The county seat of Wu'an.

The two riders galloped all the way from the official road to the west. He barely stopped in front of the West Gate of Wu'an, and rode into the city with a smoke.

If it had been a few months ago, such a thing would have been unimaginable, after all, entering the city and dismounting horses was a common rule in all parts of the empire. Unless there is an urgent military situation, this regulation can be ignored. Before the Taiping Rebellion, the small merchants and nearby farmers who set up stalls outside the city gate may not have met once in a few months. But recently, cavalry rushing to and fro can be seen almost every day.

As a result, the people of Wu'an have become more and more accustomed to it recently.

As long as you see that it is from the official road in the west, you can't be wrong, eight times out of ten it is the news of the Taiping Army and Longshan Mansion. At this time, there were inevitably businessmen from other places, or those who were closed to news, curiously asked about the Taiping Army. Naturally, there will be those who are well-informed and flirtatious, and begin to solve these people's doubts.

As for the content, it is often absurd.

The merchants who came and went didn't expect to find out much of the truth, but they were just curious. After all, no matter how powerful the thief is, he will make a fuss for a while, and sooner or later he will be pacified by the empire. No one thought at all that this gang of thieves who suddenly appeared could poke out a big basket.

Instead of focusing on this, let's talk about the war in Wuwei County in the northwest, the empire has gathered 300,000 troops!

In the midst of such ubiquitous chit-chat, no one noticed that the two riders who returned today were a little different from the previous days. Only one person was dressed as a standard imperial cavalryman, and after entering the city, he went straight to the governor's palace of Wu'an as usual. The other person was dressed as an ordinary civilian, and after entering the city, he looked at the road and turned onto Changle Street.

It is the mansion of the Lin family, which is famous in the entire Taiping County!

Not just the destination, but also the news that the two riders brought back was different.

The scouts of the official army brought to the Governor's Mansion the most unwanted and extremely bad news -- the fall of Longshan!

After a few days of continuous investigation, Wu An's scout still obtained a lot of useful information. Qian Boming, who was shocked by the blink of an eye that Longshan City was breached. It didn't take long to know why. The officers and soldiers of the first company did not enter the city as he expected, but were sniped by the thieves outside the city, and suffered heavy losses, and only a few people retreated into the city. The misfortune is that the thieves in Longshan City should have attacked head-on for a day and a half. Taking advantage of the chaos to open the city gate, this led to the fall of Longshan City in a short period of time.

This conclusive news made Qian Boming's heart fall into an ice cave.

Not only because of the fall of Longshan and the rapid expansion of the thieves' power, but also because of the combat effectiveness shown by the thieves during the period - they were able to block a wing of the officers and soldiers in a dignified battle and make them suffer heavy losses.

Even if there are various external factors, this combat power is very amazing.

If he had known that this gang of thieves was so difficult, after receiving the news from Yicheng, he should have tried his best to dispel public opinion and immediately send troops. In that case. It may be possible to exterminate the thieves before they get started.

However, there is no point in saying these things now.

Fortunately, in addition to the bad news, the cavalry who returned to report the news also brought back an amazing news, which made Qian Boming's heart re-invigorate after falling to the bottom: Zhang Qisheng, the defender of the city in front of Longshan, burned down the treasury and Chang Ping after the north city wall was broken and the city was hopeless!

Nearly twenty-five stone of grain stockpile. Not a single one was left for the thieves!

Although Qian Boming does not have the slightest good impression of Zhang Qisheng, it can even be said that the relationship between the two is close to political enemies. But at this moment, he had to applaud Zhang Qisheng's decisive action in his heart.

This fire is likely to decide the situation in Taiping County!

………

Changle Street, the back garden of the Lin Mansion.

A woman dressed as a young woman was sitting in the flowing water pavilion with a sad face, her body was thin, and her eye circles were a little red and swollen. Next to him was a beautiful girl wearing a goose yellow short skirt. was patiently comforting her: "...... Cousin-in-law Ta Jiren has his own natural appearance, and he will definitely be fine, so Sister Ya doesn't have to worry. If you don't eat or drink like this, your cousin-in-law will feel distressed when she comes back. ”

"Yunshuang, don't say it anymore. I get it...... It's been so many days, and I'm afraid that he will be more than lucky. ”

The person who was called a cousin by the girl was the daughter of the cousin of the head of the Lin family, called Lin Yunya, and the wife of Lin Anluo, the general of the Taiping County Protector. As for the girl who comforted her, it was the most favored daughter of the Lin family, the third lady Lin Yunshuang.

Although she is only twenty-eight years old, she can be born in the Eight Great Valves, and she is naturally not comparable to ordinary young ladies. Lin Yunya said that she didn't know how to do it, although she was sighing in her heart, she could only try her best to comfort: "There is no news back yet, cousin don't be so pessimistic." ”

"It's because there is no news until now that I ......" As she spoke, Lin Yunya couldn't help but hide her face and sobbed again, and said pitifully: "If you were lucky enough not to be ambushed, you would definitely have escaped back a long time ago." Now there are only two possibilities, one is to be caught by thieves, and the second is only afraid to ...... directly in the valley."

Needless to say, the latter one was burned to death in the valley by a fire, but the first one may not be much better.

Lin Anluo is a general of the Protector Army, a great official of the emperor, and he fell into the hands of a murderous thief, can he still end well?

