Wang Huaqiang suddenly understood Wang Xuan's thoughts, if there were too few people to cross the river, maybe Yang Xiang and Pei Yun would retreat, after all, they didn't know the real situation in the north, in case this time it was just a suspicious plan that He Ruobi had been engaged in in the past few years, then the lives of their entire clan might not be guaranteed, and they might even change their hexagram under heavy pressure and arrest Wang Xuan to repay their merits.

Therefore, Wang Xuan can only reassure them when there are hundreds of people standing behind him, since he can't bring so many people from Jiangbei, he can only rely on the old troops in Jiangnan to support himself.

Thinking of this, Wang Huaqiang asked, "Jing Yan, is your family's old department in Jiangnan reliable?" After all, after so many years, there are at least fifty or sixty people who followed your father back then, and these people can fight? ”

Wang Xuan smiled slightly: "Hua Qiang, of course you can't rely on these grandfathers to fight, but they have sons and nephews, and they were very generous to their subordinates in the first exam, so when the old thief Chen Ba first poisoned him, he didn't dare to fight on the battlefield in a dignified manner, but faked a holy decree to let him leave the army and enter the city, and then assassinated."

It stands to reason that in fact, the old thief is also a good hand at fighting, and he almost fought half of Nanchen's country, and also defeated the hundreds of thousands of troops of the Northern Qi Dynasty, but even the old thief did not dare to fight head-on with the first exam, because the first test treated the soldiers well, so everyone was willing to die for him.

Therefore, after the unjust death of the first examination, although many old departments had no leader and could not resist the old thief, they were unwilling to serve him, but chose to understand Jia and return to the field.

Over the years, some old brothers have heard that our two brothers have escaped from great difficulties, and they are officials in Dasui, and they have taken the initiative to send their sons and nephews to contact me, saying that as long as I set foot on the land south of the Yangtze River, I will definitely bring the whole clan to greet me. ”

Wang Huaqiang thought of the wheat iron rod that he had come to connect with in the past few months, and frowned slightly: "Seeing that this person is only less than thirty years old, is he really so loyal to Ling Zun?" ”

Wang Xuan laughed and patted Wang Huaqiang's shoulder: "Don't underestimate this wheat iron staff, he not only has excellent water properties and can swim across rivers, but also has a pair of scud stunts, and can travel five hundred miles a day." ”

Wang Huaqiang couldn't believe his ears: "Five hundred miles a day? Is that still human? Even if it is a military report delivered by a fast horse, it is only six hundred miles of urgency, and he can still run faster than a horse? ”

Wang Xuan shook his head and told Wang Huaqiang about the origin of this wheat iron rod:

Mai Tiecane's father, Mai Zengwei, was originally a native of Shixing in the Lingnan region (now Shixing, Guangdong), when Chen Ba first raised troops from Lingnan to fight against Houjing, Mai Zengwei first joined Chen Baxian's troops, and then was assigned to Wang Shengbi's subordinate and became a petty officer.

After Chen Ba attacked and killed Wang Seng first, Mai Zengwei also disarmed and returned to his hometown, continued to be a commoner, and married Liang there as his wife, and gave birth to a son, named Rao Feng, and called the iron staff.

Mai Tiecane's father died early, since he was a child, he met a stranger to guide, learned a martial arts, and what is more rare is that he is light and healthy, and has the art of divine action, he once gathered in the mountains and forests when he was a teenager, and brought a group of township party thieves, was captured by the government, punished as a slave of the government, and a year or two later, was brought into Jiankang City, and held an umbrella for the emperor.

Every night after the emperor dispersed, he took advantage of the night to run to South Xuzhou (now Zhenjiang, Jiangsu), hundreds of miles away, and robbed the house with open fire, and then ran back to Jiankang overnight, and continued to play an umbrella for the emperor early the next morning.

Mai Tiecane was a night thief a few times, and showed his face during a theft, because he looked more special, at that time, there were also people who had been on an errand in the capital in the southern Xuzhou catcher, and knew Mai Tiecane, so he reported to the capital, saying that the emperor's umbrella guard was a Jiangyang thief.

At that time, Chen Chao was Chen Baxian's nephew Chen Xuandi Chen Xuan, and he didn't believe that Mai Tiezhu had this ability, and later more and more people complained, and Cai Zheng, the Shangshu at that time, thought of a way, and announced in public when he dispersed the dynasty, with a heavy amount of money as a reward, he was looking for a person to go to the South Xuzhou Assassin Mansion with an official document, and he had to return to this report with a reply letter the next morning.

