After resting for a day in Jiapu Town, Lu Fatzi used the excuse of cleaning up the battlefield and clearing the remnants of the Qing army, leaving Huang Ming, a Guangxi general who was married to Yu'er, to lead an army of more than 4,000 people to guard Yixing to protect the army's grain road and back road, and appointed the original Yixing guard general Guo Yingfu as the general of Huzhou, so that Guo Yingfu could follow the army and dispatch 24,000 troops, including the surrender of troops, to the south along the official road, and the blade was pointed directly at the Huzhou capital city where the remnants of the Qing army in Zhejiang were entrenched. 【Reading.com】

- By the way, although Lu Fatzi promoted the old man Wu Jun because the old man Wu Jun was experienced and worthy of the big responsibility, he took the opportunity to vacate his position and focused on promoting the confidants brought by the junior marriage, which was also an important reason for Lu Fatzi to make this personnel adjustment. As for the deeper reason, I believe everyone knows it without explanation.

On the night of the first day, because the distance between Changxing County and Jiapu Town was less than ten miles, the frightened Zhejiang Qing army had already abandoned Changxing County, which was small in the city and little grain, under the leadership of Zhaita, and withdrew to Huzhou Mansion overnight under the cover of night. And the fat army has just experienced a big battle after the rapid march, up and down are very tired, and there are still some remnants of the Qing army in the Tianmu Mountains that have not been completely wiped out, and the baggage and grain and grass have not all been transported through the Tianmu Mountains, Lu Fatzi had to give up the plan to pursue the whole army, only sent Wang Xu as the vanguard, led the army of 5,000 to follow the pursuit of the remnants of the Qing army, and the main force rested patiently for a day, and waited until the baggage, grain and grass and light and heavy artillery were all transported through the Tianmu Mountain Range, and then he personally led the army south to pursue.

After sharpening the knife and cutting wood, Lu Fatzi let the main force rest for a day, and the main force of the Fat Army, which had recovered its physical strength, marched much faster, and it only took one day to complete the sixty-mile road from Jiapu Town to Huzhou Capital, and the troops came to Huzhou City. He also set up the camp in the vicinity of Lashan, which was less than five miles away from the west city wall of Huzhou, and lived directly within the range of the Hongyi cannon of the defenders of Huzhou City - the bully was that the tower had lost a fine light in the Yixing battle before, and the artillery battle could only be beaten, and there was no power to fight back.

Before the fat army arrived in Huzhou, Wang Xu, the pioneer of the fat army, was not idle, although he did not launch a large-scale attack on the way to pursue the defeated soldiers of the Qing army, but like a jackal chasing a flock of sheep, he followed the back of the Qing army to bite a bite, and constantly attacked the small group of the Qing army because of fatigue, surrounded and annihilated, and accumulated a lot of continuous expansion results, so that the defeated soldiers of the Qing army did not have the slightest respite, and as a result, from Changxing to Huzhou more than 50 miles of pursuit down, Wang Xuleng gnawed off more than 2,000 Qing troops, Let the tower can only flee back to the Huzhou capital with less than 8,000 remnants of the defeated army, and even organize the Huzhou people around the city to enter the city to participate in the battle.

"Lu Yifeng, dog thief! It's so arrogant! Seeing that Lu Fatzi actually set up the camp in the area of Lashan on the city wall, the tower was so angry that he almost wanted to strangle Lu Fatzi to death, "If Lao Tzu's Hongyi cannon is still there, I will kill you dog thief with one shot!" ”

"General, Wu Gou has set up the camp so close, I'm afraid he just wants to capture Huzhou City as soon as possible, and doesn't want to give us a chance to ask for help from the rear." Xifu asked tremblingly: "How should our army deal with it next, I hope the general will make up his mind as soon as possible." ”

"Do you still need an idea? Of course, it's a dead end! The tower roared angrily, "Huzhou is an important town in northern Zhejiang, and it is an important granary, can it still be abandoned?" I have already sent messengers to Hangzhou and Jiaxing for help, as long as we hold on for seven or eight days, our reinforcements will arrive! ”

