Sixteen boats were seized during the investigation of smuggled salt, and they were all sold last night without being willing to sell them in the first month.

However, the so-called sale was only a left-handed to right-handed, a contract was set up to "sell" to a few merchants who ran boats on the Kushiba River, and then spent 1,500 taels to buy eighteen boats from Wang Jiansheng, Yu Jiansheng and other gentry, of which sixteen were large boats and two were small boats.

Coupled with the 23 large and small ships requisitioned by Han Chen, the ambassador of the Jiaoxichang Salt Division, this fleet of ships transporting Xiangyong and grain and grass to Taizhou and even Yangzhou was mighty and magnificent. The boat naturally couldn't get up quickly, so it set off from Hai'an, and then picked up the Xiangyong of the Qutang regiment, and it was already night when he rushed to Baimi.

Fortunately, Li Zhiyong, the supervisor of the White Rice Regiment who came back first, was prepared, and as soon as the fleet docked, he helped settle down with the White Rice Regiment Xiang Yong and the Township Yue and Baozheng who had been summoned earlier.

There is no barracks, so you can only go to people's homes to borrow dormitories.

The family lived in a village and laid straw on the ground, rice and pickles had been distributed, and dinner was burned by the men of each village on the stove of the people's house. Datou, Liang Jiu, and Tang Guozheng, the cousin of Han Chen, the ambassador of the Jiaoxichang Salt Division, each led a team of villagers to patrol the streets to prevent those villagers who lived in people's homes from disturbing the people.

Han Xiufeng stayed at Li Zhiyong's house again, and was about to go back to his room to rest after dinner, when the big head brought a young man who looked a little familiar.

"Master Han, I'm Zhang Wu, don't you remember?"

"Oh, come to think of it, I said it looks so familiar. Why don't you stay in Jiangyan with your young master, why are you here? ”

"My young master asked me to deliver a letter to you." Zhang Wu didn't dare to delay for a moment, took out a letter from his arms, and said eagerly: "Master Han, Old Ghost Xu is not worried about you or my young master, so he actually sent the master surnamed Hu, who is waiting for you in Jiangyan at this time." ”

"And send the overseers." Han Xiufeng muttered, took the letter and opened it.

I don't know if I don't see it, and I'm surprised when I see it. That Master Hu didn't go to Jiangyan alone, but actually brought twelve green battalion soldiers with Cao Biao, and also sent more than 100 spears and oxtail knives and other weapons, as well as twelve bird guns and four lifting guns.

Han Xiufeng put down the letter and turned around and said: "Zhiyong, this Master Hu is not good, please write a letter to Dean Gu, and ask Dean Gu to ask Fang Shimei to send the five thousand taels of silver and five hundred stone rice to Taizhou as soon as possible!" ”

"Yes, yes, that surnamed Hu is not as convenient for us as it is now, we have to cut off the food before he sees you."

"That's what I mean, hurry up and write, write and send someone to Hai'an overnight."

"Okay, I'll write it now."

As soon as Supervisor Wang's voice fell, Supervisor Yu couldn't help but ask: "Master Han, will the money and grain be intercepted tomorrow, is it too hasty, how can Old Ghost Xu explain to him if he asks?" ”

"What's not easy to explain, isn't it just settling accounts, even if it costs 1,500 taels to buy a boat, a few hundred taels to buy grain, and a few hundred taels of reward money to the young men when they start the trip, the rest is all handed over to Dean Gu, and I ask Dean Gu to help buy military rations." Han Xiufeng put the letter aside and said, "Didn't Ambassador Han send someone to deliver grain in a few days, just say that the grain was purchased for us by the Baojia Bureau." ”

"Master Han, if the grain in a few days is purchased with the help of the Baojia Bureau, what will Ambassador Han do?"

