Outside the south gate of Yangzhou City, it is desolate, and the thatch in the field has been moistened for several months, and it has grown more than half a person tall. The thatched huts that once bloomed all over the river and looked dirty but vibrant are now gone, and only the decaying wood that has not yet had time to be melted by the soil under the roots of the barren grass is a reminder of the frolic of the past.

Zhou Kang had never been here, but the teenagers who came with him had personally experienced the tragedy that happened on this overgrown land more than half a year ago.

Revisiting the old place, even the teenagers who don't know the taste of sorrow have some different feelings. And the person who single-handedly caused the change in front of him is gone......

"What! can't find it?"

The mound next to the fork in the river had not yet been bulldozed, and the boys were still hiding the three turtle boats behind the mound. At this moment, Xie An, who had gone to Yangzhou City to investigate first, had returned, but the news he brought back made Zhou Kang anxious. The crisis is approaching, and the eldest brother is still waiting in Shengzhou, and he doesn't have much time!

Yangzhou City has now been fully taken over by the rebels, and the streets have settled down, and the market is even more prosperous than in the past few months, but there are fewer people. The little one found a few people in the city who had contact with Huaqing before, but they didn't know where Huaqing had gone. Xie An replied.

"How can this be?" Although Zhou Kang has not been able to understand what the eldest brother's plan is, since the eldest brother has so solemnly ordered himself to come to Yangzhou City, then his own link must be the most important part of the whole plan, and there is no room for loss!

"The owner, could it be that Hua Qing has already left after seeing that Yangzhou is in chaos?" Xie An asked.

Zhou Kang shook his head and replied: "No! According to the third brother's intelligence, this Huaqing is a very utilitarian person, and Yangzhou is a disaster to others, but in the eyes of this kind of person, it is a great opportunity!

"Last time, Huaqing was next to Yangzhou Taishou Tong Yu, so let's find Tong Yu first, he is Yangzhou Taishou, and he has seen a lot of people, so it should be easier to find!" Zhou Kang recalled the previous information and changed the direction of searching.

"If you want to talk about Tong Yu, then the owner doesn't have to look for it!" Xie An said.

"What? Could it be that Tong Yu is dead?" Zhou Kang thought to himself, Tong Yu, who was too guarded, was most likely to be destroyed by the rebels in the case of a sudden rebellion.

"It's better if he dies, Tong Yu is drunk and dreams all day long, and he is still drunk when Yangzhou is in turmoil, and I heard that he was dragged out of the room by the rebels! Later, it didn't take long after he woke up to surrender the rebels. Xie An smiled helplessly, as a native of Yangzhou, his hometown was occupied by rebels, but his parents were so unbearable, how could he feel good?

"Betrayed?" Zhou Kang frowned slightly, and then asked: "Where is Tong Yu now? Is he still the chief official of Yangzhou?"

"Yes, how do you know about the owner?" Xie An nodded in some surprise, it seems that his young owners are not ordinary people!

Zhou Kang didn't reply to him, but pondered, and after a while, Fang muttered to himself: "It seems that this Li Yi is not simple!"

"Huh?" Xie An was naturally surprised when he heard this.

Unexpectedly, Zhou Kang actually answered him: "There are endless rebellions of the homeless people in the history books, but most of them will kill the first official in the city after capturing the city, whether the civilians are angry or vote for their names, it is generally the same way." ”

"But there are very few rebels who, like Li Yi, will persuade the first official in the city to die for themselves, such rebels are different from those uneducated homeless people, they have a purpose, more thoughts, and go further. Of course, the more difficult it is to put down the rebellion!"

Xie An didn't seem to understand when he heard it, and muttered, "Then this Li Yi is a thoughtful person?"

Zhou Kang smiled and replied, "Yes! This is a thoughtful and brainy person, and it's not easy to deal with!"

After listening to Zhou Kang, Xie An was even more confused, thought about it, had no clue, and then suddenly said: "I'm just a businessman, and the business will be completed after the owner is in charge, what do you want to do!"

"Okay, since Tong Yu is still in the Taishou Mansion, and he is still too Shoufu, I think Huaqing should still be by Tong Yu's side, but he has changed his place to live. Zhou Kang said with a smile.

