Jiangyan is a large town, with more than a dozen tea shops, three brewing mills, and four large and small oil mills. The most numerous are kilns. It is said that the history of firing bricks and tiles can be traced back to the Zhenguan period of the Tang Dynasty, when King Tang

Li Shimin sent Wei Chigong to build a mansion in Hailing (Taizhou) at that time. As a result, several villages were named after the kilns, such as Family Kiln, Fanjiayao, Zhujiayao, Zhangjiayao, Xuejiayao and so on.

Naturally, a kiln cannot be without a place for making bricks. The kiln beside the Zhenxi River has become a training ground for the township yong camp.

Han Xiufeng stayed on the school grounds for a long time and discovered that Zhang Guangcheng and Li Changjing were more willing to recruit young people than to be extravagant. The more than a hundred young people they recruited were all kiln workers!

The kiln workers are very miserable. In the local saying, they are "covered in debt when the shoulder pole is opened", "when the brick cover is knocked, tears come to the eyes", "when the brick cover is thrown away, there is no rice to put into the pot", and "there are more than six sons"

Rhymes such as "When you are a kiln worker, you don't have a second pair of trousers", "Working as a kiln worker, the fire is out, you are poor, you have no place to live, and you squat in the brick hall".

In winter, when the kiln is not fired, many kiln workers often find boats to load some green goods to make a living, and transport them to Diaojiapu or even Taizhou City to sell them in exchange for some potatoes and carrots to satisfy their hunger. Some boats arrive at Diaojiapu, and the river freezes.

The boats can't move, the goods can't be sold, and people are suffering outside. Wives, children, and children run to the river mouth every day. Once the rivers and ponds flood and the brickyards are flooded, the kiln workers can't live, so they can only take care of their children and take their daughters out to beg for food.

In short, they are just like the young men carrying salt on the Taiba Dam. The only difference is that they are all locals. But in the eyes of Zhang Guangcheng and Li Changjing, these kiln workers are far inferior to the decent-looking Haian workers. Qu

The brave men of Tang and Baimi's third regiment actually proposed that more than a hundred kiln workers should be incorporated into the third regiment.

Han Xiufeng weighed it up and simply messed up the salt field young men sent by Han Chen and organized them into five regiments: Hai'an, Jiaoxie, Qutang, Baimi and Jiangyan, and Chu Chenggui, Jiang Huai, Wang Ruhai and other Hai'an patrol regiments.

Zaoli Gongbing, Chen Hu, Chen Biao and other scoundrels who had raided smuggled salt in the first month of the Prosecution Department suddenly became the commanders of these five regiments. They were the chief supervisors of each regiment and the family members of Zhang Guangcheng and Li Changjing were appointed as deputy supervisors.

Although this arrangement was exactly what Zhang Guangcheng wanted, he still couldn't help but ask: "Brother Han, what will Brother Wang and Brother Yu do if this happens?"

"That's right, brother Han, the Hai'an, Qutang and Baimi regiments may have fewer people, but they are all very capable. It really doesn't make sense to give them all to us." Li Changjing also felt embarrassed.

Han Xiufeng wanted local brave men who could fight against bandits at this critical moment, not these slippery people who could only barely deal with the gangsters. As he walked towards Li Caitang, he smiled and said: "You two can rest assured, Wang Qianli,

Yu Qinghuai, Li Zhiyong and Ambassador Han’s cousin Tang Guozheng are all very reasonable and they will not be unhappy or complain.”

"Leave all the heroes to us, what will you do?" Zhang Guangcheng asked meaningfully.

"I'm not afraid of your jokes. I'm really not good at leading troops in battles. I'm very good at recruiting young people to train local braves." Han Xiufeng stopped, stared at the two of them and said, "You and I both know that the bandits will either come or not.

As long as there are invading soldiers and horses, they will be indispensable, and the more than 400 local warriors practicing in the brick field will definitely not be able to stop them. Han Xing wants to recruit more troops, the more the better, and the same is true for us now."

"Brother Han, do you plan to train some more?"

"Exactly," Han Xiufeng nodded and said helplessly: "It's difficult to recruit locally, so I plan to take the first step and go to Jiangdu early to recruit young and strong trainers. Only by knowing yourself and the enemy can you be invincible in every battle. You and I will fight against each other in Jiangdu."

I’m not very familiar with them, so I wouldn’t know if I didn’t go and have a look earlier.”

"It's okay to go and have a look, but that's Jiangdu, not Taizhou. If you just go there like this, can the local gentry have the same money and ability to contribute as the gentry here?"

"I don't care about that much anymore. You can only know if you go and take a look first."

"What should I tell him when Old Ghost Xu asks?"

"Don't worry about Old Ghost Xu. I will report it to him when I pass by Taizhou, and he will definitely agree."

"When are we going, and where will we meet after we go?" Zhang Guangcheng asked in a low voice.