After repelling Xifu, who was timid and wanted to escape, the tower turned his gaze to Wu Qi, the prefect of Huzhou, and Cheng Long, the garrison next to him, and shouted: "How many troops are there in Huzhou City now?" How many people can be organized to go to the city to help in the war? ”

"General Hui, there are nearly three thousand defenders in Huzhou City." Cheng Long peeked at the face of the tower, and replied carefully: "But among them, there are only more than 1,800 green battalion soldiers, and the rest are all the township warriors recruited and organized by Lord Wu of the prefect before. ”

"It's not bad, even if the combat effectiveness is not good, at least you can fight on the city wall." The tower sighed secretly, and turned his gaze to the prefect Wu Qi. Wu Qi understood, hurriedly bowed down and said: "General Hui, there are more than 40,000 residents in the city, and it should be able to recruit more than 10,000 people to go to the city to help in the war." However, because the autumn grain has just been put into storage, the grain and grass in the city are enough to last for more than a year, so please don't worry about it. ”

"Very good, then hurry up and take your servants to recruit people, the more the better." Zhita waved his hand and ordered: "Their rations are temporarily spent from the Huzhou treasury, and I will sell them to you when they defeat Wu Gou." Also, tell the people in the city that after Wu Gou broke the city, he liked to kill people and rob money, annihilate silver and plunder, they didn't want to die, and they didn't want their wives and daughters to be humiliated by Wu Gou, so they all went to the city to defend the city, and kept Huzhou City, and they also saved their wives and children, as well as their families. ”

"The subordinate obeys." Wu Qi agreed, but muttered in his heart, "General, you can probably deceive others, but it will be difficult to deceive the people of Huzhou, Huzhou borders on the territory controlled by the Wu rebel army, and the people of Huzhou can not know the situation in the area controlled by the Wu rebel army?" ”

When Wu Qi and other civilian officials hurriedly went down to the city to organize the people, a personal soldier ran up the city wall quickly, hugged his fist to the tower and said: "General Qiqi, Yao Qisheng, the secretary of Wen Dao, asks to see you." ”

"Yao Qisheng? He's not dead yet? "As soon as the tower was raised, the tower appointed this staff officer of the army to be separated from the tower in the Tianmu Mountain Range, and then the tower never saw this Yao Qisheng again, and said that he had already died in the chaos of the army, but he didn't expect this to suddenly come out again. After a little deliberation, the tower finally nodded and said, "Let him come." ”

The soldiers took the order and left, and after a while, Yao Qisheng was led to the front of the tower and others, but it was completely different from the exhausted Qing army generals, although Yao Qisheng was dressed in civilian clothes at this moment, his spirit was obviously excellent, and his whole body was clean and carefully cleaned, which seemed to be both energetic and calm. Seeing Yao Qisheng's appearance, the bloodshot eyes of the tower were even more resentful, and he couldn't help but shout: "Yao Qisheng, where have you been hiding in the past two days?" Why haven't I seen you all the time? ”

"Back to the general, since the previous night in the Tianmu Mountains and the general was separated, the slave went into the dense forest in the mountains to flee for his life, with the help of the stars to identify the direction, before dawn out of the Tianmu Mountains." Yao Qisheng explained: "Then the slave led the little dog Yao Yi to change into the people's clothes, and rushed to Changxing County to meet the general, but Wu dog soldiers came to Changxing City, Changxing County did not dare to open the door, the slave was helpless, and had to lead the dog to Huzhou, fortunately the general Hong Fu blessed, Wu Dog did not send troops on the road to intercept, the slave successfully arrived in Huzhou City, and arrived a day earlier than the general. ”

"Really?" The tower was a little suspicious, and asked, "You were on the way, and you were not intercepted by Wu Gou once?" ”

"Not once, of course." Yao Qisheng hurriedly replied: "When the slave father and son arrived near Changxing County, they were also stopped and interrogated by Wu Gou's soldiers, but fortunately, the slave father and son were both from Zhejiang, and they walked in advance without provoking Wu Gou's attention, so they pretended to be a local farmer to deceive Wu Gou's interrogation and escaped life. The main reason why he was able to avoid the interrogation of the fat soldier was that his clever son Yao Yi took two hoes in advance of the baggage abandoned by the Qing army, and pretended to be a farmer father and son working in the field, so he escaped the eyes of the fat soldier.

