national surname chiming

Chapter 14 You can meet thieves when you go to Hefei

Although in the long run, Shen Shuren took advantage of Wu Weiye's doubts and took the opportunity to ask Yang Sichang for credit, which was a very effective choice.

After two months of doing things so beautifully, how could we not work hard to earn more rewards when we finally "accounted for performance"?
However, wealth is always sought from danger, and if you want to earn more, you have to pay corresponding toil and risks.

Guozijian's naturalization deadline before each township examination will not open the back door for Shen Shuren alone.

It is agreed that those who enter the prison before the end of July will be treated similarly to those who have passed the township examination this year, that is, they will be strictly stuck at the end of July, and they will not wait a day longer.

And now it has entered mid-July, and the time left for Shen Shuren to travel back and forth between Nanjing and Hefei will definitely not exceed half a month.

During this period, one has to take into account that Yang Sichang is in a high position, it is not easy to ask for a meeting, and he may have to wait in line.

The land of Jiangbei is now in turmoil, scouts of thieves may appear at any time, and the patrolling Ming army also frequently checks.

In short, it is still not easy.

Shen Shuren never fought an uncertain battle, so when he left Nanjing and crossed the river to the west, he took strict security measures.

On the one hand, he tries to use water as much as he can.

The Shen family's influence on the water is still very large, the sailors on the ship even carry bird blunderbuss and turtledove blunderbuss, and the sand boats that go out with the young master also choose the strongest and sharpest ones.

Even if you encounter infiltrating thieves, as long as you don't disembark, the enemy will not be able to kill you.

When encountering a place where he really had to go by land, Shen Shuren also prepared dozens of horses, and even put on cotton armor for all the elite servants.

Of course, there had to be an excuse for all these preparations by force, and Shen Shuren had already thought about it a long time ago—just use the quota of "preparing for the pilot project of changing the water transport to the sea" that his father Shen Tingyang got from Chongzhen.

Since the reform of the Changyun Law in the Chenghua period of the Ming Dynasty, water transport was carried and protected by guards.Although Shen Tingyang's pilot project was only the size of a few ships, it was still legal to deploy hundreds of soldiers.

Along the way, when passing through Dasheng Pass (in Ma'anshan) and Dangtuwei (in Wuhu) and other places around Nanjing to check along the river, Shen Shuren used the excuse of "water transport trial voyage", and then gave him a little money for tea and armed equipment. The slack Ming army all let go all the way.

After crossing the Yangtze River and entering Chaohu Lake through Ruxushui, as they got closer to the front line of Hefei, the inspection of the Ming army's military equipment became more stringent.

On this day, already the eighteenth of July, several boats of the Shen family arrived at the mouth of the Feishui River on the north bank of Chaohu Lake.As long as you enter Feishui, you can go upstream to Hefei County.

But at the mouth of the Feishui River, the fleet also encountered the most stringent investigation so far. The Ming army guarding the mouth of the river was actually quite strict in military discipline.

Shen Shuren originally wanted to give a little money to speed up the customs clearance, but he didn't expect it to be self-defeating.

Seeing that they took out the silver, the guards thought that there was something illegal about Shen Shuren, so they insisted on a thorough investigation.

Fortunately, Shen Shuren completed all the formalities, but it was delayed for half a day, and finally passed.

When it was time to arrive, the guards of the gate still questioned suspiciously: "Since the water transportation trial sailed and complied with the law, why did you try to bribe with money in the first place! Hurry up, the vicinity of Feishui River is not peaceful recently, Gezuo Wuyingliu Among the thieves, Lin Yangcheng's department has fled here.

Shi Futai and Huang Zongbing urged us to be careful not to let the thieves rob the sturdy civilian ships and sneak across the Feishui and Ruxushui.Otherwise, the land of Jiangbei in Nanjing may not be peaceful. "

The second half of Qianhu's sentence was also to excuse himself, he already knew that the Shen family was powerful, and he didn't want to offend, so he explained one more sentence.

Shen Shuren also wanted to know more about the military situation on the front line, so of course he wouldn't argue with him, and even put on an attitude of handing it over:

"The general's military law is strict, and Xiaosheng admires it so much. How can I blame him. Now that the country is changing, we need to have more hardworking and brave generals like generals. I don't know what the general is called, who is under his command, I go to Hefei, maybe I can meet Yang Mr. Ge, if you have the opportunity, you must show the general's diligence and rigor."

