In order to wait for Fang Shimei, Han Xiufeng waited until noon before letting everyone gather Xiang Yong to board the boat and set off.

Fang Shimei's last savings and the four thousand taels of silver borrowed from the pawnshop were intercepted by Han Xiufeng, Fang Shimei was so anxious that he followed Han Xiufeng to the small boat he was on, and said with a bitter face: "Brother Han, I understand the principle that the soldiers and horses go first before the grain and grass are moved, but you have your difficulties, and I also have my difficulties, if Old Ghost Xu asks, how can I explain it to him?" ”

Han Xiufeng sat down and said, "To tell you the truth, is there anything that is difficult to explain?" ”

"It's easy to tell the truth, but I can persuade the squire to donate five thousand taels and five hundred stone rice is an errand assigned to me by Old Ghost Xu, people have to be in the silver and rice, and you just snatch it halfway, isn't this my life?"

"Brother Fang, what are you talking about?"

"Originally, you know best what kind of person Old Ghost Xu is!"

Han Xiufeng patted Fang Shimei's arm and said with a smile: "Brother Fang, don't worry, if you tell the truth like this, he will definitely not embarrass you." ”

Fang Shimei didn't dare to go to Taizhou just like this, and said angrily: "I want to go together!" ”

"I'd like to go with you, but can I go away?" Han Xiufeng scratched his head and smiled as if he had come up with a clever idea: "Brother Fang, otherwise, I'll give you a receipt." If you don't have a receipt, you are not very good at making a difference, and having a receipt is equivalent to having a certificate, and it is easy to say that there is a certificate. ”

"Is Old Ghost Xu so easy to speak, it's useless to have credentials!"

"It's useless, you can go to Taizhou with confidence, just say that I, Han Xiufeng, robbed you of your money and food like a bandit, even if Old Ghost Xu blames me, he will only blame me, and he won't blame you." Looking at Fang Shimei's sad face, Han Xiufeng said again: "You have no power to restrain the chicken, and there are few people under your command, and I not only have three regiments of village warriors, but also more than 300 young men in the corner slope field, you can't stop it if you want to!" ”

Fang Shimei asked with a smile: "Will Old Ghost Xu believe it?" ”

Han Xiufeng didn't expect that his courage would be so small, and he would be so afraid of Old Ghost Xu, so he simply grabbed the official uniform on his body and tore it hard, only to hear a "bang", and the official uniform was torn open with a hole nearly two feet long.

Fang Shimei was startled, and was about to dodge, when Han Xiufeng shouted again: "Big head, Liang Jiu, take a few people to turn around and go back to Baimi, and give the young people who transported money and grain at noon to see if they are not light or heavy, just hit them with blue noses and swollen faces." ”

"Young Master, why did you beat them?" The big head asked puzzled.

"Let me beat you," Han Xiufeng thought for a while, and shouted to the opposite boat: "Brother Wang, you go with the big head, after the beating, you can be appeased, give them some money alone, you can't let them be beaten in vain." ”

Wang Jiansheng was stunned for a moment, and immediately reacted: "Okay, let's turn around." Master Han, don't go so fast, otherwise we won't be able to catch up. ”

"I'm not in a hurry, but you have to hurry."

"Yes."

The day before yesterday, Topan Er sent the silver donated to Taizhou, and Fang Shimei today delivered the money and grain donated by the Hai'an squire, if he didn't intercept the five thousand taels of silver, it would be equivalent to not only donating but also donating.

In short, all this was decided with the pawnshop shopkeeper Xie in advance.

Old Ghost Xu took more than 5,000 taels from Hai'an, and together with Han Xiufeng's donation from Liupinzhou, a total of more than 9,000 taels. However, 5,000 taels of them were not only borrowed by Fang Shimei's pawnshop, but also Xu Lao Ghost couldn't get it, because the silver donated had to be handed over to the household department.

Wang Jiansheng had already taken back the donated silver, so he naturally wanted to do things more beautifully, and immediately asked the boatman to turn around and return to Baimi with the boat where the big head and others were sitting.

