The so-called lookout is actually a clay platform with a wooden arrow tower on it, which can be used as a cover for sentinels to observe the movements in the opposite city.

Li Shu'er stood on the earthen platform and looked at the city of Cangzhou, and saw that hundreds of green battalion soldiers on the city tower whose faces were blackened by gunpowder smoke and had more white cloth wrapped in blood were looking at him nervously. ”

After that, Li Shu'er ignored the obstruction of those Taiping soldiers and leaned out of the arrow tower, so that those green battalion soldiers could see themselves clearly.

At first glance, those green battalion soldiers saw a thin and withered old man coming out of the watchtower of the enemy camp, and they were wondering, I don't know what the hell these long hairs are doing, but look at it again, why is this old man so familiar, and suddenly the city wall knelt down, and the shouts of "the old fairy is good" are one after another, resounding, and those Taiping soldiers are stunned, completely blindfolded, I don't know where the old man with a face without four taels of flesh in front of him is sacred, and he has the magic power of making thousands of people bow and bow like King Hong.

"Okay, okay, don't bow down, go and inform Shen Ruchao, let him give the order to open the city gate, and say that the old fairy I came to save the lives of you and the people of the city, go quickly, hey, my old cold waist can't stand the strong wind blowing above, I'm going down......"

Li Shu'er's stunning appearance made those Taiping soldiers completely submissive, and they respected Li Shu'er like a god, and carefully helped Li Shu'er down the watchtower, but Yang Yi couldn't intervene.

After getting off the lookout, Li Shu'er asked those Taiping soldiers to remove the barricades, and took the carriage out of the gate, and when they arrived at the moat, Yang Yi and Wei Ergou looked down, the water under the moat had been completely frozen, and the ice was seven or eight meters deep from the river bank, and the ice was full of black marks left by gunpowder burning, and the corpses wearing Taiping military uniforms and green battalion uniforms were scattered on the ice, which showed that there had been many tragic battles here.

"Hey, where the sword and the soldiers go, the lives are ruined, throughout the ages, for the sake of a family name or a person's wolf ambition, how many people have to cut off their heads and bleed, but I don't know why they came, it's really sad and lamentable." Uncle Li looked at the corpses that had been frozen and covered with hoarfrost, and sighed gloomily.

At this moment, I saw a man wearing a warm hat with a crown brim folded upward, red silk and vermilion on it, and a warm hat surrounded by green velvet, although his face was haggard, but his eyes were still sharp, and at a glance, he knew that it was Shen Ruchao, who was known for his shrewdness and ability. Behind him, there was also a group of shotgunners around him, just in case.

"Is it Old Immortal Li down there?" Shen Ruchao leaned over and looked down, and Ying Ying could recognize that it was Uncle Li below, but he wondered why Uncle Li came out of the long-haired barracks in a good time, so he asked tentatively.

"Lord Shen, you are playing this trick with the real people, do you think that the real people have descended the Taiping Army and deliberately designed to win you to open the city gate? Hey, you're too careful, if the real people really want to help the Taiping army seize your city, do you still use this kind of turtle method? Won't it be over if you have a magical power and catch you directly? I am here to save the lives of thousands of people in Cangzhou City, so that they will not be slaughtered by swords and axes. Of course, Uncle Li knew that Shen Ruchao was careful, so he bluntly clarified his thoughts.

"This, this ......" Shen Ruchao lowered his head and muttered for a while, but out of trust in Uncle Li, he finally decided to put down the suspension bridge and let Uncle Li and them in.

Soon, the heavy drawbridge was slowly lowered with a babbling voice, and hundreds of green battalion soldiers and regimental training (militiamen) streamed out in two phalanxes along the moat, with shotgunners kneeling in front and pointing their guns at the opposite side, behind them a group of cavalrymen drawing their swords and ready to fight, and behind them, another group of shotgunners.

Set up the array, the suspension bridge "boom", fell on the moat on the opposite bank, Li Shu'er smiled, Wei Ergou beat the horse forward, got on the suspension bridge, walked halfway, the suspension bridge slowly rose again, Li Shu'er They got off the donkey, the carriage galloped down, and arrived in front of the city gate.

Inside the city gate, Zhizhou Shen Ruchao was wearing a black-headed crimson silk lambskin robe, a fever horse coat with frost on the grass, and a pair of dusty pointed boots covered with silk and dust, and his face was full of gunsmoke, completely losing the brilliance of the original Tsing Yi horse.

Behind him, there were also disheveled clothes and bloodshot eyes of the staff and officials of the third class and six rooms, all of them exhausted and wounded.

As soon as he saw Uncle Li arrive, Shen Ruchao took a few steps to greet him, pounced on him, and shouted in his mouth: "Ruchao greets the old immortal!" ”

"Okay, okay, it's all like this, don't make trouble with these nonsense, what, you've been fighting with that long-haired guy very hard lately, right, and the city's defenses are still strong?" Uncle Li stepped forward and helped Shen Ruchao up, and asked Xu Sheng at the same time.

