After the first battle of the city father, both the Huainan army and Shi Cong's men and horses shrank in the town, and there was no longer any big move. For a time, an area along the north bank of Huaishui became a hollow area between the two sides, with only their respective ranger scouts roaming in the area to listen to each other's movements.

However, hollowness is not equal to a vacuum, although the armies of both sides have withdrawn, there is still no shortage of human activity in this area, some are fleeing nomadic people, and some are bandits hiding in the mountains and wastelands, taking advantage of this short time to go out and collect some bargains.

Located between Yingshang Shendi, there is a tidal flat reed pond that covers a wide area. In the middle of summer, the thatch is dense and lush, and in the depths of the reed pond that is difficult for people to see, there is an extremely empty place.

This is a field in the reed pond, with a radius of more than ten hectares, more than half of which have been sorted out, and even planted many crops such as seedlings and wead. There are many dense forests and reeds on the left, just like a pure land outside the independent world.

Outside the cultivated land, there are houses and villages, with dense shacks, and at least thousands of people live in them. There are many people inside and outside the shack, and there are dried hemp silk and dried fish on the wooden shelves, which is not lacking in the taste of self-sufficiency.

In the center of the village, there is a bamboo and wood loft that is more than a foot high, although it has not been repaired much, it is already the most imposing building in the area. There are many strong men inside and outside the attic, with bamboo armor draped with bamboo pieces and hemp ropes, and some only wear simple linen shirts. As for the weapons in their hands, they also have all kinds of weapons, bamboo guns, wooden sticks, short knives, and iron hoes.

In the attic, several people sat in groups, and the middle one was Li Tao, the owner of the Huainan dock wall who had entered the town earlier to visit Shen Zhezi. As for the others, they are both old and Ding Zhuang, and their appearance is mostly similar, as if they are blood relatives of the same clan.

"Shen Weizhou and his people still have talent and courage, plus they were born in Jiangdong Xianzong's portal, widely introduced Jiangdong goods into the town to support the people, and was able to lead his troops to break the thieves. Since his entry into the town, the weather in the town has indeed taken on a new look, and the local landscape has changed far better than in previous years. ”

Li Tao sat in the seat and spoke to a few people, and there was no lack of admiration for Shen Weizhou in the internal history: "In fact, I hope that a few elders can lead their families back to the south, most of the slave army is coming south, although the grass and trees are covered here, but it is by no means a dangerous place, if it is swept away by the slaves, it will be difficult to protect itself!" ”

However, as soon as he finished speaking, a person next to him snorted coldly: "But what I have heard is different from what my brother said. The township said that this young town general was too eager for power, and he even did not allow the villagers to protect themselves, and wanted to hold the lives of the Shishu people in their hands. Although he had a narrow victory before, but this time he came to attack millions of troops in the Qianguo Kingdom, and tens of thousands of tired soldiers in Huainan District were still able to run around with their lives before, so that the strong enemy was here, what could they use to resist? Brother also said that his person Jiangdong Xianzong, the emperor's son-in-law, even if he does not keep it, he can abandon the town and return to the country without hurting the lord. But for us and others living in this family, it is a tragedy of family ruin! ”

"Brother, you have such a good reputation for his people, but you ignore the strong enemy who is about to urge the south, do you want to blame me and other sect members to divide your people here, so that you can't compete for the position of Huainan army master?"

When Li Tao heard this accusation, his face immediately became ugly: "Sixth brother, you are so suspicious and evil to me, how can I refute it?" The family business is here, it is the plan of my father, and since I run the family, I have also tried my best to maintain here, why do I have one or two complaints? But the current situation is really not good, I am just worried that the family business here will be detected and lead to death......"

