Seeing off Wu Quan, who insisted on returning to the city, and sending away the second devil surnamed Lin, Han Xiufeng walked into the courtyard only to find that Lu Daming, Liang Liu, and Chen Hu not only came to the wharf inn outside the small east gate, but also packed their luggage, and even Yu Sangu and Ren Yuer packed their luggage and waited for him to come back.

The two bookkeepers and four fellows of the Shanghai branch of "Rishengchang" guarded the door of the west wing, which was full of silver money and account books, and they didn't need to ask what they were worried about.

The atmosphere was tense, as if a catastrophe was coming.

Han Xiufeng walked to the front of the hall, touched his nose, turned around and smiled: "Everyone, Du San, you should have all seen it, when he went to Hai'an to find me for the first time, he said how bumpy the road was when he went to Guangxi to take office, and how bad his luck was. He also said that he was evil, he ran from Guangxi to Hunan, and the bandits chased him all the way from Guangxi to Hunan. ”

Pan Er didn't expect Han Xiufeng to say this, and was thinking about whether to accompany him to laugh and laugh, Han Xiufeng said again: "Speaking of which, I am also evil, and I finally made up for the lack of being an official, and I went to Jiangning to meet the Taiwan system first, but Jiangning fell within a few days, and the land system was martyred." On the way to Hai'an, he passed through Yizhen and went to meet the uncle of Lord Wu, the governor of Huguang, and Yizhen fell a few days later. Passing through Yangzhou, Yangzhou fell. Now that I've come to Shanghai on an errand, Shanghai is not very peaceful, you say that I don't look like a broom star, and I am unlucky wherever I go. ”

"Fourth master, where are you talking about this, you have been an official in Taizhou for so long, and you have been in Hai'an for so long, but Taizhou has not fallen, and Hai'an has not!" Chen Hu couldn't help but laugh.

"Yes, Fourth Master, you are not a broom star, you are a lucky star! If it weren't for you, Taizhou would have fallen long ago, and maybe even Hai'an wouldn't have been able to keep it. ”

"What a lucky star, the fourth master is a deputy general!"

"Yes, yes, fourth master, you are the deputy general!"

The brothers of the old Taiyong battalion smiled one by one, Han Xiufeng's goal was achieved, he coughed dryly twice, and then said: "Brothers, whether I, Han Xiufeng, am a lucky star or a deputy general, but I am definitely not a defeated general." I've never lost a battle, and I've never fought a battle for which I'm not prepared. ”

"Fourth master, what the hell are you doing, you say, we all listen to you!" Lu Daming asked eagerly.

Liang Liu couldn't help but say: "Yes, Fourth Master, as long as you are here, we have nothing to fear!" ”

Pan Er thought that Han Xiufeng planned to take these more than 30 brothers into the city to quell the chaos, and secretly thought that you had fought two battles together with the investigation of smuggled salt, but he didn't know how to persuade Han Xiufeng not to act impulsively, Han Xiufeng's words changed: "We were guarding Wanfu Bridge at the time, and you all thought it was a battle against the water." Actually, no, we actually have a way out, and the reason why we didn't tell you at that time was because we were worried about shaking the morale of the army. I didn't say it later, because there was no need to say it again, after all, the battle had been won, and it was not good to say it and spread it. ”

"Fourth master, do we have a way out at that time?" Lu Daming was confused, and subconsciously looked back at Liang Liu and the other old brothers.

"Yes." Han Xiufeng smiled and explained: "At first glance, we seemed to be very dangerous, the west is a few hundred zhang wide, the deepest is dozens of zhang Liaojiagou, the south and east are full of bandits, as long as the bandits are willing, the north can also be encircled, it can be said that it is surrounded on all sides, so that we can fly with wings."

But they are so surrounded on the shore, how can they be surrounded on the river? Ladies and gentlemen, you should remember that before the bandits attacked our camp, I had you drive several rows of piles into the river that had been dismantled, and those rows of piles were very useful, not only to keep the bandits' boats from docking, but also to separate a waterway in the river that we could use to retreat as a last resort. ”

Thinking that those rows of piles were dozens of steps away from the west wall of the camp, and there were dozens of civilian boats in the camp, Lu Daming couldn't help but blurt out: "If you can't hold it, put the boat down, let's withdraw from the river!" To the south is the Fairy Temple, which is full of bandits, and to the north into Shao Bo Lake, not only are there no bandits, even if there are such a big lake, they can't surround us! ”

"I just know," Han Xiufeng smiled, and then raised his arm and pointed to the east: "Compared to guarding Liaojiagou at that time, our current situation is really not that dangerous. One is that those guilds in the city are not long-haired, it's not that I look down on them, they are really a rabble; Second, few people know about our coming to Shanghai, and they don't know that we are here, so how can they attack our small courtyard in the countryside; If they really come here, we can cross the river and take refuge on the east bank. I believe that they dare to rebel, because they have to rebel if they don't rebel now, but I don't believe they dare to provoke foreigners. ”

"It's true, the government doesn't know what we're here about, how can those parties know!" The big head couldn't help but laugh.