Han Xiufeng looked at Fang Shimei with a smile and said, "Brother Fang, don't go to Taizhou alone, bring the young men who Dean Gu helped to gather, and let Old Ghost Xu see how unreasonable I am." Let him know that you are not not not blocked, but you are not stopped. ”

"Bitter Meat Trick?" Fang Shimei asked, pointing to the torn official uniform.

"Aren't you worried that you won't be able to pay the errand, I can only make this decision."

"Brother Han, it's not impossible to have a bitter meat plan, but why didn't you say it earlier? I just have two official uniforms, this one was torn like this, how can I change it in the future, I would have changed my clothes earlier! ”

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, this official uniform is mine, and I'll compensate you when I turn around."

"That's what you said."

"It's just an official uniform, you wait, even if I'm busy, I have to buy a messenger to send you to Hai'an."

……

In order to wait for Wang Jiansheng and Datou to come back, Han Xiufeng simply let the fleet dock, but he didn't expect that Datou would wait for Su Jueming without waiting. Su Jueming was in a hurry to come back to report the news, and the few officials sent by Han Chen before came back one after another because of the letters, and he had no one under him, so he could only come back by himself, and as a result, he met the fleet of the Xiangyong Regiment on the river.

"Did you eat lunch, didn't eat dry food here?"

"Master Xie Han, let's get down to business first."

"It's okay, you say it first."

Su Jueming looked at Fang Shimei who was sitting on the side curiously, took the baked cake from Han Xiufeng's hand, and said eagerly: "Master Han, this time it's true, Jiangning City was captured by bandits, and Lu Zhitai is really dead!" ”

It was expected, but Han Xiufeng was still a little nervous when he heard the news with his own ears, and couldn't help asking: "Do you know how the city was attacked by bandits?" ”

"I know, when the city was broken, many soldiers and people took advantage of the chaos to escape, some fled to Guazhou, and some people fled to Yangzhou, and heard the people who escaped say that in the morning of the tenth day of the first month, the sky was not bright, and there was a heavy fog, and a loud bang was heard, and Yifengmen was blown up by bandits to open a gap of two or three zhang big.

Some of the brave soldiers defending the city were killed, and some fled for their lives. The bandits rushed into the city from the gap, and the soldiers were divided into two routes, all the way to the Drum Tower, all the way from the Jinchuan Gate to the Shence Gate, and all the way to the Jilong Mountain. Later, he divided his troops, killed all the way to the city, and went all the way to attack the Taiping Gate! ”

Su Jueming took a bite of the baked cake, and after eating it in two bites, he didn't even bother to drink water, so he continued: "I heard that the town standard soldier who escaped said that Lu Zhitai was awakened by the sound of the explosion, and he was so frightened that he lost his soul, and hurriedly took a sedan chair to inspect it, and brought more than a dozen brave men. As a result, he didn't go far before he encountered a group of bandits, Zhuang Yong and the sedan chair man were so frightened that they threw him down and ran for their lives, but the bandits did not chase the strong man and the sedan chair man, but rushed up and cut his head. ”

"And then?" Fang Shimei asked in horror.

"As soon as Lu Zhitai died, the city was in chaos, the thieves killed people when they saw them, and the momentum was like a broken bamboo, and those bannermen knew that the thieves and bandits could not get around them, so they all retreated into the city, thinking that the city was high and thick, easy to defend and difficult to attack. As a result, the bandits also captured the city in one go, and the Jiangning general Xianghou saw that the general trend had committed suicide and martyred the country. ”

"What about the other officials?"

