Zhao Chenhan met Song Huaian in a small wooden house.

Looking at the rebel who was only a few years older than him, Zhao Chenhan said arrogantly, "I'm here. Where's Lao Debiao?"

Song Huaian said, "The Heavenly King is discussing with several leaders. Please wait a moment. Someone, serve tea to the Lord."

A large coarse porcelain bowl with a chip on the rim was brought up. Half of it was filled with black water, and it was unclear whether it was made from tea leaves or a few grass leaves picked up from the ground. Zhao Chenhan felt nauseous at the first sight of it.

"No."

Zhao Chenhan refused and said unhappily, "I came here to tell you that as long as you surrender, all past events will be forgiven. But if you resist to the end, no one will be spared!"

Song Huaian said calmly, "You won't investigate the rebellion?"

Zhao Chenhan said: "I won't pursue it."

"Killing Wu County officials without prosecution?"

"No further investigation."

"What about the murderer of Ma Changda's brother, Ma Changshan? Why haven't you investigated yet?"

Zhao Chenhan hesitated for a moment and said, "I won't pursue it."

Song Huaian shook his head and said, "Lord Zhao lied to me. Ma Changda, the great general of Dingyuan, personally led his troops here to avenge his brother. How could he not pursue the matter? Lord Zhao has no sincerity. We can't talk anymore. We can only fight."

"beat?"

Zhao Chenhan sneered: "You guys are a bunch of rabble, and you think you can fight against our regular army?"

Song Huaian said calmly, "Whether we can win or not, it's too early to say. But no matter what the outcome, Lord Zhao's idea of ​​gaining military merit from this is definitely bankrupt."

Song Huaian looked at Zhao Chenhan with a sneer: "Don't forget, it was you who killed Ma Changshan."

Zhao Chenhan's face changed drastically, and he said sternly, "Nonsense! It was clearly you who colluded with Zhao Lin to kill him."

Song Huaian shook his head and said, "If we could have colluded with Prefect Zhao, we wouldn't be surrounded by you today. But there's no point in saying this. Lord Zhao, are you going to persuade us to surrender or not?"

Zhao Chenhan's expression was gloomy.

Song Huaian's words scared him.

How did he know that Ma Changshan was shot to death by arrows because of his wrong information?

No, he must have made it up.

Except for his own secret guards and a few of Ma Changshan's personal soldiers, no one knew that the intelligence was provided by him.

And those personal guards had already been comforted and cleared out.

Zhao Chenhan's courage returned, he straightened up and said, "Of course I'm going to persuade you to surrender. Tell me, what conditions do you want in exchange for surrender?"

Song Huaian said: "Ma Dada promised personally not to pursue the death of Ma Changshan."

Zhao Chenhan shook his head and said, "Impossible. General Ma personally asked His Majesty for permission to come here to avenge Second Brother Ma. However, every grievance has its perpetrators, and the enemy is only one, Lao Debiao. As long as you kill Lao Debiao, General Ma will naturally not pursue you."

Song Huaian hesitated for a moment and said, "I need to discuss this with the leaders. Lord Zhao, please wait a moment."

"good!"

Seeing that Song Huaian was persuaded by him, Zhao Chenhan was very happy and looked at him favorably. He said, "If you can accomplish this, not only will I not hold you responsible, but I can also make a suggestion to General Ma to let you join the army. How do you think?"

Song Huaian smiled without saying anything and left with his men.

Zhao Chenhan was still hungry. He looked at the bowl of tea and still felt nauseous. He could only sit there and do nothing.

After sitting like this for a full half hour, there was still no movement. Zhao Chenhan became anxious and shouted, "Where is the person? Come here!"

There was no response.

Zhao Chenhan was so angry that he kicked the door open and rushed out, only to find that the surroundings were quiet and empty, with no one in sight.

"broken!"

Zhao Chenhan was shocked and rushed into the middle room, only to find that it was also empty and things were scattered all over the place, very messy, obviously someone had left in a hurry.

"We've fallen into a trap!"

Zhao Chenhan was furious.

The other party tricked him into coming up just to buy time.

There is no intention of surrendering at all.

"Damn it! Don't let me catch you, or I'll kill your whole family!"

Zhao Chenhan angrily ran back to sue Ma Dada, saying with shame, "I underestimated the enemy and gave them the opportunity. Please punish me, General."

Ma Changda sat on his horse with an expressionless face, saying, "They're just a few rebels, where could they have run to? We'll just search them again. After this incident, you should understand that war isn't that simple."

Zhao Chenhan said, "The general is right."

Zhao Chenhan thought for a moment and said, "They were able to escape right under the noses of the army. They must have a tunnel. As long as we find the tunnel, we can track them down."

Ma Dada nodded and said, "Yes. Come on, search."

Dozens of scouts immediately searched the rebels' lair.

Soon a scout came to report: "General, there is a tunnel over there, and our brothers are chasing it."

"Um."

Ma Da nodded.

Zhao Chenhan suggested: "General, let's go after them too."

Ma Changda sat still on his horse and said, "Don't be anxious. Let's investigate thoroughly before we make any decisions. As a general, you should be in control of the overall situation and not be anxious."

Zhao Chenhan quickly said, "Thank you for your guidance, General."

Ma Dada laughed and said, "These fathers-in-law will also teach you, I am just telling you in advance."

That's the benefit of having a background.

If someone else wants to learn these things, they have to learn from their own experiences.

…

"Although Qingzhou has experienced floods and rebellions, the people seem to be more energetic than those in other places."

Li Xingye and Fu Chengwang traveled on foot, incognito, and were slightly surprised when they saw the appearance of the people in Qingzhou City.

According to their experience, it is difficult for people anywhere to smile after experiencing a disaster.

Although the people here live in poverty, they are not as numb as people in other places. They are very energetic and seem to have hope in life.

This made them feel strange.

Fu Chengwang simply stopped an old man and asked, "Old man, I see many people wearing shabby clothes and not having a good life, but why do they all have such happy smiles on their faces?"

The old man knew Fu Chengwang was an important person by the way he was dressed, and he said in awe, "Sir, you don't know, we wear shabby clothes because we are poor now, but we don't have to be poor in the future. We have hope in life, so we are happy."

"Why do you say that? Did you get rich?" Fu Chengwang asked.

The old man laughed and said, "It's not that I've become rich, it's just that I'm no longer exploited."

Fu Chengwang was puzzled.

Seeing this, the old man continued to explain, "Ever since Magistrate Zhao arrived, he has publicly announced that no government office can collect a single copper coin more than the taxes set by the court. Anyone who dares to collect more will be brought to the government office, and Magistrate Zhao will deal with it personally."

"This way, the taxes and levies we need to pay will be much less. Although life will still be difficult, at least we can survive. Isn't that worth being happy about?"

Fu Chengwang's body shook.

He found it incredible.

Simply because taxes were collected according to the court's regulations and individual government offices were not allowed to collect more privately, the common people were able to survive.

What kind of life do ordinary people live in normal times?