"So, you and your son fled to Huzhou on foot?" The tower was even more puzzled, and said that the two of you didn't sleep all night, and you could still walk more than 50 miles to this Huzhou City in one day without eating or drinking?

"The general Ming Cha, although the slave is a civil official, but he has practiced martial arts since he was a child, has a strong physique, and has traveled more than 50 miles from Changxing to Huzhou, and it is difficult for the slave to fail." Yao Qisheng also understood that the tower had already become suspicious, and hurriedly explained carefully: "There is also Yao Yi, the slave's dog, who has also practiced martial arts with the slave since he was a child, and he is young and strong, so this journey is even more difficult for him." ”

Looking at Yao Qisheng's tall figure and the pimple flesh on his body, the tower was a little suspicious, so he reluctantly nodded, and said in a slow tone: "So that's the case, it's good to come back alive, I'll get a set of armor later, Wu Gou should attack the city tomorrow, and we have a big war to fight again." ”

"General, the minions are here for this." Yao Qisheng hurriedly said: "General, this Huzhou City, the minions think that we can't defend it, so we can only give up quickly and reserve the living forces to retreat to Hangzhou, otherwise, our army will inevitably suffer another crushing defeat." ”

"Fart!" Lai Ta said angrily: "Huzhou is an important town in Zhejiang, and the food and salary are sufficient, so you want General Ben to give up?" What kind of heart do you have? ”

"Don't blame the general, please listen to the minions carefully." Yao Qisheng said respectfully: "The general is right, Huzhou is indeed an important town in Zhejiang with sufficient food, and it is a pity to give up, but can we still hold it now?" Now our army is newly defeated, the morale is low, the soldiers have no heart to fight, the ordnance and baggage have been completely lost, and it is difficult to have a chance of winning the defense of the city. ”

"And the slave has carefully observed, this Huzhou city wall is built of bricks and rammed earth, not very strong, Wu Gou's artillery is so sharp, don't need to go to the city in hand-to-hand combat, just line up the artillery, concentrate on the fire to bombard the city wall, not to say, the city wall will inevitably collapse, at that time, Wu Dog will kill into the city, our army's casualties will inevitably be more huge, it is better to abandon the city to the south earlier, and concentrate troops to defend the city of Hangzhou, so as to ensure that in case."

"Fart! Fart! Fart! The more he listened, the more annoyed he became, and shouted: "Now tell Lao Tzu to give up Huzhou City, then when Wu Dog soldiers come to Hangzhou City, do you ask Lao Tzu to give up Hangzhou again?" ”

"On this point, I would like to ask the general to put 10,000 hearts." Yao Qisheng hurriedly said: "After Lu Yifeng's dog thief takes Huzhou, it is impossible for him to go south to attack Hangzhou, the slave has analyzed the purpose of Lu Yifeng's dog thief for the general before, he is here to weaken the strength of my Zhejiang army, and he has no intention of annexing Zhejiang, so once he takes Huzhou, at most he will only go east to attack Jiaxing, and will never attack Hangzhou south." Otherwise, not only would it be difficult for him to return to the division in time to save Jiangning's lair, but an accident might cause Geng Jingzhong's dog thief to take the opportunity to go north and open up land contact with him, then his trouble would be ....... ”

"Fart!" The unbearable slap in the face of Yao Qisheng was slapped, and he roared angrily: "Dog minion, if you say another word that shakes the heart of the army, Lao Tzu will cut you now!" Get lost! Go back and wait to listen to the ginseng, you Zhejiang Wen Dao is a fool, you don't need to be fooled! ”

Yao Qisheng, who was foaming at the mouth, was pumped by the tower, and after reacting, Yao Qisheng didn't speak, just bowed deeply to the tower, then turned his body and strode down the city with his head held high, leaving the tower to scold angrily in the city. And when Yao Qisheng got down the city wall, Yao Yi, the eldest son of Yao Qisheng, who had been waiting under the city for a long time, immediately greeted him and asked with concern: "Father, how is it?" Did the general listen to your advice? ”

