Seeing that Liang Liu rushed down the wheat field with more than 200 brothers and ran north, the people on the official road suddenly realized that the bandits were going to Yangzhou, and if they ran east along the official road, they would not be able to escape, so they also left the official road and ran north. In order to stay away from the bandits, I lost everything I could lose.

There were fewer and fewer people on the official road, and a dozen coolies such as Jiang Zhigui, who had not kept up with the group, suddenly became particularly conspicuous, holding oxtail knives or carrying spears and shotguns, panting and running eastward, while looking anxiously around.

"Here, I'm here!" Seeing that they had finally caught up, Liang Jiu finally breathed a sigh of relief, hurriedly took a few brothers to meet them, took their weapons, and complained while taking them to Liang Liu: "Why are you running and running and getting lost, and you don't look at the dots!" ”

"Brother Jiu, we looked, there were too many people just now, and we couldn't see you in a blink of an eye."

"Give me the shotgun, I can carry it."

"Okay, take it well, this time you have to keep up closely, you can't run away again."

Everyone rushed down the wheat field to find Liang Liu and the others, thinking that the bandits were still far away, Liang Liu asked the people who had just caught up to sit down and rest for a while, and then pulled Liang Jiu aside: "Old Jiu, I stopped someone who recognized the way, and let him show you the way later." ”

Liang Jiu looked back and found that there was a man he hadn't seen before sitting on the ridge, and then thought of what Liang Jiu said, and subconsciously asked: "Lead the way for us, sixth brother, aren't you leaving?" ”

Liang Liuyao looked in the direction of Yizhen, clenched his fists and said, "Master Han sent us to Yizhen, first, to let us collect the weapons of the Qi Battalion and the Qingshan Battalion, and second, to let us inquire about the news of the bandits." We have gathered some weapons, but we don't know how many soldiers and horses the bandits had, what kind of weapons they have, and how the battle will be fought, but we only take a look from a distance outside the city, and we only know that they are all wearing red turbans. ”

Liang Jiu didn't worry that Liang Liu went to investigate alone, and said with a bitter face: "Sixth brother, the defenders of Yizhen ran away without fighting at all, the bandits occupied Yizhen City without even moving their knives and guns, and those soldiers in the Qi Battalion and the Qingshan Battalion ran away without even seeing the shadow of the bandits, Yangzhou is estimated to be about the same, what can you find out if you stay?" ”

"Those green battalion soldiers in the Odd Battalion, Qingshan Battalion and Yizhen City are greedy for life and afraid of death, but there are also those who are not afraid of death. Didn't Master Wang say before he came, the deputy general of the Yangzhou battalion and a governor of the Yun Division gathered hundreds of people to fortify in the west of Yangzhou City, intending to intercept the bandits at the Changchun Bridge. ”

"There are only a few hundred of them, and there are twenty or thirty thousand bandits, so they will definitely not be able to stop them!"

"If you can't stop it, you have to go and see, if you don't see how the bandits are fighting, if Master Han asks how we will respond, even if Master Han doesn't ask, he doesn't know anything about the bandits, how will we fight the bandits in the future?"

The next step is definitely to do with the bandits, but you can't just look at the darkness and don't know the depth of the bandits...... The more Liang Jiu thought about it, the more he felt that Liang Liu's words were reasonable, and he was not worried that Liang Liu would go alone, so he simply gritted his teeth: "Sixth brother, the brothers were all brought out by you, you have to take the brothers back, leave the matter of inquiry to me, and I will go to Changchun Bridge." ”

"You're going?"

"What's wrong with me, I'm better than you in terms of skills, and I can run faster than you." Afraid that Liang Liu would not agree, Liang Jiu said again: "When we came, we passed the Changchun Bridge, and there is the Slender West Lake, you know my water nature, and I jumped into the lake if I couldn't run away." ”

Thinking that Liang Jiu's skills and water nature were indeed good, Liang Liu groaned: "Okay, I'll take the brothers to Wanfu Bridge first, and you go to Changchun Bridge to investigate, but you have to be careful." ”

"Don't worry, I'm going to investigate, not to fight, it's okay to hide away."

"Don't be careless, thieves are not good at stubble."

"You know, I won't be careless."

The two brothers discussed and immediately beckoned the brothers sitting in the wheat field to set off on their journey.

For fear that someone would run away again, Liang Liu explained again, so that the military chiefs and even the chiefs who had been promoted by the public in the past few days were optimistic about their own people, Liang Liu handed over the shotgun to a coolie, and only brought five catties of dry food and an oxtail knife and went to the empty official road alone.

The coolies didn't know what he was doing alone, and they didn't bother to ask now. Liang Liu looked at Liang Jiu's back for a while, then turned around and said, "Brothers, let's go!" ”

……

Liang Jiu was much more relaxed, seeing that the bandits were still far away, at least he couldn't look back, and he didn't have to run as wild as before, so he walked slowly along the official road, sat down and rested for a while, went to the ditch on the side of the road to drink a few sips of water when he was thirsty, and saw the packages lost by the fleeing people, and hurriedly untied them to see if there was anything valuable.

Humming a small tune as he walked, he unconsciously walked in front of a post shop.

The courtyard door was open, there was no one inside, no need to ask to know that the shop soldiers had fled for their lives after receiving the news that the bandits had killed them, Liang Jiu went to the stable behind the post shop to take a look, and saw that there was only forage and no horses, and he couldn't help but be a little disappointed, and was about to continue his journey, when he suddenly found that there was movement behind the haystack on the side of the stable.

"Who, come out!"

