"Master, the yellow-clothed thieves have retreated!" A panting servant rushed in in a fort courtyard in Huating County, Songjiang Prefecture, and stumbled in. While wiping the sweat on his forehead, he said happily: "The thieves have retreated! They only entered the periphery of Gao Yuanwai Village, and withdrew with a flick. My mother, I hid in the reeds on the river beach and saw with my own eyes that the ferocious yellow-clothed thieves have kidnapped a large group of people. Some people didn't want to escape, but were caught up and stabbed to death with bayonets on the spot. Blood flowed all over the ground, and my legs were trembling."

Fan He quietly breathed a sigh of relief after hearing this. Although the Eastern Kingdom who often contacted him repeatedly promised that the commander of the East Bank knew Mr. Fan’s daily righteous deeds and would carefully plan the marching route and would not "disturb" it here. But people said that, but who knows what will happen in the chaos of war? Therefore, Fan He has been not very at ease these days, for fear that the Eastern Kingdom army will come to the door and destroy the family business accumulated by his family for many lifetimes. Once this "bad news" spread to the landlords and gentry, Fan He has heard of it several times recently, and is a little worried, for fear that his family business will be difficult.

Fortunately, all unnecessary worries can be dispersed now. The army of the East Kingdom rushed back ten miles eastward, escorting a group of sheep and um, two-legged sheep southward and heading towards the Huangpu River. Such actions not only preserved Mr. Fan's wealth, but also avoided the exposure of Mr. Fan's identity. After all, once the east coast army marched to this point, facing this most obvious dockyard compound, should we fight or not? If we fight, we will inevitably be injured by accident. If we don't fight, we will do it too obvious. People will doubt the relationship between Mr. Fan and the yellow-clad thief.

This situation is actually the best now. The army on the east coast was wandering around and returning from a long distance, which meant that all this area was let go, making the landlords and gentry, including Fan He, very glad. In fact, to be honest, these people were still benefited from Master Fan, although they would never know.

"It's good if the yellow-clothed thief retreats, and it's good if the yellow-clothed thief retreats." After calming down a little, Fan He ordered again: "Everyone still can't relax. The yellow-clothed thief has left, but there may be chaos and defeated soldiers coming over. Their disaster is not lighter than that of the yellow-clothed thief, so I'll cheer me up. Zhuang Ding still cannot retreat and still insists on patrol. In addition, Mr. Zhou and Mr. Li will also send people to inform me quickly. They all understand people and know this truth. Go quickly."

After arranging all this, Fan He went to the martial arts field in Zhuangzi again. More than twenty powerful Ding Yong was practicing spear-punching techniques here, and he looked quite good. What was taught was a middle-aged man with a Shaanxi accent and a very good spear-rod technique. What was even more rare was that he could set fire guns. In the eyes of Zhuangzi, he was a god-like existence.

This person's external identity is an old army from a Green Camp Army that was formerly stationed in Jiaxing Prefecture. After being dispersed by the yellow-clad thief, he ran to Songjiang Prefecture to make a living. He was later taken in by Mr. Fan, a famous man from far and wide, and hired as Ding Yong, a villager, to teach them the art of assassination in the battle formation so that they can protect themselves in this uneasy world.

Of course, others mean that this teacher named Huang was a veteran of the green camp, but only Fan He and two confidant servants knew that this person's identity was actually a "Gendarmerie lieutenant" who was hiding in Mr. Fan's home to inquire about information from all parties, including military intelligence and some local people's sentiments. Fan He also helped him very much. Even when Tong Guogang was catching the East Coast work in the six prefectures of Chang, Chang, Jiahu, Susong, Chang, Hangzhou, Jia and Hu, Susong, he still worked hard, so he was the most trusted by the East Coast people.

When Huang Jiaxue saw Fan He walk in with a serious expression, he immediately understood. He called out two deputys, whispered to them, then wiped his hands, walked straight towards Fan He. Then the two left the martial arts field one by one, and went to a yard with weapons and equipment at the back. The yard was very empty. The two moved a bench and sat in the middle. It could be observed within twenty or thirty meters around. Once someone accidentally broke in, they could react immediately, and they were in a great place to negotiate confidential matters.

"Mr. Huang, your country's troops have already withdrawn. I have confirmed this matter. However, can you give me a clear letter now? What kind of constitution is your country's troops landing in Songjiang this time? Will you come to us?" At this time, there was no one in the yard, so Fan He immediately asked.

