The river embankment has been converted into a temporary ferry terminal, and the floating bridge that blocks the river channel also has a section that can be opened to allow ships to pass through.

  Lin Ge and Yang Pu rushed to the shore, the fleet had just passed the inspection at the floating bridge checkpoint, Dongyang No. 1 had already entered the floating bridge checkpoint and docked.

  The officials sent by the various departments took Qin Chengbo's widow and family members to the boat, and also prepared three official boats to send them back to Jiangning first. The departure of the Qin family members will have to wait for someone from the Qin clan in Zhongli to come and handle it. General Fu Guo died in Hongze Pu, and more than half of Yanjing will also have a special edict to comfort him, and there will be special comfort for the children of the Qin family.

  The Qin family had many women, who had been frightened and intimidated for so long, suppressed in the dark cabin for so long. When they came ashore and saw the imperial army stationed here, they suddenly seemed to have a backbone, and their hearts' fears and sorrows were all poured out. The shore was filled with the sound of wailing in front of the persimmon forest.

  Qin Chengbo was also a man who knew how to enjoy himself, with many wives and concubines, and beautiful maidservants as numerous as clouds. Except for a few old and faded ones or the daughters of the Qin family, all the other female dependents were of excellent beauty.

  When Qin Chengbo was the Jiangning Guardian General, he was very strict with his subordinates. Although the soldiers in this big camp had been under his command for over a decade, there was no affection between them. When Qin Chengbo was killed by bandits at Hongzepu, many soldiers even felt delighted.

  At this time, many soldiers gathered on the shore, pointing and laughing at the beautiful widow of the Qin family, some even whistling. The official in charge of comforting her couldn't bear to look, so he had all the soldiers who were making a disturbance driven away.

  The Lin and Gu families who had fled to Jiangning also came ashore to get some fresh air.

  Gu Ying was by Lin Xiang's side, her heart unafraid, her complexion good. Under the campfire's illumination, she shone more radiantly than those frightened beauties, naturally drawing the gaze of these soldiers.

  Gu Yingru saw Lin Xie and Yang Pu walking over, but under the eyes of so many people, it wasn't good for her to take the initiative to walk towards them, so she just looked at them with shining eyes.

  "Big sister," Yang Pu still called her by the old name she had when Gu Ying was at the Gu's house, "the master is not convenient to come out, let me ask you a question. After arriving in Jiangning, I will have you live in the mansion first. Someone has already been sent back to Jiangning to inform and arrange a courtyard for you..."

  Gu Yingxiu glanced at Lin Xie and said to Yang Pu: "Please tell my second uncle that I appreciate his concern, but as a member of the Lin family, whether I live or die, I am still a part of the Lin family. Since Master is still taking medicine, how can I possibly move to the Gu residence alone?"

  Yang Pu felt strange, this was the best opportunity for the eldest sister to leave the Lin family, and the eldest sister was still young and beautiful. After Lin Tingxun passed away, adults could take charge and find another husband for her to marry, so she would have someone to rely on in the future and wouldn't be lonely until old age. However, the eldest sister insisted on not leaving the Lin family, and Yang Pu didn't dare say anything at this time, thinking that he would let the adults persuade her personally in the future.

  "Lin Xiuciai, when will the situation in Lin's household stabilize? Are we going to Jiangning to buy a piece of land or rent a few houses and move in first?" The Sixth Lady struggled to carry eleven-year-old young master Lin Xuhui in her arms as she walked over to ask Lin Xiu. The Second Master Lin Xu Zong had passed away, and the Eldest Master was in Yanjing with a promising future and wouldn't be coming back. In her opinion, there was no one left to compete with her son for the position of head of the household. However, since she could no longer rely on Lin Zonghai, who was no longer by her side, she had to discuss things with Lin Xiu. After all, as a woman, there were many things she couldn't do openly. She also acknowledged that in Jiangning, she would have to temporarily rely on Lin Xiu.

  "The village warriors cannot be allowed to enter the city, and besides, there are over a thousand villagers from Shanglin who followed us to Jiangning to take refuge," Lin Fu said. "Outside the city of Jiangning, there is a temporary place to stay, the conditions will be a bit harsh, so we have to temporarily inconvenience Madam Liu."

