Xiao Qin looked at the secret letter in her hand, her face turned pale, and she was speechless for a long time.
Gu Yue'er poured him a cup of tea: "Brother Qin, what's wrong?"
Xiao Qin glanced at her helplessly, why did she say "again"? Is it because I have too many troubles recently and am always in this state?
"Lin Xi is dead, Qingzhou is over. I have worked hard for many years to select Huang Guang, a waste, to let Lin Xi control the situation in Qingzhou step by step, as the base camp for future uprisings, and that's it!"
Gu Yue'er said with relief: "The imperial court is corrupt, and people everywhere are dissatisfied, and the troubles are the same wherever they occur.
Although Qingzhou is large, Lin Xi can only control the city's defenders, a few hundred people. The real military is under the jurisdiction of local guards and admirals. Brother Qin, why are you so obsessed with Qingzhou? "
Xiao Qin sighed: "It's different. Qingzhou is the place where Tang Sai'er's uprising took place. Everyone in the world knows that Tang Sai'er's uprising was a just act. If he uprising here, people will naturally feel that he is a righteous man!"
What's more, Qingzhou is right on the edge of Beizhili. With one wave of the righteous flag, it can reach the capital in as fast as seven days! Most of the power of the Holy Religion is now in the south. It is extremely difficult to reach the capital little by little.
If both sides start an uprising at the same time, even if the capital city cannot, they can still coordinate from the north to the south and occupy a position in the north of the Yangtze River. Even if we divide the river to govern in the future, the advantage will be mine.
I hate that Lin Xi didn't listen to me and acted rashly, which led to this defeat and ruined my many years of hard work. If he can wait a few days and wait for me to mobilize the believers from other areas for joint action, plus the Japanese pirates from Luo Wenlong's tribe, then this can be done! "
Gu Yue'er thought about the ins and outs of this matter and felt that Lin Xi could not be entirely blamed. The main reason was that Xiao Feng was too hateful.
"Brother Qin, even if Lin Xi doesn't take action, it is said that Xiao Feng has sent people to inquire about the news in Qingzhou. I have said long ago that the holy religion's method of preaching in Qingzhou is too intense and it is difficult not to be noticed.
Perhaps Lin Xi also felt that it would be difficult to hide it after a long time, and was worried that she would not even have a chance to take action by then, so she took the risk. "
Xiao Qin heard from Gu Yuer's tone that she was dissatisfied with Lin Xi's actions in Qingzhou. He smiled helplessly and patted Gu Yuer's shoulder.
"Yue'er, why am I willing to let Lin Xi use that method to preach? It's just that the people in the world are ignorant, stubborn, ungrateful, and bloodless, and the imperial court is increasingly suppressing the Holy Religion.
If we only rely on practicing medicine, giving away rice and delivering food, we don’t know how long it will take for the Holy Religion to flourish. Intimidating people to join the religion, like contacting Japanese pirates, is an act of emergency and an extraordinary measure.
After the Holy Religion uprising is victorious, more compensation will naturally be given to the people. Those who achieve great things should not stick to trivial matters. In extraordinary times, you should not be too rigid about right and wrong. Otherwise, you will tie your arms when the enemy is in front of you. "
Gu Yue'er could never get over this, but she admired Xiao Qin extremely, so she could only lower her head and remain silent. Xiao Qin took another look at the secret message, calmed down, and took a sip of tea.
"Xiao Feng not only killed Lin Xi and rectified Qingzhou, but also spent a lot of money to recruit literati and let them write scripts and plays that slandered the Holy Religion and spread them throughout the world.
As expected of the Xiao family, if he is willing to walk side by side with me, who in the world can match him? What a pity, what a pity. "
Gu Yue'er said: "This person poses such a great threat to the Holy Religion, and we must kill him sooner or later. But we can't win such an advantageous place in Qingzhou, how should we act?"
Xiao Qin put down the tea cup and took two steps: "Xiao Feng is very alert and cunning. He moves quickly and constantly changes his route.
After all, there is a time delay in the communication between believers in various places and me. It is difficult for me to set up an ambush in advance. I can only hope that he will stay in one place for a longer time.
But when he arrived at Yingtianfu in Nanjing, a big city like this, with many troops stationed and heavily guarded, even if he stayed for a year, there was nothing I could do to him.
Only when he arrives at a small coastal town, I will use Japanese pirates to hold him back, and then mobilize the congregation to surround him. If necessary, I will go and meet him in person! "
Gu Yue'er looked at a map spread out on the table. Although the map at this time was a little rougher than later generations and the proportions were less precise, the major states and mansions within the Great Wall were marked relatively accurately on it.
"Brother Qin, Xiao Feng didn't even go to Jinan Mansion and went straight to Qingzhou. Does he mean to go straight to the Shandong coastal area to fight the Japanese pirates first?"
Xiao Qin also looked at the map, nodded, and said with certainty: "When he arrives in Qingzhou, his next step will be to Dengzhou Guard.
It is the most powerful of the several nearby guard posts and is also the closest to the coast. Inform Luo Wenlong and ask him to send people to Dengzhou by sea.
