Yang Hongzhang glanced at Sun Chengzong, who was angry, and then turned to Wang Lenian: "Lord Wang, these bows and arrows were captured by my subordinates who fought desperately to repel Jiannu, although no one was killed but everyone was wounded. And according to the rules of the imperial court, killing a Tartar will reward 10 taels of silver or an official promotion. These brothers and I have no intention of being officials, if the elder and the king can represent the imperial court, it is better to cash it out first. To tell you the truth, on the way here, we also killed at least one of Niu Lu's Jiannu cavalry in Qingxian County, and the corpses were all hidden in the woods of the official road, and our war horses were all robbed at that time. In order to prepare for the war, we spent a lot of silver to buy grain, grass and gunpowder, originally thinking that we would be able to use it in case we met Jiannu in Zhuozhou. It is also thanks to these preparations that we are fortunate today. ”

"This ......" Wang Lenian is stupid, the imperial court does have such a rule, the Manchu cavalry is extremely brave, and can kill four or five hundred Jiannu cavalry in one battle, basically ten thousand people battle, and it is a big victory. Such a reward from the imperial court is not excessive. And if you put aside the laws of the imperial court, Yang Hongzhang's guns and ammunition were indeed prepared to save people in Zhuozhou, and now that they have used them to save Gaoyang, it is not too much for them to pay some money for compensation. However, Wang Lenian is an official of the imperial court rather than a businessman, and of course he is not willing to do business with Yang Hongzhang.

"Okay, all the bows and arrows are left, and we have made this deal. The old man will also send someone to Qingxian to check, if what you say is true, the old man will definitely go to the court to ask for a reward for you! To Wang Lenian's and Yang Hongzhang's surprise, Sun Chengzong saw Yang Hongzhang's resolute attitude of refusing to stay, the corners of his mouth curled slightly, and then it seemed as if he had made a difficult decision.

After a little hesitation, Yang Hongzhang immediately asked people to count the bows and arrows, together with the harvest of Qingxian, there were more than 500 war bows alone, plus more than 20,000 feather arrows. I seem to be at a loss! In order to be a good person, he carried his own silver taels when he went ashore in Cangzhou, and the future was uncertain, of course, it was better to collect cash. Then Wang Lenian wanted to ask Yang Hongzhang to buy a flintlock pistol but was categorically refused, so angry that Wang Lenian almost ordered his subordinates to take Yang Hongzhang down, and then thought about it, the current situation seems that his subordinates can't do Yang Hongzhang. In the end, Yang Hongzhang left almost all the war bows and feather arrows, as well as some palm thunder and a hundred sets of leather armor, and Gaoyang County scraped together five thousand taels of silver. Although Yang Hongzhang is not satisfied, it is better than not being able to catch anything, so he is ready to take away all the war horses!

Yang Hongzhang fulfilled his promise, that night with everyone riding war horses, each holding two torches to sneak attack a temporary camp of Groha, the panicked Groha heard the sound of flintlock guns and the explosion of thunder in his palm did not even have the mind to resist, stepped on the war horse and ran, ran out a few miles still had palpitations, found a high ground to see Yang Hongzhang's team, let people count it simply, and led the team straight to Hejian Mansion to go to Yue Tuo. He couldn't help two hundred infantry, and now there were at least more than a thousand cavalry, and he didn't want to die in confusion.

