Zhang Yu ran all the way home and saw that Huifu Lane was still the same as before. The shopkeepers had unloaded their planks and were doing business slowly. Our own walnut pastry shop was also open. Dad was kneading dough in the shop. The oven was already on fire, and the aroma of walnut oil wafted out. My parents are busy around the chopping board.
"Dad! Stop it, close the store quickly!" Zhang Yu rushed in and shouted indiscriminately.
His father's face suddenly darkened: People who open a shop are most afraid of saying "closing the shop". When closing the door at night, they only say "closing". The business was not very good at first, but by chance, it just started to grow, and he was stunned again. When the boy yelled like this, he couldn't help but scolded: "You're a plague! What are you talking about?!"
Zhang Yu ignored the explanation and said in a loud voice: "Get on the board! There are soldiers on the street! Kun... Kun... thieves have entered the city! Guangzhou - Guangzhou - is broken!"
His father was stunned and dropped the rolling pin in his hand. The scary words "passing the army" and "breaking the city" penetrated his ears. Since the Jiajing period when Japanese pirates were rampant, Guangzhou once built a city to protect the commercial district on the river bank. It has been more than a hundred years since there was a warning signal, let alone a warning. It's a disaster of weapons. But the common people at that time were familiar with the words "guobing" and "breaking the city". Zhang Yu's parents immediately recalled those horrific scenes in their minds: streets shrouded in fire, merchants running in all directions, soldiers burning and killing people... Their faces turned pale, and they couldn't say a word for a long time. Zhang Yu was quick to see the opportunity and urged him to close the door and "top the bunk" quickly. Everyone in the store woke up from a dream, and rushed to the upper floors one by one. Zhang Yuniang said anxiously: "Quick, put out the stove too!"
His father said: "What are you doing when you turn off the stove? Just put the walnut cake inside, it needs to be raw!"
"This strong smell is because I am not the first one to be robbed!" Zhang Yuniang shouted with her hands on her hips. She picked up a bucket of water and poured it into the furnace. The flames inside made a hissing sound, and suddenly extinguished.
Zhang Yu didn't care about the store and jumped out to collect the cover. The guise is hung high and was originally hung up and down with fork poles. Zhang Yu couldn't reach the hook above. He was so anxious that he jumped around under the cover, looking very funny, which made the girl in the tofu shop opposite cover her mouth and laugh.
The daughter of the tofu shop, Yuan Zheng, was leaning against the door selling tofu made early in the morning when she saw Zhang Yu running back all the way. The walnut pastry shop was in a hurry, and they were stretching their heads to see what was new. Zhang Yu tilted his head and saw it. Seeing her standing in front of the shop with a confused look on her face, watching the excitement, she yelled out in a hurry: "Why don't you ask your father to come in?" Ban! The thieves have entered the city! The troops have passed!"
It doesn't matter if he shouts it out loud. The originally peaceful and peaceful streets of Huifu Lane suddenly became chaotic. In an instant, all the residents in each shop were on their backs: those who were putting things away, those who were laying boards, those who were closing doors and windows... Some were screaming in pain, some were so anxious that they were shouting at the top of their lungs, and some were patting themselves for no apparent reason. The thighs cried and sang. Before the lady from the tofu shop came to her senses, she was dragged behind by her mother, took the ashes from the stove and painted her face with a big pattern. Hiding in the woodshed and not allowed to come out.
"You're hiding! No matter what you hear, don't come out!"
The tofu shop lady was trembling with fear. She knew the personnel and what happened to the young girl and the young daughter-in-law who fell into the rebel army. He was so frightened that he hid in the pile of firewood and did not dare to move.
People's potential is endless in critical moments. Zhang Yu took off his cover with a few jumps and dragged him into the store. As soon as he entered, the last plank behind him closed with a bang, and a thick horizontal latch was lifted. Go up and fasten another big lock.
The shop was dark, with only a few rays of light coming in through the cracks in the floorboards. His father lowered his voice and said, "Everyone, don't make any noise. Pack up everything. Carry it to the back."
Several people lowered their voices and quietly packed up their things. Flour, walnuts, sugar... and even the unbaked walnut cakes were all put away one by one, and Zhang Yu's father took them into the inner house.
Zhang Yu was worried. Then he followed his mother to look around and checked all the doors and windows. His mother hid in the bedroom, packed up the family's belongings, and hid them under the square tiles in the main room of the house. Then he asked Zhang Yu to go to the front shop to watch the waiters and apprentices.
"You watch them, don't let them cause trouble, even though they are introduced by acquaintances. People are honest, but you must be on guard against others. There is no guarantee that they will get angry when they see chaos."
The clerks and apprentices in the shop all came from other counties. Since they were in the war outside, there was absolutely no reason to leave. They usually used to lay floors in the shop, but now they had nowhere to go. Zhang Yuniang sent him to watch, lest they "seduce bandits."
Zhang Yu nodded: "Mom, I can save it! I think we should hang the license outside..."
"The situation outside is unclear right now, and if we hang out, it will attract attention. Why don't we take a look first and then talk."
