"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu Jiang Fan, you are a piece of shit, please compensate my grandson-in-law."
In an inn at Dangtu Pier, Tan Leizi covered his head with a quilt, crying and cursing, "Pang Shouyou..." He suddenly stopped and looked around to see if anyone was eavesdropping and followed.
He got up and went to the window to take a look. There were bright lights on the other side of the pier, and some scattered soldiers were walking around. No one seemed to be paying attention to him nearby.
Tan Laizi hid under the quilt and continued to cry, "Damn Pang Shoubei, why did you give five hundred taels to the man named Liu? I rescued him all the time. You only gave me two taels. There is no justice left.
I don’t care about it.”
He angrily opened the quilt, took out two taels of silver ingots in his arms, and threatened to throw them out the window.
"I'm just..." The silver ingot was still hot. Tan Leizi hesitated for a moment, then put it back in his arms. Tears still flowed uncontrollably.
Pang Pang only gave him a reward of two taels of silver, but that wasn't what made him angry the most. Pang Pang only ordered him to give him two taels of silver, but didn't say who would give it to him. Tan Leizi waited for a long time and no one bothered to ask.
The soldiers ignored him, and Gang Leader Jiang said he didn't know. It took him more than half an hour, but Mr. Hou finally asked someone to give it to him.
When he returned to this shabby inn, the onlookers told him that Mr. Liu had come back and took his grandson's wife away with him.
This was like a bolt from the blue, shattering his yearning for a better life.
"It's up to you both to drown in the river."
Tan Leizi cursed fiercely, and after a while he put his hands in front of his eyes. There was still a slight warmth in his palms, as if the warmth by the Hezhou River had not dissipated.
"You, Liu, should be allowed to drown in the river."
After Tan Laizi scolded him, he felt better and stopped crying for a while. He kept touching the two taels of water-silvered silver ingots in his arms.
"We have a wife after all, right?"
Tan Laizi thought to himself, rubbing his thumbs in his palms, which seemed to be getting hotter, "It's better than before. Anyway, Jiang Fan and Pang Shouwei are not good people."
Suddenly it became lively outside, and someone was shouting downstairs.
"Ren Pangda prepared a New Year's Eve dinner for all the Hezhou folks, and everyone came to the hall to eat."
Everyone in the surrounding rooms cheered, the thump-dong-dong footsteps hurried downstairs, and the hall suddenly became noisy.
"Thank you, Master Pang!"
“Man Pang Da is such a good person!”
Tan Laizi lay motionless on the bed. The room was dark, and the firelight outside projected on the wall. "I won't eat your Pang Shoubei's food. I have enough money to go back to Anqing. If I go back to see my mother, we will still be home."
good.
I won’t do these head-turning things with you, you Qiu Ba have never seen that bandit being so easy to fight."
He said harshly, and after feeling sympathy for Qiu Ba in the garrison camp, Tan Laizi felt better. He hugged the quilt on the bed and it was very warm. Things that were very common before seemed very precious now.
The owner of this shabby inn locked the door and ran away. Refugees crossing the river could not enter the city, so he broke it open and lived here. There were many people inside. Out of trust in Tan Lezi's Hu Chui, he was allowed to live alone in a room.
Although the room was dark, with the noise downstairs, Tan Laizi felt safe for a long time. The faces of the bandits seemed to be blurred, and the feeling of hunger became clearer.
"We still have to eat New Year's Eve dinner. If we don't pay for it, we can't give away the Pang Guard."
After thinking about it, Tan Lezi stood up and happened to be facing the window. The room he chose was a river view room. Outside the window was the river. There was a hazy yellow light and shadow in the night sky on the other side. Tan Lezi knew that this was the room where he escaped.
There, the bandits were lighting a fire to keep warm.
"Do the bandits also want to celebrate the New Year?"
Tan Leizi looked at the yellow light over there and kept thinking in his heart.
..."Today is New Year's Eve, we are also celebrating the New Year, please eat more meat."
There were wild fires outside Jiangpu City. The little boy pierced a piece of beef with a branch, roasted it and handed it to the old man.
The old man showed a rare smile and said, "Baby, you eat first, eat first."
The little kid shook his head, and the old man took a small bite and chewed it carefully, letting the taste of the barbecue stay in his mouth longer.
"I forgot to put the salt."
