When Zhang Hongfan, the deputy marshal of the Han army, appeared under the tall walls of Yangluo Fort, Ali Hague had just received a letter from Luzhou, and Zhang Hongfan, who was covered in dust and obviously rushed to the night road, into the fort.

"Zhong Chou, are you from Qizhou? How is the army now, what about your water army? "Ali Hague can't be blamed for being in a hurry, Boyan left in a hurry and didn't go into too much detail, he now needs the testimony of someone he saw with his own eyes to determine what to do next.

"It's bad." Zhang Hongfan has only drunk a few sips of water since he entered the door, and as soon as he opened his mouth, he only said three words, which made Ali Hague's heart cold. "A certain led a fleet down the river, and it was not until Jiangzhou that I found a trace of the army, alas, Pingzhang, you don't know, the first time I saw them, I didn't believe that this was the army I sent away at the beginning of the year."

From Zhang Hongfan's detailed description, Ali Hague imagined such a scene as if he had seen it himself, the armor was not neat, the blades were gone, and there were few flags, and what was even more terrible was that the morale of the army was gone, such soldiers were not as good as bandits, and it was certain to rob the towns, but in this way, the hearts of the people in Jiangnan were lost.

"More than 100,000 people, in the township, Jiangzhou is nearly a piece of withering, within a radius of 100 miles, the smoke is everywhere, Pingzhang, the little food in a certain belt is simply a drop in the bucket. The plan of the two nobles of Ah Shu and Ah Tinghan was to divide the troops and eat the states, otherwise if they ate up one place in this way, the entire river would be rotten. ”

Ali Hague did not speak, it is only June, and it is still very early before the autumn harvest, and the grain stored in the original state capitals has already been transported to the front. Now if we want to talk about requisitioning grain, that is, taking food from the mouths of the people, the only way to do this is to mobilize it from the rear, which may be the reason why Boyan is in a hurry to return to Beijing.

He has no way now, he still has more than 40,000 mouths to eat, and the amount of Cheng Dù who can help is limited, and the dozen or so boats of grain that Zhang Hongfan brought are already the best he can do, but just as Zhang Hongfan said in his mouth, it is just a "drop in the bucket".

Jiangzhou is just opposite Qizhou, listening to his words, it seems that Ah Shu and the others are ready to give up there, and then retreat to the Xingguo Army, followed by Ezhou. Ali Hague was suddenly shocked, he couldn't let these locusts enter Jinghu, otherwise this battle would be completely in vain, no, it should be said that it was better not to fight.

"Have you been requisitioned by them? What they want to do. Ali Hague asked, he looked at Zhang Hongfan's helpless expression, and immediately guessed the approximate result, Zhang Hongfan heard his question, thought of what happened to him before, and couldn't help but smile bitterly and nodded.

"According to the meaning of the two nobles, one part of the army wants to cross the river, and this is how they came from Qizhou, and now, I am afraid that tens of thousands of people have entered Qizhou, and the other is retreating along the land route to the Xingguo army, and the naval ships are requisitioned by them first, and then released back to Ezhou."

Zhang Hongfan is not to blame for this, he is a young Han man with ten thousand households, how can he not refuse the orders of the two Mongolian nobles, even Ali Hague himself is the same, whether it is the division of troops, at least the pressure is not so great when it is spread to various places, but Qizhou can't let go of tens of thousands of people, thinking of the news he just got, he suddenly had an idea.

"Zhong Chou, I still have to bother you to go to Qizhou, I think they should be finished at this moment, you get there, see who took it, tell them, half of the people come to Huangzhou, and so-and-so is here to greet them. Moreover, after you take over the navy, you will return to Ezhou, and a certain will send someone to urge food to the rear, and when the food arrives, you will be responsible for transporting it down, and the matter of Ezhou will be handed over to you. ”

Ali Hague patted the young man in his eyes, Zhang Hongfan was so valued, his eyes were red with excitement, where was there any hard work, he was busy taking the order, and he didn't stay, he turned around and left the city. Ali Hague waited for him to walk out the door, and then picked up the letter and read it again, these defeated soldiers should not let them consume food so much, it is better to throw themselves into the war, if they can take this Huaixi land, the defeat will not seem so miserable.

When it arrived, the sunset was still hanging obliquely in the air, the sky had gradually darkened, and the curfew in Luzhou City was approaching. Estimating that people were about to arrive, in order to show solemnity, Mr. Yi personally brought a few guys to wait in front of the shop, and the familiar merchants on the left and right saw it, and they were all asking if there were any distinguished guests to arrive, and he just smiled and did not answer.

After a while, a convoy came to the intersection of the street, there was no livestock, it was all the kind of human-powered flatbed, and the wooden wheels pressed on the stone road to make a "squeak" sound, which continued to listen to Mr. Yi's ears, and he immediately reacted that the person he was waiting for had arrived.

Li Shiyi, who was walking at the head of the first board car, still had that smiling face, and when he saw Mr. Yi and the others from a distance, he hugged his fist and said hello. The latter immediately stepped forward, looked at the long convoy behind him, and returned the salute with the same smile on his face, Li Shiyi raised his left hand high, and the convoy stopped in front of the store.

He pulled Mr. Yi past him and led him to the cart beside him, which was piled high and covered with a piece of linen, so that he couldn't see what was inside. Li Shiyi mysteriously lifted a corner of the cloth, Mr. Yi only glanced at it and quickly pressed his hand to re-cover the cloth, that's right, the small square boxes with transparent bags are exactly what he values, but there will be so many cars? It was something he hadn't expected.