  At this time, there were many things that were inconvenient to say. Lin Tie called Cao Zi'ang, Zhao Hu, Zhou Pu, Lin Mengde and others, and asked Zhou Pu to stay with him in the military camp. More than 400 villagers from Shanglinli, including more than 200 people from Lin Jiyuan and Chen Shouyan's troops, also stayed temporarily. Nearly a hundred people from Zhao Qingshan's troop were reorganized, and more than a hundred villagers who had been gathered along the way were led by Cao Zi'ang, Zhao Hu, Lin Mengde and others to be temporarily settled at the river mouth. Many things were discussed first, and they would wait for his return before making a decision.

  Lin Xie again went with Yang Pu and others to comfort the Gu family.

  At this time, it was confirmed that Shiliang City County had been captured by Liu An's troops, and many refugees on both banks of the Shiliang River also followed suit. Although Lin Fu sent someone to pass on the message in time, most of the Gu family thought Lin Fu was being alarmist, and only thirty or forty people escaped with their families, who were now filled with regret and lingering fear, and worried about their relatives left behind in Hutang.

  The enemy situation in the northern border of Shiliang County is unclear, and it's also impossible for our side to send a troop to pick up people just to take care of Gu's family.

  After lingering on the west bank south of the floating bridge until midnight, officials such as Wang Tian, the Pacification Commissioner, and Jia Pengyu, the Surveillance Commissioner, finally came out to comfort the Qin family. The commotion continued until dawn when the crowd set off from the northern border of Guting County by boat to continue on their way to Jiangning. Zhou Pu and ten guards stayed behind in the military camp with Lin Xie waiting for an audience with the big shots at any time.

  The Procuratorate set up another camp on the other side of Sui Li, and Jia Pengyu, Gu Wuchen and other officials brought more than 1,000 cavalrymen under their jurisdiction to station here with 600 people. Lin Fu led more than 200 militiamen from Lin Jiyuan and Chen Shouyan's two battalions to temporarily stay in this camp.

  Although the garrison's combat effectiveness was low, the Jiangning defender's camp was quite large in scale. Compared to the Procuratorate's camp, it was much more simple and chaotic. When Lin Tie brought people over, Ma Chao was scolding and teaching people there. Seeing Yang Pu accompanying Lin Tie and others, he smiled helplessly: "These turtle sons, if they were taken to Yanbei to fight a war, they could only make the Eastern Hu's knives duller..."

  "Jiangning has been peaceful for a long time, and many tasks such as catching thieves and bandits have also been entrusted to local authorities, so it's hard to be too demanding." Lin Fu said.

  He saw another small camp on the west side of the camp and asked strangely: "Whose family is that over there?"

  "There is Liu Xilin leading a battalion of soldiers from the East City Guard, you may not be able to see Captain Liu at this time," Yang Pu said. "Li Zhuo strictly forbids the garrison troops from interfering with local affairs, and the number of knife-wielding guards and constables in Gutang County is limited. The internal guard can only dispatch a battalion of cavalry and infantry from Jiangning. Liu Xilin has just taken over as the East City Guard for three to five days, and the situation is still chaotic. Zhang Yubo also came, but at this time he should be sitting in Zhantianyi with Gutang County Magistrate. Who knows that the refugees in the Zhantianyi area may exceed 200,000..."

  Lin Tie didn't say much more.

  Li Zhuo, although having his hands and feet tied up, still managed to stabilize the situation in the northern part of Chao Tian Dang as much as possible.

  There are over 2 million refugees in the area of Zhao Tianyi, and there may be 3-4 million refugees in the entire Gu Tang County. Once a riot breaks out, the situation will be difficult to control.

  The correct disposal is to dispatch heavy troops to key passes and strategic points, forcibly cut off contact with the outside world, strengthen internal security and increase measures to comfort refugees, alleviate conflicts between major clients, and temporarily stabilize the situation.

