Reading books, chatting, Wang Huan seized all the time to absorb everything in this era with hunger, from marching to fighting to civil life, from commodity prices to grain sowing, and even the old calendar era, Wang Huan had to ask questions one by one, making Li Tingyu and others inexplicable, obviously a smart and witty young man, how to ask questions that sound like outsiders, as if they have never lived in the world, which is strange.

The strange gaze of everyone was automatically filtered out for Wang Huan, he didn't care, like a studious child tirelessly asking this and that, and also moved his hands and feet, touched this person's clothes, studied the materials of the clothes, grabbed that person's weapon, and carefully looked at the quality of the iron tools. Everyone looked sideways, but they didn't understand why he did this, and after talking in private, they came to a conclusion: geniuses must have quirks, or hobbies, such as Su Dongpo likes to collect rare and exotic stones, Wang Anshi likes beautiful folding fans, and this Wang Huan likes to study folk trivialities.

After spending nine days of water life in a calm voyage, the fleet entered the upper reaches of the Huai River, especially after passing Zhengyang and entering the boundary of HN Gwangju, the scenery on both sides of the river has changed, the terrain tends to be flat, the landform of the eastern impact plain is unobstructed, the land is fertile, but the population is sparse, looking up, the dilapidated villages on both sides of the river abound, the traces of people are cut off, the weeds are overgrown, the grass shadows and trees are thick, there are faint white bones scattered, the traces of the war are very obvious, many of the banks of the town market that seem to be not small, It's as empty as a ghost town.

"The river is getting narrower and narrower, and it seems that it is not far from where we have landed." Li Tingyu stood by the boat with the map, and after a careful observation, he said to Wang Huan beside him.

Wang Huan looked at the simple map, his eyes were dark, and he didn't know where the Huai River represented by the curved ink line could be connected with his position in reality, so he echoed: "What my lord said is extremely true, I don't know how far away from the Gwangju ferry is?" ”

Li Tingyu looked at the map again, calculated silently in his heart, and said: "It's not far away, in half a day, it should be there." ”

He looked at Wang Huan and said, "After you go ashore, you follow my team." ”

Wang Huan nodded silently, put away the book in his hand, and thought about it.

In the past few days, Wang Huan learned that Gwangju is a state city with three counties, located in the southeast of HN Province, north of Huai HN according to Dabie Mountain, located in Henan, Hubei and South Zhili Province Junction Zone, there is a ferry located on the Huai River, is a relatively large city in the upper reaches. From Gwangju to Sinyangju, there is a distance of 200 miles.

According to the plan, they were to go ashore in Gwangju and rush to Xinyang, and then from Xinyang to Xiangyang by land, all the way were occupied by Qing soldiers, and it was also a more dangerous part of the whole journey.

Disguised as merchants, a team of about 400 people, no matter how you look at it, it is not normal to march on the official road, even if the Jin merchants bring goods into the steppe to do business with the Mongols, it is only the scale of so many people, a group of cloth merchants in Sichuan, how can they get such financial resources and manpower?

Therefore, Wang Huan's plan has been modified, from the collective action of 400 people to disperse, divided into zero, led by each thousand household officers, every fifty people are a team, divided into eight teams, staggered before and after, so that even if one team is discovered and recognized by the Qing soldiers, only one team will be lost, as for the road guide, the thick blank road guide on the ancestral side is no problem to give each team one sheet.

Wang Huan went through this arrangement in his mind again, and felt that there was no better way, it was stupid to put all his eggs in one basket, and it was easy to be targeted, although separating dispersed the power, it was the way to lose the least after something went wrong.

So on the evening of the ninth day, the fleet approached the Gwangju wharf, which was a depressed wharf, and in the afterglow of the sunset, there was not even a single person in the bustling and noisy ferry port, and there was no sign of the empty ferry. The ghostly squirrel thatched huts were built on the side of the pier like a pile of untended garbage, and a few wine flags and tea flags were crookedly inserted at the door, which seemed to be the sheds of businessmen doing small business. Someone in the fleet wanted to beg for a bowl of water to drink, and by the way, they asked the locals if there were any Qing troops in the vicinity, and when they pushed the door, they found that there was no one in this shed, and even the tea bowls were taken away by the owner.

