Eighth year of Chongzhen

Chapter 17 Fancheng
Hong Chengchou led He Renlong, the deputy general of Shaanxi, and his [-] elite cavalry to drive overnight, and finally arrived in Fancheng four days later.

Along the way, there was no sign of villages being robbed or slaughtered, because it was past the busy farming season, and there were hardly any farmers plowing in the fields, and there were even fewer pedestrians and business travelers on the official road. Occasionally, there were traders and pedestrians. The cavalry of the official army had long avoided it from a distance, for fear of causing trouble.

After entering the territory of Fancheng, He Renlong had sent Ye Bubuu to go to the sentry for a long time, and the brigade was holding the bridle and slowing down. The front team and the rear team were separated by several miles to prevent the enemy from attacking, and the central army brigade surrounded Hong Chengchou.

When it was a few miles away from Fancheng County, smoke and dust rose from the road ahead, and the whistle of the road explorer flew back.When he came to the Chinese army, he reined in his mount about a dozen steps away from Hong Chengchou, got off his horse and walked quickly, kneeling on one knee and shouting loudly: "I report to the commander-in-chief, I have ordered the sentry to go under the county seat! The city gate is closed, and the city There are no rebel flags, no one in the surrounding villages, and no signs of looting or burning!"

Hong Chengchou frowned slightly, stroked his beard and remained silent.After He Renlong waved Tan Ma to retreat, the mount moved closer to Hong Chengchou, leaned forward and said, "Commander, could it be that the rebels have abandoned the city after they found out that we are coming?"

Hong Chengchou shook his head and said: "If the Sichuan soldiers abandon the city, it will definitely not be like this, but the city gate will be opened and they will leave!"

Having said that, he glanced sideways at He Renlong and continued: "The reputation of the officers and soldiers among the people is not very good, you should know it well!"

He Renlong moved his gaze away in embarrassment, he knew the virtues of his subordinates best.In daily battles, the property of the gentry and the common people was often robbed. Although there were very few cases of raping prostitutes and hurting people's lives, such things happened from time to time.

He Renlong knew in his heart that the commander-in-chief turned a blind eye to the looting of property by the officers and soldiers.Because the restraint is too tight, the officers and soldiers will have resentment.After all, there is a lot of military pay owed, if you don't find an opportunity to grab some, the morale of the officers and soldiers will be lost.

But if there is burning, killing and adultery, the governor will be merciless.The last time in Mianchi County, Zuo Liangyu's tribe chased the bandit Zhang Miaoshou and crashed into the sky. Unable to bear the humiliation, he threw himself into a well.

Afterwards, the big family reported to the Governor's Yamen. Hong Chengchou was furious when he learned of the incident, and sent his own soldiers to arrest and behead the three officers and soldiers who had committed adultery and killed them, including a thousand households. Afterwards, the whole army was vigilant.

Hong Chengchou ordered to advance, and the whole army drove directly to the county seat.A quarter of an hour later, when we arrived at the base of the city, the city gate was indeed tightly closed, but there was no one on the top of the city.

Hong Chengchou asked several officers and soldiers with loud voices to stand under the city and shouted in unison: "The commander-in-chief Hong is here in person, and the people in the city will answer quickly!"

After a while, a gap was suddenly opened in the tightly closed city gate, and a group of people came out in a single file.The leader was a civil servant in his thirties wearing a blue official uniform with blue magpie patch and black gauze on his head. Judging from the color of the uniform, he should be the county magistrate of Fancheng.Behind him followed a group of officers and soldiers dressed as generals with disheveled hair, shirtless, and hands on their backs.Hong Chengchou and others were shocked when they saw this situation, only to see the civil official stepped forward and bowed in salute: "The next official, Luo Fulong, magistrate of Fancheng County, sees the governor!", and the group of generals who followed him knelt down on the ground.

Hong Chengchou dismounted from his horse, walked slowly to Luo Fulong, and asked, "Magistrate Luo, what's the situation here?"

"My lord governor, it's a long story, please move to the county government office and report carefully to the lower officials!" Luo Fulong replied with cupped hands.

Hong Chengchou nodded in agreement, and said, "Let's lead the way in Guixian County!" After saying that, he walked towards the city gate with his hands behind his back.

Seeing this, He Renlong hurriedly urged his mount forward, and said loudly: "Commander, be careful!"

Hong Chengchou stopped in his tracks, turned his head and said, "Although bandits are raging in the Ming Dynasty, there has never been a civil servant who has followed the bandits so far. The governor believes in Luozhi County!"

