Just when Han Xiufeng and his entourage rushed to Wanfu Bridge, Lu Daming had already led more than 60 young people who used to beg for a living together on the Taiba Dam from Wanfu Bridge, and Han Bo, the ambassador of the Jiao Slope Salt Division, helped him hire six boats to go south along the canal.

The boatman didn't know who he heard that the Taiping bandits had already killed Zhenjiang on the other side of the Yangtze River, and they didn't dare to go any further when they were about to enter the river, so Lu Daming could only lead everyone to go ashore from the sand. There was a young man who had been to Guazhou with a boat carrying salt, and more than 60 people carried torches and drove west along the river overnight.

Tired and stopped to catch his breath, thirsty to drink saliva, hungry to eat a few mouthfuls of dry food, just until the ugly time, the river suddenly fell foggy, stretched out his fingers, I don't know how far I have walked, I can't even tell the southeast and northwest, Lu Daming is afraid of going in the wrong direction, and he doesn't want to lose the people he finally brought from Taizhou, so he simply stopped and shouted: "Brothers, rest for a while, and wait for the fog to clear before leaving!" ”

The young man who led the way turned around and said, "Brother Lu, we have been walking all night, we should be almost there." ”

"Don't be in a hurry for a while, let's see if the people around you are lost, wait for the fog to clear, and wait for dawn."

"Okay, I can't walk anymore."

……

With Lu Daming's order, many young people couldn't bear it anymore and sat down on the ground one after another. A few young men who could still hold on were afraid that they would catch a cold, so they ran to the river beach with the only oxtail knives they had and cut a few large piles of reeds, lit several large bonfires with torches, and let everyone sit around the bonfires to rest.

Qingzhuang, who led the way, just said that he should be almost there, but in fact he had already arrived outside Guazhou Town, but the fog was too big and he couldn't see anything clearly. Even if the people of the town are not asleep, they can't see this side clearly, but standing on a high place, they can vaguely see the fire outside the town.

Wang San, a veteran of the Guazhou battalion, heard the news that the bandits had killed him a few days ago, and followed Fang Garrison all the way to Jinshan on the south bank of the Yangtze River, and stayed in Jinshan for two days but heard that the bandits entrenched in Jiangning did not come to attack Guazhou, and Fang Garrison did not want to be dismissed and investigated because of a false alarm, so he came back with them the morning before yesterday.

Tonight, it was his turn to be on duty with Xiao Liuzi, who was sitting on the arrow tower a few feet high and dozing off, when Xiao Liuzi suddenly grabbed his arm: "Uncle Wang, Uncle Wang, do you see if the bandits are coming up from the river?" ”

"Ah......h

"Look over there, it's all firelight!" Xiao Liuzi's nervous legs trembled.

Wang San got up and rubbed his eyes, followed the direction of Xiao Liuzi's fingers, didn't know if he didn't look, he was startled when he saw it, and hurriedly said, "Thief...... The bandits are coming, rushing ...... Drive...... Run! ”

"If you don't knock the gong, you have to ...... Do you want to report to the guard? ”

"What gong to knock, you are afraid that the bandits will not come, go down first, go down first."

The two of them hurriedly climbed down the arrow tower, one went to the camp and shouted to the brothers to flee for their lives, and the other stumbled to the front of the garrison courtyard, and as soon as he saw the soldiers guarding the door, he shouted eagerly: "Fang guard, Fang guard, no, the bandits are coming, Fang is guarding, Fang is guarding, the bandits are coming......

Fang Gang has been frightened three times a day these days, and he has not slept steadily, so he quickly got up when he heard the movement outside, and rushed out to ask without even caring about clothes: "What's the matter, where are the bandits?" ”

"It's already outside the town, Lord Fang, I don't believe you can go and see it."

Fang Gang was about to ask how many bandits had come, but he found that the camp had been fried, and the dozens of soldiers who had managed to gather the day before yesterday were carrying packages on their backs, and some of them didn't even bother to wear shoes, so they were running outside the camp gate together.

At this time, a family member ran out of the yard, and while pulling his arm out of the west, he said eagerly: "Master, go quickly, you can't stay here for a long time!" ”

"Sir, I haven't dressed yet!"

"Master, it's important to run for your life," the family said breathlessly as they pulled him along, "I have arranged a boat outside the town, and there are dry food and clothes on board." ”

"It's good to have it, hurry up."

The Green Battalion soldiers fled for their lives in all directions, and such a big movement naturally couldn't hide from the people in the town.

After a while, the town also exploded, and when I heard that the bandits had arrived in the east of the town, the men, women, and children did not dare to stay in the town for a long time, and all fled to the west of the town.

Lu Daming and the others walked all night, one was more tired than the other, back to back, and fell asleep around the bonfire for a while, this sleep actually slept until dawn, the fog had almost dispersed, and everyone rubbed their eyes and looked at Guazhou Town not far away and couldn't help laughing.

"Big brother, I said it's almost there, but the seventh still doesn't believe it."

"This is Guazhou?" A young man asked stupidly.

"This is Guazhou." The young man who led the way pointed to the arrow tower in the distance, and said proudly: "Do you see it, that is the arrow tower guarding the yamen, I came here the summer before last and stayed in the town for one night." ”

"Uncle Da Ming, what now?" A young coolie couldn't help but lean over and ask.

I don't know if the news I received before is true or not, Lu Daming didn't know whether the garrison of the Guazhou Battalion, the Thousand Generals and the Green Battalion had run away, and he didn't want to be suppressed by the Green Battalion as a bandit, so he immediately turned around and said, "Xiao Qi, bring me my official uniform." ”

"Oh, here we are!"

