In the past night, the Liaojiagou River and the east bank were like a big construction site, and Li Changjing, with the help of the squires on both sides of the river, gathered more than 3,000 young people, not only demolished the Wanfu Bridge, which was like a long dragon, overnight to only 300 bridge piles, but also helped to drag all the civilian boats that were collected yesterday and the wood dragged by Li Changjing and his people from the Fairy Temple to the shore, and surrounded a "wooden city" at the bridgehead, which was busy reinforcing at this time.

A few days ago, Liang Liu, who went to the Qibing Camp, Qingshan Camp, and Yizhen to collect weapons, and Ji Daji, a second-class soldier who went to the north of Yangzhou City to collect weapons, also returned, and as soon as they returned, they were sent to Jiaojiazhuang, two miles north of the bridge, and asked them to hurry up and practice.

Han Xiufeng, who slept on the boat for a night, washed up, ate two bowls of porridge boiled with a big head, changed into official clothes and climbed ashore. Zhang Guangcheng and Li Changjing greeted them, and the two stayed up all night, staring at bloodshot eyes and saying, "Brother Han, if only the bandits could give us another day." ”

After a glance at the busy work, the camp has a little appearance.

Han Xiufeng patted the arms of the two, turned to look at the young men who were shouting the number to drive piles to the ground to fix the wooden boat, and then looked at the dozen or so bandits who were locked in the station cage to show the public, and pretended to be relaxed and said: "Yangzhou City is so big, it won't be searched in a day or two, even if the bandits come today, there won't be too many people." ”

"I hope so." Zhang Guangsheng nodded slightly.

Han Xiufeng was about to let the two of them hurry to rest, and suddenly found that one or two flagpoles were planted in the center of the camp, and two big flags were fluttering on the top of the pole, one was "Han" and the other was "Tai", and three white cloth tents were set up under the flagpoles.

Li Changjing followed his gaze and explained: "If you don't fight the honor guard, you can't serve the public." ”

"For the squires?" Han Xiufeng asked subconsciously.

"There are also nearby township covenants and chiefs." Li Changjing pointed to the people who were helping to dig trenches, and sighed lightly: "Both the squires and the common people are inseparable from their homeland, and when we did not play the banner, they had no master, and they were reluctant to leave and did not know where to go. ”

At the mention of this, Zhang Guangcheng couldn't help but point to the few scholars in the north who were helping to build the arrow tower with a group of young people: "Those people are all students from Daqiao Town, not only brought all the food from home, but also summoned more than 20 young people to help us defend the city." ”

Han Xiufeng muttered: "The people's hearts are still on our side. ”

Zhang Guangcheng smiled bitterly: "This is natural, otherwise how could Zhang Yiguo raise grain and grass and recruit so many villagers." It's a pity that those squires and the people are not people, and when they meet someone who can't do anything, they will only talk on paper. I lost so much money and food in vain, and I lost so many lives in vain. ”

"Although Zhang Yiguo is not able to measure himself, he is better than those who are greedy for life and afraid of death." Han Xiufeng walked to the head of the bridge, and was about to ask when the bridge piles would be pulled out, when Zhou Xingyuan ran over from the thatched hut by the river.

"Brother Zhou, how was your rest last night?"

"I slept for an hour." Zhou Xingyuan didn't care about being polite, nodded slightly to Zhang Guangcheng and Li Changjing, and said hello, and then talked about the thieves he found out this night: "Three, several bandit leaders from Jiangning who came to Yangzhou have figured it out, one is called Lin Fengxiang, one is called Luo Xuan, one is called Li Kaifang, and the other is Zeng Lichang, these four people are all old thieves from Guangxi, and they are all difficult to deal with." ”

Li Changjing asked curiously: "Master Zhou, how did you find out about this news?" ”

"There must be brave men under the heavy reward, not to mention that I just sent people to investigate the people who escaped outside Yangzhou City, and did not let them venture into the city. But now the gates are closed, and they can't get into the city if they want to. Zhou Xingyuan took out a notice from his arms, and continued: "This is the Anmin notice posted by the bandits on the road from Yizhen to Yangzhou yesterday, you see, the bandits obviously plan to operate in Jiangning, and they don't plan to run around like before." ”

I don't know if I don't see it, I was surprised when I saw it, a group of rogues actually established themselves as kings in Jiangning!

What is the name of the country called "Tianping Heavenly Kingdom", the capital is Jiangning, Jiangning is renamed "Tianjing", the words on the notice are written crookedly, but the content is not simple, the head of the head is "the true mandate of heaven Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Qincha Minister Lin, Luo Wei", another line is the purpose of the order to go on the expedition, that is, "sweep away the demons", say what "the people here should abide by the power of heaven", "the people along the way do not eat pot pulp on the road", and also mentioned that in the peach blossom hermitage, "there are lawless and recalcitrant people and demons dare to fight against the heavenly soldiers", and finally ended up with a "jade burned, regret it" end... …

Zhou Xingyuan touched the corners of his mouth, and continued: "Zhu Zhanao was martyred, Zhang Yiguo escaped with his life, and retreated to the east bank of the canal with a few family members with more than 40 defeated soldiers. ”

"It's all been defeated once, and it's hard to pick a life, and he doesn't have a long memory?" Li Changjing asked with a smile and tears.