"Marshal, it's better to be careful! The low-ranking people will go in to investigate, and it won't be too late for the Marshal to enter the city after confirming that nothing has happened!" He Renlong insisted.

Just kidding, if there is a fraud and someone ambushes and the commander-in-chief falls, then he will be killed and killed.

Seeing his resolute attitude, Hong Chengchou followed suit and stood there waiting.

He Renlong hastily sent a team of personal soldiers into the city on horseback to investigate, while Hong Chengchou chatted with Luo Fulong.

After about a quarter of an hour, the soldiers came back on horseback, came to Hong Chengchou, dismounted and saluted, and reported loudly: "I am reporting to the commander-in-chief, all the doors in the city are closed, and there is no sign of fighting. There are yamen guards in front of the county yamen. Looks the same!"

After listening to Hong Chengchou's report, he said, "County Luo Zhi, let's go, take the governor to the county government office to rest!" After Luo Fulong heard the words, he gave a salute and took a few steps to lead the way, while Hong Chengchou followed.

After He Renlong called a soldier to give some instructions in a low voice, the soldier turned his horse's head and shouted, and took the lead to run along the city wall, followed by more than a dozen horsemen in the team.At this time, the group of generals who came out of the city stood up one after another. He Renlong winked at the soldiers around him. People dressed as officers and soldiers, He Renlong trotted on horseback and followed Hong Chengchou into the city.

The county seat is small, and there was no one on the street at this time.The doors of the surrounding shops and residents are all closed, and one can vaguely see pairs of eyes behind the door looking at everyone.

After entering the city, the following cavalry divided into several teams to walk along several streets in the city to investigate, and the rest drew their swords and swords to look around vigilantly.

After a while, the group arrived at the county government office in the middle of the city. A few government officials stood listlessly at the door, and hurriedly saluted the county magistrate.

Luo Fulong stretched out his hand to ask the governor to enter the yamen, a few soldiers had already entered to check inside, and a man came out after a while, shaking his head to express that nothing happened.

Hong Chengchou stepped into the county yamen first, the soldiers got off their horses, most of them guarded the surroundings outside, a dozen of the soldiers armed with weapons escorted the group of generals into the yamen.

Hong Chengchou bypassed the screen in the lobby and entered the inner hall, He Renlong and Luo Fulong followed closely behind, and the group of naked generals stood still in the yard of the county government office, guarded by the guards.

Luo Fulong respectfully invited Hong Chengchou to take the seat, while he himself sat down horizontally. He Renlong stood behind the commander-in-chief holding his sword, but did not take his seat. An old servant came in from the backyard when he heard the noise. Luo Fulong ordered him to drink tea, and the old servant responded. go.

"Luozhi County, what's going on? Those generals should be the generals of the Sichuan Army. What happened? Tell me quickly!" Hong Chengchou said.

"My lord governor, those people are indeed generals of the Sichuan army, and the thing is like this..." Luo Fulong replied.

After receiving the military order from the commander-in-chief's mansion, Deng Qi, the general of the Sichuan aid and suppression army, rushed to Fancheng with [-] officers and soldiers under his command.

Deng Qi was mean and ungrateful, withholding the salaries of his subordinates for a long time, beating and scolding his subordinates frequently.The monthly salary of ordinary soldiers is one tael or two, and the imperial court distributes it according to the head. Although there are often arrears, some will be allocated every few months, but the arrears are not repaid.

When the salary is allocated to the army, the soldiers can only get half or even less, and soldiers fight for money and food.Over the past year, Deng Qi has accumulatively deducted more than ten thousand taels of military pay. He sent his own soldiers to escort the deducted military pay back to his hometown in Sichuan.

On this day, when we arrived in Fancheng, the officers and soldiers set up camp ten miles northwest of the county seat. The county magistrate of Fancheng organized local gentry labor troops and sent dozens of altars of fine wine, ten live pigs, and some oil, salt and rice.

After the laborers from Fancheng County left, Deng Qi ordered his soldiers to kill pigs and cook vegetables, and he drank and drank with the eunuch Liu Yunzhong and his cronies all night long.In a few days, all the fine wine and meat that was sent was consumed by them.The officers and soldiers usually couldn't eat enough to eat, and finally someone brought wine and meat, but they couldn't even see any meat, so the officers and soldiers gathered to make a noise.