"Where?" Xie An asked curiously.

"The prison cell of the Taishou Mansion!" Zhou Kang smiled confidently.

"Go, find someone to investigate, bring some food, buy the jailer, and I'm going to see this Huaqing tonight." Zhou Kang gave the order.

Xie An replied, and said with a fear of sycophancy: "The four proprietors are really gods! How do you know that food is better than money in Yangzhou City now? No wonder when you leave, the proprietors will take great pains to bring a boatload of grain." ”

"Okay, don't be verbose! go to work!" Zhou Kang scolded with a smile.

"Okay, owner. After Xie An finished speaking, he went down to make arrangements.

……

Li Yi is indeed a rebel leader with great ambition and outstanding talent, and not long after Yangzhou City was taken, the dead air that was originally permeating the city dissipated.

There are people on the street again, all kinds of shops are reopened, and the people of Yangzhou who are immortal once again take to the streets to usher in the send-off, but it has restored a little bit of the momentum of the southeast meeting in the past.

It's just that the dishes on the faces, the obvious lack of most of the crowd, and the obvious vigilance between the two still show the indelible wounds left by the turmoil in Yangzhou.

Zhou Kang and the others walked briskly on the streets of Yangzhou City, but a pair of eyes kept watching and recording. Their respective positions determine that Li Yi will definitely become their opponent, and now they can observe more, and analyze the other party's ability through some clues.

The cell of the Yangzhou Taishou Mansion is in a compound in the northwest of the Taishou Yamen. Yangzhou Mansion was originally the place where Yang Guang was stationed in Jiangnan when he was the governor of Jiangnan, and Yang Guang, who liked luxury, even if he even built this barracks-like place, built it magnificently, and in the end it was cheaper for later generations.

The cell occupies a wide area, with a separate courtyard, which was originally a detention cell used by Yang Guang to hold the Nanchen royal family, with a large space and connected to the front yard. When it was time to rest in the evening, Yang Guang also came here to "condole" the remnants of the royal family, especially those young and beautiful concubines......

It's just that after entering the Tang Dynasty, the successive Yangzhou Taishou built a wall, opened this courtyard and the front yard, and completely made a cell.

It was also used to facilitate Zhou Kang's night visit. Bypassing the gate of the Taishou Mansion, I walked north from the alley next to the courtyard wall, and walked for a while before I encountered a narrow small gate.

At the small door, there was already a person waiting.

Xie An greeted him and directly handed a large bag of more than a dozen buckets of grain to the man. After the man took it, he hurriedly opened the mouth of the bag, reached out and fished it in, and fished out a handful of snow-white rice. With trembling hands, the seeping eyes were always staring at the rice in his hand, and in a moment, the man quickly stuffed the rice in his hand into his mouth, and he wanted to eat it raw!

"Ahem" A violent cough sounded as the man looked around in fright from the small noise.

After a short rest, the man spit out the white rice that had not been swallowed in his mouth, and spit it out into the cloth bag again, and bent down to pick up all the white rice that had been sprinkled on the ground on the bluestone slab one by one, tied the mouth of the cloth bag hard, and hugged it like a baby.

Only then did he open the corner door and lead these black-robed people inside.

This is true of the cells everywhere, and despite its remarkable past, the courtyard has become a damp and dark place over the years.

Fortunately, Huaqing is more special, since the defeat of the seven sects and five surnames, Tong Yu was angry with him, and immediately arrested him and put him in prison, locked in an independent room at the innermost part of the cell, and the treatment he received was naturally unique.

The door of the cell opened, and Zhou Kang, who was dressed in a black robe, walked in, found a place to sit on his own, and then looked directly at the unkempt Hua Qing opposite.

Hua Qing looked a little numb, Zhou Kang came in for a while, but he still didn't react at all.

Zhou Kang smiled when he saw this, and then said, "I can give you a chance!"

Hua Qing still didn't react.

Zhou Kang continued: "A chance to get out of here!"

Zhou Kang didn't need to escape, because if he just fled, then it would be okay now, and there was no need to bother with words.

Xu is Zhou Kang's words made Hua Qing have the urge to look at people, so Hua Qing raised his head.