Yao Qisheng smiled bitterly, and led his son to a secluded place before replying: "Not only did I not listen, but our father and I have to prepare to go back to our hometown in Shaoxing to farm. ”

"He also dismissed his father from his official position?" Yao Yi was stunned and said, "Father, this is impossible, right?" He allowed you to serve as a military officer, and even if he didn't like to hear the wrong thing, he wouldn't need to dismiss your official position, right? ”

"He's been suspecting his father for a long time, and now he's just taking advantage of the opportunity." Yao Qisheng sighed, and said helplessly: "This time in the Yixing battle, he listened to his father's suggestion to send troops to attack Yixing, but he accidentally ran into the main force of Lu Yifeng's dog thieves in the dead place on the north side of Tianmu Mountain, suffered a big loss, almost wiped out the whole army, lost inexplicably, and lost in a daze, can he not suspect that his father is colluding with Wu Dog Lu Yifeng, deliberately tricking him into sneaking up on Yixing, and deliberately letting him enter the place of death and throw himself into the net?" ”

"Fuck the stinking fart!" Yao Yi gritted her teeth and scolded in a low voice: "Father, if you collude with Wu Gou, will you use all your family resources to recruit Xiangyong to serve the country?" Will we wipe out all our township soldiers in this battle in Yixing? Those soldiers are all our fellow villagers, and they are all our hometown fathers! ”

"I can't blame him completely, this thing is too coincidental, and anyone else will have such suspicions." Yao Qisheng continued to smile bitterly and muttered: "For my father, I didn't expect Lu Yifeng's dog thief to be attacking the west, it seems that my father was too underestimated this Lu Yifeng dog thief, this dog thief can be famous all over the world in just a few years, and rise from a seven-grade county to a strong party, it seems that he does have a bit of real talent." ”

Yao Yi was silent for a while before asking, "Father, what should we do next?" ”

"What to do? Cold! Yao Qisheng's smile was even more bitter, "The official has been lost, and the capital has been lost, so I am ready to go home to cultivate the fields and change into the people's clothes to be a good citizen of Zhou." Oh, no, it's not necessarily the good people of Da Zhou, Lu Yifeng, a dog thief, has both courage and strategy, proper governance, and is good at buying the hearts of the people, he will definitely not be willing to be under Wu Sangui's old thief for a long time, but I am afraid that sooner or later he will rebel against Wu Sangui's old thief and establish himself as the king. Yao Yi was silent, so she had to honestly accompany Han Jian's father back to the rented inn and rest for the night.

After Han Jian's father and son returned to the inn, Yao Yi quickly fell asleep, but Yao Qisheng tossed and turned on the bed, and finally couldn't sleep, so he simply got up and sat under the window, looking at the waning moon outside the window in a daze, thinking about the past, his heart was full of ups and downs, and his mood fluctuated, and it was difficult to calm down for a long time.

When it was so close to the third watch, Yao Qisheng finally had some sleepiness, and when he was about to go to bed, he suddenly heard the sound of footsteps outside the door, and finally stopped in front of the door of his room, Yao Qisheng knew something was wrong, and quickly took out a short knife to wake up his son, stuffed the short knife into his son's hand, and pointed to the door again, Yao Yi understood, quickly got up barefoot, and hid behind the door in a low voice, Yao Qisheng also hid behind the door on the other side.

At this time, the accident happened, a thin knife quietly stuffed into the crack of the door, and asked the door latch to be gently provoked, and when the door latch was completely raised, the door was immediately gently pushed open, and a man in black rushed in, but before the man in black could stand firmly, Yao Yi had already gone up and strangled his neck, and grabbed his wrist holding the knife. The man in black was taken aback and hurriedly struggled, Yao Qisheng put the knife on his throat, and said with a low smile: "Bold thief, what do you want to do when you enter the door late at night?" ”

"I don't want to do anything." The answer of the man in black surprised Yao Qisheng's father and son, and asked in a low voice: "I just want to ask you, among you, is one of you the Wen Daoist Yao Qisheng Lord Yao?" ”

"What are you looking for me for?" Yao Qisheng asked suspiciously.

