The weather was hot, and there were green trees along the way. The sick Emperor Zhao and his wife Wu slowly returned eastward from Dengfeng. However, Yang Yi, who was the commander of the Central Army, set out early and returned to Tokyo first. Then he led two thousand imperial guards to Jingdong for assistance.

Since the main attack direction of the Pseudo-Qi was Dongping Prefecture, the two thousand squadrons did not go through Nanjing and then return to the front line, but went directly along the Yellow River through Huazhou and Puzhou to Dongping Prefecture.

Of course, in addition to the convenience of marching, Yang Yi Zhong's move also has two military benefits, one public and one private... From a public point of view, the troops passing by Puyang City on the other side of Daming Prefecture can further test and determine the movements of the Jin army; and from a private point of view, facing the pseudo-Qi troops, the Song army generals generally have no psychological pressure, but he is worried that he will not be able to get the soup if he rushes over from Nanjing, so it is better to directly insert into the gap between Jinan and Dongping from here to see if he can achieve great success.

However, on this day, two thousand squads of soldiers marched quickly into Dongping Prefecture. When they arrived at Yanggu County in the northwest corner of Dongping in the evening, they suddenly encountered an unexpected incident.

"Why aren't we allowed to enter the city for preparation?"

Yang Yizhong frowned slightly. "Don't the city guards know that we are the imperial army from Tokyo? Or is it that Yanggu is located on the front line and has encountered large armies several times and doesn't know the benefits and disadvantages of military affairs, so the wealthy families in the city are afraid of being harassed by us when the battle is about to begin?"

"Reporting to the commander, the garrison in the city definitely knows the commander's origins." Among the wealthy merchants who were ordered to go out of the city to negotiate, a middle-aged man who was obviously the leader walked past the others and looked at them carefully with a bitter face. "And we have experienced several times when the Jin army marched south, how could we not know the dangers of war? Naturally, we know that in such a war, it is a good thing to have the royal army in the city..."

"Then why did it end up like this?"

Yang Yizhong kept asking questions, but his tone suddenly dropped. It was obvious that with his cleverness, he immediately guessed a possibility.

"Reporting to the commander." The rich businessman said bluntly, and it was just as Yang Yi had expected. "The people guarding the city are appointed by Zhang Rong of Liangshan Lake, and they have always been wary of the government troops."

Behind Yang Yizhong, a group of squad officers were all angry, and some even drew their swords and shouted.

It is said that since ancient times, arrogant soldiers and brave generals have always been dissatisfied with each other, not to mention that the imperial guards are the highest-level organization in the world, and are the so-called confidants of the emperor? In fact, even Zhao Jiu is not immune to some issues. Not only did he give the guards the highest treatment, but he also took advantage of this major reorganization to stuff some officers who were familiar to the emperor everywhere, and transferred some elite soldiers from various departments to strengthen the guards... This made the imperial guards still an unquestionable fast priority promotion channel.

Besides, from Xiacai to Nanyang and then to Changsha, the imperial guards had never failed to perform well in life-and-death battles, which made this army arrogant to a certain extent from inside to outside.

To put it bluntly, they were supposed to bully and exclude other troops, but they didn't expect to be bullied by a group of bandits in Yanggu County.

No wonder Zhai Biao was ready to attack the city with his knife brandished.

"And be quiet!"

In the noise, several wealthy businessmen from Yanggu were already trembling like sieves, but unexpectedly, Yang Yizhong suddenly spoke softly, and the crowd behind him suddenly became quiet.

The wealthy businessmen were so frightened that they looked at each other in bewilderment... The meaning was very clear, although this officer was young, he had great authority and was actually someone who could really make useful decisions!

However, this is the limitation of people from small places.

Little did they know that this 'young general' was not only a very useful person, but also a key figure in the Song Dynasty court... In front of Emperor Zhao, Yang Yizhong became more and more cautious. In front of Lu Haowen, Han Shizhong and others, he was always respectful and never made any mistakes.

Of course, even so, he was still often attacked and killed by others.

However, when it comes down to it, how many Emperor Zhaos, how many Prime Minister Lu, and how many General Han are there in the world?

Besides, Yang Yi Zhong himself was the most senior leader of the Imperial Guard and the founder of this Imperial Army from the very beginning. It was not until Kang Lu was hacked to death by someone and Liu Yan led the Red Heart Team to join that there were certain restrictions.

"What is the name of this garrison in the city and what is its origin?" After Yang Yizhong stopped them, he asked several wealthy businessmen in a serious tone.

Several wealthy merchants were apprehensive and became more cautious. Then the leader came forward and bowed to them, saying, "Let the commander know that the garrison commander in the city is called Xiao En, a local fisherman from Liangshan Lake. He is considered a confidant of the Liangshan Lake lord... After the battle in Jinan, the Liangshan Lake lord organized his subordinates and used local fishermen as garrisons in various places. So he was randomly appointed as the commander and county magistrate, and that's how he took control of our Guyang County!"

Yang Yizhong seemed to be thinking about something, but then asked again: "How many soldiers does he have? How many of them are armored?"

"Five or six hundred people and forty or fifty sets of armor." The man answered without hesitation.

When Yang Yizhong heard this, he suddenly smiled and said, "What are you calling me? What's your origin?"

"My name is Zhang Maode, I am from Yanggu, and I have always been a good family." The man felt a sense of tension in his heart, but also a sense of anticipation. "General, you can just call me Zhang Erguan."

Yang Yizhong didn't take it seriously, and just asked again: "You said at the beginning that Xiao En was 'the garrison commander', but you didn't use honorifics, and you knew exactly how many soldiers he had. And you took the lead in making this awkward contact, and you were determined to incite... Do you have a grudge against him?"

Zhang Erguan was startled when he heard this, but he gritted his teeth and said, "It's not that we have a grudge, but I really can't stand it anymore... Taiwei, you don't know, since Xiao En took control of the county affairs, every time there is a lawsuit, no matter the district, the rich lose and the poor win. In just half a year, all the so-called middle-class families in Yanggu have gone bankrupt, and families like mine, who have accumulated good deeds, have had 80% of their property squeezed out by those market scoundrels. It seems that we can't survive."

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