On the official road of Laiyang, nearly a hundred teams of yamen runners and soldiers were walking slowly, protecting a sedan chair. At the front, two yamen runners in purple soap clothes were beating the gongs and making loud shouts of "idle avoidance".

The pedestrians on the road were unknown and stood by the roadside. Some were even shocked by their official power and couldn't help but kneel down on the side of the road. They dared to stand up until the sedan chair was far away.

There was a thin black man in his fifties sitting in the sedan chair. He was not tall and his square face was slightly raised, giving people a very serious and unappropriate feeling. He was Zeng Hualong, who is currently the left censor of the Censorate and the in charge of Denglai government affairs.

The Censor of the Censorate was originally sent by the court to the local authorities to supervise all officials, but the current situation is that Zhou Xian gave him the entire government affairs of Denglai. Although he was still the Censor of the Censor, the nature of his current position seemed to be a little distorted. Zhou Xian was in charge of military affairs, while he was responsible for all government affairs.

If you really want to monitor it, it also includes monitoring himself. Zeng Hualong and Zhou Xian are now like grasshoppers on the same line, prospering and losing.

To be honest, Zeng Hualong now regrets his initial decision a little.

In the past, when Zhou Xian said that he would hand over the full power of Denglai's government affairs to him, he thought it was the other party's false test, and in the purpose of this would be more conducive to his supervision of Denglai's officials, he agreed casually at that time. But unexpectedly, Zhou Xian gave up directly and basically ignored everything. Even the memorial for the promotion of local officials was handed over to him.

While helpless, Zeng Hualong also felt a little relieved. Zhou Xian was obviously not the shameless person who was seeking profit by chasing officials. Later, he discovered that Zhou Xian was indeed doing things, and whether it was good or bad was not messy for the time being, at least it was much better than most of the imperial court officials who were in vain. After that, he began to fully assist Zhou Xian in managing Denglai.

But there are too many problems in Denglai. Local famine is one, personnel system is two, wealth is gathered among officials and gentry, and people are poor and humble. He has worked hard during this period, but he has only slightly changed the current situation and cannot fundamentally solve the problem completely.

The situation has just improved a little now, and Zhou Xian's letter has caused him a headache.

Han Kuo led the fleet back and brought back more than a thousand bodies of soldiers who died in battle, hundreds of wounded soldiers. The pensions of these soldiers, the comfort of their families, and various miscellaneous things, Zeng Hualongbei was upset. What made him most troubled was that Zhou Xian's letter proposed that he would recruit another 10,000 new soldiers in Denglai to deal with future wars.

What a difficult thing for the Denglai area with a population of only more than 600,000! Not to mention that so many young and strong people have been recruited before, even the cost of these 10,000 people will be a huge sum of money.

Thinking of this, Zeng Hualong sighed silently, and recalled the public memorial ceremony he attended not long ago. The Ming Dynasty won the Battle of Jinzhou, but there were more than a thousand soldiers killed in the battle. From this point of view, he could fully understand the necessity of Zhou Xian asking him to recruit 10,000 new recruits, but it was difficult to achieve it.

Zeng Hualong closed his eyes and thought, and at the same time made up his mind that he would start the merchant ship to sea when he returned to Laiyang this time. In order to ensure sufficient supplies in Jinzhou, he had almost emptied the entire Denglai. Without enough silver to support him, he had no confidence in doing anything next.

At this time, a cavalry rushed from a distance and shouted loudly: "Is the carriage of the Censor Zeng?"

Zeng Hualong heard the movement, opened the curtain and signaled the sedan chairman to put it down and walked down.

At this time, the knight had already jumped off his horse. He quickly walked to Zeng Hualong and knelt down on one knee and said, "More than 20,000 pirates suddenly appeared in Penglai, Weihai Guardian, please return to Laiyang immediately to preside over the overall situation."

Zeng Hualong's face changed instantly. He lit up a few soldiers and said, "You ride a few horses and follow me to go back to Laiyang first, and the rest will speed up behind you." After saying that, he turned to the horseman and said, "You get on the horse, and tell me the details on the road."

The sun sets, holding a few long shadows.

Zeng Hualong returned to Laiyang and found that the situation was more serious than he had originally expected.

Liu Chengzu, a general under Kong Youde, led more than 10,000 pirates with two thousand Tianyou soldiers as the main force to raid Liugong Island, killing all the nearly 100 guards on the island. The only dozen small boats on the island were also taken by pirates as their own. Then, these pirates used Liugong Island as a springboard to attack Weihaiwei.

After only a thousand troops of Weihai Guards held on for a day and night, the head of the guard station burned the main camp into ruins and protected the old and young inside the guard station to evacuate to Ninghaizhou to the west without reinforcements.

After Liu Chengzu landed in Weihaiwei, he did not pursue the defeated soldiers westward. Instead, he led his troops southward. He first slaughtered the Wenquan Town closest to Weihaiwei, and then defeated hundreds of reinforcements from Rongshanwei, surrounded Wendeng County with heavy troops, and sent some pirates to burn, kill and loot around Wendeng County. The people were killed more than a thousand people.

At the same time, in the direction of Penglai, a group of about 8,000 pirates raided Penglai Water City. Because Denglai Water City was tall and the soldiers of the Yongzhang camp stationed outside Penglai City came out in time to provide assistance. The pirates did not get any advantage and retreated to the sea in a panic.

However, although the pirates were repelled, they patrol the sea not far from the coast and did not completely give up the attack. During this period, some pirates landed from other places and harassed the surrounding villages. The ships of the official army were all transferred to Jinzhou, so there were only a few small boats, and they could only watch these pirates show their power on the sea.

In the direction of Jiaozhou, Duan Tianzhu led nearly 7,000 pirates into Jiaozhou Bay and suddenly appeared near the Jiaonan Salt Field.

When the salt field manager Ma Huaiyi saw that it was irresistible, he dispersed all the cash in the Jiaozhou salt field. He fled north to Jiaozhou City with most of the miners and soldiers willing to follow him, and was assigned to the guards of the city by Guo Wenxiang, the governor of Jiaozhou.

Although Duan Tianzhu did not obtain any gold and silver, he obtained 200 bags of fine salt in Jiaozhou Salt Field. This was a huge fortune at that time. But he had to wait until he sold it to obtain gold and silver. In order to calm the emotions of his subordinates, he allowed them to rob Jiaonan.

For a time, Jiaonan became a human area.

As the governor of Jiaozhou, Guo Wenxiang was unwilling to suffer this disaster. He led the soldiers who were summoned in a hurry, and a thousand young and strong men left the city to attack the thieves.
Chapter completed!