With a burst of applause - a newly fashionable etiquette after the arrival of the Australians - Xie Erren cut a red ribbon - also a new thing brought by the Australians, announcing the closure of the Guijiang Floating Bridge that had been suspended for many days.
Restore traffic.
Although the Guijiang Floating Bridge is just a pontoon bridge, it is of great symbolic significance to the local people in Wuzhou. After a war, life has finally returned to normal.
The repair of the bridge can be said to be very fast: originally the gentry and common people in the city thought it would take at least a year and a half. Unexpectedly, after the aftermath bureau raised money and food, the first thing they did was to repair the pontoon bridge. Not only did they recruit many refugees to participate, Australians stationed here
The navy also participated in repairing the bridge.
Xie Erren mobilized the people to search for the surviving pontoon boats, and asked the local sailors to salvage several sunken boats from the water and repair them one by one. If they could not be found, he also searched for suitable size boats among the civilian boats abandoned by the captured official ships.
Ships, and finally 56 pontoon boats were assembled to build the bridge. The local blacksmith forged the missing chain links, and then used the boat to install the wind furnace anvil to beat the retrieved iron chain on site and reconnect it on site.
After dozens of busy days, the pontoon bridge was finally repaired and unblocked at the end of May 1635. The next day, Xie Erren held this grand "opening ceremony."
Xie Erren put down the scissors, and firecrackers suddenly burst out. Members of the aftermath bureau who came to watch the ceremony, and local wealthy people came forward to express their congratulations. Ordinary people here were also beaming with joy, and many people came to take advantage of the cut ribbons to fall.
Robbery - it is said that if you get it, you will have good luck or can cure diseases. Xie Erren was happy to see this "superstition" and did not order to stop it.
Yi Haoran was also among the crowd watching the ceremony. He had been very cautious since he last wandered near the west gate of Wuzhou and saw Mr. Qiao coming out of the aftermath bureau in the Chenghuang Temple. Because Mr. Qiao had interviewed him and knew that he
If you are recognized by him, your cover identity will be exposed immediately.
Fortunately, Mr. Qiao was very cautious at this time, and did not leave his house except to go to the aftermath bureau and the rice grain guild to meet. Yi Haoran could avoid it in time as long as he paid a little attention.
Even so, Yi Haoran felt terrified - now he was not only a former aide on the run, but also involved in Gou Xunli's conspiracy. Once captured, the consequences would be disastrous.
Yi Haoran is over fifty years old, has rich experience, and his ability to recognize people has reached an advanced level. As soon as he comes into contact with Gou Xunli, he is a "treacherous person" and is definitely not a good person. Most of the "gentry" who are in high positions are just for themselves.
Gilded, most likely he is a local powerful person or something like that.
Originally, he would look down on such a person, let alone cooperate with him. However, Gou Xunli's deep hatred for the Kun thieves was real. Since he was not willing to just run away with his tail between his legs, he wanted to have a good fight with the Australians.
This is a godsend - at least, he doesn't have to worry about Gou Xunli betraying him.
He took the opportunity to go out of the city to collect the bill for Mipu, and had several secret meetings with Gou Xunli at the Dragon Mother Temple. He heard about Gou Xunli's attempt to "do big things". At first, Yi Haoran only thought that he was fanciful, especially his "capture alive"
The attempt of "Kung Shou" made Yi Haoran feel even more unreliable.
But he didn't expect that this wretched man would actually mention Hou Dagou's past to him. Yi Haoran was immediately moved.
In the seventh year of Tianshun, Yi Haoran saw the story of Hou Dagou sneaking into Wuzhou and killing and capturing many officials when he was reading the official records in the shogunate. Of course, this Hou Dagou was a "giant bandit" of the Yao people.
The imperial court mobilized troops and sent famous ministers like Han Yong to take command to suppress it. In comparison, Gou Xunli was just a bandit leader...
However, he also thought that Hou Dagou was just an ordinary Yaoman when he started his army. He was not necessarily much better than Gou Xunli. Since ancient times, many heroes have been reckless, so it would be shallow to judge him based on his background.
If a real Kun could really be captured or beheaded, it would be a great inspiration to the court and officers and soldiers who had been repeatedly defeated by the Kun thieves. He himself had also made extraordinary achievements!
Although Yi Haoran was old, his desire to make contributions was still unquenched. At this moment, the imperial court was in crisis, and Guangdong and Guangxi were about to fall into the hands of the thieves. He was unwilling to give up and run away. He immediately agreed to cooperate with Gou Er.
Although the two parties were officially partners, Gou Xunli himself couldn't tell how to seize the real beauties. All he could think of was to imitate Hou Dagou's past.
The problem is how Hou Dagou broke into Wuzhou in the first place. Neither Yi Haoran nor Gou Xunli know clearly. It seems that he probably used a sneak attack with light troops and a combination of inside and outside.
After discussing, the two decided on a strategy. Yi Haoran would organize the internal response in the city, and Gou Xunli would make preparations outside the city. When the time was right, they would cooperate with the internal and external forces to capture Wuzhou in one go and capture Xie Erren!
With this in mind, Yi Haoran walked around the city of Wuzhou every day after working at Mipu. While looking for like-minded people, he also watched for the weaknesses of the Australians and waited for the right opportunity.