Deng Qi was drinking and eating with Liu Yunzhong, when he heard the noise outside the camp was getting louder, he ordered his own soldiers to check, and soon reported that officers and soldiers had gathered.

Deng Qi stood up, exposing his fur-covered upper body, and walked sideways to the outside of the tent.

Guerrilla Gao Qixun stepped forward to greet him, and said, "Master Chief, I've heard that the county government has sent people to work as soldiers and brought some wine and food, so I'm here to pick them up!"

Deng Qi glanced at him drunkenly, and said, "It's true that the county government sent people to work as soldiers, but the wine and food were given to me and the supervising army. How can you, a guerrilla, have the right to enjoy it?"

Gao Qixun suppressed his anger when he heard the words, and said: "My lord, the brothers have lived and died for the court. They often don't even have enough food to eat, and the salary is even more scarce! It's so easy for someone to send the meat. Why don't we have the right to eat it?"

Seeing him contradicting himself, Deng Qi was furious.He lowered his head to find a wooden stick, stooped to pick it up, and slammed it down like Gao Qixun's head and face, and cursed: "You little guerrilla, how dare you contradict me, who gave you the courage? Believe it or not, Lao Tzu!" Killed you?"

After being beaten, Gao Qixun's head and face were covered with blood.

The eunuch Liu Yunzhong and others heard the sound, and they also walked out of the tent. When they saw Deng Qi beating Gao Qixun, Liu Yunzhong burst into laughter, clapped his hands and applauded, and screamed, "Well done! Hit hard! There is no distinction between the two." It would be best to kill a humble person!" Deng Qi's cronies clapped their hands and laughed.

This Liu Yunzhong didn't understand military affairs at all, relying on the fact that he came from the palace, when he came to the army, he was arrogant and called himself a military sect.Claiming everywhere that his godfather is the eunuch Zhang Yixian, the eunuch who is the supervisor of the internal officials, the celebrity around the emperor, whoever dares to offend him, he will tell his godfather, and he will definitely be unable to eat.

Usually, except for the chief soldier Deng Qi, other major generals such as lieutenant generals, generals, and guerrillas must pay respects to him when they see him, and the officers and soldiers are very disgusted with him.But he was also very afraid, which further encouraged Liu Yunzhong's arrogance and domineering, and he often beat soldiers for no reason.Over time, the officers and soldiers' aversion to him rose to the point of resentment.

Deng Qi continued to drink and beat Gao Qixun. The assembled officers and soldiers dared not speak out. The scene was silent, but the anger of the officers and soldiers had already ignited.

Deng Qi was still angry, turned around and pulled out the waist knife of a soldier beside him, turned around and swung the knife to cut Gao Qixun under the knife.

Gao Qixun's personal soldier, Liu Erzhu, saw that his general was about to die under the knife, and with blood on his head, he strode forward, drew out his waist knife and slashed obliquely. Deng Qi screamed, and the right hand holding the knife was cut off from the elbow to the ground. He let out a scream that didn't sound like a human voice, and rolled on the ground hugging his broken arm in pain.

Liu Erzhu didn't stop doing anything, stepped forward and raised a knife to chop off, Deng Qi's body and head were separated immediately, and blood spurted out from his neck cavity, no matter it was the officers and soldiers gathered or Liu Yunzhong and others were shocked, a court chief with a heavy soldier in his hand actually Beheaded by a small soldier of his own!
Before everyone came back to their senses, Liu Erzhu raised his knife and shouted: "Deng thief is dead, kill Liu eunuch, let's drink and eat meat!"

The gathered officers and soldiers suddenly became excited, and hundreds of people armed with knives and guns rushed towards Liu Yunzhong and the others shouting.

People were killed, disasters happened, and everyone gradually calmed down and became afraid.

Gao Qixun even stood on the spot blankly. Although he questioned Deng Qi out of anger, he never thought of killing the chief soldier and the supervising army. That would be a serious crime of rebellion!

This is all right, a murder caused by a meal of wine and meat can no longer be changed.He struggled on the battlefield and finally gained the rank of guerrilla general. This time, it was all over. He squatted down with his head in frustration, where to go, his mind was blank.

The rest of the officers and soldiers also looked at each other, and slowly put down their knives and guns, not daring to make a sound, for fear that whoever spoke first would be pushed out as a scapegoat.