As soon as Mai Tiezhu saw that there was money to be made, he gladly accepted the task, and sure enough, he brought the reply letter early the next morning, which allowed Emperor Chen Xuan and the ministers to see his scud kung fu and believe that those cases were done by him.

Out of love, Emperor Chen Xuan did not kill him, but still punished him heavily, and let him return to his hometown and become a common man again.

After returning to his hometown, he accidentally saw the suicide note left by his father and learned about the grievances between his father and the Chen family.

Thinking that his father was impoverished by the Chen family, and that he would never come out, Mai Tiecane suddenly became bitter and hateful, and took the initiative to connect many old comrades-in-arms mentioned in his father's suicide note.

How beautiful these people used to be under Wang Seng Debate, and how miserable they are now, many people's sons and nephews gather in the mountains and forests, and the best ones can only farm at home, which can be described as bitter and bitter. Therefore, they hit it off with Mai Tiezhu, and they all stated that as long as Wang Gongzi stood on the land of Jiangnan, he would definitely run his family.

In the past two years, Mai Tiezhu has smuggled across the Sui Realm several times, going back and forth between Wang Xuan's family and Jiangnan, and Wang Xuan has also helped him several times and given him a lot of money to help these old people in Jiangnan.

After Pei Yun and Yang Xiang took the initiative to write to the Sui Dynasty and made an appointment with the internal response, Mai Tiezhu also became the messenger who passed the news between the two of them and Wang Xu, and this month alone, Wang Huaqiang saw him go back and forth between the two sides of the river three times, and there was never a mistake.

Wang Huaqiang's mind came to mind with the disproportionate pair of long legs of the wheat iron rod, and the big black face with a beard like grass, for some reason, he always felt that this person was a little unreliable, but he never mentioned this to Wang Xuan, and when he heard Wang Xuan talk about the glorious past of the wheat iron rod, he kept his mouth shut, but there was still a trace of uneasiness in his heart.

Wang Xuan glanced at Wang Huaqiang and said in a low voice: "Then it's a word, let's go our separate ways, I'll go find Mai Tiezhu first, and ask him to contact our old Wang family, you go and manage the logistics, and prepare with both hands." If there is fog, we will all go over, if there is no fog, I will take the first people to cross the Yangtze River at night, connect with our people, and then contact Yang Xiang and Pei Yun. ”

Wang Huaqiang nodded: "Brother Jingyan cherishes, you must remember to keep an eye on it." ”

Wang Xuan said with a smile: "This is natural, how can I avenge the first examination if I lose my life." By the way, help us prepare more spirits and small pieces of arsenic, it is almost the moon, and swimming in the Yangtze River at night will freeze to death, and you can't get by without this thing to warm up. ”

"Arsenic?" Wang Huaqiang looked dazed.

"Yes, a small piece of arsenic in the mouth can ward off the cold, but the quantity must be strictly controlled, I will operate this when the time comes, you can prepare about a catty, and then get some animal fat, when the time comes, you must wipe it on the body to keep out the cold, otherwise you will freeze to death in the river water in winter."

Wang Huaqiang nodded: "I must listen to Brother Jing Yan's arrangement." ”

After breaking up with Wang Xuan, Wang Huaqiang returned to the camp, and as soon as he saw him, Wang Huashi and Wang Huawei greeted him: "Why have you been there for so long today?" ”

Wang Huaqiang glanced at the camp, everyone was busy making preparations for the expedition, sharpening the knives, preparing for the preparation, one by one bowed their heads to do things, and some people were shirtless, smearing grease on their bodies to exercise their ability to withstand cold, these days the weather is cold, and people who want to practice swimming can't go into the water without applying thick grease.

Wang Huaqiang glanced at the two brothers, made a look, and walked towards his tent, the two of them understood, and also followed into the tent, and Wang Huawei, who walked at the end, put down the curtain after entering the tent.

Wang Huaqiang sat cross-legged, this is not his home after all, there is only a blanket on the ground, because his family has money and can afford to spread blankets, and some other poor people in the tent can only be covered with a layer of coarse cloth, not even cloth, and sleep directly on the frozen ground.

It was freezing cold, and it was strictly forbidden to light a fire in the tent, and in the past few days, the soldiers who had woken up from the cold often ran out to roast the fire outside to keep warm.

Wang Huashi couldn't bear to see it, and paid for two layers of coarse cloth for every account that had no money to buy coarse cloth, so that no one ran out to bake the fire at night.

Wang Huashi also sat down with Wang Huaqiang, and asked, "How is it, is there a loophole in Jiangfang?" ”