As night fell, Daqiao Town, which had just been made to cry and scream because the Taiping soldiers smashed the temple statues and searched and killed the officials, temporarily restored its calm, and the people who did not run away hid at home and did not even dare to light oil lamps, let alone go out.

Dinner was ready, and the Taiping sergeants, who had been busy all day, didn't care about gathering the military supplies and oil collected along the way, so they gathered around their respective commanders, set up the dishes, chopsticks, and began to recite the "Heavenly Rules".

The tablets of the Wang family ancestral hall were all burned down, and now it has become the temporary residence of the commander.

In the center of the ancestral hall, a table of eight immortals is placed, two lamps are lit, three cups of tea, three bowls of dishes, and three cups of steaming white rice. Shi Shuai's deputy, Captain Yang, the supervisor sent by the Heavenly King, and several scribes (scribes) knelt on both sides like the soldiers outside, and chanted in unison: "The boy Liu Jinchang (Yang Mingguang) kneels on the ground, praying for the mercy and salvation of the Heavenly Father Emperor God, giving the holy divine wind from time to time, turning away disgust, never allowing demons to be confused, always watching, and never allowing demons to infringe." I entrust the Savior Brother Jesus to atone for his sins, and turn to God the Father and the Emperor to make it happen in heaven, and he is on earth as in heaven. Bow down to what you want, and do what you want......"

"Worship the Emperor God; Do not worship evil gods; Do not falsely invoke the name of the emperor God; The seven-day prayer is to praise the kindness of the Emperor God; filial piety to parents; Do not kill or harm others; not to commit adultery; Do not steal and rob; Do not tell lies; Don't be greedy......"

After reciting the "Book of Heaven", the teacher Liu Jinchang opened his eyes to look at everyone, got up and bowed solemnly in the direction of Jiangning, and recited "Thank God for Food": "Thank you to God the Father, I wish you to have food and clothing every day, no disasters and no difficulties, and the soul will ascend to heaven!" ”

After the recitation, everyone sat down to eat together.

Dinner was made in a hurry, and the chicken feathers were not plucked clean, but Liu Jinchang, who had been patronizing and fighting since the incident, had not lived a few good days and had not eaten a few full meals, ate with relish.

The food was silent, the three bites and two bites were quickly eaten, and as soon as the envoys cleaned up the table of the Eight Immortals, Liu Jinchang asked with a gloomy face: "Mingguang, what is the origin of those Qing demons who destroyed the bridge and burned the ship?" ”

Yang Mingguang is the pioneer of this road, personally led a brigade of brothers to fight in the front, thought that the heavenly soldiers were invincible, but never thought that this road was not smooth, and said with a bitter face: "Master Shuai, the Qing demons who destroyed the bridge and burned the ship to fight the cold guns are all from Taizhou, and it is said that the Qing demons who camped on the east bank of Liaojiagou are also from Taizhou." ”

"How many brothers died today?"

"Thirty-seven, those Qing demons have foreign guns, and they fight far away with foreign guns, and they always sneak attack across the river. They destroyed the bridge, they burned the boat, and when our brothers had finally crossed the river, they had already run away without a trace, which was very hateful. ”

"Dare to resist, who is the governor of Taizhou?" Liu Jinchang asked coldly.

"I sent someone to investigate, and it was not Zhizhou who was in charge of Taizhou, but Xu Ying, the same governor of Yangzhou. I heard that as soon as Xu Ying arrived in Taizhou, he summoned Qingzhuang to repair the city wall, and even the salt river leading to Taizhou was filled with a dam every few miles. ”

"How many Qing demons are there in Taizhou?"

"I don't know."

"Don't know?" Supervisor Li, who was standing on the side, asked coldly.

