There is a large pond in the house of Ye County, and the beautiful scenery of lotus flowers blooming and swimming fish in shallow water in summer is rumored in all directions, but at this time, only endless fallen leaves jump into the ice water in the cold wind.

The second half of the family was lying on the armchair in the warm pavilion, and a thirteen-year-old maid was taking a hard-boiled egg to cover his face. From time to time, the de facto ruler of the family snorted, but his hands roamed back and forth over the little girl's body. Hurried footsteps came, and the little maid stepped aside.

Hearing that his eldest brother was critically ill, the second eldest of the family got up and ran to the back house, and after passing through the three courtyards, he met the nominal head of the family.

"Second brother, did you really go to the Han River and ask the Cheng Clerk's family for a workshop?" The spirit of the family is like a gossamer, and the sound of the broken bellows on the chest undulating fills the decaying air.

The second eldest member of the family stepped forward, "Yes, eldest brother, as a side branch, the official actually turned his back on Lunchang and wanted to stand on his own." also took away so many shipwrights, and built a shipyard with outsiders to rob the family's business, of course, he wanted to take back the shipyard for his younger brother, and by the way, punish the officials who did not know whether they were alive or dead. ”

"The families of those shipwrights starve to death every year, so how can they not follow the officials to find a way to live. The clerk grew up with our brothers, if you didn't even want to let go of his family property, how could he ...... Second, ho ho ho, you have to pay attention to things. ”

"You are my own brother, the main branch is now withering, and there are some things I don't want to say. But the three brothers Cheng Jianghe, Cheng Jianghu and Cheng Jianghai are rare talents, just because Jiang Hai's child may threaten the status of the two nephews, you will kill the killer? Cheng Jianghu may be really crazy, but Cheng Jianghai's kid is obviously pretending to be crazy and begging to get out, and now he is really gone," the head ......of the Cheng family said this, stopped for a long time, and then continued.

"After the infighting ten years ago, the families have long been separated from morality, you don't want to unite your family, you are actually pressing step by step, and the methods are becoming more and more ruthless. As soon as the officials left, those who lived miserably were scattered. A descendant who has not stood out for many years, a gentleman, a gentry, what kind of gentry is there without a gentleman? I don't have a few days to live, but I'm afraid that after I leave, I will get married and suffer disaster? Second, stop it, the official will set up another door for him, maybe you will be protected by him in the future. ”

The second child of the family was already impatient when he heard this, how could he let others threaten his and his son's status. What if there are no people and Jinshi, what if the side branches are gone, the Great Zhou has a royal law, is there still anyone who dares to take the family property of the family? ! After all, he is a century-old gentry, and although he is now in decline, as long as he cultivates his grandchildren well, his fame and official position are not yet easy to capture!

The second child of the family has always been a double standard, and he never thought that his behavior of running to Mingyuezhuang to rob the shipyard was also a violation of the king's law. In his heart, everything in the side branch belongs to the main branch, and the side branch can be temporarily owned, but if the main branch wants to take it back, the side branch cannot resist. What's yours is mine, what's mine or mine, that's the house rule!

The second eldest child of the family said coldly: "Big brother can recuperate with peace of mind, and these chores will not be painful." After saying that, he left, and the old servant of the head of the family hurriedly closed the door to prevent the cold wind from pouring in.

Muddy old tears flowed from the shriveled cheeks of the head of the family, and the old servant came over to wipe him, and then the head of the family gasped and took out a letter from under the mattress and handed it to the old servant.

"Give this letter to the clerk, you must hand it over to him personally, ho ~ ho ~ ho ~" After saying this, the head of the family fell into a coma, and the old servant who was like his siblings stuffed the secret letter into his shoes and sent his son out that night.

Five days after the official received the letter, he did not reply, but left the son of the old servant of the Cheng family. The head of the family did not receive a reply, so he smiled bitterly for a while and passed away quietly. Before dying, the head of the family thought to himself, his children and grandchildren have their own children and grandchildren, and the family at least has the vein of becoming a clerk, hoping that his younger brother can protect himself, right?

The second child of the family held a grand funeral for his brother, and then joined forces with Huang Liren to deal with Mingyuezhuang together.