"Master Fan, I really want to give you a correct letter, but I don't want to lie to you, and I don't know this." Huang Zhixie bowed and said helplessly: "The night before yesterday, I went to the ferry controlled by our army and met my colleagues and superiors, but I didn't get much information from them. I can only tell you that our army should not have plans to occupy Songjiang Prefecture for a long time this time, and should still focus on obtaining population. Well, of course, if we can get some extra gold and silver, I believe they don't mind." Speaking of this, Huang Zhixie smiled and had a very frank attitude.

In fact, although he didn't know how large the East Coast army was, the Qing army wanted to know, but they were incompetent and still thought that the East Coast army was "not less than ten thousand people". However, as a senior intelligence officer, Huang Zhishen, who had just integrated the little news at hand, he came to the conclusion that the East Coast army would not stay for a long time. He also judged that the scale of the East Coast army should be around 6,000 (actually less than 4,000 people), and his combat power was uneven, with the main purpose of plundering population and gold and silver.

Mr. Fan was quite confident in Huang Zhixi's words, so after hearing his judgment, he nodded his head and felt completely relieved. If it were just like this, then there should be no big problem. There were not many soldiers in Songjiang Prefecture, and the arrangement was relatively scattered. There were not many soldiers in the neighboring Jiaxing and Suzhou Prefecture, and it would take time to assemble. When they gathered tens of thousands of people (and had to catch a large number of rural brave men to make up the numbers) and traveled eastward, Huating, Qingpu and even Shanghai County were probably all lost. These people came over and had nothing to do except collecting the bodies of the Qing army. Their family was unscathed in this wave of attacks. After the Eastern Army retreated and the imperial army recovered the lost land, they could not guarantee that they could still grab the land of some missing gentry landlords at a low price, which was considered a small fortune.

After talking with Teacher Huang about the training of the brave men in Zhuang Ding Township, Mr. Fan Hefan bowed and then returned to his study to continue to study the knowledge about mathematics that he had purchased from the East Coast. He really liked this knowledge and spent a lot of effort to learn. He felt that it was much more interesting than going to the county to visit brothels and listen to small songs, and studying mathematics knowledge. Unfortunately, the Qing Dynasty never taught such knowledge publicly, which is quite regrettable.

I heard that there are some specialized schools in Denglai that teach various knowledge, including mathematics, in which Fan He is still very yearning for it. Sometimes he always thinks that he might as well let the army on the east coast enter the Central Plains and unify the world. Anyway, they also call themselves the Miao people of the former Song Dynasty and the orthodox Chinese, and everyone can learn these things in the future.

Of course, this kind of idea can only be fantasized at home. Fan He knew very well that even in Jiangnan, a place where the atmosphere was open, studying "Dongxue" was a very sensitive thing, because there were always some pedantic people looking at these new things with a hostile gaze. If you meet an enlightened local official, then maybe Dongxue can have a certain living space in the local area, and may even be spread well; but if you meet a pedantic person with a mind full of Four Books and Five Classics, then you are finished, and Dongxue will definitely be suppressed.

However, even though the situation is so complicated, in the Susongchang area today, some schools that teach so-called "East Learning" knowledge have quietly been established, and there is one in Huating County. Fan He once went to that school to see it. While teaching the scriptures of sages and the Three Bonds and Four Dimensions, knowledge such as arithmetic, geography, surveying, military strategy, gymnastics, business, foreign languages, geography, agriculture, painting, music, etc., are also publicly taught.

Although the content of this knowledge may not be as good as the first-hand East Coast books in Fan He’s study, you can imagine that the source of knowledge in this new school should be a few times. Some of them may not come from the East Coast at all, but missionaries or merchants from Portugal, England, and the Netherlands, but this was taught publicly in the city of dignified capital, which was of extraordinary significance, although the number of students in the school does not seem to be very large.

There are also some such schools in other prefectures and counties. Most of the people come to class with rich children full of curiosity, and of course there are also some children from ordinary families who want to change their living conditions, but they do not account for the majority. These people generally do not have much interest in learning traditional classics, but they like knowledge from abroad. These schools are actually supported by these interests and enthusiasts.

Just as Fan He was studying Dongxue in his study, under Huating County, not far east, the 7th Mixed Battalion's reinforced artillery company had just blown up the city gate. At this moment, they were just leisurely defensively reducing the cannon barrels. Many soldiers holding Minni rifles were neatly arranged on both sides, looking at the Qing army soldiers who wanted to get close behind the city gate but did not dare to get close, moving forward step by step.