Yang Mingguang hurriedly said: "Supervisor Li, Xu Ying'er is not easy to deal with, he sent a lot of people to set up cards outside the city for interrogation, not only can the locals not only not be able to enter the city but also be locked up, none of the brothers we sent out a few days ago did not get in, but were arrested by Xu Lao'er several times." ”

In Liu Jinchang's opinion, Taizhou City can't be mixed in, which doesn't mean that it can't be attacked, and he doesn't think Xu Ying'er is difficult to deal with, so he sat down and asked: "Who is the Qing Demon Lord who camped on the east bank of Liaojiagou, and how many soldiers are in the camp?" ”

"Master Shuai, the Qing Demon Lord on the east bank will be the acting Taizhou Prefecture Tong Han Xiufeng, and the people say that he has more than 2,000 green battalion soldiers and more than 4,000 village warriors under his command. Before I came back, I went to the river to see that the camp was very strong, and the earthen walls along the river were full of flags, and under the flags were all green battalion soldiers, and they also had cannons. ”

"There are so many soldiers in Taizhou?" Liu Jinchang will be skeptical.

Yang Mingguang had never been to the other side, so he could only follow the crowd and said with a bitter face: "I heard that the people said that Xu Ying Lao'er was the chief arrester of the Qing army, and he could have managed the green camp, so he transferred Langshan Town and Cao Pacesetter Ding Quan who were stationed in Taizhou, Xinghua, Dongtai and other places. ”

Supervisor Li said firmly: "How many soldiers are there in Wolf Mountain, even if you count the Cao Biao, Xu Ying Lao'er can't muster gather so many soldiers, and nine times out of ten it is a bluff." ”

Liu Jinchang nodded, sat down and said, "Don't say that there may not be so many green battalion soldiers, even if there are, it is not a matter of worry, but those villagers have to guard against it." Mingguang, you quickly send a few brothers across the river to investigate, and you must find out the truth on the other side before dawn! ”

"Yes, I'll go."

As soon as Yang Mingguang was ordered to walk out of the ancestral hall, Liu Jinchang said sadly: "We only lost eleven brothers in the attack on Jiangning, but I didn't expect to lose thirty-seven brothers in one day in this poor mountainous area, and all of them are old brothers who have followed all the way from their hometown in Guangxi, so how can I explain to the military commander?" ”

Supervisor Lieutenant Li was also heartbroken, but as a prison soldier, he couldn't be soft-hearted, and said with a straight face: "How can there be immortals in a war, Master Shuai, the top priority is to cross the river as soon as possible, so that the blood debt of the Qing demon on the other side will be repaid!" ”

"Crossing the river, how can you cross it without a boat?" Liu Jinchang picked up the oil lamp and walked to the map, stared at the map and said: "The bridges in this area have all been destroyed by the Qing Demon, and the boats have all been burned by the Qing Demon. ”

"If you can't find it, you have to look for it, but you can't delay the fighter!" Supervisor Li walked up and pointed to the map: "Gu Shishuai captured the Fairy Temple in the afternoon, and he will lead his troops to attack Taizhou along the Yunyan River early tomorrow morning." If this clear demon on the east bank of Liaojiagou is not removed, Gu Shishuai may be cut off, not to mention the money and grain collected along the way to transfer back! ”

"Captain Li, do you think they dare to go out of the camp?" Liu Jinchang turned around and asked.

"Don't be afraid of 10,000, just in case!"

Liu Jinchang didn't think that the Qing demon stationed on the east bank of Liaojiagou would dare to go out of the camp to copy Gu Shishuai's back road, but he didn't want to be charged with ignoring the life and death of his colleagues, so he touched the corners of his mouth and said: "Let's find out the truth on the other side first, if there are really five or six thousand green battalion soldiers and village warriors on the other side, and they are guarding according to the river, our more than 2,000 people are not enough." ”

"How do you know if it's enough if you don't attack?"

"Even if you attack, you have to find the ship first."

