In Chaozhou in March, spring flowers are blooming. Early in the morning, Liu Yizhou, a staff member of the Fujian governor's yamen, left the post house and went straight to the prefect's yamen to ask to see Huang Menglin.

The matter is nothing more than a reply from the yamen of the governor of Guangdong. It's a pity that after a night's work, the reply still hasn't arrived. In this regard, Liu Yizhou seemed a little anxious, but tried not to be so anxious.

This contradiction is all in Huang Menglin's eyes. In his opinion, it was probably because of the chaos in Fujian and the fact that the problem of military food reserves was really not small. If this is the case, Tong Guonai probably will not send only such a staff member, let alone just pin his hopes on his "relatives" in Guangdong. For example, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, and Southern Jiangxi will probably send people over to these places, especially Jiangxi and Zhejiang, both of which have not low grain production. It's just that now that the army is in chaos, it's hard to say whether the officials in the provinces are willing to take him Tong Guonai's hand for the sake of the Eight Banners.

In addition, in Huang Menglin's opinion, there is probably an element of Liu Yizhou competing for favor with other staff members in front of Tong Guonai. It's just that he didn't bother to point it out, he just sent someone to accompany Liu Yizhou to visit the scenery of Chaozhou, so as to kill time, that's all. As for whether or not to form a good relationship in private, I am not in a hurry to do so.

"The icing on the cake is better than sending charcoal in the snow."

Chaozhou Prefecture, since the establishment of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, has always been a place where humanities gather, scenic spots abound, known as the inside and outside of the eight scenes. Among them, the inner eight scenes are all between the streets and alleys of the ancient city, while the outer eight scenes are mostly on both sides of the Han River. Liu Yizhou didn't get a reply, so he had to follow the people from the government to go on a tour of the mountains and rivers.

The first stop of Liu Yizhou and his entourage was the most prestigious Xiangzi Bridge in Chaozhou. The bridge is located outside the Guangji Gate, also called the Guangji Bridge, in the words of the guide, this bridge is the nephew of the great Tang Dynasty writer Han Yu who served in Chaozhou, and Han Xiangzi, one of the Eight Immortals, together with the other Eight Immortals, fought with the Guangji monk to rise on the Han River. It is precisely because of the fighting method of the two families that the Guangji Bridge is closed from both sides of the Hanjiang River to the center of the Hanjiang River, and in the end, it fails to close, so it can only be connected by boats and suspension bridges.

This is a more mythical statement, in fact, Xiangzi Bridge was built in the Southern Song Dynasty trunk road seven years, initially with 86 boats erected pontoon bridge, and later successive dynasties repeatedly added to build, until the Ming Jiajing nine years, lasted 359 years, and finally achieved the grand pattern of "18 shuttle boats and 24 continents".

"Mr. Liu, please look, this is Xiangzi Bridge."

Guangji Gate in front of Guangji Bridge, this is also the most spectacular one among the seven gates of Chaozhou City, the building is placed on the high pedestal, it is a three-layer heavy eaves rest on the top of the mountain, the face is five rooms wide, and the bucket beam frame structure is worn. The city tower faces the Hanjiang River, directly to the Xiangzi Bridge, and there is an old couplet on the upper floor: "Wanfeng is a household, and a water comes to the sky", just like the scenery of "watching the tide in the east building", it can be described as magnificent. However, compared to this Guangji Bridge, it is also dwarfed.

Following the direction pointed by the guide, Liu Yizhou looked in front of the city gate tower of Guangji Gate, outside Guangji Gate, a wind and rain bridge connected by bridge piers, and pavilions and pavilions were built on each pier and extended all the way, until the place where the water in the center of the river was turbulent, it was changed to a pontoon bridge built by boats. After this, the water flow slows down, and the wind and rain bridges connect directly to the other side of the river.

Guangji Bridge integrates beam bridge, pontoon bridge and arch bridge, is the only example of China's ancient bridge, with its unique style of "eighteen shuttle boats and twenty-four continents", and Zhaozhou Bridge, Luoyang Bridge, Lugou Bridge and called China's four ancient bridges. It was praised by the famous bridge expert Mao Yisheng as "the world's earliest opening and closing bridge".

