At the urging of the governor's yamen, the soldiers who were recognized as good were taken to the river, tied a rope to the water, and tied the rope to the sunken ship. On the same day, Wuchang and Hanyang were fully mobilized, and while dismantling the iron chains and cleaning the wooden piles, a large number of strong men were gathered on both sides of the Yangtze River to drag the sunken ship together with the sailors.

The scale of this mobilization was unprecedented, and in order to achieve the goal, Hu Quan sent the army out, forcing the people in the city and suburbs to work and contribute. In the face of the Qing soldiers' dazzling broadswords, not only the ordinary people, but even the gentry had to hand over their families to serve by the river - now the governor of Huguang was so angry that no one dared to provoke his bad head, but behind his back they were all angry and scolding.

The Wuchang soldiers and the Hanyang soldiers have been tossing for many days, and they are especially dissatisfied, and in order to wash away the big crime of losing the city and land, Hu Quancai can't take care of it so much. Fortunately, there were still many soldiers transferred from other places, and they did not have much disgust with Governor Hu, but they took advantage of the chaos to steal chickens and dogs in Wuchang and Hanyang, and extorted the common people from house to house. As long as he didn't toss too much, Hu Quancai had no choice but to turn a blind eye to these behaviors.

Governor Hu felt that he was not at ease about taking the Wuchang soldiers and the Hanyang soldiers to fight, and was worried that someone would come to the black arrow behind him. If the local soldiers had conflicts with the reinforcements from all over the country, and it would be troublesome for the fire, Hu Quancai planned to let the local soldiers defend the city and attack Zhongxiang with reinforcements from other places.

Just when the city was in an uproar, a colleague of the Shogunate ran to Zhou Peigong's house, and as soon as he saw his master, he shouted: "Shanxi Yan wants us to go with him to Zhongxiang tomorrow to fight." ”

This colleague, a native of Hanyang, sat in the living room with a grunt. Originally, at this time, the staff should have supervised the work everywhere and acted as the eyes of the governor, but many of the local staff members were slacking off. This Hanyang man glanced at Zhou's mansion and asked, "How many little guys have you been asked for?" How much silver is going to go? ”

Today, a few soldiers with Hunan accents came to the Zhou Mansion and forcibly took away two male servants from Zhou Peigong's house. Zhou Peigong, in line with the psychology of being a good man and not suffering losses in front of him, also stuffed five taels of silver to the officer at the head. After taking the silver and drinking the tea of the Zhou Mansion, these Hunan soldiers left happily with the two male servants. Seeing that Zhou Peigong was a well-known gentleman, these soldiers were not too presumptuous. After going out, a yellow note was pasted at the door of the Zhou Mansion, and the other soldiers knew when they saw it that the family had responded to the call of the Governor's Yamen.

"Hmph, this gang of Qiu Ba recruited by Shanxi Yankees!" After listening to Zhou Peigong's narration, the guest put the tea bowl on the table and said angrily.

Although the gentry can complain to their acquaintances and fellow villagers in the future and try to impeach Hu Quancai to the imperial court, the power of Governor Hu is still unprovoked by everyone at present.

This curtain guest said to Zhou Peigong: "The art of war says: Don't raise troops because of anger. Shanxi Yankee was tossed by Deng Ming and was discouraged, and he was so angry that he wanted to get back on the field, I don't think he would be able to please him! Moreover, after he found out that Deng Mingnai was Hongguang, he wanted to seize Deng Ming's invitation to the imperial court, isn't this what the art of war calls for profit? I saw that this time the troops were more auspicious and less auspicious, and I didn't want to go with them, so I said that I was sick. ”

"It's not right." Zhou Peigong felt that the other party was a colleague who worked together, and came to ask him again, so he said: "I have been by the side of the Governor for several years, and the Governor is like Yuan Shao, who is wide on the outside and jealous on the inside. Because you don't like him to send troops, you call yourself sick, how can the Governor not see it? In this battle, the Governor will be fine if he recaptures Zhongxiang, but if he really returns from defeat, he will have to be angry with you. The Governor is Yuan Shao, are you going to be Tian Feng? I felt that I should not only follow the expedition, but also praise the Governor for his skill in the art of war, and expected victory in this battle. In this way, he will be defeated in the future, and the Governor will not be embarrassed to get along with those of us who are optimistic about him. ”

After Zhou Peigong said this, the colleague suddenly realized, pondered carefully, and was shocked to break out in a cold sweat behind his back. He didn't care about nagging with Zhou Peigong anymore, got up and said goodbye: "Thank you for your teaching." The foolish brother went home to pack his bags, and was ready to set off with the Shanxi Yankees at any time. ”

The other party's grateful attitude made Zhou Peigong feel very proud. In addition to this person, there are several colleagues who are also thoughtful, and Zhou Peigong also reminded them and got their gratitude.