"Bandits harm people, look what has become of this place." Li Tingyu muttered quietly.

Wang Huan deeply thought that the troubled times and military disasters caused many bandits and thieves in various places, and the backbone of its members were either deserters or habitual bandits, and they were surrounded by groups of ordinary people and homeless, robbing homes and killing people and seizing money, and even some places raised villages as bandits, farming and cultivating fields during the day, and blocking the road at night for thieves, so that at night, there were no traces of people outside the city wall, and only wild beasts were infested.

In such an environment, Wang Huan's original idea of buying some carriages and horses on the spot was completely dispelled, and in desperation, everyone took advantage of the darkness of the night, each of them carried a few pieces of cotton cloth, and reluctantly moved most of the goods on the ship, and the rest of the cloth had to endure the pain and discard, which made Li Tingyu's heart ache and scolded the bandits for a long time.

"It's only fifteen miles away from Gwangju City, do you want to go there to get some food, we only have three days' worth of dry food, I'm afraid it's not enough for us to go to Xiangyang, and maybe we can get some carts of mules and horses." Zu Bian suggested that he was stout and carried the most cloth on his back, and a huge burden was pressed on his back.

"No need, the city gate has long been closed at this time, Gwangju is a small city, there are only some big car shops outside the city, there are no shops, it is useless to go, it is better for us to rush overnight to avoid a lot of trouble." Li Tingyu categorically denied it.

"Then let's take advantage of the fact that it's not dark yet, let's go quickly, we have to light torches when it's dark, and people in the state city can't see it when we go farther away." Li Yandao.

Everyone nodded, so they picked a few people with good eyesight and no night blindness to lead the way, and the rest of the mermaids lined up to follow, and everyone took advantage of the rising moon in the sky to leave the ferry and go towards the loess official road.

As soon as the group left, between the low sheds, the firewood door of the innermost thatched hut was slowly pushed open, and several black shadows flashed out of it, following the shadow of the shed to the edge of the avenue, staring in the direction of the crowd leaving.

"Do you see clearly? Is it really Li Tingyu? A hoarse voice rang out softly, spitting out of the mouth of one of the dark shadows.

"I saw it clearly, it must be Li Tingyu, the little one has been in his army, and I recognize his appearance when he turns to ashes." Another voice hurriedly responded.

"My lord, I have also counted the number, there are only about 400 people, it seems that there are some people missing." Someone whispered.

"Hmph, it's not uncommon for someone to be a deserter halfway, following the rebels, as long as anyone with a little brains will flee, I think it's strange that Li Tingyu still has more than 400 people following him." A hoarse voice said gloomily: "It's just that these southern barbarians are really cunning and insidious, playing with the strategy of attacking the east and west, and they really came to the south, but no matter how smart they are, they can't compare to Lord Sule, he sent me to wait at this ferry, just to guess that the southern barbarian rebels will pass through here." ”

"My lord, they are all carrying burdens on their backs, and they must have robbed the goods from the imperial court."

"Ha, then let's hurry back and report to Lord Sule, Nanban has no horses, we can't go far, as long as we intercept them and recapture the goods, it will be a great achievement, you and my brother are lucky, hahaha."

"Hahaha!" A deliberately suppressed laughter sounded, and a blue light flickered faintly in the black shadows, which was the moonlight reflected from the scalp after the hair was shaved off on the forehead, and this group of black shadows was actually a group of flag men.

"Master, you see that I have also made a lot of effort in this matter today, then, can I enter the Han Banner?" A dark figure mixed in the blue light asked tremblingly, with no reflection on his head, and his tone was full of longing and hope, like a dog wagging its tail to flatter.

"You? I'll wait until I get back and report to Lord Souler. He said impatiently in a hoarse voice, obviously unhappy that this person had made a request at this moment of joy.

With a gesture of his hand, several black shadows suddenly disappeared into the shadows again.