(Thank you for the monthly pass of the book friend "Bookworm Under the Lamp"!) ）

Tong Tuchang's route was to go north along the Grand Canal, after all, he brought many carts.

In the Ming Dynasty, the Grand Canal entered the Yellow River in the Huai'an section, and then entered Luoma Lake in Suqian, but when it arrived in Suqian Tong Tuchang, he found that his thinking was a little simple.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, because of the climate of the Xiaoice River, the north continued to have low temperature and little rain, and the Yellow River was still a little worse, and the amount of water in the downstream was not bad. However, when entering the Suqian Canal section, there was no water in the canal, most of the canals exposed the stones at the bottom of the river, and the local government had no money to repair the canal after years of war, so the canals on the border of Shandong were basically deserted.

Seeing this, Tong Tuchang had no choice but to order someone to abandon the boat and take the land route instead. Fortunately, when leaving Huai'an, Hong Chengchou sent a garrison with 200 Qing troops to accompany him for protection, and with their help, he quickly got mules and horses.

The land route is not as good as the waterway, and Tong Tuchang and his entourage only entered the Shandong border in May.

After entering Shandong, the garrison escorted by the Qing army changed its loose temperament and was on guard day and night.

Tong Tuchang saw it very strangely and asked: "Why wasn't this garrison so nervous when he was in Nanzhili, isn't the ground in Shandong safe?" ”

After half a month of companionship, the garrison was very familiar with Tong Tuchang and others, and sighed and said: "My lord has not known for a long time in the south, Shandong is now full of bandits, and the middle road we are going to take is quite peaceful, and it is even more unsafe if we take the west road next to Henan, where are all displaced people from Henan, they eat everything, like locusts!" In the past two years, the bandits on the ground in Shandong still have to deal with, after all, they don't have any weapons, they use kitchen knives and dung forks and other weapons, but in the past few years, I don't know that the weapons we got from there are sharper than the knives and guns we use! ”

After listening to this, Tong Tuchang looked at Zhao Mengguan on the side, and he knew that this was all these brocade guards providing weapons, money and food behind.

Tong Tuchang planned to enter Shandong from Yixian, then pass through Yanzhou Mansion, take Jinan Mansion into Beizhili, and pass through Tanggu to Shuntian Mansion, that is, Beijing. But now listening to the danger that the guard said, he was so frightened that he said to Zhao Mengguan: "Lord Zhao, why don't we go to Yizhou Mansion!" ”

To go to Yizhou Mansion, you have to pass through Qingzhou Mansion, Wuding Mansion and then enter Beizhili, and you have to walk thousands of miles more, and it will take two more months according to the current footsteps.

Zhao Mengguan arched his hand and said: "Lord Tong, don't worry, we Jinyi Wei can protect the safety of adults here!" "Because there are Manchu garrisons on the side, Zhao Mengguan can't say that he has finished communicating with several bandits in Shandong, and there is no problem at all in terms of safety.

Tong Tuchang saw that Zhao Mengguan was sure, and had no choice but to go to Yanzhou Mansion according to the original plan.

When I first entered Shandong, it was nothing, after all, Yixian County is next to Lianghuai, although it is also very difficult, but fortunately, I can eat. But after passing through Yi County, it is different, and the further north you go, the worse the situation becomes. After passing through Teng County, all the rivers along the way have been cut off, and it is now the weather of May, but the land on both sides of the road is completely uncultivated, and large areas of land are barren, and deep openings have been cracked in the ground due to lack of water.

At the same time, Tong Tuchang found that after passing through Teng County, the surrounding hostile situation began to increase. There are always people of varying numbers in the distance watching their team, even after the accompanying Qing army garrison sends people to drive them away, they also hang themselves from a distance and do not leave.

Tong Tuchang knew that those people were bandits who stepped on the plate, and now he saw that there were few people, and the further north he went, the more people would be, and when the number of people was enough, it would be when his group suffered.

Tong Tuchang found Zhao Mengguan and asked anxiously: "Lord Zhao, what about the people you arranged?" Why hasn't it come yet? ”

Zhao Mengguan was also anxious with sweat, Jinyiwei's men and horses were close to Henan, and they were going to go to the canal, but those people had already gone to the canal to wait, how could they think that the canal was not passable, and they would take the land route on their side.

"My lord, the lower officials have already sent someone to Jining to inform them that they are coming, and they will be able to arrive in these two days!"

Tong Tuchang looked at the bandit spies in the distance, sighed and said, "I hope your men and horses can be in time!" ”

After Tong Tuchang and his entourage passed through Zou County, the reinforcements from their own side did not arrive, but the bandits arrived.

At this time, the bandits finally gathered tens of thousands of people, and under the leadership of several leaders, they followed the envoy team from a distance.

The Qing garrison with the team saw that there were tens of thousands of soldiers on the opposite side, and they only had 200 soldiers, and their faces turned white with fright.

He found Tong Tuchang and said, "My lord, there are too many bandits on the other side, let's take the adults first!" The year before last, it was Yanzhou Mansion, and it was not too late to ask for reinforcements and come back to rescue! ”

Tong Tuchang was originally greedy for life and afraid of death, and he was overjoyed when he heard the guard say this, and said to the two deputy envoys around him, Fang Fengnian and Zhao Mengguan: "What Li Shoubei said is very true, this official will go to Yanzhou Mansion to ask for help, and you will take the rest of the people to stick here!" ”

How do you know that Fang Fengnian sneered and said, "How can Lord Tong be greedy for life and afraid of death?" Good! As long as the official can return to Beijing alive, he will write a letter to impeach Lord Tong, and as a main envoy, he will abandon his subordinates and run away alone! ”

Tong Tuchang's teeth itched when Fang Fengnian said this, but he didn't dare to take Fang Fengnian's words!