The little kid kicked a servant next to him hard, and the servant hurried to the frame of the car, rummaging around for a while, but couldn't find it for a long time.
The little boy got a reward for climbing the city. Although it was not his first time climbing, the master plate gave him an extra two servants, and he was able to keep a pack horse he grabbed in the city.
The new slave was caught in Quanjiao, so he didn't know much about the belongings on the donkey cart of the elder family.
The little kid pretended to scold him, but the old man quickly waved his hand, "Be happy during the Chinese New Year."
After that, the old man went to look for it himself. The frame was piled with supplies, including quilts and coats to keep out the cold, and even a large satin quilt. The feel to the hand was something the old man had never experienced in his life.
After finding the salt, they brought their servants back together. After defeating Quanjiao, the Eight Kings' team obtained enough supplies. The Jiangbei area was indeed richer than the counties in Henan.
Rubbing some salt grains on the meat, the little boy tasted it. Si Yang now cooked the rice and served it in two green porcelain bowls to the two of them.
"You guys can serve it too, even though it's..." The old man shut his mouth for a moment. These servants appeared here, and their families were ruined behind them. The old man didn't know what to say, so he hesitated and said, "At least we got together.
Live this year.”
Several servants carefully packed the food and squatted aside to devour it.
The little kid was holding the rice bowl. The heat of the cooked rice was transferred to his hands through the ceramics. It was warm and smooth. He had never used such high-end porcelain bowls before. He was stunned for a while and then dug into his stomach.
inside.
But as a northerner, I am more accustomed to pasta, and I ordered my servant to get steamed cakes to bake. While waiting in the middle, the sound of crackling firecrackers was heard not far away, and a group of children cheered loudly, and started to firecrackers.
The flying debris bounced on the edge.
The little boy laughed loudly, went to the Boy Army to make some noise, and divided some wine. He carefully brought a bowl back to the old man, who drank it and handed it back to him.
There were some wine beads on the old man's beard, so he wiped it with his hand and stuffed it into his mouth.
The two of them were careful when passing the goods. During their non-stop journey, wine and tobacco were hard-to-obtain supplies. Whenever a city was breached, the competition for these items was fiercest except for horses and mules.
As I drank wine slowly like this, the surroundings were filled with wine and there was a burst of noise, and it slowly became quiet when it was almost midnight.
The city wall of Jiangpu not far away was brightly lit, and the little boy was holding his feet and sitting side by side with the old man.
"Master, life is better this year than last year. Jiangbei is richer than Henan."
The wrinkles on the old man's face relaxed and he looked at the Jiangpu city wall and said, "But this city looks small but it is so difficult to fight."
"Wang Gaozhao said today that Gao Scar will arrive tomorrow and the day after tomorrow."
A few snowflakes fell in the sky and disappeared in the light of the fire. The little boy stared at the fire and said, "I heard that they captured two cities and lived more comfortably than us this year. I originally planned to spend the New Year in that big city before leaving.
Following the spies who caught the officers and soldiers, they said that Mr. Lu was coming after him, so they hurried to Jiangpu."
"Lord Lu is a difficult person to deal with."
The wrinkles on the old man's forehead were deep, "Since Lord Lu is chasing me, I won't be able to stay here in Jiangpu for more than a few days."
"There are so many people, and they have to be beaten again. They can leave when the master says."
The old man said in a low voice, "The end of the world will be determined by the day you reach it."
The little boy didn't say anything. At this time, the surrounding area became quieter and quieter. Occasionally, some people who were still drinking made a fuss.
Amidst the crackling sound of firewood, there seemed to be suppressed whimpering coming from all around.
The little kid turned his head and took a look, it seemed like there were more than one place.
Crying is not allowed in the eighth master's camp. If the guards hear it on weekdays, they will be beaten lightly and the point will be dead.
The old man patted his hand and said, "He is also a poor man."
The little boy didn't agree, but he didn't report it either. He didn't think the people in Jiangbei were miserable, at least not compared to him. Most people before Chengpo were living well, and some of the things ordinary people found in their hometown were better than those in his hometown.
Most people are strong.
After drinking the last bit of wine, the little boy chewed the beef carefully and turned his eyes to the dark south. This was the case in Jiangbei. They heard that Jiangnan was as prosperous as they had ever seen, but the big river blocked their way.
"What is the situation in Jiangnan?"
