong Guan can't erase it."

In the afternoon, Li Yanqing received an order from Tong Guan, asking him to see him in Yuncheng. Li Yanqing knew that it was about asking for leave, and he would probably not come back after he went there. He said goodbye to Li Qingzhao and his wife. Zhao Mingcheng had received a formal appointment from the court and appointed him as the magistrate of Licheng. For this reason, Zhao Mingcheng was extremely grateful to Li Yanqing and specially placed wine for Li Yanqing to practice.

Two days later, Li Yanqing arrived in Yuncheng with Mo Jun, Yang Guang and other entourages. At this time, a 50,000 army set up a camp at the foot of Liangshan. Yuncheng County, as a major logistics site for the official army, was also the temporary official office for the pacification and control envoys.

Li Yanqing asked Mo Jun and others to wait for him in the inn. He came to the government office alone. After waiting for a moment, Tong Guan's personal soldiers came out to hold their fists and said, "General Li, please come in!"

Li Yanqing came to Tong Guan’s official room and bowed, "I will meet the Grand Marshal for my humble duties!"

"What do Yanqing wants me to say to you?"

Tong Guan said with regretful face: "It is the most critical time to pacify the Liangshan riot bandits. How can you leave when you say it? Song Jiang was defeated and fled back to Liangshan. I guess nothing is wrong with Qizhou. I was about to transfer you back to serve as the main force of the bandit suppression, but you were leaving. Why is this?"

Tong Guan's regretful expression showed an indescribable hypocrisy. Li Yanqing knew it very well. He smiled faintly: "As the Taiwei said, the bandits in Liangshan were at the end of their power, and they would be wiped out by the army soon. There are thousands of good generals under the Taiwei, and each one is far better than me. Whether I stay or leave, it actually has no impact on the situation."

"You can't say that, you have your role!"

Tong Guan changed the topic and asked again: "You will leave, those two thousand soldiers in the countryside."

"Two thousand township soldiers have already returned a few days ago. After I return to the capital, I will hand over the turtle talisman directly to the Privy Council."

Tong Guan nodded and lowered his voice and said, "Don't worry! I am not Yao Zhongping. I will report your contributions truthfully immediately. I sincerely hope that one day you can become my right-hand man. I had this idea in Tangyin County back then, but it remains unchanged now. I hope we will give up our past grudges and start over!"

If it were in the past, Li Yanqing might have been flattered, but after experiencing so many things, he had already seen through Tong Guan's hypocrisy and ruthlessness. Li Yanqing smiled faintly, "The Grand Marshal loves him well, and he is grateful for his humble position."
Chapter completed!