In the past two days, the shape in Wuchang City was very nervous, people were panicked, and Zhou Peigong was also a little uneasy in private, lest Hu Quancai find trouble for himself. Hao Shaoqi, Liu Tichun and other Kuidong generals did not add up too many soldiers and horses, far from being able to compare with the two lakes green battalion gathered in Wuchang, Zhou Peigong estimated that most of the Ming army would retreat on their own after getting the news, so he planned to work hard before and after the saddle of Governor Hu to redeem some bad impressions.

There were so many stones, iron cables, and wooden stakes blocked in the river, and no matter how much the governor's yamen ordered it, it could not be cleared in a day. Hu Quancai estimated that the Ming army on Zhong Xiang's side would soon get the news. If the imperial court paid enough attention to Deng Ming's influence, then the recovery of Zhong Xiang would be a credit, and the credit could be atoned. It would be even better if a few more generals under King Xiaofu were captured.

So Hu Quancai summoned Li Shixun. Li Shixun originally belonged to the Sichuan military system, and when Hu Quancai was in charge of Hanzhong many years ago, Li Shixun surrendered to Hu Quancai together with Wang Mingde, the current chóngqìng guard. Li Shixun was later stationed in Changde, and after learning that there was an urgent report in Wuchang, he hurriedly commanded the troops and horses of his headquarters to protect the governor. Because the station was relatively close to Wuchang, Li Shixun's men and horses arrived early, and the soldiers had been relatively well rested by now.

In order to boost the morale of the main army, Hu Quancai handed over to them today the urban area where the rich families gathered in the city, and asked them to go to recruit Ding. Li Shixun was assigned to a city where a large number of gentry lived, and his soldiers showed off their might, begging for silver taels from door to door, and reaped a lot of gains.

Hu Quancai asked Li Shixun to set off first, opening the way for the army, and at the same time detective the situation along the way. Now Wuchang learned that the Ming army in Anlu Mansion was scattered, and the troops guarding Zhong Xiang were very weak. Hu Quancai appointed Li Shixun as the vanguard, and in addition to his headquarters soldiers and horses, he also handed over a part of the soldiers who came to help him in Yiling and other places, so that Li Shixun had tens of thousands of troops under his command and more than 4,000 armored soldiers.

"If the enemy is prepared, proceed with caution." Although Hu Quancai hoped that Li Shixun would succeed in the surprise attack and take advantage of the unpreparedness of the Ming army to achieve greater results, the movement in Hanyang was so big that it was difficult to say whether the army had already received the news. It is estimated that the Ming army will not have time to gather immediately and form a serious threat to Li Shixun. Hu Quancai asked Li Shixun to leave a day early, if he found that the Ming army was already on guard, he should not be greedy for merit, just do a good job of reconnaissance for the army.

Li Shixun received the order loudly. He also wants to take credit and go to the next level. Judging from the results of the investigation, the possibility of a sneak attack on Zhong Xiang is still very large. Even if the Ming army gathered the troops, Li Shixun had an army of 10,000 in his hands, which was not far from the main force behind him, and it was still easy to protect himself.

"The soldiers are fast, and in addition, they must be good at secrecy." Hu Quancai attached great importance to Li Shixun, and took the trouble to explain: "When you lead your subordinates to set off, don't say to your subordinates that you are the vanguard of the army, but only say that you will go upstream to supervise the work of dredging the river. Wait until you leave Hanyang and then make it clear to the generals, so as not to leak the rumors by the crowd here. ”

Hu Quancai asked the officials of the governor's yamen to fully cooperate with Li Shixun, immediately transport a large amount of grain, grass and livestock to his camp, and then help him find a group of soldiers who were familiar with the terrain of Anlu Mansion as guides.

……

In the south of Wuchang City, the general of the Admiral Wuchang Ma Army was sitting in his camp tent sullenly.

Last night, several relatives and friends came to the camp to complain to themselves, saying that the Governor had asked foreign soldiers to assist in the recruitment, and that these soldiers had disturbed people's houses and extorted money. Relatives and friends hoped that Admiral Ma Jun could help intercede, and it would be best if two soldiers could be sent to protect their homes.

