Han Zuo Gaomen

Chapter 723
After the first battle of Chengfu, both the Huainan army and Shi Cong's troops were all shrunk to the town, and no longer made any big moves.For a moment, the area along the north bank of the Huai River turned into a hollow area between the confrontation between the two sides, and only the rangers of each side wandered in the area to listen to each other's movements.

However, hollow space does not mean a vacuum. Although the armies of both sides have withdrawn, there are still many human activities in this area. Some are wandering refugees fleeing for refuge, and some are bandits hiding in the mountains and wasteland. They take advantage of this short space to go out. Event, want to pick up some bargains.

Located between Yingshang Shendi, there is a tidal flat reed pond covering a rather large area.In this midsummer, the thatch is dense and lush nearby, and there is an extremely empty place in the depths of the reed pond, which is difficult for people to see.

This is a real field in the reed pond, with a radius of more than ten hectares, more than half of which has been sorted out, and many crops such as bean seedlings and cabbage have been planted.There are many dense forests and reeds on the left, which is like a pure land independent of heaven and earth.

There are houses and villages outside the cultivated land, and the shacks are densely framed. Judging from their scale, there are at least a thousand people living together.There are many people coming and going in and out of the shack, and on the wooden racks, retting hemp silk and dried fish are dried, which does not lack the taste of self-sufficiency.

In the center of the village, there is a bamboo and wood attic with a height of more than ten feet. Although it has not been repaired much, it is already the most magnificent building here.There are many strong men inside and outside the attic, with bamboo armor covered with bamboo slices and hemp ropes connected in series, while some only wear simple linen shirts.As for the weapons in their hands, there are also all kinds of weapons, such as bamboo spears, wooden sticks, short knives and iron hoes.

In the attic, several people sat in a group, and the one in the middle was Li Tao, the owner of Huainan Wubi, who came to visit Shen Zhezi in the town earlier.As for the others, they are both old and young, and their appearances are mostly similar, as if they are blood relatives of the same clan.

"Shen Weizhou still has talent and courage. In addition, he was born in the Jiangdong Xianzong sect. He introduced Jiangdong goods into the town to support the people, and he was able to lead his troops across the Huai River to defeat the thieves. Since he entered the town, he has really let the town The weather has taken on a new look, and the improvement of the countryside is far better than what was done in previous years."

Li Tao sat in the banquet and spoke to several people, and there was no lack of admiration for Shen Weizhou, the internal historian: "Actually, I hope that the elders of the family can lead their families back to the south. Most of the slave army will come south soon. Although this place is covered by vegetation, But it is by no means a dangerous and dangerous place, if the slaves raid and detect it, it will be difficult to protect yourself!"

However, as soon as he finished speaking, someone beside him snorted coldly: "But what I heard is different from what my elder brother said. There are many words in the village that this young town general is too greedy for power, and even the villagers are not allowed to hold it. To protect yourself, you must hold all the lives of the soldiers and common people in your hands. Although he had a narrow victory before, but this time it was the millions of soldiers from the Jie Kingdom, and the tens of thousands of exhausted soldiers in Huainan were able to run around poorly before. The enemy is so strong, what can we do to resist? My brother also said that he is Jiangdong Xianzong, the son-in-law of the emperor's family. Tragedy!"

"Brother, you have such a high reputation for him, but you don't care about the powerful enemy who is about to rush to the south. Could it be that you blame us and the clan for dividing your people here, so that you can't compete for the position of Huainan army leader?"

When Li Tao heard this accusation, his face immediately became ugly: "Sixth brother, you are so suspicious and evil to me, how can I refute it? It is the father's plan to leave the family business here, and I have tried my best to maintain it since I took care of the family. Why are there any complaints here? But the current situation is indeed not good, I am just worried that the family fortune here will be discovered, and it will lead to murder..."