"Mr. Liu, please see, these two side pavilions, the north is called Lanxiu, and the south is called Hanqing, the former is taken from the sentence of "Lisao", and the latter is used in "Hejing Mid-Spring Day", the sentence of the cane is walked by the suburban original letter, and the spring water on the sand side is half Hanqing......"

Out of the Guangji Gate, straight forward, facing the first bridge pavilion on this bridge, the bridge pavilion from west to east, the plaque on the front of the book Guangji Bridge three words, the back is the wonder two words. Liu Yizhou under the leadership of the guide, through the Guangji Bridge, where he saw, the pavilions and pavilions are scattered, the posture is different, but the proportion is a repetition of one or several ratios in the whole, it seems that the buildings on the bridge are messy but not chaotic, staggered, in addition to being slightly dilapidated because of the chaos of the war, some have lost the reputation of "a mile long bridge and a mile city", the word wonder, but it is also well deserved.

"I heard people say before I came, saying that they couldn't get to the bridge when the tide came, and they went in vain, and it really deserved its reputation."

The guide dutifully introduced, quite a kind of later tour guide. Liu Yizhou chatted with him for a few words, but he also knew that this person was originally a native of Chaozhou, and he was very proud of Guangji Bridge.

After the first eight piers, and further on, there is already a pontoon bridge. These pontoon bridges are made up of eighteen boats, connected in series by three 4,000-pound iron cables, Liu Yizhou walked on the bridge, looking at the rolling river under the bridge, but he did not feel shaky. After crossing the pontoon bridge, there is a bridge connected by thirteen piers in front of you, and you reach the undulating Beacon Hill on the opposite bank.

"The Xiangjiang River is full of spring and dawn, and the eighteen shuttle boat locks the bridge. The snow flies on the beam, and the sound of the waves penetrates the tide of the sea. The crow island rises and turns the peach waves, and the crocodile smoke is deep and wicker. A long rainbow is good in March, and the floating chacha is almost ready to reach the clouds. Reciting the poems, Liu Yizhou looked back, praised in his heart, and in the end, he finally finished with a sentence of "beautiful", and nothing else.

"Mr. Liu's poems are very good, even villains who don't understand poetry can also hear the benefits, Mr. Liu is really a talented person."

The praise contained in the poem can be understood without any literary brilliance. The guide was originally proud of this, and when he heard Liu Yizhou praise it like this, he was even more overjoyed. Unexpectedly, as soon as this compliment came out, Liu Yizhou's complexion changed, and then he said faintly: "This poem was not written by me, but by Mr. Zheng of the Governor Yamen." ”

After that, he stopped looking at the scenery, turned around and walked back in the direction of Fucheng. However, the guide was stunned for a moment, and chased after him, until Liu Yizhou, who returned to the post house without looking back, sent him over, and then he returned to the government to report to Huang Menglin.

"This poem is very well written."

When the guide arrived at the post house, he especially asked Liu Yizhou for the poem he recited on the bridge. brought back to the mansion and handed it over directly to Huang Menglin's case, and the latter also exclaimed after exclaiming, revealing a look of sudden realization.

"As I expected, then I'll be able to stay up with you for a few more days."

On the same day, Liu Yizhou returned to the post house and never came out. The next day, I visited the government early in the morning, and still replied to the answers that had not been delivered, and Huang Menglin still sent the guide from yesterday to continue to accompany Liu Yizhou to visit the scenery of Chaozhou. Just looking at that look, it was obvious that he was still worried about the reply of the governor of Guangdong, Yamen. Before leaving, he also specially told Huang Menglin that he would go to Kaiyuan Temple today, and if there was news to him, the post house would definitely be there.

For three days in a row, Liu Yizhou took advantage of the excitement and returned disappointed. Of course, the beautiful scenery of Chaozhou is indeed good, but he is anxious, and even to the point where anyone with a discerning eye can easily see it, and he is less and less interested in appreciating the scenery.

