Since the Grand Canal connecting the north and south, huge and complex interest relations have been formed around this golden waterway, and gradually the Cao Gang came into being.

Li Jinao was born in the Caokou family. Caokou is a cultural person with a certain level of knowledge. He is familiar with the rules of canal transportation and can argue with the court. To put it bluntly, he is a gentry on the canal.

The court exploited the poorly and the small households could not survive, so they asked Caokou for help. Caokou relied on familiar laws and regulations to force the Caokou government to collect less money and make profits from it. Li Jinao's father was the famous Caokou. A sharp mouth could make the dead live, and a large number of merchants lived with the Li family.

However, since the Chongzhen year, wars have continued, and the canal transportation has been frequently affected, and bandits have plundered from time to time. Li Jinao was no longer able to rely on his mouth, so he recruited a large group of big hands and became a black and white figure on the canal.

However, the good times did not last long. As the Qing army entered the pass, the grain transportation was cut off. In addition, the Qing army was too plundering, Li Jinao could not hang out on the canal, so he could only bring thousands of brothers to the Daming Mansion area, and mingled with the local bandits. He also took two sworn brothers and became a group of powerful bandits.

In the woods, Li Jinao and the third brother Weng Zhongshu sat opposite him. Weng Zhongshu was the one who made beggars and scrambled into the city. He knew very well about Neihuang.

"Brother, now there are only more than 500 Huangshoujun in the inner world, all of whom were the yamen runners. After shaved their heads, they became the Qing army and had no combat power. Let's take advantage of the sneak attack at night to rescue the second brother and the others."

Li Jinao let out a long sigh: "Third brother, are you sure?"

"No problem!" Weng Zhongshu gritted his teeth and said, "The people in the city have long been dissatisfied with the Qing army. Let's kill in, it is Shuntian Yingren."

"Third brother, it's easy to save people. What should I do next?"

"Brother, I think we can only escape to the south. We have so many people. The Ming Dynasty has given us a chance to help us get a job. If we don't give it, we will continue to be bandits!"

Weng Zhongshu was a scheming person. After hearing this, Li Jinao smashed his fist hard on the stone, "That's it!"

Li Jinao and his friends gathered all their brothers, with a total of 1,3500 people. Weng Zhongshu and others had already let some brothers disguise themselves and sneak into the city.

Everything was ready. At the first tenth update, Li Jinao and his men quietly approached Neihuang County. When they were still three or five hundred meters away from the city gate, they suddenly saw three balls of fire lit up on the top of the city. Li Jinao was overjoyed. It was the signal they agreed upon.

"Brothers, fight with me!"

Li Jinao immediately led more than a thousand people and rushed towards the city gate. Sure enough, the city gate opened wide, and Li Jinao and Weng Zhongshu successfully entered the city. The brothers under his command also sported swords and swords, thinking that the task was completed.

But at this moment, torches suddenly shone around, and Neihuang County Magistrate Su Guangshui led the yamen soldiers to kill from the city.

In the fire, Su Guangshui's smile was particularly ferocious, "Let me listen to it. Catch the bandit Li Jinao and reward one thousand taels of silver. You will be promoted to the third level!"

These yamen soldiers danced their swords and guns and rushed forward in a swarm. Although they were not elite, they were still much stronger than a group of bandits. In an instant, several people around Li Jinao fell down.

Fortunately, Li Jinao was particularly brave. The ghost-headed sword in his hand moved, like a small wheel, and cut down several Qing troops and barely maintained it.

But the good times didn't last long. While they were fighting to the death, Weng Zhongshu suddenly discovered countless torches outside the city, and a fire dragon rushed towards them.

"The boss, the third boss, isn't it good, the Jin family is here!"

Hearing this, Li Jinao's whole body softened and almost fell to the ground. The Jin family is the largest landlord in Neihuang. They have countless big hands and are rich and powerful. They are also the only force that Li Jinao and the others fear.

"Shameless!" Weng Zhongshu's lips turned pale: "When did their Jin family become the lackeys of the Qing Dynasty? Aren't they afraid of stinging their backbone?"

Of course, Weng Zhongshu also knew that it was not the time to curse people, so he hurriedly divided his troops to resist the attack of the Jin family. This time the second son of the Jin family, whose original name was Jin Yuanbao, was called Jin Yuanbao because he regarded wealth as his life. It was he who discovered Li Jinao's movements in advance and reported it to the county magistrate Su Guangshui, and then came with his big hands in the family, trying to catch Li Jinao and the others in one go!

"Kill, I will reward one or two silver coins for a young master. I will be rewarded with the Qing Dynasty in the future. You will follow the chickens and dogs to heaven." Jin Yuanbao shouted arrogantly. His subordinates rushed forward and the killing became more and more joyful.