"Jiangnan Governor Fuzhu Hong'a died in battle, because of the lack of effective suppression of bandits, the Guangxi governor Zou Minghe, who was dismissed by the emperor, was not only killed in battle, but also divided into bodies by bandits. Originally, he was in Jiangbei for disaster relief, but as soon as he received the news that the bandits were going down the river, he rushed back to Jiangning, and the Jiangning political envoy Qi Suzao Qi, the grain road Chen Kerang Chen, the Jiangning prefect Wei Hengkui, the same Zhi Chengen, the general judge Cheng Wenrong, Liu Tongying of Shangyuan Zhi County, and Zhang Xingshu of Jiangning Zhi County were all martyred! ”

Thinking that the package also had a letter of recommendation written by Duan Dazhang to Qi Suzao, Han Xiufeng couldn't believe that this was true, and couldn't help asking, "Lord Qi was martyred?" ”

"Martyred, almost all the officials in the city were killed in battle, and it is said that many gentry committed suicide with their families when they saw that they could not escape, and I don't know how many swallowed gold and threw themselves into the river."

Han Xiufeng calmed down and asked, "Did the bandits divide their troops to attack Guazhou Yangzhou?" ”

"Not yet, but soon." Su Jueming put down the half-eaten baked cakes, and said with a bitter face: "Master Han, Guazhou doesn't need bandits to attack at all, when I came back, I heard that the garrison of Guazhou and those Qianzong ran away as soon as they received the news that Jiangning City was broken." ”

"Before the bandits came, they ran away?" Fang Shimei asked in surprise.

"Ran, all gone." Su Jueming nodded helplessly, thought about it and said with a wry smile: "Even if you don't run, you can't stop the bandits, I have inquired, the horses, infantry, soldiers and guards of the Guazhou battalion add up to a total of more than 300 people, forty-seven war horses, eight bluffing boats, and one gunpowder bureau." However, this is on the roster, and there are certainly not so many in fact, not to mention that they also divide the flood land outside the city and the bridge. ”

"What about Yangzhou, what's the situation in Yangzhou now?" Han Xiufeng asked in a low voice.

"It's a mess, I heard that Yang Dianbang, the governor of Caoyun, is no longer in the city, and no one knows where he went." Su Jueming paused, and then said, "Some gentry and salt merchants think that this city can be redeemed, and they are busy raising money. There were also some gentry and salt merchants who felt that this was a tiger skin, and either went to Qingjiangpu, or dragged their families to Taizhou, and I met dozens of them on the way back. ”

Thinking that all the green battalion soldiers in the Guazhou battalion had run away, and the defenders of Yangzhou City were estimated to be fast, Han Xiufeng immediately got out of the cabin and shouted to Wang Jiansheng and the others who had just caught up: "Brother Wang, please take three boatloads of grain and Liang Jiu to Taizhou first, and go directly to Yangzhou after finding Lu Daming and Liang Liu!" ”

"What are you going to do in Yangzhou?" Wang Jiansheng was taken aback.

"Jiangning City is broken, the garrison of the Guazhou battalion, Mr. Qian, and those green battalion soldiers are all scared away, and the guards of Yangzhou City are estimated to be soon. We don't lack people now, we lack weapons, you hurry over and see if you can put some together. ”

"But I'm not familiar with Yangzhou!"

"Jueming is back, these news were sent back by Jueming, he is familiar with Yangzhou, he will go with you." Han Xiufeng thought for a while, and then said: "We still have people over there in Yangzhou, Zhang Guangcheng's cousin Zhang Guangsheng, and Ambassador Han's cousin Han Boquan are all there, you just need to bring people and food over!" ”

Although Wang Jiansheng didn't want to die, like Han Xiufeng, he felt that this was an opportunity to make a contribution, and felt that wealth should be in danger, so he couldn't help asking: "If you encounter a rout, do you want to close it?" ”

"Don't want any of the routs, just weapons, especially shotguns, guns, and cannons, as many as you want! Move quickly, and never let the weapons that the rout has lost fall into the hands of the bandits. Han Xiufeng clenched his fists tightly, and continued: "Go early and return early, as soon as the matter is done...... Just go to Wanfu Bridge. When the time comes, whether I should go back to Taizhou or somewhere else, I will send someone to deliver the letter. ”