After waiting for a day, there was no movement at all.

The next day, the Changmao outside the city did not attack again.

Han Xiufeng did not dare to take it lightly and asked Chen Zhankui, Chen Tianru and Zhang Biao to continue to strengthen the camp. He asked Li Tianbao to go to the riverside to ask Tuan Yong and the boatmen and sailors who were guarding there to transport the remaining grain and grass. He also asked Pan Er and Liu Shanyang

They went to Wulitun and Hongshan camps respectively to inquire about the news. As a result, they waited until dark and saw no Chang Mao coming to attack. Liu Shanyang and Pan Er also failed to find out the story of the thief from Hu Linyi and Li Xubin.

On the third day, Changmao still didn’t attack!

If something goes awry, it must be a monster. Han Xiufeng didn't think that Shi Dakai and Wei Jun would stop just because of the arrival of the Sichuan East League training. Early on the fourth day, he asked Chen Zhankui and Chen Tianru to send more scouts, and asked the scouts to go farther away to find out as soon as possible.

What on earth are the long hairs doing outside the city?

Xu Jiu, who had been doing nothing for the past few days, actually took the initiative to ask Ying to inquire.

Recalling that Xu Jiu was originally a scout and was familiar with the terrain around Wuchang, Han Xiufeng simply gathered twenty-six scouts from the two battalions on the left and right, formed a scout team specializing in spying on thieves, and put Xu Jiu in charge.

Unexpectedly, after waiting for another day, Liu Shanyang, who went to visit Yan Shusen at Wulitun Camp, and Pan Er, who went to visit Bao Chao, came back one after another. The scouts Xu Jiu sent to Wuchang City in the morning to inquire about the thief also came back, but only

Xu Jiu and his six scouts, who personally led the scouts to investigate the Shida camp, did not return.

Liu Shanyang took out the pocket watch Han Xiufeng gave him last year, looked at the hands under the oil lamp, silently calculated the time, raised his head and said, "It's almost 2:00 pm, why haven't Xu Jiu and the others come back yet? Will something happen?"

Han Xiufeng, who had just washed his feet, sat cross-legged on the bed with a door panel, looked at the map with the help of dim light and said: "Maybe it's because he has to take a detour due to long hair, or maybe the road is difficult to walk at night, or because of other reasons.

Things have been delayed. In short, he used to do this with Zhang Dejian, so nothing should happen to him."

"Master Hu and Li Xubin also sent scouts, but the scouts they sent only stayed around and wouldn't go very far." Pan Er said in a low voice.

"We can't blame them. We finally have a chance to breathe, so we naturally have to seize the time to rest."

"Zhixing, I also inquired about something this afternoon."

"What's the matter?"

Liu Shanyang put away his pocket watch and said with a wry smile: "I'm afraid the relationship between Mr. Hu and Mr. Zeng is not as good as we thought. As early as this spring, when Shi Dakai was conquering cities and territories in Jiangxi, Mr. Zeng, who was retreating steadily, sent people to Hubei to let that meeting

Luo Zenan, whose son had not yet died for his country, returned to help.

Luo Zenan neither led his troops to return for reinforcements nor said that he would not return for reinforcements, so he just delayed it. After Ji'an fell, Mr. Zeng sent letters to Mr. Hu and Luo Zenan respectively, asking Luo Zenan to lead his troops to return for reinforcements. He was afraid that Mr. Hu would not agree and would still agree.

Wen Jun, the governor of Jiangxi, submitted a petition asking the emperor to supervise the matter.

At that time, the war situation in Wuchang was relatively stable, and Luo Zenan and his thousands of Hunan warriors were originally ordered to aid Hubei by Master Zeng. When Master Zeng was in trouble, Master Hu logically said that he should quickly order Luo Jun to come back to help. As a result, Master Hu

On the grounds that the siege of Wuchang was in vain and was in danger of defeat, Luo Zenan was not allowed to lead his troops to rescue him. Luo Zenan also said that the thieves were about to run out of food and could not give up all their previous efforts."

"Such a thing happened!" Han Xiufeng was shocked.

"This is just the beginning," Liu Shanyang sighed lightly, and continued: "In order to deal with the emperor, Mr. Hu said, 'If Wuchang cannot be conquered quickly, thousands of Luo's troops will be sent back to Jiangxi to aid.' As a result, Luo Zenan was seriously injured within a few days.