"Don't worry about Ambassador Han, in fact, Old Ghost Xu doesn't have anything to worry about. At the moment of the great enemy, he will not and dare not care, if he even cares about this, who will help him fight hard. ”

Li Zhiyong asked curiously: "Master Han, do you say that Old Ghost Xu knows that Xu Lequn has run away, and do you know that we can only raise our own grain and grass?" ”

Han Xiufeng couldn't help but smile: "He must have known it a long time ago." ”

Li Zhiyong asked: "He already knew why he didn't send someone to be a grain officer again?" ”

"He wanted to send it, but there was no one to send it." Han Xiufeng sighed lightly, got up and said: "You don't know what virtues those officials of the state government have, now he has to recruit young and strong people to defend the city, raise grain and grass, and order the towns to run group exercises, and also convene people to demolish houses and fill the river, no matter what he does, he has to send his family to keep an eye on it, otherwise he will rest assured." And he only has more than 20 family members in total, not to mention that he lacks skills, even his family members lack skills. ”

"It's not easy to think about Old Ghost Xu." Wang Jiansheng muttered.

"It's not easy, but he can't drag the big guy to die together." Han Xiufeng pointed to the letter on the table and muttered: "He sent a friend here now, and even sent a dozen shotguns, which shows that he doesn't plan to let us defend the city." ”

"He's going to let us intercept it?"

"Eight or nine is not far from ten."

In the end, those Xiangyong under his command are useless, Wang Jiansheng knows best, and suddenly said with a bitter face: "Master Han, don't talk about the young men recruited by Second Young Master Zhang and Master Li temporarily, if our more than 100 Xiangyong who have practiced for more than 20 days really run into bandits, it is estimated that they will run away before the fight starts." Old Ghost Xu asked us to intercept it, isn't this our life? ”

How could Han Xiufeng not know whether those townsmen could fight or not, and said lightly: "Run, run, we have long legs, it's a big deal to run together when the time comes." ”

"You should be able to run away, but in this case, will Old Ghost Xu embarrass you?"

"If I really get to that point, will I still worry about this?" Han Xiufeng asked rhetorically, and then said: "When the sky falls, there are tall people on top, Cao Du, Yun Si, Futai and those military attachés have all run away, not to mention Xu Laogui, the Qing army's chief arrest and acquaintance, even the imperial court will not investigate me, a petty official who took a group of young men to fight the bandits." ”

"That's right, it's time to run away with the thieves desperately, why should the court embarrass you."

"The imperial court won't embarrass me, but that Master Hu will definitely be embarrassed, and Zhang Guangcheng and Li Changjing are also anxious now, for the safety of their families, they will really go out, and they really dare to fight with the bandits."

"What then?" Li Zhiyong asked subconsciously.

Han Xiufeng was prepared, turned around and walked out of the courtyard, and said to Zhang Wu, who was waiting for the letter outside: "Zhang Wu, help me tell your young master, when I get to Jiangyan tomorrow, in addition to me and the three prison families, these more than 400 township Yong in the town will be picked by your young master." Even if I wanted it all, I wouldn't have a second word. ”

Zhang Wuyi was stunned, and then said cautiously: "Master Han, you are the battalion official, give all the township Yong to my young master, what should you do?" ”

Old Ghost Xu even sent his most trusted friend to the scene, which shows how critical the thief situation is, Han Xiufeng didn't want Zhang Guangcheng and Li Changjing, who were waiting for news in Jiangyan, to guess and guess, and said bluntly: "I am a battalion officer, but not a military attaché, I will only strategize, and I will not charge into battle." ”

"The little one will go back and tell my young master."

"Let's go, be careful on the road."

After sending Zhang Guangcheng's family away, Yu Jiansheng couldn't help but ask: "Master Han, will Second Young Master Zhang have an idea?" ”

"No, it's too late for him to be grateful." Han Xiufeng thought for a while, and then said: "Three, you gather your family members and available young men to your side early tomorrow morning, and when Lu Daming and Liang Liu come back, we will start another stove to reorganize and train a battalion of usable Xiangyong!" ”

……

At the same time, Lu Daming and Liang Liugang arrived at a village outside Taizhou.