"Great, Master Yao, you really live here." The man in black was overjoyed, and hurriedly whispered: "Lord Yao, I'm here to save you, you come with me quickly, the people who arrested you will come soon." ”

"You're here to save me?" Yao Qisheng was even more puzzled, "Who are you?" Why save me? Who's going to arrest me? ”

"Master Yao, I can't say anything now." The man in black whispered: "Just please come with me immediately, I will take you to meet someone, you see him, he will naturally explain to you." Please believe me, your captors are really coming soon, and now General Chenta's men are searching the inn all over the city, and my master only happened to see you enter this inn on the way, so he sent me to rescue you. ”

"Who the hell are you? Who is your master? Yao Qisheng asked.

"Adult, small must not be said now." The man in black whispered anxiously: "And the little one also swore in front of his master that he would rather die than reveal his identity!" My lord, please, please believe me, I really have no ill intentions, you listen, there is already a noise outside, and it will be too late if you don't leave. ”

Yao Qisheng's father and son listened carefully, and sure enough, they heard a noisy voice in the distance, it really seemed that something had happened, and at that moment Yao Qisheng made a decision, relying on his martial arts, and hurriedly whispered to his son: "Yi'er, let him go, let him lead the way." ”

"Father, do you believe him?" Yao Yi asked.

"Take a gamble." Yao Qisheng replied ambiguously. Yao Yi has always been in awe of her father, so she quickly let go honestly, and the man in black breathed a sigh of relief, and hurriedly thanked him: "Thank you, Lord Yao, please leave the inn through the back door, I will show you the way, otherwise it will be too late." ”

Yao Qisheng nodded in agreement, hurriedly took the meager luggage with Yao Yi, and followed the man in black out of the room, and then out of the inn through the back door, and into a dark alley, and Yao Qisheng and his son had not gone far, and sure enough, a group of Qing soldiers rushed into the inn with torches, and there were vague people shouting, "Is the person called Yao Qisheng living here?" ”

"Is someone really coming to arrest us?" Yao Qisheng's father and son were all taken aback, and they were finally completely relieved by the man in black, and hurriedly marched into the remote alley under his guidance, gradually moving away from the inn.

The man in black was obviously a local, he knew the big and small roads in Huzhou City well, and in the dark he led Yao Qisheng and his son to skillfully avoid the patrol sentry of the Qing army, and gradually came to the side of a huge mansion, and opened a small door that was concealed, led Yao Qisheng and his son into the courtyard, and led him to a room with an oil lamp, pushed open the door and led Yao Qisheng and his son into the room, and closed the door again, then knelt down on one knee to a middle-aged man with his back to the oil lamp, clasped his fists and whispered: "Engong, Liu Hailang does not disgrace his mission, and he is ahead of the dog." , brought Lord Yao's father and son for you. ”

"Liu Zhuangshi, thank you." The middle-aged man thanked him in a low voice, and when he slowly turned around, Yao Qisheng was taken aback and blurted out, "Lord Wu, why are you?" "It turned out that it was none other than the prefect of this Huzhou City, Wu Qi, who appeared in front of Yao Qisheng's father and son!

"Lord Yao, do you know me too?" Wu Qi was also a little surprised.

"Today on the city wall, I had a relationship with adults." Yao Qisheng replied: "Although I couldn't talk to the adult at that time, the adult was wearing an official uniform at the time, so the lower official knew the identity of the adult. ”

"I see." Wu Qi came to his senses and hurriedly beckoned: "Lord Yao, please take a seat, this must be Ling Gongzi, please also take a seat." Liu Zhuangshi, please go outside the door and guard for us, and don't let others approach. ”

"Eun Gong, please rest assured." Liu Hailang, the man in black, agreed, hurriedly went out to guard, and closed the door again. Wu Qi carefully introduced to Yao Qisheng: "Lord Yao, please rest assured, this Liu Hailang is a native of Huzhou, a strong man with great righteousness, two years ago, the son of a bully bullied the people's daughter, and was killed by him with three punches and two kicks, the bully sued the county, bought the government to kill his head, the case was handed to me, I found out the situation, withstood the pressure and rescued him, he was very grateful to me, and would never betray us, so Lord Yao has something to say with confidence." ”