When the official learned that the head of the family who took a lot of care of his family had died, he was silent for a while, "The head of the family, it's not that I don't take care of the second child of the family, but Mingyuezhuang has its own rules, and will never accept the second child of the family." No one can believe the insatiable, ruthless, and murderous people who kill their sons and nephews, and his two sons have lost most of the family business by eating, drinking, prostituting and gambling, and the skilled shipwrights who have become a family are dying of starvation, and they cannot pass the examination at all...... Besides, Mingyuezhuang does not recognize the existence of the clan, men and women are registered as one household, and each family lives its own life, how can I revitalize my family? ”

"The rules of Mingyuezhuang seem to be unkind, but they are the way to long-term wealth. In a big family, there are always people who want to take more and occupy more, and they get it for nothing, and they will collapse in the end. The owner of the village said well, everyone can worship their ancestors together, but they can pursue a good life for themselves, eat their own food, and if they get married, they can split up early...... If the head of the family leaves, I will try my best to take care of the adult family who are willing to break up and resettle, please rest assured. The clerk bowed three times to the east, and then came to the shipyard with red and swollen eyes.

Zhang Wanli, who was so busy that he smoked, didn't know about the family affairs of the clerk, and was startled by the clerk's eyes, "Huo! Your eyes...... Where should the first batch of supplies and ordnance be sent to Liu Datong's army? Nothing could go wrong, could it? ”

Cheng Cheng cleaned up his mood and put on a professional smile, "Look at what you said, I don't dare to guarantee otherwise, these boatwrights who came out of the Cheng family are all veterans who have been inherited for a hundred years, but the two insatiable and incompetent boys of the Cheng family made a mess of the Cheng family's business and almost starved these craftsmen to death...... Come to Mingyuezhuang to eat and dress warmly, the dolls can also go to school, and the master can even get dividends, if anyone dares to be sloppy in their work, I will not agree to be the first to become a clerk! ”

The shipwrights around him nodded one after another, several old people had begun to wipe their tears, and Zhang Wanli was also very emotional, there was no one who could force these precious craftsmen to starve to death...... The supplies that had departed from the Han River a few days ago had to travel all the way south to the Yangtze River, then east to the vicinity of Liu Chengdong's station, and then be transported ashore to the barracks. Thanks to the new shipyard in Mingyuezhuang, the new shipyard used the purchased dry wood to build a few emergency boats, otherwise renting other fleets would be more expensive, mainly because they were not at ease, after all, there were some shady things.

Zhang Yongnian lived in Xunyang when he was a child, and he didn't know how many times he swam the Han River, and his uncle Zhang Tianlei, who was the commander of the Xiang Army, took care of him, and he knew a little about water warfare and land warfare. After following his grandfather Zhang Wanli to Mingyuezhuang, Li Mengkong and Liu Sheng sent him to the newly established fleet, so Zhang Yongnian took several new ships down the river, and now he has just passed Jingzhou.

The young people who know how to run the water, the boat guys and the fishermen selected from the homeless people became the main force of this fleet, and the cooperation at the beginning was of course very bad, Zhang Yongnian shouted hoarsely to make this strange fleet move slowly, and Li Mengkong and Zhang Wanli, who were seeing off on the shore at that time, were in their hearts. remembered that when he first turned into the Yangtze River, many crew members actually forgot to operate the boat with wide eyes, and Zhang Yongnian was in a cold sweat again......

Zhang Yongnian was alone for the first time, standing at the bow of the boat despite the cold, looking a little majestic. The more Zhang Yongnian looked at it, the more frightened he became, thinking that there was not much difference between the Yangtze River and the Han River, but he didn't expect that there were so many things to pay attention to.

Where there are undercurrents, where there are whirlpools, and where there are reefs, these are all bought by Mingyuezhuang at a great price, in order to sail smoothly. Mingyuezhuang has sent a lot of people to participate in the transportation of goods by water before, but they haven't learned much real things, but if you are careful, you can still go smoothly, but ......