His hometown is in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas. It takes a while to reach Dengzhou by sea. When he arrives, Xiao Feng will also arrive and notify our believers near Dengzhou to assemble! "
At this time, Xiao Feng's team was galloping on the road. Yu Dayou was running back and forth, looking after the entire team. Xiao Feng and An Qingyue were riding side by side next to the princess's large RV.
"Brother Xiao, didn't you say you were going to Dengzhou before? Why did you change your route to Yanzhou?"
Xiao Feng glanced at An Qingyue: "You have become polite now. You used to call me Xiao Feng, but now you also call me brother Xiao?"
An Qingyue blushed: "Don't be disrespectful. It was my senior brother who asked me to be polite to you. He said that I am your brother and sister, so be careful."
Xiao Feng smiled: "The White Lotus Sect has followers all over the country, not to mention Yan Shifan is also colluding with the White Lotus Sect, so it is impossible to keep our whereabouts completely secret.
But we can make time differences. No matter how fast their communication is, they are nothing more than pigeons. It is hard to say whether there are that many pigeons.
I would pose and make a fake move, and they would have to send a message, but their communication speed would never be as fast as if I just walked away.
This is the reason why I don’t take the water route. It’s difficult to change the water route, and you can’t reach the shore until you reach the dock. Although more official ships can be sent to protect the water route, the whole process is under the eyes of others.
Sometimes whether a battle can be won or not is only half determined by strength and half by poor information. This is the role of the Jin Yi guards in supporting secret agents. "
An Qingyue curled her lips unconvinced: "You can change your route, and others can follow you. It should be easy to follow a large group of people like you. You can't just make fake moves all day long, right?"
Xiao Feng made a serious face: "I'm really being followed, and I didn't find out, so I'm going to slap Zhang Wuxin! What does he do for food when he's in charge of cutting off the rear? He's being followed and he doesn't even know he's being followed?"
Although we have a good relationship, I am not a person who neglects personal affairs for business purposes. I want to spread his ass and let him get married while lying on his back! "
An Qingyue stared with anger, but didn't know what to say to retort. Princess Chang An's feeble voice came from the car.
"Sister An, don't be afraid. I have read in the book that men are not afraid of being spanked and can get married lying down..."
Yanzhou Prefecture mainly covers today's Linyi, Jining, Zaozhuang and surrounding areas in Shandong Province. Linyi and Zaozhuang were named Langya County in ancient times.
In the Yuan Dynasty, Langya County was officially renamed Linyi, but in the Ming Dynasty people still called it Langya, and Zaozhuang was called Zaozhuang, and it has always been called Zaozhuang.
Many friends of Xiao Feng's later generations thought that Zaozhuang was called Lanling in ancient times. In fact, Lanling was within the scope of Linyi and had little relationship with Zaozhuang.
The history of the name Zaozhuang is actually much earlier than people think. It is said that the first people who lived in the local area discovered that there were many jujube trees in this place, so they decided to call it Zaozhuang!
Many of the Chinese people's extremely casual and natural-respecting naming habits have been preserved to this day. For example, the big elm trees in Jilin, Panzhihua in Sichuan, and the ubiquitous Kaoshantun...
At this time, Xiao Feng and his party arrived at Kaoshan Village in Zaozhuang, Yanzhou Prefecture. It stands to reason that the place called Kaoshantun is most likely not qualified to be close to the official road, but the Zaozhuang area is an exception.
Because Zaozhuang is rich in coal, and areas north of Shandong will need a lot of coal in autumn and winter.
Although there is coal near the capital, there are few places where it can be excavated due to feng shui issues. The Northeast region was still the territory of the Jurchens at this time, and no mines had been opened, so Zaozhuang naturally became very important.
Paoshantun is a large coal kiln, which not only digs coal, but also burns charcoal, so the official road was specially branched to pass through here to facilitate the transportation of coal.
Xiao Feng's carriage and horses were walking on this official branch road, and a cloud of smoke and dust rose up. Not far from the roadside, a group of miners who were resting and eating raised their heads and looked at the passing team.
Because they were close to the official road, these miners were well-informed. More than 300 cavalrymen, all with bright helmets, were surrounded by several carriages.
One of them was particularly large and luxurious, and you could tell at a glance that it was not an ordinary passing official.
A miner suddenly dropped the black-faced steamed buns and pickle sticks in his hand, jumped up and ran towards the official road, shouting loudly as he ran.
"Master Qingtian, it's unfair! It's unfair!"
The other miners were stunned and looked stupidly at the miner running through the earth, rocks and coal. Several supervisors who were drinking water and chatting nearby quickly jumped up and rushed towards him, trying to prevent him from approaching the official road. .
At this time, under the shouts of the supervisors, several miners close to the official road also stood up and blocked the route of the running miner, even more actively than the supervisors.
The miner had no way forward and was pursued by soldiers. After a struggle, he was pinned to the ground. He looked desperately at the team that was just a few feet away and was about to pass.
Yu Dayou looked at Xiao Feng, there must be 200 miners eating, and there are many mines nearby. No one knows if there are people hiding in them. If the enemy sets an ambush here, they must be on guard.
