Xun Liu died, and Han Xiufeng was not surprised at all. Xun Liu actually died in the place where he raped the three girls of the Ji family, which Han Xiufeng was very surprised and had a headache.

How can there be such a coincidence in the world, if it is really sued by someone with ill intentions to the prefect's yamen and even the Huaiyang Provincial Bureau, it will be very troublesome. However, the matter can only be admitted at this point, Shengtang asked the ins and outs of the matter, and asked Wang Jiansheng and Yu Jiansheng to make dozens of records for Chu Chenggui and other soap Li archers and the people of Jijiazhuang who came to the yamen to witness, together with the official document that Xun Liu's life was taken away by the unjust souls of the three girls of the Ji family, and let Wang Ruhai send it to the state government.

Fortunately, Master Zhang was so sick that he couldn't get out of bed, and it was impossible to force him to come to Hai'an for an autopsy, Zhang Guangcheng simply helped his father to be a master, neither reported to the government nor inquired carefully, so he replied with a letter of "ghosts and gods, you can not believe it, but you must not be disrespectful", "good will be rewarded, evil will be rewarded".

I didn't say what to do, nor did I say what I shouldn't do.

Confused officials handled the confused case, Han Xiufeng also followed the "rare confusion", and simply asked Chu Chenggui to find a place to bury Xun Liu's body, and then inspected the Zhuang Town under the jurisdiction of the sub-government as if nothing had happened.

The eldest lord has the eldest lord's guard of honor when he goes out on patrol, and Han Xiufeng is neither a grand lord nor has he thought about working to mobilize the public, but either he doesn't go out, and once he goes out, the pomp and circumstance will be small.

Chu Chenggui and Jiang Huai stood at the bow of the boat holding wooden signs of "quiet" and "avoidance", accompanied by Dean Gu and Wang Jiansheng, who were most familiar with the place, and Zhang Shiheng waited on the side. Yu Youfu and the newly recruited green battalion soldiers Lu Daming, Liang Wu, and Liang Jiu were guarding the bow and stern of the boat respectively, and if Pan Er and Datou also followed, the boat really couldn't sit down.

There are priorities, and inspections should also be prioritized.

From east to west, first Hujiaji, the squire, the township covenant, Baozheng, Jiachang and the shopkeepers who had done the most in the market were all waiting by the river, Han Xiufeng walked around the market under the crowd of people, asked about some local conditions, and was invited by the squire to eat and drink at home.

In the afternoon, I went to Majiaqiao and Dengjiaqiao, which are next to Hujiaji, and stayed overnight in a big family in Dengjiaqiao......

Observe the people's feelings all the way, and meet the elderly and children smiling and asking for warmth. No matter whose house you spend the night, you will let Zhang Shiheng leave a small gift when you leave.

The inspection grade is not high, but it is the same official, as long as it is an official, most of them don't go out much, and they usually stay in the yamen. The inspection master deigned to come, and the rich and big families in the countryside really felt that they were shining, not to mention that Han Xiufeng was not an ordinary inspection master, but a good man who was honest and honest and made decisions for the people. In their opinion, although it costs some money to take over the inspection master, it is worth the money!

White rice is a big town, and you spend the longest time in white rice.

Jiangyan is a big town, but it has been snatched away by Wu Yimu, Han Xiufeng is too lazy to worry about him, and he turns back when he patrols to the nearest village to Jiangyan, so he patrols from the sixth day of the first month to the fourteenth day of the first month before returning to the ya.

Unexpectedly, as soon as he asked the accompanying Soap Li archers to carry the gifts they received along the way into the yamen, Su Jueming actually came back from Taizhou, and when he saw Han Xiufeng, he said eagerly: "Master Han, it's not good, something is wrong!" ”

"Don't worry, say it slowly, what's wrong?" Han Xiufeng asked subconsciously.

Su Jueming felt that it was inappropriate to say it in front of Chu Chenggui and other soap archers, and he didn't care about any dignity and humility, so he grabbed Han Xiufeng's arm in front of everyone, pulled Han Xiufeng into the signing room on the left side of the second hall, closed the door with his hand, wiped the sweat on his forehead, and then turned around and said: "Master Han, Wuhan has fallen, and the Taiping bandits have captured Wuchang City!" ”

"Ahh Han Xiufeng couldn't believe his ears.