"Don't don't, we're on the run, we're not thieves." Seeing that Liang Jiu pulled out a knife and was about to stick it into the haystack, three men dressed like Hanako hurriedly came out.

Liang Jiu stared at them and asked, "Who are you and why are you hiding here?" ”

"We escaped from Jiangning, and we couldn't walk anymore when we got here, so we hid in the grass and rested for a while."

"Jiang Ning escaped, you think I didn't go to Jiangning, Jiang Ning people don't speak with this accent."

"The conscience of heaven and earth, I am really from Jiangning!" A short, thin man hurriedly said.

Liang Jiu, a person from all over the world, had seen a lot on Taiba, and when he heard that the short man was indeed a Jiangning accent, he pointed a knife at the older one and asked, "What about you, where are you from?" ”

"Little brother, I'm from Hubei."

"Why did the Hubei people come to Yangzhou, and pretend to be Jiangning people, and tell me honestly, are you a spy of the bandits!"

"Little brother, I'm a scholar, how can I be the news of a bandit!" The older man dusted off the straw on his body and said hatefully: "I am not only a scholar, but also famous, I am not with the bandits, how can I be the work of the bandits." ”

"Brother, I can vouch for this gentleman that he is really not a spy of the bandits."

"How do you vouch?"

"The two of us escaped from the city with Mr. Zhou, and we fled here from Jiangning together."

Thinking that Master Han had said before that as long as a stranger from Liangguang and Huguang could be a spy of the bandits, Liang Jiu asked coldly: "Isn't it a spy who escaped from Jiangning together?" ”

The short man said eagerly: "Little brother, Mr. Zhou used to be an errand boy in the Yamen of the Taiwan Empire, and he also guarded the city with Lu Zhitai, do you think he will be a spy of the bandits." ”

"Are you from the yamen?" Liang Jiu stared at the older man and asked.

"Exactly, little brother, you're also on an errand, right?"

"So what?"

"Which yamen are you working in?" The older one asked.

Liang Jiu said without hesitation: "I am the general manager of the Yongying camp in Taizhou Township, and I listen to it under the command of Master Han of the state. ”

The military attache of Taizhou, although he had never heard of a township camp in Taizhou, but when he heard that Zhou Xingyuan of Taizhou suddenly breathed a sigh of relief, he couldn't help but smile and asked: "Little brother, since you are from Taizhou, do you recognize Master Han Inspector?" ”

"I recognize it, but Master Han is not inspecting, and now he is the master of our Taizhou!"

"He only went to Taizhou to take office a few years ago, and now he is the same state?"

"Do you recognize our Master Han?"

"Not only do I know him, but I'm also friends with your master!" Finally met someone who didn't treat himself as a liar or even a spy, and the one he met was Han Xiufeng's subordinate, Zhou Xingyuan was overjoyed, and actually walked up and touched Liang Jiu's bag of dry food, and asked eagerly: "Little brother, do you have anything to eat, master, I'm dying of hunger." ”

Liang Jiu thought that he recognized Master Han, so his words should not be false, and hurriedly took off the bag containing dry food: "Yes, there are rice crackers." ”

"Bring it," Zhou Xingyuan snatched the rice crackers, handed over two pieces of the kid who escaped with Jiang Ning, and then devoured the rice crackers.

Seeing his reincarnation as a starving ghost, Liang Jiu was afraid that he would be choked to death before he starved to death, so he hurriedly went to the post shop to find a scoop of water.

"Thank you," Zhou Xingyuan gulped a few big sips, and then wiped his mouth and said: "Little brother, what is your surname, when I see Master Han, I must help you say a few kind words, so that Master Han can reward you well." ”

"Mr. Zhou, what about us?"

"Yes, Mr. Zhou, we said yes when we went out of the city!"

"You are all rewarded, I, Zhou Xingyuan, promised you that there will only be more, not less."

Liang Jiu saw that the man in front of him was probably a big official, and the short man with a mole on his face was escorting him all the way, and then thinking of what he just said, he suddenly felt a little funny, thinking that I, Liang Jiu, was originally a personal entourage of Master Han, so I don't need you to say good words.

Zhou Xingyuan didn't know how much Han Xiufeng valued Liang Jiu, he just wanted to go to Taizhou earlier to join Han Xiufeng, who was now the only one who could take him in, put down the cake and asked, "Little brother, is there any news of the bandits?" ”

"Yes."

"Tell me about it."

"The bandits have occupied Yizhen, and they are on their way to Yangzhou, which should not be far from here."

"Why didn't you say it earlier!" Zhou Xingyuan didn't want to die in this poor mountainous area, so he stuffed the remaining half of the rice cracker into his arms, then leaned over and took out a small package from the haystack, turned around and said, "Hurry up, you can't stay here for a long time." ”

"Master Zhou, where are you going?" Liang Jiu asked curiously.

"Go find you Master Han, I'm here to find you Master Han!"

"Then I can only accompany you to Changchun Bridge, when you get to Changchun Bridge, you can go to Wanfu Bridge by yourself, and when you get to Wanfu Bridge, you can see our Master Han."

"Master, where do I know any Wanfuqiao, you send me to find your master, I have something important to discuss with your master."

"No, I have an errand."

"Don't have a tendon, sending the master to see you Master Han is a serious errand, and other things are put aside!"

"Master Zhou, it's really not good, I can't send you to Wanfu Bridge, you better go by yourself."

Zhou Xingyuan was anxious, raised the small package and stared at Liang Jiudao: "Do you know what is in this, I will scare you to death if I say it!" Master, I worked so hard to escape from Jiangning, just to give you the things here, Master Han, I can't delay for a moment, if it is delayed, if it falls into the hands of thieves, you kid can't afford it! ”