Faced with the attacks between the two groups, Li Jinao and the others could no longer hold on, and they were defeated one after another, and many brothers ran away secretly, leaving only Li Jinao and Weng Zhongshu fighting to the death.

"Brother, we are afraid we can't escape today!"

"I'm no longer afraid of life, but I'm not afraid of death." Li Jinao said panting.

"Yes, it's my brother's blessing to be able to die with my elder brother!"

At this time, Jin Yuanbao suddenly rushed to the front. The guy held a long knife in his hand and chopped him down hard according to Weng Zhongshu.

"Be a brother in hell!"

Weng Zhongshu hurriedly blocked, but Jin Yuanbao rode on the horse, and his power was heavy and he couldn't stop it at all. The waist knife in his hand suddenly collapsed.

Jin Yuanbao raised his big knife again and was about to chop it down. Weng Zhongshu had closed his eyes and waited for death, and blood appeared in the corners of Li Jinao's eyes.

Bang bang bang bang!

At the most critical moment, a burst of gunfire suddenly sounded, which scared Jin Yuanbao's neck to shrink.

"Who?"

Before he could finish asking, he felt a powerful vibration coming, like thunder.

"what is going on?"

Before Jin Yuanbao could figure it out, a cavalry rushed towards this side quickly, and the leader was Yue Polu.

After just taking office as the commander of the regiment, Yue Polu held his energy and wanted to show it well. He brought his men into the territory of Daming Mansion, constantly persuading the people to go south along the way. But it was not enough to be satisfied. He went north and arrived in Neihuang.

Originally, Yue Polu didn't think about attacking, but when he heard the scout report, he said that Neihuang had started fighting. Yue Polu was not young and missed this god-given opportunity and came up with his men.

They rushed out of the night like a black whirlwind, and in a blink of an eye it arrived before the melee crowd. Jin Yuanbao's servants were still surrounding Li Jinao's subordinates, but in a blink of an eye they also turned into dumpling fillings.

The cavalry swung machetes and easily rushed in and walked around, and there were casualties everywhere. Killing such servants was not even considered a battle, and it was even easier than an exercise.

Yue Polu could even cut down two or three people with one knife. Facing these fierce gods, Jin Yuanbao's subordinates quickly collapsed, and he wanted to escape on a horse. Weng Zhongshu picked up a spear from the ground and threw it at Jin Yuanbao. He happened to stab the back. The second young master of Jin turned over and fell off the horse, and his subordinates also fell into the sky.

"Sir, follow the villain and kill into the city!"

Weng Zhongshu led the way, Yue Polu and the others followed closely, and finally entered Neihuang. In a blink of an eye, the winner changed hands, and Su Guangshui was still thinking about resisting for a moment, but was shot by An ** and beat him into a sieve.

Before the battle was over, Li Jinao and Weng Zhongshu both knelt in front of Yue Polu.

"Thank you for helping me for helping me. I am very grateful."

"It's just a coincidence, it's not just to save you. Tell me, why do you attack Neihuang?"

Li Jinao and the others dared not lie, and told the matter all the time. When Yue Polu heard this, he immediately smiled and said, "I am the leader of the An** Cavalry Corps. Since you are willing to surrender to An**, I will naturally welcome you."

Li Jinao and Weng Zhongshu looked at each other and all showed ecstasy.

"Thank you, sir, for your willingness to be loyal to you!"

"Don't come these false gifts. Since you said Wu Sangui was coming, hurry up and organize the people to retreat. We can't leave anything for the traitor!"

"Abide by the order!"

Li Jinao and Weng Zhongshu are both local snakes, and there are more than a thousand people in their hands. With their help, the evacuation operation has become much easier.

When the sky was bright, Yue Polu took more than 10,000 people from the Yellow Emperor, and helped the elderly and the young, and went south together. Yue Polu was the last one to leave the city.

"Brothers, are you ready for the gift to Wu Sangui?"

"It's already ready!" the subordinate said with a smile: "We cut down Su Guangshui and the golden ingots, and piled up our heads in the north of the city to ensure that the traitor can see it as soon as he comes."

"Hahaha, let's leave him another candle so that it won't be invisible!"

Yue Polu said as he pulled out the bow and arrow, and the arrow wrapped in fire shot into the city. They had already poured oil on the house, and it was stained with open flames, and it started to burn instantly.

Flames were flying, black smoke was everywhere, crackling, and a strong wind blew, and more and more houses were swallowed up in the sea of ​​fire.

Seeing that Neihuang was completely destroyed, Yue Polu took his men and horses to the south calmly. They rushed back to Ji County, and Yue Polu hurriedly reported the situation to Gu Zhenhua.

