Ma Sanniang's wrongness Zhu Houzhao also felt it, but he wouldn't ask. Seeing Zhu Houwei so depressed, Zhu Houzhao was still very happy in his heart.

At noon the next day, Zhu Luoxue finally relieved herself. During the meal, he also felt that something was wrong between Zhu Houwei and Ma Sanniang, no matter how Zhu Houwei teased Ma Sanniang to speak, the answer he got was "Well, oh." Such a simple answer. The girl's raging gossip fire burned all over her body, and the power that disappeared returned to her body. But when I asked Zhu Houwei, I didn't know, I asked Ma Sanniang, but I refused to say, but this still didn't disturb the girl's interest.

Zhu Houwei and they are also not available, and now they have to organize horse-drawn carriages to go to Jining to transport cement and people from Huangzhuang in the capital to come to Timen Town, preparing to start building a road from Timen Town to Huangzhuang in Shandong and to Jining.

At noon on the third day, they galloped from the south and soon arrived at the south gate of Timon Town. Recognizing that this was a person from the land and water battalion, the person who came dismounted and asked eagerly, "Where is His Royal Highness the Prince, the military situation is urgent." ”

Ten minutes later, the faces of the few people sitting in the lobby were gloomy, and the lobby was silent. Zhu Houzhao closed his eyes and clenched his fists, obviously suppressing his anger. Zhu Houwei stood up, paced slowly, and didn't say a word.

Ma Sanniang and Zhu Luoxue looked at the letter together, and after reading it, Zhu Luoxue shouted angrily, "How can this be reasonable, 3,000 officers and soldiers were defeated by less than 2,000 refugees." Ridiculous, hateful. ”

The content of the letter paper is that on July 23, in Dezhou County, hundreds of refugees stormed the courtyard of the large household and broke three villages. On the 25th, the refugees moved to Pingyuan County, and in the evening they broke the official army. Today, these refugees have turned into rebels in their early 3,000s, and the number is rising.

Zhu Houzhao spoke, and his voice was a little pitched at the beginning, "Let's analyze and analyze what's going on first, and then talk about how to deal with it." ”

Ma Sanniang frowned and said, "These three thousand officers and soldiers were transferred from Lingshanwei and Anton Wei, and the journey is nearly thousands of miles, even if the military preparation road is issued at the beginning, it is impossible for the officers and soldiers to arrive in two days, right?" However, the officers and troops have just arrived, their foothold is not stable, and their own combat strength is insufficient and their morale is not high, so defeat is also possible. However, I think that the commander of the rebellious people has some talent, first to fight the large courtyards, improve morale, recruit manpower, and then break a few villages to obtain supplies and personnel, and then take the officers and soldiers to come from afar, and suddenly attack, and win the battle. Then return to Texas, create a huge deterrent to Texas City, and at the same time be able to recruit people from among the refugees. Texas is in danger, the city has money and food, and the soldiers are sufficient, once it succeeds, the situation is not the same. ”

"Hou Wei, what do you think?"

"The pirates in Dengzhou were destroyed by land and water in Tianjin, and the civilian officials not only failed but also fell into the enemy, which can be described as a great loss of face. Jining and the counties on both sides of the canal were basically under control, and there was no loss. I just can't figure out why I'm in such a hurry, according to the news a few days ago, Anton and Lingshan have been on their way since July 11, and they should rest before going to Pingyuan County. However, the essence of this matter is to reap the merits of war, and even if these refugees are not chaotic, some people will force them to mess up. Zhu Houwei stood up and said slowly.

"If I guessed correctly, it should be Dong Qinghai who got the documents from the Ministry of War." Zhu Houzhao's eyes were still closed.

Zhu Luoxue was a little incredible: "Someone will force the people? Don't they know that there will be many casualties in a mess? ”

Zhu Houwei looked at Zhu Luoxue seriously, "The lives of the people are worthless in the eyes of some people, and in order to climb up, they will not hesitate to wear a red black gauze hat." ”

Ebony gauze hats are all black, no exceptions. Zhu Houwei's red is obviously not simply talking about color.

Ma Sanniang was a little puzzled, "That should be the official army killing the chaotic people and defeating the people, and then pacifying the place." Zhu Houzhao opened his eyes, his eyes were red with anger, but his mouth sneered, "There are all kinds of cults in Shandong, and there are even spies from the north. Some people simply think that they can control the overall situation with the chess pieces they have placed in it, but they can't imagine that they will play big and play badly. ”

Zhu Houwei, Zhu Houzhao stood up and walked to the backyard. Ma Sanniang also stood up and said to Zhu Luoxue, "County Lord, Sanniang hasn't slept all night and is a little tired, so let's go and rest for a while." Zhu Luo Xuemu nodded, and then looked at Sanniang's back and walked away.

At about four o'clock in the afternoon, the three people who went to rest came to the lobby one after another, and Zhu Luoxue didn't know where to go, but with the guards of the palace beside him, there should be no danger. In the end, Ma Sanniang left a letter, and then the three of them took more than 50 people and horses from the land and water camps, galloped quickly, and galloped to Jining.

Along the way, day and night, we arrived in Jining in the evening of the next day. People can still eat, and the horses have basically reached the limit of their physical strength. When I entered the city, I found that the atmosphere in the city was very different from some time ago, and it was not so tense and depressing.

The group arrived at the food first, ate some food first, and then went straight to the pier. At this point, the dock was empty, and the crowd that had been there last time was basically gone. But there are still many boats transporting materials to the wharf, and Zhu Houzhao and Zhu Houwei can see very clearly that all the goods that are transported are cement.

After the cement was transported, it was sent directly to the city, and at this time, because Lu Zhixian helped contact many businesses, he vacated a private warehouse to store the cement. As for the county treasury, it cannot be used for public and private purposes, and at this time, Huangzhuang is of a private nature.

