The war is getting tighter and all the news is found.

Su Jueming was frightened in Yangzhou. He first sent his family, whom he had finally persuaded, to Hai'an, and then moved from the city to the outside of the city together with Han Chen's cousin Han Chen, to the outside of the city. He stayed in the inn outside the city for two days and then moved to the east bank of the canal. Every morning, he crossed the river and went into the city to investigate separately, and left the city together in the afternoon, and did not dare to stay in the city for a long time.

I sat in the teahouse near the government office for an afternoon, and it was time to leave the city again.

Su Jueming called the guy to pay for the tea and hurried to the east gate. Han Bo was guarding outside the city gate, and there was someone beside him who looked familiar but couldn't remember where he had met.

"Brother Han, this big brother is..."

"Let's go, this is not a place to talk." Su Jueming turned around and glanced at the doorman, pulled him and walked towards the canal.

A yamen runner from the Jiaoxie Salt Course had been waiting by the river for a day. When he saw Han Bo arrive, he shouted that the boat chatting with people on the shore should come over quickly.

Han Bo called the man who left the city with him on the boat. After crossing the river, he went straight to the inn. As soon as he arrived at the inn, he closed the door and turned around and introduced: "Jueming, this is Zhang Guangsheng, the nephew of Mr. Zhang, Taizhou, and the cousin of Mr. Zhang Er."

"I said why do you look familiar? It turns out that he is Mr. Zhang's cousin!" Su Jueming suddenly realized and thought about it and asked again: "Brother Zhang, have you been to the government office yesterday morning?"

"I've been there, I'm not afraid of Brother Su's jokes. I've been there every day these days."

"Then how did you meet Brother Han?"

Zhang Guangsheng took out a letter from his arms: "Brother Su, this is a letter sent by my cousin yesterday. My cousin and Mr. Han are good friends. Mr. Han and Ambassador Han are not only friends but also fellow villagers. To put it bluntly, they are all family members. Let me find you and Brother Han quickly. Not only can you take care of you, but you can also discuss anything you encounter. I don't know where you are, so I can only wait outside the Yunsi Yamen. I didn't expect that Brother Han was really waiting."

"So that's it. Since it's a family, we'll investigate together in the future." Su Jueming nodded, then turned around and asked, "Brother Han, have you found out any news?"

"I found one, but it was bad news."

“How bad is it?”

While helping the two men pour tea, Han Bo said worriedly: "On the third day of the second month, the day before yesterday, the navy troops of the Taiping bandits came to Jiangning City and divided their troops to capture Pukou. Lord Lu retreated all the soldiers outside the city into the city before the bandits arrived, trying to defend, but was surrounded by bandits and thieves."

"How many soldiers are there in Jiangning? Do you think Lord Lu can defend it?" Su Jueming asked.

"It is said that there are more than 5,000 flag soldiers and green camps in the city, and more than 10,000 brave men temporarily raised. As for whether they can be kept and how long they can be kept, I don't know. Moreover, this news came from two days ago. To say a disheartening sentence, it is hard to say whether Jiang Ning is still in the hands of the court now!"

The thing that was most worried finally happened. Su Jueming didn't bother to drink tea, so he hurriedly got up to grind the ink, preparing to write a letter and quickly sent someone to Hai'an.

Han Bo looked up at him and asked, "Jueming, where are you there, have you inquire about anything?"

"I found two things. One is that the court knew that Jiangning was in a hurry and urgently ordered the imperial envoy Xiang Rong to lead the two north and south troops to aid. I have heard of Xiang Rong for a long time. I was dismissed because of poor pursuit and suppression. Eighty percent of them were slanderous and disobedient. They chased but did not. Anyway, the southern army he led could not be counted on. I have never heard of Qi Shan, but even if he could fight well, his subordinates were all elite soldiers and generals, and they could not quench their near thirst."

"What about one more?" Han Bo asked.

Su Jueming subconsciously looked at Zhang Guangsheng and raised his pen and said, "There is another thing about Mr. Zhang. The prefect Zhang probably knew that Mr. Zhang was sick, but he couldn't let Mr. Zhang complain. He was worried that the clerks in the prefecture were taking power at this critical moment, so he planned to let Mr. Xu Ying and Xu move to Taizhou. As soon as I heard about this news, I went to Tongzhi Office. I heard that Mr. Xu's family was packing their luggage. It seemed that if they didn't go to Taizhou today, they would go tomorrow."

Han Bo's cousin Han Chen is a salt official. As a member of the mansion, Han Bo usually only deals with the Yunsi Yamen and is not very familiar with the officials of the Yangzhou Prefecture. He was about to ask how Mr. Xu is like, Su Jueming continued: "In Yangzhou, Mr. Xu is famous for being selfless! He is a Jinshi of the Sixteenth Daoguang, and even the Mansion Department wants to give him three points. Brother Zhang, it is not that I cursed your master. The Mansion Department asked Mr. Xu to go to Taizhou now, so he didn't want to wait to be a member of Taizhou."

"I know, I heard about it, too." Zhang Guangsheng sighed lightly and said with a bitter face: "When Mr. Xu arrives in Taizhou, my uncle and my cousin will not think about peace. In the future, the big and small matters of the state yamen will probably be decided by Mr. Xu."

"Jueming, Guangsheng, are you saying that Mr. Xu is not easy to deal with?" Han Bo asked subconsciously.

"Brother Han doesn't know that this Master Xu is not an ordinary Tongzhi, but a general Qing army chief inspector Tongzhi who assists the government in charge of the green camp, responsible for coastal defense, river defense and police guards! The green camp soldiers stationed in the city saw him like ghosts, and the canal sailors all around him. If anyone is unlucky, he will have to take off a few layers of skin even if he doesn't die. He is a famous cruel official!"

"So he moved to Taizhou, your master would not have a good life?" Han Bo asked in surprise.

"What I worry most is this. Maybe he will ask my master to go to Taizhou to help defend the city. If I know that my master and the gentry of Hai'an have trained the third troupe of township heroes, I will even ask my master to lead the township heroes to Yangzhou to defend the city!"

Hai'an is the most important part of the retreat. How to advance and retreat is all controlled by Mr. Han of the Hai'an Inspection Department. Zhang Guangcheng's cousin Zhang Guangsheng realized that something was wrong and said anxiously: "Mr. Han cannot go to Taizhou, let alone come to Yangzhou!"

"I have to do it all, but I haven't calculated that Cheng Yaojin will appear halfway. What should I do?" Han Chen's cousin Han Bo became more and more scared the more he thought about it.

"It's useless to be anxious here. The most urgent thing is to send the news back quickly and let Mr. Han be prepared to see if he can find a way to deal with it." Su Juoming quickly wrote the letter and put down his pen and said, "Brother Han, do you see if there are any omissions?"
Chapter completed!