Yanzhou Prefecture, Zouxian County.
A Yishui River runs through the whole county and is connected to the canal, bringing a different kind of prosperity to this place.
Near Yishui, there is a high-walled courtyard with blue bricks and green tiles, lying high like a beast, observing Yishui wantonly.
In Shandong, a province that is short of water, Yishui not only means business, but also represents a large amount of cultivated land and good irrigated land.
The Zhao family are the powerful people on the Yishui River, or they are the gentry.
Mr. Zhao, Zhao Wenfeng, as a 60-year-old old man, is famous in Zouxian County and takes both black and white.
Therefore, almost 30% of the irrigated land along the Yishui River, approximately 50,000 acres, belongs to the Zhao family.
But now, as a sandwich area between the Manchu and Ming Dynasties, the gentry in Shandong are in an awkward situation.
Hauge went on a killing spree in Shandong, not only wiping out the Shunjun Guo Sheng's army of cutting the rich and helping the poor, but also smashed the entire Ming army in Shandong.
Coupled with the Eight Banners garrison in Dezhou and Qingzhou, heavy pressure was placed in front of the Shandong gentry, which could be said to be as heavy as Mount Tai.
Therefore, neither Emperor Hongguang nor Emperor Shaowu had much appeal in Shandong.
"Dad, we have thousands of servants in the Zhao family, plus the nearby villagers, we can easily recruit tens of thousands of people, and the entire Zouxian County can be recovered -"
While Mr. Zhao was sitting on the kang, warming himself by the fire and taking snuff, his young and energetic son ran over huffing and puffing, his heavy breathing as conspicuous as clouds.
His eyes were red, and he kept humming: "The imperial court has said that as long as a county is recovered, it will be a county magistrate, and a prefecture is recovered, it will be a magistrate. Our family is going to be prosperous."
"Chengde!"
Mr. Zhao patted the table and said in a cold voice: "The winter is not going away. Do you want our Zhao family to have no descendants?"
"But, dad——"
Zhao Chengde was puzzled.
"Nothing to worry about."
Mr. Zhao squinted his eyes and said sternly: "Shandong has been in chaos for so many years and has suffered so many troubles. Haven't you developed a memory yet?"
"Dezhou, Qingzhou, and the Eight Banners are stationed there. What's the use of occupying Zouxian County? Then the entire Zhao family will be lost and buried with a county magistrate?"
"Yes..." Zhao Chengde lowered his head and agreed with humiliation.
After he left, Mr. Zhao sighed: "Who doesn't want to be in the Ming Dynasty, but in these troubled times, we can't help but make the decision!"
Immediately, the eldest son also ran over and said with an ugly face:
"Dad, there is news from the county government that in order to raise military resources, Jinan requires Zouxian County to raise a thousand taels of silver and a thousand stones of grain within the month -"
"What?"
Mr. Zhao was so angry that his face turned red and his saliva flew:
"Didn't you pay a sum last month? The county magistrate will allocate money and food again?"
"This is unreasonable. The taxes assessed in the past few months are more than the taxes paid since the Chongzhen Year. How can we act recklessly?"
The eldest son smiled bitterly and said: "I heard that the Qing army encountered obstacles in their march south. There are many castles. It will take a lot of time to conquer each one. We can only bring the money and food to us!"
"Where are those mud legs?" Mr. Zhao said angrily.
"Dad, there are a few nails in the mud legs. Our Zhao family tree attracts the wind, and they are all thinking about us."
"Damn it!" Mr. Zhao, who has always been gentle, couldn't help scolding the general: "This Jiannu is greedy. Is this how he wants to dominate the world?"
After venting his anger, Mr. Zhao compared his strengths and had to compromise again: "Go and prepare, you can't help yourself!"
Even so, he had already begun to think about how to unite the local gentry and resist the tyranny of the Yamen.
Just when he was breathing a sigh of relief, his second son suddenly ran over and said with panic on his face:
"Dad, something serious is going wrong!"
"What's wrong? Let's take a breath before talking."
Mr. Zhao said with an ugly expression.
"There is news from the Yamen that someone has complained that we are colluding with the Ming army and preparing to rebel and seize the city!"
"Which bastard is spreading this nonsense?" Mr. Zhao yelled angrily: "I just want to enjoy peace and happiness, how can I connect with the Ming army?"
"Dad, I can't explain clearly. I heard that the county magistrate is trying to fool us, but the government office is more serious and actually wants to do something. If my classmate hadn't had some connections in the government office, our Zhao family would really be doomed!"
"Now that the yellow mud is falling off my crotch, I can't hide from it."
Mr. Zhao sighed: "The whole of Shandong is looking for money and food like crazy. We, the Zhao family, have fallen into it and there is no way we can escape."
So he summoned the whole family, old and young, to make urgent arrangements and moved most of the members to a remote village in the mountains and forests, while he and some of his servants waited for the arrival of the government officials.
I just waited for a long time, but I didn't see him.
Two days later, a large army of hundreds of people came in a mighty manner, with huge flags with clear characters dazzling in the sun.
"This matter?" Mr. Zhao looked at it carefully, with a bad premonition in his chest.
Immediately, a minion appeared in front of the village, with his hands on his hips and shouted:
"Our king is a member of the Qianhu family of Zouxian County who was personally granted the title by the imperial court. He knew the situation of Mr. Zhao's family, so he specially drew his sword to help, killed those one hundred and eighty government officials, and saved your lives——"
When Mr. Zhao heard this, a burst of energy and blood rushed to the door. He instantly collapsed and murmured: "It's over, it's really over, the Zhao family is over!"
Although the rest of the people did not know the story of Water Margin, they also understood that killing the government servants was tantamount to rebellion.
The Zhao family, which had originally placed their hopes in private, was hemorrhaging and completely lost hope.
After a long time, Mr. Zhao trembled and said: "Take out a hundred stones of grain and ten pigs to reward this group of masters."
After getting a satisfactory harvest, thousands of households in Zouxian County left with satisfaction and went straight to Zouxian County.
His purpose is simple, to capture Zouxian County.
The Zhao family, who followed closely behind, had to join forces with other in-law families to secretly send troops to help them occupy Zouxian County.
With the fall of Zouxian, it seemed that the clarion call for counterattack was sounded in Shandong.
The previous layout of Jinyiwei in several places in Shandong finally showed the effect of blooming everywhere.
A large number of gentry, like the Zhao family, were forced to tie up chariots and had no choice but to rebel; or they were attracted to the Ming Dynasty and were unwilling to surrender as slaves; or they were deceived by fame and fortune and wanted to make contributions.
Of course, the tyranny of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, which depleted the lake to catch fish, was also an accelerant.
With the help of the gentry, bandits from all over the country gathered in villages and villages, and instead of fighting in small groups, they exploded with amazing power, easily taking over prefectures and counties and massacring yamen.
Almost in the blink of an eye, half of Shandong changed hands.
Yanzhou Prefecture was established, nourishing Yang, and setting up flags anyway, and Ming Dynasty almost ruled Shandong again.
As the most important boundary, the canal artery, Jining Prefecture, is also surrounded.
Once this city is captured, the Manchu and Qing food routes will be completely cut off.
Sitting outside Jining City is Chu Yu, a member of the Jinyi Guards family.
Although he did not know how to lead troops, under his deception, many bandits had to accept the reorganization and formed a large army to besiege Jining.
An army of 100,000 soldiers surrounded Jining.
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