"Your Excellency is overly praised!"

The county magistrate was very satisfied with Liu Guoneng's attitude, he stood up and walked outside the house, and Liu Guoneng hurriedly followed. The county commander coughed and asked, "Liu Shoubei, how do you think we should deal with this group of thieves?" ”

"The last general thinks that he should report to the Hong army as soon as possible!" Liu Guoneng replied cautiously: "According to the general's guess, this group of thieves should be the forward, and the big group of thieves is still behind. Please let the strong men in the city go to the city, my soldiers will recuperate, if the thief comes to attack, the adult will resist, and then kill him by surprise after the thief is tired! After finishing speaking, Liu Guoneng looked at the county order with anxiety, lest the other party refuse to adopt his suggestion.

"Good, good!" After about half a ring, the county magistrate suddenly smiled and said: "According to Lord Liu, this official will immediately go to let the people of all households guard the city, and the matter of breaking the thief will bother Lord Liu!" “

Liu Guoneng was relieved when he heard the county order, and hurriedly bowed and saluted: "Then thank you, my lord!" “

As soon as he sent the county order away, a jailer ran out of the torture room and told him: "My lord, the leader of this thief is Li Guo!" ”

"A tiger!" Liu Guoneng laughed: "Okay, Lao Tzu is going to pick up your tiger skin this time and wear it!" ”

Under the order of the county order, Ding Zhuang was immediately mobilized, and the gentry in the city, whether they were willing or unwilling, took out food and silver as rewards, and also forgave some of the debts of the poor, they knew very well that if the thieves broke the city, not only could not save the money and food, but even the lives of their families would not be guaranteed. And the Ding Zhuang in the city were also caught up by the guards of the city after eating a full meal. However, everyone looked at the reinforcements sitting around the seven or eight cauldrons by the east gate with jealousy. In the cauldron were a few mouthfuls of freshly killed pigs and sheep, which were used to reward them. When Liu Guoneng surrendered to the government, he dismissed most of the old and weak, although there were only 500 people left. But they are all elite people who are used to it, all of them have been on the battlefield to kill people, and they are also fully equipped with armor after becoming an official soldier. Therefore, although Liu Guoneng knew that Li Guo and Cao Cao's troops were several times that of his own, he was also quite confident to hold on until Hong Chengchou's army arrived.

Outside the city, Li Guo and Cao Cao stood on a hill as hordes of thieves pushed siege equipment made of wood from the demolition of nearby villages toward the city walls.

"Do you really want to attack this Ganquan City?" Cao Cao asked.

"Hmm!" Li Guo nodded: "Liu Guineng, this son of a dog is in the city, he knows our situation too well." If he is allowed to live in the world, it will be a great evil! ”

"What else?"

Li Guo hesitated for a moment, and replied in a low voice: "You can get food by breaking the city." If there is no food in the army, there will be no room for turnover. “

"That's a good thing!" Cao Cao nodded and said with a smile: "But Liu Guoneng is a kid who dares to work hard." You can't underestimate him. In this way, you lead the army to attack the city, and I will keep an eye on the city gate, lest this kid play any tricks! ”

"It's good!" Li Guo nodded, and then rode to the county seat, while Cao Cao smiled and went down the mound to his own people.

Yellow River, Mengmen.

As the sun sets, it shines on the surface of the river, shining with patches of silvery light. A dozen square-headed boats were strung together. It was slowly heading downstream, and it was only half a foot from the side of the boat. The ship was loaded with heavy cargo. Since last year

Beginning in autumn, this kind of strange-looking cargo ship is very common on the Yellow River. Although this boat looks a little strange and does not go fast, it is loaded with a lot of goods, the draft is shallow, and any dangerous beach and sandbar can be walked. At first, everyone didn't know the way the ship came from, and some of them were bold enough to do something without capital, but they didn't want to run into a hard stubble, and the birds on the boat spilled their bows and arrows like no money, and immediately killed several of them, and the rest fled in the wilderness, but fortunately the boats ran slowly and couldn't catch up. But the next day, several clippers rushed over, jumped off a group of fierce officers and soldiers, and according to the confession, they slaughtered all the people involved, and hanged them one by one on the trees by the river. Later, people learned that the fleet was the property of the official family, and naturally no one dared to do it again, so the nickname of the ship was also changed to "flat-billed crocodile", taking its appearance of honesty, and if it was not careful, it would bite and die.