Hua Qing didn't speak, but Zhou Kang still saw his doubts in his eyes, so Zhou Kang introduced himself: "My name is Zhou Kang, and Wang Ce is my third brother! Oh, he used to be called Wang Tieniu!"

Hua Qing's eyes sharpened in an instant.

Zhou Kang just smiled faintly, and said with a hint of apology: "I was in too much of a hurry before, and then I was too busy to take care of you for a while." But my third brother's promise to you is still valid!"

"Hehe......" Hua Qing's throat seemed to have some problems, and his voice became more and more hoarse, and with that seeping eyes, there was a hint of weirdness.

"I know you don't believe it!" Zhou Kang said calmly: "But whether you agree or not, Li Yi will come to the cell tomorrow." Li Yi is a person you should know, what happened in Yangzhou City these days, you must also know. So how to grasp this opportunity, you know it in your heart, after all, when it comes to seizing the opportunity, you are very good!"

After Zhou Kang finished speaking, he was not in a hurry to leave, he was waiting.

Hua Qing also knew what he was waiting for, although there was resentment in his heart, but the charm of freedom was only cherished by those who had lost it.

"What do you need me to do?" Hua Qing asked.

Zhou Kang laughed and said, "It's not a very difficult thing, it's similar to what you did to Tong Yu before, get close to Li Yi, gain his trust, and then let him wave his army south and fight to Shengzhou City!"

"Hehe, it's really not difficult at all!" Hua Qing scoffed.

Zhou Kang smiled frankly and replied: "Li Yi is indeed much smarter than Tong Yu, but now that they are really employing people, you are such a smart person, even if Li Yi has doubts, he will not let go." What's more, we will help you prepare the materials completely, and Li Yi can't find any reason to distrust you. ”

"In addition, we don't need his whole army to be dispatched, it is enough to have a partial division of soldiers under the city of Shengzhou. ”

Hua Qing was silent, but only for a moment, and then he said, "I promise you!"

Zhou Kang's smile was even brighter, but the light in the cell was not good, and the brilliant look was more like the smile of death.

"After you go out, go back to your original home, there will be a box of gold buried under your bed, there are 1,000 taels, enough for you to get through the connections around Li Yi. Oh, that's right, your wife is not dead, but she is no longer in Yangzhou, if you want to get her back, we can help you, no matter where she goes, as long as she is alive, we can bring her back, but what has become of her after she is found, we don't dare to pack a ticket!"

"Of course, if you don't want to get it back, then there will be an extra box of gold under your bed, and you can take it and find a wife......"

Zhou Kang has been talking about this with a smile on his face, but it is very different from his iron-faced and selfless face when he was a teenager in the past.

"I want one more box!" Hua Qing said without thinking.

"Okay! Li Yi will appear in this cell tomorrow!" After speaking, Zhou Kang stood up, pushed the door and left.

The meeting between the two did not last long before it ended, so short that even the cell boss who had taken the food was a little embarrassed.

Negotiations between smart people don't take long, and the more they talk, the more they lose their confidence.

Returning the same way, Zhou Kang and his party, who had not spent much time in the cell, quietly returned to the turtle boat outside the south gate and behind the mound at the fork of the river without any alarm.

As soon as Zhou Kang got on the boat, the young man who led the team came up and said, "Fourth brother, the brothers from the Yangzhou Liaison Station are here, and they have brought some people here!"

"Oh, call someone!"

Zhou Kang was a little puzzled, the people at the general liaison station were only responsible for delivering the news, and the news was handled by the warehouse set up by Peng Ze, although Yangzhou City was chaotic, but after Li Yi resumed the market, the warehouse also reopened for business, so how could the contact station that was not open to the public bring some strangers?

After a while, a teenager led a middle-aged man into the cabin where Zhou Kang was.

"Fourth brother!" the young man said hello, and then introduced the middle-aged man who was traveling with him: "This is Ye Xuan, the gang leader of the Zhenhai Gang!

"Fourth son, I have admired the name for a long time!" Ye Xuan hugged his fists.

Zhou Kang smiled and said, "You don't even know my name, why do you look up to me for a long time?"

Ye Xuan was stunned for a moment, relatively speechless.

