Qi Suzao was so angry by Lu Jianying that a mouthful of blood poured up, and he vomited wildly, and his subordinates saw him spitting blood from his mouth, and hurriedly carried him back to the yamen for treatment.

Taking advantage of the fact that the defenders in the south of the city were exhausted by shells, the bandits attacked the city under the cover of archers, and set a fire under the city gate in an attempt to burn the city gate. The officers and soldiers of the city and the villagers were in a hurry, pouring water on the city and unloading the rolling wood and stones, and finally repelled the bandits.

Later, the army of bandits arrived, surrounded Jiangning, set up camps outside the city gates, and set up forts on high places outside the city. The defenders of the city were helpless against the deployment of the bandits, and the only thing they could do was to blindly fire their cannons outside the city.

In order to consume the ammunition of the officers and soldiers more quickly, the bandits thought of many methods, such as hanging a lantern around the donkey's neck and letting the donkey walk around in the woods under the city. In addition, the bandits also moved the 500 Arhat statues in the Xitian Temple to the city, planted flags, lit lights, and made people hide behind the Arhats, bluff, and shout all night. The officers and soldiers in the city could not distinguish between the virtual and the real, and there was another burst of artillery bombardment on the Luohan.

Qi Suzao, who was dying, heard the report that the ammunition had been exhausted, struggled to climb the treasure gate with illness, and heard the sound of bandits killing under the city, thinking that the bandits had broken through the city, and was so angry that he vomited blood, and was carried back to the Yamen of the Political Secretary by his family and died soon after.

Thinking that Qi Suzao was not so much angry with the bandits as he was angry with Lu Jianying, Han Xiufeng sighed lightly: "Brother Zhou, your owner died in the city, if he dares to survive, Qi Zhongtang will definitely not spare him!" ”

"I'm not afraid of my brother's jokes, I didn't know before I went to Jiangning that he was not only so incompetent but also so shameless, if I had known that Lu Jianying was such a person, I wouldn't have gone to Jiangning to be his friend when I was killed."

"The past is over, what are your plans for the future?"

Zhou Xingyuan sighed and said helplessly: "I have fallen into such a field, I can only take a step at a time when my brother is here, what else can I plan." ”

Han Xiufeng groaned: "Do you want to prepare some entanglement for you and return to Beijing earlier?" Brother Zhou, it's not that your brother drove you away, but this is really not a place to stay for a long time. ”

Zhou Xingyuan looked at the big seal of customs defense in his hand, and asked with a bitter face: "I want to go to the capital, but can I go back?" ”

The owner died, how did he survive?

If this question is not clear, what can he do even if he returns to the capital? Thinking that Lu Jianying had sent his family back to the capital earlier, if the Lu family knew that he was alive and well, they would definitely not let him go. Because in the eyes of others, he should die in Jiangning City like Lu Jianying.

Thinking of this, Han Xiufeng said softly: "Since you can't go back for a while, then stay and help me." ”

"Brother Han, I came to join you, but I don't know what your plans are next?"

"Just like you, take it one step at a time."

"What do you mean by that?"

Han Xiufeng said helplessly: "Brother Zhou can't believe it, there are so many civil and military officials in the entire Yangzhou Mansion, and Yangzhou Tongzhi Xu Ying, deputy general Zhu Zhanao and salt governor Zhang Yiguo dare to fight with the bandits, and the hundreds of officers and soldiers under Zhu Zhanao and Zhang Yiguo and Xiang Yong were just defeated by the bandits in the afternoon, and their life and death are uncertain at this time." Xu Ying moved to Taizhou, and there was no one available under him, so he picked a general among the dwarfs, forced me to donate a general from Liupinzhou, and forced Yang Dianbang, the governor of Caoyun, who was in charge of the defense of the river, to order me to act as Taizhou Zhoutong. ”

"I said, why did you get promoted so quickly!"

"If it is a good thing to be promoted in the peaceful years, but now it is not peaceful today, and I met a boss like Xu Ying, who clearly ordered me to lead the township to help Yangzhou, but in fact, he wanted me to intercept the bandits in Jiangdu, so as to buy him time to prepare for Taizhou. But Xiang Yong was all newly recruited, and he had neither money, food, nor weapons, so he could only collect the weapons that were thrown away when the rout soldiers fled for their lives. ”

As soon as he heard that he was going to stop the bandits, Zhou Xingyuan couldn't help asking: "Brother Han, how many villagers do you have?" ”

"There are more than 900, and there are only more than 400 who really dare to fight with the bandits."

"And what are you going to do?"

