In the early morning, a layer of mist fell in the sky. Liu Ruyi gathered more than a thousand soldiers, set out from the south gate of Caishi Town, bypassed Xiying Town, went around the path leading to Tai'an, and headed south.
!
As the saying goes, a man is not rich without windfall, and a horse is not fat without night grass!
What Mr. Fang has is his own identity and connections, but Liu Ruyi is just a poor country man who started from scratch. All he has are the thousands of elite soldiers under his command!
'I dare to take down the emperor even if I am willing to be killed!'
At this point, the Huaibei family has become an inextricable knot. Either the enemy will die, or we will die. Liu Ruyi has no choice!
However, Liu Ruyi is not a fool!
At present, although the imperial court is in decline, after all, the great righteousness of the Ming Dynasty for three hundred years is still there. Of course Liu Ruyi would not dare to openly lead his army to attack Huaibei City!
However, wars are raging all over the Ming Dynasty and bandits are raging. Even if one or two families of high-ranking officials are wiped out by bandits, that is normal~~~!
Caishi Town is nearly a thousand miles away from Huaibei City, and there are many checkpoints and whistles on the road. Liu Ruyi did not ask the soldiers to carry too much baggage, food and grass, but only carried weapons and three days of dry food.
Take the small road and head straight to the Xiao Family Courtyard on the edge of Jining City!
There, Liu Ruyi's father-in-law, Xiao Mowen, had prepared food and grass for the more than a thousand soldiers heading south in advance!
Speechless all the way!
Three days later, Liu Ruyi and his party, led by the Xiao family's guide, arrived at the Yellow River ferry forty miles northwest of Xuzhou City!
At this time, it was already late at night, the night wind was raging, and the waves on the river were rolling with terrifying force. However, the moon and stars were sparse in the night sky, so the visibility was pretty good!
"Ruyi, this is the Yellow River! After crossing this ferry, a few dozen miles further, you will reach Xiao County! From there, it is less than half a day's journey from Huaibei City~~!" Liu Hanyi pointed to the roaring and rolling river and said to
Liu Ruyi explained.
When Mr. Liu was alive, Liu Hanyi was often responsible for contacting the Liu family's business in the north and south. He was very familiar with the terrain in this area!
Liu Ruyi nodded slightly. After crossing Mount Tai and going south, the terrain was flat, with endless fertile grain fields! However, although it was already early spring, it was a pity that there were few people in the fields, and there were many fields.
They are all deserted!
Although this saved Liu Ruyi and his party a lot of unnecessary trouble, Liu Ruyi couldn't help but sigh: "In the past ten years of turmoil, even the core hinterland of the Ming Dynasty will no longer be able to withstand such suffering."
Got it!'
"Uncle, the wind and waves are so strong tonight, can we still cross the river?" Liu Ruyi put away the melancholy in her heart, turned to Xiao Mowen and said to the side.
Xiao Mowen was originally a bit on both sides of the fence and did not dare to offend the Fang family. However, since the last time something happened to the Xiao family, and a few days ago, when Liu Ruyi repelled the Qing army, the balance in his heart naturally tilted to
Liu Ruyi, the 'prospective son-in-law'!
"Ruyi, don't worry! I have bribed the four stewards of the Cao Gang, and at midnight, they will have a thousand-stone ship coming over! It doesn't matter if the storms come up!" Xiao Mowen explained to Liu Ruyi with a smile.
If Liu Ruyi can succeed this time, the Xiao family will also benefit greatly! It may even replace the Fang family's current leading position among Lianghuai salt merchants! Therefore, Xiao Mowen is also working particularly hard on this matter!
Liu Ruyi frowned slightly, "People from Caobang? Are they reliable?"
After all, this is a deviant approach. The less people know about it, the safer it will be! Perhaps out of an instinctive reaction, Liu Ruyi does not have great trust in Jianghu organizations like the Caobang!
"If you wish, you can rest assured about this! Those four stewards have cooperated with my Xiao family for many years, and they are quite loyal. There will definitely be no problems! Moreover, I told him that tonight we are leaving a group of wealthy people from the north! He should have something in mind
Proper!" Xiao Mowen lowered his voice.
Liu Ruyi nodded, "You still need to be careful in everything!"
Just after midnight, several huge wooden boats suddenly appeared on the east river, three or four stories high, with a large black flag fluttering in the wind on the bow!
"Here we come! Send the signal!" Xiao Mowen hurriedly said to several servants on the side.
The servants hurriedly lit the piled firewood, and the fire started. Soon, the big ship docked towards the shore!
A dozen strong men stepped off the big ship. Although the weather was still cold at this time, they were only wearing short shirts and shirtless, revealing their muscular tendons!
The leader was a man in his early forties, with a beard, a square face, and a pair of big, piercing eyes!
Xiao Mowen hurriedly stepped forward to chat with him for a few words, then led him to Liu Ruyi and introduced him: "Ruyi, this is Di Mang, the fourth leader of the Caobang, nicknamed 'Water Dragon'!"
Liu Ruyi and others had already changed out of their mandarin duck jackets and were all dressed in Tsing Yi. They looked a bit like Jianghu people!
"Fourth Leader, it's a pleasure to meet you! Brothers are going to be harassing you a lot these days!" Liu Ruyi said with a smile and cupped her fists!