Xiao Feng said calmly: "I tested the princess's calligraphy in the morning. She should be in no danger in the past two days. As long as she is fine, can we still be afraid of these people? Stop and take a look."
Following an order, the team stopped on the official road. Yu Dayou came to the roadside. The miner was pinned to the ground, and the supervisor was stuffing coal cores into his mouth.
"Let him go and let him come over!"
The overseer raised his head, a trace of panic flashed in his eyes, but his face was full of smiles and he bowed and saluted repeatedly.
"General, these miners work underground all year round. It's been cloudy these days and the sun is rarely seen. It's normal to go crazy occasionally.
It is a crime worthy of death for disturbing the general. Don't dare to delay the general's schedule, the villain should handle it properly! "
Yu Dayou traveled around the world in his early years and had extensive knowledge. He knew that what the supervisor said was true, so he whispered to Xiao Feng.
"Master, there are indeed many cases of miners going crazy underground. People call them black lunatics. They don't see the sun all year round and they live in narrow places. There are many such cases."
Xiao Feng nodded. He knew that this was actually a type of claustrophobia, but now that it had stopped, he still planned to find out.
"Whether he is a madman or not, just ask him a few words and you will know. Why bother to bring him here!"
The miners looked at the supervisors, and the supervisors looked at the boss supervisor wearing a black hat. The boss supervisor hesitated for a moment, then waved his hand to signal to let go.
The miner who was pushed down got up, spitting out the coal cores in his mouth, and climbed up the official road with a cry, and fell to his knees with a plop.
"General, sir, you are wronged!"
Xiao Feng jumped off his horse and approached the miner. The curtain of the large carriage behind him also opened a crack, and he looked out curiously.
Yu Dayou was on guard with all his heart. Although he could tell that the miner probably didn't know Kung Fu, the world was so big and there were many capable people and strangers. Who could guarantee that he wouldn't make a mistake?
What's more, people without kung fu are not absolutely incapable of killing people. The Tang Sect in Sichuan has studied many hidden weapons driven by the power of machine expansion. The user only needs to be accurate and does not need internal strength.
Not to mention the musket. If the casting direction of that thing hadn't been too long, it would have been much more powerful than any hidden weapon. In these extraordinary times, if this miner dared to raise his hand, Yu Dayou would definitely kick him away first.
The miners also felt Yu Dayou's pressure. They pressed their hands firmly on the ground and kowtowed as hard as they could.
"What's your name? Do you know what kind of team this is? If you have a grievance, why don't you go to the government to complain instead of blocking the road and complaining?"
The miner raised his head, with tears streaming down his face. The soot on his face seemed to have penetrated deep into his flesh, and even the tears could not wash it away.
"Sir, my name is Han Chang, from Hanjia Village in Jining. Because I am the third oldest in the family, everyone in the mine calls me Han San'er.
The villain doesn't want to go to the government to complain, but the villain can't even escape from this mining area! Sir, two of our brothers died just to block the road and complain! "
Xiao Feng was silent for a moment: "Tell me the ins and outs carefully."
"Sir, the coal mine here started to be excavated five years ago. There were not many people at the beginning, and the miners were mainly local people from Shantun.
Later, the coal mines became larger and larger, and official roads were built here. More and more miners came from outside, and the number of supervisors also increased. My fellow villagers and I were recruited to mine together the year before last.
Near Zaozhuang, many families rely on coal mines to survive. Although the work in the mines is hard, the income is not bad, and they can support the whole family. If there are many men in the family, they can also save some money.
The villains and their fellow villagers work hard, but their wages are often deducted by the supervisors, but these villains can tolerate it. Knowing that the world is as dark as crows, this kind of thing is inevitable in any mine.
The work shed was built on the edge of Kaoshan Village, and the miners would go back to the work shed to sleep after work. Migrant miners with families will rent a house in the village.
There is Boss Han among the people in the same village, who is the most capable of mining among our group. He came to Kaoshantun with his newlywed wife and rented a house. He worked in the mine while his wife usually did some washing and sewing work.
The villain usually lives in a work shed, but Boss Han always brings home the dirty clothes of fellow villagers and helps me wash and mend them for free. We are all very close to Boss Han.
Half a year ago, we had to dig a new well, because when we first started digging the well, we were afraid that we would waste our efforts by digging in the wrong place, so we would often dig a small path first, and only expand when we saw coal.
But when digging this kind of trail, there are too many people to use their strength, so usually one person digs it alone, which is extremely hard. Unlike the later completed lanes, the trail had no wooden frame support and could easily collapse, making it extremely dangerous.
Precisely because this work is hard and dangerous, no one wants to do it, and indeed not everyone can do it. The supervisor forcibly ordered Mr. Han to dig, promising to pay him more money. If he didn't go, he would be beaten and driven away.
Boss Han had no choice but to obey his orders. We all dug coal in the big mine here, and Boss Han was alone digging the path for the new well far away.
Who knows, in the evening, the supervisor suddenly came over and told us that the path collapsed and Boss Han was buried inside! "
