stubborn thief

Chapter 41
The next day as usual.

Although the officers of Yan'an Guard had already attacked Laomiaozhuang to suppress the thieves, the villagers of Heilongshan still did not dare to take it easy.

Liu Chengzong sticks to his post, wears all the vests and armors, dug a trench accompanied by Shi and Guo, and slept for the night.

After eating in the morning, I was idle and I was idle. When I returned to the food, the level of food was much better than that of Yuhebao. Liu Chengzong also resumed training.

Training on the one hand is him, on the other hand is the warhorse.

As the saying goes, a long illness becomes a doctor, and after a long time in the army, you can also make a training plan.

His training plan for warhorses is even more mature than his own.

The amount of exercise he sets for Hongqi is different every day. The first day is to walk slowly, the next day to run fast, the third to practice rushing, the fourth to practice chasing, and the fifth to practice collision, and so on and so forth.

It is also necessary to carry out daily routine training on the mount, that is, with a distance of one mile, first walk in small steps, then jog slowly, then throw off the hooves and run, then slow down and trot, and finally run at full speed.

With such perseverance, the warhorse not only has excellent endurance and speed, but also remembers to maintain physical strength during the charging process, and is familiar with the battle sequence of approaching, riding and shooting, chasing, swimming and even impact pursuit in a single combat.

These old technical red flags all remember that they were often pulled to listen to the sound of the firearms in Yuhebao. It was not afraid of guns and artillery. It was really a foundation to eliminate the physical strength that was damaged due to frequent lack of food in the past two years. Excellent warhorse.

If there is enough food to feed the first half of the year carefully, the red flag can carry Liu Chengzong, who is fully clothed, for sixty miles a day and ten rounds.

This is almost the limit of galloping, and two more horses are required for further distance.

The training of the red flag was over, the sun had already risen, Liu Chengzong looked up to the north but saw no movement. He had to lead the horse to turn back to the mountain road, but saw a figure in the south.

On the official road in Panlongchuan, two figures came from the south, with similar faces.

The older man was wearing a red tassels felt fan Yangli, wearing a short purple jacket with a suitcase on his back, a white cotton towel covering his face and neck, and strutting with a stick knife.

The younger man was wearing a blue hair scarf, a blue cotton robe, a plain wide waist and short cotton shoes, a long knife on his back, and a long knife on his back.

It seems that both of them are strong and powerful, and the elder is the main one, coming straight to the Black Dragon King Mountain.

The appearance of such a person on the official road inevitably caught Liu Chengzong's attention. He called out Shi Wanzhong, stepped on the red flag and rode his horse down the mountain, and shot an arrow at the feet of the two of them at a distance of thirty paces, shouting, "Where did you two come from? Who are the characters, all sneaking with weapons, what are your plans to come to my mountain?"

"Hey, you are so rude, I'll wait..."

The young man in blue robe was startled by Liu Chengzong's feather arrows, he angrily took off his rucksack and lifted the long knife to come over, but was stopped by the older man, who pulled down the face towel in front of his face and said with a smile, "The lion has You are capable, dare to shoot your mother-in-law with an arrow!"

After the face towel was removed, Liu Chengzong fixed his eyes, got off the saddle and ran forward to bow down: "Uncle!"

The person who came was his uncle, named Cai Zhongpan. He lived in Sanyuan County, Yaozhou, Weibei. He was a recruiter when he was young. Later, he brought goods to merchants in Sanyuan and Jingyang, where the commerce and trade were developed. ,delicious.

Seeing that his uncle was here, Liu Chengzong turned his head to Shi Wanzhong and said, "Brother Shi, run a trip home for me and tell my mother that my uncle is here."

Hearing this, Shi Wanzhong responded and walked back, but was stopped by Cai Zhongpan with an embarrassed look: "Hey, don't rush to talk about the lion, you listen to me first."

Liu Chengzong nodded naturally, but he didn't see Cai Zhongpan's words. It was not until Shi Wanzhong turned aside with a wink that he spoke in a low voice.

The young man next to Cai Zhongpan is his wife and brother named Chen Ruji.