Di Mang, the fourth master, squinted his eyes and looked at Liu Ruyi, and said calmly: "This hero, with such a grand event today, is probably going to make a big deal?"
Liu Ruyi smiled and said, "The fourth master is joking, it's not easy to get along in the north, so I just want to take my brothers to the south to ask for a bite of food! It's not worth mentioning!"
Di Mang nodded and asked no more questions, "Let's get on the boat!"
He waved his hand, and a dozen planks were placed on the deck, connecting several large ships to the ground!
Liu Ruyi also waved to Huo Lang, and soon, the soldiers began to board the ship one after another!
Di Mang kept looking at the soldiers in silence, wondering what he was thinking!
Liu Ruyi ignored him and waited until most of the soldiers had boarded the ship before walking towards the deck!
However, at this time, Di Mang said intentionally or unintentionally, "This hero, Di will only wait here for seven days! After that time, there will be no waiting!"
Liu Ruyi was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said: "Haha, that's a deal!"
……………………
Although the wind and waves were strong, the ship was extremely stable. Half an hour later, Liu Ruyi and his party landed safely, while Di Mang, with his ship, quickly disappeared into the night!
"Young master, isn't this damn boatman just a boatman? Why are you so arrogant? I really want to tear off his cold face!" Xiao Liu'er's injury has almost recovered. He looked at the disappearing shadow of the big ship,
Angry and unfair!
"There is something special about this person! If I am not mistaken, he should have been just like us before! It is very possible that he has seen through our identities!" Liu Ruyi said thoughtfully!
"Young Master, this, this can't be true, right? Could it be that he also came from a military background?" Xiao Liu'er asked doubtfully!
Liu Ruyi nodded, "It's true that he is a soldier! However, he is not a soldier on land like us!"
Liu Ruyi pointed to the turbulent Yellow River water behind her and said: "He is from the water!"
Only then did Xiao Liuer understand, "Young master, you mean, they, they are from the navy?"
"That's right!" Liu Ruyi took a deep breath of air.
Since his founding, after the seven voyages of the Sanbao eunuchs to the Western Seas, the navy of the Ming Dynasty has withered into disgrace! Liu Ruyi does not know about other places, but in Shandong, there were originally some ships in Denglai and Denglai, but they were all taken away by Kong Youde when he crossed the sea.
!
Those who couldn't be taken away were burned clean by him!
At present, except for those wealthy businessmen who secretly do business overseas, the imperial court in Shandong may not be able to bring half a big ship!
This has to be said to be sad!
"Young Master, what should we do? How about..." Xiao Liu'er made a fierce motion of wiping his neck!
After the experience in Songyue Tower, Xiao Liuer's nerves were also highly tense, and he could not tolerate any risk factors!
"That's not necessary! We and him can't be in conflict with each other, and we can't make enemies of ourselves!"
Liu Ruyi slowly shook her head, "Perhaps, we may be able to cooperate with them in the future! Okay, let's not talk about this! It's almost time! Let's hurry up and arrive at Xiao County to rest!"
……………………
In the next few days, Liu Ruyi and his party stayed day and night. Two days later, they finally arrived at a pine forest twenty miles north of Huaibei City!
After taking a short rest for a long time, Huo Lang, who went to inquire about information, has returned!
"Brother, the situation has been clarified! Although Huaibei is a big city, there are only one thousand households guarding the city, with less than 500 troops! The thousand households' surname is Zhang, and he is the adopted son of the Fang family. He was originally Fengyang, the central capital.
He was born in the army. A few years ago, when the bandits were causing trouble, he fled back to Huaibei with his people! Mr. Fang gave him money, so the court did not pursue his responsibility!
The old house of the Fang family is located in the middle of Huaibei City, covering an area of thirty acres, and is only less than a hundred steps away from the military camp named Zhang!" Huo Lang analyzed Liu Ruyi.
Liu Ruyi nodded slightly. It was not difficult to deal with the Fang family by force, but Liu Ruyi still needed a reason, or in other words, he needed to find someone to take the blame!
"Huo Lang, within a few hundred miles of the Fang family, are there any unsolvable enemies? Or, are there any famous bandits within a few hundred miles of this place?" Liu Ruyi asked.
road.
Huo Lang was startled, but soon he understood what Liu Ruyi meant, "Brother, the Fang family has been based in Huaibei for hundreds of years, and they have countless enemies! However, most of them have been crushed to death by the Fang family, so they can be called names.
Yes, I really can't find it now! But in the Yongcheng area 200 miles away to the north, there is a large bandit with thousands of people. Their leader is called "Black Whirlwind".
!Later the Xian thief surrendered, and this black whirlwind was somehow recruited by Mr. Fang and became a secret minion of the Fang family! Many of the Fang family’s shameful deeds were all completed by this person!"
"Black whirlwind?" Liu Ruyi read the name softly!
Few of the so-called wealthy businessmen like the Fang family have a clean background. Who doesn’t have a few lumps of shit on their buttocks?
In this world, resources are limited!
If you want to accumulate more wealth, the best and most effective way is to rob by force! However, in the past, the Fang family always attacked other families, but this time, it was their turn!
Liu Ruyi took a deep breath of air conditioning and tried to clear his mind. He looked up at the sky. It was afternoon and the sun was dazzling!
But Liu Ruyi's heart gradually cooled down. He turned to Huo Lang and said, "Tell the brothers to rest for an hour and start taking action in the evening!"