Martyred for his country. Mr. Hu once again submitted the memorial, intending to retract the preface on the grounds that "Luo Zenan was newly mourned, Li Xubin took over the Luo army, and there are no generals to divide."

"What did the Emperor say?"

"The emperor was furious and rebuked Mr. Hu, 'If you delay the time with whitewashed words, Wuhan will not be able to recover, and Jiang Province will not be able to return aid. If you waste money on teachers, won't you lose both things?'"

"What happened next?" Han Xiufeng asked.

Liu Shanyang said with a smile but not a smile: "Master Zeng's father Zeng Linshu was worried about Master Zeng's safety. As soon as he heard that Luo Zenan had died for his country, he asked his second son Zeng Guohua to rush to Wuchang at night to 'help with the camp affairs.'"

Pan Er blurted out: "Mr. Zeng is planning to let his second son take over the Xiangyong under Luo Zenan!"

"It also implies urging Mr. Hu to send troops."

"What happens next?"

"After Zeng Guohua arrived, Mr. Hu had no choice but to detach four thousand soldiers from Luo's army and give them to Zeng Guohua to lead them to help Jiangxi. However, the main force of Luo's army was handed over to Li Xubin and stayed in Hubei." Liu Shanyang paused.

After a pause, he said solemnly: "Zhixing, Luo Jun's lessons are there, we must take precautions."

"Brother Shizhen, are you worried that Hu Linyi will swallow us up like Zeng Guofan's soldiers?" Han Xiufeng asked in a low voice.

"Master Hu really eats people without spitting out their bones. I think we should be more careful." For fear that Han Xiufeng would not take him seriously, Liu Shanyang continued: "As soon as I arrived at the Wulitun Camp today, his secret comrades started to gossip about our names.

I'm training for the Eastern Sichuan regiment, but why are there so many people from Huguang in the camp? They even want to ask me for a roster of regimental heroes, so that I can discuss merit and reward them in the future."

Mentioning this, Pan Er hurriedly said: "Fourth brother, Li Xubin's secret comrades not only asked me how many of their fellow countrymen were in the camp, but they also always asked me about foreign guns!"

"So they are really targeting us?" Han Xiufeng asked with a smile.

"Zhixing, they don't want you or me. What they want is our Tuanyong and our foreign guns!"

"It's an expected thing. Who doesn't want to eat a piece of fat meat delivered to your door?" Han Xiufeng smiled and said nonchalantly: "Fortunately, we were prepared in advance. Not only did we rush to help, but we also brought our own food and wages, so we won't be manipulated by them because of the food and wages.

.”

"I think food and salary alone are not enough to support ourselves."

"It's indeed not enough. Let's keep calm for now and wait for the right opportunity to give them a shock. Let them know that the 'guest army' is the 'guest army' and is not something they can manipulate at their own discretion." Han Xiufeng pondered for a moment.

Then he said: "As for what happened between them and Zeng Guofan, it's not surprising if you think about it carefully."

"Fourth brother, what do you mean by this?" Pan Er asked puzzledly.

"As the governor of Hubei, Hu naturally wanted to regain Wuchang and attack Changmao in Hubei. He would not care about the life and death of Jiangxi until the overall situation in Hubei was determined. As for Li Xubin and Luo Zenan, who had already died for their country, the reason why they arrived in Hubei was not

Following Zeng Guofan's orders, first they

The soldiers and brave men under them originally only served the court under Zeng's banner, and were not actually Lord Zeng's people. Secondly, Lord Zeng was in an embarrassing situation. To this day, he is still neither an official nor a gentry. How can he follow Lord Zeng and follow Lord Hu?

Perhaps Hunan Governor Luo Bingzhang has a future."

"So they don't want to leave when they get to Hubei!"

"To be precise, I didn't want to go back after I joined Mr. Hu."

"Zhixing, what you said is on point." Liu Shanyang pondered: "I heard from Yan Shusen that Hunan Governor Luo Bingzhang was recruiting talented people. The Hunan gentry would either follow Luo Bingzhang's lead, or come from Hubei to defect to Mr. Hu. Not many of them were willing to serve under Zeng Guofan.