drove away Groha, Yang Hongzhang was ready to take people to leave Gaoyang overnight, but Sun Chengzong and Wang Lenian repeatedly retained, and Yang Hongzhang decided to stay in Gaoyang for one night. It's just that when he woke up the next morning and was about to continue to advance with his men and horses, Xia Dongwei was standing at the gate of the Yamen in Gaoyang County with a smile, and there were more than 200 battle-hardened Ming cavalry behind him. When Yang Hongzhang asked carefully, he learned that Lu Xiangsheng had arrived in Baoding Mansion, and Sun Chengzong sent someone to contact him overnight, and then asked to leave Yang Hongzhang by name. Lu Xiangsheng sent 200 cavalry and 30 scouts as strong support to protect Sun Chengzong and support Yang Hongzhang to defend Gaoyang. If it was someone else, Yang Hongzhang could ignore it, but Xia Dongwei was not only Lu Xiangsheng's nephew, but also Yang Hongzhang's future brother-in-law. He brought news that when the Qing army entered the customs, the imperial court decided to seize the favor and regain Lu Xiangsheng. Lu Xiangsheng naturally arranged for his family to return to Changzhou as soon as possible. Xia Yan's father and eldest brother Xia Chunwei have already left and are estimated to have crossed the Yellow River. Xia Dongwei stayed behind and prepared to follow Lu Xiangsheng to make contributions.

There is no excuse for continuing to go north to pick up people. Then Xia Dongwei took out Lu Xiangsheng's handwritten letter, and Lu Xiangsheng first praised Yang Hongzhang, especially to warn the imperial court, although it was useless. Then he changed the conversation and said that he learned from Xia Yan about what Yang Hongzhang had done at sea in the past year, and praised it and hoped to contribute to the country. At the very least, Sun Chengzong must be protected.

These are what Lu Xiangsheng said in his letter, and there is Xia Dongwei's dictation, in which Wang Lenian became a complete villain, because in his letter to Lu Xiangsheng, it was directly pointed out that Yang Hongzhang gathered hundreds of people, countless muskets, countless war horses, and a large number of palm thunder. The appearance of such a team of several hundred people in Beizhili was something that no court official could sit idly by. Considering that Yang Hongzhang is kind to Gao Yang, as Gao Yang's parent official, his bottom line is that Yang Hongzhang can take away 200 of his men, but those local refugees and all the weapons in Beizhili must be left.

Hearing this, Yang Hongzhang almost laughed, he directly said the following words for Xia Dongwei, Sun Ge Lao must have praised me in the letter, it is a rare talent, it would be a pity not to reimburse the imperial court...... Of course, Lu Xiangsheng has another meaning, that is, Yang Hongzhang is too high-profile in Hangzhou, so he was remembered by the governor Huang Daozhou, and now he is remembered by Sun Ge Lao and Wang Lenian, who was promoted to the governor of Xuanda, he is also very good, it is not good to say from it, that means it is better to listen to Wang Lenian's stay, otherwise he can only go to the sea to be a pirate.

Xia Dongwei was very surprised to see Yang Hongzhang's aggrieved look: "Yanzi wrote to tell me about your experience, my uncle thinks that you can take advantage of the opportunity to break through this Jiannu to show your skills, what are you worried about with the support of Sun Ge Lao in Gaoyang?" ”

Yang Hongzhang didn't answer Xia Dongwei, but said in his heart, my stupid brother-in-law, don't you know that Gao Yang is because of Sun Ge Lao will be taken care of by Dolgon and Yue Tuo in the future. However, Yang Hongzhang also knows that Wang Lenian is not just talking about fun, these scholars will definitely go to the court as soon as the war is over. Compared with Huang Daozhou's speculation, Wang Lenian is believing. His kindness to Gao Yang definitely couldn't offset his justice Ling Ran.

When Yang Hongzhang came to Gaoyang County Ya with a black face, Sun Chengzong sat on the top with a smile, and Gaoyang County Ling Wang Lenian stood aside with a little shame. Seeing that one old and one young were like this, Yang Hongzhang also got straight to the point: "Gaoyang has few people and low walls, which is not suitable for holding at all, and this time the soldiers are divided into two roads, and Baoding Mansion must be the main battlefield." Once Dolgon's left army attacks unfavorably, Yue Tuo's right army will definitely return to the division for reinforcements, and Gaoyang is a battleground for battle. When the time comes, more than 100,000 troops will fight, and the cavalry of the Qing army will be able to destroy Gaoyang with their hands by beating rabbits. Therefore, the two adults, the students still recommend withdrawing from Gaoyang as soon as possible. Even if you want to resist Jiannu, you should go to the city of Hejian. There is a granary of the imperial court, which can provide grain and grass for the large army, and can also provide food for the imperial court to relieve the victims......"

