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Ye County, Nanyang County, is the closest place where the Han army and Cao army interact. It is about forty miles northeast of Ye County, and it is Kunyang County in Yingchuan County. The strategic location of Kunyang County was originally not as important as Ye County. The city was not tall, the terrain was not steep enough, and the population was not large. It was just an ordinary agricultural county.

However, since the Han army captured Nanyang County and moved the garrison to the front line of Yecheng, Kunyang County became the forefront of Cao's army's defense against the Han army, and its importance was also demonstrated. Cao's army rebuilt the city wall and expanded the garrison, so that the garrison in Kunyang County reached 5,000, led by General Cai Yang.

The Han army in Ye County also had more than 6,000 troops stationed, commanded by the General Cai Jin of the Central Army. The two branches of the Cai army were only forty miles apart, and were in a confrontation.

The head general of Kunyang County was originally Li Dian. Because Li Dian was Xiahou Dun's man, after Cao Zhen took over Xuchang's defense, he replaced his own people in important positions. Cao Zhen replaced the head general of Kunyang County with Le Qun on the reason that Li Dian was captured in Ye County.

When Li Dian was the chief general, although the Han and Cao armies were not friendly and were very suspicious, and if there was any slight disturbance, both sides would be tense, but Cai Jin and Li Dian were both cautious people, and they each restrained their soldiers and had no conflict.

Le Qun is the younger brother of Cao's general Le Jin. He is cunning by nature and has great martial arts skills. He was originally a general of Cao Chun. After Cao Chun died in Nanyang, Cao Zhen took over the Tiger and Le Qun became Cao Zhen's general. He was good at flattering Cao Zhen, so he gradually became Cao Zhen's right-hand man and served as a general.

Although Le Qun is not as cautious and quite insidious as Li Dian, he received strict orders from Cao Zhen and did not allow conflicts with the Han army. Therefore, in the past month of taking office, Le Qun was able to restrain his subordinates and had never had any conflicts with the Han army.

However, he had another idea, which was to use his position to make money. Kunyang was located in the core of Wanying Business Road, and there were many merchants coming and going, which gave Cai Yang an additional way to make money.

Since the end of the Hefei War, the war in the Central Plains has gradually subsided. It has been a year and a half since then. The economy and trade have gradually recovered. The once deserted business roads have become lively. Caravans of all sizes can be seen appearing on the official roads from time to time.

Most of the medicinal materials, silk and tea in the south, fur, livestock and handmade utensils in the north were sold well in both sides. In addition, both sides encouraged trade and lowered trade taxes, the first-tier commerce in Nanyang gradually became very prosperous.

That morning, a caravan composed of Yupi Mules walked out of Yecheng and headed towards Kunyang County. This caravan is the business of the Cai family in Xiangyang and is one of the ten caravans of the Cai family's trading company. The mules are full of fine silk produced in Jiangxia.

Because the Cai family has been unwilling to cooperate with the Han Dynasty's land-cutting plan for a long time, they have gradually been squeezed out of the power center of the Han Dynasty. Cai Yan, the governor of Xiangyang, retired from the officialdom due to his illness a few years ago, and no young talented men in the Cai family have entered the officialdom again. Currently, only Cai Jin is in the military.

After the death of Cai Yan, the head of the family, Cai Jin was unable to inherit his father's head, but his uncle Cai Lin served as the head of the family. Although the Cai family was frustrated in the officialdom, the Cai family still owned nearly 2,000 hectares of land and was the richest family in Xiangyang. Moreover, the Cai family was well in Xiangyang. The Xiangyang government took some care of the Cai family, so although the Cai family was marginalized, it was still very comfortable and did not have a sense of great crisis.

The new head Cai Lin has a relatively flexible business mind. He is no longer limited to land harvesting, but is engaged in trade and industry. He has many taverns and shops in Xiangyang and Fancheng. He has established the Cai Trading Company in Fancheng, and started cross-border trade, transporting Jingzhou's goods to Xuchang, and then purchased goods from Xuchang and heading south, with a very generous profit.

General Cai Jin stood on the city wall and watched the caravan walk away. A trace of worry arose in his eyes. He was worried about the future of the family. He felt that the head of the family was very interested in business interests, and he valued too much money and interests, and had little consideration for the long-term future of the Cai family. One of the most typical examples was the closing of the Cai family and the Cai family martial arts hall. Cai Lin believed that the family and the martial arts hall were expensive, and the Cai family could go to the official school to study. The land in the martial arts hall could be changed to commercial use, which could save 20 million yuan of expenditures every year.

There was also the opening of the Cai family business, established ten caravans, and prepared to buy ships and establish merchant fleets. All of this left Cai Jin speechless. With the prosperity of the business of the Tao family, he still wanted to withdraw from business and establish family business. He hired famous scholars at all costs and focused on cultivating his younger brothers. In contrast, the Cai family took the opposite line. If this continues, the Cai family will completely decline within ten years.

Cai Jin couldn't help but sigh. The Cai family couldn't see the situation clearly and valued the family's interests too much, which would eventually destroy the family. Cai Jin alone could not hold on.

As soon as the mule team advanced, they crossed Yekun Bridge at noon. This bridge was originally called Yanqiao, but now it has become the Han Caojie Bridge, so it was renamed Yekun Bridge. After crossing this wooden bridge, they entered the boundary of Kunyang County.

The caravan deacon surnamed Wang, who was about fifty years old. He was from the Cai family and was very kind. There were more than a dozen other friends who went to Xuchang with him to take care of Yutoumu.

