Hu Yaobai has been in the scene for many years, and in order to avoid suspicion, he lives in a simple place on weekdays. His proprietor, Xu Ying, was not a pro-people official like the state and county main hall, but was in charge of the army and arrest, so he had very little contact with the local gentry and people, and he didn't know much about local affairs.

He originally thought that there were more than 300 towns and villages between Shilipu in the east of the city and Jiangyan, and there were as many as 200,000 people, and there were 40,000 or 50,000 young and strong people, and it should not be difficult to recruit 400 villagers from 40,000 or 50,000 people. But when they rushed to Jiangyan, Zhang Guangcheng and Li Changjing tried their best, but they only recruited one hundred and twenty-three.

Jiang Yan did not have a yamen official office, so he could only go with Li Changjing into the Licai Hall that Zhang Rirong, a big family in the town in Daoguang in the sixteenth year, asked his son Zhang Bicheng to donate to build before his death, and asked Zhang Guangcheng why he only recruited such a few people.

"Mr. Hu, what do you mean by that?"

"Second Young Master, I don't mean anything else, I just want to remind you how Master Xu explained to you and Master Li at that time!"

Zhang Guang had a belly full of fire, how could he stand Hu Yaobai's anger, and slammed the case: "Master Xu has explained that he wants to recruit 400 villagers, but this errand is easier said than done, but it is not so simple!" As the saying goes, a good man is not a soldier, a good iron is not a nail, who wants to be a townsman for those people who have a good life? ”

"Didn't Master Xu give you two charters?" Hu Yaobai asked coldly.

"Master Xu has given a clever plan to let each of the first a young and strong, but people are only willing to work locally, and they are not willing to go to Taizhou to defend the city." Zhang Guangcheng clenched his fists tightly and said: "Those gentry are the same, recruiting township warriors to run a group to train them, they have nothing to say, and they are even willing to donate food and salary, but they are not willing to go to Taizhou with us!" ”

"Mr. Hu, this is the homeland that is hard to leave." Li Changjing said helplessly.

"It's hard to leave their homeland, it's really a mouse's eye, they don't want to think that Taizhou is falling, can their net worth be saved?" Hu Yaobai asked with a gloomy face.

"I said the same thing, but they won't listen to it, or I'll send someone to call the gentry, and you tell them yourself."

Hu Yaobai thought that it was useless to even say Zhang Guangcheng and Li Changjing, and it was even more useless for him, a master who didn't even have fame, and those gentry wouldn't even take him in their eyes, so they could only say stupidly: "It's okay if you can't recruit him, fortunately, Han Chen, the ambassador of the Salt Division of Jiaoxiechang, took into account the overall situation and understood the general situation, and recruited more than 300 young men to help Yangzhou, and those young men are on their way to Jiangyan, plus the more than 100 recruited by the two of you and those villagers trained by Master Han before, you can barely make up a battalion." ”

"Mr. Hu, the young man of the corner slope field, can we intercept it and put it into the Xiangyong Battalion?" Zhang Guangcheng asked knowingly.

"If Ambassador Han personally led the young men to help Yangzhou, we naturally couldn't intercept it. But the one who led those young men to help Yangzhou was a greedy person who was afraid of death, and he entrusted the more than 300 young men to Master Han under the pretext of being sick. ”

Li Changjing didn't know this, and was about to ask if it was easy to intercept it now, and what to do when the future transportation department asked, Zhang Guangcheng's family ran in to report that Han Xiufeng's fleet had arrived.

The three of them did not dare to slack off, and hurried to the side of the Salt River to greet them.

When he rushed to the river, even Hu Yaobai, who often went to the green camp with Xu Ying, was surprised. The townsmen who were going ashore were all wearing uniforms with the word "Yong" on their chests, or carrying regimental flags of Hai'an, Qutang, Baimi, and Jiaojiao, or holding spears or machetes.

"Qinghuai, the grain and grass can't be lost, your Qutang regiment should be on duty first!"

"Yes." Yu Qinghuai, the supervisor of the Qutang regiment, answered, then turned around and shouted: "Jiashi, Yishi, and Bingshi listen to the order, all go to the river to be on guard, and no idle people are allowed to approach!" ”

"Yes!"

"Dinsh obeyed the order, got on the clipper, and stood guard on the river."