"Ha, I have Brother Lao to take care of me. I have heard that the goods and ships from Jiangdong are continuously transported, and even ordinary cold soldiers can be fed with new rice and new cloth and clothes. Brother, you are not an unknown person in Huainan, and you have such a lot of resources, can't you share a little profit? As a result, what did you send across the river? It's nothing more than a few horses of old hemp and coarse, bitter salt and inferior rice. That's what you're trying to maintain? If there are still one or two bloodlines, why are they treated so harshly? If it weren't for the fact that you wanted to gather strength this time, I'm afraid you wouldn't have come here to see how my brothers are doing! ”

The more the man spoke, the more angry his expression became, and the people next to him also showed the same feeling, and it was also unkind to look at Li Tao.

When Li Tao heard this accusation, his face became even more ugly, and he was silent for a while before he bowed his hand to an old man beside him: "Since I run a family, I have not made a strong voice, and I dare not boast." But when it comes to keeping your business, you still have a thing or two to ask yourself. My uncle and his brothers have lived in this evil situation for a long time, how can I have peace of mind! As for the use of resources, there was no ban on Huaishang before, so it was natural to be able to come and go freely. But now that the Jiang ban is strict, even if I cross the Huai myself, I have to be very careful. If you carry too many goods here, once you are intercepted by the patrol, I am afraid that Huainan will suffer a great disaster......"

"Didn't you still say that Shen Weizhou has talents and virtues, why do you have to worry about the family business now?"

Hearing this, the disdain on the face of the previous man became even stronger.

After a moment of silence, the old man looked at Li Tao and said, "San Lang, you have a problem, I can also think of it." The separation of families to survive was established in the early years, and now it is not in a desperate situation, and there is no need to change it urgently. Although the situation in Huainan has improved, the army of the state of China is fierce, and Huainan may not be able to be preserved. Although Rokuro was anxious, it was not unreasonable. Instead of working hard to persuade the sect to return home, you should be more attentive and carry more resources to help. ”

"At present, Huaibei is corrupted, and the food is wandering in the wild, if my family can store it widely, it will naturally be able to collect more food, pick Ding Yong, and there is no need to hide this reed pond bad land, and even directly capture a land and water point. There are both people and fortresses, and at that time, whether to the north or south, who will dare to underestimate it? It seems that San Lang you exist in Huainan, although you are stable for a while, but you are despised by others, and it is even difficult to compete for the position of the first army master in Huainan, which is really a waste of this God-given opportunity for a strong man to leap forward! ”

Hearing that this uncle was old and strong, talking about his family business plan, Li Tao's eyes couldn't help but widen. He himself has no ambitions, and he has a lot of moderation, such as following Zhu Feng to fight against the general earlier, and then following Ling Zhuo to bow to the general, not competing for the first place in everything, unwilling to take risks. This time, he took advantage of the fact that Jiangfang was not completely locked up, and wanted to lure these family members back to the rear to settle down, but he didn't expect that these people's ambitions were higher than the sky, and they already had the courage to plan for great things.

Especially when he heard words such as recruiting travel food, Li Tao was even more frightened, his family was already hiding in this shoal to rely on luck, if he went out to show off again, wouldn't he be afraid of dying too slowly?

However, when he opened his mouth to persuade him again, several family members not only did not change their minds, but accused him of being cowardly, and the begging for funds became more urgent.

In the end, there was no shortage of evil voices, and these ambitious clansmen simply detained Li Tao here and drove his entourage back to blackmail and ask for money. A few days later, a boatload of dozens of salt and 100 bows and knives were sent here, and instead of letting Li Tao go, these tribesmen used this as evidence of his previous prevarication, and redoubled their humiliation and persecution of him.

"Brother, it's not like I'm going to force you. Obviously you have the means to spare, why do you treat your people so harshly? You don't have the guts to move forward, but we are not cowards. The family assets are shared, and you can't have it alone, so go to the home immediately, and then raise funds to send the goods! If my family can be shown in the future, wealth will also be shared with you! ”

In order to force Li Tao to submit, that Liulang even threatened his life, directly cut off the tail finger of his left hand, and forced him to write a bloody book and send it back to Huainan. However, the river defense became more and more strict, and although the Huainan family was worried about Li Tao's life, they really couldn't find a way to transport too much money across the river. Under the indignation, the anger of the clansmen poured out on Li Tao, and they had to beat them every day.