Yao Qisheng nodded confusedly, and couldn't help but ask again: "Governor Wu, then why did you ask him to bring our father and son here?" Why did General Tsa arrest our father and son? ”

"Lord Yao, your identities have been revealed." Wu Qi's words were shocking, and he lowered his voice and said: "General Lu Yifeng's reply to you, when you asked your previous personal soldiers to bring back to Huzhou City, I didn't expect that your personal soldiers betrayed you and dedicated General Lu's reply to you to the tower. Now the dog is furious, and is searching for you, but fortunately I was there at the time, and I happened to see you enter the inn this evening, so I hurriedly sent Liu Hailang to fetch you here. ”

"What?!" Yao Qisheng's father and son jumped up together, and they were stunned together, and said in their hearts, Lu Yifeng's reply to me? Was he betrayed to the tower by my former soldiers? Here and there?

"Lord Yao, please rest assured, you are safe." Wu Qi obviously misunderstood the reaction of Yao Qisheng's father and son, and just smiled and said: "I'm afraid that the tower is full of dogs, I can't dream that now you will be in the yamen of the Huzhou prefect, and you will sit with me, the Huzhou prefect." And how to get out of the city, Lord Yao, please rest assured, he has been an official in Huzhou for many years, and he is more or less a snake in half the land, so there is naturally a way for you to get out of the city without knowing it. ”

"Lord Wu, why are you helping our father and son?" Yao Qisheng finally came to his senses and hurriedly asked, "You and I don't know each other, why did you take such a big risk to save our father and son?" ”

"May I ask Lord Yao, have you heard of the name given to Wu Weiye?" Wu Qi asked calmly.

"Wu Weiye?" Yao Qisheng was stunned, and hurriedly asked: "Could it be that Wu Jungong who would rather die than eat Qingsu?" Wumei Village? ”

"He's my uncle." Wu Qi said lightly: "Uncle, the thing that the old man regrets the most in his life is that when Mangou Shunzhi was ten years old, he couldn't stand the threat of Mangou and the crying of his family, so he was an official for Mangou for a few years, a lackey for a few years, and lost his evening. My unscrupulous nephew is even more useless, he became a tribute to the dog in the second year of Shunzhi, and he has been abusing the dog for 20 years, and he is sorry for the ancestors of the world, and he is sorry for the Han people, and he is really remorseful. ”

Speaking of this, Wu Qi's tone was suddenly a little excited, and he gritted his teeth and said: "However, although I treat Mangou as a dog, I, like my clan uncle, have the greatest wish in my life is to expel the Tartars, reshape my Chinese country, and save the Han people from fire and water!" I only hope that among my Chinese men, there can be a true hero who stands up to the sky and the earth, a good man, who leads my Han people to prosper the Han Dynasty and destroy the Manchurians, and restore the Ming Dynasty against the Qing Dynasty, and I can also contribute a meager effort to him before and after the saddle! Now, my chance has finally arrived! ”

As he spoke, Wu Qi suddenly knelt down on Yao Qisheng's knees, took out a letter from his arms, raised his hands above his head, and said in a deep voice: "Lord Yao, I know that you are General Lu Yifeng's person, please give my letter to General Lu, and then please tell General Lu that Wu Qi, a Chinese sinner, is willing to atone for his sins, act as an internal response for him, help him break through Huzhou, and save the people of Huzhou from the dire situation!" Wu Qi's heart, heaven and earth can be proven, and the moon can be learned! ”

Yao Qisheng opened his mouth and stared at Wu Qi's emaciated face full of enthusiasm and sincerity, Yao Qisheng suddenly had a thought in his heart, "Great, if I dedicate my internal annihilation and his letters to General Zangta, my grievances will definitely be cleared up, and General Zangta and the Qing Imperial Court will definitely trust and reuse me!" ”

(To be continued)