"Big brother! Why don't you take anyone to the river? If this continues, we won't be able to cross the river. "It was Liu Guoneng's seventh brother who spoke, Liu Guoneng was the tenth brother who worshipped when he started his family, and now only the old seventh Jinxiong is by his side.

Liu Guoneng smiled bitterly and shook his head: "On the back of your hand, the lottery will be drawn to the end, so let's wait slowly!" "In fact, Liu Guoneng is not a person who follows the rules, but his strength has been damaged too much, and now there are only 10,000 people, and there are only less than 3,000 people in the old camp, so he can only swallow his anger so much.

It was now the night of the second day of the 11th month of the ninth year of Chongzhen, and at this time, the more than 100,000 people of the peasant army had just arrived at the Han River. Because of the lack of pontoon bridges and boats, only 10,000 people have crossed the river. It is estimated that it will take two or three days to cross the river completely.

And forty or fifty miles behind them, the Yu and Left Coalition Armies and the Runing Army were already approaching in two directions. As a peasant army that crossed the river in Zuihou, Liu Guoneng felt that he was already more than lucky.

"How can that? Discuss with the other kings, let them squeeze out some boats, and let the eldest brother cross the river first! Jin Xiong said again.

Liu Guoneng leaned back on the back of the chair all of a sudden, and his whole body softened, as if he had accepted his fate, he shook his head and said, "Someone has to break the back!" Life and death! Besides, we are the only ten brothers left with you and me, when the fifth and ninth were all cut off for us, Lao Tzu didn't want to abandon the brothers anymore. ”

"Big brother! Where there is life, there is hope! Jin Xiong was a little anxious, and his voice became louder, "No matter what, with the big brother here, the pole is up." To stay or to stay! ”

There was a coughing sound suddenly in the inner tent, and Liu Guoneng immediately made a gesture to Jin Xiong to whisper, he is a filial son, and Liu Guoneng's mother is resting in the inner tent.

Liu Guoneng lowered his voice. said to Jin Xiong: "Old Seven, you know that the righteous brother knows." The supplies in the camp have been hard for you all these years, but you really are not the material for war. If it's really wrong, you take the gold leaf we are hiding and take my wife first. How about I have to block the chasing officers and soldiers! ”

"Yes...... But how can you live without Auntie? Not really! You just take your aunt with you. We have earned enough over the years, so let's find a place to be a landlord in peace! Jin Xiong persuaded again.

"Where else in the world can there be peace?" Liu Guoneng was also a little helpless, "And we brought so much money, isn't it to attract people's eyes and invite trouble!" ”

"Far from it! Butcher Wu is not bad, and the shopkeeper Lin who traded with me told me! Jin Xiong blurted out and replied.

"Poof" Liu Guoneng laughed out loud all of a sudden. Jin Xiong also scratched his head embarrassedly for saying the wrong thing.

Laughing and laughing, Liu Guoneng's expression suddenly became serious, and seeing that his eldest brother's expression was wrong, Jin Xiong asked with concern: "Big brother!" Is there something wrong? ”

Liu Guoneng ignored Jin Xiong's concern at all, he leaned over and asked, "Is Shopkeeper Lin still with you?" ”

"Didn't the eldest brother tell me to protect him well?" Jin Xiong's rhetorical question to Liu Guoneng was a little strange. "He's in our camp now!"

"Hahaha-!" Liu Guoneng suddenly daxiao, "Hurry up, please!" Please come in. ”

Lin Yufei is a shopkeeper of Sihai Commercial Bank stationed in Xiangyang. But he also has a secret identity. He was a senior spy sent by the Yamakawa Division to Kohiro. In recent days, he also organized caravans to trade with the peasant army and the official army in Huguang many times, and he really heard some information and met some leaders of the peasant army.

But recently, Lin Yufei has been more unlucky. Because the actions of the Runing Army this time were relatively secretive, it was not until before the war. He only then got the news of the retreat. But Lin Yufei didn't have time to withdraw to Runing, he could only hide in Xiangyang City, in his own business store.

Regarding the siege of the peasant army, Lin Yufei was not very worried. I'm just a businessman anyway. The peasant army will not slaughter the city, at most it will lose some property, and its own life and safety are still guaranteed.

However, when the peasant army attacked the city, with the flight of King Xiang, the civil and military forces in the city were all gone, so those routs immediately lost their restraint and burned and looted in the city.

Unfortunately, Lin Yufei's branch of the Four Seas Commercial Bank was also favored by a team of routs. In order to save a guy who blocked the robbery, Lin Yufei put himself in danger.

Fortunately, when the defeated soldiers wanted to use their knives against Lin Yufei and them, the peasant army attacked Xiangyang, and the defeated soldiers immediately scattered and fled. It just so happened that Lin Yufei met Liu Guoneng and his party who entered the city first.

Lin Yufei had also done business with Liu Guoneng's battalion of peasant troops before, so Liu Guoneng, Jin Xiong and others also knew Lin Yufei. Seeing Lin Yufei in distress, Liu Guoneng immediately ordered Lin Yufei to be protected.

Like the Manchus outside the Guan, the peasant army was very welcoming to the merchants, they did not plunder the merchants, and sometimes took the initiative to protect the safety of the caravans.

But Liu Guoneng's purpose is not only that. For a wealthy businessman like Lin Yufei who can provide weapons, medicinal materials and other contraband, Liu Guoneng will definitely inquire about the background. Of course, he knew that there was Ru Ningjun standing behind the Four Seas Commercial Bank, so at that time, Liu Guoneng took a step forward, preparing to have the opportunity to contact Ru Ningjun through Lin Yufei.

Unexpectedly, now that idle hands have become tesuji, Liu Guoneng immediately prepared to establish contact with the Runing Army. So as soon as he saw Lin Yufei, Liu Guoneng immediately smiled and said, "Mr. Lin! The military affairs were busy, and I didn't see them for many days, so I was sluggish. ”

Lin Yufei has been detained for so many days, and of course he is very worried. And those soldiers of the peasant army did not keep it secret from him, so he also knew that the Runing army had defeated the peasant army, especially Liu Guoneng's battalion, which suffered great losses in the night attack of the Runing army.

So when Jin Xiong invited him today, he was still afraid that because of the defeat of the peasant army, Liu Guoneng would find himself to vent his anger, but seeing that Liu Guoneng's attitude was very polite, Lin Yufei also temporarily put his heart at ease and returned the salute: "King Liu!" You're welcome. I don't know why I'm here today? ”

Liu Guoneng was still smiling, and he said: "I heard my seventh brother say that our camp still owes Mr. more than 3,000 taels of silver. Let's round it up! Even if it's four thousand taels. Today, I came to settle the bill for my husband. Mr. Bu said that our camp is going to leave Huguang for a while, and this day is long, and I hope that Mr. will take care of our business more in the future. ”

"Hahaha-!" Lin Yufei suddenly burst out happy. It's so funny, I've never seen anyone pay off their debts with a dead face.

But Liu Guoneng seemed to be deaf to Lin Yufei's ridicule, he still said with a smile: "If Mr. Lin thinks it's not enough, I will give Mr. another 5,000 taels as a deposit, and I hope Mr. will accept it with a smile!" (To be continued......)