The boss of the ship on the ship was getting dark, and the iron ore on his ship was too much, so he was afraid that he could not see the wind and waves clearly at night, and accidentally capsized the boat, so he shouted to the young man at the bow of the ship: "Monkey, go up and see how far it is from Chenjiabao?" ”

The boy answered, ran to the mast, spat twice into the palm of his hand, jumped three times and climbed up the mast, and was like a macaque. When he reached the top of the pole, he crossed his legs and put a pergola on his forehead with his right hand, and looked downstream, only to see a two- or three-story building on the bank of the river about two or three miles away. The young man shouted downward: "Captain of the boat, there are still two or three miles to go!" ”

The captain nodded, turned around and shouted to the fleet behind him: "There are still two or three miles away from Chenjiabao, everyone cheer up, go there before dark to rest for one night, and then hurry tomorrow morning!" “

The fleets behind responded one after another, all raised their sails, and the two or three miles of waterway were smooth and smooth in a blink of an eye, and they saw that Chenjiabao was in front of them. This fort is a five-storey high earthen building, there is a circle of earthen enclosures outside, there is a trestle bridge more than ten steps long deep into the river on the bank, like this kind of fort on the bank of the Yellow River every thirty or forty miles, in addition to can be used to make a beacon tower, and then it is for the ships to and from the Yellow River to and from the night mooring. The captain of the boat shouted, and all the boats lowered their sails, untied the cables that were connected with each other, and rocked the oars towards the enclosure. As the cargo ship approached the shore, the boat boss heard a sound of something being crushed from under the ship, and the boat boss secretly thought that the river had formed thin ice, and the day of the river closure was not far off, and it seemed that this year was almost the last trip.

After a while, the boat of the boat boss approached the trestle, and the young man jumped on the trestle with agility and tied the cable tightly. The captain of the ship was about to go ashore, but saw the head of the castle limping over. He couldn't help but be stunned, and hurriedly sang a fat promise: "Chen Tou, I haven't seen you for many days." Are you in good shape? ”

"Good, good!" The head of the fort had a straight face, as if he didn't see the smile on the face of the boat boss at all: "You let your people not dock first, and anchor on the river first!" “

"Don't dock?" The captain of the ship thought that he had heard about it, and hurriedly said: "Chen Tou, my ship is loaded with high-quality iron sand, and Master Tang from the iron factory is in a hurry to ask for it." You also know that this ship has a very shallow draft. I can't afford the wind and waves, and if there is a strong wind in the middle of the river at night, it will all sink. ”

"I know what's inside, and you don't want to use any soup to press me. See there's no over there! The head of the fort pointed to a few narrow clippers moored in the bend not far away: "Lord Bai has a business trip, and idlers are not allowed to approach, this is a military order." Go to the river and spend the night, and don't get yourself in trouble! ”

The boat boss heard the words "Lord Bai". His face suddenly turned pale. He did not dare to say much and bowed his hand to the head of the fort, so he jumped into the boat, untied the cable and sailed into the river, rowing about half a mile before dropping anchor. Seeing that there was no one around, the young man boldly asked, "Boss, why did that guy just say that 'Lord Bai' let us spend the night on the river?" ”

"Shut up!" The boat boss scolded, and looked around again, as if a person would suddenly jump out under the water: "I heard that this 'Lord Bai' is a person under the staff of the left battalion of Yansui Town, when our fleet just started, some people who begged for a living on the water didn't open their eyes. hit the idea of this fleet, but was led by this white master to the village with a clipper and killed it cleanly. I heard that there wasn't even a three-year-old left! ”

"So it's the clipper?" The young man's face also became ugly, in ancient times, such a life on the water belonged to the marginalized people of society, many of them played multiple roles of fishermen, boatmen, and water thieves, like this boat boss and the boy There is an inexplicable connection with the water thieves who were killed. Therefore, although this ruthless "White Lord" killed the water thieves who invaded the fleet, they also had a close relationship.