However, this opportunity never came. Especially after the Wuzhou National Army brigade arrived, the number of troops stationed in the city increased sharply, and troops were guarded at key points. There was also a Fubo Army company in the city that was armed to the teeth. What do you think?
He even felt unsure.
The opportunity for a sneak attack could not wait, but news came that Teng County and other counties under Wuzhou Prefecture had fallen one after another. His originally very small hope of the army's counterattack from Guangxi was completely shattered. Fortunately, news came soon after
The news of bandit uprisings and Yao people riots in various parts of Guangdong gave him hope.
He learned from the gossip on the street and the boatmen on the Xijiang River that the riots had spread widely and the entire northern Guangdong region was in chaos. The Australians were short of troops and were recruiting soldiers everywhere. As expected, it didn't take long for him to
In the teahouse, I heard from a local government official that the Australians were recruiting new soldiers from among the prisoners of war at Sanhezui Campus to form some kind of "national army". It was said that they were preparing to go to war with the Yao people.
Since the Australians do not have enough troops, even if Wuzhou is an important town, they may not be able to invest too many troops. They may have to send troops to participate in search and suppression operations and patrols along the river. In this way, there is an opportunity!
But this excitement did not last long. Yi Haoran soon discovered that he was a loner in Wuzhou City. If he wanted to coordinate internally and externally, he, a scholar over fifty years old, was beyond his capabilities, so he had to find helpers.
But where are these helpers? Sanhezui Campus is the largest prisoner camp for Kun thieves in this area of Wuzhou. Prisoners captured from all over are sent here to be intensively detained and screened. There are as many as a thousand people.
Yi Haoran originally wanted to target them. As long as he could get a sum of money, it shouldn't be difficult to go in and instigate the prisoners to revolt. The guards in this prisoner camp were not very strict. Usually, they were only guarded by the security team - the strong squad in the past.
However, outsiders are prohibited from entering and exiting. This makes Yi Haoran a little embarrassed - after all, he is not a hero who can climb over walls and swim over walls to enter the prisoner camp. Besides, he does not have such a sum of money.
At this time, he thought of Chang Qingyun - as a member of the prisoners, he should also be in the prisoner camp at Sanhezui. If he could get his help, half of the problems of sneaking into the camp would be solved.
He remembered that on the way to Longmu Temple to meet Mr. Gou, he saw Chang Qingyun working as a bookkeeper at the construction site near the Guijiang Floating Bridge. He might as well go look for him. Since he didn't expose himself last time, he obviously had a clear conscience.
If you understand it yourself, you might be able to get help from him.
He never expected that Chang Qingyun would not find him when he came, but he would happen to bump into the "ribbon-cutting ceremony" of the Australian prefect. Seeing that Mr. Qiao was also there, Yi Haoran did not dare to move around, so he just mingled with the crowd and pretended to watch the fun.
Seeing the pretty-faced thief "prefect" "cutting the ribbon" like a dog, he was surrounded by a group of local big businessmen - just businessmen, and several local wealthy gentry people were actually among them, nodding and bowing to the real lord, looking flattering.
Yi Haoran's ugly behavior made Yi Haoran so angry that he secretly cursed "the ugly people are jumping off the beam"! He didn't want to look at it any longer, so he squeezed out of the crowd, thinking of visiting the construction site for repairing the city wall next to him. Chang Qingyun
Is it still there?
The work on the pontoon construction site was over, but he already knew that the Australians would drive out labor teams composed of captives to work every day, doing everything from repairing city walls, cleaning up ruins, salvaging sunken ships, loading and unloading supplies. So often.
Qingyun will probably continue to be his bookkeeper at other construction sites.
As long as he can come out, he will have a chance to meet Chang Qingyun. Dayunmen, not far from the Guijiang Floating Bridge, is the focus of the battle between the two sides and was the most seriously damaged. The nearby markets and docks were also affected by the war and were in a mess. The ruins of the sunken ship
It hasn't been cleaned up yet, and Chang Qingyun, the bookkeeper, is probably on a construction site nearby.
With this purpose in mind, Yi Haoran wandered outside Dayunmen. He was dressed like an accountant and carried an account book, so no one suspected him.
However, he walked along the Guijiang River outside Dayunmen, and got closer to wherever workers were working, but never saw Chang Qingyun, and felt a little disappointed - where was he?
?
He had heard people say that every once in a while, the returning transport fleet would transport away the prisoners from the Sanhezui campus - it was said that they would all be sent to Guangzhou. Could it be that Chang Qingyun was sent away?
While hesitating, I suddenly heard someone calling: "Sir, are you taking a boat? Sir, are you taking a boat?"
This is the ferryman on the river bank soliciting business. Although there is a pontoon bridge, it is already far away from the pontoon bridge. Some people are not willing to go around far. It is common for them to cross the river for a few pennies. Yi Haoran did not take it seriously and waved his hand: "I
No more than the river."
"Sir, let's cross the river." The other party was actually confused.
Yi Haoran had a look of disgust on his face, and just when he was about to scold the short, dark, thin boatman in front of him with a straight face, he suddenly froze!