"Ha, I'm sorry for your help. I heard that goods from Jiangdong are brought in continuously by boats, and even ordinary soldiers can eat new rice, new cloth and clothes. Brother, you are not unknown in Huainan. My generation, with such a large amount of resources, can’t you share a little? What did you send across the river? It’s nothing more than a few old hemp and coarse grains, bitter salt and bad rice. Is this what you said to do your best to maintain? The relationship between the two bloodlines, why are you being treated so harshly? If you didn't want to gather strength this time, I'm afraid you wouldn't come here to see how my brother is doing, and the porpoise is not as good as a dog!"

The more the man said, the more angry his expression became, and the people next to him also showed the same feeling, and looked at Li Tao in a bad way.

Hearing this accusation, Li Tao's face became even more ugly, and he was silent for a long time before he bowed his hands to an old man beside him: "Since I have been running the family, I have not made a strong voice, so I dare not boast. But if it comes to keeping the business, I have to ask myself something to say. My uncle and all my brothers live in such a bad environment, how can I feel at ease! As for the use of funds and help, there were no restrictions on the Huaihe River before, so naturally they can freely come and go. But now the Jiangjiang restrictions are strict, even if I cross the Huaihe River by myself. Be extremely careful. If you carry too many goods here, once you are intercepted by the patrol, I am afraid that the Huainan family will suffer catastrophe..."

"Didn't you still say that Shen Weizhou is talented and virtuous, why are you worried about losing your family fortune now?"

Hearing this, the contemptuous look on the face of the previous man grew stronger.

After a moment of silence, the old man looked at Li Tao and said, "Sanlang, you have difficulties, and I can also think about them. Separation of families for survival was established in the early years, and there is no need to change urgently now that the situation is not in desperation. Although the situation in Huainan has improved, But Jie’s army is fierce, and Huainan may not be able to save it. Although Liu Lang is anxious, it is not unreasonable. Instead of trying to persuade the clan to return home, you should be more careful and bring more supplies to help."

"At present, Huaibei is in ruins, and a lot of wandering food is wandering in the wild. If my family can store more food, I will naturally be able to collect more swimming food and pick up Ding Yong. I don't have to hide in this bad place of reed ponds, and even directly capture a water and land key. There are many people. , and there is a fortress, at that time, no matter whether you are going north or south, who dares to underestimate it? It seems that Saburo, you are staying in Huainan. Now is the time for this god-given hero to leap forward!"

Hearing that the uncle was old and strong, talking about the family business plan, Li Tao couldn't help but widen his eyes.He himself doesn't have any ambitions, he is more moderate, like he followed Zhu Feng earlier to fight against the general, and then followed Ling Zhuo to bow to the general, he does not strive to be the first in everything, and he does not want to take risks.The purpose of crossing the Huai River this time is to take advantage of the fact that Jiangfang has not been completely locked up, and want to lure these family members back to a stable place in the rear, but they did not expect that these people have higher ambitions than the sky, and they already have the courage to plan big things.

Especially when he heard the words of recruiting swimmers, Li Tao was even more frightened. His family was already relying on luck to hide in this shoal.

But when he opened his mouth to persuade him again, instead of changing his mind, several family members repeatedly accused him of being cowardly, and asked for funds even more hastily.

At the end of the speech, there was no shortage of bad voices, these ambitious clansmen simply detained Li Tao here, drove his entourage back and threatened to ask for money.A few days later, a boatload of dozens of dendrobium salt and a hundred bows and knives were brought in here. Instead of releasing Li Tao, these tribesmen used it as evidence of his previous refusal to help, insulting and persecuting him even more.

"Brother, it's not that I want to force you. Obviously you have the means, why do you treat the tribe so harshly? You don't have the courage to advance bravely, but we are not cowardly. The family property is shared, and you can't Exclusively for one person, immediately send a letter to the family, and then raise funds to deliver it! If my family can show up in the future, the wealth and honor will also be shared with you!"

