Chapter 324 Go straight to Tianshui
The riot lasted for more than half a quarter of an hour before it gradually subsided. The hundreds of troops brought by Yang Ling had lost their fighting spirit after seeing their lord being captured. When facing the attack of Li Tai's subordinates, they either dismounted, abandoned their weapons, surrendered, or fled in all directions. Few of them dared to take up arms and resist.
When Li Tai returned to the post station, the chieftains of Lueyang who were detained in it and had not been allowed to come out all flattered him: "Your Excellency is really a young hero, brave and unparalleled! This Yang Ling is also known as a brave general in the county, but he is not even a match for your Excellency in a few rounds!"
Yang Ling, who was tied up here, was surprised to hear that the young general he was fighting with was actually Li Sanqi. After a while, he suddenly lost his temper and collapsed on the ground, saying: "I am blind and don't recognize a real noble man. This disaster is also retribution. I dare not beg the envoy to let me go, but I beg the envoy to consider that I have worked hard for the past few years and don't implicate too many of my subordinates. "My son. They are humble people from Longbian, and they have never known the power of the nobles. They just obey my orders..."
"You thief! You were arrogant and insulting the envoy before, but now you have been captured by the envoy. Your life and death are in the hands of others. You dare to hope for a lighter sentence. You are dreaming! You have been in the county for more than two years. Apart from being violent and humiliating the villagers, what else can you boast of!"
Several Luoyang chieftains who were suppressed by Yang Ling couldn't help shouting and cursing when they heard this. The most active chieftain, who had been secretly remembered by Li Tai in his little notebook, squeezed out from the gap between the soldiers guarding the post station and kicked and beat Yang Ling.
Li Tai frowned when he saw this, raised his hand to signal to pull the man away, and called Helan De to come closer, saying: "Although the situation in Lueyang is not my case, I will report it to Dugu Kaifu. Please ask Brother Helan to temporarily lead the people back to the county to wait for the state government to make a decision. I will not go to the county city, and go directly to Tianshui. I will take Yang Ling with me, and the military affairs of the county will be temporarily entrusted to Brother Helan. I will make proper arrangements after I enter the town as a deacon." Helan De nodded in response after hearing this, and he was secretly happy in his heart. It was different to have someone to rely on. Not to mention how the state government would deal with it, Li Tai directly entrusted him with the management of the military affairs of the county temporarily, which was something he dared not think of before. Li Tai knew that Helan De might not be able to control the county soldiers and Hu soldiers with just his words, so he lifted Yang Ling up again, leaned over and stared at him, and said in a deep voice: "I made such an arrangement, does Sima Yang have any objection?"
"No, no! More than 1,300 strong soldiers under my command will obey the orders of Envoy Helan, and the military tokens for the county soldiers will be handed over together, but I really can't guarantee whether they will obey the orders, and they will not obey me before..."
Yang Ling nodded repeatedly and searched among the subordinates who were captured here, and ordered the generals carrying the tokens to hand over the tokens quickly, and at the same time did not forget to declare that the local chieftains were also arrogant and difficult to control.
After Helan De collected the military tokens as if they had found a treasure, Li Tai ordered his subordinates to release the county people in the post pavilion and let them follow Helan De back to the county city.
But when the chieftain who had kicked and beaten Yang Ling was about to leave, Li Tai raised his hand to stop him, smiling and saying: "This villager had already accused Yang Sima of crimes in the county, but I am new to this village and I am unfamiliar with the people and things. So please come with me to Tianshui to report the facts of Yang Sima's crimes to the prefecture government in detail, and make sure that he will be punished fairly!" The chieftain immediately looked embarrassed after hearing this, and shook his head and waved his hands repeatedly, saying: "I am just a village official and I don't leave the county all year round. I really dare not..." Before the man finished speaking, Li Tai's face suddenly sank, and the smile on his face turned into a sneer: "It seems that I didn't say it clearly enough, so I shouldn't ask here. Come on, take down this villager who slandered the county officials!" Two strong soldiers stepped forward, grabbed the chieftain's shoulders and tied him up like Yang Ling, ignoring the chieftain's twisting and struggling. When the other powerful people in the county saw this scene, their faces suddenly changed. Two of them came forward to beg for mercy, but after being swept by Li Tai's cold eyes, they all bowed their heads and kept silent.