"Who else?" The boat boss smiled, raised his voice and shouted to everyone: "Everyone cheer up at night, tonight there is a big worm 'Lord Bai' on the shore, and the little thief will definitely not have it, but you have to be careful of the wind and waves." This year, it is estimated that the river will be closed after this trip, and when you arrive in Chaoyi, I invite everyone to have a good drink! “

While the crew was enduring the cold wind on the river, Chenjiabao on the shore had a different atmosphere. Bai Wang stood on the shore, beside him stood a tall thin man dressed in black and wearing a hat, both of which were guarded by sailors with bird guns and machetes on their waists, and the porters in the fort were driven far away, and even the unloading was carried out by their own sailors.

"My lord, everything is unloaded!" A sentry saluted Bai Wang.

"Got it! Look around, don't let anyone run in! Bai Wang ordered in a deep voice, after a few months, the oiliness on his face before was long gone, replaced by the unique majesty of the superior who was killed and killed.

"Yes, sir!"

Bai Wang walked to the side of the goods, casually took out a saber from a cage box, stretched out his finger and tried the knife edge, only to feel a slight pain in his fingers, and immediately showed bloodshots, and couldn't help but praise: "Good steel mouth!" Then he turned his head and smiled at the man in black who was wearing a hat: "Leader Li, come here and order, twenty pairs of armor, and twenty bows, each bow has a hundred arrows, all of which are of the highest quality." You see, our Lord Liu didn't treat you badly! ”

The man in black snorted coldly, walked to the side of the goods, picked up another saber casually, tried it and sure enough, it was a high-grade steel knife, and he picked out a few bows and cotton armor, all of which were of the highest quality. Bai Wang didn't speak, just stood aside with a smile, watching the man inspect the goods. After about half a sound, the man put the military weapon back in its place and said coldly: "What about my people? ”

"Leader Li, you wait, people should take a while, you can rest assured, they are all first-class strong men, we will not say anything else, a mouthful of spit and a nail, as long as I promise you, I will never count!"

The man in black sneered, "Lord Bai is only afraid that there has been a hidden stake left in these twenty people, right?" ”

"Haha!" Bai Wang suddenly laughed: "Li Zicheng, I know that you fell into my hands that time, and I am angry. But don't be annoyed, if it weren't for me, if you fell into the hands of other Ming army generals, would there be a way to live? For the sake of you and I who have mixed on the green forest road in the past, I will send you a word! “

"What?"

"Honestly do an errand for Lord Liu, and the Lord will naturally give you a way out, otherwise!" Speaking of this, Bai Wang sneered: "Sooner or later, it will be a dead end!" ”

Li Zicheng didn't speak, and at this time there was a horn on the water, and Bai Wang smiled: "People are here, Leader Li, you and I will go to meet your novices!" ”

Li Zicheng silently followed Bai Wang and came to the trestle, at this time there was already a fast boat leaning on the trestle, and twenty strong men came down from the boat, standing in front of Bai Wang and Li Zicheng. Bai Wang smiled, took a step forward, pointed to Li Zicheng behind him and said loudly: "This is your leader, in the future, you will listen to his orders, you will do whatever he tells you to do, as long as you do it well, my family will naturally give you an end!" Speaking of this, he took a step back and said to Li Zicheng with a smile: "What, can you say a few words too?" ”

Li Zicheng took off his hat, took a deep breath and stepped forward. At this time, his heart can be said to be surging, since the beginning of the army, his fate has gone through twists and turns, the general in Bai Wang's mouth is like the magic star in his life, every time he finally wants to make a big move, he is suddenly beaten into the deep valley. This time, he finally got free, and he was also given armor and soldiers, what idea did the other party have on him? For a while, Li Zicheng's heart turned and turned, but he seemed to be stupid.

Bai Wang stood aside, saw Li Zicheng standing there without speaking, and secretly scolded this thief for being a person who had never seen the scene, so he had to step forward to relieve him and said: "Okay, okay, there are armor for you over there, put them on and try them!" At this time, Bai Wang was also a little bored with Li Zicheng, and forced a smile on his face: "Leader Li, it's not too early, you guys will set off, right?" ”

"Everyone is walking, can you give me some foot strength?"

"This guy has to inch in, so he is too much!" Bai Wang was secretly angry in his heart, but Yu He's advice before parting came to his mind, he forcibly held back the anger in his chest, and said with a forced smile: "There are no war horses, there are only a few horses in the fort, can Leader Li settle?" “

"I just saw a few mules, and they look pretty good!" (To be continued.) )