"It's not that I'm going to intercept it, it's that Xu Ying wants me to intercept it." Han Xiufeng took out a map from behind him, pointed to the map and explained: "He asked me to guard Liaojiagou, although as long as I keep it for six days, I may not be able to guard it for six days, I really don't know the bottom of my heart." ”

Zhou Xingyuan looked at the map for a while, looked up and asked: "The Yunyan River is in the south, even if you can defend Liaojiagou, the bandits can attack Taizhou along the Yunyan River from the Fairy Temple, what's the use of just guarding Liaojiagou?" ”

"The Salt River is not easy to sail now, Xu Ying summoned Qingzhuang to fill a lot of dams on the river, and it will take time for the bandits to make a detour from the south. Let's put it this way, Xu Ying is not betting on whether I can stop the bandits in Liaojiagou, nor whether those dams can stop the bandits, but whether the armies of Xiangrong and Qishan can arrive in six days. ”

"What day do these six days start?"

"Start with the destruction of Yangzhou City."

"So it's starting today?"

Han Xiufeng subconsciously looked back behind him, and then muttered: "I haven't received the news of the city breaking yet, and I can't count it until the bandits' flag is planted at the head of the city." ”

Zhou Xingyuan looked at the map and said worriedly: "Liaojiagou is so close to Yangzhou, it is impossible for bandits not to attack, even if the bandits don't want to attack Taizhou, they will send troops out to grab food, otherwise what will so many bandits eat?" What's more, they not only have to grab grain for themselves, but also collect grain and grass to transport to Jiangning. ”

"So it's going to be a bad fight with the bandits!"

"Brother Han, you have never seen bandits, if you have seen it, you will know that this battle is not so easy to fight!"

"I've seen it, I just saw it in the afternoon," Han Xiufeng took a deep breath, frowned tightly and said, "Bandits are experienced in a hundred battles, and they are indeed difficult to deal with. But now I can only do it with them, and I can't do it without it. ”

"Why not?"

"Brother Zhou, Xu Ying is old and cunning, he was afraid that I would escape from the battle, so he sent me two prison soldiers, one is the second son of Taizhou Zhengtang, and the other is Taizhou Zhoutong, who has just been deprived of his post, and put his wife and children under house arrest in the state government......"

Han Xiufeng briefly talked about the situation in Taizhou, Zhou Xingyuan knew that Han Xiufeng had no way to retreat, and then thought that compared to Yizhen, Guazhou and other places, Taizhou is not very important to the bandits, Zhou Xingyuan muttered: "Since there is no way to retreat, then hurry up and prepare, as long as the bandits can be beaten, let them know that it is not so easy to attack Taizhou from Liaojiagou, they just won't retreat in the face of difficulties, and they will go around." ”

"That's what I think, no matter what you say, as a battalion officer of the Taiyong Battalion, you can't run for your life without firing a shot. Try to keep it first, but there is no way to keep it. ”

"Brother Han, this is not a matter of trying, you have to prepare with both hands, and you must leave a way back."

"Brother Zhou, you can rest assured, I carefully inspected the terrain when I passed Liaojiagou before coming. I don't know if I can keep my heart, but I'm still sure if I can get out of it. ”

"Why don't you want to leave?"

"I've figured it out."

"What if you're surrounded by bandits?"

"Don't be afraid to surround it," Han Xiufeng looked back behind him, and then leaned into his ear to talk about his next plans.

Zhou Xingyuan never thought that Han Xiufeng really had a clever plan to retreat when he was surrounded by bandits, and suddenly breathed a sigh of relief: "This is a way, if I were a bandit, I would never have thought of it." ”

"So don't worry about retreating."

"Since you have no worries, then you have to think about how to keep it, Brother Han, what is the use of Zhou, just open your mouth!"

Han Xiufeng has a lot of subordinates, but neither Zhang Guangcheng nor Li Changjing can compare with the one in front of him, thinking of his ability to get out every time he is in danger, Han Xiufeng raised his head and said: "Brother Zhou, knowing yourself and knowing your opponent can survive a hundred battles, and you are about to do it with the bandits, and you can't be ignorant of the bandits' movements, I want to ask you to help me find out the news of the bandits." ”

Zhou Xingyuan wanted to say that he was a newcomer and unfamiliar with life, but he thought that it was impossible to raise idlers in the camp, and now he was a grasshopper on a rope, so he said in a low voice: "Brother Han, it's not that I don't want to contribute, but I have neither money nor subordinates, why should you let me help you find out?" ”

"I'll figure out a way to make money, I don't have a suitable person, and even if I do, I can't spread out the news of the bandits."

"If you have money, there will be brave men under the reward, as long as you have money, I can recruit people to help investigate."

"Okay, when Wanfuqiao has silver, everything will be entrusted to Brother Zhou!"