"Whether the county officials have failed to perform their duties and violated the law, the government has its own rules for review, and the local sentiment and satire must also be expressed in accordance with the rules. If what this person said is true and there is no false accusation, I will send him back home with courtesy. But if it is found that what he said is biased towards reality and hides a conspiracy to frame, I will never condone it!"
Li Tai looked around at everyone and said, "If you think that one person's words are difficult to prove, you can go together. Otherwise, just disperse and don't hinder the journey!"
After hearing this, the county people looked at each other, and finally did not dare to force themselves to come forward. After saying goodbye, they left here quickly with Helande.
Li Tai and his party did not stay any longer, and immediately packed up and continued on the road, moving forward along the Lueyang River.
On the way, they also encountered some people and horses, or the fleeing Yang Ling's troops called their companions, but they just followed and watched, and did not dare to intercept them directly. Apart from this, there were no other accidents.
The climate change in Longyou was slightly lagging behind that in Guanzhong, and the rivers thawed slowly. Although it was already early March, there were still large pieces of floating ice in the Lueyang River, but in the river valleys on both sides of the river, the vitality of the fields had gradually recovered, and occasionally farmers could be seen plowing the frozen soil.
This Yang Ling was not a useless madman. After being taught a lesson by Li Tai and seeing that Li Tai did not intend to kill him, he respectfully and enthusiastically explained to Li Tai the various human feelings and customs here.
"Although spring starts much later in Longbian than in Guanzhong, spring is particularly short, and summer will start soon. Therefore, farmers have to plow before the soil has thawed. If they slack off, they will miss the farming season..."
When Li Tai heard Yang Ling's explanation, he couldn't help but laugh and said: "The Di slaves actually understand the farming season?"
"Although the ethnic groups are different, they share the same land and water. The Di and Qiang also have differences in raw and cooked. They have lived in Qiuchi, Longnan for a long time, and their production and rest schedules have long been the same as those of the Han people. Farming is much safer than pastoral work. No matter how high or short the grain is, , there will always be seeds left behind. Cattle and sheep themselves are living animals that consume a lot of materials, and the fur, meat and milk they can provide to the shepherds are really limited..."
Seeing Li Tai's interest in this topic, Yang Ling was heartened. She didn't care what to call him, so he started to tell Li Tai about the income gap between farming and grazing.
Li Tai had never seriously and systematically understood the differences between the two production methods before. After listening to Yang Ling's story, he was deeply moved. He had no intention of killing the other party. After seeing that he no longer acted as arrogant and unruly as before, he ordered his subordinates to untie him and give him a horse to ride with the team, no longer treating him as a prisoner.
Soon the group walked out of Lueyang County and entered Qingshui County. Li Tai didn't have any acquaintances like Heland in Qingshui County, so no one came to greet him. He only took a short rest at a posthouse along the way to replenish his supplies before continuing on the road, and finally arrived at Tianshui County.
As soon as the group entered the country, they saw a team of thousands of people standing on the road ahead, and soldiers came to inquire from a distance. After learning that it was Li Tai and his party, they quickly returned to report, and everyone on the opposite side rode their horses to greet them. Come forward.
"Mr. Sir, it's been a long journey all the way. I'm so busy with my servants that I can't welcome you from afar. I hope you'll forgive me!"
The first person to come forward was Li Tun, a general of Duguxin's family whom he had known for a long time. He dismounted his horse and looked at Li Tai with his head held high. He crossed his hands with joy and said, his welcome to Li Tai was beyond words.
Li Tai also dismounted and exchanged a few words with Li Tun first, and then the people who were waiting for him came one after another. There was also an acquaintance among them, the high official who was the Sima of Qinzhou.
As for the others, Li Tai is relatively unfamiliar. Probably because Duguxin was fed up with being poached by Yuwentai, the staff he recruited in Longyou would not go to Guanzhong if they could.
Li Tai held many positions, including chief of staff of the founding government, prefect of one county, and governor of five counties. As an officer, he came to the town for the first time. Of course, all his subordinates within his authority tried their best to come to greet him. There were nearly thirty people in front of him. Welcome.
Of course, not all the people present were Li Tai's subordinates. When Li Tun introduced the people to him, the first person he could not control was the first person he could not control: "This person is Nan'an Gongyu Wenshijun of Nanqin Prefecture..." …”
Yu Wenqiu also had a burly figure that was typical of the town people. His attention was not entirely focused on Li Tai. When he heard Li Tun introduce himself, he stepped forward and nodded, and then asked: "I heard that Li Sanqi passed through A criminal named Yang Ling was arrested in Lueyang County. Where is he now? "