"God knows what he thinks, but it shouldn't be false to want to avenge Zhu Zhanxi." Zhou Xingyuan let out a long sigh, and then changed his words: "Zhixing, in my opinion, it is not a bad thing for him to stay on the other side, after all, our side will not be able to set up the camp until noon tomorrow at the earliest, so it is better to send someone to contact him, send him some weapons, and let him deal with the bandits on the other side." ”

Without waiting for Han Xiufeng to speak, Zhang Guangcheng frowned tightly and said: "This is a solution, but he doesn't have a long memory, we can't not have a long memory, just rely on the dozens of people under him, can he deal with the bandits?" ”

Thinking that it would really take time here, Li Changjing raised his head and said, "It's not enough to send some weapons, why don't you send some over?" ”

"Who to send?" Han Xiufeng asked in a low voice.

Li Changjing subconsciously looked back at the few Xiucai in Daqiao Town, how could Han Xiufeng not know what he was thinking, and muttered: "It's useless to send young people, if you want to send them, you have to send those who dare to fight with the bandits, otherwise you will only lose dozens of lives in vain." And even if he sends someone, he can't let him have the final say, he has to go to someone who dares to fight the bandits and can be independent. ”

"That's right, what else does the surnamed Zhang have besides daring to work hard, he knows that the soldiers will block the water and cover the earth, and he will be defeated as soon as he follows the bandits. Therefore, either you don't send someone over, or if you want to send someone, you have to send someone who can fight. ”

"Second young master, don't look at me, I'm really not good at marching and fighting."

"Zhou will only talk on paper."

As he was talking, two boats came across the street. The ferry had moved south, and the river was full of boats pulling out the bridge piles, and suddenly another boat came, and it must be his own people on board.

Han Xiufeng took the "clairvoyance" from the big head, raised it up and adjusted the focus to look at it, and then put it down and said, "Qinghuai and Zhiyong are back." ”

"It's good to come back, Brother Han, let's go down to greet you?"

"Let's go."

The three of them walked down the slope to the river, and after waiting for a while, the two boats finally reached the shore.

Seeing that there were seven or eight more grizzled men on the boat, Han Xiufeng was about to ask how the Wu family's affairs were doing, Li Zhiyong helped Wu Wenming out of the cabin, and said with a bitter face: "Master Han, we are still a step too late, Wujiazhuang was burned by bandits, and the two old men ...... The two old men were lit by the thieves! ”

"If this revenge is not avenged, I, Wu Wenming, swear not to be a person!"

"Brother Wu's Day condolences." Han Xiufeng hurriedly helped Wu Wenming up, grabbed his arm tightly and asked, "Brother Wu, what about the others in the village?" ”

"Dead, more than 400 men, women and children in my Wujiazhuang all died at the hands of bandits, and they lived on these animals who were greedy for life and afraid of death." The more Wu Wenming thought about it, the more angry he became, and he reached out to grab the knife of the big head, and he knew that he wanted to cut down the few Wu family disciples who came with him.

"Brother Wu is angry," Li Zhiyong hurriedly stopped, grabbed him with Han Xiufeng and said: "Brother Wu, people can't be resurrected after death, what's the use of cutting them down now, it's better to let them make meritorious contributions to the two old men and avenge the more than 400 people in Wujiazhuang!" ”

"yes, spare them their lives first."

The children of the Wu family were ashamed and wanted to throw themselves into the river immediately, but when they thought of their wives and children who died at the hands of the bandits, they suddenly knelt down on the river bank, and the eldest one slapped himself while pleading with tears in his eyes: "Sixth master, I should die, I'm sorry for my ancestors and ancestors, I have no face to live in this world!" Please spare my life first, let me pull some backs! ”

"Do you hear it, they know it's wrong." Han Xiufeng motioned to the big head to take away the few Wu family disciples who survived, patted him on the arm and persuaded: "Brother Wu, there are enough dead people in the Wu family, let's spare their lives first." ”

"Blame me, blame me, if I had gone back earlier, if I had tied up the two ancestors to Taizhou at that time, how could such a thing happen......"

"It's too late to say this, the top priority is to avenge the two ancestors." Han Xiufeng and Zhou Xingyuan glanced at each other, and said bluntly: "The bandits have already occupied Yangzhou, if nothing else, they will soon send troops out to grab food." The camp on our side has not yet been set up, and if Brother Wu is willing, I want to bother Brother Wu to take a group of villagers to the other side to deal with the bandits. ”

Wu Wenming, who was like a knife, didn't expect Han Xiufeng to make such a request as soon as he came back, and he didn't know whether to agree or not, Han Xiufeng said again: "This is not a good errand, and you can't come back if you are not careful." If it weren't for the last resort, I, Han Xiufeng, would not have opened this mouth if I was killed. ”

Thinking that Zhang Yiguo would not necessarily obey others, but he would definitely obey Wu Wenming's words, Zhang Guangcheng took over the conversation: "You don't have to fight with the bandits, just shoot a cold gun, intercept and kill a few lone people, and burn the grain and grass that the bandits have grabbed if there is a chance." All in all, it is harassment, which makes it difficult for them to look at the end of the day, so that they cannot figure out the reality of the East Coast for a while. ”

"I'll go!" Wu Wenming was full of anger, he had long wanted to fight with the bandits, and said hatefully: "Everyone, just now those greedy beasts who are afraid of life and fear of death said that they have no face to live, and more than 400 people from the top and bottom of the two ancestors and my Wujiazhuang died tragically in the hands of the bandits, and I, Wu Wenming, have no face to live!" ”

"Brother Wu, you can't die, you have to give me a good life." Han Xiufeng took a deep breath and continued: "Zhang Yiguo, the salt governor I mentioned to you, is on the other side, and he has dozens of Xiangyong under him, so you can bring someone over to join him." Let him stop asserting himself and stop fighting with the bandits. ”