  Li Zhuo's principle of strictly forbidding the garrison troops from interfering in local affairs is also correct. On the one hand, it can guarantee the purity of the garrison troops, and on the other hand, it will not disperse the troops to maintain stability in local affairs. However, the root of the Jiangning garrison has already rotted, and it is not that Li Zhuo's ability is insufficient or his prestige is inadequate. It is absolutely not a one-day effort for anyone to change the current situation.

  To stabilize the situation in Hongze Pu, it is simple to say that Li Zhuo should be in charge of the overall situation, first stabilizing the surrounding situation and restricting the influence of Liu An's troops on Huaiyang, Dongyang, and Huainan prefectures. The original East Fujian Army Chen Zhihu and others are still clearing bandits in Huai Shang and Zhongzhou. If a force of several thousand elite soldiers is brought over, the overall situation can be settled.

  It would be great if things were that simple. Gu Wu Chen didn't return to his tent until the sky was bright after discussing matters in the main tent, and Lin Xuan also didn't speak much about the details of pacifying the rebellion.

  Chu Party wants to drive Chen Xinbo out of the central government and try every means to restrict Li Zhuo's influence, where will they easily give the great merit of pacifying Hong Zepu to Li Zhuo?

  During the battle of Luoyang Lake, Cao Zikang and Ge Cunxin led four disguised fishing boats to mix in, and they obtained the spoils that should have belonged to Hongze Pu's water stronghold, including over 80 sets of fine armor, eight private gold balls weighing one thousand taels each, and forty-one private silver balls weighing one thousand taels each.

  Removing the armor and converting the gold and silver into official silver, it amounts to nearly 100,000 taels. This enormous wealth weighs only over 3,000 catties. Calculating its volume, it is equivalent to about 400 catties of water.

  Four hundred kilograms of water can occupy a large space. A slightly larger water tank cannot be filled, and these gold and silver treasures are secretly hidden on the Dongyang ship, truly unknown to gods and ghosts.

  The spoils obtained from the Hongze Pu Water Fortress are probably more than ten times what Lin Xian and his men got from their muddled fishing expedition, not to mention that the Hongze Pu Water Fortress also captured the cities of Xuzhou, Shiliang and Shanglinli in succession, with even greater gains.

  There are many wealthy households in Shanglinli, but gold and silver wealth is secondary. Shanglinli is one of the most important grain markets on the north side of Jiangning. Many large landowners within the borders of Dongyang Prefecture, every year during the harvest season, after leaving enough rice for their own family's needs for a year, will transport the surplus grain to Shanglinli to wait for a good price to sell. Although summer harvest is approaching, many grain merchants in Shanglinli are preparing to clear out and purchase wheat, but the market usually has no less than 100,000 dan of stored grain.

  At this time, the wheat harvest is imminent in the tens of millions of mu of good fields along the Hongze River, especially in Shiliang County and Xizhou. The government offices of Dongyang Prefecture and Huai'an Prefecture, as well as the large landowners, will lose 30 to 40 dan of tax grain and rent grain. This is not a serious problem, but if this batch of tax grain and rent grain is requisitioned by Liu An'er's troops, it becomes much more serious.

  Suizhou is located in the middle of Hongze Lake, but it is famous for its iron production. Shiliang County seems to be a chicken rib, but it helps Liu An's troops control the situation south of Hongze Lake. To solve the crisis in Hongze Lake, it is better to act quickly rather than delay. If they are given time, there are countless vagrants around who can be recruited, and no one knows how far their power will expand.

  Li Zuodong urged the Jiangning garrison troops to set up a stable camp in the territory of Gutang County, which can be seen that he did not hold out hope for his overall rebellion suppression, but only sought to stabilize the situation in Jiangning Prefecture. It can also be seen that he had a clear understanding of the party struggle situation in the court. He was probably also aware that the imperial court could not deploy his old troops to Jiangdong to suppress the rebellion.

  Lin Xian returned from the withdrawal of Shanglin Ferry, saw the northern situation of Gutang County was chaotic, and the big heads were still discussing here with peace of mind. He knew that a quick battle to decide Hongze Pu was no longer possible. In his heart, he cursed: This damn party struggle.