"There are a total of forty carts in the cage, and each cart is followed by five people, please friends on the road, you also know that this kind of goods can not be cautious, but where can the shopkeeper put it?" Li Shiyi found that Mr. Yi was looking at the footmen dressed as forbidden army foot soldiers around the car, afraid that he would see the flaws, so he hurriedly explained.

"It's okay, my brother's subordinates are really strong, and it's strange that he can do such a big business. Let's go with it, it's not night yet, there are many people, why don't you move into the hospital first, and then enter the warehouse after the curfew? Mr. Yi saw that the surrounding merchants were all curiously watching, afraid of being seen something, and whispered to Li Shijian.

"According to what the shopkeeper said, push the car into the courtyard first, you should have a back door here, and enter it on both sides together, which can save a lot of effort." Li Shiyi pretended to smile knowingly, he was really afraid that Mr. Yi would enter the warehouse at this time, except for a thin layer of surface on the top of the car, the bottom was just ordinary wooden blocks, and even this car was borrowed from Ma Lao Liu, which was originally used by them to transport salt.

The front door and the backyard door were opened together, in order to facilitate the entry of the car, the counters of the store were moved, and the onlookers only knew that Mr. Yi had entered a large number of goods here, but they didn't know what the goods were, let alone where they came from.

"Why don't you see your owner, don't you think it's humble and don't want to step on it?" He asked in a joking tone, but he was very curious in his heart, he really wanted to meet this powerful owner, maybe he could also set up a line for the future strategy of Jiangnan.

"Where, the owner is behind with the car, and he will arrive immediately, and he has already heard the name of the shopkeeper, how can he be stingy to see it." Li Shiyi smiled secretly in his heart, they came here with a pinch, and when these cars entered the courtyard, it was almost time for curfew, was Mr. Yi urging his life?

Liu Yu did not come with the convoy, he took a hired sedan chair and was carried into the courtyard by several personal soldiers, and the tall Jin Ming pretended to be a guard to accompany him. It's not to take Qiao, Liu Yu doesn't want people to see his appearance and cause unnecessary trouble, and the consequence of doing so is that Mr. Yi sees him and believes that his identity is extraordinary.

As the cars gradually filled the front yard, the street resounded with the sound of the gong of the arrival of the curfew, and when the last car was pushed, Mr. Yi ordered the front and rear doors to be closed. His men had already set up a banquet in the backyard, and because more than 200 people came at a time, all the tables were very crowded, and the forbidden soldiers who pretended to be porters secretly clamped Mr. Yi's men in a group, and after a while, there was a noise in the courtyard of guessing wine and fists, which made the neighbors next door shake their heads.

"It's a certain thoughtlessness, I couldn't go to the city to invite a few young ladies to help the fun, and now there are only some vegetables and wine, and I neglect the guests, I hope you will forgive me." Mr. Yi took a few cronies to accompany Liu Yu and a few people to open a table alone in the middle hall, and saw that Liu Yu was dressed very richly, afraid that he would not be satisfied, so he quickly picked up the wine and apologized first.

"It's okay, it's not good for this, the shopkeeper has a heart." At this point, Liu Yu already knew that it was almost over, all his people had entered the hospital, and Mr. Yi's subordinates were basically here, not to mention, there were brothers dressed as beggars guarding outside the door, and they only needed to wait for an opportunity to act.

The sound in the courtyard just covered up the movement, Liu Yu quietly dealt with Mr. Yi and others, anyway, his own people have to eat, this enemy is not bad, he also contributed a meal before being overturned, after three rounds of drinking, he left the table under the pretext of going to the toilet, and Li Shiyi pretended to go to serve and followed.

"Find someone to go to the front yard and the back kitchen to see, there is no need to do not miss a single one, eat for a while, then go your separate ways, don't wait for any signals, remember to leave as much alive as possible." This kind of thing can only be carried out secretly, the movement such as smashing the cup is too big, and the number of people on his side is almost four times more, and it is completely possible to make no sound, Li Shiyi hummed, and went out to arrange it first.

In order to pour that Mr. Yi, these glasses of wine were a little anxious, Liu Yu felt a little upset, and walked through the courtyard to the middle hall with a hiccup, greeting his subordinates along the way. When passing by a seat, I vaguely felt that there was a short figure very familiar, but I didn't see it clearly at a glance, and the person had already walked into the hall, maybe it was an illusion.

The gray pheasant slave lowered her head to avoid that gaze, she mixed into the team early in the morning, the leaders here were all Liu Yu's previous personal soldiers, it can be said that they were all her subordinates, and they were all familiar with her temperament, no one thought to report Liu Yu, even the ordinary sergeants were from the Ximen guards, where she was longer than Liu Yu when she appeared, almost the actual guard.

A personal soldier came over with a wine jar, and secretly glanced at the leader of the table, which was a signal to be ready to move, the leader nodded secretly, indicating that he had received it, and the personal soldier then walked to the next table, and after a while, the order was delivered, and all the sergeants were immediately ready.

"Five leaders, six, six, six, eight horses!" Suddenly, the sound of the order suddenly increased, and then the sound of "bang bang puff" rang out, and the sergeants shouting the order slammed down on their targets, pushing the men to the ground, unstrapping their trousers and tying their hands and feet.

"Take them down, shut them up, and let the brethren continue to eat and drink! This wine and food taste good. Liu Yu looked at Mr. Yi and the others who were a little stunned, and commanded lightly, Jin Ming and the others listened and immediately got up and forced over.