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Tong Tuchang chose the route north along the Grand Canal, after all, he brought many big cars himself.

In the Ming Dynasty, the Grand Canal entered the Yellow River in Huai'an section, and then entered Luoma Lake in Suqian. However, when he arrived in Tong Tuchang, Suqian, he realized that he had thought it was a bit simple.

In the late Ming Dynasty, due to the small glacier climate, the north continued to be low temperature and rainy, and the Yellow River was still a little short of water, and the water volume in the lower reaches was pretty good. However, when entering the Suqian Canal section, the water volume was completely lost in the canal, and most of the canals exposed stones at the bottom of the river. In addition, the wars and chaos in the past years were too frequent, and local governments did not have the money to renovate the canal, so the canals on the boundary of Shandong were basically abandoned.

When Tong Tuchang saw this, he had no choice but to order people to abandon the boat and change to land. Fortunately, when he left Huaian, Hong Chengchou sent a garrison to accompany him to protect him. With their help, he quickly got the mules and horses.

There is no water road to go by land, and Tong Tuchang and his party entered Shandong territory in May.

After entering Shandong, the garrison escorted by the Qing army changed his casual temperament and was on guard day and night.

Tong Tuchang saw it strangely and asked, "Why is this guard not so nervous when he was in Nanzhili? Is it unsafe for the ground in Shandong?"

After half a month of companionship, the guard was very familiar with Tong Tuchang and others. He sighed and said, "I have been in the south for a long time. Shandong is now full of bandits. The middle road we are going to take is quite peaceful. It is even more unsafe if we follow the west road next to Henan. There are refugees from Henan, and they eat everything, like locusts! Two years ago, the bandits on the ground in Shandong still had to deal with them. After all, they don't have many weapons and they use weapons such as kitchen knives, dung forks, and forks. But in recent years, the weapons we got from there are sharper than the swords and guns we used!"

After listening to this, Tong Tuchang looked at Zhao Mengguan next to him. He knew that these Jinyiwei were providing weapons, money and food behind him.

Tong Tuchang planned to enter Shandong from Yi County, then pass through Yanzhou Prefecture, Jinan Prefecture and Beizhili, pass through Tanggu to Shuntian Prefecture, which is Beijing. But now, hearing the garrison's words of danger, he was so scared to Zhao Mengguan: "Sir Zhao, why don't we go to Yizhou Prefecture!"

To go to Yizhou Prefecture, you have to pass through Qingzhou Prefecture, Wuding Prefecture and then enter Northern Zhili. It takes a thousand miles more, and according to the current journey, it will take two more months.

Zhao Mengguan bowed and said, "Sir Tong, don't worry, our Jinyiwei can protect your safety!" Because there were Qing Dynasty guards next to him, Zhao Mengguan could not say that he had communicated with several bandits in Shandong, and there was no problem with safety.

When Tong Tuchang saw Zhao Mengguan's affirmative statement, he had no choice but to go to Yanzhou Prefecture as originally planned.

It was nothing when I first entered Shandong. After all, Yi County is close to Lianghuai. Although it is very difficult, I can have a meal. But it is different when I pass Yi County. The more I go north, the worse the situation. After passing Teng County, all the rivers along the way have been cut off. It is now May weather, but no one is farming on the land on both sides of the road. Large areas of land are deserted, and deep holes are cracked due to lack of water sources.

At the same time, Tong Tuchang discovered that after passing through Teng County, the enemy situation around began to increase. There were always people of varying numbers watching their team. Even after the Qing army garrison who accompanied him sent people to drive them away, he hugged himself far away and refused to leave.

Tong Tuchang knew that those people were bandits who stepped on the plate. Now, seeing that there were fewer people, the more people they walked north, the more people they would be. When the number of people was enough, it would be time for their own group to suffer.

Tong Tuchang asked Zhao Mengguan anxiously, "Sir Zhao, where are the people you arranged? Why haven't you come yet?"

Zhao Mengguan was also anxious and sweating. The Jinyiwei's men were approaching Henan. The canal that was originally going to be taken, but those people had already gone to the side of the canal to wait, but they didn't expect that the canal would be blocked and they would be taking the land route here.

"Sir, the official has sent someone to Jining to inform them that they are coming and they will arrive in the next two days!"

Tong Tuchang looked at the bandit spy in the distance, sighed and said, "I hope your troops can have time!"

After Tong Tuchang and his party passed Zou County, reinforcements from his own side did not arrive, but the bandits arrived.

At this time, the bandits finally gathered tens of thousands of people and followed the team far behind the leader.

The Qing army guards who were accompanying the team saw that there were tens of thousands of people on the opposite side, and only had 200 soldiers, they were so scared that their faces turned pale.

He found Tong Tuchang and said, "Sir, there are too many bandits on the other side. Let's take you with you first! It was Yanzhou Prefecture two years ago. It's not too late to ask reinforcements to come back to rescue wherever you go!"

Tong Tuchang was originally a greedy person who was afraid of death. He was very happy when he heard the guard saying this. He said to the two deputy envoys around him Fang Fengnian and Zhao Mengguan: "Li Shoubin said so much. I will go to Yanzhou Prefecture to ask for help. You will hold on here with the rest!"

But Fang Fengnian sneered and said, "Why is Lord Tong afraid of death? OK! As long as I can return to the capital alive, I will write a letter to impeach Lord Tong, as a general instructor, and escape alone!"

