Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 2263 Guijiang Bridge
With a burst of applause—a new etiquette after the arrival of the Australians—Xie Erren cut a red ribbon—a new gadget brought by the Australians, announcing the restoration of the Guijiang pontoon bridge, which had been suspended for many days pass.

Although the Guijiang pontoon bridge is just a pontoon bridge, it is very symbolic to the local people in Wuzhou. After a war, life finally returned to the right track.

The construction of the bridge can be described as fast: originally, the gentry and gentry in the city thought it would take at least a year and a half. Unexpectedly, after the Rehabilitation Bureau raised money and food, the first thing to do was to repair the pontoon bridge.Not only did many refugees be recruited to participate, but the navy stationed by the Australians also participated in the bridge repair.

Xie Erren mobilized the people to look for the surviving pontoon boats, and asked the local sailors to salvage several sunken boats and repair them one by one. If they could not be found, they searched for suitable size boats from the captured official boats and discarded private boats. Ships, and finally got together 56 pontoon boats for the bridge.The local blacksmiths forged the missing links, and the iron chains that had been scooped up were hammered and connected on the spot with a wind furnace anvil in a boat.

After being so busy for dozens of days, the pontoon bridge was finally repaired and unblocked at the end of May in 1635.The next day, Xie Erren held this grand "opening ceremony".

Xie Youren put down the scissors, and immediately the sound of firecrackers exploded. Members of the Rehabilitation Bureau and local wealthy households who came to watch the ceremony stepped forward to congratulate.Ordinary people here are also beaming, and many people even loot the cut ribbon when it falls off—it is said that if they get it, it will bring good luck or cure diseases.Xie Youren was delighted to see this "superstition" and did not order it to be stopped.

Yi Haoran was also among the crowd watching the ceremony, ever since he wandered around the west gate of Wuzhou last time and saw Master Qiao coming out of the aftermath bureau in the Town God's Temple, he has been very cautious.Because Master Qiao had an interview with him and knew his identity.If he recognized him, his cover identity would be exposed immediately.

Fortunately, Master Qiao was very cautious at this juncture, except for going to the Aftermath Bureau and the Rice and Grain Association meeting, he would not go out of the house.As long as Yi Haoran pays a little attention, he can avoid it in time.

Even so, Yi Haoran felt terrified - now he is not only a former aide who is on the run, but also involved in Gou Xunli's conspiracy.Once captured, the consequences would be disastrous.

Yi Haoran is over half a hundred years old, with rich experience, and the skill of distinguishing people has reached perfection.As soon as he comes into contact with Gou Xunli, he is an "evil person", and he is by no means a kind person.Most of the "gentry" in Lingao are gilding themselves, and nine out of ten are local tyrants and the like.

Originally, he despised such a person, let alone cooperate with him.But Gou Xunli's deep-rooted hatred for the Kun bandits is real.Since he was unwilling to run away with his tail between his legs, he wanted to have a good fight with the Australians.This is a godsend help - at least, he doesn't have to worry about Gou Xunli betraying him.

He took the opportunity to collect the bill for the rice shop and went out of the city, and had several secret meetings with Gou Xunli at the Longmu Temple.Hearing Gou Xunli's attempt to "do great things".At the beginning, Yi Haoran only thought that he was fanciful, especially his attempt to "capture Kun Shou alive".It made Yi Haoran feel unreliable.

But I didn't expect this wretched man to mention Hou Dagou's past with him.Yi Haoran was immediately moved.

In the seventh year of Tianshun, Hou Dagou raided Wuzhou and killed many officials. Yi Haoran saw it when he was idle in the shogunate and read the official records.Of course, this Hou Dagou was a "giant bandit" of the Yao people. The imperial court mobilized the army and dispatched famous ministers like Han Yong to suppress it.In contrast, Gou Xunli is nothing more than a bandit leader...

However, he also thought that Hou Dagou was just an ordinary Yao barbarian when he raised his army.It may not be much better than this Gou Xunli. Since ancient times, heroes have been reckless. It is superficial to judge them based on their background.

If a real Kun can be captured or beheaded, it will be a great encouragement to the imperial court and officers and soldiers who have been repeatedly defeated by the Kun bandits.I have also made an incomparable miracle!
Although Yi Haoran is old, his desire to make contributions has never been extinguished.At this moment, the imperial court was in critical condition, and Liangguang was about to fall into the hands of the Kun bandits, so he was unwilling to give up and run away.Immediately agreed to cooperate with Gou Er.

Although the two parties are formally partnering, how to grasp the truth, in fact, Gou Xunli himself can't tell the truth.All he could think of was Fanghou Dagou's past.

The problem is how Hou Dagou entered Wuzhou in the first place, neither Yi Haoran nor Gou Xunli knew.Thinking about it, it was probably a sneak attack with light soldiers, and the method of cooperating with the inside and the outside.

After discussing with each other, the two decided on a strategy, Yi Haoran would organize the internal response in the city, Gou Xunli would prepare outside the city, and when the time was right, they would cooperate with the internal response and the external, take down Wuzhou in one go, and capture Erren!
With such thoughts in mind, Yi Haoran walks around Wuzhou City every day after working in Mipu.While looking for like-minded people, while spying on the Australians, waiting for the right opportunity.