……

With Yu Qinghuai's order, more than 40 villagers of the Qutang regiment all ran to guard the grain boats, guarding along the river bank, every two or three zhang one person, and more than a dozen villagers jumped on the boat, patrolled the river, and put the boats from east to west close to the grain boats.

Han Xiufeng looked back at Zhang Guangcheng and the others, and then said, "Guozheng, take your people ashore!" ”

"Yes!"

Tang Guozheng, the cousin of Han Chen, the ambassador of the Salt Division of the Jiao Slope Field, responded, and immediately turned around and ordered the Xiang Yong of the Jiao Slope Field to go ashore and line up.

Don't look at the Xiangyong in the corner slope field, they are dressed as brightly as the Xiangyong of Hai'an, Qutang and Baimi, but these Xiangyong have never killed anyone or seen blood, and they have not practiced well, in fact, they are a group of rabble. On the way from Hai'an to Jiangyan, some slippery things are not less. It's just that I was unlucky to meet Han Xiufeng, the Xiang Yong of Hai'an, Qutang and Baimi, especially the Xiang Yong who had investigated the smuggling salt in the first month, turned into a prison army, and unceremoniously gave them some color, and now they became more honest than the other. But in the eyes of Zhang Guangcheng and others, this is a township warrior with strict military discipline, and he is many times stronger than those green battalion soldiers.

The people of Jiangyan who were watching on the shore praised each other, and even the gentry of Jiangyan, who had been disturbed by the bandits in the past two days, felt that there were so many villagers who could sit back and relax, and there was no need to worry about those bandits.

Han Xiufeng knew very well that this was a group of useless embroidered pillows, but in order to reassure the people and give the master surnamed Hu a dismount, he turned around and said: "Zhiyong, Guozheng, the brothers have been on the boat for a day, and it is time to move their hands and feet." Just practice on the shore, practice for half an hour, and then find a place to settle. ”

"Yes!"

"Chu Chenggui, Jiang Huai, and Wang Ruhai listened to the order and summoned everyone to practice on the spot!"

"Li Ke, Jiang Guangde, and Zhang Changdi listened to the order, practiced on the spot, and beat the drum to cheer!"

With the rapid beat of the drums, hundreds of villagers opened their formations on the bank of the river, holding spears and wielding machetes, and practiced with Chu Chenggui and other teachers.

"Kill ......!"

"Retreat!"

"Kill ......!" Seeing that there were many big girls and little daughters-in-law hiding in the crowd to watch the excitement, Chu Chenggui was even more energetic, and raised his foot and kicked the nearest Xiangyong: "Didn't you eat, you have to be ruthless, accurate, and fierce when you shoot, do you hear it!" ”

……

There is a look, and the past 20 days or so have not been in vain.

Han Xiufeng looked at it for a while, then turned around and walked to Zhang Guangcheng and the others and arched his hand: "Brother Li, Brother Zhang, Mr. Hu, Xiufeng is late, so the three of you have been waiting for a long time." ”

"Brother Han, what are you talking about?"

"Yes, Master Han, Master Li and I have just arrived in Jiangyan."

"Mr. Hu, why are you here too?" Han Xiufeng asked with a smile.

Hu Yaobai thought to himself that this person in front of him was really a knowing soldier, not only had he trained more than 100 villagers with high morale, but even the more than 300 villagers in the corner slope field honestly obeyed the order, and he didn't dare to be as powerful as he was in Licai Hall just now, so he hurriedly arched his hand and said: "Master Han, there are many people here, and it is not a place to talk." ”

"Okay, it's not convenient to talk here, so let's find a convenient place."

"Master Han, please."

"Mr. Hu, wait a minute," Han Xiufeng turned around and asked with a smile: "Brother Zhang, have you found a place to camp, and where do so many Xiangyong stay at night?" ”

"Brother Han, don't worry, everything is ready."

"This is annoying Brother Zhang."

"It's not a matter of work, not a matter of labor."

It's not okay to have some people under him this year, and Zhang Guangcheng is really a little excited when he thinks that he will soon be able to take over these villagers who are training. Li Changjing is the same, and he has even made up his mind to ask for half of it. Han Xiufeng didn't care what they thought, he arched his hand again, and walked towards the Li Cai Hall with Master Hu.

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