"Well, I'll go find the boat! Just find the boat and cross the river early tomorrow morning! ”

Liu Jinchang didn't want to fight an uncertain battle, and he didn't know what to say, when the secretary suddenly walked in and bowed down and said: "The grain and grass collected by Guan Youpeng were burned by the Qing Demon, and the brothers who guarded the grain and grass died three and injured five, and the heads of the three brothers who died were cut off by the Qing Demon!" ”

"What about those demons?"

"Ran away, Guan Youpeng has already led people to chase after him."

Supervisor Li stared at the envoy and asked, "How was the grain and grass burned?" ”

The envoy hurriedly said: "There are not many demons, but there are foreign guns, and they quietly touched the river while it was dark, and put a row of guns on the brothers guarding the river, and then rushed up to cut off their heads and set them on fire." By the time Guan Youpeng and his people arrived, they had already taken a boat to the other side of the river. ”

"Qing Demon has a boat?"

"There were two small boats, and when they got to the other side, they dragged them ashore and ran away with them."

Life is not familiar, where to chase at night?

Liu Jinchang was so angry that he gritted his teeth, and Supervisor Li hurriedly asked the messenger to order each brigade to send more people to keep vigil. Just when they were overwhelmed by the sneak attack, Chen Hu and Chen Biao brothers had already taken more than 20 villagers to run to a deserted port and sat down in the reed jungle to take a breath.

Chen Hu looked back at the few bloody human heads that Wu Sizhu was carrying, and said breathlessly: "Damn, I finally cut a few heads." ”

"Brother Tiger, we killed more than these three thieves." Jiang Ming wiped his sweat and said.

"No one counts, does it work to talk nonsense?" Chen Hu said helplessly while rubbing his legs and stomach.

A villager came over and said, "Brother Tiger, Brother Biao, no matter what, the head has finally been cut, and you can go back to receive the reward if you have the head." ”

"Go back and get your reward?"

"Why don't we go back and get the reward?"

"I'm not saying don't give you a reward, but you can go back now?" Chen Hu glared at him, looked back at the direction of Daqiao Town, and said, "I didn't expect this gang of thieves to run so fast and chase so closely, so that Master Wu didn't have time to respond." Now that all the boats on Liaojiagou have returned to the east coast, and the west bank is full of bandits, not to mention that Master Han doesn't know where we are, and even if he does, he can't send a boat to pick us up. ”

"What if I can't go back?"

"What's there to be afraid of if you can't go back?" Chen Hu asked rhetorically, turned around and patted the guide's arm, and smiled proudly: "We are more familiar with the bandits in this area, and it is not so easy for the bandits to find us with Lao Xu leading the way." They are in the light, we are in the dark, and it is easier to find them. Recharge your energy here first, and then give them some color as you did just now. ”

"Brother Tiger is right, if we don't go back, we'll make a fortune here!"

"What fortune?"

"If you have a head, you can make a fortune, pick the one who is single, and run away as soon as you get it, see what the thieves can do to me!"

"That's what I mean, Four Pillars, how many bullets are there?"

Wu Sizhu was stunned for a moment, and then said with a bitter face: "Brother Tiger, there are not many left, at most I can only do two more votes." ”

"What do you do with two votes, we are killing thieves, not robbing." Chen Hu kicked him, turned around and said, "If you don't have gunpowder and lead bullet, you can use knives and spears, and you don't have to fight them hard anyway." ”

Chen Biao reminded: "Brother, we beat them for a day, they will definitely be on guard." ”

"That's right, once I was bitten by a snake, I was afraid of the well rope for ten years." Chen Hu thought for a while, and suddenly smiled: "Brothers, do you dare to go to Yangzhou with me, and dare to go with me to Yangzhou City?" ”

Chen Biao was stunned for a moment, and immediately reacted: "It's a good idea to go to Yangzhou, the bandits must not have imagined that we would dare to attack them under their noses." ”

Chen Hu smiled confidently: "Go to Yangzhou to do two votes first, and then go back to the bridge to kill them, and then go back to receive the reward from Master Han when you have saved enough 100 heads!" ”