The thousand households were also embarrassed when they heard this, and quickly apologized, "Don't dare, my surname is Zuo, Zuo Zixiong, under Lufeng Huang Zongbing. My family Huang Zongbing is now under the control of Anlu Shifutai."

Shen Shuren thought about it for a while, and then he agreed, Lufeng Huang Zongbing should be Huang Degong, and Shi Futai is naturally Anlu Governor Shi Kefa.

Since Yang Sichang went south, he was temporarily stationed in Hefei to arrange the containment work on the eastern front. At present, the most useful civil and military personnel directly under him are Huang Degong and Shi Kefa.

However, Shen Shuren was still a little worried when he heard that the surname of this thousand households was Zuo, and tentatively added a question: "Since the general's surname is Zuo, is there any relationship with Wuchang Zuo Zongbing?"

Shen Shuren knew the history and trusted Huang Degong's subordinates, but he had to be wary of those who were related to Zuo Liangyu.

After all, in history, Zuo Liangyu finally raised troops to attack Nanjing, trying to "side the Qing emperor". To put it bluntly, he wanted to set up another puppet.If Shen Shuren wants to make contributions in the future, he must be wary of Zuo Liangyu.

Fortunately, Zuo Zixiong answered very simply: "I just happen to be surnamed Zuo, and I have never met Zongbing Zuo."

After the two chatted, they said goodbye in a harmonious atmosphere. Zuo Zixiong and others disembarked and let them go, and Shen Shuren also asked the sailors to set sail again.

But not long after the sailors finished twisting the anchor rope and set out, several scouts suddenly came rushing from afar on the west bank of Feishui.

Zuo Zixiong hurriedly climbed up to look around, and found that he was sent by his subordinates to investigate.

When the scouts got close, they didn't bother to enter the customs, and shouted warnings from afar: "Be careful, Qianhu, Lin Yangcheng's department has already rushed several miles away, and the bandits have gathered their horses, we can't get away in time .”

Zuo Zixiong thought for just a few seconds, and immediately slapped his thigh: "No! The thieves' eyes and ears must have been watching a fleet coming from Chaohu Lake! In Chaohu Lake, the water is wide and it is not easy for them to seize the boat. Don't start until you enter Feishui!

Let that Mr. Shen turn around quickly, and he can't go any further!Quickly prepare the elite and prepare to go out to meet the enemy!If Lin Chengcheng wants to snatch the boat, he will let Young Master Shen escape! "

Several hundred households under Zuo Zixiong's command all looked at each other in dismay: "Qianhu, the thieves have always been very powerful when they come out. For the few hundred of us, it is good to guard the Hekou village. How can we go out to fight in the field?"

"It's impossible to disobey the military law! Get ready!" Zuo Zixiong sternly ordered, first to ensure that his subordinates started to line up for preparations, and then he seized the time to reason and boost morale:

"Although the thieves are powerful, but they are so ferocious, Qingqi must be the first. It's not that I look down on Lin Chengcheng. How many horses can this kind of thieves gather! It's scary to fight, so come and grab one.

The life and death of that Shen surname has nothing to do with us, but their boats are sharp, and they look better than Jiangfang's warships. How many poor people are held hostage by them! "

Encouraged by Zuo Zixiong, the only few dozen cavalry and [-] infantry in the Ming army who could participate in field battles finally mustered up their courage, thinking that the enemy might not be many.

The Ming army hid behind the gate of the village, all of them waiting for orders with solemn expressions. Zuo Zixiong did not open the gate rashly, but just waited and watched from a high place.

If Shen Shuren can escape and turn back on his own, then he won't go out to rescue him, and if Shen Shuren dies too quickly, he doesn't need to rescue him.Only when he happened to be so close to the door, he would go to earn a battle.

The Shen family's fleet in the distance reacted quickly, turning around slowly in the narrow Fei water, and going downstream again.

But the thief general of the cavalry unit of the Lincheng Department of the Fifth Battalion of Ge Zuo on the shore laughed loudly when he saw this scene:
"Boys, these boats look good. I guess there are still a lot of goods. Taking advantage of the narrow river here, hurry up and rob them. If you go back, the king will definitely reward you! Old Yang also wants to set up a net to block the king, and wait until you jump Fei." The water is approaching Chuzhou, let's see how the government and army block it!