However, this demand was beyond the ability of the Admiral Ma Army.

The Governor had ordered him to stay in the camp honestly and not go out, and all the Admiral Ma could do was to send a few soldiers back to stand guard at his home. Everyone knew that the Governor of Huguang did this to appease the resentment of the reinforcements from other places, so that they could contribute when they set out to fight Zhongxiang. After all, Wuchang is the residence of the governor of Huguang, and Hu Quancai will not let the foreign soldiers make too much trouble, and it will be the end of extorting some silver and getting cheap.

"The head of the family, Master Yue, is here." A family member rushed in in in a panic to report

"I've sent someone from Tarzan again?" Admiral Majun's brow furrowed even tighter.

Yesterday, the governor of Huguang began to recruit troops, and his father-in-law's family sent a housekeeper to ask the admiral of the horse army to ask a few soldiers to fill up. The Admiral said a lot of things before he sent the disappointed butler out of the barracks. He estimated that when he returned home, he would definitely be complained by his daughter-in-law, saying that he had not fulfilled his responsibilities. Why did you send it away yesterday with great difficulty, and here again today?

"No, it's Master Yue who came in person!" Jia Ding Road.

The admiral of the Ma army was shocked when he heard this, and hurriedly ran out of the tent to greet him, and invited the angry old man into the Chinese military tent. After entering the tent, Admiral Ma Jun bowed down and said, "The son-in-law greets Lord Taishan." ”

"Hurry up, I'm looking for you to get down to business." Old Taishan shouted indistinctly, unable to wait for his son-in-law to kowtow.

Admiral Ma Jun raised his head, and the old man lifted the cloth covering his right cheek, only to see that the entire cheek was swollen, obviously beaten by someone.

"Who dares to be rude to Lord Taishan!" Seeing this, Admiral Ma Jun was very angry.

The father-in-law is a gentleman of Wuchang, and now the new dynasty is made, and the status of the martial artist is relatively high, if it is placed in the last years of the previous dynasty, the martial artist can marry his daughter into the gentleman's family is already very happy, and he will never dare to marry a young lady of the gentleman's family. Admiral Ma Jun was satisfied with this young lady, and he was obedient to his wife and very respectful to his father-in-law, and he was even more filial than his own son.

"It's Li Shixun's thief's soldier!" The father-in-law said hatefully.

This morning, Li Shixun's subordinates went to his father-in-law's house to fight the autumn breeze, and refused to leave after taking the silver, but actually pointed to a maid and said that she looked like a family member of a thief who had absconded. Admiral Majun's brother-in-law theorized with the soldiers, and was beaten by the soldiers with sticks, and the father-in-law who went to protect his son was also slapped and half of his face was swollen. The soldiers were so angry that they didn't succeed and ping-pong in the courtyard as they left.

After hearing this, Admiral Ma Jun jumped three feet high, shouting that he wanted to go to Li Shixun to ask for an explanation, and asked the other party to hand over the guilty soldiers. However, after a few moments, Admiral Ma Jun himself was deflated. Now the Wuchang soldiers are not very welcome, and Zhong Xiang's released captives have no home to return to, and they are still under surveillance.

The troops who came to Wuchang from other places are now the support of the governor of Huguang, and the commander of the Ma army knows the weight of Li Shixun in Hu Quancai's mind, so he can only bring humiliation on himself when he comes to the door.

Admiral Ma Jun's father-in-law watched coldly, and when he saw the depressed expression on his son-in-law's face, he suddenly asked, "Does the virtuous son-in-law have absolutely trustworthy subordinates?" ”

"Of course." Admiral Ma replied casually without thinking. Then he woke up suddenly, hurriedly approached his father-in-law, and asked in a low voice, "What is Lord Taishan going to do?" ”

"I have a letter here." The father-in-law took out a letter from his bosom, an anonymous letter. Looking around, he whispered in his son-in-law's ear: "Shanxi Yankee wants to let Li Shixun go to the front to attack Zhongxiang Mansion City." This letter contains the plan of the Shanxi Yankees and the troops under the command of Li Thief, does the virtuous son-in-law have any capable dead soldiers who can send this letter over there? ”

"This ......" Admiral Ma Jun was shocked, compared to his plan, his father-in-law's plan was obviously safer, as long as this matter was done unconsciously, it would be better than the Admiral himself openly going to Li Shixun for trouble, no one would know about it, of course, he would not be guilty. And the certainty of success is much greater, I heard that the little Fu King is not easy to mess with, so it must be easy to clean up Li Shixun.