"Thanks to the emperor's blessings, the people of the city are united, the same hatred of the enemy, the rich pay, the powerful contribution, vow to live and die with Cangzhou City, has repelled the many attacks of the Nalin chieftain and the rebels, and dragged it firmly under the city of Cangzhou, just wait for the arrival of the army of the minister Shenggong Bao, these bandits can be wiped out and crushed into powder!" Shen Ruchao looked at Uncle Li and came up with a large set of rhetoric neatly.

Uncle Li approached Shen Ruchao and said in a low voice: "Oh, you really have a good mouth, what's the matter, did you rely on your mouth to get fame in the first place?" Don't talk nonsense, if Nasheng Daqincha hadn't been afraid of the enemy like a tiger and passively avoided the war, how long have you been confronting this Lin Fengxiang, why haven't you seen that army come to encircle and suppress, eh? ”

That Shen Ruchao was exposed by Uncle Li for his own courage and also to cheer up the subordinates of the tree, his face was red, and he said a little angrily: "The old immortal should not be canceled, according to the law of the Qing Dynasty, the city is lost, and the state and garrison should be cut according to the law, and it is the responsibility of guarding the land like a tide, so it is natural to live and die with this Cangzhou City, and please be cautious to say that this anger can be drummed up but not discharged, once the soldiers lose their fighting spirit, then Cangzhou City is really in danger!" ”

"But it's not a way for you to just rely on hard fighting, the strength of the Taiping Army is several times that of you, even if it is consumed, it can also consume you, come on, let's talk about these things later, what, take us to the Yamen to rest first, by the way, Ergou, I will take Shen Zhizhou's donkey cart back, you take Xiao Yi to Lu Mansion first, and see the old man, hehe" Uncle Li winked at Yang Yi, who was already out of his mind, and said with a narrow smile.

Yang Yi couldn't help but have a hot face, and was about to turn the horse's head with Wei Ergou to walk in the direction of Lu Jingtian's mansion, when he saw Shen Ruchao stop the horse's head, and said with an embarrassed face: "Go to Lu's mansion?" Na Lu encountered an accident a few days ago, but I'm afraid that you will run for nothing if you go......"

Seeing Shen Ruchao's stumbling and spitting appearance, Yang Yi suddenly had a strong sense of foreboding in his heart, and immediately grabbed the reins, beat his horse and galloped away in the direction of Lufu.

After galloping, through the streets and alleys, Yang Yi drove to the familiar Lu Mansion, but was instantly stunned by the scene in front of him: I saw that the Lu Mansion, which originally covered an area of several acres and was magnificent, was full of ruins and traces of fire, and some charred black wood was exposed in the rubble, lined by the surrounding snow, which made it look more and more desolate and sad.

Looking at everything in front of him, Yang Yi's brain was blank, standing in the car and looking around blankly, the whole person was stupid.

After a while, Li Shu'er and Shen Ruchao chased after them on horseback, and seeing Yang Yi standing on the car in a daze, Li Shu'er sighed, looked at Yang Yi and said, "Idiot, let's go back to the yamen with my uncle first, these things will be talked about when I go back, okay?" ”

At this moment, Shen Ruchao also came over, and said with a smile on his face: "A few days ago, a group of long-haired spies infiltrated the city and ransacked the Lu Mansion, after killing more than 30 family members in the Lu Mansion, they burned the Lu Mansion, and escaped from the city while the chaos was ......

Uncle Li saw Yang Yi's nose fluttering, his face was wrong, he stretched out his hand to stop Shen Ruchao's words, and was about to reach out to drag Yang Yi, when he saw Yang Yi's eyes roll, and his body fell backwards, but fortunately, Wei Ergou was quick and helped him, so he didn't hit the back of his head on the wooden box.

At that moment, Li Shu'er drove the carriage back to the yamen of the state capital, carried the unconscious Yang Yi to the guest room of the third courtyard, Li Shu'er pierced Yang Yi's people with a silver needle, and poured a bowl of ginger water, Yang Yi slowly woke up, and then cried loudly.

It took a long time for Yang Yi to stop his grief, looked at Shen Ruchao with blood-red eyes, and asked about the details of the bloodbath in Lufu.

Shen Ruchao let out a long sigh and told Li Shu'er and Yang Yi about a series of things that happened after they left.

According to Shen Ruchao, after Li Shu'er and Yang Yi suddenly said goodbye (in fact, Li Shu'er and Yang Yi entered the ancient tomb under the Lu Mansion and couldn't come out), within a few days, the tens of thousands of troops led by Lin Fengxiang surrounded Cangzhou City, but fortunately, the people of Cangzhou City have always been fierce and practiced martial arts, so Shen Ruchao was in an emergency to Gyeonggi and asked for reinforcements.

During this period, Lu Jingtian, who had always been well aware of the righteousness, saw that the situation was critical, and he destroyed his family to relieve the difficulties, took out all the family property to pay for military salaries, and also sent a convoy to assist the Yamen in purchasing gunpowder and grain from the neighboring Jinghai County, preparing to hold it for a long time.

Not only that, Lu Jingtian also ran to call for signs, mobilized villagers to join the regimental training, and assisted the officers and soldiers to defend the city, because Lu Jingtian was kind and charitable on weekdays, and had a great prestige among the villagers, so many villagers listened to his inspiration and took the initiative to join the regimental training and fight against the Taiping army.