Since last year, there have been traces of thieves in Sanyuan County, Yaozhou, where Cai Zhongpan lives. A large number of civilians have poured into the county, causing a serious shortage of food in the city. They are surrounded by thieves.

In Weibei, Shaanxi, Sanyuan and Jingyang constitute the commercial center of the northwest region, creating a large number of local and foreign businessmen.

While the economy is developed, culture and education are also prosperous. The Shaanxi Inspectorate of Education is located in Sanyuan, and there are many famous families, which also makes Sanyuan famous and has a stable group of gentry.

Under these conditions, the gentry of Sanyuan established a landlord army under the initiative of Wang Zheng, an official of Dingyou, named Zhongtong.

Wang Zheng was a Jinshi in the second year of Tianqi, a promotion official of Guangping government, and a later promotion official of Yangzhou government. He is proficient in equipment and has outstanding military and government management capabilities.

On the first day of the second lunar month of this year, Wang Zheng and others, after obtaining the permission of the magistrate, distributed leaflets of the Beicheng Defence Alliance in the whole city of Sanyuan, and summoned the literati and wealthy families in the city to go to the Chenghuang Temple to join the blood alliance, and set up a loyal army to defend their hometown.

Afterwards, these gentry and wealthy families performed their respective duties. Some commanded the rebel army, some paid to hire artificial knives to make guns, and the recruits practiced every Wednesday, Saturday, and ninth every month.

They agreed that when the thieves were successfully pacified, the loyalists would disperse, and the armed forces would still be returned to the recruiters.

Cai Zhongpan guarded the caravan to and from Sanyuan and Jingyang, and traveled south and north. He was a famous warrior in the county, so he was specially invited to join the loyal army.

On the [-]th day of the second month, he led a team of Xiangyong to participate in the first battle of the loyalist army, attacked the thieves entrenched in the Yangshe of Sanyuan County, defeated them and drove them to Fuping.

However, at that time, the Zhongtong Yi Army guarded the northern city, and the Sanyuan County soldiers guarded the southern city. Due to Wang Zheng's guiding role in firearms and the financial resources of many wealthy businessmen, the Zhongtong Yi army had surpassed the southern defenders in equipment, and the leaders of Zhongtong also cooperated with the county. cause a contradiction.

When they were out of the city to fight, the leader of the Zhongtong Yi Army was the enemy's front, but the battalions of the official army did not move forward.

Some generals were bribed by the peasant army and refused to send troops. When the battle was over, they instead demanded the heads of the militiamen to receive rewards.

Cai Zhongpan had a friend who captured two heads in the battle in March, and was surrounded by more than a dozen officers and soldiers in an alley. Take the head off.

Because of this, Cai Zhongpan brought his wife and brother to the door to ask for an explanation. In the chaos, he fired a gun and wielded a knife, wounding and hacking several officers and soldiers to death. He packed his bags and fled Sanyuan before arriving at Yan'an Mansion.

"If I go to your house to rest, it will only cause disaster. Don't make a big deal to let people know. I'm just here to borrow a few taels of silver and a few days' rations, and I'll leave after drinking a lot of water."

Liu Chengzong shook his head and said, "Where else can my uncle go? It's already very difficult to come here. Since you're used to fighting thieves, you might as well stay in Xingping, not to mention that there are thieves in the north, as well as the official army. Can't go."

"I'll take you to meet your parents, and they'll definitely say the same thing."
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Note:
①. Wang Zheng, courtesy name Liangfu, number Kui Xin, a scientist and mechanic in the Ming Dynasty, the earliest Catholic from Shaanxi.

Before entering office, he developed hydraulic, wind power and load-carrying machinery, and wrote "Illustrations of Newly Made Various Vessels".

It mainly narrates the knowledge of statics in Western ancient times and the Renaissance, including geocentric theory, the center of gravity and its solution, the volume of water, the volume of floating bodies, the specific gravity, simple machinery and their combined use.

Together with Xu Guangqi, who was called the King of the South and the North by the people of the time, Li Zicheng broke Xi'an's desire to use it, but refused to obey. Later, he heard that the capital was broken, and he committed suicide on hunger strike.

②. Zhongtong gentry armed, established in February of the second year of Chongzhen, refer to "Zhongtong Daily Record"

(End of this chapter)