"Haha, okay, it's a joke!" Zhou Kang laughed, and then said seriously: "The name of the Ye Gang Master has been admired for a long time! Whether it is in the Taibai Building, or outside the south gate of Yangzhou, or outside the Chenjia Village outside Yuzhang City, the Ye Gang Master and our gang are quite related!"

Looking at the playful smile on the corner of Zhou Kang's mouth, Ye Xuan said calmly: "This shows that we are indeed destined! You have saved me many times, this kindness, Ye Xuan and the Zhenhai Gang dare not forget!"

Ye Xuan respectfully saluted Zhou Kang.

"Repeatedly, three times, in the south of Yangzhou City, my third brother didn't intend to save you, not to mention that we killed a few of your subordinates, outside Chenjia Village, Song Qing and them too. Zhou Kang was a little surprised by Ye Xuan's respect, it stands to reason that if Ye Xuan said the opposite, then it would never be possible to have such sincerity on his face, it was a kind of sincerity with a strong obsession, and it could not be faked!

So, Zhou Kang turned his puzzled gaze to the young man at the liaison station.

The young man understood, so he replied: "Gang Leader Ye fled to our liaison station on the day of the fall of Yangzhou. ”

Yes, on that day, after the Zhenhai Gang was broken by Qin Gang, Ye Kai was seriously injured and dying. Under the desperate interception of hundreds of gang masters, Ye Xuan withdrew from Yangzhou City with a few henchmen and the seriously injured Ye Kai.

Facing the ensuing pursuit, Ye Xuan looked around, but he didn't know where to go, so he had to go all the way north, and soon came to the farm where Wang Ce was stationed a few years ago.

This farm was not abandoned, after Wang Ce left, when Xu Chen arranged the liaison station, he regarded this farm as the location of the Yangzhou liaison station.

So, when Ye Xuan retreated here with a group of remnants of the defeated army, he once again saw the teenagers who were waiting for him.

Different teenagers, but holding the same weapons and lining up in the same formation, Ye Xuan recognized the young man in front of him at a glance.

In an instant, a bright light pierced the thick haze in Ye Xuan's heart.

So, Ye Xuan stayed.

As a result, the boys at the liaison station moved to another alternate base outside the city.

"So, Gang Master Ye is going to take refuge in us?" Zhou Kang asked after hearing what the young man said.

Ye Xuan nodded calmly: "Not bad!"

Zhou Kang rolled his eyes and said with a smile: "Gang Leader Ye is not joking, right? Our group of people is just a group of half-grown children, if you want to take refuge, you should find a more reliable backer, right?"

Ye Xuan didn't smile, nor did he explain anything, just looked at Zhou Kang's eyes indifferently.

After staring at each other for a moment, Zhou Kang stopped laughing and asked solemnly: "The news of the fall of Yangzhou City has reached Chang'an, and Li Lun, the general sent by the imperial court to quell the rebellion, has also gone to Huaiyin County in the north, do these Ye gang leaders still know?"

Ye Xuan nodded: "I know"

"Then why did you choose us?" Zhou Kang asked.

"In terms of ability, I believe in you more than that arrogant Li Lun, and in terms of strength, I am afraid that the five thousand soldiers and horses in the theoretical hands will not be able to stop even your five hundred men. As for the righteousness of the imperial court...... I think that as a student of the prime minister of the dynasty, I should also be on the side of the imperial court when I take refuge in you, right?" Ye Xuan looked at Zhou Kang after speaking, and looked at it very seriously, as if he wanted to see through Zhou Kang's purpose.

Zhou Kang just smiled, and after a while, he asked, "What can you give us?"

At this point, it can be regarded as an agreement, and then it is time to negotiate the price!

Ye Xuan said proudly: "I have a boat!"

Zhou Kang was stunned for a moment, then laughed, and after laughing for a while, he said with some amusement: "We also have a ship! And if you look at this, you should know that our ship is obviously better than yours!"

With Zhou Kang's outstretched hand, Ye Xuan saw these turtle ships, he knew these strange-looking ships, it was these ships that destroyed several giant ships on Pisces Island with only one round of attacks that day.

Ye Xuan nodded understandingly, and after thinking about it, he said again: "I still have people, the ones who drive the boat!"