After a few days, the clansmen went out to recruit and eat, and actually got in touch with a strong gangster, joined forces with each other, and lived together in the reed pond, and the number of people was more than doubled, and there was no lack of bravery. So he became more bold, went out frequently, and plundered everything he saw.

The reed pond gradually became overcrowded, and as the number of people expanded, the clansmen had no time to insult Li Tao anymore. Moreover, the other slave felt that after the weather in the coming day, they could borrow Li Tao Nantou, so they detained him.

Li Tao stayed here, his state of mind can be described as tormented, seeing that the clansmen are becoming more and more crazy, acting more and more unscrupulously, and even began to plan whether to help the country grab a boat to cross the Huai and get a big profit, or to go to the south is more promising.

On this day, a large number of Ding Zhuang roared out again. Now this group of people has become quite large, and before that, they have annexed a road of bandits, and even obtained dozens of horses, so the area of activity is also larger.

However, until nightfall, the outgoing did not return, and Li Tao gradually had a bad feeling in his heart, even if he went to see the old uncle of his clan.

"San Lang, I've wronged you these days. But don't blame the brothers, then Zhao Lord Shi Shilong is a Hu slave disciple, and he can still take advantage of the chaos to become bigger, how can our good sons swallow their voices and bear themselves! Rich and poor, good and bad are all the same, you seek everything well, and you can't withstand the disaster. At present, my family has gathered nearly 10,000 people, and thousands of people are holding it, do you dare to imagine this momentum in previous years? Even if it's as you said, it's much better to go south now than you said earlier, right? ”

The old man also felt a little guilty about mistreating Li Tao, but when he thought of the crowd and momentum gathered at the moment, he was not lacking in pride.

Before Li Tao could say anything, there was a loud noise and vibration outside the reed pond, and his face immediately changed. And the old man sitting opposite him also changed his face, but he was not frightened, but his face was full of joy: "With such a strong voice, don't the sons and daughters have a big gain?" ”

There is no great gain, but great disaster is coming. Nearly 2,000 slave rangers attacked the reed pond, and their scouts found a crowd of people who had gone out to hunt in the wilderness, and then killed most of them, exterminated all the outsiders, and then traced back to the source and killed them directly here.

There was little suspense in the battle, and although there was no shortage of shallows in the reed ponds, they had been coming and going frequently lately, and they had also stepped on several fixed paths. From there, the Huhu slaughtered and swept back and forth, and there were not many living people in this entire camp, and thousands of corpses were scattered here!

Li Tao was inside, and he was lucky to save his life, but he was quickly identified by the slave defectors and carried by several slave soldiers to the slave general's horse. The slave general was only in his early twenties, and his armor and clothes were covered with thick plasma, he dismounted and walked in front of Li Tao, lowered his head and asked, "You are a subordinate official of Shen Weizhou in Huainan?" ”

"Yes, yes, he's ......"

The old man who was captured together nodded hurriedly, the tragic fighting had made him faint and woke up several times, and when he heard the slave general's question, he hurriedly spoke, wanting to beg for his life. However, halfway through the shouting, the head was already flying out.

"The old slave is really damned, I didn't ask you!"

The slave general withdrew his blade, and then looked at Li Tao with a cruel smile: "Those thieves in Huainan fled too fast, and I was worried that I couldn't find anyone to inform the southern thief Shen Wei. Spare your life, go back and tell him that Zhang Xiong, under the command of the King of Zhongshan, is here, let him wash his head and wait for death! ”

After finishing speaking, the slave general waved his knife again, cut off Li Tao's hands, and asked people to wrap them in mud to stop the bleeding. Then the captives were ordered to cut down wood and set up several simple rafts, which were filled with sharp bamboos and hung with bloody and bloody heads, and Li Tao, who had fainted, and put them into the water.