"Brother Zhang, Brother Li, we can't be like the Green Camp. We can't know the soldiers. In my opinion, it's better for you two to practice in Jiangyan for a few more days. It's best to wait until the bandits kill Yizheng before setting off. After arriving in Jiangdu, press

Old ghost Xu told us to set up camp at Wanfu Bridge and guard the river."

"What if we can't hold on?" Li Changjing asked eagerly.

Han Xiufeng muttered: "The river in Liaojiagou is so wide, and Old Ghost Xu promised to give us the dozen or so small cannons in the city. I will leave you with six more guns and eighteen shotguns to deal with hundreds of thieves."

Bandits should not be a problem. If we make the camp stronger, dig more trenches in the camp, especially along the river, and plant more flags on the river bank, bandits should not dare to attack easily."

"There are still boats!" Zhang Guangcheng said inferences: "How can the bandits cross the river without a boat? As soon as we arrived at Liaojiagou, we destroyed all the bridges and divided our forces to collect the large and small boats on both sides, allowing the bandits to cross in a short time.

No river!”

"This is the best, but Liaojiagou is so long, starting from Shaobo Lake in the north and ending at Sanjiangkou in the south. The river is wide in the north and narrow in the south. If I were a bandit and saw that the river near Wanfu Bridge was too wide to cross, I would definitely go around to the south.

harass

." Han Xiufeng thought for a while and then said: "The area around the Fairy Temple is not only narrow in river, but also rich in people. When attacking Taizhou from the Fairy Temple, you don't even have to worry about food and grass, so the area around the Fairy Temple must be fortified."

"We only have a few hundred people in total. It's very difficult to defend Wanfu Bridge alone. How can we divide our troops further?" Zhang Guangcheng said with a bitter face.

"So I have to go there quickly," Han Xiufeng touched the corner of his mouth and muttered: "Brother Zhang, not all people in Yangzhou are greedy for life and afraid of death. You know Zhang Yiguo, the governor of Yanzhou. He has also trained hundreds of local warriors. I

After we get there, we'll see if we can get in touch with him, and if we can, ask him to retreat to the Fairy Temple and join us in guarding the Liaojia Valley."

"That's a good idea. By the way, when do you plan to leave?"

"Leave now."

"Wang Qianli, Yu Qinghuai and the others are going with you?"

"Well, without their help, I can't train Xiangyong alone."

Han Xiufeng cupped his hands and was about to say goodbye to the two of them when Datou ran over with Xu Ying's family member Huzi and a government servant.

"Young man, I've met Mr. Han." Huzi didn't want to be slapped like Mr. Hu, so he knelt down and saluted Han Xiufeng as soon as he saw him.

"Get up and talk."

"Thank you, Mr. Han." Huzi hurriedly got up, took out two official documents and a letter from his arms and said respectfully: "Mr. Han, this is the household license you donated to the state, and this is the Caodu

I order you to act on the official document of Taizhou Governor. This is a letter from my master to you."

"Is it signed so quickly?" Han Xiufeng asked after taking the official document.

"My husband almost went to Yangzhou in person for this matter," Huzi took a big letter bag from the Yamen servant and said cautiously: "I also brought other people's donation licenses. My husband was worried that you might be worried about it for a while.

I didn't bother to buy top hats and official uniforms right now, so I sent someone to buy two for you, not knowing whether they suit you or not."

"Let your master worry about it." Han Xiufeng handed the donor's license and the official documents of the acting governor to Datou, and opened Xu Ying's letter in front of everyone.

If you don’t know it, you almost laugh when you see it.

Xu Ying actually thought that he was Qi Suzao's disciple and an old official, so he used the provocation method.

What made him even more ridiculous was that Huzi said cautiously: "Mr. Han, Master Qi died for his country. My master is also very sad and angry. My master said that Master Qi is not only a loyal minister but also a capable minister. He just met a group of people at the wrong time."

Those who are greedy for life and afraid of death say that the only one who can help Mr. Qi avenge his revenge now is you, Mr. Han!"

Han Xiufeng didn't care how Qi Suzao died, whom he had never met before, but he was very interested in what kind of thieves he was. After all, he had always heard about them but never seen them in the past two days. He was very interested in thieves.

It's okay to always be ignorant.

Thinking of this, Han Xiufeng put down the letter and asked coldly: "Your master said in the letter that someone escaped from Jiangning and saw Master Qi die at the hands of thieves. Can you help me find the escaped person?"

?”

Huzi thought that Han Xiufeng wanted to avenge Qi Suzao, so he hurriedly said: "You can't find me for sure, but since my master can find out this information, I will definitely be able to help Mr. Han find the person who brought out the news about Master Qi's death for his country."

"As long as you can find him, I'll go to Taizhou with you. I want to see this man with my own eyes and hear what he has to say with my own ears!"

…………
Chapter completed!