The man on the boat really didn't know how to die. Seeing our army approaching, he still had time to turn around, instead of directly changing the stern to the bow and launching it down the river. He deserved to die! "

Many of the ancient inland riverboats were shuttle-shaped with pointed ends. It would not be a hindrance if the bow and stern of that kind of boat were wrong, and they could still be driven, as long as the direction of the sails and oars were changed.

But if the head and tail are messed up, the seaworthiness will definitely be reduced, and the speed and turbulence will be affected.

Shen Shuren insisted on turning the boat around before retreating, because he sharpened his knife and did not miss the woodcutter. On the other hand, he also had confidence in the blunderbuss and guns on his boat.

As soon as the fleet turned around and returned to the voyage, the bandit cavalry had already rushed to the bank of Feishui, a stone's throw away from the fleet, and it seemed that there were more than two or three hundred cavalry.

It seems that Lin Chengcheng also paid for it, and gathered a considerable part of the horses for high-mobility running to snatch strategic materials.

As soon as the bandit cavalry came into range, they started throwing arrows at the boat one after another, and some dismounted and waded in the water trying to intercept the climbers, all in disorder.It's just that it's not easy to load gunpowder on the cavalry's horseback, so I didn't see the Musketeers.

Shen Shuren, who is so afraid of death, of course hid in the inner compartment protected by wooden boards from a long distance, and only let his housekeeper Shen Fu command the resistance.

Even though this Shen Fu was born as a family member, he also ran across the sea and went to North Korea to do sea trade. Because of his good performance, Shen Tingyang took charge of the North Korean medicine shop at home after he came back, and finally transferred to follow the young master.

Most of the sailors who ran past Haimao had killed people by licking blood with the blade of a knife, and these servants were selected by Shen Tingyang, so they were still calm while holding the musket.

Shen Fu asked his servants to hide behind the planks of the boat to show weakness, and not to shoot casually without waiting for orders.

After pretending to be a pig and eating a tiger enough, the thief cavalry mistakenly thought that the boat had no resistance, and began to step into the muddy river arrogantly, and even dismounted and tried to climb the boat.

Only then did Shen Fu yell loudly, and asked the sailors to pull back the wooden planks covering the porthole holes. A dozen original turtledove blunderbuss imported from the West, and forty or fifty domestic bird blunderbusses were divided into two batches to fire. The Rogue Cavalry was brought down.

Afterwards, those servants with long guns also rushed to the deck with rattan badges, while peeping to see if there was anyone who was close to the side of the ship and wanted to climb up. When they saw one, they stabbed down with a gun with one hand, just like defending a city.

The thieves never expected that several "tank boats" had such strong firepower, and they were caught off guard and suffered a lot of casualties. The key was the drastic loss of morale, and they all thought they had been ambushed by the officers and soldiers.

After listening to Shen Fu's report, Shen Shuren said that dozens of bandit soldiers had been killed and wounded, thinking quickly in his mind, and immediately ordered: "Don't just shoot with muskets! Let everyone shout, Shifutai Huang's army of thousands has already been killed, Lin Yang It has succeeded in Shi Futai's trick to lure the enemy!"

Shen Fu was taken aback for a moment, and quickly realized that he also admired the young master's quick mind, and he came out with such a bad move.

As more than a hundred servants shouted, the thief cavalry really became more and more chaotic.Especially seeing that there are so many firearms on these ships, it is said that they are Shi Kefa's bait to lure the enemy.

Zuo Zixiong, who was in the water village at the mouth of the Feishui River in the south, also realized that the opportunity must be missed when he saw this, so he gave up pretending completely, and rushed out with the Ming army.

While shouting loudly, pretending that they were really ambush soldiers left behind by Shi Kefa's ingenious plan.

The cavalry that Lin Chengyang sent out to rob strategic supplies broke up completely like this, and was chased by Zuo Zixiong, beheaded dozens of people, and snatched back nearly a hundred ownerless horses before and after, and then returned to the camp.

As for Shen Shuren, he didn't let people disembark to pursue him. After all, before returning to Nanjing, one of his family members died, and his own safety was the most important thing. There was no need to let his subordinates leave the bunker and go ashore to fight for their lives.

After Zuo Zixiong picked up the military exploits, he became more and more grateful and admired Shen Shuren. After dealing with the head and the spoils, he sent out dozens of cavalry and decided to personally escort Shen Shuren to Hefei County.

(End of this chapter)