Deacon Wang was a little worried. He traveled to and from Xuchang and Xiangyang several times, and it was still smooth. However, the last time he was charged a high over-charge in Kunyang County, which was almost equivalent to taxes. It was equivalent to paying two taxes for a batch of goods in Yingchuan County. I don’t know how much over-charge I have to pay this time.

"Dad Wang, don't worry. Anyway, the boss doesn't care about this excessive fee. Just think of buying peace!" Yang Qing, who was responsible for protecting the safety, saw Deacon Wang's frown, and advised him with a smile.

"Hey! You're right. There are so many people in us, only a dozen people. If there is any mistake on the table, I can't explain it when I go back! Just think it's spending money to buy peace!"

As he was speaking, a team of cavalry appeared in front of him, running towards him like lightning. Deacon Wang hurriedly asked his friend to drive the mule team to the side to make way. The cavalry team rushed to the front of the mule team, but stopped. It was a young general in his twenties, Le Qunzhi Le Yi. He was originally coming to the border patrol, but encountered this caravan.

"Where are you caravans and where are you going?"

Deacon Wang hurriedly stepped forward and smiled, "We are a caravan in Xiangyang, and we go to Xuchang to sell goods."

Le Yi was a little unhappy when he heard that Xu Du called Xu Chang, so he wanted to make things difficult for him. He pointed with a horse whip and said, "Open the bag and check it!"

Deacon Wang quickly took out a small bag of money from his arms and made more than one yuan. He was preparing to bribe the soldiers guarding the city when he entered the city, and he was going to use it now.

"Please have a drink of water and wine for this little thing!"

Le Yi didn't like his little money. He lifted his whip and knocked his purse out. The copper coins fell all over the ground. Le Yi shouted loudly: "Open the bag immediately!"

Deacon Wang had no choice but to ask the guys to open the bags. The bags were covered with good silk. Le Yi was a little stunned. He stepped forward and gently stroked the silk. The smooth satin made him love it. He suddenly felt greedy in his heart and turned around to wink the soldiers. The soldiers immediately understood that the major general was attracted to these silks.

They were already familiar with blackmailing merchants and immediately went to check the goods bags separately. There were only a dozen servants in the caravan, and they couldn't stand it at all. At this time, a soldier shouted, "General, there are illegal weapons here!"

Le Yi's face sank and he walked over quickly. He saw the soldiers pull out more than a dozen military crossbows from a bag of goods. Deacon Wang followed him forward, and he was also shocked. How could there be a military crossbow? He said anxiously: "General, we don't bring military crossbows. These crossbows are not ours..."

Before he could finish his words, Le Yi whipped his head, "Don't be rude! Could it be that I framed you?"

He waved his hand and said, "Take it all away!"

The soldiers rushed up like wolves and tigers, and walked away with them. Deacon Wang had already understood in his heart that the other party wanted to swallow the silk. He endured the scorching pain on his face and struggled desperately and shouted, "We are the caravan of the Cai family in Xiangyang. You can't do this, let us go!"

If it were more than ten years ago, Cai Mao was also a military advisor in Jingzhou, both the Jingzhou army and the Cao army would have to give the Cai family a little face. Now the Cai family has long declined, and Le Yi did not care about the Cai family. He grinned, "It turned out that it was an invader sent by Cai Jin. As soon as he dared to resist, he would cut him off immediately."

The guys didn't dare to struggle anymore. Deacon Wang was already desperate. At this moment, his deputy Yang Qing suddenly broke free from the soldiers, ran a few steps, turned over and grabbed a war horse, and fled. Yang Qing was originally the instructor of the Cai family martial arts hall. After the martial arts hall was disbanded, he became the guard of the caravan. He was agile and escaped while the soldiers were unprepared.

"Someone robs the war horse!" the soldiers shouted.

Le Yi was furious and rushed to chase after more than a dozen cavalrymen in a moment. After running for more than ten miles, Ye Kunqiao was conveniently ahead. Seeing that the other party was about to run to the bridge, Le Yi took off his bow and arrow, pulled out an arrow, aimed at Yang Qing's back, and shot it out with an arrow. The arrow was fast and fierce, hitting Yang Qing's right shoulder. Yang Qing shook violently all over his body, but he did not fall off his horse. He rushed across Ye Kunqiao in one breath. As soon as he crossed the wooden bridge, he could no longer support him and fell to the ground from the horse.

Le Yi was overjoyed and urged the horse to rush towards the wooden bridge. More than a dozen people crossed the wooden bridge. They saw that the other party had already gotten up and were staggering forward. Le Yi shouted, "Escape!"

He urged the horse to chase after him, and was about to catch up with Yang Qing, at this moment, a whistle shot over his head, making a sharp roar, scaring him to stop the war horse, but he saw a team of Han patrol cavalry rushed out of the woods next to him, with about ten people holding crossbows together and pointing them coldly.

Seeing that the person he was chasing ran for more than twenty steps, it was probably too late to chase him, so he didn't dare to chase him anymore. They had crossed the line at this time, and if they were delayed, they might be shooting arrows when they were dealing with him.

He quickly raised his hand and said to the Han soldiers: "We are catching fugitives!"

The other party ignored him and said coldly for the army: "Get back!"

Le Yi was very angry, so he had to turn his horse's head and run across Yekunqiao, running towards Kunyang County without looking back.

At this time, Yang Qing could not hold on. He ran to the Han army scout and whispered: "I am General Cai... family, report to General Cai..."

Before he finished speaking, he fell to the ground and fainted.
Chapter completed!