Pan Er asked with a bitter face: "But what if you are trapped here?" ”

"There will always be a way, it's a big deal to spend the money and let the second devil surnamed Lin help us hire a foreigner's boat and take the foreigner's boat away." Han Xiufeng paused, and then said, "Besides, we came here to buy a gun, how can we go back if we don't buy a gun?" No matter what the chaos in the county has to do with us, we don't want to go to the county seat to buy, but to buy from foreigners. ”

Pan Er reacted and couldn't help laughing: "Okay, then don't leave first, stay and see the situation first." ”

"Be careful to sail the 10,000-year-old ship, we can't help but take some precautions," Han Xiufeng weighed it, raised his head and said: "Da Ming, Lao Liu, and Chen Hu listen to the order, from now on, you will each take six people to take turns to go outside to guard, don't wear a gown, don't bring weapons, don't go too far, and hurry back to report if you find that something is wrong." ”

"Yes!"

"Big head, you and the rest of the brothers are on guard in the courtyard. If there is chaos in the city, there will be chaos outside the city, and it is difficult to say whether there will be a small night to take advantage of the fire to rob. You have guarded the house for me, if anyone dares to take advantage of the fire to rob, they will take it all, and if they dare to resist stubbornly, they will be killed! ”

"Fourth brother, don't worry, no one wants to take advantage of the fire to rob me with me!"

"Guangsheng, you and Jueming hurry up to the neighborhood to see if there are any boats, if there are two, hire two, and if the boatman is unwilling, pay for them. In short, two boats must be brought back before dark. ”

It's still a little far from here to the small stone bridge, how can it be convenient to go to the east coast to cross the river directly from the boat, Zhang Guangsheng reacted, and hurriedly arched his hand: "Yes, let's go!" ”

Han Xiufeng thought about it and turned around and said, "Xiao Wuzi, I won't just ask about your ticket number." I won't go into the houses on the west side, and neither will anyone else, and if you lose your money and books, you won't have to be cleaned up by your host, and your uncle won't spare you. ”

"You know, I'll take care of the money and the books." Xiao Wuzi hurriedly said.

"That's it, put down the packed luggage first, go to duty when you should be on duty, and hurry up to cook if you should cook."

……

There is going to be chaos in the city of Shanghai, it is said that Jiading is already in chaos, how can Yu Sangu be in the mood to cook, she pulled Ren Yuer to chase her to the study, and asked with tears in her eyes: "Fourth master, I just heard Mr. Wu say that the master of Jiading County was beaten away by thieves, is there any news of my master, do you say he will be fine?" ”

"Fourth brother, you already knew such a big thing, why did you hide it from us." Ren Yu'er couldn't help but ask.

Han Xiufeng had no choice but to explain with a smile: "Isn't this afraid that you will be worried, although Jiading is chaotic, Dean Ren will be fine." The reason why I dare to conclude that he will be fine is because those ruffians in Jiading and those villagers who were lured by the ruffians to go to the county seat to make trouble have not yet had the courage to raise the flag and rebel. ”

"The county magistrate has been beaten away, and the county government has been smashed, isn't this a rebellion?" Ren Yu'er said eagerly.

"This thing is not as terrible as you think, let's put it this way, Jiading is in chaos, the former magistrate is hard to escape the blame, he levied grain and consumed, and even the taxes that have been exempted by the imperial court have to be collected, and even because he can't collect taxes, he is more responsible for Bao Zhengjia, and it is said that he also beat several boards of government officials, which made people angry.

The people are already poor and can't even eat, so naturally they won't honestly pay money and food, even if they are willing to pay. Moreover, the matter of requisitioning grain and increasing consumption also involves the gentry, and it is conceivable that those gentry not only look on coldly and even secretly contribute to the trouble, and those ruffians who are bewitched and do not want to pay money and grain will follow. ”

Han Xiufeng sat down and continued: "I guess those people originally just wanted to ask for an explanation, but as soon as the ruffians at the beginning started to coax together, they were involved in a daze. However, he only smashed the county government and robbed the county treasury of money and grain, but did not dare to kill the official. They didn't even kill the county magistrate, so how could they kill the school official. ”

"So my master will be fine?" Yu Sangu asked nervously.

"He is just a Confucian instructor, not a teacher, let alone a county master, and he has just taken office. He has neither power nor money, and he has never offended those ruffians, let alone offended the people, what do you think he can do? Han Xiufeng beckoned her to sit down, and said with a smile: "I happen to recognize the new Futai of Songjiang Mansion, I have already written a letter to Qiao Futai yesterday, and the shopkeeper Wu of Shengchang sent it, see if Qiao Futai can give me some thin noodles and help your master change an errand." ”

"Fourth brother, do you know the prefect of Songjiang?" Ren Yu'er was taken aback.

"I know, I met when I was in the capital, but at that time I was still Langzhong from the Ministry of Industry."

"Fourth master, I'm not afraid of your jokes, it's like this outside, it's better not to be this official," Yu Sangu glanced back at Ren Yu'er, and said with a sad face: "I knew that this would be the case, I shouldn't have let him go to Jiading at that time, how good it is to go to Dongtai to be a trainer, even if there is something in Dongtai, it is convenient to go back to Hai'an." ”

"What's the use of talking about that now?" Ren Yu'er didn't want to disturb Master Han anymore, so she pulled her arm: "Third aunt, let's go cook, there are many people today, we need to cook more." ”

"When it comes to cooking, I think of something." Han Xiufeng stood up, looked at everything that had just been arranged outside, and followed Pan Erdao: "Changsheng, if there is chaos in the city, the market outside the city will also be chaotic, you hurry up and take people to buy more rice and oil in the vicinity while the city is not in chaos, don't have money and can't buy grain and oil when the time comes." ”

The people take food as the sky, and it is absolutely impossible to eat without food, Pan Er hurriedly said: "Oh, I'll go!" ”

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