"

"It's actually the same for us in East Sichuan. If the Taiwanese masters are as willing to recommend and support talents from East Sichuan as Luo Bingzhang is, how many of them will be willing to listen to us like they are now?" Han Xiufeng asked back and said with a wry smile: "Fortunately, we are in Sichuan.

The Dongwen style is not strong, there are not as many scholars as there are in Hunan, let alone as many talents as there are in Hunan."

Liu Shanyang deeply agreed, but after thinking about it, he reminded him: "Zhixing, let's not talk about this anymore. If word gets out, others will really mistakenly think that we support our troops and respect ourselves."

"Yes, yes, no more talking, go to bed early."

…

I went to bed very late and got up very early.

After Han Xiufeng washed his face and rinsed his mouth, he first inspected the defenses of the two trenches inside and outside as he did the past few days, then walked in a large circle back to the "handsome tent" and was about to have breakfast when there was a rush of footsteps outside.

As soon as he raised his head, he saw Liu Shanyang and Pan Er leading Xu Jiu in.

"Lao Jiu, why are you back now? Are the brothers who went with you okay?" Han Xiufeng stared at him and asked.

Xu Jiu, who had been traveling all night, hurriedly put down his weapons and packages, bowed and said: "Your Majesty, all the brothers who went with us are fine. They have all returned with Beizi. The reason why it has been delayed until now is because Beizi discovered that someone outside the city

Changmao retreated all the way to Gedian!"

Han Xiufeng thought he heard wrongly, so he leaned over to look at the map, found the location of Gedian, and murmured: "Why retreat so far, they don't plan to attack?"

"Your Excellency, I rushed outside the Shidakai camp yesterday morning and found that all the tents were gone and no one could be seen. So I put on the clothes of the Citizen Army and chased eastward following the traces left by the traitors.

It was only when we chased him to Gedian that we discovered the newly established camp of the bandits."

Xu Jiu took a few big sips of the water Pan Er handed him, raised his arm to wipe the corners of his mouth, and continued: "The thieves in a humble position set up their camp without any rules. There was no trench or wall, and even

He didn't even send troops to take control outside the camp, so he led his brothers to disguise themselves as bandit soldiers and sneak into the bandit camp.

I wouldn’t know if I didn’t go in to investigate, but I was shocked when I went in. The bandits were so panic-stricken that they said that Shi Dakai had led two thousand old Guangxi thieves on a boat and left. He didn’t know whether he went to Jiangxi or returned to Jiangning. He was captured.

Those who abandoned the Citi Army and had a boat have also left, and those who have not found a boat are now leaderless."

"Shida drives away!"

"I couldn't believe it when I first started my job. I took my brothers and disguised themselves as thieves and visited several thieves' camps. I found that the thieves and thieves were all discussing where to escape."

Liu Shanyang regained his composure, looked at the map and said with a mixture of laughter and tears: "Leave just as soon as you say it, and all your previous efforts will be wasted. Shi Dakai's battle must have ended too quickly."

"I find it strange even for a humble position." Xu Jiu thought about it and said regretfully: "If it were close and the road was easy, my lord could send a battalion to defeat those thieves in one fell swoop. But if it is too far away, the road is not good.

Let’s go, the big group of people won’t be able to arrive until the afternoon at the earliest. By the time the big group of people get there, they will have already run away.”

Han Xiufeng asked: "You mean they have already set off now?"

"When they came back from their humble job, they were all collecting gold and silver. They said they would leave at dawn. If they could grab a boat, it would be best. If they couldn't grab a boat, they would go overland to Ezhou or Huangzhou."

"I know, go eat quickly and take a rest after eating."

"As commanded."

After watching Xu Jiu go, Han Xiufeng looked down at the map again.

Liu Shanyang couldn't help but ask: "Zhixing, do you want to report such important military information to Mr. Hu?"

"If you want to report it, send someone to Wulitun, but I guess Mr. Hu won't believe it."

"It's no wonder he doesn't believe it. If he really doesn't believe it, just send a few scouts to see it."

"I mean he won't believe that Shi Dakai retreated like this. He will definitely think that this is Shi Dakai's trick, and he won't dare to easily send troops to pursue him." Han Xiufeng straightened up, thought about it and said, "Don't say that he didn't believe that Shi Dakai just left like this.
To be continued...