There were all big men around, Lu Daming was not embarrassed, took off the dirty clothes on his body, changed into the new clothes that Han Bo, the cousin of Han Chen, the ambassador of the Salt Division of the Upper Corner Slope Division, helped him buy in front of everyone, and took the oxtail knife from Xiao Qi's hand, then turned around and said: "Brothers, follow me into the town, if the people from the garrison office ask, they will say that we are reinforcements sent by Xu Tongzhi." ”

"You know, you've said that a few times."

"It's good to know, cheer me up, don't let those green battalion soldiers look down on you."

"Uncle Da Ming, how is your official uniform different from other officials." The young coolie saw Lu Daming wearing an official uniform for the first time, and couldn't help but catch up and ask.

"This is a horse coat, also called a walking coat." Lu Daming took off his official hat and looked at it, and while leading everyone to the town, he said with his eyebrows: "Master Han helped me donate a foreign committee Qianzong, I, Lu Daming, am also an official now, but it costs a lot of silver to buy an official uniform, even if there is silver, it will be too late to buy it for a while, so Master Han sent someone to help me get an official hat and the horse coat that this official master usually wears, except for the lack of supplements, everything else is the same." ”

"I said, how is it different?"

"When I earn the money, I'll buy one."

"Uncle Daming, how many products are there for the foreign commission?"

"Zhengbapin, as big as the ambassador of the county Cheng and the salt department!"

"My good girl, Uncle Daming, how did you get in touch with Master Han, why did Master Han treat you so well?"

"You don't need to stutter, just be a good errand and work well for Master Han. If you don't believe it, go back and ask the sixth and ninth children, they are also officials now, and now they are all in charge. ”

"The sixth brother and the ninth brother are also officials?"

"What do you think, don't talk about it, go into town."

Most people come to Guazhou for the first time, some are a little nervous, more are excited, this is such an important town along the river as Guazhou should be very lively, but when you enter the town, there is not only no one on the street, but also a mess, clothes, shoes, pots and spoons...... It was thrown all over the ground, and there were traces of trampling on it.

The people who came were all poor ghosts, their clothes were in tatters, and they were usually treated as asking for food wherever they went, and when they saw that the streets were full of clothes that could be worn, eaten and even used, they gathered them up excitedly.

"Uncle Daming, there is no one, all of them are gone."

"You were scared away by bandits, right?"

"Maybe the bandits have already come."

"No matter how much it is, don't care about the rags on the street, go to the garrison office first."

"These things can be used in everything, don't be a pity!" A poor coolie couldn't help but mutter.

"There are no productive things, even if you want to pick up something useful, you don't need to pick up what people throw away, see no, there are pawnshops in front, there are rich villages, and big families, and the things there are valuable. But you have to do the right thing first, pick the really useful things first, if anyone dares not to listen, don't blame me Lu Daming for being ruthless. ”

"Listen, I'll listen to you."

"Uncle Da Ming, we all listen to you."

"Let's go, let's go to the garrison first!"

Everyone ran to the garrison office to take a look, and they were shocked to find that there was no one in the yamen as outside.

"Da Ming, there are knives and shotguns!"

"Take it all out."

"There's gunpowder here, so much!"

"And the guns, one, two, three, four...... A total of eight guns! ”

"Uncle Daming, don't you have no official uniforms, there are several here, and this box is full of official uniforms!"

I don't know if I don't search, but I found a yard full of piles!

Lu Daming's ancestors have been soldiers in the green camp for generations, and they all recognized these weapons and ordnance, so that his subordinates gathered together, and they found that there were more than 120 iron helmets, 16 horse soldiers Jingqing cloth bronze nail embroidered iron armor, infantry Beijing green cloth bronze nail embroidered iron armor 33 bodies, shotgun Beijing green cloth cotton armor 46 bodies, waist knife 39 mouths, 22 shotgun guns, 23 axes, 45 blue cloth official robes, 42 blue cloth good Han clothes, 1,830 war arrows, 20 white cloth tents, and more than 1,200 catties of lead. More than 400 catties of gunpowder, seven conchs, seven gongs, seven pan flags, one small leather drum, five hard bows, more than 90 trumpet hats, more than 80 trumpet hats, 15 cloth lanterns, 34 zhang of hemp fire ropes, and eight spears......

The more Lu Daming counted, the more excited he became, and he couldn't help laughing: "Master Han is really clever, he has made a fortune, he has made a fortune!" ”

"Da Ming, how can we take so many things?"

"All these armors and uniforms can be replaced, we are now soldiers to eat food, and we can't do it without being soldiers!"

"What about those shotguns and guns, we won't use them."

"You can't learn it, but not now, and not here." Lu Daming didn't dare to stay in Guazhou for a long time, and while motioning for everyone to change their uniforms on the spot, he said solemnly: "Brothers, it's not that I, Lu Daming, block the big guy's financial route, but the lord and soldiers of the garrison office can't run away without a trace for no reason, and it is impossible for the people in the town to throw down their family business to run for no reason, they must have received the news of the bandits, the bandits should not be far from here, let's change our clothes and carry the rest of the things back to Wanfu Bridge, but we can't have the life to make money and not spend it!" ”

"Uncle Daming, we now have weapons, and when the bandits come, we will do it with them, if we don't do it with the bandits, if we don't kill a few bandits, how can Master Han help us settle down, and how can he give us land?"

"yes, them!"

"you, will you shoot a gun or shoot a bow and arrow?" Lu Daming glared at them fiercely, and said in an unquestionable tone: "Master Han said, we don't fight uncertain battles, or we don't fight with bandits, and if we want to do it, we have to be able to win!" You don't care about your own rotten life, Master Han cares! Because you have eaten Master Han's food, don't talk about you, even my Lu Daming's life is Master Han's, Master Han doesn't allow us to die, none of us can die! ”