Fang Fengnian's words made Tong Tuchang feel itchy, but he did not dare to do anything about Fang Fengnian!

Tong Tuchang said to Zhao Mengguan: "Mr. Zhao, you have to testify for me. I am not escaping but seeking help!"

Unexpectedly, Zhao Mengguan looked at the sky with his eyes and said, "Mr. Tong, the official thought that Master Fang is right. It would be better for you to run away by yourself if we wait here!"

Zhao Mengguan was originally the prince's person, and Tianran and Tong Tuchang were in opposition. In addition, Fang Fengnian and Tong Tuchang were not in opposition, so naturally Fang and Zhao formed an alliance.

When Tong Tuchang saw that none of his subordinates agreed to run away first, he was so angry that he cursed: "Are you bastards waiting to die here?"

Just when the delegation was about to rebel, another group of bandits came to the west of the delegation. This bandit was completely different from the ones behind. The bandits later had a small number, about 3,000 people, but they were all riding horses. You should know that Shandong is scarce in food, let alone feeding horses, even people eat. Therefore, these more than 3,000 cavalry must have come from a large group of bandits.

When the Qing army guard saw these cavalry, he immediately looked as if he was dead. Yanzhou is located in the North China Plain, with no hill within a radius of a hundred miles. It is a good place to use cavalry. With these cavalry, let alone looking for reinforcements, it is all about whether they can run away.

It was when Tong Tuchang and others closed their eyes and waited for death, things changed. The group of cavalry that arrived later actually killed the bandits who came first. Zhao Mengguan was overjoyed and shouted: "We don't have to die, we are our own people!"

Tong Tuchang and others were also very happy. Although Fang Fengnian was very strong, he was very happy without dying. He went out side by side with Tong Tuchang for the first time to watch the fun.

Most of the bandits who arrived first were farmers, and their weapons were kitchen knives, manure forks and other farm tools. Only less than a hundred people had real swords and guns. These people were opponents of the three thousand cavalrymen, and were soon driven to flee.

The general led by the cavalry did not chase after him. After dispersing the bandits, they brought their men to the mission.

Zhao Mengguan quickly stepped forward and asked, "Are you the ones who have broken into the sky?"

A big black man led by the cavalry got off his horse and came to Zhao Mengguan to hold his fists and asked, "Is this Zhao Junshi of the Jinyiwei?"

"That's exactly! Who are you?"

Hei Daren heard that he was his own person, so he quickly knelt on one knee and said, "I will visit Su Ping, a thousand households under the jurisdiction of the Jinyiwei, and pay homage to Mr. Zhao!"

The Jinyiwei was a huge department. After Zhu Hongsan's reform, the entire Jinyiwei was divided into 64 thousand-household offices, namely the Jinyiwei Middle Office, the Jinyi Front Office, the Jinyi Back Office, the Jinyi Back Office, the Jinyi Left Office, the Jinyi Right Office, the Personal Army Office, the Shangqi Front Office, the Shangqi Back Office, the Shangqi Back Office, the Shangqi Right Office, the Shangqi Front Office, the Shangqi Right Office, the Shangqi Front Office, the Shangqi Right Office, the Central Office, the Central Office, the Elephant Trainer, and the Flagbear Thousand Household Office. Among them, the Jinyi Five Offices and the Personal Army Office are the six internal offices, the Jinyi Five Offices are responsible for daily affairs, and the Personal Army Office is responsible for the emperor's defense work. The other eight elephant trainers are communication institutions, and the Flagbear Thousand Household Office is mainly responsible for the dispatch of thousands of households in each province. The remaining six are the main executing agencies of the Jinyiwei, responsible for assassinating enemy generals, inquiring about military information, monitoring local officials, and the various hidden forces in the enemy-occupied areas.

Su Ping was the Qianhu under the jurisdiction of the Central Empress. He was responsible for several anti-Qing armed forces in Shandong. After receiving the order from the Jinyiwei headquarters, he led the concentrated three thousand cavalry to Weishan Lake on the canal and prepared to respond. Who knew that Tong Tuchang and others could take the land route? Su Ping only took the people overnight after receiving the news and finally caught up with the delegation here in Zou County.

Zhao Mengguan quickly stepped forward to help Su Ping up and said kindly: "Fortunately, Su Qianhu came in time, otherwise our lives would be over!"

Zhao Mengguan held Su Ping's hand and said, "Come on! I'll recommend you to Lord Tong!"

Su Ping looked at the Qing army in the team and said, "Sir, I still won't go! There are Qing army inside, and it's not good to see my face!"

Zhao Mengguan woke up after being reminded by Su Ping, yes! Su Ping's current identity is a bandit. If the Qing army saw his face clearly, it would be difficult to get along in Shandong!

"Okay! Since that's the case, I won't let you meet Lord Tong! But I will report your credit to Lord Qian, and I will remember you for your contribution!"

Su Ping was happy. Zhu Hongsan has always been generous to his own people, and it would be a reward for his contribution.

"Then Su Ping, thank you sir! Sir, I will take you guys to protect you. Please leave with confidence! The name of "falling the sky in this Shandong territory is still easy to use!"

Zhao Mengguan nodded and returned to the mission to inform Tong Tuchang and Fang Fengnian in detail of the news.

Hearing that the danger finally passed, Tong Tuchang breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Mr. Zhao, you must remember this hero!"
Chapter completed!