"I did a good job. If you don't take charge of the troops, you have to do it ruthlessly."

Yue Polu scratched his head and said with a smile: "I'm just worried that Wu Sangui will get a bargain for nothing!"

Gu Zhenhua smiled slightly, "The big traitor suffered a loss. Now he has learned his lessons and is not in a hurry to go south. Instead, he builds a line of defense between Zhangde Mansion, Daming Mansion, and Changzhi in Shanxi. It seems that he is going to waste time with us!"

"Dude, are you going to waste it?"

"Of course not." Gu Zhenhua sighed, "In theory, we are confronting each other and letting the Qing Dynasty and the Dashun Army fight to the death is the best for us. But I also have a premonition that the Dashun Army is probably not the opponent of the Qing Dynasty. We must make a big noise to attract the attention of the Qing army and share the pressure from Li Zicheng."

In Gu Zhenhua's heart, the Qing Dynasty was always the first enemy. When necessary, they could even cooperate with Li Zicheng.

"Polu, you are a good way to kill all the traitors, steal all the people, and burn all the cities. We will do this next step, forcing the Qing Dynasty to come out to fight!"

Gu Zhenhua muttered and smiled immediately. Isn’t this the Ming version of the Three Lights Policy?

"Call those bandit leaders over and I want to meet them."

Soon, Li Jinao, Weng Zhongshu, and a slim man Qian Yongzhen, the three of them came in one after another. They knelt down together when they saw Gu Zhenhua.

"The sinners pay homage to Duke Ji!"

"Everyone raises your head!"

When Li Jinao and the others heard this, they looked up quietly and saw a tall young man sitting in the middle. He looked in his early twenties, burly and handsome. The most eye-catching thing was that the corners of his eyes and eyebrows were filled with evil spirits. Even if he was far away and smiling, the powerful pressure still made people shudder.

It was not a person sitting in the middle in a trance, but a god who dominated life and death!

After only one look, they all lowered their heads in fear.

"I heard you are from the Cao Gang?"

"It's a villain!" Li Jinao hurriedly replied: "The villain's family was born in Caokou, but later became a bandit, and he was ashamed of his ancestors."

"There is nothing strange about officials forcing the people to rebel. I am very concerned about the Cao Gang. I heard that you have many brothers and are very good at hand and eyes. You can't hide anything from you?"

When Li Jinao heard this, he was so scared that he lay on the ground, "Dude, this is all misinformation from outsiders. Although the Cao Gang has some power, there are different rules in each section. For example, if you have to listen to salt merchants in the Huai River, you have to listen to the big tribes in the southeast after passing the river. Under the capital, there are also various officials and masters. The power of the villains is not enough!"

Gu Zhenhua frowned. It is logical that the Cao Gang was the predecessor of the Qing Gang, with a huge power and well-known. However, it seems that this is not the case when he heard Li Jinao's words.

Of course, what Gu Zhenhua is concerned about is whether the Caobang can be used for me.

"Li Jinao, it's really not to be hiding. My master has gathered many people from all walks of life and wanted to spy on the Qing Dynasty. He just didn't have a person who understands the rules of the world. I wonder if you would like to help?"

"Yes, I'm willing!"

Li Jinao kowtowed and his forehead turned red. "The villain has long admired An**'s power. It is a great honor for the villain to do things for the Duke."

"You are quite good at speaking, so you will be the acting director of the Third Department of the Intelligence Department. Your two brothers are the deputy directors. My Lord asks you to send a group of actors to the capital as soon as possible, and find a way to make them famous!"

"no problem!"

Li Jinao patted his chest and said, "Dude, don't worry, you must do your job well! If you can't do it, the villain is willing to give your head."

"Okay, if you have this mind, you won't be afraid of not being able to do anything. But I think you will always have a cover for your activities under the Qing Dynasty in the future. What sign do you think is more appropriate to play?"

Weng Zhongshu's mind was quick, his eyes turned, and he smiled and said, "Dude, the people in the world are helpless, just rely on their skills. As the saying goes, "I am born with the earth, and I think it is more appropriate to call heaven and earth!"

The World Meeting!

A strange expression flashed across Gu Zhenhua's face. Could it be that he wanted to take the lead and get out the anti-Qing organization without waiting for Chen Jinnan?

"Dude, do you think it's not appropriate?" Weng Zhongshu asked tremblingly.

"It's suitable, it's perfect!" Gu Zhenhua laughed and said, "Heavenly Father and Mother Earth, rebelled against the Qing Dynasty and restored the Ming Dynasty. You will be on the front line of secret war in the future!" (To be continued...)
Chapter completed!