Zhang Yongnian sighed, "Hit the gong, sail close to the shore, let's walk slowly." ”

Because of the Xunyang Xiang Army where Zhang Tianlei was located and the Nanyang Xiang Army where Liu Chengdong was located as a joint guarantee, and the ship walking certificate issued by the Great Zhou Army, Mingyuezhuang's fleet did not encounter any difficulties, after all, the war in Jiangnan was critical. After eight days of doing so, after marveling at the prosperity of the towns along the Yangtze River, the fleet landed in Chizhou and then went to Xuancheng in Xuanzhou, where Liu Chengdong's 3,000 men were stationed.

Liu Chengdong was checking the official documents of the imperial court in the Chinese military tent, Xiong Dachun and Liu Yuan were the first, and the three men were also sitting in the tent, seeing that they had been promoted to battalion commanders.

The military system of the Great Zhou Xiang Army is roughly the same as that of the Forbidden Army, and the minimum command unit is Du, 100 people; There is a battalion in Wudu, 500 people, and there is a battalion command; Five battalions were formed into an army, with 2,500 men, and there were commanders; The two armies were divided into left and right armies, so there were left and right commanders and 5,000 commanders.

Liu Chengdong was the commander of the 2,500 people, Xiong Dachun, Liu Yuan, and the newly promoted three commanders were the battalion commanders, and the other two battalion commanders were the old qualifications to stay in office. In addition, there are also a number of supervisors, clerks and Fa Cao sitting in the tent of the Chinese army, and these more than a dozen people constitute the command center of Liu Chengdong's reinforcements along the way.

Liu Chengdong and the overseers checked the imperial court orders, and then the superintendents stamped Liu Chengdong's reply and handed it to the heralds to send to the post station. A military order from the imperial court was issued, ordering them to lead the Xiang army and archers of the Jiangnan East Road before the winter solstice, and press Fang La back to the vicinity of Hangzhou in one fell swoop.

Previously, the Xiang army, village soldiers and archers from all over the country stuck to the town, and the squire clans in various places united to protect themselves, and at the same time carried out the clearing of the wall, Fang La had to retreat and hold on. But Fang La's strategist, Fang Fei, who has now been promoted to prime minister, came up with an idea, that is, to concentrate on attacking all the way, anyway, the generals of the defeated army around him have no ability to threaten Hangzhou City.

So Fang La's army changed its strategy, stuck to the rest of the directions, concentrated the elite attack all the way, and lived a great success. Fang La's elite once captured Huzhou and Suzhou, and also fought south to the city of Yiwu. To the west, he captured the county seat of Lin'an, and to the east captured Mingzhou, also called Ningbo, and confronted the Great Zhou naval army in Zhoushan for a while.

The clans of Jiangnan East Road couldn't sit still, so the court quickly passed a resolution to give Liu Chengdong and other reinforcements from the four routes greater autonomy. At the same time, the local state government was strictly ordered to cooperate with the dispatch of troops to suppress Fang La's momentum as soon as possible, so that Mingyuezhuang could deliver supplies to Liu Chengdong's army without committing taboos.

The court gave some autonomy, and Han Shizhong, who was in charge of the main attack from the north, applied for supplies from the old commander Zongze, and then asked for help from the Western Army that was defending Western Xia; Liu Chengdong was embarrassed, so he had to stretch out his hand to his cheap son-in-law, although he knew Mingyuezhuang's current predicament; Liu Guangshi, who had always been good friends with the gentry clans, was responsible for attacking from the south, and the aura of guarding Yiwu City brought him a lot of aid, and there were six clans behind him who paid a lot of money; Yao Pingzhong in the east also talked a lot of cruel words, and opened his mouth to ask the Western Army and Jiangmen to fight more.

"Let's go!" The red-faced Han Shizhong sat upright on his horse and pointed south.

"Meritorious service is rewarded at this time!" Liu Chengdong was full of spirit and encouraged his junior 3,000 brothers.

"Wipe out the thieves, and return Jiangnan and Liangzhejiang to peace!" Liu Guangshi's beard was well maintained, and he stood at the bow of the ship to bid farewell to the gentry who saw him off.

"Brothers, let those three roads see, what is the border army, what is the elite, our brothers in the northwest are the ...... of the Great Zhou" Yao Pingzhong, who was rough and thick-skinned, said a lot, but because of the strong wind, few people could hear it, and the soldiers from the northwest only remembered one thing, and the property of Fang Lajun was his own.