...On the Shangxinhe Pier on the south bank of the Yangtze River, the lights were still on in the second-floor room of an inn.
An oil lamp was like a bean, swaying slightly on the table.
Zhou Yueru said softly at the table, "Today is New Year's Eve. Dad, please eat enough."
She picked up the jug and poured another glass of wine for her superior. Two plates of meat were placed on the table. This was the most sumptuous New Year's Eve dinner she could raise at this time.
This was cooked by a porter from Caobang. The cook in the inn had already run away, and the surrounding food shops were closed. For this New Year's Eve dinner, the three-stick guy from Caobang ran around all afternoon and barely found a meat shop that was open.
shop.
There are more drafted guardsmen on the pier, and they don't look like they can fight. I heard that some battalions were mobilized to cross the river to rescue Jiangpu. What Jiangnan can use are the guardsmen from Nanjing City. The guardsmen in Nanjing City have become
The group has a large establishment, but these military households are said to be soldiers, but in fact they are no different from ordinary people. The better ones are guarding the city wall in Nanjing, and those sent to defend the river are just a make-up. Many of them don't even have military uniforms.
The Wu Song soldiers she had seen seemed more reliable than these guard soldiers.
These people broke in everywhere at the dock. He Xianya spent money to manage a thousand households and saved the granary behind. There were no guardsmen to occupy this inn for the time being.
"It's been a year. I was still in Tongcheng at this time last year."
Zhou Yueru looked at the empty seat and the wine glass opposite, tears falling down her face.
There was a sudden knock on the door, and the three stickmen from the Cao Gang were heard saying outside, "Zhou Accounting Room, there are guardsmen coming this way, please put out the lights quickly."
Zhou Yueru agreed, quickly stood up and blew out the lamp, turning the room into darkness.
There were footsteps passing by outside, and the guardsmen were laughing and scolding each other. They were probably all drunk.
When the footsteps faded away, Zhou Yueru had already adapted to the darkness in the room, and the window seemed brighter.
"I don't know how many bandits are besieging Jiangpu."
Zhou Yueru walked to the window, and the lights were burning in the direction of Jiangbei.
"Don't let Jiangpu be like Tongcheng. General Pang... can you really save Jiangnan?"
...On the river downstream of Tugang, night-flying lanterns formed a long line, and the light of the lanterns undulated with the waves on the dark river surface.
Pang Yu stood on the bow of the boat, the cold wind blew across the river, and occasionally snowflakes hit his cheeks.
As the Hezhou bandits began to move eastward, after the garrison camp had a New Year's Eve dinner, the fleet left the port overnight to try to reinforce Jiangpu before the bandits.
Although they were assembled twice on the way, there were still two waterships missing, carrying one flag team each from the First Division and the Guards Corps. There were more than 60 infantrymen missing here. It was not even known that the ship capsized and they were left behind.
Already.
There was a faint sound of snoring in the cabin behind me, and the rhythm was probably that of Xu Lengzi.
Pang Yu rarely envied him. In the previous years of trading, Pang Yu also had a good sleep, but this time he was not sleepy at all.
Pounding's voice came from the side, "Master, look over there!"
Pang Yu looked up and saw that the sky above Jiangbei was emitting a halo, dyeing half of the night sky a dim yellow color. The soldiers around him also noticed it and were all pointing in that direction.
Looking at their distribution locations, there were them all along the way from Hezhou to Jiangpu. Such large-scale fires also indicated that the scale of the rogue bandits was far beyond his imagination.
"Master, do you want to prepare a boat?"
Pang Yu's mouth went dry. After hearing this, he turned around and slapped Pang Ding on the head, "The whole river is full of my boats, so what kind of boats do I have prepared?"
Ponting shrank his head and said, "There is no city this time."
Pang Yu looked around, grabbed Pang Ding and whispered, "Instead of preparing the boat, when you get to Jiangpu, you stay here on the boat and pay attention to what's going on on the shore. Master, what's going on with me."
Pang Ding nodded quickly, Pang Yu relaxed his hands and said, "Go back and rest, the young master will stay alone for a while."
After Pang Ding left, Pang Yu kept looking at the fire over there, and after a while he murmured, "Why are you a good man? Save your grandma's Jiangpu. I don't want to die in this small town."
The weak night navigation lights undulated in the snowy winter night, heading east along the river.