However, this opportunity could not wait, especially after the arrival of the Wuzhou National Army Brigade, the number of troops stationed in the city increased sharply, and there were troops guarding every key point.There is also a Fubo Army company armed to the teeth in the city.No matter how he looked at it, he felt uncertain.

The opportunity for a sneak attack could not wait, but there was news that Teng County and other counties under Wuzhou Prefecture had fallen one after another.His originally very small hope that the government and the army would counterattack from Guangxi was completely shattered.Fortunately, the bandit uprisings from all over Guangdong and the news of the Yao people's riots came later, which made him hopeful.

He learned from gossip on the street and boatmen traveling on the Xijiang River that the riots had spread widely, and the entire northern Guangdong region was in chaos.The Australians are short of troops, and soldiers are being recruited everywhere right now.Sure enough, not long after, he heard from the local yamen servant in the teahouse that the Australians were recruiting new soldiers from the captive officers and soldiers in the Sanhezui school yard to form a "national army", which was said to be preparing to fight the Yao people.

Since the Australians are short of troops, even if Wuzhou is an important town, they may not be able to invest too many troops.Maybe they will have to spare some troops to participate in the search and suppression and patrol along the river.In this way, there is an opportunity to take advantage of!

But the excitement didn't last long, Yi Haoran soon discovered that he was a loner in Wuzhou City, and he wanted to cooperate with the outside world, but a scholar who was over half a century old couldn't do it, so he had to find a helper.

But where is this helper?The Sanhezui School Field is the largest captive camp in Wuzhou, and the captives captured everywhere are sent here for centralized detention and screening.There are as many as a thousand people.

Yi Haoran originally planned to play on them.As long as you can get a sum of money, it shouldn't be difficult to go in and incite the prisoners to revolt.And the guards going to this prisoner camp are not strict, usually only the security team—the former strong squad guards, but outsiders are prohibited from entering and leaving.This made Yi Haoran a little embarrassed - after all, he is not a hero who can jump over the wall, and it is impossible for him to swim over the wall and enter the prison camp.Besides, he didn't have such a sum of money.

At this time, he thought of Chang Qingyun——as a member of the captives, he should also be in the captive camp in Sanhezui. If he could get his help, the matter of infiltrating the camp would be half.

He remembered that he had seen Chang Qingyun working as a bookkeeper on the construction site near the Guijiang floating bridge on the way to the Dragon Mother Temple to meet with Second Master Gou, so he might as well look for him.Since he didn't expose himself last time, it is obvious that his conscience is not lost. If he understands it with reason, maybe he can still get his help.

Chang Qingyun didn't expect him to come here, but Chang Qingyun didn't find him, but happened to run into the "ribbon-cutting ceremony" of the Australian prefect.Seeing that Master Qiao was there, Yi Haoran didn't dare to move around, but just mixed in the crowd and pretended to watch the excitement.

Seeing the little white-faced gangster "Prefect" "cut the ribbon" like a dog, a group of big local families beside him - businessmen are nothing more than a few big local gentry families, nodding and bowing to this real guy with a flattering expression Yi Haoran's heart was filled with rage, and he secretly cursed "a group of ugliness jumping on the beam"!He didn't want to look any more, so he pushed his way out of the crowd, thinking of the construction site next to the city wall to see if Chang Qingyun was still there.

The work on the pontoon bridge construction site was over, but he already knew that the Australians drove the captive labor team out to work every day, from repairing the city wall, cleaning up the ruins, salvaging sunken ships, loading and unloading supplies, and everything else.Then Chang Qingyun will probably continue to be his bookkeeper on other construction sites.

As long as he can come out, he will have a chance to meet Chang Qingyun.The Dayun Gate, not far from the Guijiang Floating Bridge, was the focus of contention between the two sides, and the damage was the most serious.The nearby markets and piers were also affected by the flames of war and were in a mess.The wreckage of the shipwreck has not been cleaned up until now, and Chang Qingyun, who is the bookkeeper, is likely to be on a nearby construction site.

With such a purpose in mind, Yi Haoran wandered outside the Dayun Gate.He was dressed like an accountant and carried an account book, and no one doubted him.

However, he walked along the Guijiang River outside the Dayun Gate, and whenever there were laborers working, he moved closer to have a look, but he never saw Chang Qingyun, and he felt a little disappointed—where did he go? ?
He had heard people say that every once in a while, the returning transport fleet would take away the captives from the Sanhezui schoolyard—it was said that they would all be sent to Guangzhou.Could it be that Chang Qingyun was sent away?
While hesitating, I suddenly heard someone calling: "Is the sir going by boat? Are you going by the boat, sir?"

This is where the boatmen on the riverside ferry are soliciting business. Although there is a pontoon bridge, it is already far away from the pontoon bridge.Yi Haoran didn't take it seriously, he waved his hand and said, "I don't cross the river."

"Sir, let's cross the river." The other party was actually entangled.

Yi Haoran looked disgusted, and when he was about to scold the short, black and thin boatman in front of him with a serious face, he suddenly froze!

(End of this chapter)