The general soldier's face sank, and he shouted: "Bold! Do you know what kind of ship this is? This is the military rations allocated by the Governor's Office of the Left Army to the Thousand Households in Wusongkou! Don't say that you are a small soldier, even you Li Junmen dare not privately detain the grain ship, have you eaten the gall of a bear's heart and a leopard?"

The sergeant's face froze, and after a little hesitation, he said: "I am also on official business, and I am acting on orders, I can't help you, please." He stretched out his hand and made a gesture of please.

Liu cared about it, and secretly said that it was not good, but it was not possible to do bad things today. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Li Qiqian's head knife in his arms, and he stopped him with a stern look, now is not the time to fight hard.

The chief soldier raised his hand and pointed to the rear cabin, and said: "It is a capital crime to miss the grain period, and Cao Si Ku is seriously ill and does not dare to get off the ship, you Suzhou Mansion detains us, will you go to the Fifth Military Mansion Prison to receive death in the future? Not to mention that Cao Si Ku is so ill, how can he go to the lobby to interrogate." ”

The short and stout soldier pressed the handle of the knife and said, "I don't know what Cao Siku, I only know the order of the commander of the Li army." ”

Chief Bingshun sneered: "Then do you know the military law of Dakang?

Seeing that the two were arguing, the cao official was in a dilemma, whether it was the governor's yamen or the governor's mansion of the five armies, it was not he offended by a small official who did not enter the stream. He hurriedly came up and explained: "It's all for the imperial court, the two don't have to argue, there is an official sedan chair at the pass, and you can carry Cao Si Treasurer to the Yamen." ”

The two said in unison, "No!"

Arguments abounded on the foredeck, alarming the shut. The general guard was dressed in an official robe, he leaned out and asked in a rough voice: "Mother, Lao Chen, why are you still rubbing?"

Another Fubiao soldier raised his head and shouted to the general guard: "Lord Qiyu, there is an official ship of the Governor's Mansion of the Left Army in Nanjing, and there is also a sick grain officer who refuses to go to the Yamen of the Imperial Palace. ”

The general also noticed the flag of the Governor's Mansion of the Left Army, and he waved his hand and shouted: "As long as the people of the ships from Nanjing are all detained, what do you care about him?"

Chief Bingshun sneered: "Whoever dares to withhold military rations privately, let the horse come over if he doesn't know how to die." ”

The general shouted: "It's a big deal, let's go to the hall of the division first, sons, detain the boat for me!" A group of Fubiao battalion soldiers replied loudly: "Wow!" Ran down the steps and ran down the gate, and with both swords and guns, they were about to forcibly board the ship.

The old helmsman shouted: "Death to those who board the ship!"

Although the tiger is old, the tiger is especially powerful, the soldiers can't help but stop, Liu Guan, Lin Yanghao, Li Qiqian and the catfish boy stand behind the chief soldier together, although there is no blade in his hand, he is still murderous.

At this moment, the smoke and dust were billowing from the southeast direction, and a team of fierce knights rushed in, wearing helmets and armor, wearing red cloaks, majestic and murderous, how dare the archers of the inspection department patrolling the streets dare to stop it.

The military attache at the head was dressed in a green official robe, and ran to Shuiguan and shouted: "Who dares to touch the grain ship of my Wusongkou Thousand Households!"

When Lin Yanghao and Li Qiqian saw that the rescuers had come, they let out a long breath in their chests and peeked at Liu Guan. I saw that Liu Guan's face was calm, without any panic, it seems that this kid has long known that there is backup, and he is not worried about Hushuguan at all. Since Liu Li's death, this guy has calmed down a lot, and his mouth has become as strict as his brother's, and he hasn't shown a trace of his mouth.

This team of fierce knights rushed to the water pass to restrain the war horses, blocked the side of the dam, and the military attaché led by jumped off the war horses, and the guards of the pass strode forward to meet them. The two of them have the same green official robes, and the color of the military attache uniforms of the Biao Buzi cannot be seen.

The general guard strode forward, clasped his fists and asked loudly, "Who is the honorable driver?"

The person who came didn't return the salute, but just said: "Bai Song, the official of the town of the Thousand Households in Xiawu Songkou, who are you?"

The general guard said: "I am Zhang Siwei, the general manager of the Fubiao battalion, and the current general of Hushu Pass. ”

Bai Song said arrogantly: "I am the sixth grade, you are the seventh grade, and I am the town official, most of the same grade, why don't you kneel?"

Zhang Siwei was helpless, so he had to kneel on one knee and said, "The lower official Zhang Siwei is see Shangxian." "Holding the resume of this newspaper.

Only then did Bai Song say: "Get up, why did you detain my grain ship from thousands of households?"

Zhang Siwei stood up and said, "On the orders of General Li Jun, all the people who come to Nanjing will be detained and important criminals will be arrested. ”

Bai Song sneered: "Joke, the thief caught me on the official ship of the Thousand Households." Don't forget, I am the commander of the Thousand Households, the main coastal defense and the river defense, not under the jurisdiction of the Commander of the Embassy, directly under the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies, that is, directly under the Yan Wang Jian State, Li Junmen is qualified to seize the ships and officials of His Royal Highness the Yan Wang?"

Zhang Siwei suddenly realized that he was reckless, although he had Governor Li's strict orders, but the detention of the official ships of the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies was too much. And Zhenhaiwei is a key part of coastal defense, and the court relies on it, if the lawsuit is in front of King Yan, and King Yan is angry, he Governor Li can push the charge on his head, and who will he push it on?