Listening to Yang Hongzhang's eloquent conversation, Sun Chengzong nodded frequently, and finally saw Yang Hongzhang with a blank look at him, so he had to cough dryly and said: "The old man who was a slave in the country is already older than the country and the imperial court can do nothing, so he can only defend Gaoyang." The two of them should do their best to resist the Jiannu, if it is really impossible for the two of them to abandon the city. ”

Hearing this, Yang Hongzhang pursed his lips and was noncommittal, and Wang Lenian on the side hurriedly said: "Why did the elder of the pavilion say this, how can Le Nian be greedy for life and afraid of death, and he must go with the elder of the pavilion and be with Gao Yang!" ”

In the face of the two of them expressing their hearts again, Yang Hongzhang waved his hand helplessly and said: "Since Hongzhang stays, there are naturally some things to say first...... Yang Hongzhang then told the two of them about his plans, and then proposed that he must have absolute command over the Gaoyang garrison, and before the Qing army besieges Gaoyang again, the Gaoyang County Ya must fully cooperate with the city defense reinforcement. Sun Chengzong and Wang Lenian naturally agreed.

So the whole Gaoyang was mobilized again, perhaps out of guilt or because he was a local parent official, Wang Lenian was very cooperative with many of Yang Hongzhang's seemingly excessive demands. There is no arrogance of civil officials in this era at all. The county government was divided into several groups to go to the villages and towns around Gaoyang County to buy grain, lime, gunpowder, bamboo, and so on. Yang Hongzhang originally wanted Xia Dongwei to take a few people to Cangzhou to return to Zhejiang by sea, but the eldest brother, who was one year younger than Yang Hongzhang, said excitedly that he would stay and assist Yang Hongzhang in defending the city, and he was very confident, thinking that Yang Hongzhang's martial arts were not as good as him, and he could still help at a critical time, of course, the most important thing was that the more than 200 cavalry sent by his uncle had the credit he worked hard for. Moreover, he swore that if he was worried about the war, he would have followed his father and brother back a long time ago, and he stayed to find an opportunity to make contributions. Yang Hongzhang was speechless and could only let him go.

Sun Chengzong is worthy of being a bachelor who once supervised Liaodong and fought against the Qing army for a long time, after listening to Yang Hongzhang's plan to defend the city, the old man was resolute, and in just two days, he had raised two thousand strong men again. And the blacksmiths who gathered all of Gaoyang hurriedly made 3,000 feather arrows, plus the original inventory and Yang Hongzhang's left, there were 25,000 arrows. The dilapidated city walls are also being repaired. What Yang Hongzhang admired the most was that during this period, Sun Chengzong took out almost all of his family assets and handed them over to Wang Lenian, and sent people to purchase a large amount of grain from nearby villages and towns. made Yang Hongzhang embarrassed to continue to squeeze him.

Since he promised Lu Xiangsheng and Sun Chengzong, Yang Hongzhang naturally couldn't sit in Gaoyang City and wait for death, so he divided the fifty Tianxiong Army scouts into 10 groups, and then added Zhang Hu and others to them, and then each group sent five people with flintlock pistols and palm thunder. Yang Hongzhang's intention was to let these scouts with rich combat experience train new scouts. Ten groups of 10 people were sprinkled out in turn, and they were asked to closely monitor the Qing army, the Ming army, and any other abnormal situation within a radius of thirty miles from Gaoyang. Originally, those arrogant Tianxiong army scouts were very reluctant to go out with oil bottles, but when Yang Hongzhang gave each of them a clairvoyant and a pocket watch, he set off with people.