At this time, Lu Zhixian also arranged work and came to meet Zhu Houzhao and them. Zhu Houzhao asked, "Lu Zhixian, what is the current situation in Texas?" Lu Zhixian smiled bitterly, "This news is not very accurate, it is basically hearsay, and the official documents of the government have not yet arrived, so there is really no way to know." ”

Zhu Houwei smiled at Lu Zhixian, "It's okay, just tell me what you heard, and we can also make a reference." Lu Zhixian nodded, "There are business travelers from the north who say that now Texas has been surrounded, and the surrounding open space is full of chaotic people, at least forty or fifty thousand people. Not only that, but because of the many weapons obtained from the plains some time ago, and now the people are strong and strong, and everyone wears armor, and the situation in Texas is already critical. Some people even say that the magistrate of Texas has fallen into the hands of the chaotic people, and the chaotic people may use the magistrate to coerce Texas to open the city gates. ”

Zhu Houzhao was a little surprised, "How is this possible, Texas is not broken, how can the magistrate be captured?" Ma Sanniang showed a disdainful smile on her face, and Zhu Houwei also had a plan in her heart, only Lu Zhixian was a little embarrassed, and said, "It may be that the business travel is alarmist, and this statement must be untrue." ”

Zhu Houwei opened his mouth and said, "Lu Zhixian, you go back first, and we will also take a boat north later." However, during this time, we must pay attention to precautions, and the people who come and go must also check clearly, although Texas is six hundred miles away from here, but be careful. Lu Zhixian nodded and arched his hand, "Weichen retreats." ”

When Lu Zhixian walked away, Zhu Houzhao asked again, "Is it true that this Texas Zhixian was captured?" Zhu Houwei frowned, "Hearing is false, seeing is believing." Ma Sanniang said quietly, "There is no wind." ”

Zhu Hou looked at Ma Sanniang, "Sanniang, you are more familiar with Shandong." Have you ever seen anything like this before? Ma Sanniang nodded, "Don't talk about other places, just talk about Dengzhou." Pirate invasions occur almost every two years. Once it happens, those hundreds, thousands of households will go to the Acropolis, saying that they will wait for Shangguan to dispatch. And Qixia, Zhaoyuan and other counties will also leave the county seat, but not to Dengzhou City, but to Qingzhou. ”

Zhu Houzhao frowned and nodded, and stopped talking.

The group came to the vicinity of the unloading boat, and it happened that several people from the capital Huangzhuang also got off the boat, and two of them were from the former Zhu Mansion and knew Zhu Houzhao's brothers.

"Jiang Yiqu (Lu Jiande) has seen the eldest young master, the second young master." The two stepped forward and saluted

Zhu Houzhao's brothers all showed smiling faces, and Zhu Houwei said lightly, "It's the two of you, Mr. Bai sent you?" The two of them also smiled and nodded.

Zhu Houzhao asked, "What is the current progress?" Jiang Yiqu Zhengse said, "This time I came to Shandong, I was in charge of the reconstruction of Huangzhuang, and Jiande was in charge of road construction. At present, 300 tons of cement have been transported over, and they are still being delivered. We're here to observe first, and we'll send someone to help later. With sufficient manpower, the renovation work should begin in early September and is expected to be completed by the second half of next year, followed by full force to build the road. Lu Jiande waited for Jiang Yiqu to finish speaking, and then continued: "This time the road repair in Shandong is mainly to build the road from Huangzhuang to Jining County, the road between Huangzhuang, and finally from Huangzhuang to Dengzhou." However, the project is relatively heavy, and in winter, it is difficult to start construction, and it is expected that it will not be completed until the following year. The roads are basically according to the scale of the road from Beijing to Tianjin, but under Mr. Bai's reminder, Shandong may need water and land camps to ensure safety. ”

Zhu Houzhao and both nodded, "That's certain, when the time comes, the training foundation in the capital will be carried out, maybe when you get to Shandong, you will have to carry out actual combat." Zhu Houwei said with some emotion.

Jiang Yiqu had a more open personality, and said with a smile, "Two young masters, don't you know, that kid in Qinghai is really bold, this time the water and land battalion is expanding, hey, that guy, there are crowds, and the camps in the capital are not enough, so I have to put some people on the side of the road construction team, and protect the road construction team while training." ”

"Oh? How many people were recruited? Zhu Houzhao became interested. Lu Jiande picked up on the side, "Where do we know that?" The kid in Qinghai is trembling now, and several of us didn't say anything when we asked him, even when he was drunk. But we estimate that at least 5,000 people were recruited? ”

Zhu Houwei scolded with a smile: "Are you two suing him or asking for credit for him?" Don't think we can't hear it. The two immediately smiled and touched the back of their heads.

Zhu Houzhao's face became a little serious, "You guys came by boat to pass through Texas, Linqing, what is the situation now?" Lu Jiande also replied, "We passed by 3 days ago, Linqing is a large number of people there, and now the water and land battalions are cooperating with the county to give porridge and rice, and we are also transporting people to the road construction team, there is no problem, Texas is different." The people on the wharf were divided into two groups, one group was close to the county seat, about five or six thousand, and the other group was close to the wharf, about twenty or thirty thousand, and our ship did not dock, and it is not clear what the specific situation was. ”

Zhu Houzhao nodded, sighed and said, "The carriage over there in Timen Town is coming, and it will arrive in about two or three days, and it depends on you here." We're going north, so we're leaving. ”

The two of them nodded with a straight face, and bowed, "The subordinates must do their best, the eldest young master and the second young master take care." ”

Zhu Houzhao and his entourage got on the boat, followed the canal, and began their journey north.