If he is tortured to death, he is afraid that he might as well be burned to death in the valley.

Thinking that her cousin, who has taken care of her since she was a child, is likely to be widowed in her early thirties, Lin Yunshuang couldn't help but feel a little more sympathetic in her heart, but she was helpless.

If only my cousin hadn't insisted that Lin Anluo go out with the army at that time......

Just as Lin Yunshuang was thinking this, a maid suddenly ran in from outside in a panic and said loudly to the two of them, "General Lin, he ...... General Lin, he has news! ”

The descendants of the Eight Great Valve families have extremely harsh etiquette. On weekdays, if this maid dares to scream in the back garden like this, she will be slapped ten times in the mouth at the lightest, and she will be hungry for two days. But now, hearing her shouting, Lin Yunya stood up suddenly, couldn't even take care of her demeanor, and asked, "How is Anluo?" ”

"General Lin is fine!"

The maid took a few breaths and told the news from the outer house: "A rider who delivered a letter came from Longshan and brought back a handwritten letter from General Lin. ”

"Ellio, he's alive!"

The news of the maid made Lin Yunya's eyes instantly glow, but the tears couldn't stop flowing again. But this time, Lin Yunshuang didn't stop it. On the contrary, I am happy for her. After a moment, the two of them remembered, and hurriedly dressed up and hurried to the front hall.

At this time, the letter brought back by Lin Anluo had already appeared in the hands of Lin Anhe, the head of the Lin family.

It is about Lin Anluo and Taiping County, and it is definitely what the Lin family values the most at the moment. Unless it's really impossible to get out of the body. and Lin Anping, who served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the imperial capital, and the other main figures of the Lin family have basically rushed over to circulate the letter brought back by Lin Anluo.

This handwritten letter is not long, only a few paragraphs, but it contains a lot of things.

As the head of the family, Lin Anhe had read the letter for the first time, but he did not immediately draw conclusions. The one who is reading the letter now is Lin Yunwen, the eldest son who he has given high hopes and is now the director of the Taiping County Administration Bureau.

is also Lin Yunshuang's eldest brother.

is also a member of the Lin family, and they all work together in the officialdom of Taiping County. Lin Yunwen and Lin Anluo have a good relationship. Knowing that this cousin-in-law had news, Lin Yunwen also rushed back as soon as possible and picked up the letter.

The font is not the pavilion style commonly used in imperial officialdom, but a slightly scribbled calligraphy.

This made Lin Yunwen's heart move.

After a cursory glance, he quickly noticed an inconspicuous ink spot in the corner of the letter, as if it had been accidentally spilled by the writer when he was carrying the pen. If it weren't for the core members of the Lin family, I really couldn't see what the problem would be with this font and ink dots together.

However, this is a hidden text that has been secretly inherited by the Lin family for hundreds of years.

There is nothing wrong with the content of the letter itself. However, the combination of several common fonts and ink dots in the four corners of the letter paper can convey at least a dozen meanings. When there are special circumstances but it is inconvenient to write down. This simple trick often works wonders.

Of course, this kind of cryptic text cannot convey too complicated things, and the common ones are nothing more than "I am safe", "the situation is very critical", "this letter was forced to be written", "the content of the letter must be understood in reverse", and so on.

At this moment, Lin Anluo expressed in the letter that he was safe for the time being, so that the Lin family did not have to worry.

Since there is such a code word, the content of the letter can naturally be believed. Lin Yunwen read this short letter several times. Thinking about Lin Anluo's thoughts, his face showed a little surprise after a while.

Lin Anhe was interested in taking the school exam, and deliberately asked: "Yunwen, you have also read the letter, how about it?" ”

Lin Yunwen only groaned slightly. Then he said confidently: "Father, according to the letter, this thief is not simple, and the situation that the county town went to investigate first is likely to be wrong. ”

Listening to his inference, Lin Anhe was noncommittal, and only motioned for him to continue.

"Look at this sentence, 'General Tiangong knows that Anluo is the Lin family, and he is not embarrassed'. The thief killed 3,600 officers and soldiers in the fire pit, but he treated Lin An slightly differently, proving that he knew the strength of our Lin family. And the words specially added in the latter paragraph can show that the thief is very familiar with my Lin family, and he is by no means an ordinary thief. ”

Lin Yunwen was referring to Chen Wu's joking with Lin An and asking for the third lady's pair of twin maids.

"General Tiangong once said that he heard that the third lady of the Lin family had a pair of twin maids, and even the prince was moved, so he admired them. If it can be fulfilled, then the two families will be good, and the previous grievances will no longer be considered. Although this is not an easy task, I implore the head of the family to think more about it. ”

After reading this paragraph deliberately, Lin Yunwen had a smile on his face that was enough to intoxicate many nobles in Wu'an City, and said conclusively: "The matter of the five princes the year before last, my father specially issued a gag order, and it has become a secret in the mansion. But isn't it strange that such a secret, which even Governor Qian Boming may not know, is casually told from the mouth of the thief? It can be seen that behind the thief leader Chen Wu, there must be a force that has hands and eyes to the sky! ”

"Yes!"

Lin Anhe's face showed relief.

It was also at the same time that the Taiping Army, a group of rebels, really entered the sight of the head of the Lin family.

He was a little curious about this very unusual group of thieves. (To be continued......)