But the brothers who came with him sometimes wandered around the city. However, these Fujian sailors do not make trouble or disturb the people, so they don't look like the Qing army, especially the local town soldiers in Chaozhou.

In this regard, Che Renzhong was satisfied with the acquaintance of the Fujian soldiers, but Huang Menglin had some different thoughts. At least in his opinion, these Fujian soldiers are probably better than the thieves under Che Renzhong, and if he can change the army to guard here, his official duties can be carried out better, and he will not be punished by the officials at every turn.

Of course, the Fujian Governor Yamen is still too busy to take care of himself, even if he can convince Tong Yangjia and Li Chengdong, the Fujian side is more than willing to do it.

"By the way, it seems that Admiral Li has a group of Fujian soldiers under him, I don't know what the situation is with those guys."

The car is still heavy, so Huang Menglin is cranky. On the night of the fourth day when the fleet arrived in Chaozhou, Liu Yizhou got together with Bai Hansong, the eldest of the Bai brothers.

"The height of the city is about two feet and five feet, the base width is about two feet and two feet, and the city surface is about one and a half feet, and it occupies a very large area. There are seven city gates, there are city towers built on them, there is an arc-shaped moon city outside, and there are more than 40 enemy platforms, 60 or 70 nests and thousands of pheasant moats, this city is indeed a strong city. And the bigger problem is that there are 2,000 thieves stationed in the city alone, and it seems that Che Renzhong can stand in Fucheng, which should not be underestimated. ”

"The number is not a problem, three hundred elites against two thousand rabble, the odds of winning are still very good. As for fortified cities, there is no need to worry, the strongest fortresses are often breached from within. Didn't we plan to attack this time? ”

"Yes, Chen joined the army. In the past few days, my brother and I have roughly turned around the city, as long as we take the three key points of the Chaozhou Mansion, the Chaozhou General Military Mansion and the barracks, this city will be taken. ”

"Well, that's enough."

Except for the officials and the servants in the post house, they were all guarded by their people, and it was determined that the partition wall had no ears, and the words could be said more directly. It's just that Liu Yizhou and Bai Hansong replied in a low voice, but what they said was shocking.

"Chen joins the army, if nothing happens, Du Hui's four ships will arrive tomorrow."

"Then act according to the original plan, and tomorrow, the task of sending the car back to the west."

At this moment, Chen Kai, who called himself Liu Yizhou, and Ke Chenshu, who was crowned as the chief of the water division, had already prepared. In the past few days, Chen Kai has been responsible for attracting the attention of the military and political chiefs in Chaozhou City, while the Ke brothers have secretly followed the information sent back by Chen Bao to find out the layout of the city, so as to make a foolproof strategy.

Everything is ready, just waiting for the reinforcements to arrive tomorrow, at that time, Chen Kai will take Du Hui and others to visit Che Renzhong and Huang Menglin as Liu Dahong, the commander of Fujian Navy. The two of them are better, even if there is only one Che Zhizhong, they will not have much disadvantage in terms of numbers. What's more, they still have unintentional calculations, that is, they want to kill the car by surprise!

The strategy of deception, Chen Kai and Zheng Chenggong planned for several months, and Chen Kai made countless deductions before deciding on the strategy. Chen Kai, the Ke brothers, and Du Hui are all raw faces, and they will not attract attention. The Ke brothers had a very close relationship with Chen Kai, and Du Hui performed well in the battle of Slippery Stone, so he and Chen Kai, the only guy on Nanao Island who could speak the northern dialect, pretended to be a member of the Fujian Governor Yamen to seize the city. Now everything is ready, only the east wind is owed, but the next morning, Du Hui's boat has not yet arrived, and Chen Kai, who was about to go to the government office as usual to "report", bumped into the guide who accompanied him on a tour of the mountains and rivers for the past two days.

"Mr. Liu, the people from the yamen of the governor of Guangdong have arrived, and the head of the town and the lord of the mansion have sent a villain to invite you to come to the mansion."