Zhang Siwei's heart was empty, his tone was not so hard, and he said slowly: "I was ordered by General Li Junmen to arrest key criminals at Hushu Pass, how can I easily let Nanjing ships pass through the customs." ”

Bai Song also softened his tone and said: "This is the tuntian field allocated to me by the Governor's Office of the Left Army to grow grain. Mr. Zhang, think about it, is it possible for the thieves to be on the grain ships of the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies? Before it is too late for the thieves to hide from our thousands of households, how dare they go to the Wusong River to die?"

Zhang Siwei pondered for a long time, and suddenly shouted: "Old Chen, come and answer." ”

The short and stout soldier ran in front of Zhang Siwei, knelt down on one knee and said, "See your lord." ”

Zhang Siwei asked, "Is there any suspicious person on board?"

Lao Chen replied: "There are no suspicious people on the ship, and there is no entrainment. ”

Bai Song slapped his thigh and said, "Ah, you can't catch the thief even if you detain the grain ship, but you missed the big thing of my thousands of households, Mr. Zhang, why are you so troubled." ”

Zhang Siwei turned his head and looked at the knights of Wusongkou Qianhu, one by one, their eyes were wide with anger, and they were full of murderous anger, if they missed their military food, these guys would have to fight hard with themselves, why bother to offend these people. If you think about it carefully, what this person said is also reasonable, Wusongjiang is the defense area of Wusongkou Qianhu, I don't know how many official and military warships are on the river, and which stupid thief goes there to die.

He finally said: "Okay, I have taken on this great responsibility, and I can't let the brothers of Wusong Qianhu starve." ”

Bai Song arched his hand and said: "Mr. Zhang is really a cool man, and thousands of my military households accept your affection." ”

Zhang Siwei said: "It's all for the imperial court, so you don't have to be polite." He turned around and instructed the officials, "Take them to the public office to use the seal, and open the gate to let them go." ”

An iron gate separates into two heavens, one means endless danger and life hangs by a thread, and the other means temporary safety. Everyone's hearts are pounding, because hope and despair are really only a thin line, and they can change at any time.

Only the chief soldier Shun still looked that slow and methodical, he walked up the steps of the old man, went to the official room to apply for a diploma, and when he passed by Bai Jie, he didn't even look at the magistrate of Wusongkou Qianhu. The fugitives on the ship watched him slowly enter the door and walk out slowly, as if time had stopped.

The iron door finally opened, and Lin Yanghao untied the cable and propped himself out of the berth with a brace. The old helmsman came to the rear stern, the catfish boy helped him move the rudder, the chief soldier Shun commanded the two oarmen to rock the oars together, the sand boat slowly turned the bow, slowly out of the water pass, and slowly walked on the channel, the chief soldier ordered the sail to be raised, and the ship ran to the mouth of Songling, Suzhou.

On the shore, Bai Song and Shouguan handed over Zhang Siwei to say goodbye, and he took the sergeant of Wusongkou Qianhusuo to accompany the advance on the east bank of the canal, escorting the ship to Songling. The sand boat turned into the Wusong River, and several sentinel boats that went up the river came up to meet them, and the test hundred households led by them stood firmly in front of them, shouting: "Is it the grain ship of the military department?"

The chief soldier shouted: "Exactly, the ship is Wusongkou Qianhu?"

The voice of the hundred households floated from afar: "Exactly, I will be ordered by Lord Hu of the thousand households to escort you to the city." ”

The chief soldier shouted: "Thank you so much!"

The warship turned its bow, one boat led the way in front of the head, and two boats accompanied the sand boat, sailing downstream with the wind and water. Liu Guan turned his head to look to the west, the sun was about to set, the west was full of colorful clouds, and Bai Song's cavalry disappeared.

Wusongkou is the mouth of the Wusong River, the city is built on the edge of the port, and the port is moored with dense sailor warships, like a huge ant nest. This city is much larger than the average thousand households, in addition to the yamen of the thousand households, there are arsenals, grain depots, cities, government schools, ship weapons offices, dragon king temples, large school yards and so on.

The city circumference is 1837 zhang, the base is wide zhang 4, and the inside and outside are made of stone. There are 40 places in the nest, 12 enemy buildings, 2315 city walls, and 1987 military houses. There are 6 moon cities, and each city has a gate tower. The city is extremely strong, there are gun emplacements at the head of the city36, and the muzzles of the cannons are pointed directly at the sea, and any threat from the sea will be blasted into slag. At the end of the sea defense is the key to the coastal defense, which is taller and stronger than the inland acropolis.

The castle protects a large area of farmland behind it, and the autumn harvest has passed, and the soldiers of the Thousand Households are building dikes and canals, cultivating soil and ridges, preparing for the upcoming autumn sowing, a busy and quiet farm scene.

It's a pity that Wusongkou is not the comfort nest imagined by the fugitives, there is no wine, no meat, no hot water bathing, and no clean bed. It was not even as good as fleeing, because they didn't even have freedom, and as soon as they arrived in the city, they were locked up in a deserted courtyard in the government office. A few sergeants were under strict supervision, and no one could see anyone except the servants who brought water and food, and no one spoke to them.

"This brother, our person is very sick, do you want to talk back to Shangguan and find a gentleman to see you. Liu Guan said to the sergeant who guarded the door, and the sergeant was expressionless and silent.

"It's always okay to grab some medicine. Liu Guan's voice was raised, but the sergeant was still silent. Liu Guan was about to go outside, but two sergeants stretched out their scabbards to stop him.

Liu Guan scolded: "Entering the mother, grandpa is also a Dakang Qianhu official, and he is of the same product as your Qianhu, you dare to detain the official privately." ”