The blood on Li Zhen's body was not left by his own injuries. It wasn't that he killed someone and was sprayed. This blood was thrown on his robe by the blood of the Taiping soldiers when the soldiers around him were killed, causing Li Zhen's clothes to be covered with blood, as if he had been killed from blood.

Li Zhen returned to the big tent and immediately heard a noisy sound.

At this time, the big tent was overcrowded, and more than 30 delegates arrived.

Li Zhen walked in, and the gentry immediately bowed. Li Zhen saw so many people screaming, bowed his head slightly, walked straight to the main seat of the conference table and sat down, then looked at the more than thirty gentry standing, and said lightly: "There are more than 30 people in the army, and they must not be able to accommodate everyone." Therefore, this official suggested that everyone think about it, and then elect a small number of representatives to sit down and talk to Li Zhen. ”

The gentry were all from this area of Yangzhou, and twelve representatives were soon elected.

Li Zhen's left and right hands each have six representatives.

After the twelve people sat down, they all looked at Li Zhen with a hint of fear.

After all, Li Zhen's blood was too bloody, especially the bloody clothes with blood stains still smelled of blood, revealing a disgusting smell, which made the gentry have a kind of position in their bones to erect Li Zhen as cruel, so they all sat on the chair with half an ass, cautious, and did not dare to slack off in the slightest.

Li Zhen was happy to see this, and said with a smile: "This official just came back from outside, do you know what this official did when he went out with the army?" ”

Among them, a gentleman said, "I don't know, please show me." ”

"Please show me!"

Everyone is in a unified voice, and they all say they don't know. Li Zhen listened to everyone's words and didn't believe what he said, because most of the gentry in Yangzhou knew Hong Xuanjiao's movements, and if they contacted Li Zhen, they would definitely be able to guess that it was Hong Xuanjiao's matter. These people pretend not to know, but they actually understand.

Li Zhenle made these people pretend to be confused, and said with a smile: "Today, Hong Xuanjiao, one of the bandits, led an army of 30,000 and killed with Li Xiu as the vanguard, and the momentum was violent. The officer led 8,000 soldiers to meet the enemy, the two sides fought, Hong Xuanjiao and Li Xiucheng were captured, the 30,000 army collapsed, and the rest of the 10,000 ambush soldiers who responded to Hong Xuanjiao were also defeated, and 15,000 people were captured, and countless people were killed or fled. ”

When everyone heard this, they were all surprised.

8,000 against 40,000 people, this is a ratio of 1 to 5, and the governor in front of him is really powerful.

Seeing this, Li Zhen smiled coldly in his heart.

The record of 8,000 against 40,000 just surprised them.

Li Zhen swept his eyes, gently knocked on the desk, and said nonchalantly: "In today's battle, less than four hundred soldiers in our army died, and the battle was decided. I believe that the next battle will be smoother. ”

"Shhh Hiss!! ”

At this moment, both the sitting and standing gentry were surprised.

It is not unusual to say that 8,000 men defeated 40,000. But it is quite surprising that only 8,000 soldiers killed and wounded 400 people, but defeated 40,000 troops. There was surprise in the eyes of each of the gentry, but more of them were fear.

Seeing this, Li Zhen bowed slightly.

These gentry are usually at the helm of large families, and they are arrogant and arrogant. If you don't suppress it, it's not easy to clean it up. Li Zhen continued: "Ladies and gentlemen, you are the pillars of this region of Yangzhou, and you have played an immeasurable role in exterminating the bandits. This official came to you just to suppress the bandits. ”

When Li Zhen spoke, these gentry all looked at each other.

They nodded to each other.

After all, when it comes to exterminating the soldiers of the bandits, these gentry have to think carefully.

More people plan to protect themselves and continue to mix in this muddy water. The group quickly reached a unified opinion, and the old man sitting at the conference table Li Zhen's left hand stood up with a serious expression, and said slowly: "Lord Li, we have some money at home, and we can fund the adults with money and food, but in terms of the strength of the bandits, I'm afraid it's really not good. ”

They were invited by Li Zhen and had already made plans to contribute money and food, and there was nothing to delay. After all, if the Taiping Army is solved, they can also benefit.

However, it is obviously impossible to get them to come up with private soldiers to help.

After Li Zhen heard this, he asked, "What is the old man's surname?" ”

The old man smiled and continued: "Your surname is Sun, and your name is Youcheng. Master Li, Lao Yu and the rest of the people have discussed, and the contribution is the maximum we can support. We can only support adults in this way, and hope that adults will accept it. ”

Li Zhen said: "Mr. Sun, you are always wrong! ”

"What's wrong?" Sun Youcheng said.

Li Zhen explained: "This official has no intention of letting you send troops, so I brought you here, one of them is to raise funds from you and raise funds to exterminate the bandits. Second, I hope that everyone will organize and form a group to control the grain delivered to Nanjing and cut off the supply of Nanjing. This matter cannot be done completely, just restrict the bandits, otherwise the bandits will be forced to jump over the wall in a hurry, and things will not be good. ”

Sun Youcheng listened to Li Zhen's plan, and then said: "Lord Li, we can fully agree to your request, I only hope that Lord Li can exterminate the bandits as soon as possible, so as to protect the safety of the party." ”

The so-called ruined wealth and eliminating disasters, these gentry just saved the news of ruined wealth, and wanted Li Zhen to exterminate the bandits and create a good environment for them.

After all, Li Zhenhe's fame can scare bandits, which is valuable.

At this time, a fat old man sitting at the head of the right side spoke: "My lord, all we can provide is hundreds of thousands of catties of grain, as well as the expenses of the soldiers in Admiral Li's army, etc., as for restricting the money and grain in Nanjing, etc., we will definitely implement it." ”

Li Zhen nodded and said, "Okay, this official will wait and see." ”

Immediately, Li Zhen discussed some things with Sun Youcheng and others before sending this group of people away. At this time, Ye Chengxin walked back again, with an eager look on his face, and said solemnly: "Marshal, Brigade Commander Huang sent someone to deliver a message saying that it was difficult to convince Hong Xuanjiao, please consider how to deal with Hong Xuanjiao." ”

Li Zhen said coldly: "It's just a Hong Xuanjiao, and I can't take it, it's really useless." Hong Xuanjiao is also a human being, there are shortcomings, we start with the shortcomings, or start from Hong Xuanjiao's advantages, etc., we will definitely succeed. Let's go, come with me to see how strong Hong Xuanjiao is? ”

Ye Cheng smiled awkwardly and did not answer.

Li Zhen flicked his sleeves, left the Chinese army's tent with Ye Chengxin, and walked towards the place where Hong Xuanjiao was held. There were no barracks in the army, only tents, and Hong Xuanjiao was imprisoned in the tents, which restricted her freedom.

ps: The third shift, call it a day, I'm so sleepy!