"I didn't believe it at first, and I went to Yangzhou on a special trip, I didn't know if I inquired, I was shocked when I inquired, I was worried that I couldn't remember, I wrote it all down." Su Jueming took out a booklet from his bosom that was used for both keeping notes and keeping accounts, and said while reading: "On the seventh day of November last year, the Taiping bandits entered Hubei by land and water, and captured Puqi on the ninth day of the lunar month by land, and went north through Xianning. ”

The bandit leader Hong Xiuquan led the waterway army to the Wuhan River on the 12th, and ordered his subordinates Huang Yukun, Lin Fengxiang and other leaders to capture Hanyang, and all the more than 800 defenders of the imperial court were killed. On the 19th, Hankou was captured, and the large and small ships along the Hanyang River and the Hankou River were all controlled by the Taiping bandits, and the combat strength of the bandit sailors increased greatly. ”

Su Jueming looked up at Han Xiufeng, and then read: "Wuchang was besieged, and the minister of the Qin Mission, Xiang Rong, led more than 16,000 elite soldiers to rescue him. It's a pity that the Taiping bandits are strong, not only have troops to attack the city, but also divide troops to build earth walls in the area of Changhongqiao in the south of the city, build strong bases to intercept, attack the adults many times, and attack the nearest one is only three miles away from Wuchang City, but it has never been able to connect with the defenders trapped in the city.

On 14 November, the land bandits tied their boats with iron cables overnight and erected two pontoon bridges on the river, one from Hanyang Parrot Island to Wuchang Baishazhou, and the other from Hanyang Nan'anzui to Wuchang Embankment. Also build a fort under the Guanhan Tower in the north of the city, and set up barracks all over the river outside the city.

On November 15, Luo Xuan, the vanguard of the Taiping bandits, led four to five thousand troops to attack the city with ladders, and the defenders in the city counterattacked with water dragons, rolling logs, and rocks, and repelled them. On the night of November 26, the Taiping bandits attacked the city again in the rain, but were repulsed by the defenders...... On the fourth day of the lunar month last year, Wuchang, which had held for so many days, was still captured by Taiping bandits, and the governor of Hubei, Chang Daren, was martyred with his family, and Chang Daren was martyred at the same time as the Admiral Shuangfu, the chief soldier Wang Jinxiu, Chang Lu, Feng Peiyuan, the political envoy Liang Xingyuan, the envoy Ruiyuan, the Taoist Wang Shoutong, Wang Donghuai, Lin Enxi and other adults. ”

I always thought that although the Taiping bandits were not so easy to exterminate, they were just a group of bandits who were chased and suppressed by the official army, but I never thought that the more the Taiping bandits fled, the more soldiers and horses there were, and even Wuchang, Hanyang and Hankou were captured by them.

I thought that since the bandits could capture Wuchang, if they could go up the river, they would be able to capture Ba County, Anqing, the capital of Anhui Province, and then Wuhu and Jiangning......

The more Han Xiufeng thought about it, the more frightened he became, and he didn't care about the life or death of Qian Junchen, who had been a political secretary in Hubei, so he grabbed Su Jueming's arm and asked eagerly: "Now, do you know where the Taiping bandits are now?" ”

"Master Han, what I just said was found from the prefect's yamen, and there will be no falsehood. As for where the Taiping bandits had arrived at this time, the prefect's yamen did not know, only the gossip from the salt merchants. ”

"Gossip is gossip, whether it's true or not, it's better than not knowing anything."

"I heard from the families of those big salt merchants that they had a fellow villager who would not die, and on the second day of the first lunar month, the angel bought a thief with silver and got out of Wuchang City. All the way to the twelfth day of the first month, that is, the day before yesterday, I arrived in Yangzhou. The person who fled back said that the Taiping bandits did not seem to plan to operate in Wuchang, and the brigade of soldiers and horses was going downstream, Anqing was in danger, and Jiangning was also in danger! ”

Su Jueming put down the small ledger and said with a bitter face: "Master Han, do you know why Zhang Daring didn't return to Hai'an today?" ”

"Why?"

"I heard that Jiangning has no danger to defend, and the Lord of Taiwan plans to lead the troops to Anhui to intercept it, but Jiangning does not have many soldiers and horses, so he strictly ordered Langshan and other towns to send a battalion of men and horses, and quickly go to Jiangning to help. What the hell is the green camp is like that others don't know you know, and you can't get it together for a while. The adults of the Taizhou garrison camp saw that Zhang Daring had just seized a batch of illegal salt with you, and killed and captured so many private tyrants on the spot, and felt that Zhang Daring was a fierce general, so he let him and his subordinates leave all the flood soldiers behind, and let him go to Jiangning when he had gathered a battalion of men. ”

Han Xiufeng asked with a smile: "So he rushed to Taizhou to ask for merit and rewards, please make trouble?" ”

"Are the Taiping bandits so easy to deal with, it's really a big trouble!" Su Jueming thought about it and said: "There are a lot of soldiers on the roster of the garrison battalion, but in the event of a war, there are not a few soldiers at all. ”