Tong Tuchang said to Zhao Mengguan: "Lord Zhao, you have to testify for this official, this official is not running away but asking for help!" ”

How do you know that Zhao Mengguan looked at the sky with his eyes and said: "Lord Tong, Xia Guan feels that what Lord Fang said is right, let's wait here for death and you can't run by yourself!" ”

Zhao Mengguan was originally the prince's person, and he was naturally opposed to Tong Tuchang, and in addition to Fang Fengnian and Tong Tuchang's disagreement, naturally Fang Zhao and the two formed an alliance.

Tong Tuchang saw that none of his subordinates agreed to run first, so he angrily scolded: "You bastards, are you just waiting to die here?" ”

Just when the mission was about to rebel, another group of bandits came to the west of the mission. This group of bandits was completely different from those who followed, and the later bandits were not many in number, probably more than 3,000 people, but they all rode horses. You must know that food is scarce here in Shandong, not to mention the feed for horses, even people don't have enough to eat. So these more than 3,000 cavalry must have come from a certain group of big bandits.

When the Qing garrison saw these cavalry, his face immediately turned to ashes. Yanzhou is located in the Great Plain of North China, there is no hill within a radius of 100 miles, it is a good place to use cavalry, there are these cavalry, let alone to find reinforcements, whether you can run away or not.

It was when Tong Tuchang and others closed their eyes and waited for death that things changed. The cavalry who arrived later actually killed the bandits who came first. Zhao Mengguan saw this great joy and shouted: "We don't have to die, this is our own people!" ”

Tong Tuchang and others were also very happy, although Fang Fengnian had a backbone, but he was very happy without dying, and he went out side by side with Tong Tuchang to see the excitement for the first time.

Most of the bandits who arrived first were peasants, and the weapons in their hands were all kitchen knives, dung forks and other farm tools, and only less than 100 people had real knives and guns. The gang was the opponent of the 3,000-strong cavalry, and they were quickly scattered and fled.

The general led by the cavalry did not pursue, and after breaking up the bandits, he led the men to the mission.

Zhao Mengguan hurriedly stepped forward and asked, "Are you the people who broke through the sky?" ”

A big black man led by the cavalry got off his horse and came to Zhao Mengguan with a fist and asked, "Is this Zhao Yishi of the Jinyi Guard?" ”

"Exactly! Who are you? ”

When the big black man heard that it was his own person, he quickly knelt down on one knee and said: "Su Ping, a thousand households under the jurisdiction of the last general Jinyi Wei, meet Zhao Yanshi!" ”

Jinyiwei is a huge department, after Zhu Hongsan's reform, the whole organization of Jinyiwei is divided into 64 thousand households in the outer eight, respectively, in the Jinyi, in the front of the Jinyi, after the Jinyi, in the left of the Jinyi, in the right of the Jinyi, in the army, on the front, on the back, on the left, on the right, in the back, in the back, in the elephant, the standard-bearer of a thousand households. Among them, the five Jinyi and the pro-army institute are the six institutes, the five brocade clothes are responsible for daily affairs, and the pro-army institute is responsible for the emperor's protection work. The other eight elephant training offices are communication agencies, the standard-bearers Qianhu are mainly responsible for the dispatch of Qianhu from various provinces, and the remaining six are the main executive agencies of Jinyiwei, responsible for assassinating enemy generals, investigating military intelligence, monitoring magistrates, and various hidden forces in enemy-occupied areas.

Su Ping was a thousand households under the jurisdiction of the Central Queen, and he was in charge of several anti-Qing forces in Shandong. After receiving the order from the Jinyi Guard Headquarters, he rushed to Weishan Lake on the canal with the gathered 3,000 cavalry, ready to respond. Who knew that Tong Tuchang and others could take the land route, and after Su Ping received the news, he led people to rush overnight, and finally caught up with the mission here in Zou County.

Zhao Mengguan hurriedly stepped forward to help Su Ping up, and said kindly: "Fortunately, Su Qianhu came in time, otherwise I would have waited for my life!" ”

Zhao Mengguan took Su Ping's hand and said, "Come!" I'm here to introduce you to Lord Tong! ”

Su Ping looked at the Qing army in the team and said, "My lord, I'm still not going!" There are Qing troops inside, and it's not good to see my face! ”

Zhao Mengguan had to be reminded by Su Ping to wake up, right! Su Ping's current identity is a bandit, if the Qing army is allowed to see his face clearly, it will be difficult to mix in Shandong in the future!

"Good! In that case, I won't let you see Master Tong! But I'll give you credit to the commander Qian, and give you a credit!" ”

Su Ping was happy in his heart, Zhu Hongsan has always been generous to his own people, and meritorious service is a heavy reward.

"Then Su Ping, thank you, my lord! My lord, I will take someone to protect you, please rest assured that you can go! The name of breaking through the sky in this Shandong territory is still easy to use! ”

Zhao Mengguan nodded, returned to the mission and informed Tong Tuchang and Fang Fengnian of the news in detail.

Hearing that the danger had finally passed, Tong Tuchang let out a sigh of relief and said, "Lord Zhao, this strong man, you have to make a meritorious record!" ”

Fang Fengnian has always had a bad impression of Jinyiwei, but today after all, it was Jinyiwei who saved his life, and he also nodded and said: "As Master Tong said, the old man should thank this strong man of Jinyiwei when he returns to Nanjing!" ”