"Brother! Why don't you take people to the river? If this continues, none of us will be able to cross the river." The person who spoke was Liu Guoneng's seventh brother. When Liu Guoneng started his career, they were ten sworn brothers. Now only the elder brother
Qi Jinxiong is by your side.
Liu Guoneng smiled bitterly and shook his head: "With the back of your hand, if you draw lots and you get Lao Lao, you'd better wait slowly!" In fact, Liu Guoneng is not a rule-abiding person, but his strength has been greatly damaged. Now there are only 10,000 people, and the Lao camp has no men.
There are only less than three thousand, so I can only swallow it like this.
It is now the night of the second day of November in the ninth year of Chongzhen. At this time, hundreds of thousands of peasant soldiers have just arrived at the Han River. Due to the lack of pontoons and boats, only ten thousand people have crossed the river. It is estimated that it will take two more to fully cross the river.
Three days.
Forty or fifty miles behind them, Yu, the Left Alliance Army and the Runing Army were already approaching from two directions. As the last peasant army to cross the river, Liu Guoneng felt that he was already in danger.
"How can we do that? Discuss with the other kings and ask them to squeeze out some boats and let you cross the river first!" Jin Xiong said again.
Liu Guoneng leaned back on the chair all of a sudden, his whole body softened, as if he had accepted his fate. He shook his head and said: "Someone has to take over the throne! Life and death matter! Besides, among the ten brothers, only you and me are left.
Back then, my fifth and ninth brothers had divorced for us, and I don’t want to abandon my brothers anymore.”
"Brother! If you keep the green hills here, you won't have to worry about running out of firewood!" Jin Xiong became a little anxious, and his voice became louder, "No matter what, with big brother here, the pole can be pulled up. If you want to stay, just keep me!"
Suddenly there was a coughing sound in the inner tent. Liu Guoneng immediately gestured to Jin Xiong to keep his voice down. He was a filial son. Liu Guoneng's mother was resting in the inner tent.
Liu Guoneng lowered his voice and said to Jin Xiong: "Old Qi, I know you are loyal. You have indeed worked hard to provide supplies in the camp these years, but you are really not war material. If something is wrong, you can hide it with us.
The golden leaves, take my mother and leave first. No matter what, I have to block the pursuing officers and soldiers!"
"But... but how can you live without Auntie? It really can't be done! Just take Auntie alone. We have made enough over the years, let's find a place to be a landlord in peace!" Jin Xiong advised again.
road.
"Is there any place in the world that can be safe?" Liu Guoneng was also a little helpless, "And if we bring so much wealth, wouldn't we attract jealousy and cause trouble!"
"Don't tell me how far away it is! Butcher Wu's place is pretty good. Shopkeeper Lin, who deals with me, told me about it!" Jin Xiong blurted out the answer.
"Pfft!" Liu Guoneng laughed out loud. Jin Xiong also scratched his head in embarrassment because he said the wrong thing.
But with a smile, Liu Guoneng's expression suddenly became serious. Seeing that his elder brother looked wrong, Jin Xiong asked with concern: "Brother! Is there something wrong?"
Liu Guoneng ignored Jin Xiong's concern at all. He leaned over and asked, "Is Shopkeeper Lin still there with you?"
"Didn't eldest brother ask me to protect him well?" Jin Xiong's rhetorical question to Liu Guoneng was a little strange. "Now he is in our camp!"
"Hahaha——!" Liu Guoneng burst out laughing, "Hurry up and invite me! Invite Shopkeeper Lin to come in."
Lin Yufei is a shopkeeper of Sihai Trading Company who is stationed in Xiangyang. But he also has a secret identity. He is a senior spy sent to Huguang by the Shanchuan Division. In recent days, he has also organized caravans to communicate with the peasant army and government troops in Huguang.
After many transactions, I actually got some information and got to know some leaders of the peasant army.
But in recent days, Lin Yufei has been unlucky. Because the Runing Army's operation was relatively secretive, he didn't get the news of the retreat until before the war started. But Lin Yufei had no time to withdraw to Runing, so he could only hide in Xiangyang City.
In your own store.
Lin Yufei was not very worried about the peasant army's siege. After all, he was just a businessman. The peasant army would not massacre the city. At most, they would lose some property, and his life and safety were still guaranteed.
But when the peasant army attacked the city, as King Xiang fled, all the civil and military personnel in the city fled, so the defeated soldiers immediately lost their restraint and started burning, killing and looting in the city.
Unfortunately, Lin Yufei's branch number of Sihai Trading Company was also spotted by a group of defeated soldiers. In order to save a clerk who was blocking the robbery, Lin Yufei put himself in danger.
Fortunately, when the defeated soldiers wanted to attack Lin Yufei and the others, the peasant army invaded Xiangyang, and the defeated soldiers immediately fled in all directions. By chance, Lin Yufei met Liu Guoneng and his party who entered the city first.
Lin Yufei had also done business with Liu Guoneng's peasant army camp before, so Liu Guoneng, Jin Xiong and others also knew Lin Yufei. Seeing Lin Yufei in trouble, Liu Guoneng immediately ordered Lin Yufei to be protected.
Like the Manchus outside the customs, the peasant army welcomed merchants. They did not rob merchants, and sometimes took the initiative to protect the safety of caravans.
But Liu Guoneng's purpose was not just that. For a wealthy businessman like Lin Yufei who could provide weapons, medicinal materials and other contraband, Liu Guoneng would definitely inquire about the background. Of course he knew that the Runing Army was standing behind Sihai Trading Company, so at that time Liu Guoneng was
He took a step to prepare for the opportunity to contact Runing Jun through Lin Yufei.
Unexpectedly, his idle hand turned into a tetsuji, and Liu Guoneng immediately prepared to establish contact with Runing's army. So when he saw Lin Yufei, Liu Guoneng immediately raised his hands and said with a smile: "Mr. Lin! I am busy with military affairs. I haven't seen you for many days. I'm neglecting you."
Lin Yufei was of course very nervous after being detained for so many days. And the soldiers of the Peasant Army did not keep secrets from him, so he also knew that the Runing Army had defeated the Peasant Army, especially Liu Guoneng's battalion.
Heavy losses were incurred in the night attack.
So when Jin Xiong invited him today, he was still afraid that Liu Guoneng would vent his anger on him because of the peasant army's defeat. But seeing Liu Guoneng's polite attitude, Lin Yufei was temporarily relieved and returned the favor: "King Liu! You're welcome.
.I wonder why you came to see me today?”
Liu Guoneng still had a smile on his face, and he said: "I heard from my seventh son that our camp still owes Mr. more than three thousand taels of silver. Let's round it up! Let's call it four thousand taels. I came here to settle the bill for Mr. today. I won't hide it.
The husband said that our battalion will have to leave Huguang for a while, and it will be a long time, and I hope that the husband will take more care of our business in the future."
"Hahaha——!" Lin Yufei suddenly laughed out loud. It was so funny. I have never seen anyone shamelessly pay off their debts.
But Liu Guoneng seemed to be deaf to Lin Yufei's ridicule. He still said with a smile: "If Mr. Lin feels that it is not enough, I will give you another five thousand taels as a deposit, and I hope you will accept it!" (To be continued...)