In order to force Li Tao to submit, that Liu Lang even threatened his life, directly cut off the little finger of his left hand, and forced him to write a bleeding letter and send it back to Huainan.However, the defense of the river is getting stricter and stricter. Although the Huainan family is worried about Li Tao's life, they really can't find a way to transport too much money across the river.In resentment, the clansmen poured out their anger on Li Tao, beating him every day to vent his anger.

A few days later, the clansmen went out to recruit tourists and food, and actually got in touch with a group of strong bandits. They joined forces with each other and lived together in Weitang.As a result, he became more courageous and went out frequently, plundering everything he saw.

The reed pond was gradually overcrowded, and as the number of people expanded, things became more and more, and the clansmen had no time to insult Li Tao anymore.Moreover, the other slaves thought that they could borrow Li Tao Nantou after the weather in the future, so they detained him.

Li Taoku stays here, his mood can be described as tormented, seeing the clansmen getting more and more crazy, acting more and more unscrupulous, and even began to plan whether to help the Jie country to grab a boat to cross the Huaihe River will benefit more, or it is more promising to go south.

On this day, a large number of young adults roared out again.Now this group of people has become quite large. Before that, it has merged with a group of bandits, and even got dozens of horses, so the area of ​​activity has become larger.

However, until nightfall, the people who went out still did not return, Li Tao gradually felt something bad in his heart, so he immediately went to see the old uncle in his clan.

"Sanlang, I have wronged you these days. But don't blame the brothers. The master of Zhao, Shi Shilong, is a slave and slave, and he can still take advantage of the chaos to make things big. How can we be a good boy? For the rest of my life, you have always been considerate in everything, and you can't resist the imminent disaster. Now my family has nearly ten thousand people, and thousands of people holding weapons. How dare you imagine such momentum in previous years? Even if it is as you said, if you vote now, It’s also much better than going south in a hurry like you said earlier, right?”

The old man also felt a little guilty for treating Li Tao harshly, but he was not lacking in pride when he thought of the crowd and momentum gathered right now.

Li Tao didn't have time to say anything, but there was a loud noise and vibration outside the reed pond, and his expression changed immediately.The old man sitting opposite also changed his expression, but instead of panic, his face was full of joy: "Such a strong voice, don't you guys have a big win again?"

There is no big gain, but a big disaster is already imminent.Nearly [-] slave soldiers and rangers attacked Weitang. Their scouts found a crowd of hunting people in the wild, and then killed most of them, and wiped out all the outsiders.

There is little suspense in the battle. Although there are many shoals in the reed pond, they have been frequently coming in and out recently, and they have stepped on a few fixed paths.The Jiehus rushed in from here, and swept back and forth a few times. There were not many survivors in the entire camp, and thousands of people were dead here!
Li Tao was inside and was lucky to save his life, but he was quickly identified by the slaves, and was carried to the general's horse by several slave soldiers.The slave general was only in his early twenties, his armor and pockets were covered with thick plasma, he got off his horse and walked in front of Li Tao, bowed his head and asked, "Are you an official of Shen Weizhou in Huainan?"

"Yes, yes, he is..."

The old man who was captured together nodded his head hastily, he was so frightened that he fainted and woke up several times due to the brutal fighting, when he heard the general questioning him, he hurriedly said, wanting to beg for his life.However, halfway through the words, the head flew out.

"Damn it, old slave, I didn't ask you anything!"

The slave general withdrew his blade, and then looked at Li Tao with a smirk: "Those thieves in Huainan escaped too fast. I was worried that I couldn't find someone to inform the southern thief Shen Weizhou. I spare your life, go back and tell him, King Zhongshan His subordinate Zhang Xiong is here, let him wash his head and wait to die!"

After speaking, the slave general swung his knife again, cut off Li Tao's hands, and asked him to wrap them in mud to stop the bleeding.Then the captives were ordered to cut wood and set up a few crude rafts, with sharp bamboos inserted on them, and bloody heads hung on them, and Li Tao, who had fainted, were put into the water together.

(End of this chapter)