At the same time, in the Humenzhai Zhongjun Yamen, more than a dozen fully clothed generals and foreign affairs committee members gathered together. They were summoned to the Zhongjun Yamen for a meeting before dawn today, but when the sky turned pale, Mr. Liu Qian still didn't show up. I couldn't help but gather together in small groups and whisper.
Although I don’t know what Mr. Liu Qian wants to discuss in the meeting, everyone estimates that it has something to do with the Kun thief.
In recent months, tug boats on the river have been coming and going frequently. Standing on the top of Wushan Mountain on Ya Niang Shoe Island, you can clearly see the situation on the river. The number of tug boats traveling to and from the world has doubled than in the past. more than. Although the thief said that these were goods and decorative building materials prepared for the opening of the big world. But the soldiers' intuition still told them that there was something fishy: these ships were not carrying ordinary cargo!
Some people said that they saw many boots wearing feet exposed under the canvas canopy, others said that cannons were unloaded from the Great World Pier in the middle of the night, and once, an Australian ship suddenly exploded while sailing on the river. , and sank to the bottom of the water in a moment...
What the Australians carried on the ship was a matter of great concern to the local officials. The Pearl River is the provincial river of Guangdong. As long as the boats are intercepted and inspected, you can know what medicines are sold in the gourds of Australians. However, since the Australian troops arrived at Baietan, Ming Dynasty lost the right to inspect Australian ships. Although later on there were a few stupid young men or money-mad people who were "unafraid of rape" and "inspected" and "seized" ships flying the flag of the Senate. As a result, the whole family either caught fire at night or drowned themselves hand in hand during the day. After coming back, naturally no one wants to do this again.
Officers on the river defense can see Australian steamships puffing black smoke passing by the river every day. Privately, they are discussing that the Australians will make a "major move" in the near future. However, even if they knew what the Kun thief was going to do, what could they do? When the Kun thieves broke into the provincial river and reached Baietan, the battle left such a deep impression on these people - a sense of complete powerlessness made most of them lose the idea of resistance.
What if a fight really breaks out? Everyone is thinking about this issue anxiously. It's not like hitting an egg with a stone and the stone will be destroyed together!
Under the despair of being unable to win the battle, everyone had no plans for the future and just lived day by day. Many people also secretly accepted "subsidy" from the Australians and used their soldiers to and ships "leased" to Australians for service. I was living in a drunken and debauched life in Ziming Tower.
The officers were whispering, and suddenly someone from behind shouted: "Promote the account!" There was a confusion among the people, and they stood in wait according to their respective official titles.
I saw Liu Fengsheng, the leader of the coastal defense guerrillas in Humenzhai, coming out from behind, all dressed up, with a cold and solemn look on his face, as if he wanted to kill someone. All the generals were stunned: There was no warning at the moment, and Liu Qianzong looked like he was going to fight. What's going on with his expression? Did the Australians take action?
In the midst of suspicion, suddenly a report came from Ya Niang Shoe Fort: more than 20 warships of the Kun thieves were moving up the provincial river and approaching the Humen East Waterway!
Then the Shanghengdang Fort also reported that more than ten Kunthi warships had sailed into the Humen West Waterway and were approaching the Shanghengdang Island Fort from the side and behind. Immediately afterwards, river ships flying the Morning Star flag also appeared in the Sanmen Waterway between Wushan and Humen Village.
Inadvertently, the Kun thief's army had already arrived at the city, forming a double-team on Humen Village. The generals present were cold-blooded - many people here had personally experienced the Battle of Humen a few years ago, and the ferocious artillery fire against the Kun thief was , I was deeply impressed by the soldiers' courage to fight.
Now, this army is approaching Humen Village again, like a pair of iron pliers, which can crush the not-so-hard walnut of Humen with just a little force.
In panic, everyone turned their attention to the person in charge of Humen Village: Liu Fengsheng
Mr. Liu Qian coughed and said: "The Australian soldiers are approaching, and everyone can see clearly the situation in Guangzhou. If the response is wrong, not only the Humen Village will be destroyed, but even Guangzhou will not be able to escape the disaster of the soldiers..."
He didn't talk about how to arrange defenses and how to assign troops to resist. He said this first, and the clever ones immediately understood what he was thinking. Most people here don't want to fight, and someone immediately echoed: "The general is right, we only have a total of six to seven hundred troops here, and only a dozen or so cannons. I'm afraid we won't get any benefits from a head-on battle with the Kun thieves..."
Seeing that Mr. Liu Qian did not scold them, everyone nodded slightly, as if in agreement. They became bolder, and everyone echoed them, saying that the officers and soldiers "weak soldiers and inferior weapons are not suitable for fighting", and De suddenly "loved the soldiers as sons" and cried that the officers and soldiers had insufficient food and pay. His subordinates had not had enough to eat for days, so they reluctantly went into battle but died in vain.
Liu Fengsheng let them talk for a while, and when he was about to speak, he saw someone shouting: "Raising an army for a thousand days is spent in a moment. Don't you feel ashamed to say such a thing?!" (To be continued.)