Every Qing soldier who dared to show his head would inevitably be attacked by at least five or six muskets. Therefore, after trying a few times and killing many people, the remaining Qing army finally scattered and gave up the plan to retake the city gate from the people on the east coast. Since the city gate was lost, Huating County could not be defended, and it was only a matter of time before it fell.

The prefect, county magistrate and other officials in the city were as anxious as ants on a hot pan. They wanted to escape, but were afraid of the extreme consequences. Therefore, they could only shout at the top of their lungs and organize all the camp soldiers, village warriors, yamen runners, tax officials, etc. that could command, and wanted to make the last futile resistance.

Of course, their resistance was destined to fail! The Qing army (about 1,500 people) who had been on the battlefield were not enemies of the Seventh Mixed Battalion, let alone those who could only bully the weak and fear the strong, and were fishing in the countryside? Therefore, when the infantrymen of the Seventh Mixed Battalion entered the city with muskets, their resistance quickly collapsed, symbolizing the Qing government, the county government, grain platform, salt road and other governments that ruled the Qing court one after another, and the entire city was occupied by the East Coast people without any effective resistance.

Lieutenant Colonel Junio ​​entered the county town at dinner and moved directly into the prefect's office. He also drove into the city with hundreds of officers and soldiers from the Fifth Division of the Zhejiang New Army. They arrested thousands of farmers from Huating County in the countryside, and then hid in the city and were centrally guarded in the former Qing army camps, so as not to have a large-scale escape incident after nightfall.

In Huating County, some clerks in the county interrogated the county learned that there were about 20,000 to 30,000 people. In fact, there were not so many, but the situation has been "not peaceful" recently, so many people hid in the county town. Who knew that they did not escape in the end and let the people on the East Coast take the blame.

These 30,000 people plus the large population that had been captured before, this time, the East Coast people had already captured more than 60,000 people and a large amount of property in the southwest of Songjiang Prefecture, and the results were amazing. After such a plunder, Lieutenant Colonel Junio ​​did not even want to continue to go deep into the northern part of Songjiang Prefecture, conquering Qingpu, Shanghai and even the nearby Suzhou Prefecture Jiading, Kunshan and Taicang Prefecture. One reason is that it is more dangerous and uncertain, and the other is that it is insufficient motivation.

Therefore, based on this consideration, on February 21, Lieutenant Colonel Junio ​​finally made a decision: the main force of the Seventh Mixed Battalion suspended the northward advance, and fully cooperated with the Fifth Division of the New Army to transport supplies and personnel to Jinshanwei, and put so many "trophys" they had caught before to put them in pockets. Of course, he did not forget to spread out the direct cavalry company of the Seventh Mixed Battalion, and fully monitored the major traffic routes to see if there was a Qing army brigade approaching so that Huating County could prepare in advance.

On March 6, the personnel transfer work basically came to an end. Lieutenant Colonel Junio ​​was satisfied and personally led the Seventh Mixed Battalion to the outside of Qingpu County. After learning that a brigade of Qing troops rushed from Suzhou (probably reinforcements from Nanjing), he did not intend to fight them head-on, but instead retreated to Huating County, which had become an empty city. At this time, news came from the west that the Qing army attacked along Jiaxing and Jiashan lines, posing a threat to the flanks of the Seventh Mixed Battalion and the Fifth Division of the New Army.

This new news directly prompted Lieutenant Colonel Junio ​​to order the abandonment of Huating County and turn toward the direction of Jinshanwei. He was planning to escape directly. It was a wise choice, because the mission had been completed (and recently several thousand people were arrested in the east, with a total population reserve of 70,000). It would be meaningless to stay here to fight for life and death. It would be better to board the ship and evacuate and then find other weak points.

On March 15, more than 2,000 people from the Qing army vanguard who came from Jiaxing Prefecture first arrived at the periphery of Jinshanwei, but were ambushed by the main force of the Seventh Mixed Battalion. As the retreat was imminent, the people of the East Coast no longer saved ammunition this time, explosion bombs, solid bombs, hollow bombs, grape bombs, and chain bombs were smashed towards the Qing army, and they were stunned by the two thousand people because they had never encountered such fierce firepower.
Chapter completed!