This village is not far from Taiba, and the coolies who used to carry salt on Taiba have no land, no house or even a home, so they can only build thatched huts on the bank of the river, one by one, densely packed, if it is broad daylight, you can't see the end at a glance. The Taiping bandits made such a fuss that more than half of the land in more than a dozen salt farms in Huainan was lost, and the salt merchants had no business, and they naturally had no salt to carry.

Lu Daming looked at the coolies gathered around the bonfire, waved his arms and said, "We used to work the dam, but in fact, it was no different from working hard. Zhang Da was three years younger than me, and he was tired to death because he wanted to carry a few more bags of salt and earn a few more copper plates! Jiang Ertou is as big as me, and when he carried salt in the morning, he said that his stomach hurt, and he swallowed his breath in the afternoon! How many people have died over the years, let's die if they die, anyway, there is a cheap life, but there is no place to bury them when they die, they can only be buried in other people's fields in the middle of the night like a thief, and they can't even pile up a grave! ”

Liang Liu took over the conversation, pointed to the direction of Taiba and said: "In the past, no matter how hard and tired you are, you can still open your mouth, but now the bandits have killed Jiangning, and cut off the waterways to Huguang, Anhui and Jiangxi, so that the big guy doesn't even have to carry salt, and if he has no work to do, he has no food to eat, and he can only wait for death if he has no food!" ”

"Sixth brother, don't be afraid of your jokes, we haven't had a full meal these days." A coolie rubbed his stomach and said.

"Sixth brother, I know about the bandits, the yamen has been crazy these days, and has posted several notices at the gate of the city, and I heard that as long as you enter the city, you will have food."

"Then why don't you go?" Liang Liu asked puzzled.

"I've been there, but I can't even enter the city." The short coolie looked helpless.

"Why can't you get in?"

"I'm not a local, I don't have a local accent, there are a lot of cards outside the city, and everyone who enters and leaves the city has to be stopped and interrogated. If you are not a local, and you don't have a local to vouch for you, you will be put in prison as a spy of bandits. ”

"So there's really no way to live?"

"It's gone, it's gone." A tall coolie squeezed in and said, "Sixth brother, we have thought about it, if the bandits really kill us, we will go to the bandits." Anyway, if you are a cheap person, the thieves can at least eat together, and even if you die, you won't be a starving ghost! ”

"Don't talk nonsense, it's going to lose your head!" Lu Daming glared at the tall coolie, then got up and said, "Brothers, I and the old six gang have found a way to live, and if you want to eat, you can go with us." You don't need to vote for any bandits, if you want to vote, you can vote for the court! As long as you dare to go out and work for Master Han with me and Lao Liu, you can be a soldier and eat food, and you will be full of white rice three times a day! ”

"If you're lucky and don't die, if you can cut a few bandits' heads, you'll not only have food but also a reward!"

"Reward what?" A coolie couldn't help but ask.

"Our Master Han said that if you can kill a bandit, you will help settle down and become naturalized. If you kill five bandits, then you can have your own land like me and Lao Liu, although it is a saline-alkali land by the sea, but it is the same land, and it can become a good land after three or five years! ”

"Da Ming, sixth brother, do you have land?" The tall coolie asked in surprise.

"What are you lying about, the third uncle and your sister-in-law have already gone, Master Han is worried that I am not at home with the sixth and ninth children, and the third uncle and your sister-in-law can't reclaim the dozens of acres of newly silted land, and they also lent us money to buy a cow."

"You have land, you have a home, and you have cows!"

"It can't be fake, it can't be fake, if you don't go with me and the sixth child to vote for Master Han, give me a happy word!"

"Do you need to ask, when are you going?"

"There's no need to go to Master Han, Master Han will come over in two or three days, but Master Han only needs 400 people, don't be under the age of fifteen, and don't want to be over thirty-two years old, don't play tricks with me, who can't hide from me and the sixth child this year."