Now the Admiral Ma Jun is worried about whether the information in his father-in-law's hands is reliable and how he obtained it, in case it is found that the military information is leaked in the future, and if the Ming army is prepared, the Governor of Huguang is likely to carry out an investigation, and whether the intelligence provider can keep his mouth shut?

"It was your brother-in-law who brought it." After learning of this son-in-law's worries, the father-in-law reassured Admiral Ma Jun with one sentence: "Just now, all the staff in the Governor's Shogunate helped prepare for the expedition, as long as you don't leak here, no one will know that it was passed on by our son-in-law." ”

"Tarzan-sama, don't worry." Since it was the information that was brought back by the brother-in-law who was a staff member in the governor's yamen, Admiral Ma Jun suddenly became bold, stretched out his hand to take the letter, and assured his father-in-law: "Son-in-law, I will send a competent person to send Zhong Xiang." Although Lord Taishan can rest assured, this person is bold and careful, and nothing will happen. And his life was saved by his son-in-law, and even if he missed, he would never betray his son-in-law. ”

……

Zhong Xiang.

When Deng Ming flipped through the letter, He Zhen was asking about the outpost returning from the front line.

Hao Shaoqi had already transported the supplies back to Fang County at this time, and He Zhen had planned to do the same, but when he returned to Zhongxiang, he suddenly received an urgent report, and the spies on the front line found that the Qing army in the lower reaches of the Han River had behaved abnormally.

The spies reported to Zhong Xiang's Ming generals that they had discovered that the Qing army had suddenly begun to dredge the river with great fanfare. Under normal circumstances, if there was only such a report, it would be difficult for Deng Ming and He Zhen to judge the actions of the Qing army, and they didn't know what Hu Quancai's plans were. But then several messengers quietly came to the Ming army camp and sent several anonymous letters.

These envoys claimed to be ordinary people, and they were entrusted by righteous men with great wisdom to report their news, and these righteous men did not want to reward the court, so they were anonymous messengers and refused to reveal their identities. Having said that, several envoys were soldiers at first glance, and one person was used to saluting when he saw Deng Ming, and his posture was extremely standard.

The anonymous letters sent were not exactly the same, but there was one meaning that was the same, these anonymous righteous men told the Ming army in unison that Hu Quancai, the Shanxi Yankee, was going to send troops to attack Zhong Xiang, and he must not be taken lightly.

In the simplest letter, there is no time for action or troops; The most detailed one, which recounts Hu Quancai's plan one by one, informs the Ming army that the vanguard is Li Shixun, who is stationed in Changde, and the number of military rations and armor soldiers under this person is indeed in the single digits.

"What righteous man who cares about the court? They are all gentlemen from Wuchang Mansion and Hanyang Mansion! After listening to Deng Ming's reading of the contents of these anonymous letters, He Zhen asserted.

Two of these letters were of particular importance, one of which naturally listed the number of Li Shixun's troops and rations, and the other told Deng Ming the route of Li Shixun's course of action and the time of departure.

"The owner of these two letters must have acquaintances in the yamen of the governor of Huguang." After listening to Deng Ming's words about the contents of the two letters, He Zhen guessed: "The gentleman who wrote the letter didn't plan to defect to us, they just had a grudge against Hu Quancai, or a grudge against Li Shixun, and wanted to kill people with a knife." ”

"That's right." Deng Ming nodded, since the owners of these letters obviously did not want to get anything in return from the Ming army, then Deng Ming did not force it, and ordered to treat these messengers with good wine and meat, and reward each messenger with some silver taels.

Even if the letter does not contain much content, as long as the owner of the anonymous letter can send a reliable messenger to the Qing army checkpoints along the way to send the letter to Zhong Xianglai, it means that the owner of the letter has sufficient financial resources and extensive contacts. This kind of strength is by no means something that ordinary people, ordinary wealthy people and even businessmen can have, and this can only be done by the gentlemen of Huguang.

Deng Ming remembered that Liu Tichun and Yuan Zongdi had said that a few years ago, Li Dingguo fought in Huguang and knew the movements of the Qing army well, and he was able to maintain the ability to take the initiative to attack because he won the support of the gentry. With Hong Chengchou serving as the governor of the five provinces, the relationship between Huguang Jinshen and Li Dingguo became estranged and became worse and worse, and finally Li Dingguo completely lost his intelligence advantage, and the Ming army and the Qing army also entered the stage of stalemate.

Looking at the letters in his hand, Deng Ming felt that this was a good sign.