Liu Erzhu strode up to Gao Qixun with a waist knife that was still dripping blood, and said loudly: "General, why don't we turn the other way! We don't have enough to eat all day long, and we owe half a year's salary. We are using money to sell our lives! Now There are thieves everywhere, let's treat the general as the master, occupy the mountain as the king, drink a big bowl and eat a big piece of meat, wouldn't it be fun!"

Gao Qixun suddenly jumped up, punched and kicked Liu Erzhu, and cursed at the same time: "I told you to occupy the mountains and become the king! I told you to eat big pieces of meat! You fucking listened to the story too much and your brain was damaged! We It's the official army! It's the official army! You fucking dare to join the rebels and beat you to death!"

Liu Erzhu didn't dare to fight back, he threw the knife and hugged his head and squatted on the ground, and let Gao Qixun beat him violently. Anyway, he was rough and fleshy, so the punches and feet were just tickles.

Gao Qixun fought for a while before he stopped, panting heavily from exhaustion.Seeing this guy's expression of indifference with a hippie smile, he suddenly became angry again, went up and kicked him a few times, if this guy hadn't saved himself several times on the battlefield, he would have chopped him down with a knife and given it to Shangfeng as a scapegoat confessed.

He cursed bitterly, turned around and said loudly to the officers and soldiers: "The generals will lead everyone back to the camp. Without military orders, they are not allowed to leave the camp. Anyone who disobeys the order will be executed! Those who are more than a thousand generals stay, I have something to say!"

Everyone dispersed, and a few Qian Zong stayed behind.

Gao Qixun greeted them to enter Deng Qi's camp, and after they sat down, they had no appetite for the remaining food and wine, and were worried about their own future.

Only Liu Erzhu swallowed his saliva secretly when he saw so many delicious food, but seeing the ugly faces of the superiors, he didn't dare to eat by himself.

"Let's talk about it, what should we do next? We can't really turn the grass into a bandit like that bully said, can we?"

Gao Qixun has the highest official position, and he was the first to take the lead in this incident. He is also the first to fight bravely in battles on weekdays, and he is quite prestigious in the army, so the generals regard him as the leader.

The generals glanced at each other, and Yao Huailong, Chief Qian, said, "General, Liu Erzhu is right. We have been suppressing thieves for several years, and the more thieves have been suppressed, the fewer and fewer people we have. I heard that Chuang Wang Gaoyingxiang has a strong army and horses, and even Hong Du and Lu Du are afraid of him. In a few years, maybe he will really succeed! We might as well join him. These thousands of soldiers used to be a big force, not to mention our rich combat experience. The general went over there, and in the future, if the country changes, he can also get a prince to sit down!"

"Shut up!" Before he could finish speaking, Gao Qixun sternly stopped.

"I, Gao, know benevolence, justice, propriety and wisdom since I was sensible! I know that I am loyal to the emperor and the court! From the time I joined the army, I vowed to be a hero like Yue Wumu! These bandits burn, kill and loot, and treat the people like pigs Dog! Under the imperial court, although the people are poor, at least they will not be slaughtered for no reason! We are all born in poverty and have family members. If you hadn’t joined the army back then, you might be the one who died under the swords and guns of bandits. I or our relatives are old! What's more, how many brothers' relatives and friends in the army have been killed by bandits? We are human beings, not livestock! Those bandits are living creatures that are not as good as livestock! Gao Mou, the thief-thrower, will be beheaded!"

Yao Huailong stopped talking in embarrassment, and everyone fell silent.

After a long time, President Qian Yibang broke the silence and said: "General, we are all vulgar people, and we can't think of any clever schemes! It's best to find a learned person, a learned person must have a solution!"

When everyone heard it, it was the truth. Scholars have many eyes and know a lot. There must be a way to deal with this kind of thing.The army is full of rough men who don't know how to read, so where can we find educated people?Everyone pondered for a long time but did not find the answer.

Liu Erzhu, who was standing aside, muttered, "I can't find it in the army, so go to the county town to find it!"

Gao Qixun slapped his thigh and scolded with a smile: "Here! The county magistrate is a learned man! He is a Jinshi, and he has a university education! Haha, this rascal is sometimes not as stupid as he looks!" Then everyone agreed, together at dawn Go to the county seat, and then send people to bury the bodies of Deng Qi and others, and Deng Qi's head is also buried with his body.

At dawn on the second day, Gao Qixun came to the county town with a few chief executives. As soon as the city gate was opened, everyone went straight to the county government office and asked to see Luo Fulong, the magistrate.

(End of this chapter)